Wind Shift: A Young Adult Kitsune Paranormal Romance (Nine Tails Book 8)

by J. L. Weil

  Kicking out a leg under Kai, Devyn caused the Unseelie to stumble. “What did I say about flirting with my mate,” he growled, a flare of jealousy sparking in his eyes.

  Kai laughed, thoroughly enjoying himself.

  Before I could chide either of them, a deep wolfish roar trembled through the woods, a sound born of undiluted rage and shredded nightmares. It continued to echo for a full minute before my ears picked up gnarly thrashing and the clang of metal against metal. Yet, it was the rise of magic trembling in the air that told me what I feared in my heart.

  Talin.

  All three of us and the pixie shared a dreaded look.

  The dead I left behind were fighting. Once the cries of battle ceased and silence struck the air, only one thought remained.

  Viktor was dead.

  My stomach twisted, and I couldn’t help but wish that this time, I had listened to my Kitsune instincts and demanded Viktor come with us, even if it had been for selfish reasons. At least, he’d still be alive.

  The quiet lingered as we pressed ahead with eerie caution and crossed over into Willowland. I assumed I would feel a strong sense of relief, but the truth was, being out of Thornland didn’t mean I was safe.

  Not from Talin.

  Not from Ryker.

  Not from the blight.

  The Lord of Thornland was close. Although the fight with Viktor granted us time to lengthen the space between us. He might not have done so deliberately, or perhaps he had, and that was why he refused Devyn’s offer, regardless, I wouldn’t forget him.

  Wishing never to return to the brutal kingdom, I glanced over my shoulder at Thornland. It was an unusual sight, how the land shifted from one territory to the next. This was such a hard and divisive change, like walking from one painting to the next—both polar opposites.

  Where Thornland was frigidly cold and mountainous, Willowland was soft and whimsical. The trees bloomed with white flowers, their petals decorating the lush grass that blanketed the ground. Instantly, the air became warmer, like a summer night, its gentle breezes kissing my frosted cheeks and nose. Bright stars twinkled in a clear midnight blue sky.

  I fell in love on the spot, tempted to sink to my knees and cry. Except, I didn’t have the luxury to appreciate even a second of Willowland’s enchanting beauty. I had to keep moving, for Katsura was still miles and miles away.

  “Kitten,” Devyn spoke my name gently, brushing a thawing tendril of hair out of my eyes. “Are you okay?”

  How many times had my mate asked me that question since we first met? Too many. His concern for me never wavered, nor did his loyalty.

  Swallowing, I told myself nothing would happen to Devyn. That he wouldn’t meet the same fate as Viktor, or so many others who had died during this quest for me to earn nine tails.

  “The closer we get to Katsura, the more she worries for you, Sin Eater,” Tink answered, zipping between Devyn and me.

  My mate took my hand, urging me to pick up the pace and put distance between us and Thornland. “Nothing will happen to me,” he assured. The sincerity and conviction in his voice almost convinced me.

  But I knew better.

  Nothing was ever certain.

  Except for Talin’s lust for power. I stewed in my head, mulling over the shitstorm that was my life. I’d known for some time now that the prospects of returning to my old life were slim. Each day I spent in the Second Moon, the detailed faces of my friends and family blurred. I could still hear their voices, feel the warmth they brought into my life, but I knew that over time, even that would fade.

  I was to be a queen. To rule. To protect a kingdom. I was someone’s mate. I was part fae, my soul becoming more fae by the minute. It was time to think of more than myself, and start acting like a queen, which meant being one-step ahead of my enemies.

  We stopped along a bubbling brook to rest. A long road still stretched in front of us. Cupping a palm of crystal clear water, I sipped, easing my dry throat, and rocked back on my heels to sit on a patch of grass.

  “You’ve been quiet, Kitten. What’s going on inside your head?” Devyn sensed the turmoil within me as I struggled to work through it.

  He didn’t usually push and wouldn’t now if I told him I didn’t want to talk about it, except I did want to talk about what was weighing on my mind. “Once I take the crown, accept the throne, and rid this world of the blight, Talin will declare war on Katsura, won’t he?”

  Kai dropped down beside me, ignoring the frown Devyn aimed his way. “Most likely,” he agreed, no BS.

  Devyn folded himself on the other side of me with more grace than his stepbrother. “I hate to agree with Kai, but it isn’t just your power he seeks. Talin won’t give up his ambition to be king.”

  I turned my head to the rock near the water's edge. “Tink?”

  The pixie stretched out over the smooth slab, letting the sun bathe her sparkling purple-tinted skin. She didn’t respond immediately, taking a moment to flip through a sea of possibilities, or I assumed she was. Propping her head onto her hand, she finally regarded me. “The odds that he won’t attack Katsura are extremely slim. Nearly nonexistent.”

  That’s what I feared. I wouldn’t just have to commune with the land, banishing the sickness before it stretched too far, even for my Kitsune abilities, but also prepare for war. I leaned against Devyn, resting my head on his shoulder. “This sucks.”

  Devyn and Kai both chuckled at my choice of words. “That’s one way of putting it,” Kai mused, still smirking.

  “I don’t know anything about fighting or being queen, for that matter. How can I defeat him?”

  “Don’t think of it,” Kai advised.

  If only it was that simple. “Ignoring Talin isn’t going to solve the problem. In fact, he strikes me as an attention whore.”

  “A what?” Kai choked.

  Scoffing at his stepbrother, Devyn nearly rolled his eyes.

  My lips curved, and lightness returned to my chest, remembering the fae didn’t precisely speak human high school lingo. “It’s someone who acts like an asshole to gain attention and gets extremely pissed off when being ignored.” Talin demanded attention like those mean, popular girls I knew in school.

  “Hmm.” Kai’s lips pursed. “That is an accurate depiction of Talin.”

  There was something almost normal and warmhearted about teaching Kai human slang, a connection to home.

  “You won’t be doing it alone, Kitten,” Devyn declared. “The fae of Katsura will support you.”

  “But only if I’m able to banish the darkness.” The truth of my statement lingered between us, no one denying or confirming its actuality. Even the stone tucked inside my shirt grew warm against my skin, as if it, too, agreed.

  “Would you like to see the future?” Tink offered, breaking the silence, and sitting up while stretching her arms.

  “No!” Devyn and Kai both shrilled at the same time.

  Tink stuck out her tongue.

  “No, I don’t think so.” As tempted as I was, I declined Tink’s offer. Some things were better left unknown, and I’d seen enough of the future lately.

  Chapter Fifteen

  KARINA

  Six days into our travels through Willowland, I convinced myself that something bad would happen at any minute. My muscles were tense, and with every light breeze. Every fallen petal. Every tremble under my feet. I waited for Talin and his troops to surround us, storming like executioners from behind the loveliest trees I’d ever seen.

  They were fit for battle. Yet, this place wasn’t fit for bloodshed.

  For just a brief flash, I could see the white flowers hanging like starlight from the trees, smeared in crimson—the blood of fae.

  When I blinked, it was gone. My eyes darted to Tink where she flew ahead of me, buzzing around Kai’s head to his annoyance.

  She couldn’t have, I thought. Could she?

  No. Never without my consent. I shook my head. The image had been born of my imagination. Perhaps ima
gination wasn’t the right word, for what I saw had been no fantasy.

  Every now and then the fox inside me stirred, sending little growls of warning through me. It seemed like the deeper we went into Willowland, my Kitsune’s uneasiness flourished. Something here made her edgy. I figured I would find out sooner rather than later, but I wasn’t good at waiting. Particularly, when my nerves were frazzled.

  Turns out, I didn’t have to wait for long.

  As we entered into a cluster of vines and thorns, the trees changed in color—from a whimsical white, to an enchantingly deep purplish-red. The bold leaves were vibrant against the moss-covered earth that cushioned my feet. I was stunned by its beauty. My world had nothing like this. Little fluttering lights zoomed in and out of the branches that I imagined would be breathtaking at midnight.

  Still, as mesmerizing as the place appeared, my Kitsune balked within me, thrashing and whimpering for me to turn back.

  I hadn’t even realized I gripped tightly onto Devyn’s hand until he asked if something was the matter. My gaze flipped to his. “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I have this feeling something is wrong.”

  “It’s normal,” Devyn assured. “We all feel it, the power that trembles in the air.”

  Was that it? Was that what I sensed? Glancing to Kai and Tink a few feet in front of us, I noticed the shadows had grown around Kai. Tink’s pixie aura flared brighter than usual as well. I opened my mouth to ask them, and then promptly snapped it closed as my gaze landed on a magnificent stone statue.

  A sensual woman carved with jewels that twined around her slim neck and fell to her waist. The stone seemed very old, discolored and aged. Her ankles and wrists were also donned with bracelets. She stood proudly, one ankle crossed over the other, and a wrist tilted upright in between her breasts in a one-handed prayer. Behind her braided hair was a circular medallion with symbols etched into it that resembled runes.

  I found myself unable to look away, her face was somehow familiar.

  “Queen Titania,” Kai informed, noticing where my attention lay. “The Faerie Queen.”

  My knowledge of the history of kings and queens was limited, but I had heard of the Faerie Queen. I just thought that what I’d learned in my Myths and Legends class wasn’t an accurate depiction.

  As we continued, other monuments of the gods and past fae kings and queens stood scattered throughout the wooded glade. Walking past each one, I stared into the faces of those who were forgotten. They had been carefully carved with such detail, but now neglected for so long—their features chipping and the stone discoloring with age. And yet, their power endured, trembling from statue to statue.

  “What is this place?” I asked, my heart thundering in my chest. My entire body seemed to be flooded with magic.

  “The Divine Circle. Once a place of worship. A sacred, neutral ground, where the fae conclave and the gods convened,” Devyn informed. “Now it’s abandoned and neglected.”

  Tink twirled through a circle of crumbled ruins, looking like she never belonged anywhere but here. Despite this place making the hair on my arms curl, it had a different effect on the pixie. She radiated happiness, her heart singing.

  I began to climb a set of winding stone steps covered in lichen, eager to explore more. The rocks under my feet were weathered and unstable, yet whorls and symbols of another life peeked through them. Chipped pebbles fell from each step, trailing down behind me. “Is it safe?” I asked.

  “Probably not,” Kai replied behind Devyn. “But I doubt that will stop you.”

  Shoving aside the balking fox inside me, I took each step with caution. “Why has it been abandoned?”

  Devyn caught my arm as I faltered over a missing chunk of stair. “Most believe that after the first fae war, the gods stopped coming. They abandoned us.”

  My breath hitched. “Why would they do that?”

  Devyn shrugged. “I’m sure it could have been for a number of reasons. At that time, the Unseelie and Seelie fae were constantly fighting. They were destroying our world for power, greed, and selfish desires.”

  We had reached the top of the plateau. “This is the Elder Tree,” Kai informed me. “The oldest tree in the Second Moon.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of the ancient and once beautiful tree that had probably stood proudly on top of the highland years ago, surrounded by ceremonial stones and towering over the land below it. Its long and sweeping branches full of color and life. I could picture it. The berry-colored leaves that stuffed the numerous arms of branches as they reached out, one side slightly longer than the other. Such a vibrant focal point in the mossy woods full of stone and forgotten ruins.

  Now, the Elder Tree was nothing but brittle, charred sticks that looked ready to crumble if the wind blew too fiercely. The earth around the base of the trunk was dead, like something had sucked the life out of it. That was exactly what the blight had done. There was no hope, no color, no joy left.

  Perhaps no life was left either.

  Compelled, I put my hand to the wide trunk and jolted. Cries of pain clanged through me. Screams that pierced my ears, that made me want to curl up into a ball, cover my ears, and squeeze my eyes shut until they stopped.

  The tree… it was weeping.

  It was dying.

  Only an ember of life remained, its soul hanging on by a thread. Placing my other palm on the trunk, I wanted to soothe its suffering, to console the tree that gave more than just air to this forest. It nurtured the old ways, a piece of history that should be preserved and treasured, not destroyed and trashed.

  Tears blurred my eyes, rolling down my cheeks. Magic hummed in my blood, sending tendrils of warmth and love into each charred crevice of the Elder Tree. However, the moment my power entered it, something dark arose. I shook my head. “No,” I whispered.

  The darkness laughed, mocking me.

  “No,” I repeated. “I will not let you take it,” I challenged the darkness as it twined around my magic like a vein covered in thorns.

  It pricked and poked at my power, weakening it so my magic recoiled, inch by inch. “No! You prick.”

  The darkness laughed again, overpowering the sound of whimpers and pleas from the tree. It broke my heart, splintering it like the ground around its roots. Then like a crack of a whip, the blight lashed out, embedded itself onto my magic as it gripped onto me and refused to let go.

  My knees quaked with fear.

  I tried to rip my hands away, but the darkness buried its claws deeper into my power, and now that it had a hold on me, it had no plans to let go. “Bastard,” I seethed, but the evil killing the Elder Tree only laughed harder, taunting me with its strength.

  “Devyn!” I shrieked.

  The Shaman’s green eyes whirled at the sound of panic in my voice. He had both Wrath and Fury clutched in his hands before he even reached me, Kai not far behind him. Devyn’s cunning gaze bore into the trunk as if he could see what held me. “I got you.”

  “I can’t let go,” I admitted, words rushing out of me. I could feel the blight spreading over my magic like spilled ink, consuming the power I’d sent inside the tree.

  If it reached me… I didn’t want to think about what would happen. The pain I would feel. The terror. The cold. The emptiness.

  “Hurry,” Tink urged, diving in and out of the scorched branches.

  “Don’t move,” Devyn ordered a second before his sword hit the frail wood with a brutal crunch, right above my fingertips. The force vibrated up my arms.

  Inside the trunk, the darkness screamed in a combination of agony and rage. I was suddenly snapped loose and thrown backward toward Devyn. The Shaman caught me, careful not to cut me with Wrath or Fury, who were hissing at their enemy.

  Devyn spun me away from the infected Elder Tree, shielding me with his body in case the blight decided to lunge itself at us. Facing the hidden evil, Kai’s eyes glowed with Unseelie magic, poised to strike at the first sign of movement.

  Silence descende
d over the ruined grove. Not even the wind stirred.

  When I glanced down at my fingers, I found the tips were seared, sooty. “Asshole,” I muttered under my breath.

  Kai took a hold of one of my wrists, examining the burns. “You’re lucky.”

  “Damn lucky,” Devyn echoed, a scowl marring his lips.

  “The darkness has taken the heart of the Second Moon,” Tink muttered, her pixie eyes grim.

  I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but it wasn't good. This corruption might be stronger than me now, but I swore, I would kill it even if it meant sacrificing myself.

  This evil was going down, even if I had to go down with it.

  “You can let go of her hand now,” Devyn snarled.

  With a taunting grin, Kai raised my hand toward his lips, but I snatched it away before he could irritate my mate more. “I think we’ve overstayed our welcome,” he admitted, chuckling.

  “You don’t say?” Devyn shot back.

  My gaze shifted over Devyn’s shoulder, but the Shaman was doing a brilliant job blocking me. “We’re just going to let the Elder Tree die?”

  “Well, you’re sure as hell not touching it again,” he growled, being his usual protective self. “So, what do you expect us to do?”

  I tossed my hands in the air. “I don’t know. But we can’t let this thing take our history. This place is sacred. It’s calling out for help. Can’t you hear it?”

  Hooking a finger under my chin, he lifted my eyes to his. “And you will help, by getting to Katsura and sitting on the throne.”

  He was right. I knew what he was saying made sense, but my heart couldn’t leave. It was as if I could feel the land’s pain in my soul.

  Perhaps I could.

  Perhaps it was a Kitsune thing, and not just my compassion for nature’s suffering.

  “Devyn,” I called out in a voice that bordered pouting, and I did sort of feel like I was about to throw a mini-adult tantrum.

  “No, Kitten. The answer is still no.”