One Thousand Kisses

by One Thousand Kisses

  “Tsk, tsk.” Ophelia’s black gaze raked her from head to toe. “Is that how you talk to your future sister-in-law?”

  “I’m done with your clan.” Ice crystallized in her veins at the thought of joining the Torvals.

  “Do as the princess says,” Embor ordered in a deadly voice. His aura blackened like charcoal. “If you don’t, there’ll be hells to pay.”

  A giant flash of heat turned all the slush in the room to vapor, all the vapor in the room to nothing. Fire defeated water. Fire defeated ice. Searing wind blew everyone’s hair back. The mirror above Ani’s dressing table cracked, and the canopy of her bed caught fire.

  “Baseborn thug,” Ophelia cursed. The wind knocked her to her knees. Black smoke began to fill the room, stinging Ani’s eyes and lungs. Her overspill of magic melted away like Warran’s ice. The auras vanished.

  Warran staggered away from Embor. Smog obscured him, sinister and opaque. “You’re the criminal, using fire on people who tried to protect an innocent woman. We were warned about you.”

  The smoke swirled and parted. Warran fumbled at his pocket.

  “You never intended to protect her.” Embor thrust the cat at Ani and strode forward, his feet leaving scorch marks on her rug. “We know what you did to the princess, Torval. Your days are numbered.”

  Who was we? What Warran had done to her? Ani frowned, cradling the cat. She and the Torvals had eaten dinner and…

  Recollection tweaked. They’d tried to force her… Chills splintered her head and blanched her face. She hugged Master Fey and whimpered.

  By the spirits, why did it hurt so much to think? How could anything be cold in all of Embor’s heat? Teeth chattering, she directed the remaining moisture to snuff out the flames before they devoured everything.

  “You’re too late, Fiertag,” Warran gloated. “We didn’t expect things to work out like this, but it’s perfect. I’m convening an emergency meeting of the Elder Court. You’ve lost what was left of your mind after you were captured in humanspace.” He produced a globe from his pocket. “Stupid fool. You’re the one whose days are numbered.”

  “Don’t activate that.” Embor seized the other man by his shirt. Warran began to smolder like banked coals.

  Ani didn’t spare any water for Warran Torval.

  The two men grappled. Embor slammed the other fairy against the door. The alarm spell popped free and flew into Ophelia’s grasp.

  “You can’t stop justice!” she yelled.

  A piercing shriek sliced through Ani’s aching head like a scalpel. She huddled over the cat, who’d gone silent as the grave. Within seconds, guards began transporting to the location of the siren.

  Unlike Warran, their arrival set off her security system. The first alarm was immediately supplemented by the wail of her personal wards.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Is it a gnome attack?”

  “Call the water squad.”

  She recognized Artur of Clan Birm, head of security. He brandished a weapon that looked like a long, fat human gun. Several Elders arrived, most in the corridor but a few in the smoky room to bear witness.

  The sequence of events roused Ani’s suspicions, and she wasn’t a suspicious person. As if tampering with her personal security weren’t enough, why had Warran barged in, armed with an alarm globe, because he’d heard the Primary had paid her a visit? There were no strictures against adult fairies being unchaperoned.

  Embor shoved Warran away in disgust and crossed his arms. It must have taken great restraint not to pummel the other fairy in sight of his peers.

  “Primary, what’s going on?” Artur asked.

  “These people invaded Anisette’s chambers without welcome,” Embor said.

  “We found Embor raping Princess Anisette and torturing one of the sly ones,” Warran proclaimed, smoke swirling around him. “He’s been a liability for years. I insist he be brought to trial before he kills someone.”

  Artur’s bushy white eyebrows raised. “He was torturing a cat and molesting the princess at the same time? Are you mad?”

  “This is absurd.” Embor’s hair was practically sparking.

  Artur turned his weapon on Warran. “What proof do you have, Torval? Why should I not shoot you right now?”

  “Look at this fire. He has no control of his spillover. He’s unstable and dangerous. Ophelia and I are witnesses.” Embor’s nostrils flared as Ophelia took Artur’s shoulder. Ice crusted the barrel of the old fairy’s gun.

  “He’s not unstable.” Ani’s voice was lost in the clamor. Where was Skythia? Why had the alarm not signaled her? “His fire is just stronger than Warran’s ether.”

  “He tried to kill us.” Ophelia’s fingers danced in the smog, clearing it. Directing it. It snaked around Artur, Warran and herself.

  Artur staggered as white flashed around him. Nobody else was close enough to notice through the thickened smoke.

  “Ophelia’s doing something to Artur!” Ani yelled.

  Embor lunged, but Artur brought his weapon to bear. The Primary halted, hands raised.

  “Elder Embor, is this true?” The tip of Artur’s weapon was steady, though his skin was unnaturally pale. “Was the meeting last night a front to hide your intentions? You need to come with me until we get some answers.”

  Embor backed away from his head of security. His pale garments had darkened with soot. “Artur, how long have we known each other? You know what I discovered. You’ve been influenced.”

  Warran shook his head sadly, edging away from the older fairy. “Influenced? I’ve opened his eyes with information. Soon the rest of the Court will follow. You’ll be sevendusted and banished…to humanspace.”

  “I don’t think so.” Embor flourished his hands, fire dancing in his palms.

  “Stop it.” Ani slid her fingers around his arm before he could blast Warran. Near him the heat was so intense it practically fried her clothing off her.

  It fried the whiteness from her mind.

  The cat miaowed, and she remembered. Remembered what the Torvals had done to her and how they’d concealed their failure.

  Resentment to match Embor’s heat radiated through her, and she locked gazes with Warran through the smoke and activity. Two huge Stonehaus enforcers advanced on Embor with guns in their hands.

  “I remember, Warran.” She was swelling with anger, bloating with rage. How dare they do such a thing? How dare they try to pin anything on the Primary? “You won’t get away with this.”

  His eyes widened, but Ophelia countered. “By the spirits, the princess has been mind-raped. Embor used the sixth arts on her. Sedate them with a numblock.”

  Embor roared, and nearly everything inanimate in the room burst into flames. “Don’t touch her!”

  Shrieks and yells, the swell of magic, filled the room as fairies acted swiftly to douse the fire.

  That will do, the cat said to Ani, his mindspeech a purr of satisfaction. Tell him to take us to the Cragen ring.

  She grabbed Embor’s chin so he’d focus, barely suppressing a yelp as her fingers scalded. “The Torvals are at the Cragen ring.”

  Embor’s pale eyes flashed red. Immediately thereafter, the cool blackness of between-space enveloped them, chilling her fear and the agony in her hands, before she had a chance to take another breath.

  Chapter Nine

  If Anisette didn’t wake soon, Embor was indeed going to commit heresy. He was going to kill a cat.

  The black and white feline perched on a crate outside the barrier of magic Embor had erected to hide their presence. His shields were second to none. They were impenetrable to fairies, gnomes, hags, spells, vision, hearing, projectiles, fire and ice, yet the cat had no problem wending through the barrier. To his magical senses, it was as if the cat were composed of air molecules, something he could neither trap nor void.

  Which meant Embor had a dilemma. If he lowered the barrier to catch the beast, it could expose their location. If the cat vanished, Embor would lo
se his chance to make last night’s confrontation worth it by finding the renegade Torval agents. His time spent researching, planning, seeking and most of all consorting with individuals formerly known as the enemy would pay off. He could bring the Torvals to justice.

  Some would be brought to justice. Some he might kill quietly and efficiently, never to be mentioned again.

  Though the cat hadn’t vanished, the Torvals weren’t here. Either the cat had lied, the cat had been wrong or the cat intended for him to go to humanspace.

  If that were the cat’s goal, he wished the beast had said so in the first place. Embor’s strategy would have been different, and now it was too late. He was too depleted to transport them anywhere else.

  These were only a few of the reasons he wanted to kill the cat.

  Anisette sighed and rolled over, rustling the slumber bag that enclosed her. He envied her the rest. He’d taken the energy globes in his emergency supplies and was paying for the overdose with a sour mood and nerves that twitched more than the cat’s whiskers.

  The cat’s ears perked as the beast focused on the movement of Anisette’s feet. They were hiding in a supply shed near the Cragen ring station. This particular ring was monitored by a single fairy at night, so that was when they’d make their move. The fewer the guards, the better their chances of slipping through.

  “Princess.”

  Anisette’s eyelashes fluttered open. “Where are we?”

  “Cragen. The cat won’t talk to me, and the Torvals aren’t here.”

  She covered her mouth and yawned. “The last place I remember is Ellsmen.”

  “I carried you.” She’d been unconscious the last few transports. Between-space sucked energy the more one entered it. As a fairy without ether—and one who hadn’t taken energy globes—she’d tired before him.

  “Did you sleep?”

  “Some,” he lied.

  She reached out a slender arm, brushed his hand and frowned. “That’s not even close to true. Embor Fiertag, I’ve never touched anyone as drained. How are you conscious?”

  He shrugged. He couldn’t risk the shield failing if he slept. Not even Skythia would have any inkling where he’d gone, and he intended to keep it that way.

  No one would suspect that he’d enter humanspace. But he had, and would again. He’d also helped Jake expand his magical repertoire in the sixth arts and bargained with the outlaw Clan Drakhmore to establish a network of humanspace spies. He’d never have suspected it himself until five year ago, when his whole world had shrunk to nothing, in humanspace. Then it had grown to include…

  Anisette.

  The princess dragged the sleeping bag around her and sat up. The supplies in Fiertaggen had not, unfortunately, contained women’s clothing. Anisette was still in her thin nightgown.

  “You’re not going to last much longer,” she said. “I should infuse you.” Healers could share energy with others. Without a healer, one could only get a boost from a bondmate, a sibling or an energy globe—and he was fresh out of those.

  “I’m fine.” She’d healed his wounds last night. If she examined him now, she’d realize why he was so weakened.

  Her eyes lost focus as she stared at him. “Are you really?”

  “Don’t read my hormone levels. It’s intrusive.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s second nature.” She ducked her head, her hair hiding her face.

  “I’ll alert you if the shield falters,” he allowed.

  She watched him from the corners of her eyes. Was she reading him anyway? No. Not Anisette. He’d specifically told her not to.

  “Where’s our little friend?” she asked.

  Embor pointed. The cat began to purr.

  “Come here, puss.” She held out her hand. “You must be cold.”

  The Cragen ring was in an alpine meadow. It wasn’t ice-locked like the Seers’ castle, but it wasn’t balmy. Embor could barely maintain the in-shield temperature at moderately chilly. If the cat wanted heat, the cat had to come closer.

  The cat shivered—though he hadn’t shivered during his stare-off with Embor—and mewed feebly.

  “He says you’re trying to freeze him.” Anisette raised her eyebrows. “You won’t let him inside the shield?”

  “The cat’s discomfort isn’t my doing. It’s his choice not to come into the ward.” He had his doubts the cat was cold.

  “He doesn’t want you to suffocate him in his blanket.”

  “This blanket?” Embor patted the ground next to his rear, where he’d used the material as a cushion.

  The cat shivered again, wrapping his tail around his paws. His coat fluffed up.

  “I won’t let him touch you, kitty,” Anisette promised. “It’s so warm here.” She unzipped her bag and held it open. “You poor thing.”

  Like a streak of ink, the cat raced into the padded sack and began rummaging around. The lump of his body rooted to the bottom of the sack like a mole.

  “How interesting. Your paws aren’t cold,” Anisette commented to the feline. “The three of us have much to discuss.”

  “I agree,” Embor said. “Why did you bring us here, cat?”

  The lump settled in Anisette’s lap. She peered down, holding the bag away from her chest. “As much trouble as you got us into last night, we deserve to know.”

  “Princess, you’re not in trouble.” Embor looped his arms around a knee, stretching out the other leg. “Nor will I be, once I catch the Torvals. The cat, on the other hand, is made of trouble.”

  “That may be so, but was it a good idea to torch my room? Everyone might have concluded you were, well…” She averted her gaze and concentrated on the cat, whose purr Embor could hear through the slumber bag.

  “I was what?”

  “Having a panic attack.”

  She was merely telling the truth. He had lost his temper; he had reacted with force. He ought to feel ashamed, but his primary regret was that he hadn’t set Warran on fire. “I’m sure no one was harmed.”

  “Only my things.” She plucked at the neck of her nightgown. “All of my things.”

  “I’ll replace them.” He hoped he could purchase new items instead of sending anything through the castle laundry. It would be cheaper.

  She took a deep breath and exhaled as if releasing pain. “There at the end I remembered what happened to me. You were right about my panic attack, about the Torvals causing it, about everything.”

  He arched a brow. “Everything?”

  “Perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration.” A smile touched her lips before she continued. “The Torvals claimed they could force a bond between myself and Warran and erased my memories when I wouldn’t cooperate. I don’t know how I got away.”

  “The important thing is you did.” Embor allowed Anisette’s current distance from the Torvals to muffle his fury. Warran had accused him of rape? “Their claim they could bond you is ridiculous.”

  She rubbed her eyes. “And single babes are never born to fairies, and the Seers don’t live in a castle in the ice.”

  “A forced bond isn’t a Court secret. It simply isn’t possible.” No spell had ever been found to compel a link between fairies—not in The Thousand Kisses, not healing magic, not anything. Not even in ancient times, before spirit magic had been banned, could fairies create a bond where it wouldn’t have occurred naturally.

  “They think it’s possible.” Anisette’s hands dislodged the sleeping bag as she petted the cat, exposing her gown and sooty pinafore. “They used spirit magic again last night. Warran or Ophelia did something to Artur. There was a white flash.”

  Embor nodded, remembering. At the time he’d been more concerned with throttling Warran. “They also altered your security spells.”

  “Don’t remind me. Warran could have entered my room at any time.” She pulled a face. “I have to tell everyone—”

  “No. It’s not safe.”

  “I have information the Court needs. Going back is the right thing to do.”

>   “Your testimony will keep. My staff won’t be deluded long.” Warran and Ophelia couldn’t turn his entire cabinet, his own sister, against him, even with the sixth arts. Gangee and the others should be primed to expect it.

  “Any time is too much time. No one is safe with the Torvals there.”

  “You aren’t going back until they’re neutralized.” He wouldn’t put her at risk. While they were in humanspace, he’d avoid exposing her to his dealings as well. The less involved she was, the less any fallout would affect her.

  “I don’t want to, but…” Anisette lifted the cat, scratching under his chin. His eyes were closed and his purr was loud. “Don’t you think we should stay to handle this?”

  “Soon,” he promised. The Torval Elders, the impending assessments, were larger issues than four traitors. But if he could capture the agents and get their confession, if he could sleep at night knowing the danger they posed had been eliminated—if he could sleep at night period—it would offset the snags his exit had caused.

  “You’re the Primary. They’ll do everything to find you.”

  “Let them try. Skythia can’t even reach through my shield.”

  “This isn’t going to be much of a vacation,” she joked.

  “It will separate you from Warran.” Embor could send her to the Drakhmores, trusting his associates to hide her. The hill clan had agreed to help Embor because he’d allowed them to meet Jake, not out of loyalty to him as Primary. They’d just as soon the Realm dissolve into one big, lawless mass of sedition, war and spouse-stealing, like so much of the Outer Territories.

  Yet even as he thought about sending Anisette away, Embor became more convinced that the best way to keep her safe would be to…keep her.

  And he’d need her along to talk to the cat.

  “When you set up my healer’s appointment, you were trying to find evidence of the sixth arts, weren’t you?” she guessed. “I wish you’d told me. I’m a little ashamed it didn’t occur to me, considering my symptoms.” She glanced at him before returning her gaze to the cat.