by Alex Lidell
I take a sip from my own mug, the rich chocolaty liquid coating my mouth in bliss. “The next time the universe asks me for how magic should leak, I’ll be sure to lodge your complaint. Meanwhile, I want to bring Coal into the team.”
The chocolate in Arisha’s mouth flies out, raining onto the white tablecloth. “No no no no. That’s… He… We don’t like each other. The other day, he questioned how I manage to put on boots without falling on my face.”
“You do fall when dressing half the time.”
“That’s not the point.” She glowers at me. “We won’t be able to speak freely if Coal is there.”
“We can.” I tap my finger against the tabletop. “I know we can’t challenge Coal’s amulet by telling him who he is, but with his arm broken, Coal will be staying put for a while anyway. And we should stay away from discussing my identity too, since Coal’s veil will keep insisting that the fae and human versions of me are utterly different beings. But talking about the breaking wards, about Han, the sclices and Yocklols and the Night Guard? None of that is a problem.” My words catch in my throat, another thought sweeping through me.
“What happens if we never beat the veils?” I ask Arisha softly. “If the wards shatter and the males’ magic returns and they still think they’re human? Or if the quint magic connecting us sweeps through and wages war against the amulets’ veils? If just words make the males scream in pain, what happens when magic wages war on magic?”
Arisha winces. “I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out, Lera. Somehow. We have to.”
“I want Coal with us.” I sound petulant, but it’s the truth. “I need him with me.”
Sighing, Arisha raises her palm. “Fine, fine. You can keep him. But I’m wagering it’s your backside he’s going to bite first. And if he pees in the corners, you are cleaning it up... In fact, you should probably go practice the latter now.”
Following Arisha’s gaze to the corner of the room, I see a puddle spilling from beneath the drapes, while Shade and Rabbit make a run for the door.
“Where are we going?” Coal asks, snorting as I press us into the shadows on the edge of the courtyard to avoid a pair of Academy guards.
“The library.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“Do you want to know what I’m up to or not?” I ask. We’ve spent the last day recovering, but it’s time to rally again, especially in light of Han’s presence. My fingers tap against my thigh, too many thoughts racing through my mind, tripping over each other. I despise lying to River, especially after last night, when he sent me on my way with a final chaste kiss and a desperation in his eyes that haunted my dreams—and left me wet until morning. But his colossal protectiveness leaves me no choice. As for Coal, the male’s presence will be a new edge to walk. Fortunately, after Arisha agreed to it this afternoon, Gavriel gave his blessings as well. Now, we just need to explain the whole mess. “How is your arm?”
“Shade is an overprotective grandmother who I will smother with a pillow just as soon as I can move my elbow,” Coal mutters, following me as I guide us through the now-familiar library door.
The small bell chimes its musical warning as we step into the grand central rotunda, where Arisha’s and Gavriel’s brown heads are already bent over a spread of drawings and theories while Shade’s wolf inspects all the corners of furniture. My heart lifts at seeing him again, at having two of my males close once more.
A large board holds drawings of the main creatures we’ve run into thus far: mutated semi-visible sclices, Yocklol trees, the Night Guard. Arisha is pinning Han’s picture to the board as we come in, the sheet dropping from nervous fingers at the sight of Coal.
Walking forward with a quick brow-rising glance at the enormous wolf scratching his shoulder on a table leg, Coal picks the drawing up off the floor and hands it to my friend. “You didn’t know I was coming here?” He frowns. “Actually, I’m not really sure where I am.”
“You’re in the library,” Arisha says helpfully.
Coal lifts a brow. “That explains the books.”
“You are at a meeting of the Protector’s Guild.” Finally recovering herself, Arisha takes the sheet from him. “And yes, I knew you were coming. But knowing and seeing are two different things.” Pushing up her glasses, she looks over at me with a small frown. “How are we going to do this?”
I lean down to rub Shade’s gray fur, the wolf licking my face in greeting. “With introductions.” Standing, I square my shoulders and turn to a dazed-looking Coal, who still can’t seem to look away from Shade, perhaps recognizing him as the wolf who attacked him a month ago in Sage’s office. “Welcome to the Protector’s Guild, where we try to keep the mortal world safe from the dark forces eager to take advantage of the crumpling wards keeping magic at bay. You will work out the details as we go along, I’m sure. Meanwhile, I’ve been out of action for a few days. Where does that leave us, Gavriel?”
The librarian smiles at me, his brown eyes betraying only a hint of worry. “Basic patrol pattern tonight. Get your bearings back as you check on the remaining Yocklols and see if you can mark any signs of the Night Guard making themselves comfortable. I’ve your fighting leathers here.”
Coal’s eyes widen almost comically as I start pulling out weapons and my leather jerkin, the familiar feel of my tools already waking my senses. I’m ready to go back into the woods, to reach into the cords of magic that are waking, slowly but surely. Shade’s healing mended my flesh the day the Night Guard attacked, and the connection with Coal’s strange power has made itself clear as well. With Tye’s fire magic escaping its shackles for a moment during the fight with Han, the pattern is too plain to ignore.
The wards are crumbling. But as my adversaries get stronger, so do I.
“Please tell me you are jesting, Osprey,” says Coal, his voice echoing over the whisper of papers shuffling and tightening of leather stays. He twists to Gavriel when I fail to answer. “In that case, tell me you have more gear in there.”
I feel a corner of my mouth lift as I sheath my sword down the length of my spine. “The Great Falls area is the zero point for the wards’ weakness. Once your arm heals, there will be plenty to do. For tonight, it will be Ruffle and me.” Shade yips softly and presses against my side, eyeing Coal warily.
Coal runs his good hand over his face, his head shaking. “Don’t ever let River learn of this, Osprey,” he mutters before turning to Gavriel. “Should I be taking notes?”
Part III: Hide and Seek
Prologue
I yank against the shackles, a searing pain shooting along my arm, lighting every nerve from fingertip to shoulder. I scream, shoving back against the assault. I can’t see my prison guards, but I can smell them—rotten breath and the stench of old sweat.
A whip cracks, and my shoulder explodes in agony. Beyond it, the smell of a heating iron is already drifting from the brazier, mixing with the scent of singed cotton and—
“Lera!” Arisha’s voice pierces the nightmare haze a moment before a bucket of cold water drenches my head and shoulders.
I curse, sitting up in bed, the equally wet wolf beside me growling his displeasure. I wipe the water from my face and massage my left arm, the phantom pain still lingering in the bone. “Next time, go douse Coal. It’s his bloody broken arm that’s setting off the latest nighttime pleasantries.”
Arisha fumbles for her glasses, her blue eyes round and owllike in the moonlit room. “Does Coal have fire magic?”
“No.” I start stripping the bed of wet linen, muttering beneath my breath. Arisha did not need to go this far just to wake me up. She knows I’m barely sleeping now, with Coal’s nightmares—amplified by his frustration with the limitations of having a broken bone—reaching a fever pitch.
The girl’s hand closes over my upper arm, forcing my sleepy attention to her. “Then you really can’t blame him for setting your pillow on fire now, can you?”
Following the direction of her finger, I find
a fingernail-sized charcoal mark on the corner of my pillowcase and feel my heart stutter.
The wards are crumbling faster than I imagined. And sometime soon, they will break altogether.
1
Lera
“I’m unclear on what you think I can do about this, Coal. Both bones are broken, one of them in two places.” Dressed in dark gray pants and a thin gray cashmere sweater that hugs his muscled chest, Shade runs probing fingers along Coal’s forearm, then flicks an uncomfortable golden glance in my direction.
Our gazes meet for but a moment, but it’s enough to send a wave of heat through me. With the week of Ostera’s liberty coming to an end, Shade has returned to the Academy to resume his responsibilities—and the predatory gleam in his eyes has returned with him. The male is still hunting for his mate, and I think his wolf knows it’s me.
Shade himself, however, does not.
“Leralynn…” Shade sighs, which makes his beautifully angled face even more devastating. “I am also not quite clear as to your presence in my treatment room. Lieutenant Coal hardly requires a chaperone.”
Sitting atop one of the countertops in Shade’s infirmary, I give the shifter a smile. Truth is, despite savoring the chance to see him after our forest coupling, I am actually here because Coal is driving himself—and everyone else—insane. And I don’t just mean the memories leaking through our bond. “Wait for Lieutenant Coal to answer your question, and then tell me whether you still think so.”
Coal growls softly, pulling his arm back from Shade. His blond hair is in its usual tight bun, but in every other way, he looks a dire mess. There are deep shadows under his eyes from the same nightmares that are waking me up each night, his skin is blanched with pain, his fingers twitch with unspent energy. “I’ve been in a sling for almost a week, Shade, and the muscle is already melting like butter near a stove. Come up with a better plan than turning me into an invalid. Strength training. Potions. Something. Otherwise, this sling is going into the next fire I see.”
I raise a brow at Shade. See what I mean?
Shade pinches the bridge of his nose. “You are upset because you’ve been in a sling for one bloody week? Coal. Listen to me. You have a shattered arm. That means there are sharp little shards of bone that aren’t connected, which—if you take off the splint—will grind against each other every bloody time you move. You can’t force it to mend faster by ignoring it, straining it, or drinking brews. It needs rest. Immobilized rest. Unless you think I’ve some magic I’m unaware of, your only option is a splint and sling.”
My hands curl around the edge of the counter, the sharp scents of camphor and cajuput, clove and mint, filling my lungs. Without meaning to, Shade just outlined the crux of the problem exactly: in Lunos, without the mortal world’s shackles, Shade’s magic mends bones well enough that Coal little hesitates bruising my ribs in training. Which means that for the past three hundred years, all the quints warriors have learned to fight like there were no limits on their bodies, relying on Shade’s healing magic to make fractured bones whole. A dangerous instinct in the mortal world.
Coal’s veil-fogged mind doesn’t remember this, but his body does. And it’s straining his soul as badly as the injury itself, letting the darkness wrap itself tighter and tighter around him. Coal is a warrior at his core, one who can’t live with himself if he can’t fight—and now his own body is another set of shackles. A problem that his shared nightmares make clear enough.
“Listen to him, Coal,” I say quietly. “Please.”
He turns piercing blue eyes on me, making me instantly regret saying anything. “Go to hell.”
“I visit it every night,” I snap back. “A bloody repetitive place, if you ask me.”
Coal’s eyes darken for a moment, a swirl of some unreadable emotion in them making me wish I’d kept my mouth shut—again. Then he faces Shade, turning his back to me with the subtlety of a three-year-old. “Find a better option.” Sliding off the exam table, he storms out of the treatment room with a rush of black leather and male musk, slamming the door hard enough to make the medicine vials tremble.
Shade and I both reach to steady the fragile glass before it shatters, the male’s scent enveloping me as his arm stretches across my lap. Damp earth, the air fresh from rain mixed with a bit of wolf, all drowning out the pungent smell of herbs and salves that give the infirmary’s air a confusingly sharp tang.
Shade freezes, his yellow eyes dilating slightly as his nostrils flare. Taking in my scent like I take in his. That quickly, I’m back in the moonlit woods on Ostera, Shade’s body moving over mine, my desire and magic flaring up like a blaze as he enters me. My thighs clench at the memory of his cock raking across the ridges in my channel, the pain of my closing wounds turning into molten heat that enveloped my apex. Of my name, loud and clear on Shade’s lips, ringing across the dark forest as he found his release. As he remembered me.
That feeling of being recognized by one of my males, even for just an instant, still makes my chest clench with longing. I’d give anything to have that feeling again—anything short of messing with their veils. Arisha is right to be worried about Coal’s and my bond. There’s no telling what the shared nightmares could do to his mind if the amulet deems them too dangerous. No telling what they could do to us both if things continue as they are either.
“I…” Shade steps away from me so quickly that the very bottle he was trying to save topples onto its side. With his black hair hanging loose at his shoulders, his strong jaw and tanned skin give him the exotic feel of a predator in civilized clothing—the very thing, I’m pretty sure, that makes the Academy’s entire female population go weak on sight. He clears his throat. “I beg your pardon. And I’m sorry I was not able to give Coal better news. Was there anything else you needed?”
Warmth fills my cheeks. I try not to flinch at Shade’s cool, professional words, the echo of his touch on that mossy stream bank still tingling across my skin. Frowning at the closed door, I force my mind to anchor itself back in the here and now.
The here and now being one unreasonably angry fae warrior. “I realize you can do little for a fracture, but can’t you give Coal something for pain? He said nothing about that, but…”
“But broken bones hurt. A lot.” Shade’s voice regains its casual cadence, his golden eyes kind and professional once again. “And yes, I could—but I’m not going to.” He holds out his palm, warding off my objections before I can voice them. “Right now, pain is the only thing keeping Coal from doing himself greater harm. It’s the body’s protective mechanism hollering to cut the stupidity. If he won’t mind me, perhaps he’ll mind it.”
Fair point, even if I don’t like it. Sighing, I go to hop off the counter—only to halt midmotion, my eyes caught on an extinguished overturned candle. Beneath the dripped wax, a small singed spot in the cloth scratches at my thoughts.
Since inadvertently lashing out with Tye’s fire magic in the midst of last night’s nightmare, I’ve tried—unsuccessfully—to reengage the power trapped by the mortal world’s shackles. Whether my failure signals the wards’ resilience or simply my own lack of magical experience and power, is an unfortunate unknown.
Yet while purposeful manipulation of magic remains out of my reach, the number of accidental discharges is growing by the day—each instance tied to an intense connection between the males and me. Which, unfortunately, supports the inexperienced-Lera theory—the wards little care whether I mean to use magic, so if mine leaks sometimes, then so does the Night Guards’, except they no doubt have better control than I. They certainly can’t have worse. Which all means I should do better than I am. That the wards allow any magic through is a very bad thing, but if the magic is leaking regardless, I should be making better use of the scraps.
I rub my thigh, the once-harsh wound there from my battle with the Night Guard now nothing more than a thin pink stripe. Why? Because Shade’s magic awoke during our coupling, his healing power flowing through the connectio
n to heal my injuries. My heart quickens, the possibilities opening before me.
Shade can’t heal Coal. But could I?
Although I lack Shade’s skill, I do have healing magic. A cord of power that mirrors Shade’s, just as the other strands of my magic mirror River’s and Tye’s and Coal’s. As a human weaver, I could only echo the males’ abilities, but as fae, the magic belongs to me outright. And it grows stronger when connected with the males.
I bite my lip, my thoughts racing. My second coupling with Tye made my fire magic strong enough to escape its mortal binds during the fight with Han, and then again last night. Could coupling with Shade again strengthen the healing magic inside me enough to make it usable? To let me heal Coal’s fracture?
“Leralynn?” Shade frowns at me. “Is everything all right?”
Sliding down to the floor, I cover the few paces between us with slow, deliberate steps, suddenly grateful that I’ve already changed into a low-cut gown for dinner. A shimmering moss green that glows in the early evening light slanting through Shade’s window. Even at a distance, Shade’s desire for me is evident in bulging clarity, my own thighs moistening at the sight. His fresh, earthy scent surrounds me as I get closer, and I have to stop myself from inhaling deeply like a starved animal approaching supper. Stopping beside Shade, I lay my palm on his chest, my fingers splayed over the soft wool of his sweater. The rock-hard muscle beneath.
