by N. M. Howell
Raina felt alive, truly alive for the first time in half a decade.
Derek stood, transfixed, tears running down his cheeks. “Enough, Melchior! Please, I can’t stand it!”
With a sigh, the elder Dark Fae closed the cover with an echoing thump.
Raina shivered as the glow left her skin. The Dark Fae did as well. The humans looked red-eyed and a little hung over.
“What did you do?” Raina whispered.
“The Lyric can only be sung by a Lord Fae. It was magically recorded by a Lord Fae in this grimoire, to reveal others of his kind if the need ever came about. It is he who I must consult. If I can find him.”
“Well, I guess this ups the game a little,” Trini said. Her words were flippant, but she cast wary eyes on Raina. “Our tactic of using a magic junkie raid as a diversion fell apart the minute Jax joined the guards to fight off Derek and…”
Belle nodded sadly. “Two more lost.”
My fault, Raina thought miserably. All of it.
“We’ll need a more direct assault.”
“Well…” Maybe she could make up for the disaster she’d caused. “Jax did ask me out on a date.”
Derek and Trini exchanged expressions. Derek said, “Well, things might go better if Jax was out of the picture. My bones still hurt from one of his backhand blasts.”
“He’s the best fighter in the academy, even if they employ him as an instructor,” Trini agreed. “Jax is always up for a battle.”
“When is the date?” Derek asked. His demeanor was stern, but it seemed his eyes looked a little hurt.
“I’m not sure. He’s going to call me later. Probably tonight.”
Belle shook her head. “That doesn’t give us enough time to plan.”
“It gives me a little leave to poke around.” Trini said. “But he’s so into you, Friend. Maybe if you make nice, he’ll ask you out on a second date. That would give us time to prepare.”
Make nice? Second date? The words made Raina’s head feel like a helium balloon. “I’ll do my best.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet you will. Tramp.” Trini smirked at the jibe.
“Jelly much?”
The half-fae headed for the passage back. “C’mon, Lord Fae. Let’s get you to at least one class today before you get sent to the headmaster’s office.”
Raina looked at the gathered Confraternity. “Should I even be near the academy?”
Melchior nodded. “You must go about your normal routine. Your absence may have raised suspicion already. Go with Trini.”
They left the bowels of the abandoned waterworks station, treading ever upward, beyond the rough caverns to the crammed passage of roaring pipes and eventually back into the academy sub-basement. Trini made a W in front of her eyes with her index fingers touching and thumbs extended before opening the door.
“Coast is clear.”
Together, the ascended to the first floor. “What time is it?”
Trini closed her eyes. “Third period is about to end. Plenty of time to get to your last class.”
“Listen, I’m sorry I’ve had to lie to you so much.”
“Forget it. It’s all part of the game. Here.” Trini handed over a card with a telephone number. “Let me know when you’re going out with Jax.”
Raina put it in her hoodie pouch. “I will.”
“And tell me you’re not wearing that.” Trini’s index finger moved up and down, her expression sour.
“I’ll figure something out.”
“Good. Now git. Bell’s about to ring.”
Raina headed off toward Room 112, Divining Magic Sources 101.
“Oh, one more thing.”
She looked over her shoulder at Trini. “What?”
“Details!” Trini ground her hips and stuck out her tongue.
Blowing out her cheeks, Raina headed to class.
He didn’t say anything, but Lee Wing looked pleased when Raina arrived at the store for her shift on time. A couple of his employees had returned, looking a little pale and red-eyed. It allowed Raina to work the easier job as a cashier. She found that she was actually getting a lot better at it.
Near the end of the shift, Lee called her into the office.
“Phone,” he said, holding out the handset.
Raina bit her lip. “Sorry, I don’t have a cell phone. This is the only number I have.”
Lee left her to her call with a smile. “No problem.”
“Hello?”
She felt her ear go warm at the sound of Jax’ voice. “Rainara. I thought I’d give you a mundane phone call rather than send a wildlife creature. I hope you approve.”
“Much better.”
“If you have no plans, I have reservations at Eleven Madison Park at eight o’clock. Would you join me for dinner?”
“I would love to.”
“Shall I pick you up?”
“No, it’s not far from me. I’ll meet you there.”
“Fair enough. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Me too,” she breathed.
“See you at eight.”
Raina felt her pulse racing. Partly from anticipation. Mostly from the next call she placed. Trini’s anonymous voice mail picked up. Did the academy listen in on calls? Feeling she couldn’t take the chance, Raina went with an oblique message.
“Tall, dark and handsome at eight, lower Manhattan.” Hopefully, that would convey enough information to Trini, but thwart anyone listening in. Raina didn’t feel particularly adept at covert conversation.
She walked back out to finish her shift, but Lee caught her. “Raina, do you have a bank account?”
“Um, no, why?”
He smiled. “Excellent. Today is payday. I’ll pay you in cash. Save some paperwork.”
“Oh, I didn’t really expect—”
Lee shoved some bills in her hand. “Take it. With my thanks.”
Raina didn’t bother counting the money. Instead, she thanked Lee and went back to the register.
There wasn’t much time between the end of her shift and her date with Jax. Raina headed out to a vintage clothing store on Orchard Street a few blocks away. With the money from Lee Wing, she could at least afford an outfit. Not exactly a splurgy outfit, but something nice for a date.
She decided, out of necessity, to go retro. Navy blue sweater dress that was supposed to be thigh-length, but nearly came to her knees, tall faux suede boots that were supposed to be mid-calf, but nearly came up to her knees, an old-school cinch belt and matching itty bitty purse that she had nothing to put in but a lipstick, a compact, and a woefully small amount of change.
Raina hadn’t done anything with her hair in a while, counting on the hoodie to hide the fact. Now, she showered, shampooed, and fussed her hair into a French braid. It looked nice above her exposed shoulders. Looking in the mirror, at only her reflection, brought her down. She closed the door on the steaming bathroom and left the building at seven thirty.
Jax smiled at her as she arrived at the restaurant and gave her a peck on the cheek. “It’s lovely to see you out of your combat clothes.”
“I figured I needed to dress up a little.”
“You look beautiful. Let’s see if our table is ready.”
Eleven Madison Park was an art deco space with soaring ceilings, huge windows and lots of rough-hewn, glowing wood. The hostess sat them at a spindly table to the side of the main dining room.
“Would you like to order?” Jax asked. “I’m still not that familiar with human food.”
Raina balked. “This place is so fancy, I don’t think I would be any more familiar than you.”
It turned out that the restaurant served a seasonal tasting menu, and she and Jax only needed to order a small separate dish each. The wines, though human, were excellent.
“How did you come to live with Flora’s family?” Raina kind of blurted it out. Maybe Trini wasn’t the only one with jealousy issues.
“The short version, my parents died when I was very young
. It was an accident.” Jax’ eyes flicked away, but she caught the distance, the sorrow there—and perhaps something else?. “Her father was Dark Fae, mother human, and they took me in. I’ve repaid their kindness by rejecting their daughter. I’m still looking for a way to truly thank them.”
Raina could hardly bare to see his features drawn down. She put her hand over his. “I get it. I’m trying to get my parents out of a bind. I really don’t know if I’m up to it.”
“The human world. So complex. The worship of gold, the tangle of money.” Jax misunderstood, thinking that the king and queen of the Light Fae Court were in financial straits. Which worked out fine for Raina. “I don’t understand any of it. I don’t want to understand any of it.”
“Well, you must know a little bit. I saw the prices on the menu.”
Jax shrugged. “I’m paid for my work at the academy. I would be happy to volunteer. But, there’s that whole tangle—teachers’ unions, accreditation, I’m forced to take a salary. I’m more than happy to spend it on someone special.”
Raina liked the sound of that. “I get the same feeling about the Shadow Fae. Your culture is so beyond what I know.”
“You’ll get the hang of it, once you understand that magic is our gold.” Jax smiled. “We mine for it, work for it, suffer for it every night.”
“Like a religion,” Raina offered.
“More than that. Much, much more than that.”
Talk turned to happier topics: foibles of students and instructors at the academy, a recent Fae exhibit at the Museum of Natural History, an upcoming concert at Madison Square Garden featuring human music played on Fae instruments. The ten courses of the meal took nearly three hours, and by the end, Raina felt giddy in the presence of Jax. From his smile, his dimples, Jax felt the same.
After, he walked her home. “Chinatown?”
“It’s all I can afford.”
They stopped in the alley by the back door.
“We do what we must, I suppose. You know that we have student housing.”
Raina made a face. “I don’t think I’m ready to immerse myself in that much Fae culture yet.”
“I can’t say that I blame you. Ever since we’ve openly campaigned for human interaction, my people seemed to have taken a sinister turn, a superior stance in the world. It makes us no better than the Bright Fae in that regard.”
She wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Did you hate them, the Bright Fae?”
“All my people did. And they hated us back. So many wars, so much violence. Even as we struggled to put this enmity in the past, someone took it upon themselves to attack the Brights. It was cowardly, without honor, without sanction. Neither side had any grievances at the time.”
Raina decided to push it. “Who do you think attacked the Bright Fae?”
“I only know two things. First, the terrorists and their motives will one day come to be known.”
She waited. Jax didn’t speak. “Okay, what’s the second thing?”
“The second thing is I’m growing tired of talking politics and I would like to kiss you.”
Before Raina could reply, his lips brushed hers. She felt something like a coiled spring let go inside her as she eagerly stepped into his arms. The tingling touch of his probing tongue set off her own response. Raina gripped Jax tightly, her pulse surging, her head singing.
Breathlessly, the kiss broke.
“Whoa.” Was all she could think of to say.
“Whoa indeed.” Jax smiled. “I have to agree with what you shouted at the lake.”
Raina was confused. “What was that?”
“That you were special. Unique. I fully concur.”
They kissed again, Raina running a hand through his hair, the other on the small of his back. Lost in the embrace, the oddness of her sleepwalking comments lost importance. Just as she felt like she would evaporate into steam, Jax pulled away.
“I could do this all night, but I have an early day tomorrow.”
She hung on his shoulders, looking up at him. “Tomorrow’s Saturday.”
“Nevertheless. Perhaps I could drop in on you in the afternoon.”
Tentatively setting a date, they parted, Raina watching him stride down the alley. She didn’t know what to make of Jax, other than the fact that he was beautiful and delicious and potentially very dangerous.
19
Raina jumped at a noise—the squeal of hinges behind her. Derek opened the back stairs door.
“Enjoying your consorting with the enemy, I see.” His words were clipped, and although he smiled slightly, the expression didn’t touch his eyes.
“I need to get to a phone—”
Derek held up his cell. “I already texted Trini. You were gone nearly four hours. What did the two of you get up to?”
They walked down the hall toward the elevator. “It was a ten-course meal. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”
“Where were you, Eleven Madison Park?”
“How did you know?”
Derek shook his head and pushed the call button. “I don’t know how that guy got a reservation.”
“It was pretty awesome.”
Derek frowned. “Yeah, great. Hopefully it gave Trini enough time to find something out.”
Raina hugged herself as the doors of the coffin-sized elevator closed. He pushed the button for the fifth floor. “Speaking of finding things out, I have something for you, if you have a second.”
“Sure.” The elevator didn’t go to the top floor anyway.
He walked her to his bachelor pad, cringing at the mess inside. “I clean up on the weekend.”
“I bet.”
Bearing a wounded expression, he walked her into the kitchen. On the tiny table sat the bound tome from the Confraternity’s underground library. “Here, there are some things to check out.”
“Derek, you can’t have this here. What if your father sees it?”
“He can’t read any Fae. I’ll tell him it’s a cookbook.” He handed the book to her. “I took classes in Fae glyphs, but it’s still really slow going for me.”
Raina didn’t take the book. “You took a class at the academy?”
“No, it was a continuing education class at SVU. Anyway, I think I read Fae at a second grade level. But from what I did understand, I think you need to take a look.” He pressed it into her hands.
Resigned, she took it. “Okay. I’ll read it.”
“Let me know if it says what I think it says.” Derek walked her out.
“Which is?”
“Oh, you’ll know. Where are you going?”
Raina started for the back steps. “The elevator doesn’t go to the seventh floor.”
His brows lowered. “Sure it does. It’s working fine.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
Raina headed into the elevator. Sure enough, it rose to the top when she pressed the button. Weird. In her apartment, she dragged down the Murphy bed to sit, the book beside her. It took a few minutes to work up the courage to flip the latches. She thought of her few days back in New York, her budding relationship with a Dark Fae of all people, her enrollment in an institution of evil. What had she gotten herself into? Or had she gotten into it by herself?
She opened the book. Gasped.
Glyphs glowed as her eyes crossed them, a title over a hand-painted image of a couple. It read: The History of the Last Fae Lords.
Except that the woman in the painting, dressed in a flowing gown of lilac with a gold, laced bodice, platinum hair in the most elaborate up-do Raina had ever seen, was her mother. Standing next to her was a dark man in silver and wooden armor, leaning on a huge sword with his right arm, the left around her mom.
Raina didn’t recognize the tall man. Or was that exactly true? Something about his eyes, even in the faded watercolor. Could they be? The high brows, the swoop of his cheekbones, the purple of his irises looked almost exactly like her own.
Gods beyond.
I
t took a few heartbeats for her to be able to turn the heavy page. She read:
Ere the Uprising of the Pureblood Factions, in the time before the animal called Man fused the four elements into Iron, the Fae Lords commanded Law and Rule of the Fairey Peoples. In legend only do the names reside, Sovereigns both fair and cruel, clever and mad, identities lost to the retelling. In these Final Times, the Lord Kr’veşk and Lady Manrieälle have faded, spelled into forced ostracism. Powerful though they were, the wyverns and nithdrakes fly from the darkness even now, the Shield and Lance of Oreálle are raised, and War is in the Wind and in the Hearts of All.
Raina paused. Manrieälle wasn’t that far off from Mariea. She turned back a page. She couldn’t get a fix on the time from the clothing. It seemed Medieval, but Fae and human fashions didn’t jibe. The painting could have been two hundred or two thousand years ago.
Pureblood Factions—did that mean Light and Dark Fae? Raina had never heard a whisper of any kind of unity. As far as she knew, Light and Dark had always been at odds. And the war, did that mean the Blood Days, or something even earlier? More nagging was the image of the man. It couldn’t be her father. Oliver Raeylle was her father. Raina was certain of it.
Or was she? She realized her muscles had grown tense, her hands cramping. Relaxing, breathing, she tried to take it all in.
Compelled, she read on, even though she already had enough craziness swirling around in her thoughts. Didn’t she have enough going on as it was? Fae Lords, anonymous legends, save for the final two who failed the Fae. They were not elected, not determined by lineage, rather, for possessing the traits of both Light and Dark. It was not unusual, the book said, that the offspring of Fae Lords were ordinary Light or Dark Fae. It was not unusual for a Fae Lord to be born of a union between Light and Dark Fae with no pretense to Fae Lord attributes. A Fae Lord was born because the Fae needed one.
Sometime, late in the night, Raina finally fell asleep. While she didn’t transport back to Central Park, her slumber was troubled by nightmares of wyverns and nithedrakes, and unseen figures with impossible, conflicting characteristics.