by Wendi Wilson
My skin heated as a ball of fire flew past me, missing by mere inches. I quickly formed my own and threw it back at her, but she twirled in a graceful pirouette. It didn’t even come close to hitting its mark.
“You are nothing,” she said. “A mere child with paltry powers. I am not impressed.”
“Maybe you should ask Elias about my powers,” I shot back. “Oh, wait. You can’t, because he’s dead.”
I flinched internally at those words, hoping Sebille wouldn’t notice. I was in no way that nonchalant about killing the dark faery, but she didn’t need to know that. All she needed to know was that I was a badass-army-general-killer.
“You little bitch,” she growled charging toward me through the air.
I looked back down at Cris and yelled, “Get up!” before shooting straight up into the air, out of Sebille’s trajectory.
Looking back over my shoulder, I saw her turn and follow me up, every second that passed bringing her that much closer to me. I pushed myself harder, twisting and turning, flying in different directions, but it was no use. Sebille was older, stronger, and faster than me. There was no way I was going to lose her.
I called the wind, pushing it behind me with everything I had. It slowed her down for a couple of moments, just long enough for me to skid to a halt and turn to face her.
Then I made the mistake of looking down.
I stopped breathing, and I felt like I might puke. Or pass out. Or both. I’d never been so high before. So high, the faeries fighting below me looked like they were only two inches tall.
I gust of wind blew me backward, reminding me that I’d taken my focus off Sebille. That was a mistake. She was so close, I didn’t have time to move or react. I squeezed my eyes closed and braced for contact.
I just hoped I’d survive long enough to say goodbye—
A hand closed around my wrist and jerked me upward, nearly dislocating my shoulder in the process. I felt the rush of heated air as first Sebille’s fireball, then her body soared by beneath my feet. I looked up at my savior as we pulled to a stop and I flapped my wings to keep me stable.
“Cris!” My command worked!
He nodded, but didn’t speak, his eyes focusing on his mother as she turned and flew back toward us. He let go of my wrist, but I twisted my hand and gripped his fingers before he could pull away.
“Do you feel that?” I asked, taking a firmer grip on his hand.
Heat pooled between our palms, a comfortable warmth that spread its way up my arm, past my elbow, then my shoulder, before spreading across my chest. My power spiked inside me, like it recognized Cris’s and reached out to it, just like his reached out to mine.
We were of the same power. The same blood. Half of my magic was his, and our connection could not be denied.
I held out my hand, calling to fire. A blue flame raged upward into the sky, lighting up the darkness that surrounded us. The heat was almost unbearable, and Cris shielded his face from it.
Sebille pulled to a halt before backing up to a safe distance. For the first time in the whole encounter, fear shone in her black eyes, illuminated by the flames.
I willed the fire to move, and it twisted and coiled toward her like a whip. She barely dodged it and I caught a whiff of burning hair as I pulled the flames back toward me.
My eyes flicked over to Cris, whose stern face was blank, showing nothing but determination and concentration. I could feel his magic pumping into me through our clasped hands, and as I looked back at Sebille and her indecisive expression, I knew one thing to be true.
I could cause her some serious injury. I didn’t think I could actually kill her—she was just too powerful, and I wasn’t strong enough yet. But I could make her hurt like hell.
She must have decided the same thing at that moment, because she shot me a disgusted look and started backing away.
“Today is your lucky day, mongrel. I have decided to be merciful and let you live to fight another day.”
“If you’re scared, say you’re scared,” my best friend’s voice called out.
I glanced behind me to see Shaela hovering off to my left. Charles flapped his pink wings lazily behind her and Easton was moving up to a position on my right, on just the other side of Cris. He had a nice shiner forming under one eye and a bloody lip, but in that moment, he’d never looked more perfect.
“Crispin, come with me,” Sebille ordered, ignoring the Sylphs gathering around us.
He started to pull out of my grasp, a look of regret twisting his face.
“I’m sorry. I can’t resist her pull. When she gives an order, I must obey.”
“No, you don’t,” I said. “Stay next to me.”
A look of wonder crossed his features as he stopped trying to extricate himself from my grip.
“Holy shit,” he muttered. “You overruled her.”
“I’ll explain later,” I said quickly, waving my friends toward the ground as I pulled Cris down with us.
Sebille watched us go, her face a mask of equal parts fury and hate. I kept my eyes on her until our feet touched the dirt, then we turned and ran for the car. Three Zephyr guards lay unmoving on the ground, and the fourth was groaning as he rolled over onto his side.
We piled into the vehicle, Cris once more behind the wheel. After he threw it into gear and spun it around, he glanced my way and whispered my name.
“Later,” I said, leaning my head back against the headrest and closing my eyes. “I’m not ready.”
As the speeding car ate up the miles taking us back to Oberon Academy, I tried to clear my mind. But nothing worked. My thoughts kept coming back to the same subject—my mentor was a Zephyr, a prince, and my father.
Things just kept getting weirder and weirder.
Chapter 36
When we pulled back onto academy grounds, Cris told us to go to our rooms and get some sleep. That he’d explain everything to Finn and we could give our accounts of the events to him in the morning, after a good night’s sleep.
Like I’d actually be able to sleep.
I waited for the others to get out of the car, then I waved them off. Once they entered the building I turned to Cris, who watched me with a guarded stare.
“Will you tell him?” I asked. “That you’re a Zephyr, and Sebille’s son?”
“He already knows.”
“What?!?” I shouted, shock coursing through me. “What do you mean, he knows?”
“Did you think the king of the Sylphs wouldn’t see through my Glamour?”
His eyes were blue once more, his wings hidden. He looked like the Cris I knew.
“Why did he let you teach here?” I asked.
What I really wanted to ask was if Finn knew he was my father. If he knew and didn’t tell me, I didn’t know if I’d be able to forgive him.
“Who better to teach you how to control your Zephyr-influenced powers than a Zephyr?” He paused for a moment to let that sink in, then added, “I know what you’re thinking. I can see it in your eyes. He doesn’t know that I’m your father. I never told him.”
“Does he know you’re Sebille’s son?”
He shook his head. “No, but with your permission, I’d like to tell him everything. My connection to Sebille. My connection to you.”
“Of course,” I said. “What about the students?”
“I think it best to keep them in the dark about everything. Finn thought it was crucial to do so before, and I can’t imagine he’d change his mind about that now.”
“Okay,” I said.
He was silent for a moment, then asked, “How did you overrule her command of me?”
I shrugged. “I assume it’s because of my mixed blood. It happened with Finn first. I broke his control of me, then of everyone around me. When I saw that Sebille was using the same control over you, I took a shot. I yelled at you to get up when she was chasing me, and it worked. I knew, then that it would work again and that I could keep her from taking you from me.”
We
sat in silence for several moments as my words hung in the air. Cris cleared his throat and began to speak.
“December, I—”
“Not yet,” I interrupted. “Tomorrow, okay?”
He swallowed thickly as he nodded, and I got out of the car and dragged myself into the building. Easton stood just inside, one shoulder braced against the wall.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.”
“You okay?”
“I have no idea,” I answered as I reached him.
He straightened and I leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around me. I was so exhausted, I felt like I might drop dead on the spot. He must’ve noticed, because he bent over and snaked an arm behind my legs. Standing back up, he swept me into his arms.
“Easton, no. You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine,” he asserted. “Those guys barely touched me and Charles shot me with some of his healing power in the car.”
I studied his face as he carried me up the stairs, and he was right. His swollen lip was back to normal and the black eye I’d seen forming earlier was only a little puffy and pink.
I’d become strong and independent, but I wasn’t stupid. If Easton wanted to give me a ride up the stairs, I wasn’t going to argue. I laid my cheek against his chest and snuggled in, enjoying the feel of his arms and body cocooning me.
When he stopped moving, I lifted my head and looked around. We were outside his room. He let my legs drop slowly until my feet were planted firmly on the floor. Then he pressed his lips to mine in a short, chaste kiss.
“I hope you don’t mind staying here tonight,” he said. “Shaela took Charles back to your room, and I don’t think he’ll be leaving tonight.”
I thought about worrying. I really did. We could get into trouble if Finn or any of the other teachers found out we were sleeping together. And by sleeping, I meant sleeping. I was way too tired for anything else.
We collapsed onto his bed, fully clothed and covered in dirt, and I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, for which I was truly grateful.
The next morning, I’d face reality. I’d have tough conversations and accept the consequences of my actions. I’d talk to my father, and find out the real details of my conception, birth, and subsequent abandonment.
I’d needed all the sleep I could get.
“Well, at least we’re not expelled.”
My words didn’t quite carry the lighthearted tone I’d intended as the four of us shuffled down the hall. We’d just come from our meeting with Finn, who was uncharacteristically angry with us. Our little adventure, as he called it, could have gotten us all killed.
As it was, we were to be confined to the school grounds for the next two weeks, and we were on gym-cleaning duty every evening for the whole span of time. We all readily agreed, knowing our punishment could have, and probably should have, been a lot worse.
Once we reached the main entry hall, Charles gave me a little wave as Shaela hugged me. Then they headed toward their morning classes. Easton waited until they’d walked away, staring at me with those ice-blue eyes.
“Do you want me to go with you? For moral support?”
“Thanks, but no,” I answered. “I have to do this on my own.”
Nodding, he pulled me into his chest. I let his comforting heat envelope me for several moments before tilting my head back. His lips swooped down to meet mine, a sweet, gentle kiss filled with affection.
“I love you,” he whispered against my mouth, then released me and turned to go before I could respond.
He walked backwards, his eyes and his aura both shining, proof that his words were true. He shot me a bright grin before turning around to rush to his class. He didn’t need me to say the words. They were written all over my face. They vibrated through my touch. And I was sure they shone in my aura, which must’ve been a bright, beautiful pink.
After he disappeared around a corner, I took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. Time to face my demons.
I headed toward Cris’s office, where I knew he waited for me. If it were any normal day, he’d probably be getting impatient. I was late for our daily lessons, wasting valuable time.
But it wasn’t a regular day.
It was a day for answers. For explanations. And hopefully, for hearts to mend, giving way to the start of a whole new life. If that was even possible.
His door was wide open and I stepped through the opening. My eyes landed on him, sitting behind his desk with his face in his hands. He looked broken, the cracks in his usually rock-solid façade showing for the world to see. Or maybe just for me.
“Hey,” I said, and his hands dropped as he looked up at me.
His Glamoured eyes shone blue under the lights, rimmed with red like he’d been crying. He stood quickly, the momentum making his chair fly backward. He shifted from foot to foot, his hand clenching and unclenching like he was trying to decide whether to face me, or bolt for the door.
“Hi,” he said, his voice cracking on the word. He cleared his throat and held out an arm, motioning toward the two chairs by the fireplace. “Would you like to sit?”
I moved over to the chairs without comment and sat gingerly on the edge. I was a bundle of nervous energy, ready to have the mystery that was me solved. To finally get the answers I’d longed for all my life.
I reached into the small bag I’d brought with me and pulled out the threadbare baby blanket I’d brought with me. I smoothed it across my knees as Cris moved to sit in the chair facing mine. He looked at it with raised brows, like he had had no clue what it was and why I had it.
“It’s the only thing I have from when I was born,” I explained. “I was wrapped in this when they found me on the steps of the library.”
“Oh,” he said, a shadow of sadness falling over his face. “I wasn’t there when you were born. I had no idea…”
“Why don’t you just start at the beginning?” I offered when is words trailed off into an uncomfortable silence.
He gave a firm nod, swallowing thickly. His eyes glassed over, lost in memory as he organized his thoughts. When he was ready, he focused, staring straight into my eyes.
“Sebille is my mother, as you now know, and I am heir to the Zephyr throne. With that position comes certain responsibilities. Certain expectations. I was her protégé in every sense of the word.”
“What about your father?” I asked, wondering for the first time if I had a grandfather out there somewhere.
He slowly rotated his head side to side, his lips drawn down.
“I never knew my father. She killed him before I was born.”
“I’m sor—” I started, but he cut me off with a wave of his hand.
“He was a power-hungry faery, nearly as ruthless as my mother. He only slept with her to gain power, and having a son with her was a means to end. A grab for the crown. I’ve heard enough stories about him to know that I was better off without him in my life.”
He paused for a few moments, his face softening. His lips curved up as a gentle light sparkled in his eyes.
“Almost eighteen years ago, I was sent to spy on a Sylph village north of our home city. I was hiding in a small copse of trees the Sylphs had cultivated and grown when I first spotted her.”
“My mother?” I whispered.
“Yes. I found her to be irresistibly beautiful, though I’d never been attracted to a Sylph before. As you know, our kinds don’t mix. So, while I knew my attraction was strange, I couldn’t stop my feet from taking me to her.”
“What did she look like?”
“She was blonde, of course. Light hair spun with golden strands that sparkled in the sunlight. As I neared, she looked up at me with fear in her bright blue eyes.” He tilted his head, studying me. “Eyes the same exact color as yours.”
He coughed, then spent a few seconds clearing his throat before reaching for a pitcher of water on the table next to him. He offered me a glass, and I declined, anxio
us for him to get back to the story.
“The fear I saw on her face quickly dissipated as her cheeks burned with a rosy blush. There we stood, a Zephyr and a Sylphid, mortal enemies. Yet, there was something between us. Something instant and undeniable. I know it sounds ridiculous, December, but it was love at first sight. For both of us.”
“Who was she?” I asked, my voice low and scratchy with emotion.
“She told me to call her Peony, after the flowers she’d been picking when I first saw her.”
“That wasn’t her real name?”
He shook his head. “She refused to tell me.”
“But, why?”
“Who knows? It’s not like I was completely honest with her, either. She had no idea that I was Prince Crispin, heir to the Zephyr throne. It was frightening enough that I was a Zephyr and she, a Sylph. So she told me to call her Peony and I told her to call me Cris.”
“What happened next?” I asked.
“We spent the next three days and nights together, hiding among the trees where I first spied her. We talked, we laughed, we…loved. On the morning of the fourth day, I woke up alone. I searched for her for hours. I even Glamoured myself to look like this,” he said, waving a hand around his face, “and entered the village to look for her. I told everyone I was on vacation, touring Fae villages across the land. She wasn’t there, and of course, no one knew a Peony.”
“She just…disappeared?”
He shrugged. “She could have been hiding from me, but I doubt that. It didn’t feel right. It felt like foul play, but with no real name and without even knowing if she even lived in that village, my hands were tied. There was nothing I could do so, brokenhearted, I went home.
“Things were different for me after my time with Peony. I lost all desire to rule the planet, a craving my mother had spent my entire life driving into me. She wanted to subjugate the humans, I wanted to taste Peony’s lips one last time. She wanted to dominate the Sylphids, I wanted to be with one forever.”
“What did you do?” I asked.