Blade of the Fae

by R. A. Rock

  “You don’t seem quite sure,” Tessa pointed out.

  “That’s because I’m not,” Finn said. “I’m not an expert.”

  “Yes, you are,” Tess pointed out. “You and your grandfather are the only people that know anything about these blades. That kind of makes you an expert.”

  “Maybe.”

  They were silent a long time until Finn suddenly straightened.

  “I’ve got it.”

  “What?” Tessa asked, not really caring. She was too tired to care. They were never getting out of there.

  “I know how we can get the blades out.”

  “The blades that we’re not sure if we can use?” Tessa asked.

  Finn ignored her. “It’s out best chance, Tess. We have to try.”

  Tessa sighed. “Fine. How?”

  “We have to unite our magic.”

  “Unite our magic? As in, merge Starlight? Like those idiots in the Direwood? No way.”

  “But it’s the only way to produce a field of Light magic that the sheaths can work in.”

  “Shadows and Chasm, Finn. This is your solution?”

  “Come on, Tessa. It’s our only chance.”

  She shook her head. “We could go insane. We could lose ourselves. We could die from the surge of magic like those two back at the castle.”

  “We could,” Finn acknowledged. “Or we could unite long enough and not die. And I would pull my blades. And we’d make a portal while we were merged and go through it and save ourselves.”

  Tessa pursed her lips. This was no solution at all. “What about the other thing?”

  Finn dropped his eyes, and was he blushing? No. Couldn’t be. It was just the dim light playing tricks on her eyes.

  “You mean that the merging sometimes makes the two people fall in love?” he asked.

  Tessa nodded.

  “That won’t happen,” he said, his tone suddenly clipped.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m never going to fall in love again.”

  Tessa was taken aback by the anger in his voice.

  “If I were stupid enough to fall in love with someone,” Finn said. “The Dark Queen would only kill her anyway.”

  “What?” Tessa asked, bewildered. She knew it was true. It had happened to her. But what did Finn know of the queen’s penchant for killing the person you loved the most and then watching you writhe?

  “Never mind,” he said, and his eyes were bitter. “Trust me. I’m not going to fall in love, Tessa.”

  “Well, me neither,” she said, feeling defensive. Stars above, it’s not like I asked him to love me, for Chasm’s sake. “I’m just reminding you of the stakes. The magic doesn’t care whether you want to fall in love or not.”

  “Hmph.”

  There was a rumble from the far side of the cave, and Finn and Tessa stared at each other, eyes wide.

  Were the monsters waking up?

  “Come on, Tessa,” Finn said, holding out his hand. “Do you trust me?”

  Tessa frowned. Did she trust Finn? Of course, she did. He had saved her more than once on this quest. He had chosen to help her when he didn’t have to. He was a good man.

  “Yes,” she said, his warm, strong hand enveloping her small cold one. “I trust you.”

  “Then let’s try this,” he said, glancing in the direction of the rumble and then meeting her troubled gaze. “After all, what choice do we have?

  Chapter 22

  Tessa scowled down at the sandy ground of the monster lair that they were sitting on. The rumble of the monsters awakening made her bones vibrate, though there was no sign of movement yet.

  She thought it must be the middle of the night by now. Exhaustion made her limbs heavy, and she was in constant pain. All she wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep for about twenty days. Instead, she was supposed to merge her magic with Finn’s in the most dangerous procedure a Fae could engage in.

  Sounded like fun.

  “Fine, we’ll unite,” she said, feeling reluctant. “From what I know about monsters that are in hibernation, it takes some time for them to come out of their sleep coma. I’d guess that we have about half an hour before all the monsters wake up fully and attack us.”

  “How in the name of Severance do you know that?” Finn asked, an incredulous tone to his voice.

  “I’ve worked in the Dark Court for hundreds of years, Finn. You get to know some things about monsters.”

  “Of course,” Finn said, blinking. “So we have twenty minutes.”

  “Right. How do you suggest we proceed?”

  Finn suddenly looked unsure. “Well, uh, it can’t be that difficult, right?”

  Tessa gaped at him. “You don’t even know how to merge Starlight? How can you be suggesting such a thing and not have a clue what to do?”

  “Well, I’m not the kind of Fae who merges magic, Tess. But if those two idiots in the Direwood could unite, I figure two well-educated, intelligent people like ourselves can.”

  “Why do you think I’m well educated?” Tessa asked, getting distracted by the comment. She felt a sharp poke of anxiety that made her sit up straighter. It was the same worry she always felt when anyone nosed at her cover story. “I’m just a soldier.”

  Finn looked down at her and raised one eyebrow. She was sitting next to him as they leaned against the wall, and she realized he had put his arm around her back and she was now leaning against his chest.

  She probably shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help it. She liked it. And if they were going to die anyway, who cared whether she was snuggling up to Finn or not?

  “You may be a soldier, but clearly, you’re high born, Tessa. If you’re trying to convince anyone otherwise, you should stop because no one will believe you.”

  “Why?” she asked. She hadn’t exactly been trying to convince people that she was low born, but she had thought she was acting the part fairly well.

  “There’s just something about you, your movements, your speech, even your mannerisms.”

  Finn had been paying that much attention to her?

  “All those things point to a high-born Fae. You’re clearly not someone who was birthed in a hovel and worked like a dog for twelve hours a day your whole life.”

  “But I ran away when I was young,” she said. “Came to the Dark Court. I was barely an adult when I left.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Finn said, shaking his head. “Childhood and youth make an indelible imprint on people, so much so that it can never be erased.”

  Tessa thought about this. Had her life in the Light Court affected her so much? Then she remembered how much she had wanted—well, still wanted—to go home. Of course, the Light Court was important to her. Of course, it had imprinted itself upon her.

  “Tessa,” Finn said, and she lifted her gaze to meet his. “If you’ve been trying to fool anybody into thinking you’re low born and they’ve believed it…”

  “What?”

  He shrugged the shoulder she wasn’t leaning against. “Well, it’s just that you were probably the one who was being fooled.”

  Tessa shook her head to clear it. “This is besides the point. Are we doing this or not?”

  “We are,” Finn affirmed.

  “All right, well, I know something of how to do it. I’ve seen stupid criminals that we were arresting doing it. And I’ve seen stupid grunts, that were new to the guard and didn’t know about the rules against uniting, doing it. And I’ve seen stupid high-born Fae doing it for the thrill.”

  “Right,” Finn said, his voice sounding sour. “So, you know how. I get it.”

  “Yes, and I’ve seen just as many of them coming out of it, their minds never the same, the magic channels in their bodies damaged beyond what Elixir can repair, shortening their lives by centuries. And of course, like the pair in the woods, I’ve seen quite a few of them die from the magical surge, as well.”

  “I get that this is dangerous, Tessa,” Finn said, and now he sounded annoyed. />
  “Not just dangerous, Finn. Risky. Stupid. Foolish.”

  “But we’re not doing it for the high, Tessa, like those others.” Finn said, taking her hand and interlacing their fingers together as he made his point. “We’re doing it to save our lives. And we’ll never do it again.”

  “That’s what they all say.”

  “Come on,” he said. “Just tell me what to do.”

  “Fine. There’s different ways to combine magic, but the easiest is palms. You know that when you make a vow, you’re not supposed to touch the energy points in the palm together for very long?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Well, that’s because uniting is what happens if you keep your palms together for too long a time.”

  He looked down at their hands.

  “You can’t unite from just holding hands,” she said.

  “I thought the reason that Fae don’t shake hands was because of the possibility of exchanging magic,” Finn said, wrinkling his nose in confusion.

  “That’s right. Because you wouldn’t want to accidentally make a vow. Though honestly, the palms don’t usually connect when two people shake hands, so it’s not very likely that a vow would happen. It’s just to be safe, I guess. But that’s besides the point. Look.” She lifted their connected hands. “See how there’s a space between our palms when we hold hands? That’s why it’s fine.”

  She blushed a little as she drew both their attentions to the fact that they were holding hands. Finn didn’t seem to notice. He was scowling as he thought about it all.

  “So, the Fae don’t shake hands because of the worry about accidentally making a magical vow, but the chance of that happening in reality is quite unlikely. And holding hands doesn’t cause a vow or uniting because even though the palms are close, they’re not touching?”

  “Right.”

  “So, to sum up, you can’t exchange magic, make a vow, or unite without pressing the palms firmly together so that the magical energy points in the hands actually come into contact. And if you want to unite you have to press them together for a long time.”

  “That’s it exactly. Now are you ready?”

  “Wait. Is there anyone that you know of who can unite without becoming addicted or getting killed?”

  “No,” Tessa said shortly. “No one that I’ve ever heard of.”

  “Stars above,” Finn said, letting out a shaky breath. “Let’s be safe then.”

  “Finn, there is no safe way to do this.”

  “Let’s just get it over with then. Either way, we’re going to die. I’d rather die uniting with you, than being chomped by a monster.” His eyes were intense as she met his gaze, and Tessa got a shock that sent a wave of energy through her body. She wished she could ask what he meant by that, but there was no time.

  “Good point,” Tessa said, scooting around so she was facing him, and Finn did the same. “Press your hands to mine.”

  She laid her hands on her legs, palms up, so she could rest the broken hand on her thigh. Finn took a deep breath and placed his palms resting lightly on hers. Then he pressed firmly. Her hand hurt but she ignored it. She’d had worse pain.

  The energy immediately buzzed between them. But Tessa and Finn had both done this before—made a vow with the magic in their palms. Most people had.

  “Now is when we’d usually separate our hands,” Tessa said. “But instead, we keep them together.”

  “That’s it?” Finn asked.

  “No, you also have to will the magic to combine. It doesn’t just happen. Starlight usually stays in the being to which it’s been assigned. But it can move. You don’t need to do anything specific. From what I’ve been told, you just have to want the magic to merge, and it will.”

  Finn got a determined look on his face and closed his eyes. Tessa closed her eyes too. She turned her focus inward and sent her will into the magic inside her, giving it permission to mingle with Finn’s.

  And that was when it started.

  Their magic began to blend together, and she felt it. The euphoria.

  Tessa had never felt anything this good.

  Not when something wonderful had happened. Not when she was drunk. Not during sex. This was better than the best orgasm she had ever had.

  She could sense Finn’s energy intermingling with hers, his darker, chocolatey note a complement to her lighter minty energy. And it was amazing.

  No wonder those addicts never wanted to separate.

  This thought brought Tessa back to what they were trying to do. She kept the connection but opened her eyes. Finn’s face was lit with ecstasy, and she supposed she probably looked the same.

  “Finn,” she whispered.

  He opened his eyes.

  “The blades.”

  He nodded. “Do we need to keep our palms touching? Will breaking the physical connection break the magical connection too?”

  “No,” Tessa said. “Touching hands is only necessary for the initial connection. To break the magical connection, once again, you have only to will it.”

  She awkwardly got to her feet, keeping her hurt hand against her chest.

  “Let’s pull out the blades, then,” he said when he was standing too.

  “All right.”

  Finn balanced on one foot as he used both hands to reach for his sides and, with a quick look at Tessa, withdrew the blades. The light from the luminescence ball glinted on the rainbow sheen of the metal.

  “It worked,” Tessa whispered, feeling amazed. Like she hadn’t really thought it would. “You did it.”

  “Now you,” Finn said.

  Tessa reached with her good hand and pulled out one of her blades.

  “The other one, too. We don’t know how much we’ll need them if something goes wrong. We can’t have them in the Otherworld sheath where you can’t access them.”

  Tessa handed Finn the blade she had already taken out. Then she used the same hand and, with some contorting, twisted her wrist so that she could take the other blade out. She took the first blade from Finn and, holding them both in one hand, tucked them in her pocket. Finn did the same.

  “What now?” she whispered.

  Their gazes locked, and Tessa found that she couldn’t look away. Those brown eyes held hers, and she was snared. Tessa’s pulse pounded in her hurt hand, but she barely noticed with the bliss flowing through her body.

  Finn reached up and slowly tucked a stray curl that had come out of her braid back behind her ear. Tessa swallowed hard. She knew it was the merging that was causing this behavior. That it was starting to make them fall in love with each other.

  Right, she thought sarcastically, because you weren’t falling for Finn before the merging. Why don’t you tell that story to someone who’ll believe you, Tessa?

  She wrapped her good hand around his neck, and he rested his hands on her hips. Tessa knew she should stop. They needed to open the portal. The monsters would wake up soon.

  And yet…

  “I’m going to kiss you now,” Tessa said, and the intensity in Finn’s eyes made Tessa’s breath catch in her throat.

  “Tess,” he said, and the hoarseness of his voice only increased her desire. She wasn’t sure if he was going to tell her to stop or to hurry up, but before he could decide, she was pulling his head down to hers. In a second, their lips touched, and she stopped thinking altogether.

  Tessa hadn’t thought it possible, but the ecstasy that she felt running through her kicked up a notch, and she gasped, tugging him closer. Finn pulled her body tight against his, and they kissed until she was out of breath. She never wanted to stop.

  But then, from somewhere outside the haze that she was in, Tessa heard a rumble much louder than the first. And a moment later, it turned into a roar.

  Finn and Tessa both pulled away from the kiss at the same moment, staring at each other as if they were drunk—and she supposed they were.

  But their time was up.

  The monsters were awake.

&nbs
p; And they were in trouble.

  “The portal,” Tessa yelled over the hideous sound of the monsters rousing. “We need to open it.”

  “There’s no time.”

  “Separate,” she gasped as her concern ran through her alongside the bliss. “Then we need to separate. The Light magic must have woken them up.”

  Finn closed his eyes, and she did the same. Tessa willed herself to separate her magic from Finn’s, and just like that, she was one person again.

  Cold and alone.

  With a cave full of grumpy monsters coming for her.

  And they looked pissed that Finn and Tessa had disturbed their slumber.

  Chapter 23

  What a night. I am so done with this monster lair.

  And the night was far from over, of course.

  The rock monsters reminded Tessa of a drawing she had once seen in a book of mythical creatures. They looked similar to something called a piranha fish. Compact grey bodies, rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth, beady red eyes that seemed angry, except these creatures before her had legs and tails and, of course, no fins.

  The monsters closest to them screamed in anger and began charging them. Finn and Tessa had no time to do anything except run along the wall of the cave. There was a whoosh of hot smelly air as one of the huge creature’s jaws snapped shut behind them, missing them by inches.

  Some of the monsters were still asleep, and Tessa followed Finn as he limped away from the wall, aiming for those that still looked like boulders. They climbed over them and went around them, using the snoring monsters as barricades between themselves and the furious creatures that had awoken.

  Tessa’s pulse was hammering in her veins. Jaws were snapping all around them. She dodged without thinking, simply acting on instinct. Finn got his back against the cave wall once again and pulled Tessa next to him. He swung his blades in a wide arc, and the monsters jumped back, sensing the magic.

  “There’s too many,” she said, looking dubiously at her own curved blade. “Can we even kill them with such small blades?”