by Ashley Meira
“She appeared as the ritual was finishing,” Snow— Diana said.
He raised a brow but didn’t comment on her non-answer. “Here on a trip, little one? Or were you lured by the taste of magic? I can hear your Fire screaming in there. You’ve been starving it, poor thing. Such a waste of potential.”
Diana said that to me in New Zealand. Now I knew who’d put the words in her mind. But why hadn’t she put my name in his? She’d kept our meeting a secret, and she’d healed me. Despite her sharp words, she cared. She wouldn’t have done those things if she didn’t.
“Such a waste of my time,” a husky female voice said. There was a sharp edge to her tone and an unearthly echo beneath her words. “The fresh air is lovely, but being ignored is not. Didn’t anyone teach you how to properly greet your sovereigns?”
Heat spread through my cheeks, replacing the terror my kidnapper had instilled. Sweat soaked my palms, and the soft scent of lilacs made my heart flutter. I had to find the speaker. I wanted nothing more than to lay my eyes on her.
My wish was granted as Seraphine stepped forward. Floated forward, really. Her feet never touched the ground, though her long silk robes kissed the earth as she approached. Her burgundy hair was pulled back in a simple bun, revealing the delicate, symmetrical features of her face. Long, thick lashes fluttered over big blue eyes, and her full lips were tinged a soft red as she smiled at us. With our attention turned toward her, she appeared to be satiated.
So was I, now that I could see her. She was beautiful. Perfect. I wanted her like I wanted nothing else. My Fire snapped at me, angry for some unknown reason. How could it be upset in the presence of a goddess?
“I remember you,” she said to my kidnapper. “Nathan? Nelson? Nikolai? How long has it been for you to have not aged a day?”
He bowed. “Nicholas Ryder, my queen. It has been almost six hundred years.”
Nicholas. Ryder. If Seraphine wasn’t so enchanting, I would have balked at the monster of my life having such a mundane name. Then, I probably would have freaked out over the fact that they’d met six hundred years ago. But Seraphine was enchanting, and all I could do was stare into her fathomless blue eyes.
My Fire grew more enraged, its restless dance jarring my focus. My eyes began to wander, taking in the rest of my new queen. The longer I stared at her, the more my Fire calmed. So, I continued raking my eyes over her model-esque form.
The hole my Fire had burned into me grew as I stared, until I finally realized what it was trying to tell me. There was something off about Seraphine. Her movements and gestures felt strange, like a performance she was putting on for us. She had everything almost right. Her chest rose and fell regularly. Her cheeks had a soft flush, like a person who’d just run in from the cold. But her blinking was too rhythmic, her eyelids fluttering every three seconds without fail, and the rise of her chest didn’t alter no matter how she spoke.
Her imitation of life was very close, but not quite close enough to be real. That small difference, coupled with her uncanny aura, brought me back to reality. She was fake. A beautiful flower meant to lure you in before swallowing you whole. I’d thought that about Adam once.
My eyes widened. Adam. Was he still here? He had to run. Fiona too. What if our kidnapper— Nicholas saw her. Now that Seraphine’s spell was broken, I could wrinkle my nose at his name.
“I smell them,” Seraphine said, the inhuman echo in her voice creeping me out. “The little sea folk rushing around just below. But I’d hate to soil my pretty dress. Am I to assume your little Fireborns are tribute in their stead? Such a considerate man. They’re my favorite.”
“I remember,” Nicholas said. He sounded almost human right now, polite and sincere. That chilled me more than Seraphine ever could. “That’s why they put you away.”
We were the “specimens” Cordelia mentioned. Seraphine had devoured Fireborns, and it made her so powerful she’d been nearly unbeatable.
Her dainty nose wrinkled, but the skin didn’t crease. “They hate Fireborns, but once you start eating them it’s cause for sanctions. Humans are such fickle creatures.”
“Human, fae…. They’re all hypocrites.” Nicholas’s voice lost its polite tint, bringing back the monster who raised me. “As am I, it would seem. I cannot let you eat these young ladies.”
A sigh escaped her lips, dropping the temperature around us by ten degrees. “One piece. One tiny piece of my soul. I can feel the other parts of me rotting, separated from this body. It’s torturous, young man.” Her voice turned soft, like a sad child. “I need my strength to fight the pain, and you refuse to offer me a meal? Or perhaps you are putting yourself on the platter? The magic from these young ones is—” she licked her lips “—different from the other Fireborns I’ve encountered. But yours…. A Fireborn as aged as you would be a fine feast.”
He was Fireborn, too. Him. Diana. Me. All Fireborn. Daddy. My stomach roiled but couldn’t produce anything for me to upheave.
“I’ll get you a fine meal,” Nicholas said. “Soon. I just need to retrieve my man over there.” He nodded at Thomas, who was still fighting alongside the charybdis, before tossing the item in his hand up once more. “After all he’s done for me, it would be terribly impolite to leave him here. Not to mention it’s his family’s gem we’ll be using.”
“It’s not drained?” Seraphine asked.
“I didn’t go far. It’ll charge quickly.”
“I see.” She still looked displeased, and I could have sworn I saw charybdis-like teeth peeking from behind her lips. “Shall I kill them?”
Nicholas gestured to Diana. “This one is mine. The other was mine.” He knelt before me and cupped my cheek, bringing tears to my eyes. My legs were made of lead for all the good they did. His thumb stroked my cheek, but there was nothing in his eyes. “Though they do function better as a set, and I put so much effort into raising her. Who knows how much progress has been lost, however? Is it worth keeping her? Where is your ring, little lamb? Did you sell it? Such an important piece of your heritage…. Would you allow yourself to do such a thing?”
I stayed silent. My eyes went to Diana, pleading.
“Take her and decide later,” she said in her robo-voice.
“Such a smart girl,” Nicholas said, never taking his eyes off me. “You used to be the smart one, little lamb. The Warrior protecting her little sister. Now here you are, helpless and begging the Protector to save you.”
“What did you do?” I whimpered, surprised I could make a sound. “What did you do to us?”
A screech interrupted his reply. Flames crashed down upon our slice of hell, bathing everything in bright fire. Adam was in phoenix form, raining fireballs down everywhere.
His assault was short lived. A wall of white flew toward him, smothering him in ice magic. He plummeted to the ground, shifting back to human on the way. Seraphine blew on her fingers, lilac-scented magic dancing around her hand. She conjured a bridge of ice next, connecting the two islands.
Fiona had Thomas in a headlock, the two of them surrounded by dead charybdis. Diana threw her sword at them. The blade embedded itself in Fiona’s leg, and she released him with a cry. Thomas stumbled toward us, slipping halfway through and letting the ice slide him across.
We needed him for proof, but I’d rather have him dead than with Nicholas. I threw a fireball at Thomas, but Seraphine doused it with a blast of ice.
She tsk’d. “Naughty girl.”
I ignored her, throwing spell after spell. Perhaps it was part of my heritage, but I leaned more toward fire magic, letting loose a barrage of flame at the ginger-haired man before me.
Seraphine blocked every attack before getting irritated. “I’m growing bored, Mr. Ryder.”
He bowed and extended his hand like a perfect gentleman. She approved, slipping her hand in his. Diana grabbed Thomas and dragged him to Nicholas, who held up the Corbin family’s teleportation gem.
My legs finally manned up, and I leapt to my feet, grabbi
ng Thomas’ arm. My nails dug into his skin, leaving bloody trails down his forearm. Diana looked at me, and in that second, I caught a glimpse of two little girls making flower crowns under an old willow tree. Her grip loosened. Had she seen the glimmer of recognition in my eyes, or was she too battered from the wave?
Either way, I didn’t look it in the mouth. I pulled hard, causing Thomas to crash against me. We toppled to the ground, and I watched my sister and the man who kidnapped her vanish in a flash of gold.
Fiona appeared through a portal, blood spurting from her thigh. Syranus appeared from the water a moment later, followed by Cordelia and Theo. I looked between all of them before my eyes fell on Adam. He was sitting up, his clothes shredded and cuts littering his body.
“I….” Fear and confusion still weighed my tongue. “He took us.”
“Him?” Fiona’s voice shook.
“Calm yourselves, children,” Cordelia said. She appeared human above water — a beautiful woman with dark eyes and silken black hair. I didn’t recognize her at first, but her voice was the same as it had been underwater. “One thing at a time.”
I could do that. “Seraphine is out but weakened. They’re gone. Thomas needs to be arrested.”
My sister’s name was Diana.
My kidnapper’s name was Nicholas.
And he could be my father.
Thomas was on the ground. His dress shirt was all but gone, revealing fist-shaped marks the size of Fiona’s hands. He wasn’t moving, but his eyes were open. They roamed around blindly without his glasses, but I didn’t give a damn whether he could see. Someone had broken his left leg, if the odd angle it was bent in was any indication. We’d have to carry him.
“We don’t have another Tooth,” Adam rasped, clutching his chest. “Jesus. That witch.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, reaching for him with shaky hands. “I wasn’t fast enough.”
“You saved the city,” Fiona said, realizing what I’d done. “That’s good enough.”
I kept looking at Adam, searching for a sign of recognition. Fiona was injured and tired, so she hadn’t realized what she let slip. All I saw in his eyes was exhaustion as he limped over to me. He took my hand, and I nearly wept.
“You came by boat, yes?” Cordelia said after a pause.
I nodded, words escaping me once more.
“I will lower the barriers and let them through.”
“Just let him drown,” Fiona muttered.
“Call Symeon,” Adam told me. “Sophia, freak out later.”
I glared at him, the fog lifting from my mind. Damn it. How did he do that? “We need rope.”
His lips quirked at my tone, and he squeezed my hand.
“Theo will get you some,” Cordelia said happily while Theo glowered and vanished underwater.
“Thanks,” Fiona said before limping over to our prisoner. “But first….”
She slammed her fist into Thomas’ face.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I was underwater an hour before I realized I preferred short days to long ones.
Good days always passed quickly, but bad ones stretched on for an eternity. Case in point, it took three days for us to go from Elizabeth’s death to Seraphine’s awakening. Three days that felt like ten years. Yet the three days I’d spent hiding in Adam’s guest room afterwards felt like a few minutes.
I stuck a toe out of the tub, watching the blurry limb wiggle around from my resting place at the bottom. I hadn’t returned my Tooth to Symeon yet, so I’d spent my time playing deep-sea coward. He hadn’t pushed for me to return it. Guess he figured I couldn’t damage it much from here.
Adrienne was still recovering at home, with Ollie playing nursemaid. It was the only way she’d stay in bed, though I knew she was giving him hell for coddling her.
Fiona was taking care of our house while I sulked. I owed her big time for that. Maybe I should take Adam up on his offer. Our house still needed to be repaired, but she’d murder me if she learned I passed up a chance to live on a yacht.
Adam…. I didn’t know what Adam was up to. Last I heard — from Fiona, through the bathroom door, because I refused to come out — he was dealing with the Council. They’d accepted Thomas’ guilt after Adam got through making his case. Whether it was his way with words, his family’s name, or Thomas’ clear instability that convinced them, I had no idea.
Thomas refused to give them any information about Seraphine, Nicholas, or their designs without some sort of plea deal, but Adam convinced his father to stop that from going through. According to Fiona, who was brave enough to go with him to meet the Council, he’d looked beyond pissed at having to ask his father for a favor — or anything.
Regardless, it worked. Liam Pierce declared it would be a disgrace to provide leniency to a man who killed two innocent women, dozens of nereids, and aided in the summoning of whatever Seraphine was. Thomas was now in the Black Citadel, rotting with the rest of the criminals.
In between sulking in the tub and getting insanely pruney, I checked the news for signs of mass destruction. Nothing. Seraphine was being quiet. But things were quiet after New Zealand, too. The ritual was completed, Mount Mullonga was destroyed, burying thousands of people under its rubble, then nothing. If I hadn’t stopped that tidal wave, this would have gone the same way.
What was Nicholas up to? I bit my lip. It felt odd to use his name. Why summon Seraphine? Why do whatever he did with the Heart of Gaia? Was that a summoning, too? For whom?
I sighed. Why did he do any of the things he’d done? Kidnapping children, training them to kill…. Now this. I couldn’t begin to understand the evil in him. Which I was glad for — I wasn’t as much of a monster as I thought. He hadn’t completely ruined me.
Or Diana. She let Thomas go, and I didn’t think it was an accident. Wishful thinking, maybe, but if there was a chance my twin could be saved, I was clinging to it.
Something grabbed my hair and pulled me out of the tub. It moved away before my punch could land. With her puffed out cheeks and her hands on her slim hips, Fiona looked ready to give me the lecture of a lifetime. I contemplated sinking back into the water before a burning in my scalp changed my mind. She’d pulled my hair hard.
“You have been hiding in here for three days, using me as your personal butler service.”
“I didn’t ask—”
“What? I’m supposed to let you starve?” She shook her head. “Nuh-uh, missy. Not on my watch. Now get the hell up. Mama did not raise a quitter.”
“You’re not my—”
“You’re acting like a child, so I have to be your mother,” she huffed and crossed her arms. She was biting her lip, which was the only clue I had that she was more worried than angry. “We have a roof again, by the way.”
“Already?” I paused, waiting for her to interrupt me again. When she didn’t, I continued, “They said it would take a while to get to us.” Repairs didn’t take long — this was a magical community, after all — but repairmen did.
“They did. Then Adam called. Amazing what money can do to speed things up.”
I frowned. “You took his money?”
“Don’t give me that look.” She sat on the closed toilet. “He offered, and I accepted. You know what a pain it is chasing magical wildlife away after they’ve settled in. Remember the giant caterpillars?”
I did. The jerk who imported them from New York was in the Black Citadel now. Worst neighbor ever. “We’re paying him back.”
“Of course. Slowly. Unlike the way we’d have to pay the repairmen. But first, you’re helping me pick out new wallpaper and furniture.” Her eyes held a shopaholic’s manic glint.
“I trust you,” I said, sliding back into the water.
She reached for my hair again and leaned over to whisper in my ear. “I will cover your room in clown wallpaper.”
I shuddered — urgh, clowns — but couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to argue or reply.
She released my hair and slid her
arms around my neck in a hug. “Talk to me.”
“His name is Nicholas Ryder,” I said bitterly. “And I can’t figure out his endgame.”
“His name is dumb,” she said. “And we’ll figure it out together. Then, we’ll stop him. With brass knuckles and extreme prejudice.”
“The last thing you need is brass knuckles. Pretty sure you permanently shattered Thomas’ nose.”
“I’m all for that, even if it isn’t true. I hope the murderers in his cell block destroy him. What else?”
“Hm?” After three days of solitude, my brain wasn’t ready for this much interaction.
“What else is on your mind?”
I shook my head. When we got home, Fiona and I spoke for hours about all of this: Diana, Nicholas, Seraphine, Thomas, Adrienne, Ollie, Adam….
I let out a loud groan and dropped back underwater. “I hate this! Everything is different, and it sucks.”
When Fiona didn’t grab my hair, I thought I’d won. Until the tub began to drain. “If my mothering won’t work, I’m calling in the big guns.”
She portaled out with a huff, leaving me naked in an empty tub. I waited, but no one came through. Sighing, I put the plug back in and reached for the knob.
“Talk to her!” Fiona’s voice rang out from the other side.
A mess of copper hair fell through, and Fiona closed the portal before Ollie could pick himself off the ground. When he did, his face turned beet red and he turned his back to me.
“You’re naked,” he said.
“Are you joining me?” I forced myself to joke. “If not, hand me that towel.”
He shuffled over to grab my towel before throwing it over his shoulder. I could see his blush through the thick white cotton covering my face. The cuteness perked me up enough that I could stand. Securing my towel, I led him into the bedroom and plopped down on one of the armchairs.
He sat across from me, gnawing the inside of his cheek. “You look… alive.”