by H. D. Gordon
Charlie kissed her then, and Surah let the problems slip further away for just this small space of borrowed time. His lips were warm and gentle, but urgent and hungry, a perfect mixture that she thought was reserved only for last kisses. This thought made a small crack in her soul that filled itself up with Charlie, his scent and touch and being surrounding her so fully and truly. If she died just now, she thought it wouldn’t be such a bad way to go. When Charlie kissed her this way, it was as if this were the only way to go, as if his arms were the gates to heaven and his hold the path to paradise.
A low rumbling in Samson’s chest snapped her back to reality, and all that happened next turned out to be about as far from paradise as one could get.
She broke apart from Charlie to see that the three of them were surround on all sides by Fae Guardians.
And this time Charlie’s brother was with them.
CHAPTER 41
SURAH
“I must admit, that was quite a touching moment,” Black Heart said, taking a step forward, a wide grin on his pale face. “I’m almost sorry to have interrupted it.”
Surah had already slipped her sais out of her cloak and was clutching them tightly. Samson was on his feet, standing in front of her with his head lowered and his teeth bared. Charlie stood behind her, protecting her from the rear, his crossbow at the ready.
Surah regarded Black Heart coldly, all of the turmoil giving birth to immense anger as she stared at the crazy Sorcerer. His long, black hair was slicked back in a ponytail, his dark cloak hanging around him like a dark sea. “Take your little army of fairies and go,” she said, scanning the trees all around them, in which dozens of the Fae were perched. “I’ve taken enough lives today.” And her father was running out of time, but she didn’t think she needed to add that.
Black Heart shook his head and made a clucking sound with his tongue. “Always giving orders, little princess, even when you’ve found yourself in no position to do so.”
“Let us go, Michael,” Charlie said, wrapping his arm around Surah’s waist, the crossbow still aimed at the nearest Fae on his side. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough today?”
Surah watched as Black Heart’s eyes narrowed to angry slits as he looked at his brother. She wouldn’t have bet money on it, but she could’ve sworn she saw a flash of hurt in Black Heart’s gaze before it was covered over by his hate.
“You want to know something funny, Charlie-Boy?” Black Heart asked. “There’s an entire kingdom that believes you to be a traitor, and though they’re wrong about what makes you one, they’re right about you being one. You’re not just a traitor. You’re the worst kind of traitor. A traitor to your own blood.”
Charlie’s hold on Surah tightened, and she stole a quick look at his face to see the same hurt that had crossed Black Heart’s face a moment ago had transferred to his. Just as quickly, it was gone. Charlie’s response to his brother was simple, but it rang through Surah’s head on a loop and lifted her sunken heart.
“I won’t let you hurt her,” Charlie said.
Black Heart rubbed a hand down his jaw, something Surah knew Charlie to do when he was thinking about something deeply. Somehow, the action was repulsive when his brother did it. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m not asking for your permission, Charlie-Boy,” Black Heart said, and snapped his fingers.
Samson charged forward first, but Surah and Charlie were right behind him. Less than a heartbeat later, Surah felt something sharp prick her neck, like a sting from an enormous wasp, and she halted in her tracks and slapped a hand over the spot that still stung. All of a sudden her head was swimming… and then it was spinning, taking the world on a whirlwind with it. The scene before her grew blurry, her fingers numb as they pulled away the small dart that had struck her. She looked down at it and saw not one, but three darts because her vision was so blurry. The dart and sais slipped free of her hands and thudded to the grass by her feet. Then she was falling, landing on that grass, her head striking against the ground and making her vision go completely black for just a moment.
Peeling her eyes open was difficult, but she did so just in time to see that Samson and Charlie had also fallen to the ground beside her, darts sticking out of their necks as well. The last thing she saw before the world went black again was Charlie’s face… and a look in his eyes that was all apology.
The last thing she heard was Black Heart’s pleased laughter. She tried to scream, and couldn’t. Then she could do nothing at all.
CHAPTER 42
SURAH
The world swam back into focus slowly, painfully, nothing but blurred outlines and dim colors. Her back ached terribly, as did her head, and Surah reached up to rub her eyes, but found that something cold and hard was holding her wrists in place. She blinked several times until the images in front of her grew clear, and it took her a while to remember what had happened and how she’d gotten here. Wherever here was.
In her aching head, a familiar voice spoke. Good. You’re up. Are you okay, my love?
Surah pulled herself to a sitting position and bent her head down so she could push her hair out of her face. She took in her surroundings slowly, the way one might in a dream, and saw she was chained up in a small room made of stone, the only light coming from a small window on the west wall. There was a wooden door to the right of her that had no handle to open it from within. Beside her, Charlie and Samson were also chained to the walls, the manacles around them keeping them just out of touching reach. Panic tried to rise in her then, but she did her best to clamp down on it.
Then everything that had happened came back to her, and there was nothing she could do to stop the frantic beating of her heart. Her eyes went back to the small window on the west wall, and she breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw the sun had still not completely set. The relief was short-lived, though, because night would fall in less than thirty minutes, and that was a generous estimate.
She had to get back to her father. She told Samson as much, not bothering to answer if she was okay. She was anything but okay.
Calm down, love, the tiger told her. We are not going to die here today.
“But what about my father, Sam? What am I going to do?”
One thing at a time, love. We have to worry about getting out of here first.
He was right, and she knew it, but with every passing moment she was finding it harder and harder to just breathe. Who knew how far from the castle Black Heart had taken them? Who knew if her uncle would even wait until the last moment to make his move? Her head whipped around and she saw Charlie had not yet awakened. She called his name twice and got no answer.
She looked back at Samson, her blood rushing in her ears. “Sam? Is Charlie okay? He’s not…he’s not dead, is he?”
No. He’s not dead.
“Are you sure?”
I can hear his heart beating.
At that moment, the wooden door swung open, and in walked a creature with skin that swirled and changed colors. She wore a dress that hung down over bare, clawed feet. Her hair was long and shimmering, her eyes set wide and slanted on her face. Black and blue feathered wings were tucked in behind her back, and a sharp grin was pulling up her lips.
Beside Surah, Samson was growling lowly in his chest, and without having to be told, Surah knew who this creature was.
The Fae Queen.
The Fae Queen shut the door behind her and came to stand in front of Surah. She clapped her hands and her eyes glittered as she stared down at her. “They said the Sorceress Princess was pretty! They were right! So right! Pretty, pretty princess!” She knelt down, careful to keep just out of Surah’s reach, ignoring the angry sounds of the tiger. “I am so pleased to finally meet you, Princess Surah! I’ve heard so many things! I am Tristell, Queen of the Fae. I believe you’ve met some of my Guardians?”
Surah’s hands tightened into fists and she raised her head. “I know who you are,” she said. “And I didn’t meet some of your Guardians, I kill
ed them.”
Surah wasn’t sure what response she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the one she got. The Fae Queen clapped her hands again and laughed for several minutes, holding her stomach as if what Surah had just said was the best joke she’d ever heard.
“Oh, pretty princess!” The Queen trilled. “You are a funny creature! I think I like you! Such a shame! Such a shame that we can’t be friends!”
“Unchain me,” Surah said. “Then we can be best friends.”
The Queen laughed again, rolling back on her heels and grinning like a child. The wooden door swung open again, and Black Heart entered the room. Surah felt more hatred looking at him than she had ever felt for anyone in her long life, and it was only made worse by the fact that her piece of White Stone was hanging around his neck.
“There won’t be any of that,” Black Heart said, taking the Fae Queen gently by the shoulders. He gave Surah a droll look. “I won’t make the mistake of underestimating the ‘pretty princess’ again.”
“So pretty!” trilled the Queen. “Pretty princess!”
“Darling,” Black Heart said. “You’ve made the acquaintance, now please go so I may have a conversation with the lady and my brother.”
The Queen’s red lips pursed out. “Michael is so selfish! He has all the fun! Oh, please! Please let Tristell stay! I will be quiet! I just want to watch!”
Black Heart sighed heavily. “All right. Fine. As long as you’re here, you might as well wake him up for me,” he said, waving a hand a Charlie.
“Why does she need to wake him up?” Surah asked. “What did you do to us?”
Black Heart gave her a cold grin and reached into his cloak, pulling out one of the darts she recognized from earlier. “This dart is tipped in frog poison from the Fae Forest,” he said. “Clever, right? The poison is very potent, and leaves the victim immobile for about an hour, but don’t worry, Princess, my brother will be just fine.” He rubbed his chin, as if considering this. “Well, the poison won’t kill him, anyway.”
“And I,” said the Queen, “have the power to make the poison recede, as I have power over all the elements of my land! Wonderful, isn’t it?”
Surah’s jaw clenched.
The Queen giggled at this, and Black Heart made that annoying clucking sound with his tongue. “No need for foul language, Princess,” he said. “I thought Highborns had better manners.”
Surah didn’t dignify this with a response. Instead, she said, “What do you want? Why haven’t you just killed me yet?”
Beside her, Samson growled at this question, but Surah told him silently not to worry. She needed to know what angle these psychos were coming from.
Black Heart knelt down in front of her, her Stone swinging from the chain around his neck. “I’d always heard you were a clever one, Surah… May I call you Surah? Anyhow, haven’t you figured it out yet? If you haven’t, I have to say, I’m disappointed.”
He looked back at the Queen, who was cooing over Charlie’s unconscious body. “Oh,” she said. “He’s a pretty one, too! Doesn’t look much like Michael. How strange!”
“Will you just wake him up already?” Black Heart snapped.
The Queen sighed and leaned in close to Charlie. Then she gently blew her breath in his face and stepped back. A moment later, Charlie gasped and sat up, rubbing his head. Black Heart turned back to Surah. “So, what have you figured out?” he asked.
Surah was looking at Charlie, finding it was just a touch easier to breathe now that she saw he was coming to. Her eyes flipped back to Black Heart, her jaw clenching again. “I know that you want the Highborns dead, my father off the throne so you can have it for yourself. I know you’re under the ridiculous impression that you could do a better job running the kingdom. I know you feel betrayed by the kingdom.”
Black Heart nodded and raised an eyebrow. “That it, Princess?”
“No. I also know why you had the Fae attack the city today.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
Surah gave a tight smile. “You were proving a point. You need followers.” She tossed a dirty look at the Queen. “You need more than just a small army of fairies to take over my father’s kingdom, and you know it. So you get the common people to follow you by showing them where the Highborn’s priorities lie when things really go wrong.”
Black Heart smiled widely, his eyes, the same blue-green color as his brother’s, glittering with approval. “So, you are as clever as they say. I must admit, I’m impressed.”
Surah lifted her chin a fraction more. “That’s not all I know.”
Black Heart waved a hand. “Please, do tell.”
“I know that no matter how hard you try to make it seem so, it’s not hate that drives your revenge. It’s hurt. I know you’re broken and feel like you’ve been made to suffer.” Surah swallowed once and let a small grin lift her own lips. “Like a child, you’re taking out your hurt on others, because you don’t know any other way to deal with it. If I didn’t think you aren’t worth my pity, I would feel sorry for you.”
By the look that crossed Black Heart’s face just then, Surah could tell she had struck a chord, and she was glad for it… Until he spoke again.
“If you know everything,” he said, “then why ask me why I haven’t killed you yet? Why ask me what I want? You should know. So tell me, Princess. What is it you think I want?”
Surah’s heart stopped as she glanced toward the window in the west wall, where the sinking sun was paying no mind to her predicament. Her voice came out small now, and her head fell forward a little on its own. “You want me to suffer,” she said.
And by the sound of his laughter, she knew she was right.
CHAPTER 43
CHARLIE
“Leave her alone,” Charlie said, the words coming out muffled and groggy.
Black Heart’s head turned and a smile lit up his face. “Ah, Charlie-Boy is finally up. Just in time. I wouldn’t want you to miss what’s next. Your precious princess here was just telling me that she knows everything. Is that true? Does she know everything, Charlie-Boy?”
It took Charlie a moment to process his brother’s words, as he was occupied trying to get the world to come back into focus. He felt sick and tired, his stomach turning and his head spinning. Slowly, like a heavy tide receding from over him, his mind began to clear and the current situation slammed into him along with the meaning behind what Michael had just said.
Charlie’s heart skipped three whole beats. He pulled himself up and leaned back against the stone wall he was chained to, his head pounding with each movement. Whatever poison they’d given him had passed through his system, but the aftereffects were still hanging over him. He swallowed to clear his throat, which was dry and scratchy.
“Not like this, Mikey,” he said, and met his brother’s eyes pleadingly. “Please, not now. Not like this.”
His brother regarded him coldly, no trace of the Michael he used to know behind his eyes. “So you haven’t told her, then? I knew you wouldn’t. In fact, I kind of counted on it. You forget how well I know you, Charlie-Boy. The real you.” Black Heart looked at Surah, feigned sympathy coming over his face. “She thinks she loves you, doesn’t she? After all, she chose to save you when she could have saved her father… You were always the favorite among the ladies, but I wonder,” he said, pausing and tapping a long finger against his chin, “do you think she will still love you when she learns how you were partly responsible for the deaths of her mother and sister?”
Now Charlie’s heart stopped altogether, and seemed to shrivel up and slide down in his chest. He closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall. The thing he had been struggling to tell her had just been laid out on the table like a spoiled dinner. He had never considered himself a coward, had always looked his problems in the eye and accepted things like a man, but just then, he was afraid to open his eyes and look at her. Afraid of what he might see there. Afraid of what she might see there.
Her s
weet, soft voice broke through the darkness behind his lids. “Charlie?” she asked. “What is he talking about? That’s not true… Is it? My mother and sister died in the Great War, when the Wolves and Vampires attacked my father’s castle. What is he talking about? Charlie, look at me.”
Charlie’s eyes snapped open to meet the violet of hers, and the look he saw there gave him the feeling of having his soul torn out right through his chest, a corkscrew twisting deep into his heart. The light in the room was growing dimmer with each passing moment, the sun slowly hiding itself beneath the land. She was leaning toward him now, sitting on her knees and pulling against the chains on her wrists. Samson sat to her left, looking at him like he’d like nothing more than to tear Charlie’s throat open. Charlie almost wished the tiger weren’t chained to the wall, so he could do just that. That would be better than what was about to follow. Better than having to look into her eyes and see the love and trust and hope there, and crush it with his next words.
And while he hated his brother for this, he also knew Michael was right about one thing; Surah deserved to know. He should have told her this story before letting her give herself to him. Now he didn’t want to look up because he was ashamed.
“I used to work at the castle as a boy,” Charlie said, forcing himself to look into her eyes as he spoke, though it was easily the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. “I was about fifteen at the time and we needed the money, so I took a job pullin’ the gates.”
Surah’s mouth was pressed into a thin line, sweat dripping down her brow as her eyes darted from Charlie to the window and back again.
Charlie allowed himself one breath and continued before the words could jam up in his throat. “You’re right. The day your sister and mother died was the day the Vampires and Wolves attacked the castle and—”
Surah gasped and held a hand up, cutting Charlie off. His mouth snapped shut and he watched as she rolled back off her knees and sat heavily on the ground, tucking her legs under her and drawing her cloak around her. Her eyes were shut tight, lines of concentration creasing her forehead. She reached up and rubbed the back of her neck, the chains around her wrist scraping against the concrete floor as she moved.
