by H. D. Gordon
Adriel’s hand found mine, pulling me out of my thoughts and observations.
“Stay close,” he whispered.
He didn’t have to tell me twice.
I stayed on his heels as he moved silently through the Forest, taking the smallest of moments to admire how beautiful the male was. It was not just his physical form, but the aura of goodness that hung around him. It was so obvious that I wondered at how I had not seen it before, at how I could have ever thought him a monster.
A sound to our left stopped us in our tracks, and I scanned the area but could see nothing amiss. Still, my other senses told me that we were not alone. That we were being watched.
From the way Adriel paused, his wide shoulders tensing and his head tilting in an unconsciously predatory manner, I knew he felt it, too.
We waited a few heartbeats, but when nothing attacked, we kept moving forward.
“Elderflower grows around the banks of the Silver River,” Aysari had told us. “If you follow those strong noses of yours, you should be able to find it. The river smells of sulfur, but the winds in the Fae Forest can be purposely misleading, and the fog can cause disorientation after prolonged exposure.”
Adriel began moving forward again as if we shared these thoughts. If nothing was going to attack us, but instead only intended to stare at us from a distance, that was more than fine by me.
Adriel’s head tilted back, his nose testing the air. He glanced back at me, his face communicating his question. Taking the lead, I drew a deep breath and closed my eyes.
Sulfur, to the east. I was sure of it.
I nodded and took his hand, leading the way. Adriel trailed along behind me, and I felt safe with him at my back. As safe as one could feel in a place as strange as this, anyway.
We continued our trek onward. Sweat broke out over my brow, trickled down my spine. The light pink fog covering the ground shifted and stirred as we passed through, the fluffy leaves of the trees floating down around us at intervals.
The deeper we travelled into the Fae Forest, the more silent the wood seemed to grow.
At last, we came upon the Silver River, the sulfur smell hanging over it almost enough to make my stomach turn. Again, I stared as I took sight of the mythical body of water. I’d read about it in one of the books in Mina’s library. The waters were indeed a translucent silver, and they were said to have healing capabilities.
“You’ll already be stealing the Elderflower from the Forest,” Eryx had warned. “Steal from the River at your own risk. Everything you take from the forest has its price.”
The more the Fae couple had briefed us, the less enthusiastic I had become about this mission.
Adriel’s hand tightened on mine, pulling me back to the present. We stepped up closer to the water together, scanning its banks for the Elderflower.
Another thing I had read about in the books in Mina’s library.
Elderflower was as rare a plant as they came, and its magical properties had a whole slew of uses. In this case, we would need it to complete the spell that would release the magical collars around the Dogs’ necks, but no one really knew all the things the flower was capable of.
Adriel and I had only to walk along the bank a few yards before we came to the first patch of Elderflower. Again, I was awestruck with the ethereal quality. The flower looked like a cousin of a lily, only the petals were much longer. The white of them glowed like the sword of an Angel, and in the center, red as deep as summer skies spilled outward. They glowed off the surface of the Silver River, which doubled their beauty by reflecting them like a mirror.
For whatever reason, we approached the plant with caution, and when I stooped to gather a couple of the flowers, I hesitated. I looked over at Adriel. He didn’t question my pause. He felt it, too.
Whereas before, I had sensed the presence of someone watching, there hadn’t been any particular malevolence behind the feeling. Now, the hair on the back of my neck rose, and the Wolf in me perked up her head.
“How curious,” chimed a voice that came from nowhere and everywhere at once. “I wonder, what would a Mixbreed and a Moonchild be doing in my realm? And without any kind of permission.”
There was a heartbeat of silence. And then the owner of the voice revealed herself.
If I’d stared at the wonders of this place before, I absolutely gawked at the ruler of it.
With a grin as wide as a shark’s, and teeth just as sharp, Tristell the Fae Queen descended from the canopy.
5
Rook
The Elderflower was only a few feet away.
If I was quick enough, I could grab it and then Adriel could use his magic to get us out of here.
As if the intent had been read in my mind, half a dozen Fae Guardians appeared around us, bows and arrows at the ready. I knew by the looks on their faces that if I tried to grab the flower now, those arrows would sail right for my chest.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to come into someone’s house without greeting them?” the Fae Queen asked.
I removed my eyes from the Guardians to really look at her for the first time. Her eyes were large and slanted, her face lovely but terrifying. Wings as big as her body were tucked behind her back, the feathers a vibrant blue that shifted to gold and green depending on how the light touched them. She stood upright on two legs, but where nails should have been on her hands and feet, there were deadly sharp talons. She wore a long gown that shifted in color as she moved, as though the very fabric were somehow alive.
The Fae Queen cocked her head in a birdlike manner, her strange eyes locked on me. “Why do you want the Elderflower, moonchild?”
The words came out of me almost as if tugged. “For a spell,” I answered.
I felt Adriel’s gaze flash to me, but couldn’t make myself turn and look at him. I could only stare into the Fae Queen’s eyes. Eyes that swirled like tiny, duel universes, like black holes one could lose themselves in.
“And what will this spell do?” asked the Queen.
She was close to me, but her sweet voice sounded far away, as if a whisper spoken in a dream.
“It will free the Wolves of their collars,” I answered, and snapped my mouth shut, shaking my head to break whatever compulsion the queen had cast over me.
Beside me, Adriel let out a growl that was low and threatening.
The bows, still held taut and at the ready by the Fae Guardians, creaked as they prepared to fire. But the Fae Queen’s shark grin stretched wider, her head cocking this way and that.
“So the rumors are true,” she murmured, her talons twitching at her sides.
It was the moment Adriel had been waiting for. His hands flew up, and a flare of scarlet magic burst out of his fingertips, so bright that it blinded the Fae.
I heard the sound of the incoming arrows, of the wood and metal whizzing through the air, and knew I was not fast enough to move.
Adriel, however, was.
He grabbed me firmly by the shoulders and spun me this way and that, moving like a dancer to the music of death. I felt one arrow whizz through my hair, avoided by the narrowest of margins. Another grazed the back of my shirt, and another cut through the space between Adriel’s face and my own, cruising through a gap of a few inches.
I only knew that one of the arrows had nicked Adriel because my strong nose picked up the scent of his blood on the air.
At the same time, the Fae Queen let out a screech that was birdlike and terrifying. I grabbed a handful of the Elderflower as Adriel continued to shift us out of harm’s way. The thorns on the stems tore into my palm, drawing blood, but then I was falling, and there was no time to contemplate anything.
Time spun and stopped. I found myself gasping as I clutched Adriel, staring up at the vast mural on the ceiling of Mina’s library.
There one moment, here the next. I wondered if it would ever stop being so disorienting.
Once I’d caught my breath, I loosened my hold on Adriel, seeing that I’d gripped him
hard enough to bruise, though he’d not so much as winced at the pain.
“It’s all right,” he said, and pulled me to his chest. The peppermint and soap scent of him wrapped me up, and I sank into it. “We’re home.”
I swallowed back the lingering nausea caused by the trip and tilted my head to look at his arm. “You’re hurt,” I said. The fabric of his black shirt was torn where the arrow had grazed him.
Adriel pulled me close against him, halting my examination and placing a trail of kisses up my neck. “A flesh wound,” he mumbled against my skin.
Low in my belly, heat spiraled, but I swallowed hard, knowing that time was of the essence. War, as a rule, seemed to leave little time for love.
“Come,” I said, disconnecting myself from him with impressive effort. I held up the handful of Elderflower I’d stolen from the Fae Forest. “The others are waiting for us.”
Ever the hero, Adriel nodded solemnly and straightened out his shirt. He offered me his arm, and I slipped my own through it.
“You ready to change the world, Rukiya dearest?” he asked as he led me out of the library.
I smiled, and the happiness of being at his side in that moment was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever felt.
“Only if you’re doing it with me,” I said.
And we went to go free the Dogs.
“How long do you need to prepare?” asked Akila, the Harpy warrior.
We were once again sitting around the enormous round table in the meeting hut. The instructions and ingredients told to me by the Seers were spread out in front of Adriel. He rubbed his chin as he surveyed at them. A bit of dark stubble covered his jaw, and he looked a little more pale than usual. I didn’t blame him, as we’d come here right after our trek through the Fae Forest. My dark hair was a tangled braid that fell down my back. My skin was dewy and sticky, as if that pink fog had left its essence on my body.
“A day,” Adriel said. “Maybe less.”
“You clearly need some rest, brother,” Asha said, eyeing Adriel with unconcealed worry. “The Dogs have waited hundreds of years for freedom. They can wait a few more hours so that the person who frees them actually has the energy to do the deed.”
I nodded, not hiding the fact that I agreed with Asha.
Adriel opened his mouth to argue, but it was Goldie who cut him off. “Asha and Rook are right,” she said. “And besides, we’ll need at least a day to plan what we need to do next.”
She glanced at Yarik, her lover since she’d come to Mina, and he gave her a nod of reassurance.
“We’re going to take the Midlands,” Yarik said. “Specifically, Dogshead. And we’re going to do it quickly.”
“Why?” Asha snapped.
Goldie met the Demon’s gaze with the fire I’d always loved her for. “Because we are about to free hundreds of thousands of slaves, and if they manage to make it out of the reach of the Pack Masters, they’re going to need a place to go, a place to unite.”
Yarik reached into his shirt and removed a rolled up piece of parchment. He unfurled it on the table and pushed it toward the center, where it was visible to all. Leaning forward in his chair, he placed a large finger in the center of the map. “This is Dogshead,” he said. “It sits right in the center of Wolf Territory. The Midlands Pack is weak because of the recent death of Bo Benedict.”
The Halfbreed warrior did not add that it was he and Goldie who had killed Benedict. He didn’t have to. There were no secrets among us.
It was one of the reasons I’d come to love this place so much.
“If we can take the Midlands,” Goldie picked up, “we can let the Dogs know where to come and join us. The Pack Masters will no doubt respond to the breaking of the collars with violence and blood, and we’re stronger together.”
“So you think that positioning ourselves in the very center of the four other Pack Masters and their forces is the answer?” asked Yarin, the other Halfbreed and Yarik’s best friend. “I’m not sure how in Hades that makes sense.”
“It’s not the worst idea,” Bakari said, studying the map. “We’ll be freeing tens of thousands of Dogs, and we’ve already agreed that we need them to join us if we want to take out the Hounds. The central location of Dogshead is just as much an advantage as a weakness.”
“So many will die,” mumbled Aysari.
“So many are already dying,” responded Asha.
“I know Lazar,” I said, and all eyes turned toward me. “He was Benedict’s Head Hound. He’s likely the one who’s stepped into the role of Alpha. He’d be the biggest initial obstacle… But I won’t lie and say I wouldn’t take a certain joy out of killing the male.”
A good number of the deep scars on my back were thanks to Lazar. I’d lost count of the times over the years that he’d strapped me to the whipping post in Dogshead Square and given me lashings for one infraction or another.
Goldie had been present for most of those lashings, and the look she gave me now revealed that I was not the only one reliving the dark memories.
“On top of that,” my best friend argued. “I know Dogshead. I know the inside of Benedict’s plantation, and Yarik knows the Midlands territory.” She pointed at the map as her lover had done. “The Rho Mountains protect us from the east, and the River Rea protects us from the north. Between us, we can take and hold this land until more Wolves arrive to join us. And we’ll also have the Dogs we free there to help us.”
It was not a terrible plan, but it could go horribly wrong, and we all knew this. We stared at the map between us, at the central position of the Midlands, at the other four Pack Masters’ territories to the north, south, east, and west.
The west, where Ryker was likely cursing the day he’d met me.
I shook these thoughts away and turned back to the topic at hand.
The others began to argue around the table, some clearly for the plan, others clearly opposed.
After some time, Adriel cleared his throat.
The chatter silenced. Under the table, Adriel held my hand for strength, and I gripped his back.
“Does anyone have an alternate idea?” he asked.
Goldie and Yarik didn’t hide their triumph as no one said anything.
“Okay,” Adriel said with a nod. “Then, let’s vote.”
The ayes won.
Adriel would stay in Mina and complete the spell to remove the collars, a few of the others would go to rally forces, and the rest of us would go to Dogshead.
The place where, for me, it had all started.
It seemed fitting that’s where it should end.
6
Rook
Stolen moments.
It seemed to me that was what our entire relationship had been made of. Stolen kisses and secrets, stolen whispers and hearts.
In a perfect world, Adriel and I would spend our days together doing simple things, like having picnics and laughing at the oddities of the world. We would go for walks under a sky that looked down upon free creatures, we’d stay awake late into the night, whispering our hopes and dreams to one another and listening to the synchronized beating of our hearts.
There was no time for such things, but I was grateful for the fact that I could even ponder them, could even imagine. Before I’d met Adriel, before he’d removed the collar from my neck and given me both freedom and a family in Mina, I would never have even been able to fathom such things. I thought there was something beautiful in just that.
So instead of taking a stroll or lying in each other’s arms, we prepared each other to go to battle.
As I strapped a sword behind my back along with a quiver and bow, I paused to take in Adriel’s lovely form as he hunched over the ingredients of the spell. The armory was in the very back of Mina’s library, and the others were also preparing themselves all around us. Adriel sat by himself at one of the many tables, a lamp casting a pale glow over his ebony hair.
I tucked a dagger into my boot and approached him. He opened his arms to me
before I could even think about claiming the chair beside him. I smiled as I climbed into his lap.
Thoughts of the stolen moment we’d spent bathing in the spring a couple hours ago filled my head, and I did my best to extinguish the warm flare that spread through my lower regions. A slight hardening beneath me told me Adriel was likely reliving the same memory.
“It’s a good thing you’re leaving soon,” he mumbled against my neck as he placed a kiss there. “Otherwise I’m not sure I could concentrate enough to get this done.”
“Be careful,” I said, gripping his face so that he had to look at me. He looked so tired, so painfully beautiful.
Adriel’s answering smile made my heart ache. “Rukiya dearest,” he said slowly, “you’re the one about to take on all the Hounds in Dogshead, and you’re worried about me casting a little spell?” He placed a kiss on the back of my hand. “Oh, how I love you so.”
“I mean it,” I said, trying to fight the rising anxiety in me. “If you feel yourself being drained too much, stop the spell. Don’t overload yourself. It’s not worth it.”
“The lives of all the slaves are not worth it?” he asked gently.
My eyes burned. I shook my head.
It was an awful thing to think, but it was true. To me, at least, it was so very true.
Adriel gave me one more kiss, and I tried to commit every sensation to memory—the feel of his lips, the scent of his skin, the closeness of his being. It was a farewell, and we could only hope that it was not a farewell forever.
“Just come home to me, Rukiya dearest,” Adriel whispered, as our comrades around us strapped up in arms. “Promise me that?”
“I promise,” I said. “Always.”
And for that moment, we chose to believe it was true.
The smell of lavender wheat brought back memories I’d rather forget.
