Over the Moon (Gemini Book 6)

by Hailey Edwards

  A gust of wind fluttered curls across my cheeks, and the click-click-click of talons sent chills up my spine.

  “War is not a game, there are no winners.” Feminine laughter caressed my ears as the Morrigan, a little charred but still lethal, flanked us. “Except for me, of course. I always win.”

  Rilla leapt to her feet and whirled on Rook. “Explain yourself.”

  “I’m just as surprised as you,” he said without a hint of deception. “Whatever can this mean?”

  “We can only hope that one will peck out the eyes of the other,” Bháin said from behind him.

  “Now, Bháin.” Rook tsked. “What have I said about imagining Mother’s imminent demise?”

  “That I should write out my ideas for your later consideration,” he murmured.

  “Exactly.” Rook slammed his palm on his armrest. “Don’t waste perfectly good fantasies on moments where we can’t stop to record them.”

  “As you wish, Master.”

  “Rook, I demand you quit this nonsense and explain yourself.” The feathers down Rilla’s shoulders puffed to twice their normal size. “Which of these creatures is your mother?”

  “How can you not distinguish between us two?” The Morrigan vibrated with rage. “I am death. I am eternal.”

  “You are so dramatic,” Rook drawled.

  Several things happened while the Morrigans distracted Rilla. Tanet released Isaac’s arm, leaving only Alyona to restrain him, while he crept closer to Rilla. And the sirens pressing in on the Stoners divided their attention between the contained threat and the massive birds squawking insults at one another.

  The dais was too crowded for more Seelie aid to land, but the winged fae were twice as effective in the air. Sirens and harpies and a few other winged creatures whose classifications skirted the edge of my memories circled like buzzards, waiting for their chance to peck at our carcasses should we tip over the ledge into their eager claws.

  A rolling boom vibrated through my bones, and I clenched my fingers in the feathers on Theo’s back. With surgical precision, jagged stripes of lightning pierced the sirens holding the Stoners. They fell, one by one, screaming as they plummeted. The Stoners didn’t budge from their positions. They stared at me, waiting on a cue that wasn’t mine to give.

  Alyona hauled Isaac flush to her side when the real Tiberius landed on the platform in the space he had cleared. Bea circled his head once then lit on Isaac’s shoulder to keep the ruse in motion. Tanet, caught between Alyona and Rilla, froze in place and waited for orders.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Rilla shrilled. “Who are you people?”

  “I am Tiberius Torquatus.” Isaac delivered the line with cold precision. “I am the rightful leader of House Seelie. Who are you to question me? You are merely the aunt who attempted to slaughter my parents and razed my home.”

  Tiberius, the real one, stiffened as shock rolled through his features. “You destroyed the fortress.”

  Tibs was giving up the game, and there was nothing I could say or do to erase what Rilla’s keen eyes would have catalogued and known to be true—his weakness. The young man quivering with rage before her was her nephew, and now she knew it too.

  He hadn’t heard about the fortress. That much was clear. Damn it. I thought he knew.

  “You broke your vow,” Rilla spat, zeroing in on him. “Don’t look so surprised that I would do the same. If you are to be king one day, then you must learn the hard lessons. You must understand that sacrifice is the price you pay to rule.”

  A horrible moment of understanding clarified his purpose, and I was helpless but to watch.

  Bea spread her wings, and a thick bolt of lightning struck Alyona. Smoke poured from her mouth as she choked, and Isaac shoved her over the edge of the dais. Tanet got blasted next, a pure bolt of energy that knocked his feet out from under him. The thunderbird eyed Rook with malicious glee I was all too familiar with, and Bháin shifted to stand in front of him, ready to take the hit for his master.

  The Stoners moved in to flank Isaac. I worried for Tibs too, but Isaac was Isaac, and the wolf battled me every time I lost sight of him.

  “Kill him,” Rilla screeched, pointing a finger at Isaac. “He’s an imposter.”

  The vultures circling the platform targeted him, and I hopped from Theo’s back and ran to join the Stoners, but the Morrigan’s beak snapping shut over my hair trapped me with her. Tears blurred my eyes as her vicious grip yanked chunks of hair out by the roots. God bless, I would be bald by the end of this.

  “Fair is only fair,” she singsonged.

  Theo snapped his beak and hissed at her, ready to dive for me if she gave him half an opening.

  “Mother,” Rook growled. “Release her.”

  “Release me, and I’ll consider it,” she parried.

  “No.” He nudged Bháin aside. “Ask another boon of me.”

  “Allow me free reign of this world,” she offered, “and I won’t break your new toy.”

  The king ground his jaw while he fought for an impossible compromise. Turning her loose in the human world would result in catastrophic loss of life. Her ability to incite fights would fan the flames of terror already blazing across the world. Allowing her to remain here, to hunt here, was tantamount to removing the necklace, and they both knew her secondary offer was a cruel taunt, another bargain he couldn’t fulfill.

  An earsplitting screech rose over my shoulder, and I cut my eyes in time to watch Tiberius launch himself at his aunt with a painful mix of remorse and fury twisting his features. Bea threw her support behind him, hovering above them, ripping at Rilla’s hair and pecking her face in search of tender meat.

  The rough grunt of impact had me twisting in a new direction. I had an instant to meet Grub’s gaze before a siren swiped its hind claws across his abdomen and spilled his intestines on the platform. Angelique dropped to her knees and pressed her hands across his stomach, but it was too late. From the look in his eyes, he knew not even warg healing could repair the damage those wicked talons had done. Before she could stop him, Grub twisted away, hurling himself over the edge of the dais, where he plummeted into the swirling torrent of scavengers.

  One final distraction. One last sacrifice. One thought kept hammering through my shock. He should have died Lorimar. Grub should have been one of us all along.

  Rage sparked in Angelique’s eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks. Shoe Strings lifted her, and they stood back to back, fighting for their lives.

  A horrible realization cut through my grief with a razor slice of clarity. The only reason they wouldn’t be covering Isaac’s back was if…

  He was nowhere to be seen.

  An icy numbness spread through my chest, and suddenly it didn’t matter all that much if the Morrigan ripped out every hair on my head or peeled off my scalp in the process. I twisted in her unbreakable grip, and fire burned across my skull. Blood poured down my cheeks, my forehead, into my eyes, but there was nothing worth seeing.

  Isaac was gone.

  He’s okay. He’s okay. He’s okay.

  The mantra circled through my brain even while my mind shut down on the grim possibilities.

  Feathers drifted across my vision as Rook fisted the pendant around his mother’s throat and forced every ounce of his will into her body, until she had no choice but to submit. His entire body trembled with the effort, and Bháin was all that kept him from sinking with exhaustion down to where his mother had shifted back into the ribbon dress and lay at his feet with her cheek pressed to the platform.

  “Theo,” I managed, voice flat. “Get the others to safety.”

  “I’m not leaving you, Dell.”

  “Go,” Rook panted. “I’ll protect her.”

  “Allow me.” Bháin swept his hand in a wide arc, and ice crackled in a thick wall that encircled the three of us and domed over our heads. “That ought to hold long enough for you to recover.”

  Cut off from the outside, I had to assume Theo would d
o as I’d asked and drop the remaining Stoners with the pack.

  “Come here.” Rook gestured me closer, but my knees refused to cooperate. “Bháin?”

  “Come along.” Gloves encased his hands, but his touch remained frigid as he dragged me toward the king. “Sit if you please.” Seeming to understand the problem, he applied pressure at the bend of my knees with a swift kick that sent me crashing to the floor beside Rook. “My apologies.”

  Rook’s smooth fingers teased the skin of my throat as he hefted the chain and pulled it over my head. His fingers closed around the stone, and his eyes shut for a moment, sensing his sister’s wellbeing in that simple touch and taking comfort from that reassurance before looping the pendant around his own neck.

  “An assassination attempt.” He studied me through fathomless eyes that saw too much and cared too little. “Not a terribly good one—it did fall apart there at the end—but there’s always next time.”

  A cold spark too dull to be mere anger woke in my chest. “Tiberius will get the job done.”

  “What about you?” A harsh grunt parted his lips as he stood. “Where do you go from here?”

  “I have to find Isaac.”

  “He could be anywhere.” Rook appeared to give it some thought. “I have an idea how to draw him out.”

  The king didn’t give me a chance to wonder at his certainty that Isaac was alive to be drawn out before he ordered Bháin to drop the wall of ice that had protected us. Theo was gone. So were the Stoners. The Morrigan had strained against her son’s magic until sweat covered every bare inch of her, twinkling on her pale skin like diamonds. Tibs had yet to return with Rilla’s head on a spike.

  All those calculations passed in a blink as Rook crossed to me, wrapped an arm around my waist, and flung me over the edge.

  Air whistled past my ears and whipped long strands of hair around my face. Winged fae darted in and out of my periphery, but none offered me a hand or claw. All were content to let me fall. I wasn’t even surprised. Rook had reclaimed the necklace linking him to his sister, and Tibs was about to dispatch his rival. All in all, the king had done well for himself.

  The rush pumped through my veins, so familiar. I wasn’t afraid this time. I couldn’t feel enough to be worried about minor things like how surviving impact didn’t matter if no one fished me out of the water and carried me to Abram.

  Abram.

  Forget me, this might just be the fall that broke him. He deserved so much better than this. They all did. But I had done my best, and it still wasn’t good enough.

  Pinpoints of fire lanced through my shoulders, and I cried out in shock as I was plucked from the sky.

  “I told you,” Isaac said from above, “I won’t let you fall.”

  My hands trembled when I reached up to grip Isaac’s rough ankles. Warm blood trickled down my spine and between my breasts, and I didn’t care a whit. Tears and speed blurred my vision, but not enough I didn’t see a swarm of Aves closing in on us. Breath held, I braced for the scratching and clawing to start that would rip me away from Isaac, but a black bird with a scarred beak fell in line with Isaac, and the Aves scattered, flapping back toward the platform and their mistress.

  “Rook?” I called, and the bird winked at me.

  Maybe he wasn’t a murderous bastard after all.

  Chapter 18

  Flames ravaged the forest surrounding the RV park. Black smoke spiraled through the air, carrying charred flecks of our homes on the wind. Wolves thrived under the protection of the trees, so the fae had decided to burn us and our allies out. Without the pack bond active, I had no way to guess where the alphas might be or where Thierry had gone. Theo’s location was also impossible to parse in the chaos unfurling below us.

  I called out to the guys. “Got any ideas?”

  Out of breath, Isaac managed a noncommittal grunt.

  A screeching caw rang out as Rook sloped to the right, and Isaac hesitated only a moment before following. We passed over acres of smoldering ruins, farmlands burnt black and crunchy, bodies cooked just as crisp. Another alpha pair might have eschewed those wastelands for the more pristine mountain where Leandra huddled in wait, but I had no doubt we’d find them where the cries rang loudest and the need was greatest.

  Movement in one of the few remaining wheat fields caught my eye just as Rook dove, skimming lower until the tassels whipped against his feathers. A hand reached up and caught him by the tail feathers, yanking him into cover. Since he didn’t squawk a warning, I assumed that meant it was safe to land.

  That or he was trying to get us all killed.

  “Well?” I put the question to Isaac. “What do you—?”

  A head covered in blonde hair popped up for a moment, and Cam waved at us. Isaac didn’t waste time. Panting through the effort, he released me to crouch and roll before dropping like a stone onto the dirt. I rushed toward him as he released his hold on the alkonost aspect. Lacerations covered his body, and a few of his wounds required stitches he wasn’t likely to get, but exhaustion was the danger now.

  “Isaac.” Cam dropped to the ground beside me and clutched her cousin’s hand. “Theo just left to search for you.”

  Isaac popped upright like a pastry in the toaster until I palmed his shoulder and pushed him back down.

  “Don’t even think about it,” I warned him, and searched the small gathering. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  I located Rook dangling upside down from Shaw’s fist. The man wore an evil smile and winced when Thierry slapped his hand. With a grumble, he released Rook, who flew straight to her shoulder and rubbed his cheek against hers.

  “See?” Shaw rumbled. “He wants to die.”

  “His mother is death,” Thierry sighed the reminder. “You probably couldn’t kill him anyway.”

  Shaw took a menacing step closer. “Why don’t we find out?”

  “Rook,” I called. “Can you do me a solid and round up Theo?”

  The bird glided from Thierry’s shoulder, pinwheeled over Shaw’s head, and I heard the splats before I saw the white splotches with black centers staining his shirt.

  Thierry clamped a hand over her mouth, faking shock when I was pretty sure she wanted to laugh.

  A smile teased up the corners of Cam’s lips, but she turned her head before anyone but us noticed.

  Rustling in the stalks perked my ears, but no one else appeared worried, so I held my ground, tensed for action, until Cord and Zed emerged. Cord’s gaze zeroed in on Cam, and he sucked in a relieved breath so loud I heard it over Thierry’s strangled chuckles. Not until his fingers tangled in her hair did he spare a glance for where Isaac sprawled between us. Zed didn’t stop until he knelt behind me, our backs touching as he kept watch over me and my mate. I reached back and took his hand, squeezing hard to reassure him and his wolf with the contact they both needed to settle.

  “You okay, Isaac?” The roughness in Cord’s voice spoke to how close the wolf was to claiming his skin. Against the fae threats, the animal could protect Cam better than the man, but without the pack bond in place, he couldn’t risk being unable to communicate when every second mattered. “Where’s that twin of yours?”

  “He’s tired,” I answered for him, “but he’s good. Rook went to fetch Theo.”

  “Do I want to know why he was masquerading as Tiberius?” Cam leaned into Cord’s touch, but the question was meant for me. “Or why Theo was doubling as the Morrigan when he arrived?”

  “About that.” I settled in beside Isaac. “It’s like this…”

  Once the others gathered around me, I told them the whole story.

  “You’re telling me the prince is still MIA,” Thierry started, “but it’s because he’s on a murder spree?”

  “One person doesn’t qualify as a spree,” Shaw interrupted. “This is good news. Dell promised a distraction, and she delivered.”

  The alphas twisted around to scan the faces of our small group before Cord growled at Thierry, “You knew she was goin
g to do this?”

  “You had your hands full,” I said softly, ducking my head. “I was careful. I brought backup every step of the way.”

  Zed’s relief manifested in the gentle curl of his fingers around mine. That comforting pressure meant he would back me up against the alphas if it came down to it. I might not have taken my plan to them, but I hadn’t gone rogue this time. I’d consulted with Zed, a pack member in the know, as well as Thierry.

  Being able to face down the alphas without the usual shards of guilt slicing me up from the inside out made all the fumbling I’d tried passing off as leadership worthwhile.

  This must be how it felt to be Cord, except with more boobs.

  “I’m glad to hear it.” Cord tapped me under my chin until I looked up at him while he scanned me from head to toe. “Bloody and bruised, but you appear to be in one piece. That’s progress.”

  With my head tilted back, I got an eyeful of Thierry and Shaw’s intense conversation, but they spoke too low for me to hear them. Cord followed my line of sight and frowned at the bickering couple.

  “Something else we’re missing?” He released me and took Cam’s hand, hauling her up to stand next to him before tucking her against his side. “Dell? Care to explain?”

  The wolf writhed in my middle, hating that her position placed her so much lower than the others, but a quick reminder that Isaac was down here too calmed her enough for me to answer. “After the magic surge, Tiberius told me about how the Black Dog set the threshold between realms, and it got me thinking.” The single act that never failed to get me in the most trouble. “Thierry is his daughter. They share the same type of magic. I wondered if she would be able to recreate his feat since her father has decided to let our world burn.”

  There at the end a bite entered my tone, but I couldn’t help the anger, not after watching Grub die. And he was one of dozens of Stoners who had placed themselves on the front line by choice.

  “I’m not that strong,” Thierry said with genuine regret. “Dell, you’re not thinking anything I haven’t considered. I can anchor tethers between realms, so I know I have the right type of magic but…” She gave a helpless shrug. “We have to decide if this is how we want to go out, because there’s a better-than-good chance none of us will walk away from this even if we’re successful.” Shaw wrapped his hand around hers, and she drew strength from his touch. “Are you willing to sacrifice your mate? Knowing you can’t help, that you’ll be no use to us? Can you live with yourself if we fail?”