by Emma Harley
“Actually, since your mother was named heiress apparent to the Shadow Walker chief, you are her heir by default. That makes you irrevocably in line for our crown too.” Raina glanced between the brothers in exasperation.
“Why are there so many damn crowns? I only have one head.” Kalen shuffled uncomfortably against the desk, sipping on his bourbon.
“You’ve been gone for almost twenty years, it’s likely other heirs have been named, however your reappearance may change that entirely. If we found some possible way to destroy the curse of your bloodline, there would be little in our world that could rival you in strength. Your mother may have been bound, but she is the daughter of two incredibly strong clan leaders in their own right. Your father was feared throughout all the realm for his power, other countries’ monarchs bowed to him.”
Logan agreed, tipping his bottle to Raina.
“The only issue with you being claimed as his heir, is the matter of your cursed blood. You would pass it on should you have offspring yourself, completely removing the stability of the crown.”
Raina didn’t bother looking as she reached her glass out to Davin, who promptly refilled it.
“Has anyone ever tried to remove the curse?”
Elias sighed. “There were myths about men who tried. There’s a small patch of land in Shadow Walker territory, it’s believed to be the place of the battle our ancestors fought against the god Erebus who punished them for centuries of bloodlust. Legends spoke of a Shadow Walker in bindings who would one day summon and face the god. If he bested the god, the curse would be lifted and our atonement would be complete. Unfortunately a binding renders Shadow Walker’s unable to use even the most basic of magic. In the past century, there have been very few clansmen who bred with powered beings. Most of them chose humans in an attempt to water down the magic in our blood so we wouldn’t need to use a binding ritual at birth.”
Raina chuckled in disbelief.
“A god gave you an impossible task, making sure there was no way to break the curse.”
Elias nodded, catching a bag of pretzels Izak tossed to him. Raina cocked her head at Kalen.
“Are binding spells different? Did my birth parents use the Shadow Walker binding on me as child?” Kalen thought hard, looking to his brothers for reference.
“No, your grandfather wasn’t permitted near the palace. The king is a bitter old crud, he hated the tribe. Your grandmother put a binding spell on you. And yes, each spell is different. The tribe’s spells are a few millennia old, they use the same spell that was used by the first ancestors. It was tailored specifically to our bloodlines since our ancestors were so powerful they needed stronger binding,” Elias explained for him.
Raina swivelled around to face Elias.
“What power did your father have?” He paused for a moment, tapping his fingers off his glass.
“I think he was a swelter, but I never met the bastard so I’m not sure.”
Raina’s blank expression made him elaborate further.
“He had powers like heatwaves, but couldn’t produce flame. It’s like sunbeams, but usually it’s not very powerful at all. I’ve only ever met one before, and she only ever used her power in battle, she would heat her sword up right before the melting point and slash through the enemies with a white hot blade.”
Raina pushed aside the awe she felt at this strange woman to get back on track.
“Since you’re from the tribe, do you know if binding spells can be layered?”
The room fell silent, curious as to where her train of thought was running.
Elias nodded. “Centuries ago, when we still had powerful walkers being born, several people would apply the binding spells when they discovered that only one wasn’t enough.”
Logan grinned widely. “Nice work princess,” he beamed proudly, winking at her. Elias was bewildered for a moment before realising what Raina was getting at.
She gave him a small smile. “A binding spell tailored to my blood, strong enough to bind powerful conquerors and magic-wielders. If we could ask a whole group of clansmen to bind me, it would stop me losing control,” she explained gleefully. Elias ruffled her hair playfully.
“Looks like you’re getting the hang of this already,” he grinned. Nick tipped his glass to Raina before throwing a question to the room.
“Now that we know what we’re doing when we get there, when are we actually going there?” Silence fell as they looked between each other, waiting for someone to give an answer.
“We need to get Raina to focus her magic before we can go anywhere. Kalen already has the rest of the ritual prepared in the basement. If we start now, we might be able to leave tomorrow,” Logan suggested. Kalen glanced around the faces before him. “Would everyone be ready to leave tomorrow?”
Most of them nodded. Izak sheepishly admitted that he still had to pack up. Logan stood and held his hand out to Raina.
“Ready to get started princess?” his wolfish grin reaching from ear to ear.
Chapter 8
“This is hopeless,” Raina panted, laying down on the damp grass.
The sky had darkened as night fell over them. Kalen had been trying to elicit reactions from her in an attempt to draw out her power as Logan watched on, quite obviously bored to tears after hours of nothing happening. He had also been shunted to the side on Kalen’s orders. “You piss her off too much. I’d rather not die at the cusp of returning home,” he had said.
Raina was getting nowhere. She had managed to squeeze a few sparks from her fingertips, but for the following three hours nothing else had happened at all. Kalen had even managed to coat a small branch with frost during his attempt to explain to Raina how to find the thread of her power.
Logan yawned and strolled around the courtyard while Kalen explained the manifestation of power.
“Remember I told you that every world has magic? That same magic is what we have. Think of it like a baseline for all types of power, like the trunk of a tree,” he slapped the trunk of a nearby tree to help Raina visualise it, “that branches off into these smaller ones. That is your fire, lightening etc. all different manifestations of power coming from the one source. We need you to summon the power from the source, without manifesting it into an element.”
Logan strode over to Kalen and patted him on the shoulder.
“Why don’t you take a break, you’ve been at this for hours,” he muttered wearily. Kalen took off into the house without even glancing back. Raina kicked the trunk of the tree in frustration.
“He’s pissed off with me,” she sighed, “If I don’t learn to do this you can’t go home.” Logan nodded.
“Yeah, and that’s why I sent him off. It’s time to try this my way,” he demanded, beckoning to Raina to follow him.
Logan led her through the garden and into the forest of trees that surrounded the grounds, making a beeline for the farthest corner. A large pond had been built into the clearing, a small water feature trickling down over a rock formation like a tiny waterfall. He led her over to a weathered old bench and sat down beside her.
“So far, your power bursts out when you are angry or overwhelmed. We’re going to try the opposite of that now,” he explained, plucking a small pink flower and tucking it behind her ear. She just watched him strolling around the pond, more relaxed than she had ever seen him before.
“You’re going to relax me into an outburst?” she guessed, breathing in the wafting scent of a wild jasmine plant beside her.
“Not exactly. Power is tied to emotions, and when you get angry or upset, your power responds in kind, bringing out fire and lightening, manifestations meant to hurt and destroy. But when you’re happy and calm, maybe we can get a more pure form of magic to come forth.”
He shrugged off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “Now, close your eyes and rest your palms on your thighs.”
Raina shuffled slightly. “This bench is uncomfortable.”
Logan swept his jacket onto the grass and motioned
for her to sit. He sat himself behind her and gently pulled her back to lean against him.
“Just make yourself as comfortable as you can, and then I want you to focus on the sound of the water,” he whispered in her ear, fixing a lock of hair back from her face. Raina leaned into his warmth, allowing him to hold her weight as she enjoyed the soft trickling of the water in the pond.
“I want to know about your friends,” he murmured quietly, stroking her hair lightly, “I want you to think carefully, and tell me when you realised they were people you could trust.”
Raina lay silently for a moment, her focus drawn to the steady beating of Logan’s heart.
“Davin didn’t like me very much when we met,” she smirked, “he wanted to be the squad leader, and he was mad that I got it. We were the only two cleared in the beginning, so there wasn’t enough of us to be deployed yet, and we got shoved onto a mission together. It was a trafficking ring, we were going in to rescue the victims and take out the kingpin. I discovered that it was a bunch of kids they were selling off and got so angry I broke formation. I went after the kingpin by myself and left the others to recover the kids. I took out about twenty of those assholes before I reached their boss. I was too hot-headed, and ended up getting myself surrounded. Davin had followed behind me though, and took them all out to save me. I thought he was going to report me so I would lose the squad, but he didn’t. Instead he told me he’d have my back, but he’d always check me if I got out of line like that again.”
Logan tensed slightly behind her as she chuckled at the memory.
“Were you and Davin ever a thing?” he mumbled, his breath warm on her ear. She chuckled harder.
“No, we were never like that.”
Logan stroked gently down her silky locks and spurred her on. “What about Alicia?”
“I met Alicia at boot camp, we were in the dorms together. One night I was coming back late from the range, sneaking around to avoid the watchmen, and I seen her in the laundry room with another grunt. He wouldn’t let her out and kept trying to kiss her. I broke his wrist and his nose and dragged him at gunpoint to our drill sergeant. We got separated after training, and when I was given lead of the team, I put in a request for her. She had outscored almost every other grunt in every aspect of training, but because of that incident, she wasn’t allowed to progress through the ranks. She’s like a sister to me.” Logan chuckled softly, his breath tickling her ear and sending goosebumps down her neck.
“Why am I not surprised that the two toughest and tiniest members of your team bonded over breaking a guy’s arm?” Raina giggled gleefully.
“He left the next day with broken legs once his bunkmates found out.” Logan grazed this thumb over her nose playfully. “JJ?”
“He was the last one added to the team. On our second mission, we had a close call escaping, and had to change our exit strategy, but that went wrong. He got caught. Our orders were to destroy stolen intel and get out, if anyone was taken we still had to retreat until orders were given for an extraction. I refused to leave without him, so we had to organise a silent infiltration within a few minutes. We had to take out almost forty fully armed terrorists with no guns, we couldn’t risk being overheard and having them shoot him. We got him out, and he was mad at us for risking our lives for him, so Davin promised next time he would just shoot him so we didn’t have to rescue him. Thus the death pact was formed.”
“These seem like incredibly stressful memories, maybe we should try something lighter?” Raina made a noise of disagreement.
“You think they’re dark, but that’s the moments when strangers became an irreplaceable part of my life. I put my life in their hands like they do for me, I couldn’t trust anyone more than I trust my team.”
“Nick seems so shy and quiet compared to the rest of you, how did he join your team?”
Raina smirked as she recalled the memory. “He was assigned to join us for a one-time thing. He was just a tech guy, but he’s one of the best. We were sent to track down a missing fighter jet, it had encrypted software aboard and he was one of the few people who could access it safely. We ended up getting ambushed and held hostage, and I was in a separate room getting beat up for the intel before they brought him in, trying to force him to give it over. He overpowered them and dragged me out of the room, taking out everyone who got in his way.” Logan laughed heartily.
“For once you got your ass beat and had to get dragged out of there?” he tightened his arms around her as she chuckled.
“Yeah, I was so embarrassed. This computer nerd saved my ass and took out a cell while he did. I put him on my team when we got back, but had to fight to get him. I still had to share him with the government, he said it was like having divorced parents with shared custody.”
“Did he get two Christmases?”
“No he did not and he was very disappointed about that.”
“I would imagine he was. You mentioned before that you picked Izak’s name in your death pact, but everyone else wanted his name. Why was that?” Raina chuckled, her eyelids fluttering gently.
“Izak wasn’t my choice for the team, he was nominated. He annoyed the hell out of me when I met him, but despite that, he was like a little mother hen to the team. I got shot in the leg when I was paired up with him for scouting out a drug cartel’s headquarters and our extraction plane wasn’t due for another three days. He spent those three days cleaning my wounds, and carrying me through the wilderness to the rendezvous point, even making me a shelter to sleep under. He might get on my nerves sometimes, but I’ll never forget that. Our orders for every mission were the same, do not wait for the fallen. I was never going to follow it, and knowing that the others would have done the same for me is what made me trust them so much.” Raina felt Logan nod from behind her as he ran his fingers through her hair.
“You all really are a little family together aren’t you?”
“I’d consider them my brothers. We’ve had our fair share of fights and butting heads, especially Davin and me. I don’t think I’d be here today without them. When we were in the safe-house together, they tried to distract me so I would relax. We ended up having a contest for who could catch the most popcorn in their mouth and getting drunk less than an hour after I had a breakdown. They’re my family, and I love every little bit of it.”
Logan inhaled sharply.
“Open your eyes princess,” he whispered.
Raina’s eyes fluttered open and she gasped at her palms. Small adularescent spheres orbited her hands, cutting through the darkness of the forest with their bluish-white glow. Pure, unchanged magic, straight from the source. Raina almost sobbed with relief and pride, the rush of emotions causing the orbs to glow brighter and spin faster. Logan kissed her hair as he held her tightly.
“You did it Raina,” he cheered, helping her to her feet as she carefully controlled the orbs floating above her palm.
“I did it,” she breathed, focusing on her palm in deep concentration. Logan watched as the orbs flickered out into nothing, before reforming once again, dancing happily around her palm. She extinguished and re-summoned them over and over again before throwing her arms in the air with a victory scream.
“I did it!” she squealed, leaping to Logan and wrapping her arms around him gleefully. His muscled arms lifted her into the air while she squealed. Logan sat her back down and cupped her beaming cheeks.
“I knew you could do it princess,” he breathed, “I’m so proud of you.” Raina stroked his cheek softly.
“I couldn’t have done it with you Logan, you literally held me in place the whole way through it and I used magic without losing control,” she squeaked proudly. Logan kissed her forehead and wrapped her in a crushing hug.
“Now, let’s go rub it in Kalen’s face,” he chuckled, leading her by the hand through the pitch-black woods.
“Wait.” Raina stopped dead before they left the clearing. Logan gave her a confused look as she anxiously picked at her fingernails.
<
br /> “I didn’t want to ask anything in front of the others, but something has been on my mind for a while. Coralynn said I killed her mate, and my birth parents were mates and you explained a mating bond, so I guess it’s a big thing for Fae. Kalen said that after I left you thought you could sense a mating bond on me, what did that mean?”
Logan paused and rubbed his neck awkwardly.
“It was nothing, you were in a human body so there’s no way I could have sensed anything. I thought you were gone for good.”
“That doesn’t make any sense at all.” Raina watched as he rubbed his face, the same thing he always did when he didn’t know what to say. “What are mates, in the Fae sense?” she asked quietly, although she already had a slight theory.
“Mates are just like soulmates. Your mate is the most perfect half of you. Most Fae go a lifetime never meeting theirs. Everything about you, your power, your personality; it’s supposed to be a perfect complement with your mate.”
“And you think I already met mine?” Raina’s Fae sight allowed her to see Logan stiffen slightly before he shook his head.
“No, you were a human, you wouldn’t have formed a mating bond with anyone. Like I said, I had thought you were gone for good. And by then, I already had feelings for you, so when you left I was upset.”
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, lowering her gaze. Logan sighed and took her hand again.
“It’s fine, I’m over it. Can I go brag to Kalen now?”
Raina nodded and followed him out of the forest. He kept a tight hold of her hand even when they got back into the manor. Muffled voices from the kitchen led them in there, to find the entire household cooking together. Alicia turned and beamed at Raina. “How did training go?” she chirped, her eyes red and weeping from the onions she was chopping. Logan slid his arm around her as she looked up at him.
“Go ahead princess,” he urged, moving slightly behind her to hold her against him. Raina looked at the smiling faces of her team, obviously in the middle of a bonding moment with Kalen and Elias, and focused on Logan’s heartbeat once again as it thumped in sync with her own. She smiled softly as he tucked her hair behind her ear and she put her palms in the air, summoning the small glowing orbs once again. Alicia squealed with pride and pulled her out of Logan’s grip to wrap her in a hug.