Legends of Astræa: Cupid's Arrow Book 1 (Legends of Astræa Series) Read online

  He inhaled, arched his brow, narrowed his lips, and shook his head. He was right to be disappointed in me. My head turned and watched Nicholas marching our way. He smiled back at me with strange confidence, recognizing who I was under the wrong dress.

  “Whatever happens next, do not act rash, Ailie. We can fix it. Do you understand?” Francis warned me, but the significance of his words was lacking in context. No. I had no idea what he was talking about.

  Fix what? Fighting Demyan to let me go? Or was he warning me about having sex with Nicholas? Running away with Demyan? Stealing those notebooks? Saving Gavril? Something else entirely? Now, I was even more confused.

  “I will make sure she is fine. It is better if you let us move away from the Pontus, Francis,” Demyan said to him. We both noticed the use of his first name from Demyan’s lips. Unfortunately, not before the prince had reached for my free hand, making me gasp with his touch.

  My entire being jolted with him. As if I was in slow motion, I turned to meet his eyes. I felt numerous butterflies inside the pit of my stomach, giddily clouding my perception as he smiled. I smiled back. Suddenly, the world was a capsule that bounced happily with us inside. Life was marvelous. I was in love.

  “Mr. Greco, I think it is my turn to steal a dance with my bride to be,” he said without looking at him. The humming in our chest had us locked onto each other.

  “Lady Pearson doesn’t feel quite well. She has requested to leave the party right now.” With me, Demyan’s thought added.

  “I appreciate you escorting her safely off the dance floor. I never thought your services extended to entertaining my future bride, a Royal-blood heiress.” Nicholas grinned at me, disregarding Demyan’s possessive hand on my waist.

  Demyan held me closer, if that was at all possible. I shook my head back at him and mouthed please. Francis observed our secret exchange with extreme curiosity.

  “I believe Lady Pearson has the last word, Your Royal Highness,” Francis interjected.

  Nicholas grinned even more broadly at me. “One dance, please,” he requested wickedly. But it didn’t matter how strong Demyan’s grip on my waist was, I was under a spell, and I had a plan to follow through with—get Nicholas to release Gavril, then escape.

  I heard my voice say, without asking for my permission, “One dance.”

  I felt Demyan’s hand release my waist and Nicholas replace the vacated space with his. Impossibly so, his hand felt large and possessive on my waist as he led me to the dance floor and away from Demyan and Francis. Nicholas’s eyes had me in rapture. I didn’t look back.

  “My sincere apologies, Ailie. I guess you didn’t like the dress theme, or was it my gifts?” he asked, looking at Lady Pontus’s rubies and diamonds on my neck with hurt in his eyes.

  I felt his hurt intimately. Then my gaze turned to Demyan. He stood with his arms crossed and a miserable frown on his face. He was equally hurt. Crap. I had managed to make a true mess of this night. Hurray. Yay me.

  “Of course, I wouldn’t be the first one tonight to tell you how devastatingly beautiful you are,” Nicholas whispered into my ear.

  I blushed, and suddenly, I had two left feet. The prince didn’t seem to notice my stepping on him as I felt terrible about myself. After all, I was preparing to deceive him.

  And so very mine—just mine forever, he thought, looking at me directly.

  My smile froze. I inhaled at the possessive and very confining feeling of being in his arms. But I wasn’t doing anything to stop him. Even after accidentally stepping on him several times, all I wanted was for him to ravish me with one kiss.

  “I also should be ultimately offended with Lord Tarbelli for keeping you from me. But I feel ultimately generous right now, since I have spoken to your grandmother.” He lifted his hand interlaced with mine and kissed it.

  What? “Wait, what grandmother?”

  My brain disconnected from all questions as his lips descended onto and ravished mine. Nothing else mattered.

  Chapter 45

  Like in a subdued foggy dream, and in the remote distance of my brain, I listened to the minds of Francis and Demyan as they stood watching us dance.

  “I sincerely hope you have several strategies in motion,” Francis said, standing in the same spot as before with his arms crossed. He was next to Demyan Greco who suddenly had taken the same body posture as him. Except Francis had my letter opened in his hand. He must have finished reading it.

  “I do. We were ready to leave at any moment’s notice,” Demyan told him, accusing him with subtlety about his inopportune interference.

  “You did all this on purpose,” Francis accused him.

  “I am doing what you couldn’t but should have done from the very first moment she stepped inside this place,” Demyan said.

  “I suppose your meddling has nothing to do with the fact that you want her all for yourself,” Francis accused him more.

  “NO. She is willing to give her virtue in exchange for her friend’s freedom.” Demyan’s harsh and reproachful undertone said how much he condemned my decision. For me, it was a small price to pay, but I had the suspicion that immortals like him or Francis valued a girl’s virtue above what society in this century did.

  “Good grief. She is just being silly again,” Francis said.

  I guess he had a good reason to treat me like a little silly girl. I was one for not trusting him more with my plan, but time was of essence. This was the way I could protect him or Gavril or Nicholas or even Demyan.

  “Did you even ask her feelings?”

  Nope, Francis was not the Dr. Phil type.

  At that moment, every inch of me was tingling. Nicholas’s hand traveled from my lower bottom to my neck, up and down gently, relaxing me until I was under a clouded doze of contentment with my face on his shoulder. I had to resume my plan. Plan A, which was actually a last-minute idea that was full of unforeseen situations and put together with just a prayer. Plan A. Yeah that plan, where I was supposed to free Marcum and Gavril and avoid marriage. Remember?

  I sighed deeply to clear my thought process.

  “Nicholas, I have a proposition for you,” I said breathlessly.

  He arched his eyebrow, tilting his head.

  “I will have sex with you right now if you let my friend free.” My hearts beat with trepidation. I was lying.

  “You are willing to be mine right now?” he asked, surprised.

  I wasn’t proposing marriage exactly or becoming his property, just a one-time thing. Well, not even that if Demyan would stop everything at eleven.

  “Only if you release his collar without harm to him,” I said. Liar, liar. Pants on fire. I swallowed hard, waiting for his response. I think my breath was uneven.

  “No,” he said. What? Not that. That was not part of Plan A. Crap.

  “W-w why not,” I stuttered, suddenly realizing that perhaps Prince Charming had other plans with Peacock Hair.

  “Because, you and I will not just have… sex. I want—I need your love.” He looked at me, making me feel like one of those rodents in the dungeons.

  I gasped at his demand.

  “I want more, or your friend will have to wait until we marry.” He stipulated his conditions.

  Crap. I sighed in relief. He really had me for a moment. However, the panic set back in. Crap. I was going to say yes and betray his love after that. I felt like the most despicable person in the world. Maybe he would forgive and forget all about me after I was gone, whether I vanquished Asmodeus or died trying. I inhaled deep for courage.

  I looked at him seductively and raised my arms. They held his neck to pull him closer to me. I kissed his lips gently and whispered, “Are we going to discuss semantics or are we going to make love?”

  “I believe a little romancing first would help.” He kissed me back and there I was, lost again for a long time. It didn’t matter, we had time. It was barely half an hour before ten.

  He kissed me madly, and I hardly even noticed when he
slid a large diamond-and-sapphire ring on my finger. I had no strength to fight him. All I wanted was to be like this forever—for eternity.

  Eternity…

  Eternity was such an outlandish concept. I wasn’t even prepared to understand. I wouldn’t think anyone was for that matter. Well, of course with the exception of immortals with a very royal upbringing like the prince. According to Francis, he was a young prince, barely over two hundred years of age. My head couldn’t even understand my first sixteen…

  He pressed against me even closer than should be legally possible. He kissed my fingered ring and the back of my hand, then he moved to kiss my lips again.

  We were alone, lost in our little world, leagues apart from the party. In fact, we had forgotten about the party until we heard the heavy clapping of applauses. Then we both woke from our clouded state of mind to realize the music had stopped long before, and that we in fact were the only couple on the dance floor.

  Nicholas bowed at me. Blushing at the situation, I curtseyed graciously at the crowd in response. I was utterly mortified and concerned. The prince grinned at his public with my hand in his as he raised it to his lips in a display of his priceless possession. His future queen. What have I done?

  My face was bright red as I confronted Demyan’s gaze. His lips tightened with a bitter stony smile. He seemed to be cursing under his breath while his eyes were full of cold detachment. His emotions were gone to the world. But I knew the truth… I felt it. He was so unhappy. He undid his arms and turned on his heels with his back on me.

  I knew then that somehow I had broken Demyan’s heart for not running away with him, maybe even for playing with fire in Nicholas arms’s and not trusting him or Francis to help me fix this mess. Suddenly, I felt responsible for Demyan’s happiness, Francis’s safety, Gavril’s freedom, and Nicholas’s kingdom. Why was not even a question anymore. It was a fact. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but as bad as it was, I was just protecting them.

  Francis watched our exchange with a small shrug of his shoulders. Of course, neither he nor Demyan knew about the golden arrow, and whatever explanation I would give them was going to sound like a made-up excuse from the book on How to Make Excuses for Dummies.

  I looked for Demyan’s mask among the crowd. I needed to apologize, to explain. I had no choice now but to tell Francis and Demyan the truth about the golden arrow. Maybe I was too late. Maybe they would never believe me. But things were going to get worse. Nicholas was never going to forgive me for lying to him. For betraying his love for me. For running away from him. God, that broke my heart further. By then I feared Demyan had left the room and that he wasn’t going to help me with Plan A. I guess I was asking way too much from him.

  As my gaze searched for Demyan, I almost missed a figure clad in a black cloak and white ceramic full-face mask approach us.

  “You should have died. You will destroy the world. You will bring hell on earth,” the voice said—a Draugr voice.

  I gasped at those threatening words before I was aware of the Draugr’s cloak opening and a small size crossbow appearing from underneath.

  Swoosh-sh…

  As if by an act of magic and out of nowhere, Demyan Greco moved with unnatural speed in front of me, holding the arrow with his right hand just before it had struck him in the heart. I gasped and gaped numbly.

  My knees felt shaken and weak all of a sudden. Francis had moved to knock the Draugr in two fast moves onto the floor. The prince’s bodyguards took over after that, but they were unnaturally pushed away from the Draugr.

  In absolute horror, the entire party watched stricken how the cloak floated as if the invisible body had been lifted from the floor and a terrible force had taken over it. In helpless silence, we heard the clear sound of bones crushing, snapping the Draugr’s body like an accordion. The Draugr’s body died, turned blue, and dropped like a sack of potatoes onto the floor. I had seen this crushing happen before.

  The night Mother Clarisse died.

  Everything came rushing in my head. Mother Clarisse, Émil’s torture… Ash.

  Ash was at the party. Apparently, Asmodeus had been invited. Right, he was also an elder. Lord Aurous. But I couldn’t see him. Shucks. What was next, the primordials? For a silent moment, Francis and I exchanged glances. We knew exactly what this meant. Nicholas and I were in danger now, and it was all my fault. It was just a matter of time before the crazy assassins in red cloaks and shaved heads with tattoos would crash the party too.

  For the first time tonight, I searched for Ash the one way I could at this point, since I couldn’t see or hear him. His signature anger-wave. But I couldn’t feel anything. The golden arrow. Had kissing Nicholas obliterated everything else? I let Nicholas’s hand go. Instantly, a wave of pure bitter evil hit me. Ash was somewhere in the ballroom, along the sidelines with the rest of the aghast Strzyga watching us.

  Everything was clear now.

  Everyone was in terrible danger because of me. I had to leave the palace very soon. Ash wasn’t going to spare any of my friends. But then again, I wondered why he had had attacked the Draugr that wanted me dead. Shouldn’t he be giving it a badge of honor instead? What was he waiting for?

  I had a feeling he couldn’t attack me in front of all these people. Why? Was he hiding the fact he was an elder, or not a Strzyga? That he had unearthly powers? That he was absolute evil? Or was he being cautious of something entirely else, like the power of the golden arrow?

  “No-o. Oh, no, no,” Count Something-Ridiculously-ish cried.

  My shock was replaced by another one, his ridiculous fox-face mask. He knelt and held the dead body of the Draugr. My brain wasn’t registering the situation fully, yet.

  His Draugr had just tried to kill me. And Ash had killed the Count’s Draugr. Wow. Crap. I was now more confused than ever. The Count dropped the body of his Draugr and turned his gaze on me with utter hatred, then he stood and strode with ingrained omnipotence closer toward Nicholas.

  “It is all her fault. You did this.” He accused me, pointing his finger at me. What? Gratefully, everyone looked at him as if he had gone insane.

  Suddenly, everything happened too fast. The Count stabbed Nicholas in his chest with something metallic. My best one yet, the Count’s evil mind said.

  Best one? Holy crap. Demyan and Francis launched to protect me at the same time.

  Nicholas stood shocked on his two legs as he pulled out a large metallic syringe with the remaining last drops of a ruby color syrup that had just been inoculated to his system. He was mesmerized as he examined it. I had seen such an instrument before, lying outside Marcum’s cell. His body suddenly swayed. I fought Francis’s and Demyan’s grasp, so I could help Nicholas avoid crashing to the floor, but it was a futile exercise. Nicholas inhaled, regaining his balance without my help, or anyone’s for that matter.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Nicholas, feeling Demyan’s grasp let my hand go. What a dumb question. Of course, he wasn’t okay. He had just been poisoned with something no one could possibly comprehend. Except, I had a very good guess of what horrors it could do. I felt my knees weaken, but Francis held me. I reckoned I was feeling the shock myself, but then I realized I had felt what Nicholas had felt. How could this be? The arrow.

  Nicholas nodded back at me, tossing the instrument over the marble floor, and standing on his own, as if he had been given a shot of strength.

  “She will destroy the world,” the Count shouted, as he fought Demyan to get to Francis and me.

  Our captive audience exploded in a gabble fest. I stepped back. I knew it would take very little to convince this audience I was the harbinger of doom. Now it was really a matter of time before the primordials would show up and execute me. I wondered why Ash didn’t move or even try to flatten the palace with me inside. Nothing. What was his game?

  “Kostas Rurikovich, you are accused with the attempted murder of your future queen and king. Take him away,” Nicholas said with utter disgust.

  I
hadn’t even seen Nicholas to know he was angry. My eyes were on the audience, where I was having a glare-matching contest with an invisible Ash. The entire room was between shock and shock. They couldn’t decide what was more newsworthy: witnessing the murder attempt on us or the betrayal by the crown’s personal adviser. Personally, the news of being announced publicly as the bringer of doomsday had me speechless.

  “Reginald, Mr. Greco, have him executed by morn,” he commanded. The circus guards dragged his sorry backside.

  “She will destroy us all!”

  I flinched as he continued his screaming all the way out. He thought I was going to destroy the world. He was wrong, wasn’t he? I felt like holding onto Francis again as beads of sweat formed on my forehead.

  “Francis, take her out of here now,” Demyan commanded, without even glancing at me. “I’ll take care of His Royal Highness.” He broke the arrow in half with his hands. This action made my mind return to the scene at hand.

  Francis pulled me away, making things worse. I needed to save Gavril and help everyone escape. Everyone was in danger because of me. How did this happen? I was in the worst possible trouble I had ever imagined. Everyone was. My body was slow to respond. I felt numb, but my brain reacted as Nicholas grabbed my hand again.

  “NO.” Nicholas stopped us. “She will come with me.” His voice left no room for argument.

  “Miss Pearson, you should return those rubies right now.” Demyan’s voice was colder than the ice inside the many champagne glasses throughout the party, matching Nicholas’s autocratic mood.

  What? rubies? Oh, yes. The ones on my neck. But it didn’t make sense. Why? I would just offend Adelaide.

  “The proper legalities have taken place, Mr. Greco. I would advise to keep your mouth shut as a sign of respect for the kingdom’s property.” Nicholas reprehended Demyan with absolute authority, not unusual for him. However, I could sense a subtle change in him. Property?