The Shattered Dark sr-2

by Sandy Williams

  “This way,” Aren says.

  I start to tell Paige to run, but she’s apparently already decided to make a move. She leaps toward the small gap between two of the officers. The officers close in, one raising his baton.

  Aren bats the baton away when the human swings, causing it to narrowly miss Paige. The second officer’s baton comes close to hitting me, but I duck. Then Paige and I are outside the circle, catching up with Lee, who’s doubled back to help us.

  “Go!” I yell at him, but he waits for Paige, steadies her when she trips. Then they’re both running for Trev, who’s waiting at the riverbank.

  I’m right on their heels, but an officer is nearly on top of me. I don’t slow down or look back, but there’s a thump when he hits the ground just behind me.

  “Faster, McKenzie,” Aren says. There’s no doubt the fae can keep the humans off us. Keeping them off us without them noticing that their efforts are being sabotaged by an invisible force is another question.

  But we’re lucky. We make it almost all the way to the bank without another problem from the cops. In fact, we’d probably make it to the gate and disappear from this world without another hiccup if Kyol didn’t appear in front of Paige. She grabs Lee’s arm and skids to a stop.

  “They’re rebels!” she says, eyes going wide.

  Shit. She knows more than I thought she did if she recognizes the jaedra tree etched into Kyol’s armor.

  “I’m with them,” I hiss, shoving her forward.

  “What?”

  No time for explanations. The river is a good five feet below the bank we’re standing on. “Jump!”

  But she’s still backpedaling. Aren grabs her, yells at Trev to open a gated-fissure, then he throws her over the edge. Her scream is cut off by a splash.

  Either Lee doesn’t care whose side I’m on, or he’ll go wherever Paige does because he jumps into the river after her without protest.

  Trev goes in next. I make a move to follow them, but I’m tackled to the ground, and not just by one person. There have to be at least three cops on top of me.

  I slam my elbow back, try to raise my knee to one of their guts, but an officer punches me. Another one slams a baton into my ribs.

  My breath whooshes out of my lungs. I manage to keep fighting, to get my arms between my chest and the man pressing his full weight against me. I shove with all my might.

  And he flies off me.

  I’d love to take credit for that, but Aren is there, knocking off a second cop. The third one still has me, though. I twist, throw my hip into him, and manage to get about half an inch away.

  Flopping to my back, I bring my right knee up, prepared to ram my heel into his chin, but fae arms close around me. I’m wrestled away from the human. We roll toward the bank of the river, stop at the edge just long enough for the fae to press an anchor-stone into my palm.

  I close my hand around it.

  Meet the fae’s eyes.

  “Hold on,” Kyol tells me.

  I wrap my arms around his waist and tighten my grip on the stone as he rolls us one last time.

  We go over the edge. I catch a brief glimpse of Paige splashing in the Thames beside the gated-fissure before Kyol and I fall into the slash of light. The In-Between steals my breath away, but the shock of the cold, empty nothingness is muted beneath another shock.

  The British officers never once saw the fae because they’re invisible to normal humans. They’re invisible to normal humans, but Paige knew they were rebels.

  Paige saw the emblem carved into Kyol’s jaedric armor.

  Paige saw them.

  Paige has the Sight.

  SEVENTEEN

  KYOL AND I roll into the Realm. Into Corrist. I hear a shout go up from the wall, an alarm being raised, but the fact that we’re both still breathing tells me we’ve fissured into a safe zone. Even if we hadn’t, Kyol is on top of me. His arms are braced on either side of my body, caging me beneath him. They’d have to kill him before having a chance of harming me.

  Kyol doesn’t move immediately. Neither do I, mostly because the right side of my rib cage is killing me, but also because I can’t with him positioned above me. He stares down, and his silver eyes look bright framed by his dark hair. He’s looking into my eyes, which is totally understandable considering my face is right under his, but then—just for the briefest second—his gaze dips to my mouth.

  Suddenly, I’m completely aware of our position, of the way the length of his body presses against mine. My right arm is around his waist. My left grips the tight muscles in his forearm and it’s as if my thoughts trigger my edarratae. Lightning licks its way into my palm, up my arm and shoulder, and I feel my face blush with heat. I break contact immediately, but Kyol still doesn’t move. He focuses on my eyes again, and doubt surges through me. Not doubt about Aren or the way I feel about him, but doubt about the way Kyol feels about me. I don’t know if he told me the truth when he said he was okay with our breakup.

  A throat clears to my left. “I can take her now.”

  Aren’s voice breaks through whatever’s holding Kyol frozen. He rises off me, acknowledges Aren with a nod, and steps back.

  Aren crouches beside me. A frown creases his forehead as I slowly sit up. At first, I think he’s searching for a reaction, trying to pick up my feelings toward Kyol. I know it still bothers Aren, my ten-year pseudo-relationship with him. I haven’t been able to convince Aren that I would have left Kyol even if I didn’t have Aren. I left Kyol because I wasn’t myself when I was with him. I was careful with my thoughts, my words, and my actions. I tried to become someone I wasn’t all because I wanted to be worthy of him.

  I don’t feel that way with Aren. If we work out, it will be because we work, not because we’re changing ourselves to meet the other’s expectations.

  Aren doesn’t say anything about Kyol, though. Instead, he glances toward the silver wall, then asks, “Can you make it to the palace? I shouldn’t heal you out here.”

  “Do I look that bad?” I ask as I look down at myself. “Oh.”

  I’m still covered in the human girl’s blood. I don’t think any of the red stains on my clothing are mine. I have a few bumps and scrapes, bruises from being trampled at the club, and my cheek hurts from the remnant kneeing my face, but my worst injury is my ribs. One or two might be cracked. The officer landed a good blow with his baton there at the end.

  “I’ve had worse injuries,” I tell Aren as I stuff the anchor-stone I’m still holding into my pocket. His gaze moves to the scar on the right side of my throat. That’s not what I was referring to—I don’t remember the cut hurting at all, actually—but it throbs now, and it’s difficult not to reach up to touch the raised skin. Aren put a sword to my neck three weeks ago. We were in Lyechaban, and I think that day might have been the last day we were enemies. He should have killed me then. The rebels were so close to losing the war, and Lena ordered him to cut my throat if I didn’t read Kyol’s shadows. Kyol had just captured Naito, and I was still stubbornly defending the king, but Aren couldn’t do it. He couldn’t slide his sword across my neck.

  He swallows, and his silver eyes seem to darken with regret. They do that every time he looks at the scar. I’ve never actually told him that I forgive him for what he did. Maybe some part of me still holds it against him.

  He offers his hand. As he’s helping me to my feet, a flash of something white in my peripheral vision catches my attention. It’s a chaos luster on Lee’s skin. He’s standing a few feet away. Water pools around his feet as he stares up at the wall of silver stretching into the sky. I can tell he’s never seen it before. His eyes are wide. He’s slightly off-balance. I’ve been in and out of the Realm enough to adjust quickly to the difference in the atmosphere. It has a lighter touch here, almost a buoyancy that can affect your equilibrium. It’s clear Lee isn’t accustomed to it. Has he been to the Realm at all before?

  Has Paige? I have no idea where the remnants might have kept them and…


  I look around. “Where’s Paige?”

  A fissure rips through the air in answer. Trev rolls out of it with my friend, my friend who is not supposed to be able to see the fae. She’s soaking wet and pissed. Kyol and I fell through Trev’s fissure before we hit the water. I don’t envy Paige or Lee, going through the In-Between like that.

  Trev tries to keep a hold on her, but she throws back an elbow, getting a lucky hit on his chin. She almost slips free then, but Trev grabs her ankle, keeping her from scrambling away. This time, he locks his arms around her like a straitjacket.

  “Having trouble controlling your human?” Aren asks, grinning.

  Trev glares back. “I was told this human didn’t have the Sight.”

  Aren’s grin fades. He looks at Paige, who’s still struggling to get free. It’s obvious she can see the fae holding her. It’s obvious she sees Aren and the rebel swordsmen closing in on both sides of us.

  Some humans with the Sight make it through their entire lives without knowing they have it. Fae rarely stay in the human world for an extended period of time, and when they do, they tend to keep to rural areas, away from tech and, therefore, away from humans. But Paige has met Kyol before. She’s met Aren. They’ve both let her see them on occasion, and she acted like they were normal humans, like she couldn’t see their chaos lusters. There’s no way in hell she wouldn’t have noticed the lightning.

  “Paige,” Lee says, moving toward her with his hand outstretched as if to say “calm down.”

  “They’re rebels, Lee,” Paige hisses.

  “I know,” he says, almost to her side. “It’s okay.”

  “You know? It’s okay?” she practically snarls.

  “Paige.” I walk toward her, too. I don’t know how she can see the fae, but I don’t believe she’s lied to me all these years. “I tried to tell you before. They haven’t been holding me captive.” Not this whole time, at least. “I’m on their side. I’m helping them. The fae lied to—”

  Lee kicks out without warning, landing his heel squarely on Trev’s chin. Trev’s head whips back hard enough to make me wince, and Paige wiggles free.

  Lee grabs her arm and pulls her to her feet. Then he spins, putting himself between her and the fae swordsmen who’ve just arrived. His knees are slightly bent, and he’s tense, as if he thinks he might really be able to take on the three armed fae facing him.

  “Karate?” she says, crossing her arms. “How stereotypical of you.”

  “It’s jujitsu, Paige, and you’re welcome.”

  This guy might be connected to the vigilantes, but he’s standing up for Paige. If he doesn’t turn out to be a complete jerk, I might like him.

  “They’re not going to hurt you,” I say, moving toward them. “Let’s just calm down for a second.”

  “Could we calm down on the other side of the wall?” Aren asks with a pointed look at the row of buildings to my left. Anyone could be inside of them, and it’s not just the remnants we have to worry about. Three humans in one place might freak out the more paranoid fae who are worried about the Realm’s magic.

  “You won’t touch her,” Lee says. “And I want to see my brother.”

  “Your brother?” Aren cocks his head to the side. He’s speaking to Lee, but he hasn’t taken his eyes off Paige. He knows she didn’t have the Sight when he first met her. He’s just as curious as I am to learn how she got it.

  “Naito,” I tell Aren. “He’s Naito’s brother.” I turn back to Lee. “He’s in the palace, and if you don’t touch the fae, they won’t touch you.”

  “You can guarantee that?” Lee asks.

  Technically, I have no authority over the fae and what they do, but Aren and Kyol…

  Kyol’s gone. I have no idea when he left, but he wouldn’t contradict me on this. So far, none of the rebels have gone against anything I’ve said. That might just be because they haven’t had a reason to yet, but Lee doesn’t need to know that.

  “Yes. I’ll kick their asses if they do.”

  Paige lifts an eyebrow my direction. As far as she knows, I wouldn’t hurt a fly. Whenever I’m around her and her friends, I never step into their debates, never argue or contradict anyone else. She thinks it’s because I’m extremely easygoing. Mostly, it’s because I’m always distracted and thinking of something or someone else.

  Lee shrugs. I take that as a sign of agreement and motion them to the right. Paige looks wary of the fae, but she starts walking.

  Beside me, Aren says, “I won’t mention to Lena the way you’re taking control of her people.”

  “I haven’t taken control of anyone.”

  “Everyone here who understands English will follow your order,” he says. “No one wants to cross the nalkin-shom.”

  “You really have to stop spreading rumors about me.”

  He grins. I roll my eyes.

  I feel good, though. Compared to the place I held in Atroth’s Court, this is a welcome change.

  It’s the middle of the day in Corrist. The city isn’t deserted like it was the last time I passed through it, but there’s still a noticeable difference in the number of fae on the streets now compared to the number on the streets when Atroth was in power, and everyone we pass seems to be on edge.

  Aren doesn’t take back roads to the palace this time. He leads us down the Avenue of the Descendants. In the plaza outside the palace, guards question and search the fae who want an audience with Lena or with one of the high nobles. They have offices in the palace as well as in their residences, both here in the Inner City and back in their home provinces.

  The guards let us enter after talking to Aren. We step inside the huge greeting hall in the palace’s south wing. It’s designed to impress visitors. Twin staircases arch up to the left and right, joining together beneath a chandelier lit with magic in the center of the room. The banisters are a shiny, untarnished silver. It’s an extravagance. So are the silver drapes making waves on the high ceiling.

  “Well, this is fucking beautiful,” Paige says, stopping to take everything in. I almost smile. I’ve always appreciated her bluntness.

  A fae approaches us, one of the guards Aren talked to when we entered. He hands two heavy cloaks to Aren, who then holds one out for Paige and the other for Lee. Both humans are drier than they were before, but the air in Corrist is cool. They have to be freezing.

  Lee takes his, but Paige keeps her arms folded. “I’m fine.”

  “To cover the lightning,” Aren says without a pause. It’s a lie. We don’t need to hide our chaos lusters in the palace, but it gives Paige a reason to accept the cloak without feeling like he’s doing her a favor.

  It works, and I give Aren a small smile when he returns to me. He didn’t have to do that, but it was considerate of him.

  “Paige has…an interesting personality,” Aren says, as she and Lee trail the two fae leading the way deeper into the palace.

  “Yeah,” I say, watching her pull on the cloak while she looks around the greeting hall again. I recognize the expression she’s wearing. I wore it ten years ago when I first came to the Realm. I was intoxicated by this world and its magic. So is she, and it’s weird, seeing chaos lusters on her skin. They seem to go with her personality, though. They’re as spontaneous as she is, and they dart across her face and hands like they’re accessories.

  “She can see us,” he says, sounding as if he’s speaking more to himself than to me. He’s just as confused as I am. Paige has the Sight; she didn’t before. Something changed since the wedding. Something or someone gave her the Sight.

  “Could a fae have done it?” I ask. “Maybe with a magic that’s supposed to be extinct?”

  “I’ve never heard any rumor of it. Humans are either born with the Sight or they’re not.” After a moment, he adds, “I suppose there’s a chance it might be possible. What about the other human? What do you know about him?”

  “Just that he’s Naito’s brother.”

  “Right. Trev,” Aren calls. The other fa
e approaches. To me, he seems kind of reluctant, but when Aren orders him to find Naito and bring him to Lena, he nods.

  After Trev leaves, I tell Aren, “I think the remnants told Paige you kidnapped me.”

  “Well, that’s true,” he says, throwing me a quick grin that makes my stomach flip.

  “Yes, but all the time she’s been around the fae, she thought I was being held captive and that she was with the good guys.”

  “You need to talk to her,” he says, as we enter the northern wing of the palace.

  “Alone, if possible.”

  He nods. “We’ll talk to Lena first, then see what Naito has to say.”

  The huge, gilded doors to the throne room are closed when we get there. The smaller door set into the left side is cracked open, though. It’s dark inside. The fae who led us here stop and motion for Paige and Lee to wait, but Aren ushers me forward.

  It takes a second for my eyes to adjust. When they do, I see that fae are covering each of the room’s tall windows with black cloths that are stretched between a series of long poles. Lena is sitting on the throne. She doesn’t look comfortable there. She’s sitting straight and staring at a fae clad in black in the center of the room. So are the nobles standing on either side of her dais. They aren’t all high nobles, but I do recognize Lord Kaeth and Lord Hison. A few other important fae are here, too. Even the archivist, Kavok, has come out of his hole for this. Like Lena, they’re all staring at the black-clad fae.

  The fae doesn’t leave his position in the center of the room, but his arms are almost in constant motion.

  “I wish you could see this.” Aren practically breathes the words. His gaze is riveted on the center of the room, but I was wrong about what the others are watching. They’re not staring at the black-clad fae; they’re staring at the illusions he’s creating.

  That has to be what this is. I’ve heard of fae who have the ability to turn a darkened room or an amphitheater into entirely different settings. Some tell entire stories with their illusions. Others are only strong enough to add special effects to a stage show. I think this fae is different, though. The way Aren’s gaze sweeps the room, following an object to the ceiling, then back down again, makes me think this is pure art.