Diadem

by Kate Kelley

  “TERRIN!” Lyra screamed. He continued swimming.

  “Shyte, those fecking sirens!” Frey shouted.

  Lyra watched as the sirens greeted Terrin, surrounding him as they continued singing. One of them petted his hair and smoothed his cheek. Lyra readied to jump into the water but Frey held her back. “Drink this,” she said as she passed her the rum.

  “Why?” Lyra asked, her eyes still on Terrin.

  “Because this is going to hurt,” Frey growled, indicating the arrow stuck in Lyra’s leg.

  Lyra blanched. Frey shoved the flask at her and she realized she didn’t have a choice. She took two full swings and Frey held her down as she snapped the back of the arrow off, threw it, and then yanked the other side out. Lyra screamed as pain ripped through her thigh.

  Frey sucked the dark magic out and blasted it cleanly into a large fish swimming nearby. She shivered, her face green.

  The wound on Lyra’s leg closed rapidly, the skin smooth where once a bloody hole marred her thigh. “Thank you,” she breathed, then jumped into the water. Her skirt weighed her down and the portal sucked at her body like quicksand.

  “TERRIN! THOSE ARE SIRENS!”

  A blast of blue light struck Terrin’s back and Lyra realized it was Frey.

  Terrin turned, his eyes still glazed over, then turned back to the sirens dumbly.

  Lyra ducked her head under the water and kicked her legs, stroking the water with her arms like a frog. She came up for air periodically until she made it to Terrin.

  “Back off, sea wenches!” she shouted as she choked on water and tugged Terrin’s shirt back.

  Terrin spun to her and his glazed eyes washed over her features, then lower to her water soaked shirt. His eyes roamed over her as if she were naked and his eyes heated as he licked his lips.

  She shivered. Movement from the corner of her eye caught her off guard. Her stomach sank. “Trolls are coming out of the woods!”

  She readied her aura as several trolls, dozens of them, poured from the woods. Where they had been hiding, Lyra didn’t know. But now that they’d shown themselves, they weren’t going to be going back. Not in one piece, anyway.

  But there was something off about them. She lowered her hand when she noticed they had dropped their bows, stumbling forward as if in a trance.

  The Siren's Song…

  As soon as the trolls reached the first siren, she grabbed him and he curled into her like a child, his too-big head cradled in her arms. The siren had black hair. Salix. She stroked his coarse beard as she sang, tilting his head back slowly. The troll closed his eyes in ecstasy.

  Salix moved with preternatural speed, her song cut off abruptly as she bent her head and her canines punctured the troll’s neck. Lyra flinched as Salix then snapped her head back, ripping out his jugular. Blood sprayed and oozed and the light left the trolls black eyes. She discarded his limp body and moved onto the next.

  Soon the trolls were piling up on the bank, the sand painted red with their blood. Some rolled down the slope of the bank into the water. A siren grabbed Terrin by the shoulders, her hair white blonde, her porcelain face dripping with crimson as her black claws all but dug into his wet shirt.

  Lyra blasted her backward, and she flung across the sand, her muscular tail slapping the sand back and forth like a fish out of water. She sat upright, the side of her face red and crusted with sand, growling at Lyra.

  Salix shoved buttonbush into Terrin’s mouth and he chewed until his eyes cleared. He looked around at the bloodbath with confusion until his eyes hardened and he nodded.

  “We’re coming with you,” Salix said, washing the blood from her chin.

  The blonde siren returned to the water and gave Lyra a hard stare.

  Lyra returned the stare.

  “I wasn’t going to eat your husband,” she said in a husky tone.

  Lyra shook her head to deny that he was her husband, but she stopped. The possession she felt for Terrin surprised her.

  Let them think he’s my husband.

  Galdr made his way to them and Lyra immediately knew he wasn’t well. His eyes had gone a milky gray and his flying was slow and wavering.

  “Get on my back, child,” he said to Lyra in a mumble.

  “You’re unwell!” She splashed to his side as he fell into the shallow water.

  Frey hopped off of his back in one bound.

  “Terrin, help me heal him!” Lyra cried. Terrin approached the bird and felt for his wounds. He lifted his wing and revealed dozens of arrows embedded in his side. Galdr’s breathing faltered, the sound whistling and ragged.

  “No, no, no,” Lyra muttered as she held his beak in her palms, keeping his head from dipping into the water.

  “He’s too wounded, Lyra,” Frey said softly.

  Terrin wrenched arrows out of the bird’s flesh by the dozens, flinging them into the water.

  “Lyra, they’re thick with dark magic,” Terrin said, his voice full of regret.

  “I’ll take the dark magic out then! Hold his head up!”

  Terrin held his head and Lyra splashed to his side where his wounds ran like claret into the clear water. She put her hands on some of the wounds and called the dark energy to her. She felt it like the familiar dark ooze she sucked from Terrin’s adlet wound, except there was more this time. It was the dark magic she had pushed into him and the dark magic from the troll arrows. It sludged up her energy centers until it settled into her center.

  “He’s gone, Lyra.” Terrin’s voice cracked.

  Lyra’s eyes snapped open. “NO!” The dark magic in her reared up with her angry aura and she felt a strengthening in her bones.

  “Pour the magic into the fish!” Frey said, clutching a squirming carp under the water.

  Lyra’s eyes slung back to Galdr. His eyes were open, blank and white like the sky. His beak slung open. Terrin still held his head up. He looked at her, discomfort in his gaze. Lyra’s anger swallowed her up, enveloping the dark magic and dispersing it back into her centers. A spark of panic coursed through her and she tried to put the dark magic back into her palms to release it into the squirming fish, but it wouldn’t move.

  It was stuck inside her center, and was softening inside her, acclimating itself into her being.

  “Lyra! Now! You’ll die!” Frey screamed, sudden panic on her features.

  Lyra shook her head to steady herself and blasted into the fish with all her might, but the dark magic didn’t come out. In fact, she couldn’t even feel it anymore.

  Frey yelled and jumped back as if singed.

  Lyra rushed forward. “Did I hurt you?”

  Frey watched her from her prone state in the shallow water, her eyes roaming Lyra’s face as if seeing her anew. Disturbance lurked in the shadows of her gaze. “No. But you incinerated that fish in a single blast. Bones gone and everything.”

  Lyra’s stomach flipped.

  “Are you okay?” Frey asked, getting up. Her palm came up to cup her sheathed dagger.

  Terrin crossed to Lyra and laid a hand on her chest, over her center. His aura mixed with hers for a moment before he recoiled, his brow lowering in disturbance.

  “What?” Lyra asked. Her heart beat wildly in her chest.

  Terrin lifted her chin with his forefinger and looked into her eyes. “You look well. Your center is...strong. Stronger than ever.”

  Lyra’s stomach fluttered. She did feel more powerful.

  “When are we leaving?” Salix asked behind them.

  Lyra had a sudden idea. She pulled Edwin’s ring out of her vest pocket and walked to the bank. She placed it on the ground and stood back, then lifted her palm. When she blasted it, dark magic rose out of it and stuck to her. She took it into her center and felt it mix with her center again, softening and blooming into a bright, hot center of power.

  She smiled. She didn’t feel infected, she didn’t feel evil. She felt just like herself, except more powerful.

  She looked at the spot where she lay the r
ing. The sand was singed in a black circle and the ring was gone. She’d destroyed it.

  Terrin came up behind her. His brow was lowered and his eyes were narrowed, his gaze cautious. When she whipped to him, he flinched.

  Hurt bloomed in her chest at his reaction to her. “I’m not afflicted, Terrin. Don’t look at me like that. Let’s go.”

  ✽✽✽

  Galdr had shrunk back to normal size after the dark magic was pulled from him. They buried him in the soft soil of the forest and Lyra said her goodbyes. She was surprised when her eyes ran freely with salty tears. She had sickened him with the dark magic she had pushed into him and he still helped her every step of the way. Terrin had laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she had shrugged it off. She wouldn’t forget his reaction to her power for a long while.

  Five sirens, Frey, Terrin and Lyra swam to the portal, the only sound the splashing of tails and legs and arms. When Lyra had called upon her vision again, it stuck in her mind like reality and she felt herself pulled deeply into the portal, stars tunneling around them like a cyclone of celestial beings.

  When they landed, they landed on cold, hard ground, and looked up to see Fae soldiers in formation as far as they could see. They had made it, all of them.

  Now, to attack Ursa.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  “Lyra! Lyra, my gods!”

  Lyra was attacked and wrapped in a pair of strong arms.

  “I can’t breathe, Alec,” Lyra said against his chest.

  He pulled back and stared at her, breathing out a sigh of pure relief. “We were worried, but couldn’t figure out how to open the portal.”

  Lyra shrugged off his grip. “Yes, sorry about the extra day. Zuri and Vale wouldn’t let us leave--”

  “Extra day? I thought the plan allowed for one day. What happened?”

  “That’s what we wanted, but Zuri was having a coronation feast, and the Fae are strange about parties. She wouldn’t let us leave, so we had to stay an extra day as part of the deal. I’m sure Zuri caught you up. Didn’t she?”

  Alec shook his head. “No. She and Vale refuse to speak to anyone but you, Frey, and Terrin. Not a trusting lot. We didn’t think you were coming back, Lyra--”

  Lyra pinched the bridge of her nose. “This coming from the man who was never home for ten years.” She dusted off her damp skirt and turned to look at the Fae soldiers. They stood like statues in rows, not feeling the cold, their leather armor and shadowed eyes ready for the call to action. Terrin spoke to a couple of them, and Lyra imagined those were the leaders.

  “Yes, well, two weeks is a hell of a lot longer than one day, Lyra, so we got worried something had happened--”

  Lyra whipped around. “What are you talking about?”

  Alec blinked at her, his brow creased. “What? You don’t think two weeks is a long time? What happened in there?”

  Lyra cocked her head to the side. “Why do you keep saying two weeks? Who was gone for two weeks?”

  Frey came up behind Lyra, rubbing her forehead. “Ahh, about that, Alec. You see, Fae parties have a way of being...well, illusionary.”

  Alec and Lyra stared at her and her gaze flitted between them before she continued. “Back in the day, humans would go missing for weeks, months, sometimes years at a time and then wander back home to their families who’d be dead or moved. They thought they had partied only for minutes or days, but really they’d been gone for much longer.”

  Lyra turned stiffly to Frey. “You’re telling me that we were in Eclipsa for two weeks?” Shock struck her gut. She turned to look at Terrin and the Fae behind him.

  Her fists curled. “When I find Zuri, I swear to the Gods…”

  “You’ll do nothing, because we are still counting on them helping us,” Frey said flatly.

  Alec pulled a hand through his blonde locks and eyed Frey. “How are you?”

  Frey looked uncomfortable under his gaze. “I’m perfectly fine. What kind of question is that?” She stalked off toward the soldiers.

  “Did Edwin attack again?” Lyra asked, rubbing her temples. Two weeks.

  “Luckily, no. But I feel the wind changing. I don’t think it will be long.”

  They walked toward the castle doors, their boots thudding rhythmically against the hard ground. The air was wickedly sharp and cold.

  “Did Oriel and the other mages succeed with bringing in dormant mages?”

  Alec opened the door and there stood Oriel, with Poppi slightly behind him.

  Oriel’s mouth opened but he closed it again. Poppi’s cheeks reddened and she averted her eyes. Alec and Lyra stepped in, the door closing with a creak and a thud behind them.

  Lyra lifted her chin toward Oriel. “Hello, Oriel. Did you manage to work with the dormant mages?”

  Oriel lifted his gaze to hers and Lyra wished she could go back to before the bonding, back to when their friendship was special and sacred. Now it was tainted, ruined.

  “I did, and Poppi has made great strides as well,” Oriel said. He turned his melancholy eyes onto Poppi who cautiously raised them to Lyra’s.

  “Lyra, I--” Poppi began to speak in a small voice, but Lyra cut her off. “That’s wonderful. Congratulations. I’m afraid I need to change into dry clothes, so if you’ll excuse me…”

  She stalked toward the spiral staircase across the foyer when a strong grip encircled her wrist.

  She turned and looked into Poppi’s sorrowful eyes. “Want to attack me again? Let me know, so I’m prepared to fight back this time.” Lyra’s voice was flat.

  Poppi winced and let go of Lyra’s arm. “I just wanted to apologize for my actions. They weren’t me. It was the magic. Oriel said it was messing with my head. The other dormant mages acted similarly, their anger irrational until they released it and worked on control. I’m just sorry, okay? I want you to know that I never wanted to hurt you or Oriel--” Poppi stopped, tears filling her eyes and choking her words.

  Despite herself, her heart softened. She grabbed Poppi’s hand in her own and squeezed. “It happened to me too. It’s alright.”

  Poppi sniffed loudly. “But I never should have said any of that. It isn’t any of my business who you...are with--”

  Lyra grabbed her shoulders. “Surely Oriel told you that we never...we never actually..did anything like that. He just slept next to me.”

  Poppi’s eyes widened and she blinked. “He didn’t tell me that. But regardless, I never should have said those things.”

  Lyra sighed. “It’s okay. I can’t be mad at you for acting irrationally. I did the same thing when my magic was coming in. I attacked Terrin on three separate occasions because of it. That was when he was King. He threatened to indict me on treason.”

  A corner of Poppi’s mouth lifted and Lyra felt her own rise in response. Lyra pulled her in for a hug. “Just don’t punch me anymore. That hurt.”

  Poppi laughed and pulled back as Oriel came up and held his hand out to Lyra, his face resolute.

  She stared at it for a long while before raising her brow at Oriel. “Am I supposed to shake your hand? Come here.” She pulled Oriel toward her and he embraced her, hugging her tightly.

  “Friends?” he asked softly in her ear.

  Tears sprang to Lyra’s eyes. “Always.”

  “We’re leaving now. I need my ambassador.” Terrin’s voice boomed across the foyer as he walked toward them. He wore a fresh shirt and pants, Lyra noticed with jealousy.

  Oriel turned in surprise.. “Who’s your ambassador?” Oriel asked pleasantly.

  Terrin gave him a flat stare and his jaw tensed, ignoring his question, and turned to Lyra, hand outstretched.

  “I am,’ she said to Oriel with a look.

  Oriel smiled. “Congratulations. And your magic is stronger too. How did you manage that?”

  Lyra was hesitant to answer. She turned to Terrin instead. “Can I change first? I’m wet.”

  Terrin eyed her clothes and nodded. “I’ll catch you up on the detail
s while you do so.”

  Lyra rolled her eyes and started up the stairs. Oriel and Poppi exchanged a look that Lyra didn’t see.

  When they reached the top of the stairs and were out of earshot, Terrin pulled on her arm, stopping her. He came in close and butterflies filled her stomach. Her gaze trailed over his tan face, beard that was already thickening, his straight, black, wind-swept hair, his charcoal eyes glinting with the fire of the candelabras.

  “Keep the dark magic incident to yourself. Tell no one. Do you understand me? No one.”

  She searched his face and his aura opened up, showing her the seriousness of his words, the fear underlying his plea.

  Lyra blinked and met his gaze. He never lifted his shield voluntarily in front of her. She’d come to understand that to do such a thing was an intimate act in the mage world.

  “Why?”

  Terrin softly scraped his teeth along his bottom lip, the action distracting Lyra. She missed those lips. The fire, the possessiveness of his kiss…

  “Did you hear me?” Terrin asked, his brow dropping low. Lyra looked back up to his eyes. “What did you say?”

  Terrin frowned and came in closer. Lyra blushed. “I said, humans die from dark magic. It doesn’t make them stronger. And Freydis said that Fae eschew it naturally. They innately dispel it, they can’t contain it. But for you, it made you stronger. I don’t know of anyone being able to do that without the giving of the soul first.”

  Lyra swallowed. She didn’t know what it meant.

  Terrin looked down the hall as if checking for nearby lurkers. “Don’t mention it to anyone. Promise me.” He lifted his hand to her arm and his thumb stroked her skin.

  Lyra nodded, her eyes wide. “I promise.”

  Terrin stared at her a moment longer before nodding, seeming satisfied with her answer.

  In her room, Lyra rummaged through her clothes until she found her training outfit.

  “Turn around!” Lyra said. Terrin closed his eyes in exasperation and turned slowly.