by KJ Baker
“Move aside,” I growled. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
She didn’t move. “We all want to save Asha,” she said softly. “But I won’t let you throw your life away doing it. Look out there, Arion! Just look!”
The mile of open land between myself and the bridge seethed with Unseelie. I wouldn’t get more than a hundred feet before I was cut down. It was hopeless.
“What’s that?” someone called.
A white mass was flowing over the bridge towards us. I stood in the stirrups and realized it was a group of white-robed Spire priestesses, around twenty of them, hurrying towards the shore.
A warning shout rose from the rearmost of the Unseelie lines. A squad of warriors peeled off from the line and began running towards the bridge to intercept them. I frowned. Whoever these priestesses were, it was clear the Unseelie were not expecting them.
The priestesses reached the end of the bridge and spread out in a line along the lakeshore. Ignoring the warriors pelting towards them, they linked hands, closed their eyes and white light enveloped them. The light expanded, spreading across the ground like mist.
The warriors running towards the priestesses disappeared beneath a white blanket. Onwards the mist moved, now rippling over the rear lines of the Unseelie host, horses, warriors, weapons, supply tents and wagons all disappearing into the mist. In only seconds, the whole of the Unseelie host that stood between me and the bridge had disappeared beneath the cloying mist.
Then just as quickly as it had come, the mist disappeared as if burned away by the midday sun. It revealed the Unseelie host unharmed but frozen where they stood, mouths open in silent shouts, arms raised for blows that would not fall.
Sudden understanding rushed upon me and my heart leapt in my chest.
“They’re giving us a chance!” I shouted. “Let’s go!”
I spurred my horse and sent her thundering across the ground towards the lakeshore. Hawk broke away from his suddenly motionless opponent and came galloping to join me and Ffion.
“I don’t know what they’ve done!” Hawk shouted in glee. “But I reckon I owe every one of those priestesses a big kiss!” He grinned, his eyes flashing.
Together we dodged between the knots of motionless Unseelie warriors and approached the bridge, skidding to a halt in front of the line of priestesses.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” I asked.
“We couldn’t stand by and do nothing,” their leader said by way of explanation. “We’ve been in hiding since the Unseelie took the Spire. But when we saw what was happening, when we saw the Unseelie horde beyond the bridge.” Her eyes met mine. “When we saw that they’d kidnapped your mate, we knew we had to act, even though it goes against our vows of non-involvement.”
“Where is Asha?”
Another woman stepped forward. She was not dressed as a priestess but instead wore the uniform of the Spire serving staff.
“I’m Tourin, my lord,” she said. “I run the kitchen at the Spire. Asha is being held there. Lord Taviel has her captive.”
Rage coiled through my veins. My fingers tightened on my reins. “Has he hurt her?”
“No, my lord,” she replied. “At least, not when I left. But I cannot say it will stay that way.”
“You have to hurry!” one of the priestesses gasped suddenly. Her face was white with strain. “We cannot hold the Unseelie for long.”
I nodded, raking my gaze along the line of priestesses. “I won’t forget this. Yah!”
I heeled my horse and with my brother and sister to either side, went galloping across the bridge. Ahead of us, the Spire rose into the sky, impossibly beautiful, impossibly distant.
Asha, I thought. I’m coming.
ASHA
I backed away. All trace of friendliness had gone from Taviel’s face and now he looked exactly what he was. A predator.
“You have no idea what it is you hold,” he said. “The bond is the magic of the Fae joined with the ingenuity and technological knowledge of humanity. Its power is almost limitless for someone who knows how to tap it. You will give it to me. Or I will take it by force.”
I darted for the door but the air in front of it rippled and Felena suddenly appeared. I skidded to a halt as she smirked at me. Had she been present the whole time but hidden? Had she heard and seen everything?
“Get out of my way.”
She lazily drew a knife from her boot. “Make me.”
I swallowed thickly. This was the woman who could best even Ffion. She might look like a pouting doll but she most definitely was not.
Nothing is as it seems. Nothing.
I turned back to Taviel. He was stalking steadily closer, taking his time, no need to hurry now he had me at his mercy.
“What are you doing?” Samuel demanded. “This wasn’t part of the plan! You said she wouldn’t be hurt!”
“Stay out of this!” Taviel hissed. “You’ve served your purpose, now keep your mouth shut!”
I backed off, eyes darting between Taviel and Felena. I was trapped between two hunters, both of whom would snuff out my life if it suited them. I would remain alive only as long as I had something they wanted—my bond with Raven.
But I would not give it up. Never. I would die first.
“You think you can take it?” I shouted at Taviel. “Come on then! I’d like to see you try!” My words were empty bravado and we both knew it but I would be damned if I would cower away from this bastard.
Taviel gestured and a sudden blast of power caught me across the neck, pinning me to the wall. I struggled to break free, struggled to pull a breath.
“Let. Me. Go!”
The power’s grip tightened, then something slammed into my mind. It was so sudden and so violent that I felt my will crumbling before it. Razor-hot daggers penetrated my brain, slicing apart my thoughts, ransacking through my memories. Searching, searching...
I heard myself screaming, sensed my body thrashing, but there was nothing I could do to stop either. I was helpless as Taviel walked through my mind.
I heard a grunt and just as suddenly as it had come, the violation ended. The power pinning me to the wall disappeared and I collapsed onto my knees, panting.
“You traitorous bastard!” Taviel growled.
I looked up to see him facing Samuel. Taviel had a red mark across one cheek and Samuel was holding a candlestick in a white-knuckled grip.
“I won’t let you hurt her!” Samuel cried. “You gave your word!”
“You fool! You’re just a tool with ideas above your station. You aren’t even real, you damned idiot! You aren’t Samuel Connor. You’re not even human! You’re a simulacrum. You’re nothing but an amalgam of other people’s memories! You think you were the Spire’s mate? You never even met Eliana!”
Samuel turned as white as milk. “What? That’s a lie!”
Taviel grinned wickedly. “I’m afraid not. Now be a good pet and step out of the way. If you behave, I might even let you live.”
Samuel’s expression went slack. “But...but...Eliana. I...it can’t be true...” Then something like defiance came into his gaze. He hefted the candlestick. “I won’t let you hurt Asha.”
Taviel snarled and a wave of power picked Samuel up and threw him across the room. He slammed into the far wall and crumpled in a heap at the bottom.
Samuel!
“Enough of this!” Felena snapped. “If she won’t give you the bond, then it’s time to carve it out of her.” She walked towards me, knife flashing in her grip.
“Stop!” Taviel growled. “If she dies, the bond dies. You will not touch her.”
Felena halted but her fingers clenched the knife tightly, as though it took a supreme effort not to drive it into my heart. “So get on with it,” she hissed. “Take the bond. Free Arion. Give him back to me.”
She was unhinged. I saw that now. Whatever she might once have felt for Raven had long since twisted into dark obsession. Is that what had driven her to Taviel’s side
? Or had she been broken long before that?
It all came down to the bond. They both wanted it. Felena because she believed it would give her Raven, Taviel because he wanted its power. A power stronger even than the Orb of Tir. A power he had gone to such elaborate lengths to trick me into giving him.
With a sudden flash of insight, I realized Taviel had already given me the very thing I needed to defeat him. He coveted the bond so much? It held such power? Right, time to find out what it could really do.
I reached deep inside myself, to that pulsing cord that connected my mind to Raven’s, my soul to Raven’s. I gathered it up, drew it into myself until it seemed like I would burst—then released it at Felena.
It was uncontrolled and unfocused, pure survival instinct, but it had the desired effect. A wave of power tossed her across the room like a piece of flotsam. She crashed into a chair, shattering it into pieces, and lay still.
I stared at her prone form shocked, appalled at what I’d done.
“Well, well,” Taviel said, arching an eyebrow. “Looks like the human has finally grown a backbone.” Scornful amusement danced in his eyes.
“Stay back! Don’t come any closer!”
“Or what?” he crooned, walking slowly towards me. “You’ll do to me what you did to Felena? Go ahead.”
I felt those knives reach for my mind again. I lashed out, breaking their grip.
“Stay out of my god-damned head!”
I hurled the magic of the bond at him but he blocked it with his own and lashed out with a wave of fire and I only just flung up a sheet of magic in time to stop myself being incinerated.
The walls to either side of me became blackened and scorched. He pounded at me again and again, his power slamming into the magic of the bond I’d somehow managed to use as a shield. I had no idea what I was doing. This was Fae magic, unknown and alien, but it was all I had.
I dodged and ducked, hid behind furniture, only to have it smashed into pieces moments later, as I tried to reach the door. If I could only escape this room, maybe I had a chance.
But Taviel was no fool. He saw what I was trying to do and blocked my access to the door with blasts of his power in an almost lazy fashion, like a cat playing with a mouse.
The room was soon reduced to a smoking mess, the furniture smashed, the walls scorched, the air filled with dust and smoke.
“Asha, my dear,” Taviel called. “Have you had enough yet? Are you ready to submit to me?”
I darted behind a bookcase. It exploded into fragments. I rolled and came to my feet, sprinting around the perimeter of the room.
“Go to hell!”
I could not let Taviel see that I was tiring. I was human, not built to withstand this kind of power. My lungs were burning, my legs aching. A headache pounded through my skull like a hammer drill. It was only a matter of time before my strength gave out. When that happened Taviel would seize my mind.
My exhaustion was my undoing. Taviel’s power wrapped around me like invisible rope and threw me against the wall. I tried to break free but could not. My grip on the bond’s magic began to slip.
Taviel stalked over and halted less than an arm’s span away. He stared down at me, his eyes cold and utterly without emotion.
“It needn’t have been like this, you know. If you had just accepted me, had given me the power of the bond, all of this would have been avoided. Would it really have been so bad to be bonded to me? You would have lived a life of contentment.”
“As your pet you mean?” I growled. Images of Gracie flashed through my head. I would never, ever become this man’s slave.
“I would have taken great care of you.”
He reached out and ran his finger across my cheek. The finger trailed higher, up my cheek to my forehead, where his hand fastened on my temple.
“I’m afraid this will be painful. Sorry about that.” He did not sound sorry at all.
I started screaming.
Chapter 12
RAVEN
We had almost reached the doors of the Spire when Asha started to scream. I didn’t hear it with my ears. I heard it with my soul. It sliced through the very essence of me, sharper than any blade.
I hadn’t realized I’d crashed to my knees until Hawk grabbed my shoulders. “Raven? What is it?”
I clutched at his arm as I staggered to my feet. “Asha,” I managed to croak. “He’s hurting her.”
Hawk snarled. “Then we haven’t much time.”
He turned away, padded towards the doors of the Spire but paused and looked back when he saw I wasn’t following. All around us, the streets of the Spire lay deserted. The island on which the great temple sat was like a ghost town and we’d met no resistance as we’d entered. Its eerie silence was as heavy as fog.
I craned my head back, looked up at the towering monolith of stone that soared into the sky. Up there. Asha was up there. I could pinpoint her location as surely as if she was standing right in front of me. Just as surely as I knew I could not reach her in time. It would take too long to climb the levels of the Spire. Asha had only moments before Taviel destroyed her.
I had to teleport. It was the only way to reach her in time. But teleportation was not possible within the confines of the Spire. Like the Ravenhold, there were wards around it that prevented such a thing.
But I had to try.
I closed my eyes, shutting out the Spire, shutting out my brother and sister, shutting out everything. The bond raged between Asha and I, surging with a blinding power I’d never imagined. Could I use that somehow? I felt along its edges, brushed my awareness along the lines of that shimmering cord. I tapped into the magic of the bond, let it flow through my blood like rich wine and focused my attention on what I wanted.
Take me to her.
The wards around the Spire screamed—and I shifted.
It was not teleportation. It was more like the fabric of the world folded in on itself. For a tiny, infinitesimal moment, the space I occupied and the space I wanted to reach became one and the same, allowing me to step between them instantly.
I flickered into existence in a round room high up in the Spire. It looked to be a study of some kind although it had been utterly trashed. Furniture lay in fragments, there were gouges in the walls, and dust covered everything.
Taviel had Asha pinned against the wall, his hand clamped to her temple. A few feet away a human man—whom I assumed must be Taviel’s simulacrum—lay unconscious.
A wordless below of rage blasted out of me and Taviel turned as I threw myself at him.
My blade whipped for Taviel’s throat but another weapon flashed from my right, catching my blade with a screech of metal.
“Hello darling,” drawled a mocking voice. “Miss me?”
I spun to find myself facing Felena Sand. She held her weapons loosely, her twin blades trailing on the ground.
“Get out of my way,” I growled.
She arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Oh, sweetling. Is that any way to speak to your betrothed? I will have to teach you manners when we’re married.”
“Throw down your weapons and maybe I’ll spare you.”
“So you can go to her?” Felena nodded at Asha and her voice dripped venom. “So you can waste yourself on that mortal bitch? I don’t think so, Arion. You’re mine. You always have been and always will be, even if you don’t realize it yet.”
She was moving before she finished speaking and her fist punched into my stomach. A sharp, stabbing pain ripped through me and I straightened to see blood spreading across my shirt.
Felena stepped back, and I realized she was wearing a black glove that reached her elbow. A tiny spike extended from one of the knuckles, covered in my blood. The spike was not big enough to kill, but big enough to disable.
“That,” she said, cocking her head. “Was a warning. Don’t make me give you another.”
“Stop now,” I snarled. “Or I will kill you.”
My words seemed to amuse her. Her lips s
tuck out in a pout. “Oh dear. Have I upset you, dear Arion? No matter. I’m sure I can think of a way to make it up to you in the bedroom later.”
I growled and sprang at her, blades swinging low to take her feet out. Felena side-stepped my attack as easily as if I was an inept novice and then slashed her knuckles across my face, opening a neat cut across my cheek.
I glanced at Asha. She had dodged away from Taviel and was wielding a stout wooden pole—perhaps a piece of broken furniture—at him like a staff. I had to reach her. She would not be able to keep Taviel at bay for long.
Felena noticed the direction of my gaze and fury twisted her features. “Stop looking at her! You do not belong to her!”
She launched a ferocious attack, and it was all I could do to avoid her slashing cuts and jabs. She flowed like water, one moment aiming a kick between my legs, the next spinning away to swipe at the back of my neck with her knuckle-blade. I couldn’t keep track of her and despite my best efforts, I was soon crisscrossed with tiny cuts, all leaking blood down my face, my neck, my arms, my chest.
Back and forth we fought across the room, weapons flashing, feet and fists lashing out. I was soon out of breath and losing strength from the many cuts on my body but Felena’s eyes were bright with a savage sort of glee, her lips pulled back in a terrifying smile.
“You see!” she shouted. “You see what we are capable of, you and I? We are equals! There is none other in all the Summerlands who can match me! Think of what we could do together!”
I stabbed at her stomach then sent a bolt of magic at her as she pivoted away. It slammed into her mid-riff and made her stumble. I followed immediately, slashing a blade across her hamstring.
She yowled in pain and collapsed to one knee. I moved in for the kill, raising my blade high.
“This isn’t over, Arion,” she hissed, looking up at me. “It will never be over between us.” She whipped something from her pocket, a small black cube. I recognized a portal cube when I saw one.
A rent opened in the air. She dived through it just as my blade sliced through the space she’d been occupying. The rent winked out of existence, taking Felena with it. Primal fury pounded through me at her escape but I dragged in a ragged breath and turned.