Marked By Lies: A Reverse Harem Series (The Marked Series Book 1) by Paige Orr (the red fox clan TXT) 📗

For weeks I’ve searched for even the smallest clue about my missing people with no luck. Then by chance, I overhear this sniveling little fucker talking about missing Fae. I never would have had to hurt him if he had just answered a few of my questions. I know that our people don’t get along, but surely he can understand the severity of a situation like this.

“Look asshole, I’ll let you leave here alive as long as you answer my questions. All I want to know is what you’ve heard about the missing Fae. It’s not a hard question to answer, and all you are doing is making me extremely suspicious that you are indeed involved in the disappearances. I wonder what your king would have to say if I told him about my suspicions.”

I narrow my eyes at him, tightening my hold on his neck, and his face drains of color as he trembles in my hold. The acrid smell of urine reaches my sensitive nose and my face scrunches in disgust at how pathetic the male is. I watch him closely as tears fill his eyes and his mouth opens and closes as he tries to speak.

I click my tongue as I let my hold go, watching as he slides down to the floor, gasping for breath and holding his now bruised throat. I’m not known for being a patient man, and with the stress I’m under right now, I’m even more impatient. So the fact that this little fucker is just sitting there staring at me instead of answering my questions is severely pissing me off. As if he can see how close I am to losing my shit, the Seelie fucker finally starts to speak.

“P-Please, I-I swear I know nothing about any missing Unseelie Fae. I was talking to my friend about a conversation I overheard between Prince Cailean and his advisor about our people who are going missing. He said something about one of our diplomats disappearing as soon as they passed over to Earth from Fairy. That's all I know, I swear to Danu!”

I look over him, deciding whether or not to believe him before finally letting out a frustrated breath and motioning for him to leave. The Seelie wastes no time in getting to his feet and running from the alleyway. Leaning against the alley wall, I let out a resigned sigh before calling out to Morpheous.

In the next instant, he’s standing beside me with a cocky grin on his face like he had been standing there the whole time and despite my shitty mood, I can’t stop the smile from tugging at my lips.

“You’re such a fucking show off Morph, you’re lucky you’re my friend or your little appearing trick could have ended badly for you.”

The sound of Morpheus’s laughter has me chuckling as I watch him from the side of my eye with amusement. I can’t help but remember the way we were in our youth. The day I met Morph we were still both children and my father appointed him to me to be trained as my advisor. When you grow up with someone the way we did, it creates an unbreakable bond. No one understands me the way he does.

“You know me better than that Zaph, life’s too boring without a little mischief. I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. Does this mean we get to have some fun at this party tonight? Usually, I hate when the king delegates these stupid gatherings to us, but now it’s almost too good of a chance to pass up.”

This is why we work so well together. I’m not the most sociable person you could meet, and I hate to waste time having to repeat things that I feel people should already understand. So the fact that he can guess where my mind went with the news of the Seelie experiencing the same issue as us will save us some time.

“Of course, getting into the party won’t be much of an issue, even if it is just a night for all those old fuckers to have a dick measuring contest. The biggest issue will be getting Cailean to talk with us about this bullshit. You know that we don’t get along at the best of times, but it's just not in our nature to reveal something so sensitive to our enemies. Let’s just hope that he can remove his head from his ass for one night.”

Morph doubles over and his face turns red with his laughter. Even after he notices the unimpressed look I throw him, nothing will stop him from being the jokester that he is. Rolling my eyes, I push off the wall, tucking my hands into my pockets and strolling out of the alley. If we’re going to make this stupid party on time, then we need to get changed. I can only hope that tonight won’t be a waste of my time.

8:30 pm

I stand at the sidelines of the room, trying to avoid the power-hungry fuckers who are circling me like sharks who’ve scented blood in the waters around them. I’ve never been more thankful for the buffer that Morph creates around me to keep them at a safe distance. I don’t have the patience for all the politics tonight, and I can’t find that bastard Cailean anywhere.

Trust a fucking Seelie to be late to his own party, I swear none of them are taught any of the proper etiquette for these types of situations. I would rather get this over as quickly as possible and get back to my club, but as per usual Cailean and his self-importance are putting a damper on my night.

I do my best to get a lid on my anger, knowing that if there are truly Seelie