by J. Kearston
“Alright, you damn princess.” Ripping the roots out at the base, I start tearing through them and chucking them aside.
They flay the skin on my palms, and once the blood coats them, they forget about trying to drag Lucien underground with them and turn towards me, curling up my arms and over my legs.
“You just going to lay there, sleeping beauty, or fucking help?!”
I get no response and turn my efforts onto ripping the plant leeches off, chucking them as far away from me as possible. When I get a leg free, I kick Lucien in the side before taking a seat, all hopes of a polite wakeup call forgotten at this point, no matter how bad of shape he’s in. With my current condition, there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to carry him out of here. If Lucien doesn’t wake up, his ass is staying put and I’m going to have to set up camp on top of the land that’s more starved than I am.
A soft groan morphs into a steady stream of curses, but by the time Lucien actually comes to, I’ve finished freeing myself and am glaring at him with a mixture of annoyance, and utter relief.
“What happen-“ He cuts off as his eyes fly open and he tries to sit up too quickly, leaning over to puke. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he blinks rapidly, his eyes glassy and dazed, but struggling through it. “Cambria? Dorian?”
Flipping him off, I get to my feet, panting to try and catch my breath. There’s a brief stab of disdain that I’m unfamiliar with. Luce has always favored Dorian, not that I blame him; the guy is like a stray puppy and even I’ve shielded him from some of the worst shit over the years that Luce would rather keep him clear of. That’s really been the only thing he and I have as common ground; off the books work.
Well, and Cambria now, causing the lines to start blurring, but there’s always been much more distance between us than he has with the other two. It normally doesn’t bother me, but after as much as I went through saving his ass twice? While already dealing with the blow of being human and on the outside even more noticeably?
Yeah, I’m annoyed.
Lucien is everything someone like Cambria deserves. Dorian too, if I’m being honest with myself. They’re good for her. And I’m just...along for the ride.
“Alive, last I knew. You’re welcome, by the way.”
He gives me a confused look and I roll my eyes, forcing myself to exhale slowly and quit being such a prick. Giving him the abridged version, I fill him in on everything since we parted ways.
“So we’re officially even,” I declare, and there’s a heavy beat of weighted silence in lieu of an answer. “You and I are square; I’ve more than paid my debt.”
He pushes himself to his feet, swaying slightly before regaining his composure by nothing short of sheer force of will. “Idiot. That whole ‘sell your soul to the devil’ nonsense was all you. Could have walked away any time you wanted, you just didn’t want to leave and used it as an excuse to stay.” He scrubs a hand over his jaw, wincing as he feels how swollen it is and the various cuts.
Cracking my neck, I don’t respond. I’m too damn tired to get into all of this right now, especially with everything else we still have to deal with. “We should get moving. Everyone’s likely heading to Achlys’ cult...and I have no clue where the fuck that is.”
“Didn’t you say you were walking through the shadow court forest before getting here?” He takes a step in my direction, wincing and pressing a hand to his stomach.
“Yeah?” But even before the first word leaves his mouth, I know where he’s going with this.
“So if the sky got lighter, we’re probably closer to the light court. This wasteland likely acts as a divider to keep the two sides apart, like neutral territory.”
He’s pale, but standing well enough. At least I know where the river is from here, even if we’ll have to walk a couple of hours to get there. And if he’s right, which I reluctantly have to assume he is, then we’ll be in far worse shape passing through the valley of decay just to pop out on the side of the light court. We’re in no shape to take on a single fae right now; let alone an army that’s out for our heads.
Sighing, I turn on my heel, giving him my back as I start walking. There’s a nagging sensation tickling the back of my mind, enticing me to stay. And though I know logically that we should be immune to compulsion after our revelations, I can’t help but be uneasy.
My footsteps left a clear path to follow back to the forest, and I cringe as I realize just how far into the wasteland I made it, dredging the walk back. “I hope the others are having better luck than we are.”
Chapter 3
Dorian
What have I done?
There’s a small tingling sensation, like static racing across my skin before it’s gone just as quickly as it appeared. The changeling backs away from Cambria, rising to her full height and skipping back over to me with a feral grin. I can feel the color draining from my face in horror as I replay my wording in my head, mentally beating the shit out of myself.
I didn’t establish a timeline. I didn’t state in what capacity. All I did was give my life to this monster on a silver platter.
Turning my pleading eyes on Cambria, I ignore the way the changeling runs a nail over my arm, head canted to the side as it gets to the branding on my hand, but saying nothing. Cambria doesn’t even attempt to conceal the blatant terror on her face, and any hope that I have of her telling me she knows a loophole or how to counteract it flies out the window.
“You should start heading towards our house in the shadow court.” I swallow, forcing confidence into my voice that I don’t feel an actual blip of. “I’ll keep it from following you to give you a head start.”
Her eyes narrow, and all of her fear goes up in smoke with her fury. “Oh, hell no. I’m not leaving you behind, and you’re not making me go out there alone.”
Shaking my head sadly, I gesture towards her. “You’re practically healed already. You’ll be okay. But we can’t lead a monster right to the only safe haven left in this realm.” A harsh breath escapes and I deflate along with it. “And I don’t want you to have to watch it drain me.”
After what happened to her brother, I don’t bother entertaining the idea that she would walk away from seeing something like that and still be okay. And yeah, I like to pretend it’s just because she loves me and doesn’t want me to die, but the how is more important in this case.
Lifting the tattered remains of her shirt, she inspects her stomach with a frown. The only signs that anything happened are faint pink scars, already fading, and the shadows of some bruises.
Brow furrowed, she meets my eye. “Why did it funnel all of the energy I used on it back into me? And why isn’t it eating you?”
The changeling moved on from toying with me to crouching, running her fingers through the grass with a neutral expression. Matching Cambria’s expression, I take a step closer to her as we turn our rapt attention onto the suddenly content creature.
A squirrel leaps from one branch to another, the changeling jumping to her feet preternaturally fast and catching it before it ever lands. With a quick spray of blood, she tears it apart, devouring it in a gruesome display.
And seconds later, her form shimmers, morphing from the blonde fae into the small, brown squirrel.
Cambria grips my wrist, but I’m just grossly fascinated now that it isn’t actively trying to kill me. “Hungry wolves.”
“What are you talking about?” Cambria whispers, not wanting to draw its notice, though if it’s bound by the deal as much as I am, she’s the safest living being here.
“Wild animals will leave you well enough alone most days, but when they get desperate? Hunger can drive anyone feral when it morphs into starvation. But after that need’s been sated, they go back to leaving you well enough alone.”
“But it’s not a wild animal,” she argues. “It can talk. Bind itself by the same rules as a fae.”
Replaying everything in my head, I toss out a theory. “They’re just mirrors.” Before she ca
n argue, I rush to defend my thought process. “No form of their own, they change into whatever they consume. And by the story Achlys told us of one appearing in her son’s form and begging in his voice, it sounds like it was just parroting back its victim’s last words.” I swallow. “It only repeated the last word I said, I don’t think it was actually attempting to trick me into binding myself.”
It starts scurrying back over to us and blinks, just waiting for something. Cambria eyes it cautiously. “So because I fed it, but it channeled all of that energy back to me, it was hungry again? Why’d it even try to help me?”
Listening to my gut, I crouch down and extend a hand, palm up. The squirrel wastes no time running up my arm and onto my shoulder, hopping onto my head and curling up. An ill-timed chuckle bubbles out of my throat before I can stop it, and Cambria looks at me like I’ve gone nuts.
Which just has me snickering again. I’m still far too slap-happy after days out here trying to heal the hard way with barely any food, and now that I’m dealing with the adrenaline crash from nearly dying, it’s hitting me hard.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about how I was complaining that I didn’t want to be a main character, so the powers that be sent me an animal sidekick and a princess to save.”
She snorts, starting towards the river since we’ve wasted so much time already and I fall into step beside her. “Not really a princess, remember?”
“Sorry, chosen one. Lost savior. Monster hunter; whatever you want to call it.”
She rolls her eyes, but they ultimately end up on the changeling dozing in my hair. “If you’re right, it looks like the whole ‘warden to the bloodthirsty plague’ was just a fancy way of saying zookeeper.”
We start easing down the bank and into the water. I’d love it if we had a raft or something, but as slow as the current is, I’m not worried about drowning. And honestly, it would just make us far more noticeable to anyone that glances this way from afar.
“Probably why it tried to help you.” We start drifting, treading water to stay afloat and letting the water do the majority of the work rather than outright swimming. “Your abilities are unique to your line supposedly, right? So it would have recognized it as the same sort of energy it used to receive from your parents and realized you weren’t food, but the bringer of food.”
She pivots to face me, coasting backward. “That makes a weird amount of sense. Okay, so what about you? You bound yourself to it, and it fed off of a squirrel instead of using you as an easy-access energy source to keep on tap.”
Mulling it over for a bit, I discard a few ideas before settling on one that feels right. “They’re symbiotic, not parasites, I think. The old fae used to kill them and the land reacted, so they decided they had to imprison them instead, right? Then that means they offer something to Faerie. I just don’t understand why they would’ve been attacking people so much that it came to that if it was symbiotic.”
Cambria runs her tongue over her dry lips, the bright silver of her irises catching the light. “So we think of them like any native animal. If something fucks with their habitat or food source, they’re forced to new places and destroy the delicate balance of the ecosystem.” Her eyes turn hard. “If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. Nothing the fae touch in Faerie is beautiful; only the things they leave alone. I wouldn’t put it past any of them to have been trying to expand their territories and driven the changelings out of their home.”
There’s a curve in the river and a sudden dip, dropping us off of a short waterfall. We come up sputtering and I swipe water from my eyes as frantic chittering demands attention. Scrambling for the surface and dipping under, I rush over to scoop up the struggling changeling, setting him on my shoulder. It scrambles up onto my head, nails scratching at my scalp as it trembles.
Gently, I stroke a soothing hand over its sopping wet fur. “Sorry, buddy, I didn’t see it coming either.”
It’s still keyed up and trembling, and I’ve no doubt it’d launch itself at the bank if it thought it could make it. Cambria swims closer, not reaching out to touch it, but near enough that I can see the wheels turning in her head.
She makes soothing shushing sounds before humming, not putting an ounce of compulsive power into it. But as it starts to calm down, she starts singing the words, keeping her voice down so that we don’t draw attention to ourselves. She puts her own spin on Hanging by a Moment, and before long, she stretches out on her back to float, just gazing up at the clear sky as she gets lost in herself.
By the shifting of tiny feet tangling in my hair, it’s clear that it wants to leap over and use her as a raft, drawn to her presence, but the deal has the changeling getting a small jolt every time it almost makes the leap like it can read its intention. I never expected to pity a man-eating squirrel, yet here I am, wishing he could climb my girlfriend like a tree.
I’m not even sure what to refer to it as, but it’s already getting confusing and I’m going to have to figure out some sort of gender neutral name sooner or later. Though admittedly, I don’t think the changeling much cares if I switch between, that’s my own hangup.
“No wonder your line was chosen to keep them in check.” Cambria lifts her head, raising an eyebrow, and I grin. “Music soothes the savage beast.”
Her lips twitch as she fights back a smile. “You’re ridiculous.”
I shrug a single shoulder and swim closer. “But you love it.”
“I really do,” she says with a sigh, giving up floating to tread water with me. “You’re pretty damn good at keeping me in check.”
Not wasting any time to warn her, I clap my hand over her mouth and submerge us both. Kicking my feet, I attempt to rush us along past the couple of fae I saw approaching the river, praying they didn’t see us. All I can do is push us faster, hoping I can get us far enough away before we need to come up for air.
A stabbing shock pulses through my system and I hiss in an involuntary breath. Struggling to the surface, I come up sputtering and gasping, coughing up the water I sucked down. We didn’t make it nearly far enough to escape notice, and two piercing gazes lock onto me, and Cambria a second later as she resurfaces beside me.
Another lancing pain courses through me and I frantically scan the area, diving back down and swimming towards the people that want to tear us apart as if compelled. The changeling is struggling beneath the water, caught in a net the fae must have been coming to check. Frantically, I try to untangle it, but the both of us are hauled out of the water as I cling to the rope, unable to let go and leave it behind.
“Well, if it isn’t our lucky day,” one of the men sneers, my mark on clear display as a dead giveaway, even if they didn’t recognize Cambria on sight. After all, there aren’t many claimed humans running around the light court these days; killed not long after receiving them for one reason or another.
Despite the lithe build, the man has no problem hauling the net up the bank with one quick jerk. The changeling is sputtering and coughing up water, but breathing. Only the solid black eyes give away that it’s anything other than a regular squirrel, but the faes’ eyes dismiss it quickly enough, not studying it closely enough to pick up on the small detail.
The man glaring down at me has eyes as bright of green as the grass around us, dark brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail. The disdain on his face is a weapon in its own right, matching the easy strength hidden by his deceptive size.
“You’re going to set us up for years.” His counterpart starts sliding down the bank, aiming to grab Cambria.
It’s a cheap shot, but since I don’t have any weapons, I’m not above playing dirty to walk away from this rather than be dragged to some dungeon to await my death. Driving my knee into the fae’s groin, he hisses in a sharp curse as I scoop up the changeling, racing back towards Cambria.
I have no idea what their abilities are, but I don’t intend to stick around to find out. I’m heavily outmatched in this scenario, and I can sleep just fine at night
without my pride.
The fae wading into the water after Cambria extends an arm with a growl, and I furrow my brow. We must be further from Elorie’s kingdom than I realized; everyone in that kingdom goes out of their way not to touch her, knowing what she can do.
My eyes widen as I realize the implications. The light court has various kingdoms, and that means that not all of them bow to the whims of a Queen they don’t serve. Elorie could put a bounty out on us, could make up some excuse of crimes against the crown to justify it and a heavy enough reward people don’t question it, but that just means her power has limits.
So not everyone will have had the shadow court wiped from their memories.
Cambria’s face twists with anger, not flinching away from him as he curls a hand around her bicep, tugging her into his body. She reaches up to palm the side of his face and I watch as he stills, completely confused at the direction things are taking. That hesitation costs him everything. Cambria inhales deeply, her silver irises swirling as she siphons his energy, draining him completely.
My mouth goes dry as it clicks just how tied Cambria is to the changelings.
The one in my arms starts writhing in agitation and I turn, sidestepping before the arrow hits its mark in my shoulder. With no other means of defending myself, I chuck the changeling at the fae’s face, only feeling a little bad.
He shrieks as it starts mauling his face with the grace of a Tasmanian devil, tearing him apart and devouring his energy in a much more primitive, brutal way. Blood coats the grass, and I just watch it all happen with a detached sense of curiosity. Logically, I know that I should be horrified. But knowing that I’m safe from suffering such a fate unless it becomes desperate, it’s morbidly fascinating to watch it chew through bone like it’s nothing. Only some bloody scraps of tattered clothing remains, most of it consumed alongside the fae.
The tiny squirrel wavers, its form distorting until it becomes the fae it just annihilated. Not erased from existence; he clings to the shadow of the man’s memory, keeping his image alive until it can’t sustain him anymore.