The Queen's Mark

by Tori Smith

  “The guys are inside,” he said, like he knew my thoughts, but travelling, he didn’t have to tell me the information for some reason, my arm glowing and my mark tingling with each step I made in that direction. By the time we approached the French doors, the sensation had dulled and gone away completely.

  That’s when I spotted Lucas.

  The connection of our eyes suppressed the feeling in my arm, like just seeing him had stopped it. He was in the kitchen, putting things away as if the guys had been prepared with the supplies to fill the cabinets. I noticed no bags in the car, but I hadn’t been looking for them.

  He stopped when he saw me, lifting his fingers a little.

  Ignoring the gesture, I gazed away and didn’t stay to see how he reacted to that. The next room held Derek, and again, I knew before I even saw him, my body seeming to hum again until I made eye contact with him. He’d been coming off what looked to be a back porch, sliding the glass door shut.

  “Perimeter is clear,” he said, choosing not to look at me and I was happy for that.

  He saved me the trouble.

  Heading off to who knew where, Derek left our party and I became frustrated with myself when my arm tingled again the farther away he got from me.

  Elia noticed when I covered my arm, my attempts to futilely stop the sensation, but he called no attention to it. Instead, he showed me to my room, a literal paradise and had none of the last twenty-four hours happened, had my life not changed on its head and left me with no knowledge of who I actually was and where I came from, I might have felt like I was on vacation. The four-poster bed and lovely white bedding and curtains poked at luxury but in actuality revealed just another prison for me. This truly was one.

  There were just no chains involved.

  My arm and head buzzed as Elia ventured away behind me and I closed my eyes, happy when I heard the click of the door. I hadn’t cried once, not once this whole damn time.

  I guess it was time to play catch-up.

  Eight

  Elia

  She hadn’t eaten in hours and I knew because I personally brought her meals, frustrated with Derek merely leaving them at her door and to her own devices. One would think he’d actually sympathize with her.

  We’d lost our families too once upon a time.

  It had been another lifetime, another literal life ago but we had, and because of that, I truly did sympathize for my queen. Especially, considering the way I cared about her. We all did and I believed that was why Derek was being so hard on her. His aggression had nothing to do with her, but more about himself.

  This was a difficult situation we were brought into, a tough one none of us believed we would ever have to deal with. We had our own laws, our own… codes, and because we did, we should have never had any interactions with Arden.

  I guess things had changed.

  Derek spent the morning tossing a stack of playing cards one by one into a glass bowl that used to hold fruit. He’d eaten the fruit already, at least making good use of the bowl. He eyed me upon entering the room with the latest meal our queen hadn’t eaten, shaking his head when he tossed another card into the bowl.

  “Still in there?” he asked. He asked that every time and I nearly threw the pasta I made earlier in his face. He liked to poke me in ways that pissed me the hell off and he knew he did, smirking before tossing another card.

  “It ain’t funny, Derek,” Lucas chided, kicking Derek’s boot before plopping on the couch next to him. He knocked Derek’s bowl of playing cards over just to be an asshole to him and I got enjoyment from the fact I wasn’t the only one Derek got to. I usually did have patience when it came to him, but it said something if he was getting to Lucas, my military brother with more patience than I’d seen in two lifetimes. He only intimidated with his size, nothing more.

  Waving his fingers, Derek manifested an energy current and sent it flying past Lucas’s face, making Lucas’s hair fly up before the surge hit the wall. It knocked a couple pieces of framed art onto the floor as well and I cursed at how childish he seemed to always be.

  Tossing back his head, Derek chuckled, but before he could send energy my way too I snapped my fingers, snuffing his out.

  He scowled at me. “Asshole.”

  I simply shrugged at him, taking a seat. It seemed he could dish it, but he couldn’t take it. After tossing the pasta dish on the table, I crossed my ankles next to it, and though Derek looked on the verge of a quip he stopped when he noticed Lucas, his stare on Arden’s door. He could see it well from where we were sitting in our safe house’s living room. We all could.

  The impossible managed to happen when Derek went quiet and even more when he asked his next question.

  “What do we do?” Derek asked, to which I responded…

  “I don’t know.” Our queen needed to know so much, needed to train now that she was clearly awoken. We’d all seen her mark and felt her energy. She was coming into her power.

  And once she had…

  I pushed my hand across my mouth, knowing it would scare her especially if she couldn’t control it. But she was too fragile right now, this all too new. It was new for all of us. Like I said, something none of us ever dreamed we would have to deal with.

  We at least hoped.

  With a sigh, Derek pushed his hand over his hair, the dark waves spiking back up.

  “We have to quit denying now there’s no threat,” he said, turning to me. “And ignoring the fact that’s why she awoke. Something’s out there. Something has to know about her and who she is. Otherwise her mark would be gone by—”

  “I know,” I said, his brow jumping in my direction, then proceeded to hike higher when I showed both him and Lucas the reason I came out here besides the fact Arden hadn’t been eating.

  After pulling my cellphone from my pocket, I unlocked the phone, showing them the text I’d got only moments ago. I had heard from someone, someone we all knew quite well.

  “He’s ignited?” they both said to me and I nodded at the acknowledgement of our fourth brother.

  In another part of the world, our brother Wesley’s mark had lit up and he didn’t even have to be around Arden for it to happen, our various marks the source and designation of our power. The mark acted as a way to harness it and we, the queen’s guardians, only ignited when needed for the protection of our sovereign. The rules had changed in this new time, our power only revealed to us when we were near Arden herself. The limitations we soon discovered travelled no more than city limits in this time and there was never any exception. We got our abilities when we were around her and needed them to protect her. That’s just always how it’d been, protection and danger the only reasons.

  Danger…

  Derek was right. Something knew about Arden, knew of her existence… her destiny in this time when so few did. Really not many at all outside of us and our hosts, but the people who raised my brothers and me had already travelled back to our time once their duties had ceased. We didn’t need them anymore, only Arden’s remaining.

  Well, they had remained.

  “Wesley’s coming,” I told Derek and Lucas, and though I was sure they could see that from my conversation with Wesley on the screen, I’d wager they already knew. Our connection with Arden resumed the moment we all had our abilities at the same time again, something that couldn’t be helped, the bond strong and the awareness of it as potent as a viper’s venom. I could literally feel Wesley was almost here.

  I sensed his oncoming presence before he even texted.

  Nine

  Arden

  It’d been Elia to meet me out on the hill outside of the beach house, the golden rays above having nothing on his gloriously rich skin. His green eyes filled with every ray and I bet he didn’t even need actual power to make them glow. They just did by themselves, his irises as magnificent as they were haunting to see. They were haunting, almost frighteningly so and I couldn’t help closing myself off when he came over to me. Crossing my arms, I paid
little attention to him, the smile on his face telling he minded the fact not in the slightest.

  “You’ve eaten,” he said, noticing my empty plate on the cobblestone walk. This seemed to please him as that smile reached his eyes now. He requested to join me in the next moment and though I moved I said nothing, trying to ignore the feeling of a tether between us that didn’t seem so taut now that he was closer.

  It’d been so long since I’d actually been within a close proximity of any of them that I was starting to wonder how it felt to be around them. I had been hiding out for enough days on only a bite or two of their meals that I had gotten good at conserving my energy. It’d only been when the boys brought one of my favorites, crisp falafel with piping hot pita bread, that I’d been hooked. They hit me on a “hangry” level and with as nice as it looked outside today through my prison window I couldn’t help taking the food out and devouring the entire platter, baba ganoush and hummus that paired with the spread and all.

  “Whatever Mediterranean place you guys went to was awesome I guess,” I said, casually and not looking at him. That didn’t matter. I felt the joy he exuberated by the words I had spoken, a strong buzz beneath the lining of my skin and more prevalent in my mark.

  I covered it.

  “Not a restaurant,” he said, crossing a leg over a knee in my direction. “I made it, every dish really. I guess that’s kind of my thing, cooking.”

  Well, he was hella good at it. He should be proud I supposed, not so much for other… things when it came to me, but that yes, the food was good. The cooking made me almost regret not eating in the beginning of my stay here. Maybe I felt if I didn’t eat I would wake up from this intensely violent dream I had been thrust into, but no go, only more hunger and pain.

  “I’m glad you liked it,” he said and did sound genuine about it. Gazing out to the water, he smiled again. “I wasn’t sure what you’d want so, yeah, I’m glad you liked that. I can make you more anytime.”

  “And the papaya salad,” I requested, since he was taking orders. I may have taken a bite or two more of that too. I couldn’t help it with whatever seasonings and sauce he used.

  Elia’s smile widened, his dark hair gleaming against the sun when he turned in my direction. He wore his hair down today, sans ponytail.

  “Whatever you’d like,” he said and that buzz hummed again, his… emotions apparently. I wondered if he could feel mine. Though, I kind of hoped he didn’t besides the obvious personal space violation. I had felt some terrible things over the past few days, things I wouldn’t even wish on him despite what he and the other guys threw me into.

  His smile melted away at the very thoughts in my head, his lips pinching together when he blinked down. His hand went to his collarbone, but when I pointed ahead—to our landscape—his attention shifted there.

  “Want to tell me what all this is?” I asked, wondering for a little while now. I guess since the area was beautiful I didn’t question it much and obviously hadn’t talked to any of them long enough to ask.

  Elia’s fingers left his collarbone, intrigue in his green eyes when he sat back on the stone bench we occupied.

  “Paradise,” he said, his eyebrows jumping. They fell with his laughter and when he dampened his lips, his shoulders bounced. “But some like to call it Vermont.”

  And here I thought they’d taken me to another planet, impossible to see such natural beauty not so far away from where I’d been. Even going on vacation, I hit spots lined with tourists, but here, not one person had walked this beach or these hills. Maybe that had something to do with them, maybe not.

  “Have I been here before?” I asked him for some reason and lifting my head, I studied his face. I think I desired answers in his eyes but to no avail.

  “Not that I’m aware of,” he said, and I thought, speaking honestly. His hair covered his eyes slightly when his head tilted. “Though, I’m only with you part of the year during my shifts.”

  Shifts.

  It was like things were normal until they weren’t, bringing me back to reality again.

  “You said you’ve been with me my whole life,” I said and he nodded. “How’s that even possible?”

  I would have noticed. I would have seen any of them watching me for any period of time let alone my whole life. I obviously knew there were ways—Derek admitted he worked where I did, but what about before? College and even before that?

  Elia’s hands came together. “We did it in ways you wouldn’t notice, nearby but not too close. We all, us and you, Your Majesty, came here as infants to this time and matriculated together through the levels, but your guardians’ hand was only limited until my military brothers and I were about seven years of age. After that, you were our full charge.”

  Full charge at merely seven years old? It made me wonder what the guys could really do beyond what I’d seen. They turned Marcine into nothing more than ash with a forceful wave of the hand.

  Thinking about it all, my stomach turned. I may not have gotten along with Marcine or even liked her but still, watching that happen to her had been unreal—her hate of me had been unreal.

  Then my parents…

  “Was it people like you?” I asked Elia, hard to speak with the sudden rise in emotion in my voice. I swallowed. “People like you guys who hurt my parents?”

  Looking back, I was grateful not to see what happened to them, so much fire and then the gunshots…

  I dropped my head between my legs, a harsh breath in my lungs, and when I rose up, Elia had leaned in.

  “My dear queen, it was the non magic, humans,” he emphasized, “who hurt Warrior Franklin and Warrior Norma.”

  Warriors…

  I breathed again.

  “The mortals have been at war with our kind for a long time,” Elia said, his eyes scanning me. “We’re not sure if they knew exactly who you were, but they at least knew of your connection to the pair. That seemed to be enough in the end.”

  My arms chilled at “the end” and I moved my hands over them, despite the gentle breeze of the day.

  “Do you think they suffered?” I asked him. I ached and by the look of Elia’s expression that followed I wondered if he’d even tell me, his lips turned down and his eyes sad.

  Heavy breath raised his chest. “The traditional means to eradicate our people is by burning, not unlike history’s Salem Witch Trials. These occurred well before our people made themselves known in this realm, none of our people actually affected by it, but that’s where the term ‘witches’ comes from in the future. I guess the humans adopted it and I supposed also stumbled across a way to rid themselves of us as well. There are other means, which surround magic but the humans can’t wield that unless blessed.”

  “Blessed?”

  He nodded. “By high elves. Like I said before that’s where our power comes from, gifted to us many, many years in past. It’s said our realm once connected with that of the humans’, our peoples’ beginnings. In this time, the twenty-first century era, witches are dormant, but eventually, they do reveal themselves to the world. A division occurs then, a war between people both with and without magical abilities and somewhere down the line, a monarchy establishes with magical people at its rule. It was a solution for peace by our kind and most humans supported it. It actually worked for many years, but tensions eventually grew. Many humans didn’t want to be ruled by anyone, nor live with anyone not like them. There’s been fighting between the races ever since.”

  “And that’s what ends up being our future?”

  “Yes, it does.”

  And with me at the forefront of it all, a magical being with not a shred of magic I was aware of. I couldn’t do the things they could do and never had.

  I held out my hands, nothing beyond the unusual existence of my mark different about me.

  “How am I able to do the things you can do?” I asked him and his smile in response I felt in my soul. As noticed before, I could feel this connection between us, the existence of it
filling me up like an hourglass of warm sand.

  Moving from the bench, Elia lowered to his knees, the rushing waves of Vermont in a wide landscape ahead of us. He placed his hand on the dirt near the cobblestones, and upon lifting it, he’d collected a tiny mountain of earth in the center of his palm.

  “There’s two ways to harness the power,” he said on his knees before me. His eyes crinkled in the corners, as he breathed over the earth.

  “Andu adorma,” he whispered over it and from the earth sparkled a light, a life in the form of a budding blade of grass that lifted from the soil in his hands. Upon him raising it, the green reached toward the sky and transformed, pink petals pushing into the sunlight.

  “Incantations or spells being one of them,” Elia continued on but I could only watch, this flower that wasn’t, then suddenly was, red petals rising in full bloom from what used to be just a pile of dirt in his palms. Thriving, the roots needed somewhere to go, choosing to wrap and curl around Elia’s hands. It pushed through the spaces of his fingers and even around his wrists.

  Covering my mouth, I froze as he suddenly lifted the flower closer to my gaze. He whispered something else then, something that sounded like, “Embrewte.”

  I lowered my hands as those petals reached for me, the entire bloom pushing toward my cheek. Upon it brushing, I couldn’t help smiling, my heart doing a dance at the tickling petals to my skin.

  “Say lusa,” Elia whispered to me, his eyes warm light. An intense green, I nearly became distracted by them, whispering, “lusa” like he said.

  Now it couldn’t have possibly been me. I didn’t have this… power, he spoke of. I wasn’t different, but what the flower did next caused me to believe I was.

  He must have guided it in some way, aided what I said because soon the petals were falling back and the roots unwinding itself from Elia’s hands and fingers. The pile of dirt released to the ground below with a bend of his fingers, but that’s all he did, let it go and the flower did the rest.