Noble Lies

by Lyneal Jenkins

  I pressed against the sword a fraction. Sharp, stinging pain seared through my chest, mirroring his injury. I breathed deep, counting each exhale to steady myself. How could I hurt him if it meant hurting myself?

  Gabriel slumped as much as the piercing blade allowed. ‘Do it then. Kill me. What do I have to live for, anyway?’

  Adam placed his hand over mine. ‘You will regret this.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that.’ I kept my eyes on Gabriel. ‘Will killing him quickly prevent pain?’

  He didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. I saw the answer in his eyes.

  ‘Then don’t count on any regret,’ I said. ‘I am sick of assholes trying to kill the people I care about.’ My arms trembled under the weight of the sword. Sweat ran down my neck and between my shoulders. It took all my concentration to remain still.

  Adam gripped the blade in his fingers. ‘It is over.’ He tried to shift it from Gabriel, but I held it steady. After a moment, he released the blade and looked over his shoulder. ‘Eris.’

  ‘Don’t look at me,’ she said. ‘I'm not getting involved.’

  Gabriel watched me, his eyes flicking between me and the blade. For all his words, he didn’t want to die.

  ‘You are no different than your poisonous daughter,’ I said. ‘Maybe you are working with the Others, too.’

  Gabriel slid up the tree. I moved the sword with him, twisting my hand around the hilt to keep it raised. My arms shook with the weight and I moved my left hand down the blade to help support it, careful not to slice myself on the sharp edges.

  The air seemed to thicken around him as his eyes flashed with rage. ‘Do. Not. Dishonour. Me!’

  I laughed, a cold sound that reminded me a little of Eris. The thought chilled me. ‘Don’t delude yourself, Gabriel. As with Suraya, you have no honour.’

  His face reddened with rage. He ran his palm down the side of the blade and held it out. Blood rolled down his wrist to his elbow and dripped to the ground. ‘I meet your challenge.’ The length of the blade preventing him from smearing my cheek with his blood.

  ‘Do not be absurd,’ Adam said. ‘She is with child.’

  ‘Stay out of it,’ I snapped.

  Eris laughed with such abandonment, I could imagine her wiping a tear from her eye. ‘As much as this is entertaining, we are in the realms of fantasy here. Gabriel, stop being a Boracka. If you wish to continue the Ta Mar with Adam, so be it. But you will wait until the child is born.’

  Gabriel glared at her. ‘The council—’

  ‘Will support me with this. Ana carries the prophesised child. How do you think they will react if they hear of the proceedings here?’

  Adam pushed the blade down. This time, I let him, and he took it from my hands. I breathed slow and deep to clear my swimming mind.

  Gabriel gave me one last glare that froze the blood in my veins before he stormed off. Would he become an enemy like his daughter Suraya? I watched until he slipped out of sight before turning to Adam with a sigh. Time would tell with Gabriel. Until then, there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I clasped my shaking hands together. ‘What’s a Boracka?’ I asked as a distraction rather than a need to know the answer.

  ‘An extinct species that evolved over a million years ago. They were cowardly creatures with little regard for their own lives.’

  I stumbled towards the Damiq who watched us with wide eyes, like they wished they were anywhere else but there. Tiredness coursed through me, dragging on my limbs. The world greyed and my legs tangled with each other. I tripped and hit the ground, not able to feel the hard soil beneath, broken by the straw-like patches of grass. It felt like a bed fit for royalty, beckoning me to stay there, enveloping me in its soft earthy scent. Adam called my name, and people busied around me, but I didn’t fight the approaching wall of darkness. ‘Don’t worry.’ I flapped a hand at them, unable to open my eyes. ‘I just need to rest.’ Sleep dragged on me, demanding that I follow its sweet tune. Finally, I could escape the hell of my mind, if only for a while.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The cold reaches through my clothes and muscles, and threads its way into my bones. I am in a cavern of ice, bathed in a white glow created by the thin ray of sunlight reaching through the above crevice. I spin around, trying to find the Damiq, my new family, but unblemished ice surrounds me, cold, unfeeling ice. They have left me. I am alone. All alone with no one to call friend or family. They have deserted me. Everyone has deserted me.

  Someone shook me hard. I rolled, hitting a solid surface with my shoulder.

  ‘It’s me,’ a voice said from the darkness.

  I sat up with a start, my thoughts heavy with the lingering dream. ‘Maria?’ I said, my words thick and sluggish.

  ‘Last I checked, yes.’

  I rubbed gunk from my puffy eyes and a shadowed form came into view. I continued to blink until I saw dark trees. I was in the woods with the Damiq. Thank God, I wasn’t alone. I shivered and hugged myself. The bitter cold wind delved through my muscles and pierced the bone. No wonder I had dreamt of ice.

  ‘Here.’ She handed me a bottle of water.

  I drank half down in one go, yet it did little to quell my thirst. ‘When did you get back?’

  ‘An hour or so ago. I would have woken you sooner, but Eris collared me.’

  I yawned and stood to stretch. ‘What did she want?’

  ‘Grandmamma got picked up in the Orlando airport by the American government.’

  I groaned. I had forgotten all about that problem. ‘It’s all my fault. I told them about Kipsu.’

  She flapped her hand, dismissing me, showing me her lack of concern. Then again, why would she care? She had made no secret about wanting the world to know about the Siis. Working with the government likely appealed to her. ‘I guessed as much. So did Eris.’

  ‘Great.’ Damn, I’d forgotten about her. ‘Now she’s going to kill me.’

  She rubbed her tired eyes as she slumped down beside me. ‘From what I’ve heard, you will be right up for the challenge.’

  I ran my hand down my face, wincing when my palm caught the rough stitches. My thoughts remained muggy. ‘What happened with Cissy?’

  She shrugged. ‘Not much. Last I heard, they were letting her go.’

  ‘Really?’ I eyed her with suspicion. That didn’t sound right, not for the government. It didn’t matter what country they were from, they were all the same, only out for what was best for them. ‘Why would they do that?’

  She found a rotting stick by her feet and, with her gaze unfocused, picked at the loose bark, flicking the bits in front of her. ‘She can't make the Kipsu without a Siis priest. Something to do with it containing charged daku particles.’

  ‘And the government just let her go? Why would they do that?’ I tried to get my head around the enormity of what she said. It seemed impossible. Then again, hadn’t the impossible happened when the government released the Damiq? Maybe times were changing.

  She looked up in surprise. ‘Didn’t I mention? Grandmamma works with them. All the Alexus clan do.’

  ‘What?’ I blinked, sure I’d misheard her.

  ‘That’s how they find out about the Fae. A man in a suit always meets them at a park with an envelope. Grandma loves it. It’s all very covert, like something out of the movies.’ She leaned towards me, grinning. ‘I think grandma has a thing for him. She didn’t say anything, but she went to meet him twice while I was there, and both times she came back looking all starry-eyed.’

  ‘The American government knows about the clan?’ I tried to make sense of her words. The witches and the government working together sounded all kinds of wrong.

  She nodded. ‘From what Grandma says, they have known for years. They have made some sort of deal.’

  ‘A deal? How does that work?’ Could a long-standing arrangement with the government even work? It seemed unlikely.

  She shrugged. ‘The clan are meant to keep their power a secret and, as you kn
ow, they also work as pest control for the Fae. In return, they are left alone.’

  I drank the remaining water and used my sleeve to wipe the scum off my teeth. Disgusting! I needed to get a new toothbrush and toothpaste, but for now, I would manage. ‘Do they do that here, in England?’

  ‘I don’t know. From what Sally said about the lack of magic ability here, I doubt it.’

  As my mind cleared, I remembered the reason for her absence. ‘How did it go with Cameron’s parents?’

  She grimaced. ‘Better than I expected, I suppose. They accepted his abilities easy enough.’ She tossed the stripped stick to the ground in frustration.

  ‘But?’

  She scowled, her eyes dark with pain. ‘They won’t let me have contact with him.’

  I took her hand, wanting to offer comfort. ‘You knew that.’ There were times that hope didn’t help. It would only prolong her pain.

  She pulled away and seemed to fold in on herself in despair. ‘Yeah, but I thought… oh, I don’t know. I thought that they might change their mind if they met me, that they would want me to help with his gifts.’

  I didn’t have the words to comfort her, nobody would. ‘Will they work with Madeline?’

  Using the wall for support, she pushed herself to her feet and smoothed her hair over, trying to find her inner strength. ‘Madeline isn’t doing it, but they are working with someone she found for them.’ She looked down, her face a picture of misery. I recognised the approaching darkness she battled with. It had been my companion for so long it would be hard not to sense the depression sinking its claws into her.

  ‘He knows about you now,’ I said. ‘When he is older…’

  She kicked the ground, spraying loose dirt into the air. She stared at the damp soil below, almost longingly, as if wishing she could keep digging until she outrun the pain. ‘That’s what they said. I have to wait years before I can contact him again.’

  I stood, wanting to hold her, but she remained closed off as the pain burrowed into her. ‘I'm sorry.’

  ‘Yeah, me too.’ She trampled the loose soil flat, closing the door on any fantasies of escape, and smiled. My heart ached when she threw up a mental wall, cutting herself off from me. ‘So…you challenged Gabriel? Don’t get me wrong, I'm all for you kicking that shit’s ass, but—’

  ‘Is he still around?’ There were still things I needed to say to my ass of an ex-boyfriend.

  ‘Nah. Bill said he slinked off after the fight.’

  Maybe I had said all I needed to. I wouldn’t hunt him down, even if smacking him would give me immense pleasure. ‘Eris?’

  ‘She just left, but she said to tell you not to get comfortable. She will be back.’

  I stretched my arms above my head, groaning. I hurt like I’d been tossed around in a tumble dryer, one filled with sharp, lethal spikes.

  ‘So,’ Maria said. ‘What happened to going public?’

  I silently groaned. I’d hoped to have more time before she broached the subject. ‘Seraphine happened.’

  ‘We can still do it.’ She gave me an earnest look, her eyes pleading. With Cameron gone, she needed a project to keep her mind occupied.

  I groaned aloud this time. ‘Tea first, Maria. Then we can talk future plans.’ I didn’t have the heart to argue with her while she suffered from her loss.

  ‘There is none. I already checked. There isn’t much in the way of food, either, unless you want to eat bugs.’ She stuck her tongue out and verbally heaved.

  I studied the handful of Damiq sat around a small fire. The others were hidden in the trees asleep or out hunting for supplies. ‘We have to find a base, don’t we?’ I couldn’t believe that we hadn’t been detected yet.

  She nodded. ‘Nicolai is talking about breaking them up, sending them to different camps around the U.K.’

  ‘That’s probably a good idea.’ You will be all alone. ‘They will be safe then.’ Alone would be better than seeing them dead.

  ‘I don’t think we should let that happen. Maybe send the little Damiq off, Verity and the other one who survived, but you need the rest of them here. I don’t know how you managed it, but they want to follow you, well, most of them do.’

  ‘Parker?’

  She chuckled. ‘There is no love lost between you two, is there?’

  I shrugged. Parker was the least of my concerns right now.

  ‘Well then, you might be surprised to learn that he has requested to stay. He might not like you, but he admits that you get results.’

  I had expected him to protest me staying after what happened in the cavern. ‘I suppose that’s something. It doesn’t change the fact that we have nowhere to call home. It will take too long to create another cavern.’ I buried my face in my hands. Because of me, they were refugees.

  She smiled. her eyes sparkled as if she had a secret. ‘True, but what if we don’t need to do that?’

  ‘You have an idea?’ I looked away, unable to meet her eyes. Maria’s ideas usually ended with me in trouble and often near death. I was still recovering from the last disaster.

  She nodded. ‘Well, it’s Grandmamma’s idea. She really took to the little Damiq, especially Verity, and she doesn’t like the idea of them living in the woods. Though, if you listen to her, she thinks it will do me the world of good. I got a massive lecture off her about how I need to get my head out of the clouds and—’

  ‘Her idea?’ I interrupted before she could fall into a full-out rant.

  ‘She wants to buy a big ass house with some land. Then the Damiq should be able to live in peace.’ She grinned. ‘To be honest, I think it’s because she still hurts from sleeping in the cavern.’

  I gasped at the enormity of what she said. ‘She’s going to buy them a house? Just like that?’

  She grinned, enjoying my surprise. ‘Yep.’

  ‘Have you told Nicolai yet?’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘He doesn’t believe me. He didn’t say it straight out, but you should have seen the sceptical look on his face.’

  ‘They have fended for themselves for a long time. I suppose I would be sceptical too if I didn’t know Cissy.’

  ‘Maybe. Either way, buying a house takes time, even when you are paying without a mortgage. Nicolai doesn’t think they will last here that long.’ She looked around, her eyes narrow as she studied the shadows. ‘We are too exposed. The location is too close to town. Anyone could walk through here and see us.’

  ‘The Damiq are invisible to most people, remember?’

  She leant forward while scanning the area, as if unsuspecting passers-by were already within earshot. ‘But we aren’t,’ she whispered.

  I studied the gaps in the trees, and a shiver ran down my spine. I needed to keep a better eye on the deep shadows surrounding us.

  ‘There is something else,’ she said, her voice serious. ‘Mayan visited me again.’

  ‘Mayan?’

  ‘My guardian angel.’

  I groaned. ‘It’s not that I don’t believe you, Maria, but a guardian angel? Really?’

  She scowled, her lips pouting. ‘You believed me when we first met.’

  I chuckled, not wanting to offend, but unwilling to blindly follow her belief. ‘Not really. I just didn’t want to be rude.’

  Her scowl deepened. ‘Well, you must believe me this time. She came with a warning.’

  I smiled, trying to diffuse her irritation before it exploded from her in the form of one disaster or another. ‘Is that so?’

  ‘She said that you are in danger.’

  I snorted with laughter. ‘Any person here could tell you that.’

  She shook her head in frustration. ‘I don’t mean from the government or Fae. She said that it will only be a matter of time before Cleas comes looking for you. She also said that you will soon meet Vakros.’

  I chuckled again, the forced laugh dark and bitter. ‘Don’t tell me; he will want my child, too?’

  She nodded, though frowned with uncertainty. ‘She didn’
t say, but I got the impression that he will. There was also something else, something I can't quite put my finger on.’

  ‘Try.’ I leant towards her, my gaze intent. A guardian angel seemed impossible, but maybe there was something to what she believed. The thought caused my stomach to clench with dread.

  She pursed her lips as she mulled it over. ‘I don’t know. When she spoke of Vakros, I got this feeling that she wasn’t telling me everything.’

  I gave her a quizzical, yet unbelieving look. ‘So, your guardian angel lies? I didn’t think it worked like that.’

  She glowered. ‘Mock me all you like, but she is real, I promise you.’

  ‘Fine! So now I have to worry about Vakros, too.’ I sighed. ‘Any more problems you want to share?’

  ‘Don’t be moody with me. I'm just the messenger.’

  ‘Tell you what, next time this Mayan decides to put in an appearance, you send her to me.’ My stomach rumbled and nausea bubbled up. My hands shook with hunger. When had I last eaten?

  ‘Come on.’ Maria grabbed my hand. ‘Let’s get you some food.’ She led me to the small fire, the heat too weak to chase the cold from my bones; it barely warmed my skin.

  Nicolai looked up with a smile. ‘It is good to see you awake.’

  ‘How long did I sleep for?’ I asked.

  He glanced at the dark sky and shrugged. ‘Five, maybe six hours. You need to ensure your rest, especially with a child to care for.’

  Maria dropped to the ground and sat with her legs crossed. ‘Is there any of that rabbit left? After listening to Ana’s stomach roar, I'm afraid she will eat me if she isn’t fed soon.’

  I scowled at her. ‘I am a little hungry,’ I admitted. ‘Though, don’t leave yourselves short of food on my account.’ I spied a bowl of insects and gagged, my mouth full of saliva. Nope! Not that hungry yet.

  Nicolai lifted a cloth off a small pile of dark meat. ‘You are one of us now.’

  I relaxed a bit when he didn’t offer me the insects. I accepted the strip of cold meat and nibbled the end. A smoky taste with an earthy undertone flowed over my tongue and hit the back of my throat. I gagged but swallowed the bile back. Using my teeth, I fought to tear a piece of the meat off. I needed both hands to grip it as my teeth ground through the stringy flesh. My stomach rolled, but I swallowed it down. After all, regardless of the taste; it was protein.