Desert Tales: A Wicked Lovely Companion Novel

“Don’t. Do. That.” Rika bit off each word, but she didn’t strike anyone. She still wanted Sionnach to be the Alpha here. Meting out physical punishments was an Alpha’s obligation and right, not hers. Unless she was the Alpha, all Rika was rightly able to do was respond to aggression.

“You shouldn’t meddle,” Maili said as she stepped out of her hiding place. In her hands were manacles, and since she wore leather gloves that stretched up to her elbows to protect her from the metal, Rika knew that the restraints were fashioned of steel or iron.

The air became heavy with dust, impairing her vision. She shook her head and blinked against the dust. “Your inability to fight fair is embarrassing.”

As she clambered up the rocks, she saw the source of the dust: a pair of faeries tossed sand into the air while another with balloon-ish cheeks exhaled in big gasps. From behind her another faery tackled her, piercing her skin with the thin needles that covered him. She pulled her knee up hard, and when his grip loosened, she slammed her head into his face.

Several more faeries launched themselves toward the fight immediately. At least two were those she’d often seen at Maili’s side, ones she’d fought a few weeks ago in town. Two others, one male and one female, also jumped into the fray.

Rika wasn’t fragile, but her odds were slim against six faeries during a dust storm. Still, she wasn’t going to accept defeat easily. She kicked the leg of one of the largest faeries, snapping his knee backward, and headbutted another one of those not covered in thorns.

After only a few moments, though, she was overwhelmed. Between the sand blinding her and the sheer number of them, Maili’s group of faeries had her pinned to the ground. Quickly, Maili snapped the manacles closed on Rika’s ankles and then her wrists.

As soon as Maili had the restraints in place, she stepped back, and the other faeries started releasing Rika.

She promptly smashed her bound hands into another faery’s face. She fell back to the ground, and at the same time, she kicked her legs up and yanked another faery down with her feet. She might be down, but that didn’t mean she was done fighting.

“Stop!” Maili snarled as she snatched hold of Rika and jerked her to her feet with the manacles that now bound Rika’s wrists.

Rika slammed her head upward as hard as she could, catching Maili under the chin.

“I said stop!” Maili wrenched the chain downward, causing Rika to stumble.

It took concentration not to wince from the metal burning her skin or to fall from the limited movement still allowed by her bound ankles. Rika shook her hair out of her face, dabbed at her bleeding mouth with her upper arm, and stared directly at Maili. “You get stupider by the week.”

The other faeries shuffled nervously.

“I told Shy I wouldn’t attack you.” Rika kept her voice almost conversational as she took a somewhat steady step toward Maili.

Foolishly, Maili didn’t back up. The others, however, did.

“Do you honestly think I’ll forgive this?” Rika asked.

Maili still didn’t move.

“You shouldn’t get involved,” Rika said, looking briefly at the other faeries, hoping that they had the sense to leave. She could still take Maili, but not all of them, especially not bound. She kept her voice level and said, “Stop backing her, and I’ll forgive you. I understand boredom.”

No one spoke, but they grew even more still, a thing Rika wouldn’t have thought possible many years ago.

“If you cross me, if you cross Shy,” Rika continued hopefully, “you won’t be staying in my desert much longer.”

At that, Maili laughed. “Your desert?”

“Mine,” Rika reiterated.

Maili made a disgusted sound—and shoved a syringe into Rika’s arm.

When Rika woke, manacles still restrained her. Her wrists were red, and one was bleeding from her resisting even while only semiconscious. She looked around and realized that she was in an alley. Several rusted fire escapes jutted out from the buildings, and she was now suspended from one of them. Her feet dangled down to brush the ground, but she had very little slack in the chains.

“Are you blind?” Maili’s voice drew her attention. The faery who’d trapped her was sitting on a wooden crate out of reach. In her hand she held the end of a cord that was attached to the chains holding Rika. “Shy is playing you.”

Rika ignored the attempt at conversation and tugged her arms forward, causing her wrist to bleed more freely. “This is stupid—even for you.”

“Do you think he’s any different than the Summer King? They both use their charms to make you pliable.” Maili jerked on the cord, pulling the chain taut. The steel cuffs jerked Rika’s arms back over her head. “At his request, I helped him push you toward the mortal.”

“What? Why?” Rika stared at Maili, trying to understand why the faery would entrap her and tell her such things. She hadn’t expected to be killed or any such thing. Murder was extreme for faeries, even one so unstable as Maili. Extended torture wasn’t unheard of; some courts thrived on such things. Being captured to talk, however, was peculiar.

When Maili said nothing else, Rika said, “Why would he do that?”

Maili’s arrogant expression vanished, but then quickly returned. “What difference does it make?”

“You don’t know why.” Rika felt a surge of relief at that. Unfortunately, she also felt a burst of worry. Faeries couldn’t lie outright, so Maili had known something Rika hadn’t known. Why would Shy push me toward Jayce? It didn’t make sense.

It also wasn’t her primary problem just then. She focused her attention on Maili, but studied her surroundings casually too. There weren’t any faeries nearby to help Rika, and Maili was too far away to attack— plus there was the matter of the steel restraints that were currently searing Rika’s skin.

Maili seemed lost in her thoughts too. She scowled briefly and then said, “He misled you. He treats us different now. Making new rules. Trying to control us. Solitaries don’t do that. His being Alpha doesn’t mean he’s a king.”

Rika rattled her chains. “He didn’t attack me though, did he? He didn’t chain me up with poison binding my skin.”

“Are you really going to let him get away with this?” Maili came close enough now that Rika could almost reach her. In doing so, Maili had allowed the chains to get slack.

“I don’t know. Sionnach is the only faery out here who’s made me any offers. No one else has even wanted to talk, but I’d listen if you had a better offer,” Rika said misleadingly as she tried to keep her temper hidden. For a brief moment, she was grateful for the years she’d spent twisting her words and learning to hide her emotions around court fey.

Maili looked at Rika pensively.

“And do I truly need to be shackled to talk?” She shook one arm a bit, causing the chain to shiver. “I’m not opposed to talking, but not like this.”

“You understand, don’t you?” Maili’s eyes widened in excitement. “He’s trying to make us into something we aren’t. We make our own way. Humans are fair game. So what if a few of them get broken. . . .”

Rika tilted her head and gave Maili an attentive look. “It has always been that way.”

“Exactly.” Maili let the chains fall looser still. “Keenan’s people tell me we can have our freedom still . . . that it won’t be any different. . . .”

“So you’re going to swear to him?”

“No, I’m not, but if they’ll let me break Sionnach and be independent, convincing the others to offer the Summer King a little obedience here and there isn’t so bad. I’ll become Alpha. Sionnach will either obey or leave. The ones I decide need extra leashing will be forced to swear fealty to the Summer King.”

“He’s not trustworthy,” Rika said mildly.

“Exactly. That’s why I need you to help me get rid of him.” Maili smiled at Rika like she’d given a particularly insightful answer.