[Fae Scandals 1]Prince of Submission (13 page)

“Would you stop fidgeting?” King DeMarco snapped, bringing Corrin out of his brooding thoughts.

“Sorry, Father,” he muttered.

His father glared daggers at him. “Lord Ginnis was complimenting you on your fine work with the Unseelie emissary.”

Corrin blinked and looked to the Seelie noble on the elevated stage that was positioned down the steps from the three royal thrones. He pasted on his best court smile. “Your compliment is noted, and I am honored by it.” Corrin said the words with just enough kiss-ass in his tone to be proper.

“Right you are, Prince Corrin,” Lord Ginnis said. He adjusted his light-blue suit that matched his blue cotton-candy-looking hair. “I hear he’s leaving the day after tomorrow, correct?”

“You are very correct, Lord Ginnis. I look forward to having the negotiations finished.” The words were as close to lies as he could manage. Corrin was looking forward to Adrian not being subjected to the scorn of his people. The Seelie noble bowed, Corrin nodded his approval, and Lord Ginnis exited the stage.

Lies
. Corrin watched the courtier’s retreating back.
My whole life is a lie. I am in love with an Unseelie Vampire. I hate this court’s rules, and I hate being its prince. I just want to paint and be with the man who I consider my Master. I don’t want this.

“What is distracting you?” his father demanded. “You’re usually much more enthusiastic during the equinox. The ball is tonight after all.”

“I can’t give a specific reason why I’m distracted, Da,” Corrin said, careful to keep the misery out of his voice. “Perhaps it’s the deal we’ve been working on, but I don’t really feel like attending the ball. Maybe I’ll just attend the bonfire at midnight.”

“Of course it’s not comfortable, son,” his father interrupted before he could go further. “You’ve been spending every day with that monstrous pervert. Perhaps I should assign Richard and Gael to him this evening? He put in a request to attend our rites, but I thought perhaps I should deny him. I can’t, after all, give that degenerate special privileges.”

“No,” Corrin said quickly, perhaps too quickly if his father’s curious gaze was any indication. “This will provide an opportunity to finish up our negotiations early. Allow me to talk to him through the ball and throw him a bone by allowing him to attend the bonfire with me. It’ll make him much more amenable to finish.”

His father considered him for a minute. “I suppose that would be a possibility. If you think it will help, I’ll leave it in your hands.”

Corrin could barely suppress the excitement that trembled through him. He couldn’t wait to tell Adrian.

* * * *

“So you’ll get to attend the spring rites bonfire with me as a guest. I know you wanted to attend, so I told my father we might gain an advantage by allowing it,” Corrin told Adrian as soon as they were sequestered in Corrin’s drawing room.

Adrian smiled. “That’s excellent, beautiful. I’m very pleased.” He knew that Corrin was desperately avoiding the subject of his imminent departure. Adrian planned on asking him to leave with him when the moon’s energy reached its zenith tonight. “Which god are you dressing up as?”

Corrin grinned and wrapped him arms around his lover. “I’m dressing as the god of fertility and virility of course,” he said coyly, tracing the contours of Adrian’s backside. Adrian swatted him away with a laugh. The childish humor Corrin displayed amused him to no end.

“You’ll make an excellent Green Man,” Adrian said. “You’re definitely randy enough to challenge his virility.”

Corrin laughed and blew him a kiss before tossing off his suit jacket. “And who are you going to dress up as?” Corrin asked, toeing off his shoes.

“I’m going as Dionysus, god of wine and plenty,” the Unseelie said, distracted by Corrin’s stripping. “So, uh, why did you come here instead of going to get ready?” His beauty was very sexy when he was getting naked. Maybe he’d arrange for him to give a private strip show later. The idea had definite merit.

Corrin unbuttoned his white dress shirt. “I wanted a little attention from my Master before I went to get my hair done.” He licked his lips as he spoke.

Adrian chuckled. “You are certainly prissy tonight, my Seelie prince.”

“Screw you, Unseelie,” Corrin groused.

“Temper, temper, my prince. You’re going to have to control your dirty mouth around me.”

Corrin stuck out his tongue at him. “You corrupted me, remember?”

“Hmm, so I did. Though I am not responsible for your smart mouth. Last I checked, you came with that when I met you,” Adrian teased.

Corrin’s shirt came all the way off then and got tossed into Adrian’s face. “Fine. I’ll be a good Seelie and sneak off to my servants without making out with my Unseelie Master.” He turned toward the door.
That won’t do at all
. Adrian took two strides and wrapped his arms around Corrin’s waist, hauling him backward. Corrin laughed.

“You never disappoint me,” Corrin said, nuzzling his arm. “You know we haven’t known each other very long. Do you ever think that one day we’ll wake up and realize our differences are too great?”

Adrian kissed his neck. “No I don’t. Our differences are not insurmountable.” Here was his opening. “As matter of fact, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something for a few days now. It’s about my departure.”

“Oh, I’ve already got something worked out,” Corrin said, tilting his head to give Adrian further access. “I’ve convinced Father that we should keep up communications between the courts, so every other month I’ll be traveling to meet with you just as a sort of peace-keeping measure.” He smiled, obviously pleased with himself. “Isn’t that great? I can be with you and not be exiled. We’ll have to be discreet of course, but it’ll work out, I’m sure.”

Adrian felt himself go cold and his stomach did a sick twist of pain. “So I’m to be the dirty little secret you run to every six weeks? I’m going to be your ‘fix’ to keep your ‘tendencies’ in check? What the hell, Corrin? I’d rather have nothing but fond memories of you than have you treat me like some sort of leper.” His voice was thick with anger. “Let me tell you something, boy, I left the Seelie court because they couldn’t accept me because I was a ‘pervert.’ I will not go back to pretending that I don’t feel the way I feel just because you don’t have the balls to step up to your tyrant of a father.”

Corrin jerked out of his arms and squared his stance to face him, answering hurt and anger in his gaze. “Well, what was your idea to be together? You want me to go to my father and confess my undying love for a man I’ve only technically known for a handful of weeks and then get kicked out of my own fucking court. You want me to leave everything I’ve ever known behind?”

Adrian snarled. “You like the human world, and I would help you adjust, Corrin. I would introduce you to people like us, who understand us. I’d make it as painless for you as possible. I’d do whatever I could to help you. Outside this kingdom exists a world that is far more open to us than you could imagine—”

“Don’t patronize me like I’m some sort of naive child!” Corrin interrupted. “I lived among the humans for five years. I know what exists out there. It’s so easy for you to tell me to leave, but you don’t understand what I’m leaving behind!”

Adrian’s eyes bulged. “I don’t understand? I was brought before the damn magistrate at
sixteen
, put on an imaginary trial, and then banished from everything I’d ever known. I was alone in a world that I knew nothing about with no one to help me. I’m telling you to fucking leave on your own because you won’t be able to live your double life forever. I’ve been there, Corrin. I know how this drama ends. It may not happen tomorrow or even fifteen years from now, but it
will
happen. You’ll get caught with me, and you’ll get kicked out, and it’s not how they teach you in school. They hurt you in ways that you can’t imagine. I’m offering you a chance to forgo that humiliation and pain. Come away with me and be spared from that.”

Corrin turned his back on Adrian and stomped over to his things. “I am not discussing this with you anymore. It’s out of the question. Just let me have tonight without the worry of tomorrow. Let me enjoy the festival with you. Goddess, Adrian! This, this could be our last night together.” He sounded near tears, but that didn’t help the situation at all.

Adrian gritted his teeth but sighed in defeat. He’d have to rethink his strategy because Corrin was being exceedingly stubborn. “Fine. Tonight we will not discuss it, but tomorrow you and I are going to have a long talk about this. Now, come here and give me a kiss.”

“I’m not really in the mood right now,” Corrin grumbled, turning to go to his room.

“I gave you an order, Corrin,” Adrian said. His voice was soft but filled with menace. “So you better decide right now, am I your Master or not?”

* * * *

With a groan of defeat, Corrin turned and launched himself into Adrian’s arms. Adrian caught him midleap, and then Corrin was kissing him with all the anger and passion he could muster. He punished his Master with the intensity of his kiss, grinding his lips and teeth against Adrian’s until he tasted blood. He’d busted Adrian’s bottom lip on accident. Without thinking, he sucked the Unseelie’s bleeding lip into his mouth and was surprised when his Master cried out in what sounded like partial protest. Corrin wrapped his legs around Adrian’s hips and locked his arms more tightly around his neck. Corrin was drunk off the power that he tasted in Adrian’s blood and felt an electric thrill at the taste.

“Is this how you feel?”
he thought, lapping at the already healing wound. “
Is
this how you feel when you drink my blood? Goddess, you taste so good.”

“You have no idea how good you taste, my Seelie prince.”
Corrin was shocked as Adrian’s voice rang through his mind. His eyes popped open to see the laughing eyes of his Master.

“Y–You can hear me?”
he asked silently.

Adrian’s mental chuckle sounded.
“I warned you what would happen if we exchanged blood. We’re bound now, Corrin. It means that we will be able to communicate this way from now on. Stubborn beauty, you’ve all but wed us. So much for not committing to me.”

Corrin licked at the wound he’d made. He should’ve felt a lot more concern at the words than he did. “
Can’t stop tasting you. This is good. Why is it so good?”
He sounded a bit intoxicated by his estimation.

Adrian’s groan vibrated against his chest.
“This is the first exchange we’ve had. This is the first step in the conversion into an Unseelie Vampire class. It works almost the same way as a human Vampire I suppose, with a few differences.”
Adrian pulled his lip from Corrin’s mouth. “Stop, love. You’re tempting me. Go get your hair done and I’ll meet you in the hallway in two hours.”

“One more kiss,” Corrin begged, hands winding in Adrian’s hair. The Unseelie sighed and gave him his way. They kissed for what seemed like forever before Corrin finally had the will to let go.
What have I done? Does it matter anymore?
He’d always known that Adrian was his.
It’ll be a onetime thing.
That was the only way he could logically forgive himself for it. He banished all his bad thoughts. Tonight was for celebrating, tomorrow was for thinking.

Adrian sat Corrin down as the Seelie prince continued to nip at his mouth. “Go,” he commanded, giving the Seelie a soft push toward the door. Corrin went but it was reluctantly.
Why do I feel like I just opened the door for more than what I bargained for
?

“Corrin, you look happy,” Gael said gently. The prince had just got out of the shower and was sitting at his dressing table, his guard combing out the silken tresses.

Corrin smiled. “I am.” His cheeks were red, and his countenance was almost glowing with joy.

“Care to share what you’re so happy about?” Gael asked. He liked seeing the boy he’d practically raised be so overfilled with joy. Though he suspected the cause of his happiness would probably fill him with something like dread if it ever came out. He only hoped that Corrin’s father didn’t get a gander at the paintings Corrin had been doing.

The prince shrugged. “Hmmm, I don’t know. I guess it just feels like everything is right for the first time in my life.” His eyes were sparkling with light, and he touched his lips for what must’ve been the fiftieth time in the last hour. The unconscious movement was beginning to confirm Gael’s suspicions.

“You’ve taken a lover,” Gael said.

Corrin’s eyes widened and his mouth formed a nearly perfect
O
. “W–why do you say that?” he asked.

“You never could hide anything from me, Cor,” Gael said, running his hands soothingly through Corrin’s fair hair. His childhood nickname invoked pleasant memories of endless days of play from years past.

“Is it that obvious?” he asked, fear in his tone.

“Well, to me it is,” Gael admitted, beginning the elaborate braids that Corrin would wear in the rites this evening. “Richard seems to think that you and your Unseelie are…involved. I admit to my own suspicions about that, even though I’ve reassured Rich that you are in no way involved with Prince Cadence.” He met Corrin’s gaze in the mirror. “You
are
involved, aren’t you?” Corrin hesitated just long enough to answer Gael’s question without speaking. Gael sighed. “Corrin, you know better.”