Aedan was always cautious around shapeshifters, and this woman seemed more dangerous than most. He shook his head at Julie who was trying to move around him. “I’ll do it,” he told the now young woman. To Julie, he said, “Stay behind me. If something happens, get out of here.”
Julie made a disapproving sound. “Do you really think I would abandon you? Just get it done so they trust us.” Julie faced the crowd. “He’s only being careful and not trying to be rude. I’m Julie, and this is Aedan.”
Aedan gave her a hard glance over his shoulder. She grinned at him in reply. Moving carefully, he walked forward with both hands in front of him. He was ready for them to make a move but hoped that wouldn’t happen.
Julie stayed directly behind Aedan with all of her magic gathering below her skin though she didn’t think that would be necessary. These shapeshifters and mystics were simply devastated over the loss of their friend and afraid that it could happen again. She was going to do everything in her power to make sure that didn’t happen.
The woman stepped forward and reached out her hand to touch Aedan, who raised his arm to her. “We mean you no harm.”
The woman relaxed, releasing him. “You both are welcome here. You may call me Acadia.”
Julie and Aedan shared a look when the people in the room grumbled about Acadia being Queen to them.
Aedan inclined his head. “Ma’am, thank you for letting us speak with you.”
Acadia motioned them forward. “Please follow me.” She approached the shelves that lined the wall on the left side of the store. She spoke softly, and a large section of the wall swung out revealing a narrow hallway.
Julie moved close to Aedan’s side and took his hand. She had no idea where they were headed, and that made her nervous.
Aedan tilted his head down to whisper to her. “We’re probably walking into trouble.”
Julie squeezed his hand. “We can handle it.”
He gave her a cocky grin. “Of course we can.”
Acadia’s friends followed behind them and pushed the wall closed. Aedan had expected the hallway to fall into darkness when the bookcase returned to its place but was surprised when modern looking lights flickered on.
Acadia twisted her head back over her shoulder. “You were expecting torches and candelabras?”
Aedan leaned close to Julie’s ear. “I swear she just read my mind.”
Julie tried to hide her grin but was failing. “I was thinking the same thing.”
Aedan raised his eyebrow. “This should be interesting.”
Acadia opened a door at the end of the hallway, entering a small room with two twin beds separated by a table and lamp.
Both beds were occupied with young women who appeared near death. They were unusually pale with skin almost translucent. Their breathing seemed shallow and labored.
Julie moved over to the side of one of the beds to get a closer look. “Were they drained of their magic?”
Acadia nodded. “Yes. Oatha was found late yesterday, and we discovered Ezora an hour ago. Both of them are in some kind of trance sleep. We’re not sure why they are different than the others we had found when Pravus was killing our people.”
Aedan stepped closer. “You know it’s not Pravus?”
Acadia dropped her head in sorrow. “We are not certain. There has been two different magical signatures at work. One of our seers has told of another who has been in hiding. You need to find him so we can attempt to undo this travesty.”
Julie’s heart broke for the two young women so close to death, but she needed to find out why these people mistrusted them. “You seem to know more than we do about who did this. Why did you think we were involved?”
“Yeah, why were you so hostile when we first came to you?” Aedan asked.
“We don’t know much. He drains magic and leaves a magical signature that is very old,” one of the younger men answered.
Aedan stepped up to him. “And you thought we were helping him? Weren’t you there when we defeated Pravus?”
“That could have been strategic on your part,” he said. “We don’t know that Pravus is dead.”
Aedan’s jaw was clenched. “We’re done here unless you have something important to say.” He took Julie’s hand to lead her from the room.
“Stop!” Acadia demanded.
Aedan wasn’t sure who she was telling to stop.
“I felt this magical secondary presence when we were battling Pravus. He was there watching,” Acadia told them. “Trace the magic.”
“That’s it? Trace the magic? That’s what you had to tell us?” Aedan was disgusted with the whole conversation. “Thanks for the help,” he muttered sarcastically to Acadia.
He pulled on Julie’s hand to get her moving.
Julie stayed where she was. “How do we do that? Do you know where we should start?”
Acadia directed her gaze on Aedan. “You should be thankful she’s here with you.”
Aedan rolled his eyes at Acadia but smiled at Julie. “You’ve been very helpful,” he told Acadia acerbically.
“You can’t trace it, but your friends can.” Acadia ignored him.
Julie crinkled her forehead. “Damian and Aria?”
Acadia smiled. “I’ll have Leon show you out.”
5
Damian dropped his head in acknowledgement. “You honor me, Your Highness.”
Queen Calanthe laughed. “Your manners have improved Damian, but you still need to work on your sincerity. Now come over here, and sit down.”
He winked at Aria who was looking a little concerned that the Queen of all Fairy wanted to speak with them both.
Queen Calanthe laughed again. She was finding their discomfort amusing. “You both seem to have attracted the attention of several dark mystic groups.”
Aria’s eyes grew large. “What? Why? Why would they be interested in us?”
Damian frowned at her. “Why would that concern the Queen of Fairy?”
Queen Calanthe’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t be impertinent.”
“My apologies,” he grumbled.
“It’s my concern when these people come to my lands and kill my people. They are organizing. You need to find out why.”
Aria scrunched up her nose. “Has something happened in Fairy?”
“Yes, and that’s all the information I will reveal at this time. You need to discover things for yourselves.”
Aria frowned. “We are in the middle of an investigation now. Once we are done, we can come back and help here.”
Damian shifted slightly, looking uncomfortable. Aria had essentially told the Fairy Queen no.
Queen Calanthe glared at Aria. “If we didn’t need your combined magical strength, I would turn you into a bird and keep you in my garden for the next hundred years.”
Damian needed to defuse the situation. “We mean you no disrespect.”
Calanthe nodded.
Damian ran a hand through his hair. “Did I hear you mention our combined magical strength?”
He could see Aria’s confusion and could tell she was withdrawing from him, so he needed to get this audience with the queen over with. He needed to have a conversation with Aria and soon. She was still angry with him, and he hadn’t had a chance to explain things to her.
“Yes, together you two would be a force that not many could defeat.” The queen rose to her feet. “Before I leave, Damian, I will give you a piece of advice. Don’t repeat your mistakes of the past.”
Damian frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“Years ago, instead of talking to Aria and letting her make her own decisions, you walked away from her. Stubbornness and pride are two things that can destroy everything.” The queen threw up a swirl of magic.
Aria smirked. “Yeah, Damian, don’t be stubborn.”
“I was addressing that particular trait more to you, Aria.” Queen Calanthe’s magic was surging with annoyance.
Aria glared at him. “She should have added
overprotective and…a pigheaded cheater to your list of traits,” Aria added with a toothy grin.
“And you jump to conclusions and won’t stick around for reasonable explanations,” Damian shot back.
“Enough! I’m going to leave you two to talk this out.” The queen raised her hands to stop them from speaking. “You won’t be able to leave until you settle things and until you discover the information you need. None of your magic will work.
Aria stood up fuming. “We don’t have time for this! We’re looking for a killer.”
“Are you arguing with me?” Queen Calanthe challenged.
“No,” Aria said, defeated. “How long are you going to keep us here?”
“As long as it takes.” The queen waved as she walked out with her cat.
“We’re going to starve to death,” Damian grumbled.
The Fairy Queen stuck her head back into the hut. “That won’t happen.” She waved her hand, and a table filled with all kinds of breads, cheeses, pastries, and fruits appeared. “If you need more, just ask.” She disappeared with a poof of magic.
Aria groaned loudly, pulled out her magic blade and tried to make a portal on the wall. The portal flickered out as soon as it was created. She tried again, and the same thing happened. After the fifth try, she threw the knife down.
Building a supply of magic, she forced it into her hands, but not even sparks appeared. Aria flopped back on the silks, defeated.
Damian watched her desperate tries to escape from him and became increasingly angrier with each attempt. “Are you that afraid to spend time with me? To talk to me? You didn’t seem to mind waking up in my arms.”
Aria stood to face him. “Are you kidding me? I don’t have time to deal with this! Our friends are out there somewhere looking for a killer that could be Pravus, and I’m stuck here!”
“Pravus is gone. This is probably a copycat who wants to become more powerful. Our friends are trained to deal with this, and they have dozens of people searching.”
Aria threw herself down on the mountain of silks and pillows. “I should be out there! This is ridiculous.” She began mumbling to herself about meddling queens who don’t know everything.
Damian stormed out of the hut. He needed to cool down and think. She was the most frustrating woman he had ever known. She was also the cutest. Darn her. He walked through the village and out into the countryside. The entire place was deserted and strangely quiet. He couldn’t even hear any animals scurrying about.
Stopping at a clear stream, he picked up a few pebbles and threw them into the calm water. Queen Calanthe must have some reason for all of this. She wasn’t like some of the other royal court fairies who did evil things for their amusement. This felt different. Why was it so important for them to talk things out, and what did they need to discover?
Aria paced around the hut but soon became bored and decided to venture out to find some other way to get back to New Orleans. She had no idea where Damian went, and she didn’t care. At least, that was what she kept trying to convince herself of when she traced his foot prints out of the village.
It didn’t take her long to find him gazing out at the stream. He always loved any kind of water. The moonlight was shining down on his dark hair, making it look almost blue. His shoulders were tense and stiff. He was usually carefree or at least seemed that way.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” Damian told her without turning around.
“I didn’t come out here to fight.” Aria stepped up next to him, looking out at the small ripples.
He sighed. “Why did you come after me?”
Aria shrugged. She had no idea why she followed him. It was just something she would always do. “Why does the Fairy Queen care about us? What’s so important about us now?”
“Maybe something is brewing that we don’t know about. The fae are an old people who know things we would never understand.” Damian threw the rest of the stones in his hand into the water and turned to face her. “Everyone has been more on edge lately. Maybe Legacy Council knows something they’re not sharing.”
“Or the fae are bored and need some entertaining.” Aria picked at a rock with the toe of her boot.
“We’re not that interesting. She obviously wants us to help her with something but won’t come out and ask. If she did, she would owe us. This way, we will stumble upon what she wants us to do.” Damian turned to walk back to the village.
Aria shook her head. “Yeah, she gets us to do her dirty work without having to bestow a favor in return.
Damian bumped her shoulder. “Come on. We never had dinner, and Queen Calanthe provided all that food.”
They made the short trip back to the hut without saying a word to each other. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, more like a thoughtful one. Aria kept glancing over at him, hoping he would say something, but he just looked ahead. Once they entered the hut, they made their way over to the food table.
Damian picked up a cloth napkin and filled it with fresh fruit, cheese and some crusty bread. He took it over to the mound of silks that was in front of the stone hearth. “Would you like a fire?”
Aria glanced at the fireplace and back at Damian. “It’s getting chilly, so a fire would be nice. Do you want a glass of wine?”
“Why not? It’s late, so they’ll probably call off the search for tonight anyway. It’s been a long, stressful day, and we could relax for a bit.” Damian built the fire quickly, and soon flames were crackling. He settled down a couple of feet from Aria, not wanting to get too close and ruin their truce.
She broke off a piece of dark, crusty bread and handed it to him. “Here. I know this is one of your favorites.”
Surprised, he took the bread. “Thanks.”
Sitting there with him and sharing a meal made Aria realize that she wasn’t angry with him anymore. It had been hundreds of years since they were together. She would be foolish to think he hadn’t dated anyone in all that time.
It was hard to see someone else with her arms around him when she had just spent so much time with Damian. Aria hated to think that he might want to be with someone else and not her.
She jerked back startled when he touched her face with his palm. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t realized he’d moved closer to her.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you. I had called your name a couple of times,” Damian said cautiously but still held her face in his hand.
“I was just thinking.” Aria had trouble looking him in the eyes.
“I’m sorry about today,” Damian said quietly. He didn’t want to ruin the mood, but it needed to be said.
Aria sucked in a breath, her stomach knotting. “What exactly are you apologizing for?”
Damian nudged her face up to capture her eyes. She had asked him quietly and without any trace of anger, so he didn’t think she was trying to fight with him. She really didn’t know. “I’m sorry Camellia was there. I’m sorry that she’s crazy and didn’t believe there was never anything between us. I’m sorry I didn’t make it clearer to her that I never wanted to be with her. It had been easier to avoid her and ignore her, but that ended up hurting you. I don’t want Camellia. I want you. Even when I didn’t think we had a chance at all, I still wanted you.”
“I didn’t like seeing her draped all over you,” Aria admitted.
“Believe me, I didn’t want her to be. Aedan and I had gone to a party, and she was there. There weren’t a lot of people I knew, so I let her and her friends hang out with us. After that, she wouldn’t leave me alone.”
“Did you tell her…” Aria didn’t finish. She couldn’t because she wasn’t sure how to complete the sentence.
“Did I tell her that I’m not interested in her? Yes. Did I tell her I’m seeing someone else? Not yet. I needed to fix things with you first. That’s what I’m going to do, fix things with you and then tell the world your mine.”
“Oh yeah? How are you going to fix things?” Aria challenged.
> “Like this.” Damian brought his other hand up and cradled her face between his palms. He brought his head down slowly, giving her plenty of time to stop him, but she didn’t. She was welcoming him. He finally met her lips with his, brushing against them gently, once and then again. He wanted to go slowly, but as soon as his mouth settled on hers, the kiss became intense. Heat surrounded them, threatening to engulf them in flames.
The sensations were almost overwhelming, but she loved it. A shiver ran down her whole body as she threw herself into the kiss. She looped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his, craving him like she never had before.
Damian was so close to going over the edge, but he forced himself to pull back from the kiss. He leaned his forehead against hers as they both tried to catch their breaths. “Am I forgiven now?”
“I don’t know. I might need some more convincing.” Aria nipped his bottom lip with her teeth.
He growled and crushed his mouth to hers but once again pulled back. They needed to clear one more thing up before going any farther. “What is going on with you and Quintus?”
Aria groaned, but she knew she had to straighten things out with Damian. He was honest, so she needed to be as well. “Nothing. He wanted to date, but I never wanted to. Lately, I was feeling…”
“Lonely,” Damian offered.
“Yes. So I agreed to dinner only I was always doing something else. I didn’t really want to go out with him.” Aria shrugged. “You saw his behavior today.
“Quintus seemed a little possessive of you.” It bothered Damian to think that another man thought of Aria as his.
“I have no idea where that came from. He had been asking me out for years, and I never said yes. I have absolutely no feelings for him at all.” Aria never expected Quintus to react so strongly.
“You better not,” Damian growled.
“I won’t even be friends with him. I seem to be eternally bound to this hot immortal mystic.” Aria ran her hand up his chest.
“Good. You are all mine. I won’t share you.” Damian leaned into her, rekindling the flames they had started. He laid her back against the silks and held her close to him. After several more minutes, he tore away from her, breathing heavily. “We need to stop.” He groaned when she looked at him with passion in her eyes and her face all flushed.
Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 305
