by J. A. Curtis
He still refused to look at me, his face unreadable. What would happen to Arius if I actually stripped him of his rank and title? The night Nuada had betrayed him had stolen so much from this proud soldier boy. What would happen if I took that last piece of his identity from him?
I couldn’t do that. I willed my hands to relax and took a slow breath. “We had some humans stroll right through the Haven today.”
His eyes rose from the grass, and he stiffened. “You didn’t converse with them, did you?”
“Don’t you think, as leader, someone should have informed me of that little piece of crucial information by now?”
“You did speak to them?”
The alarm on his face lessened my annoyance at him a little.
“Docina and Caelm stopped me.”
His shoulders relaxed. “Good.”
His hair was a bit more splayed than usual, giving him a disconcerting tousled look that was decidedly sexy.
“What have you been doing?” I asked.
“Oh,” he said, placing his hand behind his head and glancing at his dirt-covered armor. “I was helping Luchta find and take down trees for the new shelter. My golem was ripping them up, and I got more dirt than expected thrown at me a couple of times.”
I blinked. Was Arius acting self-conscious? Around me? I was no match for his disarming attitude. I let the rest of my annoyance at him slip away.
“Have you ever thought of throwing trees in battle?” I asked, recalling the vision of Fand and the faeries fighting the ogres. I found the vision unsettling. Usually, I only saw events from my past life, but Jazrael hadn’t even been present in the last one. Fand had been the major focus.
I hadn’t told Arius or anyone about the vision. Fand and Nuada were the same person, and her betrayal for the faeries of the Haven was still fresh.
Arius raised an eyebrow. “Should I have?”
“No, I guess not.” I eyed the backpack on his back. “What’s in the bag?”
He set the bag on the ground and squatted over it. “I went through Nuada’s office while you were... away.”
Away. Like I had been on vacation. Still, the news surprised me.
“Nuada’s office was intact?”
“Mostly.”
Luchta had warned us that the half-standing, burned-out manor was structurally unsound. So I’d avoided venturing inside.
I couldn’t imagine how hard going through her office must have been for him. I wished I had been there.
He pulled out Nuada’s laptop. “It’s dead. We need to find a way to charge it.” Then he lifted Nuada’s ring from the pack. His face contorted, and he shoved it at me. I snatched it from him, hoping his face would go back to normal.
“Put it on. I know you’re going to,” he said.
I caught the worry in his eyes as they traveled between me and the ring.
My breath caught—Arius worried about me. This was new.
I slid the ring on. The band, bigger than my finger, almost slipped off. I waited. No transformations, no changing into a horrible angry monster. Nothing. There must be some other trick to making the ring work.
His head ducked, returning to the backpack. Next came a necklace—no, not a necklace, an armband. Something I’d once seen in my visions. It contained five place settings, but the last two were empty. One was meant for the ring on my finger, but even in my visions the last one had always been missing. Where was that jewel, and what did it do?
I curled the armband into my hand. “Is that it?”
Arius glanced into the bag before raising his eyes to me. “With your permission, I’d like to hold on to the last one.”
He lifted out a ball sitting on a wooden stand. At first glance, it looked like a snow globe, but then I saw the blue jagged stone suspended in the middle.
“Is that a crystal ball?”
“It’s made of glass.”
“No, but one of those balls that people can look into in order to, you know, see things.” Curiosity urged me closer to the stone in the glass.
He appeared confused by that. “Someone might be trapped in it.”
That drew my attention from the stone to Arius’s dark eyes. “What? Who?”
“The queen’s daughter.”
That couldn’t be true. The Otherworld and all the faeries who hadn’t made it to this world had been destroyed. That was what Arius told me. But that story originally came from Nuada. Who knew how much was true and how much was meant to deceive?
“I think Nuada trapped her inside somehow,” Arius said.
“Do we know how to get her out?” I asked.
“New magic can be dangerous. I had to leave before I acquired that information, and when I returned, she wasn’t there. I’m not sure how it works.”
How strange. Even though I wasn’t touching the glass, the ball had an odd pulsing feel, like it was begging me to touch it. “So you saw the princess? You talked to her?”
He nodded and settled the glass ball into the pack, zipping it shut. The pull lessened.
And yet, for some reason, my eyes lingered on the bag. “What did you talk about?”
Arius rose, leaving the backpack at his feet. “The queen.”
The one topic we both were avoiding. I clutched my left arm and leaned up on my toes.
Margus’s statements about the queen could have been a way to trick me into action, so I’d lead them to her. He had been nearby when I was arrested. That was how they’d picked me up on their police scanners.
Which meant they were already looking in Coeur d’Alene.
Mere weeks, he’d said. They were mere weeks from locating the queen. But that might mean anything. Even years could be proportioned into mere weeks.
“She was worried about her mother. I couldn’t answer her questions. I don’t know what information you gave Nuada and Margus,” Arius said.
I had given information away. Her first name, and most likely the current city she lived in. And, of course, they knew her age. But, while Coeur d’Alene wasn’t the biggest city, it was still a city with thousands of people. They couldn’t track down the queen with that, could they? Then again, they’d found me with less.
“You must have your reasons for choosing not to reveal her location, or going after her yourself,” he said quietly. “All that matters is that the queen is safe.”
I bounced on the balls of my feet. “I thought she was. But now I’m not so sure.” I rubbed my wrist and wondered if I could find Corbin’s bracelet where I’d stashed it under my mattress in the manor, or if it had burned away with everything else. “If we bring her here, can we keep her safe?”
“From Margus? Yes.”
“What if there’s more than Margus?”
He paused. “We will do what is necessary.”
Four faeries. We’d lost four faeries in our last battle. They had fallen and were reborn as babies, now being tended by the domovye—which meant either their faerie guardian had been destroyed in battle, their head had been chopped off, or their heart had been cut out. Those were the only ways a faerie could fall. At least they hadn’t been killed permanently. That would only happen if an enemy’s faerie guardian attacked a faerie directly.
But with our already low numbers, the loss of those four faeries was staggering. We now only had ten faeries old enough to fight in battle.
Not to mention the emotional toll of losing our friends and fellow soldiers.
But the numbers were clear, we just didn’t possess the strength to protect the queen.
“If we brought together the Haven and the faeries that follow Dramian, we might have enough,” I suggested.
“No.”
I stopped bouncing and straightened. “She’s their queen too.”
“Dramian burned down our home. And we’re recovering from a battle where they demolished our numbers.”
The feud. Always a barricade to progress, getting in the way of any reasonable plans. A pounding was starting behind my eyes. I pinched the
bridge of my nose. “I’m getting a headache.”
Arius rubbed his hands together and stared at the grass. “It’s your call, Mina. You’re the general, and I won’t say anything. But if the faeries realize—”
“That I know where the queen is, or that I was thinking about uniting with Dramian?”
“Either. It would call into question your motives, your position—everything. Even the faeries have their limits.”
“Trust me. I know.”
The flap behind Arius shifted unexpectedly. I froze, then shoved past him, throwing the tent flap wide. Thaya jumped back, startled, but recovered quickly. She offered the slightest of bows. “Veran said you wanted to see me?”
An icy dread washed over me at the smirk on Thaya’s face.
She had overheard our entire conversation.
6
Thaya’s Ability
Arius
“Never leave yourself vulnerable to attack.”—Nuada
MINA’S MOUTH HUNG OPEN, the blood drained from her face. I looked from her to Thaya.
Thaya’s grin grew. I stepped forward, hoping to talk some sense into her before she did anything rash, but she spun away from us and raised her arms. “Everyone gather! I have some important information!”
My shoulders fell. Thaya wouldn’t let this go.
Several heads turned toward us. Other faeries came out of tents.
“No. Everyone go back to what you were doing!” Mina said.
“I have information to share concerning our queen!” Thaya continued.
“Thaya, I order you not to share whatever you heard Arius and I discussing. That was private.”
I frowned. All the faeries present were watching the exchange with interest, but now, a level of suspicion crossed their faces. Despite Mina’s order, faeries continued to gather. Mina’s eyes closed briefly, acknowledging the mistake in her last statement.
The sun blared down from above but didn’t fully drive off the chill in the air.
Thaya paced in front of those gathered. “The faeries and I want to know why our esteemed general has hidden the fact that she knows the location of our great queen and has done nothing about it?”
Shock and confusion flitted across each faerie’s face. More faeries gathered behind Thaya, eyes accusatory. There was a sinking feeling in my gut.
“Look around you, Thaya. Does this place look fit for a queen?” Mina snapped.
“All the more reason. How can a general know everything that is necessary to lead us? You only lead in times of war. How can you anticipate our needs? Face it, Mina. That takes something you don’t have, and we all know it.”
Mina’s jaw clenched, her hand on her sword, feet apart. She looked about ready to challenge Thaya to a duel.
Instead, her eyes flickered to me.
Thaya recognized the movement and sneered. “You think his opinion matters? He gave up on us when Nuada fell.”
A breeze blew through the clearing, and my insides chilled. The charred manor stood behind her, proof that she was right. If Mina thought I held any authority anymore—it didn’t even matter. I didn’t deserve authority. Mina was here now. She made the decisions. As she always should have.
I stepped back.
Mina looked as if the air had been knocked from her lungs. And I knew. I had let her down again.
But she should understand the rules by now. She outranked me. Even if I deserved my authority, using a subordinate in a clash over power, which this was becoming, would only backfire on her.
Mina threw her shoulders back, her eyes flashing. “You’re disobeying orders, Thaya. You could be placing the queen in danger.”
“And you have been deceiving the faeries in order to keep the power to yourself, just like Nuada.” She jerked to face the faeries standing in the grass behind her. “It is clear. The only one we can trust is our queen. And yet, our general persists in keeping her hidden from us.”
The faeries watched, stiffness in their posture. Docina and Luchta glared, the betrayal evident in their eyes. Jorgeral and others looked on the verge of rebellion. Even Caelm fidgeted, uncertain. They had spent their lives learning about the queen. About how important it was to find her, to bring her home, that she was the ultimate leader we needed to guide us. And Mina had hidden her from them. Could she come back from this?
If Thaya won the power battle, that may not be possible.
Mina’s wrath focused on Thaya. “My job is to protect the queen.”
“And what exactly are you doing right now to ensure her protection? Have you checked on her to make sure she’s as safe as you think? Even once?” Thaya challenged.
Uncertainty passed across Mina’s face, and Thaya’s cold smile grew. Despite my unworthiness, I couldn’t stop the rage building at Thaya’s attempt to undermine her commanding officer. Mina was always complaining about Thaya, but I hadn’t taken her concern seriously. Yes, she seemed to have an inordinate amount of dislike for Mina, but Thaya was a soldier bound by duty. I thought she was above this. It turned out I had misjudged her.
Another way I had let Mina down.
My muscles tensed. Mina needed to put Thaya in her place.
“I might add that our esteemed general here also wants us to unite with dark faeries,” Thaya announced.
The faeries’ sense of discipline broke.
“No!”
“Never!”
“Look what they’ve done to us! To our home!”
Mina stepped forward, her hands out in front of her, placating. “Listen, please. It was a consideration, but I promise you, we are not uniting with Dramian.”
The angry roar subsided into grumbling voices and stony stares.
Mina turned on Thaya. “You have dishonored your position. I shared this information with Arius in confidence.”
Don’t let her off, I thought.
Thaya’s eyes flicked to me.
Did she think I would side with her? My jaw clenched, and I stared her down. Disgust crossed her face, and she turned back to Mina. “I was only exposing the truth.”
The anger inside me flared unexpectedly. I gripped the hilt of my sword and pulled it from its sheath. Like a finger pushing on a scale, my attention shifted from Thaya to Mina, a foreign and new fury overcoming me.
“And you have betrayed your commanding officer. I will go and find the queen, but for your mutinous actions, I strip you of your rank and title and order you confined in the dungeons,” Mina said.
“No.” The word was forced from my mouth.
I had my sword drawn and like someone stoking a fire, rage swirled wide in my chest. My hand clenched my sword so hard it hurt, and I took a threatening step.
“You took everything from me—from us,” I snarled. “We were doing fine without you. But now look at us, our home destroyed, barely surviving. Nuada’s gone, friends and loved ones fallen—because of you.”
Mina stumbled backward. “Why are you saying this?” The pain on her face was so intense, I might as well have slashed her with my sword.
But the rage refused to ebb. It rose in magnitude. “And now you deprive us of our queen,” I roared. “You speak to me of betrayal? You have betrayed us all!”
My faerie guardian came off my arm. The closeness of my golem looming over us blocked the sun. It brought a fist down to crush Mina, but she leapt as it descended, rolling between the golem’s large stone legs. She rose to her feet, releasing her faerie guardian shaped as a large green dragon. It slammed into the back of my golem, shoving it to its knees.
I stepped aside to keep from being crushed. Startled faeries scattered in alarm, but my rage only burned hotter.
The rock monster reached around and clamped onto the dragon’s neck. A roar reverberated across the clearing as my golem forced the dragon off its back and pinned it to the earth. Both stone fists closed around the dragon’s throat.
I rushed Mina. Her hand went for her sword too late. I gripped her throat with my free hand and swung my foot behind h
er legs, bringing her to the grass, hard. She lay on her back, and I knelt over her, my knees grinding into her arms, keeping her pinned. I released her throat, but she continued to struggle for breath. My golem’s hold on her dragon squeezed ever tighter. Terror flashed across her face. I raised my sword. One or two swings and she’d fall.
“That is enough, Thaya.”
Palon’s voice from behind me caused me and my faerie guardian to freeze.
“Release him,” Palon said.
“What makes you think this is me?” Thaya’s voice was bitter. The sword sat poised above my head. The urge to bring it down gnawed at my insides. But I couldn’t move.
“You don’t think we can tell when you’re using your ability on someone? This crosses a line even for you,” Docina said.
“Plus, if you force Arius to make Mina fall, we will never find our queen,” Luchta chimed in.
“Release him,” Palon said again.
Like someone throwing open a window, the furious rage inside my chest flowed out of me. The sword toppled from my hands, and I sat back. My golem’s fists on her dragon’s throat opened, and I yanked the creature onto my arm. Mina jerked her body out from under me and pushed herself up, pulling her knees to her chest, her breathing heavy.
Other emotions filled in where the rage had been. I braced my hands against the ground and groaned. I had almost—if I had succeeded—the urge to take her in my arms and hold her until we both calmed came stronger than ever. I reached toward her, but she flinched, and I drew back. My fingers curled into a fist.
Thaya.
My emotions had gotten out of control, and she had used them to control me.
She stood there unrepentant, her eyes watching me with a coolness that, in the past, she’d only reserved for Mina. No longer. Palon had a hand on her shoulder, holding her in place. His well-defined muscles flexed under his brown skin. He was strong enough to crush Thaya where she stood. But despite the obvious threat, his face was calm.
Calm.
That was what I needed to be. But I was unsure, after what Thaya had done, that I could muster it.
