Ascent

by Bethany Adams

  Lord Rianehd’s eyebrow rose. “So you agree?”

  “I won’t agree to anything unless I’ve heard all of the terms and find them acceptable.” She hadn’t thought it possible, but his face hardened even more. “I might be partly human, but I know better than that.”

  He stared at her coldly, his gaze so intense that she couldn’t help but shiver. Then her ring warmed against her finger, and Lord Rianehd twitched as though someone had smacked him. It wasn’t a coincidence—his focus went instantly to her ring. Rage broke through the chill of his demeanor as he leapt to his feet.

  “What is this?” he demanded. “Do you seek to betray me with one of the Cairdai bloodline?”

  It took Anna a moment to guess what he could be talking about. Maddy’s last name was Carden, so maybe Cairdai was Shayan’s Sidhe name? They sounded similar enough. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

  Lord Rianehd gestured at her hand. “Don’t bother to lie. Such an artifact is not granted unless one is in high standing with that clan, and I know you didn’t have it yesterday. My magic would not have worked otherwise. Which one of them gave you the ring?”

  My magic would not have worked otherwise…

  Her stomach squeezed until she thought she would throw up. That confirmed that he had cast some kind of glamour on her, and he had probably just attempted to do so again. “How do you know I didn’t buy it in some store?”

  “Because most humans don’t possess the wealth of a small nation,” he snapped. “I know of very few outside of fae royalty who could afford that kind of craftmanship.”

  Oh, hell. Couldn’t Shayan have warned her about this? Of course, he might have done so if they’d told him they were going to confront Rianehd. He probably hadn’t thought that anyone she knew would recognize his work. Now what?

  “It was a gift from my new wife,” Anna said, trying to think fast. “I’m not sure where she got it, and I wouldn’t tell you if I did. I mean, it really isn’t any of your business. I’m not quizzing you about the source of the jewels on your tunic.”

  His eyes narrowed. “If you are betraying me, I would say it is my business. I am displeased that you returned here with ill-intent.”

  “I didn’t.” Which was strictly true. Trying to figure out if Rianehd was the same guy who’d tried to kill her new mate was hardly that. “The timing is pure coincidence.”

  “Then you decided to accept my offer?”

  How quickly would he kill her if she punched him in the face? Because he was clearly trying to evade her question about terms at this point, and she was sick of it. “I have yet to hear your conditions.”

  The rain plopped harder against her umbrella. Was it a natural phenomenon or something magical? The Sidhe lord didn’t appear any angrier, but looks could be deceiving. “You are clever for a human. What conditions would you accept?”

  Hah. There was a fine trick. Ask her a leading question and see how much freedom she would unknowingly give away. Anna pretended to consider the matter, but really, there was only one answer. A fact made all too clear when Fen’s voice slipped into her mind.

  “It’s Meren,” Fen said. “He hacked off his hair, but it’s definitely him. Try to get away without a fuss. I’m in the parking lot, and Maddy is hiding in the stand of trees on the other side of the park.”

  Maybe if she puked on the guy it would scare him away? Considering how her stomach felt right now, it was a real possibility. As Anna stood, she had to force herself not to wipe her damp palms against her pants. “I’m afraid there aren’t any. I had my doubts, and this conversation has confirmed them. I will not work with you. I’m not going to change my mind, so there’s no need to contact me again.”

  A sudden sheet of rain slashed down, cutting beneath her umbrella with sharp little slices that stung her exposed skin. “You have made a poor decision,” Meren said, his soft voice somehow reaching her through the driving rain.

  Yep. She was going to die.

  Fucking hell. Why had they thought they could do this? Fen did his best to stay in the shadows between streetlights as he dashed from behind the cover of the cars. Rain poured down in furious waves, almost knocking him off of his feet a couple of times. Unnatural, just like the asshole hovering over Anna with murder in his gaze.

  Meren knocked the umbrella out of Anna’s hand and grabbed her arm, and suddenly, Fen didn’t give a damn who saw the coming battle. With a surge of power, he parted the ground beneath Meren’s feet and smiled as the bastard toppled in. Meren caught himself on the edge, of course, but seeing him struggling to lift himself out of the hole was its own satisfaction.

  With a yelp, Anna leaped back and glanced over her shoulder at Fen. “What are you doing?”

  “Hopefully ripping Meren’s throat out.”

  She shook her head in denial. “No, Fen. I know you don’t want to kill. Besides, we’re not here to fight. We’re supposed to get away unless we have a clear shot at capturing him.”

  Fen didn’t want to be a killer, but he couldn’t stand the thought of Meren hurting one of his mates. Apparently, he would be no better than Vek at bringing the bastard in alive. “We’ll see.”

  Though he was soaked to the skin from the driving rain and exhausted from using so much of his precious energy stores to open the earth, Fen ran the rest of the distance to Anna before Meren levered himself from the hole. Too bad I didn’t take more energy from Maddy. I could’ve crushed the bastard. A foolish oversight to let himself be so distracted by his new mates to properly feed, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now.

  As Fen skidded to a halt beside Anna, Meren finished freeing himself, shifting to stand beside the hole as if it didn’t exist.

  “Why, Tom,” Meren began smoothly, the anger on his face dissipating like sugar in water—though his was an artificial sweetener. “A pleasure to truly meet you. We’ve just missed each other so many times, you know. You were leaving on an errand the one day I visited Kien’s enclave.”

  The world slowed around him, muddling Meren’s words and blurring the raindrops easing their way toward the ground. That voice. That. Fucking. Voice.

  See what you’ve done?

  You deserve to live, Fen.

  Take what you need. I’ll help you.

  Perhaps upheaval is necessary for life.

  “You,” Fen growled, seeing nothing in that moment but Meren’s smirking face. “How long have you been manipulating me?”

  “I can’t imagine what you mean, Tom.”

  Fen’s fingernails dug into his palm. “Enough bullshit. You know that isn’t my name. You’ve been messing with me my whole life.”

  “Perhaps.” Meren’s smirk widened, but he made no other movement. “I sensed the surge of energy when you murdered your father, but humans arrived before I could decide what to do with you. Haul you back to your mother or train you to do my bidding? Both would have had advantages. You really do have a habit of attacking people, hmm? I hope poor Anna here is aware that you’re a killer.”

  Rage almost blinded Fen, but shame nearly felled him. How could he refute that truth? There was no telling how many people his stupidity had harmed. And hadn’t he killed to defend his uncle just a couple of weeks ago? “I could add you to my tally.”

  Meren laughed. “I highly doubt it, whelp. I am far more ancient and powerful than Kien was.”

  If doubts hadn’t been circling in Fen’s head, he might have laughed, too. Nothing like a metaphysical dick-measuring contest with a dead man to round out the evening’s confrontation. “Let me guess. He was working for you, and you were the mastermind.”

  “Hardly.” Meren flicked his fingers. “He was too evil to trust, though I admit I didn’t mind using his darkness to my advantage. His goal might have been to return to Moranaia for revenge, but his methods aligned with my objectives. Like keeping you where I could find you.”

  Fen shook his head. “Why?”

  “A talented Felshreh abandoned by his people? You�
��re powerful and ruthless, a definite asset to any group,” Meren said. “We would work well together. We’re both willing to do whatever it takes to be granted our rightful place. All we must do is return our peoples to prominence on Earth. Imagine the kind of world we could establish now that magic has returned.”

  Fen’s stomach flipped. Hadn’t Kien once made a similar claim? Sure, Kien’s offer might have included a little more “rule over humans and get revenge on the fae” than Meren’s, but the heart of it was the same. This bullshit wouldn’t end any better this time.

  “I’m not the ruthless killer you think I am,” Fen bit out.

  “Really?” Meren chuckled. “You were planning to kill me for talking to your girlfriend, weren’t you?”

  Gods, he had been. His heart pinched to remember Anna’s plea and his casual dismissal of it. Meren hadn’t actually hurt her, his threat implied but not delivered. And even though this encounter had obviously been designed to bring Fen out into the open, Meren hadn’t done anything but talk. Fen had been the aggressor.

  Maybe he hadn’t changed as much as he thought.

  Anna’s mind brushed against his. “Fen. Don’t let him mess with your head.”

  Her words steadied him until he could focus, and for the first time since that voice had scratched his mind, the world around Fen resumed its normal pace. The rain slammed against his back, and Anna’s hand gripped his. When had she reached for him? He’d been so lost to his own turmoil that he hadn’t noticed.

  Fen’s sharp gaze caught a flash of red—a color his kind could detect in the darkest night—several feet behind Meren, and it was all he could do not to react. Maddy was approaching. He almost wished he could slip back into a daze to avoid his rising fear.

  “And you claim you want me as an ally?” Fen forced a mocking smile to his lips. “Pulling me toward the bottom of the river was an interesting invitation. Not to mention trying to kill my uncle. Bad form.”

  “I merely intended to take you to my home for a private word,” Meren said, his pleasant tone growing strained. “And you truly wish to defend the uncle who forgot about you for so many years? Perhaps if he had been there, you wouldn’t have killed your father. An accident on your part, I’m sure.”

  What was Meren’s game? If he’d truly wanted Fen to cooperate with him, he would have made more of an effort over the years. But in every memory Fen had of that voice, it had been trying to misdirect him. Maybe even concerning his father’s death? It had certainly done him a disservice at his most stable foster home.

  Now Meren was trying to coax Fen to join his wicked crew like the villain in a movie, preying on the doubts he’d helped to embed in Fen’s mind. Suddenly, Meren’s probable intent began to take shape. Pervert to his side an Unseelie princess’s child—who also happened to be the only heir Ara or Vek had produced—and either weaken the Unseelie throne or exert influence on it.

  He didn’t want to eliminate Fen. He wanted to use him.

  “You killed my father,” Fen said flatly.

  Hell, he sounded like characters in at least three movies he could think of off the top of his head, but it didn’t make the claim ring any less true. Nor did the pleased expression that crossed Meren’s face.

  “Clever lad,” Meren said. “Though I didn’t do it. I prefer not to touch human blood if I can avoid it.”

  Rage clouded Fen’s mind until he shook with it. Deep inside, he’d always blamed himself. Murderer. Wretch. Unworthy. It might not have formed his earliest foundation, but those bricks had been placed right on top of that groundwork to create the crumbling base of his fucked-up wall. And not a damned bit of it had been his fault.

  Only Anna’s hand kept him tethered to the sidewalk. To reality. Beneath them, the earth trembled in a low hum, an unending cry of Fen’s pain. “I will find a way to make you pay,” Fen said.

  “Go ahead and try.” Meren stretched his arms wide. “Water always wins over earth in the end. Your inexperience makes the possibility of your victory laughable.”

  The ground shook harder, and Fen did his best to tamp his power down. He wouldn’t wreck the town. Meren wasn’t worth it.

  Behind the Seelie bastard, Maddy eased closer. She was as pale as a full-blooded Felshreh, and her hand shook around the hilt of the knife she’d brought for self-protection. Still, she advanced. Fen had to do something before she got close enough for Meren to sense. She’d hurt others in defense of herself before, but she was a healer at heart. It would crush her if she ended up killing Meren.

  Fen would far rather take this blow—if he had the chance.

  Chapter 29

  Emotion clogged Anna’s throat and fired in her blood, dangerous and heady. The pelting rain no longer stung her skin—now, it invigorated. Meren couldn’t wield her own element against her, not in this moment. He’d hurt her mate. Running from this encounter wasn’t an option now. He was a hurricane beyond the bounds of nature’s control, and that was an abomination she couldn’t stand.

  She told herself to let go of Fen’s hand before she let the water in, but she couldn’t. Without her to anchor him against the force of her power, he might go adrift. But what about Maddy? Anna met her gaze and found solid resolve. Maddy wouldn’t be set off course. Whatever Anna’s instincts led her to do, Maddy would stand firm.

  Anna lifted her right hand and allowed the water to crash through her. She pulled it in, ruthless. The center of a new hurricane. Around them, the rain suspended its fall, hovering in the air as though it had been frozen. Meren’s eyes widening, he raised his own hand to pull at the water, but she kept it in her grip.

  Flecks of dirt and rock lifted into the air as her power blended with Fen’s. Anna made no effort to stop it. Let Fen do what he would with his element—she had faith he would control it. Or she did until the mass of water and earth swirled into a condensed ball in her hand, leaving the air so dry it could have been a desert.

  “What are you doing, girl?” Meren cried.

  She couldn’t have answered even if she’d wanted to.

  Her palm chilled as the water-and-earth mixture compressed in her hand, but the air around her began to grow hotter, evaporating the rain in an ever-widening ring around them. Then that moisture was sucked in, too.

  Oh, God. She was going to lose command of this.

  With a cry, Fen let go of her other hand. The ball began to harden into ice, and her ears popped from the increased pressure. Anna shoved her left palm over the top of the bundle, but instead of containing the spell, it concentrated it. A few feet away, the river began to roll like the ocean toward the bank, seeking her call.

  Meren’s shout was stark with fear. “You have to stop. Now. You’re going to kill us all.”

  In that moment, she no longer gave a damn what any of them had done. Meren was right. Unfortunately, he didn’t offer any helpful suggestions to solve the problem. Should she try to unwind it? Would that discharge the water in some kind of deadly explosion, complete with rocky shrapnel?

  Direct and release.

  The voice rang in her head with the authority of lightning, impossible to deny. Anna could only spare a warning look for Maddy before she released the bundle toward Meren under the direction of that implacable voice. The icy ball blasted across the space, striking the Sidhe mage in the stomach and tossing him backward even as the force knocked Anna flat.

  Her head cracked against the sidewalk, and her vision darkened into pain.

  By the time Maddy understood Anna’s warning, it was too late to avoid the impact. She danced to the side as quickly as she could, but Meren still collided into her with bone-jarring force. The world twisted and spun as they tumbled across the grass. Maddy cried out as pain seared through her from multiple places, and she could only pray she hadn’t stabbed herself with her own knife.

  Finally, they stopped, and her breath heaved in panic. A rock dug into her stomach. Her right side was a bundle of pain where it was pinned beneath Meren’s weight. She did her best to catalo
gue any other injuries, but it was nearly impossible to tell what was what.

  Then the rain crashed down around them in an abrupt flood, adding misery to pain.

  “Maddy!”

  She couldn’t have said if Fen’s cry had been aloud or in her mind. Telepathy wasn’t a strong talent of hers. “Alive,” she tried to call, but she couldn’t get enough air for anything but a whisper.

  Maddy searched for her link with Fen and did her best to follow it back to him. Then she pushed her thoughts toward him the best she could. “I’m alive. Don’t think I’m badly hurt, but damn, am I going to bruise.”

  “Anna hit her head, and I’m so sore I can barely move,” Fen answered, his voice in Maddy’s mind unmistakable this time. “Can you get out from under Meren? Fuck, I don’t know which of you to help.”

  Maddy had no doubts about that. “Help Anna.”

  Doing her best to ignore Fen’s panic, Maddy wiggled herself to the left, wincing as the stone dug into her stomach. Meren groaned, and only then did she realize that her fingers were still wrapped tightly around the knife beneath his still form. Shit, had he landed on the blade? From the angle of the hilt in her hand, it was inevitable, which meant that wasn’t rain and mud clinging wetly to her fingers.

  A sick feeling rose up her throat. She wasn’t supposed to hurt people. How was she going to free herself if moving dug the knife more deeply into Meren? Even if she let go of the hilt, shifting him around could do more damage. It was one thing to defend herself but another to harm a barely conscious man, enemy or not.

  Maddy was about to call out for Fen’s help when a surge of power froze her mental voice. Water rushed around her in a swirl, a vast pool she could in no way blame on the rain. Light flashed, blinding her, and then she was falling.

  This time, when they landed, her world went dark.

  Fen had just managed to slide a little closer to Anna when a burst of light nearly blinded him. He shoved his forearm against his stinging eyes and braced himself for whatever fuckery was about to happen next. Tornadoes? Tsunamis? A mass of fae having an epic dance-off? He wouldn’t rule anything out at this point.