by G. K. DeRosa
“Great, so it sounds like a desert inhabited by felons,” said Nico.
“That does sum it up fairly well,” said Stellan as he slowly descended the staircase.
“So how do we get in?” asked Celeste.
“That’s going to be the difficult part,” said Stellan. “As Marie mentioned, the entrance of Xeria is heavily guarded by the Queen’s soldiers and as there is no magic there, I can’t create a portal to get us in.”
“Will we be able to use magic once we are in?” asked Celeste.
“Maybe, but it’s unreliable at best.”
“And I won’t be able to use fairy magic at all,” said Marie with a pout.
“Maybe you shouldn’t go then,” offered Brian.
Marie shot him a nasty glare. “I need to get them into Fae. I’m the only one that can lead them around inconspicuously once we’re there.” Brian turned away from her with a look of defeat.
“I’ve been giving it some thought,” said Stellan, taking center stage, “and as the Council does not wish to intercede on our behalf with the Queen, I have decided to do so myself.”
“You will?” asked Celeste, shooting up from her seat.
“Yes. Ultimately, as Queen, she is responsible for what is happening in her territory. I will inform her that I have proof Brazen is hiding in Xeria and that we have been tasked by the Council to retrieve him.”
“What if she refuses to grant us entrance?” asked Roman, who had remained remarkably quiet throughout the discussion thus far.
Stellan shrugged. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“So now what—more waiting?” asked Celeste as she slumped back down in her seat.
Stellan gave her a wry smile. “It won’t take long. I’ve already requested an audience with the Queen’s royal administrator and I was assured a swift reply.”
“Great!” said Celeste.
“Once I leave, go tell Dante that we have confirmed Brazen’s location. I would like the Council to be aware of what I am attempting, but I don’t want to give them enough time to stop me.”
Nico stood up and patted Stellan on the back. “You sly old dog, you,” he said with a pleased chuckle.
***
Lilliana awoke in the middle of the night as a terrible fit of coughing wracked her body. She struggled for a breath of air in between the hacking coughs. She gagged as the thick phlegm blocked her airway, making it nearly impossible to breathe. Reaching to her nightstand for a tissue, she coughed into it and her heart sped up as she pulled the tissue away from her mouth and saw its contents. Bright red blood covered the thin paper and seeped onto her hand. She quickly crumbled it up and tossed it into the trash can. Vampires didn’t get sick, but now that she had been resurrected she had been brought back as a semi-mortal—a witch. Even as a witch, she should not have been susceptible to human illnesses. And yet, for a time now, she knew that something was wrong with her.
Lilliana propped up a few pillows behind her back and sat up in the bed, hoping to alleviate the dreaded cough. She closed her eyes and attempted to fall back asleep when she heard the faint sound of the front door opening. She strained to hear more in the silence that pervaded the dark house. Seconds later, she heard soft footsteps on the staircase and then in the corridor.
For a moment, she was seized by panic, thinking that an intruder had broken into their home. She readied herself to fight if necessary when she heard the footsteps fall away in the direction of Alek’s room. Pushing herself up off the bed, she tiptoed to her door and listened. Nothing. Ever so carefully, she twisted the doorknob and peeked into the hallway. She saw a light outlining Alek’s door, but heard no more unusual sounds. She closed the door and locked it, then crept back to bed. As she arranged the pillows to her liking and pulled the covers up to her chin, she glanced at the clock over the door. It was just past 3:00 a.m. Where had Alek been at this hour?
Lilliana had felt that Alek had been behaving strangely lately—much more distant and withdrawn. At first she attributed it to the visit of her other sons, but as the strange behavior continued, the more worried she became. More than that, she longed to be with Roman and Nico. She wished more than anything to be able to spend more than just an afternoon with them. Just then, another cough tore through her body, sending her hands to cover her mouth reflexively. As she drew them back, she saw more blood. First the fainting spells and now this. As much as she didn’t want to face it, she needed someone to examine her. She didn’t want Alek to know anything about this and certainly not Roman and Nico. There was only one other person she trusted.
***
The lush halls outside the Queen’s chamber of the royal palace were in full bloom, with vibrant flowers decorating every inch of the sprawling space. Stellan sat admiring the natural beauty as he waited for his audience with Elsbetta. He impatiently twirled the growing vine of sweet smelling gardenia climbing up the chair on which he was seated as the minutes ticked by. Finally, a young girl with translucent neon green wings appeared in the hall and beckoned him toward an elaborate door in the far corner.
Stellan hurried across the room as the heavy door creaked slowly open to reveal a muscular guard on the other side. He was a towering beast of a fairy, making even Stellan’s tall, wiry figure appear small in comparison. The sentry scowled at Stellan as he snaked past him. Padding through the grass-covered center aisle of the elongated room, Stellan finally saw the figure of the Queen seated atop her lavish golden throne.
“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Elsbetta,” he said, bending his head in a regal bow. He stopped just short of the pointed end of two spears manned by two more husky guards who glared suspiciously at him.
“Of course,” she answered sweetly, the words rolling off her tongue like honey. “It isn’t often that the great sorcerer Stellan requests an audience with the Queen of the Fae. I imagine this is a rather urgent matter.”
Stellan’s mouth twisted into a wry smile at Elsbetta’s use of “Queen.” He had purposely called her by her given name to establish dominance, and it hadn’t gone unnoticed. “In fact, it is extremely urgent,” he continued. “I am sure that you are aware that Brazen has escaped from Astor?”
“Yes, I did hear that,” she said, running her hand through her cascading snow-white hair. “What of it?”
“I was able to locate him through a tracking spell, and I hate to be the one to inform you that he has been found in Fae territory.”
The Queen’s cold eyes narrowed. “That’s impossible. My land is impenetrable without a pre-arranged invitation.”
Stellan paused, considering how to continue. Bringing up her errant daughter, Astrid, would likely only upset her more and Stellan needed the Queen on his side. “That’s what we believed to be true of Astor as well. Unfortunately, we were proven wrong.”
Elsbetta plucked a single white rose from her throne and delicately caressed its petals as she contemplated a response. “Let’s say he did manage to get in undetected. What are you proposing?”
“I would send Celeste Wilder, the Guardian, along with a team to retrieve him.”
“Like you did last time without my permission?” she hissed.
“And I have apologized many times before for the intrusion, but there was no time to arrange an audience with you. I did what had to be done to apprehend the werewolf.”
“And my daughter,” she said with a twist of her pale lips.
Stellan let out a long sigh. “It is a shame that she was caught up in the matter.”
“I can assure you that she has had nothing to do with his escape,” she stated vehemently, her eyes ablaze.
“Of course not.”
“And where is it that you believe Brazen is hiding out?”
“I have tracked him to Xeria.”
The Queen’s face paled. She ripped a few delicate petals from the rose she held and tossed them to the floor. “I don’t believe it would be in the best interest of the Fae to allow a Guardian and her ‘tea
m’ of vampires to invade our lands. Xeria is heavily guarded, and surely my men will be able to locate him if he is in fact there.”
Stellan grimaced. This was exactly why he had avoided asking her permission the first time around. Now he would be forced to purposely disobey her orders. “I apologize, Elsbetta, but I do disagree with your decision and ask you to reconsider. Celeste is the only one who will be able to defeat Brazen in his current immortal state.” Stellan refused to divulge the immortality-stripping potion as their secret weapon.
“Are you questioning the ability of the Queen’s guard?”
“Frankly, yes I am.”
Elsbetta shot up from her thrown, flinging what remained of the rose to the ground as she squared her shoulders to face Stellan. The guards on either side of her were on full alert, muscles twitching in anticipation of a fight. “Be careful Stellan. I am not someone you want to cross,” she threatened, just inches from his passive face.
“Nor am I,” he responded through gritted teeth.
“Guards, please escort my guest off of Fae lands immediately,” she shouted as she took a step back, standing tall in front of her throne. The two men on either side of her lurched forward in unison.
“Just one more thing,” said Stellan, waving his finger in the air and stopping the guards dead in their tracks. “I’ve always wanted to know, what did Fabian offer you in exchange for concealing his son Alek in Fae for so many years? It must have been a rather sweet arrangement.”
Elsbetta’s frosty eyes shot daggers at Stellan as she clenched her perfect white teeth angrily. She said nothing.
“Hmmph… That’s what I thought,” said Stellan as he spun around and marched out the door.
***
“Celeste, I hope you had better luck with the Council than I did with the Queen,” said Stellan. In a bright flash, he had reappeared in the living room of his home to find everyone else sitting around Celeste.
“I just got back,” she said. “I was about to give them an update.”
Roman saw the grim expression on Stellan’s face and frowned. “Let me guess, the Queen didn’t take well to your idea of storming Xeria in search of Brazen.”
“No, not at all,” admitted Stellan as he took a seat in front of the sooty fireplace.
“That’s not good,” interjected Celeste. “The Council’s blessing was contingent upon the Queen’s approval.”
Stellan sighed and pushed his horn-rimmed glasses further up his nose. “Balthazar is simply trying to keep his hands clean as official envoy to the Fae. When it comes down to it, Dante will approve of whatever it takes to kill Brazen.”
“Are you sure?” asked Celeste. “I don’t want to start some sort of supernatural war between the Guardians and the Fae.”
“Or the werewolves,” interjected Brennan.
“Trust me, Elsbetta would never be so rash. I am, however, fairly certain that she is covering for Astrid.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Roman.
“There was something in her eyes when I mentioned Xeria,” explained Stellan. “Her frigid mask dropped for a millisecond and I could tell she was hiding something. She knows very well that Astrid is behind this and she’s trying to protect her.”
“So what’s the plan?” asked Marco.
Stellan looked over at Marie. “I’m afraid we are going to need your help again.”
“Of course,” answered Marie, nodding eagerly.
“I’m sure that the Queen will send more guards to Xeria simply to keep up the pretense that she’s doing all she can do to find Brazen. This will only make things more difficult for us.” Stellan paused to consider the best strategy. “Marie, can you lead us to Xeria undetected?”
“Yes, no problem.”
“Getting through the guards will be the hard part, but I think I can get you all past them with a cloaking spell,” he said then continued muttering to himself. He began walking toward the staircase, then turned back as if suddenly remembering everyone was still there. “I have a few things to prepare before we go. Be ready in half an hour.”
They all nodded as he rushed up the stairs, his bright blue robe flowing behind him.
Marie stood up and turned to face the others seated on the couch and around the room. “So I know this is totally off topic, but I figured since we were all together in one place I’d mention it now. Our end of the year dance is next week, and I thought it would be fun to go together.”
Celeste’s mouth dropped open as she pushed down a fit of hysterical laughter. Marie couldn’t be serious, bringing this up right now.
“Yeah sure, why not?” said Nico. “If none of us dies trying to find Brazen, we should go out and celebrate.” Roman and Marco nodded too.
“I’m starting there for the summer session, so maybe they’d let me go,” said Brennan. “And I’m always up for a party.”
“Are you guys serious right now?” asked Celeste. Apparently she was the only one that remembered what happened at the last dance they attended. Natalie had died.
“It’s kind of become our thing, Celeste,” said Brian with a shrug. “We get all dressed up, we go to a dance and we try not to get killed or kidnapped in the process.”
“But Natalie—”
Nico put his hand on Celeste’s shoulder and squeezed. “Natalie would never forgive us if we didn’t go.”
Celeste turned and looked into Nico’s dark eyes, eyes so similar in their intensity to Roman’s only a different color. He had been so strong since Natalie’s death, and yet there was no denying that the old sparkle was missing. In that moment, she realized she wasn’t the only one still grieving. “Okay,” she said as she slumped back down on the couch.
Roman patted her back, rubbing small circles with his thumb and gave her a warm smile. “Let’s try and focus on Brazen for today and then we can start planning for the dance tomorrow, okay?”
Marie nodded and a shade of a smile crossed her lightly freckled face as the group dispersed to prepare for the trip back into Fae.
Celeste walked out onto the back porch for a breath of fresh air. As confident as she had tried to appear in front of everyone, she was starting to feel a bit apprehensive about facing Brazen again. It was because of him that she had been pushed to the edge and the darkness had crept in burrowing deep inside of her. She stared out into the peaceful forest and tried to focus on the sounds of the leaves rustling and the small creatures scurrying about the wooded ground. Taking a deep breath, she centered her mind and pushed out all the negativity with a deep exhale as Stellan had taught her.
Behind her, she heard the creaking of the back door swinging open. She turned half-expecting to see Roman, but was surprised to find Marco instead.
“Are you okay?” he asked. He was getting almost as good as Roman at detecting her moods and for some reason she didn’t like it.
“I’m fine,” she said as she turned back toward the serene scenery in front of her.
“You don’t have to be strong for me,” said Marco, walking up beside her. “I saw you fight the darkness for the last three months, remember?”
Celeste sighed in surrender. “It’s not just Brazen. I’m stuck on something Alek said when we were in Rome. It’s causing all of these angry feelings to bubble up inside.”
“About who was responsible for your dad’s death?”
“Yes, how did you know?” she asked, whipping her head around.
“Stellan told me. He was worried about how it would affect you too.”
Celeste could feel a lump forming in her throat, and she didn’t know if she wanted to cry or scream. Marco put his arm around her shoulder and she let her head drop against his chest. She hadn’t realized how much she had come to rely on Marco for support. She was still mad at him for lying to her about the ridiculous marriage contract, but she pushed it aside for now.
The sound of Roman clearing his throat behind them made her jump, and she quickly wriggled out from under Marco’s arm. “I just came out to check
on you,” he said, his voice strained.
“I needed some fresh air.”
“Can we talk for a second?” he asked, holding his hand out for her to take and motioning toward the woods.
“Sure.”
“I’ll see you guys back inside,” said Marco as he turned away.
As soon as they were under cover of the dense tree line, Roman stopped and pivoted toward her. His bright blue eyes were clouded and unreadable. “What’s going on with you and Marco? You’ve both been acting weird since Rome. I thought it was just me being irrationally jealous, but every time I catch you two in a room together you both get silent.”
Celeste closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his chest. “I’m sorry. I know I owe you an explanation. I just hadn’t found the right time yet.”
Roman scanned the forest around them and lifted up her chin with his finger to look her directly in the eyes. “It’s just the two of us now. Please tell me.”
“I don’t know if it’s a conversation we should be having before going into a major battle with Brazen.”
“Oh, so it’s that bad, huh?” he asked, taking a step back.
“No,” she replied, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward her, “it’s just complicated.”
“Well, there’s nothing like going into a fight with something like this hanging over my head,” he grumbled.
Celeste looked up into his eyes, and she knew he was right. She had to tell him the truth. She took a deep breath and began. “When we were in Rome I found out the real reason why Mr. Caccia has been so helpful since we met him.”
Roman arched a suspicious brow.
“I feel like you should be sitting down for this,” she said pausing.
“Spit it out, Celeste.”
She nervously twirled the promise ring around her finger. “Well, apparently my grandpa and Marco’s dad made an agreement years ago that when we were of age, Marco and I would get married.”