Lovely Cara…
Once they’d cleaned up and dressed for the day, they made their way through the labyrinthine corridors to the wing of the castle where the sorcerers worked. It was a short meeting, but they confirmed that Gallios had used interdimensional powers, though they had not been able to trace his portal.
“But if he didn’t have these powers before, where did he get them?” Dayen asked, crossing his arms as he leaned on one of the many cluttered worktables in their tower. Skonz, a sorcerer who was about two hundred years old and to his credit, only looked a hundred, was hunched over the same table, gazing at a scroll through a thick glass and he looked up at Dayen with gray eyes.
“He must have had them before,” Skonz grumbled. There were two other royal wizards but they were still at breakfast. “Perhaps he didn’t know how to use them.”
“Do you know of the material elemental totems?” Cara asked. She had dressed in her black skinny jeans and an AC/DC t-shirt and her good denim jacket. Dayen had surprised her with a new pair of boots and she crossed one ankle over the other as she regarded Skonz. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, showing off her delicate ears. Dayen became distracted just looking at her.
“Of course, my lady-”
“I’m really not a lady,” Cara muttered. “Day calls me that for a joke but I’m a village girl-”
“You are my lady,” Dayen said firmly. “If anyone doesn’t address you as such while you’re here, I’ll have something to say about it.”
Cara only rolled her eyes at that and even that made Dayen smile, but he nodded at Skonz to continue. “Yes, my lady,” Skonz went on. “The elemental totems once possessed great power but they are long lost…”
“They’re what we’re looking for,” Cara said. “My mission is to find the wood totem. Their loss has thrown the forces of magic out of balance. The mission of all the Brunswick graduates is to find the totems and bring all the realms back into balance. My question is...if Gallios had the wood totem, could that be what has brought him his interdimensional powers?”
“Those totems are objects of great mystery,” Skonz said, stroking his beard. “It’s very possible. I couldn’t say more than that.”
“I’m gonna have to fight him,” Cara said, sighing.
Dayen’s stomach flipped over and he narrowed his eyes. “On your own? I don’t think so.”
“Day,” Cara said with a snort. “It’s my entire reason for being here. I know it’s scary to you but I’m literally the only one who can do it. The fates knew it and you know it too.”
“You told me you don’t even use your powers,” Dayen said, frowning. “You need to...practice.”
“Then I’ll practice,” Cara replied.
The thought of Cara practicing for a battle to the death with the same beast who had murdered his parents didn’t sit well with Dayen, as much as he believed in her strength and bravery.
“I can fight too, you know,” he grumbled. “I’m quite capable. I’ve been in battles.”
“You can fight,” she said, laughing. “Don’t be modest about it. I know you’re quite capable. But you don’t have my powers.”
They were heading to the gym. Dayen thought Cara might do well to practice her powers sooner rather than later if she was to fight Gallios. She had agreed to try them out for the first time in some months since her last training with Ms. Friar.
“But you’ve never used your powers to actually fight someone else who had them,” Dayen pointed out.
“Yes but my powers come naturally to me and Gallios’s don’t,” Cara said. “I think it’ll give me an edge.” She walked in front of him, heading backward down the corridor. “Don’t be so worried.” She stopped abruptly then and he knocked into her, but she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. “We’re meant for each other. We’ll make it. I promise.”
“I’ve lost a lot,” he murmured. “I don’t believe I’d survive losing you too.”
“You won’t have to,” Cara said, and reached over to squeeze his hand.
“Impressive,” Dayen said. “Where did it go?”
Dayen walked over to the spot on the floor where a candlestick had previously stood before Cara had catalyzed her dimensional powers and banished it to another realm.
“It was sort of a random place,” Cara said, scratching her head. “Just kinda reached out for a dimension and that was the first one I grabbed.”
“Could you get it back?” Dayen asked, curious.
“I...don’t know…” She frowned and closed her eyes. He watched her concentrating, her hand outstretched as she focused her strength. In seconds, the candlestick had reappeared. “Whoa! Didn’t know I could do that.”
“You need to practice...you know.” He mimicked her using her powers and followed it with an explosive noise, puffing out his cheeks.
“I know,” Cara said, sighing. “I’ve just...never done that before. Didn’t even know you could. And what do I practice on?”
“Um…” Dayen stroked his chin and looked around the training room where he worked out every morning. There were straw-filled dummies that he used for punching and kicking or even fencing again. He dragged one over and leaned it against the wall. “Go ahead, my love. Zap it.”
“Zap it,” Cara muttered, chuckling. “Okay… Well, I think I need to make a portal like he did and utilize the power from there…”
It took Cara several tries and Dayen was fascinated as he watched her mutter to herself and take a breath each time as if talking herself into how she might use her powers. But finally she stretched out her hand and a portal appeared in the middle of the room, a circle of light just like the one Gallios had come from, except this one’s light was much brighter. Dayen wondered if that meant she was more powerful.
“Oh!” Cara said. She stepped toward the portal, entranced. Dayen thought she might step through for a second but instead she reached out both hands and the light ebbed from the circle and reached toward her, merging with her fingertips. “That’s it…” She was breathing hard, her brow knitted with frustration. Dayen was about to say something to encourage her but before he could, she turned with a jerk and pointed her now glowing hands at the dummy which promptly blew up, blue-flamed bits of straw flying around the room as Dayen and Cara ducked away.
“You did it,” Dayen said in wonder. He walked around the room, stamping out the still-flaming straw threatening to singe the carpeted mats on the floor.
Of course she’d done it. He’d had no real doubt she could. All that remained was to form a plan. That was a trick. Gallios had attacked exactly once and they had no idea when he would attack again…
“How will we fight him?” He asked now. “We don’t even know where he is…”
“Wherever he is,” Cara muttered, rolling her neck and stretching, “he’s gathering his power. He only had enough to open the portal and take his one shot and then he had to bolt. He’s probably working his strength up again.”
“We should take the fight to him,” Dayen said. “Strike him before he can regroup.”
“I agree,” Cara said, nodding. “But we don’t even know where he is.”
“Can we make him come here?” Dayen tapped his chin. “He was able to target the ballroom and he knew I was there. So he must have some way of locating me. That could work to our benefit-”
“Day-”
“If perhaps we could bait him to come here-”
“Dayen-”
“Cara, I’d be the perfect bait!”
“No!” Cara stamped her foot, looking for all the world like grumpy little girl fae and he smiled fondly. “You’ll get killed!”
“No, I won’t,” Dayen said rather disdainfully. “You’d never let me get killed. I know you wouldn’t. You’re quite stubborn, my lady.” She was still frowning and looking more annoyed by the second. He sidled up and punched her on the shoulder, playfully. “Come on now, Cara. You know this is by far the best option.”
He watched her thi
nk it over. He could practically see the wheels turning as she ran the idea through all the mechanics of her mind, all the tactics and skills and critical thinking tools she’d learned at Brunswick. Her eyes flickered. He saw the moment her mind changed and she accepted the frightening thought of putting her beloved up as bait for the purpose of saving him and the universe.
“We shouldn’t do it here,” she said gravely. “There are too many people. If he pulls a fast one and turns out to be more powerful, I don’t want to put anyone else in danger. Your guards will be like ants to him.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Dayen said, shifting from foot to foot. “We should go somewhere a bit remote but where he would be sure to follow…”
“You know him better than anyone,” Cara said, seemingly apologetic. “Any ideas?”
“Only one,” Dayen muttered. “The best one. The castle where he killed my parents.”
Dayen left Cara to practice her powers and went to speak to Cade about their plan. It was going to be a hard sell to his uncle, convincing him to let the crowned prince embark on a potentially suicidal mission with only one diminutive-seeming girl for protection, even if she was a graduate of Brunswick.
Dayen talked his way past his uncle’s assistant and found Cade in his office. He opened with a grand declaration: “Uncle, there’s something I need to do for the good of the realm and really, the universe at large…”
Cade did not take it well at first but after much persuasion, he bent to his nephew’s will. The argument that finally made him cave was, as Dayen had thought it would be, the one in support of him sitting on the throne.
“If I’m going to be king, I will sometimes need to put my own body in danger for the good of my people. No one else can do this for me. Gallios wants to finish what he started. That means I’m next, then you, then Aela, then who knows? He won’t stop. Not ever.”
“I know,” Cade muttered. He took a breath and nodded. “Do it. Tell no one else, except Aela. She should know.”
“Thank you, Uncle,” Dayen said, and breathed a sigh of relief. If his uncle had forbidden it, he would’ve done it anyway. There was no doubt in his mind. But he’d rather go into the fight with his uncle’s approval. Cade had already lost his sister and the brother-in-law he’d cared very much for so suddenly, just as Dayen had lost his parents. He didn’t want to break Cade’s heart with the shocking death of his nephew if he didn’t have to.
The fates are behind you, he thought. You’re going to live.
He was starting to doubt himself. He had thought of Cara’s mission all this time as being about protecting him, but that had been not just egotistical but a misunderstanding of her importance. He was just a footnote. The mission was the totem. His role as her mate and her protectee was incidental. They were dealing with the forces that bound the universe. One stupid prince was worth nothing in the face of all that.
As if Cade could read Dayen’s thoughts, he came around his desk and embraced his nephew. The fae were not very physically affectionate creatures beyond their bonds to mates, but Dayen found himself squeezing his eyes shut and letting his uncle hug him, telling himself it was for Cade’s sake.
“Please be very careful, nephew,” Cade whispered. He didn’t say what Dayen already knew, that Cade thought of him as a son and had done since the king and queen had been killed. Dayen didn’t need to hear it. He thought he might fall apart if Cade said so, if only on the inside where no one could see. “Not just for the realm’s sake...but for mine.”
“I will, Uncle,” Dayen whispered, and smiled tightly, a little overcome with affection for Cade as they broke apart again.
“Talk to your sister before you go,” Dayen said quietly. “Say goodbye, just in case.”
“I will.”
Dayen left Cade and swallowed. He had not had such an emotional exchange with the man since shortly after his parents had died. He had not quite expected that. He beelined through the castle, in search of Aela. She was probably with her ladies of court having tea or something in the garden, he thought. Instead he found her in one of their plush parlors doing needlework and listening to one of the court musicians whose entire job it was to play the harp and entertain the royal family whenever they requested it.
“Dayen!” Aela said brightly. When she saw his face, she put down her needlework. “What’s the matter?”
Dayen explained it as well as he could, imparting the significance of not telling anyone what was going on and most especially her suitor, Philip. She nodded and he knew she wouldn’t. She was smart, too smart for that boy and he suddenly realized she would never marry him. She was simply playing and enjoying herself. He never had to worry about Aela. That was a bit of a comfort.
But she was teary as he sat beside her. No tear fully escaped her eyes but she cleared her throat, sitting stiffly on the chaise. “I would be more worried, but I’ve gotten to know Cara a little. She’ll keep you safe. I’m sure of it.”
“If something should happen-”
“Don’t,” Aela murmured. She sounded suddenly like a little girl and made Dayen feel quite weak.
“If something should happen to me,” Dayen said, “you will be a wonderful queen.”
Aela sniffed, wiping her begrudgingly shining eyes. “I hate you.”
“Of course, you do.” He kissed her cheek and then left her, knowing how edgy she got when things became emotional. He had not lied. She would make a good queen. She was young and had some things to learn, but she was exceedingly sharp. He always assumed that once he was forced to take the throne, he would be relying on her for her wisdom.
Now he found himself hungry. It was early for lunch, but they had started early that morning. He went to the dining hall and smiled upon seeing Cara already at her place near the head of massive dining table. She was eating a huge sandwich by herself and he was glad she wasn’t shy about asking the kitchens for a meal when she required it. She had been practicing her powers all day and it must have left her famished. She nodded at him as he came over and sat down beside her, one of the servants at hand quickly bustling over.
Dayen asked for honey, goat meat and wine, and the servant nodded, bustling away again.
He was ready now, he thought. He was ready to face Gallios. No matter what happened. It was just a matter of when and how exactly. That, he expected, was up to Cara.
He was about to ask her when Cara swallowed and said simply, “Soon.”
13
Cara
The plan was to open a portal in the ruins of the old castle that would draw Gallios’s attention if Dayen’s presence didn’t already. Dayen and Cara ate, trained, ate again and discussed the plan for the entire rest of the day as they did so. They had no idea if it would work. If it didn’t, there was a chance they would be forced to wait for Gallios to gather his power to full strength and show himself and who knew how long that would take? It was the worst and most dangerous option to Cara’s mind. But she knew there was a chance it was what they’d be left with.
Yet if they killed Gallios in the realm...she wasn’t sure how she’d ever find the totem.
They were hoping to draw Gallios out and get themselves through his portal to whatever dimension he’d been hiding out in. That was where they would find the wood totem, she reasoned.
That night they made love, slow and deep. Dayen slid inside Cara and when she looked at him, it felt oddly as if she were also looking at herself, so close had they become; two wholes make one new whole, she supposed. His eyes sparkled with love for her, he’d told her.
They were two and the same. It blew her mind a little. When it was over, she curled up around him, the both of them naked in the sheets. She leaned her head on his shoulder and absently drew circles in the center of his lithe body. She traced the words: I love you.
“I know how my powers work,” Cara whispered. “I think he might be able to sense you more easily when you teleport. So we should take the long way to the ruins. We don’t want him coming for you befor
e we’re ready. Just in case…”
“Alright.” Dayen kissed her hair. She had doubts and fears, mostly in herself. She was normally quite confident in her training. She had been handpicked to attend the greatest supernatural academy in the world after all. But this was her first real test and there couldn’t have been more riding on it. It was impossible not to worry. She closed her eyes and clutched her mate, wishing they could stay like this longer, days maybe. Just in case… If he should be torn from her, she wished she could have had more time, she thought, more time….
The next morning, they packed up food and told anyone who wanted to know, that they were going for a picnic on the shore that day. They rode horses down to Mare Beach, the land miles and miles away to the west of the realm, where Dayen had grown up as a little prince. They’d rode through the countryside at a fast clip for a long time but eventually slowed and let their horses rest a while as they made the last stretch of their journey over the crest of a hill toward the ocean. Dayen rode close to Cara and looked around at the sprawling lush blue-green grass of the fae realm that became icy mountains on the horizon. Spring was turning to summer, but there were still trees full of the peach-colored blooms that looked similar to cherry blossoms, singing softly as they danced in the air; song of the blooms, they called that in the realm.
“The singing blooms have something to do with that Dance of the Flower Maidens, don’t they?” Dayen spoke suddenly. They had not been talking as their horses ambled along, so slowly now it was as if they knew where they were going and how much trouble their beloved prince was in.
“When they start singing, we hold the dance,” Cara said. “Marks the beginning of spring.”
Royal Fae Bodyguard (Brunswick Academy for Gifted Girls Book 1) Page 11
