Perfidious

  I blinked a couple of times. She’d found out more about us in one day than I was able to figure out about her. I crossed my arms as though it didn’t bother me.

  “Not bad. You’re observant. But what are you going to do with this information now?”

  I assessed her. She wasn’t giving off a vindictive vibe. Keira was definitely smart, but I couldn’t figure out if she was trustworthy yet.

  “Let me help.” She loosened her stance as she held my gaze, and I felt the thickness in the night air thin around me. “Look, I’m not gonna turn you all over to the Council, or some shit like that. I’m a half-breed, too.” She turned around and dropped the corner of her long sleeve to show the Anchor on her shoulder. It looked like a question mark without the dot, with another upside-down question mark meeting it in a broken spiral. “If you know anything about Shadows, there haven’t been many purebloods in a long time. My species could be helpful if it comes to a war.”

  “We are trying to avoid a war. If no war comes, how would you help?” I asked, trying to get as much out of her as possible.

  Keira laughed. “Simple. I’m sneaky—not many people notice me if I don’t want them to. I can help keep an eye on things. Make sure no one’s hiding in my shadows. Plus, I have more abilities than you or Kalvin. I can help train them. I can tell they pick up on things easily, but they aren’t exactly flawless, and their mistakes are obvious.”

  I uncrossed my arms, taking a step towards her. “It’s not exactly my decision.”

  Keira smirked.

  My eyes narrowed. “But you knew that. So why did you approach me? Couldn’t you have told all of this to Greyson?”

  Keira shrugged. “I could’ve, but I wanted to talk to you about it. You seem much more like a leader than a follower. Plus, I wanna challenge you to a fight. No prize for the winner, but then you could see what I’m made of and how beneficial it would be for me to join you.” She shifted her weight and looked behind her at the boys who were coming out of the cabin. “I wanna see what a little half-elf is made of.”

  Keira’s demeanor was strong and confident. I couldn’t tell if she was faking her playfulness or if she was sincerely wanting to help.

  A fight might be a good way to find out.

  “Okay.” I nodded, and excitement sparked through me at the thought of sparring with someone new. “Just tell me when.”

  Keira shifted her weight as the shadows started to feel thick again. “Now.”

  Before I could process what she said, Keira threw three knives directly at me.

  I dropped to the ground as they flew over me and disappeared into the shadows. I stood, my Tonfas in my hands, and easily blocked the next set of blades before making my advance.

  Keira was ready for a head on attack. I dropped my body, slide-tackling her, and turned my blades back to block her knives. The sound of metal hitting metal twanged in the air. I took a couple steps back, watching her.

  She recovered fast, extending her pointer finger at me and signaling for me to come at her again. It was like she watched every single move I made with a clarity I couldn’t understand. I looked her in the eyes and realized she wasn’t looking directly at me. Keira was watching behind me.

  Following her sightline, I saw my silhouette stretched out on the ground. I pushed her back, then reached out to kick her, continuing the kicks until she was closer to the fire. The light elongated my shadow over the camp so she could no longer make out my movements.

  Keira frowned, her body starting to disappear into the darkness at her feet. A black mist swirled around my own. I tried to follow it, but there were too many shadows.

  Suddenly, I felt two blades poke my back. I froze and looked over my shoulder at Keira’s amused expression.

  “Damn,” she stated, blades still poking my back. “You’re faster than I thought, and you picked up on the fact that I was reading your movements through your shadow, didn’t you? Shit, I really didn’t think you would.” Keira removed the knives and slightly bowed to me. “The boys are standing ready to attack me, so I’m pretty sure that means you win. There is no way I’d be able to take on all four of you.” Her smile faltered slightly. “Must feel damn good to have them watch your back.”

  My eyes left Keira to look at Kalvin, Greyson, and Noah. Their weapons out and ready to attack.

  I laughed. “Yeah. I’ve never fought someone with your abilities. I have to say you’re pretty good, but we both landed a couple of blows.”

  I looked down at the cut on her forearm. Her dark clothes covered up a good amount of skin, but she was holding her side, I imagine that one of my kicks had left a bruise.

  “Elisia,” Greyson said. “What’s going on?”

  I explained what had happened to everyone. Kalvin and Noah agreed that Keira would be very helpful in training. Greyson kept quiet while monitoring me. I watched him out of the corner of my eye.

  I really needed to talk to him.

  After the excitement faded, everyone started to return to their cabins for the night. I stayed back by the fire with Greyson.

  “Heal this for me?” I asked him, showing him a small cut on my shoulder. “It was from her surprising me with the first three knives.”

  Greyson nodded. He came over and slowly moved my sleeve up my arm so that he could put his hand fully on the cut. “It’s not deep.” The green light flickered, and he moved his hand away. “Look, Elisia, I’m sorry. I— I really shouldn’t have…shouldn’t have tried to kiss you like that. I thought—”

  I put my hand up to his mouth to keep him from continuing. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”

  Greyson arched his eyebrow. “So, does that mean I still have a shot?”

  “I don’t know what I feel for you, and I can’t do this right now.” My pulse was racing, and I knew if I didn’t get it out, I wouldn’t have the courage later. “There is so much going on with you being the king’s heir, my ongoing fight with Erlan, and everything. I’m too overwhelmed to figure out what my feelings for you mean.”

  My palms were sweating. I looked away from his eyes. I’d never had to deal with that kind of thing. People at school usually kept to their own groups, and it wasn’t like I could get close to anyone at school, especially guys. The only male I’d ever been close to was Kalvin.

  Greyson took a deep breath. “Well, I guess that’s fair. I can give you some time. There is no rush, okay?” He reached out, moved my hair out of my eyes, and chuckled. “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”

  I hit him. My cheeks were getting hot, and I knew I was probably blushing. Greyson laughed at me. I stomped away from him. He chased after me, making apologies and more jokes.

  I needed to just have friends. I could think about the rest later.

  28

  The next day, we began training. Kalvin wanted to make a schedule so that we'd be training on different techniques with different people.

  I was to train them in hand-to-hand combat. Greyson was definitely getting better, and I didn’t have to go easy on him anymore. Noah was trying, but without monster blood, he could only get so far. He’d need to get stronger if he wanted a chance to compete.

  I was sparring with Noah, attempting to get him to learn how to read my movements. He grunted and kicked me square in the shin. It reminded me of an upset kid pouting. I avoided all of his attacks and stopped to pull him aside. His body was tense, and his lips were thin.

  “Noah, how far have you gotten in the books I gave you?” I asked him, trying to sound polite.

  “I’ve read two of them but still haven’t gotten through the other two. I want to focus on fighting and getting stronger,” Noah said with a forced monotone.

  “Okay, but I also think that you need to focus on your studies. We can always find you some more books, or we can teach you if you have questions the books don’t answer. Knowing the enemy is equally as important as the actual battle and fighting,” I explained.

  Noah waved his hand
at me and turned away. “Whatever, I’m gonna see if Kalvin can teach me some other weapons. Later.”

  He left, and I ended up just sending Greyson to work with Kalvin for weapon training. I decided to work with my Tonfas for a while. I was getting comfortable with them, but I still needed more practice.

  Eventually, Keira stepped in to train the boys. I stopped to watch. She started with hand-to-hand and then allowed them to pick up weapons. Keira danced circles around them as she dodged their attacks, jumping in and out of shadows. She would throw a dagger here and there, but she never really aimed directly at them. I didn’t know much about her, but so far, I didn’t get a bad feeling about her. Keira seemed sincere, but I wasn’t sure how much I believed it.

  Suddenly, arms wrapped around me, and I was thrown over a shoulder. I knew it was Kalvin from his laugh as he ran around the fire pit. I giggled hysterically and forgot about Keira.

  “Kalvin!” I said, pushing down on his shoulder. “Put me down.”

  “Nah. You’re my princess, and I’m the great dragon that gets to sweep ya off your feet.” He finally stopped running and looked over his shoulder at me, grinning.

  “Yeah, I don’t think that’s how the story goes,” I said, not even trying to get out of his grip anymore. “Isn’t the dragon supposed to hide the princess away until the prince comes to save her?”

  He shrugged his shoulders and started jogging towards the food cabin. “Maybe, but what if the dragon is hiding her away because he loves her? What would the princess do then?”

  “I’m not sure. You really have a bony shoulder.” I chuckled, adjusting where his shoulder was pressed into my abdomen.

  Kalvin finally set me down once we were inside the food cabin. “Help me get dinner ready?”

  “Sure,” I said, scanning the canned goods and pastas on the shelves. We still didn’t have much to work with since Keira ate most of it before we got there. “Meatless spaghetti? We have noodles, sauce, mushrooms, and spinach in cans. That could be good, right? Unless one of us wants to go hunting for some meat?” I questioned.

  Kalvin nodded. “That’ll be fine.” He started grabbing the ingredients from the shelf and was quiet for several minutes.

  “But seriously,” Kalvin said, seemingly deep in thought. “If the princess was with the dragon all that time, why would she want to leave him for some prince who just shows up and says he likes her? She doesn’t even know him, and the dragon has been protecting her all that time.”

  I shook my head slightly. “What are you talking about?”

  Kalvin quickly turned his face to a smirk. “Nothing. I’m just mumbling about nonsense.”

  I forced a smile. There was more to what Kalvin said, but I wasn’t sure if he was just being goofy or serious. I let it go. I’d known Kalvin a long time. If he had something he wanted to talk about, he’d talk about it when he was ready. I’d probably bring it up later, but right then, I focused on dinner.

  While we ate, Greyson healed Noah’s small cuts and talked about how excited he was about his progress. He held most of the conversation. I zoned out, more focused on other things. Greyson was grinning like everything was okay, but at the same time, he kept fidgeting. He seemed uncomfortable. Something was definitely wrong.

  After I was finished eating, I started to grab dishes to take them down to the river.

  Keira beat me to it. “Don’t worry about this shit. You basically made dinner. We can clean up. Dragon boy, help me.”

  “What? I helped with dinner, too,” Kalvin said, throwing his hands in the air.

  “You’re gonna make me go all by myself? What if I need a strong dragon to protect me?” She stuck out her lip and gave Kalvin the puppy eyes.

  I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore Keira. She seemed to be clinging to Kalvin a little too much, and I wasn’t sure I liked it.

  Kalvin sighed, then grabbed some dishes and followed her. Greyson and Noah were taking care of the garbage, leaving me taskless.

  “Since you guys have this all under control, I’m gonna get some firewood. I could use the walk anyway.” I turned to leave.

  A gentle hand on my shoulder stopped me.

  “Elisia, is something wrong? You seem like you're worried about something,” Greyson asked.

  “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You’re the one that’s trying too hard to make everyone smile,” I said, and his hand dropped immediately.

  “I’m just trying not to think too much about what could happen. I know Noah’s mom is probably freaking out by now that she hasn’t been able to get a hold of us, and it makes me worry that she may have figured out we lied.”

  I nodded. “I’ll be back in a little bit, and we can talk about it then, okay?” I tried to go out for firewood again but saw Keira and Kalvin at the gate. She was carrying the clean dishes, and he was carrying an arm full of firewood. I turned back to Greyson. “On second thought, do you want to talk in the cabin for a bit?”

  Greyson looked over my shoulder at Kalvin. He smirked mischievously at him, looked back at me, and pulled me close. “I have a better idea.”

  His wings popped out and, suddenly, we were in the air.

  I clung to him as I watched the camp disappear in the distance.

  “Greyson, where are we going?” I yelled, but it was obvious he either couldn’t hear me or chose not to answer.

  It wasn’t long before he slowed down for us to sit in a tree. He put me down first, landed, and put his wings away. I was about to explain to him that he can’t just pick me up and start flying, but his glazed over eyes stopped me. His lips were pressed together, and his attention was directed ahead of him. The sun had already gone down, but it was clear he wasn’t looking at the sky.

  “Do you think we should go back?” Greyson asked. I waited a moment for him to continue, but he didn’t.

  “Why would we? We just got here.” I prompted.

  “Well, why did we even come out here? I know you had your problems with your dad, but I don’t feel like that’s a good enough reason to just leave anymore. We just disappeared.” He brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them as he leaned against the trunk of the tree.

  I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Where did this come from? Literally yesterday you were saying how you didn’t have a problem coming with us.”

  “I was reading the history book my mom left me. The way it talked about King Lawrence, my grandfather. It explained how he knew exactly what to do, how he never ran away, even after the attempts on his life. He was described as a strong king and a problem-solver. Not once did they say that he ignored a problem. He fought only when he needed to, and everything else he solved by compromise. Apparently, the only reason he got overthrown was because he didn’t care what kind of monster someone was and ended up marrying a fairy. He had views about monsters and half-breeds that a lot of monsters didn’t agree with.” He paused and looked at me. “I don’t want to be viewed as a cowardly heir. I don’t want to tarnish his legacy like that.”

  “Who said you were running away?”

  “Keira told me how running away sometimes is the best answer, but she’s wrong. I wasn’t trying to run away, and I don’t want others to think that’s what I did.”

  I bit my lip. “So, you want to go back?”

  “No, I want all of us to go back. Like I said, I have this feeling that I can’t do this without you. We’ll all be there, and we'll be able to keep you safe from your father. I want—no—I need to be front and center if I decide to overthrow the Council.”

  There was a long moment of silence. I shifted on the branch, but my brain couldn’t process words.

  Greyson's excitement drained the longer I took to respond to him.

  “Are you sure that you want to become king? If you start telling others, you can’t back down. You’re talking about war and going for it one hundred percent. Are you sure?”

  “I’m not sure.” He started talking faster as though he had thought about it more
than once. “Either way, I can’t have Noah’s mom track us down because we lied to her about where we were going. We haven’t talked to her since. And I don’t want to fear your father coming after us and dragging you away from me—I mean, us. If I want to become king, I need more half-breeds on our side. I can’t gain support by hiding. And then there’s my training…”

  I started laughing. “Okay, okay. I get your point. You’ve thought about this a lot. But you’re probably right. We should head back home.” My stomach tightened at the thought of having to face my father again, but we didn’t have a lot of food or money left, meaning we had to think of something. “Let’s head back to the camp, and we’ll discuss it with everyone in the morning.”

  Greyson nodded and extended his wings, flying faster than before. We landed back in the camp in no time. Greyson went straight to the cabin to talk to Noah, and I went to the food shelter to grab some water. I found what I needed and went to exit.

  Voices traveled from the gate into the camp. Kalvin and Keira exited the woods together. I froze. He was carrying firewood, and she was just walking with him.

  “Tell me something.” Kalvin told her. “Why do you insist on following me?”

  “The hell are you talking about?” Keira questioned back.

  She looked in my direction, and I hid behind the door. I wasn’t sure why I was hiding. It was just a reaction.

  I heard Keira continue. “I thought it’d be safer to not have people go off on their own.”

  “Of course, ya did. But I doubt that’s the whole truth,” he challenged. Wood pieces clunked against one another as he set the small logs down.