by Kendal Davis
“I don’t see how,” the blond man said uneasily.
“Nor do you need to,” Thorn responded. “This class is for the benefit of those fae who have excelled at my regular combat class. I do not require that you put any thought into asking questions or second-guessing the decisions of the Headmaster. You are here to train. Got it?”
The man looked abashed at being cast in the role of complainer. He lowered his gaze and edged closer to his mat, as if demonstrating his commitment to being in the class.
“That was too easy,” I said to Rook at my left. “Is that all the explanation they’ll get?”
Without warning, Thorn was directly in front of me. It was unusual for professors to teleport within their classes, but there were those who did, for the sake of the shock value. It was a cheap trick.
“Teleporting at will is a trick that reminds us who is a teacher and who is a student.” Thorn spoke for the benefit of the whole room, but I couldn’t help noticing that he seemed to have read my mind. “As you know well by your third year, students are not permitted to teleport at school, unless they have the express permission from a faculty member.” He raised one eyebrow. “Preferably one they are not sleeping with.”
I did flinch, that time. Low blow.
Lily snorted, her eyes on Thorn’s ass.
I was sure that most students in the entire Academy knew about my bond with Alder. It came as a surprise to me when they started to murmur amongst themselves as if they had not had that information before. Was it possible that my classmates thought it was interesting news that I was with Alder? We’d been involved with each other for most of the last year.
It was true that I’d seen little of him since returning to school. I kept waiting for a chance to ask him about what he’d done in freeing Landon, but he almost seemed like he was avoiding me. No, he definitely was.
Thorn had returned to the front of the room, ready to begin. He sent a spell around the room to clothe us all in the black, form fitting workout outfits that were part of our school uniform. Then he put us all through a series of drills, testing our current knowledge of combat spells and hand-to-hand fighting. Each of us had one of the usual gym mats, from which we practiced stances and movements.
“I’ve seen better from you,” he said flatly as he watched us attempt disarmament spells. “You have to remember that your opponent may have skills you’ve never seen before.”
“How is that possible?” Rook sometimes argued just for the sake of it. “We are all training together. Certainly, I might need to battle a fae who has a different elemental affinity that I do, but that doesn’t mean every part of their spell would be new to me.”
Thorn pursed his lips, catching on to Rook’s point before the younger man was even finished speaking. “Yes, I agree with you. If you find yourself standing against another fae who attended the Academy, then it is likely that I trained them myself. The foundational principles would be the same.”
I was listening to him so closely that I almost tripped as I moved into the defensive crouch I was trying to get just right. I could see where this was going, just as well as he could.
Rook was never one to back down. “So are you suggesting that we might be using these skills against somebody other than the fae?” He pretended genuine ignorance. “I thought our truces with the underworld still held these days. Is that likely to change?”
“Of course not,” Thorn said. “We depend on those parts of the world for certain trades. Even for us, moral compromises must sometimes be made to allow things to run smoothly.”
I couldn’t listen anymore without joining in. Still in my practice stance, I spoke up clearly. “You mean to say that the combat techniques you teach will be used against the people of the mortal realm.”
Thorn walked slowly over to me, taking the time to place his feet just so. He wore the black workout clothes that we all had on now, but his were somehow better made. He’d set the spell, so he’d taken the care to make his look the best. I noticed that Lily was still having a hard time taking her eyes off him. The thought made me smile. They were both fire fae, so there was technically no obstacle to their union.
What a strange idea.
Before I could spare another thought for it, Thorn stood so close to me that it was all I could do not to spring backward. No way. I was here on the offensive now, and I wasn’t going to forget it.
Thorn’s smile told me that he guessed my resolution. “Ciara, would you like to go on a field trip?”
“I’ve never heard that they were part of combat class.”
“They are now. Lily will lead the rest of the class in the twelve basic spells of the Middle Era.” He sent her a nod without taking his eyes from mine. “And Ciara, you and I will go and test your ability to kill. Yes, in the mortal realm.”
8
Alder
I sat with my legs stretched out in front of me, warming myself by the comfortable fire. The mortal land was tiresome. It always had been. The only thing that could possibly convince me to spend time there was the urgency with which I now knew I had to protect Ciara.
True, the library in which I sat was the height of luxury for these pinched times amongst mortals. They had grown accustomed to the near demise of their world, but I still hated the sight of it. Their land had once been better than this. It had once been green and full of the growth of flowers. Prior to what they, the fools, called ‘The Great Upheaval,’ it had been a fine place.
Not any place I’d want to live on a permanent basis, but good enough.
I remembered it well.
Now, though, there were few remnants of any of that. The place was dry and dusty, the air tortured with crosswinds and tornados. Little land remained that was inhabitable for them. None of it was pleasant.
Here, in the global capital city of New Arabia, Ciara had grown up in a life like no other. She had lived twenty years in this place as the Tithe, spending all her life learning about the fae. She had believed herself prepared to come to the Academy, but she’d been wrong.
“Hard to believe she was once a baby, isn’t it?” Breze said to me in a falsely friendly tone as he stepped quietly into the room. “When you look at her now.”
“What are you doing here?” I did not turn in my seat. I’d installed myself in this room to wait for him, but I’d be damned if I was going to let him think that gave him the upper hand.
“Here in my own office?” He smirked as he uttered the words.
“Whatever. I’m here to see you about Ciara, of course. You left very quickly that first night at the Academy.” Still not fully turning around, I motioned him to take the seat next to mine. The matching dark leather chairs were close together, as comfortable with each other as Breze and I had once been. “We were best friends once, you know.”
“Of course I do. That is why I’ve allowed you to come here to see me. It still means something to me, although I don’t think I would say you feel the same way, Assassin.” Breze settled his tall frame into the chair next to mine, so that we both faced the fire more than we did each other.
“All those years that I wondered what happened to you when you left the Academy…” I sighed, more with frustration than sorrow. “I should have known that you were the Queen’s man even more than I was. When you showed up at the Academy with her, it took me back to the days we knew each other at school. You were always unpredictable, doing the opposite of what you’d say.”
“Never,” mocked Breze. “You must recall that I refused to become an Eternal Assassin. I wanted no part of that club, even if it meant losing my place at the Academy.”
“Were you really never asked back to school?” I was genuinely curious. “We all respected the way you stood your ground and refused to do something that did not fit your morals. I see now that I was wrong about you; your high ground was a sham from the beginning, wasn’t it? Still, the Academy might have given you another chance.”
“There are no second chances,” he said flatl
y.
I ran my hand through my hair, hating the fact that he was getting to me. “But there are. Don’t you know? I’m no longer with the Assassins myself.”
Alder shook his head, sending me a silent message that I wasn’t sure I understood. Certainly, he was advising me against loose lips, but who would be listening to us here? It was as if we were in the most remote outpost possible in the desert, staggering through dust, and he was suggesting we consider our choice of evening cocktails. A fine point in usual society, but one wholly irrelevant to where we were now.
“So,” he went on, smoothly. “I left the Academy back when we were young, and I adapted to the scenarios that presented themselves. I did miss your friendship, Alder,” he added with straightforwardness that I recognized from the old days.
“You used to be a man of honor. Now you are nothing but a schemer. I didn’t know whether you were really in Hellebore’s employ when I saw you that night in Ciara’s bedroom here in the mortal world. But of course you are. The Queen gets to everybody in the end.” I shook my head in disgust. “How did you get this office?”
He chuckled. “You don’t seem to have asked enough questions before getting involved in this, Alder. You’ve had time, since we met at the Queen’s showy little ceremony in the Great Hall of the Academy. It’s been weeks, and you didn’t do any research?”
“I’m asking questions now. I didn’t want to hear anything from somebody else, not when you have the newest information. You always did.”
He did not bother to protest at my flattery. It was part of our transaction, nothing more.
I continued. “I’ve come here to ask you what you know about the fae efforts to repair the environment here. For as long as any of the humans can remember, the fae have been their kindly helpers, their friendly neighbors who assist them. They don’t know how wrong they are.”
Breze allowed a small smile to curl his lips. “It works out well, doesn’t it? And next you’ll tell me that when you investigated the question, you found out about my involvement in the work program quite by accident. Right? You’ll never make a detective, Alder.”
“Don’t need to. I’m a fae. And the only allegiance I have these days is to Ciara and those she loves. So how is it that I find you installed here in the very offices that deal with the destruction of her land?”
“You mean the repair of her land, surely,” he reproved mildly. “And so you have come to see me, transporting yourself straight from the stone walls of our beloved school. What made you decide upon today?”
“I know that Hellebore has begun a new training regimen for the Assassins. She means to make Ciara her Slayer in fact as well as name.”
“Is that not the Queen’s right? To be sure, I did not want the...ah...permanence of the membership myself, but if the girl is sworn to the Assassins, then she must kill. There is no question about it.”
I tented my hands in front of my lips. “I don’t believe she will do it. She is very strong in her powers, but she will not turn on her own people. Not really.”
When Breze did not answer, I realized he was waiting for something. Had he sent someone a signal that I was there? I felt acutely that I was acting a part in somebody else’s narrative here. I fought down uneasiness at not knowing whose. My hands flexed in front of me. I was strong enough to handle anything that came my way. More importantly, I would protect Ciara from any threat.
Breze was talking to himself now, in a singsong undertone. No, if he had risen to be Hellebore’s second-in-command, then I could be assured that he did nothing accidentally. He was addressing me, however obliquely. “She is so beautiful, and so convinced of her purpose. It is almost heartwrenching to watch. The force connecting us is strong. But I won’t give in to it. Not me.” Then he stood up, suddenly stern and louder. “Do you remember when you tried to kill her, Alder? She never said a word about it the next day at the Director’s meeting.”
Wait. He’d been there, at the Director’s farewell meeting with Ciara, as well?
Before I could press him, Thorn and Ciara herself shimmered into being in the room. I could see from the glow around her that she was wary, but not here against her will. At least, not in the most obvious way. I didn’t think there was a fae alive who could teleport her these days without her consent.
But she was not pleased about being here.
She was a sight to see, with the magic that danced at her fingertips and brought her long, pink hair to dance around her head. Her curves were calling to me with a sultriness that made my cock ache as I looked at her in her skin-tight, black workout clothes. I needed this foolish plot to unravel now, so that I could repair the bond between us and hold her in my arms.
Ciara looked around the room, her eyes widening at the smooth wooden paneling on the walls and the perfect ornamentation of the mahogany bookcases. “So much wood...that’s an unspeakable luxury. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place like this here.” She saw me, but did not react beyond a tiny, smiling twitch of her soft lips. “We are in New Arabia; I knew it right away. This is where I grew up. But I’ve never been in this room before. Where are we?” She did not acknowledge Breze at all, though she looked right at him. Thorn stood respectfully away from her, which I took to mean that although he meant to teach her, he knew her natural abilities far outweighed his.
Breze would not be ignored. He was businesslike in his nod to her, almost as if he were giving her a tour of an important building. To be sure, he was. “Ciara, it is nice to see you again. This is the main office of the fae contingent that lives and works in the mortal realm. I head up that division. I am the commander of the fae force in the mortal world, and I have been for many, many years.”
Her eyebrows lowered. Good, she did not trust him. But she went straight to the point. “You are called Breze? I remembered something about you not long ago.”
“I know. I felt it when you did.” I glowered at him, for he should have told her that it was his spell that had restored her suppressed memories.
“It was that you saved me from Alder, that night in the Tithe’s mansion. You protected me when he tried to kill me. Does that mean you are on my side?” She stared at the tall man unflinchingly. She would give him a chance, but he would have to work for it.
“No, it does not.” With impatience, and a faint deepening of the lines around his eyes, as if he were developing a migraine, Breze waved a hand to Thorn.
The Spells of Combat teacher nodded in return. He moved toward the finely grained wood paneling of the wall and pressed a round, ebony call button. “They’ll bring one in a minute,” he said to Ciara.
“One what?” Wariness arced around her. The room was draped in every sort of richness, including bright light that came from the huge windows to play on the dark, thick carpets. For most proles, the cost associated with windows made them nothing more than a dream. I’d heard once that most of the apartments in New Arabia had no natural light at all. But here, in this high rise office space, the light was fresh, even if the air could not be.
Strikingly, Ciara’s fae powers were so bright that the aura around her was easily visible.
“They’ll bring in a mortal, you foolish girl,” said Breze. “You have sworn to do it, and now you will.”
“To assassinate for the Queen’s purposes?” Ciara was trying to keep herself together, but I wasn’t sure she could manage this.
“Yes. A true, reasonable, political assassination.” Breze answered, as if that would soften the moral impact of taking a life.
But he was lying.
The guards who banged their way into the room in a moment, their rough boots tangling as they deposited what they were carrying, brought a small girl. They banged their way out of the room with equal force, leaving her standing alone. She was perhaps six. Her long hair was tangled, but half-braided along the crown and towards the back as was the custom of the proles here. She was terrified, but trying not to show it. As she bit her lip in fear, she looked right at Ciara.
9
Ciara
A thousand possible answers pulsed through my mind. It felt like time was stopping and then swirling with activity at the same time. There were so many ways this could go. They were splintering away from me in my mind as I envisioned all the things I might do.
Stop.
Choose one. That was what Alder had taught me in my last tutoring session. I needed to work on my earth affinity, so I had no choice but to attend the meetings with him that were on my official course schedule. Beyond that, though, he had been distant, staying away from my bed for weeks now.
Choose a path for your magic, then follow it. Those had been Alder’s words. He’d meant to instruct me on how to develop a spell and see it to its end, but now the advice fit again. This was the moment that I’d feared since the day I’d found out what I’d sworn to do upon accepting my membership in the Eternal Assassins. Was I a killer? Was that the path I was choosing?
I looked down at the little girl, noting her smudged face and hard-worn hands. “She’s a child. Don’t the rest of you see that?”
Thorn gave one, firm nod. “We do. Yet this is the job that the Queen asks of us.”
“This is insane,” I breathed. I turned to Breze, who was watching me intently. He was as luscious as I’d remembered from that night in my bedroom. His blue eyes were piercingly sexy, making my body respond just as it had that night two years ago. “Breze, you said this was a political assassination. What could that possibly mean when it comes to a child?”
“There’s no need to split hairs over all this,” he answered crisply. “The question has been asked. Will you do it?”
“Whatever for?” I found that I was leaning away from the dirty little girl, hoping she would not try to touch me. Her filth was incongruous in this exceptional room. And yet, when I looked closer at her, I felt a twinge of humanity in my heart. “This must be the difference between us, then. Between mortal and fae. You all are cold creatures if you can think this is normal.”