Just Breathe

 

“Stop fidgeting, or I swear we’ll tie you to this chair!” My handmaiden, Rosita, chewed out as she raked a comb through my long, fire-red hair. I couldn’t help but move about; she was too rough, and it hurt the way she pulled down and through.

I grabbed the brush from her hands and swatted at her. “Just let me do it! I don’t know why I have to have you guys all over me anyhow!” I whined as I split my hair down the center and attempted to do it myself.

“Lady Marigold, you know better than that. Queen Mabe will not have you running around with that ponytail!” She snatched the comb back from me, slapping at my hand. I glared at her through the mirror. I swear, I never had to deal with these kinds of rules back home!

Home. I missed my family. My mother, Jessamine and father, Kiva, two Fae who married for love rather than the designs of political need, I was the only actual child of that pairing, hence my need to marry into the courts in one way or another. I had been promised to a Vampire Prince, Keegan Teague, but he blood-bonded to a human and turned her, solidifying their connection and ousting me as a mate. So now I’m being made to choose someone new. Ha! I had thought I was off the hook. I thought I was going to be allowed to roam a bit, maybe find my own love, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me.

I sighed heavily as Rosita piled my hair up high with baby’s breath and pink tea roses, leaving big barrel curls to fall down my neck. Areys turned me to her and began my makeup regime: lotion, shadow, purple liner to bring out the blue of my eyes, and candy apple red lips. I looked back in the mirror. “I look like a porcelain doll,” I whispered, shaking my head.

“You look like an exalted one should,” Areys countered, putting her hands on my shoulders. I could feel her pushing her calming will upon me.

“Please don’t. It makes me feel like I’m on drugs or something.” I gently pushed her hands away. She nodded, stepping back.

Rosita brought me my gown; it was white with a keyhole opening and a corset back that lifted my cleavage high. The length went to the floor and it was slit up to the thigh on one side. “Time to get dressed, My Lady Marigold.”

I nodded, standing as Areys went to get my shoes. I slipped on the gown and grabbed the post of the mahogany bed as Rosita laced me up good and tight.

“Ugh... Easy,” I complained. I loved the corset look but hated the feel of having to wear the damned thing. I kinda liked breathing. I mean, who doesn’t? Right? I looked at Areys who seemed to be in a panic. “What’s wrong?”

“Your heels! I cannot find them!”

“They have to be here somewhere.” I looked around as a knock came to my chamber door.

Rosita ran over, opening it just barely. “Oh, thank “Oberon!”

The door swung open and Alewar, my Guardian, came walking in, dangling my heels from his fingers.

“How-”

“They had a scuff, My Lady, so I took them to be buffed out.” He bowed to me, his eyes lifted ever so slightly, however, and their emerald green seemed to smolder.

I swallowed hard, remembering the kiss we had shared in a moment of passion and uncertainty. When Grigori University was falling to ashes and there was a chance I might never see him again, he had taken me up into his arms and… I’d never been kissed so deeply in my life! We’ve never discussed it. It’s been a few weeks since then, but we haven’t talked about it. We should talk about it. I want to talk about it. I burn up every time I think about it.

My insides twisted up as he motioned for me to sit and kneeled at my feet, helping me into my heels. It was like Cinderella; only he wasn’t my Prince Charming. Was he? I don’t think they would let me have him, even if I was brave enough to ask. I slipped my foot into the heel and he wrapped the straps up my ankle and around my calf, tying them in place. It was like a Roman sandal with a four-inch heel, all strappy and crisscrossed.

His hands lingered on my calf for a moment before he stood up and put out his hand to me. Clearing his throat, he asked, “My Lady Marigold, shall we go? They will be expecting you forthwith.”

I forced a smile, as I had the last three parties. I hated these things, now that they were all about trying to get me into bed with some Otherkind Royal just to solidify the relationship to the Fae. So far, none of them fit. I was glad for it. We Fae, the Maidens of the Hills, are a special breed; we can only mate with a select few. After our inductions, our bodies go through a… Change, making us only open to those deserving of us. Basically, we’re frigid unless a suitor is worthy of us, then all bets are off. So far, the Vampires and the Sylphs had failed, so had the Chupacabra and the Werewolves. Brrr... I was glad too. Some of them were gnarly looking. Tonight, I would be meeting with Princes Tyreese and Fareed Kyeen, sons of Tyran Kyeen, the Werecat Tribal King. I guess they were hedging their bets this time with a twofer.

I took Alewar’s hand and it eclipses mine as my arm slipped into his. The coolness of his Armor against my hot skin felt good and instantly calmed my racing nerves just as it sent a shiver down my spine.

“Are you alright, My Lady Marigold?” he asked, his thumb rubbing the top of my hand gently, like a lover might.

“Y-yes. Let’s get going, then.” I straightened up, and we proceeded out of my bedchamber.

 

***

 

The walk from my little apartment wasn’t long, but it was beautiful. The night was just falling and the twinkle lights were coming up in the gardens, which were lined with Fae guards. Queen Mabe spared no expense when it came to protecting her Maidens or her other pretty, pretty things. She is a collector of sorts: of silver, of gold, of statues, of beautiful people. She kept us all in her glittering Stuart-style mansion and the thirteen apartments surrounding the grounds here in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The Main house, which Mabe and her Submissives call home, overlooks the bay on the back side. With fall readily here, one cannot deny the absolute awe of this season of color. Reds, oranges, and bits of green speckled through golden hues, this was Mother Nature giving her heaving sigh before the Winter took hold and it was fantastic. I reached up grabbing an oak leaf from a low hanging branch and twirled it in my fingers, slowing my pace.

“My Lady Marigold?” Alewar asked with concern, halving his step ever more than usual, his six-foot-two frame aside my five-foot height made our walking together awkward when we had first begun. Though, now, we were far more fluid in our movements, except when I changed it up like now.

I shook my head. “Do you think we too go through seasons? Like they say? That we love, live, breathe, and move along the life’s wheel and turn and change with the year?”

He furrowed his brow at me but didn’t answer.

“I feel like I haven’t changed in years… I-” I sighed, dropping the leaf into the fountain pool beside us and watching it spin in the water. “I feel like I’ve been a child forever. I stopped aging fifteen years ago and never did anything to expand my horizons past this…” I waved my hands over my body. “I’ve let it take me where I wanted to go, but my mind… Maybe I’m the one not deserving of these suitors, not the other way around.”

He suddenly blew smoke. “Excuse me… But, how can you say something so asinine? You-you are passionate about your world, talented, and generous. Loving, kind, perhaps a little self-absorbed at times, but it’s to be expected at your age, you want for more than you have and there is nothing wrong with that! If these men aren’t able to see you for who you are then, of course, it isn’t going to work! They are here for political gains, not for love. That is why this isn’t working. Not because you are lacking, but because they are. Never again think it is you.” He grabbed me by the shoulders, squeezing me just a tad too tightly as he looked down into me. “Do you understand?”

My mouth hung open a moment as I hung there in his arms; he’d nearly lifted me off of my feet. I shook some, as he’d never been so forceful with me. I was scared and aroused all in the same instant. My lip quivered. “I…”

“Never doubt yourself. You’re perfect. It’s others who must rise up to meet you.”

I grasped his forearms, my nails biting into them, realizing his scales has risen. Deep black and golden domes ran up and down sinewy lines of flesh. His emerald green eyes flickered brightly as I ran my hands up his arms.

“Ale-” before I could eke out his name his head turned downward and his mouth had silenced me. His hands wrapped around my body, and I was pinned to a bit of shrubbery. His whole body felt as though it were about to combust; heat radiated off of him and into me as his tongue sought to part my surprised lips. He delved into me, searching for my soul with that magic muscle, and in that moment, I hoped he would find it.

His hands slid down under my ass, repositioning me so that my legs wrapped over his hips and I crossed my ankles to latch on. I gasped, coming up for air, and he kissed down my throat, licking at the tops of my now heaving cleavage.

“Yes...” I cooed. “More… I need more…”

“Ahem.”

Suddenly, I was let down to the ground, and as I looked up, I found I was face to face with the Fae Guard Larsen. He was an acquaintance of Alewar’s but also an employee to the Queen. I tried to catch my breath and straighten myself out.

“Larsen,” Alewar gritted out, standing in front of me. “I thought you were working the party?”

“I am. I heard a commotion, so I wandered over. Did you two forget the party is in the Garden this evening?”

I lowered my head. I felt like a complete and total hussy, but kissing Alewar felt so—good. I wanted more of it.

“I’m not one to judge. Just… They are starting to wonder where she is.” He nodded to me and wiped at his lip as if to say I should do the same.

I nodded a thank you as Alewar turned to me and shook his head. He pulled out a tissue and wiped at my face, correcting my lipstick, then wiped his own face off, as I’d smeared it on his face as well.

“Thank you, Larsen, for your help and your discretion.”

“Anytime.” Larsen put his hands behind his back and walked away, back toward the sounds of the music and the party.

Alewar looked down at me with a heavy sigh. “I think we may need to have a talk.”

“Ya think?” I laughed as he took my hand. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“You do what you must. One step at a time. For now, just breathe.”

With that bit of advice, we headed to meet my potential husbands.