by J. Kearston
We’ve been walking at a shallow incline, nothing compared to the last mountain hike Cambria led us on, but it’s not an impossible theory. The canopy is just so dense that I can’t see nearly enough to get a lay of the land.
I was right, and the water has to be what’s giving the vegetation its glow. It’s practically radioactive, emanating such a vibrant blue. It’s far easier to see with the light radiating off of it, and I don’t see another soul.
“This,” I whisper, for his ears only. “This is what I expected the first time around.”
Lucien gazes around almost longingly. “It’s peaceful in a way that actually hurts.”
I nod, a heavy breath escaping. “This could be good. We can set up camp here when we have to come back; it’s the solution we were scrounging for.”
Lucien eyes everything, soaking up every detail. “A blessing in disguise. Our hand might have been forced, but at least she’s out from under her family’s thumb now. They won’t be able to siphon power from her anymore either. Maybe that will mean she won’t have to come back as often.”
I file the idea away, knowing all of us are going to become obsessive trying to find a way to keep her in the human world for as long as possible just to be safe. Because nothing lasts forever, especially peace. They’ll start toying with the idea she sought refuge in the shadow court sooner or later, and we need to have a plan in place for when it comes to that.
“When the protection Rickon offered her wears off, we could keep her in the house so they won’t find her. Or she could glamour herself to blend in, as long as they don’t have anyone that could see through that,” Luce starts muttering to himself, tossing ideas into the void and hoping one sticks.
Whistling, I give the sign that it’s all clear, and a few minutes later, Atlas and Cambria come into view. They look over the area with the same appreciative awe we had, and it’s heartbreaking to behold on someone’s face. There’s just something about this place that calls to a part of your soul, making you never want to leave.
“Guys,” Cambria squeaks on a whisper, standing straighter and widening her stance.
I follow her line of sight off to our right, towards the dense, shadowed underbrush. Two amber eyes, with lightning streaks the same shade as the water racing through its otherwise black fur. Head bent low, it slowly stalks forward, shoulders rolling with each silent step.
“Is that a fucking panther?” Atlas hisses, voice strained.
“Magic fae panther, yep,” I retort with feigned nonchalance. “Cambria, love, does the wildlife here have any abilities beyond mauling people to death we should be aware of?”
She hesitates a second. “Yeah, usually. But I haven’t seen one of these before so not a lot of help on this one. You might want to consider using me as bait while you find a new guide, because I’m useless on anything involving the shadow court I didn’t know about.”
“We aren’t using you as bait,” Atlas growls, grabbing her arm. Before he tugs her back, I stop him.
“Don’t run, it’ll make it want to chase you. If you look like prey, it’ll treat you as such.”
Lucien, the suicidal bastard, actually takes a step closer, rising to his full imposing height. He maintains eye contact, never once showing a single blip of fear. He’s mastered the skill over his life and I’ve never been so thankful for it as I am right now. He stares the beast down, unwavering and unflinching.
It growls low in its throat, advancing anyway, rising to the challenge Luce presents. Still, he refuses to budge, doesn’t even so much as glare at the animal, just keeps his unflinching gaze locked on it. Watching. Waiting. His presence seems to grow, appearing just as much of a threat as the beast before us; unwilling to start a fight, but not about to back down from one either. It stalks close enough that all it would take is for it to swipe out a paw and it could slice right through his flesh. It circles him, assessing, and only when the panther’s attention turns to us does he act.
He barks out, the words harsh and cruel, “Eyes on me.”
The beast’s head whips back towards him, lips curled back in a snarl and starts growling, but his attention is once again focused on Lucien. There’s nothing to do beyond stand frozen in fear. Running will do no good, and climbing a tree won’t make us any safer. It’s too far back to the ring to hope it wouldn’t catch us, so confrontation is the only choice left.
I don’t know about these two, but I sincerely doubt I would win in a fight, especially without any weapons. Maybe Cambria could use her abilities to mesmerize it and slow it down while we escape, but we have no idea if it’s capable of anything magical either. For spending my entire life immersed in tales of magic and wonder, I’m feeling pretty damn useless.
And I hate it.
I want to be useful, someone that’s earned the love Cambria shows us. I don’t say deserves, because everyone deserves to have love shown to them, at least as children. Lucien has money, power. Atlas is nearly as bad of a thrill seeker as she is. What do I bring to the table though? Lucien’s standing here going toe to toe with a goddamn panther in an attempt to keep us all safe while I just stand paralyzed, frozen in fear.
The beast pauses, tilting its head to the side as it regards him. They stay locked in that stance for several tense minutes before it sneezes, turning its back on us and starting to walk away. We wait what seems like an eternity before daring to so much as take a breath, but that just means it’s slunk off to blend into the shadows. For all we know, it circled back and is watching, just waiting for us to let our guards down so it can pounce.
“Fuck, Luce, you make a fine scare crow.” Cambria puts a hand to her chest, breathing again and grinning ear to ear. “Is anyone else a little turned on right now? Because seriously, that was pretty terrifying, but hot as hell.”
I swipe a hand down my face, looking at Lucien. “Did you have any idea that would work?”
He exhales a heavy breath. “Not in the slightest, but what was I supposed to do? Roll over and play dead?”
Atlas claps him on the shoulder before hitching his backpack strap higher on his shoulder. “Told you, angel, he scares the shit out of people; animals too, apparently. For all we know, he’s now the alpha of a pack of wild panthers.”
I snort. “Panthers are solitary creatures, they don’t have packs. And now it’s clear that the pond is part of its territory, so we might want to find somewhere else to set up camp. If we follow the river we won’t get lost, but chances are higher we’ll encounter more wildlife too.”
There are murmurs of agreement until we all just decide to slowly head back to the ring before we get completely lost and screwed. Cambria claims to be instinctively drawn to the rings, but if we were to get separated, the rest of us aren’t so lucky.
We stay in the small clearing for another couple of hours, and even though it’s well past dawn, the light hasn’t changed in the slightest. It’s hard to tell the passing of time; if it wasn’t for Atlas’ watch, we wouldn’t have any sense of it at all.
When Cambria claims to be feeling well enough, we step back through to return home, as tense as we were facing off with the beast. We have no idea if anyone will be waiting for us there or not, and we still don’t have anything to fight with if we do. First thing’s first, if we cross over unscathed, none of us are going to be unarmed again. After the protection Rickon gave Cambria wears off, even the human world won’t be safe for her anymore.
The clearing comes into view and we are blissfully alone, the hidden space devoid of life. We hightail it out of there before we draw anyone’s attention; not so much concerned about this section of the woods, but coming out of them into the park nearby.
We walk the mile back to the car and take a roundabout way to the hotel we set up in before we returned to Faerie, paranoid about anyone following us at this point. Until Luce checks in to get the all clear on the house, to make sure it’s not bugged or has any hidden cameras, we have to err on the side of caution. After Victor managed to get into
my computer, we’ve been trying to take whatever precautions we can, but I’m beyond ready to be able to sleep in my own bed again, despite how little time has actually passed.
Yet, all of the safety measures in the world don’t matter when we have threats coming at us from every side and more questions than answers. Add in our resident fae that can only go a handful of days in this world without going home to recharge so she doesn’t wither away, and it’s one complication on top of another.
“You’re not going to sleep?”
Lucien shakes his head, getting dressed. “Too much to do. You three stay here and I’ll call when I get the all clear for the house.” He finishes gathering his things, missing the way Cambria’s frowning.
“If you wait for me to take a quick shower, I’ll join you,” she offers.
He kisses her on his way out, “That’s alright, love, you rest. I’ll call later.” And then he’s gone, leaving a weird tension in his wake.
Even Atlas notices it this time, shaking his head at the door. “He’s just worried, Cambria. For Lucien, that means he buries himself in work so he can feel productive when he’s struggling.”
She sighs, slumping on the bed. “I know. I just hate him feeling so-” she searches for the right word, wavering her hand back and forth- “distant. He forgets that he has people to rely on and thinks he needs to solve everything himself, despite the fact that we’re all in this together. And it’s ninety percent my fault in the first place.”
I try to convince her otherwise, but she isn’t having it. No amount of kind words will change our situation and she knows it, but it kills me that she’s so easily convinced everything’s her fault when she’s done nothing wrong. I hate her parents so goddamn much, it actually scares me. Even with the way my piece of shit father left me for dead on the side of the road, with as traumatic of an upbringing as I had, I still don’t hate my family as much as I do hers.
She waits a few more minutes before rolling off of the bed and shedding her shirt. “I need to get out of my head. I’m going to shower, want to join me?”
“Who you inviting, angel?” Atlas asks and she tosses an expectant look over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow.
“Whoever feels like squishing into a tiny shower stall with me.”
I’m already partially naked and halfway towards the door, beating Atlas into the bathroom as she laughs. He hesitates, unsure, since despite how close we’ve all gotten over the last month or so, this is one line we haven’t crossed yet.
I try to ease his nerves as I turn the water on, make it into less of a thing than he’s building it up to be. Climbing into the shower stall, Cambria is a step behind me.
“Man, such a cheap hotel. Probably only has enough hot water for ten minutes, so it’s a good thing we’re all so comfortable around each other.”
Atlas slowly steps in, and as soon as his eyes lock on Cambria, wet and naked, he starts to relax. Nothing happens beyond showering, yet it somehow feels even more intimate, making things seem permanent and real on another level. I’m rinsing the shampoo out of my hair when she breaks the comfortable silence, brainstorming.
“Victor spends all this time digging into Lucien’s past, but can’t find anything, not even a hint that he killed Atlas’ father or he would have been all over that. What about Lucien’s parents? I haven’t heard anything about them. Are they still in the picture?”
I’m quiet, weighing my options, but can’t bring myself to explain. I doubt Lucien would fault me for telling them, but even Atlas doesn’t know anything about what he went through growing up. If he wanted him to know, he would have mentioned it. I’d feel like I was betraying the man I owe everything to, and no matter how much I love her, I just can’t bring myself to do that.
“It’s his story to tell, beautiful, I’m sorry.”
She shrugs, unperturbed. “No worries, Dorian. Just mulling things over and tossing around a few ideas. There’s been too much thrown at us that I’m trying to find sense where I can. What I was ultimately getting at was; how deeply has anyone looked into Victor?”
Atlas takes his turn under the spray, the three of us carefully navigating the cramped space. “What do you mean?”
She traces a hand over his collar and chest before leaning back against me. “Lucien made mention Victor almost went bankrupt before salvaging his business from the verge of death. And now he seems to be doing pretty well, just not as successfully as Lucien. So where’d he get the money?”
Atlas hums, closing his eyes for a moment. “I could try asking around to some of my father’s old associates and see if someone knows.”
“But what does it matter? If he’s indebted to someone, I mean, what does that have to do with us?”
Cambria’s ass brushes against me before she turns to meet my eye. By her smirk, it was completely intentional. “Victor is so obsessed with taking Lucien down, going as far as to hack into our computers to try and find some damning evidence to destroy him. And by that look on his face when he was arrested, he found something he’s holding onto.
“He wants to destroy Lucien, but that wouldn’t get him any money to pay someone back if he accomplished it. What if the person he owes money to was connected to Atlas’ dad? Then it would make it personal and they’d be more interested in ruining his legacy and hitting him everywhere it hurts instead of just getting a loan repaid?” she theorizes.
I debate the idea as we all dry off and dress, piling back in the main room. “Honestly? Your guess is as good as mine.”
We crawl into bed, not waking until late afternoon. Lucien still isn’t back, but he texted us that it was safe to head home when we wanted. Logically, I know he wouldn’t have called since he would have assumed we were sleeping, but by the way Cambria frowns at the impersonal text, it still makes me upset on her behalf. He swore he’d do better after her revelation at the street fair, but old habits die hard, especially when stressed.
“Want to swing by and check on the shop with me?” I offer in a bid to distract her.
She grabs the duffel bag from Rickon and slings it over her shoulder, pulling her vibrant hair out from beneath the strap. Variegated blues at the crown of her head, blending into purple, pink, orange, and ending with golden tips. The woman was born to stand out, yet spent her entire life forced into the shadows, now more than ever.
“I think I’d rather just head home,” she admits, sounding run down despite just returning.
I can’t blame her, not with everything that happened yesterday, but I share a nervous look with Atlas, his normally bright green eyes clouded in concern. “I’ll drive, and we can drop him off on the way.” He shoulders the backpacks as we head out the door. “We can pick him up later.”
We climb into the car, and I settle into the back with her. “That’s alright, I’ll have Luce swing by on his way home.” We pull up outside of my shop, the closed sign still a heavy weight on my heart. I turn to Cambria with a smile though, not wanting to add any more gloom to the day. “You two behave now. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” With a wink, I try to coax a reaction out of her, but all I get is a sad smile.
“There isn’t a lot you wouldn’t do with the proper motivation,” she teases, but it sounds forced.
I lean back inside the car to give her a brief kiss goodbye. “And what a fine motivator you are,” I agree and she softens imperceptibly. “It’ll all work out, gorgeous, trust me. Try not to stress too much.”
She arches an eyebrow at me, her silver eyes swirling with a myriad of emotions. “A kingdom is out for my head, Dorian, and I don’t even get the benefit of the would-be assassin actually pulling it off. Kind of puts a damper on the day. I’m used to people hating me, but not outright trying to kill me.”
Atlas pipes up from the driver’s seat, trying to keep things from escalating. “Which just means you inspire people, angel. Maybe with the wrong emotions, but you certainly know how to get a reaction. You just need to work the kinks out a bit.”
She sighs, leaning back in her seat. “You’re right; obviously the problem is I’m just too kinky for the stuck up assholes.”
I huff out a humored breath, closing the door and watching them pull away. Even when they disappear from view I remain rooted to the spot, filled with a sense of foreboding. Cambria is something out of a dream, a story book. Evil queens, magic fairy rings, now a shadow court? I may not know a lot, but there is one thing I do know for certain.
Things always get a hell of a lot worse before they get better.
Chapter 3
Atlas
“Hey, want to go do something stupid and reckless?”
It’s a last ditch effort, trying to get her out of her funk, but at this point I’ll try anything. The fact of the matter is Cambria’s not human. She feeds off of adoration, needs to reconnect with her world. But she can’t do either of those things from bed. Even Lucien got his head out of his ass to notice how subdued she’s been these last two days, and at this rate, we’re going to have to cross over early.
We still haven’t found another fairy ring, and no matter the compliments we try throwing her way, nothing sticks. However she feeds, there’s more to it than just kind words.
“Maybe,” she answers noncommittally, not moving to get up, burrowing her face into her pillow.
Her color is dull, but not quite as bad as our first scare. I yank the blanket off, deciding if there’s one thing I’m good for, it’s shaking things up. I have plenty of practice over the years snapping Lucien out of it when he’s being an asshole or so caught up in work he forgets the rest of the world exists. With Cambria, Dorian insisted we try a gentler approach after all of the hell she went through growing up, thinking she just needed to be coddled and loved; safe. I should have stuck to my gut instincts instead of second guessing myself, especially since she seems to be getting worse instead of better.
“Alright, that’s enough of this.” I scoop her out of bed and toss her over my shoulder, the t-shirt she stole from me riding up to show her panties.
