Shadow Dancer Boxed Set

by Courtney Rene

  "What?" I gasped at him.

  Lucas wrenched me away from Gideon. Then he flipped me over onto the ground next to him on my back. "Gabriel! There's so much blood." He slammed his hands over my chest and pressed down hard to try to stop the flow of blood as it poured from my wound.

  "You will make a fine queen," Gideon said. I could barely hear him, he was whispering so softly. I saw him press a hand against his own chest, but blood still pushed its way through his fingers. His shirt turned dark with red before my eyes.

  "Gideon," I shrieked. "Lucas, do something."

  "I am," he said, and pressed down harder on my chest.

  I reached out desperately for Gideon. He took hold of my hand in a firm grip.

  "Brick! Get over here. Do something!" Gabriel shouted.

  Bricked dropped down next to Lucas. He pried Lucas' hands away and pressed his own down on top of the gaping wound in my chest. Warmth seared my body and my back arched in pain. I felt the king's grip on my hand tighten.

  I could feel my skin, my muscles, and all that went with it, pull and knit together to heal. I flinched away, but Lucas held me viciously down. He was crying right along with me, whether at my pain or for being part of the cause of it, I didn't know or really care. I was too focused on myself.

  Gabriel's big calloused hand took hold of my other arm and held on tight. My body hurt with pain so intense I couldn't hold on any longer. I began to scream. I screamed and screamed until I was out of breath.

  When it was finally over, Brick's face was covered in sweat that dripped off from his chin to the ground. He took his hands from my body and staggered to his feet. Star rushed up to steady him as they made their way to an open space so that Brick could sit and rest. Small wounds were easy to heal for the fire people, but apparently, wounds as serious as mine, took a lot out of them.

  I was panting from the healing. The pain was receding slowly, but it was finally receding. Lucas buried his face in my neck and said over and over again, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." As if he was the one to cause the pain.

  The world was blurry around the edges of my vision. It was then that I realized that although I was still holding Gideon's hand, he was no longer holding mine. His hand was slack within my fierce grip.

  I slowly turned my head to look at him. One of the fire people kneeled next to him. His head was bent, and his arms hung loose at his sides. "Gideon?"

  Gideon didn't answer. The red man did. He looked up at me with sad black eyes and slowly shook his head. "It was his heart that was pierced with the sword. I was not able to heal him."

  "Gideon!" I screamed.

  Gabriel quickly jumped to his feet and over to where Gideon lay. He placed his hand against his neck to check for a pulse, as if to make sure. I waited silently, but I already knew. Gabriel turned to face me and confirmed it. Yes, Gideon was dead.

  I didn't want it to be true. My heart suddenly hurt. I searched the crowd around us for Leif, but he was nowhere to be found. He was just gone. I didn't understand. He got what he wanted after all. The king was dead. Why would he leave like that? Why wasn't he jumping up and down and rejoicing for the entire world to see? Why?

  My eyes burned and tears coursed down my face. "I didn't want him to die, Gabriel."

  "I know," Gabriel said.

  Chapter Fourteen

  "Do you think you can stand?" Lucas asked.

  Yes. But did I want to? That was another question all together. With a groan, I sat up and then slowly got to my feet. Brick had healed me, but the pain of the wound was still echoing through my body.

  I looked at Brick and said, "Thank you, Brick. Really."

  He smiled at me in answer. Star at his side, did the same.

  I looked around at all the faces. They stared at me. They waited, expectantly. "Now what?"

  Gabriel suddenly wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace. "You all right?"

  I returned the hug and said, "Yeah. I'll be fine." I would be. My head hurt, and I had no idea how much energy damage I had done to myself, but the pain from the sword wound was almost non-existent. That was some gift the fire people had.

  Gabriel sighed deep, as if he had been holding his breath for a long time as he let me loose. He looked pointedly at the people around us. Then he did the most unexpected thing ever. With a fisted hand, he crossed his arm over his chest, bowed his head, and kneeled down before me.

  "Gabriel?" I said and glanced worriedly around me. "What are you doing," I whispered fiercely. "Get up."

  He didn't. Lucas followed suit and kneeled down before me as well. Then Austin, and Jack, and Simon, and then row after row in a wave, all the people that stood in the field kneeled down before me, including the Shadow Guard, and what was left of the rebels. Although I think some of them wanted to abstain, they didn't. The fire people did not kneel down, but they did bow their heads to me in some sort of show of allegiance.

  I started to cry. Not loudly, just silent tears of sorrow. I was suddenly overwhelmed by the day. Too much had happened in such a small amount of time. Gideon lay at my feet, dead not even fifteen minutes, and I was being given loyalty by all in the realm, including the ones that had once swore allegiance to him and against me. It seemed so wrong. So fast. Gideon…

  Finally, Gabriel stood and I pounced quickly and said, "If you say something like 'All hail Queen Sunshine', I'm going to smack you."

  He smiled at me, a real, big and tooth-filled smile. "I don't need to. It's implied. With the death of Gideon, you are now the ruler and Queen of Acadia. Your place is set."

  "What? No big ceremony or hoops to jump through? No crowning?" I said a bit sarcastic.

  "Nope, no crowning. You can commission a crown if you want one though," he said and then winked at me.

  "Ew."

  "You get to make the rules now, Sun…uh...My Lady," Lucas said.

  I spun on him and said, "Don't you dare."

  "Sorry, My Lady. It comes with the territory now," Gabriel said.

  Then he leaned in and whispered to both Lucas and I, "At least in public."

  "Fine," I snapped, but I didn't like it. Never had liked it and figured most likely never would. Then I realized, that if I was going to be the rule maker, then maybe that one would have to be revised, and soon.

  Gabriel clapped his hands together and said, "Okay. Let's get busy then."

  "Busy? With what?" I asked aghast at the notion of doing anything more that day. If it required energy of any type, then too bad, as I was completely out.

  Gabriel indicated all the bodies, both standing and otherwise, and said, "We have a lot to do. We need to have a burial for any that didn't survive. Heal those than can be. We need to start putting Acadia in order and get some semblance of law in place. There's commerce and farming and housing. We need to get you settled in the castle as soon as possible…"

  "Whoa, whoa, Gabriel," I said and put a hand over his mouth to stop the rush of words pouring out. "One thing at a time. First, my home is still in the other realm."

  "But you have to set up here," Gabriel interrupted. "You are now the ruler of this world. You are needed here!"

  "Gabriel," I snapped. "I am very aware of what and who I am. But, are you? I need to find a balance between these two realms for now. I need to finish high school for one. I can't just leave and never return. There are things that need to be done first."

  "But…"

  "No buts, Gabriel," I said.

  He didn't respond to that. He just huffed out an angry breath.

  "First things first." My eyes fell to the king. I looked up at Gabriel and said, "Gideon…"

  Gabriel also looked down at the fallen king. He nodded once and said, "Yes. You're right."

  He knew what I was asking without making me say it. "Simon. Austin. Have the king transported back to the Castle. We will have a fitting burial for him.

  "What for?" Austin said with a roll of his eyes.

  "Austin, no matter what he was or wasn't, he was still the King
of Acadia. He was still my uncle and there was a part of him that was a good man."

  "I never saw it," Austin said.

  I shook my head. "No. I don't suppose you did," I said. I doubted if very many saw that side of him. "You will have to take my word for it when I tell you and everyone that there was good in him. It was buried and hidden beneath years of hate and anger and crazy, but it was in there. I caught glimpses of it now and then."

  "Whatever. I won't mourn that man." Austin said. His cheeks were flushed and I could see he was angry.

  I smiled at him. "You don't have to mourn him. No one does. Me? I won't mourn the evil in him, but I will mourn the good."

  I turned to the rest of the group and said, "All right, Gabriel. What first?"

  Chapter Fifteen

  "You're late."

  I had just phased back home from the day of hell in Acadia and that was the first words that met my ears from my mother. My dad stood over her shoulder and they both had their arms crossed over their chests.

  "Seriously," I snapped.

  "It's almost nine. You know the rule. You are to be home by seven, in time for dinner. Every night," my mom said. My dad nodded his head with every point of her sentence.

  I tried to calm the simmering rage that suddenly washed through my blood. I couldn't. "Really?" I snarled.

  "Sunny!" my dad snapped at me, most likely due to my tone of voice. I didn't care at that point though.

  "I come home, evidently covered in dirt. My shirt is sliced apart and still damp with blood, some my own, by the way, and some from others. My hair is wild and crazy, and my legs are scraped up scabbed over and, and…all you see is a clock?"

  I advanced on them beyond control of the anger riding me. "I almost died today. Do you hear what I'm saying? I. Almost. Died."

  My dad's eyes widened at my words and my mom gasped.

  "Are you trying to make me leave?"

  My mom was immediately shaking her head back and forth, "Of course not."

  "No," my dad said.

  "Well, let me let you in on something. That is exactly what you are doing. I come home and I am treated like a child. Rules and curfews, and you telling me what to do with every moment you can. In Acadia I'm told to grow up, take care of this and that and handle this and that and figure this out and do everything on my own. People are counting on me. Me."

  "You are just a little girl, Sunny."

  "No, Mom. I'm not. I'm almost eighteen years old." I snorted as another thought hit me. "Heck, maybe I already am since no one really knows when my birthday is. Regardless, I'm not a child anymore and you're pushing, no shoving me away. Every day. More and more."

  "Why do you have to go to that place? If it's as bad as you say, why do you go there?"

  "Honey," my dad said to my mom. I could tell he was trying to stop her words.

  "No. I want to know," she said, almost yelled. "What is so wonderful about that place? Why can't you just stay here where you're safe? Where I can keep you safe?"

  There it was. The real issue. Finally.

  "Mom," I said. "That is my place too. The people there, they need me. I can't turn my back on all of them just because you want me to be safe, or because I'm afraid." I shook my head at her and tried to make her understand. "No. I am not a little girl. Acadia is my world, where I come from, and that is where I belong just as much as I do here. I can't do it all by myself. I need your help and your support."

  "I won't help you in this," my mom said.

  "Why? Why can't you?"

  My dad was silent. He was listening and he was watching. Was I at least getting through to him? I shook my head at them both and said, "If you can't support me, why should I stay here?"

  "Because we are your parents, that why," she snapped.

  "So?" I answered. "I'm almost an adult. Do you want me to just bide my time here until then and then leave and never come back? Is that really what you want? If I go to Acadia, how will you ever see me again unless I come back?"

  Her face fell. She understood.

  "Mom, you can't control everything. You can't control me forever," I said and tried to give her a hug to soften the words, but she stayed stiff and unyielding. "I love you. I'm asking you to understand and support me. Why can't you do that?"

  My dad finally said something. He stepped in front of my mom and embraced me, hard and tight against his chest. "We can do that. We will."

  Mom's eyes went wide at his words. "But…"

  "No," he snapped at her. "This is our daughter and I am going to give her every moment and bit of support that she needs. Don't you get it? This is who she is. We may not like that she is…different…but she is our daughter and we love her no matter what. We will support her. That's it."

  My dad was a quiet, unassuming, and great man. Tears burned my eyes at his unconditional love. I reached out to him and he took my hand in his. "I love you, Dad."

  "Right back at'cha," he said. Then he nodded his head toward my mom who was also openly crying.

  "Mom?" I said.

  She suddenly wrapped her arms around and me and said, "I do love you. I want what's best for you. I do. How can I keep you safe in that wild world with heathens and God knows what else?"

  "I could take you there, so that you can see it for yourself. Maybe that would help?"

  "You can do that?" my dad asked.

  I nodded and said, "Yeah. I can do a lot of things you don't know about."

  "Oh," mom said.

  I smiled and said tentatively, "I could show you sometime."

  My dad dropped one arm over my shoulders and the other over my mom and said with false excitement, "That sounds like fun."

  He didn't really mean it. I knew it and my mom knew it and that made us laugh, which maybe that was the point after all. We stood in the kitchen, wrapped up together, and laughed. We hadn't done that in ages and it felt so wonderful.

  I still had a lot of work to do with my parents, but I was making headway. Just as I'd told Gabriel, one step at a time.

  ~ * ~

  Still a complete and utter disaster, I flopped face down on my bed. I sighed and mumbled through my blankets, "You can go home now, David. It's over."

  "I already sent him home," Lucas said.

  I jerked upright and saw Lucas leaning in the corner I had expected David to be in. He had showered and cleaned up and looked wonderful to my tired eyes. "What are you doing here?"

  He shrugged and said, "I wanted to make sure you were safe."

  "Oh. Well, as you can see, I'm good."

  "I also wanted to hold you for a little while," he admitted with a grin and stepped toward me. "You scared me today."

  "The day scared me too," I said. I met him halfway and we wrapped our arms around each other. He smelled clean and felt so warm. I leaned heavily against him and soaked in his presence.

  "The day was so crazy. I am not even certain what all happened," I said. "Did you even find the Shadow Guardians? Is that how Gabriel and Austin made it back in time for the battle?"

  "Sorta," he said.

  I looked up and said, "Sorta?"

  He led us over to the bed and we lay down together, snuggled up, and got comfortable. "I decided to find where the barrier was, then jump over to the Fire Realm and tell them what was going on instead.

  Yeah, I admitted to myself, that was a better plan.

  "The barrier wasn't all that large actually. It was just outside the area of the field. We phased back to the battle and only had to hoof it over maybe half a mile. After the battle, the Shadow Guardians were all huddled together wondering like everyone else what to do. When I told them that they were free, all they could ask about was what had happened to David. Where was he? They are all happily reunited and glad to be in your service…My Lady."

  "Ugh. Stop it. Really. That just wigs me out when you say that."

  He gave me a squeeze and said, "I know. But…that is who you are now. You need to get used to it."

  "But why? Why can't
I just be Sunny?"

  "Because you aren't. Not anymore. It's their way of showing you respect. You fought hard for that title. You deserve it."

  "I didn't fight any harder than anyone else on that field today."

  "Yeah, you're right. But your life has been a constant fight."

  "So was theirs."

  "We can go around and around on this, but in the end, you are now the queen. You have to take the good with the bad, and that includes the title. Deal with it."

  He was right. "Fine."

  We lay together for a while longer before he got to his feet and said, "Well, we have a big day tomorrow, what with the burial ceremony, and then getting the fire people back home. I should probably go."

  We had a lot of big days coming up with a whole world to rebuild. It wouldn't be an overnight job.

  "Do you have to?"

  "No. I want to stay right here and hold you close. Keep you safe. I think about losing you or I see all that blood today and it scares me all over again. My blood runs cold in my veins. I don't want to lose you. I came close today."

  "But you didn't."

  "No. But it was close."

  "But you didn't."

  "All right. Fine. You win," he said, "but, as to staying, you also have that rule about not sharing your bed, and I just don't think I can sleep on the floor tonight."

  I stared at him and realized, that maybe I was ready to finally share the bed…with him. I was in love with a good, wonderful, caring, and strong man and I wanted him next to me in the night, holding me. I wanted to feel loved and cherished. I wanted to feel alive. I wanted Lucas. No holds back, wanted him.

  The best part? He wanted me too. Just for me. Not for who I was, or who he thought I was. Not to control me. He just wanted me. That was enough for him.

  So, I took the plunge and said, "No, what I said was that I wasn't going to invite a guy into my bed…just to sleep."

  "I know. That's why I'm going to head home."

  "Lucas?"

  "Yeah?" he said a bit hesitantly.

  I rolled off the bed and stood before him, in all my dirty, wild hair, and tired glory. I lifted up onto my tippy toes to get as close to eye level as I could with him, and said with a huge mischievous smile on my face, "I'm thinking maybe you wouldn't need to sleep on the floor tonight…"