by N. M. Howell
They walked up Lexington Ave. “What about you and my mother? Is Mom a Lord Fae?”
“She is, as I am.” His face lifted as he spoke. “We met so long ago, back when so much hope existed. I loved her. I still do, although that means never being near her again. Not even if a balance is restored between the Light and Dark.”
“If?” Raina said.
“It seems unlikely. The creation of the portal redirected the flow of all Oreálle’s magic to this one location, like an open floodgate in a dam. Both its creation and destruction mean only one thing: the extinction of both the Dark and the Light.”
“How can that be?”
“Magic is life to the Fae. And the magic has stopped flowing.”
Raina shook her head. “Can’t the portal be reopened?”
“The Dark Fae faction who destroyed the portal believe it can, at least for a short time. Some think they seek to reopen it to retrieve the magic, not having known the effects closing it would have had for their race. I suspect otherwise. Acts of that nature aren't done without immeasurable hatred. I suspect they're reopening it to ensure their enemy is wiped out once and for all. Their intent is likely genocide of the Light Fae, and the total closing of the realm.”
“But that means everyone dies!”
Kraevek nodded. “Yes. The Dark Fae don’t believe this. They’ve existed beyond memory without a portal, outside that other dimension. What they fail to understand is that the magic that allows them life, and magic now only comes from that one place.”
“But you’re a Lord Fae. Can’t you stop them?”
The man’s eyes went distant. “No. Not anymore. At the start of the Blood Days, I was captured. Years of torture… broke me. I have little capacity for magic. If your father had not pardoned me—”
Raina inhaled hard. “You were tortured by the Light Fae?”
“My aspect is Dark, despite my true nature. Your mother intervened on my behalf. It was not known that she was also Lord Fae. We never had the chance to ascend to the Fae Court. Your mother’s true identity can never be known. Just as I’ve hidden myself among the humans all this time. Most believe I’m dead.”
Raina’s head spun. It was too much to take in. She sorted the tangled threads of information. “We need to find out how the Dark Fae intend to open the portal, and open it ourselves.”
“To what end? The Light Fae are even more vulnerable now than ever.”
“So we stop the attack!”
“So optimistic,” Kraevek smiled. “You can’t know how much you remind me of your mother right now.”
Raina ground her teeth. “We know the terrorists are linked to the academy. The attack will come from there.”
“Agreed,” Kraevek assumed his stern expression. “I’ve been meeting with an informant. A spy even the confraternity don’t know about—the only person I trust implicitly. We’ve uncovered a lot, but the actual plans of the splinter group remain elusive. If the Egalitarian Confraternity can resist sending more of our troops to be captured and mind-wiped, we may still have a chance to stave off whatever the plan might be. I need to return to the infiltrator as quickly as I can.”
Raina grabbed his shoulder. “What can I do?”
His smile returned. “Train harder to unearth your Lord Fae abilities. The Fae sorely need a lord to lead them. I have a gift that might help you. Will you accept it?”
A gift? Raina still wrested with the fact that his man, this broken man, was her biological father. She could barely grasp the fact that she was not who she believed she was. A gift from a stranger—the start of all cautionary fairy tales. She resigned herself. “If it will help, then I have no choice.”
Kraevek stepped closer and raised his palms. “Close your eyes, Raina.”
As she did, she felt the pressure of his hands on her face, against her eyelids. Sparks rose in the dark, the pressure returned from within her. Those sparks were stirred by an internal wind into a roaring fire.
The hands left her face. All around her, the world looked different, clearer. Magic glimmered in the bare twigs of the trees, surrounding a gutter, drifting on the breeze. Raina understood what she saw—remnant magic, the Dark Fae source of life and power.
Kraevek dropped his hands. With a curt nod, he strode quickly away west. But not before Raina saw a glow emanate from his dark skin. A Fae with aspects both Light and Dark. She now believed he was what he said he was: a Lord Fae. A dozen paces away, some subtle change occurred and Raina could no longer pick him out of the crowd.
Jax leaned on the wall next to the back stairs door. Raina stopped short in the alley way. Too late. He’d already seen her.
“Talk to me.”
She walked past him, fumbling her key into the lock. “No.”
“Talk to me Rainara. Please.”
Her hands shook too badly to unlock the door. “We have nothing to say to each other.”
“What did I do that was so wrong?”
Raina spun toward him. “How can you not know?”
She was filled with anger. Anger at Jax for his cruel attack on a helpless man. Perhaps more so, she felt consumed by an impotent rage that her parents, her ancestors, all the Fae both Light and Dark, had screwed up the world so badly.
Still, whatever her true self, she had grown up Light Fae. Jax became the locus of her blazing emotions. “You beat the crap out of a helpless man!”
“That ‘helpless man’ nearly took out my guards. He could’ve hurt you. I had to protect you.”
“So that gives you the right to kick a man who was half unconscious—tied up even!”
“Right?” Jax said through his teeth. “I have a responsibility, a duty, to protect my people. Whatever that takes. You don’t understand, Rainara, you’re human. You haven’t been forced to live in the shadow of selfish, self-serving arrogant Light Fae and their human toadies. We have more right to this world than they do. Yet they build their portal, hoarding their magic.”
“How the hell do you think you lived in their shadow? You’re two different species, right? Isn’t that what everyone says? You’re more closely related to humans than them. Yet humans are the dominant species. Why don’t you think you live in their shadow?”
“That’s just it. With their exclusive realm, we’re forced to live among humans.”
Raina blew a heavy sigh. “Says who? Live where you want. Go back to the Black Forest or whatever. Go live on an island. It’s your choice to live with humans. Your people’s choice.”
And her people’s choice, she realized, but tamped the thought down hard.
Jax’ face darkened. “You don’t get it, and you never will. This is something you don’t ever have to deal with. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. My parents didn’t die in an accident. They were killed by the Light Fae.”
The words hit Raina like a slap. Still, she already heard that the people she thought of as her own had tortured her father to the point where he lost most of his power. She had no illusions regarding the popular view of the happy, lighthearted Light Fae.
“That’s why I do what needs to be done,” Jax said. “That’s why I’ve become what I’ve become.”
Raina knew he didn’t mean an instructor at the school, or a malicious academy guard. “What have you become, Jax?”
“One day soon, you’ll see.”
But Raina could see. Something malevolent crackled about him like a black energy. His very dark eyes flared with dim orange light—a light she almost recognized. It could have been a consequence of Kraevek’s gift, but she didn’t think so. Something was very wrong. She knew she would’ve sensed it before. “Jax, tell me.”
“I’ve become one of the good guys, Rainara. A hero. One day I hope you’ll understand.”
She watched him turn on his heel and stalk away. Fear moved across her inner thoughts like a glacier.
24
Raina worked the late shift in the grocery on automatic. Her brain was too full to digest all that she’d learned.
She wondered if she were headed for a mental breakdown. Derek eventually dragged her away from the register.
“Hey, Raina, are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Just let me finish my shift.”
His head cocked, brows knitting. “We closed half an hour ago.”
Except for Lee, no one occupied the store, not even the employees.
“You’ve been through a lot. Let me get you some soup or something.”
Raina headed for the back hall. “I have to find out what Jax has done.”
“Jax? What does Jax have to do with anything?”
“I wish I knew. I need to know. Something really bad is going to happen.”
“Why don’t you just call him?”
Derek stood in the doorway to the office. Raina frowned thoughtfully at so simple a solution. She dialed his number from memory—she didn’t have a cell phone to remember for her. The answering machine picked up.
“This is Jax, don’t bother leaving a message. I’ll be away for some time.” Beep.
Derek questioned her with his expression.
“Weird. He didn’t say he was going anywhere.” He said he’d become a hero. Did that equate to war hero?
“You’ve been training hard with Trini. She must’ve taught you some Shadow Fae magic you can use.” Derek scowled at her. “Like you did to me.”
“That was—” She searched for words. “I was really worried about you. I’m sorry I scryed you, but I thought you were in danger.”
“Can’t you scry Jax?”
She shook her head. “I need something of his—” Raina remembered that she had one of Jax’ possessions. Her heart stepped up a few beats. “Call Trini. I think I might have a way to find out what he’s up to.”
The half-fae arrived less than half an hour later. She squinted around the tiny space. “You live here? Man, you’re more hard core than I thought. Where do you stand when you pull down the bed?”
“Nowhere,” Raina said. “You could always sit on the toilet.”
Instead, they all sat on the Murphy bed. Raina took a jacket from a hook on the door. Jax had put it over her shoulders on their last date. Which was probably their last date ever, she thought with a squeeze of pain.
Trini caught on. “You’re gonna try to soft-scry him.”
“I might need help.” Raina cradled the soft jacket.
Angling her head at Derek, Trini said, “Well, we had a bunch of protection tats on the Moth-Boy, and you busted through those without even trying. Give it a go.”
“About that—is that my shirt in the corner?”
“Shut up, Derek,” Trini said.
Raina ran the black fabric through her hands, felt the silken lining. Memory flashes of Jax wearing the jacket flickered in her mind. Her consciousness filled with his face, his firm touch, his kiss…
Jax.
The way he dimpled when he smiled.
Jax.
His brisk stride. His muscular frame.
Jax…
…swiped sweat from his brow, hands gloved in crude mittens of silver material.
“…just know what the point of this is!” He growled.
Merit Sharp, the headmaster of the academy, stepped into Jax’ view on the far side of a ring of gem-like pillars. Like Jax, he sweated profusely. “We need warriors who can battle the Light Fae in their own realm. The transformation is a necessary step.”
“Regardless, we have no way into Oreálle.” Jax’ voice rose in tenor at a door opening on the far side of the circular room. Heated air wavered like a mirage.
“Leave that to me.” Sharp backed away, calling out, “Ernella!”
The harsh-eyed inquisitor stepped up, wilting in the heat. She raised her hands, palms inward, encasing a blue glow. The luminescence struck Jax with palpable impact—a healing version of the Zephyr of Hoarfrost. He shook his head, looked down at himself.
Raina almost withdrew.
Save an elaborate skein of thick silver and black wire that mirrored his blood vessels, Jax was naked. At a sound, his eyes jerked toward the open door. Orange light bloomed, like guttering flames. Three silhouettes appeared, each hauling a chain. Behind them, the source of the light moved closer. It was egg-shaped, four feet tall, glowing like forged metal. Except as the three drew nearer, a shadow writhed within the superheated shell.
The men wore hooded fire suits, the wheeled pallet holding the giant egg bent with the heat and weight. With heaving, straining steps, they dragged their burden into the circle of pillars. Glowing shell and shadowy movement completely filled Jax’ vision.
“It’s too hot, Merit! Gods beyond, get me out of this!” Jax struggled, chains rattling, his hands came up, shielding his eyes.
“For the good of the Dark Fae, Jax, let yourself be consumed!” Merit Sharp shouted.
Intense light flared, so bright that Jax’ bones were revealed in his arms and hands.
Blackness…
With a scream, Raina leapt to her feet, the jacket tearing in half. Trini had been gripping her arm, and nearly vaulted off the bed into the wall.
Raina grabbed her. “They’re killing him! We have to find him, stop them!”
“No.” Trini winced, removing Raina’s gripping hands. “They’re changing him, making him some kind of weapon. Forging him the way men forge steel.”
“Forging him?” Derek’s eyes went wide. He had been unable to share the vision.
Trini shook her head, eyes down, hands fluttering. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“Kraevek,” Raina said. “We have to tell him. The cabal is sending forged warriors into Oreálle.”
“We still don’t know how,” Trini said. “The portal is destroyed.”
Derek interrupted. “She’s right. Kraevek has spies in their organization. But they probably aren’t privy to something like this.”
“Sure, we’ll just call his cell phone,” Trini smirked darkly. “C’mon, the man appears out of the blue whenever he wants. He’s so secretive, we hardly know anything about him.”
Raina’s jaw dropped with an idea. “Kraevek gave me… a gift.”
“Oh, excellent!” Trini said. “Get it out! We can at least get an idea where he is.”
Shoulders falling, Raina pouted. “Well, it wasn’t a material gift.”
Derek and Trini exchanged shrugs and head shakes. “So, what?” Derek asked.
“I don’t think I can explain it.” Raina thought hard. What exactly had her father given her? A kind of enhanced vision? Or was it something more than that? “Let me try something.”
With no way of knowing what had been bestowed upon her, she could only mimic Kraevek’s giving. She placed her own palms over her eyes. She breathed deeply, and in moments, an utter stillness took over her thoughts. No longer seated on a bed, in a room, surrounded by her friends, Raina drifted.
A landscape appeared, at first the skyline of the city. Buildings lost color and solidity, revealing the bleak, scraped Island of Manhattan. Darkness glimmered in crevices, at the base of low hills, in midair, remnant magic, the seething, cooling energy of portal magic. There was very little of it, mostly scattered around the park. Raina reached out farther, harder, searching for even the tiniest spark of bright magic. Magic that would lead her to Kraevek.
She sensed nothing—there was no Light Fae magic left in New York City.
Thoughts intervened, obscuring the vision. Jax, poor Jax, burned, strapped down. Even if he volunteered for whatever misguided reasons, Raina knew she could save him. He had to know that Light and Dark were all the same people, no matter how different they appeared, no matter how dissimilar their lives. If she could only tell him…
Raina fell. Plunging. Hurtling downward. Drawn by an intense gravity, she tried to resist, only to give up to the insistent pull. It was more than a force, she realized, but a magic cry for help.
Oh, crap. Kraevek!
Raina felt the cold, crawling sense of an iron blade at her throat, hands holding he
r arms fast. And then she was in Kraevek’s thoughts. His mind was a whirlwind of panic.
“This one!” Merit Sharp bared his teeth, the smile of a predator. His hands reached toward Kraevek, pulling something free. A hood, Raina realized, of a fire-resistant suit. She felt the blazing air of the ritual chamber. Wild eyes caught sight of Jax, chained to a tilted rack, the remnants of the giant egg now embers and ash around his feet. One of the other hooded figures held a long spear at Kraevek’s neck, the edge of the weapon acidic as it lightly cut the skin.
Of course. The only infiltrator Kraevek could trust implicitly was himself.
“You think you fooled anyone? So arrogant, like all your kind. We used it against you, feeding you a piece of information at a time, drawing you in. Lord Fae.” Sharp spat the words out, face twisting.
“Even a broken man like you can be used. The last vessel of Light Fae magic left in the world. All along thinking you could walk around under our noses unnoticed. This is why the Lord Fae are unfit to rule.” Sharp turned away. “Take him to the portal.”
A sly expression crossed the headmaster’s face. In a gloved hand, he brought up a steel truncheon and swung it—
25
“You idiot!” Raina said through her teeth. “Sharp is right about you!”
“Raina, what is it?”
Her tiny room came back into view, Derek and Trini holding her arms.
“Are you okay? You were thrashing around, screaming—”
“The Dark Fae have Kraevek. Gods beyond, what a fool!” Raina growled.
“Quit holding out, Raina, do you know where?” Trini demanded.
“No. Not a clue.” Raina felt an emotional roller coaster, from rage to terror, and then to hope. “Wait. I don’t know where exactly, but I’m pretty sure I can track it down.”
“Where do we start?” Derek asked.
Raina stood. “Where else?”
“The academy,” Trini said.