A long hiss of whetstone on metal drew her eye, and she cursed herself for not paying better attention. Eywen now sat beside her, legs crossed, sharpening his sword. She found herself watching him longer than necessary, overcome by the compulsion to reach out and touch his impossibly soft black hair.
He eyed her askance, a small smile playing at his lips, making her realize she’d dropped her dagger to her lap.
Before she could react, he snatched it away and began sharpening it.
“I can do that,” she snapped. “I’m particular about how my blades are sharpened.”
His smooth movements across the blade did not relent. “Trust me, Anna, I’ve had centuries of practice.”
She bit her lip. Infuriating faie. She found herself blurting out the question that had been burning a hole through the back of her mind. “Will you go with Finn and the faie when they march on Sormyr?”
“No.”
She sat up a little straighter. “No?”
He continued to work her dagger. “I will do little good in that endeavor, nor will the other Aos Sí who have remained here. The goal is not to slaughter the mortals, but to draw Belenus out to Finn. My place is here,” he finally looked at her, “with you.”
She blinked at him, hoping to disguise her pleasure. “You know, I’m not one to sit out of a fight.”
“Well if Finnur fails, you’ll get to face that black dragon outside the gates.”
The thought made her shiver. The green and bronze dragons had nearly destroyed the burgh, and it was only with Oighear’s help that they were fully overcome. Now they would not have Oighear, nor Finn. Only Ealasaid, and she was not sure the girl was up to the task.
Eywen watched her closely, her dagger forgotten in his nimble hands. “You’re frightened.”
She forced herself to meet his gaze. “Aren’t you?”
He looked down at his lap, then lifted her dagger and began sharpening, even though the blade was now perfectly honed. They sat in silence, interrupted only by the rhythmic schwip schwip of the blade being sharpened, and occasional gentle gusts of breeze tinged with the scent of frost from the mountains. Finally, he answered, “I have known little fear in my life. From a young age, Aos Sí warriors are taught to not form attachments. The only loss we face is that of our own lives, not of others.”
She waited for him to continue, pleased at another small revelation of his past.
He extended the dagger toward her, but held on as her hand wrapped around the hilt, touching his. Their eyes met. “I know that fear now—the fear of loss—and it is greater than any fear I could hope to ever feel. Part of me wants to spirit you away in the night, somewhere far from this land.”
Her palm began to sweat around the dagger hilt. Slowly, he released it, and the tension eased.
She sucked her teeth, but her mouth remained unbearably dry. “I told you, I’m not one to sit out of a fight.”
“I know, neither am I. I’m just wondering if you’ve reconsidered my offer.”
She didn’t have to ask what offer he meant. He wanted to bond with her, to share his immortality as Finn could with others. It would make her harder to kill—but it would also make him weaker.
“No, I will not do that to you.”
“It is what I want.”
She stood abruptly, dagger in hand, finished with the conversation. “I will not weaken you when the dangers we face are so great. If you die because of it.” She shook her head. “The answer is no.”
He looked up at her, his face impassive. “That is your fear then, weakening me?”
She sucked her teeth again. Her feet were telling her to run, but her heart would not obey them. “Yes, that is my fear.”
“So you no longer fear the rest of it?”
She shifted her weight. She could run to the nearest estate building. Run inside and lock the door. She swore she’d never let herself get that close to another person, not after what Yaric had done. Her voice came out barely above a whisper, “No, I do not fear it. In fact, I want it, but I find my heart is too impulsive to be trusted.”
He left his sword in the grass and stood, then gently took her hand. “Anna, if you do not trust your heart, what else is there?”
Her fingers twined with his, the movement feeling far too natural. “There is my mind. It has never let me down.”
She pulled away as a group of mages entered the courtyard from the main estate. She hadn’t meant to let the conversation get this far, but with Eywen, she rarely seemed to be in control.
She cleared her throat. “Let’s go find Kai. I want to make sure he isn’t planning on following Finn to Sormyr.” She turned and started walking away, leaving Eywen to pick up his sword and sharpening supplies.
“You know, it’s his choice if he does!” he called after her.
Anna shook her head and kept walking. She might be a fool, but Kai was an utter idiot. At least the man turning her heart to pottage was in love with her. It was time Kai addressed his own love issues—hopefully in a way that wouldn’t get him killed.
Never mind that she was far more comfortable focusing on her friend’s heart than her own.
Finn
The day had seemed impossibly long as Finn waited to slip away into the forest to the west of the burgh. When she finally managed it, she couldn’t help but be pleased with what she found. Pixies darted around the trees overhead, none daring to come close and land on her shoulder like they used to, but at least they were there. The trow and pixies had done their job well, recruiting all manner of light faie. Trow were rooted all around, bucca hid in the bushes, and blue caps in the branches—their small humanoid forms barely visible through the light of heatless blue flames surrounding them. Even some red-furred grogoch peeked out from behind tree trunks.
There were more faie to come, but would it be enough? The light faie were formidable, but they were not predators—not for the most part at least.
Human footsteps sounded across dried leaves to her right, startling her. She relaxed as Kai reached her side, dark cowl pulled up to shade his eyes from the murky sunlight dappling the ground through the boughs.
“You followed me,” she sighed.
“You shouldn’t have come alone.” His eyes followed the path of a nearby pixie, then glanced about at the other faie. “No dark faie?”
She shook her head, looking for a trow she might recognize. Spotting the one who’d orchestrated Naoki’s kidnapping, she strode toward him, her steps light in her soft boots and suede breeches.
He seemed to cower as he reached her, if a tree could truly cower.
She stopped farther back than she had intended. Had she truly changed so much? They had not been so frightened of her when she had Dair magic. She forced her spine straight. “What of the dark faie?”
The trow’s brow fell, almost obscuring his leaf green eyes. “They will not fight for you. They feel if they stand together, you cannot harm them.”
They were probably right. Just because she could drain the magic from any who came near, did not mean she couldn’t eventually be overwhelmed.
“Will we be enough?” the trow asked.
She shook her head. Speaking more to herself than to him, she answered, “You will have to be. We do not need to overcome Sormyr’s soldiers. We must simply present enough of a threat to draw Belenus out.” And capture him. And feed him to a dragon, she added internally.
Kai touched her arm, then gestured for her to walk with him, away from the faie, though she already knew what he was thinking.
Once they were alone, the trees silent around them, she sighed. “No, I do not know how I will capture him, but we must do something. Time is running out. We know he will protect Sormyr. When the faie attack, he will be forced to face me in this realm.”
Kai nodded, his gaze distant, settling on nothing in particular. “You need more magic, don’t you? You don’t have enough to defeat him, and you don’t know how to trap him.”
She wrung her hands, k
neading the hem of her loose tunic. “I fear I am simply not strong enough as I am. How can I hope to capture a god? Not even Ashclaw has managed to corner him. He can disappear in an instant. I need enough magic to hold him still.”
Kai looked out at the forest, squinting at the sunlight. “Then perhaps tonight, we should let the dark faie find us. We can avoid it no longer. If they will not follow you, you must back up your claim to drain their magic. Use their folly to make yourself strong.”
Biting her tongue against an instinctual rebuttal, she let his words sink in, then shook her head. “You’re right. I know what I must do, but do you not think it is wrong?” It hadn’t felt wrong, draining the Dearg Due’s magic. It had felt right. And that was exactly what frightened her.
“I have no sympathy for the Dearg Due. Be it wrong or right, if it will help you to survive, I will stand beside you. But . . . it is your choice. The dark faie have already made theirs.”
Turning to look back at the distant faie, she leaned her shoulder against his. “Thank you for always being on my side. Iseult does not understand.”
“He worries for you. So do I. But I understand you have little choice in these matters.”
She suddenly felt unbelievably tired. Her knees willed her to slump to the leaves, but she resisted. She could not rest yet. “I fear that if I drink down too much magic I will become something else. Something power hungry like Ashclaw. I fear that if I change beyond redemption, Iseult will no longer love me.”
Kai put an arm around her shoulders, the touch seeming to steady her. “That will not happen.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because even if you became something else, you’d still be you too, and I’d still love you. That is something I can guarantee, so I’m sure it will be no different for Iseult.”
His words made her throat clench. She loved Kai too, in many ways.
“You do not need to reply. I know where I stand.”
“I don’t think you really do,” she sighed, though she was unwilling to explain further. “Just know how important you are to me.”
He squeezed her shoulders, then released her. “Let’s go tell the pixies to spread word to the Dearg Due. Tell them to meet you tonight.”
“Do you think they will come after what happened last time?”
He seemed to think about it as they walked. “Perhaps we should tell them to meet me? They’ve made it clear they still want me for . . . well let’s not go into that. But if they think they have broken me down, it may draw them in. Tell them I’m willing to make a deal in exchange for your safety. Let them believe you fear they will attack and overwhelm you.”
“I suppose we must try.”
She sensed someone approaching their backs, but Kai turned before she did, always a little faster than her these days.
Branwen could have been Kai’s sister in her black dress and deeply shadowed hood. Did the sunlight hurt her eyes as it did Kai’s, or did she simply wish to not be seen?
“Arawn came to me again!” she blurted as she approached. “I thought you’d want to know immediately. Ealasaid said I’d find you here.”
Finn narrowed her eyes. Had Branwen been spying on them? She doubted she’d rush out here with such urgency otherwise.
Branwen reached them, seeming out of breath, though Finn knew better. She was no longer the trusting fool she once was.
“What did he want?”
“He wants to meet with you. A place of your choosing so you’ll feel safe.”
She resisted the urge to glance at Kai as a new plan formed in her mind. She needed to know if she’d be able to trap Belenus. What better way to test her magic, than to trap a different god?
“Tell him to meet me in these woods tonight, when the moon has reached its apex.”
Kai shifted beside her, ever so slightly. Perhaps Branwen had heard what they planned with the Dearg Due, but it didn’t matter. All she needed was for Arawn to be near once the magic had been gathered. If her actions turned him against her, then so be it. Perhaps feeding him to Ashclaw would buy them just a bit more time.
Iseult
Iseult rubbed his brow. He’d searched for Finn within the burgh until nearly nightfall, but eventually she’d been the one to find him. And she’d come to him—come to them all, for after she’d told him her plan in private, she’d included Kai and Maarav—with an utterly mad plan.
They now stood around the long wooden table where they often took their meals, a few candles and a roaring fire the only light as night’s darkness overtook the fortress.
“This is unacceptable.” Though his words were low, devoid of emotion, Iseult felt a hurricane inside him. This dragon blood had caused Finn to lose her mind.
Finn looked to Kai and Maarav, the only others present at this meeting. Ealasaid had not had the time to come, which was regrettable. Perhaps she could have made Finn see reason.
It was Kai who finally spoke, watching Iseult like he was a spooked horse . . . or perhaps a cornered predator. “It is far less risky than facing Belenus without first testing her magic.”
Iseult had the urge to reach for his sword. Though he could be irritating at times, Kai had at least always encouraged Finn toward self-preservation. As far as Iseult was concerned, the man was quickly becoming his enemy. “The Dearg Due nearly killed us all the last time we faced them. We escaped because Finn surprised them and they are strategic predators. They do not like acting without a plan.”
Kai, Maarav, and Finn were all watching him, as if to say, go on.
He huffed, allowing a thread of well-controlled emotion to seep through, and spoke directly to Kai. “This time they will have a plan. They know what she can do, and they will see that she is present long before you will see any of them. If they choose to face her, it is because they believe they can overcome her. Do you truly want to become their possession?”
Kai’s expression faltered, ever so slightly, and Iseult knew he had struck precisely the blow he’d hoped. Kai’s deepest fear was being taken by the monsters who’d traumatized him.
Slowly, Kai shook his head. “It is a risk I must take. I truly believe this Finn’s best chance of survival.”
Iseult couldn’t help but respect his answer, for he realized he’d misjudged Kai’s deepest fear. He would put Finn’s life above his own.
Still, he could not agree with this plan. This time, he turned to Finn. “Do you truly believe stealing their magic is without consequence? How different is it from stealing their souls?”
Finn blinked at him, stunned, and he knew he’d misspoke. He hadn’t intended his words to bring up what she had done to his people. Something he knew she still felt great guilt over, even though she had eventually set it right.
Her mouth sealed into a tight line for an agonizing moment, then she spoke. “I cannot afford to leave the dark faie as they are. They will kill me if they are able, and their attack may come at the worst time.” She sighed heavily. “Nor can I afford to face Belenus as I am. I am not strong enough.”
“I will never agree with this plan.”
A flicker of fire seemed to dance in her eyes. Her shoulders went rigid. “You don’t have to, because you won’t be coming regardless.”
Iseult could find no words as she walked past, followed by Kai. His back remained turned from her as she exited the room, though he did not miss her sharp inhale, nor the soft sob that followed.
Then she was gone. His brother gave him a look that conveyed what they were both thinking. He was an utter fool.
Maarav shook his head, peering past Iseult toward the door. “You should go after her.”
“There is no stopping her.”
Maarav shook his head again, his gaze distant. “No, there isn’t, but when she must be pulled back from the brink, you are the one who will be needed.”
Finn
Finn, Kai, Branwen, and Naoki, wandered through the western woods near midnight. A pall of silent darkness smothered any words they migh
t have to speak, leaving the only sound their trembling breaths and cautious steps. Finn had debated bringing Naoki. While the Dearg Due might be wary of the dragon, they might also sense something was off if she didn’t come along, since Finn rarely ventured out without her. They might not come with Finn there regardless, but there was no way she was letting Kai wander the woods on his own. Not where the Dearg Due could easily steal him away. She knew if that happened, she would never find him again. The Dearg Due would make sure of it.
So yes, they brought Naoki, and they stuck close together. Branwen, however, she would have preferred to leave behind, but she’d sworn up and down that Arawn wanted her there. Finn didn’t really care what Arawn wanted, as long as he showed up.
The moon flashed across Finn’s path as she walked through an opening in the trees, then into the deeper woods, her mind replaying the events preceding her departure. Every replay ended with Iseult’s tortured expression as she walked past him.
It brought her back to when they’d first met, when he had been distant. Cold and untouchable. But what else could she do? She could not sacrifice Garenoch for the sake of their relationship.
“Why would you want Arawn to meet you out here?” Branwen’s question cut through her thoughts. “Surely these woods are crawling with faie.”
“Are you scared?” Kai whispered to Branwen, to which he received no reply.
Finn continued walking until she thought they’d gone deep enough, casting away her thoughts and concerns, then stopped. If her presence, or Naoki’s, prevented the Dearg Due from revealing themselves, then so be it. Part of her wished they wouldn’t show. Part of her wanted to run back to Garenoch to ask for help . . . help that could easily get the ones she loved killed. She straightened her shoulders. Returning empty-handed was not an option.
Naoki stalked around the perimeter of the small clearing, her head bobbing up and down as she scented the air, quite likely unaware of all that was to transpire. Even so, Naoki could sense her tension and fear, of that she was sure.
Dawn of Magic: Sea of Flames Page 13