The Unseelie Bargain (The Fae Kingdom Series Book 1), page 7
Flora steered Aurora straight to the dais to stand next to the King’s empty throne to wait. Aurora felt butterflies fluttering around in her stomach as she grew nervous. She was about to be in a room full of Unseelie fae. How would they act? What would they do when The King introduced her?
“It will all be fine, Aurora. Try to relax and enjoy yourself. You will do amazing tonight when you play. Don’t even worry,” Flora assured her. Aurora could only give her a nervous smile in response, scared that if she opened her mouth, the nausea in her stomach would cause everything to come up.
Flora gave her a wink before turning on her heels and heading back for the ballroom entrance to help welcome guests. Aurora calmed herself enough to get most of the nausea to go away by taking a few more deep breaths. Before long, people began making their way into the ballroom and Aurora stood still, observing them as they entered.
It seemed, as more fae entered, that Aurora would be the only one wearing gold tonight. She assumed it made sense since Flora had said this ball was to celebrate her, but she couldn’t quite get comfortable with the fact that she stood out from everyone else.
Once all the guests had arrived, most of them astonishing Aurora with their otherworldly and outrageous appearances, the ballroom doors were closed. Aurora felt a sudden panic rise as she realized she was stuck in a room with all these fae and no Flora or King in sight. They all stared at her, seeming curious.
Aurora stared back, eyes scanning the crowd. She saw many fae with different colors of skin. From sky blue to flamingo pink, everyone looked nothing like she would have expected. They wore extravagant hairstyles and scandalous dresses. Everyone seemed to wait with an excited energy buzzing in the air until the doors opened again and The King of the Unseelie Court appeared as the guards announced him.
Aurora let out a sigh of relief, shocked that she would ever feel that in response to the sight of the King, but grateful there was now a familiar face.
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Aurora’s breath stopped for a moment as she observed how he appeared tonight. His midnight black hair was neatly messy atop his head, his green eyes bright with amusement. He was wearing a charcoal black suit that clung tightly to his muscled body, leaving nothing to the imagination. The golden crown atop his head winked in the chandelier lights. At least he had some gold on him, too.
He bowed to the crowd, then strolled to his throne and stood in front of it next to Aurora. He turned his head to look at her, and his mouth slid up in a pleased grin as his eyes roved over her appearance from head to toe. She mentally cursed herself as she felt a blush rush to her cheeks.
Then the King turned his attention away from her and to the crowd assembled in front of the dais.
“I would like to introduce to you Aurora Harland. Tonight, we celebrate her arrival and the help she will provide me,” he announced.
A flash of annoyance rippled through Aurora’s emotions at his continued vagueness on her help, but she didn’t dare let it show in front of all his people.
They all clapped politely in response and then the King announced they were free to mingle and dance as they pleased. The small orchestra in the room's corner struck up a tune, and the ball began.
As the night unfolded, Aurora enjoyed herself. None of the fae treated her as if she were out of place. They invited her to dance, they made polite conversation with her and so long as Aurora avoided being near the King, she felt she could relax. The only thing bothering her was that no matter how hard she tried to get information from them, no one would dare reveal to her why she was here or what help she was to the King. After a while, she gave up trying to find out and just let herself enjoy the first ball she had ever been to.
Before long, Flora found her and forced her gently over to the piano. Aurora reluctantly settled in front of it and placed her hands on the elegant ivory keys. With an encouraging pat from Flora, she then closed her eyes and played for the crowd.
After playing the last chord of the last piece, Aurora continued to hold a smile of pure happiness on her face as cheers and claps erupted from the crowd of fae figures around her. She wasn’t sure when the smile had spread across her lips, but by the end of the song it was there, and she couldn't get it to falter.
The guests had twirled and spun to her playing. It was hard for her not to enjoy the celebratory atmosphere of the ballroom as she played her favorite piece for all to hear and enjoy.
“It seems I was not mistaken for forcing you to play tonight,” Flora complimented as she walked back up to her. The orchestra had now started playing another song, and the guests continued to enjoy the night.
“So, who are all these fae? How do they get invited to a ball like this?” Aurora asked as she watched the fae mingle and dance.
“All of them are supporters of the King. Most of them are wealthy and involved in the workings of the court,” Flora answered. Aurora only nodded.
“Aurora,” The King’s voice then spoke as he walked up to where they still stood by the piano. Flora slipped away as the King now stood in front of Aurora, straightening his jacket as he spoke.
“After the guests have left for the night, meet me in my study. We have things to discuss before you retire,” he then requested.
It would be futile to argue, so Aurora nodded. He then turned to walk away but then stopped himself and seemed to hesitate before saying, “I appreciated your playing.”
Surprise shot through Aurora at his words. She couldn’t believe he had complimented her, but she didn’t have time to respond before he turned and continued to walk away.
The ball was over and the last of the guests had just filtered out. The King was the first to leave and then the rest followed. Now Aurora made her way out, anticipation buzzing through her at the upcoming meeting with the King. Maybe he was going to tell her what he needed from her.
She walked herself down the hallways, surprised at how quickly she had already become familiar with the layout of the castle, until she stood before the doors of The King’s study.
One door was propped open, and the King must have sensed her presence because she didn’t have to even raise her hand to knock before she heard his voice from inside, telling her to enter. After trying to force her features into indifference, Aurora pushed the door open and stepped into the study.
“Have a seat,” the King instructed.
“I’d rather stand. This, I hope, will be quick. The events of the evening have tired me out and I would like to get to bed,” Aurora responded. She could not have responded that way, but she couldn’t help it with the way the King demanded things from her. He gave her a brief look of annoyance but didn't protest.
“I have a job for you to do,” he stated.
Aurora raised an eyebrow in surprise and curiosity. She hadn’t seriously thought he would have something for her to do.
“The Seelie King, he has an artifacts master. His name is Kallias. Kallias has created a secret vault full of all his King’s most important artifacts. I want you to research it, find out as much information as you can about it, and report back to me. There should be books in the library written by spies of mine that tell about any discoveries made about the artifacts vault and the artifacts masters of the Seelie King,” he requested.
“If you have sent spies, why have they not already reported these things to you?” Aurora questioned.
“I always have spies working and recording things they discover. When I need the information, I send someone to collect it for me. I don’t hear of everything right away or it would be too much overwhelming information and I would forget it. That is where you come in as a collector for me. Find out everything you can and report back. Then I will tell you what I require next.”
Aurora wanted to protest, wanted to argue with him as it felt like it was in her nature to do, but she signed up for this and for her family to get paid, she had to do the work he asked of her. It also was not a dangerous task to do, so for now she would be grateful that she was still out of harm's way. So she only nodded in agreement.
She then turned to leave, but the King spoke again.
“One more thing,” he added, causing Aurora to stop and turn her head back to him.
“Tomorrow, we begin your training. Be up by dawn or I will come get you up,” he requested. Aurora bristled at another demand but nodded once again. She was about to leave again when a question floated through her mind that made her stop herself this time.
“If I am going to work with you, I feel as if I should know your name. I have only known you as the Unseelie King so far,” she pointed out, turning her head to look at him again.
“Your Majesty will do,” he responded with an amused smile.
“Not likely,” she replied in a flat tone. The smile left his face.
“Callum,” he then told her. Aurora nodded with a triumphant smile.
“Goodnight Callum,” she smirked as she left. Faint grumbling from the King followed her out as she headed back to her room.
CHAPTER 9
Cold air hit Aurora’s body as someone pulled her bed sheets clean off her. She whimpered in response and curled up into a ball as her skin pebbled from the lack of warmth. She tried to reach for the disappearing covers but could not seem to find them.
“They are in my hand, so you won’t be able to pull them back up,” the Unseelie King, now known to her as Callum, said. She opened her eyes to glare at him, and he only laughed.
“That look is not as menacing when you are half asleep,” he pointed out.
“Why are you waking me up at an unsaintly hour?” Aurora asked of him, sitting up and noticing it was still dark outside her balcony doors.
“I warned you last night that you needed to be up at dawn for training. You did not get yourself up so here I am,” he answered.
“And the training has to be so early in the morning because...?” Aurora trailed off.
“You cannot spend the whole day sleeping and training. You need time for your new assignment to research for me as well,” he explained. He seemed uncharacteristically chipper this morning. Most likely because he had given her something to do that would somehow help him.
“Fine then. Leave me so I can get dressed and I will meet you down in the dining room for breakfast,” she responded.
“Of course, princess,” he said in that mocking tone, adding in a bow before throwing her sheets back at her and exiting the room with his usual smug smile. Once he was gone, Aurora slid out of bed and over to her wardrobe.
She brought nothing good to wear for training, so she opened the second wardrobe, hoping something of use would be in there. It surprised her to find that there was, and more.
Servants had filled the second wardrobe with other beautiful, flowy dresses, nice comfy outfits, and several training leathers. She chose to wear one of the training leathers, finding they fit like a glove and showed off every single curve to her body.
After sliding on a pair of black boots that also seemed good for training, Aurora made her way down to the dining room.
The minute she stepped in, Callum paused with his fork halfway to his mouth and his eyes tracked her all the way to her seat. The training leathers had caught his attention. That was not her intention, but since he seemed so intent on being so suggestive to her all the time, maybe it would do him some good to be taunted back.
The King cleared his throat before saying, “I see you found the training leathers.” After he spoke, he finished shoveling food into his mouth. Aurora just nodded with a small, knowing smile and took up her own fork to eat.
“Today will be a morning of testing what you can already do. Both in hand-to-hand combat, with a bow and arrow, and with a dagger. Once I know all of that, I can better understand where I need to start in your training,” Callum then explained. Aurora just shrugged as if to say it didn’t matter to her what they did.
“Fine,” she replied. The king pursed his lips in annoyance but said nothing further, so they finished their meal in silence.
Within seconds of beginning their sparring match to test Aurora’s combat skills, the King flipped her to the ground.
“Ok then, combat skills are at a zero,” he observed, surprising her by offering his hand. She swatted it away and pushed herself back up.
“They are not zero. Let me try again,” she argued with a scowl. He arched a brow at her but shrugged and got back into a fighting stance.
Aurora crouched into her own fighting stance before going in for a kick. Callum grabbed her leg mid-kick and yanked, causing her to fall onto her back again. She winced but tried to cover it up and ignored the pain that shot through her sewed up thigh.
“I didn’t slam you that hard to the ground. It couldn’t have hurt,” Callum said, mistaking her wince for something else. Aurora ground her teeth together and stood back up, attempting to not put pressure on her leg. The pain lingered a bit.
“Let me try again,” she requested.
He shook his head, not sure why she would want to keep getting thrown to the ground but stood ready once again.
“Why don’t I go first, and you try blocking me?” he suggested. Aurora nodded and showed him she was ready. He started with a kick that she dodged, but then he moved too quickly for her and grabbed an arm, twisting and flipping her over his shoulder to land on the ground yet again. Then he knelt with a knee pressed to her chest and pulled a dagger out of nowhere to lean down and place it against her throat.
“Care to move on now, or do you enjoy being underneath me?” he asked in a low voice.
“I’d prefer to be on top of you,” she shot back, narrowing her eyes at him as she dared to play along with his little game.
“That can be arranged.”
“Only in your dreams, Your Majesty.”
He smirked and rolled off her, allowing her to let herself up.
“Ok fine, my combat skills are at zero. Let’s assess my bow and arrow skills now,” she conceded. Callum nodded, that amusement dancing across his eyes as she picked up her bow and arrow set.
After sliding the arrows onto her back, she looked across the training room at the line of target dummies there for her to hit. There were five of them.
She took a calming breath before reaching back behind her and firing off five arrows, one after the other, within five seconds. Callum stalked over to the dummies to assess her work.
The first dummy had an arrow in his eye, like she had done the other day, the second one had an arrow straight through his skull, the third had an arrow piercing his jugular, the fourth an arrow in his guts, and the fifth an arrow straight through the heart. After assessing, Callum walked back to her, the look on his face making it seem as if she had impressed him.
“Alright. You have skill with a bow and arrow. We could practice shooting other things with a bow for different purposes,” he stated.
“Whatever you give me, it will shoot straight,” Aurora assured him. He nodded as if he didn’t doubt that.
“For now, let’s move on to assessing your skill with a dagger. I assume your skill level with a sword is also zero,” Callum then said. Aurora refused to admit to it, but the King read the look on her face all the same.
“Pull your dagger from your sheath, then.”
Aurora did as he said and pulled her dagger from her sheath.
“Let’s start with your dagger throwing,” the King started. Before he could even finish, Aurora let her dagger fly from her hand and straight into the heart of another dummy.
The King sighed and rolled his eyes. “Your aim may be good, but it means nothing when you come face to face with the enemy,” he stated, talking to her as if she was a child.
“All I’ve ever had to do is hunt. That only requires distance,” Aurora defended as she walked over to pull her dagger out of the dummy.
“Do you even want to try combat with a dagger?” Callum asked, sounding doubtful. Narrowing her eyes at him, Aurora sank down into a fighting stance with her dagger held out in front of her. Callum also sank down, a sparkle in his eye that suggested seeing her fail was the most fun he’s had in a while.
“I’ll strike first again,” he stated. Aurora nodded, blocking his first strike a second later. She then whirled around to aim the dagger at his heart. He easily knocked the dagger out of her hand and grabbed her arm to twist it behind her back and pull her up against him. The movement caused her leg to twinge in pain again, but she refused to let it show.
The cool tip of his dagger rested against the back of her neck. “I’ll give you a one, considering you deflected my first strike,” he said, his breath hot against the back of her neck. She shoved him away from her, her whole body flushing with anger as soon as he let his dagger fall from her throat.
“Take a break, get some water and I’ll show you a few basic grips and maneuvers before we finish for today,” Callum then instructed her. She nodded and turned to the water container across the training room.
Aurora sat across the training floor mat from Callum, exhausted to no end, as Callum stood looking down at her.
“You will get used to the physical exercise,” he promised. She was silent for a moment before deciding to ask a question that had been nagging at her.
“How does your magic work? The Seelie King cursed you, correct? How did that affect you? I mean, you still seem to have magic,” she asked. He raised an eyebrow at her curiosity but answered.
“The curse affects my magical abilities. Untamed, my full power could allow only my thoughts to control my magic. Right now, I must use a movement.” He snapped to prove his point and Aurora’s dagger lifted out of her thigh sheath. When he snapped again, it lowered back into its spot very slowly. Callum’s eyes tracked it the whole way as it slid down her thigh. Aurora tried to ignore that feeling of her cheeks heating at his gaze. When his eyes lifted from her thigh to meet her own eyes again, he continued. “I also would have full access to all elements of my magic. I can call upon fire, wind, and water. With the curse, I only have access to the fire.” After this answer, he held his hand palm up and closed it into a fist before opening it up again. When it opened, a small purple flame danced above his palm. Aurora couldn’t help but stare at the flame, mesmerized.
