Eighth Wand

by December Quinn

  He paused. This was all well and good, but he had a further confession to make. Perhaps he hadn’t forced her into sex, but he had done something else he shouldn’t have done. “I played with your aura.”

  “What?”

  “When we were…” He shook his head. Why did it seem so difficult to say? “Having sex” felt like such a facile description, but “making love”…that felt like an admission, one he wasn’t ready to make. “I manipulated your aura,” he said. “I called the mists, and I drove power into your energy. It altered your body’s reaction to stimulation.”

  “You got me off magically, is what you’re saying.”

  “Yes.” He couldn’t look at her. “I wanted you to feel what I felt, and I wasn’t really thinking clearly…I should not have done it.”

  “I saw you, you looked different,” she said. “It wasn’t bad, I mean, you looked good, but it was different.”

  “You saw the face of my power. Yours spiked and you saw mine. I should not have manipulated you.”

  “Royd, why are you so worried about this? So what? It’s no different from any of the other things you’ve done to me, is it? Really? The things we’ve done to each other?” The blush spread down her throat, to the tops of her breasts. It looked lovely.

  He did owe her one, didn’t he? For altering her responses? Of course he did.

  This time he did pull her close, drawing her down beside him on the bed, and pushing himself lower down. Her robe was only loosely tied around her waist. He tugged at the sash and opened it.

  “Royd, you can’t be feeling—”

  “I feel fine,” he said. “But I should repay the liberty I took, shouldn’t I?” He slipped his finger between her thighs, through the soft hair covering her pussy.

  Her eyelids fluttered. “You don’t have to repay anything.”

  “But I want to. Can I? Will you let me settle my debt of honor?” He leaned forward to kiss the top of her thigh. Her breath caught.

  “It’s really not necessary,” she said, but her legs parted ever-so slightly, just the same.

  “It’s necessary for me,” he whispered, and before she could speak again he slid his tongue down, between her lips, to where her clit nestled in her folds.

  She gasped above him, and her legs spread wider still, until he could climb between them. Her fingers played in his hair, pulling him closer, encouraging him to work deeper, to explore more completely.

  This he did, sighing against her wet skin as it swelled beneath him. He tasted every inch of her, stiffened his tongue so he could force it inside her and feel her squeeze him, then moved it back up to where he knew it would be most effective. Softly, quickly, he flicked it across her clit, setting as fast a pace as he could manage, stuttering his soft, wet tongue across her equally soft and wet pussy. His cock tingled with need, but he forced it from his mind. This was for Prudence. He’d promised to repay, and repay he would.

  Her hips moved, pushing upward, at the same time her fists clenched in his hair. He knew how badly she wanted him to press harder, to suck on her, and he did, determined to give her exactly what she needed.

  Her hard flesh vibrated between his teeth as he sucked it in, feeling it swell. Her voice, which had until that moment been simply a low sigh above him, grew louder, until she cried out in wordless pleasure, her hips raising off the bed as she came in a rush that tasted like honey and spice.

  He started to go again but she pulled him away. “No more,” she begged. “I don’t think I can take anymore, I feel like I’m drunk.”

  “Have I repaid my debt?”

  She nodded, her blue eyes sparkling. “Well and truly repaid. God, the things you do to me…”

  “You have done amazing things to me,” he whispered, raising himself on the bed so he could snuggle up beside her. He was still hard, but somehow the need to hold her, to talk to her, overcame any other need at that moment. “Things I didn’t know anyone could do.”

  “I didn’t know anyone could dance like that. What was it?”

  He laughed softly. “It was a very bad rendition of the Wynchruan Rue, a dance all children of the Fae are forced to learn.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it tells a story, one of the legends of our people. Do human children not do such things?”

  “We learn the Pledge of Allegiance. We do Christmas pageants. I guess it’s kind of the same thing. How old were you?”

  “It was my sixth summer.” He pulled away a little. “My teacher hated me—well, it wasn’t me, it was my family—and she used to hit my legs with a stick when I got a step wrong. The other children would laugh…but when the day came, I performed better than anyone else. I was determined to show them, you see.”

  She nodded. “I can understand that.”

  “I imagine you can, since it seems you’ve been doing the same thing all your life. Trying not to let them see how they hurt you.”

  “My feelings are my own business, not theirs.”

  “I thought that way once too…before.”

  “Before what?”

  “Before I met you, and realized I want to share them with you.”

  She was silent for so long he had to force himself not to pull away. He’d gone too far. She couldn’t possibly feel the way he felt, she couldn’t possibly have come to want him—to need him—the way he felt he needed her in such a short time.

  One day. It felt like a lifetime.

  And that one lifetime wasn’t enough, it could never be enough. He’d have to go upstairs soon and get the wand and he’d have three more days, that was all. Three days with the woman he thought he might want to spend his entire life with.

  Her words only made it worse. “What are we going to do, Royd?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t—” Wait a minute. He pulled away from her and sat up, so fast his vision went fuzzy for a moment.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “The glow is gone.”

  “What?”

  He turned to her, his eyes wide. This couldn’t be happening, this could not be happening. “The glow is gone, Pru. The wand’s glow.”

  “Maybe it just went out?”

  He shook his head. “The wand is gone.”

  * * * * *

  “The house isn’t glowing.”

  “They must have moved it.” Elden shifted on his feet. The bushes weren’t the most comfortable place for surveillance, but it had been the first he saw on arriving a few minutes before. There wasn’t time to search for a better one.

  “How do we know it is the right place? How do we even know the Radeuan Royd is in there?” Grenmaur’s pale face seemed to float beside him, for the dark cloaks they wore covered the rest of their bodies. The cloaks didn’t help their physical discomfort on the warm night, but they were necessary. Had they not been wearing them, chances were the Radeuan would already have smelled them or sensed their presence. The cloaks provided the strongest magical camouflage possible.

  “He did not leave.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I would have seen him,” Elden snapped. “We saw the woman leave, did we not? He is still there waiting for her. Stop questioning me, Grenmaur, or I’ll have your head impaled on the lamppost outside my house. The Radeuan is in there, he knows where the wand is and he will emerge later to go to the wand’s hiding place.”

  “But—”

  “I can smell him,” Elden said. “I can sense him. Don’t forget, I have gone against him before. You have not.”

  “Aye, and that’s why I still have both me hands.” Grenmaur’s snicker turned to a yelp of pain when Elden grabbed his hand and twisted his wrist back almost to the breaking point.

  “No, that’s why you still have your life, you fool,” he growled. “And you’ll be lucky to keep that. Be quiet and do as I say.”

  He released the other man and ignored Grenmaur’s whimpers as he cradled the aching appendage. Elden had more important things to worry about. Like how they would man
age to get the Wand of Elenyi away from the Radeuan’s bravest warrior without attracting too much attention or losing their lives. Or how they would manage to keep it long enough to summon or create a powerful creature of magic to hold it for them, since the chances that it would disintegrate its non-Radeuan captor in the move were high.

  Whoever brought it here must have been very powerful indeed to summon a goblin, or at least clever enough to know how to make a golem. Those humans whose faces he’d seen through the wand’s magic had certainly not been powerful enough to do it—indeed, they gave Elden the distinct impression they were dumb as a pair of bricks—so they must have stolen it.

  He’d thought it would be easy to steal it away from them. He’d followed right after them, managing to ride the tail end of the wand’s power, but something hadn’t worked, somehow. He’d ended up on a street outside a bunch of buildings that all looked alike, with the sun still beating down on him, unable to trace the wand’s energy.

  Luckily, he’d smelled the warrior. Unluckily, it had been Royd. This was going to be far more difficult than he’d thought.

  He sighed. It did not matter, really. He had his plan. Second-guessing it was useless. He knew the exact spot in the woods where they needed to go, knew how to get there from this house. All he had to do as remember how to get back here from wherever the Radeuan hid the wand and he’d be fine.

  And best of all, it wasn’t only the Radeuan he smelled. There was a woman involved, a woman and sex. Lots of sex. Either Royd’s attention to duty wasn’t anywhere near what Elden had come to expect or he was coming to care for a human.

  Elden smiled. If he could get his hands on the woman, he could get some leverage. The Radeuan would not be willing to let his lands flood and his people die in order to save one human. But he might be willing to bargain to save her and his lands and, ultimately, all Elden wanted was a bit of bargaining power, a chance to abandon his people and live with the Ranoten.

  More grounds on the highly contested borders might be nice. A few of the Ranoten’s finest women would be good too. And some money. A stewardship for Elden? Marriage to a high-ranking lady?

  “She comes,” Grenmaur whispered. Sure enough, the door opened and the woman came out, heading for the little shed on the side of the house. Elden stepped forward, almost out of the bushes. They could take her now. They could force her to let them into her home at the points of their swords.

  “Prudence!”

  Elden hissed and ducked back into the bush. An old human woman across the street yelled, waving an arm in the air. “Prudence! I wanted to talk to you about your lawn!”

  Elden cursed. The woman and Royd’s human—Prudence? What kind of a name was that?—stood on the little road, Prudence inching her way back to the front of the house while the woman talked. Whatever she wanted, it must not have been important.

  And they were not the only people out. Suddenly it seemed as though the street was filled with people, taking advantage of the dusky moonlit sky and the cool evening air to run machines over the grass in front of their houses or stand around talking with tinkly glasses of colorful liquid in their hands.

  He ground his teeth in frustration as the women finished talking and Prudence disappeared into the house. They would not be taking her now.

  “Why do we not simply knock on the door, my lord?”

  Elden frowned. “If we cannot be guaranteed of getting the woman or the wand first there is no point. He will come out eventually. We’ll be ready.”

  * * * * *

  “Do you want me to try the garage again? I doubt Mrs. Tanner will be waiting outside to talk to me some more, I can probably get some privacy this time.”

  “It’s not here, Prudence. There is no point in searching, it’s not here.”

  “It has to be.” She shifted another box. “I made sure it wasn’t in any of the boxes we took downstairs. You’re sure it was here to begin with? I mean…maybe you were wrong.”

  He shook his head. “I saw its power. I saw it glow around you.” He reached out and stroked the air next to her skin. Without knowing why, she shivered. “It still colors your energy. The wand, and…me.”

  “Your power is part of my energy?”

  He nodded.

  “So you’re part of me, now. Is that right?”

  Again, he nodded.

  “And that part will never leave?” Her voice cracked on “leave”.

  “Prudence…” He sat down on the dusty floor. “You could come with me.”

  “I can’t.” The words hurt more than anything ever had.

  He blinked. “Well, I’m glad you gave it a lot of thought, at least. I am sorry to have bothered you.”

  “No, I didn’t mean it that way.” She sat down next to him and took his limp hand in her lap. “I mean…I can’t go live with your people, in your world. I have…I have a family here. And this house. My grandma may have lied to me and stolen from you, but she loved me and she left this legacy to me. You told me that.”

  “Yes.”

  “And she did steal from them, from you, I mean. Won’t your people hold that against me? How will they feel if you bring some crazy human back there, the crazy human who’s related to the woman who put their world in grave danger?”

  “I could explain to them, tell them…”

  She shook her head. “No. You said yourself about the problems your family’s had. I can’t jeopardize you further, make things worse for you.”

  “I’m not that son of a shamed family anymore. I’m a powerful man.”

  “And I want you to keep that power. You worked for it. You shouldn’t lose it just because you had great sex with some ditzy blonde.” She tried to smile, but her lips refused to curve properly.

  “It’s more than sex, Pru. You know it is.”

  “It can’t be anything more than sex, Royd. And you know that.”

  “It can be, if we want it to be. Nothing is impossible.”

  “Maybe for you.”

  “No, maybe for us.” He reached for her hand but she pulled it away. “Prudence…remember earlier, when you mentioned what your friend Eleanor said? She was right. If we think things are possible, they are. I know you believe that.”

  She wiped her eyes and stood up. This conversation had to end, had to end now before she really started to cry. Just her luck. She met a guy who made her heart sing, who made her body throb, who made something deep in her soul wake up and start shouting with happiness.

  And he was a faerie who lived in another realm, and she would never get to see him again after he returned.

  “You could—” she started, but even as the words left her mouth she knew it was impossible. Ibuprofen made him act like Jim Morrison on a bad day and the headache the ibuprofen was supposed to cure seemed to be brought on by simply breathing the air. Staying here would kill him. She didn’t even want to suggest it. “Never mind. We need to keep looking.”

  He paused. “You know where it is,” he said, but she knew he’d wanted to say something else.

  She nodded. “I guess we need to head over to Kym and Kristof’s place and get your wand back.”

  Even on the cusp of summer, the air outside had a slight chill at night. Prudence was glad she’d thrown her jacket on as she turned to lock the front door behind her.

  “Aren’t you cold?”

  Royd shrugged. “I am still a little feverish, I think. I don’t—” He stopped, a look of intense concentration on his face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Shhh.” He lifted his face. To Prudence’s amazement, he looked as though he were sniffing the air.

  His face went pale. “Open the door,” he whispered. He was already shoving her back toward it, his eyes searching the yard. “Get inside, now.”

  “What? I don’t—”

  “Now!”

  His words were drowned out by another shout, a howling war cry from the bushes next to the driveway. Prudence spun around. Her entire body went cold as a small army
of Fae poured onto her lawn.

  Chapter Nine

  “Where is the artifact?” Lady Ravenancia stood in the doorway, her long black hair like a shining hood over her shoulders, over the floor-length black cloak she wore no matter what the weather was like outside.

  All that black was where the resemblance to the ravens she emulated ended, though. Even in Kym’s admiring eyes, short, plump Ravenancia, with the thick black rings around her eyes and so much silver jewelry she clinked when she walked, looked a little silly sometimes.

  Not tonight, though. Kym said a silent apology for ever thinking badly of Ravenancia as the other woman strode into the Ritual Space, looking as cool and confident as if she’d done this a million times.

  Which, of course, she had. She wouldn’t be Priestess if she hadn’t, right?

  “It’s on the floor there,” Kristof said. “We used it to cast a circle—”

  “It was amazing, you should have seen the colors—”

  “But it looked like there were…things, outside it, watching us, so we called it back into the wand, and we called you, because you’ll know what to do,” Kristof finished.

  Ravenancia nodded. “You were right to call me.” Her hand, too, hovered over the wand as if she were afraid to touch it. She couldn’t be afraid, could she? Kym bit her lips.

  Apparently not. Ravenancia grasped the still-faintly glowing wand in one chubby hand and stood. “A key,” she said, her voice hoarse. “It is a key.”

  “A key to what?”

  “To the realms of the Fae. To worlds beyond our imagination.”

  Kym’s entire body wiggled. “The realms of the Fae!”

  “Indeed. This is a very powerful, very valuable find. Where did you get it?”

  “Well, um…”

  “That girl, Prudence, sold it to us,” Kristof said, glancing at Kym. “She sold us a few things from her house today, and that was one of them.”

  “She did not realize its power?”

  It was on the tip of Kym’s tongue to brag about what a great deal they’d gotten, but something stopped her. “We didn’t either,” she admitted. “It wasn’t until we started to do our own ritual that it glowed. That’s when we realized it was something other than just a decorative, um, wand.”