“I half expected something crawly under there,” I said, chuckling.
“So did I.”
An awkward silence fell between us. There was so much to say not even related to the last few hours. Braden’s story about my mother’s involvement in Kellen’s life hurt in a way I couldn’t describe. How did he move past that and see me rather than the woman who killed his parents? I picked up the polyester bedspread and rolled it into a ball, then tossed it in the corner, avoiding his watchful eyes. After working in hotels for the last six or seven years, I knew not to sleep with the bedspread. Some washed them every time, but some didn’t.
“I’ll go first,” he finally said. “I imagine mine is a shorter story.” He untucked his shirt and started unbuttoning it like it was completely natural for us to be together. “I was a little surprised when I woke up in my earth elemental’s arms. The surprises kept coming when it listened to Logan’s suggestion to take me to Mr. Smith’s rather than going to the palace.” He shrugged the shirt off and tossed it on his suitcase, leaving him in jeans and white t-shirt. “After my foggy brain finally woke up, my elementals gave me the full story of what happened, starting with Thomas’ betrayal and my tiny partner rescuing me from the dungeon. They continued to answer all Logan’s questions about Braden. Then your water elemental showed up and told me to meet you here.”
He sat on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers through his hair while I stood in the corner staring at his confused expression. My own face probably mirrored his.
“Your elementals talked to Logan?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’m still shocked over that. Well, sort of.” He looked up at me. “What did you say to them?”
“They didn’t tell you?” I didn’t want to tell him. My behavior was harsh and probably unacceptable. His elementals could’ve killed me with a thought, and my tirade gave them the perfect reason.
“No, they refused,” he replied. “But whatever it was had a huge impact. They stayed with me for a long time, creating all kinds of unrest at Jonathan’s little compound.”
I buried my fingers in the layers of fabric covering me. “They didn’t seem mad at me?” I asked, clearing my throat. They seemed pissed off when they left with their wounded mage.
“My elementals? No. I got the impression they were grateful for whatever you said.” He stood and crossed the tiny space between us. “Why would they be mad?”
“I was awful, Kellen,” I whimpered. “Not just to them, but Braden, Thomas, myself.” My damn tears swelled in my eyes, and I knew there was no holding back. “I was a monster.”
“The story I heard did not paint you as a monster, but a very brave woman put in an awful position.” His hands settled on my shoulders, but I couldn’t look at him.
“Did they tell you how I attacked Braden? I was supposed to act like I was trying to get away from him, but somehow he ended up with holes in his legs and shards of glass in his kidneys,” I argued, pushing him away. “Did they tell you I shattered Thomas’ hands while he hung helplessly from the wall?”
His eyes widened as he shook his head.
“Of course not,” I mumbled. “They wouldn’t want you to think badly of me. I’m becoming this awful creature who craves violence, and I don’t know how to stop it.” I slid to the floor and let the tears fall down my face.
We were supposed to be talking about how to convince his family of my innocence, and I was giving Kellen my darkness, something I hadn’t even admitted to myself. He sat down next to me, resting his arms on his raised knees. We sat in silence for several minutes, me twisting my fingers around the soft fabric of my tunic and Kellen staring at the wall across the room.
“A man stopped me at the airport when I first arrived,” he murmured, breaking our silence. “He said he needed to speak to you.” I felt his eyes on me but couldn’t bring myself to look at him. “He said to tell you that Cedric needed to see you.”
I choked on nothing and ripped the fabric in my hands. I expected all kinds of things today, but not that. Not my father. It had to be him, but how could he know that I’d recognize his name? I’d only recently heard it from Braden. And what did he want? The obvious answer was my death. When the tunic in my hands ripped again, Kellen wrapped his fingers around mine, preventing further destruction of my outfit.
“Who is he, AJ?”
I tried to speak but couldn’t get anything past the lump in my throat. My eyes met his, but I couldn’t see past my tears. He pulled me into his lap and cradled me like a child while I sobbed, leaving puddles on his t-shirt. I honestly didn’t think my life could get any worse, yet it had. What did I do to deserve all this heartache and pain?
“We have much to discuss, child.” Göksu’s voice slowed my pitiful tears, but I didn’t pull away from Kellen’s chest.
“Alisandra, now is not the time to fall apart.” Niyol’s sharp tone immediately pissed me off.
I raised my head and met Kellen’s gaze. His reassuring smile helped, even if I couldn’t figure out where it came from. He should be mad, confused, and frustrated with my inability to talk to him. But he smiled.
“Together,” he said, sweeping an errant curl from my forehead. “And you are not a monster. Monsters don’t cry on their partner’s shoulder.”
“Sure they do, right after they suck the blood from a vampire,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Cedric is my father.”
I rolled off him and got to my feet. My elementals stood between the bed and only window, making the room feel even smaller. Kellen rose with me, and a wave of unease settled around us, probably from my onslaught of lovely news.
“Well, start talking,” I said. “I’m pretty sure Daddy already knows where I am. Do I need to protect myself as soon as he shows his ass or will this be that happily-ever-after I’ll never get?”
“Neither,” Göksu replied, the frown evident despite his transparent features. “We won’t allow him to hurt you.”
“Have you already forgotten my promise to protect you?” Niyol asked, flicking the horrible purple curtain next to him.
I glared at both of them. “You know what? I’m pretty pissed off at you two right now. How could you let me make the series of bad decisions that have happened in the last twenty-four hours?”
“We’re here to protect you, child, not make decisions for you,” Göksu replied.
“Bullshit. I’m the biggest threat to my life.” I poked myself in the chest. “How have you not figured that out already? Never mind, don’t answer that. What does he want?”
“To activate your magic,” Niyol replied, not reacting to my little tirade.
I looked from one elemental to the other, both standing in their unnatural way almost floating above the floor. They were so calm. How? They had to know what activating my magic meant.
“Will he activate it and leave without training me?” I asked. “I’m already a twenty-car pile-up waiting to happen. Let’s not add a freight train to it.”
“Yes, it was a stipulation placed on him by his elders,” Niyol replied. “He is not allowed to leave your side until you’re trained sufficiently.”
“We will also be part of your training,” Göksu added.
“I will also ensure the princess is trained with her partner,” a low rumbling voice said as Kellen’s earth elemental joined the party, standing on the opposite side of the bed. He turned his enormous stone body and focused on me. “Your partner needs to learn how to work with your magic, not against it.”
Fire appeared next, dropping down on the bed. I gasped, expecting it to go up in flames. It didn’t, of course.
“We’re honored to be chosen as your partnered elementals,” Fire said, shocking me further.
What the hell did that mean? Chosen partners? I thought the elementals chose the mage partners.
“Someone better start explaining,” Kellen said, rubbing both hands across his face as he fell back against the wall.
I understood his overwhelming confusion. Mine was only s
lightly better because I knew my father’s heritage. None of it calmed my frustration which was quickly boiling into anger. Long deep breaths; that’s what I needed. Breathe in; breathe out. Why didn’t they just tell me all of this from the very beginning? My mother might still be alive and sane. Victor’s pack wouldn’t be suffering from their losses, neither would the mages. My fists clenched at my sides. Thomas might not be dead, and I wouldn’t have a blood oath with an elder vampire.
“Sit down, Alisandra,” Göksu said, evidently feeling my building anger.
I remained standing, refusing to allow him to boss me around. “All of this could’ve been avoided, couldn’t it?”
“No,” he replied. “We cannot see the future and no one could anticipate the decisions you make even if we could.”
“You’re not helping,” I hissed.
“None of you are!” Kellen bellowed, silencing everyone.
As one, we looked at my partner. His chest heaved with each breath and his hands clenched at his sides. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw him so unsettled.
“Her father is fae,” Earth said in his low rumble.
Kellen slid down the wall until his butt hit the floor and exhaled loudly. I joined him and reached for his hand.
“How?” he whispered. “How did Lily find a male?”
“That’s not important,” Göksu replied. “Alisandra’s training has priority over everything else.”
“Today,” I muttered. “Yesterday it wasn’t important.”
“Where is he now?” Kellen asked, looking around the room as if he expected the man to suddenly appear.
Maybe I shouldn’t dismiss my partner’s concerns. He didn’t have the same confused reaction I did, which meant he knew about the fae. Of course he did. They probably taught little mage children all about it at the palace.
“He is not here,” Niyol replied. “We forbade him to be in your presence until we discussed the options.”
The elementals forbade him? A throbbing headache started at my temples.
“Please start from the beginning,” I said. “My head hurts and I can’t wrap it around all your contradictions. Why do you let the mages control you, but you command my father?”
“A mage’s magic is limited to minor spells memorized from childhood mixed with their own willpower to direct the element chosen for them,” Earth replied, settling onto the floor in front of us, his stone legs folding unnaturally. “Our power is not threatened by a mage.” He glanced at Kellen and I thought I saw regret or maybe an apology in his deep eyes. “The fae have magic of their own,” he continued, giving his attention to me once again. “When we allow it, they channel our energy, making them extremely powerful.”
“Like Göksu did during the battle at Victor’s,” I said. “That doesn’t really explain why I’m so dangerous.”
The earth elemental turned and looked at Göksu. My anger flared again. They were not keeping secrets again, not about this.
“Don’t,” I warned, pointing at him. “I need to know.”
“Yes, but the question is when to tell you?” Earth responded.
“Now,” I demanded. “I don’t want to find out in the middle of battle that I’m creating the apocalypse. That would totally suck.”
Earth threw another glance at Göksu. “Your blood magic is rare,” he conceded. “Very few fae have it, and those that do are never allowed to leave the fae kingdom.”
Go figure. I couldn’t just be normal.
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “I thought my magic had to be activated by another fae.” My headache deepened at the thought of being trapped anywhere. “And I refuse to allow anyone to lock me up.”
“We will not allow the fae to imprison you, child,” Göksu said. “We need you to protect the supernatural families. The queen understands our demands and has consented to this exception.”
“Do you not hear your contradictions?” I asked, my voice rising with my frustration.
My partner gently squeezed my fingers. “Let them answer your questions.”
I sighed, then took a deep breath.
“We suspect your father attempted to activate your magic and was interrupted,” Niyol continued, flicking his curtain again, like the whole conversation bored him.
“When? It’s not like I had a lot of people in my life before Kellen.”
The elementals crept closer, their magic pressing on me.
“He was interrupted before he could renew her latest binding,” my partner said. “When I removed her veil and binding, I released part of her magic.”
Earth nodded. “That’s one possibility.”
“Why don’t you just ask my father?” I questioned, looking from one element to the next.
“There is an agreement between the fae queen and the elements,” Earth replied. “We’re balancing on a very fine line by activating your magic.” He glanced at Göksu yet again. “The queen will not share the reasons for your binding, and we’ll not act against our agreement by pressing the issue.”
I rolled my eyes. Would they ever give non-cryptic answers?
“Unless it suits us, right, brother?” Fire asked, circling the room once and settling next to Earth.
His comment surprised me, but it shouldn’t have. The animosity between the two elements had always been obvious. Were all fire elementals so edgy or just this one?
“It suits everyone,” Earth replied. “If we let this vampire reveal the other families, chaos will consume us all.”
“Yes, let’s have the blood fae destroy all the vampires,” Fire hissed, his body flaring.
Earth rose, growing until his stone head brushed the ceiling. “We will kill their leaders,” he growled. “The others will not suffer because of the ignorance of their commander.”
“Of course, brother.” The fire elemental disappeared.
A deep moan filled the room, shaking the walls with what I assumed was Earth’s annoyance. I looked over at my partner to find him staring back at me. Was that admiration filtering through our bond? Was I now worthy of his affection because of the promise of power? I frowned and shook my head, looking away from him. When did I become so cynical?
“What’s our first step?” Kellen asked.
“Talking to your family,” I replied. “We need to get the truth out there and quickly.” I pulled my hand from his and rubbed my temples. “Or maybe we just need to confront William. All of us.” I looked around the room at the three remaining elements, suspecting Fire still lingered out of sight. “If we can convince William that Jack doesn’t stand a chance, maybe he’ll change his story. Thomas said he joined Jack because he wanted to be on the winning side. Maybe William feels the same.”
“I agree,” Kellen said pushing himself to his feet. “We can talk to the other families until we’re blue and they may or may not believe us.” He extended his hand to me and I took it. “But if we can convince the king to retract his story and explain why his son was sucked into Jack’s embrace, we might keep the mages from fracturing further.”
“Back to London?” I asked, letting him pull me to my feet.
“I need to introduce you to my uncle while we’re here,” he replied. “I already told him we were coming. It would be a huge insult not to see him.”
“Damn,” I mumbled. “We also need to make a decision about Braden.” Another wheel in the cog I didn’t want to explain.
“Yes, we cannot leave him with his brother,” Niyol said. He flicked the purple curtain next to him with a gust of air, waited for it to fall, then flicked it again. I shouldn’t have been surprised by his knowledge of Braden’s imprisonment. “If Jack realizes his importance, everything will be ruined.”
“Why is he so important?” Kellen asked, looking from me to Niyol.
“I managed to tie my life to another vampire,” I muttered. “You really shouldn’t leave me alone.”
Anger flared through our bond, but only for a moment. Guilt replaced it almost i
nstantly. “I should’ve known that was Braden,” Kellen said. “I never suspected a vampire would be allowed in the king’s castle. I’m sorry for leaving you with him.”
“So am I,” I said. “Had we stayed together, things might be different. You would’ve kept me from being so stupid.”
“I haven’t exactly made the best decisions lately,” he admitted.
“We could start keeping score,” I suggested with a smile. “Only none of the previous ones count.”
He smiled with me. “Fair enough.”
“And your father?” Göksu asked.
“How do I know?” I responded. “Didn’t we just discuss my bad decision making?”
“After we meet my uncle,” Kellen suggested.
“I like it,” I quipped. “No unnecessary magic to create uncontrollable situations.”
“Then we’ll see you tomorrow evening in London,” Earth said.
One by one, the elementals disappeared, leaving Kellen and I alone. The room now felt ten times bigger. I took two steps and collapsed on the bed, refusing to ask myself if life could get any worse. Every time I did, something truly horrible happened. I needed positive thinking. The cup half full, not half empty… right?
Kellen laid down beside me, both of us staring at the peeling paint on the ceiling.
“So, half fae,” he mumbled. “I never would’ve known.”
“That makes two of us.”
“How did your mom find a fae?” he asked, lacing his fingers under his head. “The men are never seen and for good reason.”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I replied, rolling to my side. “Everything I read about the fae is confusing.”
“The men aren’t allowed to leave the fae kingdom without an escort,” Kellen said, turning his head towards me. “If a male fae gets a human pregnant, the child is taken back to the kingdom. They aren’t allowed to grow up with humanity.” He frowned. “I wonder why the queen didn’t take you to their home.”
“Is their magic that bad?” I asked. “It didn’t seem like it in the books I read.”
“All magical creatures need to be taught the limits of their magic and the consequences,” he replied. “The fae’s deep connection to the elementals makes it even more important. They want their children to learn from a very young age that their power requires responsibility and control.” His brow furrowed, and he went back to looking at the ceiling. “Why would they bind your magic and leave you here with no training at all?”
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