Seared

by Bethany Adams

  The stranger laughed. “Alas, nothing that simple. But probably more legal.”

  “True. There aren’t laws against magic.” Delbin’s gaze sharpened. “Now. Who are you, really, and what do you want?”

  “To the point. I like that.” The mage peered at him for a moment. “I’m Fen. You know I worked with Kien. Gotta say, that was one of my dumber decisions. But as I was about to strike out on my own, I was…made aware of a good reason to return to Kien’s employ. This time in order to stop him.”

  Inona’s eyes narrowed. “Just like that?”

  “He swore to spare my mother’s people,” Fen said, expression going hard. “The poison was only supposed to harm the half-bloods on the surface and weaken the full-bloods who tried to interfere.”

  Delbin’s nose wrinkled. “Just a little casual genocide?”

  “We didn’t intend to kill them.” Fen shrugged. “Just rule them. Anyone with magic who might have thought to protect the humans would have been incapacitated, leaving the humans defenseless against our powers. We have crystals that block us from the spell’s effects. And once we got Kien back to Moranaia, he would have taken over the throne and used his army to help us.”

  “Now you’ve decided world domination isn’t for you?” Inona asked, her tone furious.

  Though Fen winced, he made a sharp gesture with his hands. “It was a stupid idea, okay? I thought the fae deserved what they got for abandoning me here. My own mother dumped me on Earth the very day I was born. And I’m not the only one this kind of thing has happened to. I’ve run across many half-bloods, some of them lost and confused with no clue about their heritage. But Kien is no better than the heartless fae who left their offspring behind. By the time I realized how demented he is, I was stuck.”

  Inona’s face reflected Delbin’s own disbelief. “Right,” she said.

  “Look, it doesn’t matter at this point,” Fen said. “If I don’t fix this, my uncle will have to kill me. As he’s the only one who has ever been decent to me, I’d like to avoid that. And, you know, survive.”

  Delbin considered the mage’s words. After his own exile to Earth, he’d run across half-bloods himself. It was true that more children had been left behind by careless or neglectful fae than many full-bloods realized. Still, poisoning the energy to take control of the world? A mad scheme indeed.

  “Why are you approaching us if you’re trying to return to Kien’s group?” Delbin asked.

  “I’m done hurting others for his pleasure.” Fen’s jaw clenched. “He ordered me to bring you both back to prove my loyalty. But if we work together, maybe we can defeat him.”

  Inona strode up to Fen, stopping an arm’s length away. “I don’t trust you.”

  “Probably wise,” the elf answered. “Still, if you’re hunting Kien, I can lead you right to him. Got a better offer?”

  Damn. It would speed things up if Fen took them straight to Kien. Wasn’t that why they’d returned to the carnival? For information? Delbin exchanged a glance with Inona, who gave a slight shake of her head.

  “I don’t like this,” she sent.

  “We’d be idiots to like this,” Delbin answered. “But he has a good point. I can relay the cave’s location to Ralan along the way. We both know Kien has to be stopped.”

  Inona sighed and spoke aloud, gaze fastened on Fen. “What’s your plan?”

  “I pretend to take you in. They already have a healer captured. If you can get her on your side, you three could take out Victor and Patrick without much trouble.” Fen’s eyes flashed red, and his fangs glinted with his smirk. “During that bit of distraction, I can slip up on Kien. If I can break through his shields quickly enough to get my fangs in him, I can drain him.”

  Delbin laughed. “Your plan is to eat Kien?”

  Fen shook his head. “You know nothing about blood elves, do you? The blood is just a conduit. What I’ll drain is his energy. All of it.”

  “And then?” Inona asked.

  “Then I’ll use it to kill him.”

  Ralan tapped his fingers along the edge of the door and glared at the bumper in front of them. Every few minutes, they crept forward, but progress was slow. “I can’t believe this.”

  “I was hoping it wouldn’t be too bad on a Sunday,” Cora said. “But six o’clock is always a bit crazy.”

  “It’s not your fault,” he said.

  Traffic shifted, and she inched the car forward again. Only to stop once more. “How long until they meet with Kien’s friend?”

  “Any time now.” Ralan shoved down a surge of dread. He hadn’t sensed anything amiss with Delbin, but he couldn’t help but worry about his apprentice. “He didn’t answer my latest attempt at contact, but his energy was calm.”

  “We can take the next exit and cut along the side roads,” Cora said.

  Ralan looked up at the sky. The sun was lowering, but they had two or three hours of light. Unerringly, his head turned in Kien’s direction. The connection to his brother unsettled him, like an itch under the skin or clothes too tight. It only added to his aggravation.

  When Delbin’s energy tapped against his, Ralan opened his mind at once. “You’d better not be in trouble.”

  “The contact’s name is Fen,” Delbin said in response. “A young blood elf. He’s going to lead me and Inona to Kien in exchange for our help.”

  Ralan frowned. A blood elf. Could he be Vek’s nephew? “Why?”

  “He said his uncle would kill him if he didn’t fix the trouble he caused.”

  Ralan nodded, though Delbin couldn’t see. “I’ve found my own trail, but a clear path would be nice. Ask him his uncle’s name.”

  There was a brief pause before Delbin answered. “Vek.”

  “Good.”

  Even with the blood link, Ralan and Cora would have fumbled through the woods in search of the exact cave. A shortcut would save hours. Aligning with Fen was a risk, but Ralan had known Vek long enough to trust his nephew’s words. If Fen had caused damage to the Unseelie, Vek wouldn’t hesitate to kill family to resolve it.

  “What will you be doing?” Delbin asked.

  Ralan tried to scan for the strands, but the futures muddled together into a murky mass. Impenetrable. He bit back a groan of frustration and went with his gut. “We’ll follow.”

  “Ah, good. Fen’s on his way back.”

  Maddy glanced at Kien out of the corner of her eye, careful not to draw his attention. Her heart squeezed oddly at the thought of the dark Sidhe’s return. Though Patrick had eventually brought her food and bottled water, Fen had been the only one to show her any sort of kindness. She suppressed a snort. A sign of her crappy situation that his meager actions were the nicest things to happen at her.

  She couldn’t decide if his return was a good thing or a prelude to something worse.

  “Think he managed to capture those two you wanted?” Victor asked.

  A wicked smile lit Kien’s face. “He sent me a mental image of them trussed and bloodied in the back of his car. He said it was easy once he’d taken out the woman.”

  Patrick shifted against the stalagmite across from her. “Against a telepath?”

  “Fen isn’t as weak as you,” Kien snapped. “Watch the girl. I found a larger chamber through a fissure in the rock, and I’d like to prepare it for a bit of…fun. I have great plans for Delbin and Inona.”

  The others fell silent as Kien crossed to the back of the narrow cave. Even after he disappeared behind a column, no one spoke. Maddy stared at the dirt crusted on her toes. She’d never get the muck off of her favorite sandals, but she couldn’t summon the energy to care. All of her focus was on her plan to escape.

  Maddy had waited all day for Kien to leave. Of all of them, he was the one she truly feared. He knew about healers, for one thing, and might have a shield that would slow her powers. Or nullify them. The most vulnerable was Patrick. She suspected he was even younger than she was, and though he tried to appear tough, he wasn’t as hardened as the ot
hers.

  Once she had him alone, she could use her magic to render him unconscious, one of the few healing spells she had almost mastered. It was supposed to be for treating patients who couldn’t be awake for a procedure. In this case, she figured it was forgivable to turn it on Patrick. It wouldn’t kill him.

  Probably.

  Maddy shuddered, the motion drawing the others’ attention. Victor scowled at her. “What’s your problem?”

  “I need to pee,” she said softly, lying without compunction.

  “Ugh,” he grumbled. “Take her out again, Patrick.”

  Patrick’s nose curled, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he watched Maddy as she shoved herself to her feet, wavering for a moment on legs gone numb from the cold. She jogged her legs back and forth to restore feeling and prayed they’d hold out when she made a run for it. Still shaky, she followed the young Sidhe from the cave.

  The light was growing dim as the late afternoon sun slid behind the trees. It couldn’t be too far from twilight. Maybe an hour? Nighttime would have been better for her escape, but Maddy couldn’t delay any longer. Not if she hoped to help Delbin, Inona, and the rest of the fae races.

  Maddy studied the slope that fell away from the landing in front of the cave. The trees were thinner there, letting more light through. When she’d gone out to take care of business before, she’d headed to the right. But the area to the left held the densest forest, probably because the slope was gentler and less rocky. Perfect.

  When Patrick gestured to the right, Maddy shook her head. “I don’t want to go in the same spot,” she said, letting a whine slip into her voice.

  “Whatever,” he grumbled. “Just move it. This is disgusting enough as it is.”

  “You’re the one who did the kidnapping,” she couldn’t resist saying.

  “Shut up.”

  Maddy hid a grin as he led her into the trees. Finally, he stopped beside a bush. Arms crossed, he tapped his foot and stared at her. She lifted her chin and stalked past him, squatting an arm’s length away. She waited until he turned his head and then flung her arms out as though she were losing her balance.

  She’d done that earlier, when he’d escorted her out here before. But this time, Maddy let her magic loose, so quickly he didn’t have time to react. His body teetered for a moment before he collapsed in a heap beside her.

  Swallowing against the lump in her throat, Maddy leaned over to examine him. She let out her own breath in a rush when she saw his chest rising and falling, if slowly. She hadn’t killed him. No matter what, she didn’t think she could bear to kill someone. Her whole body shook as she jerked to her feet and peered around the clearing.

  Silence. No shouts or footsteps.

  Maddy braced herself, seeking courage, and darted away. Well, as close as she could come to darting in her impractical sandals. The damp, muddy leather dug into her feet, making her want to cry out with every hurried step. After a few days in the chilly cave, the humid summer heat pressed down on her like a weight.

  Should’ve gotten into Hot Yoga, Maddy muttered to herself. Or at least done more cardio.

  Her breath heaved in and out. Her footsteps sounded like explosions, destroying the quiet of the forest as she rushed through the trees. Then her toe caught something sticking up beneath the grass, and she went down hard.

  Pain shot through her hands and knees. Maddy shifted, and warm blood trailed down the front of her leg. Shit. She glared at the patch of rock she could now see between the blades of grass. Then she forced herself upright and scrambled forward once more. If she failed, it wouldn’t be because she gave up.

  A rush of air was her only warning—and it didn’t come in time. The side of her head exploded with agony, and the world cut sharply to black.

  Chapter 19

  This time when Cora pulled into the small parking lot they’d stopped at before, another car was already there. Empty. She exchanged a glance with Ralan. Then they both slid out of her car. In silence, they took the two packs full of trail food and other supplies out of the trunk. Ralan shifted a few things, including the mirror, from his other bag before slipping a backpack over his shoulders.

  Delbin had been sending images of the path up the side of the mountain, so they shouldn’t be wandering for days. But anything could go wrong, and Cora and Ralan had agreed that it was better to be prepared.

  Cora stared across the road at the mountain. If she hadn’t insisted on going back to her place for Ralan to perform the blood-tracking spell, they would have already been climbing through the forest. She snorted. His visions might not be reliable, but he’d been correct about Maddy’s location.

  Too bad neither of them had trusted it.

  “Going in circles,” Cora said.

  “What?”

  She met Ralan’s confused gaze. “That’s all we’ve done. It’s like the universe itself is standing in our way.”

  He took her hand as they looked both ways, then darted across the street. On the other side, he gave her a pensive frown. “Maybe it is. But what got you thinking so?”

  “We were here. Right here.” Cora’s hand tightened on his. “You saw this area and knew, even from the other side of the river. Then I led us away to cast a spell we didn’t even need. What else is going to go wrong? Ugh. Don’t bother trying to Look. I don’t think I want to know.”

  “I could follow the possible strands for the cashier at the gas station we just stopped at,” Ralan said softly. “She’ll likely get a better job next week and meet her future husband at the office across the street. But everything around us and those close to us is a blur. I’d say your idea about the universe is accurate.”

  They headed into the trees. Frowning, Ralan paused, scanning the area before settling on a tree to their left. Cora studied it for a second. There. A thin strip of white cloth fluttered from one of the lower branches. The sign Delbin had left to mark the way. This path wasn’t part of the official trail system, so they would have struggled to find it otherwise.

  As they headed up the slope, silence descended. The forest darkened into a twilight gloom as the sun neared the horizon, but they could both see well enough in the dark to risk it. Still, Cora’s heart pounded with each step. She had lived a long time, but she’d never done anything this risky. Leaving her homeland had been difficult, it was true. Just not head into the lair of an insane elf bent on world domination sort of difficult.

  Ralan curved to the right, angling up the slope at a gentle incline. “What’s your favorite thing in the world?” he whispered into her mind.

  Cora found herself smiling. “Creating. My magic doesn’t actually tend toward such things, but I don’t care. I love to design and to make.”

  “What do you create besides clothing?”

  “Artwork, mostly. I’ve always loved to draw and paint.” The fading light cast his face in a dull glow as she glanced at him. “What’s your favorite thing in the world?”

  “Being a father,” Ralan answered at once. A slight, fond smile tipped his lips. “I was a drifter before Eri, never taking anything too seriously. At least nothing after I moved to Earth. But from the moment I first knew of her, everything changed.”

  Cora rubbed her hand against the sweet ache his words brought to her chest. All of the sudden, the image of holding a baby—his baby—popped into her mind. Black hair, golden eyes, a winsome smile. Her body heated at the thought of Ralan’s child, and a blush burned her cheeks as she tried to force it away.

  “Cora?”

  She could only imagine what her face looked like. Had he detected her arousal along their bond? “How much farther, do you think?”

  Ralan smirked, and she wanted to groan. Yep, he knew. But thankfully, he didn’t comment. “I’m not sure. Delbin’s a fair bit ahead of us, and he still hasn’t reached the cave.”

  Cora nodded. Her feet ached from the pinch and scrape of her rarely used hiking boots, and the climb had her winded. She gritted her teeth and carried on. Ah, but if only she
had the moccasins she’d worn when she’d lived with the Aniyunwiya. She hadn’t left the village often, but she’d found the shoes perfect on her journey east when it was time to find a new home. She’d kept those moccasins until they crumbled. Too bad she’d been terrible at leather work.

  If she ever found another pair like that, she would treat them like gold.

  “Getting tired?” Ralan asked.

  Cora let out a soft huff of laughter. “Dreaming of better shoes.”

  He grimaced. “I wish I had something better myself.”

  As the last of the light gave way to dark, Ralan came to a sudden halt. His brow pinched. “Delbin said they’re close. He scanned the cave telepathically. Maddy’s there, but she’s unconscious.”

  Her body went cold. “Let’s go.”

  Tension hummed through Ralan like electricity, heightening his senses and stinging through his blood. He hadn’t yet told Cora the worst of what Delbin had seen. They’d found Patrick dead, a knife wound in his chest, not far from the entrance to the cave. Delbin hadn’t been able to glean much while scanning the cave, but he’d caught a gleeful memory from Victor of the murder.

  The trees started to thin, and Cora shifted forward until they walked side-by-side once more. Ralan took her hand. “There are signs that Maddy fought.”

  She shuddered. “What kind of signs?”

  “Patrick was dead outside the cave. Killed by Victor.” He tightened his fingers on hers. “The memory Delbin discovered… Victor found Patrick unconscious and Maddy gone. She must have used her magic against him.”

  “She’s going to take that hard.”

  Ralan frowned at Cora’s words. “She didn’t kill him.”

  “But he would be alive if she hadn’t used her power.” Cora’s sigh filled the night. “Maddy has a soft heart, even for a healer.”

  He would have to introduce her to Lial. His cousin was a good healer, but he’d never be accused of having a soft heart.