by J. D. Wright
“What’s wrong?” he asked, then was startled by the sound of thunder. He looked up into the sky. Where there were stars, only moments ago, now there was a giant storm cloud hovering over them. “Umm… Rianne. Whatever you’re thinking about... Don’t.”
“I can’t!” she said. “I can’t get it out of my head!” She opened her eyes and followed Zander’s gaze to the sky. She barely had time to realize what she was seeing before the first raindrop hit her forehead, followed by another. Suddenly, they were being drenched in rain.
“I was hoping you would imagine a river or a lake, maybe,” Zander said as rain poured down his face. He started to smile.
“I was thinking about a river. Well, a stream,” she replied. And you in it…
As quickly as the rain started, it stopped. Zander shook his head, slinging water around. Rianne started laughing and put her arm up to block her face. She began to feel a tickle in the center of her palm and looked over to see a thin stream of water coming out of her hand. Shocked, she tried to back away but didn’t get far since her arm was attached to her body.
Zander grabbed her hand and helped her to hold her arm steady. The water continued to pour out as he guided her hand over, pointing it at the fire burning on the other side of the carriage. The rainstorm must not have been large enough to reach the fire.
“Steady,” he whispered. “Push a bit harder.”
Rianne blinked her eyes, trying to focus on the magic. She took a deep breath and as she exhaled, she tightened the muscles in her hand. The water began to flow faster and further. Zander tilted her hand back and the water rose higher, making an arch in the air. It landed just shy of the fire.
“A little more,” he said, and stole a glance at her. She was calm and had a determined look on her face. He hid his smile so as not to distract her as she forced the water out a little faster and started to soak the fire with it. Soon, the fire was out and the forest was dark around them. Gently, Zander closed Rianne’s hand with his, stopping the flow of water.
Then, he held his other hand up and summoned an orb of light. He lifted his arm and sent the orb into the air. It floated above them. Rianne sighed as she watched it. It was beautiful. The light spun slowly in the sky.
She looked at him. He was still holding her hand as he looked down from the orb and met her eyes. She felt amazing. Using her magic, instead of restricting it, was a glorious feeling. So was looking into his eyes. Her entire body felt perfect. Suddenly, the thought of kissing him didn’t scare her. It excited her.
He must have been thinking the exact same thing because he leaned in and touched his lips to hers. His kiss was soft and sweet. She completely forgot that they were both soaked and standing in a dark forest. She didn’t feel cold, at all. She felt warm, then hot as her magic began to burn inside her. As the heat intensified, so did their kiss.
Zander quickly broke away and released her hand.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that,” he said.
“It’s alright.”
“No! It isn’t!” he said, nearly shouting. “I can’t not touch you. And I can’t teach you without touching you.”
“It really is alright. I’m not angry with you.”
“You aren’t thinking clearly, right now.”
“I’m thinking just fine.” She crossed her arms, irritated now. “You are the one raging for no reason. What are you so afraid of?”
“You!”
“I don’t think I’m going to hurt you. If anything, when I set something on fire, you can put it out.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m not afraid you’re going to hurt me.” Quite the opposite, actually.
“Then, what do you think I’m going to do?”
“Nothing! Let’s just go to sleep and worry about this in the morning.”
“No. You can’t just start a conversation and walk away in the middle of it.”
Zander scowled at her, but it didn’t bother her in the slightest. She continued to stand firmly in place.
“It isn’t you, really. It’s the magic.” He felt ridiculous just saying it. “It’s making me feel this way. Ever since I touched your arm when you got hit by the… whatever it was.”
“It’s making you feel angry with me?”
“No, not angry. It’s causing me to feel… other feelings.”
Rianne narrowed her eyes at him, then turned on her heel and started walking away.
“Where are you going?” he asked, raising his arms and dropping them. “You’re the one who wanted to talk about it.” He had to run to catch up with her.
“If you’re falling in love with me, Zander, why don’t you just say it? You don’t need to blame the magic for it,” she said, reaching the carriage and turning to face him.
“I am in love with you,” he said, stopping in front of her. “I was already in love with you.”
“Then, why would you blame it on the magic?”
“I’m not blaming the magic. Not really. It isn’t the magic that makes me want to be with you. But it is the magic that’s causing me to imagine you in a very inappropriate manner right now. In fact, you should probably step back a bit.”
Rianne stared at him. She hadn’t realized that he was seeing the visions, too.
“Wait. Did you say you loved me?” She expected herself to blush, but she didn’t. She wasn’t the least bit embarrassed about the idea, anymore. Something was definitely different now.
“Yes. I do. I’ve loved you for a while now. A long while…”
“How long?” she asked, stepping toward him. She could feel the air around them begin to move as she got closer to him.
“Long enough to know that if you get any closer, this night is not going to end well,” he said, stepping away from her.
She tilted her head and studied him. He didn’t trust himself around her. That much was obvious. She had never considered that he would ever take advantage of her. Something was causing this. Maybe it really was the magic. She didn’t know what visions he was having but if they were anything like her own, she understood why he was worried.
“We should try to get some sleep,” he said, looking at the ground.
This time, Rianne didn’t argue.
Just to be safe, Zander let her sleep in the carriage and he slept in the driver’s seat. She might have been out of sight, but she definitely wasn’t out of mind as he drifted off to sleep. Her face was the first thing he saw in his dreams.
The next morning, they fastened the horses back to the carriage and rode into Fairkeep. Dahlia was waiting outside of the tavern with a concerned look on her face.
“Oh, no. What’s wrong?” Rianne asked when they came to a stop in front of her. “Other than… well, you know...”
“I’ve heard quite a few conversations since last night. It seems our princess isn’t the only one in the realm to be hit by a strange red light over the past couple of weeks.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Zander asked, afraid to hear the answer.
“Yes,” Dahlia replied, nodding. “It seems that there are females all over the realm who have received the gift of magic.”
Zander and Rianne left the carriage and went into the tavern with Dahlia for breakfast. No one spoke for a while.
“Well?” Dahlia asked, looking back and forth between the two of them. “What happened last night? Did you burn the forest down?”
“No,” Rianne replied, “but I did put a few holes in one tree… with my arrows.”
“Did you stay awake the entire night? You both look terrible this morning.”
Rianne was so exhausted that she hadn’t even noticed how tired Zander looked until Dahlia mentioned it. It hadn’t been easy to sleep because her intense dreams kept waking her up.
“We need to go to Vale,” Zander said. “We need to see my father. This cannot continue.”
“I agree,” Rianne mumbled.
“It’s less than a week until the end of fall. I have to be in J
unacave soon. I can’t go to Vale,” Dahlia said, frowning.
“We know,” Zander said. “We’ll go on our own. On horseback, we can make it to Vale in five or six days. Or even four, maybe, if we don’t stop very often.”
“I’m almost afraid to let you go on your own,” Dahlia said. “I’m afraid the two of you may wander into the river and drown.”
“We’ll manage,” Rianne said, yawning. “We always manage to find a way…”
Zander smiled. It was true. They had been able to overcome much tougher obstacles than a lack of sleep. “It’s just a good thing that we didn’t sell any of the horses.”
Once Zander and Rianne were ready to go, they said farewell to Dahlia and took the northern trail, following the Cyan River toward the Valerian Mountains. Dahlia went inside the tavern and had one final drink before leaving Fairkeep and heading west toward Junacave and a royal wedding.
~*~
Tristan and Seraphina left the hall, arm in arm, heading to the terrace for their evening stroll through the gardens. At the suggestion of Isabelle, they had begun this nightly ritual in order to spend quiet time together and become better acquainted with one another. It had been difficult, at first, because neither of them knew what to say to the other. So they had walked in silence for the first couple of weeks.
Eventually, Tristan began to casually ask Seraphina questions about her day, Taten, and her childhood. Then, Seraphina started to ask her own questions and actually care enough to listen to his replies. After a while, they both began to look forward to their time together, even though neither of them had admitted it aloud.
They walked outside expecting a cool and quiet sunset and were instead met with a prince who was shooting arrows at stacks of plates and towers of goblets.
“Perhaps, you should…” Seraphina said, gesturing to Xavier. Before he could argue, she pulled her arm away and turned to walk back inside.
Tristan sighed and approached his brother.
“You’ve been drinking.”
“You’re observant.”
“Xavier, you promised me you wouldn’t resort to this. Not again.”
“No, I promised I wouldn’t bring a woman back to my chambers. That promise, I have kept.” He had no desire to lay with a woman who wasn’t Dahlia, anyway. Xavier released another arrow and narrowly missed the top of a goblet.
“So this is what you’d rather do with your evening? Destroy our mother’s dishes?”
“They are the dishes from Rianne’s wedding. Mother was going to toss them, anyway. She can’t bear to look at them. I am doing her a favor.”
“Sure, if that’s what you want to tell yourself.”
“I don’t need you to watch over me, Tristan. Go walk with your wife.”
“I was going to do just that, actually. But my wife insisted that I come here and speak with you, instead. So this is your fault.”
“Everything is my fault. Tell me something I don’t already know.”
“Our parents blame the both of us for letting Rianne and the boy go,” Tristan spoke calmly, as usual.
“It doesn’t matter, Tristan. None of this does. Go away.” He sent his next arrow flying and hit the goblet he intended to hit the last time. It was too bad that he had been aiming at the plates. His aim was usually much better than this after a few drinks.
“Is this your plan, then? To mope around the castle for the rest of your life and pine for the bard? I thought you were more courageous than this…”
“What am I supposed to do? Walk into Junacave and ask, “Where is Dahlia?””
“I would greet Breestlin, first,” Tristan replied.
Xavier was dumbfounded. “Who are you? My brother would never suggest this. You thought I was a terrible person, in the first place, for being with her in the tavern.”
“Which you ignored.”
“You also thought it was a bad idea to track her down and invite her to your wedding.”
“Which, again, you ignored. Do you see a pattern forming here?”
“I refuse to chase this woman around the realm. I will wait here and when she comes to her senses, she will return.” Xavier turned back to his targets. He nocked his next arrow and pulled the string back.
Tristan reached into his pocket and took out a small roll of parchment. “You’re right. You’re a prince. You shouldn’t appear desperate. Even if you are…”
Xavier grunted and released the arrow. He wasn’t desperate for Dahlia. He was beyond that at this point.
“That is why you need this,” Tristan said, shoving the parchment into Xavier’s chest.
“What is it?”
“Breestlin’s wedding invitation. If your bard is truly from Junacave, there is a very good chance that she will sing at that wedding.”
Xavier looked at the parchment but didn’t speak.
Tristan took the opportunity to snatch the bow from his brother’s hand, then he held it up. “And leave this here when you go.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“How many does that make now?” Dagan asked, looking around the hall.
“Five fairies today, so… twelve total. Not including the two that are already married,” Sidonie replied. “They just keep arriving. Bree is starting to lose her mind.”
“Why? The potion I gave Rowan is working, isn’t it? They shouldn’t be able to use their magic on him.”
“It is working, but that isn’t what she’s worried about. The Blood Moon is in three days and the last thing she needs right now is a dozen fairies trying to mate with the first man that they see.”
“I doubt it will be that bad,” Dagan said, shaking his head. “Now that Raven has made a temporary home in the gardens, the fairies won’t even be in the castle for most of the time.” He tipped his goblet up and drank the rest of his wine. When he lowered the goblet, he stopped and began to stare straight ahead. Sidonie noticed.
“What are you looking at?” she asked, turning her head. “What in the—”
Cassandra was standing just inside the doorway, holding a ball of fire in her hand and smiling at them. She closed her hand and walked over.
“You, too?” Dagan asked.
“I am the second female in Elmber but the only one in my family. So far, at least,” Cassandra said, taking a seat beside Dagan. “On the way here, I came across a young girl who had just received magic. She was around ten years old.”
“Poor thing,” Sidonie said, looking down at her plate. She suddenly wasn’t very hungry. “I can’t imagine what these girls must be going through.”
“You can’t imagine?” Dagan asked, laughing. “Really?”
“Well… I didn’t get all of my magic at once and I certainly wasn’t a child when I did. Not to mention, I had you to help me.”
Dagan smiled at her. It had actually been his fault that her magic had appeared. Meeting him had triggered her dormant magic and caused a lot of problems for the both of them over the past couple of years. Even still, he wouldn’t have changed a thing. Except, he sometimes wished he had found her sooner.
“I honestly didn’t believe you when the eagle arrived,” Cassandra said, stealing a biscuit from Dagan’s plate. “I didn’t get hit by the light until the next morning.”
Sidonie tried to ignore the fact that Cassandra stole Dagan’s biscuit instead of taking one from the basket in the middle of the table. She bit her lip and tried to focus on their conversation, instead.
“We wouldn’t have believed it either if we hadn’t seen it ourselves,” Sidonie said. “Dagan and I were in the village when Greta received magic. We were visiting the apothecary she owns with her brother. The strange thing is, neither of her parents had magic. It was one of her great-grandparents, instead.”
“That is strange,” Cassandra said, taking a bite of the biscuit.
Dagan reached into the bread basket at the same time as Sidonie. His hand brushed against hers and he felt the hair rise on his arm. Sidonie felt it, too, because she quickly pulled her
hand back. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, but it was the first time it occurred when they weren’t in private. Cassandra noticed, as well.
“The Blood Moon is already starting to affect you, I see,” Cassandra said. “It’s only going to get worse, you know?”
“It’s gotten worse in the past day or so,” Dagan said, deciding he wasn’t hungry for another biscuit, after all. He did, however, want to nibble on Sidonie’s ear. He had to look away from her because he was afraid he might actually lean across the table and do it.
Rhea entered the hall and walked straight over to them. She quickly sat on the bench, beside Sidonie.
“I need a potion. One like you gave to Rowan to stop my sisters from seducing him,” she said, quickly.
“Sure,” Dagan said, laughing. “Who are they obsessing over now?”
“It’s for Reeve,” Rhea replied.
“Reeve? I didn’t think your sisters were bothering him, anymore?”
“They aren’t. I need to protect him from me.”
Dagan opened his mouth but couldn’t find the words.
“What do you mean?” Sidonie asked. She wanted to laugh, but Rhea’s expression was anything but amusing. The fairy looked very serious.
“I have been using my magic on him. Unknowingly. I don’t realize it’s happening until it’s too late.” Rhea was beginning to become scared of herself.
“I honestly doubt that he minds being seduced by his wife,” Dagan said, shaking his head.
“He fell asleep while riding his horse yesterday and almost fell off,” Rhea replied. “He can’t get any sleep at night because… Well…”
“Oh.” Dagan understood exactly what she meant now. Reeve was human. He couldn’t go without sleep in the same way that a wizard, sorceress, or fairy could. “That is dangerous.”
“Yes,” Rhea said, nodding. “That’s why I need the potion. Soon. Like… now, maybe.”
“Of course,” Sidonie said. “There is a bottle already made. Let’s go to the tower and I’ll find it.”
“Thank you,” Rhea replied. Suddenly, she noticed there was a stranger sitting across from her. “Oh, no. I am so sorry.”
