by Dyan Chick
I swallowed and nodded. "I won't tell anyone. I'm not here for any reason, that I can tell you. I'm just here because I want to figure out how to survive. Cormac told me the creatures from the Under are attracted to untamed magic and he mentioned that if I couldn't control it, it was possible I could be in even greater danger. I just want to learn how to tame this and live in peace."
Tiana narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're very convincing, I almost believe you."
"I'm serious. I have no greater ambition than that."
"If that were true, why would all the princes be helping you? And why did you reappear just in time for Queen's Trial?" she asked.
"They're helping me because they're the ones who found me. I can't explain the timing. I just want to have a meeting with the Queen."
"Let's finish this then," Tiana said, extending her hands in front of me again.
Dread hung heavy in the pit of my stomach as I slowly set my hands on top of hers. Terrified of what would happen next, I swallowed down the fear as pink shimmering threads wrapped their way around my hands.
The magic inside felt a bit weaker this time, but it was still there. This time, I understood why Cormac had insisted on the importance of keeping the magic near the surface at all times. It would be much easier if I learned how to keep the magic with me so I could use it when needed.
Thinking of what Cormac had said about clearing my mind, I focused on finding the pinnacle. It came quicker than last time, even if it was weaker. I harnessed what I could of the feeling, forcing it into my hands as I had done before.
To my surprise, the pink strands changed before my eyes into little pink flower buds. My eyes widened as the flowers opened and I couldn't help but smile at how something so beautiful had come out of thin air. Tiana pulled her hands away snapping the vines that had replaced the pink strands. The little flowers fell to the floor.
"That's three." Tiana extended her hands again, not making a scene out of the fact that I had magic from the Spring Court. That left us with Autumn, the final court.
I set my hands in Tiana's and braced myself.
The gold strands wrapped around my hands sending a rush of power through me I didn't recognize. This wasn't a clawing. This was like a wave rolling through me. Every part of my skin tingled with a level of awareness unlike anything I'd ever experienced. My pulse raced as my breathing grew rapid. Whatever was happening wasn't what I expected. There was no pain, but the sensations I was experiencing were overwhelming. As if I was feeling the dust floating in the air as it passed over my skin.
I watched the gold strands, waiting for them to do something in response to the power surging through me. I'd seen them catch on fire and grow plants, but I couldn't even guess what they'd do with Autumn magic. Suddenly, I could no longer see my hands. Only Tiana's surrounded by the glowing threads. There was still a space where my hands should be, but I couldn't see them.
Tiana dropped her hands, breaking the connection and as soon as she did, my hands reappeared. I held them up in front of me, inspecting them. "What was that?"
"It seems you are able to take stealth to a whole new level," Tiana said. "I've heard rumors of hunters who can make themselves invisible, but I thought they were only rumors."
"I can turn invisible?" I asked.
"Well, with the aid of the test you can. It doesn't mean you will be able to harness that in real life." She frowned.
I tested as having magic for each of the four Courts. Just as the princes had predicted. What did that mean for me moving forward? "Can I see the queen now?"
Tiana frowned. "I thought Cormac was testing me. I never thought you actually had the magic of all four Courts."
"Please," I said, nearly begging. "I need help with this. I don't want to be monster food and I don't want to draw monsters to those I care about."
She raised an eyebrow. "All four of them, right?"
My heart pounded. I had a feeling the more she knew about me, the more fuel I gave her against me in the future. Something was telling me to protect myself with her. I knew I needed to be careful with my words. "Of course, I care about all of them. They've helped me. And as you said, had I met you, you'd have thrown me to the beasts."
"This changes things you know." She stood, the fight seeming to have gone from her.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"We have to see the Queen immediately." She walked toward the door, not looking back at me.
I scurried behind her. "Are we going now?"
"Try to keep up," she said without turning around.
The doors opened as she approached and she swept through, I stayed behind her. I didn't want to be depending on Tiana for anything. Least of all my meeting with the Queen, but I knew I needed to see her.
"How did it go?" Dane asked, hurrying to catch up with us as we walked down the hall.
"I'm not sure," I said, which was the truth. I now knew I had the powers of all four Courts, but I didn't know what that meant. Tiana's reaction wasn't exactly as I'd hoped.
"Where are we going?" Dane asked.
"You are going nowhere," Tiana said. "But you can fetch Cormac. I don't want you anywhere near me."
Dane looked like he wanted to object, but he held his tongue.
"We'll be in the lobby," Tiana said. "Hurry back, errand boy."
My brow furrowed and my jaw tightened at the words Tiana used toward Dane. She had no reason to be so terrible to people. Then, I remembered that Dane and she had a past. It wasn't my business and it was possible that she had a right to be upset. Especially if he had gone to bed her and then turned her down before the test. I really hoped that wasn't the case, but I wasn't sure what had happened in the brief time they were away from me today.
I could hear Tiana's guards following behind us, staying with us as we made our way back down to the main floor. At the bottom of the staircase, Tiana stopped and I looked up from the ground to see Tristan blocking her descent.
"Move," Tiana said. "I have no quarrel with you, Winter Prince."
"You will if you take my guest without my consent," he said.
"I'm taking her to see my sister," Tiana said. "Isn't that what you wanted?"
"It is, but I know you far too well to let you take her alone. I'll be accompanying you," Tristan said.
A surge of gratitude welled up inside me at Tristan's insistence that he attend the meeting with the Queen. While meeting the Queen was exactly what I wanted, going anywhere with Tiana was not on my list of things to do.
"You're not welcome in Faerie, you know that, Tristan," Tiana said.
"My father is not welcome," he said.
"I'll vouch for him," Cormac said as he walked down the hall toward us. Ethan and Dane were right behind him.
My heart leaped at the sight of all my princes in the same place at the same time. I felt safe with any one of them, but safest when they were all with me. I knew Tiana wasn't a danger to me while they were around.
"Fine, then," she said. "Try to keep up."
Tiana grabbed my wrist, squeezing so hard her fingernails bit into my flesh. I tugged my arm away from her, but she kept hold tightly. Before I had a chance to open my mouth to protest, everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I sucked in a breath but found no air to pull into my lungs. I was in a vacuum, cut off from the world around me. After a moment of panic, I realized Tiana must have grabbed me so we could slide. That didn't make the darkness around me any easier to handle.
A heartbeat later, I felt my feet touch down on solid ground seconds before my vision cleared. Breathing heavy, I glared at Tiana, then pulled my wrist away from her. She looked pleased with herself and I didn't feel like yelling at her. It would just let her know she succeeded in getting under my skin.
I looked around, trying to assess where we were. All around me were trees with orange leaves that formed a canopy, nearly blocking out the sun. Leaves crunched under my boots as I spun in a s
low circle looking for any signs of life. As far as I could see, it was only Tiana and me. She'd taken me somewhere in the Autumn Court, but we weren't at the Queen's palace. "Where are we?"
"Near an entrance to the Under," she said. "I'm curious about your untamed magic. And you aren't meant to be alive. I'm going to let the monsters do what they should have done already."
My magic spiked inside me, sending a surge of tingles from my chest down into my arms. I didn't know what that meant or how to respond to it. In the past, it felt like a fight to let it out, but now, my magic seemed to be simmering below the surface. Instead of clawing, it was vibrating through me, soothing me.
"You don't want to do this," I said. "If those creatures get out, it won't just be me they take."
"So noble." She scoffed. "You really are just like her."
"Just like who?" I asked.
"My sister," she said. "You two might even get along. It's a shame she'll never meet you. But then again, if she wanted you to survive, she'd have told me about you."
My magic pulsed and throbbed, making me wince against its demands under my skin. I knew it wanted out, but I didn't know what it would do. Creating a blinding white light wasn't going to do me any good in the middle of a grove of trees. Where would I run? I'd be just as likely to injure myself as I was to escape. And maybe that was her plan all along. "I don't understand what you're saying. Please, you said you'd take me to the Queen. You said you'd help me."
"She told me you were taken care of. She told me she had you killed," Tiana said.
"Who?" I asked, my magic flailing with my temper. The more Tiana babbled nonsense without giving me any information, the more upset I was feeling. Part of me wanted to unleash this on her, but I wasn't like her. I didn't want to hurt anyone even if she might deserve it.
"The Queen isn't supposed to have children because they turn out like you. Born with all four Courts worth of magic. It's forbidden. Nobody but the Queen herself can have that much magic. She won't even let me know where the key to the temple is. And yet, here you are. You did nothing to earn the magic flowing through your veins." Tiana's words came out like a curse. "You should be dead."
I nearly stumbled backward at Tiana's confession. How was this possible? I couldn't be the daughter of a Queen, could I?
"She lied to me," Tiana said. "Imagine how she'll feel when I tell her of your untimely end."
The magic flared like an explosion inside me, knocking me to the ground. There was no blinding light this time, just me in the dirt. I pushed myself to sitting and brushed the dirt and dried leaves off of my hands. I could hear Tiana cackling in front of me, but my hair had fallen in front of my eyes. Tossing my head, I used my forearm to move the curls away.
It wasn't just Tiana in front of me. Behind her, stalking in with the stealth and grace of a cat were four creatures that looked like walking nightmares. Their front legs were lean and covered in black fur, their faces were that of large birds. Feathers and beady eyes and sharp, pointed beaks. Large wings were folded along their smooth feline bodies.
I scrambled to my feet and backed away. Each of the four beasts faces turned toward me, focusing their beady little eyes on me. One of them snapped its beak and let out a screech that made me wince.
Tiana didn't seem bothered by the creatures. In fact, the creatures didn't seem bothered by her, either. They walked around her, ignoring her, in favor of me. Was it the magic they were drawn to? "What are those things?"
"These sweet creatures?" Tiana purred.
I knew they weren't sweet. They smelled of the decay I'd caught so often on the Sodalis and was filling my nostrils. These creatures were monsters capable of murder. And I was likely their current target.
"These are my griffins," Tiana said. "I lured them here from the Under after my sister won the crown. They do my bidding and mine alone."
I continued to take slow backward steps, careful of where I set my feet. Falling in a hole or twisting my ankle could be the end of me. "Tiana, don't do this. I mean you no harm."
"Liar."
"Honestly," I said. "I didn't even know about Faerie until a few days ago. I didn't even know I was Fae. I thought I was human. Someone was paying them to keep me in the human realm, honest," I said.
"And now we know who that was," she said, inching closer to me. Her beasts moving alongside her. "My sister told me she had you killed. That was her punishment for violating our laws and having a child as Queen. She lied to me. And now I will make you both pay."
I needed a way out of here. There was nothing I was going to say that would cause Tiana to let me go. The problem was, if I escaped, where would I go? She'd taken me away from the Winter Court to a place that was unfamiliar to me. I didn't have the ability to slide. All I could do was run.
"If you're going to run, you better do it now. They haven't eaten in a few days and as loyal as they are, I'm not sure how much longer they'll wait before they devour you."
That was all I needed to hear. I turned and gathered up the fabric of my dress as I ran, holding it in a ball against my waist with one arm while I pumped the other to gain as much speed as I could. Behind me, the sound of the beasts running through the woods echoed like a countdown to my demise. Every crunching leaf, every slap of a branch, even the beating of my own heart were like a symphony of destruction. It was a matter of time before the creatures caught me.
I flew through the trees, over roots and rocks, under low hanging branches. Should I try to climb a tree? No, the beasts had wings. Why did everything from the Under have wings?
Could I blind them with magic? Would that help? My heart sank. They were predators. They'd smell me even if they couldn't see me.
My chest burned and a sharp pain shot through my side. I wasn't sure how much longer I could outrun the griffins. I needed help.
As I ran, the sounds of the creatures grew softer and more subdued. There were still snarling noises and sounds of movement, but it was fading. I risked a backward glance and saw that the griffins had turned away from me, racing back to the place where I had left Tiana.
Had they turned on her? That didn't make any sense. The magic I had was supposed to attract them not send them away. Not that I was complaining, but it was confusing. A flicker of something pulled me back toward the sounds of the snarls and growls of the griffins.
Ignoring the part of me that wanted to flee, I turned back, straining to see what was happening with the monsters. The closer I got, the louder the shrieks of the creatures grew. Finally, I got close enough to make out what they were doing. My heart sank.
They weren't attacking Tiana, they were in the middle of a battle. The princes must have found me and I wasn't about to let them fight this on their own. Especially not since I was the one who caused all this trouble in the first place.
I picked up my pace, still holding my dress in a ball of fabric on my waist. As I got closer, I saw Ethan wrestling one of the griffins while Tristan removed a knife from a fallen beast. Cormac had Tiana on the ground, pinning her in place with his knee. Dane actually looked like he was having a good time fighting two of the beasts at once.
I took a step toward Dane, thinking he was the one most likely in need of help since he was outnumbered, then I doubled back, turning toward Ethan. The memory Tiana brought back to me so recently was too fresh in my mind to walk away from Ethan in the battle. What if he was still recovering from his injury? I knew my healing magic wasn't as strong as his and I wasn't sure what kind of a fix I had actually done for him.
As I charged toward Ethan, he landed a kick on the side of the beast, making it screech before it turned and snapped its jaws at Ethan's face. He jumped out of the way, dodging the sharp beak. He didn't have any weapons and he wasn't using magic that I could see. As I got closer, though, my own magic flared, as if being directed by someone else. I wondered if I was reacting to him.
Ethan caught my eye as I stood just outside the creature's reach. "Wings," Ethan shouted.
I didn'
t hesitate, I jumped up on top of the creature grabbed its wings, pinning them to the feline body underneath. The creature shrieked again, and fell to its side, knocking me to the ground. I held on, wrapping my legs around the beast to keep the wings pinned. I struggled to maintain my hold as the griffin rolled around, trying to break free of my grip.
The haunches and back of the beast were strong and as it struggled, the muscles flexed underneath of me. I wasn't sure how I was keeping it down, but I knew it had to do with the wings.
The griffin rolled, and my back scraped against the rocks and dirt of the ground. I winced as my head scraped along a bush, sending a fresh wave of pain as it sliced into my cheek.
I held on, catching glimpses of Ethan in front of the creature's face, too close to the sharp beak for my comfort. I couldn't tell what he was doing, but I wanted to help him. A moment later the creature convulsed under me then remained still. Breathing heavy, I let go and looked up to see Ethan, covered in Griffin blood. He held a small knife in his hand and his usually sparkling eyes looked dull and glassy.
Silently, he extended a hand for me, and I took it, allowing him to pull me up. The once beautiful dress was now covered in dirt and I did my best to brush the large chunks off of me before balling it back up into a pile at my waist so I could move more freely. Then, I looked around for the next place that I could be of assistance only to realize that it was very quiet. The only sound came from the grunts and protests of Tiana in Cormac's grip.
Chapter Twenty-Four
"Is now the proper time to skip protocol and go right to see the Queen?" Tristan asked. His hands were covered in blood and his white tunic was ruined. But he didn't seem to notice.
"You will remove your hands from me now, Your Grace," Tiana said, emphasizing Cormac's title.
