There was no argument.
No reasoning.
No logic or rationale.
This was our path, and our free will wasn’t worth a damn.
❖
Matthew
I saw the irritation on my mate’s face, but more than that, I saw the agitation. The two emotions might have seemed alike to anyone else, but to me? With Riel? I sensed them for what they were.
Irritation at being cornered.
Agitation because she knew we had no choice.
“The battalion,” I stated, giving my mate time to come to terms with being walled in.
“What about it?” Trude asked, her eyes drifting open, and I saw the fatigue within them. That simple recitation had drained her more than I thought Riel knew.
What was it Linford had said earlier? That even though he was young, he still felt the same pains and aches as he had when he was old?
I couldn’t even begin to imagine the discomfort Trude was in when I considered just how damn long she’d lived on this realm.
“How are they a part of the Gods’ plan?”
Top lip quirking, she murmured, “The Assembly needs to be informed of the new world order, don’t they? What better bargaining power to reach them than the returning of their own? For certain, they are expendable, but if there is hope of their return, a move facilitated by others of their kind, they will surely open their doors to receive news of their fate.”
Riel’s mouth was a tight purse. “What do I do?”
“You allow Seph to crystallize Lars’ magic—”
“Seph is injured. Whatever you’ve done to him—?”
Trude sighed. “Child, you have to learn to stop interrupting. Seph is strong enough to fulfil his part in this. As for after, I am here now, but I won’t be for long. Though you purged most of my magic from him, there is still a seed within him. That will remain for as long as I live—I must help you see this through. Once my purpose is fulfilled, I will pass on, and the seed will die.”
Dan frowned at that, and his hand tightened around Riel’s shoulder. “You can’t survive without Seph?”
“He is, for all intents and purposes, a symbiont for me. My magic and Gaia’s Will kept me alive, but for me to be of any use other than just to remain breathing and subsisting? I need help.” Trude sighed. “Truly, I mean you no ill, and Gaia doesn’t either. Every step you have taken, every choice you have made has led you to this moment. To a moment where change is needed.
“If the Fae continue on in their current vein, they will overrun the witches and the humans, and without us, there will be no balance in this world. If they are allowed to carry on, within generations, magic will die out. The meteors are not for the Fae. They are for the witches and humans,” she urged, imploring Riel to believe. “Their numbers increase every year whereas ours are stagnant. The imbalance is ruining our world. Destroying Gaia’s gift to us. You must see that I speak true!”
I wasn’t stupid. I knew her argument was aimed at my mate and not at me, and though I didn’t appreciate her attacking Seph the way she had, I had to admit I believed her.
“The Fae are too cocksure, too cemented in their power, but they have disrupted the natural order for too long. If they remain on their path, they will destroy our kind. Riel, you have to see that?”
Riel scowled at her. “Why will the witches die?”
“Because magic is not without end. It is a resource just like anything else. The meteors are Sol’s means of seeding Gaia’s soil, as it were. When the Fae capture them before they have a chance to disperse into the environment, robbing the stones of their powers for their own gain, they are robbing themselves.” She cut the still frozen Linford a look. “The gifts they achieve are incredible. Just look at what Linford can do, and even that was foreseen, for how would you find yourself at the top of Everest without the aid of a male such as he? One who can ping you into place just long enough to see Gaia’s task through.”
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Riel gritted out, her hands fisting at her side.
“Then you must do as I say,” Trude replied softly, “for there will be millions hurt if you don’t act now.”
Silence fell at her final words, and I watched Trude’s face pale and saw just how far the drain on her reserves was now.
“Everything you would have us do requires nothing from Riel.”
It was Seph who spoke out, Seph who made me recognize that Riel, whose role was apparently so important, didn’t actually play a part in anything Trude had mentioned.
“No.” Trude’s mouth twisted. “It doesn’t. Her part comes once the ore is in place. She must activate them.”
“Activate them? How?”
“Sol’s stone gave you the ability of each of the elements, but he gave you more than that. You can call on every element in the known universe. In the Amazon, you must call on a tide so strong, the banks of the river bloat. At the top of Everest, you must call on the wind—a wind so fierce that no one can sustain it. Suswa is a caldera—fertile and fecund. You must sink that ore into its crust. Heklugjá is an active volcano. Once the ore is within its mouth, you must trigger an eruption.
“Only you can do this, Riel. Only you have the powers to do this—”
“You want her to trigger natural disasters,” Dan ground out.
Trude cut him a look. “The biggest natural disaster is on its way if she doesn’t act.”
“We only have your word on it,” Dan retorted.
“And why would I endure a half-life for centuries if it were not to impart this information to you and your troupe?” Trude snarled. “Do you think this was a pleasant existence? I could have passed with my husband, instead, I endured. And I didn’t subsist to be questioned by the likes of you.” Her mouth firmed. “You must act, Riel. Whether you like it or not, this is your destiny, and only once it is fulfilled will you have any peace.”
At her words, Riel stunned me by screaming. Her hands came up to shield her head, her fingers pulled at her ears as though she could make whatever the Sol was happening to her stop.
“What are you doing?” I cried, rushing over to her and hauling her into my arms.
Trude’s gaze was calm. “I do nothing. The Goddess does.”
“Bullshit!” Dan yelled as his hands came up to cup her shoulders so he could draw her against him. “Stop it, Trude! Stop it!”
“Only she can stop it by allowing time to pass once more,” Trude replied, as calm as ever. She was done. That was clear to see. In her mind, the time for talking was over and action was required.
When Riel’s knees gave out, and she slumped in Dan’s arms, I had to wonder what in Gaia’s name was happening to her.
“Enough!” she screamed. “Enough!”
“You must act,” Trude intoned, her voice deep, too quiet to be overheard by Riel who was still shrieking, and yet, Riel must have heard, or at least understood because the sound of a coffee cup breaking drew my attention to Lars, telling me she’d unfrozen the clock.
Lars gaped at us all, his attention switching between his relative in the wheelchair, my mate who was wilting in Dan’s embrace, and Seph who was leaning against the wall as though it were the only thing keeping him upright. Linford, on the other hand, was focused on Riel.
“What’s the matter with her?” he demanded, striding forward.
“The noise, the noise,” Riel whimpered, her face burrowing into Dan’s shirt. “Stop, make it stop.”
“Only action will make it stop,” Trude declared. “Lars, boy, prepare yourself. Joseph, only you can start to ease your mate’s suffering. You must do as I said or she will be plagued until she obeys.”
My mouth curved into a sneer, but I ordered, “Lars, you must go to him. Whatever your bitch of a relative has done to him has made him weak.”
Lars’ eyes flared wide at the insult, but Trude just cackled. “Been called worse than that in my time, boy.”
Nostrils flaring wide with anger, I said not
hing, just watched as Lars began to move over to Seph with caution. On his way, he paused and, to Trude, inquired, “Will my family be well without me?”
“Where is your family?” I questioned uneasily, displeased at the notion that someone could jump us.
“We heard the baby before…” Dan began pointing out, then when he tried to explain how Riel had controlled time, I watched him give up and mutter, “But they’re gone now.”
Lars just shrugged. “My wife ran off with my son. I saw her go.” He swallowed. “You mean them ill?”
“No. We mean them no ill, and we mean none to you either,” I said simply. “None of this is our choice.”
His gaze drifted over to Riel. “No. That is quite evident to me.” He sucked in a breath and hustled over to Seph. Within seconds, his palms were loaded with the whirlpool we’d seen before, the miniature waterspout that, for all its small stature, housed such a welter of power that it felt as though every molecule in the room was turbocharged with that unique energy.
Seph tried to raise his hand, but even that was too much for him. Lars, frowning at the sight, lowered his palms so Seph only had to flop his wrist forward to connect with the element.
The second he did, both he and Lars grunted. Agony flashed across both men’s faces, and then there was a crack of lightning, a sharp blast of power that made those turbocharged molecules seem a thousand times more pressurized. My hair stood on end, but with that flash of light and energy, two things happened.
Riel’s low, pained moans ceased, and the water stopped churning on Lars’s palm. Instead, there was a large, shiny rock.
Lars’s eyes were round as he stared at the hunk of metal. “I’m alive.”
Seph’s lips twitched. “So am I. Even if I feel like death warmed up.”
“Your death was never required, Lars. That wasn’t a sacrifice Gaia would take from you, but your magic is another thing. You have none now, but the line will be granted a gift for your sacrifice.”
Trude’s words had Lars twisting around to face her. “A future without magic is a future I can handle,” he murmured calmly, then he cut us all a look. “You may stay as long as you need, but I have a feeling I’m not needed here now and my wife will be worrying.”
“All is well, Lars,” Linford stated. “We’ll be leaving shortly. Won’t we, Riel?”
Before Lars left the room, he tucked the stone into Seph’s limp hand, but even as I noticed that, I heard the tone of command in Linford’s words and stiffened at it on my mate’s behalf. “You have no say in what we do or which direction we take,” I snapped.
“If anything, consider yourself nothing more than the damn driver to get us where we need to go,” Dan spat, distaste crossing his face as he eyed the older man. “You betrayed your granddaughter. You don’t get to issue commands.”
“Betrayal is a harsh word for someone who has acted his role in Gaia’s play,” Trude chided.
“Then loyalty isn’t something Gaia understands,” Riel rasped. “I’ve been fed lies since I was a child. My mother too. Guidance isn’t a dirty word.” She squeezed Daniel for a second before, sucking in a sharp breath, she forced herself upright. Licking her lips, she shot us a shaky smile then murmured, “It’s your time to act before the noise returns.”
Daniel’s hands hesitated in front of her as he sought to reassure himself that she could stay upright without his help. “How bad is it, love? I mean—” He winced. “What if this doesn’t work?”
As Trude murmured confidently, “It will,” Riel’s whisper was pained as she explained, “It’s a buzzing in my head. Like a thousand voices—”
“Gaia’s voice cannot be heard without crushing the mind of any who are blessed enough to be spoken to.”
I shot a dismissive glance at Trude. “Some blessing.”
“She speaks a tongue we cannot translate. That is why she sends us images, visions.”
Riel rubbed her temple. “Let’s get this over with, guys. The second Gaia leaves me alone, the better.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
Dan and I moved over to Seph, who was clutching the stone as though the relatively small rock was too heavy for him to handle. Whatever Trude was doing to him was decimating his strength, and that was no mean feat with a young Fae male. The second she was dead and Seph was back at full working order wouldn’t come soon enough.
I cringed as I watched Seph try and fail to raise his hand, Dan grabbed it, then eying me with concern for our brother, whose eyes were closed and his skin gleaming with sweat, he tugged the stone into his clasp and turned his focus onto the stone. Already, his bizarre magic was at work. Four veins ran throughout the silver rock, each one glowing a vibrant red that would leave its mark on my eyes like it would if I’d been looking up into the sun itself.
With those four lines glowing, merging until they sectioned the stone into four, I reached forward and pressed my finger to the shiny metal too. Within seconds, the light disappeared, and a cracking sound filled the room. Those four veins ceased to exist, as did the material they’d used as a conduit, and the ore was sliced into four, each surface cross-sectioned as though a laser had cut through it.
Dan eyed the four chunks on his palm and murmured, “Phase one is complete.”
“Seven more to go?” I volleyed at him.
“Minimum,” he muttered gruffly.
We turned to Trude. “What now?” I asked, my voice low, angry.
“Now you must visit the other first families, and once you have those pieces, you must go to the places I detailed. The deepest part of the Amazon, the center of Suswa’s crater, the summit of Everest, and to the mouth of Heklugjá.
“Once there, Riel, you must call on the corresponding element, and since they do your bidding, they will take the ore from you and your work will be done.” She released a tired sigh. “As is mine now. My task is complete, you are aware of what you must do, and I can return your Virgo to you. Go with Gaia, Riel, and she will not fail you.”
I eyed the old woman warily, but it was too late. Her face grew slack, the deepest of crevices once more etched onto her skin, and just as Seph was gasping like he’d just been given CPR after almost drowning, she took her final breath.
Within seconds, her body began to dry out, turning into a husk of its former self, and, in the blink of an eye, what had once been a woman was suddenly nothing more than dust.
“That isn’t something you see every day,” Seph rasped, reaching up to scrub at his sweaty forehead.
His words had Riel scurrying over to him. When they hugged, they both sighed, but their tension didn’t dissipate.
How could it?
Our work had barely begun.
Thirteen
Riel
“You’ve ignored me all day, Riel, don’t you think it’s time you cut me some slack?”
Twisting around and almost getting swatted in the face by a leafy stalk, I sent my grandmother a look and sneered at her. “The only reason I didn’t leave you behind is because Linford refused to travel without you. You lied to me. You’ve been lying to me all my life, and I don’t need that or you anywhere near me.”
Before we’d even left Lars’ homestead, my Virgo had collected the Air stone from her. A sacrifice she’d made without uttering a peep of protest because she was so fucking giving all of a sudden. But as for me? I’d felt bitterness spread through me like poison as I’d watched. Seph had still been shaky on his feet thanks to a treachery she’d taken part in, and when I thought about how I’d almost lost him? Even now, hours later, I was unwilling to say anymore to her. She’d betrayed me. She’d thought more for Gaia’s plan than her own granddaughter’s welfare and sanity, and that was all I could see and hear and think where she was concerned.
Turning my back on her, I sighed with relief when I saw a ranch-style house in the distance. We’d been walking through the corn fields for what felt like a lifetime, but then, this day had felt like one too. The sun beat down relentlessly on our h
eads, and the stalks of corn were irritating as fuck. They tickled and scratched simultaneously as we forged a path ahead of us, and the tight confines were enough to make anyone claustrophobic.
As much as I sniped at my grandmother, I had to admit, without her, today would have been inordinately longer. Lars had registered who she was and what her presence and ours meant for him, and the previous head, the witch of the earth element, had granted us his powers with little fuss too.
While Lars had only owned a small homestead, the earth family had been in charge of a rice paddy forty minutes outside of Bangkok, and here, in what Linford assured me was a province called Mpumalanga in South Africa, we were in a massive maize field.
More than anything, I was hot, tired, and horny. Never the best combination at a good time, so to say that my temper was being stretched was an understatement. I felt like a tightrope that was on the verge of snapping in two.
Seph had, thankfully, returned to normal, which eased the strain I was under somewhat, but he was definitely feeling the pinch of whatever the Sol Trude had done to him—his skin was pale and if I studied his fatigued features, looked deeply into his eyes, something he didn’t allow too often without glancing away, I felt certain he was faintly feverish.
I felt like we were all keeping things contained as best as we could, and because I felt sure my men were hot, tired, and horny too, our best wasn’t that far a stretch.
When I really thought about it, I could feel their cocks sliding into me. My pussy ached for them, and my mouth? I practically began drooling if I eyed them up for too long.
Even now, just thinking about it, I broke out into a sweat that had nothing to do with the already simmering temperatures out here.
The door to the homestead opened, breaking into my needy thoughts, and a woman stepped out in a kaftan that drifted down to black feet, which peeped out from under the hem, revealing a neon pink nail polish that I wanted to know the name of. She had a bouncy afro, a face like Beyoncé, and a figure that would make any man drool. But her eyes were watchful. They contradicted her fun and relaxed outfit, as well as her stance—she was leaning against the doorjamb, waiting for us to trek over to her.
Finally Faeling: An Eight Wings Academy Novel: Book Three Page 20
