The Cardinal Gate

by Amy Cissell

  I shook my head, pushing that thought back. I was not that person. I wouldn’t be.

  I took a step back and looked up. Isaac and Finn were staring at me. I couldn’t tell if they were afraid, exasperated, or intrigued. “Yes?”

  “Just waiting for you to stop playing with the fire so we can talk,” Finn said.

  “No need to be snarky. This is all new to me, and it’s hard to divide my attention right now.”

  “So, what did you learn while the fire was crawling over your skin?” Isaac asked.

  “I can create fire from the smallest spark and combine it with air to be a weapon. That would be a monumentally stupid thing to do if I was near anything flammable, like people, or buildings, or the ground. The fire has no consciousness, and it will burn everything it can. Until I figure out how to control the flames, I can’t use them.”

  Isaac held out his arm, and I snuggled under it.

  A shrill ring broke the relative silence. It’d been so long since I’d heard a phone ring—no one had called me in weeks—that it took a second to register that Isaac was ringing.

  He grabbed his cell out of his pants pocket and looked at the display before untangling himself from me and walking away to answer it.

  “Yes?” he said before moving out of audible range. I tried to listen anyway, but I only got a headache for my efforts.

  Isaac strode back towards me, phone no longer in sight. “That was Florence. She’s agreed to help us, but had two conditions that I need to discuss with you both before we accept her assistance.

  “The first condition is that she be allowed to accompany us on the remainder of our journey. She wouldn’t reveal her reasons for doing so, but I’m confident that she isn’t going to attempt to sabotage us. It would, however, have political ramifications for me and for the North American Packs. Although she is her own person, I’ve no doubt that Greg would regard this as poaching in his territory and that gives him license to take me—and my associates—out without using the formal challenge. His claims will hold less weight because I have already beaten him in fair combat for the right to her contact information, but he is unlikely to let this go.

  “The second condition is that she be allowed to spend two weeks alone with Eleanor in a location of her choosing, without Finn and me, to work on training. This condition is harder for me to acquiesce to...”

  “Because I’m the one that would have to agree to it, not you?” I asked, giving him a pointed look. “Don’t forget that I’m my own person, too.”

  “And we are your bodyguards,” Finn started.

  “Honestly, Finn, at this point, I don’t need bodyguards. I can turn into a motherfucking dragon. I can suffocate you with my mind, and if that doesn’t work, I will set you on fire. I don’t need a guide. I’m the only one who can figure out where we’re going next, and I’m the only one who can feel the presence of the gates. You’re here as a companion and friend, but you do not make decisions for me.”

  I turned to Isaac. “And you! You’re here to keep an eye on me for the packs, but we both know it is more than that now. If you want to continue being something more than a spy, then I suggest you remember that I will never bow to your Alpha authority. I am not a possession. I am not someone weak who needs protection. I am the Dragon Queen of the Dark Sidhe.”

  “Holy shit,” Finn murmured. “You might want to keep that quiet. Now is not the time, although Harvey has probably figured it out.”

  “What’s the Dragon Queen?” Isaac asked. “And more importantly, can I still call you Princess?”

  “You’d better keep calling her Princess,” Finn replied. “A queen currently sits on the Dark Throne, and I’m guessing she won’t be anxious to find out that her successor is out there.”

  I was drained as I always was when the words came from somewhere else and inside me all at the same time.

  “Isn’t the queen my mother?” I asked. “Wouldn’t it follow that I would be a known heir then?”

  “I’m beginning to think that maybe your mother is not your father’s queen, although you’re obviously full-blooded Fae. The Fae have a notoriously difficult time conceiving, and it’s not unheard of to take other partners in the hopes of reproducing. Your father and his queen sit on the Light Throne. Medb alone occupies the Dark Throne, and the two kingdoms have been in an uneasy peace for a thousand years. If the presumed heir to the Light Throne were heard claiming the Dark, war would break out. Politics in the Fae plane are a tricky business. For now, let’s keep quiet about queens and thrones and the Dark Sidhe.”

  “Back to the matter at hand,” Isaac said. “Florence would like Eleanor to accompany her to the Badlands on Thursday. They will stay for two weeks, and Finn and I are required to keep our distance.”

  “Agreed,” I said, almost before he’d finished his sentence.

  Isaac sighed. “I knew you’d agree as soon as you heard the location. And, although I acknowledge that you are your own person, and you have the ability to defend and protect yourself from magical incursion, I do think that Finn and I are handy to have around as physical defense.”

  “You are. I didn’t mean to imply that your presence isn’t useful and desired. I need you all to stop treating me like something fragile.”

  “I’ll do my best to remember that, if you’ll do your best to forgive my occasional lapses.”

  “Done.” I brushed his cheek with my fingers. “And her other condition?” I asked.

  “I’ve no problem with her accompanying us,” Finn said.

  “Isaac? Will this cause more problems than it’s worth?” I asked.

  “Doubtful. Having her with us will probably be incredibly useful, and gaining her help now will make whatever price I have to pay worth it.”

  “What price will you have to pay?” I asked. “Because when it comes to you, I am not willing to accept consequences I don’t know about.”

  “Do we now need to talk about my autonomy, Princess?” he chided. “Just as you can make decisions that affect you, I can do the same. I am not your subject any more than you are my possession.”

  “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “And now you know my reluctance when it comes to your safety.” He brushed his fingers over my lips, and they parted in anticipation.

  Finn cleared his throat. “So, we’re decided. Do you want to call her back and tell her that we agree to her terms?”

  Isaac made the call.

  “I’m going to bed,” Finn said. He stalked to the cabin. I watched him go, knowing that soon I was going to have to have the conversation I’d been avoiding since he’d whispered, “I love you” so long ago.

  Shit.

  Chapter Fifteen

  FINN HADN’T BEEN in the cabin when Isaac and I had gone to bed last night, and it didn’t look like he’d appeared yet today. Isaac and I were not talking about it. I knew I was going to have to sooner or later, but I was really, really pushing for later. Never would be good.

  “What’s on tap for today?” I asked. “I was thinking maybe we should climb Harney Peak to see if I’m right about the location.”

  “Great plan. Do you want to leave a note for the elf?”

  “I’ll page him on my fancy Finncasting system.”

  “Ahhh, yes. I’d forgotten you had that. I wonder how much he picks up from you when you’re not actively broadcasting.”

  “I don’t think he can get anything unless I want him to.”

  “Are you sure? Has he actually said that?”

  “No…he said to mentally shout if I needed him, but he didn’t say that was the only time he could hear me.”

  “You may want to ask him. Does he get our conversations, only your thoughts? What about your emotions?”

  “Shit, Isaac. I don’t want to deal with this now.”

  “You’re going to have to sooner or later, and sooner would be better.”

  “I had a similar thought, although I was going with as much later as I could possibly put it of
f. I hate this shit.”

  “This shit? Relationship shit?” Isaac asked, an edge in his voice.

  “Don’t you start, Mr. Walker. I’m not having a relationship conversation with you today, either.”

  “You can’t avoid all the big conversations forever.”

  “I don’t want to avoid them forever, just put them off a bit. I like the way things are right now. I’m completely happy for the first time in as long as I can remember. I’ve found my place in this world. I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing and I’m blessed with the presence of my best friend and my…you. I love this thing we’ve got going on and don’t want it to change.”

  “I love it too, Eleanor, but if Finn is unhappy, it won’t last much longer. He believes I’m a temporary fling, and at the end of the quest, you’ll choose him.”

  I sighed. “I can’t. He’s always been my best friend, but he will never be more than that.”

  “Does he know that?”

  “He should. I’ve told him often enough.”

  “You might need to tell him again.”

  “I know. He can’t keep going off and having a sulk when he thinks I’m paying too much attention to you. I try to make sure he’s not left out.”

  “His problem is that you have to try to include him.”

  I sighed again. “This is too heavy for a gorgeous Sunday morning. How about I call Finn and we go climb Harney Peak?”

  Isaac kissed me thoroughly. “As you wish, Princess.”

  I punched him. “Don’t you start, Westley.”

  He grinned, kissed me again, and stepped back. “I’ll make some sandwiches and pack up the car.”

  “You’re totally nosing in on my territory, wolf.”

  “I’ll risk it this time.”

  I walked back into the cabin and called, “Hey, Finn! Wanna go for a hike?”

  I sat down and waited. A few minutes later, Finn appeared in the room. “Where’s Isaac?”

  “Making sandwiches and packing the car.”

  “How’d you manage to ditch the one food-related task you had?”

  He was obviously determined to be light-hearted. I could work with that. “I arm-wrestled him into submission.”

  Finn laughed. “Sure.”

  “Though she be but little, she is fierce!”

  “Whatever.”

  Isaac knocked on the door. “Are you guys ready to go?”

  We parked at the base of the Peak at Sylvan Lake. It made me think of fairy woodlands. There was a lodge with individual cabins, and I mentioned that we should move our base of operations here when we got closer to the equinox.

  It was an easy hike, about three and a half miles to the top, and we took our time. We hit the summit before noon. I’d been trying not to think about the gate too much, but now that we were here, I could feel it. The energy was coming from all around me, reinforcing my belief the gate was on the summit. I sat abruptly and was scolded loudly by the chipmunks whose lunch I’d disrupted.

  “Are you okay, Ellie?”

  “Yes. It’s all around me, and I don’t think I can stay long. Too much power.”

  “I guess that answers that question,” Isaac said.

  “Yep. It’s here. Now, it’s a waiting game.”

  “Do you want to lunch here or head back?”

  “As much as I’d like to take in the view, I need to go. There’s too much power, and I’m losing control. A forest fire is not what we need right now.”

  I munched on a piece of bacon as I watched Isaac prepare to take off.

  “What time is moonrise?”

  “About seven,” he said. “But I want to be well away from civilization before that happens.”

  “I thought you didn’t have to shift at the full moon?”

  “I don’t have to, but it’s uncomfortable to stay human without a pack nearby. It’d be more pain and stress than it’s worth. It’s better to be safe and comfortable.”

  “Why don’t you stay here? We can get a cage and lock you in like on Buffy.”

  “And that worked out so well every time. Oz never escaped to terrorize innocent people and romp with a lady wolf, thereby destroying his relationship with Willow.”

  I stared at him in awe. “That was amazing. When did you have time to watch season four of Buffy whilst also neglecting personal hygiene?”

  Isaac finished cleaning up and pointedly did not answer the question.

  “Is this one of those ‘need to know’ things?” I asked. “Because if it is, say so. At some point, I’ll need to know, but if you don’t think that is today, I can be reasonable. I excel at reasonable.”

  “It’s true,” Finn agreed. “It’s almost scary how quickly she can adjust her thinking and how little emotion sways her if she doesn’t want it to.” Although his words were completely accurate—and eminently reasonable—I was pretty sure there were more than a few notes of bitterness present. Isaac was right. I was going to need to address this soon.

  I sighed and then walked over to Isaac. I slid my arms around his neck. “Be safe,” I whispered against his ear. “I’ll miss you.” I kissed him, and the force and passion with which he kissed me back had me reeling.

  “My nights will be lonely without you,” he said. Then he looked at Finn, “Take care of her.”

  I kicked him lightly in the shin, and he grinned down at me.

  “Take care of yourself.” He kissed me again and this time, it was less heated and more final. He started to step back, but I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer.

  “Don’t do anything stupid. I’ll see you Thursday morning.”

  Isaac slipped out of his shirt, leaving me holding onto it, then pulled off his jeans and tossed them towards me. He walked towards the tree line, shifted, and disappeared.

  I stared after him for longer than was necessary. I took Isaac’s clothes into the cabin, folded them up, and stuffed them into his pack.

  When I walked back out, Finn was sitting at the picnic table.

  I sat across from him. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

  “Do what?” There was a decidedly sullen tone in his voice.

  “Don’t fuck with me. As much as I’d love to put this off, we need to talk.”

  “What do you want to talk about?”

  “Christ on a cracker,” I muttered. “Are you planning on making this as difficult as humanly possible?”

  “We’re neither of us human,” Finn pointed out.

  “Whatever. You know what I mean, and it sure as shit seems like you are.”

  “It has a certain appeal,” he said.

  “I suggest that if you want to have a conversation about our relationship that you start conversing. This is pretty much a limited time offer. I have a few questions for you that we could skip right to if you’d rather go that route.”

  Finn heaved a big sigh more appropriate for a fourteen-year-old girl than a centuries-old elf. I tried to quash my uncharitable feelings. Finn was right, I did tend to make decisions based on my head rather than my heart, and I knew I could come across as unemotional. I preferred to avoid romantic entanglements—or any kind of relationships that required work.

  “Finn, we need to make things work. Can we at least start with what’s going on?” I grabbed his hand to haul him up from his seat at the picnic table and led him to the porch swing. We sat and rocked for a while before he finally answered.

  “I love you,” he said abruptly. Since this isn’t where I thought the conversation would start, it threw me for a loop.

  He held up his hand to forestall whatever commentary he thought was forthcoming. “I know you don’t feel the same way about me right now, Ellie, but things have changed so rapidly over the last couple of months, and your feelings for me are changing, too. I’ve heard you say that you’re always the last to know how you feel, and this is another example of that.”

  I was still speechless, and Finn forged on. “I know you think you have feelings for Isaac, and I can’t deny that he’
s nice, and a fun guy to have around. But can you trust a guy who won’t even explain why he’s familiar with season six of Buffy?”

  “Season four,” I interrupted. Apparently, I finally had something to say, and it was completely the wrong thing.

  “Whatever,” Finn said. “It doesn’t matter what season it was.”

  “Season six had the musical episode, and Buffy was all tortured, and there was the Spike thing,” my mouth supplied helpfully as my brain tried to simultaneously deal with Finn and shut down power to my vocal cords.

  “You’re missing the point!” The people in the next site looked over at us and then quickly away.

  “Audience!” I hissed.

  “Shield, then. I don’t care if anyone hears us.”

  I reinforced my shields. I was pissed that I had to. It should be instinctive now. “Finn, I know the point wasn’t Buffy. I was surprised and needed some time to process. Please, continue.”

  He took a moment to visibly calm down. “My point is, although Isaac seems great, what do we know about him? Your infatuation with him will wane and you’ll realize it’s been me all along.”

  His point apparently made, he stopped and then looked at me expectantly. I wasn’t sure exactly what he was waiting for. Was I supposed to realize he was right, fall into his arms, and declare undying love? I mentally rearranged what I wanted to say. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, although my desire to protect him shrank every time he said something stupid.