The gate in the fence was unlocked as I’d known it would be. The yard was unoccupied, save for birds and insects. The house’s patio door had its glass open, covered only by a screen that let in the afternoon air. It too would be unlocked.
“Kiyo won’t really do it,” I muttered, as I jerked the door open. “Maybe he’s upset … but we can talk this out. Deanna overreacted. We’re overreacting.”
We stepped into a small breakfast nook, and in the adjacent kitchen, a man spun around. My heart leapt when I saw him. The familiar, kind face. The graying hair. The tattoos of whorls and fishes. It felt like a lifetime since our last meeting.
Roland.
I’d gone to my parents’ house.
Roland’s reactions were those of a man who’d spent years fighting and training, but even that didn’t prepare him for the sight of us. Astonishment filled his features, quickly giving way to outrage.
“Eugenie! What are you—”
“Get your weapons,” I ordered, casting an uneasy glance behind me. Jasmine followed as I strode toward him. “Whatever you’ve got in the house.”
He didn’t move. “You know you’re not—”
“Get them!” I exclaimed. “We don’t have time for this!”
I don’t know what look I wore on my face, but it was enough to pierce the walls of hurt and anger he’d built between us since learning of my involvement in the Otherworld. I’d taken a risk coming here, a gamble that no matter what happened, Roland would protect me. And I was right. He transformed before my eyes, suddenly the concerned and caring stepfather I’d grown up with.
“What’s—”
Before he could finish, the screen door flew open. Kiyo stood there, face dark and stormy.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded. “Why did you take off?”
“You first,” I said, taking a step back toward Roland. “What are you doing?” Jasmine moved to my other side. My eyes were on Kiyo, but I could sense Roland bracing for battle. Maybe he didn’t know what was going on, but anyone could have seen how dangerous Kiyo was.
“I wanted to talk to you, and you disappeared!” Kiyo moved forward a little but stopped, recognizing the united front that Roland and I—and yes, even Jasmine—presented.
“Talk? Is that all you wanted to do?”
“Yes. Of course.” Kiyo glanced between all of us. “You promised, Eugenie. You promised if it was a boy, you’d get rid of it.”
“There’s a girl too!” I exclaimed. “You can’t get rid of one without the other.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “The consequences are too big.”
“I can’t kill an innocent. She hasn’t done anything.”
“Not directly. Letting her live means he lives. And there’s nothing innocent there. He can’t live. Eugenie, you know that. I’m not trying to be cruel. Please. Do what’s right.”
Jasmine and Roland remained silent as this drama played out. Meanwhile, I realized how sickened the language of this whole matter continued to make me. Get rid of it. He can’t live.
“You’re so quick to kill your own children,” I said in disbelief, echoing what Jasmine had said a few days before. “Don’t you feel any remorse? You know better than me what it’s like to be a parent!”
“Yes,” he said, clenching his fists. “I do know. And it’s amazing. I wish you could know what it’s like….”
“But I can’t? I can’t have the same chance you and Maiwenn had?”
Kiyo shook his head. “You aren’t the same as Maiwenn. You can’t ever be.”
It was like a gut-punch. I was stunned into silence, and a bit of his fierceness eased. I think he read my reaction as acceptance.
“Look, I don’t get this,” he said. “I don’t get why you’re resisting all of this after what you’ve always said! You never wanted a baby—any baby. If you’ve changed your mind, then … well, try again. You just can’t have these.”
“And what then? I just keep having abortions until a girl comes along? What kind of a sick bastard are you?” I moved forward without realizing it, my anger exploding. Roland put a hand on my arm, keeping me back. It wasn’t affection. It was a warning. It was defensive strategy, keeping us together.
“I’m trying to protect the human world,” Kiyo said. He hadn’t come any closer, but he was as ready as we were, his reflexes even faster. “And you should be too.”
“And what happens if I don’t do what you want?” I asked quietly. Here it was, the moment of truth.
He sighed. “I don’t want it to come to that.”
“To what?” My voice rose sharply, the anguish in me ready to explode. “What will you do?”
“I’ll take you to Maiwenn—by force. And then … and then she’ll take care of it.”
“The hell you will,” I said. Goddamnit, I wished I had a weapon. I almost always traveled with them—but not to the doctor’s office. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Roland’s hand rest on the counter and wrap around something. A wand. He’d had his wand in the kitchen. But of course he would. Unlike me, he hadn’t become careless. “I’ll never let that happen. You guys aren’t going to experiment on me!”
Kiyo’s face displayed a mix of emotions. There was sorrow and disappointment. He did care. He didn’t want this fight between us—but he also believed in his greater good. He believed he had to do anything to stop the prophecy, and I knew then that Deanna had spoken the truth. Ideally, he just wanted the pregnancy to end. If that wasn’t possible, then I was what needed to be eliminated.
“How can you do this?” he asked, his voice both a threat and a plea. “How can you risk all this—just to save one life?”
It was only in that moment, as the words left my lips, that I learned the truth about myself, what I’d been holding deep inside. The girl and boy thing didn’t matter. Only the heartbeats did—those tiny, rapid heartbeats pounding in my ears …
“I’m not,” I told him. “I’m saving two lives.”
I sealed my fate with that. Kiyo moved so fast that I wasn’t prepared for the attack. He sprang toward me, shape-shifting as he did into his giant fox form, fangs out, snarling. A blast of wind slowed—but didn’t stop—his leap, providing enough time for Roland to jerk me out of the way. The wind magic hadn’t come from me. It had been Jasmine, which was why the power hadn’t packed much of a punch. The unaccustomed magic left her gasping, but it had been enough to buy us a brief escape.
Roland pulled me out of the kitchen, out to where we had more space to maneuver in the living room. Kiyo followed without hesitation, all brute strength and speed.
“He can be banished,” I gasped out to Roland. “The same as a gentry.”
Roland gave a brisk nod of acknowledgment. He already knew this, but in the sudden flurry, he didn’t have the necessary pause to do a full banishing. Kiyo reached us, throwing himself on me and pushing me away from Roland. I fell hard to the ground, Kiyo’s weight pinning me there. As quickly as he’d turned fox, he transformed back into a man. Still displaying amazing speed, he pulled me up by the arm. I didn’t know if his intentions were simply to cart me out of the house or to attempt a world-jump then and there, but I didn’t give him the chance. I’d recovered my senses and took hold of my magic. The air grew thick, and a hurricane-worthy gust blasted him away—along with a substantial part of my parents’ furniture.
Kiyo grimaced as he regained his footing and agonizingly took one step at a time toward me.
“Damn it!” he yelled over the roar of the wind. “Stop this!”
“You stop this!” I shouted back. The magic burned in my blood, and no matter how annoyingly weak the pregnancy had made me, my power hadn’t diminished too much. “We don’t even know that this prophecy’s real! I’ve already met one fake seeress. It could all be for nothing.” Roland and my mother had once told me that prophecies were a dime a dozen in the Otherworld, and I’d seen that to a certain extent. Until now, I’d never wanted to take the chance that mine wouldn’
t come true.
“But we don’t know!” Kiyo countered. I could see the irritation on his face. I was keeping a storm raging around me, one that held him at bay while hopefully Roland began a banishing. “We can’t risk it. Please. Please come back with me to Maiwenn. We’ll fix this.”
I didn’t answer and instead kept the storm going. My gaze stayed on Kiyo, but I felt the tingle of shamanic magic—human magic—beginning to glimmer. Roland was indeed performing a banishing spell.
Kiyo transformed into a fox again, and with that extra strength, he managed to push through the storm-shield around me and knock me to the ground again. He stayed as a fox this time, holding onto that strength. His teeth bit into my shirt, through to my shoulder, and I yelled out in pain. My magic wavered, and to my astonishment, he began dragging me—slowly—across the living room.
His progress was halted when a small end table slammed into his back. I tell you, those things are lethal. Instinctively, he reared up against his attacker: Jasmine. He shoved her away, and she stumbled back. Snarling, Kiyo returned to me, and I had the uneasy feeling my odds were getting worse as to whether he’d cart me away or just kill me. He could hold on to human thoughts in fox form, but they became increasingly influenced by animal reactions the longer he stayed transformed.
He suddenly looked away from me, gold eyes on Roland, who stood planted firmly across the room with his wand extended. I’d sensed the banishing earlier because of my training. Now, with the spell in full force, Kiyo could feel it too. Abandoning me for the new threat, Kiyo raced toward Roland. I screamed as all that animal power slammed into my stepfather, pinning him against the wall. The wand flew from Roland’s hand. The banishing spell disintegrated.
Kiyo shifted to human form again, still trapping Roland. Roland was strong but couldn’t match Kiyo’s strength. Struggling was useless.
“Stop it,” cried Kiyo. “Both of you.”
His arm pressed against Roland’s neck. Roland managed a gasp as the grip cut off his air. Immediately, I let the storm magic around me drop. As I did, I felt that Jasmine had been lending her strength to me without me even realizing it. She too ceased her wielding and struggled up from where she’d been knocked down, coming to stand with me once again. The room fell eerily still.
“Let him go,” I growled, moving slightly forward. I knew I couldn’t win against Kiyo in a physical fight, but I also couldn’t let him harm Roland. “This isn’t about him. Don’t hurt him.”
“Believe me,” said Kiyo, “I don’t want to.” His eyes were dark and human again, but there was still some feral glint in there. “Come with me, and I’ll release him.”
“Come with you,” I said flatly. “To Maiwenn’s?”
“You’ll thank me later,” said Kiyo.
My mind raced frantically. Roland was struggling for breath. How much longer did he have? Would Kiyo really kill him? I wondered if I could get off another blast of magic. Another attack of wind? Lightning? I could create a controlled bolt indoors, but it’d probably kill both men. And if I went with Kiyo … let him take me to Maiwenn … well. There’d be no getting out of that, no escape.
Roland looked ready to pass out. His blue eyes were fixed on me, and then, quickly, he glanced toward my feet. I thought it was him about to lose consciousness, but then I saw the purpose in his eyes. His wand was near my feet, within easy reach. I didn’t let on to Kiyo that I’d noticed. Roland’s eyes returned to me, some message there.
“Please,” I begged, wondering frantically what Roland wanted me to do. “Let him go.” I couldn’t pull off a banishing spell. There wasn’t enough time. Kiyo would release Roland, true, but then I’d be the one attacked again. I honestly didn’t know how long Kiyo would play it safe. He was attempting “reasonable” solutions: force me to go to Maiwenn, blackmail with Roland, et cetera. Sooner or later, if he truly believed the prophecy’s threat, he would simply eliminate me.
Roland was still staring at me, still wanting me to do something he thought would save us. He’d trained me. Surely I could figure it out. I had to. What could a wand do? It cast spells. It banished creatures, sending them out of this world….
I felt my eyes widen. I knew what he was telling me to do. Doing it would save him, I was certain, because Kiyo would release him and come after me … into the Otherworld. Roland wanted me to open a gateway for myself. I could do it. It was a fast spell, one I had the power for. Forcing another being through was what took so much time and effort. But opening the gate and stepping through? That could be done quickly.
If it could be done. Getting in was easy. Passing through the worlds unassisted was hard, and I’d even had trouble going through fixed, physical gates lately in my weakened state. Making a blind, unaided transition might not even be possible for me. I’d done it once before, and it had required a lot of power. And dear God, had it hurt. If I could do it, though … I’d get away from Kiyo, and Kiyo would let Roland go in order to chase me down. This could buy me the time to flee to safety.
The only thing that might make it possible was that I had anchors in the Otherworld to help pull me in. If I jumped with no solid destination, I could end up trapped between the worlds, my essence disintegrated. Hell, that might still happen, but an anchor would reduce the likelihood. I didn’t know where I was in relation to the Otherworld’s layout, but the closest anchor would pull me in if this worked.
Time to find out.
With speed that rivaled Kiyo’s, I reached for the wand and then grabbed hold of Jasmine’s hand. Bringing her only made my task more difficult, but I wouldn’t leave her to Kiyo. With the wand, I summoned the necessary magic and ripped open a gate to the Otherworld. Kiyo realized what was happening and released Roland, trying to reach me—but it was too late. I threw myself into the opening, clinging to Jasmine, and knew it would shut immediately behind us, simply because I couldn’t hold open a personal gate for long.
It felt just as painful as last time, like I was crashing through the floors in a building. Down, down, down. Smash, smash, smash. Each layer was more agonizing than the last, and with each blow, I felt like I was being torn apart. It was likely I was, and I would destroy Jasmine with me, ripping our souls from our bodies.
Then, I sensed a tug. My soul turned toward it, and I felt my fractured self coalesce and become whole, even as that falling, excruciating sensation continued. Then—there was only one impact left: a real one. Jasmine and I slammed into a hard stone floor. My body cried out at the pain. True, physical pain. I had already been hurting from the fight with Kiyo, and now, crashing through the worlds had taken that pain to new levels.
Nausea welled up in me, and I fought hard not to throw up. I could hear Jasmine whimpering, but the sights around us were a blur as my disoriented mind tried to get a hold of itself. Finally, the world came into focus, the colors and lines growing sharp once more. A faint hum of magic in the air, one that was always present, told me I’d made it intact to the Otherworld.
And Dorian was looking down at me.
Chapter 25
“Ow.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as another wave of nausea rolled through me. Control, control. A few deep breaths later, I opened my eyes and met Dorian’s gaze.
“Unexpected,” he said in that dry way of his. “And unwelcome.”
I sat at the base of his throne in the banquet hall, which was packed. It must have been mealtime, but no one was paying attention to the food. They were all on their feet, staring at the evening entertainment that had literally dropped into their midst. I peered around, wondering how I’d been drawn to this spot and then found it—the Slinky I’d left here as my anchor. It had once had its own little room, but now sat on a table beside Dorian’s throne, one he kept small treasures and knickknacks on to amuse him when holding court. Odd placement.
There was no time to ponder that, though. I turned to Jasmine who looked as disoriented and sick as I felt but didn’t seem to have suffered any permanent damage. Her body and soul w
ere intact, which was what counted. I looked back at Dorian and tried to stand up, but my legs gave way beneath me. I started to fall and clutched his robe instinctively. Jasmine, with surprising speed, moved in to catch my arm and steady me.
“Hospitality,” I gasped out. “Please.”
Dorian’s unwelcome comment had been a reminder that I currently didn’t have hospitality and that I was technically trespassing and fully vulnerable to attack within his walls. Yet, the fact that I hadn’t already been removed was a good sign, and though his expression more or less remained unchanged, there was a spark of curiosity in his eyes. He couldn’t ignore me on my knees, begging him for protection. Not yet. No matter how angry he was at me, this kind of novelty was too irresistible for his nature.
He started to speak, undoubtedly ready with some witty quip, but was interrupted when Jasmine clutched at him and added her pleas to mine. “Please. Give us your protection. Hurry!”
Dorian frowned, no longer able to hide his curiosity and surprise. “The daughters of Storm King, begging me for help after one made it quite clear she didn’t ever want to see me again. Do tell me why I shouldn’t have you thrown out or imprisoned.” He paused thoughtfully. “Or ransomed back to your own people. Quite a profit there, I imagine.”
“Dorian—” I began.
Suddenly, there was a commotion at the hall’s entrance. A cluster of Dorian’s guards appeared—with Kiyo between them. I wasn’t surprised he’d showed up so quickly. My mark would have led him right to me, and while he couldn’t jump directly into Dorian’s castle, he’d probably crossed over right in front of the gates.
“Sire,” said one of the guards. “He seeks entrance—”
Kiyo wore that fierce, raging expression, and no one in that room could have any doubt that he was there ready for battle. Dorian’s guards certainly had picked up on it, and they closed ranks as he strode forward. I had a feeling Kiyo wanted to fight right through them, but reason and self-control held him at bay—for now.
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