Nerissa sighed. “You’re young, Virgie, and you’ve only been here a short time.”
“Yet, I know that a breeding program is not what will fix the fact that many fae here are infertile from the plague.”
Nerissa shook her head. “Both Nathan and I opposed it. Rumor has it that our strongest healers are working on a way to restore fertility to those who lost it, thanks to a fertility plant Caleb has secured for us. The breeding program was Preston’s pet project, and it has been put on hold. Nobody is forcing anyone to…” she trailed off, unable to say the horrible words.
“We need to ally with the Winter Court. Maybe then the plague can be undone. Onyx wants peace.”
Sadness filled Nerissa’s eyes as she placed one hand on the wall of the bare classroom. “That might all be true, but it’s not for me to decide what the Summer Court does.”
No, and that wasn’t what she wanted to talk about. She probably wanted to tell me that I was long overdue to have a public date with Nathan so that the press could focus on a great love story. “I must go. I have to study a lot today.” I pivoted around, but froze at the tall figure occupying the archway and blocking my way to the balcony.
“Virgie.” Nathan’s voice was brisk and businesslike. “We must leave for the Winter Court. As the ambassador of the king, you must deliver a message to Onyx.”
My eyes narrowed. “What message?”
Given the tension rolling off Nathan in clouds, I knew I wouldn’t like his next words even before he uttered them. “I don’t know. The king hasn’t shared the contents of his letter, but I believe it is a warning.” He paused. I sensed there was more and I would like what he said next even less. “The Winter Court has interfered with our affairs. We must teach them a lesson. We are to retrieve one of their high-profile prisoners, Headmistress Cardinal, and use her as a bargaining chip.” He stepped onto the moving staircase, and my curiosity propelled me to do the same.
“But the academy exploded. Cardinal is alive?” Headmistress Cardinal was the cruel vampire leader of Nocturnal Academy. Peony hadn’t mentioned anything about her since her escape.
Nathan nodded as the tree staircase delivered us to the ground floor. “Caleb finally admitted it when questioned by the guards. Onyx and her vampire boyfriend took Lady Cardinal before Nocturnal Academy exploded. They have held her captive in the Winter dungeons ever since.”
I winced, only imagining what threats the king had come up with to make Caleb speak. But why did Onyx keep Cardinal? The answer hit me like a brick. Cardinal had information about other vampires and thus other fae who were trapped on Earth as slaves. She managed all the contracts, after all. She knew who had been sold where. But King Peter wasn’t interested in freeing more earthbound fae. “Why does King Peter want Cardinal? Out of pettiness?”
Nathan shot me a deadly glare. “You cannot speak like this about His Majesty. It is not our business to question him.”
“Right. So we’re just going to break into wherever Cardinal is being held at the Winter Court and slip out with her?” This was the most ridiculous mission ever.
Nathan shook his head again. “You’re going to distract the guards and leave the message at the Winter palace while I get Cardinal.”
Another test. The king wanted to see how much my studies were paying off, how quickly my powers were growing. Last time I had been able to compel four guards. “How many guards this time?”
“Anywhere from six to perhaps twenty.”
“I see.” And after I did that, would King Peter ask me to control the whole Summer Court, make everyone fall in line? Blythe made me keep the entire class’s attention on her during her lessons. She made me compel them to agree with everything she said about the Summer Court. Lately, the atmosphere in the Vasara Center was changing, with the fae students smiling more and studying nonstop in their free time. I hated it. I hated myself for doing as Blythe said, but if I didn’t, she would take the students’ yawns and lack of enthusiasm as a sign that I was slacking. Then she’d report me, making the king distrust me or worse.
I shuddered and pushed the fear aside. Acting like I was already defeated would not serve me well. I had to remember that the stronger I got, the higher the chances were that I could influence King Peter. I needed to spend more time with him, and then, maybe, I could make him see right from wrong. Or maybe it would be the other way around, and he’d bend me to his will.
20
Nathan and I stepped outside of the Vasara Center and entered the field. With Caleb imprisoned, I had no clue who’d be opening the portal for us, a difficult act that required skills only a few possessed.
I was not happy to find Percival waiting for us, in place of Caleb, standing with a dozen royal guards on the other side of the field.
Nathan worked his jaw. “We need Caleb. I use telepathy with him when we need to leave quickly.”
My mouth almost hit the ground. This was the closest Nathan had ever come to defying the king.
Percival stepped forward, cheeks reddening. He glared at me for a second, and I wondered if he remembered me standing up to him back at the party. “I will open the portal for you, and you will complete this task by order of my father.”
Tension thickened the air. None of the guards reacted. No one wanted to go against this brat.
“Do you have telepathy? When we bring back our prisoner, we will need the portal opened,” I said.
“Of course, I do,” Percival said. “I will open the portal once per hour and check to see if you are there.”
Well, if he needed to open the portal to check for us, his telepathy was either non-existent or poorly developed. I eyed Nathan, silently begging him to protest, but he only gave a terse nod. “We need to get as close as we can to the Winter palace. Rumor has it that prisoners are kept inside it, in a mountain cave.”
“I can get you to the border.” Percival strained his features as if he was pooping. Clearly, that was his thinking face, because a beat later, he added, “You will have to find other transportation from that point.”
I swallowed and nervously brushed my fingers over the white suit and cape I’d changed into after finding out about this new mission. My fingers tightened around the rolled-up scroll Nathan had given me. It was a message from King Peter to Onyx that I was not to look at it. Another test. Would those ever end?
“Got it?” Percival glared, and I tucked the scroll into my suit pocket.
“Understood,” Nathan said as I wondered whether King Peter didn’t care too much where we landed or if Percival had begged for the job. It was probably a combination of both. After all, if Onyx and her warriors could open a portal directly into King Peter’s palace, King Peter must be able get us into the Winter palace. He probably thought himself too good to help us or wanted to pose an additional challenge.
Percival stepped back and took a lot of time opening the portal. He muttered low words, dragging some of them out for theatrics. Caleb had gotten the job done in less than half the time it took Percival to work his magic. At last, the air wavered and glowed with a deep, mesmerizing green. A chilly wind hit me as the portal revealed the afternoon borderlands on the other side.
Nathan slipped his hand into mine. I was glad for the physical contact, glad that he was in charge of the operation and not someone like Percival. Hand in hand, Nathan and I stepped through the portal. Coldness washed over me, invading every cell of my body. Damp pine needles and half-melted snow crunched underneath my boots, and hilly terrain surrounded me. I whirled around as the portal closed. On the other side, Percival grinned, not an ounce of kindness on his face.
“He remembers how you treated him,” Nathan said, his voice resigned.
I swallowed hard. “What if he doesn’t open the portal every hour to check as he promised?”
“Percival may have a big head, but he cannot lie or go back on his promises,” Nathan reassured me, rubbing his hand on my upper back. In the process, he caressed my hidden wings, bringing a pleasant ti
ngle with the motion. “He will open that portal as promised. King Peter wants a high-profile prisoner, and Percival would never dare to stand in his father’s path.”
I nodded, taking comfort in the fact that at least I wouldn’t freeze to death. The part of the borderlands we found ourselves in this time was different than the one we had visited before. The chilly, damp air reminded me of the earliest parts of spring rather than the arctic. A few purple flowers rose from mud between melting patches of snow. Shrubs just beginning to bud grew at the bottoms of hills, sheltered under protective, lush pines. This place was a true borderland. I spotted a few crumbling brick and clay houses in the distance. Maybe it was an abandoned settlement left to rot after the plague had broken out. In History, we’d learned that some stray fae had tried to settle in the borderlands, which normally weren’t inhabited, and King Olwen had created the plague to drive them back.
He must’ve achieved his goal, because besides us, no one else was here.
I turned to Nathan. “What will happen after we capture Lady Cardinal? Onyx won’t start a war over that hag. If King Peter wants to goad Onyx into making the first move, it won’t work.”
Nathan grimaced. “King Peter has not revealed his full plan to me. I can only imagine he wants this prisoner for bargaining purposes.”
“He has already given Onyx a bad deal. Losing two of his children within months has made him unstable and unreasonable.”
Nathan’s eyes glazed over, and I wished I hadn’t brought up death and sad memories. Before I could apologize, Nathan composed himself. “Our king is very wise. He has been around for much longer than the rest of us and has invaluable life experience.”
“Just because he’s old doesn’t mean he’s wise.”
Nathan balled his fists, and I thought he would lash out, but all he said was, “King Peter is trying to solve the problem of his missing daughter. He promised me he would do all he could to ensure no other Summer family would be separated.”
“Is that how he got you to swear your loyalty to him?” I asked in a whisper.
Nathan nodded, and I held my breath until my ears rang. How could a teenage Nathan say no to such an offer? If someone had offered me a chance to free all the fae from the vampires and ensure we were never molested again, I would’ve taken it. Even if it meant that I had to snap on another set of chains forever.
“I know King Peter appears angry and ruthless, but he has to be this way to protect us.” Nathan took my hands. “Caleb should’ve been rewarded, yes, but King Peter had to show everyone that working with the Winter fae can be dangerous. Rules are there for a reason. I visited Caleb and Peony. They were fine.” Nathan bit his lip, making me want to trace it. “I would’ve told you earlier, but you didn’t talk to me.”
I exhaled slowly. Had I overreacted? Yes, Nathan was not the enemy. I couldn’t expect him to see King Peter clearly, not when he had practically been the only father figure in Nathan’s life for the last ten years. I had to move slowly and use my powers on King Peter. When I brought him Cardinal, I’d ensure he eased his hold on Nathan.
A chilly wind blasted me, tearing me back to the present. “Let’s get our prisoner.”
Nathan released me and studied the area. “I see wagon tracks over there, past those ruins.”
I followed the direction he was pointing to find that tracks, deep in the mud, stretched past the ruins and headed toward the west, in the direction of the afternoon sun. “People travel through here.” Blythe had told us that nomadic fae, usually elemental fae belonging to neither court, traded goods between the courts to make a living. As we approached, I realized the tracks were fresh and damp on the edges. “We need to convince someone to give us a ride and sneak us into the Winter lands.”
“Merchants often visit the Winter palace, trading plants from the Summer Court. These things are considered forbidden in their court, but the underground trade still happens.”
“And the wealthy partake.” A tingle of hope rose in my chest. “If we time it right, we might get to the palace at nightfall.”
Nathan placed his hand on a lone stone wall covered in moss. “That’s a good plan. Less of a chance of detection. We’ll need to leave the palace early enough during the night for our vampire prisoner.”
“Yes.” The last thing we needed was the sun to kill Lady Cardinal after we went through all the trouble of kidnapping her.
The tracks we followed stretched into a full road. Nathan and I waited for at least an hour. Just as I started to wonder if wagons came through here more than once a week or so, the sounds of squeaking wheels echoed around the hills to the east.
Nathan seized my arm and pulled me behind the wall of a ruined hut as the wagon approached. The hills hadn’t offered much warning, and a single spotted horse pulled a flat wagon with a blanket over whatever goods it was transporting toward us. At the front of the wagon, a woman with bluish-gray hair and matching wings sat beside a man with earthy brown hair and wings that were nearly black. Though the woman held the reins, both searched the surrounding landscape, wary, probably looking for thieves.
They would attack us if we showed ourselves.
Nathan nodded to me, and I knew what I needed to do.
The wagon approached, coming around the curve, closing the last fifty feet of distance between us. You are calm. Safe, I thought. We are friendly. Look this way.
The woman snapped her gaze to me and pulled on the reins, stopping the carriage. The old horse halted in the middle of the path and let out a grunt. The woman wore a patched dress, and the man’s trousers were in equally bad shape.
“Who goes there?” the woman asked.
I motioned Nathan out of the ruins. We stood side by side as the earth under my feet shifted. The woman appeared relaxed, but the man, I was guessing he was an elemental earth fae, turned his gaze to the ground.
You are calm. We’re friendly, I thought, focusing on his forehead. The ground stabilized, and I let out a breath. “We need a ride to the palace. Are you going there?” I could not lie and had to word everything carefully.
“We are hoping to sell our wares at the palace market,” the woman said.
“We have a message for Princess Onyx and mean her no harm,” Nathan said with a friendly wave. “We mean no one in the Winter Court, or you, any harm. However, to keep things quiet, we would like to get in and out of the Winter lands, undetected by all, but Princess Onyx.”
The man leaned forward. “We are neutral to both courts and do not wish to take sides or act as spies, but we’re open to making a bargain.”
I tensed, knowing that even with my abilities there was no way around this. The merchant’s mind vibrated with determination and hunger. I nodded. “Hide us under your blanket, and we’ll ensure you sell your wares to a generous buyer.”
“Do you promise?” the man asked. He was clearly the talker of the two. A greedy gleam filled his eyes, something I couldn’t blame him for given the condition of his clothes and horse.
I nodded. “I promise. You will have a good buyer.”
A tingle swept over me, letting me know the deal was done. I expected Nathan to give me a disapproving look, but he smiled, finally, allowing me to be in charge. I took his hand, and we got into the back of the cart.
21
The merchants stayed true to their word. While we hid under the blanket of the cart, squeezing in beside furs, they transported us down the road and past mumbling guards. I helped them stay calm when the guards questioned them about what they were trading. Only furs. Same old. Same old. No danger.
The blanket helped to stave off the cold as we crossed the border and so did lying beside Nathan between all the wares. Less and less light permeated through the blanket. Night was approaching. I wanted to peek and get a glimpse of the Winter lands, but doing so was too dangerous.
Instead, I focused at the task ahead—kidnapping Cardinal. My grasp on my mental abilities was improving, which was good as I would no doubt need all I had learn
ed when we reached Cardinal. I doubted she’d go willingly, and while Nathan could easily knock her out, dragging her body around would slow us down and also make it less likely we’d get a ride back to the area where Percival had placed us, and expected us to return.
A shiver ran through me as I wondered if we’d even find that spot again. I had tried counting the minutes of how long we had traveled. Thirty minutes, maybe. But this would do me no good if the carriage returning us was faster or slower. I didn’t remember any unusual landmarks by which we could identify the area of the border we had portaled to other than the ruined houses. The more I thought about our plan, the more I saw all the ways it could go wrong. Did King Peter want us to fail? If I messed up, he could easily make a case that I had endangered the High Commandeer. general. Once the media and public turned against me, it would only be a question of time before they hated us earthbound fae. If the breeding program came to be, they wouldn’t hesitate to put us into it to teach us a lesson. Bile rose into my throat at the thought.
The horse’s hooves slowed. No longer plodding through the mud, they made gentle clicking noises against stone or ice. People muttered all around us as the cart shifted. We were moving up an incline, and I had to grab a rolled-up fur to avoid sliding down the cart. Nathan did the same.
“Almost there,” he whispered, and a few minutes later, the carriage came to an abrupt halt.
The merchant pulled back the furs. “Get out and fulfill your part of the bargain.”
I blinked, inhaling the smell of straw. We were in a dark barn lined up with rows of carriages. No other fae were around. Good. No one had seen us so far, then.
“Will do,” I said. “Where do you normally sell your wares?”
“In the outer courtyard of the palace.”
So the Winter palace was built like the Summer palace. “Excellent. Go ahead. I’ll help you from right here, but set up close to the barn so I can hear what’s going on.” I could see the dark bricks of an open courtyard from here and other merchants with tables, but the ceiling of the barn blocked everything else from view.
The Nocturnal and Fae Prison Academy Boxset [A Complete Paranormal and Fantasy Series Boxset] Page 83
