Forbidden Power

by Willa Hart

  Jix releases me and we both fall to the ground. The drone lands beside us.

  I roll to my side and look.

  Jix is up on his feet and grabbing both parts and looking at them. “I…I think… I think it’s okay,” he says. His gaze lands on me. “Thank you, Meela.” His eyes are warm and filled with gratitude and adoration and even love.

  I stand and dust off the back of my skirt. “Thank the Goddess,” I whisper. I glance around. I try to scan the area again, but the fuzziness still fills my brain. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t like how this feels and—”

  “Halt!”

  We both stop—because we know without looking that there is a phase-2 bolt-runner pointed at our backs and no matter the distance, if we run, the Eliterrati guard will let loose and slay us both without thinking twice. The arrow will shoot out and slice through our backs, pierce our hearts, and slide out the front of our chests, all within seconds. We live in Ninaku, we’ve seen it a million times. A Dreg’s life is barely worth the cost of the arrow, but forcing Dregs to remain compliant and always do what the Eliterrati command…that’s worth the expense of the arrows.

  “You have entered forbidden lands.” I hear the tromp of two pairs of boots cutting through the grass toward us.

  “Shit, we’re totally dead,” Jix whispers under his breath.

  “You know the punishment,” one of the guards yells.

  I try to scan their minds. I want to probe deep within their skulls. I never do that, I never force people to do what they don’t want, but right now I don’t care; all I want right now is to get away and get back to Ninaku and back to my sister.

  “Turn around,” a second voice yells.

  We both turn and see two guards. One is tall and thick, the other shorter and less muscled; both wear the red-and-purple of the Roya Guard, but neither of them wear the Mindslayer insignia. The short one carries the bolt that is pointed at us, while the taller one carries a longsword with a razor tip. Could I use my Curse to get free? I drop my gaze to the ground but focus all my mind-energy toward the shorter one’s forehead. I think of a hot white light striking out, in between his eyes.

  “What the fuck?” The short one presses his hand to his forehead and squints. “Shit!” He drops to his knees. I continue to stare at the ground.

  “Who is doing that?” The other tall guard comes closer and jerks my arm, but I don’t look up and I don’t stop focusing on the guard.

  “It can’t be her,” the guard on his knees calls. “She’s a fucking Dreg. They can’t mindslay, they can’t even read. They’re little better than animals.”

  “The fuck we can’t,” Jix says softly.

  “What was that?” The tall guard releases my arm and points his spear at Jix.

  I close my eyes and split the white light in half. I visualize a knife point on either end of the light and press the point hard and sharp against the spot between both sets of eyes.

  “Fuck,” the tall guard yells and drops to the ground.

  I don’t move. I don’t look up. I simply stand very still and keep both Eliterrati guards pinned to the ground. I don’t look directly at Jix, but I can see him out of the corner of my eye, and I feel his surprise and fear and confusion. He clasps the Whirleygig tight to his chest and swallows.

  “Meela,” he whispers, his eyes widening.

  “Run, Jix,” I whisper. “You have to run. I’ve never done this before, and I don’t know if I can keep it up or what it’ll do to the guards permanently.”

  “I can’t leave you,” he says. “Come on!”

  I close my eyes. If I can just get the guards past consciousness, then—

  “Hoy!” yells a man on a horse. “Hoy, who goes there?”

  His voice pulls me back from the white light, and both guards stop writhing on the ground. I look up at the men riding up to us on horseback.

  Fear lodges like a rock in my heart. Today could be the final day of my life.

  Chapter Two

  Meela

  “Hoy! Stop, I say! This is Roya land!” The riders pull to an abrupt stop in front of us.

  They all wear the red-and-purple of the Roya house, but three…three of them are not just guards, three of them are the Roya Tripsett. I don’t know if I should drop to the ground on my knees or spit at their boots. These three—Prince Sarkany Roya, Prince Leo Roya, and Prince Taraz Roya—are the highest of the high, and upon their wedding day become the rulers of all Eliterrati.

  I stare at the grass. The two guards I managed to incapacitate are not mindslayed but only passed out on the ground. No matter; I’m dead. We’re both dead. Jix stands still as stone with his drone in his hand. We can’t run, because if we do, best case is we’re arrested and thrown in a dungeon beneath the Roya castle, and worst case is we’re immediately shot and killed. I glance up at the Roya Princes.

  I’ve never seen the Roya Tripsett in real life; I’m a Dreg from Ninaku, I would have no cause to see them. Although they’re human, they look almost as though they are lit from within, so bright is their energy. All three are larger than life.

  Sarkany, leader of the Roya Warrior’s Guild, is large with a full beard and long hair, tied back. He’s so huge, he seems part-man and part-bear. I know it’s him because I’ve heard tell that he is as big as a mountain and as strong as a bull and it looks to be the truth. His arm muscles ripple where the cloth of his shirt ends at his biceps. Yes, he is strong and powerful. His brown eyes look from the downed guards to me. A glimmer sparkles in his eyes, and his lips curve up in the hint of a smile as he catches my eye.

  “Did you do this?” Sarkany asks. “Surely a slip of a girl such as you didn’t down two of our landsmen, did you?”

  “There’s no way she did this,” Leo says, shaking his head. “First, she’s a girl, and second, she’s a Dreg.” The word rolls out of his mouth with a foul sound, as though in describing me he’s describing something putrid and rotten.

  Leo is white-haired and blue-eyed; not nearly as big as Sarkany, his muscles are still evident beneath his shirt. A self-assured cocksman, the kind that beds any woman he wants. His blue eyes penetrate mine, and I feel a mind tendril curling out and into my mind. His eyes graze over my breasts, though they are well-covered beneath a brown rough shapeless cloth. I gasp—it's as though he’s touching me. I squint at Leo; he catches my eye and smiles and raises an eyebrow. I do not give him the pleasure of my return smile, because why would I?

  I stay silent, unsure. Is it proper to look at a Royal and answer their question? Then I feel it…in my mind…the creeping and the press of one walking through my thoughts. As though rummaging around, searching all that’s within my head. An unfamiliar feeling, as a Dreg can be killed for carrying the gift. Only the Eliterrati, like the Roya and their kind, are allowed to possess the gift and live.

  I look at Taraz, the third in the Roya Tripsett. He is more studious-looking than his brothers. Curly brown hair that juts out at odd angles. Where Sarkany is dark brown and Leo has a complexion of dark olive color, Taraz is fair complexioned as though he’s spent more time inside reading than riding. His brown eyes hold questions and kindness.

  I can tell he is trying to access my mind.

  Wait, do you, a Dreg, know that I am in your mind? How could yo—

  I place a block, a wall, cutting Taraz’s thoughts from my head. I don’t let on what I’ve done and instead look at the guards still passed out on the ground.

  “Answer your Prince,” bellows one of the guards riding with the Tripsett.

  “They…” My voice stumbles and I swallow. “We…he made a Whirleygig and it fell from the sky. We only came to retrieve it as it is due for his entrance into the Engineers Guild.”

  “A what?” Taraz says, and dismounts his horse, curiosity taking over. I’ve heard that he is the most book-smart of the Tripsett. A tinkerer who builds and spends much time in the Dead City with the Dreg Engineers Guild looking for technology and parts.

  Now that Taraz stands o
n the ground, I see that he’s not nearly as slight as he appeared next to his brothers. Taraz is tall, six feet, and well-muscled, with a strong jaw and a cutting gaze. His cheekbones are cut sharp, and as he strides toward Jix, he moves quickly with a compactness of gait, as though he has no time to waste.

  I glance at Leo, the white-haired Prince, and for a millisecond, the vision of his face above mine, as he dips his head to pull my nipple deep into his mouth flashes in my head.

  Heat races up my neck and flames my cheeks.

  Leo’s blue eyes pierce deep into mine. He takes in my hair, my face, my body, as though assessing every inch of my being, and I feel…again the vision, now accompanied by the tightening of my nipples beneath the rough-hewn garment I wear.

  A grin pulls the corner of Leo’s mouth up into a wicked smile, and I press a second block, this time to keep his thoughts of fucking me from my mind. Leo’s visions of what he would do with me if I were in his bed are much like when Jix thinks of how he would caress my ass and run his hand up my thigh. The block is secure, and now I have prevented not one, but two of the Roya Tripsett from entering my mind.

  “A drone you say, what does it do?” Taraz takes the metal drone from Jix’s hand.

  “Might I show you, sir?” Jix asks, stepping forward.

  The three guards who ride beside the brothers dismount and place their hands on the hilts of their swords.

  “Stand down,” Sarkany says, and laughs. “Surely if my brother can’t protect himself against the slightest of boys with a metal toy and a Dreg girl, then the realm would be better served without Taraz in it.”

  “So you think, brother,” Leo says without even deigning to look at Sarkany. “But should we die there would be more vulveri for you then, I’d guess?” Leo cuts his gaze to me.

  My blush deepens with the use of such a sexual word, one that is rarely used when men and women are together unless they are…fucking.

  Jix tightens beside me. He won’t be so stupid as to think he should protect my honor simply for the use of a word. Besides, I’m more than equipped to protect my honor should it need protecting.

  “The Whirleygig is like a Dead City drone, sir. It flies in the sky with the aid of this remote. It can be used for distance viewing, say for guards who do not have the gift or the sight.”

  “Make it go!” Sarkany yells from his horse.

  Jix holds the drone out to Taraz, which thankfully—for the safety of our lives at this moment— was not destroyed when it dropped from the sky. “Meela, can you hold it up for me?”

  “Meela? What a beautiful name,” Leo says, again with the wicked smile. “My mother’s closest handmaid had a child with such a name, I believe, after she left my mother’s service.”

  I ignore the comment as I have no mother—at least not anymore—and I don’t come from a line that could’ve been a handmaiden to the Roya. I lift the drone over my head making certain the blades are away from me. Jix stands and presses the remote. A whirring as the blades spring to life. The horses whinny and step back. I harbor a smile as Prince Leo’s wicked smile falls from his face. His eyes are wide, and his mouth is shaped like an O in surprise.

  Up into the sky the drone climbs, and Jix uses the controls and steers it off Roya lands. Smart boy. At the very least, the drone shall be safe. As for us, we don’t yet know if we’ll survive or not.

  “Fantastic!” Taraz yells. “That’s quite brilliant. I’d like one, can you make another?”

  “Uhh, yes, sir…uh I can,” Jix stammers out.

  “Then do so. How long? Bring it to me and you shall be handsomely paid. The Engineers Guild you say? No, no, no, you shall have a job in the Royal house. Anyone who can make such a thing does not belong in a Dreg guild but in the Palace. Come now,” Taraz says.

  “Now sir?” Jix asks. The drone hovers just above the ground on the other side of the fence.

  “Yes, now. Can you? Do you have other obligations?”

  “No sir, just…just my family, sir. My father and my brothers—”

  “We will send them word. And this…this Meela,” Taraz says.

  I shiver with the sound of my name on his lips, for it holds a soft sort of promise. “Is she your sister?”

  “No sir,” Jix says. “She’s a…a…a friend,” Jix hurriedly says. “We’ve known each other since we were just past kinder.”

  “Just friends?” Leo bursts out. “Oh my, but you are very bad liar! While you may be just friends, your face and your thoughts tell of a much different desire.”

  Jix’s face reddens. Rage builds in my chest on his behalf. He does not deserve to be embarrassed by the Roya Tripsett. I’ve spent the last three years intentionally ignoring Jix’s thoughts about us being together, and he’s been quite a gentlemen and friend to never tell me or behave in a way that might make me uncomfortable. All three Roya brothers laugh at Jix’s embarrassment as he hangs his head.

  “Stop it,” I say.

  The laughter stops.

  “Wait? What was that?” Leo asks as though quite surprised. “She speaks, the pretty brown-haired girl who looks part-pixie, part-fae, and part-human? And with the Eliterrati name of Meela.”

  Leo jumps from his horse as though my words are a direct challenge to him. He strides toward me and stops in front of me. He’s much taller and stronger than I. His chest is thick and well-muscled, and he smells male and musky with a hint of fresh air. I don’t cower before Leo, and I don’t look away from those sharp blue eyes. His mind presses into mine, past my block. He reaches out his hand and touches his fingertip to my chin. I am paralyzed; like a mouse before a viper. He lifts my face up and examines me as though a horse he might trade for.

  I do look into his beautiful eyes; searing hate burns through my mind. A fire-red light blazes through me.

  “Well, well, she has a bit of spunk to her, this one,” Leo says as though I am a plaything for the brothers.

  I swallow, knowing that by failing to control my anger, I’ve put both Jix and me in a dangerous situation; we were nearly free, but I had to go and open my mouth. We are again in an impossible position, one that could end our lives. Damn my temper. I prepare my mind, because I won’t let neither Jix nor I die without a battle. Even if it could end in me being mindslayed for the power that the Eliterrati call The Gift, but when a Dreg is born with the same power, is called The Curse.

  “Leave her alone,” Taraz says softly. “Let them return home. We shall send a guard for the boy, Jix, is it?”

  “Yes, sir,” Jix says, his voice piping up loud and clear.

  It’s enough of an interruption for Leo to drop my chin from his fingertips.

  Jix has not said his name nor have I…has Taraz been in my mind? Or perhaps he saved me by communicating with his Tripsett. I’ve heard that the Roya Tripsett has an impenetrable mindlink that they use to communicate. I turn my head and look at Taraz. His gaze meets mine and he smiles; a gentle and warm smile.

  There are many ways around a block, my lady.

  I do not respond in my mind or with my face, for to do so would surely seal my death-warrant.

  “Fine,” Leo says, and steps back, although he holds my gaze for a long moment before he turns and mounts his horse. “There shall be plenty of fresh vulveri at the ball.”

  “Oh yes, there will be,” Taraz said. “Too bad it all comes with the guillotine of the mating ceremony.”

  “Shut your mouth, brother,” Sarkany roars. “I have no intention of finding our mate at this ball.”

  “While you may not have any intention of doing so,” Taraz says, “I’m quite certain that our Uncle Lord Regent has every intention that we shall.” Taraz mounts his horse.

  “I’ll send a guard for you, Jix, Dreg of Ninaku, on the morrow. Be ready. Bring only what you require for we shall provide you with all else that you need. Including a handsome payment for your family. Let them know that your service to the Roya House shall bestow honor upon them which includes the financial kind.”

&nb
sp; “Y…y…yes, sir,” Jix stammers out.

  “Sire, what about those two?” asks the older grey-haired guard riding beside Sarkany, glancing at the two landsmen that lay upon the ground.

  “Those two? For Goddess’s sake, they were felled by two Ninaku Dregs. Spare them, but send them to the North City where they can learn to patrol while facing off against Dregs who don’t live behind a wall.” Sarkany turns his horse as do the other riders.

  Only Taraz keeps his eyes on me. I see you. I hear you. I know what you can do.

  I drop my gaze to the ground, then turn to Jix. “Shall we go back?” I ask. “Even with the protection of the Roya House, we need to be back before dark.”

  Jix looks dazed as though he’s unsure what has just happened. But I’m not. The Roya Tripsett have found me out and stolen my only friend. Fuck the Eliterrati and the Roya Tripsett; may they all three rot in the House of the Damned. For now, I will be in Ninaku with no one but my younger sister, Huali, by my side.

  Chapter Three

  Taraz

  “She was a feisty little bird, wasn’t she?” Leo asks as he sits at the long rough-hewn wooden table in the Palace kitchen. He plops his boots onto the table, spilling dark wet earth on the tabletop, but Cook slaps his shoulder with a ladle and Leo pulls his feet from the table.

  A booming laugh comes from Sarkany. “Always good for a laugh Leo is. As feisty as Cook? Look at you shrinking from her ladle,” Sarkany roars.

  Cook puts a plate of a dozen hot muffins in the center of the table, and we’re all three upon them like ravenous dogs.

  “Well, of course,” Leo says around a bite of muffin. “I mean, Cook feeds me and is in charge of my belly. I’m not about to make her mad.”

  A fair point upon which we can agree.

  Leo flashes Cook a panty-melter smile that causes even the jaded old cook who’s known us since we were wee-ones still nursing from our mother, the Queen, to smile. A faint blush blooms across her cheeks. That’s Leo, never yet met a wench or a lady he can’t charm…except for maybe today.