by Ember Hollis
“I will do something for you though,” she tells me, “There is more than enough misunderstanding around here.”
She turns to Malek and speaks to him. But though I can see her lips moving, I can’t hear anything at all. I look to Sybil, wondering if my ears have been damaged by the toilet water, but she looks just as confused as me. And when I notice that I can still hear the tank behind me filling up, I realize that Pandora’s made it so that only she and Malek can hear what she’s saying.
“And that, I believe,” she says finally, her words audible again, “Is as much as I can do for you, Heaven. Now, I wish you the best of luck for the rest of Bacchadelia. I hope you find a way to deal with all these suitors. Zeus knows we need the energy… but perhaps not quite to this extent, yes?”
With a glance at her secretary, the two of them walk out of the room, leaving Malek, Sybil and I looking at each other uncertainly.
Chapter 21: Heaven
“I’ll help you to your room,” Malek says finally, breaking the awkward silence.
“No, I’ll help her,” Sybil says. “She needs to get cleaned up first.”
She tries to haul me to my feet, but I’m so exhausted and my feet are so sore from all the dancing that I yelp and stagger the moment I try to stand.
Malek moves to steady me, but when his arms come close, I can’t help but gasp and flinch back. I’m too used to being afraid of him.
The red-haired Horseman immediately stops moving and averts his eyes, giving me a chance to regain my composure.
“It’s okay, Heaven,” Sybil says, with a hand on her blue glasses. I glance at her and then back at Malek who I see is looking at me calmly.
When I catch his eyes, he holds his hands palms up and says, “If I wanted to hurt you, I’d have done it already.”
Well, that’s definitely true.
I nod and try to relax as he slowly come closer, then scoops me up into his arms as easily as if I weighed less than a feather.
Malek moves towards the door, then pauses to let Sybil out first. “Lead the way. Just take the back passageways so we don’t meet anyone.”
I have no idea which passageways he’s referring to, but Sybil seems to know. We move quickly and quietly from the bathroom to a hallway at the back of the Ballroom, stealthily leaving the dance so that no one notices we’ve gone.
As the dark hallway gives way to rocky tunnels lit by glowing mosses, I glance up at Malek surreptitiously.
He’s as far from a knight in shining armor as I can imagine one to be, yet… he’d come to my aid unquestioningly, twice over now. Or had he? Maybe all he wanted the first time around was to find Mikael and protect the unicorns. And maybe he’d only interrupted the girls in the bathroom because he’d sensed a fight. If the blatant bullying could be called a fight.
But then… that doesn’t explain why he’s still helping me now. It doesn’t explain why his hands are cradling me so gently as he walks, why he so thoughtfully makes sure that no one will see me in this condition, and why he’d looked hurt when I’d declared that he’d be the last person I’d ever want to be with, though that evening seems so long ago now.
I want to puzzle over this some more, and dwell on what Pandora might have said to him, but my body is just too drained by what I’ve gone through. I find myself drifting in and out of consciousness, hardly able to distinguish between what I’m seeing in the eerie glow of the underground lights, and what my mind is concocting from barely remembered memories and dreams.
Vaguely, I become aware of being set down in hot water and having my clothes stripped off and my body gently bathed. I follow what I’m told to do like a child, lifting my hands and bending my head under the shower head, until someone is picking me up again and tucking me into the sheets of my bed.
The last thing I’m aware of before I lose myself to sleep, is a kiss on my forehead that reminds me of Mom, and a warm hand holding mine as a voice tells me, ever so quietly, “I’m sorry, Heaven.”
Chapter 22: Malek
The lamia stares at me as if I’m a scorpion as I straighten from the bed. I’ve kept her in my sights throughout the trip to the bathroom where she’d bathed the angel, and then during the short trip to their bedroom, so I’ve seen the way her hand twitches towards her glasses whenever I startle her. She’s a jumpy one, to be sure.
I move towards a chair in the room, but before I can bring it to Heaven’s bedside, the lamia is beside me, gesturing for us to leave the room.
I frown but comply. It’s a really bad time to get petrified into stone, and I know that Christian’s probably too busy to sense it if I need him.
“What is it?” I say, once the door is closed behind us.
The lamia takes a deep breath, as if she needs the air to anchor herself, then blurts out, “I want to know what you’re doing right now.”
“I’m standing here, talking to you,” I tell her plainly. Her face turns red and she shifts nervously, the end of her tail vibrating slightly. She’s brave too, I’ll give her that. Few dare to talk to me like this. But though I know exactly what she means, I have no intention of explaining myself to her.
“I know,” she says. “I don’t mean right now, now, I mean… in there, with Heaven. You… you kissed her… are you going to hurt her when she wakes up?”
What a stupid question. Does one kiss their enemy? Well, maybe if one is Judas. I dwell momentarily on that conundrum, then focus again on the lamia, who’s still staring at me with wide eyes, as if she expects me to stab her for asking me the same question twice.
“Sybil, isn’t it?” I say, then wait for her to nod. “Have you seen Heaven’s wings often of late?”
The lamia blinks in confusion at my changing the subject, then shrugs. “Just three times. Once when she came back, once during SP&E and then today.”
“And that’s all? She doesn’t bring them out often? Not every day?”
Sibyl shakes her head, frowning. “Why? What does that have to do with anything?”
“No reason,” I tell her. “I’d have thought she’d want to show them off. Or have them out so she could get used to them.”
“Heaven’s not the kind to show off,” Sybil starts out defensive, before her expression turns thoughtful. “And… well, aside from that one time when she flew, she hasn’t actually been that into her wings. When she first came back, she wouldn’t even look at them in the mirror.”
Well… that at least supports what Pandora said.
I decide to take my leave before Sybil remembers that she’s supposed to be interrogating me on Heaven’s behalf, instead of the other way around.
“Tell her during the Hunt that if she needs to hide, she should head to the grottos that are west of the Hanging Swamps. There’s a little underground shelter over there that I use sometimes when I go hunting. She can stay in there for as long as she wants, it’s shielded against most magic and almost impossible to find without this. Make sure you give it to her. If she’s truly in trouble or in pain, it will also help me find her.”
I hand her one of the tiny gold droplet pendants that I usually give my pets. Sybil stares at me as if I’ve grown an extra head but I just hold it out to her until she nods and takes it.
Then I turn to make my way to my own room. Too much has happened of late, and I need to think.
Chapter 23: Heaven
I seem to sleep forever. I know on some level that I’m over-sleeping, and I try to wake several times. But each time my consciousness drifts to the surface and I’m close to waking, dread for what’s waiting for me, and the prospect of having to face it holds me back, until sheer mental exhaustion and despair pulls me back under.
Distantly I’m aware of Sybil moving around me, sometimes talking to me, other times to someone else. Her presence is usually comforting, but when she starts shaking me and doesn’t stop, I can’t help but wish she’d just go.
“Heaven! Wake up Heaven!”
“Leave me alone,” I mumble.
“I
can’t! If you don’t leave now, you’ll be a sitting duck during the Hunt!”
The hunt? What hunt?
I moan and try to turn away from her, but this time, Sybil doesn’t let up.
“I swear Heaven Ramsey, if you don’t get up now, you’ll regret it!”
I scoff and bury myself deeper under the covers.
A shower of cold water cascades over my face, jolting me out of my sleep. I jump up and open my eyes to see Sybil, Meg and Amelie standing over me. Amelie is holding a half full cup of water, while Meg’s got some clothes slung over her arm and Sybil’s grasping a golden chain in her fist. All of them are dressed in woodland clothes with their hair wound about their heads or tied neatly in braids, and their feet are clad in sturdy boots.
“What’s happening?” I ask. My voice is hoarse and my throat hurts, so it comes out as a sort of inaudible croak.
Meg frowns and puts a hand to my forehead. “Great, you’ve got a fever. I knew we should have pricked her with a pin instead of soaking her with cold water!”
“We can get Madam Kahili,” Amelie replies, but Sybil shakes her head.
“There’s no time, there’s only fifteen minutes till the horn blows!” She quickly fastens the chain around my neck, then gestures for me to put on the clothes Meg is carrying. “Hurry, Heaven, we need to get out there now.”
“Fifteen minutes?” Amelie looks worriedly at all of us while I slowly climb out of bed. “Is it okay if I leave now? She’s up, so it’s good right? It’s just that I’m one of the High Elven students who’s supposed to help lead the hunt.” She shrugs when we look at her in surprise. If anyone was supposed to be the hunted instead of the hunter, it was Amelie, with her dozens of suitors.
Sybil recovers first, sighing in annoyance as she flaps at her to leave. “Just go, you too, Meg, I’ll take care of Heaven.”
“What do you mean the Hunt?” I ask her after they’re gone. I dress as quickly as I can though my muscles are aching all over. I feel so terrible that I’m not surprised when I glance in the mirror and see that my face is pale and pinched. “How long have I slept?”
“Almost two whole days,” Sybil says. She shoves some biscuits and water into my hands, then starts to put my hair up into braids around my head while I chew. “You slept all through the Dinner. Madam Kahili said that sleeping off your shock would work just as well as her magic, and I figured it would be a good excuse for you to avoid getting challenged during the Dinner anyway. But you can’t stay here for the Hunt, too many suitors will be looking for you.”
I grimace, remembering the long lists of names on my Dance card. So Pandora really had done nothing about that. Seeing my dismay, Sybil pulls out the necklace around my neck from under my shirt.
After she shows me the golden droplet at the end and tells me what Malek said, I can’t help but gape.
“And you believe him?” I ask. “You think I should head there tonight?
“I don’t know… it could still be a trick,” Sybil shrugs. “But if you have no choice, then… why not give it a go?”
A horn blows outside the castle. The sound is long and loud, rousing but haunting all at the same time.
“Oh no, it’s starting!”
Sybil grabs me by the hand and I stumble over my partially laced boots to follow her. The castle is deserted and there’s an expectant aura in the air, as if a storm cloud is hovering overhead and the air particles are charged with electricity. As we fly over the marble flagstones in the main hall, the horn blows a second time, and all the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stands up as goosebumps break out on my skin.
We burst out of the front door and across the drawbridge, our boots thundering on the wood. A group of elven students and teachers on horseback is just in front of us, facing all the cardinal directions. As we run towards them, I catch glimpses of naked flesh, flashing steel blades, and cat-like vertical slitted eyes that track us as like predators.
“Ignore them… just… keep… going…” Sybil pants, dragging me on when I slow down to stare. The boy with the stag-like horns who danced at me two nights ago smiles a rakish smile at me as he lifts an ivory horn to his lips, sucks in a deep breath, then begins to blow.
The third trumpet call lasts almost twice as long as the previous two did. When it ends, there’s a moment of silence when it seems like all the world is quiet. I hear nothing but the pounding of my heartbeat, racing even faster than we can run.
Then, mad whoops and calls rise up behind us and the thunder of hoof beats on the ground drowns out everything else. Steel clashes somewhere in the woods nearby, and I hear someone cry out in pain, while voices rise in hysterical laughter in another direction, and a shriek of fear rises in another.
It’s begun!
Somehow, I find the strength to keep running. Sybil and I dart through the trees like the wind, weaving and winding our way to get as far away as possible from the main arena. I know that Malek’s shelter is somewhere in the west, beyond the Hanging Swamps, but I’m still not sure I want to head there.
I’m about to suggest to Sybil that we head to the unicorn pastures where I’m most familiar with the terrain, when hoof beats drum up to my side and a hand curls under my arm and hauls me up sideways over a saddle.
Chapter 24: Heaven
“Heaven!”
I glance back to see Sybil’s figure shrinking behind me. Her eyes are wide and she’s clutching her glasses as if tempted to lift them and blast everything in sight to stone. But I’m too far gone, and besides, she’s going to have her own problems soon, I realize, when I see a dark, coiling figure stalking her from behind.
The rider who’s taken me chuckles as we crash through the underbrush. I feel a hand caressing my butt and I turn around indignantly.
It’s the High Elven boy of course. Who else could have spotted me so fast and run me down so quickly. He’s handsome enough I suppose, but I’m not ready to surrender just yet, especially to someone I’ve met for all of five minutes.
We’re going too fast for me to lift my hands from where I’m clutching the saddle, so I try to summon my wings instead, hoping to take flight, or at least block his view so he’ll slow down and allow me to jump off the horse.
But the moment I try to summon them, a wave of dizziness and nausea sweeps over me so swiftly that I almost empty my stomach over the side of the horse. The smell of charred feathers rises in my nostrils again, and a familiar pain rips through the skin on my back.
“Patience,” the boy tells me, misinterpreting the reason that I’m writhing against him. The heaving of the horse’s gait isn’t really helping my situation, and I clamp my mouth shut before I can hurl. “There’s a grotto close by where we can get right down to business, it’s just—”
Something slams into him from the side, knocking us sideways off the horse. I expect to hit the ground and break my neck, but just before I do, something furry slides under me and I find myself riding a huge gray wolf with yellow eyes.
“Noah!” I exclaim in relief.
He bares his teeth in what I suppose is meant to be a friendly grin. I see a flash of silver and a thud resounds in the wood of a tree. When I look over my shoulder, the elvish boy is reaching for another arrow from his quiver. With a snarl, Noah spins and lunges so fast that he doesn’t even get the chance to draw his bow. I hear a crack and a cry, and the next thing I know, the boy’s lying on the ground, stunned, with his broken bow a few paces away.
“Is it okay to just leave him there?” I ask. Anyone could stumble across him, and with his horse gone, he’d have no means of escape.
Noah just looks over his shoulder at me and huffs, before taking off in a loping run.
“Okay,” I shrug.
As we speed through the forest, I see more people fighting or fucking all around. Most are dressed for camouflage like the girls and I, but some males wear armor and fighting gear, and some females are actually traipsing about in ball gowns, as if they want nothing more than to be spotted and
ravaged. They probably don’t.
Occasionally I see someone I recognize and who recognizes me. Whenever that happens, it’s usually a girl who looks as if she’d like nothing better than to fling her blood in my face and challenge me. Other times, I see boys I don’t recognize, frowning as they spot me on Noah’s back. Those must be the ones on my list, I guess. I have no desire to find out and thankfully, Noah seems to have the same idea.
We avoid everyone we can and don’t stop for those we can’t, until Noah finally slows down at a familiar spot.
“Isn’t this near the cliffs where I fell? Anyone can see us from up there,” I ask him when he allows me to dismount. The last rays of the sun are disappearing over the horizon in a blaze of red, limning Noah’s figure as he hunches over and shifts back into human form. I avert my eyes politely while he groans in pain, his fur and claws retracting, and give him the time he needs to transform. When he’s done, he pants softly and I blush when I see that he’s entirely naked.
The adrenaline from my capture and the ride on his back has melted away the lassitude I woke with. And faced with Noah in all his glory, I find that my feverish body’s is still more than capable of appreciating the male form, and a sweet familiar ache starts throbbing between my legs as I imagine what it will feel like to finally have sex.
“Yeah, they can. But I happen to know of a cave nearby in a fold in the rocks,” he tells me, coming up to take my hand. “I’d have carried you all the way, except that it’s much too narrow for my wolf form. Shall we?”
He takes my hand and I raise myself onto my toes to kiss his cheek, suddenly unable to wait to feel his skin against mine.
This is the day I lose my virginity.
A trill runs down my back at the thought. “Let’s.”
The cave is indeed close by, I find, when we arrive a couple of minutes later. I stare at the furs laid out on the sandy ground, the rose petals, and the tea light candles that are scattered about. Noah’s certainly put a lot of effort into this, I realize, touched. He leads me to lie down among the furs and we start kissing, first hesitantly, then more passionately.
