Page 126 of Somber Prince
How long would the queen talk to him? This was their first meeting in years. They might’ve found a lot to discuss.
Lucia followed my anxious gaze.
“Will you guys go back to Teneris?”
“I believe so. I’m waiting for him to come back. Have you met the queen yet?”
Lucia shook her head. “She hasn’t come here since I arrived. A lot of fae have gone in and out of the sarai. Some I’ve seen twice already in the short time I’ve been here.” She rolled her eyes at the steady choir of moans coming from the courtyard. “Everyone is looking for some joy.”
“Where is your room?”
“In another courtyard, just around the corner that way.” She gestured to the right. “I had to get out. There’s even more noise than here. I have people fucking nonstop on the balcony next to mine.”
“Actually fucking? How? Shadow fae don’t have sexual organs. Not unless they’re in mating fever.”
“Oh, I know that. A Keeper kindly explained it to me back in Teneris when Prince Rha had you locked in his rooms for days.” She grinned. “I guess you didn’t mind that.”
My face warmed at the memories of frantic, passionate sex with Rha. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach with a warm sensation spreading through my chest.
I cleared my throat. “It was intense. But I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Someone groaned from below, panting through an orgasm by the sound of it.
Lucia groaned, making a face. “At least you guys did it in private. The couple next door to me are both humans. They’ve been fucking most of the night, with several fae joining them for each orgasm.” She rubbed her sternum. “If you go back to Teneris, take me with you, okay? This place doesn’t vibe with me. I mean, I love a good party. Who doesn’t? But this is too much. They serve wine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you ask for a drink, you’ll get wine, unless you specifically insist on water. It’s crazy. I haven’t even spoken to anyone yet, other than you. Every human has a fae attached to them all the time. It’s exhausting. One can’t be happy all the time, so they pump them with wine to keep them permanently drunk. Kind of turns me off alcohol all together.” She exhaled a humorless laugh. “Never thought I’d say something like that. I’ve been a party girl all my life. But this… This is just too much. It’s not right. Like, there are many things people enjoy, aren’t there? They could let them read, or paint, or knit, or do some other hobby. Humans like other things, too, not just fucking.”
“Like isn’t enough.” I thought about Rha’s puzzle design, about the necklace we made, and the extensive mosaics decorating almost every surface, both in Kalmena and in Teneris. “Shadow fae can be creative on their own. They see harmony in beauty and are capable of experiencing peace when engaging in a hobby. They feel satisfaction from completing a project. They don’t need us for that. They want us for pleasure—the more intense, the better. And it seems they’ve figured out that sex is a sure, quick way to get it.”
“Well, back in Teneris, the prince had you for sex, and the Keepers left the rest of us alone. Here, they’re way too pushy.”
“They can’t force you. Remember, they won’t get pleasure by force.”
Lucia heaved a sigh. “But they sure can be annoying as hell, trying to talk you into doing things you don’t want to do.”
Without a knock, the door to my room opened and Sefri entered, flanked by two male Keepers.
“Finished with your bath?” she murmured.
“Yes. Thank you,” I replied icily.
The Keepers cleaned up after my bath, then took the tub out.
Sefri eyed the two of us sitting in the doorway to the balcony. “You should come down to the courtyard, Sweet Ones. Dinner will be served soon.”
“Thanks,” Lucia replied. “We’ll be there in a minute.”
Sefri gave us a long penetrating look but didn’t argue, just inclined her head and left.
Lucia scowled at the door closed behind Sefri.
“They must be afraid we’d organize another escape or something,” she said.
A question rose in my head at her words.
“How did you escape the sarai in Teneris? There were plenty of guards at the door.”
She smirked smugly. “We didn’t use the door. We got out through the roof. The Keepers relied on the wards to keep us safe in the sarai, but the wards don’t prevent anyone from getting out, only from coming in. The shutters also lock from the inside. After the sunrise, when the Keepers went to bed, we climbed up from the top-floor balcony, opened the roof shutters over the courtyard, and got out.”
“Smart.” I looked up at the domed ceiling above us.