by H. D. Gordon
As soon as her hands touched the girl’s, the strangest sensation washed over her. Surah found that she could do nothing other than stare into Aria’s green eyes, a shade that seemed to be constantly shifting, swirling almost, as Surah looked into them.
The girl was lovely. There was no denying that. She had a face that made one instantly trust her, and a voice that seemed to fill Surah’s head rather than just her ears.
“I can make sure Charlie doesn’t follow you, your majesty,” Aria said, her voice sounding both very close and far away. “All I have to do is ask him… You believe me, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Surah heard herself say. “I believe you, Aria.”
Abruptly, Aria dropped Surah’s hand, and whatever Faevian magic she’d been using on Surah dropped with it. Surah shook her head, her brow furrowing.
“What was that?” she asked.
Aria shrugged. It seemed to be a default gesture of hers. “It’s one of my talents. I have the power of suggestion. People want to do what I say, want to believe they can trust me.”
It was curious, because these words alone would’ve normally made Surah suspicious, but she found that the girl was right; Surah did still trust her.
She mulled this over for a moment, her gaze switching between Aria and Charlie. She needed to get back to the castle, back to her people, and she had two choices here; either trust the Halfling girl to keep her word, or magic Charlie to a chair until she returned.
“I have the honor of the Scouts that you won’t allow him to follow me, Aria?” she asked.
Something about this must’ve struck the girl as funny, because she grinned and nodded firmly, again holding two fingers up into the air.
“Yes, your majesty,” she said. “You have the honor of the Scouts.”
“Will you make your suggestion now?” Surah asked. “While I watch?”
Aria shrugged. “Sure,” she said, and reached out for Charlie, who backed away.
“Excuse me, ladies,” he said, eyeing Aria’s outstretched hands. “I’m right here, and I don’t want any suggestions.”
“Would you rather she magically tie you to a chair?” Aria asked.
Charlie said nothing to this, and Aria moved before either of them had noticed and grabbed Charlie’s hands. He instantly became as lost in her gaze as Surah had been moments ago. Surah watched in curiosity as Aria used her gift.
“Charlie,” the girl said, “You’re not going after Surah. You’re going to stay with me, okay?”
Charlie’s response was immediate. “Okay, Aria. I won’t go after Surah. I’ll stay with you.”
Aria dropped his hands and flashed a pleased grin at Surah before sitting back down on the couch. “See? All taken care of, your majesty.”
“You’re a strange girl, Aria,” Surah said, more than a bit mystified at this mysterious gift. She did not mean it as an insult, but merely an observation.
Aria sighed. “That’s what they tell me,” she said.
“Thank you,” Surah said. “I need to go now.”
“By all means,” Aria replied, waving a hand.
Surah turned to Charlie, who did not look too pleased about any of this, but didn’t argue, either. She placed her hands on his face, forcing him to look at her.
“I’m sorry, but this is the only way,” she whispered. “I can’t go into this with a straight head unless I know you’re safe. When this is over, I’m coming back for you. I’ll clear your name and we’ll be together. I promise.”
Charlie sighed, clearly unhappy. “Someone once told me not to make promises I can’t keep. This isn’t right. I should be with you. I should be helping you clean up the mess my brother has made.”
Surah shook her head. There were tears in her heart but not on her face, and she suspected this was a result of the Black Stone. She felt hardened in a way she hadn’t experienced before.
“Stop taking responsibility for your brother,” she said, and kissed him before he could respond.
Despite his upset at the situation, Charlie couldn’t have resisted her had he tried. Surah felt his strong arms go around her, his lips move against hers with a familiarity that she had never known before him.
For the smallest of moments, while she was so close to him, the darkness that had been creeping slowly over her mind receded, and she felt the peace and comfort that she’d come to refer to as the Charlie Effect.
Remembering they were not alone, and that things needed to be done, Surah pulled away from Charlie and cast an apologetic glance at Aria, who pretended to be deep in the words of the huge book cracked open on her lap.
“Stay with Aria,” Surah whispered, giving Charlie’s hands one last squeeze. “I love you, Charlie Redmine.”
And then Surah gripped the White Stone around her neck and teleported out of there, leaving Charlie to say I love you, too, Surah Stormsong into the empty space in Aria’s apartment, leaving a hole in Surah’s heart the size of a galaxy.
For they both knew she might never return.
Chapter 29
Surah
Her first thought when she landed back inside her castle, back in the Territory of the Sorcerers and out of the human world, was to look for Samson.
In her gut, she knew that her cat had not returned, and a voice inside her head whispered that Sam might never return, but she did her best to silence it.
Samson had promised to return to her. He was strong and reliable and could more than take care of himself. She had to remember that.
The same way that you’re strong and reliable and can take care of yourself? whispered a voice in her head. The same way you promised Charlie you would return, knowing that was not a promise you could make?
“Oh, shut up,” Surah mumbled, and jumped when someone spoke behind her.
“Who’re you talking to, my queen?” asked the Head Hunter, looking around the room. They were in her father’s study, and Theo had just entered through the arched double doors.
“No one,” she snapped, and then composed herself. “Now’s not the best time to be sneaking up on me, Hunter Gray,” she added, more gently, releasing hold of her sais, which she’d gripped in her surprise.”
Theo bowed deeply, his fine black cloak swaying with the movement. “Forgive me,” he said. “I didn’t know you’d returned.” Theo studied her in silence a moment. “I take it you spoke with Dagon?”
“Why do you assume that?” she asked.
Theo shrugged and shook his head, because they both could hear the effect of the dark magic in her voice. “Only a guess.”
Surah sighed, trying to release some of the heavy anger she’d been carrying since using the Black Stone, and not nearly succeeding.
“My apologies, Hunter Gray,” she said, wandering over to her father’s high-backed leather chair and taking a seat. “Yes, I visited Dagon.”
When she didn’t continue, Theo asked, “And how did that go?”
Surah shook her head, thinking of her last words to the Dark Lord. “I told him I would bathe my land in the blood of his Demons should he send them here again, and that I would cut out his tongue and then take his head.”
She laughed as she said this. Even though it hadn’t been funny at the time, speaking it aloud here was somehow morbidly comical.
Theo’s brows shot up. “Was that wise, my queen?”
Surah rested her head back against the chair, staring up at the ceiling.
All of a sudden, she was very tired. Using the amount of magic—be it White or Black—that she’d used would exhaust anyone, and it’s not like she and Charlie had gotten much sleep in that cabin.
She pushed thoughts of Charlie away, thinking absurdly that Theo might read them on her forehead or something.
Realizing she hadn’t answered his question, she said, “He wants me to bear his child, Theo. Claimed it’s a debt owed to him by the Stormsong family.”
Theo’s lack of response made Surah sit up straighter in her chair. Her voice came out sharp ag
ain. “Did you know about this?”
Theo sat across from her, obviously buying time to choose his next words carefully. “Your father mentioned it to me when I was a boy,” he said. “He didn’t say exactly what the deal was, but he told me I’d need to look after you someday. Said there was a debt that you shouldn’t have to pay. I was so young, I didn’t think much of it at the time.” Theo smirked without humor. “All I really heard was that you needed me. I guess I just held onto that part.”
Surah didn’t know what to say to this. She didn’t doubt the truth of Theo’s words, but that didn’t mean they weren’t nearly as shocking as hearing that a Dark Lord thought he was entitled to impregnate her.
Her voice sounded far away when she spoke. “My father promised you my hand before he died, isn’t that what you said?”
Theo hesitated, then nodded. “Actually, King Syrian promised me your hand when we were children, but he was going to force you to marry me if I saved you from Black Heart when he took you captive.”
The Head Hunter looked down at his hands, his voice taking on a quality Surah had never heard before. “But I failed. Samson saved you that day, didn’t he?”
He looked up at her with his gray eyes, his handsome face more open than she’d ever known it to be. Her stomach swirled uneasily as the sudden realization came to her that she did not hate Theodine Gray, that maybe she’d been just misunderstanding him all this time.
“Yes,” she answered. “Samson saved me.”
She didn’t add that Charlie had also played a role in her rescue. A huge role, in fact. He’d used his love for her to break the chains of black magic his brother had used to hold her. She suspected Theo knew this anyway, and there was no need to rub salt in the wound.
“But you know that I was looking for you?” Theo asked. “And not just because your father promised me marriage… but because I couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to you.”
Surah stared at him. “All these years, Theo,” she said, “and you tell me these things now? Why? I’ll be honest and tell you that I don’t know if I can trust you. I don’t know anything right about now.”
Theo scooted forward on his chair, resting his muscled arms on his legs, his gray eyes as grave as the dead.
“I told you. I finally see that there’s only one way into your heart. I can no more force you to love me than I can force the sky to turn green and the grass blue. I’ve done some things, my queen… some things I’m not proud of. I haven’t always been the most honorable of men. I’ve hunted and I’ve killed, but I’ve always loved you, and even though there’s a part of me that wants to, I can’t seem to stop.”
“Theo… I don’t know what to say.”
Theo stood, looking down at her with a compassion she would’ve thought was beyond him, and placed a hand gently against her cheek. His fingers were rough and calloused, but warm.
“You don’t have to say anything,” he whispered.
Just then, there was a knock at the door to the study. Both of them jumped, startled out of the moment. Surah was partly relieved. She wasn’t sure she was comfortable with whatever emotions she was starting to feel toward the Head Hunter, and with the effects of the Black Stone still holding her, she couldn’t trust any of her emotions right now.
She told the caller to enter, and in stepped Noelani and Lyonell. Noelani’s eyebrow quirked as she looked at Surah and Theo, but she only bowed to her queen.
“Glad to see you’ve returned safely, your majesty,” she said.
Surah didn’t miss the slight edge to Noelani’s voice, and she couldn’t say she blamed her. Noelani and Lyonell were Surah’s personal guard, and Surah was not an easy Sorceress to keep an eye on.
“I always do,” Surah said, giving her usual response.
Lyonell said, “We thought you’d like to know all of the Lords and Ladies have moved to safe spots, and the Hunters are spread out across the land, protecting the people.”
Surah nodded, hearing the anxiety in her guard’s voice loud and clear. “Good,” she said. “It’s imperative the people know they’re protected…”
“You should’ve seen the look on some of the royals’ faces,” Theo said. “If we get through this, your court won’t be happy, my queen.”
“And if we don’t,” Surah said, “I won’t have a court to be unhappy with me.” She met the eyes of the three people in the room. “I understand that you may not agree with my decisions, and I know it’s because you all care about me and this kingdom, but without the faith of my people, I’m no queen, and whether it puts me in danger or not, I have to do what I feel is right.”
Surah paused, her eyes flipping between her two personal guards and the Head Hunter. “However, I won’t force you to stay for what’s coming next, and I won’t blame you if you want to leave. I’ve sent orders to the remaining Hunters to stay within the castle walls, no matter what comes next.”
Noelani’s mouth fell open to protest, her spiky hair sticking out on her head and her toned arms crossed over her chest, but Surah cut her short with a single look, and Noelani’s mouth snapped shut with an audible click. It wasn’t often Surah used this commanding way of hers, but when she did, it was undeniable.
Surah continued, “I’m ordering the three of you to do the same. Stay within the walls of the castle. The protective magic is strongest here, and you should be safe… but if the enemy does get inside, use the tunnels to escape, or portal the hell out of here. Take whoever you can and hide among the humans if you must.”
A stunned silence hung over the room for several long moments.
At last, it was Theo who spoke up. “My queen,” he began slowly, warily, “with all due respect, you must know we can’t do that.”
Surah’s gaze snapped to the Head Hunter and whatever he saw behind her eyes made him flinch. Subconsciously, Surah recognized this as abnormal, because Theodine Gray was not a man who shook easily.
A tiny voice in her whispered that perhaps she was being more affected by the Black Stone than she realized, but it floated away almost as soon as it landed.
“You will do that, Hunter Gray,” Surah said, her tone allowing for no argument. Her voice softened as she looked at each of them in turn. “I can’t have anyone else I care about dying on me,” she said. “I need to know you’re all safe.”
Lyonell said, “So you’re going to take on an army of Fae and Demons by yourself? That’s your plan?”
A smile pulled up one side of Surah’s face, darkness flashing behind her eyes the way lightning flashes across a black night.
Unconsciously, her hand slipped beneath her fine cloak, and her fingers wrapped tightly around the Black Stone, which pulsed warmly under her touch. She’d never been more angry and filled with battle lust in all her life… and she’d never felt so powerful.
She’d be damned if she would lose anyone else to this mess. So she nodded to her longtime friend and told him that was the plan precisely. She would take on the Fae and Demons, and anyone else who dared challenge her as well.
Surah did not know it, but all three people in the room that day did not know just who exactly they should be worried for—their queen, or the rest of the world.
Chapter 30
Charlie
Charlie stood at the door of Aria’s apartment, trying for the millionth time to reach his hand up, turn the damn knob, open the blasted door, and leave.
And for the millionth time, he found he could not.
“What curse have you placed on me, girl?” he asked.
Aria was sitting on her kitchen counter again, her legs folded beneath her and an amused grin on her face. She sipped slowly at a cup of tea before answering. Her nonchalant attitude was beginning to drive him crazy.
“Cool your pants, ” Aria said. “I didn’t place any curse on you. I just made you keep a promise. You told your queen you’d stay with me, so that’s what you gotta do.”
Charlie threw his hands up, having the strong urge to kick t
he damn door down but completely unable to act upon it. It made for a confused and infuriating feeling. He stalked over to Aria, pointing back at the door.
“Open that door,” he demanded.
The girl quirked an eyebrow at this, her pretty face clearly amused at the approach. “It’s not even locked,” she said.
“You know what I mean.” Charlie deflated a little, seeing that trying to force the girl to comply was pointless. “My brother is trying to kill the woman I love, Aria. You have to let me go.”
The amusement slipped off her face, and she looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t quite make up her mind. After what felt like forever to Charlie, who reminded himself not to push (he didn’t know much about Halfling teenagers, but if they were anything like all the other teenagers he’d met, pushing them to do something often had the opposite effect) Aria sighed and pushed her red-brown hair out of her face.
“Look, I can’t break the promise I made to your queen,” she said, and when Charlie threw his hands up again, she cut him off with a look. “But if you recall, the only thing I promised was not to let you follow her and to keep you with me.”
The implications of this dawned on Charlie, and his heart sank a little at the same time as it lifted.
“So I can leave, but I can’t go after her, and you have to come with me?” he asked.
Aria nodded, but didn’t say anything else.
Charlie sat down on one of the chairs in the living room, rubbing his hands through his hair. While this was a loophole, it was not a great one. Charlie wasn’t exactly sure where he needed to go to accomplish what he needed to accomplish, but he was sure that it was dangerous. How could he ask this girl to come along, and put her in danger?
He couldn’t, that was the answer. He didn’t know much about her, but from what he did know, she was just a girl, a child, really, having only lived seventeen years of life.
