Sunset, She Fights

by Tameri Etherton

  She sat on her bed and played with the little vial around her neck. She’d made such a mess of things. Falling in love with Theo when she knew better. He was innocent and she’d dragged him into her family drama.

  Pora didn’t join her on the bed, instead curling onto a nearby chair. Even her best friend was angry with her. Who could blame him?

  The first stirrings of pain began and she breathed into the change. It never got easy and it would never cease. Every sunset for the rest of her life, she’d lose a part of herself until there was nothing left. Theo didn’t deserve what she’d bring to his life.

  The ogress cackled and sang a bawdy tune. Rainne tried to shut her up, but the thurnbull hadn’t fully taken effect and the change was coming hard and fast. She hadn’t the strength to fight the ogress. Lack of sleep, even less food, and heartbreak had robbed her of the energy needed to control the ogress, but still she fought through the fog of the change.

  A little thrill went from her hairline to her toes and the ogress giggled. She rubbed a hand up her abdomen to her breast and cupped it. Her mind spun back to Theo’s kisses and their lovemaking, but the ogress shifted the memories to something more fitting her desires. Instead of the elf maiden with Theo, it was the ogress.

  “No.” Rainne struggled to put the memories right, but the ogress fought hard. “No!” She grabbed her head and shook it, trying to dispel the ogress from her mind.

  Pora stood on his hind legs, his rapier pointed at her face. “Rainne?”

  A wicked laugh came from her sternum and she waggled a finger at the cat. “Not. Rainne. Not anymore.”

  The ogress tore the pendant from her neck and threw it across the room. She stalked to the mirror and regarded herself from all angles, giving an approving smile to each side.

  “I need a man. Pora, get dressed. We’re going hunting.” She turned toward her wardrobe and saw the candlestick a second too late.

  Blinding pain shot from her temple, then the floor came up to meet her. She heard a thud as her face bounced on the hardwood.

  She woke to the sound of a cat licking its fur. At her movement, Pora startled and a moment later she was looking down the pointy end of a blade.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Which one are you?” Pora poked her nose with the rapier and she cried out.

  “That hurt, you silly cat.” She sat up and the room tilted; her stomach roiled.

  Blood pounded in her skull and she put a hand to her sore temple. Her fingertips came away red. She was bleeding.

  “What happened?” A slow burn of despair cascaded in waves over her.

  “You, she, one of you—I can’t explain it. You weren’t you.” Pora handed her the broken silver chain and the little vial.

  “Did I hurt you? Or anyone else?” The despair turned to horror. They were alone in her room, and she was still in the robe. With any luck, she hadn’t done any harm. She rubbed a thumb over the vial. It was getting worse. Even on thurnbull she was blacking out.

  “I hit you with a candlestick before you could. I’m sorry for that.”

  Rainne cuddled Pora in her arms and rocked back and forth. “You did the right thing.” At least she hadn’t blacked out on her own. But still, it was only a matter of time before she lost all control.

  She toyed with the stopper on the vial. It was time. Time for her to end it before the ogress won. She set Pora aside and rose on unsteady legs. For a cat, he had a good swing. She felt along her temple and winced. A small gash went from the corner of her eye to her hairline. Well, she’d deserved it.

  After she dressed in one of elf Rainne’s loose-fitting gowns, which was figure-hugging on the ogress, she went to her desk. She couldn’t leave without a note explaining why this was for the best.

  The pen hovered over paper, waiting. Waiting for Rainne to find the right words. Waiting for a miracle.

  18

  Theo stood with his hand on the telescope and stared at the stars. They blinked with steady reassurance. Whenever life got too complicated, he looked to the sky for answers. Tonight, there wasn’t any peace to be found in the cosmos.

  He held the little book Rainne had given him and thumped it against his thigh. After she’d left him at the pub, he’d returned to Elvenwood, defeated. How could he convince her she was worthy? How was he supposed to let her know she was loved if she shut him out?

  He set the book down and twisted the ring on his finger. What would his ancestor have done? His gaze drifted to the red cover with black writing. He owed it to Rainne to at least read Ishnara’s account of the tale.

  Simpson poured him a glass of wine and he settled into his favorite chair with the book. As the story progressed, Theo became increasingly uncomfortable. Ishnara’s version of events was nothing like the account his family had told over the years. He smoothed the obsidian stone in the ring and looked out the window, but the stars were obscured from his view.

  Why would his family tell a vastly different story than what Ishnara recorded? In her tale, it was Bastiaan, the Crown Prince of Elvenwood, who had seduced her most grievously. He’d abused her trust and good name. Ishnara herself had cursed the prince, not nameless mages.

  Theo’s stomach soured at the realization that his whole life he might’ve believed a lie. His fingertips smoothed the cover of the book. If the story he’d been told had been a lie, what other mistruths had he been fed?

  His fingers moved to his lips. His prejudice against other races came not from any dealings with them, but from his parents and their parents before them. Ancestral bigotry handed down from generation to generation without question.

  What did it mean for him, now? He set the book on a side table and paced to the window and back. He’d told Rainne he loved all of her, including the ogress part. But did he believe that? He lusted for the ogress, yes, but what did he truly know about her? He’d had far more interaction with Rainne as an elf than he did the ogress.

  Every story had two sides, possibly three. Their story included. Once he’d stopped to consider how life was for Rainne, her decision made sense. The only problem was—he didn’t agree with it. He was willing to love her for what she was, unconditionally.

  The stars winked and shimmered. There was one way to remedy his scant knowledge—get to know Rainne equally as the ogress and elf. A spike of adrenaline shot through his veins and he wrung his hands in anticipation. He would just have to convince Rainne she was worth loving. He’d let her leave once; he vowed never to let her leave him again.

  Theo gave Simpson several orders to bring Rainne’s maid and her belongings back to Duir. He took off the ring and wrapped it, along with the book, in a square of fabric. He’d give them to Therron and let his brother decide what to do about the curse. For now, he had his own demons to slay. Without a glance back, he grabbed his traveling cloak and left his bedchamber.

  In a matter of seconds, he had a doorway opened and was stepping through to the unknown.

  A circle of light opened into the hallway outside Rainne’s rooms and Theo took a moment to calm his tumbling heartbeat. No one moved in the dark castle. A sliver of light shone from beneath Rainne’s door. He raised his hand and knocked.

  Muffled voices came from the other side of the door. He waited, but no one answered. Another knock was also ignored.

  “Rainne, it’s Theo.” He whispered through the wood, not wanting to call attention to his presence should Finnick be roaming the halls.

  The door opened and Pora stood on his hind legs. “It’s about time you showed up.”

  “What are you doing here?” Rainne stood in the doorway, looking beautiful and vulnerable in an ill-fitting dress.

  He stepped into the room and Pora closed the door behind him. “I love you, Rainne. All of you.”

  “It’s not…” She looked at her hands, then at a writing desk, where a globe of drossfire bobbed. “The thing is, Theo, the ogress doesn’t love you.”

  His heart flipped in his chest. The words didn’t make
sense.

  “I love you, at least the elf part of me does, but the ogress craves bloodshed. You’re a challenge to her, nothing more.” Rainne held her hands out to her side. “I’m sorry.”

  Theo approached, his steps cautious. A cut at her temple shone ruby against the jade. “You’re hurt.” He reached toward the cut, but she flinched out of his reach.

  “Pora had to stop the ogress. He got a little carried away.”

  “In my defense, she was scaring the crap out of me.” Pora jumped on the writing desk and batted at a pen.

  “I don’t understand. You’re the ogress and the ogress is you.”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. We’re not the same. Most of the time, I’m in control, but she’s been taking over more lately. Ever since the night of the wolf attack. I’m afraid one of these sunrises, elf Rainne won’t come back.”

  Pora pushed a piece of paper to the floor and Rainne jumped to grab it. Theo reached it first and read the lines. Each swirl of pen brought deeper anguish.

  “I’m sorry, Theo. It’s the only way to end the torment.”

  He crumpled the paper and threw it across the room. “There’s always hope. Remember what Meg said? You can’t give up yet.”

  Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and he thought for a moment she swooned again like she did in the doorway, but then she leaned forward and breathed him in.

  “You smell so good. Something about you makes the ogress go wild. We need to get out of my rooms.” She grabbed his hand and practically dragged him from the room.

  The shift in her was subtle, but Theo recognized the signs. He hadn’t spent a lot of time with the ogress, but this part of her he knew intimately. Huskier voice, frantic movements—he understood what Rainne meant when she claimed they weren’t the same person.

  Pora ran ahead of them as they hurried out of the castle. Once outside, Rainne gulped air like she dangled in a hangman’s noose.

  “She’s obsessed with you.” Rainne turned to him and licked her lips. She shoved him against a wall and he winced against the pain. “She wants to consume all of you, and I don’t know if either of us will survive.”

  “Rainne.” Theo put his hands on her shoulders and pushed gently. “You’re in there. Find the good in the ogress, accept that part of her.”

  “Shut up.” The ogress ground her hips against him, cruelly crushing their bodies together.

  Her lips sought his, but he rolled out of her grasp.

  “Stop it, Rainne. This isn’t love.”

  “You know nothing of love. One night kissing me, the next her.” Rainne stormed away and Theo hesitated to follow.

  This was what he’d come to Duir for—to know the ogress. The good and the bad.

  “You’re wrong.” Theo took Rainne’s hand in his own and led her down the gravel path away from bedchambers and hidden nooks, out in the open where she wouldn’t accost him. The ogress liked to hide in the dark and Theo was determined to bring her into the light.

  They walked along the path, Rainne’s steps getting softer the farther away from the castle they went. By the time they reached the gate, she was breathing normally and had stopped muttering under her breath.

  Pora’s hiss-like shriek pulled his attention just in time to see three men emerge from the hedge. One of them swung an axe and another held two vicious-looking daggers that curved at the tip. The third man held a sword low, like he knew how to use it.

  “What do we have here? A little lady and her lord.” The one with the daggers chuckled salaciously and Theo’s stomach roiled. These weren’t hungry highwaymen looking for an easy score.

  They were outnumbered and weaponless. Not good odds. Theo opened a thread of magic and held out a hand in warning. Rainne didn’t move, even when one of the men circled her like a panther testing its prey.

  “We don’t want a fight. Be on your way and no one gets hurt.” Theo kept his voice low, threatening.

  Rainne scoffed and jerked her head toward the men. “These idiots don’t understand words. Isn’t that right, fellas?”

  What the hell was she doing? The point was to keep the attackers calm, not incite them.

  The clouds parted and a ray of moonlight brightened the landscape. As a group, the three men jeered.

  “Looks like we got a goblin tonight.”

  “Ogress, you buffoon. There’s a huge difference.”

  Theo moved to position himself between the men and Rainne. If he could just get her to stop insulting them, they might get out of there alive. Pora swung around behind the one with the sword.

  “I heard ogres liked it rough. Is that so, sweetheart?”

  Rainne jutted her hip out and twirled a lock of hair. “You couldn’t handle me.”

  Theo watched her as if seeing someone else. He wasn’t sure whether she was being deliberately outrageous to prove a point, or whether this was how the ogress naturally behaved. The former wasn’t easy to accept, but far less daunting than the latter.

  The one with the axe moved in and grabbed Rainne around the waist. She yelped, but it lacked conviction. Pora sprang onto the man with the sword’s back and scratched his face. He reached for Pora and got a swipe of claws for the effort. The sword dropped to the ground and Theo lunged for it.

  He’d trained his entire life with his brothers, but had never actually fought an opponent. The highway men who tried to rob them were nothing compared to the threat he faced now. His legs trembled as he left Pora to the injured man and stalked the one who had grabbed Rainne. The one with the daggers laughed maliciously and urged his friend toward the hedge.

  “Let her go.” Theo wound his magic into the sword and pointed it at the men.

  “Not until we’ve had our fun. You can watch if you like.”

  They didn’t see him as a threat. That alone pissed him off. But their rough handling of the woman he loved tore through his rage.

  He advanced on the first man, slicing and hacking without any finesse. His sword master would be mortified. The daggers clattered to the ground alongside the man’s hands. He went to his knees and Theo stabbed him through the heart. His mind was bereft of emotions as he went through the moves. Save Rainne. That’s all he thought as he turned to the man with the axe.

  He held the axe against her throat, his other hand grabbing a breast. She stood still. Even though Theo knew she could fight the man off, she did nothing. Fight, Rainne! Why wasn’t she fighting?

  “Let her go.”

  “Naw, I don’t think so.” The man’s gaze went to his partner’s dead body. “He don’t mean nothin’ to me. Besides, I don’t like to share.”

  Theo slid a glance to Pora. The cat was a tempest of fur and claws.

  “Neither do I.” Theo leapt to the side and cut the man’s hamstring with the blade. He hoped Rainne would get free, but still she didn’t move. Her features were screwed into a look of consternation.

  The man grunted and tightened his grip on the axe. Theo’s vision blurred and he lunged at the man. The sword ripped across his back and he bellowed into the night. Theo pivoted and slammed his body against the attacker, sending the three of them tumbling to the ground.

  Rainne rolled onto the grass, unmoving. The man with the axe splayed out face-first on the gravel path. Theo knocked his head with the hilt of the sword with a satisfied grunt. He ran to Rainne and helped her stand. She blinked and looked around in bewilderment.

  “Where’s Pora?”

  Theo turned from her and ran to where he heard hissing and swear words coming from the hedge. A hand reached forward to grab his pant leg and Theo shoved the sword into the axe-man’s back.

  “Pora!” He called the cat’s name again and rounded the hedge to see the cat across the road.

  The man he’d been fighting staggered into the moonlight and Theo suppressed a gasp. The skin on his face hung in ribbons. It would be a mercy to kill him. He slid the sword between the man’s ribs and pulled the blade free.

  This business of
killing wasn’t to his liking, but the alternative was even less palatable.

  “Are you hurt?” Theo gently picked up Pora from the ground.

  “Nothing that can’t heal. How’s Rainne?”

  She stood between the dead men, her cheeks wet with tears. Pora leapt from his arms and went to her. She knelt and shook her head.

  “Oh, Pora. Sweet, silly kitty. I’m so sorry.”

  “What happened to the kickass ogress? Why didn’t you bring her out?” Theo didn’t want to be angry with her, but if ever there was a time for her to fight, this had been it.

  “I couldn’t. You barely stopped her earlier. She’s out of control. I was afraid if I let her take over, I’d never come back.”

  A cry from the other side of the castle grounds halted their argument.

  “Finnick.” Rainne took off running before Theo had a chance to stop her.

  “She’s not lying, lover boy. The ogress is nothing like her. She’s getting stronger every day. The question is, can you accept her, ogress and all?” Pora bounced on his back paws, swinging the dagger one of their attackers had dropped.

  Rainne’s scream rent the night air and Theo made his choice.

  19

  The sound of metal clashing drowned out everything, including Rainne’s pounding heart. She’d fought off the ogress while Theo fought the attackers. It had been harder than any time before and Rainne knew if she let the ogress loose, she’d lose herself forever.

  She couldn’t risk that. Not for anything.

  She ran full out to where she heard fighting and skidded to a stop when she saw five men fighting Finnick. He was alone and a shiver of guilt slid over her. She should’ve been there to defend the castle.

  He fought hard, defending and blocking the attacks, but he was massively outnumbered. One of the raiders was taller than the rest and she squinted to better see. A giant. Gods’ truth, Finnick couldn’t fight them all and survive. The way her stepfather charged the men made her think perhaps he could.