A Deal with the Dark Fae: Enemies-to-Lovers Standalone (Cruel Intentions Book 1) Read online

  Felicia listened to me attentively, with interest, and I, encouraged by her reaction, began to share my ideas with her. I was actually excited because I really loved my job. I loved to make people happy, even the Dark Ones, although they rarely turned to us. Fortunately.

  I saw that Felicia liked my suggestions, that she was really interested, and in my mind, I was already looking for an apartment behind the third circle when she unexpectedly interrupted me and stunned me with her words.

  “Thank you, Sonorina Lei. I’m interested in some of your ideas, and I’ll definitely consider your candidacy for the role of my wedding planner. But I must say that other agencies have very interesting proposals, too. My assistant will contact you in the coming days and inform you of my decision.”

  Felicia got up, held out her hand to me, hinting that my time was up and that it was time for us to say goodbye. I could hardly force myself to look away from the sofa, realizing that her words were actually a refusal. I didn’t know who or what had managed to get to her before me, but I couldn’t return to the office with a “my assistant will contact you”. Aurora would smear me across the wall or really fire me if she got too temperamental. Unfortunately, she was one of those people who didn’t throw words around without meaning them and didn’t go back on their decisions.

  And I was one of those who didn’t want to end up on the street instead of in the third circle!

  I had a kid and a bunch of hospital bills, which meant... Putting aside my pride, I smiled and gripped the outstretched, gentle hand. I felt a splitting headache. The kind that made you want to scream. But I clenched my teeth and continued to smile, influencing Felicia’s emotions, reshaping them as I wished.

  I looked her straight in the eyes. Focusing only on her, I didn’t immediately notice that the room had turned gloomy and that the spots of darkness, that had appeared out of nowhere, had formed a human figure. And in the next instant, a strong man was gripping my wrist.

  Chapter 2

  Garanor

  “At two, you have lunch with Sonor Sebastian. The press conference in the Grand Hall is scheduled for four, dinner with Sonorina Solt and her parents in the evening...”

  Camila was dutifully going over the schedule for the rest of the day, while I, also dutifully pretending to listen to her, was actually thinking about where the hell Xanor had gone to again. Yesterday, he missed a meeting with the investors (apparently, he thought that the hotel in Maycore would build itself), and today, he didn’t show up for the board of directors meeting.

  I wished I knew where he had snuck off to this time, and when he’d grace us with his presence again.

  “Tomorrow at ten you’re expected in the Chamber of Sonors, and then...” Camila stumbled, noticing that I wasn’t paying attention to her. “Sonor Horos, should I continue?” she asked timidly, rolling the pen in her fingers.

  Getting up, I went to the window. In the distance, behind a wrought-iron fence, I saw parked aerocars.

  “We have guests?”

  “Potential wedding planners, as far as I know,” she answered.

  I grinned. They were quick.

  Well, good luck, Felicia.

  I turned back. Catching my gaze, Camila immediately lowered her head, focusing on the tablet again. I tried to focus on her voice, but I had no more patience for this. There was suddenly a smell... something sweet. Very sweet. I sniffed the air sharply.

  A Light One. Here. Within these walls.

  And it was a woman. She smelled too sweet. Like vanilla-caramel, or a huge Cinnabon. Each fairy had her own scent, and this one was just too strong. Too... challenging.

  Yes, that’s it, that’s the right word.

  Did Xanor come home with a fairy escort? No, his return would’ve been immediately reported to me. So, she must be with Felicia. Was she one of the wedding planners? I couldn’t help but grin again. Just what I needed — a fairy involved with my wedding.

  “Sonor Horos, maybe I should come back later?” Camila asked, reminding me of her existence, and I snapped back to reality, still unable to ignore the smell.

  I wanted to see its source. However, I drove this thought away and ordered Camila to continue.

  A weekend in Alicantar? Why not?

  Spending time with Felicia’s relatives? Well, a man has to endure.

  Cropper game with Beltran? Easy.

  Of course, presuming I don’t end up in jail for the murder of my brother before all this.

  Thoughts about my brother were quickly replaced by thoughts about this fairy. Gods, she smelled so sweet. It wasn’t a surprise our ancestors were addicted to them. I had met fairies before, but I didn’t remember any of them having such a strong impact on me.

  Maybe it wasn’t a fairy, but a perfume, a simulator, used by one of the girls who came to see Felicia? The smell kept distracting me, annoying me, taking me out of my work mood.

  When will she get out of here?!

  I sent Camila away and reached for a cigar. There was still an hour left before lunch with Sebastian, so I had time to relax. I hoped the cigar smoke would be able to overpower this smell before it got into the walls of my house and permanently moved into my lungs.

  I didn’t even have the time to light the cigar. The sensation of magic literally overwhelmed me. A couple of seconds later, I was already downstairs, just in time to see the trash with wings trying to influence my fiancée. Not even blockers could stop her.

  I grabbed the girl by the wrist and jerked her toward me, breaking the bond between her and Felicia.

  At first, neither one understood what had happened. And then the fairy’s brain turned on, her big blue eyes widened, and color disappeared from her face. She tried to break free, push me away, she even hit me in the chest. Not because she was brave, but because she was terrified. I let her go, and she stumbled backward to the other end of the room. Frightened, she shrunk, reminding me of a frightened pet that knew it did something naughty.

  Very naughty.

  And very irritating.

  “Garanor, you scared me.” Felicia smiled nervously, shifting her bewildered gaze from me to the girl and back.

  “Will you introduce me to your guest?” I asked, torn between the desire not to breathe at all and to inhale as much of the sweet scent as I could.

  “This is Sonorina Lei. She’s from the Felicidad wedding agency. I didn’t mix up the names, did I?” Felicia addressed the fairy, confused.

  She was still under the influence. Her gaze was dull and she had a silly, slightly absent-minded smile on her face.

  What were those blockers for if they didn’t block anything at all?!

  Felicia didn’t understand what happened to her. And she wouldn’t. If the influence was strong and aggressive, she’d still be able to feel something — weakness, a headache. But the girl was neat.

  I had to find out what she wanted. And figure out where this super-gifted fairy had come from.

  “Sonorina Lei and I discussed our potential collaboration.” Felicia enlightened me. “I like her proposals and ideas very much, and I’d like her to be the one to organize our wedding.”

  The fairy was silent. She just stared at me with her big blue eyes, in which I saw fear... And she continued to cloud my brain with her scent.

  After Felicia’s words, it became clear what this Lei girl wanted. Felicia never made hasty decisions. She’d think, compare, make pro and con lists until she was sure she found what was best for her. In this, she and I were the same.

  Unlike Xanor, who lived for the moment and didn’t care about anyone and anything.

  “Before signing a contract with Felicidad, I’d like to speak with Sonorina Lei in private,” I said.

  The girl turned even paler, the color of her face almost matching her blouse, the top buttons of which were unbuttoned, and I caught a glimpse of a crescent-shaped silver pendant. I wondered if it was just jewelry, or if it was some kind of an emblem.

  “As you say, dear.” Felicia obediently agreed
.

  Obedience was one of those qualities that I valued above all else. That, combined with many other things, made Felicia an ideal partner.

  I needed to remind myself of that more often. Maybe then my gaze wouldn’t go to the buttons of other people’s blouses and all sorts of trinkets in the necklines of the said blouses.

  “Come with me, Sonorina Lei,” I said to the fairy.

  The girl pressed her palms against her pencil skirt, trying to keep her fingers from trembling. She understood how this might end — at the police station. Well, maybe I should send her there. After I had dealt with her myself.

  And if she didn’t faint from fear.

  “Sonorina Lei,” I opened the door for her, inviting her to get out as soon as possible.

  “After you, Sonor Horos.” The girl gritted her teeth.

  She looked away, almost squished against the door, making it clear that it was preferable to flatten herself against it than accidentally touch me. And I wasn’t about to give her room for maneuvering. A fairy’s comfort wasn’t my concern.

  As soon as we were outside the door, Felicia’s assistant, a short, fussy girl with freckles, dashed into the room.

  “I hope you’ve already come up with at least one good explanation for what you did. If not, you have at most a couple of minutes left for it before we go upstairs.”

  “I don’t understand what you mean,” she said surprisingly calmly.

  Such impudence made me lose my temper. I stopped and turned to her.

  “Are you seriously going to play these games with me, fairy?”

  Indignation or shame turned her pale cheeks red. However, it was unlikely the latter — she no longer averted her gaze. Now, she was looking straight into my eyes. Irritation flared up in me again. You’re not in the position to pretend to be offended and innocent, girl. But I didn’t have time to see this through. Camila appeared at the other end of the corridor, clearly agitated by something.

  Quickly approaching, she whispered to me: “Sonor Horos has just been brought in.”

  Brought in?

  Mentally swearing, I understood that for now, I had to drop the issue of the fairy and her useless attempt to participate in such a significant event as the wedding of the future ruler of Grassor.

  “You can go, Sonorina Lei,” I briefly said and warned her, “I don’t want to see you near my fiancée again. Is that clear?”

  The fairy froze for a moment and then nodded with restraint.

  “I think that’ll be best for everyone.” I wanted to make it clear that it’d be better for her anyway since I knew that she couldn’t wait to get away from me.

  “Security will see you out.”

  Passing the fairy to the guard, I went with Camila to the stairs. At the sight of us, all the girls who had come to see Felicia froze tensely. I took a quick glance at them and, making sure that they were all ordinary folk, I went upstairs with Camila.

  “I want you to run a background check on that girl. Lei. Wedding agency Felicidad. Can you do it by the evening?”

  “No problem.” She assured me. “Sonor Horos is waiting for you in your office.”

  Trying my best to remain as calm as possible, I went to deal with the bane of my existence.

  Who by unfortunate circumstances, was my half-brother. He was lounging in a chair, clearly suffering a hangover. The Dark Ones could barely get drunk, but Xanor managed to excel in this too. He returned home like this more than once. Fortunately, he had his wits about him now.

  As much as that was possible for Horos Jr.

  “And the nanny is here.” He leaned back in his chair and saluted me with a bottle of mineral water.

  “You missed two important meetings.” I immediately got down to business.

  It made no sense to give him a lecture, nor try to straighten him out. There was no way to get any sense in him or to force him to put his life together. He was a complete mess.

  “The important thing is that you attended.” Xanor emptied the bottle in one gulp, threw it into the trash, and put his hands behind his head. “You settled everything and made everything right. Will you scold me now?”

  “Has anyone seen you?”

  “Are you looking for details...?” He grinned. “Like who? Where? When? For example, last night, two fairies saw me. Every. Inch. Of. Me.”

  I didn’t have time to pretend and hide my frustration. I frowned, and Xanor grinned. I never understood his fascination with fairies, but he had such a messed up mind that nothing could surprise me anymore.

  This was all my father’s fault. He had an affair with his secretary like in some soap opera. She got pregnant, and he didn’t come up with a better solution than to recognize the bastard as his legitimate son, and even gave him half of the family business.

  One heir wasn’t enough for him.

  That’s how I turned into a nanny.

  To give power to their offspring, the Dark Ones chose humans as companions. They were basically like empty vessels — we poured magic into them and they passed it on to the children. The Dark gift manifested itself only in boys. With girls, if it even showed up, it quickly killed them. Fortunately, modern medicine had solved this problem — for the last century and a half, the Dark Ones had no daughters.

  Modern medicine, by the way, also helped with unplanned pregnancies. Too bad dad didn’t remember that one.

  The fact that the Dark Ones married the ordinary folk didn’t mean that any woman was a suitable mother for a Dark One. The potential mother was carefully picked, and if she didn’t pass the test, that was the end. My mother had passed the test, Felicia passed it too. She and I would have strong children.

  Because the secretary wasn’t the kind of woman that could have good Dark children, everything went wrong with Xanor. He grew up a weak, sickly child, and the power inside him almost killed him. He learned to control it later, but unpleasant surprises still happened sometimes. Xanor himself was one big unpleasant surprise.

  “I’m talking about the press. In the coming months, journalists will follow our every step, and it’s important for me that you behave.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  “Don’t act like a complete idiot.”

  I sat down on the edge of the desk and crossed my arms over my chest. Just in case. My palms were itching to smack him because I had to do his job since I could never rely on him. And because he kept having more scandals than a washed-up actress. His behavior could have a significant impact on my career. Especially now before the elections.

  “My kind, caring brother.” His smile looked like a snarl. “You’re in your element as usual. The only thing that worries you is yourself, your precious, fake, pure-as-snow reputation, and your outstanding life.”

  “I used to be worried about yours too. Long ago. But if you don’t care about yourself...”

  “That’s it, I’m getting out of here.” Xanor leaped out of his chair.

  I grabbed his shoulder to stop him. Probably harder than I should have. He winced and asked irritably: “What else do you want?”

  “Don’t get lost anymore, and be good, do your job before I make sure you have nothing left.”

  “And how do you exactly plan to do that?” He smirked. “Erase my name from the will with a magic eraser?” He pushed away my hand, and anger took over me again.

  At the last moment, I stopped at a line that I had never crossed before. I never hit my brother, even though sometimes I wanted to beat the crap out of him.

  Xanor froze at the door and noisily sniffed the air.

  “Mm... Smells like a fairy. Did you decide to have fun before throwing away your freedom? You have my full support! Would you mind giving me her number? I think I’d like this one, too.”

  “Go sleep it off.”

  “Greedy. Does Feli know? Though, knowing she supports you in all your endeavors, I’m sure she wouldn’t object.”

  “Go. Sleep.” I hissed through tightly clenched teeth.

 
; Xanor waved and left. Gradually, his steps disappeared in the distance, but the anger in my soul didn’t.

  I lit a cigar, left it in the ashtray, and calmed down a bit, but I still kept thinking about this pain in the ass and how Xanor’s behavior might affect the upcoming elections. Recently, he had become uncontrollable. If only...

  Xanor had another issue... Rather, a peculiarity. He didn’t feel other people’s magic. Not in the slightest. In this regard, he was like the ordinary folk.

  And he was also crazy about fairies...

  Having called Camila, I sat down in my chair and waited for her. She appeared almost instantly, silently slipping into the office, and stopping at the door with a tablet in her hands.

  “As soon as you gather information about Lei, send it to me.” I reminded her just in case. “And cancel dinner with the Solts, I have plans for the evening.”

  “Should I put it on your schedule?”

  “No, this is personal,” I interrupted her and dismissed her, returning to the wedding planner.

  Chapter 3

  Elenia

  He let me go.

  No, that’s not good enough!

  He. Let. Me. Go.

  “You can go, Sonorina Lei.”

  When I heard him say those words, I couldn’t believe my ears. Imagination, fueled by fear, was already painting pictures in my head — I was getting separated from Lita. Forever. I would be locked up and she’d be at an orphanage where she just couldn’t survive. At that moment, I shuddered in horror. Being fired from Felicidad seemed like a minor issue compared to that.

  But he let me go. As soon as I looked into his eyes, dark with hints of silver, I realized that this man didn’t have a drop of compassion or an ounce of understanding in him.