These Wicked Revels Page 8

  “Here—I have a knife.” She lifted her skirt enough to pull a sheathed knife from her boot. She always kept it with her when she went out alone, just in case she ran into bandits. I always told her one girl and one knife was no match for bandits, but I guess it made her feel better.

  “You know how I always hassled you about how useless one knife is? Well, a lot of good one knife will do against a king and his subjects.”

  “Well…it’s something,” she said, her face drawn with worry now. “I didn’t expect this to get so dangerous.” She clutched my hand. “Will—I can’t lose you too.”

  I squeezed her fingers back. “I’ll come back. I promise. And you’re going to have everything you ever dreamed of, save bringing back the dead.”

  She nodded, but I still couldn’t stand seeing fear in her steely gray eyes. If I died, even Jeannie’s tough heart would break. It wasn’t an option.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Evaline

  I barely ate a bite at dinner. Mother blamed the whipping for stealing my appetite, and told Father I shouldn’t have to watch. But the real reason, of course, was that I knew this was my last night here. Tonight, I would give up my mask and walk down that dark path. I would belong to the faery man with the beautiful voice.

  Your body would be forced into submission, all control surrendered, waiting and ready for my claim…

  What was going to happen to me? Would it be the same fate if I gave my mask to the singer instead of the king?

  I was as excited as I was scared. Every time I thought of it, I throbbed between my legs. The revels had unleashed something in me that I didn’t think could ever be ignored. I had to go there, whether I liked it or not. With all my being, I yearned to be touched again like I had last night.

  When night came, I had never been so relieved. I slipped down the stairs as I always did, and met the faery handmaidens, as I always did. But it felt so different, because this time, I knew I would not be coming back.

  I wondered if that human man was following me again. It must have been him I was hearing in the grove behind me, his weight that had bogged down the boat. He must possess some sort of invisibility enchantment. I tried to get into the boat quickly, and told the king, “Hurry.”

  But he was in no hurry. He was looking at me, plainly displeased. “In a hurry to see someone?”

  “I’m sorry, your majesty, I just…”

  “I don’t know who that man was.” He paused. “Are you planning on giving him your mask?”

  “I don’t mean to offend you. I have so enjoyed dancing with you. I just thought…his music was very beautiful.”

  “You belong to me.”

  “No, I don’t! I don’t have to keep coming. None of my sisters stayed here, as you well know.”

  I felt the weight of the boat shifting behind me, as if someone was climbing in. The king suddenly shoved my head down and swept his oar just over me. I felt the boat rock wildly, as if someone was dodging the oar. I shrieked as the king swung the oar again, and the boat tipped in the struggle. Behind me, a body splashed into the water, and a second later, I lost my balance myself. The boat flipped over and we were all in the water. My skirt was billowing up, leaving my lower half quite naked. I tried to shove it down.

  I looked around and saw my faery gentleman surface. The king was just on the other side of me, and he started swimming toward his rival. “I don’t know who you are, but—” He pulled back a fist.

  Quickly, I tore off my mask and shoved it at the other faery. “Please,” I said. “It is you I want! Don’t hurt him, your majesty!”

  The king’s eyes widened, and then he laughed. “Do you know what you’ve done? Do you know what your fate is now?”

  “Wh—what?”

  “This mask is made from the leaves of my bond tree. And its binding magic will deliver you there. It doesn’t matter who fucks you, in the end. You will be trapped here forever. You will not be able to take her to your own lands, sir. One way or another, I will drink in your power, but it would have been so much easier if you had let me be the one to claim you. So much more pleasant for both of us. Now you will both be trapped here.”

  “My power? I don’t have power.”

  “Your fertility, your lust…they put off power that will now belong to me. Everyone who comes to my revels gives their power to me. Go on. Wait for him.”

  Indeed, I was starting to feel an irresistible pull to that forest path now, and it was scaring me. I had made a terrible mistake, and there was no help for it. I should have listened to Alexandra. I shot one last look at my faery man. I’m so sorry. Then I started swimming for shore.

  I reached the bank. My dress was soaked to my skin. For the first time, my face was bare without my mask, and the faeries stared at me. Somehow I felt more shame at them seeing my face than in the fact that I had been wearing a semi-sheer dress all this time.

  The female musician, in particular, looked at me like she knew I had lost a battle with temptation. Some of the other girls, girls without masks, looked at me with pity.

  Oh god, what have I done?

  Of all the paths that led away from the revels, this path was the deepest and darkest. The trees hung over it, so tall and thick, that they blotted out the stars and moon almost entirely. The forest was full of ancient, hulking rocks and thick brush. Once I had hurried out of sight of the revels, I could barely see one foot in front of me.

  I saw lights ahead. Shivering, I approached the three handmaidens, the same ones who had dressed me for the revels. Now they had serious expressions on their faces. They stood in a small clearing, each holding a torch. They placed the torches into mounts atop posts, giving a soft light to the immediate area. All the light seemed to be swallowed up behind them, by a tree with a thick trunk and very smooth white bark, with vines trailing from its branches. This, I thought, must be his bond tree. It held enchantment, different from all the other trees in the forest.

  “My dear little human,” said the one who always gave me my mask. “Now you are a part of the revels forever.”

  “Is there no way out of this?”

  They glanced at each other. “You were told the rules.”

  “But—I didn’t know the consequences.”

  “Weren’t you? You knew that you would belong to the king if you gave away your mask. Don’t you know that the rules of the faery world will lure you and trick you if you do not remain strong? I’m sorry. Our job now is simply to prepare you.”

  My heart was sinking at my own foolishness, and yet even now, I wondered what my choices were. I was a prisoner at home just as I would be here.

  They drew closer to me. One of them untied the hook fasteners at the back of my neck so the fabric covering my breasts fell down, while the other lifted the petals of my skirts. I tried to fight them, tried to hold the skirt on. One of them swatted my hand.

  “You know it is no use to fight,” the dark haired one said. “Please don’t make us subdue you!”

  I let them drag the dress off of me. I was naked except for the gold at my throat, my wrists and my ankles, and the slippers. My breasts looked very round, my nipples hard, betraying the tiny quiver excitement still worming around deep inside of me, despite my terror.

  I tugged at my hair so it covered my breasts. Now the cool of the forest touched every inch of me. My skin looked so pale and exposed.

  “The gold, we will leave,” said the fair one. “The king likes it.”

  “I thought the king isn’t going to have me,” I said.

  “No, but that is all we know. What does your mysterious man like? We don’t know him.”

  “It wasn’t supposed to go this way,” the redhead added. “But perhaps your heart knows after all. Perhaps you will still find happiness here. Come…” She took my hand, and the dark haired one took my other. The fair one walked just behind me. They urged me to step toward the tree. Some of the vines dropped down lower, like long green snakes. I remembered the faery woman with her hands ca
ught above her head by the vines. But these vines were more numerous.

  My fear sharpened. “What is going to happen?” I cried, trying to turn around to run. They immediately anticipated my move and gripped my wrists tight. The fair one shoved me forward. My slippers stumbled in the grass.

  One of the vines whipped out and grabbed my wrist. The faery women let go. Now when I tried to bolt, the vines snagged me. I whirled around, so I was facing the handmaidens now, and the vines caught my other wrist. They pulled me back, sliding up to my elbows, so I hung from the branches of the tree like a struggling insect in a spider’s web. I kicked my legs. “Please, put me down!”

  More vines slithered up from the ground and caught my kicking feet. They spread my legs a little so that I felt the lips of my pussy draw apart. I wrestled and it was no use. “Please!” I cried again, more feebly. I hung in the air, splayed out in the shape of a star.

  The faery women watched with those impassive expressions. I think they felt sorry for me but there was nothing they could do.

  I stopped struggling, but I was breathing hard. At least, I thought, I had not given my mask to the king! My faery man would be gentle with me; I knew he would.

  The vines shifted their positions to support me a little better as I hung there, and one of the faery women took out a blunt golden blade which glowed with enchantment. Her hand moved toward the short dark hairs between my legs and I tried to cringe back. More vines moved around my hips to force me into my position.

  “It won’t hurt,” she said. “This is the king’s request, but I expect your singer will like it too.”

  She started to slide the golden blade along my delicate skin, shaving me completely. It didn’t hurt at all; in fact, the blade was soothingly warm and almost tickled as she moved it around every careful contour. Worse, as the golden blade and the woman’s careful fingers shifted my folds, working all the way down, the other two handmaidens removed my slippers.

  “No—please!” I started struggling again. They had told me those slippers were my tie to my own world, and I felt the loss of them as they slipped away from my feet. My bare toes felt as exposed as anything.

  Worst of all, just then, the king walked into the clearing. The handmaidens bowed to him and presented him with my slippers.

  He walked up to me, holding one in each hand. I was so ashamed that my first instinct was to look anywhere but at him, but I told myself to be brave. I lifted my chin. But my trembling betrayed my fear.

  “Princess Evaline,” he said. “This is what I hoped to see. You, in the loving embrace of my bond tree. It won’t let you go until you’ve sated it for the night. But I think you are very much ready to be sated.” His hand moved toward my naked cleft, and I battled against the vines with a cry of dismay, but he drew back again and shook his head. “I still cannot touch you. I don’t have your mask. It is a pity, but I will still enjoy your power. You aren’t the first girl to be caught by another man at the revels. Why don’t you sit down and make yourself comfortable?”

  The vines drew me back against the trunk of the tree, and I was able to bring my legs closer together again. My toes found small footholds. The bark was completely smooth; soft, even. It was contoured somewhat, as if ready to accommodate my body. It was a relief to have something to lean on and stand on, and not to just hang in the air. I tried to shift one of my feet, from tiptoes to heels, but there was a small smooth knob poking out of the tree just behind my bottom. I shifted my hips, trying to get around it, and it jabbed me in the tailbone. Then the vines, looping around my shoulders, pulled me back up to my tiptoes again. But as soon as they had hauled me up, they loosened. They didn’t really support me.

  I started sweating, realizing what was happening, what the king wanted from me. The small knob was meant for me to sit directly upon. The only way to avoid it was to keep standing on the very tips of my toes.

  “Come on, Evaline,” he said. “At least give me something. I invited you here. I saved you from your stifling home, didn’t I?”

  I shook my head.

  “Didn’t I do you a favor?” he insisted. He glanced between my legs. “You protest, of course. Demure little creature. But even now you are dripping wet. Do you feel how wet you are?”

  I whimpered, but I couldn’t deny that my body and my mind had different opinions of the situation. My mind didn’t even want to think of home, of how shameful all of this was, and how I would never fit in back home again—if I ever saw home again, which I likely wouldn’t, although that was hard to truly comprehend. In the core of me, however, there was a building heat, and a part of me almost wished the king was able to touch me right now.

  “Where is he?” I cried. “Where is my faery gentleman?”

  The king glanced back. “I don’t know. He should be here by now. I certainly hope he hasn’t abandoned you or I suppose you might be here for a while.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Will

  I watched Evaline struggle to shore, but I kept one eye on the king. He glanced at me with his mouth twisted in a somewhat unreadable expression. It was hard to tell if he was angry or pleased. He seemed a bit of both.

  “Whoever you are, you will be trapped here too,” he said. “As long as you keep her mask for your own, you will be drawn to her again…and again…and again. Still, you’re lucky. If she had not given you her mask, I would have disposed of you.”

  “You bastard,” I said. “You stole my voice, too.”

  “You should have known better than to tangle with the faery realms,” he said. And then he gave me a small, mocking bow. “I will see that the princess is made ready for you.”

  He forged his way to shore, and I followed just behind him. He hurried through the dancers, toward the dark forest path. One of the faery maidens I had danced with before gave me a playful shove when she saw me holding the mask. “So you’ve gone and done it, have you?”

  “I don’t have time,” I said.

  The faeries were dancing around me now. I shoved past them and they let me go, cheering me on to claim her. I must get to the princess.

  But as I was setting foot on the path, the female musician poked her head out of the shrubs. “Psst!”

  I walked closer to her, and she pulled me down into a crouch beside her.

  “I should not be talking to you,” she whispered. “But…I have never seen a lure enjoy my music the way this girl did, and—the yearning for my days of freedom is almost unbearable now.”

  “A ‘lure’?” I asked.

  “One of the girls the king targets for the revels.”

  “Are you also one of his girls, then?” I was alarmed. Her music was beautiful but now I saw the pain in her face.

  “Not in the same way. We musicians have made bargains with him, for one reason or another. Once the revels were a truly glorious celebration, but now there is a shadow upon it, thanks to the king. He targets people who are especially vulnerable to the illusion of freedom he provides, and tries to convince them to join him forever. But like all faeries, he is still bound by rules. He often fails. Evaline’s sisters were able to resist him, but I know she failed because she loves the music so much, and it breaks my heart to think our music has ruined her life, that it convinced her to stay in this trap forever.”

  “It wasn’t you,” I said. “It was me. Is there any way to break the enchantment?”

  “You would have to—“ She paused and shut her eyes. “You would have to kill him. And—it won’t be easy. He is quite strong; I doubt any human could take him in a duel.”

  Kill him. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear when I had vowed never to take a man’s life again, but…what were my options? I could not let Evaline and myself be trapped in this endless dance. “I’m not so bad myself,” I said.

  She gave me a small smile. “You are a bit arrogant, sir, but…you might be the one who can manage it.”

  “How can I best kill him?” I asked. “There must be a way.”

  “If you can get hi
m to let his guard down and kill him in one strike before he realizes what is happening…but of course, he is very suspicious of you. I don’t know. I’m sorry…I suppose it was no use for me to try.”

  I looked at the mask in my hand. “I’m not sure about that. I know what gets a man to let his guard down…”

  If I fail, Evaline…please forgive me.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Evaline

  My feet were trembling. I could not sustain this position. I was starting to grow terrified that my toes would slip and I would fall onto the little knob.

  “Relax, Princess,” the king said. “You should get used to this now. The tree needs to make its own connection with you in order to draw your power. Be good or I think you will find that it has grown by the next time.”

  “Please,” I whispered, but I knew my pleas were no use. My legs were quivering. Slowly and gently, I eased my back entrance against the knob. It felt somewhat slick like it had been prepared for me with oils. I lowered my heels in the smallest intervals, and the knob pushed into me. I moaned.

  I had to look away from the king. I couldn’t bear to see him watching me. I knew the knob was not very big and couldn’t really hurt me, but I never felt anything push into me there before. I was frightened, sweating, desperate to get it over with, feeling its smooth round hardness stretching me inside.

  I gasped. My ass clenched around the knob of wood, but my maidenhood was still empty, displayed to the open air, and more than ever I wished someone would touch me there.

  At least, now, my heels were on the ground, and I was no longer in such a precarious position.

  My faery gentleman finally arrived. I strained against my bonds with relief. I wasn’t sure if the relief was because I thought he would save me, or simply that he would touch me and hold me.

  His eyes shot to me and widened slightly. In the dark, it almost looked like he blushed. He would be tender with me, at least I knew that. But I didn’t know if he could stand against the king.