by Elle Cross
I swallowed down what would have been my apologies for trespassing and piercing the veil and whatever else I would have blathered. If the Power Broker didn’t feel the need to bring them up, and Vesper was telling me to keep my mouth shut in her own way, then why shouldn’t I play along?
“I would like you to know that you did me a great favor. Your actions brought to light certain…things about the Power Broker in the Midwest." His voice was the sweet lullaby of restful sleep, as if it wrapped around my body like a weighty blanket.
I blinked at him, forcing myself to pay attention to his words. "Lord Brakka?"
The man's lip curled in distaste. "Yes. That one. The one who’d been risking the veils with his power plays. Because of your actions, I would see you compensated for your efforts. Name what you will, and if it is within my power to grant it, I will do so."
It didn’t escape my notice that he chose his words with care. It was like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and needed to balance just so.
"If it's all right, uhm Lord Deimos—"
A somewhat strangled sound died in his throat. Vesper’s smile outshone the rising sun. "Please, your majesty, he would prefer simply ‘Deimos.’"
I swallowed, uncomfortable being so familiar with someone like him that I chose not to address him again. "I would like for my men and I to go home."
He stared at me without acknowledging my words, the weight of universes boring into me. Of course, my words. I needed to be careful of my words. I tried again. “I would like all my men, my Shadow Guard, to return with me to my court located in Circle City, so that we may live there and establish my Shadow Court.” Gods above and below, I hoped that was thorough enough without being locked in some crazy loophole.
This time, a brilliant smile broke in his face, gleaming white teeth dazzling against the gold and black whorls of his face.
I swallowed, hard, and looked away. I didn’t want to disrespect Vesper in case she was the type of woman who didn’t like others ogling her men.
"I am sure that can be arranged, Karina, Queen of Shadows.” Deimos nodded to something behind him. I had to work to focus my eyes. As if to make himself more visible, red ribbons seeped on to the black of his skin, coiling like dancing flames. This was the man called Corso, whom I met in the depths of Labyrinth House. The living shadow.
I snorted again. Evidently, I was my classiest in front of beings of unspeakable power. "Fancy meeting you here." Then I put a few things together, and realized that Deimos had to be one of those three people that he had mentioned being loyal to when we were down in the labyrinth.
Perhaps Vesper was one of the other two.
He chuckled, the low rumbles pitched low like a coming thunderstorm. “Indeed, your majesty.”
Taran stood, my head resting against his left shoulder, my forehead tucked into his neck. He held my body tight against his chest. From this vantage point, I saw that he was as tall as the Power Broker. I found that gratifying for some reason.
Enver stood to Taran’s right, his left hand on my knee, casually stroking it with his thumb. His right hand gripped his sword. God or no, he would be my shield.
As the black whorls over Deimos's skin lifted and came to life, so did the red ribbons from Corso's skin. They wrapped the three of us in a coil.
Then a whisper of thought popped in my head, and I met Deimos’s red-eyed gaze. "You know my mother, don't you?"
Surely, the Queen of Nightmares and Death would have had a reason to cross paths with something that was darkness made flesh and a god that sported a name for fear and terror.
In answer, the Deimos merely smiled, a flash of white against the black and gold of his face. "Be well, little queen. We shall talk again."
Karina
WE WERE DEPOSITED MERE steps away from the manor. The ghost that had been the sentinel at the edge of my property waved to us as we passed. At least he seemed better again.
My men wouldn't let me step foot on the ground, insisting on carrying me around like I was this delicate thing. Perhaps to them I was. I was tired enough to let them, at least for today.
They joined me for a much needed hot shower. I didn't need sex, but I craved the intimacy and closeness of their touch, and they provided it for me.
I sat still for West on the window seat while he brushed my hair, my legs draped over Havoc's lap while he massaged my feet. The night had been so long. And so dark.
It had weighed heavy in my heart.
As if I’d never see daylight again.
Red broke in the horizon. Dawn.
My chest tightened to see it, my heart expanding like it would burst.
I looked over the room where my Inner Circle—my men—were gathering things together, and making things more comfortable so that we could all sleep in the same bed tonight. Rather, today.
Ranek and Enver dressed the bed, Taran pushed cushions and pillows together. Even Jindyss, my new drakkenmark moved over my skin, his wings outstretched so they wrapped around my ribs while his head rested on my heart.
Peace. Contentment. Love. This was what I felt. The burning pain of rage and the sweet torture of loving deeply. This was worth all the rest.
I didn't realize I was crying until tears were being wiped from my face and I was looking into Enver's face. "What is this?” he asked. “What happened?"
I wiped the worry from his face. "Love. Love happened."
He leaned in to kiss me and carried me off of West and toward the bed. He centered me there beneath the open circle of the oculum overhead. The midnight blue of the waning night sky giving way to the red dawn loomed above me. I could see the faint outline of the moon, a silent witness.
My men had circled the bed in my reverie, already naked and waiting. Love bloomed in my heart at the sight.
"Well then, sweet queen, let us love you."
I bit my lip and surrendered to their embrace.
Karina
THEY SURPRISED ME WITH a trip to the ocean.
My mother called on me, as if she knew that I was recuperating and looking forward to establishing my court here. She didn't necessarily give me directions, but a feeling of where I might find my father.
The feeling led me to a place warm and golden, and my skin pricked as if it remembered where it belonged. It was a beautiful feeling, this belonging. Whereas my golden skin often stood out among the courts of darkness and winter, here I felt at ease.
A man sauntered along the beach. There was no other word to describe it. It was that confident gait of someone knowing his place in the world.
Every bit of him demanded attention. His sun-bleached brown hair blew in the breeze. The fact that the man was nearly seven feet tall. He wore frayed shorts, no shirt, no shoes. A conch shell strung to his waist. He looked like he'd been beach combing all morning and that was all he would intend on doing the rest of the day.
His eyes, though. They captured sunlight and surf, but they also spoke of timelessness, bottomless depths and raging storms. As strongly as if he'd hit me himself, I felt that leap of connection.
This man. I knew this man.
No, that wasn’t right. Not a man. A Dagan. A tribe of gods that made their home in the sea.
A name whispered in my head.
Vatea. God of daylight.
My father.
As the name appeared in my head, so too did he snap his head my way. His gaze searched me, sifting through my memories as if he were looking for treasure within the sand. One moment, he was simply curious. The next, he opened his arms wide toward me.
When I ran to him and leaped, he caught me easily. He inhaled my scent and the rumbling in his chest reminded me of the calming waves lapping along the shore. Contentment and peace.
He looked me levelly. "I know you. You are mine." His eyes held the weight of oceans. “I hear your heart, my Karina.” My name spoken in his voice was like a long-forgotten lullaby newly remembered.
Emotions choked me up. "Yes," I whispered. "M
y mother is Thana. Do you remember her?"
Recognition lit up his features, and he threw back his head and laughed. "One does not encounter the Queen of Nightmares and Death and forget, my little queen. Even when the encounter was in dreams." He kissed my cheek. "Come, I knew the Oracles had a reason for me to be here. Let me show you your family."
With a sweep of his hands, the sea seemed to part just a little. A rainbow formed to hold the seas back, and what I thought was surf and rock, were actually heads of really beautiful people, many of whom reflected the ocean in skin tones of blue and aqua. "Our home. You are always welcome. You and your court."
We followed him into the Deeps, the ocean’s water a steady wall that surrounded us during our visit. We stayed until the amount of names overwhelmed me. I made plans for a longer visit soon. After all, we had much to catch up on.
He presented a handful of his best unclaimed warriors to me. One of them awakened some of my glyphs that had been otherwise dormant. A younger guard with a sleek, golden body and black tattoos and blessings of power etched along his chest and arms. He looked like he could hold his own in both land and sea battles.
"Ah, Lord Ouros. He would be pleased to serve in your court."
The golden demigod was indeed eager to please, and ready to come with us immediately. Enver and the rest approved of the claim through our shared threads, and so I said, “Soon.”
Ouros was surely invited, especially if he came with a unit of men who would also pledge to my court to defend the borders of the manor. I just wanted a little more private time with my Inner Circle for now.
A few of my young nieces who had never spent extended time out of and away from the ocean and on dry land begged to stay with me too, and my new family acquiesced. Again, I promised, “Soon.”
The Power Broker of Manhattan—Deimos, though it was so hard for me to call him that—allowed for the transport of guards from the Fold to be part of my court. Evidently, when I said ‘Shadow Guard’ that also included all of my Inner Circle’s men who wanted to serve me. And so, Deimos provided within the confines of the word play he danced me through.
They would be transported in shifts, but in a couple of weeks, my Inner Circle would have their units with them once more, and we would have a balanced court.
Deimos even sent Corso to check on me every now and again. Lord Corso had accepted the post of being an interim Power Broker for the Midwest. I kind of thought that it allowed the Remnant Gods to observe my growing court more readily. I tried to be resentful for having a monitor, but when Corso visited to announce his new position, he had arrived with a couple of serval kits.
Servals were something between a bear and a cat that liked to play in shadows, and were generally not domesticated pets. However, they could be trained to be fierce warriors, aiding the call to war. The little furballs would grow into the size of ponies one day. They were a perfect addition for a growing Shadow Court, and I secretly couldn’t wait for that day, though the men were kind of nervous.
Tonight we decided on a simple rite of passage: family movie night. Their men—my growing Shadow Guard—were on watch duty so that my Inner Circle could be with me.
I popped a big tub of buttery popcorn to mostly share. Havoc chose a show that I’d always wanted to watch, but never had time to do it. Plus it was kind of creepy. I already lived a strange enough life, and surely I didn’t need to invite things to make it stranger. But with my guard around me, my family, I could be nervous and scared and know I would be okay.
I nestled in my big chair, Enver beside me, West on the other. Taran played with the servals on the floor while they took turns pouncing on each other. Havoc and Ranek were sprawled out on their own theater seats.
My heart grew with so much love, causing my power to rise and skin to glow. Jindyss wrapped his wings even tighter around my ribs in answer my rising emotion. They were my home, and I would never be alone again.
Enver’s hand snaked over on to my thigh and squeezed gently. A reminder. And a promise.
I might have to take him up on that later. For now, I pushed play.
THE END
The story of the Brightling Court continues in book two, So Bright the Dawn. Read on for a preview. If you want to read more of this story line, please consider leaving a review. I take into account what my readers want to read, and focus my time accordingly.
Thank you! –LX
Spring 2018
Karina
ENVER, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, Primus of the Queen of Shadows and Flame, the Bane of Nightmares and Winter, and Captain of my Shadow Guard, was visibly scared.
It was a rare sight to see.
I stood back, waiting, watching, hoping to capture this moment in my memories to remember for years to come.
My two little nieces, Aruna and Vallara, ages six and eight—part of the vast extended family that I never knew I had, but was slowly getting acquainted with—stalked him with what looked like makeup brushes.
“C’mon, Uncle Enver,” Vallara said in a most matter-of-fact voice, “we can’t reach you!”
“This blue color would look great on your eyes!” Aruna giggled, brandishing a blue-tipped eyeshadow brush toward him like a weapon.
Caught between following orders of little would-be queens and the crumbling of his pride, the usually quick thinking warrior had met his match with these two.
Time to step in and save him.
“Ah, ladies, there you are,” I said this in an up tone as if I’d been looking everywhere for them. They shrieked and laughed and ran circles around me.
Enver was so relieved, I laughed at him.
“Let’s leave Prince Enver’s eyes alone, he’ll need them eventually to see. I think we’ve been inside for too long, why don’t we go outside and play?” I offered a hand to each of them, and they grabbed them and pulled me outside.
“Yes! You can be queen and we’ll be the fairy princesses!”
Enver nearly swooned in thanks, and he promised a thrilling show of gratitude would be waiting for me tonight as he backed away slowly until we were gone.
It truly was a beautiful day outside. As the girls were from my father’s court, they should spend more time outdoors. I was only half Dagan, and I tended to wilt if I didn’t spend enough time outside under the sun.
At least, I hadn’t realized that. Before I knew who my father was, I thought I was just perpetually weak. The more time I spent in the Shadow Realms, though, the stronger I had become.
And, if the Oracles were to be believed, my powers would only grow from here. I’d already been crowned with Shadows and Flame, I wondered if I would be marked with a lesser power similar to light. My first title was as a Brightling, for my ability to call down moonbeams to infuse my mother’s Nightmare Court with power. Anything that threw light, I was able to bend to my will.
My powers were easily blotted out in the oppressive darkness of her court. At least here in the Shadow Realms, or in what my men have started to dub The Brightling Court, I had more breathing room.
My nieces had me sit atop a blanket that I suspected was made of cashmere and silk. How the men indulged them. They had made a game of retrieving some things at the borders of power that ringed the estate. “Hey, my little fairy princesses, if I can’t see you, you are too far away, okay?”
They turned my command into a song and sang it as they frolicked, gathering what looked like twigs and flowers. After denuding a patch of wildflowers, they insisted they would make from them a dress of flowers. There weren’t enough flowers to make a dress but they declared that they had enough to make a veil.
“Do you need me to do anything?” I asked my fairy princesses.
Aruna giggled. “No, just be queenly!”
I had trouble enough being queenly, but I didn’t want to disappoint them. My hair pooled around me. They twined their gathered flowers and twigs into my hair, and I bit down a grimace whenever they pulled too hard or stabbed me too hard.
Vallara looked
at me critically and harrumphed. “What’s wrong, darling?”
“We ran out of flowers.”
The statement attracted one of the guard. “Would you allow me to fetch you more?”
She beamed. “Yes please!”
“Those purple ones,” Aruna declared, pointing to the field beyond the borders where they couldn’t reach. She would be a force to be reckoned with when she came to power.
With a dashing smile, the guard left. He was joined by more of the men who gallantly gathered wildflowers that were beyond the play borders for the fairy princesses. Not only did the men bring over wildflowers, but also ivy and edible berries, laying them on the edge of the blanket I sat upon as if they were offering tithes to their gods.
At this point, weaving and braiding my hair was a team activity with the girls taking advice from the men about placement. I won out on eating the berries rather than wearing the berries, but didn’t argue with anything else.
My nieces declared that my crown and veil was done and rushed toward the house to find a mirror. Before I could call out, one of the men shadowed them into the house.
I found myself alone with four men looking at me, without appearing to look down upon me. Since I didn’t feel like they expected me to do or say anything important, I just stretched back onto an elbow, while I waited for the girls to present me to myself, if they could find that special mirror I could still hear them clamoring on about. Careful not to topple all their hard work, I tilted my head back just enough to close my eyes, and bask in the clear sunny day. I had yet to burn my skin, so letting the sun kiss me for a few moments seemed all right.
Breathing in deeply, I felt like I could melt into my blanket and stay forever.
“It pleases us to see you so at peace, my queen.” The guard who said it spoke it so softly, I nearly missed it.
