Sundered

by Bethany Adams

  The child’s sober gaze landed on Ralan. “I told you that you should have stayed.”

  “Not now, Eri,” the prince snapped as he hurried over to his daughter. “We must go.”

  “I know.” Her lower lip trembled. “Guard your right.”

  Ralan went pale. “How can you see so clearly? Everything is jumbled.”

  “Megelien.” Eri raised her arms, and Ralan lifted her to his hip. Childlike once more, she squeezed his cheeks with her hands. “And other reasons,” she continued, grinning. “But mostly Her.”

  After gathering Eri close for a long hug, Ralan finally sat her down. He swallowed hard, his eyes gleaming with unshed tears. “I’ll be sure to guard my right,” he whispered.

  Eri hugged Ralan’s legs and darted away, calling a watery goodbye over her shoulder. A lump formed in Meli’s own throat at the scene. Too bad she couldn’t comfort the girl. As they walked to the gate, Meli gave Ralan a sympathetic glance. His lips twitched into a half-smile, but it didn’t lighten the sadness lining his face. The worry of a father.

  They stepped through the portal, then, and Meli’s mind went blank as the mists swirled around them. Lyr’s hand squeezed hers, but she barely noted the sensation over the horror washing through her. The chill. The rolling fog. The colors she could never grasp. For one long moment, she forgot to breathe.

  Take control, she whispered to herself. You can do this.

  Trembling, Meli freed the leather pouch hanging at her waist. She almost dropped the whole thing as her fingers fumbled with the ties. But finally, the runes glowed up at her from her hands. She peered around, unsure where to cast them. She could see no ground, though there was something firm beneath her feet.

  Her stomach lurched at the thought of throwing the precious stones into the rolling gray. So she sat, shivering as the mist flowed around her heavily, and pulled her robe tight around her crossed legs. She shook the runes, her mind clear of all but finding Arlyn, and cast them into the dip of cloth.

  The lines that swirled across the smooth stones solidified into shapes at once, though they resembled nothing Meli had ever seen. But she didn’t need to know. Light flared and illuminated a thread of color leading off into the distance. She gathered the runes into her hands instead of putting them back in their pouch. “This way.”

  As the others exchanged confused glances, she spared a thought to wonder what they might see. Then the magic took her over, leading her as it had the last time she’d used it. Her feet found their way through the mists even as the gray began to whip around them. Meli yielded control and followed the glowing thread.

  A scuffing sound woke her. Leather on rock? Mind still reeling, Arlyn shifted her arms. Or tried to. She froze, fear roaring through her body. Something hard and unyielding surrounded her limbs, keeping her suspended upright. She twisted her hands, trying to discover what held her. Cool rock abraded her fingers, and she discerned cold stone at her back.

  Finally, she gathered enough courage to open her eyes. A few feet in front of her face, a tiny flame danced, but it cast little light. Just enough to illuminate her body, she discovered when she glanced down. Then she choked on a stifled scream. Her arms and legs were wrapped in stone as though the wall had tried to swallow her. Arlyn wiggled her feet but made no contact with the floor.

  Where was Kai? She turned her head and squinted at the wall to her right. Another light flickered against his profile, and she slumped in relief at his presence. A quick check of their bond told her that he was alive and mostly unharmed. Just unconscious.

  Arlyn searched her memory for what had happened, but all she could recall was seeing the flame-haired man in the clearing. She’d been so low on energy that the world had been a haze. Even now, she was weak, but power trickled in from the world around her, building her reserves once more. Slowly, like a bead of water dripping down the branches of a massive Moranaian tree.

  Had the Sidhe men at the camp captured them? That seemed the most likely. The question was, where had they been taken? Hopefully not to Kien. An involuntary shiver shook her within her stone cage.

  As if summoned by her waking, the red-haired man she remembered from the clearing stepped out of the darkness, more of those tiny flames dancing around his body. He spoke, but it was gibberish to her.

  “I don’t understand you,” she snapped.

  His brow quirked up. “Moranaian, is it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Intriguing. Most Moranaians learn the Sidhe tongue during their schooling.” He stared at her with a level gaze, no sign of any intentions for her—good or ill—on his face. “Who are you that you do not?”

  She lifted her chin. “I have no reason to tell you anything.”

  “Truly?” He chuckled. “I believe you have plenty of reasons wrapped around your limbs.”

  Arlyn grimaced. He had her there. Literally. “I wasn’t born on Moranaia, nor was I raised there. Why did you take us?”

  “Oh, no.” The flames leapt as the man smirked. “I’ll be asking the questions, not you. Where is Kien? We have…need of him.”

  “I don’t know.” Her breath caught. Were they working with the prince? “Dead, I hope.”

  The man took a step closer, his eyes narrowing. “I suppose it is no surprise that he does not have loyal followers.”

  “I am not one of his followers,” Arlyn said with a glower.

  Another figure moved out of the darkness, and the rock tightened just a hair around her limbs. Arlyn’s heart raced at the coldness of his gaze. “Do not be swayed, brother,” the newcomer said. “It does not matter who she works for. If not for him, then perhaps the Moranaians will trade their aid for her life.”

  “Naomh—”

  “Your eye has ever been turned by a beautiful woman.” Naomh’s hand fell on the other man’s shoulder. “But unlike our father, you are able to resist.”

  Who were these Sidhe, and why were they looking for Kien? Arlyn had no idea whose side they were on—if anyone’s but their own. The one called Naomh had said “brother,” but with his pale hair and skin, he didn’t resemble their other captor. Would they use the term to deceive? She stared at Naomh but couldn’t discern the truth.

  Her eyes narrowed. He did seem familiar, though. Where could she have seen him?

  The first man’s face tightened, and the flames around him flickered and surged. “Why hasn’t the male awakened?” he asked in a strained tone.

  Naomh tossed a careless glance at Kai and then gave an absent wave. “The spell must have been a bit too strong. Come, Caolte. Perhaps the girl will find the truth during her wait. They hardly need guarding here.”

  Kien stepped through the portal, his anger barely banked by the blood he’d shed. Animals were not as satisfying to sacrifice, but he couldn’t afford to upset his followers. Not now. He hadn’t told them their spell had been disrupted, for they were eager to begin taking over Earth. Though none were stronger than he, together they outnumbered him. The news would have to be delivered…carefully.

  The sight of his trophies, most still swaying proudly on their spikes at the entrance, calmed him. Beckett’s arm waved in the wind as Kien passed by, a pleasing sight. Almost a greeting, really. He relaxed. Signs of his eventual victory surrounded him. So many of the weak had already fallen so that Kien might succeed in stopping his brother. Perhaps when he sat upon the Moranaian throne, he would honor them. Their weakness had been inborn, after all, as they held the taint of human blood. Hardly their fault.

  Kien circled the outer edge of the camp until he reached the iron rod that held his greatest work. But it sat empty, the metal itself feeling…wrong. With a frown, he crouched beside it. His assistant had placed the crystal into the iron, since Kien had difficulty working magic around the stuff. He reached out a finger, surprised to discover he could touch it. How could that safeguard have failed? Iron was poison to Sidhe and no small number of Moranaians.

  He glanced around for the stone but found only a few fragments. It h
ad shattered? That hadn’t been part of the counter spell. Something must have weakened it. His gaze caught on a flash of light, and he followed the glimmer to a smooth globe. Kien hovered his hand over it but detected no sign of a spell. With careful fingers, he picked it up and probed it with a small trickle of energy.

  At the very core, he felt Moranaia.

  Enraged, Kien heaved the crystal against a nearby tree, where it bounced and rolled back to his feet. Fucking figured. Whatever had shattered that node had trickled through the connections linking them all, eating through so many that the rest were already collapsing like a spider web in strong winds. How had they known to pierce his spell with the one energy keyed to purify it? His home had to remain perfect for his rule, and they’d used that against him.

  Ralan. It had to be Ralan. Nothing less than a seer could have foiled his plan so easily. He must know what Kien sought to do.

  Kien stomped from the clearing and into the center of his camp, searching for some sign of who had passed through. Who could have neutralized the iron? Certainly not Lyrnis Dianore, his greatest impediment. The sharp smell of trampled grass reached his nose. They hadn’t been subtle to leave such a trace.

  At the other end of camp, he spotted the source of the broken grass. Fresh hoof prints circled a tangle of roots thrusting up from the ground. Kien peered up, noticing the drooping branches of the trees above. Some had broken to fall among the roots. He ran a finger over a snarled root and scowled at the lingering trace of energy. Sidhe magic. Naomh. Had he returned with some business and found Kien’s enemies? Or had be betrayed Kien himself?

  Only one way to find out.

  Naomh paced the spell-created forest surrounding his small estate. Meren might have gained their father’s title and palace near the queen, but Naomh preferred to live in the pocket dimension under Knocknarea with Caolte, who had been left nothing. The artificial sun lighting the stones of the estate at the center was his to control, and the few who had joined them here were satisfied with his rule. Why did Meren want to risk it all?

  Though Naomh rode each dark moon in search of Elerie, he liked to think he’d sense if her feet touched the ground above him. After five hundred years, he couldn’t remember if he’d been able to sense her presence before. But now he was attuned to her. Watching and waiting. Provided his fool brother didn’t out them all to the humans. Those vicious creatures would never let them rest.

  “The Moranaians might truly be innocent,” Caolte suggested from beside him.

  Though protective and brash, his brother often spoke reason. But not this time. “They were coated in Kien’s dark magic.”

  “The land felt different around Kien’s former camp,” Caolte argued. “Did you not notice the change? The pressure that’s been gathering has weakened. Maybe they are the reason why.”

  Ready to prove his brother wrong, Naomh sent his power into the earth around him. The poison hadn’t reached here, but he’d begun to detect stirrings, as if the land whispered its displeasure at the hurt of its distant brethren. His brow creased. The whispers had lessened— almost gone. Was Caolte correct?

  The enchantment on the portal trilled a warning in Naomh’s mind, drawing him from his partial trance. An intruder? Few came here to his home, and with the captives present, the timing was more than suspicious.

  Naomh and Caolte approached at their ease, allowing no sign of tension to show. This was their home, the power attuned to them. If there was conflict, they would face it. No intruder would see a moment’s hesitation from them. Still, Naomh lost his calm at the sight of Kien waiting imperiously in front the gate.

  “You!” Naomh snapped.

  The prince held up a hand. “Be at peace. I saw signs of your presence at my former camp. Did you need something? I have a couple of runaways I fear gave you grief.”

  Caolte’s fire seared the air around them, just short of igniting. Naomh gave his brother a warning look. “We did come to find you,” he said to Kien. “The spell must be stopped before Meren sends a group to the surface. I warned you it would be too much.”

  Kien smiled, manner easy, though no pleasure reached his eyes. “Didn’t you notice I’d dismantled the spell for you? We had a deal, after all.”

  Naomh snorted. “You took it down yourself?”

  “Just now. I thought it would be a symbol of my good intent. I would appreciate if you reward my earnest effort by giving me the servants who escaped.”

  Caolte’s earlier words floated through his mind. Were his captives responsible for releasing the spell, or did Kien speak the truth? Naomh had no trust for the latter and knew little about the former. Perhaps they should have paid more heed to their captives’ claims. Naomh would have to proceed carefully.

  “If I find any servants of yours, I will send them to you, provided I know your location.”

  Kien’s smile dropped. “I insist you return them.”

  “As I said, I will if I find them.” Naomh dismissed the prince and strode back along the path. He had no time for the treacherous fool. He sensed Caolte’s hesitation and then his brother followed. Footsteps sounded steadily behind them. Furious, Naomh spun around. “Leave here. I will find you if I have more to say.”

  The prince’s face grew ruddy with anger. “I am a prince. You will not treat me so rudely.”

  Naomh smirked. “You’re not my prince. I am done with your lies and false promises. From this day onward, our business together is at an end. Feel fortunate I don’t kill you where you stand. Now take yourself from my domain.”

  “This is not finished.” Kien’s nostrils flared. “I trust you to honor your word. If you find my servants, bring them to me. Look near the portal in the hills close to an Earth town called Chattanooga. This time, we’re in a cave.”

  The prince swung away, his angry steps crunching the ground beneath his feet. Naomh exchanged an amused glance with Caolte. He always honored his word. Now he just had to determine if his captives were in fact servants of Kien. He eyed the artificial sun above and calculated its passage. Surely, the male would have woken by now. As he resumed his walk to the house, he felt the portal flare once more as the prince departed.

  Good riddance.

  Chapter 31

  One moment, Lyr held Meli’s hand as they walked through the Veil. The next, light speared into his eyes, almost blinding him. His bonded took another step, caught in the spell of the runes, but he tugged her back, shifting to the side to let the others follow. He blinked quickly as his vision cleared and then examined the formal gardens surrounding them. The cool air felt like spring, the flowers fresh and new under the forest canopy. Far above, he could make out the stone ceiling, though a spell masked it blue like the sky.

  Meli shifted forward, still held under the magic’s thrall. Tossing an annoyed glance over her shoulder, she tugged at her hand. “You must stop,” Lyr whispered into her mind. “Put the runes away if necessary. We need to form a plan.”

  As her face grew strained with the effort to free herself, Lyr guided her away from the portal entrance and into the trees. He headed for the wall closest to him, for the Sidhe tended to stay clear of the boundaries of their underground homes. It reminded them too much of their limitations. He only hoped that aversion would be enough if the lord of this place had detected their arrival through the portal.

  This place was much smaller than the grand Sidhe cities Lyr had visited before. A private residence? That would be more dangerous than a city, in its way, for a Sidhe lord could hide many misdeeds in his own domain. Definitely a possibility they would need to be prepared for.

  Lyr crouched behind a tumble of boulders that had fallen from the stone wall, the princes darting in behind him. Meli tried to pull free once more, so Lyr sat and pulled her into his lap. She stilled as his arms closed around her waist.

  “What are you doing?” she sent along their link.

  “Put away the runes, love. You need to end the spell.”

  He tensed, experiencing her strug
gle through their bond as she fought to conquer the magic. Like a wild thing, it resisted being contained. Lyr’s own hand ached as hers squeezed around the runes, and light flared between her gripped fingers. Then the pressure cleared, and Meli dropped the suddenly calm runes back into their leather pouch. But he could still see them shining through the seams, and her dazed expression had barely altered. Her entire body shook against him.

  Lyr leaned down and bit gently on her earlobe. He grinned at her startled jump as he whispered, “Meli, come back.”

  Another shudder shook her, this one not entirely caused by magic, before she stilled. The energy that had swirled around her faded along with the light from the pouch. After a moment, she turned in his arms to face him.

  “I hope that isn’t the only way to end this spell. Pleasant though it was,” she said, amusement ringing along the link.

  Despite everything, he found himself holding back a laugh. “We’ll figure it out.”

  There was nothing for Arlyn to do but dangle, worry, and try not to panic as she waited for Kai to wake. If these two Sidhe thought she and Kai worked for Kien, well…it wouldn’t be good. Could she and Kai convince them of the truth? If so, the Sidhe’s clear anger at Kien would be to her and her bonded’s benefit. The enemy of my enemy, right?

  Her head drooped forward, and she forced it up again. The energy that had filled her on waking was trickling out again like the water she could hear but not see. Why wasn’t her body holding on to any magic? Exhaustion held her eyelids down with its weight, but there was nothing to see, anyway. Not even the little flames remained to distract her with their light.

  A rustle of cloth and a low moan finally broke through the dark. “Kai?”

  Agony passed along their bond until he blocked the pain. “What the hell?”

  “Do you remember what happened?”

  He took so long to answer that worry tingled up her spine like fingers. Or bugs. Oh, gods, was there enough space between her back and the stone for bugs? Arlyn squirmed, flattening her back against the rock. No squishing or anything. Maybe—