by Jaymin Eve
The queen had a lover. I should have guessed. Now I just needed to find out who it was and how it was possible they could be powerful enough to kill her. Other than the bear king, who was powerful enough to kill the queen of the mecca? The immediate answer my brain supplied made me sick to my stomach. She wouldn’t … there was no way in shifter hell the Red Queen had a fae lover … was there? A week ago I’d have not even given it a single consideration, but there was just too much fae activity now for us to ignore the possibility that they had been in our world, behind the scenes for far longer than I’d expected.
I met Violet’s eyes. She still looked shaken. “I need you and Calista to meet me in the war room in five minutes,” I said, keeping my voice low.
Violet nodded and took off to find my advisor. The best part about being queen was that I could involve the council as much or as little as I wanted, and right now I didn’t want to bring this to them. But I did need to act, and fast, because I had a feeling something awful was going on. As Kade … the bear king … had told me, something huge was coming and we needed to be prepared.
My guards looked at me expectantly, standing over Bethany’s body.
“She was bespelled to die upon revealing any information about the queen’s killer.” The guards were well trained, but still, a few mouths did drop at this news. “Give her a proper burial,” I said to them. “Make sure her family is compensated. It’s the least we can do.”
There was no reason to treat her as a traitor. She seemed to be as much a victim in this as the late queen.
They nodded and removed her body, leaving me alone in the room once more. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my first full day as queen.
Closing my eyes I focused on my breathing, calming my mind.
Finn, meet me in the war room.
I sensed he was on the roof sunbathing in the warm summer air.
Be right there, he replied as I felt him brush my mind to pick up on my feelings. I hadn’t wanted Finn present for my interrogations because he made people nervous, but now I needed him by my side if my next plan was going to work.
Five minutes later we were in the queen’s war room – well, my war room now. I was still getting used to that. The room was large and circular, set up for strategy and meetings. In the center there was a 3D sculpture replica of the entire mecca, each vortex point, and every major building or entry and exit point. Calista and Violet stood on the one side of the map, I was across from them with Finn at my feet. They were all no doubt wondering why I would bring them to the war room when I had just declared peace with the bear king, but this was the best place for me to reveal all the information I’d been concealing.
Sucking in a deep breath, I started at the beginning. “So I know you’ve both heard bits and pieces of Gerald’s information from that night he came to dinner, but there was one thing he told Torine and me in private. Something I was forbidden to reveal. He said that when they were attacked by the same spelled individuals as us, their magic born sensed an old magic; that of the Tuatha de Danann. The fae.” I let that information sit for a second before I continued. “The bear king believes the fae have returned and he sent his councilman to warn us. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you both straight away, I wanted to, but Torine swore me to secrecy.”
Calista’s right hand was covering her mouth. Violet just stared at me, a glazed look in her eyes – her thinking face; she was mulling over my words.
I continued: “There’s so much more, just last week Finn was stalked by a woman with an unknown familiar. A lioness. At first I thought she was a bear heir or maybe a long lost wolf heir. But Kade … uh, the bear king, confirmed that they only have male heirs. He suggested it could be fae. Then we had that attack in Central Park by a creature believed to be a myth, a guardian of the dark part of the Otherworld, which is ruled by the Tuatha de Danann. I have no other options but to believe that the fae have returned to our world.”
Letting out an exhalation, I dropped the biggest bombshell. “And while I have no concrete evidence yet, I think the queen was killed by her secret lover whom I believe to be a fae.”
Calista and Violet both gasped then, even the unflappable magic born looked shocked. Neither of them would have ever considered the possibility before this day; I knew exactly how they felt.
My advisor recovered first, and as her brow furrowed I knew her computer brain was surely trying to calculate all the possibilities.
She finally said: “You think this woman who stalked Finn was the queen’s lover?”
The queen had always had male lovers, so I doubted it. “Not necessarily, but she’s here for a reason, and I want to draw her out again and hopefully talk to her. If she doesn’t want to talk, then we might have to lock her down long enough to force her to talk.”
Violet grinned, looking like her old self again. “Wicked.”
I nodded. “Wicked and possibly stupid. If the fae are strong enough to kill the late queen, then I alone may not be able to subdue her.”
Violet rolled her eyes as if this was child’s play. “I’ll be there.”
Yes. I was hoping that would be enough, but I didn’t like going after an enemy I knew nothing about. But I liked an enemy running loose in my city even less. Especially if it was one who might possibly be a queen killer.
I gestured to the map. “She wouldn’t be stupid enough to come to Manhattan with my royal guard crawling all over the place. When she followed Finn she stuck close to the vortex. I say we travel to Queens – I won’t go near Selene’s territory right now. Hopefully the woman will follow us there.”
Calista put a hand up. “I just can’t agree to you going out after this woman. What if she is fae? We know nothing about their strengths or weaknesses. And what if she did kill the late queen? You could be next. Violet and I can take Finn, plus a couple of the royal guards, and report back to you.”
I smiled. “Nice try but no. I’m going, and no guards. She won’t come out if she knows she’s outnumbered. Besides, the last thing I need are rumors of fae killers running around. Torine at least was right about the chaos such rumors would cause. The best way to keep this locked down is to keep the information just between us.”
Calista opened her mouth like she wanted to argue more, but just shook her head knowing there was no real argument she could give that would sway me from this. I was honor bound to three shifters, three deaths to avenge. I had to dig deeper into the queen’s death. Everything linked back to her. And finding this woman felt like the right move to getting to the bottom of things. Or at least having a decent place to start.
We prepared to leave, each of us gathering weapons and stashing them around our person. Luckily the war room was set up for immediate battle. Violet dashed off to grab some of her potions and such; she had already made changes to Sabina’s old quarters, and was in the midst of putting her special touch on the place. On the way she’d also drop my crown in the royal vault, as it was probably not a great idea to wander around the streets with it on. We had figured out a way for her to touch it, though only if it was enclosed in that special wooden box.
I was glad to be able to remove it for a few hours, almost felt like some of my responsibilities went with it. If only. I would still wear my braid crown, full queen makeup, and official sheath with royal emblem of my house on it. I could have changed, but that would make the guards suspicious – which would make it harder to escape from them.
When I was finally ready to go, Finn at my side and knives scattered about my person, Calista reached out and halted me.
“I still think this is a bad idea, but since your safety will be compromised until we can figure out who killed the queen, I accept this is the best lead we have right now. But I urge you to reconsider not taking guards. It’s their duty to stand between you and death.”
I shook my head at her. “Cal, you know that if this woman sees the full royal contingent she’s just going to disappear. Otherwise, she’d have already walked to the front door an
d asked to speak with me. She’s hanging around for some reason, following Finn, and most likely it’s not going to be okay with any of us, but I need to know what she knows. No guards.”
My advisor said no more, but worry was very clear across her delicate features. She gave me a moment’s pause. Was I being rash going out without my guards? My own safety was one thing, but I felt confident in my mecca power and Finn. Yet I didn’t want to risk the lives of my best friends, who would not let me go alone, no matter what the danger was. I knew on instinct that bringing guards was a bad idea, but … maybe there was someone else.
I had an idea.
Can you let the king or his familiar know what we’re doing, and where we’ll be going. I don’t know if he’ll come, but in the spirit of friendship … I feel like he should be aware. This could impact the entire mecca.
Finn nodded, before letting loose with a single howl and taking off from the room. Calista jumped, frowning after him.
“He’ll meet us there,” I said. “He’s got a task to do first.”
She gave me a look, one which said she was on to my evasive and weird behavior lately, but she didn’t comment further. It was probably lucky for me that she was such a stickler for protocol. It meant she hated questioning her queen. Still, something told me it wouldn’t last long. I had no idea what she’d do or say if she knew about my friendship with the bear king. Or the fact we’d kissed. Twice. As far as she knew, I had some random kiss with the king’s gardener, she would die if she knew that the queen of the wolf shifters had kissed the king of the bears like he was the last male on Earth.
It was probably safer for my eardrums if she didn’t know those things. Calista wasn’t one for yelling, but when she did … ouch. If Kade actually showed up in Queens today I’d have to let her in on some of it – but definitely not the kisses.
Violet was back now, cutting through the tension which hung heavy in the room. “The guards will be distracted for a few moments. Your sister has arrived and her room could possibly be the home of some weird little creatures.
I snorted, very queen-like. “You let animals go in Winnie’s room? Classic. She’ll be screaming the place down. No wonder the guards have been called.”
My heart ached to see my little sister; it had been too long, but I would have plenty of time for her when I got back. I needed to take advantage of this situation.
“Not all of the guards left,” Violet warned me, “and can I just tell you, your dominants are tough. It took at least three blasts of confusion spell for them to check out.”
Calista gave a gasp, before quickly schooling her features. Attacking the royal guard was punishable by death, and what Violet had just done, even though it was not meant to harm, was enough to have her executed. Of course, the only one who could pass that final judgement was me, and since she’d been doing it for me, I would protect her.
Calista’s voice was hard. “You better hope the council does not find out about this, Violet. They’ll want your head.”
I’d deal with the council if and when I had to. No one would take my friend’s life without going through me first. Of course, Violet looked supremely unconcerned by this. If anything, amusement danced across her icy eyes. I was starting to understand it now … now that the mecca lived within my very bones. There was very little magic born needed to worry about. But none of us were invincible, and the Red Queen had been very powerful, and that didn’t help her in the end. Calista’s caution was valuable here as well.
I led the way past some very dazed guards and was glad they would not remember what had happened. Calista would post to the queen’s message board that I was retired to my suite for some quiet time and the guards would be none the wiser. Yes, they’d have questions, but for the most part would know better than to ask me outright. I could deal with their curiosity.
Violet cloaked all of us just before we reached the front doors. It was a lot of strain for her to hold three of us like this; she only did it when absolutely necessary. I could have helped but my training with mecca energy had not even started yet. I was basically worse than useless when it came to using the power now at my fingertips.
On the streets of Manhattan we blended in with ease. My outfit wasn’t even out of place in the sea of unusual dress styles humans liked to wear. The journey to the vortex was short, the humans around us thinning out the closer we got. The energy here was strong, and my body reacted immediately.
“No wonder humans can’t come any closer to this building,” Violet said as we arrived at the rundown-looking warehouse that hid the magical disc. “Even for us it’s a lot to step into all of that power.”
It was true, humans were repelled about fifty feet in all directions from this space. It was for their own protection, the mecca was a deadly force. There were only two perimeter guards on this particular vortex, and we slipped past them using Violet’s cloaking power.
Inside, the energy almost dropped me to my knees and I had to take several deep breaths to calm the haywire mecca shooting around my body. Violet and Calista were behind me, almost as if they were taking shelter from the energy.
“Let’s do this,” I said once I had gained full composure.
Hopefully when we got answers about the queen’s death and possible fae attack, we’d also figure out why the mecca had gone haywire.
We crossed the space quickly, not wanting to remain in this energy longer than necessary. Violet would be able to travel the vortex no problem, but Calista needed my help. I could see her pinched expression and knew she wouldn’t be able to remain here too long without getting ill. Drawback of not being an alpha.
Slipping her hand in mine, we stepped up to the vortex and I connected with the mecca, channeling that energy to the Queens borough. The familiar tingle began at my feet and then spread throughout my body. I heard Calista take in a deep breath and then we were sucked through. The journey was short and only a tad turbulent. Then, just as we were being pushed out into the Queens vortex, I heard a voice from deep within the mecca, my name whispered with the force of a thousand winds, chiming across time and space and wrapping around me with an uneasy note.
“Arianna…”
The faint distorted whisper sounded familiar. For a split second I thought it was my mother’s voice. But … it wasn’t quite right. It was not my mother … someone else my wolf recognized. I fought to stay inside the energy, but this was a one-way ticket and the train had reached the station.
I stumbled off the disc, Calista still clutched close to me.
“Your Grace!” Two guards appeared before me and took to their knees.
Violet appeared right after, looking calm and unruffled. I needed to ask her if she’d heard anything during her journey across, but now was definitely not the time.
Behind the kneeling guards were two more, swords drawn, but not in any sort of threatening gesture yet. More of an alert wariness. I gestured for the two on the ground to rise and one of them spoke as he stood.
“We didn’t receive word that you were traveling to our borough today. We’re not prepared and…” He trailed off and then the four of them parted, allowing me the briefest glimpse of the wall beyond. Propped against it was the bear king, one leg crossed over the other, broad shoulders filling out a simple button-up shirt and a huge eagle perched on his shoulder. Finn was standing off to his side.
“The king said he’s here at your invitation?” the lead guard finished. I could tell he was not happy, that he felt he had failed me somehow, even though none of this was his fault at all.
Sucking in deeply, I plastered my queenly face on and worked to calm him. “Your diligence in this matter is much appreciated. I have some business in Queens today, in regards to the Red Queen’s death, and some of the finer details of the peace accords. This is why the king is present.”
The four guards relaxed a bit, but then one of them looked behind me.
“You’re alone? Where are the royal guard?” They closed in on me, all of them
again on high alert.
I gave them a playful smile. “I’m well protected. Violet will get you up to speed on what’s going on.”
I met Violet’s eyes and she winked, gesturing for the guards to follow her into a corner of the building. Calista stood firm at my side, gazing at the king in curiosity.
“Thank you for coming.” I nodded to Kade … the king. Dammit. I was just going to have to accept the fact that protocol was always going to be a bit off between us. I knew he’d call me Arianna, and I could not seem to break the habit of referring to him as Kade.
His eagle was gigantic, peering at me with wise beady eyes. As we stepped closer to him, I noticed a hulking figure outside the window. Gerald.
Kade straightened and again had my attention. “Finn didn’t say much. Just told Nix here that you were going to capture a fae and might need help. That was enough to get me to cancel all plans for the day.”
“When you say it like that it does sound a bit crazy.”
Calista cleared her throat and I scolded myself for not acting more professionally.
“King Kade, this is Calista, my royal advisor.”
The king stepped forward, his hand extended first, which was unusual. Calista barely hesitated before placing her much smaller hand into his. He bowed deeply, touching her hand to his forehead. “We are well met,” he said formally.
That must be some respectful custom of his people, because royalty bowed to no one in mine. Calista seemed taken aback, so she simply smiled and curtsied.
Now that he was close to me, the outdoorsy scent of him wrapped around me. And again my wolf rolled over like she was a pup having her first run. There’d always been a fiery attraction between us, even at fifteen. I was woman enough to admit that – I’d never have kissed a bear otherwise. But I still needed to be cautious around this man. When he’d kissed me in the garden, during the Summit, he’d known I was an heir and that it could get us both killed or exiled from our people, and yet he’d still done it. He was either completely reckless or he wanted something more from me. Only time would tell which one it was.