Strength

by W. J. May

  “ARE YOU CRAZY?!”

  She smacked him upside the head, wrenching herself free. He sprang back, pale as a sheet, but she wasn’t finished. Before he could recover his balance, she shoved him right off the bed.

  The door opened as she shouted again.

  “ARE YOU STILL DRUNK?!”

  But that’s when everything got very strange.

  Because that’s when she looked up and saw Asher and Ellanden standing at the door.

  It was impossible to say who looked more surprised, the vampire or the princess. Truth be told, it was probably the fae. His lips parted in astonishment as he stared down at himself, lying on the floor. The room was quiet for a moment, then the air shimmered and Eli appeared in his place.

  “You!” Evie gasped, both fists still raised in the air.

  The fae shook his head slowly, utterly bewildered by what he’d just seen.

  “What the hell were you doing...”

  The shape-shifter was panting, but there was something triumphant about his expression as he pushed slowly to his feet. He returned the fae’s question with a smug smile.

  “Making out with your girlfriend.”

  There was a beat of silence.

  Followed by another.

  Ellanden’s eyebrows lifted, but he was too surprised to make any other reaction. He simply shook his head, correcting the shifter’s mistake.

  “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  Eli’s grin faded slightly before vanishing clean away.

  “...she’s not?”

  The fae pointed to the vampire.

  “She’s his girlfriend.”

  A chilling silence descended over the room.

  The princess was seething. The vampire was dangerously quiet. The shape-shifter looked like he was on the verge of throwing up. Only the fae was starting to find the humor.

  “Guess that almighty gift of yours comes with a few drawbacks...judgement being one.”

  Eli quickly backed up to the wall, grabbing his empty cup as if some strange compulsion had prompted him not to leave behind a mess.

  “I’m just going to go...” he muttered.

  Since the men were standing in front of the door he swiftly made his way to the window—jumping out without a moment’s pause. For a split second the princess forgot to be angry and scrambled across the bed, half-expecting to see him splattered fifty feet beneath them on the ground.

  He wasn’t. He wasn’t anywhere in sight. That crisis was temporarily handled.

  Another was just getting warmed up.

  The fae got things started by making them worse.

  “How was it?” he asked brightly.

  Evie’s eyes snapped shut, trying to bleach the image from her mind.

  “I can’t even look at you,” she muttered.

  He ignored this, cocking his head with a smirk. “I bet it was good, right?”

  “Can you give us a minute?” Asher interrupted softly.

  The humor abruptly vanished, leaving a sudden chill in its wake. The fae’s smile faded as he nodded quickly, backing towards the door. It was already open. He glanced once more between his friends, lips parting with some uncertain thought before he reconsidered and left them alone, shutting the door quietly behind him.

  For what felt like an eternity, neither was able to speak. When it got to be too much Asher finally cleared his throat, glancing towards the window where Eli had escaped.

  “Did he try to—”

  “No,” she said quickly. “No, it was just a stupid prank. I’ll kill him for it soon enough.”

  From the look on the vampire’s face, he clearly intended to beat her to the punch. But he said nothing. He merely stood in silence, staring at the floor.

  “Why are you here?” Evie finally asked. When he looked up with a question she rephrased it, trying to steady her shaking voice. “You wanted a minute to talk?”

  He stared a second longer then nodded quickly, trying to refocus his thoughts. It took a few moments, and when he finally did speak it was the last thing she expected him to say.

  “What do you remember about last night?’

  Her face lightened in surprise.

  “Last night?” Her mind blanked, fighting through the drunken stupor. “Not much...why?”

  A strange look swept over him, but his eyes were glued to the floor.

  “Ellanden and Seth were arguing over some nonsense,” he said in a quiet monotone. “Freya tried to cast a spell to break them apart. The table flipped and you were thrown backwards.”

  He froze perfectly still.

  “And when I reached out to catch you...you started to cry.”

  She stared back in shock, unable to believe it was true. But even as he said the words, she started to remember. The wave of fear that swept over her. The haunted look on his face.

  “I wasn’t...” She trailed off, uncertain how to finish. “That was just—”

  “I’m sorry about earlier,” he said quietly. “In my room.”

  Another rip in the fabric. Another crack in the stone.

  “Asher,” she said with a hint of desperation, “just stop it, okay? I was drunk. I didn’t know what I was doing. And before—”

  “Before?” he said softly. “When I tried to have sex with you while drinking your blood?”

  A ringing silence fell between them.

  He looked at her for the first time.

  “I never understood it before, but I do now. There’s a reason why people like you and me don’t get together. There’s a reason why a shifter and a vampire could never fall in love.”

  A pair of tears slipped down her face, gone before she could stop them.

  “Ash, that’s not...that’s not true.”

  He smiled sadly. At least he tried. Something had died inside him the moment he saw the princess’ tears. A part of him wasn’t sure he’d ever smile again.

  “It is true,” he murmured. “Even if I wish it wasn’t. Even if I would give everything I had just to—” He caught himself quickly, backing towards the door. “We were kidding ourselves.”

  He slipped outside with that same heartbreaking smile.

  “It was never going to be me.”

  Chapter 12

  The princess sat by herself at the edge of a meadow, staring in silence across the grass.

  Considering how few hours she’d been awake, the day was already unsalvageable. The henna smeared across her body refused to come off, the miracle hangover cure she’d been promised wasn’t working, and the man she was falling in love with had just told her such love was impossible.

  Then he’d walked away.

  He broke up with me. He actually broke up with me.

  A part of her still couldn’t believe it. She’d sat on the bed for a full hour, staring blankly at the door, just waiting for him to come back. When that hadn’t happened she’d cried a little, tried her luck with the henna, then wandered to the edge of the jungle encampment—arms hanging limp by her sides, the hem of her clumsily-tied cloak trailing miserably on the ground.

  Strangely enough, it was the logistics that concerned her. She simply didn’t know what she was going to do next. Who would she joke with? Who would she think about? Who would share the other half of her blanket when the friends stretched out to sleep beneath the stars?

  So much of her time had been spent dedicated to this one man. Now that he’d removed himself from the picture, she wasn’t quite sure how the rest of it fit.

  The sound of distant laughter lifted her eyes.

  The children who’d been dancing in front of the fire were playing in the meadow now, and they certainly weren’t playing alone. She watched with a soft smile as Ellanden abandoned all dignity to frolic beside them, scooping them off the ground and tossing them high into the air.

  At least someone’s having a good day.

  Fae were openly affectionate with children. Playing with them, singing to them, kissing their cheeks when they cried. To be a child in the land o
f Fae was to be something treasured.

  Growing up in the palace, it was the only time she saw her Uncle Cassiel be silly. There was no limit to the things he would do. Reading them stories, putting on voices, chasing them around the gardens like a lion and thrashing them with his teeth. It was a side of him revealed only in their presence. And her father’s. That playfulness was one of the things only Dylan could bring out in him. Coincidentally, it was one of the reasons the Fae Council hated the King of Belaria so much.

  “All right, who’s next?”

  She glanced up again to see the prince literally dripping in children. They were hanging from his arms, from his hands, from his neck. A few had even grabbed onto his ankles. All were shrieking with such breathless laughter it was a miracle none of them had passed out.

  Most people would have surrendered. The fae was just getting warmed up.

  She smiled again, forcing herself to clear the darkness and think on something good.

  His father had been the same way. Endlessly patient. Endlessly energetic. Some days he’d carry the sleeping children back in his arms, having tired them into a night of blissful dreams.

  A witch appeared at the edge of the clearing—shouting something and waving what looked like a soup ladle over her head. The children scattered immediately, doubling back only to wish the fae a breathless goodbye. One of the smallest ones, a girl of no more than five, actually grabbed his hand, tugging him down far enough that she could press a quick kiss to his cheek.

  He stared after them with a smile, windswept and disheveled. Then he saw Evie watching and lifted a hand in surprise. He headed over a moment later, cutting gracefully through the grass.

  “Don’t your arms get tired?” she greeted him, wiping her cheeks quickly before he could see any evidence of tears. “You must have thrown the entire village.”

  He let out a sparkling laugh, stretching out beside her. “Tired? You insult me.”

  She smiled humorlessly, staring out towards the trees. “Yeah, I’ve apparently been doing a lot of that lately...”

  They sat there a while longer, staring at the horizon in contented silence. Then she glanced over suddenly and yanked a lock of his messy hair.

  “Everly!” he cried, shoving her hand away. “You’re lucky I don’t have my knife.”

  She let out a quiet laugh, turning back towards the trees. “Yep—that’s the real you.”

  He stared a moment in confusion, then his face relaxed with a smile. A second later, he was chuckling as well—remembering their unconventional meeting earlier that morning.

  “How could you think that was me?” he chided. “Kissing you? I mean—no offense, Evie, but...kissing you?”

  She smacked him with a grin. “How could I not take offense at that?”

  “And the things he said,” Ellanden continued, making his voice theatrically aloof as he quoted the lines, “I remember going into the water...” She chortled in spite of herself and he shook his head with a grin. “It was a shipwreck, not a play.”

  She giggled again, then stopped just as quick. “Wait—how do you know what he said to me?”

  Ellanden’s eyes flashed, and for a second he looked abruptly dangerous. “I asked him.”

  ...were there weapons involved?

  Normally, she would have asked. Normally, she would have cared. But the shifter deserved whatever was coming to him. She was just surprised the fae had gotten to him first.

  And on that note...

  “Asher and I broke up,” she announced suddenly.

  Ellanden turned to her in shock.

  “Because of the kiss?” he asked incredulously. “Evie, that wasn’t your fault—”

  “Not because of the kiss,” she interrupted, keeping her eyes on the trees. “There were other things that...it wasn’t because of the kiss.”

  He wanted to ask, but didn’t. He kept quiet instead. After a few painful moments he shot her a secret look, then wrapped an arm around her trembling shoulders.

  A pair of tears slipped down her face. She wiped them quickly with the back of her hand.

  “Now’s your time to gloat,” she said, forcing another smile. “We broke up, just like you wanted. Couldn’t even make it a few weeks—”

  He shook his head, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze. “Believe what you like, but I honestly didn’t want that.”

  No, you didn’t. Neither did I.

  Part of the logistics the princess was having such trouble with was the breakup itself. Seeing as she’d never really dated anyone, she had nothing to compare it to. She liked to think that she was keeping it together. She liked to think she was handling it well. If handling it well implied wandering to the edge of a jungle and debating whether she was ever going to come back...

  “You wouldn’t understand,” she teased, wiping away more tears. “They couldn’t get enough of you. I heard people were lining up just for the chance.”

  His face stilled for a moment, then he dropped his arm with a blush. “Yeah, that...that isn’t exactly what happened.”

  She stared at him questioningly and he let out a quiet sigh.

  “It was my birthday and people were lining up...just not for that.”

  She shook her head in confusion. “For what, then?”

  He debated refusing, then decided her plight was more urgent than his own. “The Kreo have this blessing—they use it on strangers and people who’ve returned after having been a long time away. They gave me the blessing, kissed my cheek...then left.”

  Her eyebrows lifted in astonishment. “So how did the rumor get started?”

  He shrugged. “Someone probably saw it from a distance and drew their own conclusions about what was happening.”

  Her lips curved in a genuine smile. “And you didn’t bother correcting them.”

  He flashed her a quick grin. “It must have slipped my mind.”

  She laughed again, leaning against him as the tears continued pouring down her face. It seemed no matter what she did, she couldn’t stop them. They came and went as they pleased.

  “Asher and I...we started... things got pretty, uh, intense.”

  The fae stiffened, but didn’t say anything. He simply nodded, waiting for the rest.

  “Except, when the moment came...”

  She broke off with a shiver, remembering it all with perfect clarity.

  Never had she been so happy. Never had she wanted something so badly. She loved Asher. She trusted him completely. She was ready to do this with him. She’d been ready for a long time.

  Then she saw the blood on his face...and her entire body went cold.

  “I was afraid of him,” she finished quietly.

  Ellanden looked over suddenly, then reached out to take her hand.

  “It was your first time,” he said softly. “It’s only natural to be—”

  “I wasn’t afraid of that,” she interrupted, staring down at their fingers. “I was afraid of him.”

  The fae stared at her a moment before dropping his gaze to the grass. An intense expression was warring just behind them. The desire to help the tear-stained girl beside him, and the silent vow he’d made to keep some secrets forever to himself.

  Fae were notoriously proud...but also shockingly selfless.

  “After what happened in the mine,” he began quietly, “I was afraid of Asher.”

  The princess looked up suddenly, surprised to hear him admit such a thing.

  “Of course you were,” she said after a moment. “He was about to kill you, Ellanden. You would have been certifiable not to have been afraid—”

  “After,” the fae interrupted. “I was afraid of him after.”

  She stared at him in silence. He stared at his hands.

  “We’ve spent every single moment together since it happened. There’s just never been a chance to...” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Those first few days, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. I was always watching, always knew where he was. Those first few nights
...I couldn’t stop thinking of it. I’d just lie there, pretending to sleep, playing it over again and again.”

  The wind picked up around them and he pulled in a breath.

  “He’s a vampire, Everly. A part of us is right to be afraid.” He turned to look at her. “But that doesn’t change what we know to be true.”

  She stared at him miserably, eyes blurring with tears. “And what’s that?”

  He softened with a gentle smile, wiping them from her face. “That he’s our vampire. A friend we’ve loved since childhood. A part of our family.” He knocked his forehead lightly against hers. “Even if he scares us every now and again...”

  She warmed in spite of herself. Her lips curved with the beginning of a smile. But it died as quickly as it started, leaving her numb and cold.

  “That might be true, but it doesn’t matter.” She pulled in a quick breath, turning her eyes back to the trees. “I didn’t break up with Asher. He broke up with me.”

  A flash of anger swept across the prince’s face, but he controlled it quickly. The stick he’d been playing with wasn’t so lucky, shattering in his fingers before crumbling to dust. After a few seconds of measured breathing, he glanced down at her once more.

  “He broke up with—”

  “There you are! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

  The friends looked up quickly as Seth and Freya appeared at the far edge of the field. Both had apparently recovered from the night’s festivities and were wearing their own clothes. They lifted their hands in a simultaneous wave and started heading across the grass.

  Evie wiped her cheeks. Ellanden dusted the pieces of stick from his hands. They had just pushed to their feet, when she grabbed him suddenly; lowering her voice with a last minute request.

  “Please don’t say anything,” she pleaded. “And don’t be angry with Asher. I told you because I needed a friend. I don’t want you to take sides.”

  Judging by the look on the fae’s face, a great deal of that was already out of her control. But he nodded quickly, gave her a kiss on the cheek, then turned around with a welcoming smile.