Guardians of Moonlight: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (Guardians of the Fae Book 3)

by Elizabeth Hartwell

  Jacob chuckles and yanks the dagger out of the man’s head, looking it over for any telltale marks. “Better than lifting rocks.”

  Chapter 13

  Eve

  I blink, sure that I’m about to die, when a Japanese soldier runs up to the sword-carrying officer. Speaking in Japanese, he points a few times before the officer sighs, nodding and barking a few orders before leaving.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, shaking as the soldiers run off with him. “Why did he leave?”

  “I do not know,” another woman says, but the group breaks up quickly, running away like ants fleeing a flood to try and find some shelter. Across the street, the man who looks like Cole suddenly starts gesturing to me, and I run toward him, glancing left and right as I do. I notice Kaelen behind me, limping as his emaciated body and apparently wounded leg cannot support him.

  “Help me!” Kaelen says, and Cole runs out from behind cover, leaving his rifle behind to catch Kaelen under the arm.

  Dragging him into cover behind the pile of rubble, he picks up his rifle before turning to me. “Yinying, I’m so glad to see you,” he says, embracing me quickly. “When Grandmother said you’d been rounded up . . . I had to break cover.”

  Yinying? I do not understand. What’s going on? I don’t have time to ask questions as Cole looks at Kaelen, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Who is this?”

  “I . . . I’m a friend,” Kaelen says, holding his hands up. “Please, my head. Tell us what’s going on, for the love of heaven!”

  “You must have been shell-shocked,” Cole says, ducking as a rumbling sound goes by. “The Japanese only stopped shelling yesterday. Come, let’s get off the street before that animal, Mukai, comes back!”

  We hurry down an alleyway, Cole leading the way until we come upon a nearly-wrecked house. The wall around the outside is still up, and when Cole knocks, a terrified-looking old woman opens the gate. “Meitan, did you . . . Yinying!”

  She waves the three of us inside a small courtyard, where Kaelen collapses, his leg giving out. “I’m sorry, I’m . . . oh, God,” Kaelen groans, rolling onto his back as he clutches at his hip in agony. “It feels like the whole thing’s about to fall off.”

  “Stay here,” the old woman says quietly. “I’ll get some tea. It’s all I have, sadly. Meitan, help me?”

  “Of course, Grandmother,” Cole says, giving me a warm look before going inside.

  In the moment of silence, I sit down next to Kaelen, confused. “Kaelen, what is this? I thought it was a vision, but we’re talking to people! And that’s Cole!”

  “Cole?” Kaelen gasps, looking toward the battered building. He’s still clutching at his leg, so obviously, his collapse wasn’t a total act. Whatever he might look like to me, he’s got the body of an old man in there. “He looked Chinese to me.”

  “It’s Cole, I swear it,” I whisper. “But, how? He’s alive in the Fae realm. He’s not a Chinese soldier!”

  “More importantly, how are we doing this?” Kaelen asks. “I’ve been able to see in the Moonstone before, but never this. I feel old . . . weak.”

  “That isn’t a surprise, old man,” Cole says, emerging from the ruined house. He’s got a bucket with water in it and a washcloth, which he hands to Kaelen. “You’re well past the age the army would take you, even in these desperate times. Here, let’s get things cleaned up.”

  Cole is brusque, slightly rough with Kaelen as he yanks his pantleg up and inspects his leg. “Hmm, nothing that’s treatable. It looks like these bones of yours may have just seen a few too many winters. Just have to deal with it. Grandmother should have some tea ready soon.”

  He’s right, and ten minutes later, we’re sitting in a wrecked living room, sipping tea. “I’m so glad that Meitan was able to find you, Yinying,” the old woman says. “When your home was destroyed, we were desperate to find you. Meitan swore he’d find you.”

  “And I did,” Cole says with a touch of fanatical pride. “General Tang might not be happy, but after the way he abandoned our city, I could not abandon you. Fuck the army, them and the communists. They spend as much time fighting each other as they do the Japanese, and because of that, China burns.”

  Grandmother doesn’t seem happy, but at the same time, I can’t fault Cole too much. With what I remember about the pre-American part of World War II, he’s pretty dead on. “I just don’t understand. Why are they doing this?”

  “They’re Japanese. They hate us,” Grandmother says simply. “Since Chang Kai-shek had the government leave Nanjing, the Japanese were denied their prize. They can’t end the war quickly, and they’re angry. So they act like the animals they are.”

  Nanjing . . . Nanking in Japanese pronunciation. I shiver, realizing where we are and what I’ve somehow ended up in. “The Nanjing Massacre.”

  “It will be that soon enough,” Cole says. “The word is already out. They’re killing all the old people, raping women . . . they have no respect for the law.”

  “We have to do something!” I declare, and Cole nods. “Really?”

  “Really,” he says. “Tonight under darkness, I’m going to get you and Grandmother out of town. We can slip past the Jap lines and—”

  “No!” I hiss, looking at him in shock. “Meitan, they’re going to kill thousands! Hundreds of thousands, and you’re worried about me?”

  “You’re all I care about,” Cole says doggedly. “The rest of the city can burn.”

  “No, they can’t,” I seethe. “We must try to save as many as we can!”

  Cole stares at me for a long time, then turns to Grandmother. “You see why she takes after our mother? She’s going to be the death of me!”

  I blink, startled, as Cole gets up and leaves. Grandmother watches him leave, then turns to me. “Do not worry, Yinying. He’s happy to have found his sister, but he hates to be reminded that he has duties beyond his family. He’ll come around.”

  Grandmother’s right, as an hour later, Cole comes back with four people, a mix of old men and young women. “Okay, Yinying . . . what’s your plan?”

  “We need to get as many together as we can and sneak out past the lines,” I whisper. “Someone has to know a hole in the Japanese lines, can’t they?”

  The plan’s hasty, and Cole comes up with the eventual idea of using the same hole in the Japanese defenses he used to sneak into the city to sneak out. It’s nearly sunset by the time we finish, and he gives me a long look. “You’d better hope this works, Yinying. We only have a few hours to move.”

  I nod, and Cole disappears, leaving me with Kaelen and Grandmother.

  “I’ll pack what I can,” Grandmother says, leaving me and Kaelen alone. He watches me for a few moments, and I can see he wants to say something. Finally, I can’t take it any longer.

  “Spill it, Kaelen.”

  “Why are you doing this?” he asks quietly. “This happened over a hundred years ago in your history. What point is there in helping these two dozen people? Can you even change it anyway?”

  “I don’t know,” I whisper. “I don’t know if history’s written in stone or if this is just some big-ass mindfuck of a simulation. What I know is that I have to try and help these people, even if it’s only a few dozen. If this were Solaria, wouldn’t you?”

  Kaelen doesn’t have a reply, and we wait. Soon, the courtyard is filled with scared people, eager to find something to place hope in. Cole’s next to me, his rifle in his hand as he looks around. “Okay, stay close. I can’t slow down, regardless—”

  Suddenly, the night bursts into sound as screams fill the dark night and an explosion that I realize later is a hand grenade goes off outside the wall. Japanese soldiers appear from everywhere, and at the front is the officer I saw earlier today. “Drop your weapons!”

  I blink, because behind the officer, I see a dark shadow, dark against the darkness, stunning me so much that I can barely say anything as the Japanese force the prisoners onto their knees. Another soldier steps forward, spea
king in a halting voice that I can understand. “In accordance with His Highness the Prince Asaka’s command—”

  “Wait . . . we’re not soldiers,” I protest. “These are non-combatants!”

  “Then why do you have a rifle?” the soldier asks, lifting Cole’s rifle. Cole struggles and gets a rifle in the gut for his actions. Cole doubles over, his eyes full of pain as the Japanese officer screams something, pulling his sword.

  I try to get to my feet, but I’m met with a bayonet in the stomach, pain exploding through my body as I sag to my knees, blood pouring out of my mouth. Cole lifts a hand, but the Japanese officer’s eyes glow a familiar, bone-chilling evil green as behind him I see the Dark Rider fully form for a moment. A katana cuts the air, and as my life’s blood pools on the ground between my knees, Cole’s head rolls to a stop on the ground next to me and gunfire starts to fill the air.

  Chapter 14

  Eve

  “Cole!”

  My eyes jerk open with a horrified certainty that I’m going to see Cole’s head on the ground in front of me, blinking and silently accusing me of getting him killed, but instead, I’m looking at the sky.

  “Eve?”

  I blink, sitting up as the chill reminds me of where I am. The dampness, the hardness of the ground . . . we’re in the chamber with the Moonstone. I see Kaelen kneeling nearby, his face haunted by what we’ve just been through. The phrase ‘he looks like he’s just seen a ghost’ doesn’t even begin to describe how he looks. “That . . . that wasn’t a simulation, was it?”

  Kaelen shakes his head. “I’m not sure what it was. The Moonstone’s never done that for me.”

  “It was . . . that thing’s horrible,” I growl, getting to my feet and staring at the pulsing blue depths. “How could it let such a terrible thing happen? And did I really see the Dark Rider?”

  “I did not see anything that wasn’t human,” Kaelen says, but then his face clouds with a strange look. It’s like he’s lying, but he’s not sure if he’s lying because he wants to lie or because he can’t begin to face the horrible reality of what we just went through. Instead, he sits down on the chamber’s floor, rubbing at his temples and murmuring to himself.

  A few minutes pass while I try to regain my strength and check the position of the sun. I’m no expert, but time is certainly different in the Moonstone. While we were in Nanjing for nearly twelve hours, only a few minutes at most have passed here. Finally, I can’t take any more. “What’s wrong?”

  Kaelen looks up. “Do you realize the . . . the ramifications of what just happened?”

  “You mean getting a first-hand feeling of being murdered?” I ask testily, hating even recalling the barest glimmers about what just happened. “Yeah, it sucks the big one.”

  “No. I mean, we were able to directly interact with people,” Kaelen replies, his voice rising in excitement. Guess enduring twelve hours of being an old man, being stabbed, and more doesn’t bother some people the way it bothers me. “Eve, all I’ve seen in the Moonstone is where humanity has made mistakes. I’ve had to ask my people to bring me histories of humanity in order to track all that I’ve seen. I have in my personal library books upon books on the horrors of recorded human history. Some even predate that, but each scene has been where something in humanity affected the Fae. I saw death, destruction, and terror. I’ve seen things . . . but this is the first time I’ve actually been there. Don’t you see? The Moonstone is terrible, but it’s a terrible opportunity.”

  “How so?”

  “We can change history for the better,” Kaelen replies. “Imagine preventing Stalin’s purges or Mao’s Cultural Revolution, or even stopping Kennedy’s assassination. Imagine saving the hundreds of millions who were killed by the Europeans during their genocide of the Americas in the fifteen hundreds. Imagine . . . imagine stopping the atomic bomb.”

  Kaelen’s words, said in an excited hush, rock me to my very core. I feel like lying down again, my head starts spinning so much, and I put a hand down, thinking. “But . . . but why would—”

  “Don’t you see?” Kaelen urges. “The Moonstone exists not in one time but in all times. It is eternal, and because of that, it can provide a window to all of history. It is fulfilling the prophecy, being what we need in our darkest hour of need. We were just stupid. We thought it would go boom and fix everything, but it isn’t. It’s a tool. And we can use the power of the Moonstone and your power to make both realms better places.”

  “It’d be like playing God,” I counter, unsure whether Kaelen’s thinking straight or if he’s more rattled by what we just went through than he’s letting on. “Kaelen, I’d love to make everything sunshine and rainbows, but I’ve seen enough movies to know that we can’t predict what’ll happen. What happens if we stop the atomic bomb but the invasion of Japan kills ten times that many? And what about the Dark Rider? I saw him, Kaelen. He was right there as Cole’s . . . I don’t know . . . doppelganger is the best word I can think of, was beheaded.”

  I don’t even want to follow that line of thought. Already, I’ve seen that the King of Hell plays beings like chess pieces. If this is another move in his game . . . it’s frightening.

  Kaelen takes in my words, finally looking pensive for a few moments. For the first time, I don’t see him with the confidence of an emperor, a man whose youth is balanced with an inherent grasp of power and good nature. Instead, I see a man who’s white-faced, who saw death and horror on a level he never expected, and it’s shaken him.

  Kaelen gets up, touching the Moonstone and murmuring an incantation so low I can barely hear the whisper of words on his lips, but nothing happens. “It’s not working.”

  “What isn’t?”

  “Before, I could at least trigger a vision. But the Moonstone, it now knows it needs you, Eve. Only your power will trigger it now because the Stone has chosen you,” Kaelen says, turning to me and looking at me with respect, fear, and a little bit of reverence in his eyes. “You are the one spoken of in the prophecy.”

  Wait, prophecy? He’s told me a little bit about it, but now, apparently, I’m showing up in ancient Fae prophecies? And he’s just now telling me about it? Now we’ve just gone off the deep end on all of this shit. “What prophecy?”

  “We must return to the castle,” Kaelen says, reaching down and picking up my bracers and collar. “I must . . . think.”

  I reluctantly put on the restraints, wincing as the feeling of diminishment returns. I try to give Kaelen his space to think as he steers the carriage back to the castle, but when we stop in the courtyard and he climbs out of the driver’s seat, I can’t hold back. “Kaelen—”

  “Eve, I’ve decided,” he says, gesturing toward a group of his Guards. “You are no longer a guest of the court. For the sake of your safety and the safety of the entire Fae realm, you must be made a ward. Therefore, you will be placed under guard at all times, and you cannot leave your chambers without my explicit permission. I’m sorry. I cannot risk the Council knowing about this or your power. It could tear us apart in a civil war.”

  Kaelen turns to walk away, but I’m shocked. “Wait, what about my Guardians? Kaelen, I can’t live without them!”

  Kaelen stops, holding up a hand to his Guard who waits a few paces away. “This is more important. You—your power—is more important.”

  “It’s why you saved me, isn’t it?” I ask. I don’t really expect an answer, but after a moment, he nods, looking at me in slight wonder.

  “Yes. I saw something in you. I recognized the power, but even more . . .”

  His face clouds again, and I cross my arms, wishing I could pull these bracers off. I’m so scared. I’m literally powerless right now. “What?”

  “You cannot tell anyone, not even your Guardians,” he says vehemently, his voice crackling with power and determination. There’s an unspoken threat there, but one that’s there nevertheless. “I will have to think more on this, but until I have a plan in place, you will have to endure not seeing your me
n. I understand it will be difficult, but it’s a matter of security.”

  Kaelen waves his Guard forward again, spinning on a heel to enter the castle. Three Guardsmen wait for me, and part of me is tempted to fight, but without my powers, I’m helpless.

  Suddenly, the magic castle looks more like a prison to me.

  Chapter 15

  Eve

  I’ve lost count of the laps I’ve made around my chambers. All I know is that I’ve been pacing for what feels like hours, unable to stop myself. I’ve done about everything else I can think of, including punching my bed until I’ve scraped up my knuckles, so it’s either walk or scream. I’m not going to give the bastards the satisfaction of making me scream, so I walk some extra laps on the stone floor.

  At least I’m not alone.

  “This is absolute bullshit!” I growl as Daelera watches me. She gave up trying to follow me around awhile ago and now sits in a chair, watching me with a worried look on her face. “I agreed to come here because I wanted to keep the peace, to learn to control my powers. I agreed because I wanted to be a force for good and because supposedly, Solaria has the greatest magic library in all the seven kingdoms. Not to become a prisoner in my own room!”

  “Eve, I’m sure His Excellency—”

  “Oh, stuff it, Dee!” I growl. “Kaelen totally stepped over the line by saying I have to sit in here like a parakeet in a cage! I’m not even supposed to see my Guardians! Don’t you get it? They’re my blood, my breath, my fucking everything!”

  Daelera just doesn’t understand. I mean, I haven’t told her anything about what happened with the Moonstone, and when she came up, she already knew the new rules that I’m forced to live under. But still . . . she doesn’t understand.