I watched the sway of her hips, the way her hair blew in the cool breeze coming off the lake, and how determined she was to get things done. Even though this mission would cost her the only father she’d ever known. I would spare her that if I could. My plan was simple: kill Alataris before she had to. The prophecy stated it had to be the queens, but I knew I would be by her side. If I could take that burden for her, I would.
“Hey, come on.” Zinnia stood next to the small wooden boat and rested her hands on the rim of it. “Are you ready to prove some purity here?” She wagged her eyebrows at me and a grin spread across her face.
I rolled my eyes. “I haven’t been pure in a really long time.”
She swung one of her legs over the side of the boat and climbed in. “Oh really, so I wasn’t your first then?”
I froze with both my hands on the back of the boat. Zinnia climbed toward the front and took a seat facing me. She fidgeted with the zipper on her leather jacket, then plucked at an invisible string on her pants. “You know, because we haven’t discussed it before. I was just thinking. I mean, you’re a knight and, ugh, yeah, a prince. I’m sure there were plenty of girls who . . . you know.”
I squatted down and shoved my shoulder into the back of the boat. It glided out onto the glassy water. Water seeped into my boots just before I leapt in sat across from Zinnia. I grabbed the oars and let the tips dip into the water. “Zin, look at me.”
When she peeked up at me from under those thick eyelashes, I barely stopped myself from leaning over to her side of the boat and pressing my lips against hers. “You’re the one, Zin. You always have been.”
“Right, you say that now. But I’m just telling you I wouldn’t be mad if someone else was here before me. You didn’t know me back then. . . .”
“There was no one else.” I rowed the boat farther out onto the water. Steam rose up from the water and clung to the surface.
“Okay.” She flashed me a quick smile then turned away.
Did that mean there’d been someone else for her? Jealousy flared in my chest then ran down my stomach. But I wasn’t there, and she couldn’t have known I was coming or that she would have a destined soul mate. I swallowed down my jealousy. “If you had someone before me, it’s okay.”
Zinnia pressed her fingers over her mouth, stifling her giggle. “I think it’s pretty obvious there wasn’t.”
My lips pulled up into a smile. Memories of our first night together flashed in my mind, the way she looked at me, the way she clung to my body, the way she whispered in my ear. Everything about that first time was perfect. Even now in the heavenly plain, filled with Titan power and trying to save all of Evermore from Alataris, things between us made it all worth it.
I glanced around the boat, looking out over the water. The steam thickened into a heavy fog. When I looked behind us, the shore was no longer visible even though I’d only been rowing for a few minutes.
“Tuck, what’s happening?” Zinnia shifted around and looked out over the water. “I can’t see the island or the shore.”
“I don’t know. But I’ll give you an even better question. Why didn’t the boat move when you did?” The water was completely solid. There wasn’t a single ripple or even the sound of the water moving against it. I wrapped both my hands around one of the ores and tried to move it with all my strength…nothing.
Zinnia rose to her feet. “Do you hear that?”
I froze, listening, waiting to hear something. “No, I don’t hear anything.”
She lifted her foot and put it on the edge of the boat. She leaned forward, about to take a step. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. “Where are you going?” When she tried to shrug me off, I held on tighter. “Zinnia, no, there is nothing out there.”
That’s when I heard it. “Tucker. Tucker, come here.”
“Mom?” Her voice was so sweet, the way it had been when I was a child.
“Honey, it’s me.” There, just outside the boat, my mother stood with her arms outstretched toward me. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
My mind went blank and she was the only thing I could see, the only thing I could hear. I didn’t know when I would see her again, but the last time we spoke she apologized for pushing me away as a child, for sending me to train in the phoenix boot camp all my life. Yet here she was now, calling out to me. She was just as I remembered her. Long flowing strawberry blond hair fell in waves down to her waist. Anytime I pictured my mother she always wore a long flowing crimson dress that matched the colors of the phoenix clan. Leather ties wrapped round her midsection like a corset. The smell of hot cocoa and cinnamon drifted over to me.
Zinnia smacked my hands off her shoulders and I let her go. My eyes we locked on my mother. She was long and willowy like an elf, her features delicate and soft. I hopped over the side of the boat onto the solid water. “Mom, Mom, I’m right here. I told you I’d be back.” I ran toward her with outstretched arms. The moment I got to her, I wrapped her in a hug. She was the same size as I remembered, and I tucked her under my chin.
“Tuck, you need to come home. It’s time.” Her voice was so warm and I wanted to give her what she asked for.
“I will, Mom. Don’t worry.”
“No, you have to come now. You have to bring the sword.” She pulled back then looked up at me with wide, round eyes.”
“Mom, what do you mean bring the sword?” Where was this all coming from? A pounding ache shot through my temples and into my eyes. I pressed my hands to my temples, massaging them. Zinnia needed that sword.
“Yes, my darling, bring the sword. Cindelore needs you. Will you do it?” She pressed her hands to my cheeks. Her touch was cool and calming . . . nothing like my mother’s used to be.
I stepped back from her and shook my head. Zinnia needed the sword. I knew it. “You’re so cold.”
My mother looked down at herself. “What do you mean?”
“My mother, my real mother is a phoenix. Warm to the touch.” I motioned to my fake mother standing before me. “You are not her.”
I stepped back even farther and spun in a circle, searching for Zinnia. The boat stood motionless. The fog blew over the water, yet Zinnia was nowhere in sight. “Zinnia! I have to find her.”
“No, hold on just a little longer.” My mother wrapped her hands around my arms. “Tucker, your family needs you. We need the sword. After you bless it, bring it home. Swear to me you’ll bring it.”
I spun around, facing her. “I will not! That sword belongs to Zin.”
The thing pretending to be my mother gave a small bow, then clasped her delicate fingers together. “Very good, Phoenix. The sword is meant for one person to wield. Never forget.” My mother disappeared, her body melting into the fog around us.
What was that? A test? I was alone standing in the middle of the lake. “Zinnia! Where are you?”
“Tuck!”
My heart raced in my chest. We hadn’t been apart in days and I refused to part from her now. The power inside me roared to life, the blazing inferno I’d kept so carefully in check. I forced my wings from my back. Flames flared out all around me, lighting up the fog. I pulled my wings in and shot out over the water. I hovered near the glassy surface, flying as quickly as I could, searching for her. A nervous ball sat in the pit of my stomach. I pumped my wings furiously, looking for any sign of her.
The water went from solid to liquid in an instant. The sound of a slushing splash came from the opposite direction I was flying in. I pulled my wings in and flipped backward. Before I slammed into the water, I let them flare out. I skimmed over the surface of the water, trying not to panic while my heart was up in my throat. I chocked on my racing pulse, searching for her.
“Tuck!” Zinnia breached the surface and threw her arms up toward me.
I wrapped my hand around her wrist and yanked her out of the water. I pumped my wings, propelling us higher and away from the lake, then I smacked into a barrier. I hate barriers. Instead of smacking into i
t over and over the way a fly would into a glass pane, I drifted back down toward the water.
Zinnia dangled from my hands. I tightened my grip, holding her up as best as I could while her damp fingers began to slip. “What the hell happened?”
“I’m not sure.” I looked out over the fog, searching for the glowing heavenly fire.
“Why are we going lower?” The tips of Zinnia’s boots dipped into the lake.
“There’s a barrier above us. I can’t fly any higher.” When I looked back down at the water, the row boat drifted just beside Zinnia. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“Drop me into it.” She kicked out her leg and hooked her toe into the side of the boat, pulling it just underneath her. “Go ahead, I got this.”
Drop her? Not ever. I pulled my wings in and let both of us ease down into the boat. Zinnia landed in the middle and fell back into the boat. I dropped down after her, landing in a straddle over her hips. I sucked in a deep breath and extinguished my wings. “Are you okay?”
She pushed her fingers through her soaking hair. “What happened? One second I was sitting in the boat with you and the next I was staring into my mother’s face, telling her I couldn’t give her the sword. Tuck, it was awful. I didn’t want to tell her no. I wanted to give it to her. She needed it so bad.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
“I don’t think it was your real mother. I think it was a test.” I sat back on the small bench and pulled her closer.
“Well, it was pretty damn realistic.” She glanced out over the lake. “I thought this was supposed to be Heaven. Why would they torture me with visions of my mother, who’s in a cage in Alataris’ castle as we speak?”
I pressed my forehead down to hers. “To see if we’d give in. But we didn’t and we never would. We didn’t come this far to give up now.”
She lifted her arms and wound her fingers through the strands of my hair on the back of my head. “No, we didn’t.”
I leaned into her and pressed my lips to hers. Her lips melded perfectly with mine and my inner phoenix practically purred with pleasure. When she opened her mouth, I deepened our kiss. When she tugged on my hair and moaned against my lips, I barely fought the urge to press the rest of my body up against hers. My wings erupted from my back and my shoulder jerked just enough to break our kiss.
A smile spread across her lips and she wagged her eyebrows at me. “Look at you popping wing.”
“Can’t fault a guy for getting excited when his love kisses him like that.” The boat scrapped up against something and came to a halt. I tipped forward and caught myself before I landed on top of Zin. When I looked up, I shot to my feet. “We’re here.”
Zinnia rose to stand next to me. “Really?”
The island was more beautiful up close. The crystal-clear water lapped at the white sand beach. Farther in from the beach was a soft grassy area with bright wild flowers of every color spread as far as the eye could see.
“Holy crap, what is that?” Zinnia pointed toward the horizon line.
“Shit.” I wrapped my hand around her and pulled her forward. “Run!”
Chapter 4
Zinnia
My breaths came in gasping puffs as I ran headlong toward a small set of trees that might hide us from the swarm heading toward us. The weeping willow branches hung low to the ground and were thick with leaves that might be able to hide us. Tucker grabbed my hand and yanked me in front of him then pushed me forward under the cover of the tree. I pressed my back to the tree trunk. I shoved my soaking wet hair out of my face. “What are those things?”
Tucker held some of the leaves to the side and peeked out at the sky. “I have no idea, but whatever they are, they’re swarming toward us like locusts. I can barely make out the heavenly fire. Could be the protectors of the light Kane mentioned.”
I hunched over and put my hands on my knees, sucking in deeper breaths. “You know, I didn’t think it would be this much of a challenge. I mean, what were those things in the lake? And now this? Is this Heaven or some messed up piece of it?”
He dropped the leaves and the branches fell in a curtain around us. It was like we were hidden away in a small closet where no one could touch us. Tuck walked over to me and I pressed back against the tree trunk once more. He placed his hand just over my head and leaned in closer. He held his other hand only a few inches away from my chest. Heat swarmed over my body and clothes. The heat felt so good against my soaking wet skin. My clothes went from sopping wet to dry. My hair that was stuck to my head went back to its wild, untamed crazy mess. Dark black waves popped out from my head and fell over my shoulder. He waved his hand up and down my body, drying my pants and boots next. “Thank you.”
He reached up and ran his finger down my cheek, leaving a heated trail across my skin. When he looked down at me, his eyes were molten honey and his tan skin glowed with power from the Titan potion. His lip pulled up in that half cocky grin. “Anytime.”
Tension sizzled between us and I wrapped my fingers in the bottom of his shirt. I tugged him closer. “When this is all over, with my dad and everything, let’s just take a vacation. On a beach where nothing tries to drown us.”
His deep chuckle ran of my skin like cool rain on a hot day. “Sounds like paradise.”
One by one the sound of falling boulders crashing to the ground surrounded the small tree. The ground shook under my feet each time one struck. Crumbling pieces of rock skittered beneath the canopy we hid under. I whispered into Tuck’s ear, “What it that?”
He mouthed the words “I don’t know.” Then he pressed his finger over his lips. He crept toward the dangling limbs and pulled one aside just enough for both of us to peek through. “Oh crap.”
“Gargoyles! You have got to be kidding me!” I took a step back. “How are we supposed to get past those?”
Four-legged stone creature surrounded us on all sides. They littered the ground and dotted the sky with their oversized, bat-like wings. Their heads were contorted in angry wolf creatures with sharpened teeth. They clawed at the ground and snarled at the air. Their movements were sharp and robotic.
“Maybe it’s the same as the water things. We have to prove we are pure of heart to get past them.”
As I looked out at the field of gargoyles, I knew in the pit of my stomach a pure heart wouldn’t be enough. I shook my head. “No, this is something else.”
Tuck dropped the branches back into place. “I was trying to be positive. But I think you’re right. This is something else.”
I wanted to run, to hide from the creatures stalking us. Even now they pranced around the outside of our tree hut. Their shadowy figures moved around, each one larger than the next. Their snarling growls made goose bumps break out all over my skin. “I think we need to try to sneak past them to get to the bowl of heavenly fire.”
“Sneak past them? Those things are gargoyles, literally created to be guards. I doubt there’s any sneaking past them.” He held his hand out and a glorious white light emitted from his palm. The tip of his sword shot out from his hand. The gleaming metal shinned even in the dimness under the canopy. He wrapped his fingers around the hilt and held it away from his body.
I held my hands out and summoned the circular blades Tucker gave to me when I first arrived at Evermore Academy. The hilts were straight and slender. They fit my grip seamlessly when I wrapped my fingers around them. The blades were polished and shinning. Engraved into the metal next to the hilts was the mark of the phoenix. It matched the ones on Tuck’s swords perfectly. I held it up, turning it over. “I like how we have his and hers weapons.”
Tuck’s head snapped up and a burst of laughter came from his chest. “His and hers weapons?”
“You can’t tell me you didn’t know they matched with the phoenix etched into them.” I arched my eyebrow at him.
He shrugged. “I might’ve made sure my mark was on you in one way or another.”
I held my arm out and w
aved the silvery bracelet that covered my soul mate band in front of him. In the middle of the bracelet sat a phoenix with a dark ruby in the center of it. “You mean like this?”
He bent over and pressed his lips to the inside of my wrist. “Exactly.” He took a small step back and held his sword up. “You ready for this?”
Am I ready to face a field of gargoyles? No! “Let’s do it.”
He gave me a single nod and stepped out from under the tree. I followed close behind him. The gargoyles stood motionless, watching us with their stoney eyes. He stepped over an outstretched paw, then twisted his back to move around another’s wing. When I ducked under one of their wings, every single one of them turned to look at me. The sound of banging rocks echoed in my ears and I froze. “Um, Tuck?”
He stopped mid step. “Yeah?”
“They’re staring at me.” If they had been real winged wolves I would say I was the side of steak they were looking at. I stepped to the side and their gazes followed. I tilted in the other direction and they did the same.
“It’s okay, just keep moving forward.” Tucker held his free hand out toward me.
When I lifted my hand to take his, the gargoyle closest to me growled and bared its teeth. The monster snapped its mouth at my leg. I jumped out of the way before it took a chunk out of my calf. Tucker yanked me around and leapt in front of me. With a single swipe of his sword he severed the head off the stone creature. It fell to the ground with a thunk. Eerie silence hung in the air. He held his sword up. “That might’ve been a bad idea.”
All at once the gargoyles surged toward us, a pack of wild monsters ready to take bites out of us. I pressed my back to Tuck’s. “Okay, we fight our way out.”
“Here we go.” A gargoyle flew straight at us with his claws outstretched and mouth wide-open. Tuck swung his sword, stabbing the creature dead in the chest. I moved to his side and slashed another’s wing. It barrel rolled and hit the ground siding twenty feet across the dirt, knocking into other creatures, turning them to rubble.
Wicked Queen (The Royals: Witch Court Book 5) Page 3