Unexpected Mates ~ Book One
Chapter 23

“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t. I can’t.” Sylvie's throat ached as she forced down her sobs and buried her fingers in her hair. She curled her hands into fists and focused on the sharp pain from her scalp.

“I can’t do it.”

“What can’t you do, love?”

She didn’t even know who asked; she just stared up at them, letting her face crumple.

“This! Us! As soon as I start to think that maybe this is real and that you could love me and want me, maybe forever, something gets in the way like it always fucking does!” She wiped her eyes stubbornly with the back of her hand.

“I have been abandoned by everyone who I ever thought loved me and who I loved. Every. Damned. Time. I can’t do it again. I moved past caring, healed that trauma, and now it’s all coming back because of you two. If you’re gonna leave me, then do it now. Please do it now before it’s too late.”

Her voice hitched at the last words, and she held herself digging her nails into her side to stop the tears. She hadn’t hurt herself for years, but she couldn’t deny the relief it brought her.

Elias grabbed her hands and pulled them to his chest, mirroring her earlier embrace. “I will never leave you, Sylvie. Ever. I am yours for eternity if you’ll have me.”

She swallowed and averted her gaze from his seriousness before forcing herself to meet his eyes. His thumbs ran small lines down her wrists, and she let her breathing steady. “Then take me home, Elias. Please.”

She couldn’t bare to look at Kian. Yet again, he was about to get stolen away, and he let it happen.

Elias shook his head and turned so Kian could see her. The cold-pale hands holding hers changed to warm brown ones. “Sylvie, I-” His throat bobbed, and his eyes turned glassy. “I would only let you go to keep you safe.”

He paused, wincing as if the words were paining him, and Sylvie froze, staring back at the throne room doors.

Shifting her gaze to Kian again, she detached her hands and nodded as realisation dawned on her.

Without overthinking it, she barged through the throne room doors. “What does her father have over you?”

Katarina’s eyes narrowed, and she scoffed at Sylvie as she crossed the distance to the throne.

“No. Seriously. Because any good Queen, or good mother, would notice when their child is miserable and not force them to marry a monster threatening to kill the person that can make him happy.” Sylvie’s heart pounded so loud she hardly heard her own words. She was certain her face was flushed, and the vein in her forehead protruded. “What is wrong with you?”

Her voice came out in a vicious, breathy rasp, and she panted as Katarina flicked her gaze down to a red face lazuli.

“Leave us,” she whispered, her voice sharp as a blade. Without a word, the fae drifted from the room, and the Queen sighed low in her throat. “You too.”

Sylvie tracked her gaze and saw her mates staring at her wide-eyed from the doorway, but she turned away. She had to stand up for Kian, even if it meant mouthing off to a Queen. And potentially getting beheaded.

Elias’ voice let out a ghostly, “We’ll be just outside,” before their footsteps receded from the room. At least if the Queen tried to kill her, Elias would hear and hopefully make it in time to stop her.

“Speak your piece, child,” Katarina muttered, letting her nails tap impatiently on the arm of her throne.

With a shaky inhale, Sylvie started, “Kian is my bonded, and so is Elias, whether you like it or not. They have become the most important people in my life in an insanely short amount of time, and the way I feel about them is- is,” she paused. “It’s painful. The thought of losing them is tearing me apart, and just when I thought you’d finally stop your ridiculous plans with Lazuli, you snatched away my hope again by forcing Kian to marry her.”

Katarina’s brows furrowed as Sylvie gnawed her lip. “Maybe it’s because you’ve seen him every day since I left, but for me, the Kian I met and the Kian I see today are two different people. Lazuli is destroying him, and you’re too blind to see it.”

Standing, Katarina looked down at Sylvie, clasping her hands in front of her dress. She stepped down the two stairs until she was a foot from her and exhaled loudly from her nose.

“Are you quite finished?”

Sylvie gulped and nodded, waiting for a painful strike or perhaps a clean slice across the throat.

“Despite your absolute lack of decorum and respect,” Katarina started, “you’re right about one thing.”

A shudder ran from Sylvie’s head to toe as she waited for the ‘one thing.’

“Trion, Lazuli’s father, does have certain rights that must be upheld because of unpaid debts from Kian’s father.” Her expression pinched briefly as if a sour taste swirled in her mouth before she resumed her usual poise. “The only reason Kian is alive is that his father swore his hand in marriage to Trion’s firstborn daughter.”

She paused and levelled a look at Sylvie before gently lifting the tiara from her braided scalp. Without the accessory, she looked like a normal human woman. Beautiful and ethereal, but not an intimidating dictator; a mother.

Sylvie picked at her cuticles and shook her head. “But, but doesn’t bonded ones override that? I know they don’t really happen anymore, but they seem important.”

“They are important,” Katarina replied. “But they cannot be proven without the bonded markings. And in this case, Trion won’t care. He expects his daughter to be wed to Kian regardless.”

“Why can’t you just refuse? What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Pray you don’t find out,” she said before walking towards a door hidden behind the stone pillars.

“Wait!” Sylvie yelped, jogging after her. “What if I talk to him.” Or get rid of him, Sylvie thought weakly.

Katarina just laughed and flicked her dark braids over her shoulder. “Be my guest. Either way, you’ll solve one of my problems.”

With that, Katarina slipped into a dark room, and Sylvie stared after her, wondering exactly what she meant.

“Just call it an engagement tour, then we all go, and no one will expect a thing.”

Sylvie had argued the possibility of a trip to the Stone Court for forty-five minutes to no avail.

It seemed like Kian would budge, but then Elias would snap back something about her having a death wish. Case and point, her stand-off with the Queen of the Fae.

“Please. If I could talk to him, or if he could see our bond, then maybe he would- he would-”

“You think he would care? You heard Queen Katarina yourself. He wants Lazuli on the throne.”

Elias wrapped his arms around Sylvie’s belly and sat on Kian’s bed, trapping her from pacing before she weathered his ornate rug.

“Besides, we haven’t marked you yet-”

“Then do it. Whatever it takes, I want it. I want you to mark me.” She felt his hardness press into her back, a low growl vibrating against her spine.

“He won’t care,” Elias snarled.

“Then we kill him,” Kian responded with a sigh.

Elias and Sylvie’s heads snapped to him as he elaborated. “He is dark. Evil. Even before I could read emotions well, I knew something was wrong with him. His death would do the Fae realm good.”

Sylvie’s heart sped up. It felt wrong to plot a stranger’s murder, but if Kian said he deserved it, she believed it completely.

Turning her head to look up at Elias, she shuddered under his red-rimmed stare. “Please?”

His eyes darkened as he looked up at Kian, their silent conversation leaving Sylvie out.

“Fine,” he grumbled. But we’re marking you before we leave. When’s the next dual eclipse, K?”

“Three days,” Kian replied with a lusting look. Suddenly Sylvie felt very exposed under their gaze and almost regretted her eager offer for them to mark her.

“No backing out now, kitten.”

*

The next three days, Sylvie filled her day with training, eating, sleeping and avoiding the lusting grabs from Elias and sneaky neck kisses from Kian. Every time they would draw her in and make her throb with longing, they would pull away again, telling her to wait for the stupid eclipse.

It amplified the connection, they said. She didn’t give a shit. The constant rise and fall of her libido were making her legitimately insane. By the final day, she accidentally kicked Elias’ heavy bag right off the ropes suspending it.

Hand over her mouth, she stared wide-eyed at the spilling sand and rags. “Sorry,” she whispered, glad Kian couldn’t hear her endless apologising. It was a bad habit, apologising for things even when it wasn’t her fault, but she couldn’t help it.

She scooped some of the sand back into the sack and tied the top off, dragging it and leaning it against a tree.

“I’ll get Elias to carry you out of here later,” she whispered, smiling when the leaves rustled back. She often thought about merging with the tree again, but her nerves got the better of her.

The ability was surely linked to her fae side, but she had no idea how to control it. It wasn’t worth the risk.

Night fell slowly, the sky turning hues of pink and blue, and Sylvie plopped herself down on the soft bed of grass, staring up at the eclipsing moons.

Crackles and breaking sticks drew her attention, but she remained completely still, hoping she remained hidden by the grass. A smile played on her lips when she heard the low talking between her mates.

“I know your here, kitten. I can hear you breathing,” Elias’ low chuckle made a grin spread across Sylvie’s face.

“Come find me,” she whispered, knowing only he would hear.

He muttered something low to Kian, and the Fae prince laughed. “She’s excited,” he said.

Damn straight. She took a deep breath as quietly as possible and held it, screwing her eyes shut.

“Hold your breath all you want. I can smell your arousal.”

She almost burst out laughing but pressed her lips harder to stop the air from escaping. More swishing grass sounded around her left and right sides, and her heart raced. They were circling her.

Staring up at the fading slivers of the moons, two sets of dark eyes appeared in her vision. She squealed, flipping onto her belly, trying to crawl away, but two sets of hands grabbed her thighs and dragged her back, flipping her expertly.

“Gotcha,” Elias purred with a grin.

Kian’s eyes flashed with desire as she stared up at them, panting and chuckling softly.

“Come back to the castle.”

“No,” Sylvie murmured, sitting herself up between them. “Mark me here.”

“Do you know what that entails?” Kian asked, trailing his fingers down her shoulder.

She shuddered under his touch and shrugged. “Sex?”

Elias chuckled darkly, reaching over to the zipper at her throat and tugging it below her breasts. They burst out, and Kian dipped his head, pressing his soft lips to her flesh. “Not quite.”

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