by Tasha Black
We filed back down the stairs along with the rest of the school, everyone silent and the air electric with anticipation.
Even when we gathered here earlier in the year, all the professors prevailing upon us to share if we knew where Brenna and Tish might have run off to, there was a strange air of celebration at being pulled out of our rooms at night.
We came to the bottom of the stairs to find many of the seniors were already seated on the hand knotted rug, regulation Primrose nightgowns on, legs curled up under them.
Bella exchanged a glance with Luke.
It hit me that it was kind of weird to have men here at Primrose at night. Reed had stayed in the tower for a while, but it wasn’t like he was privy to school meetings, or women in their long white nightgowns.
We all headed for the back wall, wending our way through the strewn bodies of our sleepy classmates.
His Majesty put a hand at the small of my back, as if to ensure my safety. Or maybe to save himself from being set adrift on a sea of witches. A calming warmth seemed to radiate through me from the point of contact with him.
One by one, the other students seemed to notice him, and I heard a wave of whispers travel through the hall and the words raven and king interspersed with my own name.
Leave it to me to bring a celebrity back to school. I typically tried to stay under the radar at Primrose. But tonight, all eyes were on me.
I ignored them, concentrating on the pleasant buzz at the base of my spine where the king’s hand still touched me.
When we all reached the back wall, we settled in on the floor.
“You okay?” Kendall asked me.
“Yeah, just… long day,” I lied.
Kendall had lost enough already, I didn’t need to whine to her about something she already knew. Primrose might be in trouble, and it was throwing me.
Also I had tried to kiss a fae king.
I peeked over at him surreptitiously as soon as I remembered, feeling both fascinated and embarrassed.
Guys had never really been on my radar. I always had too much else to worry about. So it was all kind of new to me.
He caught me looking and winked at me.
I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and glanced away immediately.
In fairness to me, he really did seem to be giving mixed signals. But maybe all the fae were flirtatious.
Just then, Headmistress Hart marched in, her voluminous night dress flowing out behind her in a decidedly regal manner.
Miss Twillbottom scurried after her, clutching a clipboard to her chest.
“As most of you already know, the school was attacked this evening,” Headmistress Hart announced, getting right down to business. “Thanks to the brave actions of some of our students, our attackers were thwarted.”
Girls started turning around and craning their necks to look at us. I wished I could melt into the wallpaper behind me.
“Nonetheless,” the headmistress continued, “we are now on high alert for a second attack.”
I bit my lip. So Hart agreed with the king, tonight was only a taste.
“Primrose Academy is faced with a difficult decision,” she said solemnly. “We must either close the school entirely, or lock it down.”
Cold sweat prickled my brow and I tried to keep my face calm.
If they close down the school, I have no place to go…
“Though the danger focused on these walls is immense,” the headmistress said, “the professors and I agree that you are safer within them than without.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, as the hall erupted in muttered comments between the students.
“We realize,” she said loudly, gaining her audience back, “that some of you may feel you are better off at home. Miss Twillbottom is here to note any students who wish to leave.”
There was silence now, as everyone considered Miss Twillbottom, whose whole face turned pink at the unwanted attention.
I felt a bond of sisterhood with her in that moment.
“Think carefully, women,” Headmistress Hart continued. “Because the strongest wards Primrose has ever had are going up tomorrow at midday. Whatever side you are on when the wards are in place, that is the side you are staying on until this trouble is over.”
Kendall glanced over at Jared, her eyes panic-stricken.
“That goes for the guardians and their mates as well,” Headmistress Hart said. “Choose a side of the walls, and send word to me.”
Luke nodded to her, and she gave him a grim half smile.
“For the rest of you,” she said. “Try to rest and focus on your studies. Primrose may need you and your magic. Good night.”
Before we even realized what was happening, she turned and marched away, leaving Miss Twillbottom to lower herself to sit on the base of the great stairs and begin taking down the names of the girls who wandered over to indicate that they wanted to go home.
“Will you stay?” the king asked me quietly.
“This is my home,” I told him honestly.
An admiring pirate smile lit up his pale eyes, and for a moment we were the only two people in the crowded room.
“Bellwether Lounge again,” Bella whispered to us. “Now.”
11
The Raven King
Anya and her friends climbed the stairs back up to the Bellwether Lounge, nervous energy evident in the rhythm of their feet.
I shared their concerns, but I already knew what had to happen. There was no uncertainty for me.
“My mom sent a care package,” Cori said, leaving us in the lounge to dash back to her room.
“Do her parents know what happened to her?” Luke asked Reed.
Reed shook his shaggy head.
“What happened to her?” I asked.
“She paid the ultimate price for her powers,” he said quietly.
“That means her price is permanent?” I asked. I had heard of such a thing, in theory, but never witnessed it.
He nodded.
“What is her price?” I asked.
“Memory loss,” he told me. “She can’t remember anything that happened before that day.”
“How long ago was that?” I asked.
“Two months, roughly,” he said.
Gods, but these women were fierce.
I would never have guessed that self-confident young woman was operating on instinct instead of memory. She had ironclad trust in her friends if she would go into combat with them without actual memory of their friendship.
These mortals really were battle-tough, and I felt a grudging admiration for them.
Kendall and Jared slipped into the room. I hadn’t realized they weren’t with us.
Cori returned bearing a cardboard box overflowing with refreshments. For a moment, the room was like a mass of zombie creatures, clawing at the box for brains.
When the little table cleared of bodies, I glanced at the remains of the box. Small, frosted cakes encased in plastic wrappers were nestled among rows of soft, pretzeled bread.
“Those are tasty cakes,” Anya said, pointing to the cellophane wrapped treats.
“They don’t look tasty,” I said dubiously. They actually looked like they might have been in cellophane since before any of us were born.
“That’s the brand, not just a description,” she said with a smile. “Believe me, they’re amazing. And those are Philly soft pretzels.”
I took one of each. Times were hard, and I would need energy.
“We need to think about what it’s going to take to get them to stop,” Cori said, sitting back thoughtfully with a pretzel in her hand.
I opened my cakes, wondering what kind of theories these young witches would come up with on their own.
“Why would they show us what they can do?” Reed asked. “Doesn’t that seem foolhardy?”
I took a bite of my cake and closed my eyes as sweet, buttery goodness exploded my senses.
“Amazing, right?” Anya whispered.
/>
I shoved the other cake in my mouth without bothering to answer and snatched another cellophane package from the box for later. If I could get these back across the veil, my goblin chef would study them and recreate the recipe.
“I, uh, I’m not sure,” Cori said, seemingly distracted by my actions. “They didn’t show us anything we haven’t seen before. Just larger numbers.”
“So we think there’s more they can do,” Kendall realized out loud. “They’re just not showing us yet.”
“Which again begs the question,” Bella said. “What’s it going to take to get them to stop?”
“They’re not going to stop,” I said, swallowing down the last crumbs of my tasty cake. “Not while they have the power to keep coming for you. And the only way to remove their power again is to get me back across the veil.”
“You’re not going out the way you came in,” Jared said firmly.
“I understand that, panther,” I told him.
“So what’s the alternative?” he asked.
“I need my sword back,” I told them all.
“Where’s your sword?” Kendall asked, looking like she was ready to go pick it up immediately to protect Jared from my alternate way home.
“What sword?” Anya asked.
“I don’t know where it is,” I told Kendall. “It’s the family blade - Darragh - named for the fertile dark tree. Darragh was forged by the old masters to be keen enough to cut through the veil itself. It allowed me to move freely between realms as I wished.”
Anya’s eyes grew thoughtful, and I felt a warmth in my chest at the notion that she was intrigued by the idea of freedom to visit the fae.
“The blade was broken long ago, and the original members of the clan you now call the Order of the Broken Blade took the part with the hilt,” I explained. “The rest of the fae denizens and I were pushed back across the veil before I could find out what happened to the rest of the blade. As long as the Order has their part, they have a piece of my power.”
Which was exactly why my magic had faltered during the battle. The blade was connected to me. When the Order used the magic of the blade, it siphoned off some of my power. And on this side of the veil, my magic had limits. But that was something I decided was better kept to myself for now.
“So you don’t know where it is?” Anya breathed.
“No one does,” I told her sadly. “But if we can find it, and get the other part back from the Order, I can go home, and take this mischief with me.”
Her eyes were suddenly sad, but she looked away from me too quickly for me to react.
I gazed at her dark hair and the delicate curve of her neck as she pretended to study the pretzeled bread in her hands.
She really thought I would leave her behind in this mortal realm.
I was beginning to understand that, incredible as it seemed, Anya did not know what she truly was.
There would be time to tell her when we were alone. I only hoped she would welcome the knowledge.
But both worlds were threatened - this one with my power, and the other abandoned without a ruler to keep the peace. Whether she came with me to the other side or not, I had to go.
There was a knock at the door and I half-expected we were being told there was another meeting downstairs.
Instead, two guardians stepped inside, serious expressions on their faces. One had dark hair and the other light.
“Lorenzo, Dane,” Jared said. “Glad you could make it.”
“What’s going on?” Bella asked.
“We asked Headmistress Hart to reach out to the Brotherhood of the Guardians,” Kendall said. “We hoped they might send more help before the wards go up.”
“The two of us will stay here at the school,” the dark-haired guardian said. “And Jonah asked that Luke, Reed and Jared stay as well.”
Luke nodded, looking relieved.
“The others will take turns patrolling the grounds outside the walls,” the light-haired shifter added. “The Brotherhood of the Guardians will protect the castle.”
“And the witches will protect the Library,” the women replied as one.
“Thank you,” Bella told them. “And I’m really glad you thought to send word, Kendall.”
Kendall smiled widely and my heart almost broke for her. This was all Kendall could do now - help her friends to plan.
I felt a pang of warmth for Bella, for remembering to point out her friend’s contribution. These women truly supported each other. It wasn’t the type of behavior I was used to from my kind. I found it both admirable and foolish in equal parts.
“Now what?” Luke asked.
“Now we rest,” Bella said. “When the warlocks come back, we have to be ready for them.”
“I’ll get you guys set up in the West tower,” Reed said to his newly arrived brothers.
One of them seemed to be staring in awe at the girl called Lark.
Reed elbowed him with a big grin, and he shook himself and followed.
I turned to Anya, but she looked troubled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“I guess Jared will be staying with Kendall in our room,” Anya said softly. “It’s kind of awkward for me to be there with them.”
“Come with me,” I offered with false magnanimity.
I had wanted her with me anyway. This only made things easier. I could see that women here weren’t used to being dictated to, as they were the last time I was on this side of the veil.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Of course,” I told her. “I insist.”
She dashed off and whispered something in Kendall’s ear.
Kendall’s eyebrows went up and she whispered back.
Anya shook her head and Kendall laughed at her and wrapped an arm around Anya’s shoulders, pulling her in for a quick hug before releasing her back to me.
“Come,” I told her, automatically reaching for her hand.
She let me take it and I felt a rush of giddiness as if I were a youngster again, and this was the first hand I’d ever held.
No. Not the first, but maybe the first one that ever mattered.
12
Anya
Kendall had just joked about there being something between the Raven King and me, and I had denied it.
But the moment he took my hand, I knew I was a liar.
There might not be anything on his side, but on my side, there was an attraction so strong it felt almost like an illness.
As we took the staircase up to the East Wing tower, I was practically feverish. My chest ached so that I could hardly draw a breath, and my heart pounded wildly.
The king slipped the key into the lock and opened the door to his tower, and I stepped inside after him.
Moonlight streamed through the clouds that still swirled around the domed ceiling.
The Raven King turned to me. His pale eyes seemed to glow in that strange light.
“You threw around some very impressive magic down there,” he said to me quietly. “I imagine your price must demand to be paid.”
Shit.
“Yeah, I’m really tired,” I lied weekly. “I have to go to sleep right now.”
He arched a brow at me.
“That’s my price,” I told him weakly.
“That doesn’t seem like your price,” he said, tilting his head slightly to the side. “It sounds like a very clever way to get out of talking about your magic.”
I froze in place, uncertain what to do.
I knew my friends noticed that my price didn’t always make demands the way theirs did. When I remembered, I made a show out of yawning and stretching, maybe even took a quick nap.
But no one had ever called me on it.
The truth was, there was no price for my magic. I was a freak.
“You aren’t the only one who doesn’t have to pay for magic,” the king confided quietly as if reading my thoughts.
I looked up at him, shocked.
“In
fact, you are far from the only one,” he said.
His pale eyes were suddenly warm and kind, and I felt intense relief wash over me.
“Then why have I never heard of a witch who didn’t pay a price for her magic?” I asked him.
“Because there has never been one,” he told me.
“But…” I said, completely at a loss.
“You are not a witch, Anya Corbin,” he told me. “You are one of my kind.”
“Wh-what?” I stammered.
That wasn’t possible. Was it?
“You are fae,” he said.
My knees were suddenly giving out. The king loomed above me, but his face was fading.
“Gods of the realm,” he cursed, snatching me out of the air.
I concentrated on his arms around me, using my awareness of him to anchor myself as he carried me over to the bed.
I allowed him to lay me down, like a child.
He sat beside me, one hand cupping my cheek, an expression of grave concern on his face.
“This news makes you unhappy,” he observed.
I thought about it for a moment. It wasn’t a matter of happiness. It was just so unexpected.
“It… would explain a lot,” I admitted.
“But you don’t believe me?” he asked.
I bit my lip.
“What do you remember about your childhood, Anya?” he asked. “Was there anything unusual? A memory you can’t explain?”
Thinking about my childhood was something I avoided at all costs. He must have seen it in my eyes.
“We don’t have to talk about this right away, if you don’t want to,” he told me.
“I don’t know my parents,” I told him suddenly, startled at the volume of my own voice. “They died when I was a baby. They had no family. Social Services put me in foster care.”
“I’m so sorry, Anya,” he said softly.
I blinked up at him. I had expected him to use my story as evidence that he was right.
His sympathy moved me, and tears prickled the back of my eyes.
