Blood of the Exiled (Witch Fairy Book 10)
Page 8
“Xandra, there is one more thing.” The serious tone in Raziel’s voice stops me from taking another step. I turn and look at him expectantly, somehow knowing that whatever he says next is the reason he wanted to speak to me before we leave. “You will be asked a question in the next few minutes. Your answer will determine the path another takes. Consider your response carefully.”
I put my hands on my hips and narrow my eyes at him. “Your cryptic messages really are annoying.”
He chuckles. “I know.”
I shake my head and turn back around. I am one hundred percent positive that I am not going to like whatever question is coming my way.
Chapter 10
In our room, Kallen flops down on the bed, his back resting against the pillows. His hands clasped behind his head, he has a wicked grin on his face. “I hope ‘meditating’ was a euphemism for spending the next hour ‘fooling around’, as you like to put it, with me.”
I crawl across the bed, approaching him on my hands and knees like I’m stalking prey. “We probably aren’t going to get much privacy in the near future.” I nuzzle my lips against his neck.
Kallen groans and wraps his arms around me, pulling me on top of him. He then groans in frustration when there is a knock on the door. It’s soft, barely heard. But both of us can sense the power radiating from the Fairy standing in the hall.
I’m tempted not to respond, or tell her to go away, but Kallen wouldn’t appreciate me being so rude to his aunt again. With a sigh, I roll to the side of the bed and sit up. Kallen stands and walks to the door. “Aunt Tana,” he says. “Do you need something?” Yeah, lots of mental health help, I think, and for once, the words don’t slip between my lips.
“I would like to speak to…” she glances at me. “Your wife.”
I tilt my head and raise my brows. “I do have a name, you know.” Yes, I’m feeling snarky towards her still. I’m beginning to think I always will.
A flash of anger explodes in her eyes but she visibly pushes it down. Inclining her head, she says, “I know.” Guess I’m not the only one feeling snarky.
“What do you want?” I ask, my tone implying that I don’t really care what she wants. Because I don’t.
Instead of answering me, she looks at Kallen. “May I speak to…Xandra alone, please?”
Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. “Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Kallen.”
Tana’s better this time at keeping the flash of anger at bay. It’s barely visible. “Others do not need to be a part of every conversation we have, do they?.” Implying what? I’m scared to talk to her alone?
Sensing the growing tension in the room, Kallen says, “I will wait outside while the two of you speak.” He pretends not to notice my death glare as he moves past Tana into the hall. Tana closes the door behind him.
Standing, I cross my arms over my chest. “What do you want?”
The stone mask she has been wearing on her face crumbles slightly. “May I sit down?” she asks, indicating one of the chairs.
I shrug. “Sure, go ahead.”
Tana sits primly in the chair closest to the terrace. Her hands folded in her lap, she takes a deep breath. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior.”
“What behavior?” I ask. There is so much the Fairy needs to apologize for, I need to clarify what behavior she means.
Without meeting my eyes, she says robotically, “All of it.”
I snort which makes her eyes zing to me. “Please, lie to me some more.”
Not only do her eyes flash with anger this time, but she begins pulling magic as well. Not a smart thing for her to do. “You doubt me?”
I can’t help an incredulous laugh. “Yeah, I doubt you. Come on, you spent my entire life hating me and everything involved in bringing me to be. Do you really expect me to believe an icy ‘I’m sorry for everything’ line? Be realistic. Do I think you’re sorry for some things? Yes. Do I think you still harbor some major resentment towards me? You prove that every day when you refuse to be around me. I can understand how you feel, even though none of it is my fault. But you are not sorry for everything.”
She wants to argue with me. I can see it on her face. With a force of will, she pushes her magic back down to the ground and stares at me for a long moment, considering. Finally, she says, “I like that you prefer to get to the heart of the matter. Niceties are often a waste of time.”
My brows furrow slightly. Did she just compliment me? “Okay, thanks I guess.”
Her lips form a small smile. It’s amazing how her face changes when she is not being choked by evil thoughts. “You have a lot of your father in you.”
It takes me a minute to figure out she’s not talking about Dad. She’s talking about Dagda. I grimace. “Yeah, I hear that a lot when I’m being stubborn and rash.”
A laugh actually breaks through the ‘I will never have a sense of humor again’ blockade that has been in her throat for as long as I’ve known her. It sounds a bit rusty, but it’s still a laugh. “He is both of those, yes. But I also see his strength and determination in you.”
I raise a brow and cock my head. “Are you starting to feel all warm and fuzzy for him again?”
A blush touches her cheeks and she doesn’t meet my eyes for a moment. “I may find my way back to him.”
She looks so miserable, I take pity on her. Letting my arms drop down in a relaxed position by my sides, I say kindly, “He still loves you, you know. I think if he could take back what he did, he would.”
She raises her eyes to me again. “No, he would not.” The words aren’t spoken with anger or accusation. “He did the right thing, even if he did it for the wrong reasons at the time.”
Whoa, I may need to sit down now because I must be hallucinating. “You really believe that?”
She nods and tears are forming in her eyes. “I have spent many hours with Isla and Tabitha and they often speak of your destiny and what you have already accomplished. A lot was sacrificed for you to fulfill the prophecy and bring harmony amongst the realms, but it was done for the best of reasons. Never to be cruel.”
The next words tumble out of my mouth like acrobats who didn’t wait for their cue and fall all over each other. “And you’re okay with being collateral damage?”
There’s that spark of anger again. But she’s not angry with me this time. “I am not happy to have been a pawn in the process, but I finally understand why it happened.”
Do Tabitha and Isla have her in a twelve step program like Alcoholics Anonymous, or Evil Crones Anonymous in Tana’s case, and this is the step where she apologizes to those she hurt? Whatever it is, I’m starting to feel really uncomfortable. “Look, I appreciate that. I would like us to be friends,” I say, ignoring the fact that she is technically my stepmother. My evil stepmother. Stupid Fairy tales are always coming true. “But we’re leaving soon, and I’d really like to spend some time alone with Kallen before we go. I don’t think we’ll get a lot of privacy when we’re with the Witches.”
“I desire to accompany you,” Tana blurts out.
I think my mind is playing a round of ‘what’s the worst possible thing you could hear at the moment?’. “Um, what?”
“I want to help you. I want to prove to you I am not the Fairy you first met.” Her words run together as if she’s afraid that if she doesn’t push them out all at once, she won’t say them.
My mouth is hanging open like a fish that just got hooked. “No freaking way,” I finally say. Trying for something a little less harsh, I add, “You can prove that to me when I get back.” If I am able to come back, that is.
Tana will not be deterred. “You need me. You need my knowledge of both Witches and dark magic.”
I shake my head, not believing we’re having this conversation. “Kallen is knowledgeable about Witches and no offense, but going anywhere near the topic of dark magic with you seems like the equivalent of asking an alcoholic to describe the taste of her favorite drink.
It would only leave you wanting to taste it.”
Emotions are fighting a war on her face. Determination seems to be the one that wins. “Kallen is young. He is knowledgeable but not as I am. As for my knowledge of dark magic, I know you are well aware of both my abilities and my past indiscretions.” She has the decency to blush with embarrassment here. “But, understanding how to perform dark magic also means that I understand how to counter it.”
My tone a little defensive, I say, “I was able to counter yours. Why would it be different with the Witches?”
“Because their hatred of you runs deeper than mine did.”
Ouch. That was a direct blow to my self-esteem. I didn’t think it was possible for someone to hate me more than she does. “I think I can handle them. I did before.”
A tiny smile touches her lips again. If she keeps this up, she may eventually work her atrophied muscles into a real smile someday. “I did not mean to imply that you could not,” she says softly. “Though knowledge of the magic behind their actions does make it much easier and helps prevent, as you say, collateral damage. I was told of your first encounter with them. I have an idea of what you are up against and I know I can help.”
A new, unpleasant thought strikes me. “How do I know you aren’t planning to take revenge on the Witches for everything that happened?” I’m not fond of them, but I don’t want Tana to go crazy evil and torture or kill them.
I think she was expecting this question because she nods sagely. “You are wise to suspect this.” I can’t stop the eye roll that overcomes me from her condescension. “The only thing I can do is assure you that you are powerful enough to stop me if I veer off the path of light magic.”
I do, but still. I sit down on the edge of the bed and sigh. “Tana, this is going to be stressful enough without me having to worry about stopping you from committing genocide on the Witches. I need to focus all of my attention on helping them.” Even if they don’t want my help.
“I will take responsibility for her,” a deep voice says from the doorway. It’s my traitor husband.
I glower at him. “Eavesdropping is not polite.”
He shrugs. “But sometimes it is wise.” I think he was eavesdropping to make sure I didn’t kill his aunt. I glower at him even harder.
“Nephew,” Tana says softly. “I promise you, I mean no harm in my desire to attend you and your wife.”
Hook, line, sinker. Kallen is under her spell. He believes her. Great. I hang my head and shake it back and forth. “Your killing me,” I grumble. “This is going to be such a disaster.” This glass is definitely half empty, not half full.
“Xandra, do you agree to let my aunt accompany us?” Kallen asks and there is no way I can crush the hope in his voice. Why is he so sure this is a good idea?
I look up at him. “Do I have a choice?”
He grins, knowing he has won. “You always have a choice, my love.”
“Yeah, right.” To Tana, I say, “We leave in,” I look at the clock on the wall, “forty-five minutes. Will you be ready?”
She rises from her chair. “I will.” With that, she leaves the room.
I flop back on the bed. “I guess this is the question Raziel said I would need to consider carefully. I hope I made the right choice.”
Kallen comes and leans his tall, muscular body over me, his hands on either side of my head. He closes the bedroom door with his magic. “I think so,” he says and lowers his lips to mine.
“This was not how I wanted to spend our hour,” I grumble.
Kallen responds by nuzzling my neck. “Then we had better make good use of these forty-five minutes.” His lips capture mine and the next forty-five minutes fly by.
Chapter 11
“We have to go,” I yawn, my head comfortably lying on Kallen’s bare chest.
He’s tracing circles on my back with his finger. “Mm hmm.”
“Oh, by all means, continue to paw at each other when the fate of the Witches hangs in the balance,” Taz gripes through the door. He doesn’t like it when we lock him out. Too bad. He is not getting a front row view of anything that happens in here between Kallen and me that doesn’t involve sleeping.
“The Witches are fine, quit being so melodramatic,” I tell him through the door.
“We could always tether him to a post and leave him here,” Kallen suggests. Obviously, he heard Taz’s voice, and even if he doesn’t know what my Familiar said, he’s safe in assuming it was something irritating.
“Tell the whacka I will tether him to a post and slather him in eucalyptus for the koalas to gnaw on.”
I roll my eyes. “You cannot possibly tether him to anything. You have no hands,” I point out. Kallen glares at the door.
Before he and Taz get into a pissing contest that I will have to translate, at least to Kallen, I stand up and stretch. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Kallen admiring me as I did him earlier. I think he’s forgotten all about Taz now.
Mischievous grin in place, he says, “We still have a few minutes.”
I shake my head as I pull my clothes back on. “Not enough minutes. We need to go. Neither Adriel nor Kegan would hesitate to come in here and drag us out of bed. Especially after what you did to Kegan this morning.”
Kallen grimaces and stands up. “I am not concerned about my cousin, but Adriel can be frightening at times.” I’m pretty sure he’s kidding. Mostly. She can be scary.
When we’re dressed and ready to go, Kallen grabs my suitcase and we make our way downstairs. Out on the terrace, a small crowd has gathered. Half of them are coming with us, and Isla, Tabitha, Raziel and Dagda are here to see us off. None of them look thrilled at the prospect of us leaving on this journey. Dagda keeps sending surreptitious glances Tana’s way and she is studiously ignoring him.
“May I speak with you privately?” Dagda says by way of greeting.
So he can yell at me for agreeing to take Tana with me? I don’t think so. “Nope.”
He likes being told no as much as I do. “I believe you are making an unwise choice,” he says between gritted teeth, angry he has to say this in front of everyone. Isla and Tabitha aren’t happy with the idea either, but they’re willing to trust my decision. Or they think I need to learn the hard way. Either way, they aren’t saying anything.
I sigh. “Maybe, but I said she could come and I’m not going back on that.” Looking at Tana, I say, “I can always send her back if she causes too many problems.”
I can see Tana physically biting her tongue so she doesn’t say whatever is on her mind. She must think I’ll leave her behind if she does. She’s probably right.
I guess he figures he won’t budge me on that topic because Dagda says, “I understand that you may be forced to choose between this realm and the Cowan realm. I assume you will make the correct choice.”
I try not to roll my eyes, they seem to be set on automatic whenever I’m around him. I attempt a light-hearted voice as I say, “I suppose you don’t mean staying with the Witches.” I miss it by a mile.
“You were never a member of the Witch community. You have no loyalty owed to them,” Dagda growls.
I scowl. “They are still my responsibility. You’re the one who always wants me to take my role as Princess seriously.”
“You are Princess of this realm. The Witches have no desire for you to rule them,” he counters.
I shake my head in disbelief. “You think the Fairies are jumping up and down with joy over me taking the throne here?”
Before Dagda can speak again, Kallen says, “Uncle, I will do everything in my power to bring us back here.”
My biological father lets out a deep breath. “I know you will.” He pulls Kallen into a manly hug and pounds him on the back. “Keep everyone safe,” he says quietly before Kallen steps back from him.
“You had better find a way to come back here,” Tabitha says. She tried to put a threat behind the words but the fact that she’s tearing up a little squashed that idea.
“Yes, we should,” Adriel says briskly, even more uncomfortable than I am. She’s not big on the grand show of emotions. She’d make a lousy Angel of Death if she was.
Smiling weakly at the four who will be staying behind, I walk down the terrace stairs to the sand. Turning back to the group, I say to Raziel, “A little help with location? Oh, and your cryptic clues really do suck. A little better heads up on some topics would be nice.”