by Godiva Glenn
“Let go of me.” She’d tried to sound angry, but her words came out in a weak slur
“You smell like the dragons,” he grunted. “Are you the fairy then?”
“They’re…”
She squinted and opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Whatever was inside was giving her more than discomfort now. She was in pain. But he’s touching me. How is he touching me and still aiming to hurt me?
He dragged her away from the window and to the front of the cabin. After unlocking the door, he hauled her in and threw her into a corner. She crumpled on the floor and closed her eyes. No matter what she did, the room spun. She knew she was sitting still but the floor seemed to tilt and turn.
If he wanted peace, he wouldn’t have been able to hold her. It didn’t matter that she felt sick and weakened, her magic was a constant. Not like with her men. Liam, Arron, Rask—her interest and love for them kept her from affecting them too greatly.
“Hate… fuels you…” she whispered.
“What’s wrong with you?”
His words were distorted by the incessant ringing in her ears. She couldn’t answer, and she pitched forward in an attempt to stand but only fell over. The man leaned over her and rolled her on to her back. Wetness rolled into her ears. Am I crying?
“I don’t know where you came from, but you should have stayed there,” he said rising. “You’re caught in the middle of something that doesn’t involve you.”
“It does,” she insisted, using all her strength to reply.
“They don’t want you, babe. They want power. And they’re willing to use you as a queen to keep it. Had to grab you because no decent Solara woman would allow it.”
She cringed at his words. He believed them, but she knew the truth. She had love. She wasn’t being used.
“What the fuck’s going on with you, anyways?” he asked, seeming to speak more to himself.
His face was a floating blur she couldn’t stand to look at. With each blink it darkened, until she saw nothing. Heat engulfed her, forcing sweat from her pores. Stale air thick with harsh fumes strangled her lungs.
“Useless.”
His muttered word came from nowhere and went nowhere. The room whirled and tipped over.
In the Fade, Fianni could consciously control her surroundings. If she wanted to be in her home, she’d be there. She could make the walls blue or pink or marble. She could make her hair long and straight or short and curled. She could conjure a unicorn.
The black span of nothingness that drowned her now wasn’t like the Fade, not exactly, but it was the closest comparison that made sense to her. She was nowhere and somewhere at once, trapped in her head. Somewhere, someone spoke to her through low echoes. They laughed. Her form shifted in the darkness, and vaguely, something told her the man was shaking her, but she barely felt a thing.
Fianni had seen torture and death in her lifetime. Even as an aspect, she wasn’t immune to the horrors of war. She did what she could, but there would always be souls too dark for her to bring light to. Her captor was one of those beings. There was no peace to bring him. Nothing to balance.
That’s right. This isn’t a dream. Wake up!
Her eyes opened, but not really. It was like she had many eyes, and they all had to open. She’d only forced one pair to welcome reality. She took a deep breath and tried again. Pinpoints of light invaded the black nightmare, but before she grew hopeful, pain joined in.
With every following breath and blink, acid burned her blood.
She drew back. Recoiled into the empty numbness. But her mind was awake.
During the first fae war she’d learned to travel, but she’d lost that skill. Iona could get her away from this cabin. But the channels weren’t clear. Fianni could reach out to her through her sweat or tears, but Iona wasn’t going to answer.
There was no dye to signal and reach out.
“Disassembled?” Gerri’s voice faded in and out of Fianni’s memory.
I could do that, once. The darkness closed in, pressing the last of her air away, smothering her. No. I can do it now.
Her skin, her heart, everything was a mortal construct. The aspects were created in the image of Life, and Life, knowing all, created herself from the future they’d birth.
Before Harmony became Fianni, she was essence. She was magic that couldn’t be destroyed, only displaced.
Trapped in her current hell, she couldn’t see her body. She imagined it didn’t exist. She couldn’t breathe, so she imagined she didn’t need to. The sensation of being impossibly light took her over. She floated.
Cool, clean air rushed through her and swept her up. Lights of green and yellow pulled her through the world. Solara had a private, musical language of her own. Fianni had forgotten that raw nature communicated in this way. Dirt and flowers, dust and rivers, communicating. Letting her in.
She flowed untethered and unguided. No… I have somewhere to be…
She fell to the grassy ground and landed with an unceremonious thump. Pain shot through her, and she howled. She was herself again. Solid, dirty, and in agony.
“Fianni!”
She recognized the voice, or a part of her did. The identity was buried deep in her memory. “Bears,” she mumbled. “Woods.”
A terrifying roar shook the birds from the trees, and a massive shadow fell over her. She wanted to see the beast ready to devour her, but her head wouldn’t lift. She was grabbed around the midsection and lifted. Panic gave her enough strength to grab her latest captor.
Her hands landed on something warm and textured, like living branches. Cool wind whipped through her hair and she screamed. She was flying again, this time stolen by something she couldn’t see. A blur of grey.
She was on the ground again within minutes, now cradled against a heaving chest. Voices drifted over her. High and low, sharp, concerned. She fell again, but this time the ground was soft and scented with flowers and spice and smoke… dragons.
“Cabin,” she said insistently.
“Shhh.”
Don’t shush me! Do you know who I am?
Trapped in her head, she fought to break free. A wet towel dragged across her face, bringing both prickling pain and an icy sensation of relief. It traveled over again, wiping her forehead, her cheeks, her neck.
She heard her name as if said at a distance, over and over, chanted like a spell. Closer to consciousness she tried to speak again, managing, “Trees.”
She groaned internally. Trees? Why can’t I focus? She wanted to explain what happened, but her own recollection of events was scattered and incomplete. Part of her knew what happened but trying to focus on any specific action resulted in everything slipping away.
Her body jostled and was pulled into a propped-up position. Water trickled over her lips and she caught what she could with her tongue. It woke her. The fuzzy film trapping her dissolved in bits and pieces. She licked her lips.
“Shhh,” someone insisted.
She hissed and turned her head to see who was trying to silence her. Sparkling silver orbs made her gasp.
“Arron.”
Bodies moved around the room, but her vision was blurred. All she saw was him. Her heart swelled. She was safe, and soon they would all be.
“Rest, please,” he pleaded. “You’re going to be okay.”
“No,” she practically screamed. “No. Listen.”
He held a glass to her lips, but she pushed it away, spilling it over her front. “Motors.” She saw the confusion in his eyes. “Heat.”
“I’m not leaving you,” he replied.
“Go—”
“I’m not leaving you,” he growled.
He lifted a towel to wipe her face, and she noticed it was stained red and pink. She followed the dripping water down to her side and saw a bowl, also tinged pink. The sharp trail of the fabric over her shoulder made her wince. He dipped back into the bowl and squeezed, a cloud of her blood darkening the water.
What?
She blinked and struggled to hold up her hand. The skin was split open. Not with cuts but tears. Small rips, all bleeding.
“We need to get her into a bath and scrub it all out,” a voice called.
“No, she needs to rest,” Arron said, his eyes not leaving Fianni.
“And risk infection?”
“She can’t be… she’s an aspect. I don’t think bacteria bothers her.”
“She looks like she’s been rolled in broken glass,” another voice said.
“No,” Fianni whispered. She cleared her throat. “Put together wrong.”
“What happened?” Liam’s voice rang through the room and Fianni turned quickly to see him. Her neck ached to move but she didn’t care.
“What do you mean put together wrong?” Arron asked, ignoring Liam.
She watched Liam circle the bed and stare in horror. She could only imagine how she appeared. If the wounds on her hand were any indicator, she didn’t want to consider what else had gone wrong.
“Iona,” she mused aloud.
“The undine?” Arron asked.
Liam sat carefully next to Fianni. “Tell me what happened,” he ordered Arron. “I saw you streak through the sky, was there an attack?”
“I don’t know,” Arron replied. “She appeared like this.”
“We need to clean her cuts,” the voice from before insisted.
Fianni agreed. “Water...”
Arron lifted her easily and carried her through the crowd and into the bath. Water had already been run, but he hesitated in placing her down.
“It’s not going to be pleasant,” he said.
“How do we summon her?” Liam asked.
“She’ll see.” The more she tried to speak, the easier her words came. She avoided looking at herself, and only looked at Liam and Arron.
“Rask is on his way,” Liam promised.
Arron lowered her into the tub, dirty dress and all. Liam stood and ushered the rest of the room away. “Go,” he ordered. “Send Rask up but the rest of you…”
She heard the whispered arguments but ignored them. She concentrated only on Arron’s attentive hand on her brow. It wasn’t good that her body had now numbed to pain.
“Fianni…” Iona’s voice vibrated through the water. “Fianni!”
Liam and Arron swore in their native tongue as Iona swirled from the bloody water. Fianni had forgotten that while Iona had requested dye, blood was once how they communicated in the past. A ritual long gone, seen as barbaric. But in a pinch…
Fianni was swept up as Iona covered her body with hers. “What happened,” Iona asked.
“We don’t know,” Liam insisted.
“I traveled,” Fianni groaned.
Iona pulled Fianni under. The men panicked and tried to yank her free, but she felt them reach through her, unable to hold on. She would explain later. For now, she was in the most capable hands.
The usual surge of freedom was absent this time, replaced by an awareness of Iona’s own pain and fear. They drifted together through a nameless void. She could hear the men’s panic. To them, she’d disappeared, and they didn’t understand where.
Iona had taken her to her own realm. The place she rested when she wasn’t inhabiting water. She had to force Fianni back into essence, so she could heal. Fianni felt the odd sensation of becoming whole again. Bits and pieces of what had happened became clearer. She could remember it all. Solomon. The cabin. The device that emitted heat.
“Now,” she whispered.
She felt Iona nod.
Fianni emerged from the water and was immediately accosted by her three dragons. Rask lifted her from the tub and embraced her until she felt smothered. Liam and Arron held her through him, a group hug she was delighted by but wished wasn’t due to such wild circumstances. She didn’t know how long she’d been gone but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. Their reactions made it seem like forever.
“I’ll return… but for now, I can’t bask in this blood,” Iona said to the group before vanishing.
Fianni pried her face from Rask’s chest. “You’re soaked now.”
The look on his face stated that he clearly didn’t care. He carried her back to her bed, which had been stripped of its sheets. I guess I was bleeding more than I thought.
“Are you alright?” Liam asked, hovering over her.
“Weak but it’ll get better.” The water dripping from her hair made her shiver. “Usually, one dries off after a bath,” she said through slightly chattering teeth.
Rask ripped the front of her dress wide open. “We’ll get you out of this.”
After a moment of shock, she leaned away and placed her hand on his. “I can undress!”
“It’s ruined anyway,” Rask insisted.
“It’s not important,” she argued, but the damage was done. Her dress was entirely ruined and now clung to her like a robe. “Arron, I know what’s wrong. Or rather, I saw something that has to be the interference you’ve been looking for.”
He shook his head. “Tell me later. What happened to you?”
“Later? This is it, the information we—”
“You looked dead,” he interrupted her. “You just appeared on the ground next to me, bleeding everywhere and not responding.”
“Whatever you saw, it’s probably not going anywhere,” Liam agreed.
Fianni huffed and pulled her torn dress close to her body, ignoring the chills and the faint feeling rising rapidly. “I think it’s the bears. I saw Solomon in the woods, and there’s a little cabin. Whatever is in there, it’s running off of… something like Earth tech.”
“Fianni…” Rask coaxed.
She ignored him. “A motor. It’s massive, and it’s hot.” She took Arron’s hand. “You can do that, can’t you? Find it by the heat?”
He glanced at Liam, then back down to her. “I can, but I’m not leaving your side until you aren’t a shivering ghost.”
“I’ve been through a lot. It’s just shock. I’ll be fine,” she insisted.
Rask crossed his arms. “What happened. Tell us.”
“Why did you look torn apart? Why did you say you were put together wrong?” Arron asked, coming close.
“How did Iona heal you?” Liam asked.
She glanced away, not wanting to dwell on her failed magic. “On Prism, I could dissipate into pure essence and travel that way.”
“Like a cloud?” Rask asked.
“In a way, but not visible to the eye,” she clarified. “I lost that magic ages ago, but today… I thought I would die. I let myself fall apart because I didn’t know what else to do.”
“And you landed at my feet,” Arron said.
“What happened today, I knew the moment I was essence, something was wrong. I had no control. It didn’t feel right. I don’t know how I got to you. I think… I think it’s because you were thinking of me, weren’t you?”
“I was. Pav came by and was surprised you weren’t with me. When he said you’d meant to stop by, I got worried that you hadn’t found me,” he answered.
“It’s a handy skill,” Liam commented.
“Once. Now… I don’t know if it’s me or if it’s Solara’s magic, but I just know that were I to try it again I’d die.” She shivered, this time not from the cold. “When I re-formed, I wasn’t right inside. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Dissipating, as you said, is how Iona moves you,” Arron mused.
“Yes. But she controls it and much better than I ever could. It’s safe with her. That’s how she healed me.”
“Why did you have to do this in the first place?” Rask demanded. “Were you attacked?”
She sighed. “If you’d let me talk and not make me skip around. Whatever is in that cabin disoriented me. I can’t be around it.”
“I don’t understand,” Arron said.
“Technology weakens me. Makes me sick. Dizzy. I can always feel it, wherever I go, though here it hasn’t been bad at all. Whatever the bears hav
e, though, it’s the worst.”
“You never told us this weakness,” he said.
Her brow wrinkled. “It didn’t seem to matter here.”
“Why didn’t you leave if it was harming you?” Liam asked.
“A man caught me. He dragged me inside—I know he didn’t know what was happening to me, but I was trapped there.”
“A man…” Rask pressed.
“I think a bear.”
Rask growled. “We’ll find him.”
“I’ll help,” she insisted. “I just need a few minutes… I can—”
“But you’re still weak,” Liam said with concern.
“Darn it all,” she swore, crawling from the bed. “I’m fine.” She ripped the cold, clingy dress away. “I just need to dry off, and maybe shove something in my mouth.”
The moment she spun back around to grab a blanket, she knew she’d made a mistake. Three hungry sets of eyes devoured her naked body. Eyes shining bright with the colors of their dragons and that primal knowledge that she was theirs for the taking.
“I meant food, not…” But it didn’t matter. She’d wanted them in the same room at the same time, and she’d gotten her wish. Then she’d gone and made herself prey.
The men rose and Fianni froze; naked, anxious, a little faint, and a lot aroused. Individually she’d experienced their undivided attention, and it was marvelous. All of them together amped her sex drive to a level she didn’t think existed.
But they still had to deal with the bears.
“Solomon…”
“Don’t mention another male,” Rask growled. A tell-tale wisp of smoke left his nostrils.
It made her weak in the knees, or at least added to the current shaking of her legs. She liked his possession of her. The way he became wild so literally.
“Please… just do… something about the cabin…”
Arron blinked slowly, then turned and left the room. She heard him shout in the hall, “Get Pav. Tell him to run a thermal scan on the planet and compare it to the records.”
He returned to the room and slammed the door, causing Fianni to jump at the sound.
