by Emma Harley
Raina struggled to her knees, gulping down air.
“Get away from them!” she screamed, sending the vortex spiralling into the air and erupting into a white hot ball of flame, blazing like a miniature sun. Grass hissed and died around her, the dried blades crunching and igniting under the phenomenal heat exuding from her. The soldiers backed away, giving her a clear view of her team mates as they rushed closer, before backing away slowly. JJ raised his gun to her.
“Raina I need you to put the flames out!” he roared, “just calm down and look at us! We’re all here for you!” Raina counted her breaths as she heard her team’s encouragement, the fear in JJ’s face at the thought of pulling the trigger on her. She raised a palm and signalled to them. I have this.
Each breath made the sun smaller, until it was merely a flicker in her hand. She clenched her fist around the ember and dropped to the ground, her energy sapped from her. Alicia tried to touch her but hissed and wrenched her hand back.
“Kalen she’s boiling hot!” Alicia yelled, the male rushing the Raina’s side. He coated his body in hoarfrost before lifting her against his chest, sending waves of frost over her body as her temperature melted it away into tiny wafts of steam. He dropped to the floor inside the palace, holding Raina tight against him until she was almost shivering. He set her down for JJ to wrap his arms around her in a tight hug.
“Thank goodness I didn’t try to shoot you,” he sighed as she leaned into his warmth.
“Thank you for holding to your promise anyway,” she muffled into his chest. He pulled away as Logan kneeled down before her, his worried eyes scanning her body for injuries.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly, his face etched with worry.
“No. I just created a baby sun in the garden because I hurt you.” Logan cupped her cheek softly and kissed her forehead.
“I’ve had plenty worse injuries than this princess, a little shock won’t kill me,” he chuckled, stretching his injured arm before her. The redness was fading slowly due to the immortal blood in his veins.
“Logan Calviere, I order you to keep a steep distance away from my daughter,” the king ordered, stepping out of his wife’s grip. He glared at the male, making him drop his hand from Raina and back away from her. “Failure to obey will result in your captivity and subsequent punishment.”
The queen turned to him in shock, her reaction mirrored on Kalen’s face. “Alexei don’t do this,” the queen pleaded, but he brushed her away.
“Until such time as I appoint another successor to the throne, I would prefer my sole heir to remain unsullied so as not to ruin any future chances at marriage.”
“Excuse me?” Raina shrieked, stepping in front of Logan as the guards stationed around them drew their swords. The king couldn’t quite meet her eyes.
“The people deserve a pure queen and your heirs would be thought illegitimate if I allowed your relationship to continue. You are a princess, I cannot allow the shame of you dallying with rabble.”
Izak sighed loudly. “You just watched her explode in your garden and almost cook herself alive, and you want to kick her off again? It’s no wonder why she doesn’t want to stay here.” Nick nodded in agreement.
“You won’t get an heir from me so I suggest you reconsider where you plan to go with this,” Raina snarled, ripping up her top to reveal her too-thin stomach, and the scar that spread along her abdomen. “I was shot in the line of duty. Any pregnancy I have is likely to be fatal to both me and the child I carry, it will never reach maturity and I may die carrying it. And whether or not I choose to sleep with someone is none of your business. You lost your right to screen my boyfriends when you tossed me through a portal,” she announced shamelessly.
Raina felt Logan tense behind her, hearing the growl in his chest that he struggled to keep down. The king weighed her threats, ignoring his pleading wife.
“I’ll have you locked in this palace with naught but a maid to interact with you then,” he snapped, his temper flaring. Raina didn’t back down.
“Then I’ll blow myself to bits in that cell, and take your precious palace and everyone in it with me.”
Raina felt static flowing along her skin, making the hairs on her neck prickle. She could sense a powerful presence approaching, similar to the king but not quite as strong, before the doors to her left swung open and two Fae males walked through. One was significantly older and greyed, but unmistakeably Fae, while the other looked barely older than Raina, his flaming auburn hair and violet eyes marking him as a relative of the king.
“Would someone kindly explain what the commotion is,” the older male demanded, scrutinising the human team and the Fae who seemed to be about to fight the king.
“Father this isn’t a good time,” the king sighed. Raina snapped to the old man, shoving away Kalen’s warning hand.
“You? You’re the damn reason this is kicking off in the first place!” Raina snarled, her advances caught swiftly by Logan’s arm around her waist as her pinned her against him. The younger Fae drew his sword and had the point at Raina’s throat in a split second. She barely flinched, instead smirking as she heard Davin knock the safety off his anti-Fae gun.
“Common trash would need to learn their place, you are in the presence of royalty and will address them as such,” the red-haired male growled, “Your bullets will do nothing.” He remarked to Davin in a cocky tone.
“I’d be happy to prove you wrong,” her second sneered.
“They have special bullets to destroy Fae, put your sword down Raubyn,” the king ordered. The two newcomers looked incredibly confused, but the red-head slowly lowered his sword and stepped back, glaring at Raina with contempt. The king sighed heavily.
“I can see there is no winning option for me here Raina, but I can only ask that you calm down and return to our seats so we may discuss things calmly,” the king groaned, a half-order-half pleading request.
“Raina?” the two males echoed in unison.
“I prefer General Phoenix if you don’t mind,” she simpered with mocking charm.
“I prefer you hold your tongue while your king speaks,” snarled the red-head.
“Prince Raubyn,” the king boomed in exasperation, “meet your cousin, Princess Raina.”
The red-head gaped in shock, while the old male squinted his eyes at her.
“And just why is she back here? Surely she isn’t stable enough to be in the palace around normal people,” he crooned, ignoring Raina’s snarl.
“Oh you tried to make sure I couldn’t come back here didn’t you,” she growled. The king coughed loudly as Logan tightened his grip around her waist.
“Father some interesting new information has come to light, and I would much prefer we sat down to discuss it before Raina follows through on her promise to blow us all up,” he strained, clenching his wife’s hand as they returned back to the dining room.
Several servants were milling about, setting down various platters of meats and cheeses that left Raina’s mouth watering. Piles of decadent chocolate treats were mounted along silver platters alongside bowls of freshly washed berries, some she didn’t even recognise. She grabbed a red apple as she took a seat, this time Logan was beside her in case she needed restrained again.
The apples in his world were almost twice the size of the ones back home, but they tasted the same. She slipped her mother’s dagger from her hip, peeling away slices with the blade as the king’s eyes narrowed on her movements. Raina’s mind was churning with confusing thoughts, most of which centred on the old king, who now sat diagonally from her, with Raubyn opposite her.
The queen sat away at the other end of the table, the animosity between her and her in-laws was palpable. She didn’t touch the food, instead only accepting a glass of wine from the servant. Izak was about to sip his own glass but Elias stopped him.
“This is Vauxlen wine, it’s designed for Fae bodies. One glass would be like a litre of bourbon for you,” he mumbled quietly, setting the glass
out of his much-more-eager reach. The king ignored their exchange and angled himself to his father.
“There has been some revelations today. One of them being the spells used to send my daughter to a human world. Apparently, two of my guards discovered that the only way for them to return to Fae bodies was to murder my daughter, and use her blood to open a portal. I don’t suppose you could enlighten us on this?”
The old king shrugged. “Wouldn’t you be better asking the witch herself?”
His cocky attitude bothered Raina. She swirled the blade threateningly between her fingers as ancient violet eyes darted in her direction.
“We will be questioning her similarly, you’re first. Now answer me, why would you ban the Shadow tribe from our lands after Raina was born? We just learned that their binding spells could have saved her and kept her with us. I can’t help but feel like that was a deliberate move on your part,” the king snapped. Raina fiddled with Thea’s necklace, hanging proudly below her mother’s as the old king denied any involvement or knowledge of the plans.
The king sat back in his high-backed chair, realising he was getting nowhere with the questions. Raina glanced between his defeated face and his father’s wrinkled, smug expression and smirked, huffing a small laugh.
“Whose idea was it to give my mother a memory potion so I could forget about you all?” she queried casually, tapping her finger against the glass of bubbly liquid. The queen barely contained her disgust as he tipped her chin at the old king.
“He suggested it. He said it would be easier for you to adapt in the new world if you were unaware you were a princess.” Raina nodded coolly before turning to the queen.
“And I suppose he didn’t know that you gave my mother and Thea the antidote in case I ever returned?”
Logan caught a glimpse of the old king as his eyes narrowed slightly, before returning to normal. The queen shook her head solemnly.
“I didn’t tell anyone that I gave it to them. I wanted to hope that you would remember us and come back one day.”
Raina stared down the old king, noting the same violet eyes as her own staring back at her.
“You encouraged my parents to toss me through a portal when my powers ran out of control, because he named me as his heir. You had worked hard on your little breeding project, and it was about to be ruined when I was born with cursed blood. You couldn’t kill me, but you could send me away, so you plotted with the only other person who wanted rid of me. My grandmother.”
The queen had now joined the other side of the table, gripping her husband’s shoulder. Logan had risen beside her as her temper grew, holding her gently while sparks danced at her fingertips. Raina took a deep breath and continued, pointedly ignoring Raubyn’s hand twitching on the pommel of his sword.
“She wanted the marriage alliance so her clan had the protection of Avellia, but Aija wasn't supposed to marry him. So you conspired together, ensuring I couldn’t come back and disrupt all your plans. I was told it was a specific outburst that triggered the plans to send me away. If I take the antidote to regain my memories, who will be the one who forced that outburst from me?” Raina’s accusations hung heavily in the air as the smug expression faded from the old king’s face.
“Your allegations are ridiculous. I would hardly conspire to have my own grand-daughter killed if she was the named successor,” he scoffed. He stood to leave, but the king stopped him.
“Who caused Raina to lose control before you convinced us to send her away?” he bellowed, sending the servants scurrying back down to the kitchens.
“She was a spoiled little girl, anything could have set her off,” he jeered. Raubyn stood back from his grandfather, his face a picture of disappointment.
“Is this why you’ve been pushing so hard for me to be named as the next heir? You thought Princess Raina would never be able to return because you ensured she couldn’t. You pushed everyone to move on because you knew she would be dead.” The male sneered at the prince.
“Don’t be ridiculous boy.”
“Then why did you ban the shadow tribe from the country when the first binding was broken?” the queen hissed, “Did you know they would be able to bind her powers?”
Raina chuckled. “Of course he did, but he didn’t want his breeding experiment ruined. What was the point of spawning a powerhouse for the throne if the next heir was completely unstable and had to have her powers bound?”
Gawain’s guttural growl had her team armed and aiming at him with the anti-Fae guns. Raina didn’t tell them to lower their weapons, instead continuing to unravel the old king.
“I bet you fought against my parents getting married too. After all, Aija is a shadow walker. She should have been banned from the lands too. But I’m guessing they got married in secret shortly before this all kicked off. Making me a legitimate heir and allowing her exemption from the ban. You couldn’t allow me on the throne, so you made sure that sending me away was the only viable option.”
Silver platters clattered to the ground amid the ear-shattering ring of bullets as the old king nimbly cleared the table to reach Raina. She barrel-rolled out of the way, ducking under a boom of green flame and sparkling blue ice that blasted Gawain across the room. Raina ignored the wreaths of lightning looping around her arms and looked up to see Logan and Kalen standing before her, crouched to attack. The king had shoved Aija behind him, while he himself was holding a small bonfire, ready to aim. Raina got to her feet and stalked towards the groaning Fae male, stretching her palm before her.
The purple lightning obeyed her will, arcing into Gawain like a rope, wrapping tightly around his wrists as chests as she directed him into the air.
“Raina let him go!” the king roared, “He will face justice but not at your hands!”
“Admit what you did,” she snarled, disregarding the king’s orders, “admit you planned everything or I’ll burn you alive.”
Small golden flames erupted below his feet, creeping slowly upwards as Raina’s threat began to sink in. The guarding soldiers attempted to rush her, only to find themselves lashed back by her vicious winds while thorny brambles cracked through the tiles to slither around their ankles. The old king’s eyes were wide as her power raged and the rubber on his soles began dripping into the rising flames.
“I planned everything!” he shrieked, scrambling his legs away from the fire, “You aren’t fit to be on the throne and your parents were too stupid to see it!”
Barely had the words left his traitorous lips before Raina dropped her arm to her side. The flames dissipated before Gawain hit the floor with a thud, rubbing his blistering wrists from the electrical burns. The brambles scraped horribly against the tiled floor as they retreated back into the ground they had been summoned from, allowing the guards back to their feet.
“Fetch the meticium shackles immediately,” the king ordered one of his guards.
“How many pairs Your Majesty?” she asked, quickly shooting a glance at Raina. “Just the one for now.”
Gawain groaned as he examined the bullet wound in his leg. The anti-Fae bullet had torn through his calf and out the other side. “Nice work,” Raina remarked to Izak.
She scrunched her nose at the metallic tang stuffing itself into her nose before it was replaced by the comforting familiarity of Logan’s rainy scent. He pulled her into him tightly, muttering that she was an idiot. He pushed her hair back from her face, his eyes roaming all over for any sign of injury.
“How are you feeling? Do you need to rest? You just used a massive amount of power Raina, you need to eat to regain you strength,” he fussed. Raina scoffed and pushed him away.
“Stop being a stuffy mother hen, it doesn’t suit you,” she snapped. Noticing the concern across his face made her drop her tone.
“I’m fine, I’ll eat something soon, but I’m fine,” she have him a small smile and squeezed his hand before turning to the king and queen, who had moved closer to her to put Gawain out of her view.
“I
know you were betrayed and lied to,” she breathed, clutching Logan’s hand for support, “but I have made my decision, I do not want the throne. However, I will make an attempt to get to know you both. I promised Thea I would, and I don’t break my promises.” The queen almost wept with happiness, thanking her gently.
The king nodded gruffly, clearing his throat.
“I want to apologise for earlier. I will not lock you or Captain Calviere away. I was out of line. And I will not expect you to step into the role of a princess, but it will be impossible to keep this private. The world mourned the loss of you deeply, and as we speak there will be investigations into the portal that opened. The public will soon know you have returned and at least in public, I would ask you to behave as a princess would.” He clutched his wife’s tiny hand as he continued. “We will be harassed by reporters soon, especially once news breaks about my father’s arrest. We cannot lie to the public, we will have to tell them you are here.”
Raina sighed. The queen took a tiny step closer to her.
“How were you able to control your magic? Even the smallest bit of magic goes wary for shadow walkers,” she breathed, clutching at the string of rubies that adorned her neck. Raina glanced at her palms.
“I barely had control, but I was just trying to scare him into admitting. I wasn't angry at all. I wondered where the lightning came from though, it that from your mother or the shadow walkers?” Aija shrugged softly.
“My mother’s line has barely a spark, as for the shadow walkers, you are correct. Even without the bindings, most of them have little or no power to speak of,” she mused, but Raina just nodded.
“So none of them would even be able to test their magic if they tried because they were bound as babies.”
Elias sauntered over while the guards reappeared with heavy shackles for the old king.
“Why do you want to know about our magic?” he asked curiously, swiping a cookie off a platter and sitting on the table. Raina ran her hand through her hair in thought.
“I don't know where the lightning came from, I was wondering if it was from your clan. It seems to be the only one I can manifest with any amount of control over it.” Aija glanced at her husband in confusion as Elias’ mouth dropped open. Raina looked between them. “What?”