Ivy cringed as she stood, or attempted to, then hobbled back down the hallway.
I’d been awake since before sunrise, and Finn hadn’t made an appearance. The mystery around him was taking up too many of my thoughts. The fact he appeared to want to hate me so much proved to be a challenge a part of me wasn’t willing to walk away from.
The more I thought about him, the more I wanted that hate to turn into passion, nearly as much as I wanted to kill the king. Mostly, I was curious how much Finn was really holding back. But the risks involved if I couldn’t keep emotions out of it were high. I still hadn’t decided if the unknown rewards were worth the possible consequences.
“So, we didn’t talk about the fae who showed up last night. The king must know you’re here,” Neva said.
“I doubt that, but he will soon enough.” I paid close attention to my nails instead of Neva.
We’d slept in the living room, and Neva had already put our beds away. In their place was an additional chair I’d been wishing for since all of the other spots had been claimed around the room. I had no desire to stand every time we were here, and while the couch might have held one more person, it also appeared to be falling apart at the seams.
Ivy came back, appearing to have cleaned herself up, and sat in the rocking chair. “Is our furniture not good enough for you?”
“Nope,” I deadpanned.
“Good to know.” At least she didn’t seem to get offended like her brother.
“Should we wait for Finn?” Neva asked.
Ivy squinted. “For what? What’s happening?”
“Ms. Lucinda has a plan, and if we don’t get it out of her soon, then she’ll put it into motion without us. I’d advise we get everything in the open right now.”
Neva really enjoyed being right. Also, I didn’t miss the fact she was back to calling me “Ms. Lucinda”. Apparently, Lucy was only acceptable when I was being unreasonable and she was trying to soften me up.
“Well, then we don’t wait. What happened to him last night anyway? I don’t remember seeing him come back.”
Neva chuckled and relayed the story. It was interesting hearing her version of it, much tamer than mine would have been.
“A fae was here? Trying to get you and my brother?” Ivy’s face paled.
“It’s not a big deal. We took care of it, but there will be more. This farm won’t be a safe haven for much longer,” I replied.
Her eyes closed, and her face turned beet red with sparks of magic flickering around her. I had no idea what was happening until Finn appeared right before her.
“What’s wrong? Did someone hurt you?” he asked in a panic.
She punched him in the shoulder. “You need to quit being so damn nice and listen to Lucy. She is going to be the one to save us, and if your stubbornness gets in the way of that, I’ll kick your ass myself. Do you understand?”
He backed up a few paces, his gaze moving between the two of us. “What the hell happened?”
“You tried to save a fae who didn’t deserve saving.” Ivy crossed her arms with a huff.
Finn rolled his eyes. “So, it’s guilty until proven innocent now? You think the only way to win against the king is to stoop to his levels?”
She stuttered, but no words came out.
I stood and decided to pick up where she left off. “What she means is that you could have gotten us all killed last night by being too nice. Instead of refusing to believe that not everything is as you’ve always thought, maybe quit being an ass and open up to the idea not everything I am is evil.”
Ivy held her fist up. “That’s right.”
I connected mine with hers before smiling sweetly at Finn and sitting back down.
The twinge in his cheek just above his jaw was back in full force as he sat next to Neva. “How do you do this?”
Neva wrapped an ebony curl around her finger. “Ms. Lucinda is right. While I don’t always agree with her methods, she is your best chance at making it out of this mess alive. All of you.”
Finn tossed his head back. “I’m surrounded by too many women. Where’s Maddox? He’ll see my side.”
Ivy snorted. “If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll agree with me.”
Yep, I definitely liked the sister. At least for the day.
The door opened and Maddox entered as if he’d been summoned like Finn. “Of course, I’ll always agree with you my love.” Maddox went to her and kissed her cheek before kneeling beside the chair. “What did I miss?”
She squeezed his shoulder. “Try to catch up and I’ll explain the rest later. I want to know what Lucy has planned.”
Maddox nodded, his hazel eyes taking me in as he pushed his shoulder-length brunet hair behind his ear. There was a slight bend to his nose, and I wondered what else he did besides tend to his farm.
Meanwhile, Finn grumbled some more, but I ignored him and stayed standing. Nobody ever got anything done by sitting on their ass.
“Before we get into my plans, I need you to tell me more about this poison or sickness you’ve taken on,” I said to Ivy.
She brushed back blonde hair that was similar to her brother’s but where his was dark, hers was strawberry. “Well, when the king came to me, his skin was ashen, and he’d aged several decades. To be honest, I didn’t even recognize him at first. His guards practically carried him in, and that should have been my first sign to refuse.”
“He would have killed you on the spot for treason if you had, so you probably made the right choice. For as long as he lives, you get to live. If you hadn’t come to me, that could have been decades more. What’s wrong with that?” I asked, because who didn’t want to be forever young without having to be weak to blood like the vamps?
“Considering I was engaged and wanted to have a family, everything is wrong with that,” she replied gruffly.
Maddox held her hand. “You still are engaged. I’m not going anywhere.”
She huffed. “That’s a conversation for later.”
I must have made a face at their affection, because Ivy scowled at me for the first time.
“Easy, sis. Lucinda here doesn’t know what love is, so you’ll have to excuse her ignorance on things that are important to most people,” Finn said, calming her down, and I winked at him.
“But I know what desire is.” I might have made the joke, but I didn’t miss the way my chest ached at his words. He was right, and I hated it.
His hands curled around his knees, and I turned back to Ivy. “So, you’re going to risk dying early so you can live? I don’t understand why you don’t just do whatever you want now.”
“Because what I want is a life with Maddox and the babies I’ve dreamt of, but I won’t be with him and break his heart by not being able to give him everything he deserves.”
Oh, kill me now. We’d entered territory I had no wish to be in.
“Back to the king. What did he tell you?” I asked before my lack of empathy upset her again.
Ivy wiped a stray tear from her cheek. “He said he’d been struck with some sort of flu, and his weakened immune system couldn’t fight it, but he was certain a young, powerful healer like myself could do the job. Later, I’d found out he was working his way through a list of known healers and had already killed more than a dozen before he arrived on our doorstep.”
None of that surprised me in the least.
“As I took the sickness from him, I realized too late that it wasn’t natural.” Ivy’s hand covered her heart. “There is a darkness that lives within my heart now. I don’t know where it’s from or what it could do, but I’ve lived with it for nearly two years and I’m done.”
I moved closer, lifting my hand. “Do you mind?”
She shrugged. “Have at it. I doubt anything you do can make it worse.”
I grinned. Oh, how naïve she was. Things could always be worse.
My palm pressed against her chest, and she moved her hand away. As soon as my fingers touched her skin, I was ins
tantly drawn to the power within her. There was a heaviness about the darkness within her that I didn’t recognize, but I wanted it for myself, regardless. There was no way this could be poison. No, it was more than that and I wanted to know what.
I closed my eyes, and my hand burned against Ivy’s skin as she flinched beneath me, but I ignored her discomfort. She was wrong. The magic within wasn’t contained in her heart. It flowed through her blood and to every point in her body.
“Lucinda, I think that’s enough,” Neva said from somewhere behind me.
“Just another minute.”
A strong hand tugged on my free arm. “Neva’s right. Let Ivy go.”
“I said I’m not done yet,” I snarled, and Ivy squealed beneath me.
Within a second, my hold on her was broken, and I went flying across the room until my head connected with the wall. I didn’t have to see myself to know that my eyes were glowing teal and my wings were spread. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
Finn stood in front of Ivy. “You don’t scare me.” Magic built in his palms, and I welcomed the attack. After touching the power inside Ivy, my adrenaline was on fire. I needed a release.
Kill her and take the power. You’ll feel even better, the sinister voice inside me cooed, sounding more comforting than ever before. As I considered the option, I knew it was the wrong one, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to listen.
Maddox moved in front of Ivy, and Neva stepped between me and Finn. “Enough. You two need to get it together before you get us all killed. Ms. Lucinda, that poison is meant to lure dark fae. If you absorb too much of it, you will die.”
I tilted my head toward her. “How do you know?” From what I had just experienced, the consequence should be the exact opposite.
“I’m neither light nor dark. I’m merely a brownie elf who was born to serve, but it doesn’t mean I know nothing about magic. When I met Finn, something within him repelled me. I thought it reminded me of you because it is dark, but that’s not it at all.”
Finn moved closer to her. “What is it then?”
“You have trace amounts of the poison within you, and it’s not enough to kill you or another supernatural. But it is enough to harm someone. Whatever you did to yourself to be able to syphon some of that dark energy may never go away.” Neva’s eyes softened, then she moved her attention to Ivy who was muttering incoherently and had tears trailing down her face.
Neva wiped them away. “This is not your fault.”
“Yes, it is. I should have just let them kill me, and then the king would be dead, and everyone would be better off.”
“That’s the second biggest lie you’ve ever said,” Maddox grumbled, and Ivy’s sobs got louder. So much for thinking she was full of snark. That side of her I could tolerate, but this hungover emotional part of Ivy was too much. An unease settled within me at the sight of her tears, and I didn’t know what to do with it.
Maddox glowered at me, then picked Ivy up before carrying her out of the room. An awkward silence settled over the remaining three of us, and I retracted my wings before deciding to take a seat. I held my palm out and channeled my energy, looking for anything to tell me more about what I’d just felt, but there was nothing out of place.
No marks, no extra magic, no nothing.
Well, except for the fact the darkness within me was fighting harder to come out. Whatever poisonous magic was in Ivy, it was strong enough to awaken mine like nothing before it.
As soon as I’d touched her, the power inside her clung to me and drew me in. I licked my lips as the thought of that much energy fueled the darkness inside me. My thoughts were at war with one another and, for once, I wasn’t certain which was right.
After that experience, I understood how vampires felt when they needed blood and probably how King Zephyr had become subject to the poison.
Knowing him, he would have thought it was power to be controlled—just like I’d allowed myself to believe, or maybe even still believed. He would have been greedy, taking all that he could as quickly as possible. I was on the same path until Finn had ripped me away.
Whoever created the magic knew him well. If only they had been successful, then the poison would have done its job and I wouldn’t be in this mess.
Their failure didn’t matter, though. I would finish what they started, and King Easton Zephyr would no longer rule Fae Islands.
By the time I was through torturing him, he’d be going straight to hell.
Chapter 13
Finn and Neva were in the midst of a completely different conversation once Ivy had been carried away by Maddox. I’d missed most of it while I’d been busy with my internal thoughts that were easier for me to process than their emotions. Now it was time to reveal my plans.
“There is a spot by the for―” Finn was saying, but I cut him off.
“We’re going to begin terrorizing the king tomorrow. This will be a three-step plan, each piece more important than the last. The two of you will have to remember there’s a difference between right and good if you’re going to be part of this, because it’s either my way or you’re on your own.”
Finn’s chest rumbled. “I was talking.”
“And?”
He shook his head. “You’re impossible. What are these steps you’ve managed to come up with all on your own?”
Well, at least he wasn’t stupid enough to argue with me.
“The first is we need to get the people still loyal to him to begin questioning his ability to keep them safe and fed. There’s about to be a shortage of fresh water and food.”
“Won’t that harm the innocent?” Neva asked.
I shrugged. “Some will get sick, but nobody should die. At least, I don’t think.”
She sighed heavily but didn’t say anything else.
“And after that?” Finn asked.
I sat back down in my new chair and kicked my feet up over the side. “Then, there will be a mental attack. I’m going to use a spell I acquired back in LA to make the king so paranoid that his closest guards even begin to doubt his soundness. Especially when one-by-one they begin to disappear.”
Finn scoffed. “And you think you can pull all of this off on your own?”
“Well, that’s a stupid question.” I turned toward Neva. “While I dumb things down for pretty boy, will you go to your little pocket realm and find my weapons, along with my trunk of spells?”
She nodded. “Of course, Ms. Lucinda.”
Finn sneered as soon as she disappeared. “You’re ridiculous making her do things for you like that.”
I sat up straighter. “Did you ever take a moment to consider that maybe I gave her a purpose? Do you know anything about Brownie Elves? She was born to assist, and when I found her, I saved her life. She owes me nothing for doing so, but she stays because she enjoys it. Maybe stop being a dick about it and get over the fact I’m not as horrid as you thought. It’s clear as day that you hate to think you might have been wrong about me.”
A look of surprise passed over his face, but it was gone just as quick as it came. “Whatever.”
“I really don’t understand you. If I didn’t know any better from our previous, more friendly interactions, I’d maybe wonder if you were anti-cooch and pro-boner. Maybe you’re both? No judgement here, but it definitely changes things if we’re playing for the same team.”
He choked on air, his face turning several shades of red. Yeah, I’d been hanging around the humans for much too long and their odd names for body parts were quite entertaining.
“What the hell did you just say?” he wheezed.
I waved my hand in the air. “You know you’ve been resistant toward me. Maybe it’s because I’m not packing the right kind of—”
He held his hand up. “Enough. I’m very much into women. I just prefer them to care more about others than you do. I thought I could ignore that detail at one point, but watching you mercilessly kill the fae in the forest showed me that likely wasn’t some
thing I could ever be okay with.”
I merely stared at him, unsure of how to respond. He’d just confirmed what Neva had tried to say and what I’d been thinking about already, but for some reason, that didn’t make me feel any better.
“What’s step three?” he asked, giving me the distraction that I needed.
“Step three is the attack. After parts one and two, the king should be left weak in the mind and without an army. Or at least, not one the size he has now. Killing him won’t be easy. He’s been spelled to live forever, and while I won’t necessarily wait for Ivy to be free of the poison she took on, it would be helpful in finding a way through the enchantments he was gifted at coronation.”
Along with being spelled to never lie to his people, any ruling leader was enchanted with long life and resistance to most things that could kill the rest of us fae. Whoever had nearly ended him before was smart, and I was surprised they hadn’t tried again.
“It’s a good plan.”
It was my turn to choke. “Excuse me? Did you just actually agree with me?”
“I’m sure we won’t agree on how you execute each of those steps, but the general idea of them is doable. It creates the least number of casualties.”
I snorted. “It will also drive the king to insanity. It will break him mentally. Who cares about anything else?”
“I do,” he snapped.
I turned in the chair and put my feet on the ground, leveling my gaze on him. “Just remember, at some point, it’s going to come down to making a choice that will either save your sister or get someone else killed. When that happens, I bet my right versus good will make a hell of a lot more sense, and I’ll be happy to tell you ‘I told you so’ once again.”
He stood from the couch. “I need to go clean the bunker.”
I blew him a kiss. “Try not to get blood on your clothes again.”
He ignored me and slammed the door on his way out. Hopefully, some time with minced fae body parts would make him realize I wasn’t as bad as he was making me out to be.
Or maybe you’re worse, my inner darkness reminded me.
Dark Fae Cursed (Broken Court Book 1) Page 10
