by Maia Starr
“Stop!” I finally yelled, standing up on the bartop. “Stop this!”
Kaayde had Xereris by the neck, his claws just barely cutting into his skin. He looked at me, snarling his teeth as he pushed Xereris away from him.
“Get out of here,” Kaayde hissed at me, and I narrowed my brows, raising my chin to him.
I put my hands on Xereris’ shoulders, pulling him away from the countertop and he looked down at me: a few minor scratches dripping blood. I looked over his wounds and then snapped back to Kaayde, screwing up my face into an expression of disgust before walking out with Xereris.
I thought the fight was over, but Xereris lurched toward Kaayde and pinned him on the ground, gripping his wrist down and scraping his claws down his arm until blood pooled at the frayed flesh.
“Xereris!” I yelled as he drove his fists into Kaayde’s face.
Kaayde struggled against him for only a moment before relenting to the blows.
Before I could scream again, Xereris stopped abruptly. “I won’t give this to you,” Xereris said, shaking his head to the amethyst Parduss and vaulting off of him.
Kaayde didn’t move, and I had the overwhelming urge to run to him. We made our way back to Xereris’ home inside the tower. I washed his cuts and apologized for Kaayde’s behavior.
Inside, I was buzzing.
Was Kaayde jealous? Or was there an underlying issue between the pair that I wasn’t aware of?
Eventually, we found ourselves entangled on the bed, kissing and sharing our warmth together: a stark contrast of all that we had just experienced.
“Tell me everything,” I whispered as Xereris lay on top of me, our bodies pressed together in a sexual intoxication. He pressed himself against my hips, and I could feel how hard he was. If I did my job right, he would believe he was getting lucky tonight.
Xereris leaned into my neck, gently moving the curls out of the way before pressing oversized lips against my skin.
“What do you want to know?” he whispered.
“Anything,” I said while twirling my fingers through his curly, dark hair. “How do you feel about the alliance?”
“I love it,” he slipped a hand down my back: his hand pressed against my clothes and the mattress as he reached for my backside. “Can’t you tell?”
“Oh, is that what this is all about?” I laughed: teased. “I hadn’t noticed.”
We lay in the still of his bedroom: the rain pounding against the windows with a fury. It was a calm chaos that I absolutely loved. The glowstones lit up the shallow fireplace in the bedroom, and I reached up and pulled his lips against mine.
Pulling away, he pierced me with his ice-blue eyes and looked over my features.
“And what about you?” He asked. “How do you feel about it?”
“Mmm…” I said playfully before giggling out, “I’m still on the fence, but I’ll let you know when I decide.”
He leaned in and pushed his tongue inside my mouth, and I happily toyed with it, arching my back to press against his body.
“Are there a lot of Atherien left?” I asked, breathless.
“No,” he said.
I grit my teeth as he went back to kissing my neck, swirling his tongue around the skin. My eyes went wide with awkward irritation for having to question him and I cleared my throat and asked, “How many? Enough to defend Titan from the beasts outside the city?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, pulling away.
“I was in the badlands,” I said with a sheepish smile. “There were… a lot of dangerous creatures out there.”
“Ivy!” he scolded, looking genuinely concerned. “You shouldn’t go out there! You could die!”
“I’m fine,” I laughed, forgoing telling him about the birds I had to kill to flee for my life.
“Don’t worry,” he said, fixing my hair behind my ear. “There aren’t many of us… thirty or so… but we’re fierce. And besides…” He trailed off, thinking better of it.
“And besides, what?” I laughed.
He took a deep breath and gave me a testing look, then relented with a smirk, “We have a secret weapon.”
My heart lilted, feeling caught off-guard.
“And what’s that?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t suppose I’m in the inner circle enough to know that.”
“What about the females?” I asked, trying to get in one last question before coming back to the weapon. “Do they know? I mean… if there are any females left,” I raised a brow.
He seemed taken aback by my question, and I wondered if I’d taken things too far. He shook his head, sullen, and said, “Not even one.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, brushing my hand against his cheek.
“And what of Kaayde?” he said sweetly. “How are you feeling?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, pushing my head deeper into the mattress to get a better look at the bright blue colored Parduss above me.
“Well…” he shrugged. “You told me he sent you away. I just wondered how you were doing with that.”
“Oh, that?” I brushed him off. “I’m fine. If he doesn’t want me, why would I try and force myself to be with him?”
The muscular shifter gave a half-hearted shrug and licked his lips: eyes elsewhere.
That’s what got me about Xereris. He was a nice guy. For what little time we had been able to spend together, he certainly seemed like he cared about me: always asking how I was feeling or what I felt like doing.
It was those lovely qualities that made me feel bad for using him like this. I wanted to like him, but I couldn’t make the want a reality.
In truth, as much as he pissed me off, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Kaayde since he sent me away.
I wanted him to like me so much that I had convinced myself everything would turn out and that we would make a proper go of our strange coupling. That plan hadn’t been working out so well.
“What’s his deal, anyway?” I asked, trying to sound coy and uninterested: trying to sound like the scorned ex-lover instead of the curious spy. My rouse works and Xereris pulled his hand from my backside and drew it up my torso.
The sensual shifter kissed me sweetly and then whispered, “What do you want to know?”
“Anything,” I said nonchalantly. “What’s his problem? Why is he so against this alliance?”
“You mean what’s his problem with you?” Xereris asked, and I could tell he was offended.
“No,” I scoffed, widening my eyes at him.
“Well,” he dismissed me almost immediately. “Kaayde’s got a death wish.”
My heart sank at the phrase, and I tried not to let my emotions betray me.
“Ooh, tell me more,” I teased, pulling him closer to my lips but holding back from kissing him.
“It’s just as it sounds,” he explained plainly. “He’s been looking for a reason to get himself killed for… oh, decades now? Being in an alliance means there won’t be more war with the Gilds. No war means no warrior’s death.”
“Why does he have a death wish?” I asked before taking a hard swallow.
Xereris pulled back and narrowed his eyes curiously at me. He gave an incredulous smirk and mused, “Wow. You guys really didn’t talk, did you?”
“He’s not exactly chatty,” I mocked.
“He is with us,” he said, and I immediately felt defensive.
“Well, he just doesn’t like me then!” I laughed. “Why? What should I know?”
“Kaayde killed his partner,” he said with as much ease as he might if he were asking about the weather. “Tifayy.”
I felt a surge of sensations rush through my body. It was as though I was dreaming I was falling, except I was wide awake.
Killed her?
“Remind me not to get on his bad side,” I said with a terrified, amused breath.
“I think you already are,” he teased, tapping a finger against my nose.
“Were th
ey in a fight?” I asked, and Xereris waved me off.
“He doesn’t like to talk about it, but it was a big point of contention here.”
“Right,” I said with a breath. “Obviously.”
“That’s when we learned…” he trailed off once more and then met my eyes. He squinted his eyes and gave me a look that let me know this was a secret not to be revealed to anyone. “That’s when we learned the Kaayde was the weapon.”
“Oh,” I said with a breath and then teased, “So you did know.”
“Yes,” he laughed. “But that’s all I know. Whatever his power is, it was only discovered by Merenora, our deceased queen. Whether she passed this information on to her son, Orylis, or his friend, Veynore, our current Dendren, I have no clue. I just know that when there were talks of a war back then, Merenora was certain she could use Kaayde to win it and take over the plenks.”
“Huh…” I said absent-mindedly: too shocked to say anything else.
I thought about Kaayde and started to wonder who he really was. He seemed to be wounded and guarded. I knew the information about him killing his past love should have made me flinch, should have made me want him less, but it did just the opposite. I wanted to know him more than ever now.
Chapter Six
Ivy
“Are you coming?” came the voice of a Gild shifter who still had not identified himself to me. He was leading me far into the gardens of the council city, Renden.
“Yes, sorry,” I said quickly, trying to keep up with his pace as we raced toward the council building.
The sky cities, the plenks, were absolutely beautiful.
There was something to be said for the magic that happened in the mainlands: its vibrancy and color were intense and captivating. The strange creatures were endlessly watchable, and the blue city was stunning... but the plenks were more me.
The floating islands were utterly green, with mountains on each one. Some of the mountains flooded with water, others were converted into futuristic buildings with glass dome fronts. I had even heard there was a hospital build into the side of one of them.
Each plenk had its own personality: some formal and regal, like Renden, the plenk where the Dendren lived. It was almost medieval. It had lush gardens, mazes, and a huge court where the Dendren's most trusted loyalists lived.
Then there was the Adoranthe plenk. It was known as the market district and the most human colonized area of the plenks. There were restaurants, bars, fighting rings, and the most human city-scape of any of the areas on Cadir.
I had snuck back to the plenks, which wasn't hard to do, considering Xereris often had missions out in the badlands to attend to. I didn't sneak away alone, of course. I met a Gild shifter halfway through the forests who brought me back to the plenks safely.
While I was the only human who had been able to come to the mainlands with weapons strong enough to kill the beasts there, it was still too dangerous for me to escape alone.
I made my way to the council room: a glass circular chamber where I had first met the Dendren. While I was expecting to meet with only Pash, I was surprised to hear the dark-scaled Fenris talking to her.
“I worked to ensure the human alliance with Cadir. That was me! All me!” I could hear the Dendren screaming at the top of his lungs from down the hall.
I swallowed hard and stepped into the room, feeling suddenly nervous. Pash’s gaze turned from Fenris to my quickly, and she tapped her foot impatient on the dais. This time neither she nor Fenris came down to meet me on the floor below them.
“Well?” she snapped. “What have you learned?”
Pash looked elegant, as always, with her long white hair done up in stylish braids. Even her armor was intricate and beautiful: it was white with crystals decorating the hard shell. I could tell she wore it like a badge of honor.
“A lot,” I said, still unsure if I was supposed to bow or what form of respect I should show the Dendren. “I think you’ll be pleased.”
“Do you know how many are left?” Pash asked, leaning over the railing to get a better look at me.
“A couple dozen,” I said and watched as Fenris gave Pash a smug, satisfied look. “Less than forty, for sure,” I offered.
“Good,” Fenris said firmly. “Then what is their strategy for war? Why were they so sure they could win against us?”
“They said they have a secret weapon,” I said uncomfortably.
“That’s ominous,” Pash said with a slight raise of her brow.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
A small silence followed, and Pash widened her eyes impatiently. Gesturing with her hand she insisted, “Well? What is it!”
I swallowed and set my jaw. She wouldn’t like the answer I had to give.
“They didn’t tell me,” I winced. “But I think I can find out.”
“Yes, do that, will you?” Pash said, pinching the bridge of her nose between her slender, scaled fingers.
“And what of their Dendren, this Veynore? What’s he like?” Fenris asked, gripping the railing of the dais.
“He seems…” I blinked: thought about it. I hadn’t been around him long enough to know, but I wasn’t about to tell them that. “He’s been kind to the humans in the mainlands. They throw a lot of parties, to keep morale up, I think.”
“Parties?” Fenris repeated with as much confusion as he had disgust.
“Yeah,” I nodded enthusiastically. “He seems nice.”
Fenris rolled his eyes and set his fingers against his crooked nose. “He is a rebel from our rule; that means he cannot be nice. What’s his goal?”
“I think they really just want to extend their population,” I said slowly, unsure what the goal of our meet today was supposed to be. Was I supposed to tell the truth, or tell them whatever they wanted to hear?
“Where does he reside?” Pash asked, bringing her thin brow up her forehead. “With his people or away from them?”
“They all live in this tower called the blue spire. It’s in the middle of Titan, their city. It has all these rooms: apartments. He lives in the top suite.”
“Easily accessible?” Pash asked.
“There are staircases throughout, but most of the rooms also have open windows. I haven't personally been up there, but I think there's plenty of ways in…” I began and then suddenly felt a sick pang through my stomach as I was answering. “Why?”
“I just wondered if he was the type of Dendren to live with his people or if he thought he was above them. I guess he's fine sharing a space with his people,” Fenris said, rolling his wrist. “And how does he treat the humans?
“We've all been treated well,” I reaffirmed. “They seem open to bringing in human culture. I ever have a couple of them drinking coffee,” I grinned, feeling proud of myself.
“Awful stuff!” Fenris laughed.
I laughed as well and raised my brows. “It's good!” I insisted.
“My hands shake after I drink it,” Fenris said, seeming to give the topic too much thought. It made me like him more.
“That's half the fun,” I said, feeling comfortable now. Pash could tell and gave me a scolding look. I immediately straightened and said, “Sir.”
“Oh, Pash, leave her alone,” Fenris teased.
“You're not her friend, Dendren; you're her ruler,” Pash reminded him.
The Dendren shifted his weight and gave a sigh. “Ivy,” he said, looking down at me once more. “You've done good work. I presume you've had the opportunity to get away and see the land?”
“Not with Kaayde, but... yes. I've snuck away,” I confirmed.
“Then you're a brave girl,” he said, and Pash rolled her eyes. Stepping down of the dais, Fenris came down to meet me and handed me a tablet and asked me to make a map of the areas I knew about in the mainlands. “I would like you to make a map of whatever lands you've surveyed.”
“Okay,” I said, taking the tablet from him and fixing it under my armpit.
He smirked. “Now.”
<
br /> “Oh! Okay,” I said, lifting my leg and resting the tablet against it. I began to scribble on the tech pad, my back arching closer to my leg, nearly tipping me over the more I drew. When I had completed a rough sketch, I looked up at him, suddenly wondering why he wanted to know.
“Why do you need this?” I asked.
I was prepared for him to have questions about the Atherien culture, their army or their reaction to humans, but not about their landscape.
“We've heard reports from some of the other girls that there is mistreatment. We want to send some of our warriors at the outskirts of the city, just in case there is trouble,” Fenris said with a polite smile as he leaned in to get a better look at my sketching.
“With all due respect, Dendren, I haven't heard anything from the girls I've spoken to. We've been treated well,” I said.
“You're not the one receiving the reports,” Pash snapped.
“Right, sorry,” I shook my head, remembering my place. I squished my lips to one side of my face and handed the Dendren my rough maps awkwardly.
“We'll meet back in one week,” Pash said sternly.
“In the meantime…” Fenris began slowly, tapping his hands on the stone balcony in front of him, “We would like you to get close to Kaayde. Keep him busy.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because we're asking you to,” Pash said.
“Kaayde is the Dendren's personal guard,” Fenris explained. “It's his job to survey the land to protect his people; we just need him distracted while our men find posts to hide in.”
“Of course…” I cringed inwardly. “But let me tell you, the Atherien know the land like the back of their hands. From what I've seen, they know every crevice there is to hide in.”
“That's good to know,” Fenris nodded. “I'll tell our warriors to be careful.”
“Illox will come back to the mainlands with you,” Pash instructed. “You will show him where Veynore lives.”
“Alright,” I nodded. “And what am I supposed to say if one of the Atherien catches me?