The Thrice Marked

by Liddie Cain

  Barden walked out from the door of the mound and held out his hand to her, “Not just a sithen, my queen. It is a new court.”

  The guards helped her rise to her feet. As she walked over and took Barden’s hand, they helped the rest stand. The fairy horses reemerged from the woods where they had escaped and two of them had the injured guards draped across their backs. Even the injured fairy horse slowly walked up to where we all stood at the entrance of the new mound.

  The trees had been absorbed into the creation of the mound so that there was a large open field around us now. It cleared the view to the loch where the Pict beasts had been hiding. As the mound had risen from the ground, the sky had lightened and the last few rays of a setting sun could be seen over the loch.

  Aurina looked out over that sunset sky and said in wonder, “The Gloaming Court.”

  “Aye,” Fergus agreed.

  She looked at where her hand was in Barden’s and seemed to be waiting for something. He shook his head at her and said, “I am not meant to be the king. The sithen will find another. I’m only here to help until your real king is found.”

  There was a stiffness in her frame as he spoke but she acknowledged his words and started to walk to the entrance with Barden still holding her hand. The door grew wider as the rest of us, along with the horses, followed them.

  “So Barden feeding from you just made a new court?” Darby asked me.

  “No. Well yes, sort of. I think I was more just the catalyst.”

  Iona walked with us while holding the arm of her injured shoulder up against her. She said in her quiet voice, “We can use our powers on each other, but there are few who could absorb another’s power to use as their own. Roz is a loophole. With Barden being Baobhan Síth and able to take energy from her mortal side, we are some of the only Fae that can benefit from the immortal essence she still has. The royals can too because they gain power through their people. It affected Conall because we are his people and we can drink your blood.”

  “So Aurnia could flow her power into Roz and make it possible for Barden to be infused with it that way?” Darby looked at Iona for confirmation.

  “Yes,” she replied. “But it took all 3 of them to do it. Roz wears a diadem in her hair.”

  My hand jerked up to the top of my head and found the delicate diadem sitting on top of the braids that Gwina had woven into my hair. Darby stepped up where she could look at the front of my head and gasped. “You do!”

  “What does this mean?” I asked a little loudly and heard Aurnia’s chuckle as they stepped through the doorway of the mound. Her and Barden opened the now double doors and stood on either side to welcome us into their court. She caught my gaze with hers.

  “It is a royal diadem, but not a ruling one. It doesn’t bear any title markings on it yet. The magic is still forming,” she said.

  Iona added, “There are a few positions that earn the royal diadem. Some of them are associated with the king so if Barden is not the true king here the magic won't finish until the right king is crowned.”

  As soon as I stepped into the doorway I knew that part of me was woven into the court. Darby went weak at the knees when she crossed the threshold. “Angels,” she whispered.

  “And demons,” I responded.

  Aurnia tilted her head as if she were thinking. “Yes, I feel it now. Interesting. You have made a place in Fairy where the denizens of heaven and hell can roam too.”

  I also suddenly felt Mac in my head again. That connection hummed across my skin and over the three marks on my side. Felix was also there but there was no opening to his mind, only his presence. Without him completely shut off, it had reconnected me and Mac.

  “Dove.” His whisper caressed my thoughts.

  “Are you okay?” Speaking mind to mind with Mac took a little more concentration that it did with Felix so we had not utilized it much before Felix had left.

  “I am unharmed, but I had no choice but to give oath to Meredith to keep everyone safe.”

  “We will fix it.”

  “I know. Stay safe, Dove.”

  “I will. Give my love to Jason. Love you, Mac.”

  “And I you.”

  It was too hard to maintain that strong of a connection and I let it slide away again. He was still there but I no longer heard his thoughts. I knew I could find Felix now. There was an instinctual feeling in what direction to go to get closer to him. Did he know I was close?

  “I can feel Felix,” I said to Barden.

  Fergus and the other uninjured guard, whose name was Tristan and had been the one to pull me onto his horse when the Pict beasts attacked, led the horses through the doorway. The corridor shifted around us. Walls disappeared into a cloud of grey mist. As the mist began to recede, a courtyard formed with that twilight sky over our heads. Stables were revealed to the right of the entrance. Fergus and Tristan took this new magic in with stride and led the horses over there like it was a normal day.

  The injured guards were still slumped across two of the horses. As they got close to the stables, the ground rumbled and rocks sprouted upward. Grass rushed up from the ground and flowed all around us. The rocks formed what looked like the bottom of a small pool and water soon flowed up from the ground to cover them.

  Fergus stopped the horses, then he and Tristan took the injured guards into their arms and laid them in the rocky pool. They took a moment to adjust the way the injured men were sitting before they left them there and led the horses into the stable. I looked at Barden.

  “I know they are putting the horses up but I feel Felix now.”

  Aurnia stepped over and touched Barden’s arm. “It is nearby.”

  He nodded. “I will take you to go find him now,” he told me. “Make plans for what we need to do to bring him back. Then we can come back for what we need.”

  “I’m going too,” Darby said firmly.

  Barden nodded at her. Aurnia smiled a little at Darby. “I will show you the way while Fergus and Tristan tend to Nolen and Powell.”

  I was watching her as her face softened for Darby. Sharing power with me had given me a glimpse into her mind as she invaded mine. Power often worked that way, like a double edged sword. I had seen how drawn she was to Darby. Those golden eyes flicked over to me and she went still. Barden and Darby had already walked back outside. Aurina turned to follow them and I cleared my throat purposely. She paused and looked back at me, already speaking before I could start. “I know we do not know each other but I would appreciate it if you would protect my secret. My father impresses upon me often that I should set aside my attraction for women.”

  I frowned, hating that she immediately thought that I would warn her off. I shook my head. “I was only going to say that Darby has a girlfriend at home.”

  “She also likes girls?”

  “Yes, but I saw in your power the ability to be able to see that?” I made it a question, thinking she should already know.

  She shook her head. “When my own attraction or interest is involved it is hard to tell the difference in what I want to see and what is actually there. And she also likes men.”

  “Yes,” I touched her on the back of the shoulder just because it felt like she needed comfort. She gave me a friendly smile.

  “Thanks for letting me know she’s taken.”

  “No problem,” I replied. There was a temptation to say that Darby wasn’t sure if she was going to stay in that relationship or not. But for me to tell her that before Sylvia and Darby had gotten to talk would be wrong. Maybe Darby would decide that she wanted to try and work on the relationship with her. Part of me hoped so.

  We joined Barden and Darby then Aurnia took the lead and we set out on foot away from the mound. Darby fell into step beside Aurnia. I took Barden’s hand as we walked. He lifted one of his dark eyebrows at me but merely smiled. He wasn’t exactly a boyfriend, but we had been intimate. I was feeling nervous and he was amped up on the power we had created together. A little bit of physical
contact seemed appropriate.

  Darby looked over at Aurnia and asked, “Will the Seelie Court be happy about you being the Queen in another court?”

  “I doubt they will care much. I have an older brother who also has a son. I would not have inherited my father’s throne.”

  “It is passed down the family then?” Darby asked.

  “No, but it often is. The court nobles can decide who is king, or Fairy can choose. My brother is favored among the nobles and the only way I would have been the Seelie Queen was if Fairy had picked me over him.”

  “Well he’s gonna be jealous that you got a throne first then.” Darby grinned at her.

  Aurnia let out a surprised laugh. “You are right. Niall will be happy for me but I will admit I was already thinking of a few insults I would pass his way in a sisterly fashion.”

  “We are so on the same page. I have a long list of things Felix is going to hear about when we get home.”

  They smiled at each other, bonding over their younger sister woes. Darby had always worshiped the ground that Felix walked on though and it seemed like Aurnia probably had been the same way. I grew up with Darby and Felix but I was not one of them. He had never treated me as a sister even in youth. He had been protective and he had teased, but he had treated me with a reverence that Darby had not had the benefit of as his sister.

  Barden’s hand tightened on mine and I realized that everyone else was crouching as my mind wandered. I let him pull me down beside him. Aurnia crawled, not without some difficulty in the elaborate gown, up to the edge of the treeline we had been about to walk out of. Up ahead, the cottage I had seen through Felix’s eyes sat next to a small creek.

  “He would sense me,” I whispered.

  “Yes, but I believe him to be enchanted,” Aurnia answered.

  A woman walked out from behind the house. She wore simple clothes; black pants with a fitted grey scoop necked shirt and black work boots. Her dark hair was pulled back into a messy bun. She carried a basket of what looked like clothes as if she had just brought them in off of the clothes line.

  “That is Maeve.” Barden said barely above a whisper.

  We remained quiet until she walked up onto the porch and disappeared into the cabin. Aurnia looked at Barden and nodded. “Yes, we knew Maeve had gotten back into the Neodrach but she’s been able to keep herself hidden. Conall wasn’t sure how.”

  “Who is Maeve?” Darby asked.

  Barden responded, “She is a Leannán SÍ. A lot like a fairy succubus.”

  I nodded. “I’ve met a few before.”

  “Me too,” Darby responded but then quickly shook her head. “So I know there is no way that one could over power Felix.”

  “Aye,” Aurnia agreed.

  “It doesn’t make sense,” Barden said.

  Felix walked out of the front door then and I couldn’t breath. He raked his fingers back through his dark hair which had gotten long enough to reach down below his jaw line. He had brown skin and dark eyes and normally looked like he just walked off of the Bollywood red carpet. Right now he was dressed in drab brown pants and some kind of green plaid button down shirt. Barden laid his hand down across my back as if he knew that at any moment I would jump up and run the short distance to grab him.

  He walked down to the creek in front of the cottage and went to his knees, cupping water in his hands and bringing it up to his lips for a drink. Maeve came back out of the cottage and walked down to him. Her fingers slid up into the back of his hair and he didn’t shrug her away. Darby sucked in a breath suddenly.

  Aurnia closed her hand over Darby’s lips and we all froze. Felix and Maeve both had heard it and they were looking around. He gestured for her to go look in the opposite direction of where we were hiding. Darby cast guilty eyes over at the rest of us but I gave her a small forgiving smile.

  Felix watched Maeve disappear into the tree line before he took several steps in our direction. My heart started pounding so hard I could hear it in my own head. He looked back in the direction Maeve had walked when he got about fifteen feet in front of us.

  “I know you’re there, Roz.”

  I jerked, then slowly stood up while the rest stayed hidden. His brown eyes met my own.

  “You should go home.”

  I shook my head, tears already clouding my eyes. “I don’t understand.”

  “Leave before she sees you.”

  “But Felix--”

  “No, Roz. I’m staying here with Maeve. I want to be here with her.”

  I was hollow. I was emptied with a rush of wind that blew from my chest down through my fingertips. My lips remained frozen with the shock that captured my face. Darby stood and drew his gaze toward her. “Take her back home, Darby.”

  “And what about me, Felix? I’m still your sister,” she said, her voice ragged.

  “You are better off leaving me here to be forgotten.”

  I took a step forward with my hand lifting in his direction. The guilt he carried pressed on me. His words were so bitter. I loved him and I would take away that burden, kiss that haunted look from his eyes, if only he would give me the chance. “Felix, please,” I said softly.

  Then Felix showed what a force of power he truly was. It struck both of us like a tidal wave and brought me to my knees. So thick, so hard to breathe. The mark on my side burned and I could feel his relentless desire to never leave this place. He would wrap his guilt and shame around him and build an existence with the only woman who loved him for the flaws that he had, Maeve.

  Aurnia was standing in front of us and that suffocating power suddenly dissipated. She was a bright and glowing figure against his dark moroseness. Her power flowed across him and I felt a moment of confusion from him that was followed by overflowing joy. I jerked my face up to look and found his eyes on me.

  Then Aurnia stopped the outward reach of her power and his mind clicked shut again. Barden was pulling me to my feet and dragging me back. Felix remained silent and watched us go with that darkness hovering over his face again. I watched him, stumbling backwards as Barden dragged me along with Darby and Aurina following. His eyes stayed glued to mine until I left him.

  They were talking to me as they forced me to keep walking. I could hear the cadence of the voices around me but my brain did not acknowledge them as real words. All I could see in my mind was the look on Felix’s face as he told me that he didn’t want me. My heart felt as brittle as dead leaves under my feet as I walked automatically and without destination.

  He had to know how much it would hurt. He knew me and the depth of what I felt for him. Yes, I loved Mac and Jason. But there were no divisions in my heart. My whole self loved each of them and my whole self would feel the void of any of them leaving me. When the shock had worn off enough to let the first tear slip down my cheek my legs would no longer hold me. I went to my knees and just stared at the ground as my body tried to come to terms with the shattering pain that had no physical wound.

  “Roz!” Darby screamed my name loudly and I came back to myself enough to realize that it sounded like she had been repeating it. Her hands gripped my shoulders as she knelt down in front of me.

  “Listen to me, Roz! Maeve was the woman we saw Felix with, the luthier’s daughter.”

  “What?”

  “I recognized her.”

  At first, all I heard was that he was leaving me for the woman he had betrayed me for. I folded into myself, wrapping my arms around my stomach and bracing against this unbearable reality. Darby shook me. “Didn’t you hear what Barden said a minute ago?”

  I dragged my face up to glance at her and shook my head. Aurnia knelt in a graceful sweep of her long skirt and touched my cheek. She rolled me into her power. Sweet basking sunlight broke over the cold clenched heart within me. I gasped and gripped Darby’s hands. When she felt my mind drag itself out the depths of that dark despair, she looked at Barden. He squatted down, staying on the balls of his feet but putting himself low enough to meet my eyes. />
  “He is enchanted. Aurnia could see the power that Maeve had tied to him and it wasn’t for feeding.”

  I looked at her and she nodded at me, her hand still resting against my cheek. “I’m not sure how to break it. It isn’t power that is Fae in origin.”

  “So, you think his choosing to stay…”

  “Honey, it isn’t him doing the talking,” Darby leaned closer as she said it. We reached for each other simultaneously, clinging in a hug. Barden gave us a few minutes but eventually laid his hand on my shoulder.

  “Let’s get back to the new court and see if we can speak to Conall about what he thinks we should do,” he said as he squeezed his hand a little.

  Aurnia agreed, “Yes. Conall would know more about these things than I would. He has befriended denizens of Hell for years.”

  I raised my eyebrows at that statement. Barden shook his head at me as if saying we would worry about it later. I let him take my hand as he took Darby’s and pulled us both to our feet. Darby reached back down and took Aurnia’s hand to help her untangle her way out the folds of her skirts and get to her feet. I noticed how they didn’t immediately drop each other’s hands, but knew that Darby was only feeling the need for comfort with my connection to her through the angel marks.

  Aurnia’s face appeared to be earnest as she patted Darby’s hand. Then she dropped her hand away with a guarded expression. It made me like Aurnia even more. She wanted to continue holding Darby’s hand because she liked her but wasn’t going to cross that boundary since I had informed her she was taken. Between little moments like that and being able to see into her mind when sharing power with her, she had quickly found a place on my trusted list.

  We were only a couple minutes away from the entrance to the new Gloaming Court. I could tell when we crossed the line where the land recognized Barden and Aurnia. They both paused as the magic hummed up their body for returning to their court lands. Barden looked around them and said, “It wasn’t this far out when we left.”

  “No, it was over by that stone pile before,” Aurnia said as she pointed to some old rocks on the ground around fifty yards ahead of us.