Wicked Games: The Arcane Court, #1

By S.A. Price, K. Margaret and Dagmar Avery

Tasked with finding the remaining treasure hordes, Alyx Mayhem and her guards, Scur Nordscov and Khalid Ingvar, have their hands full. As she is uniquely suited for the treasure quests, she plans to do it her way with the men that love her by her side.

One of two newly minted princesses in the Nightmare Courts, Alyx is determined to ensure her court is indispensible to the others, by filling the hole of a warrior house. With one horde down, and several more to be found, they think they have it in the bag…

Except they didn't count on a competitor, and one who is set on ruining the Nightmare Courts.

And when something monumental is unearthed, Alyx and her men will have a decision, one that will take them on a grand adventure…or doom them all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S.A. Price
• Release date: Jan 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393214496

Book preview

1

Princess Alyx?

Alyx looked up from her stretching to see Puziel standing in the doorway of the yoga studio. An unofficial guard, as in he and her were not screwing but she felt he was part of her household, the man was fine with a capital F. It was a dirty shame they played for the same team.

After being rescued by her brother and the other guards at High Court, Puziel had spent the better part of three months at Lotus, getting healthy, and kicking the addiction to Axim they had forced on him. Now, he was hale, hearty, and bonded to her, through blood only, and had taken up the mantel of her court council, as he was far older than he appeared, much like Ariton.

Lord Puziel, she said as she stood up. She hated when any of her household called her princess and had taken to using their titles as well, which was something most cringed at. She liked things informal and tried to keep them that way. She wasn’t above fighting fire with fire. Is there something I can get you?

Puziel frowned. That lord shit has got to go, he said as he walked up and handed her a dossier. Courier from Dank. Seems Nihar has nailed down another horde.

Oh, well that was very good news. Well I suppose we should find Scur and Khalid, yes? She opened the dossier and scanned the papers, everything from written notes, to satellite images, to comments from Cetus himself. Everything they needed to go forward. And if you want that lord shit to go, that princess shit has to go, too.

You do realize you are extremely difficult for a royal, right?

New royal. I do things my way. You wanna call me princess, you can join me in bed. Since only her guard called her that.

No, thank you, he said. Fetching as you are, you just don’t do it for me.

And therein lies the shame. She grabbed her water, took a healthy drink and smiled. So, any news from Faeblin territory?

Puziel shook his head. Abaxley is still recovering and fighting this thing between the two of you.

Don’t I know it. She huffed. Well, let’s go find my maniacs and then we can make a plan.

They walked down the hallway of her new Sithen, the former Stone Court Sithen. The changeover had been easy, less of an issue than Senara was having, as the rot of the most recent Sahkr generations had been kept out of it largely.

When she had entered the Sithen after High Court, the majordomo, an entity called Azrael, had informed her that he, having felt the wrongness of the Sahkr family, had closed much of himself off to them, correcting a mistake the High Court Sithen had made. The purge of the rot and evil had been quick, and the estate and Sithen had calmed, and fallen into a decent routine with her and her household.

She had picked up several of the recovering fae from Lotus, them choosing to join her court because they, like her, had been wronged by the Starlight family, and many were sole survivors of their own houses, like Puziel. Her court was being populated by those looking for a fresh start, second chances, and opportunity.

Four of the unaligned warrior families had joined her as well. Mantra, her father’s best friend’s house, Daka, the house of fae assassins who had come to her and told her that the head of a warrior court would need them and represent them best, Bleak, the house of Carnage, and Aghast, the family that had straddled the line of Sleeping and Starlight but wanted to make amends for Rune’s misgivings, joined her.

She had welcomed them and they had started to make the court a home.

Alyx found Scur in the living room watching something that vaguely sounded like porn, eating popcorn. Thank god they didn’t have kids about. What are you watching, and where the hell is Khalid? Puziel’s got news.

The berserker tossed some popcorn in his mouth and hit the pause button on the remote, stilling the two animated characters on the screen, one whose breasts would have given her massive back problems had they been real. No idea what I’m watching, he said with a grin. Has a fantastic plot, though. At least I’m assuming it does, but I haven’t bothered reading the subtitles. As far as Khalid, he and Pristina were checking out one of the rooms on the far end of the Sithen.

It seems tentacled monsters are not just for the Sluagh anymore. And while I agree some Hentai has some amazing plots, this seems gratuitous and well... She cocked her head to the side, unsure of what she was seeing past a massive pair of mams. It seems painful. Get your twisted ass up, lover, we have some tomb raiding to do.

Two of my favorite words, he said, pushing himself off the couch and placing the popcorn on the table. Although, ‘get naked’ would be preferable. I do like it when you get all demanding. He walked over to her, bending over to nibble on her neck. So what’s old leaky boy found?

I hope he hears you calling him that and poisons your ass, she heard Khalid say from behind her. I sensed you needed to see me.

She palmed Scur and then turned to smile at Khalid. Ooh, that’s kinda cool, she said and pulled her captain into an embrace. He was all sweaty, smelling like dried leaves and sunshine, which was quickly becoming her favorite scent. I always need to see you. How’s the reno going?

Better than expected. Since the rot didn’t fester as it could have, the Sithen is very accommodating, Khalid said, tipping her head back to kiss her. Pristina is going to oversee what’s left. Now... Khalid trailed off as his gaze landed on the television, then he shook his head. I seriously don’t want to know. Scur opened his mouth. Don’t tell me. Much rather hear about what Puziel discovered.

I didn’t learn anything, Nihar sent it over, Puziel said.

Shall we retire to the war room? she said and extricated herself from her guard and sauntered to the far room. She gained the large table and pulled out all the pieces of the dossier, setting them out.

Don’t worry, Scur, we’ll pull out a dictionary for you, Khalid said, walking over to stand next to her.

You jest, Scur said, but that fucking druid has been known to use words in dead languages that no one can understand. Pretty sure he’s cussing us all out but no one can prove it.

Nihar is special, she agreed, looking at the pictures. She pointed to a satellite photo. So, another hidden temple. This one in Cambodia.

Southeast Asia, Scur said and Khalid nodded. What kind of intel was the druid able to dig up?

I’m trying to read the chicken scratch someone wrote on this. Khalid leaned closer and squinted his eyes. Does that say land mines or lame mimes?

That’s Hendrix’s script. If he didn’t have wings he would have been a goddamn doctor with this fucking script. She pulled another sat photo out, this one in a different color. Yes, mines. Here, here, and here. I think we will need to airdrop in, she said and grinned. Helo.

Only with you a short time and you already want to push me out of a helicopter. Khalid shook is his head at her and sighed. Been awhile since I’ve been flying, but sound plan.

We’ll need to make sure where we land doesn’t have mines. Trust me when I say, they aren’t always visible by satellite. Had one hell of a close call in the Battle of Bergen, Scur said with a shudder.

She pointed to a flat section of the exposed temple. Land here. Tight fit but if we keep it quick, we can repel down. She clapped her hands. Ooh, this is going to be so much fun. Helo drop, repelling, watching out for mines... She grinned. What else is in the notes?

Puziel started rifling through the papers. Seems this one was not on a map, and Cetus didn’t know about it, but Nihar had a download and it appeared. He looked up. Said it’s called the Temple of the Mists?

Blood Court move their Sithen to Cambodia? Scur said with a smirk.

That’s the Temple of Insanity, Khalid countered. "Okay, so Cetus doesn’t remember this place, which probably means they either created the place after he was imprisoned, or it was one of the Light Court’s, before they even became the Light Court. Definitely worth a look see. I mean, it would be smart of them to use a place that wouldn’t ring any bells for