by Bonnie Lamer
“I wanted to tell you that when my sister finds out about you, she will make sure Kallen never wants to see you again.”
I cross my arms over my chest and smile. “Really? What’s she going to do, turn me into a frog?”
Rhiannon cocks her head and looks at me with sympathy. Mock sympathy. “Oh, you poor silly thing, you have no idea who you are up against. My sister is Xeniaa.”
If this was a movie, this is where the dramatic organ music would be. Dun dun duuun. I shrug my shoulders indicating that I don’t care who her sister is. Which I don’t. “So?”
The woman next to Rhiannon gasps, but Rhiannon continues to smirk. “Oh, I am sure you have heard of her. Do not pretend you have not.”
I shrug again. “Yes, I’ve heard the name, but not in a way that indicates that I should be afraid of her.”
There’s that dark shadow passing over Rhiannon’s face again. She should get that checked out – it can’t be good for her health. “Perhaps I should not wait for my sister; perhaps I should teach you a lesson right now.”
Yet again, I shrug. “Okay, you go right ahead.” I’m going to have a life time of these kinds of challenges, so I’m not going to get worked up over each individual one.
“Xandra, I do not believe this is wise,” Alita says quietly. “Xeniaa and Rhiannon come from a very powerful Pooka line.”
I’m saved from having to respond by the raven that lands at my feet. A second later it’s Kallen. Another second and it’s Kallen with clothes on. And, apparently, I wasn’t the only one to enjoy the show. Rhiannon and her friend had no qualms about looking him up and down before he put those shorts on. Boyfriend or no, I don’t like that. Me, jealous? Yes. Yes, I am.
Kallen looks dead serious when he says, “Rhiannon, I have spared your life once today. You should not go for twice. You may not be as lucky this time.” Hey, did he just imply that I might kill her? What’s up with that?
A smile that I think is supposed to be sexy creeps onto Rhiannon’s face. She is definitely not pulling the look off. She looks constipated. “Kallen, it is nice to see you have figured out where your priorities should be and have come home. Though, I am not so sure that my sister is in a forgiving mood. She was quite upset when you broke off the hand-fasting.”
Whoa. What? “You were married to her sister?” I say with my hands on my hips and a dirty look on my face.
The dark shadow that passes over Kallen’s face is a hundred times darker and meaner looking than the one Rhiannon had. “No, I was not. Not in a binding way.”
“So, you were you married to her in a non-binding way?”
“It is complicated,” he growls. Turning away from me, he says, “Rhiannon, I suggest you leave. Now.”
Oh, I have definitely had enough of this conversation. “That’s okay, I’ll leave.” I turn around ready to stomp off, when Rhiannon says, “It is rude to walk away in the middle of a conversation. I am going to teach you a lesson about what happens when you cross a member of my family.” And then, I feel her drawing magic.
Now, I’m really mad. I turn back towards the group, and I can’t miss the smirk on Kallen’s face when he says to Rhiannon, “You really do not want to do this.”
“What is the matter, Kallen. Are you afraid I will hurt your precious,” she looks me up and down, “friend?” She says friend like it’s a tiny, dirty and hairy worm that has somehow found its way onto her tongue. I expect her to cough up a hair ball any second. “Are you going protect her again now that you know it is me?”
“No,” Kallen says. “I am not.”
Rhiannon has a shocked expression on her face but she recovers quickly. “Then you will not mind if I show her a thing or two?”
Kallen steps aside and uses his arm to gesture in my direction. “Be my guest, but remember, I did warn you.” Well, if nothing else, he at least has faith in my abilities.
Alita gasps. “Kallen, this is not like you! Why are you being so horrible? Rhiannon could kill her!” Turning towards Rhiannon, she says, “You will have to go through me first.” Alita firmly plants her body in front of mine. That is so sweet; if grossly unnecessary.
“Oh, good lord, enough of this,” I say, my voice laden with disgust. “Rhiannon, let your magic go. I’m not in the mood for this.”
She puts her hand on her hips and says childishly, “Make me.”
I smile sweetly even though I’m about to burst with anger. “Really?”
Kallen’s starting to look worried now. “Xandra, remember what I told you about magic here.”
I give him a sour look. “Weren’t you just leaving?”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “No, I was not.”
Since we are caught up in our private little staring contest, Rhiannon seems to think it’s a good time to strike. I feel her magic rushing towards us, and somehow, I know it’s meant to maim, not just injure me. And her target is my face. Hmm, interesting. Maybe because the magic is purer here, I can ‘taste’ its intent. I’ll ask about that later. Right now, I need to protect Alita, who is standing right in the path of Rhiannon’s magic.
Pulling my own magic, I thrust it forward. I tried to pull only enough to warn her, but I think I may have misjudged. My magic meets hers and pushes it back in a blinding light that sparks in the air between us, and then hers folds, rushing back towards her like a bullet from a Winchester super short magnum. (I read somewhere that that’s one of the fastest bullets in the world.) A visible line in the air between us lets the rest of us know when the magic hits her, a millisecond before she screams.
My magic is literally burning her from the inside out. It’s like she swallowed a bunch of iron and it’s eating away at her insides. I try to pull it back, but it won’t go. If this keeps up much longer, I will kill her. “Kallen,” I say as I close my eyes and focus on getting my magic under control. “Help me.”
Kallen knows what I need from him. A second later, I feel his magic pushing against mine. “You have to try harder, Xandra,” he says over Rhiannon’s screams. “If you can’t pull it back, shift it to me.”
I give him my best ‘I’m sorry’ face. I hate to do it, but Kallen is the only one I know for sure can take the brunt of my magic and survive. With great effort, I’m able to pull my magic from Rhiannon, but it’s not going back to the earth. It wants new targets. I open my eyes and watch as Rhiannon’s friend falls to the sand and Kallen staggers from the force of the magic flowing into them both. Kallen’s trying to be stoic, but he can’t hide the pain burning behind his eyes. I feel so badly. I hate hurting him.
I taste the tears before I realize I’m crying. I’m hurting the guy I love. I don’t care how many secrets he has, I don’t care if he was hand-fasted – okay, that’s a lie, I do care about that. But, I don’t think this should be his punishment.
A door in my mind bursts open, and another blinding light, a pure, perfect, blinding light, surrounds us. The pinches on my back are my first clue as to what’s happening. My Angel wings have come to help me. I’m next to Kallen in a flash. I wrap my wings around him in a loving embrace and the magic seeps out of him, back through me, and down through the ground. He gasps for breath as the last of it goes.
“Kallen, I am so sorry,” I murmur against his chest, my wings still tightly around him.
Finally, as he gets his breathing under control, he wraps his arms around me and holds me as tightly as I’m holding him. “I know,” he says.
“Who the hell are you?” Kegan’s stunned voice asks from behind us.
Stepping back from Kallen, I fold my white Angel wings behind me and look at the faces around us. Rhiannon and her friend are both still unconscious. At least, I’m pretty sure they’re just unconscious. Okay, Rhiannon’s chest rises and falls as she takes a breath, so yup, not dead. Alita’s not unconscious. She’s staring at me like I’m a freak of nature or something. Which I am, so I guess that’s okay. Kegan looks the same way.
“I admit,” Alita says, “I am as curious as
Kegan. Who are you?”
“Um, would you believe my animal body is an eagle and I just haven’t changed all the way?” An eagle is the first bird with a wide wing span that I can think of, even if their wing feathers aren’t white. I guess I could have gone with pelican. They’re white.
Alita shakes her head. “No, I would not.”
Kallen interrupts before I can say anything. “Perhaps now is not the best time for explanations. Xandra, you need to get back to the house before anyone else sees those wings.” Turning to Kegan, he says, “I need your assistance in getting Rhiannon and her friend home. We do not need to aggravate the situation by leaving her here.”
Kegan nods, but he’s still staring at me. It’s starting to make me uncomfortable. “Kegan, snap out of it,” I say with just a trace of annoyance in my voice.
Kegan shakes his head, as if to rouse himself from sleep. I half expect him to pinch himself to see if he’s dreaming. “Right, of course.” He moves towards the two unconscious bodies on the shore.
“Alita, you should accompany Xandra. We do not want you to get caught in the middle of this, but I do not think it wise for you to return home at present,” Kallen tells her. “When Kegan and I return, Xandra and I will explain everything.” Looking at me, he says pointedly, “Everything.”
I nod in agreement. Although I would like to demand explanations right this minute, that can’t be my first priority. I need to make sure that Alita is safe, and that I get out of sight before Rhiannon wakes up. I really don’t want her telling this Xeniaa person about my Angel wings. I’m pretty sure my magic and the white light knocked her unconscious before she saw them. I hope so, anyway.
Chapter 9
I turn to go when Kallen catches my arm. I look up at him with questioning eyes and he plants a quick kiss on my lips. “I promise, I will tell you everything as soon as I return.” And then he kisses me thoroughly and I have to admit, I don’t mind at all, though, I probably should since he has a lot of explaining to do. But at the moment, I’m just glad he’s okay.
Ending the kiss, he leans his forehead against mine. “I am sorry I made you angry. I promise, you will know everything.” I can see in his eyes that he means it.
“I believe they’re coming around,” Kegan says from where he’s standing over Rhiannon.
He’s right; Rhiannon is starting to move around. It’ll probably only be a moment before she opens her eyes. Not enough time to make it around the bend of the shoreline by foot. I can fly, though. Turning to Alita, I say, “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to meet you at the house, okay?”
She nods her head. I think she’s still in a daze from all of this. With what I hope is a reassuring smile on my face, I imagine being back at Isla’s house and that’s where my wings take me.
I haven’t really had a chance to try them out before. I did a quick hop with them when I was battling the Witches, but this is the first time that I’ve really flown with them. It’s fabulous. I can’t believe Kallen doesn’t spend more time as a bird. The wind in my face is refreshing, and the view is incredible.
I arrive at the house all too soon; I wish I could keep going. The illogical side of my brain says to keep flying. But, the logical side of my brain, it’s telling me I need to float on down and get inside the house before someone sees what a freak of nature I really am. Funny, I’m kind of growing fond of that term. Being a freak isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Not when I can do cool stuff like this.
“Mercy, child, you gave me a fright,” Tabitha says, holding her hand to her chest as I float down next to her. Her other hand is carrying a basket of fruit. “Give a Fairy some warning before you just drop out of the sky like that.”
“Sorry, I was in a hurry.”
She sets the fruit down on the marble table and then shakes her head as she looks at me. “I admit, I thought Isla might be a little off her rocker when she told me about you. But it has all turned out to be true. You are every bit the wonder she promised you would be.”
Coming closer, she holds a hand out to one of my wings but stops just short of touching it. “May I?” she asks.
“Sure. They’re pretty durable, touching won’t hurt them.”
“They are lovely,” she says. Her hand slides down my right wing and it kind of tickles. “Amazing, they are as soft as they look. More like silk than bird feathers.”
Stepping back, her face loses the wonder and becomes stern. “Now, according to Isla, your wings are only supposed to appear if you are in dire need of help. So, you need to hurry up and tell me what trouble you and those boys got into down that stretch of the beach.” Wow. Isla did tell her everything.
I can feel my cheeks burning red. “I used my magic on Xeniaa’s sister, Rhiannon, and I couldn’t stop. Kallen tried to help me, but it wasn’t enough. So, my wings came.”
Tabitha sighs and shakes her head. “If you are going to get yourself in trouble, you seem to go all the way. Isla and I were hoping to keep your presence a secret, but now, everyone in the Fae realm will know you are here.”
I hadn’t thought about that. Blushing harder, I ask, “Does it help to know that she was going to attack me first?” She raises her brows in a way that tells me that that doesn’t matter one little bit.
After a good, long stare at my red face, she says, “Did anyone else see you?”
I wish I knew how to go back in time so I could avoid this whole mess. “Yes, Rhiannon had a friend with her, and a Fairy named Alita.”
Tabitha smiles when she hears Alita’s name. “Alita is a sweet girl. Smart as a whip, as well. Caught up in all that pure blood nonsense, poor thing. Is that her coming this way?”
I turn to look down the beach. “Yeah.” Turning back to Tabitha, I ask, “What do you mean by ‘pure blood nonsense?’”
“Oh, everyone is so worried about how much Fairy blood someone else has, that they cannot see the beauty right under their noses.” She’s not looking at me anymore. She’s looking down the beach at Alita. Tabitha gives her a quick wave before saying, “I was going to lay out fruit for you on the terrace, but we had better move this inside. Come along now, those wings of yours are impossible to miss. Alita will come in when she gets over here.” Picking up the fruit bowl, she strides towards the house. I follow her with a last look at the sky that I wish I could explore while I have my wings. They’ll be gone shortly, just as quickly as they came.
The kitchen is not far off the main room on this level. It’s at the back corner of the house, but it’s still brightly lit with sunlight streaming in through several large windows. Wherever you look outside, trees are swaying in the breeze. The walls are a light blue and it has an open, friendly feel about it. In the center of the kitchen is a large gray, marble topped island with several stools placed on either side of it.
“Have a seat while I make some tea,” Tabitha says as she bustles around the kitchen. To my amazement, the kitchen is not much different than the one back home. There’s a stove with four burners and an oven, a double basin sink with a faucet, and a refrigerator. I’m suspecting these things are somehow run by magic, not electricity.
Tabitha is just putting the tea kettle on the stove when Alita comes in. “Hello, Tabitha. I hope it is not a bother for me to be here.”
Tabitha clucks her tongue. “Nonsense, you know you are always welcome here. Have a seat. I made enough tea for the three of us.”
“Thank you,” Alita says as she sits on the stool across from me.
“I imagine you didn’t think talking to a lone person on the beach would lead to so much trouble, huh?” I ask as I pop a grape in my mouth from the large bowl of fruit now in the middle of the marble island.
Alita laughs and it’s a pretty little laugh. It suits her. “No, I certainly did not. I hope I have at least made a friend, though.”
I chuckle. “You still want to be friends with me after I almost kill someone and then sprout wings? What is wrong with you?”
“Why, those are things I like
best about you, so far,” she says with a grin, making me laugh.
“See, I told you she was an intelligent young lady,” Tabitha says as she pours out the tea. Setting a cup before each of us, she sits down on the stool next to Alita.
“How long do you think it’ll take Kallen and Kegan to get back?” I ask, bringing my cup to my lips to take a small sip. It’s amazing. “Wow, this is really good tea.”
Tabitha beams with pride. “I grow the leaves myself.”
“And she keeps the recipe for her mixture all to herself,” Alita complains.
Tabitha pats her hand. “Perhaps, someday I will share my recipe with you. As to your question,” she says to me, “it should only take about twenty minutes for them to get Rhiannon to her home. After that, I am sure they will fly back.”
