“Anything else you’re sorry for?” Her voice turned bitter, like that of a scorned woman.
He stepped closer and lowered his head until his lips hovered above hers. “There is nothing I regret. Not with you.”
Reese swallowed.
“Goodbye, little one.” Keen turned and strode away before he did something he would regret.
27
Reese trained with Ulric in one of the empty castle rooms they used for swordplay. Weapons hung on the walls, and large gashes marred the floor where targets had been missed and the ground had paid the price. There was no padding in the room, no sweat cloths, or any other luxury afforded by New Kingdom’s posh exercise room, but it worked. And throughout the training, Reese let out her pent-up aggression.
Keen had said goodbye. Whatever they had or didn’t have, it was over. She needed to accept it and move on.
Somehow her heart and body hadn’t gotten the memo.
Her chest ached and her throat was constantly dry and stinging, as though she’d been crying. She would not cry over Keen. Okay, she’d cried a little, but she’d quickly wiped away those tears and sternly told herself that he was just another guy who didn’t care enough to stick around.
Only that wasn’t true. He’d done so much to protect her. She’d felt how he cared, even if he’d never voiced it. Even if she couldn’t read his emotions like she could everyone else’s. She knew it was there. And that was the part her head and heart couldn’t reconcile. But they would. She’d train until she wiped the memory of him from her mind. Or at least, until she’d pushed it toward the back.
So far, no luck.
Reese lunged at Ulric. He was actually sweating and appeared to defend himself for real, rather than casually blocking her blows.
“You’re looking a little peaked,” she teased.
Determination filled his eyes and he made a counterattack Reese quickly blocked with a parry and a kick to his stomach.
Ulric grunted and fell back.
One good thing came from drinking the tea of the Ancient Allon. Reese hadn’t only grown in height, she’d become exponentially stronger and faster.
Keen had asked her to stay out of any fighting, but Reese had never agreed to it. She was here to help her friends, and that was what she would do.
“Am I disturbing you?”
Reese turned to find Illa at the entrance to the room. “Not at all,” she said, and relaxed her stance.
Illa grinned and stepped forward. She wore the Fae black uniform—the stretchy pants and top Reese had grown fond of. Fae battle clothes were formfitting but really comfortable, and they could hold about fifty weapons, which was just cool.
“Do you want to join us?” Reese asked.
Illa’s face brightened. “I’d love to.”
Ulric groaned. “I believe we learned our lesson the last time.”
He was referring to when he’d accidentally cut Illa while showing Reese sword maneuvers.
Illa chose a blade from the wall. “Don’t be silly. I’m in battle gear now. The court dress and shoes would have made anyone slip.”
She made a couple of practice moves, then went into en garde position against Reese.
Reese was in love with Keen, whether she wanted to be or not. Anyone paying attention knew it. But Illa hadn’t once taken it out on her. In fact, she’d remained the devoted sister. Something Reese never thought she would have.
“If you go to battle, don’t underestimate the Newlander queen,” Illa said.
“I would never underestimate Portia. That bitch is crazy.”
Illa feinted to the right, then struck on the left—crashing into Reese’s waiting sword. “Yes, exactly. Crazy. And now grieving over the loss of her only daughter. Stay away from her if you can.”
Illa knew Reese better than Reese gave her credit for, because Reese had no intention of staying away from Portia. Not when the oppression Portia inflicted stood between freedom for Reese’s friends and this land.
“What about you?” Reese lunged forward with her sword, but Illa quickly dodged the move. “Portia could just as easily turn on you.”
Her sister’s sadness struck Reese’s chest like a punch. “Unlikely. The queen needs me… She won’t harm me while I’m able to give her what she wants—or, at least, the means to get what she wants.”
Reese swallowed. “And after the marriage?” Once Illa and Keen married, Reese would never go near Keen again. She’d never commit adultery the way her parents had. And she’d never betray her sister. “Will you be safe?”
Illa’s gaze lifted to Reese’s, compassion in her eyes. “Do not worry about me, sister, when it is I who am worried for you. We will figure out a way to make everything right.”
Reese nodded tightly, not certain she knew what Illa meant, but afraid she really did. She needed to work on her poker face.
No wonder Fae were expressionless. They had such acute senses that their most telling weakness—their emotions—had to be kept under lock and key.
Reese and Illa practiced several more battle tactics, and much to Reese’s relief, they were evenly matched. With Reese’s improved strength and agility, she even found herself holding back, where she hadn’t needed to with Ulric.
“That’s enough for now,” Ulric said, his body tense as he watched them. His feelings for Illa had grown passionately stronger, and Reese could do nothing but commiserate. They were in the same situation, loving someone who wasn’t free to love them back.
Illa grinned at Reese, her chest rising and falling lightly on winded breath. She moved across the room to return the sword to the wall, and Ulric joined her. He said something too softly for Reese to hear, but she caught Illa’s surprised expression and felt the jumble of excitement and fear that coursed through her sister.
Illa closed her eyes and let out a breath. “I cannot. This is the only course.”
Ulric sheathed his sword at his back and turned, storming toward the door. He was furious, his anger, pain, and frustration pelting Reese like hail.
Illa approached hesitantly, glancing nervously at Ulric, who stood near the doorway, his back to them. “I must go. There is a fitting. For the gown…” She glanced away. “I am sorry. For the marriage. It isn’t a choice for him. You understand that, don’t you? Keen would not marry me if there was another way.”
Reese swallowed and plastered on a smile. “He’d marry eventually. He may be an ass at times, but he’s a good man. I’m happy he’s found a woman he might actually deserve.” Her words were playful, but in her heart, she was dying.
Illa glanced one last time at Ulric, then turned to leave.
Reese grabbed her arm. “What about you? Are you happy with the marriage? It seems that your affections might lie elsewhere.”
Illa pressed her mouth into a tight smile. “We do what we must, but if I had a choice, I would not marry the man my sister loves.”
Reese’s head notched back. “Loves? No…”
“You might read emotions as you read a book, but your feelings are transparent as well. As are Keen’s. He loves you too.”
Reese shook her head, prepared to argue. Fae were only marginally beginning to tolerate Halven. Yes, she’d made love to Keen, but that was because they had crazy physical chemistry; the universe could be cruel sometimes. But Keen could never…
“You know it is true if you search your heart,” Illa said. “His feelings for you were clear the moment I saw the two of you in the same room.” This time her smile was sincere.
Keen was attracted to her, she’d admit that. He wanted to protect her. He cared about her, or he wouldn’t have been upset when she was ill, but love? “Is love the same for Fae as it is for humans?”
“No…” Illa said sadly, and walked toward the door. She passed Ulric and his back tensed. “It runs deeper,” she said before exiting the room.
Ulric gripped the door—to close it or rip it off the hinges, she wasn’t sure. “Let’s find food,” he said. “I no longe
r have the desire to train.”
Reese scurried after him, following down stairs and past twists and turns until they made it to a large room where a fireplace that could roast a deer took up one wall. The place she’d found on her own, and where she’d often grabbed bits of food from Theresa, must have been an antechamber. This room was the real kitchen.
There were multiple prep tables along the walls and a large cutting board in the center. Wheels of cheese hung from nets, colorful fruits from baskets, and a somewhat modern stove stood in the corner.
Ulric glanced around searchingly. Only two servants scurried about, and he walked right past them toward a closet in the back. He opened the door and stepped inside, pulling out bowls and bags of foodstuff—scavenging the way Elena’s cousin Mateo did when he visited them at their college apartment.
Men. Food scavenging must be inherent.
Which Reese could now appreciate. Ever since she’d regained her strength, she’d become ravenous. The ample meals sent to her room no longer filled her up.
Ulric slapped a loaf of bread onto one of the tables, and what looked to be a slab of ham, but shit, it could be anything. They didn’t have pigs in Tirnan, which made Reese question some of the food in front of her.
She walked over and peered into the pantry. “You got anything vegetarian in here?”
Ulric crossed the room and grabbed a wheel of cheese, along with a giant knife, then proceeded to cut thick slices of cheese, bread, and the mysterious Fae meat. He set out two plates and stacked a sandwich onto his own, with what looked like allon leaves instead of lettuce.
“You’re eating the leaves?”
He grunted and handed her some.
She stared at them, her lip curling back. “They aren’t from the Ancient Allon, are they?”
“No more Ancient Allon for you. These are regular allon leaves. Healthy, but not so magical that they would harm you.”
Reese made a sandwich with cheese and leaves and sat at the table across from him. “Why won’t you fight for her?” Might as well throw it out there. “Is it against Fae soldiering duty to put one’s woman ahead of the kingdom?”
He looked up and scowled.
She took a bite of her sandwich, studying him. He was pissed. Really pissed, which she’d noted from his angry-man glare. The stuff she sensed beneath the surface was more complicated.
Ulric felt desperate but resigned, as though he were trapped—or maybe Illa wasn’t cooperating? That would be the more likely scenario. Reese’s sister was too self-sacrificing. She’d agreed to marry for kingdom, not for love.
“So, Illa,” Reese said around another mouthful of food. The sandwich wasn’t half bad, and this darn Tirnan cheese was heavenly, though she still didn’t want to know which animal it came from. Ignorance was bliss. She chewed and swallowed before continuing. “You’re in love with her, right? I wasn’t sure at first, because your emotions were more of the angry sort when she was around. Then I figured out it wasn’t exactly anger…more like frustration. Of the sexual variety. You’d be surprised how similar the two senses can come across.”
He shifted his jaw. “I am a Newlander and she is an Oldlander. I am a soldier and she would be a princess if Derek’s father hadn’t fought Hakon Radnor and won the throne. Illa is not for me. And she is to marry another.” He snarled at his sandwich like it tasted foul.
Reese nodded. “All good points. Except for one thing. She doesn’t love Keen, she loves you.”
His head shot up and he stared. Then his gaze wandered to the side. Ulric knew just as well as anyone about Reese’s ability to sense emotion.
Joy filled the burly soldier’s body, then deflated just as quickly. “It is of no matter. She must do her duty.”
Reese dropped her food on the plate. “What is wrong with you people? Portia is one person and she has everyone tied up in knots. Why do all of you obey her every word?”
His jaw firmed. “You don’t understand honor. Once a promise is made—like Illa’s to Keen Albrecht—it cannot be undone. And the threat of a second disease has everyone on edge after the first one nearly consumed my kind. Illa told the queen she would marry Keen, and she will.”
“If there’s another disease. The possibility of one is a good enough reason to move swiftly before Portia can make good on her threat. But as far as Illa goes, people change their minds all the time. Illa hasn’t made an oath to anyone. Not until her wedding day, when she’ll pledge herself to Keen.” Reese’s chest tightened just saying the words, but she continued. She had to, because Ulric and Illa seemed to have given up. “Illa can change her mind. Shoot, I change mine all the time. You might not believe this, but when I first met Keen, I hated him. Well, I thought he was hot, then he spoke, and then I hated him.”
Ulric rolled his eyes. “Everyone knows that.”
Reese sat back, shoulders slumping. “Really?” She thought she’d hidden her feelings pretty well in the beginning. “Well, anyway, the point is, Illa thought she wanted to marry Keen—for whatever reasons she deemed important at the time—and now she’s changed her mind. It’s as simple as that.”
He seemed to consider her words, then shook his head. “It is not that easy. She cannot undo what has been put into motion. They are to be married in two days.”
Two days? It couldn’t be that soon. She wasn’t ready—she wasn’t ready. “How will we amass an army before then?”
She hadn’t realized that stopping the wedding was something she’d considered until the words had left her mouth. There had to be a way to get her sister and Keen out of Portia’s clutches. Preferably unmarried.
Ulric set down his sandwich. “You’ve answered your own question. We can’t build an army that quickly. The marriage will take place, and you and I must live with it.”
But that was the problem. She didn’t think she could.
28
The next morning, while soldiers gathered in preparation to take back New Kingdom, Reese trained with Ulric one last time, then went in search of Elena. She no longer feared that she lacked the skills to survive a fight with a Fae. Sparring with Ulric and Illa since drinking the tea proved she’d be able to hold her own.
Reese had always known who she was, and it wasn’t the debutante her mother had painted her. Or the quiet daughter her father hoped would stay out of his way. She wanted more for herself. It was why she pushed hard in school—why she trained in martial arts. She’d dreamed of becoming a blond Lara Croft when she was a kid, but practicality trumped those desires. College and graduate school became her adult ideals.
Until Tirnan.
Now Reese’s original dreams didn’t seem that far-fetched.
Elena had worked with Fae on the virus, and Reese wanted to take things a step further. If she could fight alongside Fae now—a.k.a. Halven Lara Croft asskicker—why not train with soldiers in Emain and protect her fellow half-bloods? She was a political science and philosophy double major. Becoming an Emain soldier would give her the physicality she craved, and she could apply her political science and philosophy background creating diplomacy with Halven, Fae, and humans. Besides, if things went down the way Ulric predicted, Keen would remain in Tirnan with his bride, and Reese would return to Emain and the Earth realm. She wouldn’t have to see him again, or be reminded of what he meant to her. Her memories of him were punishment enough.
After only a few wrong turns, Reese found the door to Elena’s bedroom and entered to discuss her new idea. If nothing else, it would keep her mind off weddings and battles.
Elena’s room looked just like Reese’s, except Derek lay across the bed, sound asleep, while Elena wrote at a desk in the corner.
“Looks like I caught you at a bad time,” Reese whispered.
Elena stood and ushered Reese out. “He hasn’t slept in twenty-four hours,” she said as they walked down the hallway. “He’s been working hard to get things arranged. Let’s go to Camille’s, where we can talk.”
They rapped on a door and Camill
e called out for them to enter. But once inside, Reese discovered Camille wasn’t alone either. She stood in the center of the room, speaking to several robed alchemists, including the one who’d given Reese the broth that had helped her heal from the Ancient Allon tea.
The alchemists glanced at Camille and, without a word, made their way to the door.
“They have prepared more null bombs,” Camille said after the alchemists left.
“What do you mean, null bombs?” Reese asked. “Elena called them guns before.”
Elena’s eyes lit up for the first time since her mother had been killed. “It’s my newest invention. And it’s wonderful, if I do say so myself.”
Elena described how she’d created the bombs, which went right over Reese’s head. Because science and chemistry. Blech.
“Newlander powers control nature,” Elena said. “That’s the one major advantage they have—we have, since I’m a Newlander too. We can cause an earthquake, create a fireball, or zap someone with lightning. All deadly and, at the very least, debilitating. Oldlanders can be equally lethal, but most mental abilities require proximity. Null guns give Oldlanders an even playing field by incapacitating the attacker until the soldier can get close. With null bombs, we can wipe out the elemental powers of an entire group in one blast. Genius, right?”
“Yes,” Reese said hesitantly. Bombs of any kind sounded bad, but Reese understood where Elena was going with this. If they neutralized Newlander elemental powers, the battle would be hand-to-hand combat—or sword-to-sword. That close, Oldlanders could also inflict their powers on the opposition, weakening them further.
“It’s really a necessity if we’re to have any hope of winning the battle,” Elena said. “I don’t trust how far Portia will go to maintain control.”
Reese thought back to a previous conversation she’d had with Keen, and most recently with Ulric. “Are you referring to the threat of a second disease?”
“Yes, and it’s completely disturbing.” Elena shook her head. “How can she even think of doing that again?”
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