“I needed to get away, after that. Grittanus tried to convince the Conclave that I was unfit for guardianship. As much as I hated him, I secretly agreed. Fortunately, most of the Conclave didn’t. I asked for outside assignment anyway.”
“What did you do?”
He shrugs. “A lot of things. They kept me busy.”
“As a guardian?”
“No,” he says quietly. “Not until I was asked to guard you.”
I wish I had something to say to that. Anything.
“You should try to sleep,” he says, his eyes watching the night again. “And Kendry?”
“Hm?”
“We’ll find her.”
I nod, too full of emotion to answer. I don’t think he even notices when I leave the balcony to crawl back in bed.
He’s gone when I wake up. I have a last fleeting image of him in my dreams, but the real thing is all I want.
My door opens before I’ve done more than sit up. I’m still rubbing my eyes, hoping it’s Axel coming back, but it isn’t. It’s just Shelly.
And then I kick myself for thinking that.
“Wake up, sleepy head. It’s castle touring time!”
I groan and fall back into bed. “Don’t I even get breakfast first?”
Shelly laughs. “The boys are bringing it up, so hurry and get dressed.”
That gets me out of bed. Shelly sits on my bed while I put myself together. “Sorry about abandoning you to Axel’s wrath last night.”
I shake my head. “Don’t even worry about it. I don’t think anything could’ve stopped that tirade. And then I mentioned Grittanus. God, what a nightmare.”
“He’s only trying to protect you.”
I pull on my shirt and scowl. “Yeah, well, he could be a little nicer about it. Besides, I already have one runaway dad. I don’t need another.”
“He’s not going anywhere, Kendry. You should give him a chance.”
“My dad, or Axel?” I raise my hand and shake my head. “Never mind. I don’t really want to talk about either of them right now.”
Shelly gives me a look that says I’m being blind. I roll my eyes, but the door bangs open before I can say anything else. Thom and Caleb bound in, carrying an array of food and talking so loud, it’s a shock half the castle doesn’t descend on us just to shut them up.
Or maybe the residents are used to rambunctious werewolves.
Still, their energy shakes off my gloomy frustration, which can only be a good thing. Maybe spending the day with them won’t be so bad. Certainly better than staying locked in my room, or waiting on Axel. Listening to Caleb and Thom laugh, I decide I’m not going to spend today like that. Screw Axel and his mixed signals, screw Dad and his mysterious agenda. If he is actually alive, and here.
If I’m going to be stuck in a castle buried in the heart of the Appalachians, and populated by the para elite, I’m damn well going to enjoy myself while I can.
And Mom… Well, I’ll have to try not to think about her right now. It hurts too much.
*
We spend the day visiting courtyards and gardens, meeting some of the residents of Conclave Castle.
I see nothing of Grittanus, or Axel. Last night’s warning still echoes in my head, and I believe him. I’ve taken to wearing Dad’s knife all the time, just in case. I don’t trust Grittanus, and his eyes promised that it wasn’t over. Still, we pass a quiet and uneventful day, and my nagging worry for Mom stays shoved in the back of my mind. It’s not until the next day that I realize I haven’t seen Buc or Brigid since we got here.
“They’re in with Axel and the Conclave, but they have family here, too,” Thom says when I bring it up.
“How long is he going to be in with them?”
Thom shrugs. “As long as it takes. I don’t honestly know much about the Conclave, or what Axel’s role is. I don’t know what they’re discussing any more than you do.”
“Fat lot of good you are.” I give him a fake punch in the arm. He holds up his hands in mock surrender, and grins. We’ve been wandering the halls he claims are safe, mostly the ones around our rooms. Shelly and Caleb are off having some alone time. Kicked out before we went into cuteness overload. I pull up at a window, leaning on the stone sill, and stare out at the forests around us. The heat feels good. I wish I could go outside, but I’m not anxious to run into Grittanus again.
Thom leans on the window next to me, the dark skin of his arms making mine look even paler in contrast. “You think you’re the only one who’s out of the loop? I’m a lowly werewolf. There’re thousands and thousands of us. Most of us don’t much matter,” he adds with a sigh. “Not like the gargoyles, or the Tuatha Dé Danann and the rest of the demis. There’re only a handful of them, comparatively, so they get to be part of the special club.”
“Demis?”
“Yeah. The ones you humans used to worship as gods. Not only Brigid and her family, the Tuatha Dé Danann, but all of them. Odin and his crew up north. All those idiots on Mt. Olympus. Ra, Shiva, Amaterasu, I could go on. All of them, gods from all around the world. They called themselves khulderi, once upon a time, but mostly we call them demis now.”
“As in demi-gods?”
“You are a smart cookie.”
I smile and bump his shoulder. He grins back.
“So who makes up the Conclave?”
“Heads of the major species. The King of the Werewolves, the Dragon Queen, the Naga Queen—”
“Naga?”
“Picture giant snakes with human torsos.”
I shake my head, trying to wrap it around the image. “Who else?”
“Loads more. Representatives from each regional demi family. Athena, Ganesha, Danu. Brigid was once. But before you ask, I don’t know the story,” he added quickly, seeing my curiosity spark. “You’ll have to ask her.”
I make a mental note to do that. I want to know everything I can about this world I’ve been thrown into.
*
By our third full day here, I’m going crazy with restlessness. There’s only so much of the castle I’m allowed to see, and as amazing as this fairytale come-to-life is, it’s also cold, dark, and unfriendly. I miss home. I miss Mom. I miss our cobbled-together life of hunting and gardening and surviving. I haven’t run in days, and I the walls feel like they’re closing in around me.
I enjoy spending time with Thom, Caleb, and Shelly, but it’s wearing. Caleb and Shelly are so adorable that it’s nauseating. Thom is a good friend, and nice to be around, but patience was never my strong suit. I barely see Axel, only when he comes to check on me at night. He’s always gone by morning. I want answers. I want to know why Cigar-face came after my mom, and what my dad has to do with Axel. I want to know what’s being done about Mom. Sitting here isn’t going to help her any. I want to know why the Conclave has such a pull on Axel, and what they want with him. And more than anything, I want to know why he brought me here, why he thought it would be so much safer for me.
So I’ve opted for alone time in my room, before everyone starts to hate me. It’s boring as hell, but at least I’m not yelling at anyone. When there’s a knock at my door, and a gargoyle I’ve never seen stands outside it and tells me my presence is required, I don’t question it. I figure the black clothes he’s wearing are the standard gargoyle uniform around here.
But as he leads me deeper into halls I haven’t explored, and the silence stretches on, I start to worry.
Maybe I should have waited. Wouldn’t Axel have come, instead of someone I don’t know?
I’m relieved when the door he stops in front of is bigger and more ornate than the others I’ve seen. Of course the chambers where the Conclave meets would be fancier, right?
My escort opens the door without a word, just a glare that I’m pretty sure means I’m supposed to stop dawdling.
Inside, I find… An office.
Maybe it’s the reception room? Maybe?
“Ah, Kendry. So nice to see you again.”
; Oh shit.
Turns out I’m an idiot. Because it’s not the Conclave that requires my presence.
It’s Grittanus.
His smile speaks of triumph and cruelty. It’s clear his interest in me has more to do with getting to Axel. At least I hope that’s it, because I don’t want to contemplate the alternative. My fingers twitch as I wish silently to myself that I could reach Dad’s knife where it’s strapped under my jeans at the ankle.
The door shuts behind me, and it takes every ounce of everything not to let him see how freaked out I suddenly am.
When in doubt, go for bravado.
I raise my eyebrow. “What do you want, Grittanus?”
“So many things.” I really don’t like the look that accompanies that.
“I thought Axel made it pretty clear you were supposed to leave me alone.”
His face hardens. “Axelrod has no authority over me. You’d do well to understand that right now.”
“He’s my guardian. That gives him authority over anything concerning me.”
Grittanus smiles. “So naïve.” He pushes himself up off the wall he’s been leaning on, and walks towards me.
“Whatever. I’m gone.” Except he’s at the door before I’ve taken a single step.
“No, I think not. You and I have some business to attend to.” His stone hand grabs my jaw before I can reply, holding it tight. I force myself to keep glaring, refusing give into the rising panic I’m feeling. He leans in and inhales, smelling me. “Ah, I was right. You’ve not yet chosen. How delicious.” He inhales again, and I want to retch. “You reek of untapped power. Truly, you are his daughter.”
My hands grab at his wrist, trying to pull him off me, even though I know it’s useless. I have no idea what he’s talking about, but it’s painfully obvious where he’s going. “What the hell are you even talking about?”
He grins, not letting me go. “I have such plans for you, Kendry. With you, I will finally make this world what it was meant to be.”
Yeah, he’s going there.
“Think how powerful we will be as mates.”
God, I hate being right.
His stone lips close hard on mine, hungry. My hands claw at him in frighteningly ineffectual struggles. The hand on my jaw squeezes, prying my mouth open to his granite assault. I try to scream, try to kick, try anything, but none of it works. He’s stone, and immune to my struggles. His hard tongue sweeps through my mouth, forceful, bent on his own pleasure and immune to my resistance.
He’s invincible, and I am so not. He has no weaknesses, no soft spots. There’s no arm lock or pressure point I know that will work on him. Even if I could reach dad’s knife, it probably wouldn’t do any good. I pull at his wings, his hair, but it seems to encourage him. His free hand pulls me close to him. I can’t get away.
And then my thumb finds his eye, digging in deep. He does have a soft spot.
Grittanus screams with rage, throwing me across the room. I land in a heap, barely short of the wall, while he clutches at his eye.
Except that he’s laughing again. “Damn, but you are fiery. This will be even more enjoyable than I thought.” And then he’s on me again, even as I try to get up. I plant my foot in his chest, but he swats it away, pulling me up. “If you want it rough, I’m happy to oblige. All you had to do was ask.” Again, I’m flying through the air, and it’s a wall that stops me now. I wince in pain, and grab for the knife. I’m desperate.
“With you by my side, I will finally have the Conclave where I want them. The humans won’t stand a chance. This war, my war, will be their undoing.” I kick out as he approaches, hoping the wall will give me leverage enough, but he sweeps it aside again, and this time, I feel something in my leg crack. I scream. Stone hand pins me to the wall. “And your pitiful guardian will finally be mine to ruin, as he should have been the last time.”
His mouth closes on mine again. I stab at him with the knife, aiming for his other eye, but he rips it from my hand with a snarl. My fists beat at him, but fear and pain are winning out. His damaged eye oozes on my face as he pushes against me. It doesn’t seem to bother him.
All I want is for it to stop. But it doesn’t. He presses closer to me, fumbling at my clothes, and I can feel myself losing out to pain and weakness. I bite at his tongue, forcing myself to keep fighting, but he laughs, and moves his attention to my jaw and neck while I sob silent tears and my hands beat weakly at him. My leg throbs as he clutches at me.
“GRITTANUS!!”
The door shatters into a million pieces. He stops, but then his hand is at my throat, keeping me pinned and cutting off my air.
“You have no business here, Brigid! You gave up your right in the Conclave!”
The Celtic demi steps through the remains of the door, followed by a great bear of a man and a black haired woman with a raven on her shoulder. Behind them comes a small, brown haired woman with kind eyes.
“We have the right of the Conclave. You have overstepped your reach, and forfeited your guardianship.”
Grittanus’ hand tightens on my neck, and the room begins to fade. My weakly clawing hands are as ineffectual as a piece of paper against a hurricane. I hear him scream, a great bellowing roar that reverberates in the stone wall at my back. “NO! She is mine! Herne’s plan will ruin us! With her power, the Conclave will be mine, and we will sweep the humans from this world, take back what is ours!”
“Release her, Grittanus!” The man’s voice is powerful, and reaches through my fading awareness. I claw at the stone hand that holds me last more time.
And then the world goes black.
*
“I’ll break the bastard’s neck, so help me!”
“Easy, Axel.”
There’s a sound, like crumbling rock. I want to open my eyes, but I’m so tired, and it’s so hard. I want to tell him I’m all right. But I can’t move my lips to form the words.
“She’ll mend. And the Conclave can’t help but listen, now.”
Brigid. That’s who he’s talking to.
“It shouldn’t have taken this,” he growls. “I should have been here! Not sitting wasting time listening to the Conclave bicker. I knew what he was, and that he wanted her!”
“You were doing your job, as a first guardian.”
“My job was keeping her safe! For all we know, the current opposition in the Conclave is part of Grittanus’ plans!”
It’s my fault, Axel. Not yours. I want to tell him so badly, but I can only manage the softest of whimpers.
“If the two of you cannot keep quiet while I work, I will send you both out. Kendry needs my undivided attention far more than she needs your quarrelling. Broken bones don’t knit themselves.”
I can’t put a name to the new voice, but the hand that touches my head soothes me, pushing me back to the beckoning blackness. It’s so much easier to give in to it. The voices fade into whispering white noise.
“…don’t you?”
“…obvious?”
“The way you look at her…”
The whispers fade in and out against memory and dream, and I’m too tired to tell the difference anymore.
“…shouldn’t, Brigid.” Shouldn’t what?
“Love is never wrong.”
Love?
I wonder, sometimes. I think we all do, honestly.
What would life have been like if the Uprising hadn’t happened?
It’s a legitimate question.
I was eighteen, and only a few short months from graduating high school. It’s supposed to be one of the major milestones, right? I was all set to head off to Virginia Tech in the fall. I was going to study Forestry. I even had a scholarship. Full ride for my first year.
But then it all changed.
And really, I don’t think I mind.
The Uprising might have destroyed life as we knew it, but I like living in a world with so much more possibility. I like having friends who are more different than I could ever have dreamed they’d be.
>
And as crazy as Axel has made me lately, I still wouldn’t trade our friendship for the boring same-old stability of before.
*
Waking hurts. Unconsciousness is so much nicer. But the silence of my room isn’t bad, and the pale moonlight doesn’t hurt my head as much as the sun would. I lay still for a few moments, taking stock, and I’m surprised to find that beyond the general aches, I feel okay. My throat doesn’t feel crushed. My leg only hurts a little, kind of like my arm did after Brigid took care of it.
A noise from the balcony interrupts my thoughts.
I have a moment of panic as a gargoyle steps into the room, but then it’s gone, because this is my gargoyle.
Axel.
He walks to my bed, boots hardly making a sound on the thick rug, and sits. His wings tuck way back and up, carefully out of the way. Fingers outstretched, he touches my face. I lean into it, my hand trapping his.
“Kendry, I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head, softly because I don’t want to dislodge his hand. “Not your fault.” My words are almost inaudible.
“It is. I should have made sure you were better protected. I knew what he was like.”
“Still not your fault.”
He sighs. “Always so stubborn.”
“Damn straight,” I whisper. I draw in a deep breath, shifting around. “Feel so weak.”
“That’s the healing. I haven’t seen Danu do a spell like that in a long time. It takes it out of you both.”
I want to crawl closer to him, but it’s so hard to move. I want him to touch me, to erase the feel of Grittanus’ manhandling. “Axel…” It’s half whisper, half begging whimper, and I’m so tired. Too tired to say more.
“Shhh. Get some rest, Kendry. I’ll be right here.”
He leans in, his lips gently brushing my forehead, and I slide back into sleep knowing I’m safe.
*
I fade in and out. Each time, Axel is there. Each time, I want to beg him to touch me, to hold me. Each time, I fail, slipping back into the healing darkness. When I finally surface for good, it’s daylight, and he isn’t there.
Brigid is.
“How are you feeling?”
ParaWars Uprising Page 10
