by Mindy Hayes
“What’s Declan done this time to get your wings in a twist?”
She sighed and draped her arm across her forehead. “He won’t listen to me. If he would just listen to what I have to say, things would play out much more smoothly. I can help.”
I chuckled, but tried to play it off as a cough when Allura glared back at me.
“What exactly is it that you two couldn’t seem to agree upon this time?” Thankfully, Kai took the reigns of the conversation after seeing my inability to act normal.
“It’s as if he doesn’t think I know what it’s like to lose a father. He’s holding himself captive in his house and won’t let me in.”
“Maybe that’s because he doesn’t want to talk. Have you ever thought about that?” Kai folded his arms in a relaxed stance. How could he possibly be so relaxed?
“He doesn’t have to talk. I just don’t think he should be alone. It’s not healthy.”
“It’s only been a couple days, Allura. Let him be.”
“Hmph,” she breathed. “He’s never shut me out before.”
“There’s a first for everything,” Kai said dryly.
Allura turned on her stomach and peered over the armrest at us. “Will you go see if he’ll let you in?” she asked Kai. “Maybe he’ll talk to you.”
“Allura—”
“Please? Please, Kai?” Allura’s ocher eyes pled with him. I wouldn’t have been able to say no to her face. It was too sad and pitiful.
His face softened. I noticed there were only a few people in this world that could do that do him—his mom and his sisters. “Okay,” he relented. “But if he doesn’t let me in, I’m not pushing, and you’re not allowed to either. We’re going to let him come out on his own.”
“I can’t promise that,” she said with a shake of her head.
“At least give him a couple more days, Allura,” he bargained. “It won’t help to push him.”
“Fine,” she agreed begrudgingly. “Just go to him now. He needs someone. Please, Kai.”
He exhaled, and I literally saw his shoulders rise and fall as he did so. “I’ll be back.”
She sat up and watched him leave. “Thank you, Kai.”
He nodded before walking out. I could tell this was the last thing he wanted to do, but he was doing it anyway. For Allura.
“You must miss him.”
Allura lifted her eyebrows, questioning me.
“Your dad,” I clarified.
She shifted uncomfortably, sitting up on the couch, and I wished I could retract saying anything at all. It escaped me why I had said in the first place.
“Allura, I’m sorry if I overstepped in saying that. Kai doesn’t really talk much about your dad, but I know you all must miss him.”
A look of pain crossed her face before she met my eyes. “He’s probably too ashamed to talk about him.” The shame in her voice surprised me, and then she bit her tongue as if she had said too much.
I sat down beside her and waited for her to continue.
Allura nibbled on her bottom lip and dropped her eyes to the wood floor. “Our father was a good man, Calliope,” she said as if to convince herself as well as me, “but he made some bad choices during his life.”
“Kai said he died defending Faylinn, but I haven’t been able to get much else from him. He’s not really an open book.”
She exhaled deeply. “Our father was one of Favner’s top supporters before he took over Faylinn. I don’t think he knew what Favner actually stood for … but what he led my dad to believe made my father Favner’s right hand man.”
I felt sick. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.” My arms wrapped around my stomach, hoping to ease the nausea. “But why? Why did he support him? So many people died because of Favner.”
Allura kept her eyes on the ground and shook her head. “I don’t think he knew Favner was planning to kill your uncle, nor do I think he knew Favner was involved with all of the other deaths and disappearances. He didn’t know Favner would take away our freedom. But he believed in a more regulated system. There was a lot of play and not a lot of work and, my father felt it was important for everyone to pull their weight, and Favner was going to give us that.”
“My father took some liberties in the kingdom, placed doubt in minds that hadn’t picked sides yet and helped Favner take over Faylinn. He instigated a lot of dissention. He was fed lies and was stupid enough to believe them,” she spat. “I love him, but I also hate him for that. And I hate myself for feeling that way.”
I felt guilty for even bringing it up. It wasn’t her fault her dad was a lousy excuse for a faery. “I’m sorry, Allura. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
She shook her head. “You have every right to know. Once he saw what Favner really had planned, once he knew that he had made a mistake in supporting him, he tried to rectify it, and for that he was killed. He did die for Faylinn. It was simply too little too late.”
It suddenly made sense as to why Kai was always so hot and cold. He must feel guilty. That must be why he even agreed to guard me in the first place. The realization hurt. He didn’t do it because he cared.
He’s protected me out of obligation.
Chapter Nineteen
My head was beginning to pound as I continued to scour the scrolls and came up empty handed. How could there not be more material on the earliest bondings and why they felt this was the only way? Did anyone really know?
Kai shifting his position interrupted my concentration. He stared out the far window in the atrium window seat. He had to be so tired. Without Declan, he refused to leave my side. I could see the dark circles forming under his eyes. I didn’t know when he slept last. For all I knew, it hadn’t been since the Fallen ceremony. He was going to make himself sick.
We hadn’t spoken much since yesterday. When I opened my bedroom door this morning I was met by him. He didn’t say so much as a good morning before he gestured for me to head to breakfast, and that was basically how the rest of our day had gone.
“How’s Declan?” I quietly broke the silence.
Kai kept his gaze fixed out the window. “As good as one can be after losing their father.”
I nodded, debating carrying on the conversation. He obviously wasn’t in the mood for chit-chat. “Did he let you in?”
He paused before answering. “Yes, but he asked to be alone, as I knew he would,” he mumbled.
“Did he say anything else?”
Kai exhaled heavily, agitated. “He told me he would come out when he was ready. I believe him. He’ll be okay. He just needs a few days. I’m going to respect that,” he said brusquely.
“I know you’re right. I think Allura just needed that affirmation from her big brother.”
He snorted. “Yes, Allura is so concerned with my opinions.”
I knew I was wading into dangerous waters, but I went ahead anyway. “Kai, are you okay?”
His head fell back against the windowsill, and he groaned. Though I don’t think he meant for me to hear him. “Why wouldn’t I be okay, Calliope?” he muttered.
Did I dare say it? He hadn’t spoken a word willingly to me since we kind of kissed. It had been replaying over and over in my head. What had happened between us was probably forbidden. It wasn’t any different than what Raina and Brokk were hiding.
“You’ve just been a little more quiet than usual. And if I’m being frank, a little snippy.”
“Frank? Who’s frank?” He tilted his face to me.
“Open. If I’m being open and honest.” I attempted to stifle my chuckle.
“Then why would you be Frank? That doesn’t make sense at all. Why wouldn’t you just be Calliope? Calliope never filters her words.”
“Okay,” I snickered. “We’re getting off track here. I just want to know what’s going on with you.”
“Nothing. I’m fine. But we should probably discuss Tag and Jaryn.”
“Oh, that’s something I’ve been meaning to bring up. What’s going to happen to them?”
> “For trying to kill the Queen?” he scoffed, bringing his feet to the ground to face me. “They will be put to death.” He looked at me like, duh.
“They won’t even get a trial to plead their case?” Though I didn’t like the thought of two faeries who had tried to kill me set free, I liked the idea of them being put to death even less.
“They’ve been asked what their motive was, but they wouldn’t say. But that doesn’t matter. We caught them during the act. A trial isn’t really necessary, Calliope. Death is the consequence.” He said it so conclusively I couldn’t help but cringe.
“Can I talk to them?”
“You don’t have to try and prove anything. Just because you are Queen doesn’t mean you have to talk to them or even try to reason with them. It would probably be useless anyway.”
“I want to. Maybe I can get something out of them.”
“Yes, because brunt force and threats of death haven’t gotten us anywhere, of course a little chit-chat will solve everything. It’s not as if you’ll use your Supremacy. I know you won’t. Why do you think I haven’t bothered to bring you to them? It’s just going to put you in harm’s way.”
“So. They know they are going to die. Why would threatening them make them want to talk? I just want a few minutes with them. If I can’t get anything out of them, then we can do whatever is necessary. I know they weren’t acting alone.” I wanted to slap a hand over my mouth. I didn’t mean to say that last part.
“And how exactly do you know this?” He eyed me skeptically.
Though it didn’t pass my lips intentionally, I couldn’t get out of it now. I needed to tell him. And he was not going to be very happy. “A little while ago I heard Dahlia—at least I think it was Dahlia—talking with a few other girls about how there was a plan in place, about how I wouldn’t be a problem for much longer.”
“I’m sorry. What?” I didn’t need to repeat myself. He heard me. The glare in his eyes was enough to make me cringe. “Why did you keep this from us?” He stormed over to me. “You really do have a death wish, don’t you, Calliope?”
“No, I just didn’t want to add any more complications. Declan was already on high alert, and I knew if I told you guys, it would just cause more problems. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal at the time. I told Evan. I thought maybe he’d handle it.” Even if I told him not to. “There were other more important issues to take care of at the time.”
Kai opened his mouth like he wanted to tear me limb from limb, but he thought better of it and shut his mouth, shaking his head with a clenched jaw. “I’m going to pretend you never said anything because if Declan ever finds out you kept that from him, he just might kill you himself.”
I nodded, knowing he was probably right.
“I’m not going to let you go down there alone,” he insisted.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less, but I doubt either of them will want to talk to me with you lurking around.”
He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose. He was silent as he tried to calm himself. I thought about speaking up, but the look on his face was enough to keep me quiet.
“Fine,” he conceded.
Kai guided us down into the basement of the castle, through a long, dark corridor. It was so unlike everything else in Faylinn. There was hardly any green and definitely no color. The walls were stone and lined with cells secured by thick wooden doors. At the end of the corridor were two cells side by side. The top half of the doors had windows cut out. Where bars would normally be, teeth the size of a wooly mammoth replaced them.
“Tag and Jaryn are in the ones on the end,” Kai said. “Tag is on the left. Jaryn is on the right.”
Before I proceeded down the corridor, I asked, “Are they the only ones down here?”
He nodded. “We haven’t had a need for the cells since before Favner. Either they were put to death or disappeared.”
A shiver ran down my spine. “You can wait here. I’ll be fine.”
Kai looked at me disapprovingly, but agreed and walked until he was hidden in the rock stairwell.
Straightening my shoulders, I took a deep breath. I’ve got this. I marched down the dirt floors with a false confidence. I wouldn’t show them weakness. Once I reached the end, I peered into Jaryn’s cell first. Jaryn lounged on a makeshift straw bed overlaid with a thin brown blanket. His hands locked behind his head, his ankles crossed. He peered up at me as I watched him through the mammoth teeth and smirked. The mischief in his eyes churned my stomach. I decided then that I would talk to him as a last resort. Getting information out of him was going to require my Supremacy.
When I looked inside at Tag he sat on the straw bed against the stone wall with his knees pulled to his chest. He peered at me with vulnerability, but was attempting to remain composed and doing a poor job of it.
“These cells are smaller than I imagined,” I began. “You can’t be comfortable. It’s what … a seven-by-seven cell?”
He glared at me, but didn’t say a word.
“You know I might be able to help you, Tag. All you have to do is help me out in return.”
“I have no reason to help you,” he muttered.
“You know … I think you do. You see … as of right now, death is the only option on the table. I can take it off. It’ll just take a little something from you.”
He grunted and looked to the dirt floor, determination written across his face.
“Tag, I have a little leeway. After all, it wasn’t your hands around my neck and yet, you are being dealt the same consequence as Jaryn. Maybe if you tell me why or tell me if there are any others, we can work something out. Were you just trying to finish what Favner had started?”
He set his jaw, refusing to meet me in the eyes. This was going to take more than I thought.
“I heard Dahlia.” It was a shot in the dark, but one of them had to have some sort of connection to her. “She obviously knew there was some sort of plan in place. I could easily link her to you. It’s just a matter of time.”
“Don’t,” he bit off. “Just.” He sucked in a breath and stood up. “Just leave her out of this.”
I suppressed a smile. “I can as long as you give me a little bit of information. What do you gain from following along with this plan against me? It’s over for Jaryn, but I might be able to save you.”
“Favner knew if you were to take his place, you would be worthless. How could you possibly help? Human blood runs in your veins,” Tag snarled. “You can’t possibly be what this kingdom needs. Your powers are tainted.”
Something snapped inside of me. The insult hit me deeper every time someone used it. “Tainted? You think my Supremacy is tainted? Because I’m half human?” If only my Supremacy was tainted. I would never be forced to use it. I never would have been able to separate Raina and Brokk.
“You never use it. You clearly can’t. If you could, you would have forced the information out of us days ago. Why would we follow someone who obviously has no idea what she is doing? Nor has the true power to lead?”
“I was giving you all a choice,” I spat, losing my cool. “You don’t want a choice? You want me to show you my Supremacy? I’ll show you my Supremacy. Kai!” He shot in the hallway with a look of alarm and determination. When he saw I was fine he relaxed. Somewhat. “Let them out.”
“What?” he gasped, strutting toward me.
“I want you to let them out,” I instructed. “We’re going to go outside and have a little show.”
“Calliope,” his tone was a warning.
“What are they going to do, Kai? Try and kill me in front of everyone? It’s fine. Let them out. I want them and everyone else to see how tainted my powers are.”
Kai begrudgingly stalked forward and unlocked Jaryn’s cell. Jaryn walked out with his head held high. Before Kai could take hold of his hands he threw a punch that Kai caught just before striking his face and pulled his hand behind his back. “Oh, that was so unwise, Jaryn,” Kai hissed as he ti
ed his hands tightly together with vines, keeping his hands behind him where I could see them.
“Don’t even try, Tag,” I warned, letting a hint of Supremacy tangle with my words. If it meant the safety of Kai, I would use whatever powers necessary. Tag emerged from his cell looking a little less confident, but attempting to hide it. After they were both secure, we made our way through the castle and out into the meadow.
There were quite a few faeries out and about working and socializing, so I had picked a perfect time to make my demonstration. I hated that I had to prove myself at all, but at the same time, I knew they deserved it. They deserved to know the truth.
“Excuse me,” I announced at the top of the steps to get the attention of everyone close by. “If I could have everyone’s attention please.” One by one a silence fell across the three hundred or so faeries who were near. “It has come to my attention that a few of you might be a little concerned with my bloodline. That you might think my powers are tainted.” A few more faeries appeared from their houses and the trees when they heard my raised voice.
I turned to Kai and calmly asked, “Kai, will you cut Tag and Jaryn free please?”
He peered at me incredulously, gritting his teeth to keep from talking back to me in public, but he couldn’t help himself. “What are you doing,” he hissed under his breath.
“Trust me,” I whispered back. “I know what I’m doing.”
We held a staring contest for a few more seconds until he backed down. He grabbed the dagger from his ankle. After cutting them loose he brought them forward, front and center, so everyone who was present could see.
I looked out over the crowd and caught sight of Evan walking toward me from the far end of the meadow. He looked very concerned with this impromptu performance of sorts. He would stop this, so I had to do it now before it was too late. “I don’t think it’s right of me to make you question my abilities. I’ve tried playing nice, but clearly that isn’t what you’re used to.” I gestured to Tag and Jaryn. “Tag, Jaryn, I would like you to dance for us.”
Jaryn darted his face back to me. “Excuse me?”