Stone and Crow (Veiled Kingdoms: The Lost Fae Book 1)

by Stella Snow

  Melodie thought of the Stone, and the promise she had made to Salathia, and bit her lip. Maybe it would be better to just leave that in the human world. Perhaps she could even convince Salathia to come with her and leave it behind.

  “You promise they want me to come back?” she asked.

  His hand on her cheek startled her and she met his eyes. Just like the first time she’d looked into them, it felt as if she was falling. She leaned in a little closer unconsciously, just catching herself before she did something completely stupid. He didn’t pull away though.

  “They do. I promise.” He hesitated then, his thumb brushing across her cheek in a way that made her skin grow warm. “I also promise I will never lie to you.” Standing abruptly, Gavriel offered her his hand. She took it and let him pull her up, trying to force herself to stop blushing. “I’m sure Salathia is looking for you by now.”

  “Right. Yes. She probably is,” she agreed, already hurrying around the side of the shed. She needed to get away before she embarrassed herself.

  As they walked around the gazebo, Salathia came out of the back door of the house.

  “Ethan said you were upset when you came outside, is everything alright? Did you lose control?” Salathia asked, looking back and forth between them.

  “No, I’m fine.” Melodie crossed her arms, the warm feeling Gavriel had left her with giving way to irritation. She hadn’t even come close to losing control since they arrived. A little faith would be appreciated.

  “Esther asked that we train in the garden,” Salathia said.

  “The garden? That’s what’s behind the wall, right?”

  “Yes,” Gavriel said, his brows pinched together. “Didn’t Ethan show you around earlier?”

  “Yes, but he said I wasn’t allowed in there yet.” She shrugged.

  “Salathia, may I speak to you privately for a moment?” Gavriel asked.

  Salathia nodded and the two of them walked a few yards away. Gavriel turned his back to Melodie. She couldn’t hear what was said, but Salathia’s mouth turned down and she shook her head. They traded a few words before Salathia brushed past him and walked back to Melodie.

  Gavriel stood still for a moment, his shoulders a tense line, before he turned around as well and walked back into the house.

  Melodie realized she had been hoping he would stay for the training. “What did he want?”

  “Nothing,” Salathia said brusquely.

  Anger shocked through her. This was stupid. “Why won’t you tell me what he wanted? Is it some big, terrible secret you have to protect me from?”

  Salathia sighed and pursed her lips. “He wanted to assist with your training, and I told him no. I don’t need his help or his suggestions.”

  “What if I wanted him to help?” Melodie crossed her arms.

  “Do you not trust me to be able to teach you how to control this?” Salathia challenged.

  Melodie could see that hurt already forming in her guardian’s eyes. It was uncomfortable knowing she had put it there. She hadn’t meant to imply she didn’t trust her, she just wanted to have some say in what happened next.

  “I do, I just—” she struggled to say what she was thinking out loud. “I just want to have a say in the decisions. I want you to talk to me first, not just decide for me.”

  Salathia’s lips pressed into a thin line, but she nodded. They walked together silently to the heavy, wooden door that guarded the entrance to the garden. It wasn’t locked, but there was a shiver of something when Salathia touched the handle. The door swung inward soundlessly, and she motioned for Melodie to enter first.

  She stepped over the threshold and was transported to another world. The sounds of the neighborhood faded away. The garden itself seemed to breathe as the wind brushed past her, carrying with it the smell of earth and the sweet scent of flowers. She had never seen anything so colorful. The flowers were not arranged in neat rows like they would be in a traditional garden, instead they were scattered in every direction with each bloom fighting for attention. Reds, yellows, and purples peeped out from behind the deep green fronds of ferns and other leafy plants. Bright white petals shimmered in the shadows and deep blue flowers drank in the sunlight from anywhere they could reach. Some of the plants crept over the pathways the led from the doorway, and some were even trying to climb on top of the ferns.

  Salathia led them forward quietly, her steps careful and her face serene. The stone path continued throughout the garden in an uncoordinated series of curves. The first turn revealed a simple fountain that spouted water steadily into the air. A rainbow shimmered in the spray. She grinned at Salathia. She’d been fascinated with rainbows as a child, always wanting to follow it to the pot of gold at the end of it. Salathia winked at her and the familiar gesture eased some of her anxiety.

  She turned in a slow circle, trying to take it all in. Beyond the fountain, the path was covered in moss, as though no one had tread there for decades.

  “Past here, you’d have to take off your shoes,” Salathia said, pointing at the spot the moss began. Melodie nodded and leaned in close to a particularly expansive bush that pushed closer to the path than the rest. The large pink flowers were as big as her hand. She cupped one carefully and leaned forward to smell it. A bright and sweet scent flooded her nose. She wished she could bottle it and wear it as a perfume.

  “I think I might stay out here forever,” she said reverently. There was no end of things to look at.

  “I wanted to when we first arrived. I missed home a lot those first few months,” Salathia said. “The Forgotten say that the garden is blessed by Gaea, the goddess they worship. I do not know if that is true, but it does feel different in here––like an echo of the Sidhe.”

  “How long did we stay with the Forgotten when you first arrived?”

  “Six months. I had a lot to learn about human culture, and it took time to sell off your mother’s jewelry without causing suspicion.”

  “So,” Melodie said, slipping off her shoes. “What exactly are we going to do today?”

  “You need to learn how to stop your magic once it starts. That is the most important thing for right now.” Salathia smoothed back her green hair, then kicked off her own shoes. “I am hoping the garden will allow you to stay calm.”

  Melodie followed her down the mossy path. It was cool and soft under her feet. Just after a turn, the narrow path widened. On the left was a wooden bench with peeling white paint, and on the right was a statue of a woman. She had long hair draped around her shoulders like a veil and strewn with flowers. A man and a woman holding hands knelt at her feet. Their faces were upturned reverently, and she had a hand on each of their heads as though she was blessing them.

  “It’s Gaea,” Salathia said. “Welcoming the Founders to the human side of the Veil.”

  Melodie sat down on the bench and Salathia sat down beside her.

  “It’s pretty. Do you believe she is real?”

  “She is real, but I do not worship her,” Salathia said.

  “Why not?”

  “The dryads have our own gods and goddesses, and Gaea is—not dependable. She strives for balance, so she may not always help when you petition her.”

  “Why do the Forgotten worship her then?”

  “You would have to ask one of them. They have for generations, perhaps it is just tradition now,” Salathia said with a shrug. “Are you ready to get started?”

  “Yes,” Melodie said, twisting in her seat to face Salathia. She pressed her hand to her necklace quickly, wishing her mother could be here for something like this.

  “For elves, magic is very closely tied to your emotions. It can create a kind of feedback loop,” Salathia said, drawing a circle in the air with her hand. “You get angry, your magic feeds off of that, it makes you feel angrier, which makes you lose control. On and on. When you are using magic, you will feel everything more strongly.”

  “I definitely noticed that yesterday.” The anger had spun out of contro
l and she hadn’t known how to stop it.

  “For now, as you are learning, you will have to find a way to calm yourself or break the cycle in order to maintain control.”

  “That’s going to be easier said than done, isn’t it?”

  Salathia nodded. “If all else fails, get away from everyone. The garden will be the safest place since it’s walled.”

  “The Forgotten won’t be upset if it gets messed up?”

  “I’ve already spoken to Esther about it, and she said the plants can always be regrown while other things would be harder to fix. Now, glamour is both easy and tricky. Once you have put on the glamour, it takes no effort to maintain. The trick is to use only the small amount of magic that it requires. That delicate use of magic is very difficult to learn.”

  “How do you use just a little bit of magic?”

  “Think of it like a muscle. It’s easier to use brute force than your fine motor skills. For today, try to meditate and see if you can feel the magic inside of you.”

  “Do I just shut my eyes?”

  “Yes, try to shut out everything else and see what you can feel.”

  She was hesitant to tap into her magic after the disaster yesterday and her near loss of control just a moment earlier, but she couldn’t put this off if she wanted to learn how to use it. She took two deep breaths and shifted her feet into a more comfortable position.

  As soon as she stopped hesitating, the buzz of magic ran along her arms. Each breath relaxed tension she hadn’t realized she had been holding. Magic covered her from head to toe, nosing around trying to figure out what she wanted it to do.

  “What now?” she asked breathlessly. She was a little scared and she could already feel the emotion shuddering through the magic.

  “Now let it go,” Salathia said. “Stop the flow of magic entirely.”

  She let go and tried to push it down. It faded, but she could still feel it hovering just under her skin. “I can still feel it a little bit.”

  Salathia took a breath, hesitating. She searched Melodie’s face as though she was hoping to see the answer written on her forehead. “You don’t have to do this, any of it. Perhaps it would be best if I used the Stone again, just once, to rebind your magic. Or we can just keep working on teaching you to suppress it and we can find a plastic surgeon. Some of the Forgotten have done that so they can leave magic behind permanently.”

  Melodie’s hand went instinctively to her ears, the idea of cutting off the tips made her stomach churn. Gavriel’s words about magic being a gift echoed through Melodie’s mind. She had no idea Salathia was this determined to keep her human.

  “I’ve just started trying to learn this. Why are you so convinced I’ll fail?” she asked, a lump forming in her throat.

  “No one has ever grown up cut off from their magic. I have no idea what kind of effect it might have on you and your ability to use it. And since we are going to stay in the human world, there is no real need for you to struggle with this.”

  “You really never intend to help me get back to the Sidhe?” Melodie asked.

  “It will never be safe for you there,” Salathia said with a dismissive shake of her head.

  “Apparently it never was, nor will it ever be, safe for me here either. I want to go to the Sidhe, and I need to know how to use magic for that, not just how to keep from—exploding.”

  “You’ve just found out about the Sidhe, and you’re already determined to go. This is why I never told you about it,” Salathia said throwing her hands up in the air.

  “Of course I’m determined to go. I have family there. Actual family.”

  “Whatever you think your family might be like, you’re wrong. They are selfish and they will try to use you.”

  Melodie clenched her teeth together. “I guess I’ll never find out if it’s up to you.”

  Her arms tingled with the uncomfortable stirrings of magic and she clenched her hands into fists to keep from rubbing at them and giving her lack of control away.

  “You’re never cutting off my ears, so you have to teach me glamour at least,” she bit out.

  “I’m not trying to force you to do anything—”

  “Of course you are. Did you ever intend to teach me anything? Or did you just tell Gavriel you didn’t want help to keep him from actually teaching me how to use my magic?”

  “I will teach you what you need to know,” Salathia said through gritted teeth. “Did Gavriel suggest that I wouldn’t?”

  “No, but I am,” she said standing up from the bench.

  “Melodie, I would never keep you from learning something you need to know.”

  “Your definition of 'need to know' is different from mine apparently,” Melodie said. “You’ve kept everything you know about my family to yourself. Everything about the Sidhe. You kept it from me my entire life.”

  She turned and walked back down the path. Her hands were shaking with anger and she could feel the rush of magic all along her skin. She grabbed her necklace and took slow breaths through her nose.

  If she had to do this without Salathia’s help, she would.

  Chapter 9

  Telagrad, Twenty years earlier

  “Dance with me,” Caspian said, holding out his hand with a flourish. They could barely hear the music this far away from the party, but they didn’t need that to dance.

  Alleassa laughed. “You’re insane, you know that?”

  “You make me insane.” He spun her around in a circle. Her dress flashed like the sun in the light of the lanterns that lined the garden pathway, but nothing shone as bright as her eyes. She was so full of life, and so beautiful. “I’ll never get tired of hearing you laugh.”

  Her face softened into something he didn’t get to see very often. He pulled her closer as they swayed together.

  “I don’t think I deserve you. You’re too good,” she whispered, her breath sliding across his cheek.

  “Alleassa, don’t. You are who I want. You, in every way, and no one else.”

  “It’s easy for me to be selfish when you say things like that.”

  “Don’t push me away,” he said, pressing his cheek against her hair.

  She laid her head on his shoulder with a sigh. “I feel like time is slipping away from us. We can’t keep this up forever. My husband is going to find out eventually.”

  “We can try,” he whispered into her ear before trailing his fingers through her hair and pressing his lips gently to hers. He drank her in with all his senses, trying to memorize the feel of her skin under his fingers. The taste of her lips and the gentle floral smell of her hair. She was right, of course. Every moment that passed seemed like sand slipping through the hourglass.

  “I got you something.”

  She leaned away so she could look up at him, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. “A present?”

  He nodded and pulled out the small box he’d tucked away in his jacket earlier. “When I saw it, I knew you had to have it.”

  She opened the lid, revealing a bright, green gem hung from a delicate silver chain. A small gasp escaped her lips. “It’s beautiful.”

  “It matches your eyes,” Caspian said, lifting it from the box. The brilliant gem caught the light just as her eyes did.

  She stepped in closer. “Put it on for me? I’ll wear it every day and never take it off until my dying breath.”

  “Don’t joke about that. It’s too real a possibility.”

  Her expression softened. “You’re worth the risk.”

  He pressed a kiss to her lips as he clasped the delicate chain behind her neck. The gem rested just below the hollow of her throat.

  She pressed her hand to it. “It’s perfect, Caspian. Thank you.”

  Chapter 10

  Present Day

  Melodie walked back into the house alone, still bristling from her argument with Salathia.

  “Why do you look so angry? Did you blow something up?” Joy asked, jogging up to her.

  “No, I didn’t,
sorry to disappoint,” Melodie said with as much of a smile as she could muster.

  “Joy, come finish the rolls. You remember how, right?” Ethan asked from the kitchen, interrupting before Joy could ask another question.

  “Yeah, of course.” Joy walked over to take the bowl from Ethan.

  Melodie gave Ethan a small smile in thanks and he nodded. He wasn’t wearing his glamour and the point of his ears stuck out of his hair, transforming him from the boy next door to someone out of a fantasy world. The polo shirt looked like a costume now in contrast with his real appearance. Joy’s hair was pulled back in a high ponytail also revealing pointed ears.

  “No glamour today?” Melodie asked.

  “Only Forgotten will be here. No point in it,” Ethan said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. If Joy hadn’t been standing right there Melodie would have pressed him on it.

  The dough had already risen, so Joy mashed her fingers into it repeatedly to deflate it, ignoring the exasperated look Ethan gave her. Joy then started dividing the dough into pieces and rolling them into round balls. Ethan bounced back and forth between chopping an onion and stirring something on the stove.

  “I can chop up the onion,” Melodie suggested as Ethan dumped another ingredient into the pot.

  “You don’t have to help if you don’t want to.” Ethan said, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

  “Nothing else to do,” she shrugged.

  Ethan handed her the knife and moved the cutting board to a clear area on the kitchen counter away from the stove. They busied themselves in the kitchen, which smelled amazing. Joy presented each of her perfectly round balls of dough to her brother and her face lit up with a grin at his approval. Each ball of dough seemed to get a little bigger, but Ethan still nodded his approval. Melodie mostly stayed out of their way, chopping up whatever she was handed, stirring this or measuring that.