by Allie Santos
“I know you are leery of my kind after what you’ve witnessed. The rebel camp Sabine and Roark built was ran differently than how Luz maintained order. Her main goal was peace and safety.” He paused. “I want to show you we are worth fighting for. Our species is slowly dying off. Since we are immortal, there have been feuding throughout Faerie between various groups that have dwindled our numbers. That’s not considering Fae who fled to the human world when magic was bound. The surrounding castle grounds hold the largest number of Fae. The male to female ratio is five to one. Many have left our borders and started their own villages because they hated Luz. With magic bound, she didn’t have the power to keep them in line, so they took advantage. The only reason Luz wasn’t assassinated earlier was because of the strict security measures we implemented and the loyalty of most of her guards. I say most considering what Sabine and Roark did.”
Murder attempts on the Luz didn’t jive with the picture he was trying to paint about the Fae being victims. As it was, I’d only met Teagan, Cora, Conan, and Tyran. All seemed perfectly normal, except for the superhuman beauty and grace. No psycho tendencies in sight. But were they the exception or the rule?
“I am the liaison between Fae and other Unnaturals. But there haven’t been dealings with other species since magic—”
“Was bound,” I muttered dryly, but he didn’t seem to catch my sarcasm.
“That one event had a domino effect. Not only did it create a rift between Fae, but it sent the Unnatural world into a frenzy.”
Rian’s words about werewolves being unable to turn swirled in my head.
“How many more Unnatural species live in Faerie?” The Taurus I’d encountered with Roark came to mind. The humanoid face still freaked me out.
“Not many. Many Kings ago, they fled Faerie.” Interesting. Roark had said they’d been driven from Faerie. I couldn’t help but wonder which viewpoint was accurate. “Only a few species remain. Among them are Mermaids.”
Right. I forgot about the mermaid that had almost bitten my finger off. I didn’t voice my not so nice thoughts.
Doubt swirled inside me. Outwardly, I nodded, but a larger part considered his too energetic words. What I’d witnessed was not jiving with who Tyran was portraying. I didn’t want to be that gullible, naive girl—I wouldn’t be. Even though he painted such a pretty picture, I wasn’t believing squat.
I wasn’t fooling myself on whether I had an actual choice of finding a way to release magic. I didn’t. It was a duty, a payback to the Queen for not letting me die. But I wasn’t about to live here forever and do whatever Queens did, even if I held the title. Or essence. Ultimate power, my butt. They’d survived this far without magic. They didn’t need me past unbinding magic.
I wanted to be as far away from Roark as I could, and this was his world. Plus, I had unfulfilled business in my world and, most importantly, that’s where my sister was. Stuttering in my stride, I realized the emotions I was filtering through like a carousel were attributed to grief. Anger, pain, acceptance, and a slew of others.
It may not have been in the right order, but I was going through some type of coping mechanism. I knew there were books out there that outlined the steps of pain, but I was filtering through so many at a rapid pace and then swinging back to them that it was giving me whiplash. My chest ached with loss, my heart reaching for something unattainable. I was mentally, if not physically, tired. The two weeks I’d been in my stasis-like sleep was a blessing because waking up was a slap in the face.
I pined for my favorite Idaho Mint ChocoChip ice cream. The very act of eating it had always lifted my spirits. I wished this damn Fae transition hadn’t taken that from me, too.
I tuned back in to Tyran as he spoke, nattering on about the architecture inspiration and the accommodations throughout. I only half listened but perked up when he started talking about bathrooms.
“We do take much inspiration from the human world, and though we are behind in architecture due to the restrictions on our magic, we are ahead in plumbing, specifically pertaining to water pumps to bathe.”
“How is that even possible?”
“You’ve experienced our heightened sense of smell?” he asked, slanting me a glance. I nodded, wrinkling my nose. The smell from that hotel room was ingrained in my memory. “That was incentive enough for a Fae named Jyl to look into plumbing systems many, many years ago. He explored many human locals to gain ideas. From the Roman Empire to the Grecian bathhouses, as well as China’s bamboo piping system.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Long before I was born.”
“How old are you?”
“Two hundred and ninety.” My mouth fell open, but he continued as if that were no big deal. “That was the basis of him inventing bathing facilities with water cascades. Many years ago, a Fae came to visit with his human lover. That human took all of our ideas to the human world and so your human showers were invented.”
Fae had plumbing systems hundreds of years before humans. My mind was blown.
“That means you have toilets?”
Tyran’s eyebrow wrinkled. “We do, but the only one who has need of them is Teagan because he has yet to reach Fae maturity.”
My shoulders tensed. Would I need to use the toilet? I haven’t had the urge since waking up. Hell, I should have been hooked up to something if I was passed out for two weeks. Another change to process.
I wanted to take off running in the opposite direction, but I steeled myself, my promise to the Queen ringing in my head.
Tyran came to an abrupt stop and waved me on. I looked toward where he pointed at the wall. What was I looking at? I squinted and moved closer. At my movement, the illusion of the wall broke, and I craned my head to see it was an entrance. A hidden passageway.
He waved me forward again, but no way was I going in first. It could be a trap or some shit. He had a fight coming if he was trying to stick me in some dungeon. Thanks to the Queen, I might even put up a good struggle.
His eyes lightened as if he understood, and he went ahead of me. At least he hadn’t forced me through like Rian. I peeked around the corner. Seeing that it was clear, if a bit dark, I trailed after him. The narrow hallway twisted to the left and then to the right before it exposed the windowed wall facing the… town?
The pounding rain had slowed, allowing me to see everything from this vantage point. It looked like a legitimate town. Not the bustling towns from current times, but more like the old-fashioned English countryside town.
“This is where the Queen liked to watch everyone work as one to keep our way of life working without magic. It was how she reminded herself what she needed to fight for and what she caused. It was a punishment she inflicted upon herself.”
The apartment-like buildings were lined up in rows. They may have looked like something you could find in the human world if it weren’t for the green roofs and the vine-like growths stretching up the sides of the attached apartments. I squinted as I remembered where I’d seen it before. It was similar to the tree trunks in this world. The green roofing looked tough and resilient. It stretched over many condo-size homes built in rows and attached to one another. I looked off to the further side of the protective wall spanning a hundred miles around the little town and noticed single cottages lined at the edges. They had space around them, but the growth of foliage had overtaken the doorway and hidden the structures.
It was very beautiful in a Faerie land kind of way. Green and lush with foliage. I could almost imagine little finger-size Faeries flittering about, not these large battle-hardened beautiful people.
“The cottages… they’re so pretty. Why do they look abandoned?” My fingers reached out and touched the window.
“Our population has dramatically fallen. Only half of these buildings have Fae in them.” He waved a hand at the apartments. “It is also safer to keep people closer to the castle.”
“Why?”
“Those that didn’t leave are recruited b
y betrayer camps or picked off.”
From afar, I could see a flurry of movements. I focused on it with my super sight and made out the bodies of Fae men as they worked near a section of the wall. Some held up a large slab of rock while others mixed a large vat with something grey and grainy-looking under the cover of an awning. It took me a second to realize what it was.
“Is that concrete?”
“Yes, without magic, we had to resort to searching your world for solutions.”
I looked to the side, where a group of Fae worked feverishly as they tried to rebuild.
“Our people are divided. There are even some that have gone crazy. Many have come because this is the only safe location for them.”
I tried not to let the sad dip of his lips affect me. I looked down and had a clear view of two women shielded from the rain under a sprawling tree. My eyesight focused in on them, and when I squinted, I could see everything in startling detail. This was way more than twenty-twenty vision.
They were wringing wet clothes and folding them into baskets. Trees closed off the area behind them. The shorter, mousy, brown-haired woman went up on tiptoes to yank another article of clothing from the line, wringing it out with meticulous care before turning back to her friend. She said something, and it made the red-haired one leaning against a tree laugh.
I tensed as I watched a male approach. Both women turned. The dark-dressed male had thick arms and a sturdy look about him. He said something, and the redhead threw her head back, flicking her hair over her shoulder. The other one just gave him a half-smile as she drank him in. The man looked at the redhead with a wicked grin curving his mouth.
The one he wasn’t looking at wilted as if catching her breath and stared at him with her heart in her eyes. Her whole body seemed to droop. She pressed her lips together and bent to pick up the heavy-looking basket. The man only spared her a glance before the other woman tossed herself into his arms, and he hefted her up, mouth already at her neck.
My heart hurt for the mousy woman. Unrequited love sucked ass.
They had lives and drama, not so different from humans. I saw it with Cora and Conan. Hell, even Rian stoicism hinted at a deep sense of honor and care.
So much ran through my head, and I didn’t know what to do with it. What I did know was I had a mission I’d pledged myself to, regardless of my personal feelings.
I rolled my shoulders and let out a sigh that came from my gut. “What’s the first step of getting magic back?”
7
Tyran’s dark eyebrows flew up.
“Wasn’t that your goal? To make me see you guys as worth fighting for?” I was expressionless as the bitter words left my mouth.
He shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot. Rolling my eyes, I waved my hand in a circle, prompting him to spit out the answer. “I would imagine magic would be the first step.”
My eye twitched. No shit.
“So, you have nothing?” I took his silence as an answer. How the hell was I supposed to figure this out if they didn’t even know where to start? “Why magic? Shouldn’t we be researching or talking to someone that might know how to do this?”
“We’ve had the seer Fae search for the answer.” Fae could be seers, too? Neat. “But he has not been able to see anything other than darkness. Left with little choice, we’ve also sent Fae into your human world.” Tyran rubbed his neck. “But other Unnatural species were less than welcoming. We sent word to the Elvin leader who resides in the northern lands of Faerie to notify us if his seer is able to decipher a vision, but he has not responded.”
I tried to make sense of what he was saying. “So what? We wait?”
“Now that Luz is gone, the tides have changed. Our hands are tied until we receive information.” He cleared his throat. “There is another issue we must deal with. The essence.”
I tilted my head. What Luz had given me. “What about it?”
“You must learn control. When Cora reached Fae maturity, she had no control over her ability. Her power exploded out of her when she was upset. She even threw Con yards away from her.” Tyran’s lips quirked. “And she didn’t have the essence like you do. You could level the ground with the power you have if you don’t know how to control it. That’s not even taking into account your heightened senses.”
“But I’m already experiencing heightened senses.”
“Can you hear the woman coming upstairs?” he asked. I focused, and the soft padding of shoes filled my ears. I nodded slowly in answer. “Did you have to concentrate to hear it?”
“Yeah,” I said.
The look on his face was contemplative. “It seems like you’re not fully Fae yet. You will have to focus not to hear when magic is unbound. Everything will intensify when you unbind magic.”
“That’s a total invasion of privacy,” I muttered.
“That’s why most of the rooms are soundproof.”
“Oh.” My skin prickled, and I rubbed my neck. Having the abilities all at once and more intensely than what I already felt… I shook my head.
“You must prepare to harness your heightened abilities or, at the very least, the theory of control. When magic is unbound, the power of it will hit you.” The confidence in that statement… at least he believed in me. “Yours, combined with what the Queen passed to you, is extremely dangerous. You could turn us all into statues or implode Faerie.”
Ice coursed through my veins as reality settled in. Would I ever be able to return to the human world? If I had all this juice, how would that work? I shivered. Thoughts for later, I chanted internally.
“How exactly do you expect me to learn how to harness something I don’t have?”
“Focus is the main aspect.” He smiled. “We have utter control of our abilities when we are not ruled by emotions.”
I was screwed. The emotional control would end up messing me up.
“I’ll train you to focus and gain control. This will not only help you in maintaining calm for your future in magical practice, but you can also apply the skills to block out your sensitive senses.”
“When do we start?”
Excitement bubbled in my stomach. Finally, a plan. When he’d told me they basically had their hands tied on news of how to unbind magic, my hope at figuring all this out in a timely manner dwindled. I didn’t want to stay here long, but what else was I supposed to do if we were waiting for a seer for answers? At least, this way, I wouldn’t be sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I’d learn the basics of control.
“Let’s get down to business, then. I already wasted time.” Two weeks of it. I still couldn’t believe I’d slept that long. “Hopefully, we’ll hear from a seer soon. I’m hoping to get this magic unleashed thing done by the end of the month.”
He tilted his head at me, his eyebrows meeting. “It will not be that soon.”
“Why not? We just have to keep at it. Work pays off.” I was starting to get a bit disgruntled by the almost mocking look overtaking his face.
“The Queen dedicated her entire existence to retrieving magic back. She was the cause of it. Yet she could not figure it out.”
I heard the hidden meaning in his words. If the great Queen had not done it, who did I think I was?
Words bubbled up to my lips, but I held them back. As much as I wanted to be offended, I understood where he was coming from.
My shoulders slumped. “I want to get back to my life. Finish college…” My words trailed off. I didn’t realize I’d said the words aloud until I noticed the pitying look on Tyran’s face.
“You will never go back to your life,” he said simply, a hard glint in his gaze.
My shoulders shot back. He’d shown such a kind and logical face that I had forgotten I needed to keep my guard up around these creatures. They needed me now, but what about when they didn’t? Anger roused at his words.
“Look here, Ty,” I began, and his eyebrows flew further up at my emphasis on his shortened name. “I don’t know what it is with you sexy male F
ae alpha types but let me clue you in on something.” I paused for dramatic effect. “I will find a way to free magic, and then, guess what? I’ll go back to my boring human existence. There’s nothing you or anyone else can do or say about it.”
A small part of me knew I was nearing the point of being hysterical, but his words were the manifestation of the doubts that had been eating at me. Hail began hitting the side of the castle, the thumps intensifying against the glass with every word.
Leaving was my intention. Knowing how the Queen was chosen only further cemented that. Maybe there’d be a way to pass the essence onto another. Someone more capable, someone who actually wanted it.
I sensed it wasn’t the time to bring up that idea yet. I had to bide my time. For now, I needed to focus on one thing. Controlling the hectic weather. Tyran’s lips pursed, but I interrupted before he could say whatever was flashing in his eyes.
“What Queenly duties do I have to do while I’m here?” I tacked that last bit on, hoping he would catch onto the underlying meaning in my words.
“Being Queen is not the way your human mind thinks it is, regardless it will be explained to you if we manage to free magic, so do not worry yourself over that right now. Conan, Rian, and I will make sure order is kept. We want you to focus on learning.” His eyes slid evasively to the side. “My outside sources report Unnaturals are becoming restless. It is as if they sense magic on the precipice.”
“I noticed.” I rubbed my forehead with the back of my hand. “Those werewolves we met were not glad to see us.”
The echo of their pounding footsteps crunching through the forest resounded in my memory. That was only one species encounter. I knew about some of the others, but I was sure it was only a fraction of what was truly out there. Tyran was right. I had to start with learning control.
“I want to start learning now,” I said with as much conviction as I could push into my words.
