by G. Bailey
My mother bends down and gently tips the box. Ozy tumbles out, sniffs the air, and then his big brown eyes land on me. With an excited ‘oink’ noise, he trots over, his floppy ears moving around him wildly. Seeing his adorable face should bring me joy, but to my surprise, it just makes me want to cry. I kneel and sweep him into my arms, my lashes glazed with tears.
“Where did you find him?”
I look up at her as she scans the room with an apparent look of disgust. “The Shade came to me in my lab. There’s something about him that reminds me of Phoebus. Do you remember him?”
At the mention of my childhood pet, I look away from my mother. The last thing I want to do right now is reminisce about the good old times before I was turned into a shadowborn. That life is dead and gone as far I’m concerned, just like the woman standing in front of me. This isn’t the mother who raised me. This is another of Eva’s puppets—a puppet who can’t even protect her own daughter.
“I do miss those days,” my mother says, her voice uncharacteristically small. “Perhaps once this is all over, you can bring the Shade home with us.”
In reply, I can only laugh at her. But then I see the serious look on her face and add, “You can’t possibly think I’ll go back with you after all this?”
A quiver catches my mother’s lower lip. “One would hope… with time… you may learn to forgive me.”
Lifting Ozy into my arms, I straighten off the floor and look hard at my mother. “Don’t hold your breath. You’re the one who wanted all this.” I sweep a hand around the room, indicating the prison. “So you’re the one who needs to face the consequences. As far as I’m concerned, you and me…” The lump swelling in my throat pools into my eyes, and tears drop despite my efforts. “We’re done.”
She closes her eyes. “Izora, please…”
I wipe my cheek with my shoulder and tighten my grip on Ozy, who’s determined to lick away my tears. I’ve had a lot of time to think about what to say to my mother, but now that we’re alone and she’s standing before me, I struggle to find the right words.
“You chose your side,” I say, my heart lurching in my chest, “and I’ve chosen mine. The good one. The side that doesn’t hurt people.”
The door opens, dragging our attention away from each other. My pulse spikes at the sight of Luke in the doorway, his arms folded over his chest and his face wiped clean of emotion. When he looks at me, there’s a flicker of anger in his gaze at the sight of my distress, but he hides it when he looks at my mother.
“I’ve been ordered to take Izora back to her room. Gov’s orders.”
My mother’s thinly plucked eyebrows lift. “Her Highness is releasing my daughter?”
Luke shrugs at her, and I know in the past, my mother would’ve admonished his disrespect. Honestly, I don’t blame him. I lost all respect for my mother the moment she confessed that she worked for Eva. She’s just a pawn like all the other guards in this place. Gods, even we, the prisoners, are simply pawns now. But my mother? She’s not a pawn. She’s a snake, and I meant what I said. She’s not my mother anymore.
“Looks like it,” my warden answers calmly. “You can ask her yourself once she’s back from Vasili.”
My mother watches me strut past her with Ozy. “At least someone’s on my side,” I say to Luke, but I look over my shoulder at my mother. She’s too busy looking at the floor with beet-red cheeks to notice me. I turn back to my warden. “Let’s go. I really need a shower.”
Luke nods and motions for me to go first. This time, I don’t look back at my mother. My every footstep is heavy and laden with a hurt I never expected to feel at disowning my mother. I thought I’d be too hurt and angry at her to be filled with instant regret, but I had to do it. I had to let her go for what she did and is doing, in this place.
Just like I have to get the prisoners out of here.
Sometimes the prison itself is a Blood Trial.
I watch as a girl about my age falls to the floor, blood pouring from her stomach as the guards rush to stop the fight. I didn’t see the start of the altercation between the three girls, but I heard the noise as I came to get my lunch and I’ve been watching ever since. It’s hard to look away, their fighting style is so brutal. I don’t feel anything as I watch them try to kill each other, which would’ve horrified the old me.
The old me.
The girl who liked to get drunk at Shadowborn Academy on the weekends and hated magical lessons with elements, would have been horrified at this.
Now, it’s just a pebble in the ocean of the disturbing and bad shit I’ve seen.
Axel’s hand clamps hard on my waist, making sure I don’t get involved.The prison is filled to the brim with guards rushing in from every door, the alarms blasting so loudly in my ears that I miss whatever Axel asks me. My eyes stay on the girl as the life leaves her eyes, she goes still, blood spreading around her sparkling white wings.
Death is nothing here, and the thing is, under all the light magic and white wings, our souls are wrapped in shadows.
Nothing is going to change that.
We are shadowborns.
“Come on,” Axel tugs me away from the room and drags me into the training area where Scott and Luke are working out, and it’s far quieter in here. Figures everyone is watching the fight for some sick amusement in this place. I watch Scott and Luke practice against each other, almost wrestling on the floor at this point, Luke dodges a punch to the face like a pro. With a long kick, he throws Scott across the room. Scott slams into a padded mat on the floor with a groan.
“Nice move,” I say as I walk over and pull my hair up in a ponytail. “I wanna try. Come on.”
I wave a hand to instruct him over to me and he smirks in such a sexy way it nearly distracts me when he hits out, nearly knocking me over. I duck under his arm, grabbing his shoulder and pulling myself around his body. Climbing onto his back like a monkey in two moves, I hold my hands around his neck. He doesn’t resist as I hear Axel and Scott laughing.
“I win,” I say and he shocks me by flipping me over his shoulder, catching me mid-air and pulling me against his chest.
His lips descend on mine, kissing me sweetly for just a moment. “Did you?”
My smile is incredibly wide as the doors slam open and five guards walk into the room, followed by Eva in a ridiculous pink dress.
“Izora, I have something to show you. I believe you will enjoy it,” she says.
Luke softly drops me to the floor in front of him while Axel and Scott appear at my side. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
With Eva’s warning in my head, I release Luke’s hand and meet each of my guys’ eyes as I walk away from them. The tension flickering off them could set the world on fire and I find it harder than ever to leave them at this moment. Gold steps to Eva’s side, and it makes me feel a tiny bit better to see him here… especially in a suit. A white tux covers his muscular body, the fancy silk material suiting him perfectly. In his pocket is a black lacy mask, just sticking out enough that I can see what it is.
I scan over Eva, spotting a pink mask hanging from her side.
“Do you like my dress? It’s the first of the night for me,” she sweetly says. “And tonight, we go to a ball. Are you excited?”
“Are you fucking crazy?” I ask her, tugging my hand from hers. “We are not friends and I don’t want to go to a ball. Why would you let me leave?”
“Oh, I’m not letting you leave. You will wear this,” she holds up a silver bracelet and pulls my hand out. She snaps the bracelet on my wrist and I feel it’s magic snap into me. “And if you go more than a mile from where I am, say leave the building and run, you will die from the poison it injects you with. So stay close and you will need to change. Oh, and it cancels out your magic.”
She snaps her fingers and one of the guards hands steps forward, handing me a white puffy garment that looks like a wedding dress. A silver mask rests on top of it.
“Go or I will sta
rt cutting one of your lover boys,” she threatens, her eyes looking over me to my guys. I sneer at her as I rip the dress and mask from the guard’s hands and try to walk away, but she snaps her fingers, making me stop. “Strip here. I don’t want to risk you sliding anything into that dress to hurt me with.”
I look at all the guards and Gold in turn, giving them a look that makes them each turn away from me. I pull my top and leggings off, leaving them on the floor next to my boots. The dress is easy to put on as it’s backless, my wings not bothered one bit and zips at the side by my ribs. I undo my hair, letting the locks fall between my wings and slide my boots on. Lastly, I tie the mask over my eyes; the feather flickering past my ears.
“Happy?” I sarcastically ask her. She stares at me for a moment in a trance and her mouth drops into a frown. I can’t read what she sees as she walks up to me and I jump back as she lifts her hand.
“Why does Selena love you both and not me? Why was it never me?” she asks and again I’m completely lost to what the fuck she is talking about.
“Maybe if you didn’t destroy her people and her forest, you would be blessed by her too. Gods love those who fight for good. Can you really say you do that, Princess Eva?” I ask. Her hand smacks hard across my cheek, snapping my head to the side and I taste my blood in my mouth.
She turns around and walks to Gold. “You watch her until I am ready. If she escapes, I will kill you next,” she warned him, and as he nods, I see a similar silver bracelet as mine on his wrist.
Gold walks to my side and places his hand on my lower back, leading me out of the room behind Eva and her guards. We take several turns through the prison and I try not to look at anyone when I feel their eyes on me.
When we reached a locked door, two of the guards place their hands on the metal, changing it. The metal melts away into a white portal that shows a much grander corridor on the other side.
Eva walks in first and two guards follow, whereas the others wait for us. I walk through next and Gold follows me. The first thing I notice is fresh air. The sweet-tasting fresh air whips around me and it’s warm, and my cheeks heat up. Music drifts to my ears, followed by the sound of women laughing and children’s squeals.
“Tonight is a ball to celebrate the new children in the kingdom. The ballroom is full of women and their children. Did you know my father cannot have any more children after someone poisoned his tea with a flower that curses the male?” Eva tells me as we follow her down the silver and gold corridor towards two large glass doors. “I was only five when it happened. I remember how upset he was…I’m sure he was planning to remarry and produce a male heir. But there was only me.”
“Interesting,” I sourly reply.
She eyes me with humour but I don’t get the joke. “Do you know the rumours of the bastard baby of dawn?”
I shake my head, done with her stupid games.
“Many light fae whisper that the tea wasn’t the reason my father went infertile, that instead, the goddess above set a curse on him because he refused to claim his own bastard born baby who was born at Dawn’s first light,” she whispers to me. For some reason, I shiver. “Many call the bastard baby of Dawn a true heir, that the curse for my father was actually a blessing for her or him. They sing songs about this bastard.”
“Is the bastard child Corvina?” I ask. She could have been born at dawn’s first light for all I know.
Eva laughs like that’s the funniest thing in the world. “No.”
She looks away from me as the glass doors open and she walks inside. I have no choice but to follow, thanks to the bracelet. The room is a huge dome made of pure glass and tiny little lights bounce around the ceiling, reflecting circles onto the floor. Children with white glittering wings and pretty dresses run around chasing the moving spots of illumination. The side of the room is full of sweet-smelling food and I can’t help but admire how lovely this place is.
Compared to the prisons, this is amazing.
“Be right back,” Eva offhandedly says,all her guards follow her, but Gold stays at my side, looking cold and impassive as always.
“I’m debating whether chopping my arm off is worth the chance to escape,” I tell him. “But I do like my left hand,” I muse.
His lips twitch. “I would not advise it. This is the light fae palace, and it is heavily guarded. They would catch you.”
“Damn,” I say with a smile, watching the couples dance to a woman singing and a man playing piano. I think they are human, they don’t have wings nor can I sense anything odd about them. The woman’s voice is enchanting though…a gift if I have ever heard one. “I wish we were here under different circumstances. Maybe we could even dance as they do.”
“I don’t dance,” he grumbles. “Let me show you something.”
“What about Eva?” I question, seeing her with a man with long white hair. I pause as she smiles up at him sweetly and picks up his hand. Like she can sense me looking, she looks over and a cruel smile places on her lips.
I don’t get why she thinks I would care. Focusing on the man, he is elegant and beautiful like all light fae are, yet there is something so familiar about him.
Gold clears his throat, snapping me out of it, and I follow him past the food to another door. We step through it into a dressing room of some sorts. A long wooden plank rests under a massive mirror covering the wall. Two women are in here, fixing their makeup.
“Get the fuck out!” Gold snaps.
They squeal, grabbing their things before running out of the door.
Gold clicks the lock when they leave and I suddenly feel nervous as I turn to face him.We really haven’t been alone for a long time.
“Fuck, I’ve missed you,” he all but whispers, taking two long strides and then I’m in his arms. Any nervousness drifts away when I remember how right it feels to be held by him. He kisses me deeply, picking me up and placing me on the counter before stepping between my legs.
Our kisses get desperate as he pushes my dress up and I undo his trousers, needing to feel him inside me for however long we have left. I’m ridiculously turned on as I take his cock out of his trousers and he pulls my ass to the edge of the counter. Pushing my underwear to the side, he slowly inches his way inside me.
My head drops back from the sheer pleasure and how fucking incredible he feels.
He pulls back and then thrusts all the way back into me, cupping the back of my neck and drawing my gaze back to him. I kiss him with all the built-up frustration and desire that we have been hiding for so long as he thrusts in and out of me, getting me closer and closer to the edge.
My orgasm smacks into me and I cry out for a second until Gold covers my mouth with his hand and bites down on my neck.
He roars as he comes with me. We both breathlessly stare at each other as he drops his hand and kisses my neck once.
“I’m in love with you. Fucking hell, I would die for you, Izora Dawn,” he says, his soft tone rare for him.
Tears wet my eyes as I lift his hand and kiss his knuckles once. “Whatever games the fae play, we will play them better because I love you, too. We have to survive this.”
“We will,” he says firmly, kissing me one more time. I wrap my arms around his chest, holding on tightly like he might disappear at any moment.
We both have so much to lose and I have a terrible feeling the games haven’t even started yet.
I’ve been here before.
The rays of auburn skimming the trees normally shrouded in darkness is a familiar sight as I enter the Enchanted Forest. Pine needles crunch underneath my feet and the sun bleeds over them in streams of gold. The cool night air caresses my skin and lifts my hair behind me. I know where I’m supposed to go before I even realise it.
The Fountain of Mene peeks between the trees, and Kaelah stands beside it, dressed in the same white gown as me. Her complexion glows like a beacon of silver light, more goddess-like than ever before. She looks at me with an almost pained expression when I reach her si
de.
“What’s wrong?” I ask quietly.
Kaelah’s lips tilt into a smile, but tears collect on her lashes. “I’m afraid it’s time for me to leave.”
“Why? Where are you going?”
She looks up at the rising sun. “The dawn is calling me home.” Then turning her gaze back to me, she reaches out and takes my hands in hers. “You must send the Titans back, Izora. Only you wield the power to do so.”
The silver glow of her skin fades, and panic flares through me. “I don’t know how to send them back!” I shake my head, my words catching in my throat. “Please, I’m not the person you think I am.”
Her smile depends. “Of course you are. You are descended from the God of Dawn. Your fate was etched in the stars long, long before you were born. Saving the Enchanted Forest is in your blood.” Slowly she leads me over to the fountain, her hand still clasping mine. “Look into the water and tell me what you see.”
She leads me over to the fountain. Everyone in the Forest knows that the Fountain of Mene is what connects us to the gods. Without their blessing, there would be no water running here, and subsequently no magic. The Faerie Pools would be shriveled heaps of dirt instead of powerful sources of magic.
I peer into the water, but only my reflection stares back at me. It’s not until Kaelah squeezes my hand when I see something. A gold key cuts through the moon’s reflection, shimmering ever so softly, and behind the object is the Throne of Helios. A black key appears not a second later and replaces the image with the Throne of Luna. Each of the images shimmers and then merge into each other until they change again. The black key becomes blue and the background Draconia, the kingdom of dragons. A fourth and final key, a yellow one, displays a land I’ve never seen before. If it wasn’t for the centaurs running across the mountainous land, I’d completely miss that it was Kyllaros.