Fates Entwined: Halven Rising

Keen must have gotten the hint about Reese’s clothes being too long, because soon after he left for guard duty, or whatever he did around this place, a team of seamstresses flooded her room. The women poked and measured, showing her dozens of fabric swatches. Reese prayed it was for something practical like jeans and a comfortable shirt, but the fabrics they presented didn’t look cozy, or even stretchy. They looked shimmery and elegant. Which would have been fun back home, but not here amid the Fae and their dungeons.

What was with dressing her up like a Victorian doll? It was one thing for her to wear the dresses her mom bought for her back home. They were on the sexy side, but they were fun, and Reese loved her mom. The Fae taste in women’s clothing sucked.

Reese stood still while the women did their thing. She was in nothing but a flowing white undergarment that was thin but covered her from collarbone to knee. So basically, she was clothed beneath the clothing she’d eventually wear. She’d hate to see what they wore for bathing suits.

A light rap sounded, and the large wooden door to her room opened.

Ulric entered, his eyes darting away at the sight of her. “You are well?” He stared at the wall, seemingly embarrassed.

Reese shook her head. She wasn’t fully dressed, but she was wearing her potato sack underwear. Ulric hadn’t had a problem with her tight, short dress when she’d been in the dungeon, yet now he blushed?

“Are you talking about after you starved and nearly froze me to death?” she asked.

He turned to her and his handsome mouth pulled back in discomfort. “I did not know you were so…fragile. Please forgive me.”

So far, Marlon and Portia, and even Keen, at times, acted as if she were inferior. Why would Ulric care how he’d treated her? “Are you trying to gain information by being nice to me? Because I’ll tell you right now, I know nothing.”

His eyebrows drew together, and suddenly Reese experienced something that made her think she hadn’t fully recovered from her dungeon stay.

She couldn’t tell by his expression—yet somehow she sensed sincere guilt for the way he’d treated her in the cell.

“I will leave you to your—” He waved his hand vaguely at the fabrics. “I merely wished to apologize for how I enacted my orders. I should have confirmed your—uh—needs.”

A Fae with a conscience?

“Hold on. Before you go, let me ask you something. You treated me like a piece of meat when they dumped me in that cell. Is this change of heart all because you feel bad?”

He shifted his feet. “I thought you were a human when you first arrived.”

“So?”

“It would have made you…less.”

“Less, as in no biggie if you’d used my body for your pleasure?”

He winced lightly—only it was mental. He’d made no physical movement.

She was losing it. Discovering Fae existed—that she was a part of it—her mind was beginning to snap.

“I would have never touched you, or anyone, without approval,” he said. “But I’ve heard humans are…easy.” He lifted one shoulder. “I was curious.”

She sighed. There might even be some truth to that. Fae were beautiful; they probably never got turned down. “You realize there wouldn’t be Halven if you guys weren’t so eager to sleep with the riffraff?”

Ulric exuded light remorse. Again, not from something he did; she’d sensed it. “Halven are considered a distasteful side effect. No offense, miss. The Halven Elena saved our people. Some are worthy.”

“All Halven and humans have value.”

“As you say.”

Reese took a deep breath. Ulric was trying, even if he was extremely misled. Fae had been raised with these beliefs for who knew how long? That they’d changed their thinking at all was probably miraculous.

One battle at a time. “Before you go, can you talk these ladies into making me something comfortable to wear? Pants and a top? Something I can move in.”

He nodded and approached the head seamstress. She wore a matronly high-necked gown with her measuring tape tied like a belt around her waist. Reese wasn’t optimistic, but she was desperate for something other than Victorian dresses, and Ulric seemed in a charitable mood.

He spoke in a low tone to the woman. The woman’s mouth pinched, but she gave him a curt nod.

Ulric dipped his head toward Reese, then headed for the door, exiting the room. It was a simple gesture, that head dip, but Reese picked up on so much more.

Emotions he hadn’t shown or in any way expressed.

Ulric still felt shame, but he was cheerier than when he’d entered…and Reese knew this because she could tell his emotions like her own. The same way she knew the head seamstress was irritated, and that the younger one was excited.

What. The. Hell.

The excitement from the younger seamstress she might have read from physical cues, because the girl was bubbly, but detecting the other Fae’s emotions? No way.

This couldn’t be the powers Keen had talked about. It wasn’t the ability to create fire or move objects. This was just…weird.

She was hungry, that was all. She’d not eaten nearly enough.

Reese reached for a sandwich from the food tray. It contained some mysterious meat substance she tried not to think about while she ate.

And if she could tell her seamstresses’ emotions as they flittered around the room, she kept it to herself…until two days later.

“Where are we going?” Reese nearly jogged to keep up with Keen’s long stride, all the while taking in her surroundings.

The New Kingdom palace was bigger than she’d imagined—long corridors with beautiful light stone flooring and intricate wainscoting along the walls and niches. The niches and built-in shelving were filled with statues of warriors and angels. Paintings on the walls looked like masterpieces, only no masterpieces she’d ever seen in the museums she’d visited with her wealthy parents.

“You said you wanted exercise,” Keen replied without slowing his pace. “We will train.”

Reese peered in an open doorway they passed. It led to the biggest room she’d ever seen, and that was saying a lot, considering the ballrooms and homes she’d been in, growing up in Hollywood. The stunning passageway where they walked looked miniscule compared to the room, which seemed to extend the length of a city block.

And then Reese’s brain caught up to Keen’s words. “Train? For what?”

His jaw firmed. “You need fighting skills. The longer they contain you, the more concerned I grow about their intentions.”

Reese swiveled her head distractedly at the statue of what looked to be a woman making love to a tall, muscular man with wings. What the… She shook her head and raced to keep up. “Right, well, you said they wanted to use me. We just don’t know how.”

Keen stopped suddenly and Reese almost ran into him. “What do they expect to gain from you? And what do they hope to gain from your father?” he asked rhetorically and with a great deal of agitation.

“Father? You mean that guy my mother had the affair with? Who cares? It was a one-night stand. I doubt he cares I’m alive.”

Keen sighed harshly. “Your kind might be blasé about coupling—”

“Whoa, coupling? You mean sex. Are Fae really that uptight that you can’t say the word?”

He stepped forward, but Reese held her ground. He might be big and striking, but she was no pushover. “Coupling is not considered an act one does for the simple pleasure of it.”

Reese snorted. “I highly doubt that. Ulric…” The look Keen leveled at her made her pause before continuing that train of thought. Keen could be a scary-ass warrior when he wanted to be, and the look he was giving her right now said he was on the brink of rage.

Interesting.

He quirked an eyebrow, but the tension in his jaw didn’t subside. “You were saying? Ulric what? He told me he did not touch you.”

“He didn’t, but he made it clear he’d be happy to warm me up.” She grinned, enjoying the figurative steam coming out of Keen’s ears. “In other words, he flirted with me when he thought I was nothing but a lowly human only good for…coupling. You do know what flirting is, don’t you?”

He let out a long, slow breath. Was he even listening? “I will make sure he pays for his words.”

Okay, that wasn’t the reaction she’d wanted. Well, maybe a little, but not that extreme. “It was nothing. The point is, I highly doubt Fae don’t find pleasure in the act.”

“I never said that.” Something flickered in Keen’s eyes.

Oh God, he needed to stop looking at her that way. Every once in a while, he’d shoot her a heated gaze, like the one he was giving her now, and it messed with her head. When he crowded her with all of that arrogant warrior rolling off him, his words giving a different message than his body—it was confusing as hell.

Keen glanced to the side. “It takes most Fae centuries to sire a full-Fae child, and some never do. There are social rules to ensure paternity. If a man chooses a woman, she must be faithful to him. They may part after a time and partner with another.”

She raised her finger. “Hold up. Do you mean the woman has to be faithful…but not the guy?”

“It is our way. The man must know he is the father.”

“Kind of a double standard, don’t you think?”

“It is the only way to ensure the child belongs to her mate.”

“Or you could see a doctor and ask him or her to run a paternity test.”

“We’ve never needed doctors; there are no such tests in Tirnan. Running a human test, with the physiological differences between our two species, would be impossible. A human doctor would have to make allowances in Fae and human genetics, and our existence has remained a secret from humans for millennia. It must continue to remain so. Our forefathers insisted on it.”

“Your what? You mean the angels?”

“Humans have varying beliefs about religion. Different gods and deities—each religion claiming to own us. Knowledge of our kind would be controversial at the very least, and would cause war in the extreme.”

Reese didn’t know how many wars had been fought over differences in religious beliefs. A lot. “Fine, human doctors are out, but you could still use human science in Tirnan to determine the father of a child. Not like you guys aren’t already utilizing other modern conveniences. Or—now here’s an idea—Fae could use birth control and then you wouldn’t have to worry about who the father was. You could be intimate for pleasure.” She made sure to give him a sultry smile on that last word.

Keen scowled. “Birth control? Our greatest wealth is furthering our race, particularly the noble lines closest to the angels. We do not prevent conception.”

“Okaaay.” She held up her hands. “I get it. It’s a touchy subject. We were talking about my biological father, anyway, and I still don’t see why he would care about me. My being a mere Halven and all. He returned to Tirnan to be with his Fae daughter. No one around here cares about the half-bloods.”

“You are correct. We detest Fae-diluted offspring. They’re a nuisance and defy everything we hold dear, weakening our abilities.”

She clutched her chest in mock pain. “That hurts, Keen. But if it’s true…” She paused for dramatic emphasis. “Why did they ask Elena for help? And why are they holding me here?”

He looked away. “Halven of nobility are—”

“Awesome-sauce. Kickass. Gorgeous specimens of perfect—”

“Unusual,” he said.

Reese glanced at the ceiling and shrugged. “I’ll take it. In other words, I’m extra special. I still don’t see how that makes a difference. My father is a Fae with noble blood. They think I’ll have powers…” Reese’s voice drifted off. The emotions she’d picked up from her seamstresses and Ulric came back to her. Emotions she’d read without physical cues. She didn’t want to believe that could be her power, because it seemed weird, and to tell the truth, kind of weak. But what if it was?

“What’s wrong?” Keen asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing.” Reese never read Keen’s emotions, and she didn’t think the abilities Halven possessed were choosy that way. What she’d experienced couldn’t be her power. “If Halven are so universally detested, why would my father want anything to do with me, powers or not?”

Keen stepped back and opened a door across the hall. “Elena saved our people. It left a lasting impression. They may want to keep you in Tirnan for your abilities, something we prize. A few believe Halven of noble blood could be of use—never for procreation, but for other purposes.”

Reese rolled her eyes. “Right—never for sex. Except, that’s how we got here,” she said, circling back to the argument she most enjoyed.

Keen frowned. “Enough.” He waved her inside a room that looked different from the others she’d seen thus far. This one was—insignificant. Kind of plain. With gym equipment. “The queen and I have come to an agreement, and I’ve been given access to the training rooms. We will train, and attempt to prepare as best we can for what lies ahead.”

Sure, because that didn’t sound ominous.