by Bonnie Lamer
Quinn’s attempt to appear humble is lackluster at best. I am not a fool. “I see you practiced the speech the King forced you to make,” I sneer.
Quinn laughs without a trace of humor. “I do not make speeches insisted upon by others, even if he is King. I see that my apology is in vain in your eyes.”
When I start to make a move towards him, Xandra puts her body firmly between us. “And I thought I was good at making people mad. Look, I’m going downstairs, and quite honestly, I don’t want you in my bedroom, so please…” she gestures toward the door, and with a curt nod, Quinn finally realizes she is serious. Xandra forces me to wait several heartbeats before following him for fear I will do something that will cause irrevocable damage to his body.
Chapter 24
The library is crowded when we arrive. Quinn did not come here alone. He has Orwick and another Giant with him. Not to be outdone, Dagda has assembled five members of his security team.
Dagda is seated in a burgundy leather wingback chair and there are several more of them arranged in a semi-circle. Across from him, on a Giant size loveseat and flowered cloth chair are the Giants.
As soon as we’re all seated and Breena has served coffee from an enormous urn, Dagda begins the conversation. “My daughter has been held for two days in a mineshaft with a broken leg and a concussion. She was sedated and attempts were made to convince her that a different reality existed. In hopes, I believe, that the infection she was suffering from would kill her before she came to her senses and was able to heal herself.”
A strange expression flows over Xandra’s face. I do not believe she had studied the behavior of her captors to this degree. The realization of how close to death she was finally sinks in.
“And your people have proven that Ellu is responsible?” Quinn asks.
Dagda nods. “Yes.”
“Then it will be war, as I have pushed for,” Quinn says with a grim smile that does little to hide his glee. Giants love war.
“What happens to the Daityas if the Devas go to war with them and they lose?” Xandra asks.
Dagda takes a moment to answer and all eyes are on him. Finally, he says, “Those who do not resist the attempts of the Devas to rid this realm of its traitors will be allowed to keep their property and homes. They will live under the Charter that will be laid out between me and the Devas. Those who do resist yet still survive will surrender their property to the crown and will be tried as traitors, which is punishable by death.”
“What happens to their property?” Xandra asks. “Do you keep it?”
Dagda is wary, now. “Yes, it will be mine to do with as I please; though I am likely to divide it amongst the Devas who will have put their lives on the line in defense of this realm.”
Quinn is inadequately stifling a grin. “That would please my men greatly.” I bet it would.
The conversation quickly becomes a strategy-planning session. Dagda and Quinn begin to lay out a plan for battle, hoping they will have enough time to keep surprise on their side. Since Ellu is in such an unpredictable state, it is possible he could attack at any time. Hell, he may even be marching his army to the Devas village right now for all we know.
Out of the blue, Xandra asks, “Do you need me to be here?”
Dagda sits back in his chair and assesses her for a moment. “No, not at this stage of the game. But, I do expect you to be involved and fight with us.”
Xandra is dead serious when she says, “Yeah, about that. I’m more of a fight-alone kind of person. No offense.” Her distaste for this whole affair is apparent in every word.
“Xandra,” Dagda says before she reaches the door. With her hand on the knob, she turns around. “Quinn has requested a hand-fasting to further unite the Giants and the Fae.”
Ire is oozing from her pores. Mine as well. Magic flows into me, looking for a target. Why would he bring this up right now?
“Your response was?” she grinds out.
He gets a smug look on his face. “That my daughter has the right to refuse any suitor who does not please her.”
Her anger deflates immediately. With a smile, she leaves. I turn my head to Quinn who seems to have absorbed all of the anger that has seeped out of her. I give him a satisfied smile.
The meeting with Quinn drags on. I have very little input as I am not well versed in Giant warfare. After a couple of hours, I can no longer keep my eyes open. Seeing this, Dagda says, “Kallen, I can discuss the details with you tomorrow. You need to rest now so you are prepared for battle.”
I want to argue, not wanting to appear weak in front of Quinn, but my body will not let me. It is too exhausted. I nod and stand up. Without a backward glance, I leave the room.
I find Xandra waiting for me in the corridor near our room. With an appreciative smile, I pull her into my arms. “God, I missed you,” I murmur into her hair.
She winds her arms around my neck and moves so she can put her lips to mine. Her kiss is hot, full of enough passion that it could bring most Fairies to their knees. What it does not have is Xandra’s touch. Immediately, I know it is not her.
I shove whoever this is away from me and take a step back. “Who are you?” I demand.
She approaches me again, a small pout on her lips as if I have hurt her feelings. “I know you are not Xandra,” I growl. Magic rushes into me, more magic than I have ever pulled. The anger and frustration of the past couple of days has me drowning in the need to take revenge on someone. The imposter standing in front of me will do. I throw my magic at her, shoving it down her throat so fast and hard she does not have time to scream before her vocal cords are singed. Grabbing her arm, I drag her down the hall to the bedroom door and open it with a blast of magic.
I find Xandra out of bed and staring at a clone of me on the floor. “It is good to see that we can both feel the difference of another’s touch,” I say, trying to control my fury. And my fear. For the first time in my life, I feel myself losing control of my magic. It swirls around me like a cloud, barely contained by my will. A sudden crack in the wall startles Xandra and she pulls her own magic.
“Kallen, you have to get it under control,” she says, not knowing how to handle this situation in reverse.
I shove Xandra’s clone into the room and stand in the doorframe, putting my hands on either side and pushing against them. I focus all of my energy on regaining control.
“Kallen, tell me if you need help,” Xandra says when my magic refuses to calm. That is not a good idea.
I shake my head, not wanting her to help, and slowly, my magic starts to settle. My knuckles are white and sore from squeezing the doorframe, but I am slowly regaining control. After a few deep breaths, I relax slightly. I am able to dispense of the excess magic that was trying to spin out of control.
Xandra comes to me and wraps her arms around my waist. “I’m the real Xandra, I promise,” she murmurs against my chest.
“I can tell,” I reply, my words sharper than I had intended. Guilt and shame are mixed into my anger and I have to get this off my chest. I hope Xandra can forgive me for yet again taking too long to figure out it was not her kissing me. Why does this keep happening? “I fear I must apologize.” My words are softer this time.
Xandra leans back and frowns up at me. “For what?”
I brace myself for her response to what I have to say. “Because I let that woman touch me, for I believed it was you.”
Several emotions wash over her face. Jealousy is the first, and then anger. But I am surprised when her emotional rollercoaster ends on embarrassment. “Um, me too.”
I look at her, really look at her. Several buttons on her shirt are missing. The sight of this is enough for me to pull all that magic I just released back inside of me.
“Kallen, stop it,” she warns, ready to pull magic if she needs it.
With more effort than it took the first time, I slowly gain control again. Seeing this, Xandra turns to the two imposters who are smiling at our drama. “Why are yo
u so happy?” she asks.
The Xandra clone responds. “Tales of your power have not been exaggerated.” Looking at me, she adds with a hungry grin, “Neither have the tales of your love.” She licks her lips in a way that makes me uncomfortable, feeling a little dirty.
Xandra is also uncomfortable with the lip licking move. She pulls magic and throws it at the other her, ready to cram it down her throat. It is a surprise to both of us when her magic meets an invisible wall. Xandra responds with more magic and the wall begins to buckle. This is when the other me steps in, adding his magic to their defense.
The smiles have been wiped from both of their mouths. When I add my magic to Xandra’s, they are both struggling to keep us at bay. Around us, the house is reacting to such an influx of magic. The walls are shaking and plaster is falling to the floor in chunks. Getting tired of the push and pull, Xandra bolsters our attack with an astounding amount of magic. With a wicked little laugh, she starts counting down from ten, implying that when she reaches one, their magical wall will be destroyed. I believe her.
We did not count on another arriving. A woman appears from nowhere. She is not of Fairy origin as she has red hair and green eyes. I am surprised to see that Xandra is looking at her with recognition. In shock, she even lets her magic ease a bit.
“Xandra,” the newcomer says in a soothing voice, “you are certainly a force to be reckoned with.”
Xandra is not soothed. “Who are you?” she demands.
The woman smiles as if there is not a magical tug of war going on. “My name is Rhamba. I have come to collect my friends.”
“You cannot have them,” I growl.
Rhamba laughs. “Fairies are so serious. I will have my friends.” Turning to Xandra, she says, “I look forward to the next time we meet. We have much to discuss.” Then she is gone. And so are the other two.
Struggling to let go of her own magic, Xandra turns to me. “What were they?”
I shake my head, sharing her struggle with magic. “I do not know.”
“Are the two of you done trying to cave the house in?” Radella asks dryly from the door. “You could have killed everyone else here.” Hopefully she would have been first.
Xandra tilts her head to the side, and in a snarky voice says, “Sorry, we were kind of busy fighting off magical creatures who can impersonate whomever they want. Maybe we should make sure that you’re not an imposter.”
Radella takes a nervous step backwards. “What are you talking about?”
Xandra’s brow creases. “The three people who were just here, you couldn’t have missed them.”
Confusion is plain on Radella’s face. “No,” she says slowly like she is talking to a toddler, “there was no one here except you two. Are you sure your concussion is not affecting your ability to think clearly? Seeing people who do not exist is a sure sign of mental instability.” What is she playing at? Why would she refuse to admit to seeing them?
“Right, you really didn’t see the three people we were fighting?” Xandra asks, shaking her head in disbelief.
I am sick of the Fairy’s games. “Radella, stop this at once,” I say sternly as if she is the two year old now.
She puts her hands on her hips. “You two are the ones seeing imaginary people and you tell me to stop?”
Xandra looks up at me. “You really did see them, right?”
I nod jerkily. “I pushed one into the room, remember?”
A flash of jealousy crosses her face but she tamps it down. “Then why didn’t she see them?”
“See who?” Kegan asks from behind Radella.
“Oh no,” Alita says from behind him. She drops to her knees with her hands on her head.
Kegan crouches down in front of her. “What is it?”
“This whole area is filled with black magic,” she says. And then she faints. Kegan catches her before she hits the floor. Lifting her into his arms, he carries her back to her room, out of harm’s way.
Stating the obvious, Xandra says, “Whoever those people were, they definitely use black magic.” .
“You two really saw others in the room?” Radella asks. Doubt no longer clouds her words.
“Yes,” I say, controlling my temper. “Two were posing as Xandra and me, and the other was here to retrieve the first two.”
With her hands on her hips, she says, “You are supposed to be this all-powerful being. Why did you not stop them?”
Violent emotions roll over Xandra’s face and she stalks towards Radella. As much as I would like to see her punch the Fairy in the mouth, I grab her arms, holding her back. “This is not going to help,” I whisper in her ear.
“Maybe not, but I’ll feel a whole lot better,” she growls. I can relate to that; almost enough to let her go. I do not. Regardless, Radella backs up the three steps Xandra took towards her. “Instead of insulting me, you should do your job” Xandra snarls, “and figure out how you’re going to keep Dagda safe if they come back. Because if my magic wasn’t strong enough, do you really think yours will be?”
Radella blanches. She had not even considered this. I shake my head. I truly have no idea why Dagda hired such an incompetent Fairy. She turns and practically runs away. Hopefully, she is going to warn Dagda of this new threat.
I turn to find Xandra deep in thought until she runs a hand through her still wet hair and her fingers get caught. She mutters an oath that makes me chuckle. As she tries to work out the snarl, she says, “Kallen, there’s something I have to do. You probably aren’t going to like it, but I would really like it if you came with me. I’ll understand if you don’t want to.”
Just the thought of her leaving this house without me puts a chill in my heart. I put my hands on her shoulders and turn her until she is facing me. “If you think you are going anywhere without me, you have not recovered fully from your concussion.”
“Aren’t you going to ask me what it is?”
I shake my head because I do not care. If she is going, then I am going, no matter where. “I am not.” I lean down and kiss her lightly, then lean my forehead against hers. “Xandra, I do not care if you are about to commit murder. The last two days of not knowing where you were, or even if you were alive, would be worth any darkness on my soul from helping you commit any number of atrocities.”
She giggles. “I’m not planning to kill anybody.”
I stand up straight and grin. “That is a relief to hear.”
Grabbing my hand, Xandra abandons her attempts of de-snarling her hair and says, “Come on. We have to find Breena.” I did not expect her to say that.
Chapter 25
After leaving our bedroom, we find the house in an uproar. Dagda is barking orders. Radella is corralling her security team and trying to come up with a defensive plan. Quinn is happily encouraging all who will listen to wage war immediately.
Everyone is so busy trying to get someone else to listen to them, no one sees Xandra and me slipping past. We make it to the kitchen without alerting a soul. We find Breena’s father sitting alone at the table, hunched over a piece of wood he is whittling.
“Do you know where Breena is?” Xandra asks him. He mumbles something unintelligible. He does not even look up at us.
Not wanting to risk being seen by the angry mob planning war, we decide to wait in the kitchen for her. Fifteen minutes later, Breena finally shows up. “We must go,” she says without preamble. I guess explanations will not be forthcoming.
We turn to follow her out the kitchen door, but the old man clamps his weathered hand on Xandra’s arm. He holds the little figure he whittled out to her. Reluctantly, she takes it.
With eyes more lucid than I have ever seen in him, he says to Xandra, “For the beautiful virgin who captures hearts, a touch of blood holds them in place,” he says. “A touch of poison prevents escape.”
I give Breena a questioning glance over Xandra’s head. She simply shrugs and shakes her head. She has no better idea of what the old man is talking about than we do. Xa
ndra forces a smile on her lips and says, “Thank you.” She shoves the object into the pocket of her sweater.
“We must go,” Breena says impatiently.
I still have no idea where we are going, and that is starting to concern me. But, when Xandra grasps my hand and tugs, I follow her out the door. The night temperature has dropped and Xandra shutters at the cold. I believe she warms up quickly as she struggles to keep up with Breena. The Giant is moving faster than even I can keep up with. As we walk, Breena jumps at every little noise, which in turn makes Xandra jump. I am just trying to figure where the hell we are and where we are going. Breena is attempting to hide behind trees every few yards or so. Who does she think is after us?
