Melas would always be jealous of the energy most kids could muster first thing in the morning. She was still slowly trying to get her motor running while Zura rolled out of bed and was already at one hundred. Oh, to be young again.
Ridhor scooped down, his hands hovering open in front of him giving her the choice of whether or not she wanted him to lift her in the air. She was slowly getting comfortable with him, maybe today would be the day she finally gave him what he wanted.
As though it were second nature, she leapt into his open arms. A big, goofy grin on her face. “Can we catch a fish, Ridhor?” She giggled as he lifted her, tossing her lightly in the air.
A grin broke out across his face as he moved through the kitchen with her in his arms, grabbing a bowl and some cereal for her. “Sure.”
Andrei’s mouth gaped open. Melas couldn’t be sure if his shock was brought on by the smile on Ridhor’s face, so large it crinkled the sides of his eyes as he bounced around the room, so unlike the stoic Ridhor he likely knew. Or if it was because he managed to get Zura in his arms. It was no small feat, even Melas was impressed.
“Good morning, little queen. How are you, Zura?” Her head whipped around, barely sparing Andrei a glance before curling into Ridhor’s chest, burrowing under his beard and out of sight. He frowned. “Come on, you know me. It’s uncle Andrei.” He whined.
Rolling her eyes, Melas hopped off the stool. “He’s not your uncle.” She moved to stand beside Ridhor, parting his beard to see where she was hiding. “You have to eat all your breakfast and take a bath before you go out with Ridhor.”
She nodded vigorously. “Are you coming, mama?”
Melas smiled. Of course, she was. She couldn’t trust anyone with something as precious as Zura all on their own. That didn’t take away from the joy of being invited. “Sure baby.”
Ridhor poured her cereal, sitting her on a stool before turning to get her some juice. “Have you fished before?” He asked Melas.
She lifted her shoulders, not knowing the answer.
He nodded in understanding.
“Can I come?” Andrei asked.
Melas and Ridhor both turned their attention to Zura. She curled her nose at the question.
Ridhor laughed as Andrei pouted. “I don’t think you’re invited.”
17
THIRIEL
The heel of his boots crunched off the moss and grass covering the stone floors. What was once a cold, barren room in his tower was now a garden fit for the Unseelie Queen. Thick moss and grass covering every stone on the floor. Beds of flowers along the walls, thick vines climbing up the walls dotted with an array of different flowers with countless uses. The red flowers released little lightning bugs that not only lit the dark room but warmed it.
The flora Pixie was powerful, he had to marvel at her skills. At any given moment more vines joined the others. More flowers blooming to open up and aid the Pixie and the Oracle. Even unconscious, her magic worked tirelessly.
It would make her a hard Pixie to kill.
The two women sat in the centre of the room. The Oracle encompassed in a ring of purple flowers misting her lightly, while the Pixie sat on the table. Flowers climbed the legs, dancing over the wooden tabletop.
The Oracle’s lip was busted open, her frail body no match for his magic. Something happened to the Oracle. She was the most powerful in any Realm yet she sat before him a beautiful woman without the barrier that would give her species away to anyone who set eyes on her. His magic would have bounced off her barrier as though it were nothing.
How vulnerable she must feel now, he thought.
She existed inside her barrier for centuries, away from the touch of magic and hands. Now, she was helpless to everything around her. He had no doubt she was as weak as a mortal woman now. He hoped that vulnerability would work in his favour. A mortal would have broken so easily when he threw his magic around.
Not her.
Every time she opened her mouth, the answers on the tip of her tongue, she would writhe around in agony. Her mouth clamping shut, keeping his answers locked away.
He passed frustration a long time ago.
Ela’s lips thinned into a stubborn scowl as she breathed heavily. If her eyes could burn he would be set aflame under her gaze.
Alette’s wounds stitched together as she kept her silver eyes glued to the Oracle. The mist from the surrounding flowers working its magic as it settled on their skin.
It never failed to impress.
Flowers opened around him and puffs of green smoke shot out. The fabric of his shirt seared, the smoke eating away at it before biting at his skin. Clever little Pixie. He had to applaud her, even broken she was sure to take little strikes at him when she could. Most would have cowered, too afraid of his retaliation.
Not Alette.
The Oracle was proving just as headstrong, refusing to tell him anything.
He already knew a woman and child appeared in the Black Wood a few months ago around the area he knew Orren and his brood of misfits lived. Those were answers his scouts provided for him.
His lips curled at the thought of Orren.
Forever a thorn in his side.
The Oracle’s hand shook as she braced herself on the moss-covered floor she sat on. “Let Alette go. I cannot tell you what you want to know. No matter what you do to either of us.”
His brow furrowed at her choice of words. “Cannot?” He asked her. “Are you sure you didn’t mean to say will not?”
She sucked in a breath. The mist finishing its job patching her up giving her relief he was sure seemed overwhelming after their torture. She simply did as she’d been doing since she arrived. Lifting her palm to show the brand there.
It was unfamiliar. Two ovals offset. In the centre was a tiny symbol, welted and raised.
He stared at it hoping he would eventually be able to place it. He’d never seen anything like it. For a moment, he thought the symbol was some kind of rune, but it was unlike any he came across. He made a point of familiarizing himself with all magic. He never knew whose magic would prove useful.
Rolling his eyes as his impatience nagged at him, he looked at the symbol again. “Alette, what is that?” He directed his questions to the Pixie, tiring of hearing the same answers from the Oracle.
The little Pixie rolled her silver eyes, without a care for his title or that he held all the power here. “A binding brand.” She spat. “Even if she had your answers, it prevents her from telling anyone anything she knows. Fate herself could ask her and Ela would be unable to say anything.”
A binding brand.
His brow furrowed at Alette’s words. The Oracle being unable to answer his questions was telling. It meant she not only knew the answers but whoever put the binding brand on her was someone he should be looking for. “What kind of magic is this? Sorcery? Witchcraft?” He knew it wasn’t Fae magic. He knew of all types of magic in the Seelie Realm, both Seelie and Unseelie. He made it his business to know all magic of his kind.
The other realms were harder to keep track of. Magic was ever-evolving. He could know everything one day and a day later someone would have created something new.
Whatever this binding brand was, he had yet to see anything even remotely similar. Maybe it was the creation of someone hidden, an Alchemist maybe? They were introverts. Their magic always harder to keep track of. Some would sell their magic or spells to fund their experiments.
Alette shook her head. “No.”
“Demonic?”
“No.”
“An Alchemist?”
She scoffed. “No.”
Annoyance had him closing the distance between them. “Who then?”
Alette scowled, a wall of thorns sprouting up to keep him from getting any closer. “I’ve never seen it before.”
“You’ve never seen it but you know exactly what it is?” He sneered in disbelief. “Do you take me for a fool?”
She shrugged. “I take you for a lot of things
, Thiriel.” She spat his name out as though it left a foul taste on her tongue. “I’d say kidnapping and keeping someone from The Veil makes you a tad foolish.” She inhaled sharply, fatigue making her spend more effort on simple things like staying awake and having this conversation. “I can sense the magic and what it’s doing, but not who cast it. Maybe someone older might know.”
He turned to Ela. She was one of the oldest Oracles but since she wore the brand, she was useless.
“Is there another as old as you?”
Alette laughed, shaking her head. “You want to kidnap another Oracle? Have you lost your mind?”
Waving his hand over the thorn hedge, it burst into grey flames before turning to ash at his feet. He stepped forward, the need to lash out at them making his fingers tingle. “I don’t need you to approve of my movements, Pixie.”
She laughed at him again, the sound filling him with anger. “I’d never approve of anything you do. You’re on a fool’s errand and it won’t be long now before one of the reigning members of the realms does something about you, you delusional Elf.”
Flicking two fingers, his magic shot out, knocking her off the table. She slumped lifeless to the floor, her wings crumpling around her. A flower shot up from the ground, encasing her in its pale blue petals.
The Oracle leapt to her feet, whirling at him. Her eyes glowing ghostly white as she lunged at him. “You coward! You son of a bitch!”
Another flick of the wrist had her recoiling, her arms wrapping around her waist as his magic hit her in the stomach.
A cry vibrated out of her throat.
“I grow tired of this back and forth.” He was getting nowhere with the pair of them and it was starting to grate at him knowing no matter what he threw at them, they would continue to hold onto their secrets. The Oracle because she was unable to give them, the Pixie just to spite him.
He would have to go to the Black Wood, he realized. Trace the steps of his scouts to try and find the answers he wanted for himself. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he frowned. He hated going to the Dark Realm. It was a place for scoundrels who could not exist anywhere else.
Them and the beasts created there.
Filth.
Ela’s mouth opened, a low murmuring filling the space around her as she lay on her side, her knees up around her chest.
“Speak up, Oracle.” He dropped his hand to look at her.
Her blonde hair covered her face as she muttered like he had shaken her mind and she just couldn’t help herself. Her skin was blackened on her forearms by his magic, the singed flesh leaving raw skin he knew had to be painful. How useless she’d become without her barrier.
“—daughter true. Mother Fate, I call to you.”
His eyes went wide as a beautifully ornate silver framed mirror appeared in the centre of the room. Spectral arms reached out, wrapping around Ela and pulling her into the rippling glass.
“Shit.” He didn’t have time to react. No sooner had the mirror appeared, it was gone. His heart leapt in his chest as a chill ran down his spine. If those were the hands of Fate reaching out of The Veil for Ela, he was going to have hell to pay.
A blinding light filled the room.
Pain burst in his cheek, the quick slice of a blade sliding across his flesh. He stumbled back. Another sharp pain as the fabric of his shirt dropped away below his chest, his flesh opening up as trails of blood trickled down his pale skin. He dropped to his knees when pain erupted in his thigh, his pants ripping and another wound appearing.
Was this Fate?
Panic seized his chest as he thought about how vengeful Fate was. She did not take kindly to those harming children of The Veil and he’d been foolish enough to take someone as prominent as Ela.
Fate be damned, he would not fall here. He had too many plans.
Opening his hands at his sides, he pushed them out.
Magic shot out of his hands, engulfing the room.
The ivy climbing the walls, the grass and moss covering the stone at his feet, flowers climbing up the table Alette sat on all turned to ash around them. The room once again a cold stone prison.
On the ground next to Alette was another small Pixie. Her skin was pale green, her hair a dark green cropped short in dense kinks. It was the same dark green as her eyes. Eyes that stared at him filled with rage as she scooped Alette up in her arms.
Cricket.
Shit.
Shaken by the arms that reached out of The Veil and hoisted Ela off his floor, his mind was racing.
Cricket snarled, throwing two small daggers at him. They sliced through the air in quick precision. One sinking into his chest, the other the side of his neck. The force from the knives had him stumbling back as he met her glare.
The challenge in her eyes told him she was far from finished. Everything he’d done here to her mate would be paid back in full. Pixies were vengeful. They hardly waited for Karma to step out of The Veil to deal their justice. Knives were faster and they liked to see the misery they dished out first hand.
None was as vicious as Cricket.
Matching wounds appeared on Alette, but she said nothing. Her silver eyes meeting his with dark satisfaction. She could heal herself easily enough, and she wanted him to suffer.
Fear crawled up his spine at the thought of what Alette would be willing to endure before she called Cricket off. Before his fears could be realized, Cricket whipped a glass ball on the ground.
The room once again lit up.
He brought his hands up to shield his eyes. When he dropped his arms, they were gone.
“Fuck!” He slammed his fists against the ground. He managed to lose his Pixie and Oracle in the span of a few minutes.
Cricket would be back for him which meant he needed to move quickly. She created a threat that would have him looking over his shoulder until she was dealt with. As terrifying as the Pixie assassin was, he knew the real trouble would come from Fate.
The Oracle called to her and was brought back into The Veil. She may not be able to talk about what happened to her barrier or who marked her, but she sure as hell could talk about Thiriel and what he did while he had her in his grasp.
“Fuck!” He hissed again.
18
ORREN
Orren felt responsible for both Andrei and Ridhor. It was why he kept tabs on them constantly, why he knew Andrei was sneaking off to Iceland to spy on Ridhor, Melas, and Zura. They piqued his interest, he couldn’t blame his friend for being curious. He was curious too, just not enough to risk being caught watching them.
In the small amount of time he knew Melas, he hadn’t made the impression he hoped. She was overly suspicious, untrusting. His hidden emotions made her wary of him. He knew if she caught him doing as Andrei was, she would finally show him whether or not she matched him in combat.
Andrei dripped charm and charisma. No matter what he got caught doing, he doubted Melas would punish him as harshly as she should. His good looks and the innocent aura he projected when he wanted often got him out of trouble when he didn’t want to use force.
The bastard.
Better to let Andrei sneak around. He would ask him how Ridhor was doing randomly and he would answer without thinking. They didn’t keep secrets.
And Melas.
His thoughts had been swimming with her since that odd dream. If it was a dream, he still didn’t know.
As a creature of the dreamscape, it bothered him he didn’t know. He belonged in dreams more than he did the waking world, he should know when he was home, should be able to tell if his feet stood on solid ground, or the tapestry of the unconscious.
Her arousal on his skin told him the answer he wasn’t ready to hear. They hadn’t shared a stolen moment in the mind but the flesh.
How that happened, he had no idea.
Maybe she was a caster of some kind. A lot of casters lived in the Mortal Realm, more human than the beings in the Dark Realm or the Shadow Realm where their powers derived. She could be a
Witch and somehow appeared in his room for their little tryst. Witches could travel effortlessly with the right spell. A Mage would have used a portal which would have left a scent behind. A Sorcerer may be able to appear and disappear as easily as she had. All of these beings had lineage in the Mortal Realm which could be why she was so adamant in her belief she was human.
He would have to push his pride aside and make a trip to the Mortal Realm if he had any hopes of finding anything out about Melas. Right now all he could do was constantly speculate.
The room lit up around him as two Pixies stumbled out of a portal into his office.
Crouched on the floor, the one with the pale green skin wrapped her arms around the lavender one, a small shimmering blade in her hand as she took in the room. Frowning, she looked up at him. “Orren?”
“Cricket?” He got to his feet, coming around his desk to kneel beside them. “What are you doing here?”
Thick vines of ivy spread up the walls, covering his bookshelves and the large mirror. Little flowers budded from the vines, opening and misting the air. He looked down at the two Pixies, confusion creasing his brow. Whatever was happening had to be because of the little lavender Pixie unconscious in Cricket’s arms. He hadn’t known Cricket to have any gifts of flora.
Cricket held onto the other Pixie, her eyes meeting his. “We must have picked up on the location of the last portal. Why would Thiriel have been here?” Her eyes flashed with anger.
“Thiriel?” He snarled. “That dirty Elf wouldn’t be alive if he stepped foot into my home.”
“He had Alette.” Her voice was tight with both anguish and apprehension. “Was Alette here?” She kept her arms wrapped protectively around the Pixie in her arms.
His eyes moved over the unconscious Pixie. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’ve never seen her before.” He could sense her tension building with each question. She was clearly on edge and he wasn’t giving her the answers she needed to appease her temper.
“That doesn’t make sense. Someone had to have used a portal out of your house into Thiriel’s tower for us to be here.”
Hidden In Darkness (A Seven Realms Book Book 1) Page 13
