Magic Gambit (Hidden World Academy Book 3)

by Sadie Moss

  “Oh.” I blink, a little taken aback. “Thanks.”

  She gives my hand another squeeze then releases it, swiveling her head to take in our surroundings as we enter the fae palace.

  Her mouth is hanging open by the time we get to Anzac’s throne room. It’s a room full of color, made up of stained glass, and the space we just entered from, a pure white marbled hall, is just as impressive.

  “You have returned,” Anzac notes, glancing up as we all file in. He’s sprawled lazily on the layered dais that serves as his throne, and he seems curious to see us here.

  Cross shrugs. “We just couldn’t resist your charm.”

  The fae king chuckles, his tongue darting out to lick his lips. He’s made it clear that if any of us wanted to, ah, get to know him better, that we could. But I think I’m okay with my three guys, and the same goes for them. Not that Anzac isn’t handsome—he’s actually incredibly striking with his dark skin, glowing golden eyes, and pointed ears. It’s just that none of us are really interested in making this foursome into a five-some.

  He knows that’s not why we’re here though, and I can see curiosity gleaming in his eyes. “What boon would you ask of me this time?” he croons. “It will not be given for free.”

  “We’re not here to ask anything of you,” I say quickly. “We’re here to warn you.”

  I lay out everything for him, explaining the discs, the cult, their plans, all of it. I show him Gunner’s disc as I finish up, and Anzac’s eyes gleam again, this time in recognition.

  He steps down from the dais and takes the disc from me. “I recognize this craftsmanship. It is a work from our cousins who dwell beneath the city called Falon.”

  I think that’s the name for Berlin in this world, but I could be totally wrong. From what I’ve learned, continents and states generally share names across the dimensions, but parallel cities tend to have different names in the Hidden World and the Dull World. Like Valencia and Baltimore.

  “No more discs can be made,” I tell Anzac. “The ones that exist have to be hidden or destroyed. It’s the only way to protect both of our worlds. Everyone will be affected by this if the cult succeeds, including you and your people.”

  The king hums, still holding onto Gunner’s disc. “Well. This is a serious matter. You are correct in that. But to spread the word among the various kingdoms of fairyland is no small task. It will take numerous forces. I will be spread thin, my borders unprotected in the meantime. For this favor, I will need a favor from you in return.”

  “Wha—” Bianca begins, looking outraged. But Theo wraps a hand around her from behind and covers her mouth before she can say anything that’ll get us into trouble.

  Anzac raises an eyebrow at her as if to silently ask who this new person is and why she’s glaring at him.

  I take a few deep breaths, my heart beating hard and fast against my ribs. I’m actually in agreement with Bianca here. I don’t think that it’s fair for Anzac to call this a “favor” and demand something from us in return. This cult business affects him too, and if he does this, it’ll keep his people safe, not just humans. We’re helping him.

  But the fae are proud people. They might have retreated into their underground kingdoms, but they’re still a large force to be reckoned with. They’re hugely powerful in magic, steeped in it. Humans in the Hidden World have magic, but the fae are magic. No wonder Anzac probably thinks he’s fine, that he has this covered.

  I want to argue with him and point out that this might be a threat only to humans right now, a threat to another parallel world that doesn’t even have fae in it, but it won’t stay that way for long. I mean, is a cult obsessed with amassing more magical power really going to stop once they get rid of one perceived threat to their ultimate authority? Yeah, right. They’ll come after the fae next, and other magical creatures, trying to take their power and accusing them of stealing magic. It’s only going to get worse and worse.

  Anzac probably wouldn’t appreciate me arguing with him like that though. He’s got all the power here. If he chooses not to send out a warning to the other fae kingdoms, then the cult will get more discs. They’ll find Roxie, and they’ll use her eventually—use her before I can stop them.

  So, a favor it is.

  “What sort of favor are you thinking of?” I ask. “I can’t take time out to do anything right away. With all due respect, your majesty, we’re tied up in this matter with the cult. I’d like to humbly ask that if I do you a favor, it not be one with a time constraint.”

  Anzac bows slightly. “I would respect you half as much, Gabbi of other worlds, if you did not negotiate at least a little with me.”

  “I would hate to miss out on one of my favorite parts of our meetings,” I reply, offering him up a sly smile. Anzac appreciates flirtation and banter.

  Sure enough, the fae king gives a small smile in return. “I do appreciate your manners. If only I could say the same of every mortal who crosses into my realm.” His gaze flickers over to Bianca, who is glaring up at Theo. At least she isn’t biting his hand though, so that’s something.

  “Surely there is something I can do for you that can be attended to at a later date? You fae are so much longer-lived than humans. Your patience is legendary, as is your ability to bide your time until the moment is right.”

  Oh, geez. I hope I’m not laying it on too thick.

  Anzac seems to consider this. “You make a sound point.”

  “And I would like—if I may—to ask that this favor be clearly defined. I wish to read the contract before I sign it, so to speak. I, uh, don’t want to have it be open-ended so that you can call in any favor that you please. I want to know what I’m getting into.”

  “That is fair.” Anzac inclines his head. “Very well. The favor I ask of you is this: that you obtain for me a jar of pink pixie dust. You may take your time in bringing it to me. But I will expect it before you part this mortal coil. If you die before you fulfill this for me, your offspring will be held responsible for your bargain. And if you try to escape this deal, you will find me a greater foe than I ever was a friend. Understood?”

  Next to me, Kasian stiffens. He’s the most cool-headed out of all of us, but even he isn’t a robot. He can’t hide all of his emotions.

  I glance at him. From the expression on his face, I can tell he doesn’t like this, but he just gives me a look that very clearly says what else are we going to do?

  I get it. Whether we like it or not, we don’t exactly have a ton of options here. I look back at Anzac. “We have a deal.”

  Just like last time, there’s no contract I’m signing, no hand that I’m shaking. But it feels like I am. I might as well be. The magic in the air seems to be listening, witness to my promise. I have no doubt that, if I were to try to break my vow, that there would be some serious hell to pay. You don’t just ignore a promise made to the fae, even if you didn’t sign on the dotted line.

  And that’s it. It’s done.

  “Excellent.” Anzac smiles, a pleased, languid stretch of his lips. “I shall send word to the other fae. No more Discs of Eile shall be made, and those in existence will be hidden or destroyed. We will keep them out of human hands.”

  Well, at least we got what we needed out of this, right?

  Chapter 7

  “You want to explain what that look was about?” Bianca asks Kasian as we leave the fae realm. She sounds annoyed.

  Cross and Theo glare at her. They’ll give Kasian a bit of shit sometimes—all the guys rib each other—but they’re the only ones allowed to do that. Bianca’s an outsider, she’s not allowed to snap at one of the men without the other two getting up in arms about it.

  It’s sweet, and it warms my chest. The guys could hardly stand each other when they first met, and now they’re a unit. A team.

  Kasian sighs and finds a bench across from the Spiral monument. I shake off my lingering nausea from the portal as we all join him.

  “Pink pixie dust is the rarest and har
dest to find,” he explains. “That has to be why Anzac asked us—he’s not in a particular hurry for it, but he won’t want to risk the lives of his own people to get it. Not when we’ll do it for him.”

  My heart sinks. Crap. It actually sounded like a pretty easy assignment. I should’ve known there was a catch.

  “Well, at least there’s no deadline,” I point out. Not like the last favor. We had to scramble to get that ring from St. Claire in time. “And he’s already reaching out to the other fae, so I think we can say mission accomplished? Somewhat successfully?”

  “Sure. It’s a better bargain than if he waited until we got the pixie dust to send word,” Theo acknowledges.

  “He must believe our fight against the cult is important.” I know it. Anzac’s not an idiot. “If he didn’t, then he’d make us wait until we delivered the pixie dust to him.”

  “It’s likely that he does want to help us,” Kasian says. “But he also couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get something for himself out of it.”

  “Wait, you expected him to ask for something?” Bianca demands. “Even though he wants to help?”

  All four of us look at her like she’s lost her mind.

  “Yes,” I say, as Cross and Theo look at each other and roll their eyes. “The fae will always negotiate for some kind of bargain. It doesn’t mean that they don’t agree with you or they don’t care, they just don’t ever want to give something for nothing.”

  “Sets a bad precedent,” Theo agrees. “If they give one human something for free, who knows what the humans will start asking for?”

  Bianca’s eyebrows rise. She looks genuinely surprised, and I find myself in the odd position of knowing more about something in the Hidden World than a person who was actually born in this world.

  I never would’ve expected that. It’s almost like I really do belong here. Like I’m starting to fit in and truly understand this place, or at least certain aspects of it, gaining my own field of expertise. It’s another way I’m starting to fit into this world. Another way that I work here better than I work at home.

  Home.

  …fuck.

  I miss my family so damn much. I don’t want to think about them, about my friends, about my dance. Because I do miss all of it, so much that it hurts sometimes—but I also want to stay here. I like this world. And I kind of fit in now, with my own magic.

  What am I supposed to do with that? I have no idea. I’m more torn every time I think about it, unable to figure out who I am and what I want to be, where I want to belong.

  Well, at least I have something to distract me.

  Namely, a crazy cult.

  Over the next week, we all keep an eye out for any sign of the Cult of Singularity or their activities.

  We also start trying to hunt down a legitimate prophecy interpreter, which turns out to be a lot harder than I expected. We venture off campus twice, but both times, the person we go to meet turns out to be a dud. Neither of them can tell us anything useful, and after the second attempt, the guys are antsy. None of us want to leave the safety of Radcliffe’s dimension bubble unless it’s for a good reason, and getting hustled by fake interpreters is not a great reason.

  Even on campus, I don’t feel completely safe. We’re basing a lot of our assumptions about how the cult will behave on guess-work, and although I think our guesses are solid, we don’t have any guarantees.

  The guys must feel the same, because Cross gives me a protection charm to keep me safe—it generates a low-level shield around me when I wear it around my neck. I’m pretty sure he got it from Bartholomew, the same black-market back door guy he took me to in order to get me my first magic generating charm. That charm didn’t work nearly as well as the one from the fae, but it was enough to get me by when I was first stuck here, and I appreciate that Cross stuck his neck out for me to make it happen.

  Ever since the beginning, he’s been looking out for me like that.

  This shield charm isn’t foolproof. I’m not going to be impervious to attacks, but it will lessen the blow if I get hit with a really powerful spell. It should cushion or dilute it somewhat, and that’ll hopefully be enough to keep me standing in a fight or give me time to get away.

  It’s sweet of him, and God knows that even though I now have my own magic, I need all the help I can get.

  My own magic.

  It’s still such a gift, such a surprise, and I love every second that I get to use it in class. The fae charm was working well for me, but this is so much better. It’s a bit stronger, for one thing, and for another, I can feel the magic now. It’s inside of me, not just being channeled from the ambient magic in the world through my charm. It feels so much more instinctive. My spells are better, my movements crisper, I pick things up more quickly. It’s amazing.

  I never want that part to end. I look forward to class every day—and that’s the first time in my life I can honestly say that.

  At the end of the day on Friday, Theo picks me up from my last class. The guys are still being super overprotective. I can’t blame them, in fact, I find it endearing, but it’s also a source of amusing exasperation. I’m so grateful for them, and for how much they care.

  Theo and I walk in silence, but I can feel his gaze on me, his arm brushing against mine as we make our way across campus.

  I love seeing my guys, but every moment I spend with them feels bittersweet, because it’s tinged with the knowledge that when this is all over, when we defeat the cult… well, what happens to us then?

  I try to remember that we have to deal with just one thing at a time. I can’t fixate on what’ll happen afterward. I’ll just go crazy if I do. But it’s hard not to worry about it all.

  Theo nudges me. “What’s up, love?”

  I stare out over the quad. I’m not sure what to tell him. After all, he knows how worried I am. We’ve already discussed all this. What’s the point in rehashing it? Especially when here’s nothing that he can say to fix this, no solution either of us can give.

  There’s really no way for me to express the way I feel, so I kiss him instead.

  Theo makes a slightly startled noise against my mouth, and then he kisses me back. His arms wrap around me, not like he’s trying to make this develop, but like he’s just trying to hold me and help me feel safe.

  When he pulls away, I can read it in his eyes; he knows what I’m thinking.

  “Will you come with me, love?” he says softly. “I want to show you something.”

  I nod.

  Taking my hand in his, Theo leads me up to the roof of the main school building. It’s the tallest building on campus, imposing and ancient-looking, towering over the quad like some kind of castle.

  When we step out onto the roof, I let out a little gasp. Holy crap, this is an incredible view. When I first came to Radcliffe, I was in awe of what a gorgeous campus it is. It looks the way that college campuses only look at a special few schools, the ones with the beautiful ivy-covered buildings, the small “college town” feel, the copses of trees and ponds and stuff. You know, the way only Oxford, Trinity College, Cambridge, and a few others genuinely look.

  Now, it’s like I’m seeing it for the first time all over again. The warm afternoon sunlight is spilling over the grass and the trees. It’s lighting up the old brick and hitting the stained-glass windows. It takes my breath away.

  Roxie would probably make a joke about Theo bringing all the girls up here, and maybe back when I first met him, I would’ve made the same joke. But I know him so much better now. I can tell this is a secret place for him. A special place.

  “I love it,” I tell him. “It’s beautiful up here.”

  Theo helps me to sit down in a good spot, one that’s not too near the edge of the building, and I smooth down my skirt as I settle in beside him. The roof is flat, and there’s a low wall surrounding it, so I’m not worried about falling off.

  “I used to come up here a lot,” he murmurs. “During my first year here, when I was fee
ling really homesick. I didn’t know Roxie at the time; I didn’t really know anyone. Well, I knew of her, and I knew of Cross too, since they were immediately top of the class. But I didn’t know them. Or anyone else, really. I’d come all this way because Radcliffe is the top university in this country, one of the top ten universities in the world, and I was terrified.”

  I take his hand, remembering the first night he opened up to me in my room. It changed the way I look at him entirely, and I think it was the moment I began falling in love with him. It wasn’t so much that he was showing me the “real Theo,” since his charming, confident side is part of him too. It was more that he was showing me the “whole Theo,” letting me see all sides of his personality.

  I love that he’s willing to let me know all of him.

  He looks at me, his fingers squeezing around mine. “You’re homesick, I know. For your family.”

  I nod. “Before all of this, I was really close with my parents and my little brother. I miss them. And I know they’re worried about me. Roxie’s been acting crazy—which, you know, I can’t blame her for. But it’s making them all worried, and I don’t want them to worry about me. I want to go home and be with them. But I also love it here.”

  Theo looks out over the campus. The sun won’t set for another couple hours, but it’s low in the sky, tingeing the clouds pink. The air is cold, but not biting.

  “I didn’t realize how little my family was, well, a family until I came here,” he admits. “I didn’t miss them. I missed the familiarity of home. I missed my mates. But my family… we just existed in the same space. We aren’t close, not like you and your folks.”

  He glances down at me, a fond smile curving his lips.

  “Since meeting you, and Cross and Kasian, I know better now what family actually means and what it should be. I want to protect you. I want to know you all inside and out. I feel closer to the three of you than my blood relatives back home, honestly.”

  I rest my head on his shoulder, curling into him and stealing some of his warmth. “I’m sorry your family is like that. But for what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here now with us, and that we can be your new family. I know I’m lucky in who my relatives are. My mom can be overprotective, but she just cares about me. And we’re all close. I feel—or I felt, until this whole magic-parallel-world thing—like I could tell them anything. I hate that they’ve been feeling left out of the loop with Roxie living in my place. Shane, especially. I’ve tried really hard to make sure we stay close despite our big age gap, and I worry this will mess that up. We used to play board games together and have movie nights and stuff all the time.”