Guardians of Fire

by Alexia Purdy

  I peered around and shrugged. “Only time will tell. Seems to me you’ve got a lot of brand-new fans now.”

  She followed my line of sight and found a gathering crowd, smiling at her in the hope of asking her more questions. I motioned for her to join them and grease them up. It’d look good to have an entourage glued to her side. She straightened and, with an air of confidence, joined the mass of new supporters.

  “Please, one question at a time. I’ll be happy to answer them all.”

  And so went the rest of her day. She was a natural leader, and I admired her tenacity. I let her sift through the questions with ease as I stood by, supportive and nodding at many of her answers. It wasn’t until she turned to motion that we retire that I realized how exhausted she was.

  Let’s get out of here, she pleaded with her eyes.

  We did, escaping to grab some well-earned lunch. We took it to the shores of the pools in the Teleen Caverns. There, we sat on a blanket with our impromptu picnic and stared across the expanse of black water gleaming and rippling under the torchlights lighting up the pool from every corner. The inky water calmed all souls, even mine. It’s one of the most serene places I’ve ever known. If only Shade were there with me instead of Sylphi. No matter how bad I felt that I was feeling that way, it was hard to avoid it slipping back into my mind.

  “You’re thinking about her again,” Sylphi said, her tone neutral, and yet I picked up an undercurrent of frustrated jealousy.

  “I can’t help it. She’s my wife.”

  “I’ve never been married,” she muttered, tearing apart a bit of bread. She stuffed a bit of it into her mouth and brushed off the tiny specks spreading across her dress. “If I were her, what would we be doing now?”

  I pressed my lips tight, afraid to answer.

  “Oh, come on, Dylan. We used to share a lot more than just mere scraps of bread. I miss those days, you know? It wasn’t all that bad, was it?”

  I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t. I admit it. I just… so much has happened since then. I’m not the same guy you knew back then. You’re not the same girl.”

  “Fair enough.” She sighed, brought her legs up, and wrapped her arms around them. “I dreamed of nights with you, like time was nothing and we never broke apart. I wake up swearing, feeling my heart racing, and the imprints of your hands on my body. But you’re not there. What does it mean?”

  “I don’t know, Sylphi. I can’t be what you want me to be.”

  She scoffed. “And what is that, Dylan? I ask nothing but what you are and to accept who I am now. Yet it’s not enough, is it?”

  I kept silent, afraid to infuriate her more, but mostly out of the fear that my thoughts might betray the urges I had as I watched her scoot closer. Her warmth slid over my glamoured skin, igniting a feeling I’d put to sleep years ago. Women could do so many things with their proximity which men were unable to ignore.

  Sylphi wasn’t the only one thinking about our previous moments together. No, she had slipped into my thoughts too, my dreams. I hated it and fought it often, waking in the night sweating, afraid it was real. But sometimes it wasn’t the fact that in my dreams we did things we’d done before but the fact that it felt so good and familiar, like I belonged with her once more. I had to admit, it would be a comfort to feel her by my side when the nights dragged on and my heart remained separated from the one I loved.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t need to say anything, Dylan.”

  She leaned toward me, her hand reaching out to touch my cheek. My senses screamed for me to run, but I remained planted, unable to move let alone breathe. I closed my eyes at her touch and relished the tiny sparks igniting along my body. It was faint, yet there it was, remembering the girl next to me no matter how hard I fought it.

  “Just do. Don’t think.” Her words felt heady against my ear, and I opened my eyes and watched her as she pressed her chest to my side. She leaned forward to kiss the tip of my ear then trailed her lips down my jawline and to my neck.

  I inhaled as her hand moved along my chin and down my chest. Her scent wasn’t overwhelming; in fact, it was quite pleasant and subtle, like she knew I liked it when she didn’t wear perfume and her natural scent was allowed to dominate. It was far different than Shade’s but just as sweet and enticing. As her face lingered near mine, I reached out and pulled her closer. My lips brushed against hers. They were so soft, warm, and pink. They ignited my inner fire, a natural response of a man to a woman, but it was there nonetheless.

  She kissed me back, softly at first, then with a hunger I didn’t know could exist. I let her kiss me feverishly, unwilling to fight any more.

  “Oh, Dylan.”

  “Shh,” I hushed her. I knew it was bad, but if I closed my eyes, I almost felt as though Shade was there and it was her soft skin and long tresses my fingers were sifting through, not Sylphi’s. If I tried hard enough, I could lose myself in this moment and take in all of Sylphi if I wanted to.

  But would I?

  Each reverent kiss made it harder and harder to resist. Every caress and heated stroke made it impossible to pull away, even when my mind screamed to stop and run, to think of Shade. The fight to stop dulled with each passing breath. Loneliness had consumed me, and Shade no longer wanted me the way I wanted her.

  For a moment, I didn’t feel the heartache paining me at every turn. For a second, I forgot my plight and the endless loneliness plaguing me as the days dragged past, taking me farther and farther away from Shade. For the first time in weeks, the anger slipped away along with my apprehension as my lips found purchase on Sylphi’s skin while she opened her heart, body, and mind to me. Even though she was all I feared and yearned at the same time, it was paradise for this one moment, letting me forget all that was wrong in my life.

  “Love me, Dylan. I’ll be yours forever.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Benton

  I watched as everyone gathered in the main conference room, chatting and talking about things other than the mission at hand. It was going to be interesting, and Shade wanted to make sure we had back up. Camulus sat cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the wall and quietly eyeing the group. He was there for transportation and nothing more. He’d take us to Arthas’s sarcophagus chamber, then to see Ursad.

  Neither trip was going to be much fun. Nothing was lately. I sat sharpening my Empyrean blade while eyeing Rowan and Ciaran, quietly speaking to each other like old lovers. It made me sick. They were both thorns in my side that I wanted to pull out and toss out the window.

  Isolde had been silent and aloof ever since Rowan had tried to banish her. Most people freaked out when they noticed their powers were nothing against an Ancient. I didn’t blame her one bit for being upset. I would be too.

  I put my blade away and turned to her. “Hey.”

  She looked at me and smiled, looking more like her old self again. “Hey.”

  “About what happened earlier—”

  “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. Thank you for making her change her mind.”

  “You know I’d do anything to protect you.”

  She rubbed furiously on her own sword, oiling it up and making it gleam more brightly than the light in the room. “I don’t need your protection.”

  Here we go again. I groaned internally.

  “I know. You don’t need anyone’s help. I know that. Still, I’m here for you. No matter what. I’ll make sure all these Ancients stay in line and behave around the people I love.”

  She stopped oiling her sword and whipped her head up to look me dead in the eyes.

  “You love me?”

  “Isolde… of course I do. I’ve loved you since I met you in high school. You got me through one of the roughest patches in my life, and I never thanked you for that. I’ve loved you for years, even through everything that’s kept us apart. Don’t you see that?”

  She stared at me, eyes fixed, with a sheen of water welling up in the
m. A few seconds passed as she processed my words, and I wasn’t sure what she was going to say or if she’d tell me to go to hell. The thing about Isolde I loved best was that she was unpredictable, but if she loved me, this one moment was going to tell me everything I needed to know.

  “I love you too, Benton. I—I just… it’s been… difficult.”

  “I know. Trust me, nothing will ever change how I feel about you.”

  She blinked, and a tear slid down her cheek. “Thank you for waiting. I know it’s been hard for both of us. Time and distance have been cruel, but yes, I know you won’t let anything happen to me, and I would do the same for you. Always.”

  Her words ripped a cord inside me that flooded my head with a frenzied happiness. Wow. Just a moment before, I’d thought I might lose her, but now I knew she was there to stay. I got onto my knees, reached out, and pulled her to my chest.

  “Your words are magic to my ears,” I said, kissing the top of her head as her arms laced around my body and squeezed tightly.

  “I’m sorry if I’ve made you wait. I truly didn’t mean to. I knew when I saw you again, when we all fought the Unseelie snatchers, that I would never love another. You were always the only one I loved and needed. I couldn’t be happier to finally be with you.”

  She stretched up and kissed my lips, softly at first, brushing her lips against mine and eyeing me to see if I’d respond. Did I ever. I returned her kiss, pressing my lips on hers once more, hungry for more than just kisses.

  “Save it for the bedroom, lovebirds,” Soap’s voice boomed above us. “We’re heading out.”

  I pulled away, gasping for air while throwing him a killer glare. “Dude, a moment please,” I groaned.

  He laughed, shaking his head as he walked away toward Shade, who was tightening her sword belt. She winked my way but shifted her eyes to Soap as he approached her. The two spoke softly, but I could see that they had other things on their minds than Isolde and me. Good thing too. I turned back to give my girl another swift peck on the lips before jumping to my feet and holding my hand out to her.

  “Shall we, m’lady?”

  Isolde laughed. “You’re such a gentleman, Benton. What happened to your crass ways?”

  I shrugged. “You’ve done tamed the wild out of me. No longer am I such a heathen.”

  She grabbed my wrist and flew to her feet with my gentle tug. She straightened her traveling outfit of dark brown leather and linen. Most of us wore similar clothes, as we were going for a long walk; we couldn’t teleport to the exact spot where the sarcophagus was located. Shade had made sure no one could come within five miles of it or use teleportation magic.

  Nothing like a lovely stroll through some of the most dangerous forest in Faerie. At least we were going there with the strongest magic available to us. Still, I hated the scenic route. Trekking through Faerie had never given me anything but grief.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Shade

  “You have to be kidding, right?” Benton stared up at the skyscrapers of New York City. “You hid him here? When did you move him, and how did I not know about it?”

  I glanced at my brother and rolled my eyes. “When you were off on your adventures with Soap and Zena. His sarcophagus chamber was too vulnerable now that Rowan was no longer slumbering alongside him. So I decided to scout for a new location for the old Unseelie Ancient and decided upon the most unlikely place in the world: a city full of iron. What better place?”

  Camulus wrinkled his nose at the stench of iron, which didn’t bug any of us except him. Nautilus and Soap were part Teleen, and the metal did nothing to their magic. Isolde was more Nephilim than fey, so it barely made her grimace. I, part human and a fire elemental, could stand the magic-draining metal without any issues. And Benton, a full human elemental, had no problem with the iron either.

  Camulus coughed, clearing his throat as he wove an extra layer of glamour around his body. Even with that, he continued to sneeze and cough until he had woven five layers of magic around himself. Only then could he breathe easily through the filter of magic keeping the iron from burning his throat and lungs.

  Poor Camulus. I felt for him, but he was used to waltzing into the human world. At least, that’s what he’d once told me. But even though I’d told him where we were going so he could teleport us, he hadn’t donned any glamour beforehand. I was beginning to wonder how long it’d been since he’d ventured into the human realm. It must’ve been a good long while, because he hadn’t expected the aching burn when we landed.

  “Sorry, Camulus,” I apologized.

  He shook his head and then bowed to me. “No worries, m’lady. I’m just out of practice. It’s like you would say, ‘riding a bike.’”

  I sighed. “I’m glad to hear that.”

  Soap approached me, a look of baffled curiosity pasted on his face. “So what are we doing here exactly?”

  “I hid Arthas in the abandoned subways beneath the city where the iron keeps him weak and no one would ever find him,” I answered.

  The group stared at me with stunned expressions.

  My brother grinned. “That’s genius. So how do we find him?”

  I laughed and motioned toward an entrance to an underground flood tunnel nearby. “Follow me.”

  Magic conceals tunnels and chambers beneath most of the planet’s older cities, keeping them hidden from human sight, and I had spent several days pouring over maps of the secret underworld of New York, looking for the perfect spot. The walk through the darkness was not as unpleasant as it would seem. We passed several homeless dwellings in the subterranean labyrinth beneath the city. Pedestrians walked above us, crossing grates on their way to wherever they were going. None of them noticed the travelers below. I walked ahead, leading the party deeper into the underground until the sound of voices, traffic, and people faded to an eerie silence and the lights disappeared.

  We lit our witchlights, letting their magic bounce off the graffitied walls, and treaded through disintegrating garbage and questionable sludge. Several levels down, we took the stairs that popped up alongside one older subway tunnel and descended into the ground until the air no longer felt fresh and the musty humidity made it hard to breathe. It was horrible but isolated, exactly what I had needed when I’d searched for a place to hide Arthas. He may have been evil and absolutely psychotic, but he was still an Ancient of the Land of Faerie and had to be protected at all costs while he slept.

  Once we reached the level I’d hid him on, I felt the touch of my wards press against us like a sphere, flexing and shoving us back, whispering warnings to stay away.

  “This is it,” I muttered. I reached out and closed my eyes. Only I could release the magic spells containing the sarcophagus, and I felt my magic feed into the shield, slowly causing the bubble to sag and finally pop with a definitive snap.

  “Whoa,” Benton said. “That’s some magic spell you put on this place. I feel like it exploded all over me. It’s sticking to me.” He groaned as he wiped away an invisible splatter of the shield. “Gross.”

  “Sorry.” I blushed in the darkness but sighed. I hadn’t meant to be so sloppy, but I hadn’t been the only one to contribute to the spell. The sorceress Braelynn and my aunt Evangeline had helped me to place it there in the first place. Without them to back me up, the backlash as the spell broke was not something I could control.

  “Come on,” I said, stepping through the remnants of the shield.

  The magic sent a thrill down my spine, melting into my fingertips and sliding up my arms until it filled my chest to the brim and my heart fluttered.

  Benton, who walked beside me, reached out to help absorb the remaining magic. “Incredible,” he said. “I’ve never felt anything like this shield. You added something special to it, didn’t you? I can’t tell what.”

  I nodded. “Evangeline and Braelynn helped me erect it. That was a different experience than when we placed the shield around the Pyren. Evangeline has her uses; she’s handy when it
comes to spells and shielding. How do you think our mother knew so much about it?” I glanced at my brother as he frowned, rolling his eyes. “Hey, you shouldn’t dismiss her so easily. She could teach us much about spells like this one. Her time with the Unseelie has given her quite a few abilities and tricks we don’t even know about.”

  “Well, tell her to write it in a grimoire. Isn’t that what our family does? I’ll read her grimoire to death if she writes it all down. The less time I spend with her, though, the better. I’d rather stick branding irons on my skin than hang out with her for any reason.”

  I shook my head, exhaling sharply as the magic finished siphoning into my fingertips, feeling renewed with the power of the shield running through my veins. I continued toward the entrance to the chamber where Arthas slept. Benton and Soap flanked me as we walked while Nautilus, Isolde, Rowan, and Ciaran stood guard on the outside, near the edges of where the shield had been. The residual magic caused them to squirm uneasily as they waited for me.

  I peered down at a large hatch before giving it a yank with my magic, moving my fingers to make it swing open with an ear-splitting creak. Puffs of dust billowed up into our faces, stinging our eyes. Benton sneezed as I headed down the steps, knowing exactly where to go.

  “I’m allergic to this world,” Benton muttered as he scurried down behind me. “All this magic, and I still can’t get rid of my dang allergies.”

  “I doubt you’re allergic to this world. It’s just the dust and pollen you’re allergic to, like all of us in this family. Annoying yes, but not a hindrance.”

  Benton groaned, clearing his throat while I stifled a small chuckle. We proceeded into the lower chamber where I’d put the sarcophagus. I had never planned to return after sealing it. I couldn’t say how much it irked me that I had to rouse the evil Unseelie Ancient from his slumber. Stark memories of our last encounter were still etched into my memories, for I had nearly died fighting off the Unseelie soldiers of the late Unseelie Queen Aveta, and I had found her with her throat slit after we had become allies of sorts.