by Kate Kelley
He’d followed us, his heat at my back. Then I saw him out of the corner of my left eye as we entered the door. He beat Wolfram to it and opened it for us, ushering us in.
The man smirked as we passed him. “Nice to see you home, brother.”
I glanced sharply at Wolfram, who stared ahead as we entered the bailey. I checked behind me to make sure Wolfram’s brother hadn’t followed us. He had gone back out. Good.
I wheeled on Wolfram. “That was your brother?” I hissed.
Wolfram gave me a sidelong glance. “Yes. My younger brother, Baal.”
“Baal? Isn’t that a demon’s name?”
Wolfram shrugged and I let myself take a look at our surroundings. The inner bailey was white stone, very old from the looks of it, but solidly fortified. Heavy doors lined the walls on both sides, but it was devoid of people. The windows were all the way at the top of the lofty ceiling, filtering pale sunlight in rectangular streams of radiance throughout the long interior. I supposed it was some sort of safekeeping in times of war. I wondered if they had many wars here, but Wolfram had said they live in peace with the other kingdoms.
Wolfram didn’t seem very peaceful with his own people, however.
We entered another set of doors, and I jumped back to see two guards on the other side, dressed in navy blue and red livery, and holding swords at the ready and pointed toward us.
Wolfram held up a hand and it burst into flames, then he made an intricate sign in the air. This apparently meant something, as the guards stood down, lowering their swords and sheathing them. The scowls on their faces didn’t dissipate, however. In fact, they seemed to grow worse, especially as they shifted their gaze to me.
One of the guards with a potbelly and a long, braided beard folded his arms in front of a broad chest. “You bring a human here, Sir?”
Wolfram quirked his head at me, then looked back at the guard. “Human courtesans are brought in all the time. I didn’t take you for a prude.”
Wait a second...I opened my mouth to protest but Wolfram grabbed my hand and squeezed, then cut me with a hard look that read “keep your mouth shut.”
I clenched my jaw. I knew there was a reason for the sleazy dress. Damn it.
We walked past him into a beautiful dining hall that was currently only occupied with servants--at least, that’s what I assumed they were. They were all dressed in black, old fashioned dresses and livery and flitted about, fussing with plates and food and flowers. I breathed in a deep breath to quell the heat.
“Your mother won’t be pleased,” the guard spoke again behind us, coming up close behind me. I kept my eyes ahead and scooted further forward.
Wolfram sighed as if the guard was a child he had to reprimand. “I don’t plan on speaking to my mother. I need access to the record room. Since you’re here, I suppose you could take me there and stand guard outside.”
He spoke as if he was in complete control and had no doubt the man would do as he bade. The guard sniffed, twitching his thick brush of brassy mustache. His eyes pinned me again, a gleam in them this time that didn’t quite read ‘angry.’
“I can do that for you...maybe in return you can share her with me later. Been a long time since I had a human pussy.”
Blood rushed into my face and I whirled around to look to Wolfram to see what he would do--surely he would put him in his place. Wolfram quirked his head to the side as if considering his terms.
“Maybe. Sure. But none of my family gets told of my being here, is that clear?”
The guard leered, a thin cut curled into his face. Dread emptied into my stomach as I was suddenly unsure if the courtesan remark had been pretend or real. Wolfram touched my lower back and I flinched, pushing him off. The guard’s eyebrows came down when he saw my reaction. “Feisty one, in’ she?”
I growled low in my throat. “Where the fuck do you get off--”
Wolfram interrupted me, speaking to the guard. “Take us now, or the deal is off.” He grabbed my upper arm, roughly, pulling me in to his side. I wrenched away, my arm burning from the friction. Heat flared against my skin from my tailbone to the tip of my head and back down again. “Now wait a second. This isn’t--”
Wolfram rammed me against him, his hand on my ass, and kissed me hard on the lips. Shock went through me and I went to push him away when someone spoke inside of me--inside of my mind. “Trust me, play along.”
Oh.
He broke the kiss and I resisted the urge to wipe the kiss off as I glowered at him. He could have told me the plan before we came in here, and we could have avoided the confusion.
He gave me another hard look before I eased up on the glower and fluttered my eyelashes delicately--at least, that’s what I was going for.
“I think you spit in her eye,” the guard told Wolfram, disgruntled. Then he grinned and nudged me with a leather-armored elbow. “You ain’t gotta worry about spit in your eye later--maybe something else, if you take my meaning.”
The horror that image created dashed my attempts to smile, so I just covered my mouth with my hand in the hope that it would hide my grimace.
It had the desired effect, as the guard relaxed happily. “This way, and stay behind me. Your mother doesn’t dine in here anymore, but she’s been in the record room a time or two over the last week. Give me a chance to check it first before you go in.”
Wolfram nodded and ushered me next to him, the guard on the outside of us. His body was big enough to almost block us from the view of the servants, but a few curious glances flitted out way. I tugged down on my dress.
We came to a spiral staircase, then took a quick left when we reached the bottom. I glanced at Wolfram and noticed he was hunching his shoulders, his head bowed low. Sweat started to bead along my forehead again and on my lower back. I tried to focus on breathing and not think about dying.
Wolfram slung an arm around my waist as we walked and his hand slipped into the side of my dress. The contact soothed the heat a little, taking the edge off. I silently thanked him with a small smile that he ignored. His expression didn’t change, but his hand stayed put.
Finally, we came to a set of double doors at the end of a dark, long corridor that was completely devoid of other people.
Wolfram stepped forward and unlocked it with his never-ending set of keys.
“I will stand guard, Sir, but if your mother comes, you know I can’t stop her from entering. All I can do is warn you.”
Wolfram nodded. “Knock three times if someone is about to enter.” He closed the door behind us.
Chapter Ten
The record room was really just a library, with the bookshelves behind glass. Each bookcase rose high toward the ceiling, and each shelf held several volumes. Wolfram stalked toward the far left corner toward a bookcase and I followed. We wedged into the narrow aisle, the shadows taking over the space. He snapped and a candelabra above the shelf burst with flame, lighting the immediate area.
I looked up at the golden plaque on the top of the shelf that read “Air.”
“She said I was Air, right?” I asked. Wolfram nodded, eyeing the end of the section that was a few yards down the aisle.
I winced. “Umm, how do you suppose we are going to find my parents’ names when we don’t even know what they are? Besides, I don’t think we are going to able to go through all of these books. Not today, anway.”
Wolfram scratched his jaw, which was dark with stubble. “We need to start somewhere else. There’s a volume here that details deaths and disappearances.” He crouched while his finger trailed in the air in front of the shelves. Halfway down the aisle he stopped and crouched low. I refrained from copying his action, as I was sure the dress would rip up to the crotch.
Wolfram pulled up the glass and grabbed a thick brown volume. He opened it as I bent over his shoulder to look more closely. He thumbed through the pages as if he’d handled it many times before, and stopped on a page that read ‘Missing Persons.’
I bent more closely, brac
ing my hand on Wolfram’s shoulder so that I wouldn’t fall over. I squinted at the page, rolling over names I didn’t recognize. Wolfram flipped the page, and the next, and the next. Finally, the missing persons list ended and he stood. “No babies were listed.”
I frowned. “Maybe they marked it as a death.”
Wolfram shook his head. His voice hardened to an almost angry tone. “Many babies die. The list would tell us nothing. It wouldn’t use your real name.”
His sudden shift in mood struck me as odd, but I didn’t push him further. It somehow seemed personal to him. I fiddled with the ruching on the waist of the dress. “So...we came here for nothing. I guess you can take me home, now. To a hospital, or…”
Wolfram stared into my reflection in the darkened shelf glass, though I got the sense he couldn’t see me, as his eyes were lost in thought.
I scratched my arm, then my shoulder, the itchiness sprawling back up me like locusts to feed off of my skin.
Sweat dripped down my back and the shelves suddenly rushed toward me as my spine became jelly. I clutched the shelves to keep myself from falling, rattling the entire bookcase. I sucked in precious breath. My lungs wouldn’t fill.
Wolfram stood when he spoke, his voice grim. “Right. Off to the Air Kingdom. It can’t be avoided. We will have to ask them directly who your parents are.”
I felt his hand on my knees, and then I was lifted up, cradled in his arms like a child. I blinked the sluggishness away. “How will they know?”
Wolfram’s grim expression took an even more grim turn. “I’m not sure they will.”
I tried to breathe deeply. “How will knowing my parents help cure me?”
Wolfram kicked the door open, startling the guard on the other side. He pulled a face when he saw me. “What’s wrong with the girl? She’s gone ghostly. Fuck her too hard? Burn her on accident with your dick, did ya?” He guffawed.
Wolfram shoved past him and down the corridor.
“Hey! Don’t forget our deal!” The guard yelled behind us.
Wolfram leapt up the stairs and into the dining hall again, where it seemed full, though all I could make out were vague colors, and the abrupt silence of chatter as Wolfram’s boots clacked across the marble floor. He didn’t slow down as he crossed the bailey and onto the footbridge until a voice sounded behind us.
“You visit home after fifteen years of absence and won’t even speak to your own mother?”
He slowed down, but didn’t stop. I closed my eyes as the dizziness consumed me and bile rose in my throat. Wolfram rubbed my back mechanically and the nausea subsided.
“Who’s the girl? A pet?”
I huffed out a breath, trying to sound casual through the pain wracking my skin and every other part of my body. “Set me down, Wolfram and talk to your mom. I can stand, or...lean against the wall.”
He hesitated, then relented, gently setting me on my feet. I clutched at the stone and leaned my weight into it, flipping over so I could see Wolfram’s mother. A thrill of alarm snaked up my spine as her eyes, bright copper, burned through me. My eyes flicked between her copper ones and the enormous, golden crown on top of her head.
Of course his mother is the damn Queen.
I inwardly groaned and tried to sit up straighter. It was a bad idea. I winced and doubled over as a hot poker struck my breastbone.
Wolfram looked back at me and clenched his jaw. “We really have to be going now, Mother. It was good to see--”
His mother walked up to me, her head tilted as if curious. “Is she ill?”
Wolfram reached me before his mother did, his body shielding me from her view. She stepped aside him anyway, getting uncomfortably close to me as she did so. It would seem as ‘his pet,’ I didn’t have need for personal boundaries.
The Queen stilled, her fair face hovering above me. Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders and her copper eyes were constant with feathery lines around them.
I closed my eyes as I tried to remain standing as another wash of pain came over me. For some reason, I didn’t want to show weakness in front of the Queen.
A sharp inhalation from the Queen had me opening my eyes. She knew something about me. Did she know I wasn’t Fire?
Wolfram suddenly picked me up and strode away from her.
The woman must have had super speed or something, because she was suddenly right next to us again, keeping pace. “You need to get her to express the magic or it will kill her, August.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Wolfram snapped.
The Queen’s voice rose. “So why haven’t you taken her to Alfie?”
Wolfram’s jaw clenched as he started up the hill that led to the parking garage. The Queen was still walking with us. Wolfram had said the kingdoms hated each other. If she found out I was Air...my brain hurt as it hit a wall, the thoughts shattering.
Her low voice sounded again, penetrating the fog in my brain. “Where did she come from?”
Wolfram didn’t reply.
Nausea wracked me again and I somehow wriggled out of Wolfram’s arms to the ground, and upended the contents of my stomach, which wasn’t much, considering I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. By the time I looked up, guards surrounded us. I had no idea where they had come from.
Wolfram shouted something, something I couldn’t quite understand.
I wiped a shaky, clammy hand over my mouth and my eyes drifted closed of their own accord. The last thing I saw was the blue, blue sky.
Chapter Eleven
“What’d you bring into the Kingdom? She isn’t Fire.” A male voice, one I didn’t recognize.
“She is Fire, I can smell it on her.” Another male voice, vaguely familiar.
“We’ll know as soon as Alfie gets here.” The Queen.
I sat up, painfully, the heat still swirling over and under my skin. Someone blurry and large dashed to my side--Wolfram. He looked me over, his expression stoic, and yet I sensed a fury underneath the mask.
I was reclined on a bed, white sheets covering my legs. My red dress had been removed, and replaced with a comfortable cotton shift. I pulled my hand toward me, but it didn’t budge. My wrists were cuffed in leather, strapped to the bed. I moved my legs. Those were strapped too. The little bit of movement drained me and I laid back on the pillow.
My eyes landed beyond Wolfram on Baal. He watched me with a scowl. Next to him was another man, leaner than the other men, but with hair just as dark. It curled around his ears in a schoolboy sort of way.
The Queen leaned against the door, her gaze boring a hole through me.
I swallowed, the action slow and thick. Wolfram put a glass of water to my lips and I drank it as if my life depended on it, the cool liquid soothing my parched throat.
The Queen came forward, stopping at the foot of the bed. She rested regal, fair hands on the bed rail. “Once we bring about the magic, you may stay in the castle for a week. Then you must move on. Perhaps you can find lodging in the city. You see, we have class rules, and because of your... amnesia, we cannot place you or be sure where you came from. I’m sure you understand.”
My head throbbed as I stared into her flame-bright eyes. “Amnesia? What amnesia?”
She looked at me with tight eyes. “That's exactly what an amnesia patient would say, isn't it?”
I stared dumbly, words stuck in my throat. I just wanted the pain to end. I just wanted to go home...wherever that was.
A hot tear leaked from my eye before I realized. I tried to wipe it away but, obviously, my hands were not functional at the moment. I rubbed my cheek on my shoulder and the cotton nightgown absorbed the tear.
Baal stepped forward. “Look what you’ve done, mother. You’ve made her cry.” His voice was deep, rougher than Wolfram’s, a darkness to it that laced my spine with ice. And yet, he was concerned for me. It was an odd combination.
The lean man stepped forward, his movements languid, and he watched me like I was a strange insect in a jar. “I don’t know why you
think she’s Fire. She doesn’t smell like anything I’ve ever scented before.”
Baal came in closer, his eyes becoming almost sultry. “I agree with Aiden..but the Fire is still there. It’s unmistakable. And distinctly female.”
My nerves roiled under their scrutiny. If they find out that I’m not Fire...
The Queen rolled her eyes. “I have a bit more years of practice than you, my son. I know Fire when I smell it.”
Why was she protecting me?
The lean man squinted at me and crossed his arms as if I’d said the rebuttal and not his mother.
How many brothers are there, anyway?
“Enough,” Wolfram growled.
A knock on the door had everyone turning swiftly. The Queen smiled. “Ah, that’ll be Alfie.” Baal opened the door and a young guard tumbled in, panic stricken on his features.
Wolfram moved so fast he was a blur, and hoisted the guard up by the collar. “What is it?”
“Wildfire,” the guard heaved between gulps of breath. “They’re coming for you.”
The Queen bristled. “I can handle that little troupe. Cut the dramatics.”
Wolfram unceremoniously tossed the guard down and strode to me, unclasping my wrists and ankles from the straps and lifting me out of the bed. “That little troupe has started two fires near me on Earth, nearly killing innocent people.”
He whirled around, the room spinning like a top. Everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion.
A man burst into the room in a ring of fire--a sphere, really. It covered him in a translucent, orange sheen, flames licking up the sides. I couldn’t make out his facial features, but he didn’t seem very big, or intimidating, save for the fire ball around him, of course. The heat from the sphere burned me from afar, and my eyes went blurry again.
“Wolfram. Come to finally join us again?” His voice was slick with rubble underneath, like what I imagined a lizard might sound like if they could talk.
For one split, confusing second, I was airborne, then clutched by another pair of male arms. I blinked stupidly into the face of Baal and then looked behind me to see Wolfram throwing spear-like flames toward the lizard man, the sphere around him crackling with each strike. “Who told you I was here?”
