Broken Fae

by Caroline Peckham

  "Do you seriously think I give a shit about hearing your pathetic excuses?" Ice blossomed over Gabriel's fists and before I could do any more than whinny in alarm, he started pounding on my shield with blows so hard I could feel my magic juddering and threatening to crack beneath them already.

  I gasped as the ground beneath me began to rock and quake with his earth magic too, swearing and praying to all the stars in the sky as I fought to think of some way out of this that didn't end with me being pulverised.

  With a cry of determination, I managed to cast a whip of air in my left hand and I slashed it towards his legs with everything I had, letting my shield shatter as I poured power into my attack.

  Gabriel yelled in fury as I ripped his legs out from beneath him and sent him crashing to the ground, following up with a harsh blast of air which sent him tumbling away towards the bleachers with his wings curled tight around him.

  I turned and ran before he'd even stopped rolling, throwing my magic together as fast as I could, trying to construct an illusion to lead him away while shrouding myself in shadow as I raced towards the darkness beneath Altair Halls.

  My magic was seriously waning but a slightly blurry figure cast in my image tore away from the shadow which concealed me and I ran even faster as I aimed for the doors which led inside the huge gothic building. If I could just get in there then I knew I could hide and conceal myself from him better. He only had to fall for my trick for a moment. And as I raced on, I was sure he'd done just that, launching himself after the illusion and buying me the vital seconds I needed.

  I raced for the door with my hand outstretched, meaning to yank it open, but before I could, a figure plummeted from the sky and landed right in front of me.

  Gabriel Nox was one big ass motherfucker. He was so tall that even his shadow dwarfed me and with his black wings spread wide either side of him and the inky black swirls of his tattoos coating his bare chest, he looked just like a monster straight from hell come to destroy me.

  His fist snapped out before I could do a damn thing to stop it and he cracked me in the nose so hard that I didn't even need to hear the sickening crunch to know it was broken.

  I fell back with a cry of pain, landing heavily on the cobblestones a moment before he was on me again.

  I tried to lift my hands to protect myself and found them already bound in thick vines to contain my magic. My legs were tied too and with a flash of terror, I realised he'd managed to immobilise me, tying me down with his magic as the rage in him broke loose and he aimed it all my way.

  Gabriel's fist swung into my face and he snarled at me in fury, his rage bleeding more savagely than the wounds he was giving me as pain splintered through my body and all I could do was struggle pathetically beneath him.

  He punched and punched and punched until blood was spilling into my eyes, coating my tongue and covering my skin and his rage was branded onto me in a physical show which I had to hope was enough to satisfy his pride. Because I couldn't return his money, and I wouldn't have wanted to try. That amount was nothing to him, but it was Ella's entire life. It was freedom and hope and dreams and choices and I would happily take this punishment a thousand times over just to buy her a shot at that.

  Gabriel's hands locked around my throat and my head pounded as I fought to keep myself conscious. I couldn't pass out. I had to finish my plan and escape this place. I had to find somewhere for me and my sister to run away to and make sure she never ended up like this. It might have been the Fae way to fight for all you had in life, but in Alestria the biggest, baddest Fae seemed to take particular pleasure in grinding those beneath them into the dirt with their heels.

  Gabriel Nox was proving that right now as he glared down at me, my own blood speckling his face and his eyes alight with the fury of a demon. People like him would always see us as less than them, expendable, usable, disposable. And I wasn't going to let my sister get stuck here with a whole city full of them. There was an entire world waiting for us beyond this place.

  Gabriel's grip tightened until something popped inside my neck and I pawed at him with clumsy fingers which were caught in vines as he cut off my air supply and the heady oblivion of death crept close enough to whisper dark promises in my ear.

  Fear slid beneath my skin, a real and desperate thing as I realised he wasn't letting go. This wasn't like the fights I'd taken part in in Elemental Combat. There was no one to call him off. No one to rein him in. And I was getting the terrifying feeling that he might actually want me dead.

  With a final snarl of fury, Gabriel shoved away from me and I gasped as I sucked in a lungful of air, more and more as my aching lungs made me pant and fight for it.

  He didn't let me up, the vines tethering me in place tightening instead of loosening as he stood over me and sneered like he half wanted to finish what he'd started.

  "Fae like you are what's wrong with the world," Gabriel growled, dropping into a crouch beside me so that I was trapped in the horror of his glare. "You're like a plague on this kingdom, always trying to take things you haven't earned, looking for a leg up because you aren't strong enough to fight for what you want and claim it like a true Fae. But you and I both know the truth. This right here is the truth."

  "What truth?" I wheezed through the blinding pain in my broken body. I was bleeding so fucking much that I was choking on it, stuck on my back so that I couldn't even cough it up properly. If I passed out, I'd probably drown in my own blood and this plan of mine would become a whole lot less fake.

  Meteorites shot across the sky beyond Gabriel's head and my gaze shifted to watch them. So free, so beautiful, not caring about this or anything else that might be happening down on the cruel and heartless planet.

  "The truth," Gabriel hissed, leaning down even closer to me so that he was all I could see, my view of that beautiful freedom snatched away as surely as my hopes and dreams would be if I stayed living in this place. "Is that you're exactly where you belong right now. So the next time you think about trying to steal something from someone above you, you should remember this, lying in the gutter with the rest of the worthless shit. You should think about how it felt to be broken and bleeding and helpless and at my fucking mercy. And you should know that I left you alive because you're nothing. Not even worth the effort of killing. Worthless, helpless, pathetic, nothing."

  He stood up straight and stalked away from me before spreading his wings wide and shooting up into the sky, chasing the stream of meteors across the sky until I couldn't see him anymore.

  The pain in my body was blinding and the vines immobilising me were so strong that for a moment I almost gave up, the weight of his words weighing me down as much as the heavy ache in my soul from all the things King had made me do.

  I let my eyes flutter shut as the pain in my body flared, but just as I was about to give in to it and forget about all of the insane dreams of freedom I'd been counting on so desperately, the image of a girl with long, blonde hair pressed into my mind.

  Get up, Gare Bear.

  Elise's teasing tone made the corner of my lip twitch in happiness.

  Come on, silly, you don't have long. I thought you promised me we were going to get out of here together?

  Her voice seemed so real that for a moment I could almost convince myself that if I opened my eyes she'd be there, looking down at me with her arms folded and an eyebrow arched.

  You're all I'll ever need, Gareth. So long as we have each other, I know I don't ever have to worry about being alone.

  Those words made me ache because they weren't some figment of my imagination. She'd spoken them to me the last time I'd visited her while we sat up on the roof of the Sparkling Uranus and stared up at the stars, asking them why they'd chosen to deal us such a shitty hand of fate.

  You're all I'll ever need, too, little angel. And I swear that when we run from this place, we'll never look back and we'll never stop smiling again.

  My reply to her had been an oath made with the most solemn of vo
ws. She was counting on me and I was counting on her. And with that thought, I realised that Gabriel was dead wrong about me. Because I wasn't nothing. Not to her. To her I was everything and she was everything to me too.

  He was the one who was all alone in the world with nothing but his power and his money and his secrets. He was the one who was nothing. And I wasn't going to lay here and let a piece of shit like him steal this fate I'd worked so damn hard for me and Ella. I was going to get the fuck out of here before I ran out of time.

  I tugged on my wrists with a grunt of pain that resounded through my entire body as I worked to free myself from the vines he'd left me trapped in. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but the harder I struggled against them, the more I began to feel them loosening.

  The pain in my body was excruciating, but I refused to stop. I rocked and flexed and tugged and finally, the vines slipped and I managed to yank my right hand free.

  With a groan of pain, I quickly pressed my hand to my chin and pushed healing magic from it, sighing in relief as the agony ebbed from my body and my mind sharpened again. My power was running low and I cursed my damn luck as I managed to rip the rest of the vines from my body and struggled to my feet.

  I swayed a little and had to heal my head a bit more before the dizziness passed.

  I glanced down at my bloody clothes and the puddle of deepest red which spread across the ground at my feet and swallowed thickly. Gabriel Nox was a complication that I hadn't foreseen for tonight, but in all honesty, I'd known that this would happen if he ever figured out that I was the one who had been blackmailing him. And I didn't even feel bad about it. That fucker hadn't even bothered to ask for the money back. That was how little it meant to him. This whole thing was about his fucking pride and proving that he was a big, bad, Fae. Well, bravo asshole, you're a totally terrifying motherfucker and I took my beating like a pro. Either way, I still got what I'd needed from him and I would happily pay that price ten times over to save Ella from Old Sal's stage.

  The sound of approaching footsteps made me fall still and I hurried across the courtyard, using a little magic to hide myself in a silencing bubble before ducking beneath the bleachers where the Lunar Brotherhood usually held court during the day.

  The last thing I needed was to run into anyone else tonight. Time was getting seriously low and I had less than an hour left to get the fuck out of here if I wanted to pull this thing off before King summoned me.

  Ryder Draconis stepped out into the courtyard and my blood ran cold as I froze, watching him from between the gaps beneath the seats above me.

  He had a deep scowl on his face and a goddamn razor blade twisting between his fingers as he cut into his own flesh and let his blood drip to the ground at his feet. He looked pissed. Like, ready to blow his top and kill the next unfortunate soul he came across, pissed. Although, I guessed he did always kinda look like that.

  He noticed the heaped vines and puddle of blood which I’d left on the ground and paused to look down at them.

  A shiver raced along my skin as I remembered the promise he'd made me all those months ago when he'd realised I was working with Dante. I knew he didn't make empty threats and I'd been more than careful not to cross his path alone since then. And now here I was, cowering beneath the fucking bleachers which he'd laid claim to as Lunar Territory like I had a fucking death wish.

  Shit on it.

  Why was fate conspiring against me tonight?

  My heart leapt and thrashed and my hands tightened into fists as I watched Ryder and I almost had a damn heart attack as a snort of amused laughter spilled from his lips at the sight of all that blood.

  Before I could freak the fuck out, he turned and stalked away again, not noticing me and finally offering me some of that fucking luck I'd been desperate for all night.

  I waited until he disappeared out of sight then ducked out of my hiding place and ran straight for Altair Halls. No way was I going to risk following the path Ryder had taken, so I was just going to have to cut through the building and run the long way around to the Dead Shed where my fake dead body was waiting and hurry the fuck up with my plan.

  I raced along the corridors in the dark and almost leapt out of my damn skin as the sound of voices reached me.

  "Tonight, I'm going to interrogate every member of the Deck about the Magicae Mortuorum," the deep and terrifying voice of a man spoke and I skidded to halt just before turning the corner ahead of me with my heart in my motherfucking throat. It wasn't like I could recognise King's voice with the concealment spells he used constantly changing it, but I just knew it was him by the shiver of pure dread that flooded my skin whenever he spoke.

  "Yes, Card Master," Nightshade purred. "I'm beginning to believe we must have a traitor in our midst."

  "Well tonight they'll find out exactly what happens to someone who tries to turn their back on the Deck," he snarled. "And when everyone else sees what happens to traitors, I doubt we'll ever have to worry about finding one amongst our ranks again."

  I turned to run in the opposite fucking direction as fast as I could, but the next words to spill from his lips froze me to the spot, my whole body turning to ice as my eyes widened in horror.

  "Gareth? Why are you lurking in the shadows? Don't you know it's rude to keep your King waiting?"

  I howled to the moon in a mournful cry which didn't do anything to alleviate the ache in my heart as I ran through the vineyards with my pack.

  I knew that Dante and the others didn't believe me, but I was adamant this whole thing was my fault. I should have been faster, should have stayed closer to Roary when we were up on that roof so that his magic could have shielded me from the blast of air which had sent me flying down to the pool. Hell, the least I should have done was be the one to take the fall. He would have gotten away if he hadn't come to help me, I knew it in my bones.

  Nights didn't get caught. Ever. Even if it had been one of the most daring heists any of them had ever tried to pull off against one of the most powerful Fae in the entire kingdom. It shouldn't have mattered because they were the best. There was only one weak link in their team and it had been the untested Wolf pup who was too big for her damn boots and in way over her head.

  I'd cried myself to sleep that night and then in the morning I'd tried to convince Dante to let me go and hand myself in, admit to being the one who had broken into the manor and try and take responsibility so that they'd let Roary out. But of course he'd gone all Alpha on me, even used the fucking command tone which he hadn't done to me since I was a kid. I'd felt the desperate desire to rip into his fucking throat for that move, shift into my silver Wolf form and challenge him to force me to bow.

  But I'd managed to hold myself back. Mostly because I knew he was right. Handing myself in wouldn't help Roary, it would just put me in the shit too. And even if I felt like I deserved whatever punishment the law wanted to throw at me, I couldn't do that to my pack, to mia famiglia, to Aunt Bianca who had taken me in and saved me from the torture of living with my traitorous father and had never once questioned my own loyalty.

  But I didn't know how to deal with this guilt in me. I'd made an oath to set him free somehow, but I didn't have the faintest clue of how to do that. Dante had told me that the Dragon lord bastardo had struck a deal with him and that all he had to do was stick to it to get Roary out, but I wasn't convinced.

  My gut always got a feeling about things which rarely let me down and when Dante had told me he'd made a deal with that devil, the feeling of discomfort and mistrust had almost overwhelmed me. And I knew for a fact that I could trust Dante with my life and Roary's too, so it was undoubtably Lionel Acrux's side of this deal that had my hackles raising and my gut clenching.

  I didn't know why, but I was sure that nothing Dante agreed to with him would end well for any of us. But we didn't have any other choice either.

  Dante had gotten the best lawyers to help with Roary's case, had bribed every official he could and had blackmailed the rest, bu
t when it came down to it, the Fire Councillor had more sway than the Alpha of the Oscura Clan. We'd finally come up against an opponent who wouldn't bow to our threats and who had found a way to grab us by the short and curlies.

  It fucking sucked and it hurt so bad that I felt like I'd been gut punched.

  In fact, it hurt worse than that and as I'd been howling to the moon for the fourth night in a row over what had happened, I'd finally admitted to myself that I'd been a little bit in love with Roary Night for a long time and losing him had broken my heart.

  It was pathetic in its truth. I was fourteen and he was twenty four. He'd never once looked at me like I was anything other than an annoying little pup who nipped at his heels and amused him from time to time. Not once aside from that one time on the Winter Solstice when I hadn't been lured by his Charisma to fall all over him like the rest of my dumbass cousins. That was the only time I'd ever felt like he'd looked at me and really seen me as more than just some kid.

  Fuck, I was pathetic. A little Wolf pup howling over the king of the jungle who would never want me even if I hadn't ruined his damn life by getting him caught.

  But I'd made a vow to the moon and I intended to keep it. For now, the only plan I could really go along with to try and fulfil that vow meant helping Dante keep to his word with Lionel Acrux and hope that my gut feeling about not trusting him was proved wrong. But if whatever he'd agreed to didn't work then I was going to figure out a way that would. Because there was no way I could live with this guilt and let Roary rot in Darkmore Penitentiary for the rest of his life. Even if the love I felt for him was childish and hopeless and destined to give me nothing other than heartache, it was still more than enough to bind me to him. I would see him set free one day. No matter what it took to achieve it.

  My pack raced along behind me as I ran at breakneck speed, charging through the vineyards and howling again as I drew closer to the magical barriers that kept us safe inside the boundary. There was a stream which ringed the bottom of the valley and so long as we didn't cross it we would be safe here, protected by Dante's magic and the magic of our entire clan who had strengthened it beyond the point of impenetrable.