Teal Temptress

by Ellie Margot

  Zeke looked up at her. “It’s done. All I can do right now.”

  Riette swallowed. “Thank you.”

  “A debt is a debt,” he said with a smirk. Riette’s face colored instantly. She knew the tan hue of her skin wouldn’t hide it. He had heard her earlier.

  Riette took the book from his hands, avoiding his gaze as it burned into her.

  “Nice doing business with you,” he said, his voice still lower than she thought was possible.

  “Our business isn’t over,” she said, not looking back at him.

  She went to shut the door but heard him say, “Far from it,” before it shut again.

  When Riette left him, she found a quiet place at the back of the house. She itched to read the book and to see her grandmother’s words, and she prayed that the moonlight would be enough to read by.

  It was.

  Her grandmother’s handwriting brought tears to her eyes. She shoved them back. She couldn’t read them through a haze. They were too important.

  My darling girl, it started. Riette kept reading.

  To be reading this, you have found a way, as I knew you would. You may be doubted, but you will not be found lacking. Getting this far should show you that.

  You want to stop the trees from burning. If I know my daughter as I think I do, I know her ways are battling yours. That, my dear girl, is why you are the only one I could leave this to.

  The only one.

  There is a way to save Vitan. It isn’t easy, but what is? Our world is worth fighting for.

  YOU are worth fighting for.

  There are three trinkets you must find to bring our world to right. But know this. You cannot do it alone.

  That would be a fool’s errand, and as you are my granddaughter, I know you are no fool.

  You need powerful magic, powerful people. You need people full of heart and full of things that are central to who they are.

  Whoever helped you read these words could be a start. If my guess is correct, he’ll be the end of all your troubles.

  Or the beginning.

  Read these pages, find the trinkets, and every single moment of every single day, know that I love you.

  It took moments to breathe again after Riette finished reading her grandmother’s words. A few more lines seemed to appear even as she looked at them, hinting at the first trinket’s destination.

  So many parts ran through her mind on continuous loops she couldn’t keep up with. But when she did gather her thoughts, she went inside and found that she wasn’t alone.

  Cassian was in the kitchen. He sat at the small bar with his hands in fists against his lips.

  “No one sleeps in this house,” Riette said, mostly to herself.

  “Tell that to your cousin,” said Cassian sharply.

  Riette considered him for a moment. “You okay?”

  Cassian let out a sharp laugh. “Yeah.”

  “Cassian,” Riette said.

  “She’s in my skin,” he said softly.

  They both knew he was talking about Samantha.

  Cassian looked up at Riette as she took the chair next to him and sat the book on the table. “What did I do, Ri?”

  “Nothing we can’t fix,” said Riette. It had to be true.

  “And what if I lose myself enough that I don’t want to fix it?” he asked.

  Riette considered it a moment. “I will help you in whatever way you let me, okay? Say the word. Now, then, whenever.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “Family, remember?”

  Cassian gave a nod and looked at the book on the table.

  “He showed me some of the pages,” she said quietly.

  Cassian looked up at her and then at his hand that almost touched the book. He stopped himself and put his hand in his lap.

  “We have to find three trinkets,” she said. “They’re the key to everything.”

  “Where are they?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t reveal everything.”

  “Why not?”

  Riette opened her mouth and then shut it. “He said you can only do so much at a time.”

  “And you believe him?”

  She shrugged. “Why would he lie?”

  “What reason does he have to tell us the truth? He’s out of prison. He has the upper hand.”

  “Cassian, he seemed trustworthy.”

  Cassian gave her a look she didn’t read before speaking. “That’s the problem. He can’t be trusted.” He shook his head.

  “What?” Riette asked, nervous.

  “I can see it all over you. Everyone can. I know he can.”

  “See what?”

  Cassian shook his head. “Guys like that hurt girls who look at them like you’re looking at him.”

  Riette let out a laugh. “Cassian.”

  He didn’t say he was kidding. He didn’t smile.

  “Cassian, I’m always going to be okay.”

  He swallowed. “Well, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t try to warn you.”

  Chapter 33

  It was morning. Riette had gotten some sleep, but it came in starts and stops. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and found that Guy was already up and playing with Barry and Bark.

  He was on the floor with them. Barry ran between them like a makeshift ball and tried to dodge the hands of Bark and Guy.

  Bark and Barry were smiling, and something warm bloomed in Riette’s chest at watching them.

  “Aren’t we darling?” Guy asked, not looking up at her. He was having entirely too much fun.

  “It’s considerably less cute when you draw attention to it.”

  “I saw you watching.” He smirked. Then he finally looked up at her. “What’s the verdict?”

  Riette swallowed. “What do you mean?”

  “You spent most of the night gone, right? You took the book with you, the one I believe you slept with, cradled like a child, and might I add that when you left, you went to see a convict. There’s a lot to dive into.”

  “You woke up before me to get all of this information?”

  Guy shot Riette a look. “How else was I going to find out?”

  Riette stopped for a minute. “I don’t keep anything from anyone.”

  Guy gave her another look. “Technically, no, but it takes a while for things to surface, and I don’t know if you know this, but the pack dynamic has me somewhere near the back, or the bottom, depending on the structure you’re imagining.”

  “I never exclude you,” Riette insisted.

  “Or you don’t actively include so that’s exclusion by proxy?”

  “I’m sorry,” Riette said, and she was. However Guy had joined their group, she had never meant to leave him out. He was part of their makeshift family now too.

  “Spill, and all will be forgiven,” Guy said, smiling again.

  “We have to find three trinkets, but I need Big Bad to help me do that.”

  “Big Bad?”

  Riette rolled her eyes. “I’m still working on a nickname.”

  “Zeke is too much of a mouthful?”

  “And you wonder why I don’t tell you things. Help me. What can we offer him to make him want to help?”

  Guy sat back, leaning on his hands as Barry and Bark tussled with each other on the small rug in front of him.

  “We can’t trick him,” he started. “He’s too powerful to outright piss off.”

  “Right,” Riette said.

  “And he’s more powerful than sin, so what do you get the man who has everything?”

  “Why do I feel like you’re quoting something right now?”

  “Everything is a quote, darling. It’s whether or not you say it well enough to get away with it as your own.” Guy took a breath. “Well, there is the obvious.”

  Riette frowned. “What’s obvious?”

  Now it was Guy’s turn to roll his eyes. “Well, when two people like each other very much—”

  “No.”

  “I’m just saying. The fastest way to get to yo
ur goal—”

  “Will not be me losing my soul,” said Riette quickly.

  “Rhyming? Huh. Your choice. It’s a new century.”

  Riette got off the bed and stretched. She reached her arms above her head and then put them by her sides. Sunlight was streaming through the window. Everything was quiet. Even Bark and Barry were still.

  She fed them quickly and gathered her bag, putting the book inside.

  “Let’s go with the others,” Riette said.

  “Give me a minute,” said Guy. “I’ll be there.”

  Riette stepped out of the room at the same time as Mekhi. He wiggled his eyebrows at her, and Riette rolled her eyes with a laugh.

  “How’d you sleep?” she asked him.

  “Like the dead.”

  “I’m so jealous,” she said, and she was. She was going to say more, but she heard voices in the living room.

  Mekhi stilled and nodded for her to go ahead. Mekhi had a protocol with Riette. It was something they had played around with as children, but it had never come into play more than since they’d left Vitan.

  He followed closely behind her. When Riette entered the room, she did it quietly and watched the scene in front of her.

  Samantha, Damian, and Zeke were all talking in a circle around the small island in the kitchen. Zeke seemed to be the quietest of the trio, but he was paying attention, and Samantha was talking animatedly.

  “It’s like a mage club,” Mekhi whispered close to Riette’s ear. “Bet we could leave this house right now, and it would take them most of the day to notice.”

  Riette snickered and looked up to see Zeke staring at her from across the small room.

  She stopped laughing. “Room for any more in your secret meeting?”

  Samantha smiled. “Of course, fire girl. Couldn’t do shit without you, hon’.” She laughed, and it didn’t sound bitter.

  Riette stood up straighter, and she and Mekhi joined them in the kitchen.

  “We need to go to the Hall of Remembrance,” she said, forcing authority into her voice. Whatever Samantha was planning couldn’t happen if it was going to interfere with the mission she was now on. She also felt Mekhi tense beside her. She felt poorly for not filling him in, but there would be time when they traveled.

  Her grandmother’s last words, the ones that barely revealed themselves, had alluded to needing her memory and going where it was strongest in this realm. She had heard of the Hall in passing. Secrets of the outside were shared like currency in Vitan, but she had been privy to hardly anything. The Hall was an exception.

  Zeke hadn’t stopped looking at her, but he volunteered nothing.

  “It’s where the first of the three trinkets is,” she continued. “We have to go. This is the first.” Riette didn’t look directly at Zeke, but everyone else in the party did.

  “I’ll go, but I’m splitting from there,” he said gruffly, giving nothing else.

  “Why?” Samantha barked. Then she caught herself. “Why would you go there? It’s a long distance.”

  Zeke looked at Riette. He hardened his jaw. “Got shit I need to get, too.”

  “I’ll get the others,” Riette said. She didn’t linger or think about the next step of getting Zeke to go along.

  One step at a time and they would get there.

  The rest packed up quickly. Sheila was eager for them to go. As much as the older woman may have respected Zeke, having him in her house made her nervous. It showed as much in the relief on her face when Samantha told her they were leaving.

  When they got a short distance away in a much less populated area, Samantha informed them of what they were taking on by Riette’s request.

  The Hall of Remembrance was far away. The roads, when they were even available, would be hard to walk and inhabited by people on similar journeys.

  No one went to the Hall without a reason. The sacred ground was said to revive memories, give them breath even, and there was a trail of sadness leading to its door.

  “Maybe we should go another way,” said Guy. He still stayed near the back of the group, but he spoke loudly enough to be heard.

  “No,” said Mekhi, realizing a beat before everyone else. “Not again.”

  “Mekhi,” Riette started. “He loves you.”

  “No, he loves my body.”

  “Wait, what are we talking about here?” asked Samantha. “Angel boy?”

  “You all travel by Angel?” Zeke asked. He couldn’t keep the awe out of his voice, though Riette could tell he tried.

  “Not all of the time,” Riette said.

  “How do you pay him?” Zeke asked, and Cassian coughed. Zeke’s gaze locked on Cassian.

  No one said anything.

  “Bring him,” said Riette to Guy and Samantha. They looked at each other.

  Riette liked Mark in her own way, but she didn’t like the idea of even more people knowing how she paid Mark. She wasn’t exactly comfortable with that.

  Trinity grabbed her arm, talking softly. “Now it’s my turn to tell you that you don’t have to do it.”

  “Mark wouldn’t hurt me,” Riette said, avoiding Zeke’s gaze. Their voices were soft, but Zeke seemed to be on alert. He either had very little experience with Angels or he knew exactly where this was going.

  It took moments for Mark to appear. He looked a little worse for wear, but his smile lit up the circle when he saw Riette.

  “My girl,” Mark said, hugging her and kissing each of her cheeks.

  He smelled like sunshine and something Riette couldn’t identify.

  “Mark,” Riette said simply.

  “I know that tone,” he said, groaning. He looked around at the other members of the group. “Do you know how taxing it is to take this many people?”

  “Mark,” Riette said again.

  His eyes landed on Zeke. “Woah.”

  “Meet Zeke,” Riette said, and Zeke just regarded him coolly and said nothing.

  “He’s cute in an, ‘I could kill you before or after’ kind of way,” Mark whispered to Riette.

  “It’s weird enough as it is,” said Riette.

  “Ooh, all business. I like it.” Mark slapped his hands together and rubbed. “Where, pray tell, are we going?”

  “The Hall of Remembrance.”

  “What a drag,” said Mark. “Why can’t you all ever want to go somewhere exciting?”

  “Maybe next time,” Riette said.

  Trinity snorted next to her.

  Mark regarded her. “And you said we like her?” he whispered loudly to Riette.

  Riette touched Trinity’s hand. “She’s one of the good ones.”

  Mark looked around and wrinkled his nose at Samantha. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Let’s do it,” said Riette.

  “Talk dirty again,” said Mark, getting giddy.

  Riette closed her eyes and let the energy build like a heat behind her hands and eyes. She heard the others talking, but she tuned them out. She had to focus on bringing the energy to a head.

  Riette had recharged using the Vitan bark, but she had used so much the day before that it was slow coming.

  Mark put his hands on her shoulders, and she felt the process begin.

  “The fuck?” Zeke asked. He said more, but she couldn’t discern it.

  The connection opened and power surged from her body into Mark’s. Or it did before the connection was snapped and broken by Mark being pulled from her.

  Riette opened her eyes, blinking as she tried to adjust to the sudden loss of the surge. Her power still rippled through her, but she tried to tamp it down. She had much more control than she had when she first left Vitan, and she was grateful for it.

  Her eyes found Mark standing closely to Zeke. He must have been the one to pull Mark off, but a quick look at Mark showed he had gotten some of the surge.

  “Fuck this shit,” said Zeke as he squared off with Mark. “You think that’s okay?” Zeke reared around and looked at each of them in turn. “You all think
this is okay?”

  No one said anything. Shame burned on Riette’s cheeks, and she was mad for it. She volunteered her power. She had a business relationship with Mark. Zeke had no right to interfere.

  “You’re Elves,” said Zeke. “I thought you’d be against being used.” He didn’t look at her, but he might as well have yelled for the effect it had.

  “I’ll pay him,” said Samantha. She moved forward and shoved coins into Mark’s hands.

  He was quiet, completely unlike himself. A laugh escaped his lips, but it was bitter and sounded broken. He closed his eyes, the world began to spin, and when Riette found her bearings again, they had all arrived at the Hall, but Mark was gone.

  Chapter 34

  The Hall of Remembrance was beautiful. It was dark, and there were towers on the large structure that loomed above them and seemed to scrape the sky itself.

  It was darker there, and the air was heavy with rain not fallen and tears.

  There were many travelers there who headed to the great doors that stood at the entrance. Every level of the cathedral-looking structure was covered in windows, and each window was stained glass.

  Characters were depicted in each collection of colors. Each of them looked sadder than the last. A woman holding a child with closed eyes. A man watching two lovers kiss. A cross. A grave.

  “You’re sure we need to go in?” asked Corin.

  Riette had taken a few minutes before Mark had arrived to tell the others about her grandmother’s prophecy and directions. Trinity, Corin, Mekhi, and Cassian had gone along with it because they trusted her, and she loved each of them for it, but the tales she had overheard as a child hadn’t prepared her for the hall that stood in front of them.

  “Only broken people go inside who are trying to find their pieces,” said Guy. “There’s no telling what we’ll see when we’re inside.”

  “Or what could be revealed,” said Trinity.

  “You know of this place?” asked Corin.

  “People came through to my grandmother’s inn talking about heading there or returning from it,” Trinity explained. “The people going there looked so hopeful. They had lost something and were desperate, but the people who had left there? They looked worse.”