Reckless

by Selene Charles

  Flint hadn’t realized just how angry she was about her father being cast out until just now. But if Cain had known and he hadn’t told her, she’d rip him a new one. She was tired of being treated like a fragile piece of porcelain. He’d snuck away when she’d gone to the bathroom; it was possible he’d planned to distract her.

  But even as she thought it, she wasn’t completely able to accept that as fact. Cain had always been honest with her, even when he’d been pushing her away. The timing of it all was just hard for her to reconcile.

  “No,” he said, his gaze level . “I didn’t.”

  “Cain didn’t know. In fact, no one did.” Adam spoke up, his deep voice snaring her attention. “Flint, you are a threat to those around you. But more than that, I’ve come to terms with the fact that the queen is no longer here. It only made sense to keep as many of my people—to include your father—out of harm’s reach.”

  The fire in her died. He was right. Of course he was right. She sighed.

  Kissing her brow, Cain handed her the sword. “It’s very sharp, be careful with it.”

  She frowned, awed by just how light it felt in her hands. Clenching her fingers a couple of times to get a feel for the weapon, she was surprised at how sure she felt holding it.

  “It’s been years since I’ve drawn a sword,” Adam drawled, tilting his blade as he admired its razor-sharp edges.

  “I told him about your dream. Considering all the swordsmen left this morning, Adam’s the best we’ve got left.”

  So her teacher for the day would be none other than Adam. Mounting frustrations from the past few days mingled with a deep-rooted surety that she’d finally found her skill set and made Flint excited and jittery.

  And then everything happened all at once. Cain stepped back and Adam moved in, swinging his sword in a broad arc.

  Flint waited for that surge of power to come over her as it had with Bruce, but there was a yawning chasm of nothing. She had just enough time to pivot and throw her own sword up as a sort of shield.

  The strength with which their swords collided was an immediate shock, numbing her from her wrist to the tips of her fingers. The sword clattered at her feet.

  But rather than stopping to let her pick it up, Adam whirled behind her, and from her periphery she caught the motion of his arm once again swinging toward her.

  Cain roared. Her heart rate spiked, her pulse sounded like thunder in her ears, and time literally seemed to slow to a crawl just as it had the day the royal guard had come at her.

  Flint wasn’t thinking, she was barely even conscious of what she was doing. She moved beneath his arm, causing Adam to slice down a fraction of a second after she’d vacated the spot. The movement of displaced air blew like a puff against her back.

  Her tattooed arm tingled, and a sudden burst of power exploded from inside her. Vines crawled like slithering snakes around Adam’s feet, tripping him to the ground. A funnel of wind, more powerful than a cyclone, whipped up dirt and debris. But she barely felt it, and when she came to stand over his now-prostrate body, she gripped the silver-winged hilt of her sword.

  “Submit.” The voice, her voice, sounded ancient and shivered with the raw tempest of primal magick.

  Adam’s starry gaze sparkled, and a huge grin parted his lips. Pride beamed from his features, and suddenly she grew aware of what she’d done.

  Of what she was doing. Of how she must look with the strands of her hair whipping around her face like charmed snakes. The vines. The wind. The hum of crystal prickling through her very bones.

  Her feet were like divining rods, sucking up the unseen power rippling from the ground beneath. She was connected to and part of the very fabric of nature, the wild call of magick far greater than anything she’d ever known.

  But Adam didn’t stay down long. He was a greed demon and his need to win, to trounce her, flamed through his eyes.

  Flint’s arm never tired as she parried him thrust for thrust, her body an instrument of instinct and reflex. She had no idea how long they battled.

  At first they were nearly even in strength and speed. She’d do something to swipe his feet out and toss him down, but he was equally as able to do the same to her.

  He thrust, she parried. She thrust and he parried. One would advance and then the other. Flint lost track of time, of Cain’s presence, of everything but Adam.

  And at some point, without her even realizing it, the balance tipped in her favor. Soon she was constantly the aggressor, forcing Adam back on his heels, forcing him to exert more and more energy just to keep his balance.

  She was a third of his size, but her blows were powerful, running like a shockwave up her own arm when their swords collided. And when his strength seemed to begin to finally waver, her will had only grown more determined, stronger.

  Gleaming with sweat and high on adrenaline, she laughed jubilantly when the next time he dropped to his knees he didn’t get back up.

  Adam’s breathing had grown ragged, his chest heaving up and down almost violently. His hair was plastered to his head with sweat, his dark shirt clinging to his body as though he’d just stepped out of a shower.

  He shook his head as his starlit eyes sparkled with avarice.

  Then Cain was beside her, reaching for her hand, and suddenly her sword was gone, vanished back into the ether from which it’d come. But she knew that if she ever needed it again, it would come back for her.

  She tried to brush him off when he moved in for a hug. “Cain, I’m sweaty,” she groaned, slightly embarrassed by it but also leaning heavily into his chest as aches and pains she’d not felt earlier suddenly made themselves known in a very real way.

  Kissing her forehead roughly, he shook his head. “I don’t care. You were amazing, princess.”

  Her lips twitched. Why was it so much darker in the tent now? And when had she gained an audience? Eli, Rhiannon, and even Seth sat in the seats clapping.

  Scarlet heat puddled in her cheeks, and she buried her nose in Cain’s neck, letting his piney scent sooth her ragged nerves.

  “You must be tired.” He rubbed her back. “That was amazing, Flint.”

  And he really did sound amazed. Which made her feel slightly ridiculous, because she wasn’t even sure how she’d done what she’d done. Every time she’d gotten with a teacher she’d had to think, had to work hard at not killing herself or someone else, but this time there’d been no thoughts at all.

  She turned just as Adam made his way gingerly to his feet.

  “I’d say”—his deep voice sounded rough and weary—“you’ve definitely found your powers, Flint.” Dusting himself off, Adam dipped his head, then gestured for Eli. “Have you checked in on Janet?”

  “Just a second ago. She’s good.”

  Rhi got up too and sauntered over to where she and Cain still stood. “Girlfriend, five hours of fighting. With freaking Adam no less. I seriously doubt he told you this, but back in the day, his sword rained death on our enemies. I can’t believe you lasted a second against him, let alone five hours.”

  “And beat him no less,” Cain said with a wicked grin that made her heart speed.

  But now that the adrenaline of battle was gone, all Flint felt was exhaustion. Clinging to Cain’s arm, she sighed. “Five hours? I can’t believe that. But it would explain why I feel like someone steamrolled me.”

  Wrapping an arm around her waist, Cain patted her hip tenderly. “I’ll get you back to your trailer. We can eat and rest for a bit.”

  She nodded. It’d been easy to forget what’d happened just this morning, until she stepped out of the tent and was confronted with the fact that there wasn’t anything that even remotely resembled a circus anymore.

  Just about everything had been taken down and was now gone.

  The trailers. All the tents except for the one she’d been in. The food stands. The carnies. Everyone, gone. The only reminders of their having been there was the crushed and dead patches of grass where their trucks and equip
ment had been parked.

  Lips turned downward, she sighed as so many thoughts barreled through her head at once.

  Rhiannon walked with them halfway before saying, “I’m gonna go into town and grab us all some dinner. No cook to take care of us now.” She muttered and then was gone in a trace of black smoke.

  The eerie quiet of the place made Flint shiver and she felt like a terrified little rabbit scampering through her front door just to get away from the loud echoing silence all around them.

  She dropped onto the center of the bed the moment Cain locked the door behind them.

  He looked tired today, dressed in jeans and a soft, faded navy-blue shirt that clung to his massive chest. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, and he’d not bothered to shave the scruff off his face from this morning.

  Pulling a chair up to the foot of the bed, he patted his lap after he sat.

  “What?” she frowned.

  “Give me your leg.”

  Curious, but also interested to see what he was planning, she plopped her left foot onto his lap. Immediately his hard thumbs began a slow rhythmic glide up the back of her calf.

  “Oh my God.” She groaned when he hit a particularly sore spot. “Cain, stop, I stink.”

  But obviously he didn’t believe she meant it, because she really didn’t want him to stop. She probably did need a shower stat, though. She’d never sweat so much in her life.

  Thank goodness he didn’t listen to her.

  “Flint, the dream you told me about last night.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you really think you can do what you said? Make that drone talk?”

  Propping herself up on her elbows, she studied him. His movements were brisk and efficient, but his mind was a million miles away.

  “Yes.” She squirmed when his thumb pressed in deep, easing out a knot in her calf. “I think so.”

  He looked at her. There was no haze of red in his eyes; they were as blue as the hidden parts of an ocean. Cain was worried, and that in turn made her worry.

  “Cain, we’re sitting ducks here, aren’t we?”

  At first she thought he wouldn’t answer. He clenched his jaw tight, his hands still working their magic on her as he nodded slowly.

  “Yes, and if I were Adam, I’d be giving serious consideration to moving out tomorrow.”

  “Where, do you think?”

  “To that place you visited with Grace more than likely.”

  “But my dad saw it, wouldn’t it be a bad—”

  “I doubt Grace doesn’t already have wards set up all over the place. If she doesn’t want someone in there, they won’t be.”

  Sitting up, she touched his hand. “Why do you sound so worried about leaving here? Shouldn’t that be a good thing?”

  Dropping his hands, he stared at her. “Yeah, it is. But if we leave here, Flint, it almost feels like—”

  His visible swallow made her jump to her knees, moving so that she could wrap her arms around his neck and squeeze as tight as possible while still letting him breathe.

  “Don’t say it, Cain. Don’t even think it. We’re not going to lose Abel.”

  His fingers dug into her back, clutching at her like she was his lifeline, his body so absolutely still that her heart shattered at the thought that he was breaking down in front of her.

  Cain was always so stoic, so strong. It tore her in two to think he’d finally reached his breaking point.

  They held on to each other for several long minutes before she finally leaned back, just enough so that she could look at him.

  “Hey,” she said softly.

  His eyes were bloodshot and shimmered wetly. He’d not actually shed a tear, and yet her heart bled for him.

  “Your life is a mess too.” His voice was hoarse. “Your father’s gone, you’re a fae, you haven’t graduated—”

  She snorted. “Believe me when I say graduating is the least of my worries. I should hopefully get my results in the next few weeks.”

  Running her fingers through his hair, she gave him a grim smile. “My dad, well, that’ll work itself out. And being a fae... I’m learning comes with some advantages. Cain, I really think I can help. I’m going to take a spirit walk tonight.”

  The muscle in his jaw twitched. “Can you control that, Flint? I thought it was hit or miss?”

  She shrugged. “I have to try, right? If this is our last night here, then I have to try. Because God only knows if that cave is twice as far away from him.”

  Setting his forearms on his knees, Cain stared between his legs at the floor. She hated seeing him so dejected. Hated thinking he was giving up.

  She wasn’t angry with him. They’d been at this for weeks. This wasn’t as simple as a missing human. Because humans were sloppy and missed things, but after working with these monsters as long as she had, she knew this world operated far differently. There was magick to cover tracks, creatures capable of leaving not even a droplet of blood or shard of bone behind as they consumed their victims.

  They had a drone and she had Graham; between the two of them, there had to be some way to finally discover Abel’s whereabouts.

  So while she didn’t exactly feel hopeless, she knew their odds weren’t that great either.

  “Flint?” Cain finally looked up at her.

  Hearing the question in her name, she lifted a quizzical brow.

  “I know this isn’t the right timing. Hell...” He gave a chuckle that didn’t sound at all humorous. “I’m beginning to suspect that with you it never will be.”

  Heart galloping like horses’ hooves in her throat, she lost all her words.

  “How does Graham make you feel? I know he’s one of your people. One of your kind, and I don’t... I don’t want to get in the way of your discovering who you—”

  Shaking her head, she placed her fingers on his cheeks. “Yes, Graham is fae, and yes, I want to know more about him. I want to help him, but Cain, that’s it. There’s nothing else there.”

  His jaw jutted out. “I suck at this.”

  Leaning forward, she kissed his cheek and then whispered, “Just tell me.”

  “You’re my compass, princess.” He clenched her fingers tight, the hold almost desperate, and it made her heart melt. “And I want to bond with you. I want to make you mine, permanently, but you’re so young, and now you’re not even human.” He snorted. “You might even live longer than me. Who knows?”

  She narrowed her eyes. She’d heard of bonding of course, understood that essentially she’d be tying her life to his. That unlike Janet, who had no control, all the control rested on Flint’s decision.

  She was young. So was he. What she didn’t know was just what exactly bonding entailed.

  “How do you bond, Cain?”

  Her question seemed to echo through the sudden thick silence between them. It took him several heartbeats before he answered.

  “I didn’t bring this up to force you into it. That’s the last thing I want to do. Honestly, Flint, as much as I want to do this with you, this isn’t the time. We have to focus on Abel.”

  Scooting forward on her knees until her body pressed so tight to his that she was warmed all over, she said, “I love you, Cain. And as young as I am, I know I always will. This isn’t a crush for me, or even a game. But I am scared, worried that this instinct you feel isn’t real. That it’s maybe just a product of nature, something out of your hands.”

  He grabbed her hands, squeezing them tight. “Yes, it’s instinct, but it’s real. It’s all real. I sensed it from the moment I met you. I ran from you, Flint, because I didn’t want to do that to you. Didn’t want to drag you into my dangerous life.”

  “But I’m here now.”

  “Yeah. You are.” He kissed her fingertips. “You’re here. And every second, every minute I’m around you, it’s pain.”

  She winced.

  “Not like that,” he was quick to assert, “it’s just...” He sighed, “I don’t know. I don’t know
anything anymore.”

  “I’m not leaving you, Cain. Not for anyone.”

  He tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “Just ignore me. I’m in a weird mood right now. Why don’t you go take a shower before Rhi gets back with dinner?”

  Flint walked into the shower, confused by his sudden about-face. He was hiding something from her. She wasn’t sure what, but she was pretty sure that if she asked Eli, he’d probably know.

  And yeah, maybe that was her being nosy; then again, she refused to pretend he was okay. She wasn’t a child—she knew a brush-off when she got one, and she refused to let Cain do that to her.

  Chapter 16

  Flint

  After a quick bite of food—only two cheeseburgers and a medium soda—Flint felt full and a little weirded out by the fact that she hadn’t made a pig of herself.

  “You’re done?” Cain asked, clearly thinking the same thing as he wiped his mouth off with a napkin.

  “Yeah, I know, right?” She chuckled, eyeing the milkshake and pack of fries she’d left untouched.

  He tapped her stomach and she snorted.

  “Maybe things are finally starting to settle down with me now.” Relief swept through her at the thought of no longer needing to be a slave to food.

  Rhiannon, Eli, and Seth had all joined her and Cain, sitting slightly scattered around her trailer on the grass as they’d talked amongst themselves. The mood had been thick and pensive. Adam had remained back at Janet’s trailer.

  Rhi was the first one to break the silence between them. Daintily tossing her wrapper into the empty fast-food baggie, she dipped her head. “Well, are we doing this or what?”

  Wetting her lips as a sledgehammer full of nerves battered her insides, Flint nodded. “I... I guess so.”

  Beside her, Cain went tense and gripped her fingers tightly. Glancing over at him, she lifted a brow.

  “Flint, you don’t have to do this.”

  Because he sounded so worried, she gave him a soft smile. She was nervous. To deny it would be an outright lie. Did she want to do this? No way. Was she scared that what she’d seen that fae do in her vision had nothing at all to do with her? Of course.