Unchained Hearts

by Ash Night

  “I can help bring a tree back to life if it isn’t completely dead, but that’s about the extent of my earth magic. As for winter magic, that’s my worst type.”

  “Ha! I am better than you at something!” Liam gloated.

  Cam pressed his lips into a thin line. “I was born in the north, idiot. We have no need for winter magic. It’s all around us.”

  His grin grew wider. “I was born in the north, too.”

  Leaning back, Cam crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, aren’t you just the anomaly.”

  “Anoma-what?

  I sighed when he looked at me for clarification. I knew the explanation would just piss him off but decided to answer anyway. “Anomaly means not normal.”

  He growled. “You’re an anoma-whatever, too.”

  Cam smirked. “Oh, I know, Snowflake.”

  Sighing again, I popped a snowsweet berry in my mouth, letting the flavor distract me from their arguing. At least they were talking. It was a bit of an improvement.

  A sharp snap to my left caught my attention. It sounded like someone had just snapped more than a few trees in half like they were toothpicks. I shot a glare at the boys, but they were both tense, looking in the direction of the sound. They hadn’t caused it. Something else had. And that something was big.

  The smell hit me before anything else. Rotting garbage mixed with sewer water. It was enough to made me gag. I was afraid of it getting any closer simply because of the stench alone.

  “I smell Fae blood! Where are you, little Faeries? I thirst for your blood and hunger for your bones!”

  The thing, whatever it was, was getting closer. The ground shook as it approached. I scanned the tree line, but I couldn’t see it. My heart pounded in my ears as I searched wildly. Every nerve in my body was telling me to flee.

  Liam stepped in front of me, calming me a little. I was grateful for his protection. Cam was perched on a rock, his teeth bared, every muscle taut as a bowstring. Ever the fighter, his magic fanned out like the brightest flame.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, the thing literally broke through the trees. Hundreds of broken trunks lay in the monster’s wake. I doubled over as the smell hit me, willing the contents of my stomach to stay down.

  The monster was a Cyclops. I’d seen a picture of the beasts in a book once. The picture did not do it justice. The Cyclops had leathery green skin, one red eye in the middle of its forehead, and it wore a brown cloth to cover its lower half. The cloth was so big that it had to have been stitched from generations of grizzle bears.

  I’d come face to face with a grizzle bear only once in my life, and those things were ferocious. It could easily rip a whole village apart. How strong, then, was this Cyclops?

  For as big as it was, its brain, at least, appeared small. Slack-jawed, drool poured from its mouth in big, fat drops and its one-eyed gaze didn’t scream intelligence.

  “Yum! I can’t wait to feast!” it roared.

  Dizzy, my eyes stung from the harsh order of the thing’s putrid breath. My nose burned. Rotten warblendriver eggs and curdled goat milk. With just a hint of decaying flesh.

  “Come and get me, you big, ugly bastard!” Cam snarled as he leapt from the rock, a brightly-colored scarf wrapped firmly around his mouth and nose like a makeshift gas mask.

  Liam had his arm covering his face. “Serena, go find cover.”

  “No, I—”

  “I wasn’t asking, dammit!” he shouted.

  Taken aback, I simply nodded and scurried up a nearby willowwind tree to watch the fight from the safety of the droopy, curtain-like leaves.

  Cam struck the Cyclops several times with quick bursts of flame while Liam focused on freezing its feet. Like an angry child, it roared and stomped its feet, eager to squash Liam like a bug. Because its feet were the size of small buildings, Liam had to scramble to get out of the way and, at last, resorted to climbing a tree. The exhaustion on his face was clear. Using magic was one thing, but running around like a maniac while using magic was another thing entirely.

  Liam wasn’t skilled enough. He needed help. As I started to make my way down the willowwind, Cam’s voice rang out, powerful as a raging forest fire.

  “Incendium!”

  I could feel the heat from his fingertips from all the way over in my safe perch in the tree.

  The Cyclops screamed in pain, a high-pitched shriek, as it was essentially cooked alive. I nearly felt sorry for it. The scent of burning flesh hit my nose and bile rose in my throat. Even in death, it smelled disgusting.

  “Serena, are you okay?” Liam asked, resting a hand on my shoulder.

  “Yeah, you?”

  He grinned. “Of course!”

  An earth-shattering boom caused the tree we were in to shake. For a split second, I was weightless as I fell myself falling backwards. A scream tore its way out of my throat as I helplessly grabbed at the air.

  Closing my eyes, I waited to hear the sound of my back splintering into a thousand pieces. I hit something, but it wasn’t the ground. It was water.

  Rushing to the surface, I sucked in a lungful of air. I was swimming in what I could only describe as a glob of water. It was normal water as far as I could tell, but, somehow, it was holding its mattress-like shape despite not being in a container. Nervous laughter bubbled out of me.

  Liam sighed. “Thank the Goddess!”

  “Did you do this?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah, sorry for almost drowning you. I saw you fall and I panicked.”

  The water pooled around my feet, finally formless, as I stood up. “It’s okay. Thanks.”

  The cooked Cyclops lay on the ground, smoldering. Cam was sitting with his back against a rock, eyes closed as if he were in pain. I rushed over and knelt beside him.

  “Cam, that was amazing! Are you okay?”

  He slowly opened his eyes, but it took a while for them to focus. “I’m fine, Sunshine. I heard you scream. Are you all right?”

  “Oh, that.” Another blush lit up my face. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just fell out of a tree when the Cyclops fell.”

  “Dammit…”

  Confused, I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “If I didn’t have these damn cuffs, I’d have been able to burn the beast to ash before it hit the ground, and you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

  “I told you, I’m fine. Liam was able to soften my landing.”

  “So…Snowflake is good for something after all.” His chuckle lacked power. “But, damn, did it feel good to pull off a powerful spell again.”

  “Show me your wrists,” I demanded, trying my best to put on the most serious Mom face I could muster.

  Unfortunately, like everything else I did, it just seemed to amuse him greatly. “No,” he said, his arms crossed like a stubborn child.

  I sighed. “You are a hopeless bastard.”

  He laughed. “You still love me.”

  “Do not.”

  “Do too.”

  “Fuck you, Crossfire,”

  “Yes, please, Sunshine!”

  Disgusted, I threw up my hands and walked over to examine the Cyclops, pinching my nose tight. Liam stood beside me. “I wonder if its edible,”

  “What? Why in the world would you want to eat that?”

  “It’s technically meat.”

  “It stinks, though.”

  “So does warblendriver meat, but they’re delicious!”

  “You’re hopeless too.”

  Liam shrugged. “Eh, I already knew that.” He speared a piece of the Cyclops’ flesh and, with a grunt, he was able to slice off a piece and promptly bite into it. My urge to vomit was back.

  “So?” I asked, unsure if I really wanted to know the answer.

  He grinned. “It’s tough, but the flavor isn’t all that bad. Definitely not the worst thing I’ve ever eaten.”

  “I’d say that shoe Decker made you eat on Friendship Day was the worst. I still can’t believe you did that!”

  “H
e dared me. I made fifteen silver for that. That’s more than I was making at my job helping Mr. Jennings find his teeth when he lost them in his house.”

  “That man was a hoarder. I’ve never seen so much stuff in one place, aside from maybe a junkyard!”

  “It took four hours, and he only gave me three copper!”

  My shoulders shook with laughter. “That’s not worse than eating a shoe…”

  “Yes!”

  “Who ate a shoe?” Cam asked, sauntering over. He raised an eyebrow at me. “You won’t eat meat, but you’ll eat that? Hope it was washed.”

  “It wasn’t me!” I pointed to Liam, who was doubled over laughing. “It was him. We were ten and this druid dared him.”

  “Did you at least bet money?”

  I stared at both of then, dumbfounded. So, did all boys think this way? It wasn’t just Liam? Seriously, I knew guys were different, but we may have well been born on different planets.

  They just carried on laughing at me. Guess they were back to talking to each other. A pang of jealousy hit me as I watched them. I suddenly wished I had a female friend in my life I could commiserate with. Maybe, with any luck, I’d find a girl crazy enough to join us.

  All this testosterone had to be bad for my health.

  “I hurt a dear friend of mine. Really badly. I didn’t mean to, but it happened, and I can’t take it back.”

  We were sitting around the fire when Cam spoke, He’d been silent for most of the day, so this was unexpected.

  Neither Liam or I spoke. We simply looked at him, waiting for him to continue. Cam looked pained, the same look he wore when Liam slammed him against the tree.

  He gazed into the fire. “My friend Sera came with me to meet a few older boys. Told me she didn’t want me fighting them alone in case I got hurt. She knew better. I never got hurt. But still, she insisted. We met up with the boys. They were all Sealbreakers and wanted to test their skills against someone who had had magic all their life.”

  That cocky grin was back for an instant, but then it was gone.

  “Of course, I was better than them. I’m the best. They got mad. Said I cheated. I didn’t cheat. I never cheat. And then…” Cam took a shaky breath, balling his hands into fists to try and stop them from trembling. “They attacked her. She still had her Seal, had never hurt anyone in her life. I fought off as many as I could. I’d gotten so angry…”

  He paused. My heartrate had tripled since his story began. I was too worried about interrupting him that I kept silent despite all the questions burning on my tongue.

  “I heard her scream, and then that was it. Flames exploded from me like I was a bomb that had gone off. When I looked around, most of the boys were dead, a few had run off, but Sera…Oh Goddess… She was alive, but… Half her face had been badly burned.”

  “You didn’t do it on purpose, Cam. You were trying to protect her,” I replied, reaching for his hand. He flinched away, looking at the thin white line on my hand. Dammit, I needed to cover that damn thing up.

  “You don’t get it, Serena. I hurt her and I can’t fix it. I can’t ever forgive myself.”

  “Did she say anything to you?”

  He shook his head. “No. When the village guards were called, I was arrested, and she was taken to the healing center. Before they took her away, I could hear her screaming for them to let me go, that I hadn’t done anything wrong. What a laugh. I’d just killed five Fae and injured her. I’d done a multitude of things wrong.”

  “That’s when they put the cuffs on you?” Liam asked.

  He chuckled. “No, again. They let me rot in a cell for four days. No half sandwiches at noon this time. I heard Glinda and the others yelling at the guards posted outside the door. Before that day, I’d never heard her voice go louder than an excited shout. After being turned away, I thought that was the last time I would ever hear her voice. I almost wish it had been.

  “Four days later, after hearing the only mother I’ve ever known yell, scream, and cry at the guards to let her in, I was released from my pitch-black cell. The sunlight hurt my eyes like crazy, but I’d never been happier to see it. I was escorted into a room where I met the king.”

  “King Artemis?”

  Cam nodded. “Yeah. The bastard didn’t even have the balls to show up. He gave the orders through a damn telecommunicator.” His fists clenched, once again shaking. My heart leapt to my throat as I realized I felt his magic. His eyes narrowed.

  The fire that had been quietly crackling away shot upward. I jumped a foot in the air. Cam didn’t flinch, a low growl escaping his lips. Liam was at my side in an instant. He squeezed my shoulder, silencing me before I had the chance to ask why he was being so protective.

  “I’ll only say this once, Cuff Boy,” Liam said through gritted teeth. “Calm down.”

  “You’re the one who said his name!” Cam snarled, his face twisted into an animalistic rage. “I hate him! I…I hate him so much…” His rage vanished and, suddenly, he looked close to tears. “He doesn’t deserve to live after what he did next…”

  I brushed Liam’s hand away and rested my hand on Cam’s forearm. He flinched and looked up at me. “What did he do? It could help to talk about it.”

  He sighed. “He ordered Glinda to put these damned, cursed things on me. In front of everyone.”

  “That must’ve broken her heart… To be forced to…” I trailed off, unable to even imagine how that must have hurt her. Knowing she had inadvertently caused him so much pain.

  He nodded. “She put them on me. It was fairly difficult with how small she is, but, somehow, she managed. Then the king,” he spat the word, although he managed to stay marginally calmer this time, “activated them. All I felt was searing hot pain. It took everything in me not to pass out on the spot. I couldn’t. Not in front of everyone…”

  “Stubborn,” Liam muttered quietly. I elbowed him.

  “That was when they started chucking fruit at me. Creatures, ones I had known my entire life and ones I didn’t, yelled horrible things. Called me a murderer. A monster. Hell spawn was my personal favorite. Nice ring to it. I was led out to the forest by the village elder and the fucker, he laughed when I finally fell to my knees. Said I deserved to die for what I did. Spit on me before walking away.”

  “Master Cisco would be appalled by that behavior. The villagers were his children…” Liam said. I placed a hand over his shaking fist.

  Cam smiled. “You were lucky. To our village elder, the title merely meant he could treat the younger generation like dirt. We were all idiots in his eyes. Anyway, when I woke up two days later, I was surprised to see Glinda staring at me. Instead of abandoning me, she had stood by me…again.”

  “The king didn’t give the order to just kill you?” Liam asked. “I thought for sure he’d—”

  “No, he didn’t. I’m glad he didn’t because now I get the chance to beat his face in.”

  “Hell yeah, can’t wait.” Liam grinned.

  I smiled, glad they were getting along, even if it was over violence. I was just going to have to deal with the fact they were going to occasionally argue for no reason at all, but, at the end of the day, they were still friends. It seemed like an odd relationship to me, but it worked for them.

  Cam pulled me into a hug suddenly, pressing his face against my shoulder. “Thank you for putting up with me, Sunshine.”

  My breath caught in my throat. “You’re welcome.” Feeling his arms around me reminded me of our kiss. We still hadn’t talked about it. Was he avoiding talking about it in front of Liam? Would Liam care? Surely, my best friend would be happy for me. I really liked Cam. Or would he be jealous?

  Did I even like Liam that way? We’d known each other for a long time and he’d never seemed interested in me. Of course, Cam had definitely thought there was something between us. We’d have to talk too.

  The bigger question was, if they both had feelings for me, then what did I do?”

  Chapter Fifteen

&nb
sp; Cam ordered a coffee as soon as we got to the next inn a few days. He’d run out of his Calderdash coffee the morning before so he was a tiny bit irritable. I hadn’t had any since the first day I tried it. It was delicious, but I didn’t really like how it made me feel.

  “I hope we find a black market soon,” Liam said as he and I brought our stuff up to the room. “Cam is on edge.”

  “Yeah, he drinks a lot of coffee. I’m sure his body is just used to it.”

  “Serena, now that we’re alone, I have an important question to ask you.”

  My thoughts flashed back to last night. Was it about what he felt, or didn’t feel, about me? My heart thumped in my chest as I concentrated more than I needed to on the stairs. “Yea?”

  “Did you want to practice our magic later? We can find a lake or something. We can even go swimming later too.”

  I exhaled softly and smiled, looking up at him. “Sure, Li. I’d love that. Cam said he’d teach me, but he’s always so busy.”

  Liam chuckled. “I kinda want to steal one of his papers and see what he’s always scribbling.”

  I frowned. “I’m sure you could just ask him. We’re in this together. He wouldn’t keep secrets.”

  Shrugging, he opened the door to our room with a key. “All I’m saying is that stealing a peek would be a ton more fun.”

  I giggled. “Until he torches you.” He didn’t answer. His back was stiff and he was blocking the door. “Li, I was kidding. Don’t tell me you’re scared.”

  “Um, Roseheart, we have a problem.”

  “What?” I asked, shoving him to the side so I could enter the room. Oh, there was a problem all right. “I thought Cam paid for a room with three beds.”

  “So did I.”

  “What? Oh… I’ll go talk to Ester,” Cam said, raising an eyebrow, as he began to backtrack almost as quickly as he had entered the room.

  “No, it’s fine. Serena can bunk with me. Wouldn’t be the first time we shared a bed.”