“Milael,” she addressed him, seeing that he was a little taken aback by his surroundings. It wasn’t every day he found himself in the underground home of an estranged, at best, people with whom you have no treaty with, Jess mused, feeling a little sympathetic. The Fomorians probably weren’t a force to be reckoned with if you weren’t a highborn Seelie.
Speaking of which, she thought, seeing Fallon enter at last. Kaer, having escorted the new visitors, moved to stand on the other side of Alyss, at the back of the room in front of the first row of tables. Finn and Keegan, who had followed behind Milael carrying an old wooden box each, stood nearby with their burden awaiting for instructions.
Coming back from taking in his surroundings, Milael returned the smile to his queen and approached her. “My queen,” he said with a slight stammer, bowing at the waist, back straight.
“Thank you for coming,” Brianna said, reaching out to lightly brush his shoulders with just the barest of touches, cueing him to straighten.
When he did, he glanced at the twin Fomorians, spotting the boxes. Rushing over, he touched each one, almost to assure that neither were damaged during the walk from wherever they’d entered from. Finding them acceptable, he turned back to Brianna.
“Should I begin setting up, your majesty?” He looked rather excited now, gone was his initial hesitation. Jess guessed it probably wasn’t everyday he got to preform a blood oath.
The man directed Finn and Keegan to set the boxes on a nearby table so that he could open and go through them. Having been relieved of their burdens, the twins moved to stand at the door, taking post.
Fallon, who now stood at Brianna’s right elbow, tilted his head in a way of greeting to her, she smiled in kind and turned to Jess.
“Are you sure?” she asked, surprising Jess. Questioning it offered Jess a last minute out. A chance to second guess taking the mionn fola seemed risky on the Unseelie’s part.
Which secured Jess’ decision. By offering a way to not go through with it seemed to tell her that the queen wasn’t just driven by her own cause.
“I’m sure,” Jess confirmed, steadier than even she had expected. Looking up at Fallon who stayed silent, she saw that he looked a little proud. It warmed her inside to see the hint of admiration in his eyes. She never really viewed herself as brave, but this night would prove just how brave she could be.
She would risk her life by taking this oath with the possibility of being hunted down by the horde should she not uphold to it.
Stepping back, Fallon left the women to stand along in the center of the room while Milael finished setting the last necessary pieces to the ritual out on the floor beside them. On a short pedestal, one that had come in pieces, the wooden peg legs separate from the round top, rested a short dagger with a plain silver handle and a thin length of worn leather. The creases standing out on the dark brownish red coloring. A small silver that bowl gleamed more in the light than the dagger, sat between the other items and had a small piece of paper about the size of a post-it note inside.
“Are we ready?” Brianna asked Milael, who nodded, clasping his hands in front of him for a moment before he gestured for each of them to move in closer.
“In English, please, Milael,” the queen instructed. “The princess is not yet familiar with Gaelic.”
Nodding, Milael smiled at Jess briefly and then picked up the dagger. Jess, growing agitated by the weapon, fought a fleeting moment of panic as he started to speak.
“On this night, the queen of the dark and the Princess of the light take the mionn fola,” he said, then looked to the queen, waiting.
On cue, she spoke. “I, Queen of the Dark, vow not to take actions against the Princess of the Light or the Fomorians, before or after our kingdoms are reunited as one people.”
When she finished she nodded encouragingly to Jessandra.
“Princess,” Milael indicated she take her turn.
Following a similar script from the queen, she said hesitantly, trying to recall all the words, “I, Princess of the Light, vow to reunite all Seelie, both light and dark, under one court once again, after I am of power to do so.” Relieved, she sighed, but knew it wasn’t over. The glint of the dagger’s sharp blade reminded her that the worst was probably to come.
“Please hold your left hands out, palms up,” he instructed, gripping the blade close to his chest, almost hugging it.
They complied, fingers nearly touching each other. Bracing Brianna’s outstretched hand with his own he proceeded to briefly press the dagger’s cool tip to the center of her palm. Blood beaded up and welled in the natural cradle there. Turning to Jessandra, she braced herself, like she did whenever she got a shot growing up, only this time it was a little more primitive.
She didn’t feel the initial prick but the burning stinging sensation came with her own minuscule blood pool. Setting down the dagger and exchanging it for the leather strap, he took both of their bleeding hands and turned them to press the stained palms tightly together. Quickly, he began to wrap the leather around both of their now clasped hands. Jess didn’t have to worry about the bleeding because she was sure he had cut off the circulation in both of their hands from the wrist down. When he’d tied the tough hide, he covered his work with his own hands and looked to Brianna and then to Jess, then back again to the queen saying, “So swear it.”
“I so swear,” Brianna answered, not missing a beat.
When he looked again to Jess, she too replied “I so swear.”
The instant the last word passed her lips, she could feel a pressure travel from her left temple and then travelled quickly down her neck and shoulder, past the joint and through the length of her arm, beneath the leather binding where it seemed to grow even tighter, until finally Milael released his grip and it disappeared. For a second Jess wondered who was going to help untie them except before the thought brushed her mind she felt the tie loosen. No, the leather itself, still knotted, loosened. As if it were stretched out.
Slipping out of it, she and Brianna had to catch the now mess of knots to keep it from falling. Thinking to expel it to the nearest trash can, Jess held it aloft for a brief moment before Milael was there once again, this time holding the small bowl in one hand. Taking out the small bit of paper, he turned expectedly to Brianna who held out her blood smeared hand. With a quick swipe of the paper on her red palm he smeared the parchment with her blood. Looking now to Jess, she held her hand out dutifully. He did the same for her and then replaced the page in the bowl.
Reaching out to Jess, he took the strap from her as well, giving her a reassuring smile. He stuffed the leather into the bowl as well, overfilling it and creating a small mound over the brim. Expecting him to place it in one of his wooden boxes, he surprised her when instead he held the bowl up, level with his mouth and only six or seven inches away, before turning to the side slightly. He wet his lips, pursed them and started to blow. At first, gently, like one would when blowing bubbles. Then, gradually growing even stronger. As he did, Jess could see the air above the bowl wave and smoke before it ignited all together. Milael stopped, looking satisfied with the flames. Though he didn’t stop there. He leaned in again and blew harder this time, shooting the flames higher and in a rage. After a full minute or two, he stopped and drew back from the now ash filled bowl, crackling and whistling could be heard from the remaining burning spots as he set the bowl back down on the pedestal.
Jess knew she wasn’t the only one with mouth gaping and bewilderment written all over her face. From her peripheral, she could see her sister shared a similar expression. Milael left the pedestal, and all that was on it, where it was, probably to let it cool. “Do you have the Daeghtus,” he asked, looking to Cormac.
The quiet in the room, broken now, had everyone shifting positions. No doubt trying to relax tense muscles they’d had tightened during the oath. Cormac pushed off from the table he leaned on and lifted the flap of the messengers bag he had never taken off, pulling out something wrapped in a whi
te muslin cloth. Holding it out, he began to carefully undress it, revealing the Obsidian Ares.
The room went silent.
Jess felt an instant of awe come over her at the sight of it. Brianna had kept it hidden from them when they went to collect Alyss that first night. After a couple seconds, with all eyes glued to the onyx statue, Cormac approached Milael and carefully passed it to him.
For a fleeting moment, Jess felt a sense of panic of what was to come. Could she really go through with it? Changing herself forever and possibly not just inside. Up to this point she’s met Seelie that looked child like, another who nearly glowed like the moon at it’s fullest. And she just met one who could breath fire. She had no idea what her father looked like, really. Maybe what her mother bound inside her also had some other attributes that stretched beyond DNA and simple magic.
A hand, not Fallon’s, but soft and slim, took her own and gave her’s a hard squeeze. Looking to her sister, Alyss gave her a determined look; eyes firm, lips pressed together and brows slightly drawn together.
Suck it up and get it over with, was what she was saying so loudly to Jess. She’d seen it before when she was dared by Stephanie Howards to jump off the high board in middle school P.E. class. Sighing a little, she smiled and nodded, giving her own squeeze back to her sister. Never one to back down, Alyss made sure her sister didn’t fall short either.
Glancing back to Brianna, then to Milael, she took a cleansing breath before saying, “I’m ready.”
Pleased, Milael smiled and tilted his head back to his queen. “Now, legend says that one of similar magic, who isn’t bound, must touch the idol at the same time as the one who desires the change.”
“I’ve volunteered,” the Unseelie Queen informed Jess before the thought could even finish in her mind.
“Oh, okay.” Jess said, feeling like she’d just fallen down her own personal rabbit hole.
Turning at the waist, she found Fallon standing statue still a few feet behind her. Suddenly her need for comfort from him didn’t feel relevant. To help his tension, she asked him, “Can there be drinks when this is over?”
His nervous smile and short light chuckle told her she was successful. “Yes, princess,” he agreed.
Smiling shakily back at him, she turned back to face Brianna.
“When you are ready, princess, if you would please take hold of the Daeghtus.” The man didn’t push her but she felt like every other person in the room was behind her silently chanting for her to touch the Ares already. The anticipation in the large room made it almost suffocating. Controlling her breathing and nervous heart though, she reached out with her right hand.
“Your left,” Brianna interjected.
“Oh.” Quickly, she switched hands, gripping the statue around it’s right arm that held a large sword above it’s shoulder, she took another deep breath.
Milael released his hold on it, keeping a bracing hand at the bottom as Brianna grasped the other side. When she did, Jess expected lightning to shoot into her, lights to flicker, mysterious wind to course through the room. When none of that happened, not a god damned thing, Jess frowned and looked over to Milael questioningly.
“What’s wrong? Why isn’t anything happening?” She asked, confused. Did they have the wrong girl? The wrong Mannahan?
“Nothing is wrong, princess,” the man assured her. “You now need to ask the Daeghtus what it is you want. There is no on and off switch,” he explained.
Frowning at this, Jess had a hard time understanding how she could ask an inanimate object for something she couldn’t even name or imagine. Panic set in at full force once again. What if she couldn’t make it work, or turn it on, or whatever? Then what?
“Jessandra,” Brianna’s harsh saying of her name had her head jerking up to meet the queen’s steely, gray gaze. In that instant, Jess saw how old Brianna truly was. Ancient. All this time she assumed she looked good for someone that could be her mother from the looks of her son, but she saw it now. Brianna wasn’t the Unseelie queen for nothing. Swallowing, Jess held her gaze.
“Think about your mother,” Brianna guided her. “Your father, your true father. What they had, what they were, why your mother bound your magic. And what you want to do with it once you have reclaimed it.”
Nodding, Jess licked her dry lips and then softly shut her eyes. Breathing deeply, she began to count her breathes. Inhale…Exhale. Using last year’s yoga lessons to steady herself. When she felt her heart wasn’t going to leap from her chest, she turned her thoughts to her mother.
Her smile could always brighten a room. Her light brown hair was where the differences ended between her and Jess. The same round eyes, dark long lashes and greenish blue eyes mirrored her daughter’s. Jess’ memories pinpointed to a specific day she took her and Alyss to the park, letting them ride the carousel as many times as they wanted. Jess held onto that moment for a while before reluctantly letting it go, thinking about the magic that slept somewhere deep within her. At first Jess pictured an image of Brianna, the way she looked the first time she saw her. The gray glow emanating from all over her body. Her silver hair shining like a lake’s surface under the moon lit glow. Shimmering and glinting as it waved with her mind’s eye, replaced by an orb-like feature that glowed in the darkness. It stayed there, hovering in the center, almost like what you see when someone flashes a bright light in your eyes only to have it remain in your vision even with your eyes shut.
Suddenly it dawned on her that it was her magic, the light that floated there. As if she were dreaming, she imagined herself reaching out for it. Then the world outside her mind started to tilt. Trying to hold onto the vision, she tried again to touch it. Only this time, it burst like a flare, consuming the darkness, blinding her. Jerking away from it, her eyes snapped open.
Above her were Brianna, Milael, Alyss and Fallon hovering around her. Her only clue that she was on the floor. She must have fallen.
“Did I pass out?” She asked, wincing when the words seemed to pierce her eardrums. “Oh my god, my head is killing me.” When she tried to put a hands up to rub her temples, she found her left hand had a tight grip on something. After a second’s thought, she realized it must still be the Ares.
Looking over at Milael, squinting at the pain, she asked, “Can I let it go?”
He chuckled a little before nodding and reaching to take it from her. “Yes, princess. It’s done.”
“Done?” She croaked. Turning to Fallon, she asked very seriously, “Am I green?”
He frowned down at her, looking her over from head to toe. “No, you’re…not green.”
The way he said it had her worried. “Shit, am I blue?” She struggled to push up onto her elbows, which made her head spin.
“No, no, no, princess,” he crooned, pressing her shoulders back down to the cool stone floor. “You’re neither green or blue. You are still you,” he assured her.
Relieved, Jess didn’t resist and rested back.
“Here,” said Alyss, at her head.
Prying her eyes open again she saw her sister holding something cupped in one hand and a glass of water in the other. Fallon reached up, taking both from her and passing two capsules, Jess assumed were pain killers, to her own limp hand.
Placing them on her tongue, Fallon helped her sit up just enough to sip the water and swallow the medicine.
“What happened?” She asked again, staying up on her elbows now. Her head had stopped spinning but she couldn’t be sure of anything else just yet.
“You were meditating for a while before you just collapsed,” Alyss recounted. The shakiness in her voice made Jess try her best to look steadier.
“Your majesty,” Milael interrupted, coming to stand behind Fallon. Belatedly, Fallon realized he was addressing him and not Brianna. The sign of respect by acknowledging his position, a Fomorian, not a slave, didn’t go unnoticed. He recovered quickly though and moved to stand up and out of the way.
Milael bent down onto one knee and pres
sed two fingers to her forehead. Resting them there, he shut his eyes for a brief moment, then opened his them again, dropping his hand to her shoulder to give it a light fleeting squeeze before standing up. “It’s done,” he said to Brianna, bringing a pleased smile to her lips. Nodding, she thanked him for his services. Taking his leave, Jess could see him start to put away all the items from the oath ritual and took apart the pedestal, putting everything back into the boxes.
“So,” Alyss said by way of looking for more information.
“So, what?” Jess asked, confused. If she was careful and went slow enough, she just might be able to sit up on her own. Gingerly. She walked her hands to push herself upright. Ah, much better.
“So, do you feel anything?” Alyss asked more specifically this time. From her excitement and wide eyes, Jess suspected that Alyss expected her sister to turn green too.
Taking stock, Jess did an inventory on herself. No spidey scenses as far as she could tell.
“No,” she said, watching those around her deflate at the news.
For a moment she was relieved that she was still her, normal Jess. But then the reality of that sunk in.
“Why don’t I feel different?” She asked, looking up at Brianna who looked to be deep in thought.
Rather than ramble on about the whole thing being a mistake like Jess anticipated, Brianna said, “I was afraid this would happen.”
Fallon, who had remained quiet and still standing, looked over at the Unseelie queen intently.
“You see, when Seelie’s, and most other fae, come into their magic naturally it’s during puberty. All the hormonal stress causes the magic to mature and show itself.
At her words, Fallon closed his eyes, looking pained. When he opened them again, Jess saw that pain turn to disappointment.
Chapter Five
Later, after they’d all retired to their rooms, Brianna and her guardsmen having left the Nead as well. But not before informing Fallon that she would return the next evening, having an idea to try to bring Jess’ magic to the surface. Currently, it rested dormant deep within her, not wanting to come out from it’s hiding place, even though the door had been opened.
Ascending Into Light (Descending Series Book 2) Page 5
