by Lexi Ostrow
“I thought it was a fitting time to let you go, a revelation like that, can’t blame me for wanting to see just how you’d respond. Some are angry, others in shock. But, you, something tells me you’re going to embrace this with open arms.”
Breena was hardly listening to yet another taunt from the stranger. Her eyes were narrowly focused on the book cover. Two sprites graced the cover, and there was no possible way of denying that they were spitting images of her and her sister. The resemblance was uncanny—even if they had wings on the cover—and a chill broke out over her body.
The stranger was telling the truth. She was a story.
Her feet were walking toward the shimmering, distorted doorway before she even realized it. Her hand was outstretched, though she wasn’t certain if she were reaching toward the human, Dale, or the book that would possibly contain her entire life. .
The doorway swirled shut much faster than it had opened, and she was left staring, not at the attractive human, but the dense forest once more.
“Now, now, I can’t unleash you without telling you a few rules first, my dear. There is a catch to all of this, you see. A price that must be paid for your freedom in the actual world.”
She whipped her head back to him and was torn by an overwhelming need to strangle him and to beg him to open the doorway again. To let her learn more about what he was claiming, and the handsome human who seemed to hold a key to her salvation.
“Fine, tell me your rules, and I’ll tell you just what I accept and what I believe,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Splendid, not that you had any choice in the matter, but I do so like it when my Guardians behave appropriately. The darker ones are so much harder to put in line sometimes.”
She scrunched her face. “Guardian?”
He was grinning again, and she felt queasy because she had a feeling that whenever he did so, it meant bad things.
“That is what you are, of course. It’s a long story, but I’ll give you the cliff notes. Do you know what cliff notes are? No, I suppose you wouldn’t.” He growled for no reason. “Very well, the condensed version of this tale is there is to be a war, a prophesized one, much like your families’. My annoying twin brother leads what people would like to believe is the good side, the side where just Word Speakers join with heroic Guardians and will fight the opposite side. My side. I am in charge of the darkness that seeps into the world. The same darkness that runs in your veins, no matter how hard you try to hide it.”
She sneered. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know that if I’m the brother standing before you, then your fight is on my side. Now, if you don’t interrupt, I can finish my tale. My people believed heavily in the power of stories. So. it seemed fitting that the warriors are those that can connect with stories. and the people pulled from those stories. Each of these Word Speakers connects on a soul level with a creature they read about and pulls them from the story. Their character becomes their Guardian. A protector. Forces of good and evil can come from every story they read, and it is the Guardians job to protect them, as well as fight by their side should the war begin in their lifetime.”
“So, all I am is a warrior in a different battle? One that doesn’t affect me?” She thought about Dale and her strange and sudden desire for him but pushed it aside. “I’m not interested. One war is more than enough.”
“Yes, and I’m certain your war brings you freedom from a life stuck in a story. Or the ability to see a world far greater than your own.”
She wouldn’t get freedom. She would just appease her father.
“I can see, by the look on your face, I have your attention again. Dale is special. He’s the strongest of his kind, due to a power merge. He was solidly on my side until a few months back. I want him on my side again. You’re going to seduce him back to the darkness he used to love to play in.”
The word seduce rang in her ears, and, suddenly, she felt another wave of desire wash over her. Ignoring the man might be easy enough, but she couldn’t deny that there was something about Dale that she wanted, almost needed.
“So, all I have to do is agree to protect him and show him some of the darker joys in life?” Breena spoke before she could stop herself.
“Yes, I believe you’re well acquainted with them from your time as your father’s little soldier.”
The words were so low, she thought he’d whispered them. She couldn’t deny the things she’d done in her father’s name. However, more so, she couldn’t enjoy the thrill she got from them either. If Dale shared in the darkness, if he wasn’t like her sister, then she could be with someone who understood her. Who desired her, even.
“What happens to my world? During all of this, what occurs for us little characters?”
“Ahh… You are fast. You’re one of the only ones smart enough to ask that. You’re not always trapped with your Word Speaker. When he is yours to protect, your world is free to progress outside the realm of the stories. What happens, well I cannot know the answer to that. However, when you are not his, your world is stagnant and you’ll have no memory of him or anything that transpired. You will be exactly what you were written to be and nothing more, unless another Word Speaker opens the pages of the book. A little benefit to this particular Word Speaker is he has enough power for your world to keep running so long as you’re his Guardian. All other worlds would cease to function as more than a book if Dale wasn’t their Word Speaker.”
She didn’t like the answer. It was bogus and incredulous, but she had to believe him. There was too much magic wrapped up in what she had just witnessed to not believe it was all true. She just didn’t have to like it.
She nodded her head. “Open the doorway. I’ll do what you ask, but only because I want to see for myself that the words you speak are true.” She tried to sound braver than she felt as she said the words. Fear mixed with determination and want, but the fear was so much stronger.
The man in the leather jacket’s eyes brightened just slightly as if he was truly pleased by her statement, and then the doorway opened again. The distortion of space didn’t bother her eyes as much that time, and when she looked through it, she saw Dale clutching the open book, his eyes almost glued to the page.
“And I’ll be able to come back out whenever I wish?”
“This is a binding agreement, Breena of the Unseelie. Your choice to do this marks you as a Guardian, and only Dale can unbind you from this agreement.”
She sucked in a deep breath. She had been a soldier for her family’s war her whole life. Was it worth it to trade one war for another, simply to get answers?
“Yes.” Breena wasn’t sure if the word was an answer to her silent question, or her acceptance of the terms laid forth. She began to walk toward the patch of strange space to the doorway. Her feet moved slowly, and she tentatively stuck one foot through, shocked when she felt nothing.
“Oh, and Breena?”
She heard the man in leather speak just before she put the rest of her body through.
“No one else will be able to see you.”
Chapter Four
She heard the words just as her second foot landed squarely on the gray carpet in Dale’s room. The snarl of anger tore past her lips, and Dale was upright instantly. The book flew past her head, and an instant later, a rush of water knocked her backward into the wall behind her.
She coughed and sputtered to expel it from her lungs and pushed back to the wall for protection.
“Who the fuck are you?” Dale’s voice shook with anger, not fear.
Hearing his voice sent tiny shivers of lust through her. His voice was deeper than his stature had indicated. It wrapped around her like a protective blanket, and she wanted to hear him speak again.
She felt a hand around her throat just before she could answer. His grip was powerful, but it was the heat that burned her neck. He was powerful. She knew he had controlled the blast of water that had knocked her backward, and now, he was p
laying with some sort of fire. Fae elementalists were rare and treasured, and somehow, she thought he was as well, and not just because the man in leather had said as much.
He lifted her off the floor ever so slightly and she felt her back scrape against the wall and wished she’d had a more substantial top on. His eyes stared into hers, and she felt fire inside her body, as well as the painful burn of it around her neck. Panic gripped her, she was a warrior, but she couldn’t seem to figure a way to drop him to the floor. She was too consumed with pain.
“Who are you?” he sneered at her and slightly loosened the grip on her neck.
Breena gasped out at the sudden influx of air in her lungs. “Breena,” the word was a strangled sound, but she knew he’d heard her.
He shoved her harder into the wall and retightened the grip around her neck, but the fire was gone. She no longer felt anything burning, and he had left her a little room to breathe. Being raised a half-inch off the floor still hurt, though.
“You’re a sprite, where are your wings, and why are you as tall as I am?”
Talking hurt, and she barely had enough air to push the words out. “You’re thinking of fairies. Sprites look just like humans. No, we can’t fly either.” She wanted to add in a smart retort, but his hand closed around her throat again.
“Straighten up and tell me who sent you.” Dale’s voice was cold, but he wasn’t unnerved by her presence, just wary.
“A man.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of that. They’re always there. Every time a Guardian is plucked, they’re there to explain. So, I’ll ask again. Who sent you? This time, if you don’t answer, I’ll make certain the fire burns you, rather than having it just heat your neck.”
The knowledge that he intentionally hadn’t burned her, terrified her. It had hurt so badly, she’d been certain it had been an attack, not a warning. The deadness in his voice didn’t mirror the fire burning behind his eyes, and fear licked a path through her, extinguishing the lust she’d felt a moment before.
Dale was a force, and she wasn’t certain she could handle anything about him.
“He didn’t say his name. I didn’t even ask—”
Dale growled, cutting her off. “What was he wearing?”
She barked out a laugh as best as she could around his hand. “You’re attempting to kill me, and you want to know the outfit of the man that sent me.” Her statement threw him off, and as he cocked his head to the side, she slammed her knee up, connecting with his groin immediately.
Dale grunted and dropped her to the ground. She landed on her feet and reached for the small dagger at her waist.
“I wouldn’t touch that. If you’re here, you’ve heard the rules. You know there’s two of them, and if the brother I think sent you, did, I know you’re not someone I want around. I won’t hesitate to find out what happens when an unwanted Guardian is killed.”
She flinched and forced herself to stand up to him. She wasn’t certain a second man had been mentioned, but with how intent Dale was on the fact, she must have missed it.
If she was to protect him, it was time he realized what he was dealing with. “The man indicated I’m only here because you chose me. So spare me the dramatics and stop fucking attacking me.”
His eyes shifted slightly past one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. He’d known who she was the moment she’d appeared, but asking hadn’t hurt. There were a million more questions he had for her, but the way the space was distorting just diagonally over her shoulder made him queasy. His hand totally fell away from her neck at what he saw.
Dale hadn’t seen the doorway that Breena had stepped through, it must have snapped shut before he’d realized she was there. However, he was seeing this one. A stone cave was slowly coming into view in the distorted space, and Dale cursed.
“Son of a bitch, I should have known,” he said to no one at all.
“Should have known what?”
Breena’s hazel eyes were ablaze with anger, most likely from his assault, but he didn’t need her questioning him right then.
“Stay back and shut up. What’s going to come out of this damn doorway are humans that you don’t want to tangle with.”
“Don’t assume to know what I want to do, Dale. You’re reading my book, you know what I do for my father.”
Her voice dripped with an intensity he’d never heard from a female before. When he turned he saw the deep curve of a smile on her lips as she rolled a dagger in her hand.
Dale wasn’t certain how he was going to process anything, but he didn’t have time. Two men walked by the doorway, one pointed at them. An instant later, the men dashed through the doorway and were standing in front of them.
“Sorry, boys, I’m afraid it’s just going to be me from here on out. Disappointed? Don’t worry, I’m not offended. I’ve been doing that to people my whole life.” A blazing ball of fire formed in his hand, and he let the flicks of flames dance up his arms, just in case one of them came too close.
“Where’s the girl?”
Dale shook his head and let the ball of fire fly. The scream and sizzle of human flesh did nothing to him anymore. He’d taken down his own number of jerks in the Initiative after meeting Ciara, and he didn’t give a shit about what happened to them.
“Like I said, it’s just going to be me from here on out. Don’t like it, you can tell whoever replaced that useless oaf that Stryder killed that this world is off limits to you now!” Dale shouted, his body shaking with a strange mixture of rage and excitement as he thrust his hands toward the duo and two perfectly vicious streams of lightning bolted from his palms.
The men were knocked backward, their screams falling on deaf ears as his eyes landed on the cup of water next to his bed. It would be too small to manipulate. “Anyone looking for a hug? I never got a lot of hugs when I was younger?”
Dale took a step forward with his arms outstretched in a mocking hug just as Breena raced by. She let out a war cry that was purely animalistic, and he saw the glint of the dagger. Her small frame crashed onto the closest Initiative member, the one who hadn’t gotten a taste of his fire yet. There was no sound, just the swift motion of her wrist jerking to the side. Dale grew closer and saw a trail of red streaming over her hands and a slit across the man’s throat.
“I’m not much for games,” she said as she stood up and let the man’s body just lay there, bleeding all over his pale carpet. “I’ve been raised in the fires of battle. I’ve seen and caused more death than most sprites do in their entire life. Two humans mean nothing to me.”
Her dagger slammed into the gut of the man, who had slowly been standing back up in an attempt to stumble back into the doorway. Dale heard the suctioning sound as the dagger was jerked back out of the man’s stomach and the grunt as the man hit the floor.
Breena walked away, wiping the blade on her short skirt, making no attempt to finish the kill. She sat down on the edge of his bed and raised a brow at him. “Were you not going to be killing them? I assumed men that race into attack, men seemingly from worlds like my own, fake ones, were to be killed. Is that not the point of being a Guardian?”
Dale’s mouth hung open, and he looked from her to the man slowly bleeding out on the floor. He had been intending to send them running, or kill them if it came to it, but her intensity had been something he wasn’t ready for. He looked again at the cup of water on his nightstand, if he poured it over the man, he could heal him with Nessa’s powers and then send him back through with a message.
“Because letting an enemy live worked out so well for everyone in the past,” he said with a snarl. Dale closed his eyes and focused on the crackle of electricity he felt running through his body. The flames on his arms tapered out and sparks of electricity danced over his skin as he walked over to the man and hunched down over him. “There is a part of me that’s sorry about all this. A very small part, but there is one.”
Dale put both of his hands on the man’s chest. His body shook and
convulsed as the power pulsed into every atom of the Initiative member’s being. When the body no longer moved, Dale pulled his hands back and looked down at the body—charred, smoking and bloody. Panic seized him as he realized he didn’t feel any remorse over killing them. Ciara always had, even in the end, that’s just something else that would separate them. Power would always make him high, and killing someone out to hurt him would always be his first choice, Breena had that right.
“Stop acting like a princess, you killed one of them. Get off the bed and help me dump these bodies back inside the doorway before it closes.”
She walked over to him as he was grabbing the first man’s body, and he couldn’t help but watch the sway of her hips. She was built like an Amazon, except short, and his body didn’t have any issues appreciating the view.
“In case you forgot, I actually am a princess. But I’m used to tossing bodies away, so I’ll help, even after you attacked me first.”
She wasted no time grabbing the second man’s shirt and tugging him toward the door as Dale did the same with the other. The doorway was growing blurry again, getting ready to close, since the two characters were dead. With a grunt, he shoved his body through the door and moved to help her throw the last man just as the cave setting distorted back into his bedroom.
Dale jerked his arm back, terrified of what would happen if he was caught in an open doorway. He inspected his hand, and when he was certain it wasn’t going to fall off or suddenly grow an extra finger, he turned his gaze back to Breena. His body hummed with lust as his eyes took in every inch of her bare flesh and the few inches covered by the short skirt and flimsy looking top. Her hair was a pale brown and cascaded over her shoulders, curling at the bottom. He wondered if she knew how perfect she looked, despite the blood splattered across her.
She was less than five inches away from him and had one of the sexiest scowls on her face he had ever seen. However, it was what danced in her eyes that terrified him. There was no sign of guilt in her sultry hazel eyes, just the barest hint of amusement. She hadn’t minded disposing of the two men that had come in. In fact, he was fairly certain she’d enjoyed it. She seemed to delight in each kill her father ordered in her book, why would this be different? He needed something to go right from her coming to him because he was running off energy and fighting off the desire she was stirring in him. It was so much stronger than what he’d felt for Nessa, and the fact that he’d just watch her blatantly kill two men and it had turned him on, worried him.