Dark Matter

by Christie Rich

  Heath had been the first person to use one against me, on my first night in the castle no less. I had been in absolute awe of everything I saw, including him.

  He had been sitting to my right at one of the many banquet tables in the great hall. All he did was touch my hand—a brief kiss of skin, nothing tender or unusual about it. When I glanced at him I thought I saw a strange flash of light behind his iris just before he asked, “Care for some peas?” He hadn’t used my name, but his compulsion blasted through my barriers.

  I snapped out a sultry “Yes,” before I’d had a chance to really consider if I felt like eating them or not. He smiled at me then. It was a slow spreading affair that consumed the majority of his handsome face. All of the fire people had the same tawny colored eyes, but his seemed deeper somehow like liquid bronze. I had gotten caught in those eyes one too many times as if hypnotized by the dancing flames of a roaring campfire.

  It was about to happen again if I didn’t get my butt into my room. “Thank you,” I said, taking a wide berth around him. I didn’t even glance at him, but I could feel his eyes on me as I hurried through the doorway. I leaned against the door as it thudded closed needing the support all of the sudden.

  His chuckle carried through the heavy barrier, sending a shiver through me. He was testing me again. I wasn’t sure how, but I could feel it.

  “Where have you been hiding?” Cassie asked with a grin. She let out a tiny laugh until she saw my expression. Just like that, she slanted her head at me knowingly. “What’s wrong?”

  Was I really that transparent? I was going to have to work on my acting, especially now that I knew how Finn felt about me.

  The man she was trusting to sort out her Elemental status just might be too distracted by me to give it his best effort. How could I break her heart by telling her the truth? I settled for giving her the second reason I was upset. “Heath’s trying to compel me again.” It was true. I could feel it, but he was being much more subtle about it.

  She studied the door as if she had x-ray vision then turned toward me with a half-cocked smile. “You could do worse.”

  “Yeah, you think?” I gave her a short, upward nod. “You switching teams or something?”

  She made a whooshing sound like a slashed tire gushing air. “Don’t be absurd. Finn could squash Heath with one look.”

  I nodded. There had to be a reason Finn had managed to stay champion of the fire realm for the past thirty years, and I was praying it was because he was much stronger than Heath. It made me wonder though. I had been told that if the wild hunt didn’t produce results within a certain amount of time a champion was supposed to step aside for the younger generation.

  How could they call them that? No one in this horrible place had the decency to age at all.

  Finn hadn’t gotten around to bonding with one of the poor Elemental’s from the hoards the Order had to offer. I smiled. Now he wouldn’t have to. I was going to have to ask him why he didn’t just bond with Cassie now. That would solve at least one of our problems.

  I gave her a feeble smile, dumped my coat on the chair in the corner then walked over to the ginormous bed in the center of the room. My fingers curved weakly around a solid iron post. I steadied myself to tug my boots off. I pealed my sweaty socks down to my toes and tossed them away trying to ignore the stench. With that out of the way, I flopped on the bed, face first. If Cassie hadn’t been with me I would have stripped down to my skivvies. If it weren’t for how chilled I felt whenever I went outside I would have sworn my inner body temperature had risen since coming here.

  I was absolutely useless. How was I supposed to just sit here when Zach and Luke were facing the Order without any real back-up? Then there was the matter of what had been done with my family. I was worried sick about them. Cassie had already told me that they had been taken to the island, but why? Were they being tortured while I sat here doing nothing to help them?

  It was clear to me that none of the fae took any human seriously, even the mysterious members of the Order. They really should be more careful if you asked me.

  When I had been in the tunnels with Roger Wayne back at school, he had said something that had bothered me then but doubly so now. He had blatantly told me the Order hadn’t reached the point where they didn’t need the fae to accomplish their designs. I’d taken that declaration to mean they were working toward that end. Maybe whatever Luke had seen on the island was dangerous to the fae. Maybe he and Zach had walked into a trap?

  I cringed at the thought. Even though they couldn’t be killed, I had been around these immortals long enough to know they still had emotions like humans. They experienced physical pain, too, although they tried not to show it.

  I had seen a guy get pulverized by a giant chunk of ice just two days ago. It hadn’t taken long for a group of brownies to scuttle from the castle and levitate the thing off him, but they had exhausted all of their power in doing it and had to carry him back to the castle on a stretcher. He was groaning the whole time, but not as much as the four brownies supporting his weight.

  Brownies are a short people. None I had seen had been over three feet tall. They all had pale orange skin with a light dusting of white fur that covered their bodies. They looked virtually identical from the back. The only real distinction between male and female, other than obvious things, had been the slight difference in skin tone. The males had dime sized freckles only a bit darker than the rest of their skin. The females had a uniform skin color. Both genders wore their hair long and braided, as was the custom of the royal house of Ignis.

  As it turned out, the brownies are one of the lesser fae races that came to earth for asylum after the first five nations claimed the planet. They weren’t allowed to share in the elemental power enjoyed by the royals, but they had been fast learners of earth magic. They can manipulate matter, just not to the heightened degree of the five houses. It takes a bunch of them to accomplish the same task a royal could do with one thought.

  After hearing Luke explain how cold and lonely his existence had been before he found Earth, I realized how someone might be happy to just have a home. Even if all they ever did was serve other people, it was better than wandering the vast expanse of space for eternity.

  I hadn’t seen any other fae races in Ignis, but Finn told me there were countless numbers of them. They all served some purpose so the royals could take care of watching over humans without having to grow food or worry about technological advances and such.

  I was still having a hard time accepting that the fae actually believed they were serving humans by causing calamities or interfering behind the scenes when the balance of power was weighted too heavily to one side. Finn had told Cassie many things he wouldn’t even think about telling me. I wasn’t sure if he realized she would tell me anyway, but either way, his thinking was weird to me.

  I heard the clomping of Cassie’s shoes hitting the stone floor before I felt a light touch on my back. I hadn’t even felt her sit down. My new bed was the most comfortable thing I had ever slept on. Even Cassie’s memory-foam mattress couldn’t compare. I was weightless when I was on my bed. I should have been able to rest rather soundly under ordinary circumstances, but being here was anything but normal. It didn’t help that I kept having nightmares. Every night since coming here, I had fallen asleep with the hope I would get some rest, and every night I had been vastly disappointed.

  I rolled over and looked at Cassie’s concerned face. Here I was feeling sorry for myself when she had it way worse than I did. All I had to do was pick a guy to spend a few hundred years with. It shouldn’t be that difficult, especially considering whom I have to choose from. Cassie’s future wasn’t so certain. She didn’t know how much of an Elemental she really was and neither did anyone else even though they had spent the last couple of days trying to figure it out.

  All they could tell was that she was part Elemental. She had the genetic markers, but her DNA was different than anything they had ever seen.
<
br />   The doctor had implied that she wanted to sample my blood, but I wasn’t about to subject myself to that kind of scrutiny. What if that little troll, Gibbit, had been right? What if somehow I was part fae? What would they do with me then? I had joked with Finn and Cassie about them having a baby eventually and Finn had grown very somber. He told me in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t possible for a fae lord to father a child. My brain kept telling me that he was right, but in my heart I wondered.

  Cassie leaned up against the headboard and patted the mattress next to her. I crawled over and sat down. I pulled one of the soft pillows out from behind my back and started fiddling with the fringe.

  So many things here were similar to the human realm. The chairs and dressers were intricately carved to old-world perfection. The stone walls were covered in ancient tapestries that showed heroic scenes of damsels in distress with warriors heroically saving the day. I wondered how many modern conveniences had been introduced to the human realm by the fae. I also wondered why they seemed to cling to old styles.

  “Did you find Finn?” asked Cassie.

  I flicked a glance at her. I was not about to take away the only hope Cassie had by telling her the truth. “No,” I said dismally feeling I wasn’t really lying to her. The man I had followed outside didn’t resemble her kind, loving boyfriend in the slightest. Maybe he was temporarily possessed?

  She shrugged and smiled compassionately at me. “Do you want me to talk to him for you? I know you don’t like being alone with him.”

  Her tone implied that I was the one avoiding him. I would be from now on. I smiled lamely at her. “That might be better. Thanks.”

  She sniffed. “Have you heard any news at all about Zach and Luke?”

  I banged my head against the headboard a few times for emphasis. “No one will tell me anything. If I didn’t know better, I would think they are hiding the truth from me.”

  She looked distractedly out the window as if she wished we were talking about a more pleasant subject. I couldn’t really blame her. “Maybe they just don’t know anything yet?” she said hopefully.

  I turned toward her so I could see her better. “If that’s true, why wouldn’t they send someone to investigate? Why would they sit here and do nothing?”

  “I wish I had an answer to offer you. I’ll see what I can find out, though.” Her face brightened. “Are you excited about the ball yet?”

  I groaned. “You just had to remind me, didn’t you? I explicitly remember telling you not to.”

  Why were they throwing a ball for me anyway? A friggin’ ball—the kind with elaborately uncomfortable dresses and even more uncomfortable dancing. I didn’t know the first thing about how to behave at a ball, and I didn’t care to, either. It wasn’t as if these people were giving me a choice. I could try to refuse, but I was pretty certain Finn or, worse yet, Heath would carry me down there kicking and screaming if they had to.

  I only had a few minutes until my ladies in waiting would rush in to help me get ready. I wished I could figure out how they managed to change my clothing without ever taking anything off me. Cassie had already informed me that they would be using old-fashioned methods with me tonight. It, too, was a sign of respect. So not only was I going to have to let multiple women watch me dress, I was going to have to allow them to put their hands all over me.

  A knock sounded at the door. “They don’t waste any time, do they?” I asked Cassie.

  She grinned, jumping from the bed and over to the door so fast she was almost a blur. Sure, she was stoked. She was going to be dancing with Finn until the wee hours of the morning. I had no idea who I would be obligated to dance with tonight. Unless a miracle occurred, one thing was certain, it wouldn’t be Zach or Luke.

  Chapter Three

  Before I could even sit up straight, six women entered my room. I knew at some point I was going to get used to the beauty of these people, but it hadn’t happened yet.

  All six had waist-length flowing red hair; all six had tawny eyes and flawless skin; and all six were staring at me as though I was the newest wonder of the universe.

  One of them stepped forward. “I am Lysanne. Please follow me.”

  For half a second, I considered refusing her. I could pretend I was sick, but they would only bring the physician who would no doubt poke and prod until she found something she could use to get me into her lab. The experience wouldn’t be any different with these women.

  I slunk off the bed and fell in line. Lysanne led me to my dressing chamber. It was bigger than Aunt Grace’s entire house back in Castlerock, Utah. I never, in a thousand years, would have expected I would miss the place this much, but there was a certain comfort a small residence could offer that a sprawling palace would never be able to compete with.

  I shed my clothes and waited for the primping to begin in nothing but my underwear. I had already bathed today, and I refused to take another dip in the Grecian style tub so I asked Lysanne for the fae equivalent of a shower. I wasn’t sure I would ever get used to it, but it did save time. One minute, I was sweaty and my long hair fell limply around my face. The next, I was squeaky clean with bouncy brown curls tumbling over my shoulders. I slid a ringlet through my fingers and stared at her. What was wrong with my hair the way it usually was? She smiled defiantly at me. I had bigger things to worry about tonight.

  Lysanne’s assistant strode toward us, stopped in front of me, bowed formally then she went to work slathering oil all over my body. My skin tingled before it began to glow slightly and I’m not talking about a fake glimmer shimmer. My skin was actually lit up from the inside. “What is that?” I asked in awe. The woman wouldn’t answer me. That was another thing that bugged the potatoes out of me. They never talked much.

  Another woman worked on my nails while Lysanne set off to find just the right gown for the evening. She hung five dresses on the wall when she came back. The first was silver silk with simple flowing lines that reminded me of a cascading waterfall. They got more and more extravagant from there. One of them looked like something off Star Trek with metallic shoulder-pads better suited to a linebacker. I shook my head firmly, and it was hauled off in a hurry. The next was completely beaded from bodice to hem. I picked it up and studied the fabric. Heat flooded my face when I realized it was completely see through. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it weighed about thirty pounds. I made her take it back right away.

  I moved down the line and looked over the blood-red gown. Each puffy sleeve was as wide as my head. The bodice narrowed to a tight fitting V, and the skirt belled out like something a princess would wear. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Lysanne had stolen the thing from the set of Gone with the Wind. Even though it was stunning, I didn’t think I could pull it off. I shook my head slightly and it was hastily removed.

  The last in the group had a bit of promise. It was the color of sprouting grass with the same iridescent quality as the gown I had worn to my bonding ceremony. I could have stared for hours at the prisms it cast against the adjacent wall. I walked over to it and stroked the soft fabric. It slid through my fingers like water. The cut was daring, but not overly immodest.

  Lysanne was giving orders to some of the other women, so I took the opportunity to slip it over my head on my own. I didn’t like feeling as if I were a child that needed to be dressed.

  She rushed up to me. “Please, my lady, let me help you with that.” Before I could blink the dress was covering me, perfectly pressed. She lowered her eyes and asked, “Do I displease you in some manner?” It was hard to miss the devastation in her tone. “Would you like another to assist you?”

  I placed a hand on her forearm. She flinched slightly. “It’s nothing like that. I must be a huge disappointment for you. It just seems silly to have you do things for me I am accustomed to doing myself.”

  Her entire face looked tight as if she really wanted to interrupt me; I doubted she ever would. She waited for me to finish before speaking. “I am honored to serve you. Y
ou must understand. I have won the right to be here tonight.” There was a bit of leather behind her words. Was she saying she actually battled somebody to help me get dress? She smiled wistfully. “I see the rumors are true. You are different than most Elementals, both in ability and in politeness.” She lowered her gaze from mine. “I would speak plainly to you.” She scanned the room before she said, “If you will allow it?”

  I startled from her words. Could I trust this woman? Was it possible she could help me? “I encourage it,” I replied breathlessly.

  She sat on the bench beside me. “I come to offer assistance, my lady. I have heard you do not wish to be called that, but I will not use your given name for security reasons. I am told a certain princess had a brief conversation with you before your inauguration.”

  I immediately became guarded. For all of Ainessa’s attempts at befriending me, I couldn’t shake the image of her first meeting with Cassie. She had been more than a little tyrannical. If this woman was in league with her, I needed to be very careful. “Yes, I did.”

  Lysanne leaned toward me. She took my hands gently between her own. “She does not represent the vast majority of women in our realms, even though she claims to. She is cunning and can make you think you are serving yourself when in fact, you are serving her. I have firsthand experience in this regard. Most of us want to find harmony with our brother courts. She wants power, nothing more. Do not trust her.”

  I nodded slowly. “Who can I trust in this place?” I whispered.

  Her eyes darkened. “No one—not even me. I come to you with my own agenda. I think it forthright, but some might not. I will leave it to you to consider.” She nodded toward the door. “Walk with me?”

  I waved for Cassie to stay where she was as I followed Lysanne out of the room. She was having fun. I had no desire to take her away from the excitement. Lysanne led me into an adjoining chamber.

  It was my favorite room in this suite. I imagined this was what a ladies chamber would have looked like in the sixteenth century, only with a few more bells and whistles.