Free The Honoured Guest by Aurelia Destiny Page A

her a heartless grin.
    The chanting died and a hundred ravenous eyes turned her way. She froze once more in horror as she realised what all of this meant, her gaze going to the huge, empty golden platter in place at the head of the table, just near the queen. She saw the flash of sharp teeth around the table, and malicious gazes, and knew there was no escape.
    They were going to eat her .
    A wail of pure helplessness was torn from her. She wasn’t leaving this place, no-one was going to help her, and her parents and brother would never even know what had happened. Would the Fae wipe her very existence from the minds of those who knew her? Was this what they had done for all the others who had perished in this cursed place?
    I don’t want to die!
    As she looked wildly around at the creatures closing in upon her, several things suddenly came back to her about the night, events that had seemed like nothing at the time, but were clearly all a part of the Bealtaine ceremony to which she had foolishly fallen prey.
    The cleansing of her body, the theft of her hair, the child Dia taking her blood with the blooms, the poor Fae girl’s flesh, the words she had spoken in their language.
    Oh God, she had been so stupid .
    All of these things had been a part of a ritual and she had sealed her own fate!
    Chelsea spotted Nuallán in a sea of Fae faces. as they closed in on her, and she looked at him imploringly. “Nuallán, please, help me.”
    His lip curled disdainfully, red eyes hard and full of hunger like the others, but also with a disgust that she had even dared to ask him for aid. “You are our food , Maiden ,” he said slowly and clearly so that he could not be misunderstood.
    He did not even give her the honour of using the name she had asked him to speak, when the other Fae would not.
    “No better than the wild animals of the forest.”
    Hands closed over her shoulders, stopping the small red-head from backing off as the court closed in and clawed hands, belonging to the creatures crawling over the ground and in the air, bit into her painfully, all over her body. “No! No, don’t touch me!” Cruel hands groped at the flesh of her thighs beneath the silvery gown, as if picking out the choicest meat.
    They began to drag her struggling form towards the table, and the crowd parted like a wave, allowing a path right to that huge golden platter that was her fate. The hidden, glowing eyes of their evil queen watched, with a sickening satisfaction and pleasure, as her sacrifice was brought before her. She had orchestrated this entire deadly masquerade.
    The true feast was about to begin.
    Will they eat me alive, or kill me first? Chelsea wondered hysterically, sobs wracking her body and tears falling from her huge wet green eyes. Please. Please kill me first!
    All she could see were razor sharp fangs in their mouths, their claws like knives, starvation in their inhuman gazes.
    The mortal girl saw someone from the corner of her eye, right beside her as she was dragged, and her head jerked about to see the prince keeping pace gracefully. He still looked as he had all evening, not like the others. Why?
    As he saw her looking, he smiled in a teasing manner; how he had fooled her with his charm, and how stupid she had been to not notice all the things that had been so obviously wrong about this whole feast.
    How many young girls like her had they devoured? He had known all along how to manipulate her into staying until midnight.
    Terror prevented Chelsea from speaking as Finvara’s golden eyes also turned blood red, skin and clothing darkening from silver to black, and his hair to midnight, as he finally took on his true form. Prince Finvara’s hand rose to reveal red rivulets of blood, drawn from her throat, sliding over his darkening fingers. He licked at the blood, his gaze ravenous as it met hers, and he repeated those ominous words she had heard from him earlier.
    “Without you, there is no