by Allie Burton
Jayunja snorted in agreement.
“Why do you say that, Elle?” Rye’s quiet tone didn’t dim the authority in his question. Was he surprised or hurt by my opinions?
My opinions.
Finally, I voiced what I truly believed. Is that because I was comfortable with his company? Or, after seeing the arena fights was I too disgusted to care?
My lungs filled with hot, righteous air. “The prince is the rightful ruler. At this point, he should be thinking for himself, forming his own opinions, and stopping some of the Regent’s more restrictive majik laws.”
The hot air seeped out on a whine. I was the same age. I hadn’t done any of those things either. I hadn’t stuck up for my family home or my heritage against my stepmother. I hadn’t defended Arbor. I still hid behind my half-human self.
The silence deafened.
Had I said too much? Did Rye support the prince and the regent? But then, why would he help a troll?
“Maybe the prince is only just learning about the atrocities.” He whipped his free hand in a loose salute. “Maybe he’s been kept ignorant about what was going on in the kingdom. He’s been gone for a year.” He saluted a second time. “Maybe, once he’s educated, he’ll surprise you.” His hand dropped to his side and he fisted his fingers.
“I hope so.” If the prince changed the laws, I wouldn’t need to hide any longer. The thought buoyed my step.
The tunnel narrowed and grew darker and the slope became steeper. Jayunja had to duck his head. Spiderwebs hung from the roof and dangled in my face and hair. I swatted them away more in annoyance than fear. These simple things didn’t scare me anymore.
“Elle, you’re not really here for a school project, are you?” Rye’s soft question rang with seriousness.
I wanted to tell him everything and have him on my side, help me with my mission. The journey would be less lonely. And yet, why would I trust him? Because he was attractive and nice? Because maybe he was interested in me? My shoulders slumped. Why would a gorgeous guy be interested in me?
Maybe it was a ploy to learn the truth. A trick. He was smart. He’d already figured out part of the truth.
“No. Not a school project.” My mind swirled in varying directions. Tell him. Don’t tell him. I teetered on the edge about how much to confess. “I’m here to save a friend.”
And assassinate the prince.
No use telling him I’d been tasked to commit treason. Besides, I planned to avoid the offense by leaving the palace as soon as possible. In my head an alarm went off. Time wasn’t ticking, it was charging full speed ahead. My transport would change back into an ugly chair. My stepmother would leave the ball and go home. My friend would be tried and found guilty and kicked out of the kingdom.
“Save your friend from what?”
“She was arrested by the SCUM.”
“The what?”
My jaw dropped. How could he not know the acronym for the most hated security unit in the kingdom? All the citizens feared them, majik or human. “S-C-U-M. The Security Collectors of Unique Magic.”
His chuckle echoed in the tunnel. “I hadn’t heard that one. It fits.”
I smiled at his recognition of the truth.
“My friend is a smoke sprite and she wasn’t performing magic.” I was. “She didn’t deserve to be taken into custody.”
“She’ll have a fair trial and prove her innocence.” He sounded innocent. Or naïve.
“A trial?” Jayunja snorted and snot flew out of his nose. “I didn’t get a trial.”
“Not possible. Alandaska gives everyone a fair trial.” Rye’s indignation seemed personal as if a slight against the kingdom was a slight against him.
“Did you read that in a textbook?” The troll’s laugh sounded more like a gurgle.
I had read it in a textbook.
“What were you arrested for?” His serious tone showed he was gathering facts.
For what I didn’t know.
“Stealing food for my starving children.” The troll smirked, his puffy lips twisting into a half-smile. “And, insulting the SCUM.”
Rye quirked a dark eyebrow obviously realizing he was the only one who hadn’t heard the nickname.
“Your children?” My heart squeezed. The troll children must’ve been starving even before Jayunja had been imprisoned. My blood boiled. The kingdom had become a jail for half of its citizens. “There are majiks starving because they’re not allowed to work or to move someplace where they could get a job. They’re afraid of their shadows in this kingdom.”
“I’ve never seen a lack of food.” Shaking his head, Rye’s befuddlement came in raised dark brows and a slight frown.
“Where do you live? The palace?” The troll elbowed him in a sly way.
Rye coughed and tried to clear his throat. The troll must’ve hit him harder than I thought.
“Careful of your wound.” I squinted at Jayunja’s torso. Between the ointment and my lifesaving magic, the wound had healed. He appeared steadier on his feet. I let go of his arm. “Can you walk on your own now?”
“Sure.”
Rye let go of the troll’s other arm. “Wow. Your wound healed fast.”
“Trolls heal fast.” I spoke quickly. He couldn’t figure out the truth. “You’re still going to show us the way.”
Jayunja nodded. “Majiks don’t get fair trials. They don’t get trials.” He stomped his foot harder and winced. The wound had stopped bleeding. Still, he wasn’t completely healed on the inside.
“I’ve never seen a majik who’s taken into custody let go.” Dryness crept up my throat. “And the rumors about this prison.” A chill slid down my spine. I waved in the direction we headed.
“Zauber Tomb.” The troll’s response rang a death knell.
“Once a majik goes in, they never come out.” My voice rose repeating the rumors.
“Because if they’re found guilty, they’re sent out of the kingdom.” Rye’s hard tone hinted at knowledge. “We don’t have the capacity to hold all the majik prisoners.”
“We?”
His lips puckered. “The kingdom. Our kingdom.”
I’d heard so many stories at school. Gardenia had repeated the gossip as fact. I hadn’t believed most of it. But now? After seeing the arena fights and hearing the people chitchat at the ball? I didn’t know what to think. Jayunja didn’t get a trial. “You’re living in a fairytale if you believe that.”
Narrowing my gaze, I studied Rye. Who was this guy? He’d attended royal balls before. He wore nice clothes. He knew his way around the palace. How close was he to the regent and the prince? They couldn’t be related. Not with Rye’s tanned skin and long, dark hair. He was the exact opposite of the fair-skinned prince. Besides, I wanted to kiss him, not kill him.
Jayunja huffed. “I wasn’t shipped out of the kingdom. I was forced to fight a dragon.”
I remembered his fear as he’d stood in the center of the arena waiting to face a much stronger foe. “An unfair fight.”
Rye’s scar turned redder with his furrowed brow. “You made a club magically appear. You escaped.”
“Trolls don’t have that kind of magic.” I did.
“I was told he could use his magic to defend himself.” How could he be so unaware of the majiks and their abilities?
“Shows how much you know.” The boiling in my stomach bubbled again, roiling with his ignorance. With all humans’ ignorance. No wonder they didn’t appreciate majiks.
“Trolls can blend with the environment.” Jayunja’s entire body went gray and it was hard to see him. “We can see in the dark and hear from long distances away.” He pointed to his chest. “We heal quickly.”
I stretched my neck and shoulders. There was another explanation for his wound healing so quickly. It hadn’t been only my magic, and so there would be nothing for me to explain.
Rye’s brow furrowed deeper as he put everything together. “You were defenseless in the arena?”
“Yes.”
>
“How did you get the club?” His intelligence added to his attractiveness, and to my worry about him figuring things out. About me. About my mission.
“I don’t know. A majik nearby must’ve helped.” Jayunja glanced at me and back to his friendly interrogator.
My abs clenched. Did the troll know who had helped him? Is that why he’d been willing to accept my medical aid? Most trolls were independent loners. They lived their lives with minimal contact with other majiks according to my textbooks. And yet tonight, I’d learned so many things I’d been taught were wrong.
He shrugged his large, furry shoulders. “This is the farthest I go.”
My hands flailed. “You said you’d show me the way.”
He pointed around a bend in the tunnel. “The Zauber Tomb has an access point through there. It’s not the dungeon, but it will take you there. I’m not getting any closer. And I’m not going back. Ever.”
Rye’s gaze widened turning the silver orbs into gray slates. “Was it that bad?”
“Do you know where trolls live?”
“Under a bridge?” He really had no clue.
“Where have you been? Under a rock or stuck in a palace tower?” I couldn’t believe his ignorance. One second, he seemed to be the smartest guy I’d ever met, and the next it was if he didn’t know what was going on in the kingdom.
His brow smoothed, and he sucked in his cheeks. “I’ve been away for a while.”
“We live in caves in the mountains.” Jayunja tilted his scruffy chin. “Dirty, dank caves with no light. No real possessions because the SCUM would regularly search the mountains. No privacy. And that is better than Zauber Tomb.” Pivoting, he headed back in the direction he came.
“Goodbye.” My voice cracked.
“Good luck.” The troll grumbled. “You’re going to need it.”
His parting shot echoed through the cave and vibrated into my soul. I was alone with Rye at last. A guy who had risked danger to follow me, and I didn’t understand why. A guy who was smart, except about things having to do with the kingdom. A guy I didn’t understand and wanted to, yet couldn’t trust.
An awkward silence descended.
“Shall we continue?” He pointed with a flat palm.
“Why?” I had to understand his reasons.
“Why what?” He flashed an animated smile, showing bright white teeth. A smile that made me forget my common sense.
“Why are you coming with me? It’s dangerous, according to the troll. What are you getting out of it?”
“Can’t a guy be gallant?” He sauntered forward skirting around the bend, leading the way.
I should be the one leading. Thundering to catch up to him, I repeated, “Gallant?”
He didn’t glance back, just kept walking as if this was a stroll in a garden. His shoes squelched in the mud on the ground. His once-crisp pants had splatters of dirt near the bottom. He’d removed the vest and his shirt tugged across his broad shoulders.
“You’re trying to rescue your friend. You’re going somewhere dangerous. Having a partner is a good idea.” His longish hair curled slightly in the dampness, highlighting the lighter tips.
“Partner?” I’d gone from leading my mission to becoming a parrot.
“Partner.” He kept moving forward and suddenly came to a quick stop.
I slammed into his strong back. “What the—”
“The zauber betrayed us.”
Flinching at the slur, I took a step away.
“Jayunja sent us on a false path.” Rye had called the troll a zauber, not a majik. Not a friend.
Is that what he thought of us? Of majiks?
Us? Swallowing at the realization I’d included myself in the grouping, I tried to control my fast-beating heart. Was I finally starting to accept my majik side? Although not out loud. Admitting it now would be stupid. With Rye I needed to continue to pretend to be human.
“It’s a dead end.” He pounded his fist into a wall of rock.
The gray wall had lines etched into it by water over thousands of years. It looked as if someone had taken a large knife and scraped in the horizontal design. Moss had gathered in the cracks creating a miniature forest.
Defeat pressed down like the tunnel. I’d failed in my quest. We were stuck underneath the palace and I didn’t know how to get out or how to move forward. It had to be past midnight by now, and I had no clue how to find Arbor. Giving up wasn’t in my human nature. I’d suffered through years of abuse from my stepmother so I could be accepted and in control of my own destiny. Getting in trouble for sneaking out was the least of my worries.
Taking a deep, calming breath, I ran my palm across the stone. My skin caught on the tiny outcroppings. What appeared to be a smooth surface actually had hundreds of tiny indents. I’d seen a similar rock in the small park by my house. Arbor had called it crystalline limestone and said it could become a passageway.
I glanced at my companion. Could I trust him? He’d used the word zauber. So had I. The slur was casually thrown around by everyone and he must not realize the negative connotations. He was ignorant about a lot of majik things. And I wouldn’t be using my fairy powers.
He’d been pretty obstinate about staying by my side and I didn’t have the time to walk back with him, find a way out, dump him, and then make my way to this spot. Trust him or not, he was about to witness powers from Mother Earth. Anyone could call on nature for help. It was one of the things I’d allowed Arbor to teach me.
I rubbed my palm against the rock, thinking the thoughts Arbor had taught me.
Earth, open for your loyal servant. Show me the way.
The rock beneath my hand trembled. Rumbling and creaking filled the small, dead-end cavern. The ground shook. It was working.
“The tunnel’s caving in.” Rye rushed forward and pressed his body against mine. He hunched over my small frame, protecting me.
My body liquefied. He cared enough to protect me. He was gallant, and brave. And each quality made him more appealing. My pulse raced, and his heat scorched my skin. I twisted around to face him wanting to see his expression.
The muscles in his cheeks and chin relaxed. His silver orbs changed to a silkier gray. He tilted toward me inch by inch.
Licking my lips, I tried to control my galloping pulse. My eyes got wider as he got closer. I was already in his arms. Was he going to kiss me? A squeal ran the length of my midsection, from my quivering stomach to my zooming heart. Now?
His mouth brushed mine sending tingles across my lips and lighting a fire inside my skin. I burned from his slight contact imitating a match igniting a forest fire. His lips caressed mine again in a light, testing touch.
My lips grazed his. There were no open mouths or tongues. Only sweetness and light and hope. In this kiss, I wasn’t alone, that he’d be beside me always.
His fingers palmed my cheek and chin. “Elle?”
I didn’t know what he was asking or how I should respond. Biting my lip, I tried to control my awkwardness. “The tunnel is not caving in.”
The ground stopped trembling and the rock stopped vibrating because I’d stopped concentrating on earth to concentrate on Rye. I placed my flat palm back on the rock trying to settle my emotions. My first kiss. From a gorgeous guy. And totally at the most inappropriate moment.
“You’re right. The shaking has stopped.” He didn’t move away from me and I was hyperaware of our bodies so close. An inch or less. Too close, or not close enough.
Just because the kiss was special did not mean we started a make-out session in the middle of a quest. I needed to stay focused. And while I enjoyed the intimacy, I couldn’t concentrate with him so close. “Can you step back? I’m trying to concentrate.”
“On what?” He took a step back.
It was enough room to let my pulse return to normal. Almost.
“Watch.” I couldn’t stop my small grin and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the kiss or what I was about to show him.
Placin
g my hand back on the rock, I concentrated once more. The rock vibrated, the ground shook, and rumbling filled the cavern.
Rye’s gaze widened, and his mouth opened. His body stiffened. He didn’t move though. Maybe he did trust me. How could he not after the kiss?
The crystalline shifted and became translucent resembling a shiny quartz stone. The shaking stopped. A strong vibration came off my palm and the passageway opened.
“How did you do that?” He spoke slowly.
A thrill zoomed down my spine and electrified my nerve endings. I’d called on earth and it had answered. “Mother Earth has mysteries still to explore.”
“Magic?”
I paused and surveyed him. “Not magic. Mother Earth. Anyone who connects with nature can do it. Even humans.”
“Where did you learn how to do that?”
“It’s a long explanation. I’ll tell you later. Let’s go.” I stepped through the opening first not wanting to explain to him all the things Arbor had wanted to teach me about magic and fairies. Learning about Mother Earth’s powers had been a compromise between me and her.
Entering, a sucking tugged at my skin. My ears popped. I glanced behind to make sure Rye was coming.
He was right behind me. His slightly lost expression made him look adorable. His eyes appeared more silver filling with wonderment, and his lips quirked in an enchanted smile. Lost in his smile, I released an appreciative sigh. I wanted to kiss him again.
“Put your hands up, humans.”
About a dozen majiks stood sentry at our entrance on the other side of the rock. In a semi-circle so we couldn’t get away, each either fisted their hands or carried a homemade weapon of some sort.
And the weapons pointed at us.
Chapter Eleven
The demand bulleted through me and sent a thrashing through my ears. I jerked up my hands, but not in surrender. In self-defense, and a we-come-in-peace gesture.
A female elf, a fairy, a couple of ogres, and a troll stood in attack position. They surrounded us, blocking us in. If this was the way to the dungeon, what were majiks doing running about on their own? With weapons! The palace guards must be slacking off.
