by A. M. Hodges
Normally, I would hit him, but I’m too thankful that he is alive to care that he’s being a smart ass.
"While we’re all glad you're okay, we need to talk about what happened," Jeb places his hand supportively on Miles's shoulder. I shoot him a glare as Lucah walks in with his arm draped around Josie for support.
"I can't tell you much. I'm still learning about the Fae and the different species. Lucah can give you more detail. All I know is, they weren't like the ones we encountered before. They kind of looked like Bramble though."
Trepidation slowly sinks into Jeb's features.
“Please tell me that you aren’t going to say what I think you’re going to say.”
Sorrow and barely contained rage are rolling off Lucah in violent waves. The emotions hit me with such force that my body physically absorbs the impact. Miles eyes me with concern but Jeb remains fixated on the next words to come out of Lucah’s mouth. His eyes are practically begging Lucah not to voice his next thought.
“They were Tree Folk,” Jeb’s shoulders sag in defeat as
Lucah says exactly what he expected, “They were emaciated and drained of all color, like a tree rotting from the inside out. Everything that made them a part of their proud race has been stripped from them, leaving behind soulless, malevolent husks.
They were ruled only by blood lust and violence.”
“They swarmed me when I fell,” Miles concedes, “sent into a frenzy by the blood. It’s the last thing I remember before waking up here.”
A solemnness descends on the kitchen. Each Fae seeming to know the grave significance of this new development. Each one except me, once again being left in the dark from not growing up in this strange world. Everything I know, which isn’t much, lead me to believe the Tree Folk were docile creatures. Some were spies, and most were fierce warriors when warranted, but they mostly kept the balance and nurtured the forests.
“What does this mean?” I am ashamed that I have to ask.
“It means that whatever happens to the exiles in The Mists is no longer contained. The corruption is spreading into the continent. Maybe even to Angof. No one is safe anymore.”
Corruption. Corruption that started with my brother and his court. It all makes sense now. The unanswered pleas. The attacks on our armies and villages. They aren’t just slaughtering.
They’re recruiting.
Jeb’s face hardens as the thought reaches him.
“We need to warn everyone. The nearest camp is three days travel.”
“Someone needs to inform Bramble about what happened to her kin. The Tree Folk need to go into hiding. All the lower races do. Thinking back to the portal, I think the creatures were goblins.
Whatever is happening, it’s targeting the low races first,” Lucah declares.
“I’ll go,” Josie volunteers, “Mother and I will help Bramble inform the Badarac Council and get them into hiding.”
Right. The Badarac Council. The governing body of the lower Fae.
Lucah’s face is masked with indifference. Only I can feel the emotions through the mask. On second thought, a perturbed look crosses Dahlia’s face and she looks between Josie and Lucah. Catching her eye, I give slight shake of my head, hoping that she understands to keep her new revelations to herself.
Surprise lights her features but she quickly masks it.
“Be safe,” is the only thing Lucah says that hints to his emotions.
She gives him a private smile that once again, everyone but the two empaths in the room misses. Idiots.
“We leave at dawn.”
∞∞∞
After a day’s travel, we stop at a nearing village for shelter and a hot meal. Jeb and Josiah spent most of last night arguing over whether to conceal our movements. Josiah insisted that Rune had spies everywhere that would report or movements and reveal that I have returned home. Jeb countered that it would be even more suspicious to be found by scouts hiding. This way, if someone did report to Rune, it would seem as though they were merely giving me a tour of the continent on the way to return me to where I belong. We were heading in the direction of Crystaline after all. Jeb won the argument.
This village seems less mixed that the last. Prya is on the border of Dunewbe and the Sansin Forest. Its location houses a mixture of Pixie, Shvetlani, and lower Fae. This knew village, however, seems to house nothing but Pixies. With our glamour,
Miles and I fit right in, though I’ve kept my wings away since they are glaring indications of my true heritage.
Being part wyvern, Miles can have his wings out and no one is the wiser for it. I’ll admit I’m a little jealous of that.
Small Pixie children with dainty wings of all sorts run laughing and playing through the streets. It’s unusual for me to see something like this, children running free without frantic parents following them with fear for their safety. What a peaceful way to grow up. Nothing like the constant trepidation that humans live with.
As we enter a small inn, a woman is swatting a pair of young males with a towel. They seem to be causing a ruckus trying to steal the small candies she has in a bowl on the bar. I watch in amusement as she finally caves and gives them each a candy. They giggle excitedly and dash out the front door.
“My grand babes,” she smiles lovingly towards the door, “irritating little menaces. But what can I do? I love them. Now how can I help you all?”
She absent-mindedly begins wiping down the bar with her towel, “We’ve got fresh stew and a new fruit ale that just arrived today. You lot look thirsty.”
Her Malatian accent is thick and reverberates with warmth.
It’s what I imagined a grandmother would sound like.
“I’ll have some of that!” Lucah exclaims greedily from beside me.
Jeb rolls his eyes, “Thank you, that would be wonderful. We’ll all have some, and two rooms please.”
“Awe come on,” Lucah pouts, “the three of us have to share a room while you and Reyna get one to yourself? That’s shitty.”
The woman swats Lucah with her towel, just as she did to her grandchildren, for his use of profanity. He mumbles a petulant sorry under his breath, effectively reprimanded.
“Since you aren’t the one paying, feel free to sleep outside where you belong, cat,” Jeb goads him.
Lucah glares at him in outrage and stomps off to one of the tables near the stairs that lead up to the rooms. Josiah doesn’t even try to hide his amusement and Miles shakes his head before going after Lucah.
“Why do you always have to provoke him?”
“Because it is so much fun, Krasivaya,” his sultry chuckle causes my insides to tingle.
Lucah is like the annoying little brother that Jeb and Josiah never asked for. I know they adore him, in their own way, but that doesn’t stop them from doing what every big brother does. Making their younger sibling’s life miserable whenever possible. It’s downright painful to watch sometimes when the two Pixies gang up on him.
The woman, Marita, hands Jeb the keys and we join the others at their table by the stairs. Shortly, she places two pitchers and a cup for each of us on our table.
“I’ll be back in a bit with your stew. Let me know if you need anything else, dearies.”
I drink in content silence as I watch my family engage in playful banter around me. Josiah even seems to have come around to having Miles in the family. It took time, but it makes my heart swell knowing that they have accepted him.
The males go through three bowls of spiced stew each and another pitcher of ale before we all decide to turn in for the night. They were all at least buzzed by the time Jeb pays Marita for the food and drinks. He stands up laughing, his eyes glazed over, and he pulls me up next to him.
“We leave at dawn. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to take my mate to bed,” he winks at me.
Groans and teasing sound from around the table as my mate scoops me up and tosses me over his shoulder. The groans quickly turn into whooping and catcalls and there are t
ears of laughter in my eyes as I wave from my upside-down position while he quickly carts me up the stairs.
Chapter 35
Screams tear through the village, startling me from my sleep. Jeb is up in an instant, throwing on his armor and grabbing his swords. I have just enough time to finish dressing before the other three males come crashing through our door. Each one is heavily armed and ready for battle.
“The village is under attack,” Josiah’s voice drips with a killing calm.
We are down the stairs in minutes and out the front door.
The sight that greets us makes my blood run cold. Fae running for their lives being cut down by creatures. Screams from inside homes and businesses that are burning. Mothers desperately shuttling their children away while fathers take up arms to protect their families. The creatures from the portal as well as other corrupted lower Fae swarm the small village, causing chaos and destruction to everything in their path.
Without another word, we plunge into battle. Miles and Lucah shift as we draw our weapons and begin cutting through the horde of creatures. Lucah wasn’t wrong. Not a single ounce of consciousness or compassion shine through their utterly soulless eyes. They have one motivation and one motivation only bloodlust.
Fighting against the creatures is proving to be difficult, but it isn’t because they are superior in skill. They fight with savagery and desperation. Hungry for more death. Starving for destruction. Maintaining any form of focus to use an elemental ability is proving to be impossible while being swarmed like this, even for Jeb and Josiah.
Miles rains flames upon the creatures whenever possible, doing his best to spare the innocent Fae running for their lives. Lucah is tearing through the creatures in his panther form, creating openings for Miles to incinerate them with his molten fire. Jeb and Josiah fight with lethal grace, never faltering in their mission to eradicate this filth.
Four of the creatures, Goblins, attack me. Something isn’t right about them though, other than the obvious. They seem to be hesitating, not immediately going in for the kill. It’s almost too late when I realize what they are trying to do. They want to isolate me.
Sure enough, they have been on the offensive with their attacks, but not enough to actually harm me. Merely to subdue me. Slowly, they have been pushing me farther away from my family, putting a wall of them between me and the other warriors. Three corrupted Tree Folk falls in behind me from behind a burning building.
What they don’t know, is that being stuck in the middle of the horde was the only thing keeping me from having enough concentration to tap into my abilities. That ignorance will mean their deaths. I smirk at the Goblins in front of me before sheathing a dagger and throwing my hand towards their chests. They are frozen in place as I freeze the water in their blood, causing their limbs to seize.
I can feel each beat of their vile hearts, slowing with every second. The creatures behind me move to attack. Sheathing my other dagger, I twist slightly to the side and seize the Tree folk with my ability. Standing at the center of the seven creatures, my arms outstretched, and my palms flexed, I stare at them curiously for a moment.
Where sentient beings would have looks of confusion, terror, or even rage, they have none. No emotions come from their mindless husks. I take one last look at the abominations that The Mists have created.
With a snarl, I close my fists. Their bodies immediately erupt into an explosion of blackened blood, flesh, and bone. The resulting gore rests in pools at my feet.
“Mama!”
I whirl around to see child, no more than a toddler, with tiny pink butterfly wings screaming from beside a bush. I follow her line of vision and find a female being ripped away from her child by three more creatures. They immediately tear into her, ripping here limb from limb and feasting on what is left as she screams for her child.
The little girl stands there, sobbing and screaming for her mother, not understanding what is happening. Her mother is already gone. I rush to her side to try to calm her, to get her away from the sight that no child should ever see.
Her screams draw the attention of more than ten creatures. I watch as they all turn to focus their emotionless gazes on her and lick their lips hungrily. When the first one advances towards her, her scream tears a hole through my soul as she backs away. Then, I snap.
The empath rears to life with blinding force, ejecting my wings vehemently. I hold onto the tiny sliver of control that I maintain long enough to step in front of the girl and look down at her.
“Hide,” a thousand voices command her.
I hold on long enough to see her disappear into a hidden cellar beneath an old trinket shop. With her safe, I let go.
∞∞∞
Jeb
A scream that is a thousand screams draws my attention towards the sky. Reyna hovers above the center of the still oncoming horde. Her hair flows weightlessly around her head as she stares down at the creatures with menace.
“Krasivaya, are you okay?”
She doesn’t budge. She doesn’t look at me. There is nothing but a void at her end of our bond. It is then I realize that my mate is no longer in control. What I am looking at now is the empath, in all her ruthless splendor. And she is out for blood.
“Don’t look at her!” I use glamour to project my voice to the remaining Fae trying to escape, “Get into hiding! Run! But whatever you do, do not look at her!”
Miles and Lucah clear an escape path to one of the few buildings that isn’t burning to the ground. I don’t need to extend the command to the others. They know what is happening. What this means.
The empath has no love for me, even as her mate. She doesn’t care about her brother or her friends. Her only focus is chaos, and that’s on a good day. Right now, she isn’t just wanting to wreak a little havoc. She is pissed, and everyone will pay the price if we aren’t careful.
When the last Fae is safe from both the oncoming horde and the empath’s wrath, Miles and Lucah shift and return to fight with me and my brother. They nod their understanding, and we fall into formation. Together, we fight back to back as a new wave of creatures swarms us.
“Ring around the rosy,” a thousand voices croon from the sky as if they were nurturing a baby to sleep.
At once, the creatures cease their pursuits and stare up at my mate. The glamour lacing her words sends a shiver down my spine. Josiah slightly turns his head towards me, both worry and wonder etched into his face. Still, we did not follow the creatures to what will surely be their deaths.
All three of our mental shields remain intact.
“Pocket full of posies,” she points her finger to the ground and whirls it in a circle, causing them all to turn and fully face her. A terrifying smirk mars her features as she reaches her hands toward them, welcoming them into her embrace.
We immediately tear our gazes from Reyna, struggling to look anywhere but at her, lest we be trapped in her thrall.
“Ashes, ashes. They all fall DOWN.”
With her last booming command, the entire horde combusts.
Black gore paints every surface of the buildings and streets.
Hundreds of creatures reduced to nothing but flesh, blood, and bone. And it only took her seconds.
My mate is a magnificent creature, more lethal and terrifying than any nightmare.
“Reyna. Baby, I need you to come back now. It’s over.
Come back to me.”
I yank on our mating bond, pleading with her. Attempting to calm her.
That’s when she sets her sights on me. It was a mistake, trying to plead with the empath. Even my best shields couldn’t resist her once her focus was wholly on me. My entire body tenses, waiting for whatever she plans to do next.
I will not harm my mate, even if it costs me my life.
But she doesn’t do anything. For minutes she just stares at me as I see Reyna, my Reyna, grappling for control. I can feel her pushing to get out, trapped just beneath the surface. In my heart, I know that she won’t
let the empath hurt me. She’s stronger than that. I gently tug on the bond again, not wanting to enrage the empath.
To my right I hear the creaking of a wooden door. I glance away from Reyna long enough to see a little girl climbing cautiously out of a cellar. When all the noise stopped, she probably thought it was safe to come out. Panic starts to rise within me, and I glance between Reyna and the child. Reyna would never forgive herself if she did something to hurt her.
Miles steps towards the little girl, preparing to usher her to safety, but she walks right passed him, staring up at my mate.
Reyna cocks her head to the side as she looks down at the little girl.
The child doesn’t shy away. She just looks up at her, not a hint of fear in her eyes. The empath that has taken over my mate’s body descends from the sky and lands a little more than two feet away from us.
She walks directly towards the child. Still, she does not falter.
When Reyna comes to a stop in front of her, the girl blinks up at her with round, petal pink eyes.
“Mama?”
All the rage and chaos leaves Reyna’s face. She retracts her wings and bends to pick up the little girl. Slowly, her features return to normal, the empath finally put back in its cage. Tears are streaming down her cheeks as she looks at the child in her arms.
