by L. E. Bross
It beat the reality I was living this second.
Except Torin kept asking me things I didn't know.
If I knew who I was. What he was. He questioned me about Kalian more than once, demanding to know what the gargoyle had told me. At least I could answer honestly that he had told me nothing.
We sat for hours until the sound of his even breathing actually did lull me to sleep. The abhorred things on my back settled, wrapping around me like a blanket and the warmth pulled me under. With one last sigh, I gave in and let my mind escape to the safety of my dreams.
Later, voices tugged at my subconscious, familiar but faraway in that void between sleep and wakefulness.
“I've come to take her home.” I recognized the gravelly voice. Kalian. How did he find me here?
“I should have known it was you who brought all this down on us.” The anger in Torin's voice made it clipped and hard.
“She is the heiress to the throne, the only one who can save Alcaria,” Kalian argued.
“And who will save her? I've spent the last ten years being her protector. Making sure she didn't remember so she would remain safe just like I promised. One night, Kalian, and you've screwed it all up. How is she supposed to protect herself when she doesn't even know what she is?”
Fully awake now I shifted to my side, careful not to make a sound. They were talking about me.
“You're a Dark Royal, Torin! You know what happens if the throne is not reclaimed. This is our last chance, the only chance we have.”
“It was her choice to leave all those years ago. She didn't want to go back. I made a promise,” Torin argued.
“She was eight! Her father had just been killed, her mother disappeared. What else would she have done? Katrina made it clear what she had planned,” Kalian growled.
“And I promised to make sure Meri never went back,” Torin said.
“You have your own agenda here Elf,” Kalian growled. His stone teeth cracked together in anger.
“Keeping her safe is my only agenda. I was the one who helped her get away.”
“How do I know this isn't your entire plan. To lay claim to Alcaria for the Dark Courts. For yourself.”
“I have enough on my hands with my own people thinking I abandoned them. You just have to trust me on this. Things aren't always how they seem, Kalian. There are some Courts sick of fighting, tired of the constant feuds. There are some who have hopes of peace.”
I heard Kalian snort. “The only thing Dark Royals want is bloodshed and war.”
“You've had stone in your brain too long, Guard. You know very little about how things are anymore. And no thanks to you, every fey creature for miles will be able to sense Meri now. It's only a matter of time before Katrina finds her. You didn't think that through did you?”
“She was dying, Torin. I had no choice but to seek out Nephaste. And I can protect her,” Kalian said.
Torin laughed, a deep ugly sound that made me shiver. “Really, have you suddenly become more powerful than the Dark Royals then? Found a way to exist in sunlight?”
Kalian lowered his head. “Maybe with your people's help…”
“No! This is not my people's fight, Kalian. My court has not chosen sides.” Anger filled Torin's voice again. “I made a choice, me personally, to stay with her. But my people will not be part of a fight that is not theirs.”
His people? Royals? Just who the hell was Torin anyway?
“And just how long will you stay that way if Katrina gets control of Alcaria? You know as well as I, she won't stop there,” Kalian challenged.
“It will never happen,” Torin said.
“Oh no? Do you know Katrina already had the Outland Gnomes doing her work? That under her direction, they have attacked hundreds of innocent fey and walled off the pass through the mountains. She is going after all the unaligned, and building her own army. If she gains control of the courts, she can bring that army into the human's world. She can and will destroy everything. You know what she's like.”
“You overestimate her power. There are those who can stop her, Kalian. Not even the UnSeelie Court would see her in power.”
“Just let me take her back. One time, Torin. So she can choose for herself. She needs to see where she came from. Maybe…” Kalian said.
Torin snorted. “Lead her straight to Katrina? That is a brilliant plan, gargoyle.”
“So distract Katrina then!” Kalian shouted. “Meri needs to see for herself. It needs to be her choice.”
“She made her choice,” Torin snarled.
A choice I didn't even remember. I wanted to get away from it all, from the arguing, from the danger, from the wings on my back. Before I knew it, I was there at the door. One second I had been laying on the floor, the next my hand had wrapped around the knob. It turned this time.
“Meri!” they both yelled but it was too late.
I threw the deadbolt and was out the door faster than I could blink. Up I ran, bursting through the roof access door and inhaling huge lungfuls of cool night air in just a second.
How the hell had I gotten there so fast?
The sound of Kalian's wings reached me before he rose over the ledge to my left. Torin burst through the door and yelled for me to come inside.
“No,” I shouted back at him. “This is crazy. I don't want any of this. I don't want to see some place I've never heard of and I don't want to stay locked in your apartment for the rest of my life. Make it all stop and just go away, both of you!”
“Mer, come inside. We can discuss it in safety. I can't cloak this entire building.” Torin's head whipped around and he darted to the edge. “Shit, it's too late. The Horde has scented her.”
Howls and growling filled the air and the sound of scratching drowned out every other noise. Like a dog's claws on the sidewalk.
Or against the side of a brick building.
Goosebumps exploded over my skin. They were here already? Torin warned me they would come. He wasn't kidding.
“I'll go back inside,” I stammered.
“It's too late.” Torin put himself between me and the edge of the building. Behind him came the bone chilling howls.
“I can take her,” Kalian said, landing next to me with a ground shaking thump.
Torin turned and looked at me, then back over the side. “I can cloak her long enough for you to get her away from here. I will meet you at the Gate. If I'm not there in ten minutes, go back without me. You better damned well protect her with your life, Guard.”
Kalian's huge arms wrapped around my waist from behind and I struggled against him. “What's happening? Torin, what are you doing?”
“Trying to keep you alive.”
He was suddenly in front of me. His hands cupped my face and his expression turned ferociously protective. I had seen this look once or twice before and it still made my gut clench with a kind of hope someone like me doesn't deserve.
“You are my heart, Mer, and I will keep you safe. I promised you that years ago. This may have all been a mistake, but somehow we'll figure it out. Stay safe until I find you. Stay alive.” His lips covered mine in a tender kiss, but before I could register his words, he was gone, back at the edge.
“Go,” he shouted at the same moment I screamed No.
Kalian lifted off the roof just as the first wave of monsters crested. Shadowy figures lunged at Torin and I watched in horror as they knocked him to the ground. More grotesque shadows poured onto the rooftop as screams and howls of frustration filled the air. They were out of a nightmare; yellow eyes, teeth bared, like a hideous cross between a demon and a wolf and a shadow.
I buried my face against Kalian's neck and fought the terror turning my insides out. What had I done? There was no way Torin could survive that, not outnumbered hundreds to one like he was. The sob flew past my lips and tears flowed over my cheeks. It was my fault. I should have listened. Should have stayed in his apartment like he told me to. Now…now he was gone.
The steady
beat of Kalian's wings drowned out my cries, and my fingers dug into his rough coat.
He lifted higher into the sky but I could still make out the buildings below. The cars and stop lights and darkness racing along, keeping pace with our flight. The Hounds were right below us. How did no one hear the terrifying sounds they made?
“Hold on,” Kalian said right before he dipped and started to fall toward the ground.
A scream lodged in my throat.
“We won't have ten minutes to wait,” he ground out. “We have to move fast.”
“Where?”
I barely noticed when the pounding stopped and solid ground appeared under my feet. We touched down amid trees and concrete pathways. To my right I saw the arch. My arch. Kalian had brought me back to Central Park.
Suddenly he stilled and raised his head, sniffing at the air. I tensed with him. Had the monsters found us then? Or was it Torin? Hope leapt in my chest and my eyes strained for signs of movement in the darkness beyond. The patter of small feet sounded overloud in the still air and I stepped closer to Kalian. He didn't seem nervous as he stood there waiting.
“Hello, Merlin,” Kalian said as the same small dog from the Outskirts came into view.
“Kalian,” it said.
The air around it shimmered and with each step it took, it grew. Standing on its back legs, it started to look more human than dog. Suddenly, as if a curtain shifted, a woman stood before me.
“Ms. Merlin?” I asked. My social worker was a…dog?
“Meri.” She nodded and that was it. No explanation or apology. She turned to Kalian and asked what the plan was now.
I stared at her in stunned silence. My social worker was a dog? Or a dog was my social worker. Either way it was too fantastic to believe. Kalian motioned towards where I stood in silent consternation, and Ms. Merlin turned.
“This must be a bit of a shock, Meri. I was tasked with keeping an eye on you, from afar obviously. I couldn't interfere, just observe in a consultant capacity.”
What? My jaw dropped open, but I couldn't find the words. She was one of them too? Even though I had just watched her morph from a dog into a human, I still couldn't quite believe it.
“You've known about this all along?” My voice finally came back only it sounded like a frog croaking.
“Of course. Having the remaining member of the Summer Court unaccounted for would have been unwise. Rest assured your location was a very closely guarded secret. There were only three of us on this side who knew the truth.”
Kalian growled.
“Oh hush, Guard. It was what she wanted.”
“What about the rest of us?”
Ms. Merlin shrugged. “Not my concern.”
Kalian took a menacing step toward the woman who, to her credit, didn't back down an inch despite a huge stone beast hulking over her.
“I should step on you like a bug.”
Ms. Merlin took a step closer. “Try it, Guard.”
Their standoff lasted a few seconds, until they both tensed. Kalian lifted his head and looked past me into the darkness. A chill rippled over me as he swung his head suddenly to the left and a low rumble erupted from his throat.
“We must go now.”
I looked at the blackness coming to life, wisps curling outward along the ground towards us. Ms. Merlin sank back into her dog form and stood between me and the shadows, her growls of warning echoing in the stillness.
“Come, we have no choice. We must cross over now. Torin…he will find us later.”
I heard the hesitation, the unspoken concern in his voice. My throat tightened and I fought back tears. I refused to believe that Torin was gone, that I would never see him again. He was magical, surely that meant he could have escaped those things that attacked.
“They weren't after him. As soon as we were gone, they left the roof. He'll know where to find you, but we have to hurry.”
When I hesitated he stepped closer.
“He's a dark elf, Meri. A Royal. The Hounds would not kill him and he knew it.”
His head snapped up, and he looked over my shoulder. The back of my neck prickled.
“But we have to cross over now. Please.”
Kalian moved towards the arch and the air beneath it shimmered, shifted somehow. I stared, fascinated by the colors that seemed to sway in the nothingness beyond. Something thrilled to life in my veins, a tense expectation that made my muscles bunch as if I were getting ready for a race.
A feeling that made me want to turn around and run away as fast as I possibly could.
As if sensing my intentions, Kalian wrapped a large claw around my arm and firmly led me through the veil. The air moved, swirling around us in luminous blues and greens and reds. Sweet aromas wafted into my lungs—jasmine, vanilla, lilac, grass, clean air.
Pangs of nostalgia pierced my chest, and I yearned to remember why this was all so familiar.
When we finally broke through to the other side, another world spread out before us, a scene right out of some fantastic fairy tale book. Bright sunlight bathed everything in a golden glow.
We were in a meadow, a mirror image of the one in the park only the flowers here were alive with colors I had no name for, bright, multicolored masterpieces. Mountains rose in the distance, snow-capped peaks bright against the brilliant blue sky. A nearby pond sparkled as if it were covered in a million tiny diamonds.
It completely took my breath away.
When I turned to ask Kalian where we were, the words died on my lips. I blinked several times, afraid my eyes were playing some sort of trick on me. But then he smiled and I looked into his blue eyes and knew it was no trick of the lighting here.
It was him.
“Kalian?”
He bowed in fluid elegance.
“Princess Merigold.”
My hand lifted when he stood upright and I traced my fingers along his cheek—his flesh and blood skin. Something in his eyes shimmered, turning the blue to a brilliant periwinkle color. A faint blush colored his angled jaw.
“You're…” I couldn't even find the words to describe him.
He was so beautiful my chest hurt.
Where the gargoyle had been now stood a warrior. His pale hair hung over broad shoulders that were uncovered and golden in the sunlight. His body was lithe and supple, reminding me of a mountain lion I once saw at the zoo. Green cloth hid just enough of him to keep my face from turning beet red.
When he smiled and stretched, his wings spread out behind him, shimmery green and gold and blue that sparkled when they caught the sunlight. A faint sigh of relief escaped from between his lips. I couldn't look away. His muscles rippled as he opened his arms and tilted his head back, soaking in the warmth of the sun.
I couldn't speak. Couldn't think. This exquisiteness had been covered up with drab stone all this time? I suddenly felt like the gargoyle here, out-of-place and ugly.
I was dirty.
This place was pristine.
“Meri,” he said, concern filling his voice when he looked at me.
Unbidden tears burned my eyes. Kalian wrapped his arms around me and lifted me up as though I weighed nothing. He felt so real now, so flesh and blood. So…alive. A connection , as if I finally found where I was meant to be, sprang up between us.
“I…I don't belong here. Everything is so perfect. And I'm…not. The monsters will come here and destroy everything because of me.”
The last word came out as a sob. The pain and regret in his eyes was my undoing. I haven't cried in so long, but the tears came; years and years of effort to hold them back broke loose. I finally cried for the little girl I couldn't remember, for the parents I never had. I even cried for myself, letting the despair I'd held in so long roll out in waves of grief. It doubled me over until I couldn't breathe, and Kalian sat there with me until I had nothing left inside me.
“Sometimes our souls need to be healed before we can move forward. Rest, Meri, you're safe now. I can protect you here for a short
time,” he said.
The comfort of his voice helped me relax and I leaned against him. His concern made a small crack in the wall of indifference I had surrounded myself with all my life. My eyes were heavy with exhaustion, and when he pulled my head to his chest, I didn't even try to keep them open. My wings spread and wrapped around me, us, and I slept in my kingdom, in my real home, for the first time in ten years.
Everything felt strangely right in that moment.
My dreams were filled with memories that danced just out of sight, and I awoke to the gurgling of water. For a moment I refused to open my eyes. What if it had all been just a dream? The scent of jasmine, or maybe lavender, reached my nose and I inhaled greedily. Images of flowers and birds filled my mind. And of Kalian.
God, he had been beautiful. So perfect.
I smiled in my half sleep stupor and stretched, my arms reaching up over my head. The lumpy mattress felt strangely soft this morning. When my fingers touched grass over my head, I wiggled them around in the cool wispy stalks. They were more real than I remembered ever feeling in a dream. I tugged a handful free and brought them to my nose, still refusing to open my eyes. The sharp tang of earth filled my lungs and it finally brought me fully awake.
It was the place in my dream.
Only it wasn't a dream.
“Good morning, Princess.”
The voice startled me and I was on my feet in a flash. My wings that had kept me warm fluttered in agitation, pulling at my shoulders in a very real reminder I was not dreaming.
“Kalian?” I asked.
Turning in a slow circle, I took in everything around me. The rolling green hills sparkled like emeralds, flowers splashing color here and there like a painting I had seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Monet.
The painting did nothing to capture the pure beauty possible.
This was real.
A stream to my left gurgled like a happy baby, alive with tiny rainbow fishes jumping up into the air and giggling at me. I shook my head. Fish… giggling?