by Emma Harley
“That pact is broken,” Logan growled, “if you even think about it I’ll take your team out by myself.”
“Don’t dare threaten my…”
“Stop it!” Raina snapped, drawing a sea of shocked faces to her. She got up from her bed, wobbling slightly as she grabbed the bed-post for support.
“Alicia was right, we are a family, and I was being selfish. I am scared,” she choked back a threatening sob and straightened up, “I’m scared of going to a new world, I’m scared of my powers, I’m scared of hurting someone because I lose control. You are my squad and my brothers as far as I’m concerned, I need you to help me through this,” –she eyed JJ directly as she continued – “and I need you to stick to our pact if I reach a point where I can’t be controlled. If I become a danger, you need to take me out, no hesitation.” JJ ignored the soft growling from the Fae males and gave a stiff nod before she turned to Logan.
“You have to stop fighting with my team, I need them and they need me. We’re going to a brand new world and dealing with our own deaths in this one. If they come with me, they don’t leave my side,” she took a deep breath and glanced between the brothers, “but I need you too Logan. And you two, I need you to help me adjust to a Fae body and learn about your world. Kalen I’ll need your magic to stop mine when I can’t control it. I can’t do this without all of you, so from now on the threats and fights stop or so help me god I’ll blow us all up at the breakfast table.”
Alicia and Logan stared at each other with poorly disguised repulsion as Izak and Elias regarded each other with such forced smiles they looked like they both had period cramps.
There was a time and a place for pulling rank, and Raina rarely ever did so. But with a crew of skilled humans with a cache of weapons in constant combat against three Fae males with inhuman strength and magic abilities, she had no choice. She was a general and a squad leader to one side and a princess to another. If anyone was going to pull them into line it had to be her.
“I know I haven’t been helping much, but is there any plan for when we’re going to make this portal?” Raina called to no one in particular.
“Well your friend Davin wanted to attend his sister’s funeral first, he requested a day with her before they removed her ventilator, she’s being buried today and he’ll be returning with Nick tonight. Most of us have packed what we need with us, so we should be ready to go tomorrow or the day after,” Kalen explained. Alicia nodded and looked to Raina.
“The captain has our orders to move out tonight, he’s faking our mission as we speak. After he’s sure we have left, he’ll pretend the mission went south and we’ve been killed in an explosion off the coast, our bodies will be lost at sea and our deaths will be made official,” she confirmed, her breath shuddering horribly.
She left with a firm grip on JJ, mumbling an excuse about checking her bag was packed. Izak and Elias decided to check theirs too, exiting hastily from the room. Kalen looked softly at Raina.
“You should get your things together and eat as much as you can to gain your strength back. We need you focused to make the portal or we won’t be going anywhere,” he reminded her gently, causing a heavy wave of anxiety to push on her chest.
“I don’t know how to make a portal Kalen,” she argued, “I have to use magic but I don’t know how to do that.” Kalen tipped his head to the side in deep thought.
“We’ll figure something out okay, don’t stress yourself right now, we have a few days yet.” He tipped his head to Logan and strode out of the room, leaving him with Raina and a tense silence.
“I’m sorry for making you drink my blood, I know I shouldn’t force you to do something you don’t want to do,” he sighed, absent-mindedly pacing along her floor. Raina avoided his eyes and peeked at the faint piercings on her hand where he had bitten her.
“It’s okay,” she mumbled, “I wouldn’t have eaten otherwise.” She held her gaze down at her hand before adding “Thank you.” Logan’s face flashed with brief surprise before brushing it off with a wave of his hand.
“I meant what I said princess, I won’t lose you. I wasn’t going to sit and listen to your breathing fade into nothing and then regret not doing something to stop you,” he said quietly, his cheeks gently tinged with pink.
He cleared his throat and straightened up, running a hand through his dark hair.
“I need to get my things packed, Kalen wants us to take the jewellery with us in case we need money when we arrive.” He half-hurried out of the room, trying not to look like he was in a rush to leave Raina rushed to the door before he left.
“When you’re done, will you tell me about your world?” Logan spun back to her, both shocked and confused.
“You want me to sit and talk to you?” his puzzled tone slightly too shrill. Raina backed down swiftly, her face flushing.
“If you’re busy don’t worry about it, I’m just curious. And I thought maybe I could get started on trying to use the magic stuff for the portal.”
Logan smirked as her face flushed deeper with each jabbering word.
“Of course, give me about half an hour and I’ll be back,” he grinned, slipping out and leaving Raina to begin packing.
Raina rummaged through her boxes, wondering what to take with her. She had already begun rolling her clothes up into tight little rolls to fit as much as possible into her holdall. Her stuffed animals were squashed tightly into a plastic bag beside her as she flicked through her mother’s photo albums, removing each picture from its sleeve. She could leave the books behind but keep the pictures in the plastic folder her documents were normally stored in. Anything belonging to her mother was carefully packed into the bag, the more fragile items being snuggled amongst clothing to keep them safe.
Raina was examining the little wooden box with no key as Logan peeked his head around the door.
“How is packing going?” he asked lightly, dumping an armful of snacks onto her computer desk. Raina sighed irritably.
“I don’t want to leave my mother’s possessions behind, but I can’t fit it all into my bag. I have to keep room for my guns and weapons too. I don’t want to leave everything here.” She set the box down with a thump and ripped open the bag of crisps Logan handed her. “You can buy guns in our world you know, you don’t have to arrive armed to the teeth with weapons,” he snorted, crunching his crisps as lightly as possible to avoid hurting her ears. She snapped around to him, her mouth open in awe.
“So your world has technology? I was expecting swords and bows and everyone going to the bathroom in a pot.” Logan paused to stare at her, dumbstruck.
“What kind of world do you think we came from?” he asked incredulously, eliciting a small chuckle from her.
“Honestly I was expecting a medieval fantasy world straight from a Tolkien book. I’ve grown up and lived in a magic-less human world, never believing in the supernatural, I don’t have any expectations really.”
Logan slid down onto the floor beside her boxes and crossed his legs.
“We still use swords and bows, more often than guns really. Bullets do little damage to Fae unless they hit the head or the heart. Our healing abilities can repair a bullet wound quick enough to avoid major damage.”
Raina twisted a necklace around her fingers as Logan launched into an explanation so wild she could have sworn he was reading it verbatim from a fiction novel. At some point Alicia and JJ had joined them, silently listening to Logan’s recollections of the world they were travelling to.
He spoke of his own experiences, a war between merciless demons and every creature that inhabited the land, sea creatures so large and voracious that no one could dare travel beyond the lands they knew to explore any further until flying was invented. Kalen had chastised him from the doorway, warning him that he was supposed to be reassuring the humans about travelling to another realm.
“What about magic users? I’ve used lightning, fire and wind, and Kalen used ice powers. Is that normal?” Raina quizzed, her
face almost child-like with sheer curiosity and amazement. Logan scrunched his face briefly as he sipped on a bottle of beer.
“I suppose so, although the majority of magic users only have one type of power. Higher beings like pure-bred Fae can blend magic through their offspring, it’s mostly found within royalty and the higher classes. Kings and queens tend to pick their partner by their powers, deciding who would give them the most powerful offspring for the throne, so it was common for royal Fae to have two different power elements passed on to them.”
Raina thought carefully, picking nervously at her fingernails. “What about my birth parents? You said I was a princess, so how am I supposed to be royalty if I’m so unstable?”
Logan and Kalen exchanged wary looks as Alicia slipped down to sit beside Raina.
“Are you sure you want to hear about them?” she asked cautiously, her emerald eyes peering over Raina’s face for any signs of stress or doubt. JJ perched himself on her other side and gripped her hand.
“We’ll be right here, just squeeze my hand if you feel yourself getting upset okay?” he insisted reassuringly. Alicia clasped her other hand in agreement. Raina peeked over at Kalen.
“Can I have a beer too? I feel like I may need one,” she quipped, giving him a small smile as he left.
Logan awkwardly stuffed a cushion under his numb buttocks before continuing.
“Your father was the Crown Prince of Avellia, our homeland. Your paternal grandfather bred him for power, you’ll find he has a series of illegitimate half-siblings his father considered failures. He had incredibly powerful wind and water magic, and sought out a tribe gifted with earth and fire magic. He married your grandmother to produce an heir with control of all four major elements, and finally succeeded with your father. He was the youngest of all his siblings, half-blood or full, his father named him as his sole heir because of his power.”
Raina glanced at her hands, tightly encompassed by her comrades. The ability to produce the elements seemed almost too far-fetched, had she not seen it with her own two eyes she doubted she would believe a word Logan was saying.
“So I’m unstable because I have too much power?” she wondered, resisting the urge to pull her dangerous claws away from her friends. Logan slowly shook his head.
“Your maternal grandmother was a High Priestess of Terragae, a clan descended from the mother goddess herself. She had an affair that resulted in your mother and hid her lover’s identity until you were born. In our realm, there is a tribe known as Shadow Walkers that isolate themselves from much of the world. They were once a potent force that swept through the realm, conquering lands wherever they went, until the gods cursed them for it, and left them unable to use magic anymore. They were left with one unhindered ability; manipulating shadows so they could hide shamefully from the world. Your grandmother had an affair with the chieftain, leading to your mother. Her power was bound as soon as she was born since she wasn’t in line for the Priestess throne, so no one knew any better. Until you were born.”
Logan took a large gulp of beer as Kalen arrived back with several bottles for the rapt audience. Alicia thanked him and tipped her bottle to Raina and JJ. They clinked their bottles, neck and bottom and took a swig in synchronisation. JJ gave a soft burp.
“So her mother didn’t know Raina would be born unable to control her magic?” he muttered questioningly as though he was confirming it for himself. Logan nodded.
“Your father was supposed to marry your mother’s oldest sister, but at their first meeting, he also met your mother and his mating bond fell into place. Humans don’t feel the bond like Fae do, and a mating bond between a Fae and a human is significantly weaker. Your parents were together in secret when their union was forbidden by your grandparents, and when you were born your grandmother had no choice but to tell the truth about her affair. You began showing power barely after learning to walk. Every time you cried or got upset as a baby your power would run wild. Your parents put a binding spell on you, and it was working for a while until you had grown up a little more. Something happened to you, and you burned down half of your palace. That’s when your parents decided to send you away.” Raina nodded slowly, drawing swirls in the condensation of her bottle.
“What about the lightening? Is that from my birth mother?” Logan shrugged.
“I would assume so, but she never used magic herself due to her binds. Shadow Walker offspring are bound at birth, so it’s unknown what powers they actually have. But the clan your mother hailed from is mostly gaelings, most have the ability to manipulate the natural world, but unless you’re a High Priestess or one of her offspring, that power is quite weak. I’ve met a few that can speak with animals, or maybe light small fires, but they couldn’t do much more than that. Some can summon a small gust of wind to extinguish flames, but their power is collective. The entire clan would probably rival you in power level.” Alicia’s eyes went wide.
“How many people are in the clan?”
“There was about twenty thousand when we left,” he guessed, his eyes darting behind them.
“We’re not interrupting are we?”
Raina spun to see Davin and Nick in the doorway, both holding large bottles of liquor. Davin’s brown eyes widened with a soft sparkle as he strode over to Raina, pressing his hand against her forehead and gripping her cheeks.
“What are you doing Bolton?” she moaned, although her words were muffled by his irritating examination.
“I’m checking you’re alright idiot, you were a mess when I left,” he hissed as they childishly batted each other’s hands.
“I’m fine,” she sighed, fixing her hair behind her ear, “they knocked some sense into me.” JJ and Alicia high-fived each other behind her back as Davin sat himself on the floor against the ottoman. Nick joined him and opened his bourbon, the smell filling the room almost instantly.
Elias and Izak came thundering into the room as though summoned by alcohol, the former carrying a stack of tumblers while the latter had stolen several bottles of wine from the cellar. “Elias said someone was on the bourbon,” Izak queried, his eyes darting to the bottle in Nick’s hand.
“Told you,” Elias smirked, Izak clasping his shoulder.
“You and I are going to get along great if this is your superpower,” Izak grinned, sprawling along the ottoman like the subject in a renaissance painting. Elias tore his gaze from the bourbon to glance at the assembly of people sitting around the floor.
“Are you having a sing-along?” he asked sarcastically, Izak chuckling at his remark.
“Logan was telling us about your world and where my power comes from,” Raina strained her neck to look up at him as he took up a spot behind her.
“Gather ‘round children, it’s time for grandpa’s tales from the war,” he mocked in a croaky voice. Raina chuckled as she caught sight of Logan’s unimpressed face.
“Before we move on to you guys I need to know something. You said my father is a crown prince, which means he’ll be king. If I go back to this world, I won’t be expected to take my place in the line of succession will I?”
Logan and Kalen looked blankly at each other.
“Honestly, I have no idea. We don’t know what has happened in the past eighteen years, for all we know your father could have had other children and named one as his heir. They weren’t expecting you to ever come back, so it is possible you would be a princess in name only, but no rights to the throne.” Raina breathed a sigh of relief and downed the glass of bourbon Davin passed to her.
“That’s a relief,” she sighed, wincing at the burn from the beverage, “so we’ve covered my history, what about you three?”
Logan gestured to Kalen to take over and explain his own history, much to Kalen’s surprise.
“Oh…um. Well I was the son of a lord, and I abdicated my title to join the army. I was third in line, so I would have been married off for an alliance if I didn’t sign up. Being from such a pure blooded family, I was moved up the ran
ks quite quickly. And as you know I have ice powers mostly, but I do have a small spark of lightning from my father’s lineage. It’s not much, so I just focus on the ice.”
“Can you make this cold?” Izak held his glass out in front of him as a test. Kalen merely raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know how to use it here, and it’s possible my powers could go wrong with a lack of practice.” Kalen tipped his chin at Elias’ hulking form.
“He might interest you more Raina, Elias is actually a cousin of yours.”
Raina’s head snapped round to Elias, who was frozen with a glass at his lips, staring at the ogling eyes that had turned their attention on him. He cleared his throat and sat his glass down. “Well we’re second cousins. I’m from the Shadow Walker clan, and my mother is your grandfather’s sister. Actually until we learned Matthias had a daughter, I was named his heir for the chieftaincy. He didn’t marry until shortly before your birth, and his children were born after you. He had already discovered your mother was his daughter and named her as his heir to give you both the protection of the tribe.”
Raina processed the news in her head, carefully tucking it away in her mind.
“I’m more confused than ever,” she sighed, rubbing her face, “let me get this straight. My maternal grandfather is the chief of a cursed tribe and my grandmother is the High Priestess of a huge clan, and my mother is their love child. My royal Fae father was the only successful result of a science experiment to breed a walking powerhouse. And I’m the unstable result of their relationship and possibly the heir to a throne?” Logan and Kalen nodded. Elias gave a small “ahem” for her attention.