by Liz Schulte
“You mean like you turned away from me…from the coven?”
His jaw tightened.
“Yeah, it’s not Selene and Cheney you chose. It was the elves. Cheney had a point today. Selene has always fought for and accepted all of us. You talk a good game, but when everything is on the line, you fold. You choose them and their fear instead of your high ideals.” I shook my head. “I can’t even blame you. You’re one of them. I just didn’t see it before. So, it’s fine. You choose the elves and I’ll choose the humans. Have a good life.”
“Humans and Sy, apparently,” he muttered, turning toward the door.
“You don’t get to be jealous,” I yelled as the front door shut hard behind him. I yanked open the refrigerator. Empty. “Gah!” I slammed it.
The salty smell of the ocean hit me as I slammed the door behind me. Everyone carefully avoided my eyes, which probably meant they heard everything.
“I told you to give her some time,” Selene said as Kat shouted at me from the kitchen.
I narrowed my eyes. I hadn’t asked for her help. Katrina was being unreasonable. A week, even in a human life, wasn’t a great length of time. After that, I didn’t know what would happen. No one did.
“Her feelings are hurt,” Leslie said with a soft apologetic smile. “She won’t stay mad.”
I nodded and went to stand on the steps of the porch. Scanning the environment around the house, I pinpointed possible surveillance points. Would Jessica have anticipated that someone would return here? Probably. Which meant, she would have a spy or some other way planned to watch the house. There was something she wanted from the coven or she wouldn’t have come back. We weren’t pursuing her and she had no real cause to come after us or them. She’d attack them here. I had no doubt. We could use it to our advantage. The girls just needed to be as tempting as possible to draw her out, which meant they needed to be here seemingly alone.
“We can use this,” I told Cheney as quietly as possible. “We can draw her out.”
He scanned the area much the same way I just had and slowly nodded. “Sy intends to stay with the girls.”
Over my dead body. “He’ll have to be called away.”
“It’ll have to be believable that we leave them alone.”
Katrina came out with a pitcher of water and several glasses, making a point of not looking at me. “It’ll be believable,” I said.
Cheney followed my gaze to Katrina. “Selene will be mad.”
“Just make sure she leaves.”
He barely nodded.
My eyes were glued to Katrina as I waited for the right, most strategic moment to make a scene. Her laughter bubbled up and she brushed her fingers against Sy’s arm in a way that made everything in me still. Three long steps and I was to her, ignoring how soft her skin was under my hand as I wrapped my fingers around her bicep. “We need to talk.” Dragging her along with me, I headed toward the beach. A few feet from the steps, I let her wrench herself from my grasp.
Her dark eyes flashed and burned. “What the hell is the matter with you? There’s nothing left to talk about.”
“I disagree.” I grabbed her shoulders and jammed my lips against hers. She stiffened and shoved me away. I had never seen her so angry as she pulled back her hand and hit me with a resounding slap that I rightfully deserved.
“I don’t care,” she hissed. “You don’t want me, Sebastian.”
“That doesn’t mean I want him to have you either,” I said, ignoring the fact that my words hit a little too close to the truth as I stalked toward her. “You don’t belong with us. All you do is hold Selene back.”
“Hey now,” Sy said, coming up. “I think you need to leave, Sebastian.”
“Stay out of it,” I said, never taking my eyes off of Katrina as she processed what I said. I leaned in close and spoke directly in her ear. “You were a fun distraction while it lasted, but have a little dignity. He’s toying with you. You’re nothing more than a novelty.”
She sucked in a sharp breath and I took a step back, “Leave,” she said, voice trembling and tears in her eyes. “Get out and don’t you dare come back.”
Guilt hardened in my stomach, but it’d be worth it when we caught Jessica. Then I would explain. I caught Sy’s fist coming at me out of the corner of my eye and leaned back enough that the blow glanced off of my jaw, jarring my teeth. Spinning to the left before he could get another hit in, I launched myself at him, just needing to get ahold of him for a second. He easily dodged, however, and countered with another heavy blow, this time landing it on my stomach before I could get out of the path. Sy was a better fighter than I had given him credit for. He may not have embraced Elvan society or served in the guard, but he had a natural, scrappy fighting sense that reminded me very much of Selene.
“Stop!” Leslie shouted at us.
“Like to pick on women, Sebastian?” Sy beckoned me forward. “Let’s see what you’re really made of, hero.”
A new surge of authentic anger crashed through me. It was irritating when he flirted with Katrina, but Sy never met a woman he wouldn’t hit on. But mocking my service in the guard? It was too much even for me. I fought in earnest now. He threw another punch. I blocked. My foot connected with his chest, knocking the larger elf back. I charged before he regained his balance, smashing my fist into his cheek. Sy retaliated with the punishing blows of someone who would clearly die before giving up in a fight.
Stars dotted my vision as skin above my eye split open and blood nearly blinded me. I lowered my shoulder, ramming it against him and delivering three sharp jabs to his kidney, while wrapping my other arm around him and transporting us back to the castle.
Sy broke free. “What the hell, man.” He started toward me again.
“Stop,” Selene said, taking him by the arm. “Apparently Sebastian had a plan.”
My lower lip felt about two times its normal size. I spit blood out of my mouth as a guard came up and spoke to Cheney.
“A plan for what?” Sy snapped, all of his usual easygoing nature gone.
“To capture Jessica once and for all,” I said. “She wants something from Selene or the coven. I don’t think she’ll pass up an opportunity to capture Katrina and Leslie if they are by themselves.”
“So your plan is to let them get caught. Great plan. I’m going back.”
“I don’t like it any more than you do, but hear him out,” Selene said.
“We aren’t going to let them be taken—unless you keep wasting time. I’ll go back and watch over them. When she shows up, we’ll capture her. But she has to believe that we really left them alone. That’s why I picked a fight.”
“So you think she’s watching?” Selene asked.
I nodded. “I do. She knew when you went home for Halloween. She knew when Cheney and I left for the debate. The only time she ever shows up is when the rest of us are gone. She’s keeping a very close eye on all of you.”
“Then what are we still doing here? Let’s go back,” she said.
“Not you,” Cheney finally spoke up. “Your magic doesn’t work on Jessica and you know it. It drained you last time you went up against her. Let Sebastian and Sy handle it. Besides Kalan is here. ”
Cheney didn’t say it, but it was clear what he thought that meant. Whatever Tahlik’s plot was, it was going to start tonight.
“At the risk of sounding immodest, I’d like to point out how many elves Jessica has killed. I don’t think she’s staying away because you guys are there. She’s holding back because she’s scared of me.” Selene pressed a hand to her stomach. She didn’t look happy, but she hadn’t refused to stay. “If you guys go, be careful. Get Kat and Leslie out of there and get back here. Let Frost capture her.”
“Nothing will happen to them while I’m there, I promise,” Sy told her.
“I’m going to have this baby and after I do, I’m doing whatever I want,” she grumbled as she stepped back. “Nothing better happen to them. I’m going to hold both of you t
o that.”
“Where are we watching from?” Sy asked.
“Transport into the attic. They probably won’t be up there. Then stay hidden in the house. I don’t know how Jessica is watching, but hopefully she won’t see you.” Selene came over to me and used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe the blood from my eye. She shook her head as she cupped her hand over my brow and closed her eyes. Slowly the skin stitched itself back together. When she was satisfied, she did the same to my lip then went to Sy. He had a gash along his cheekbone and a bruise at the base of his jaw, but he waved her off.
“I’m fine. Chicks dig scars.” He winked at her and turned a steely glare to me. “We should go.”
I transported to the attic space at the house. My light elvish steps took me noiselessly to the door by the time Sy transported in. I cracked open the door and listened for the women. Their muffled voices carried up from the living room. I indicated for Sy to stay put and crept down the attic stairs and toward the other staircase where I could hear them better.
“All I’m saying is we’ve known Sebastian for a while now. Something else was going on. He isn’t like that,” Leslie said.
“Well, his actions say otherwise,” Katrina said.
“That may be, but feelings don’t lie. He felt guilty. I could feel it. I don’t know why he was being mean, but I don’t think he wanted to.”
“Maybe he felt guilty because he meant everything he was saying. No, I don’t think he wants to hurt me, but I also think he is done having me—us—there. But that’s fine. I don’t need him. None of us do. We lived perfectly happy lives for twenty-six years with no elves at all. He can take the branch shoved up his tight ass and twist for all I care.”
Sy smiled. “I knew I liked her,” he said so only I could hear.
I rolled my eyes. He couldn’t have just stayed in the attic. “Leslie’s an empath. Shut down all emotion or you’ll tip her off.”
The smiled faded from his face, replaced with stoic calm.
“You want some tea?” Leslie asked.
Katrina didn’t say anything for a long while, then she sighed. “Do you think Sy meant it when he offered me money to help start the store?”
“I don’t see why he’d offer if he didn’t.”
I slowly turned my head to the half-elf.
“An investment,” he said.
“Stay away from Kat,” I told him.
“Why? Do you want her back?”
Yes. “No.”
“Then there’s no problem. Just because you can’t see past your own racial issues doesn’t mean I can’t. I like her. She’s fun.”
I struggled to keep my emotions in check and not hit him again. “She’s not like your other women. You can’t sleep with her and never see her again. She’s one of Selene’s best friends.”
“Thanks for the update,” he said.
“If you hurt her—”
“You mean like you did?”
I took a couple deep breaths. “I let her go. I never used her. I will come after you with everything I have. She deserves a happy life. You can’t give her that. You are locked into that bar, mind, body, and soul. Don’t think for a second I don’t know that. They own you.”
Sy’s silver eyes gleamed in the dark stairwell. “You’re coming dangerously close to getting on my bad side, Sebastian. That’s not a place you want to be.”
“I think someone else is here,” Leslie said. “Hello?”
“Could be Selene,” Katrina said. The floor squeaked as they moved in our direction.
“No. Maybe it’s Sy,” Leslie said. “Heeeelllooo.”
The door slammed open and wind gusted through the house, making it moan.
“My friends, did you miss me?” Jessica’s voice rang out from the front door.
“What’s your brilliant plan for capturing her?” Sy asked.
The problem was I hadn’t worked out that detail yet. Selene was right. Jessica had no problem killing elves. Our best chance was to take her off guard. “You go to the girls and make sure she doesn’t touch them. I’ll come around back and knock her out.”
“Then what?”
“Then we get her to the castle and into the dungeon before she wakes up.”
“That’s a shitty plan,” Sy said but he was already bounding down the staircase.
I transported to the side of the house and listened. Multiple sets of footsteps sounded from the porch. Either she already had them or she hadn’t come alone.
I looked around the corner of the house. A dark-haired woman followed Jessica inside, leaving two huge men standing sentry at the door. They were both well over six-feet, with thickly corded arms.
I willed myself invisible to the human eye and vaulted onto the porch. One by one they looked at me with inhuman eyes. I withdrew my sword from my holding, finding comfort in the weight and balance of the blade in my hand.
They moved with an ease that was unnatural for their size, but not particularly quick. The first one swiped his huge paw at me and I shifted, slicing through his wrist as easy as air. His hand landed at my feet with a thump, seconds before he howled. I buried my blade deep into his neck as the other one rushed me. I pushed off of the fallen man with my foot, pulling the blade free and burying it deep into the side of the other. In mere seconds the fight was over. I walked past the bodies and toward the door, confidence streaming through my veins—then my ear twitched. I whipped back around, just in time to see a giant fist crashing into my face.
“Kalan, welcome.” Cheney walked with me through his office door. “This is unexpected.”
Though his voice was pleasant and his face passive, I knew my husband. This wasn’t an unexpected visit. He had known this day was coming since Tahlik died. He had been waiting and preparing for this moment, when the threat was finally made. Cheney was relieved.
“I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.” Kalan held out his hand to me with a warm smile.
“Selene,” I said. His grip was firm and dry.
“It’s an absolute pleasure, your majesty.”
“Selene, please.”
He laughed. “I understand completely. You and I weren’t raised for titles, were we?”
“And yet you are running for Erlking. How can you stomach it?” Cheney asked dryly. “May I get you a drink?”
“Please.”
Cheney led me to the couch, then poured each of them a drink. Sitting next to me instead of in his usual chair, he looked at Kalan and waited. So the game began. I slipped my hand into Cheney’s.
Kalan stared at the violet liquid in his glass; it turned iridescent around the ice cubes. It was an elitist—and strategic—move on Cheney’s part. He was putting Kalan gently in his place. The drink itself was exorbitantly expensive, but that wasn’t the worst of it. It was made from all sorts of fermented flowers and plants, including an incredibly rare and poisonous flower that if handled incorrectly could turn the bottle of alcohol into the equivalent of arsenic. Cheney didn’t even like it, the bottle had been his father’s, and yet that was the drink he chose to serve them.
“Extraordinary,” Kalan muttered, shifting the glass so the ice moved and the colors swirled. Then he blinked and looked up at us as if he just remembered we were there. “It seems we have a problem that can’t be ignored,” he said, sitting the glass to the side without tasting it.
A slight smile curved Cheney’s lips. “Is that so?”
“It would seem that Selene’s past, recent and distant, have brought up questions.”
“I believe we settled that this morning. You were there.”
“The problem isn’t Selene’s”— he pursed his lips—“shall we say, adventures. It’s the fact that you have gone out of your way to hide them.”
“Is that so?” Cheney stated mildly.
Kalan looked at me. “How can either of you be trusted to rule, when you hide the truth from the people you represent?”
I took a deep breath. “Are you prepared to share every aspe
ct of your personal life with every single fae and watch them overreact and cause panic, which might end in people getting hurt?” I splayed my fingers in front of me. “Would that be responsible?”
“What my wife is saying is that sometimes we have to make decisions for the good of everyone. Had we announced that the Pole of Charon was in the Abyss, what would have happened?”
“People would have been upset.”
Cheney shook his head. “No, people would have panicked, which is problematic enough—but we also would have alerted every single being—who might want to use it for their own purposes—that an instrument of tremendous power was in the Abyss.”
Kalan sighed. “There are only two acceptable outcomes for this election. Either I win or the two of you do. The other candidates would mean the fae races would break apart. People aren’t going to drop this subject just because you declared they should.”
“And you believe you can hold them together? You honestly believe the elves would follow a half elf?”
I started, feeling the jab he had only intended for Kalan. I was a half-elf too, damn it.
“They will follow Selene. They will follow me as well. My girlfriend is a full elf, just like you. And even if the elves won’t, all the other races will. The elves would weaken themselves if they broke away. I have faith they know that. I believe what you have been campaigning. I have lived it. Acceptance of all is the only way forward.”
“Then step aside and support us,” Cheney said.
“I almost did. I wanted to. At first I wasn’t sure you actually meant what you said. Then I wasn’t sure if you only believed this for your wife’s benefit. Then after the debate when you spoke just as passionately about equality even when she wasn’t in attendance, I intended to bow out. That was why I came this morning.”
“What stopped you?” I asked.
“The witch.” He frowned. “Her presence and your support of her this morning was unacceptable. I don’t know if you can win the election now, and frankly, the fact that you would not only bring someone dangerous into our world, but also give her the protection of the castle, tells me you aren’t the leaders we need.”