He’s right. While having my Guardians with me during my use of the Moonstone could be helpful, I don’t want them to risk their lives if things get dangerous. And if it’s anything like last time, they may get pulled into the past with me. That complicates things even more.
But are my thoughts clear? Or is the power of the Moonstone influencing me?
“In for a penny, in for a pound,” I murmur, feeling like a miserable failure that I’m not pushing harder for the guys to be here with me, but it might be the only way. “Fine, but they do need to get off those work details and away from Connor.”
“Agreed,” Kaelen says, closing his eyes for a moment. “The order is given. Now, shall we? I see you’re wearing pants today, so riding will be faster.”
We hurry to the Moonstone chamber, and as soon as I step inside, I see the light blue pulsing column, my worries dropping away. “What are we going to do?”
“Go back again,” Kaelen says. “See if maybe we can change a bad turn in history and measure the effects.”
“You do know the butterfly effect, right? Okay movie, horrible sequel, great idea?” I ask, and Kaelen nods. “So you really want to try and go back?”
He nods. “You’re right in that it could cause major change, but that’s also what we’re hoping for . . . major positive change.”
“And we could be hastening the development of the atomic bomb,” I point out. “I’m sure that one had effects in your realm.”
Kaelen nods. “But we have to try. And I’m thinking of a change that will prolong a period of peace and development and save hundreds from a senseless purge.”
I’m reluctant, but I know that I want to see at least one more time in order to see if the Dark Rider will be there again. “Fine. Remove the bracers and let’s boogie.”
Kaelen removes my restraints, and the surge of power is clean and wonderful. I inhale deeply, letting myself adjust before Kaelen speaks. “Let’s go back. Fifteen fifty-three, London.”
“You think you can aim the Moonstone?” I ask, and Kaelen nods.
“I’ve done it, at least in terms of getting visual glimpses of the past. Focus on the image. Sixteenth-century England. December. Feel the cold, feel the creeping chill . . . then imagine who you want to see. Mary.”
“Who’s Mary?” I ask, trying to form the image in my mind.
“Mary I, Queen of England,” Kaelen says. “Sister of Elizabeth I and killer of hundreds of so-called heretics during her bloody five-year reign.”
I nod, focusing on the image and the death in my mind. Kaelen takes my hand, and I reach for the Moonstone again. With a flash, we disappear.
“Ugh,” I murmur as I bend over, trying not to vomit. Aiming the Moonstone is a lot more difficult than just being taken wherever it happens to want to hurtle me. “That part sucked.”
“What happened?” Kaelen asks, and I stand back up, taking deep breaths as I look around. I swear I’ve dropped back into Lunaria, into the worst parts of the Warrens. Houses are filthy, the street is mud, and around me are people coughing, hacking, and retching while fear seems to fill the air. “This isn’t right . . .”
Down the street, two men in horrific-looking masks, like crows or something, pull a cart behind them. “Bring out your dead!” one of them yells. “Bring out the dead!”
The door next to us opens, and a sickly-looking man carries the wasted body of a child in his arms, tears running down his seamed cheeks. I gasp as I see the black marks on his fingers and the swelling on his arms.
“Kaelen . . . we’re not in the right place.”
“Where are we?” he asks, and I look around and more dead are brought out.
“We’re in the Black Death period.”
Chapter 18
Cole
“Well?”
Tyler dusts off this pants, shaking his head in muted exasperation. Cole turns away, stifling a curse as anger bubbles up inside him again. He knows the others can feel it. It’s probably coming off him in waves with every step, but he can’t help it.
They haven’t seen Eve in nearly four days, not since their lovemaking and tense departure. When twenty-four hours had passed and they were still separated, he tried to keep calm. After all, based on the rather sadistic pleasure that Captain Connor took in making his new Lunarian ‘recruits’ miserable, all of it could be pinned on him.
But as one day became two, then three, all of Guardians started to get frayed nerves. For Cole, it’s because he’s not used to playing the backseat. Since meeting Eve, he’s never gone more than a day without seeing her and protecting her, and in these dangerous times, that need to make sure she’s safe and cared for is like a burn in his stomach.
“Okay,” he finally says, turning around to watch Tyler getting a drink of water. “What did it look like?”
“Remember the last Guardsman choosing ceremony we went to, where Cassina reviewed and picked out her bedmate to ‘honor?’ Kinda like that, but with more weapons and less nudity,” Tyler replies, wiping at his face and trying to clean off the dirt. Animals might not deign to show their faces inside Castle Solaria, but dust and grime lives everywhere, especially crawlspaces. “No wonder Connor’s investigation into our attacker is going nowhere. Half the Solarian Guard is stationed outside Eve’s room.”
“No way we could get her past them then,” Cole says, running a hand through his black hair and for the first time in a long time remembering it. Since Eve’s story of seeing him in the city of Nanking, he’s been aware more than ever about his ‘weird’ black hair in a castle full of blonds. “Jacob, what have you found?”
“Scaling the walls could be possible, but doing it unseen? I’d have to have magic far beyond my abilities. The Guards are in the courtyard and patrolling the walls constantly,” Jacob replies. “Trust me, I’d love to try because I know you three couldn’t follow and I’d have her all to myself, but it’s not happening.”
Cole nods, sitting down on one of their hard-as-iron bunk beds and trying to think. “Perhaps Lightwing is taking the threat against Eve seriously.”
“But that does nothing to help the threat against us,” Noah points out. “Every lead we’ve found has ended up dead.”
“Har-har,” Jacob cracks sarcastically, and Noah chuckles. “Didn’t know you had that much wit in you, Noah.”
Noah shrugs. They had used all of their free time since the attempt trying to find out who’d sent the assassin after Cole, but so far, other than one other dead body found in a tavern right outside the castle walls, there was nothing.
“Can we think of no other way inside Eve’s room?” Cole asks, looking around at his brothers. “Are we really that inept?”
“There’s always one way, but I don’t think you’d like it, Cole,” Noah says. “The direct approach.”
Cole stops, thinking. For nearly a week now, he’s tried to do things the ‘right way,’ being the professional soldier. After all, five hundred plus years of experience as a noble and a Guardsman were drilled into him. He hadn’t backed down against the arrogant Connor, but at the same time, he hadn’t tried to intentionally antagonize the man. Jacob is doing a good enough job of that as it is.
“We cannot take on a platoon of Guardsmen unarmed,” Cole finally says, “but we need to find options. Come on, let’s scout.”
“You know, I just had an idea,” Jacob says as they leave the barracks. “Shifting.”
Cole shakes his head. “Already tried it. The whole castle is enchanted with an anti-Shift field.”
Jacob nods, unsurprised. With the ability to change from normal to nearly any animal they had trained for, the Fae Shifting ability is a powerful infiltration tool. After all, they’d used it to a good extent within New Haven.
But after figuring out how to disrupt Shifting, noble Fae had quickly enchanted their valuable areas with fields that prevented any change in form. It isn’t perfect, since someone already Shifted could enter an anti-Shift field and decide to stay that way until leaving the
field. Theoretically, an assassin could Shift into a deadly snake, crawl through the castle, and kill their victim, only to escape the same way.
Of course, that meant most nobles had more than one layer of defense, but it was theoretically possible. Not that it helps them, since crawling into Eve’s room wouldn’t let them Shift back, nor take her with them.
“You know, when we get a chance, we should try and teach Eve to Shift,” Tyler says as they try to casually walk around the courtyard near Eve’s room, looking for any possibility of getting inside that wing of the palace. “With her power level, it should be an easy matter for her.”
“I sort of prefer her just the way she is,” Cole counters lightly, trying to smile. “Besides, if she can Shift, what’s stopping her from going back to her old look?”
It’s Tyler’s turn to chuckle as he stops and looks at Cole. “You really do like the new fangs, don’t you?”
Cole lifts an eyebrow, remembering how sexy it felt to have the smooth, hard twin shafts rubbing over the sides of his cock while Eve’s lips and tongue teased and sucked him. The memory makes him stiffen slightly in his pants, and he shrugs. “Don’t you?”
Tyler opens his mouth to object, then stops, blushing. “Yeah. And have you noticed she’s looking a little tanned now? I thought it was just all the sunlight from our travels to the Vale, but it was more noticeable after her fight with the Dark Rider.”
“She is positively cafe au lait now,” Jacob confirms, looking up and around. “I swear, every change makes her more and more beautiful to me.”
“To all of us,” Noah says quietly, sighing. “Well?”
“Nothing,” Jacob says. “I really—”
“What are you doing?”
Cole turns to see Captain Connor crossing the courtyard, his arrogant face filled with pique that the four had found the energy to leave the barracks. “Taking a walk, getting some fresh air.”
“If you need some fresh air and to work off energy, I’m sure I can find some extra duty for you four Lunarian slackers,” Connor says, still trying to be intimidating and mostly failing. For a castle that doesn’t allow shifting, it certainly has an annoying gnat working inside it. “This courtyard is part of the inner castle and isn’t open for casual tourists.”
“We are neither casual nor tourists,” Cole replies. “As you well know . . . Captain.”
The edge on Cole’s use of the rank is clearly meant to disrespect Connor, and the man stiffens, glaring at him. “Go back to the barracks.”
Cole’s had enough and crosses his arms over his chest. “No.”
“What?” Connor asks, his face flushing red as he steps closer. “That was an order.”
“And as we’re not on duty, I said no,” Cole growls. “For a week now, we’ve had to listen to your little jibes, the comments that are just loud enough that you can play them off, about smells whenever we’re around, or slights against so-called disloyal people. You don’t know us, you don’t understand us, and you wouldn’t know a true warrior’s nobility if it came up and bit you in your pompous ass. Captain.”
Connor looks like he’s about to turn into a tomato, his face flushes so red, but Cole doesn’t care. He’s put up with a lot in his life, a lot of it self-inflicted. He’s faced exile, the slaughter of his friends, and centuries of service to an arrogant queen, only to fall in love with a half-Fae half-demon and all that entailed.
He’s put up with a lot . . . but Captain Connor might just be the straw that broke the dragon’s back.
“You have ten seconds to leave this courtyard or—”
“Get out of my face before I put you through the parapet wall,” Cole replies, cutting Connor off. “You can put me in the dungeon or the stockade, but you’ll be giving that order from the hospital.”
“That’s it. Cole Wintersong, I hereby order—”
Cole’s hand is bunched, ready to strike Connor down when a voice calls out from the window. “There you guys are!”
The musical voice stops his fist a split second before he’s ready to cave Connor’s face in, and Cole’s eyes swing to the window. It’s Eve, her eyes lit up and her face so beautiful that it makes him want to cry. “Eve!”
“I’ve been looking all over for you guys!” she says. “Wait right there!”
She pulls back from the window, and Cole looks back down at Connor, who’s still red-faced. “Have a good afternoon . . . Captain.”
Connor looks like he’s about to make something more of it, but before he can, Eve emerges into the courtyard dressed in a beautiful light summer dress that makes Cole’s heart yearn for her more than ever. She crosses the courtyard, almost throwing herself into their arms as the five of them hug.
“I’m so sorry, guys. I know I said a day, but . . . you know,” she says, the smell of her hair calming Cole better than any potion. “What’s going on?”
“Your . . . Guardians seem to have a problem following orders,” Connor says, and Eve turns to him, lifting an eyebrow.
“Captain Connor, His Excellency told me he ordered you to back off my beloved men,” she says, her voice going slightly sharp. “Did you not get the message?”
“Apparently not,” Connor says, looking at Cole with eyes that clearly convey that this isn’t over. “I will discuss this with His Excellency at the earliest opportunity.”
Connor turns and leaves, and Eve turns to the four of them, grinning. “It’s so good to see you guys. I’ve missed you so much, and I’ve got a plan!”
“If it doesn’t involve escaping to the Highlands and living like noble savages, I’m going to be disappointed,” Jacob says, his voice lighter than Cole has heard in days. “And you don’t want to disappoint me, do you, Princess?”
Eve tilts her head, and for a moment, Cole wonders if she’s confused by what Jacob just said, but then her smile broadens and she laughs. “Come off it, silly. Listen, I’m not ready to run away from here, but I did talk with Kaelen, and he apologized to me. He just got caught up in a bunch of bureaucratic nonsense. I mean, he does have a kingdom to run, right?”
Cole doesn’t like it, but with Eve here again, her eyes alight with happiness and looking so beautiful that his throat wants to tighten up, he can only nod. “Okay.”
“Good,” Eve says, taking his and Noah’s arms. “Then I’m taking you four out on a date.”
“Oh, really?” Noah asks, sounding amused and charmed. “And where are we going?”
“I told you guys, didn’t I? Tonight’s the first night of the Nine Brothers’ Festival, and I’m looking forward to it. Come on, I didn’t have the chance to take you to the Haven County Fair. The least we can do is have some fun tonight, right? What do you say?”
Cole looks at his brothers, who give him quick little nods. “Okay, Princess. Let’s go to the festival.”
Chapter 19
Eve
“We’re what?” Kaelen asks as the masked men with the carts stop to collect more bodies.
“The Black Death,” I reiterate, pointing at one of the bodies with the distinctive black fingers caused by the plague. Even though I know from last time that I’m just inhabiting a shell, I still don’t want to touch a diseased body. “Do you know of it?”
“Barely,” Kaelen admits. “Most of my study of human history has been where it has intersected with the Fae in some way. Is this a result of war or violence?”
“Not quite,” I admit. “Come with me.”
We hurry in the opposite direction of the cart with its pile of bodies until we reach a large rectangular plaza. Even here, though, I can see the bodies lying in the street, the dead and dying that were just left here by desperate families so ignorant of the actual cause of the plague that they turned on anyone who showed any sign of illness.
“This isn’t England,” Kaelen fumes when I point out an open part of the plaza and lead him over, sitting down. “The few signs I saw looked . . . different.”
“German,” I murmur, looking around. I can smell . . . fil
th, mostly, but there’s water nearby. “I caught one of the words, not that there are too many. I’m no linguist, but I’d suspect we’re in what’ll become known as Germany.”
In a cathedral which somehow looks unfinished, bells start to toll out sonorously, and I look as frightened, scared people start to leave. Some are weeping, and others bear the shell-shocked look that seems to follow horror everywhere it goes. I saw that look too many times during the Para Wars, sometimes in my own mirror.
“How’d we end up here?” Kaelen asks, pissed off. “You were thinking of England, right?”
“Yes, but . . .” I reply, thinking back. Right there at the end, in the flash, I felt something different from last time. It was there and gone so quickly that I wasn’t sure what I felt. “I think something took over the trip. It felt like a push away from our goal.”
Kaelen stops, then looks at me. “I felt it too. I thought it was just part of the travel experience. So . . . what’s the Black Death?”
“The bubonic plague,” I reply, looking around. “It swept through Europe starting in the mid-thirteen hundreds, with smaller outbreaks for the next five hundred years or so. But the first one was the big one. I remember reading in school that it killed almost a hundred million people.”
Kaelen blinks, stunned as he looks around. “We’re in a plague zone?”
I nod. “It was spread by rats, or more specifically, the fleas that lived on the rats. They’d bite the humans and spread the disease, other fleas would bite the infected humans, and so on and so forth. While cleanliness might be next to godliness, they haven’t gotten the message at this point in time.”
Kaelen shivers, and I wonder if he’s a little bit of a germaphobe. Considering I’ve never seen a Fae with even a sniffle, I wouldn’t be surprised. “So it was . . . fleas? Didn’t these people know they just needed to bathe and wash their clothes?”
“No,” I reply, watching as the trickle of parishioners finishes leaving the cathedral. “These people didn’t know about germs, or microbes, or anything like that. Their noses are desensitized to the stench around them, and they think the disease is the wrath of an angry God on them for their sins.”
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