Owned by the Fae Princes

Aria The diner sat on the opposite end of town. I parked in the dusty lot and got out. A loud cawing right in my ear made me shriek. A huge black crow perched on the hood of my car, staring at me with its beady black eyes. I flapped a hand toward it. “Shoo, get off.” It cawed at me again, and tilted its head to the side, studying me. I backed away, slamming the door. Even the loud sound and echoing vibration didn’t scare it away. I shivered as it watched me. I hated crows. They always seemed like bad luck, and I had more than enough of that. The crow stood on my car and watched me as I walked back toward the diner. I went through the boring motions of my job. Serving, cleaning, listening to complaints, and smiling when I wanted to scream. Just a normal day. Things got weird about two hours in. There was a kid in a booth, staring out the window, and ignoring his chocolate milkshake and his arguing parents. When I went to take the shake, he turned to me and pointed at the parking l

Aria ​​ Tonight, was a rare night off, and I made the most of it in the only way I knew how. Ice-cream and a new book. I usually cleared out the shelf at Goodwill of the cheapest used books, and romance was my favourite. The single orphan liked to read about love, friendship and found family. So, sue me. I sat out on the back deck until the insects started to eat me, then headed inside. Inside the trailer, I still slept in the same room that I had since I was child. Billy had decorated it, with all sorts of crystals, and dream catchers. When I’d been younger, it had been so lame, but now he was gone, I loved it. I flipped the pages of my book slowly at first, getting into the characters and setting, and then quicker as the romance started to heat up. It was a taboo love story, where a young actress was falling for her bodyguard, and it was steamy. I was just turning to the first, eagerly anticipated sex scene, when a sound from the living room floated to me. I stiffened, dropping

Aria I blinked awake, the memory of the previous night slamming into me hard. I sat up and nearly cracked my head on a low bookshelf that hung over my bed. My bed. I was in bed? I looked around, groggy and confused. There was my dresser, and my uniform from the diner, neatly folded over a chair, just like I left it last night. There were my shoes, and my books. My cell was plugged into the charger next to the bed. Unease crawled through my veins. I searched my memory. Was it all a bad dream? The stranger in my trailer. Stone Acanthus. A tall, towering warrior in black who had told me he owned me. I touched my lips, remembering the feel of his ruthless kiss. My first one. Had I really imagined it? What about that bizarre flash of light, and the way he’d flown backward away from me as if hit by an invisible wrecking ball. I sighed, dropping my face into my hands, and letting out a groan. How embarrassing, and why the holy hell if it had been a product of a feverish, virgin imagi

Aria “Aria, snap out of it and get to work,” Mona called to me, bringing me back to the present with a bump. I was jumping at every dark-haired man that wandered past. I felt like I was holding my breath, waiting for Stone to appear. I served drinks and wiped the counters, refilled the icebox, and emptied the glass washer. I moved with a special kind of rhythm that busy nights like this inspired, like I was dancing with my job, to music only I could hear, under the watching eyes of the truckers and travelers that filled the old bar. For the longest time, I’d rebelled against the idea that my life would just be this. Truck stops and strippers, sticky floors with scattered peanut shells. I’d felt above it, disdainful even. Billy hadn’t helped much. He’d seemed just as over our mundane trailer park lives as I was, and yet, he made no effort to change it. Now, as the days passed, carrying me further and further into adulthood, I knew. The ideas of having a better life were just dreams.

“Why don’t you blast him through this wall?” Stone suggested to me. I struggled to my feet. Now that Vic was choking, he’d released me. I swayed. I had one shoe on, one off, a blood river making its way down my outer thigh, and I was pretty sure both my nipples were winking at Stone. Add in the rapidly swelling jaw and what felt like a black eye; doing a private dance hadn’t been the get-rich-quick plan I’d thought it to be, only a few hours ago. “It doesn’t work like that. I can’t always…. Make it happen. I don’t make it happen at all, really,” I muttered, feeling woozy. I clung to the wall, as Stone advanced into the room. He had his eyes on me, taking in every inch, even as his concentration, and hand, was still extended to Vic. “If you never use it, of course, it won’t work reliably,” Stone muttered before his eyes fell to my leg. “You need healing.” “No, I don’t, I’m fine. I don’t like hospitals,” I said, just as Vic was released from Stone’s invisible grip. Vic sagged to the