by Jaymin Eve
Through our bond I sensed that Kade was uneasy with that praise, but before anything more could be said, an icy breeze washed across the cart and my attention was back firmly on our surroundings. We’d grown a little complacent, moving rapidly through the frigid, untouched landscape. There had not been a single person, fae, or evil queen, in sight, which might have lulled us into a false sense of security. And while it was cool everywhere in the Winter Court, this breeze felt … unnatural.
I called out to my familiar. Finn! How far are we from the meeting point? I sent him a series of images from the landscape around us, hoping he might have some idea of our location in proximity to his.
You’re close. I’m coming in from the west and will hit you in a few minutes. Just keep heading forward. I sense the queen is on your tail, but you should beat her.
“Go!” I said with as much force as I could, my focus locked on the landscape behind us. “The queen is trailing us. Finn says we should beat her to the rescue team, but we need to pick up the pace.”
Kian didn’t ask me anything more, didn’t question who Finn was. He let go of his wife, picked up both reins, and with a terse command the horse surged forward. Kade shifted his weight until he was crouched right on the edge of the cart, balanced there as his face started to take on bear-like characteristics. I shuffled forward too, energy swirling inside of me, my new fae vision helping as I scanned the wintery surroundings looking for pursuers.
The ice picked up and I sensed the magic in it now, the same type the queen had used to literally freeze people to the spot. “Definitely the queen,” I murmured to Kade. “Her icy breath is a weapon we need to avoid.”
“We’re almost at the spot,” Kian called out. Neither of us looked away, but I did give him a wave of acknowledgement.
Finn is incoming, I said to Kade through the bond.
I can sense him. Nix is keeping an eye out and will let me know what she finds. The queen has a fog cloaking her, which means he can’t see a lot from above. He then added, Looks like she has ten winter fae with her.
His voice lowered as he mentioned Nix. He wanted to see his familiar as badly as I needed to see mine. It had been far too long since we had touched them and let our bond be reinforced.
Finn’s huge white body came into sight then, and I found myself leaning forward in anticipation, my blood fizzing, body flushed with adrenaline. Every soft emotion possible slammed into me and I had to breathe deeply to halt another breakdown. Come on, training, I need you now. I was a queen, we kept our crap together, and I was at the limit of my emotional leaking for the day.
Finn sprinted in behind us, and with a graceful leap crossed the last few feet to land in the back of the cart. It gave a lurching bump, but the powerful horse soon had us flying along again. I dived over and wrapped my arms around Finn. I missed you so much, I said as I tangled myself as close as possible into his thick fur.
He nuzzled his snout into me and said, Don’t ever do anything like that again. You should never risk yourself, you’re too important.
A queen will always risk herself for her people, you know that.
He growled lightly, but didn’t argue with me again. My only consolation, he finally said, was that if you died, I would also. For I would not live in this world without you.
It took a lot of deep breathing to keep it together then, there was so much love pouring from my familiar. Even as a small child I had known how lucky I was to have this bond. It was worth all the bad that came from being an heir. My gaze brushed across Kian and I wondered where his familiar was. He would have had one. He was supposed to be king.
“Queen on my six.” Kade’s warning brought mine and Finn’s attention right back to the end of the cart.
My eyes narrowed on the figure in white riding atop her majestic horse. Finn growled deeply beside me and said, There are about eighteen Summer Court soldiers just beyond the mountain. They are strong, but no match for the queen and her strongest soldiers.
Something inside of me began to hum. Magic, my fae magic, was swirling and building, aching to be free.
Kade caught my eye as if he knew I was up to something.
“Arianna…” The way he said my name had so many emotions wrapped up in it. Love, pride, fear.
I just stood and gave him a wan smile. “I’m her only match.” I was half her genetics and half of the brutal Red Queen’s. The thought was scary, really. If I hadn’t had the upbringing I did, I might very well have turned out to be a monster. Calista was getting a huge hug when we finally got home. She was a big part of the reason why I was who I was. Her and Winnie.
My palms tingled as the magic built up inside of me. Finn bumped my leg, asking me to get on his back. I swung a leg over the giant wolf, looking back to Kian and Shelley.
“Ride fast and hard to the mountain where the Summer Court is waiting. Kade and I will meet you there.”
I knew the second I leapt off this cart, Kade would be right behind me. No sense in asking him to stay. He never would.
Kian just nodded. He was a true soldier through and through, taking orders much better than Kade. Probably why the universe definitely did not make a mistake in ensuring the younger brother became king. Soldiers were the backbone of a people, but the leader was the head and heart. We had to make the big choices, the hard choices, and we had to live with the consequences of them when we screwed up. Following orders was not one of our stronger suits.
Bones cracking beside me let me know my mate was getting into battle form. The queen was only fifty yards away and gaining, frost creeping through the forest, following in her wake. Her people were on horses, spread out in a large semi-circle behind her, and I was thankful to spot no obvious magic born amongst them.
To prepare myself for what I would have to do, I pulled up the mental image of that butcher cutting an innocent girl’s face with a knife. The queen had ordered that. She was evil through and through. She had attacked and killed my people. She was not my family, she was the enemy.
A swirling galaxy of energy seeped from my palms. I held it contained as I mentally urged Finn forward, and with one leap we were off the cart and galloping over the hard-packed snow. I dug my hands into Finn’s fur; riding without the harness was always tricky. Bear Kade pounded across the ground next to us, kicking up flurries of snow.
Give her all you’ve got, Ari. I won’t let the mecca overwhelm you, Kade said, his mental words a grumble of bear sounds.
She’ll get all of it and more, I replied, shooting him a brief grin before focusing back on the enemy.
The queen’s beautiful face looked harsh and elemental, not even remotely human, something carved from the land and the gods. She raised her hands and blue fire began growing in her palms. I would not be weak, I would not have fear. Only I stood between her and Kade’s innocent sleeping nephew, and I would not allow him to be hurt.
Raising my hands and pinching Finn’s body with my thighs so I wouldn’t fall, I allowed my gathered energy, the clouds of purple and indigo mecca magic, to flow from me, building it into a wall – a wall waiting for direction. My intuition told me this power was inexhaustible. As long as I could channel it, it would never die out.
I was going to bank on it, so here’s hoping I wasn’t wrong.
The queen closed the gap, and in a single swift motion pulled her wrists back to release her ice magic, just as I threw everything I had at her. Control had always been my weakness with mecca manipulation, but now it was almost simple to direct the energy where I wanted it to go, like everything I had been trying to achieve in my training with Kade, all of those obstacles I just couldn’t get past, were gone. Now it was easy.
Maybe the entire time my mecca energy had been waiting for my fae side to be restored. Like two halves of a whole, now my magic was complete. I certainly felt stronger and more controlled. And even though I had feared my fae side, its icy energy like nothing I had ever felt before, once it mixed with the mecca … it felt familiar again.
> The queen’s expression barely shifted, even as my magic advanced on her, but there might have been a slight glaze of shock in her wide eyes. My wall of magic slammed into her, knocking her clean off her horse. She thudded to the ground as five of her guards rode in behind her, each pulling their horse up so they could assist their leader.
Nix shrieked above us and Kade roared, stretching up tall on his hind legs.
They have an open portal to the Summer Court. Now is our chance, Kade growled.
The winter queen was already back on her feet, arms raised as she prepared to strike again. I was torn between taking off for the portal or staying and finishing her off. There was no doubt in my mind she would come for us again. She would never stop until she either destroyed all shifters and claimed the Earth-side mecca, or finally claimed the power inside of me that she so desperately wanted. At that thought, I heard hoof beats, and a familiar energy radiated close to my back. A sob stuck in my throat as Violet’s horse came in beside me.
“Vi!”
I drank in the sight of my best friend, alive, glowing with health and power. Wearing unusual garb for her, leather pants and vest, cuffs on her biceps, and weapons strapped across her back, she had gone from Renaissance chic to badass warrior.
“Glad to see you alive, friend,” she said, and her eyes shone briefly before she turned toward the queen and fury descended over her shimmering features.
Without looking my way again, she held out her hand for me, her horse and Finn keeping perfect alignment. The moment our hands locked, my energy inside went crazy, bursting out of my body before I could control the flow, filling the air with the midnight light show.
“Bring it all, Ari! Both sides of your energy!” Violet shouted over the wind whipping around us.
I nodded, calling forth everything within me. She wanted the fae and mecca power? I would give her as much as I could. The queen opened her mouth and let out a shriek like a million fingernails on a chalkboard, immediately coating the surrounding trees in ice, and I fought against my instinct to cover my ears. Instead I let go of all control over my magic; whatever restrictions I’d been imposing to keep the energy contained simply dissolved, and in a rush it took off. Violet, who felt the outpouring through our joined hands, just grinned.
If I had been the winter queen, and a magic born was looking at me like that, I might have had a moment of worry.
“Burn in hell,” Violet spat, and suddenly my magic transmuted into purple fire, burning across the ground like hot lava, melting everything in its path and charging right for the queen.
Violet made two quick movements with her free hand and the fire spread out in a line as far as I could see, the flames licking up to the tops of the trees. The queen threw magic at it but nothing calmed the flames as they flared tall, like a sentinel protecting us from them. Fire and ice fought against each other, but in the end the fire could not be quenched.
“Eternal fire, eternal flame,” Violet whispered, and the fire crackled with a hint of blue.
Violet let go of my hand. “Let’s go,” she said, turning her horse around and giving the Winter Court her back. “That fire will burn eternal. They aren’t getting through.”
Holy sweet shifters. That was really amazing, and I wasn’t even tired. My energy, which had calmed the moment Violet let go of me, felt full and vibrant as it swirled inside. I had no headache or backlash from the power.
As I turned Finn around, Kade started his shift back to human, jogging slowly beside us. Violet magically fashioned him some clothes and he pulled them on. Despite being in his human form, he kept pace with us as we rode hard and fast, and in only a few minutes we reached the Summer Court camp at the base of Winter Mountain.
The first thing to come into view was a bunch of soldiers standing alert around Dalia and Rowan, the magic born fae. Off to the side I could see the cart, but there was no sign of Kian or Shelley. Before I could ask about them I was distracted by a portal above the burning fire. Another pale magic born stepped into view then. She had been hidden behind the flames.
Dalia came to me as I dismounted from Finn. Her eyes roved across my newly pointed ears and fae features, but she didn’t say anything about that – though I sensed she had a million questions. She wasn’t the only one.
She started with a half bow. “Your Majesty, we’re so pleased to see you unharmed from your time with the winter queen. Rowan and Lettie have opened this portal to the Summer Court for you – but that can be changed to your borough on Earth,” she quickly added. “We would really love if you’d honor my king with a short meeting. Forge an alliance in person.”
Even though she was leaving it up to me, I sensed there was a lot riding on my answer here. On the one hand, I needed to get back to my people, who were probably at war in New York. On the other hand, we needed this alliance, especially now that I had met the winter queen. She was brutal, and had been working to overthrow the shifters for many long years. My escape, and her loss of my power, would definitely tip her over the edge. Not to mention they had saved my friend’s life, and for that I owed them everything.
I turned to Kade, who was waiting a few feet away. He gave me that grin of his, dimples appearing. “This is your decision to make. Do you think we will learn anything from the Summer Court which might help in our battle on Earth? In the battle which will surely be brought from Selene and the winter queen?”
He made a really good point there. My instincts were telling me I needed to meet the summer king, and thank Prince Caspien. This court could become the greatest allies we had between the two worlds and the alliance might be the tipping point in the survival of the shifters.
I turned to Dalia and bowed my head. “I would be honored to meet your king.”
I sent my mate a mental message: We won’t stay long. Even though I need to learn about my fae powers, we can’t risk the safety of our people. War might be happening as we speak, so for now, we just thank the king and forge this alliance.
He nodded, and did not question me further. That level of trust and acceptance was just one of the million reasons I loved him.
Noise drew my attention then. A small group dashed up from where they must have been hidden close by. Blaine, Monica, and Victor were out in front. They rushed to my side and I gave them quick hugs. Nikoli crossed to his king, bowing first, before clasping Kade’s hand in a shake. Kian and his family were a few steps behind, a yawning Nathaniel draped in the bear shifter’s arms.
Addressing the group I said, “I must thank the summer king in person for his kindness. Then we will head off to New York.”
They nodded in understanding, and I turned to the two magic born. “We are ready. Please hurry. We really must return to Earth as soon as possible.”
They smiled, and an image of rare beauty opened up beyond the fiery portal: roses, waterfalls, summer. Somehow I could feel the warmth already, even though we were still standing in the land of ice and snow.
Lettie, the new magic born, looked at me. “The flames will not hurt you. They help keep it open.”
Kian and Shelley stepped closer. Nathaniel squirmed in his father’s arms and I could see the little boy was holding the rabbit tightly against his chest.
“Go on, it’s safe,” I said to them.
The bear shifter and his family didn’t move straight away and I turned to Kade, wondering what the problem was. Before I could ask though, Kian lifted his head to the sky and Nix let out a screech – followed soon after by another screech that sounded quite a bit lighter and trill-like. A different animal?
Was there trouble? Had the queen broken past the fire? I got my answer when the flapping of wings brought Nix closer. She swooped in to land on Kade’s shoulders, and despite it being difficult to read a bird’s expression, I was pretty sure she looked happy. Perhaps because she was not only back with Kade, but had also found an old friend. A huge black crow followed her path and landed on Kian’s shoulder. His familiar.
“We’ve been apart f
or most of the five years I was here,” Kian said, his voice low and rumbly. “Couldn’t take the risk that someone would see her and recognize that she was a familiar. It will be nice to have my old friend back by my side.” The black crow nuzzled his neck and my heart pinched. I couldn’t imagine being without Finn for that length of time.
He stepped through the portal, somehow holding his son, familiar, and mate close. My heart got a little tight … along with my throat. It was a beautiful sight to see, a man finally safe with all of his family. Monica, Victor, and Nikoli followed straight after. Blaine refused to go with them because he said his duty was to make sure I was safe and would only go behind me.
My oldest friend looked a little haggard. My imprisonment at the Winter Court had not been a happy time for him. As if he couldn’t help himself, he wrapped me up in his arms quickly, before stepping back. Clearing his throat, he said: “I missed ya, Princess.” The familiar term of endearment made tears prick my eyes. Violet was also looking a tad watery-eyed as she stared between us all.
“Never thought I’d see you all again,” she choked out. “I had made my peace with it. As long as the winter queen didn’t get what she wanted. But … we’ve been given a second chance. Let’s go meet the summer king and then get back home. It’s time to destroy those who tried to destroy us.”
Oh yeah, Selene and Sabina were getting what was coming to them. Then we would unite our people and take on the winter fae. They were going to wish they never messed with me or my family.
Chapter Twelve
Warmth does not always equal life.
The fae were still holding the portal open, so the rest of us took a breath, joined hands, and with a final look over my shoulder at the cold and barren lands of the Winter Court, we stepped through to the land of summer.
Passing through the portal this time was quite easy. It felt like thick honey coated my skin for a moment but then it was gone. As I stepped through to join my friends, I looked about at the wonder of this new land, my mouth agape.