by Jes Young
“Alexander came here after he left you. He was upset about your exchange as well. The enchantment is certainly, wonky, as you say. I don’t know why the magic has been so unreliable….” His voice trailed off as he considered the problem. The look on his face told me he had a theory. “I am working to correct the problem but there is only so much I can do.”
“Yeah well, it’s super inconvenient and it needs to be fixed or he needs to leave.”
I didn’t clap or anything, but I was done with him.
Pop waited until I was almost to the door before he called me back. “You might consider your own behavior in this. Is it possible that you might have done something to inflame the enchantment? Perhaps it felt a need to push you and Alex together, to let you speak frankly about your attraction to each other because it sensed a threat to the destined union between the two of you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Just say what you mean Pop. I’m not in the mood for riddles.”
He smiled at me, a genuine, grandfatherly smile. It’d been a while since I’d seen it. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Allow me to unravel this riddle for you, Tabitha, my girl. Keep your pants on and act like a lady and I’m sure the enchantment will leave you alone.”
Chapter Eight
Weeks passed without They of the Dark creating so much as a molehill-sized disturbance in the front yard. Instead of finding this comforting, Pop took their lack of aggression as proof that They were up to something. Something BIG. He put the cottage on lock-down and established a twenty-four hour a day, two-man watch to protect me from whatever the dark elves were planning in the mischief and murder category.
I was safe, but bored.
One afternoon when George and Matthew were guarding me, by which I mean laying on my couch watching televised sports, Alex came to see me. He opened the door and brought in a swirl of snowflakes and cold air that sent a tingle of longing up my spine. In his black coat and aqua scarf, with snowflakes melting on his eyelashes and clinging to his gold hair, he was at least partly responsible for the tingling.
“I didn’t know you were coming today.”
Or I would have brushed my hair.
“I came to see you. Can we talk for a minute?” He looked around the small room before adding, “Outside?”
“Outside?” I said, not even trying to keep the excitement from my voice.
George turned to look at us.
“Just on the porch,” Alex said.
“Francis said she’s not allowed outside.” Matt turned off the television and stood up. Something about the look on his face made me think he was looking for a fight. George must have sensed it too, the tension and anger rolling off of Matthew. With a sigh, he stood up and moved a little closer.
“They’ll just be on the porch,” he said. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It was an order.”
Alex shrugged, but somehow the little shoulder movement conveyed his feelings perfectly. “I don’t take orders from Francis.”
“You are putting her at risk,” Matt said, his voice just on the edge of yelling.
“I’m making her happy,” Alex replied evenly, “which is my right and privilege as her future husband and your future king.” It wasn’t a subtle reminder, but it did the job. Matt gave a shallow bow and stomped into the kitchen. We heard the back door open and then slam shut.
Ever the peacemaker, George said, “Matt’s been a kind of keyed up since, well, you know with Rivers and everything. If you’ll be all right here, I’ll go get him and bring him back.”
“We’ll be fine.”
George made a face which I’m pretty sure was trying to be a smile but ended up more like a grimace. “I won’t be gone long,” he said before following his brother out the back.
“Ready?” I asked.
“We don’t need to go outside now. There’s no one here but us.” He smiled and reached for my hand, probably hoping to distract me.
I pulled away. “I was promised fresh air and you can’t go back on that now.”
“Just for a minute,” he said. “We’re coming right back in.”
I waited while he went out first, his eyes sweeping the tree line and the long grassy slope between the cottage and the manor. Standing there, utterly still and completely aware, he didn’t look human. He poised on the balls of feet, light and agile, all long, lean muscle. Ready to jump if necessary. For the first time since I met him, it was easy to believe that he was something else entirely.
He turned back to me, smiled his beautiful smile, and crooked his finger in invitation. The rush of air and sunlight as I stepped onto the porch felt like heaven. I took a deep breath and leaned over the porch rail to see the sky. With no walls or windows between the world and me, I felt calm for the first time in weeks.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?”
“For this.” I gestured to the sky and the woods.
“You are of the Light. You can’t be truly happy unless it shines on you from time to time.”
He smiled and took my hand, drawing me close to him so that my body was pressed along the length of his. I stared up at him with the enchantment swirling and shining around us like fireflies. He kissed me, very softly, then he stepped away from me.
“I have to return to the Inbetween for a time.”
Leaving? I was bereft, devastated, at the idea of being without him – the enchantment made sure of that. “Don’t worry about me,” I said, hoping to sound plucky. “I can take care of myself.”
He didn’t look reassured. “I do worry about you. I’m concerned about the unnecessary risks you will take when I am gone.”
“I think I’ve given you the impression that I’m taking this whole murder plot situation lightly, but I’m not. Staying alive is one of my top priorities.”
“And yet you let me bring you out here into the open even after Matthew wisely objected.”
He had me there. “Only because it was you asking.”
He tried to look stern, but I could tell he was pleased with my answer. “What would you do if They came for you now? If I was somehow incapacitated how would you defend yourself?” He closed his eyes and answered his own question, “They would take you, Princess, and you would die.”
I wanted to disagree, but he was right. I really had no idea how to protect myself if I was attacked. I was tired of being the kind of girl who screams and prays for rescue. I had enemies, dangerous ones, if I wanted to stay alive, I had to be able to rescue myself.
“You’re worried because I don’t know how to defend myself – so teach me. Teach me to fight.”
He looked at me for a moment, considering. “Even with an army around you, there’s no guarantee They won’t get to you somehow. If that happens, the proper training could mean the difference between life and death.”
He was thinking about it, which I took as a good sign. “I’ll bet Gwen knew how to protect herself, didn’t she?”
He nodded, “She did.”
“Then I should too. I mean, I can’t lead the Inbetween if I’m always standing behind someone.”
He studied me, head tilted to the side, a small smile teasing at his lips. When he spoke, I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was proud. “You are your mother’s daughter after all.” At first, I wasn’t completely sure he meant that as a good thing. Then he said, “Forgive me, your Lightness. I’ve been treating you like a fragile child when you are a queen. When your training is complete, you will be as your mother was, as your grandmother was, fierce and strong and beautiful. You won’t need to hide from They of the Dark. They will hide from you.”
Up until then, no one had ever told me that I could be formidable, that I could play with the boys and win, that I could be strong. That sounded right to me. That sounded like the person I wanted to be.
“So then you’ll do it? You’ll teach me?”
“Yes. It’s important for your safety, for everyone’s safety that the Quee
n of the Inbetween is ….” He paused, looking for the right word.
“A bad ass?”
“That’s not the word I would have used, but yes.”
“That’s what I want,” I said. “I don’t want to be scared anymore and I’m tired of hiding.”
“The training will be hard,” he cautioned. “You’ll need to learn to fight with fists and blades and magic if you are to protect yourself and our people.”
“Blades?”
“Matthew will teach you. He’s the best among us with swords and knives. We won’t know who will be best suited to teach you to wield your Gifts until the magic emerges. Perhaps Bennett can teach you.”
“Will you teach me to fight? With fists, I mean. I think it should be you.”
He dropped into a rocking chair across from where I was perched on the porch railing. Smiling up at me, he said, “Why not Robbin? I imagine he’d be thrilled to show you some of his moves.”
“That won’t work,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Why not?”
Robbin was going to think the whole idea of me protecting myself in a fight was dangerous and ridiculous. He was a hold the door, walk on the outside, that’s too heavy for you let me carry it kind of guy. I’d never thought of it before, but I suddenly realized that he liked protecting me and taking care of me too much to let me do those things for myself. Although it pained me to admit it, I said, “I don’t think he’ll see learning to fight as something I can or should do.”
“You don’t need him anyway, I’ll teach you. Just the basics to start: balance, leverage, where to hit your enemy to incapacitate him.” Without any warning, he reached out, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into his lap. “How to anticipate surprise attacks.”
He graciously waited for me to finish struggling without mentioning that I wasn’t trying very hard to get away.
“Thanks for thinking I can do this,” I said, laying my head against his chest. I sat like that for moment, letting him hold me, letting myself enjoy being held. I had that giddy, blissful feeling that comes sometimes when everything you want is right within reach.
“Can you hear it?” he asked. “My whole body is humming.” I sighed and closed my eyes, listening. “When you’re near me all I can think about is taking you, making you mine. Do you feel that way too? I am asking, really asking. I want to know if this feels the same for you.”
I sat up and looked into his glowing eyes, sapphire and sunshine and sky dancing together. I tucked a lock of his hair behind his ear just so I’d have an excuse to touch him. I let my hand linger on his cheek. I tried to keep my answer light and noncommittal but it was hard not to sound breathless and whispery when I said, “It feels the same.”
“Then why are you resisting what your whole body longs for? Give yourself to me,” he whispered.
I really, really wanted to. Badly. “It’s not real. No matter how much I think I want you, it’s magic pushing us together.”
“I think magic is supposed to be a good thing, where love is concerned.” He began to rub my back, making small circles with the tips of his fingers His eyes were the color of summer sky, wide and blue and open.
“But if it’s magic making me feel the way I do right now…”
“Even a powerful enchantment can only do so much; it’s possible to resist the influence entirely, if you really want to.”
I couldn’t resist Alex entirely; there I was on his lap for proof. Did that mean I didn’t want to? Maybe I was attracted to him and the enchantment only helped me to act on that attraction? I filed that away to think about later. It was too much to handle while he was playing with my hair, winding it around his finger while he spoke.
“You will love me,” he said. “Look here; you’re already sitting in my lap.”
“But what if you can’t win me over and in the end I don’t choose you?”
“You will,” he said simply.
I started to object but all I managed to get out of my mouth was a little squeak. He kissed me and I melted into him. I don’t know how much time passed, decades possibly, while his warm mouth moved slowly over mine, teasing and nibbling. I could have kept at it for twice as long but he slowly pulled away.
He chuckled softly. “You will.”
I didn’t know if I’d ever love him but I wanted him. That was certain. And he was right; it was silly to deny myself. Right then, I decided I didn’t want to do it anymore.
I turned so that my legs were straddling his, then I slipped my fingers into his hair and my tongue into his mouth. I kissed his neck, his ear, the hollow at the base of his throat. His hands slid into my jacket, under my shirt. I moaned as his fingers found my breasts, teasing my nipples until they were hard as pebbles.
“Please,” I whispered.
“Gods, yes,” he said as he got to his feet still holding me in his arms.
One minute we were headed for my bed and the next I was hitting the floor with a tailbone-rattling thud.
“What the hell?”
“Be still,” Alex snapped.
“You be still,” I said, rubbing my tailbone.
An unfamiliar voice asked, “Is that her?”
I stopped accessing my injuries long enough to look up. From the other side of the porch, a man was looking at me intently. “So sorry to interrupt, your Lightness.” he said cordially.
“Nicholas.” Alex’s voice was almost a snarl.
The elf he’d called Nicholas was tall and slim and pale but something about the way he stood there made me think he was also very strong. His face was beautiful in an otherworldly way, all long lines and graceful arches. His platinum blonde hair was woven in a complicated braid that hung down his back to his hips. His lips were curved into a cruel smile. He was wearing sunglasses but I knew, I just knew, that if he took them off his eyes would be small and squinty and red.
The wood creaked beneath my feet as I instinctively shifted as far away from him as possible. Alex reached back, signaling me to stay where I was. This time I didn’t argue. The assassin standing at my front door had me pretty much boxed in and I wasn’t brave – or stupid – enough to try to get around him.
The two men stood eyeing each other, both perfectly still, each entirely focused on the other. I used the time to look for something I could use as a weapon, a baseball bat or a snow shovel, anything. I was looking at a porch spindle, wondering if I could pull it off and protect myself with it when I heard Alex say, loud and clear, that he wished Nicholas would give him an excuse to attack, any excuse because he was planning to tear the dark elf apart—literally. He was going to send the king’s favorite home in pieces; he made a list of what he was going to pull off and in what order.
I grew up with boys, I know all about trash talk, psyching the other guy out or whatever, but this was another level entirely. I glanced up at Alex; his face was a calm, still mask.
Tear him apart. Scatter the pieces.
I was looking right at him. Although I’d definitely heard his voice – low and threatening but his for sure – saying horrible things about his plans for Nicholas and anyone else They were dim-witted enough to send for me, his lips did not move. I must have made some little noise because he glanced back at me. I heard him think, I should let her kill him. She deserves to be the one to end his foul life just as if he’d spoken aloud.
“You are losing your touch.” My head snapped up at the sound of Nicholas’s cold voice. “Look how close I got. I could take her right now. I could be on her before you raised a hand to stop me.”
“Try it, if you like. Let’s see who ends up with the princess and who ends up dead.”
Nicholas turned to me, pushing the sunglasses up on to his head as he did. He squinted; the glare was bothering his eyes but he could see me better without the dark lenses.
“Look at her, Alexander,” he cried. “Look at her eyes! Her hair! She isn’t one of you.”
My hands went self-consciously to my hair, tugging the dark mass into a loose bun o
n top of my head.
Nicholas was thinking how disappointed he was that he probably wouldn’t get to kill me. He’d settle for bringing me to Daniel alive—that would have to be enough. I could hear him calculating the number of steps between us, measuring the distance in terms of seconds. He was wondering if he could make it. Thinking of the reception waiting for him at home if he returned with me. He decided it would be worth the risk.
“Alex?” I said nervously.
“She is one of us,” Alex snarled. “She’s mine.”
“I suppose that means you won’t just hand her over to me?” He didn’t wait for a response. “I’ll just have to catch her the way I did the others. It’s no bother really. It wasn’t terribly hard to do.”
