by Lola Gabriel
“Lennox is not envious of anyone!” Gia cried, tears burning behind her lids. “He just wanted to be free to love me!” The second the words left her mouth, she was struck by a sudden realization that made her gasp. “You knew this would happen! That’s why you set me up to work in the palace! You knew this stupid clause would be grounds to overthrow him! You set me up, too!”
“It was a plan we fashioned before I got to know you!” Allegra sobbed, tears rolling down her pale cheeks. “I didn’t realize how much I would grow to love you. I meant what I said about you. You’re special and—”
“You’re the devil!” Gia hissed, spinning to storm away. “And now you can live with the fact that you’ve double-crossed a woman who would have done anything for you. I hope you can say the same about Mira.”
She ran from the store before her own tears could begin to flow, shaking with shame and devastation. Her best friend had set her up with her fated mate, knowing that she was going to wedge them apart.
Gia knew she couldn’t waste time wallowing in self-pity. Mira had to be found and stopped. She had a job to do. She just had no idea how to do it.
“Castor, if this is some sort of trick, I promise you’ll spend the rest of eternity in limbo,” Reef growled, following the servant through the bowels of the palace, toward the glass room that held Lennox.
“It’s not a trick,” Castor quickly assured him. “I am just repeating what His Highness—”
“He’s not ‘His Highness’ anymore,” Wilder chirped. His brothers chuckled.
“This is not a matter to be taken lightly,” Castor said sharply. “Moreover, I believe what he is saying is true.”
“Why do you think so?” Keppler asked curiously. “Have you heard rumors?”
“Whiffs and innuendos,” Castor answered. “But I have been under your employ for so long; a rebellion is not apt to come looking to me for assistance. I am as good as the enemy to the rest of the Hollows.”
“You’re making it sound like they have been planning this for eons, waiting to lock us away.” Castor remained silent as he led the way to the glass cage. “Castor?” Keppler urged. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“I’m saying that some of the oldest souls and immortals have been waiting for a chance to get back at you for stealing the peace of the Hollows.”
“It was you and the vampires who eradicated the peace of the Hollows, if it ever really existed,” Reef spat. “They can’t blame us.”
“Well,” Castor mumbled. “They do.”
None of them spoke another word, making their way toward Lennox in silence.
Lennox stopped his pacing inside his glass cage when he heard the door to the room open. He sighed in relief at the sight of Castor, followed by his four brothers.
“Oh, thank the gods, you all came!” he exhaled. “You have to let me out!”
In unison, all four dragons outside the case burst into laughter.
“I told you this was bullshit,” Owen muttered, turning away. “Come on.”
“It’s not bullshit!” Lennox exclaimed. “I am only in power because I was granted a wish by a pixie.”
Wilder’s face contorted with rage. “That’s forbidden!” he howled. “Which pixie? I’ll have her head stuffed and mounted in the game room!”
“Her name is Mira,” Lennox said, “and Gia is looking for her. But you can’t kill her until she reverses the spell!”
Reef scoffed. “You sent a meek little fairy to find a mischievous pixie? If she has any idea you’re looking for her, she could be anywhere in Sunside or the Hollows!”
“Not if she’s leading the rebellion,” Lennox replied. “You didn’t ask me what my wish was.”
“What rebellion?” Keppler asked. At least he seemed willing to hear Lennox out. “What did you wish for, Lennox?”
“I wished to take over power from Wilder.”
His brothers were silent for a long moment, their gazes turning toward the most static of them all. They were probably trying to envision a world with Wilder in charge, having forgotten how it had been like before Lennox’s wish was granted.
“Lennox,” Wilder began, the anger in his voice barely restrained. “If this is true—”
“We don’t have time to bicker about this!” Lennox exploded, shaking his head in disbelief. “Mira is not here to reverse what she’s done, and we have a battle coming to our walls! We have to prepare!”
“So let them come,” Owen said. “We’ll blow them out of the water like we have before. What the hell do we need you for? Unless you’re distracting us as a part of their rebellion.”
His brother’s eyes turned to Lennox, staring at him with suspicion.
“Let me out!” Lennox yelled, holding back an exasperated groan. “The Hollows are twice as populated as they were in the last uprising! You can’t be down a dragon if you hope to win! It took every ounce of energy to make it through the last one. Be reasonable!”
“We’ll survive,” Wilder said coldly, and Lennox could see he was still furious about the news he had learned. “You better pray that your girlfriend finds that pixie and that she reverses the spell.”
“My lords, I highly suggest you listen to him,” Castor offered tentatively. “As I said, I don’t believe he’s—”
“For all we know, you’re in on it, too!” Owen shouted. “And what about that scared little fairy? What is she hiding?”
“You leave Gia the hell out of this!” Lennox roared, slamming his fists against the glass so hard that everyone jumped back. “She is trying to save your oblivious asses!”
“You do seem awfully defensive,” Reef muttered.
Lennox felt his blood rushing into his head as he realized that he was not getting through to his brothers. A war was at their doorsteps, and they were too busy having a pissing contest to notice.
Oh, Gia, he thought. Please tell me you’ve found Mira. She’s our only hope right now. I can feel them closing in.
“Guys, you need to listen to me,” Lennox begged, knowing that his words were falling on deaf ears. “We’re probably already too late!”
“I thought your girlfriend was coming back?” Wilder mocked him. “I’ve heard enough. If there’s any truth to this, we can’t be down here distracted by our self-serving brother. We need to be ready. Let’s go.”
Lennox could do nothing except stare helplessly after his brothers as they turned toward the door. He had hoped that Gia would have better luck locating Mira, but Mira was not the only pixie with the power to grant a wish.
“Find another pixie and have her reverse the spell!” Lennox yelled out to them. “Any pixie! Just go into the palace and pick one!”
His brothers paused. Keppler, Owen, and Reef half-turned back to him while Wilder kept his back to Lennox. Lennox could see, though, that they were all considering the idea. Unfortunately, he knew that only Wilder would be willing to do such a thing.
After all, there was no benefit to the others if they were not in power.
“We can sit down after things go back to the way they were meant to be!” Lennox cried, losing what little patience he had left. “We can work something out so that none of us is in absolute control, but for now, we need to undo what’s been done! Please!”
A long silence followed his plea, and Lennox held his breath, waiting for at least one of his brothers to oblige, to listen to his request.
After a moment, Keppler breathed deeply. “All right,” he said. “We’ll go find a pixie—”
An explosion rocked the foundation they stood upon, causing debris to fall and crumble around them.
“What the hell was that?” Owen yelled.
Lennox closed his eyes as a second explosion followed shortly after, and he heard the screams overhead as the palace ran for cover.
“We’re too late,” he moaned quietly. “The attack has begun.”
16
Gia screamed, covering her head as more rocks fell over her head, but her frail arms did little to
block the sharp, crumbling structure from pelting at her skin.
“What are they doing?” she cried. “Are they blowing up the palace?”
Her fellow traveler didn’t answer her. Gia continued her way through the rubble, back toward where she had last seen Lennox. She wondered what she would find, and her stomach churned with the possibilities. Would he be buried in his glass cage beneath a pile of dirt and debris?
Each step through the smoke-filled maze of corridors filled Gia with more anxiety. She couldn’t help feeling like they were already too late.
Gia cast her companion a wary look, wondering if she hadn’t made things worse by letting her come with her. Then again, what other choice had she had?
Allegra had found her standing outside the palace walls, shaking and terrified as she tried to think of her next move. She had no idea where to look for a rogue pixie. Her gut told her that Mira was close, plotting every step in the war, but where? And even if she did find Mira, how could she expect her to just go with her? Gia couldn’t force her, much less when Mira clearly wanted the dragons to fall. Nothing Gia said would convince her to reverse the spell. What had Gia been thinking?
“I can help you,” Allegra had told her. “Take me to Lennox.”
Gia had snorted in disgust. “You’ve helped enough,” she’d retorted. “Thanks.”
“What do you have to lose? I assure you, you’ll never find Mira in time. I’m the best you’ve got.”
In her desperation, Gia had accepted Allegra’s offer to help, even though she was certain it was another ploy somehow. She would let Lennox deal with her.
Another explosion rocked the palace, forcing them to duck for cover. As they did, a flurry of movement on the far side of the hall caught Gia’s eye.
She watched in awe as a beast swept through the tunnel, his green wings scraping the edge of the walls as he darted past. His tail whipped past the fallen figures of various inhabitants of the Hollows, and another dragon quickly followed the first one, a flash of gleaming silver teeth and shining yellow eyes.
Gia opened her mouth to call out, wondering if one of the dragons was Lennox, but Allegra’s hand clasped her shoulder.
“Don’t say a word,” she hissed, and Gia shrank back obediently.
There were no more explosions nor dragons flying through the hall. Gia and Allegra tentatively rose from their spot, half-covered by the wreckage around them.
“It’s just up there,” Gia said, gesturing with her hand. Allegra nodded, closely following her.
After a few more steps, they found themselves standing before the room that contained Lennox’s glass cage. It thankfully seemed to be intact, though that didn’t mean its insides would be undisturbed.
Gia threw the door open, and her hand flew to her mouth when she saw Lennox still trapped inside the glass box.
“Lennox!” she cried. “Did they not listen to you?”
“You didn’t find Mira?” Lennox turned to her and pressed his hands against the glass wall. Gia shook her head, which made Lennox sigh in resignation. “It’s too late. We’re going to be defeated.”
“No,” Allegra said. “You’re not. I can undo this.”
Lennox frowned at her before glancing over at Gia. “Can she be trusted?”
“I…” Gia exhaled a long breath. “I don’t know,” she confessed. “I doubt it.”
“Gia—” Allegra turned to fully face her, and her brow was furrowed in what looked like desperate hope. “I know I have given you every reason to hate me, but I can make this right! If it wasn’t for me, you would have never met Lennox!”
“If it wasn’t for you, he wouldn’t be sitting in a glass box right now!” Gia yelled, her face crimson with anger. “How am I supposed to believe anything you say?”
“She can’t make it any worse,” Lennox muttered. “If you try anything crazy, I will find a way to make you pay for it, one way or another.”
The palace rocked around them again, and Gia looked desperately at the high priestess.
“Do something!” she screamed. “How many creatures have to die?”
“If I do this,” Allegra told her, “you won’t remember anything about this. Everything will be undone.”
“I don’t care!” Gia bellowed. “Just reverse the damned spell! Do it now!”
Allegra swallowed visibly, and she nodded quickly, closing her eyes. Gia walked over to the glass to lean her palms against Lennox’s, and they both stared at each other with baited breath.
Gia wanted to scream at Allegra to hurry up, to shake her to make her work faster, but she held Lennox’s gaze, and a feeling of calmness emanated through the pane toward her. For a moment, she even heard his voice in her head.
It’s going to be okay, he promised her. No matter what happens, you and I got to meet each other.
That’s not good enough! she cried back. It’s not fair that we only just met and now I’m losing you!
You’re not losing me, he said. No matter what happens, I will always be with you, just like I’ve always been.
Gia found herself growing lightheaded as she stared at his face, and a devastating thought suddenly occurred to her. She recalled Allegra’s words, and only now did she truly understand what they meant.
If Lennox’s wish hadn’t happened, Gia would have never met him.
There would have been no chance encounter with Allegra, no gala at the palace. Everything that had happened had only happened because of the wish Mira had granted Lennox.
If this works, I’ll never see you again! Gia howled, but her words were lost as a gust of wind began to swirl around her. Lennox’s face was becoming hazy, and through her peripheral vision, Gia saw Allegra’s face contorting grotesquely.
Time was shifting around them. They were falling away into nothingness. Gia tried to cry out again, to tell Allegra to stop, but her voice was gone, and she was no longer staring at her fated mate in his glass prison.
Allegra had undone Lennox’s wish, for better or worse. There was no going back.
The dragons had been saved, and the cost to pay had been Gia and Lennox’s love.
“Snake oil! Snake oil and coffee!”
Gia grunted and turned on her side, pulling a pillow over her head to block out the sound of the street vendor outside her window. Every morning, they started at some ungodly hour, selling their wares through their megaphones at top volume.
And, of course, they start extra early on the mornings after I’ve worked a double shift, Gia thought ruefully, rubbing her eyes. Water dripped from the apartment upstairs through the crack in the ceiling above her head, which had gotten worse since the previous day, Gia was sure of it.
She glanced at her cell phone and blinked at the early hour. With the Trenches waking up all around her, she knew she wouldn’t get any more sleep.
Maybe I’ll treat myself to breakfast, she thought, yawning as she scrounged around the uneven floor for a pair of yoga pants, pinning her chestnut tresses into a bun.
She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, staring at her reflection in the cracked mirror. A strange pang of melancholy hit her in the gut, and for a moment, she didn’t recognize the girl looking back at her. A wave of sadness swept over her, and Gia suddenly felt like she was about to cry.
What the hell is wrong with me? she asked herself. The problem seemed to be obvious: she was overworked and overtired. Maybe she should take a vacation. Maybe she would meet a handsome prince, and he would sweep her off her feet, and she’d never have to work again.
To Gia’s absolute shock, she began to sob in the middle of her bathroom.
She struggled to compose herself, idly wondering if she was finally having a mental breakdown.
Holy hell, she thought, hastily wiping the corners of her red-rimmed eyes. You really need a break. What would Egan say if I started bawling in the middle of my shift? I’d be fired instantly.
Whatever was wrong with her, she knew she needed to get over it. Nothing that a cup of coffee
wouldn’t fix, probably.
Gia changed into her work clothes and slammed out of her crumbling apartment. As she bolted down the rickety stairs to cross the filthy street, she was roughly shoved from behind, and she went flying to the other side of the road. She fell forward on her shoulder, crying out in pain.
“What the hell—!”
A truck barreled past the spot Gia had been about to cross seconds ago. Whoever had shoved her out of the way had just saved her from certain death. Gia looked around for her savior, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.
A few feet away from her, a blonde girl sat on her knees, shaking.
“Oh!” Gia rushed over to her, helping her to her feet and hurriedly pulling her off the cobblestone street, back to the safety of the sidewalk. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m—I’m okay. What an asshole! He didn’t even stop!” the girl cried, glaring after the truck. With a frustrated sigh, she turned to Gia, smiling kindly at her. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” Gia said. “I’m fine, thanks to you. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good!” her savior promised. Then her green eyes narrowed slightly, like she had noticed something strange about Gia. “Do I know you?”
It was until she asked that question that Gia realized how weirdly familiar the girl looked, but she couldn’t place her.
“I… don’t think so?” she replied. “I work at a couple of bars in Sunside.”
The girl laughed. “I try to avoid Sunside as much as possible. The mortals and alcohol are a bad mix.”
“Tell me about it,” Gia chuckled. “Not my dream job.”
The blonde cocked her head to the side. “I actually work at the palace,” she said, “and there’s a party tonight. Do you want to come? It sounds like you could use a break.”