The Thrice Marked

by Liddie Cain

  I smiled, but Drest spoke before I could respond. “Yes. I’ve always wondered how you managed to imprison him.”

  “He let me,” Felix responded roughly, then shook his head. He didn’t want to explain further.

  “They had managed to get Ariel away safely. They put their hope in her saving me and Darby and returning all of our memories if she ever felt it was safe. It meant that the rest of them had to let themselves be captured and play along,” I told him.

  “Ariel snuck in to visit them sometimes. Most of the Trow couldn’t tell she was there, she was invisible. Sometimes I only knew because Eziel would sit by the window and sing. He only did that when Ariel came.”

  “You could see her sometimes?” I asked with surprise.

  He frowned as he nodded and replied, “Sometimes. I think only when she was upset it made it harder for her to hide.”

  “No, my friend. It means you were meant to be a royal here. Even with strong emotion, if you weren’t powerful enough to see her, you wouldn’t have seen her,” Felix said.

  Drest looked thoughtful but he didn’t have a response for that. He finally said, “I told Eziel I knew she came and that he sang for her. He asked that I protect her when I knew she was here, not give away their secret. I wouldn’t ever have done that. They practically became family, I spent many days on guard duty sitting down there talking to them.”

  “Would be weird if I was the consort to an adopted brother, Drest.” I said teasingly. He blushed again. I couldn’t help but find it charming. Vampires don’t blush, so I had never seen it on Mac and even if they did Jason was black and too dark skinned for it to be obvious. I was fairly certain there wasn’t anything that could make Felix blush.

  “You like him.” Felix wiggled his way into my mind to speak.

  “I do.”

  “See if there is any spark.”

  “With you still here?”

  “I share well,” he replied.

  I shook my head at him even though our silent conversation might be confusing for Drest as he watched us. “No. I don’t know him well enough. You were an exception, but not really because our souls already knew each other.”

  He smiled and conceded to my point.

  “I cannot deny I have an attraction,” Drest said, making me realize he had been struggling with how to reply to me, “but I understand that to you, I am a stranger. I feel like I know you because I’ve talked about you my whole life, but reasonably, I don’t know you very well either.”

  “It’s a good place to start though, Drest. I am looking forward to getting to know each other better.”

  He smiled at me, his first real smile since I had met him earlier. I liked that smile. The Grey King would be an interesting addition in my life no matter where the relationship led. I returned his smile while I laced my fingers through Felix’s, then switched the subject to an idea I had earlier.

  “I was thinking I should invoke my uncle, Raguel.”

  Felix showed surprise and replied, “How much does he know?”

  I shrugged. “I would imagine he doesn’t know anything from the way Ariel spoke of it. I would just tell Ariel to come out of hiding but…”

  “No. My mother is not the most skilled warrior and I don’t want to endanger her if Devina figures out what we are doing before we get Father free.”

  “But Raguel is a commander of the cherubim. He would be helpful.”

  Drest shifted in his seat and said, “I want to set them free, but I don’t really want to kill my people to get them out.”

  I felt Felix’s pang of guilt echo my own since neither of us had thought of that. He nodded at Drest and replied, “Raguel can make a good show without hurting them. If we can get him to come.”

  “And you need someone like him if the demon overlord comes,” Drest added.

  “Yes. Part of the powers granted to her with that throne is the ability to take my powers away. I could fight the whole army myself, but not if Devina figures out what is happening.”

  “You can’t fight and break the seal at the same time,” I said.

  “Also true,” Felix responded.

  Drest stood and said, “I think it is time for me to bid you goodnight. We should all get some rest and work on planning things in the morning. I know earlier I said we should make our move in the morning but I was being hasty. We should scout some things in the morning so you have a better idea of what you’re up against.”

  “Sounds like a good plan,” Felix replied.

  Drest smiled at him. Those oh-so blue eyes flicked down to me. He smiled for me too, but there was a thickness in the air between us. It was an awareness of things unsaid for now. I would be on his mind because he was interested. Part of me felt bad that he wasn’t as important for me yet, but I had never heard of him until a few hours ago.

  “Have a good night, Gloaming King,” I said, making sure I sounded pleasant.

  “You as well, Chancellor of the Gloaming Court and Consort to the Grey King.”

  For a moment, I thought I would be irritated at him mentioning the consort title, but then I saw the mischievous glint in his eyes and knew he was purposely teasing me. It made me laugh, “Okay, you almost got me.”

  I stood up and walked over to him. He maintained his teasing expression but I saw his body tense up as I got close. I slid my arms around his waist and gave him a quick hug. Then I went up on tip-toe, placing my hands against his chest for balance, and laid a kiss against his cheek. His hands covered mine on his chest and the rest of his body stayed very still like he was savoring the moment.

  “Thank you,” he said softly. He pulled one of my hands up to his mouth and kissed against the base of my thumb on the palm side. Then he stepped back and left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

  I turned and looked at Felix, rubbing my hand where Drest had just laid that kiss. “Kind of intense?” Felix asked.

  “Yes. I felt bad that I was much more important to him than he is to me.”

  “It does make it a little awkward, but I only saw good intentions from him,” he said.

  I took two quick steps and launched myself at Felix. He caught me and let us spill back onto the bed, but kept us tucked up against each other. “Think he likes men?” I asked lightly.

  “Are we going to have the threesome conversation again?” Felix asked, feigning a jaded tone in his voice.

  “Mac will only go so far when it’s the three of us so it’s a valid question,” I responded, kissing along his jaw with a chuckle.

  “Then if Drest is more comfortable with me, you may get your wish granted, my impish angel.”

  “Mmmm,” I made a happy noise against his ear, “Tell me more.”

  He just growled and rolled over on top of me, making me laugh breathlessly and disrupting most of our plans for sleep.

  The light outside was never on a set schedule. It was always gloaming time, or twilight time here in this new court. The time between sunset and full dark. A time of transition. A soft spoken Brownie woman came into my room and touched me on the arm, waking me up gently. I smiled at her even if I didn’t recognize her.

  “Hello,” I whispered since Felix was still asleep behind me.

  “Good morning, lady Roz. I’m part of the new staff and when you are in residence I will be your attendant. My name is Bayla.”

  Felix moved his arm out from around me and turned onto his back. He was awake but he would lay there and relax for a while. He technically didn’t need to sleep but he enjoyed doing it with me some nights. It was a way for him to refocus his power which he had needed after his time with Maeve.

  “Nice to meet you, Bayla.”

  “Breakfast will be served in the great room in a few moments. Your friend Darby is already downstairs. The Queen has sent a new outfit for both you and Felix.”

  “Thank you, Bayla,” I said, rubbing the remnants of sleep out of my eyes.

  “I stocked the bathroom with toiletries before I woke you.”
r />   “Thank you again,” I said, smiling at her. She hovered at the bedside like she was waiting for me to get up. I leaned towards her a little while holding the sheets up to my chest. “Bayla,” I whispered.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m not wearing any clothes.”

  “And you would like some privacy?” She asked, unfazed by the fact that I was nude.

  “Please.”

  She grinned at me. Her dark eyes twinkled in her small noseless face. “I’ll see you downstairs then.”

  Bayla left the room quietly. Felix dragged me down beside him, kissing me and pulling my naked body up against his. I opened the link to Mac. Felix added his own power to it so it was clear and felt as if Mac was right beside us. He would retreat if sex really started, but he enjoyed the naked morning snuggles.

  “I miss you very much,” I thought to Mac.

  “I miss you too, Dove. I can’t wait for these mornings to be real again.”

  Felix caressed his fingers through my hair and held me, but left room on my back like Mac was really there to spoon his body up against me too. I didn’t have this kind of connection to Jason. Mac did, but he would avoid the connection since Meredith had now taken their oaths and would be able to snoop in. Felix was able to keep her blocked out since he was an equal power to her.

  Mac eventually pulled back from our minds. I gave Felix one more kiss then slipped out of the bed and went to the shower to get ready. Bayla had laid the new outfit Aurnia sent on the bathroom counter. The jeans were regular dark blue denim, but the top was a lovely rose shade that you sometimes saw on the bottom side of clouds at sunset. It was sleeveless and flowy with a white floral design that went down the spine and grew wider as it got lower. The hiking boots she had given me yesterday were also laid out with the outfit. They didn’t exactly go with the feminine top but function over fashion made it necessary.

  When I came back out, he was already gone. I felt a pang of regret that he wasn’t there, but I knew that freeing his dad was weighing on him heavily. I got ready quickly and headed downstairs to join everyone else.

  The court was slowly filling up with more and more new residents. So far, Drest and Aurnia had been selective about who was allowed to enter. It wasn’t the best idea for too many people to know that Felix had broken free of his enslavement to Maeve and Drest didn’t want the Trows knowing what he was up to until after we had gotten Hanna, Azrael and Eziel out of their prison.

  The other two courts had both sent staff members that were interested in living at the new court. Iona had returned to her family at the Unseelie Court but Barden didn’t seem to have any plan of leaving. He was sitting across from Darby with a plate of food. I went over to the buffet table and fixed myself a plate of eggs and toast then went and sat beside Darby.

  Felix wasn’t in the room, but neither were Drest or Aurnia so I figured they were talking about plans for the rescue. Darby turned a playful expression at me and asked, “Was it a good night?”

  “Very,” I replied warmly.

  “Would you be offended if I left you without a head massage therapist and just lived here forever?”

  “I expect to hear the same kind of thing from Dad soon,” I said with a laugh, then asked her, “Did you get a room to stay in?”

  “I stayed with Aurnia,” she admitted. At my wide eyed look she shook her head and said, “Not like that. We just talked. But, I think she might have been flirting?”

  I smiled at her, holding back a sigh. I wanted Darby to be happy. I hated that she seemed to be drifting farther away from the relationship with Sylvia. Still, Darby seemed more like herself since we had arrived in Fairy. She had been content living with Sylvia, but maybe there was something missing there. Some of her usual playfulness had been missing.

  I had reasoned that it had to do with Felix missing, but some of that playfulness had returned before we knew we could bring him back home with us. I hoped Sylvia would forgive me when I responded, “I think that’s probably true.”

  “Serious?” she asked.

  “Yes, serious. I think she likes you.”

  Darby turned her eyes back down to her plate without seeing it. I could feel her drift away with her own thoughts and turned my attention to Barden. His midnight skin and hair showed all of that faint sheen of multicolor glitter as the constant golden hour sunlight streamed in from over the beach. The light in the banquet hall was set on flattering at all times.

  “Hey, handsome,” I said to him.

  “Good morning, our little Lune Weaver. Your face is glowing now that you have your love back with you.”

  “I feel pretty glowy,” I admitted. Darby came back to Earth and looked at my face, chuckling at my goofy smile. But our attentions were captured by the door that led to the dungeons opening.

  Aurnia strode out first, wearing a gown that was close to the shade as the lavender dress that Darby wore. Drest and Felix walked out behind her with Maeve between them. I stiffened as they brought her into the room.

  “Why bring her up here?” Darby asked.

  “Conall is coming to bring Mr. and Mrs. Hunt for a visit and to take Maeve back to the Unseelie Court for punishment.”

  I was excited that my parents were coming, but seeing Maeve walk in the room made me decide to try and contact my uncle Raguel. “I am going to try and invoke Raguel,” I whispered to Darby.

  “Will he realize it’s you?” she asked.

  “I’ll just keep trying until he pays attention.”

  “Okay, I’ll stay here with you while you concentrate.”

  Barden stood and reached across the table to take my hand. “I must go make some preparations. I will see you later.”

  “Okay, Barden, stay safe.”

  He squeezed my hand before letting it go and walking out of the room.

  I laid my hand on Darby’s shoulder and closed my eyes while I tried to reach that place in my mind where I could invoke an angel. As before, it wasn’t as simple as it once was. It was trying to focus through a foggy night. I began praying before I could clearly see his face. Each prayer brought him into better and better focus.

  Conall’s presence filtered in through my thoughts and I realized that my parents must have arrived. I didn’t want to break my concentration yet and prayed more urgently. Darby stayed relaxed under my hand, letting me know it was okay to stay focused elsewhere.

  I jumped when Raguel finally turned his attention to me. His presence was like a shaft of golden sunlight had landed in my mind. Darby laid her fingers over mine in a soothing gesture, but she had grown tense because she could sense what I was feeling. I got no sense of what Raguel was thinking, only that he was focusing on me intently.

  Then Darby tapped my hand. I opened my eyes to realize that I was bathed in the shaft of heavenly light that I had thought only existed in my mind. Everyone in the room was looking at me with expressions of wonder. I found my parents standing in the middle of the room with Conall and my mom had tears in her eyes at seeing me with the angelic atmosphere around me. The light grew more intense, then so much so that everyone had to start shielding their eyes.

  His aura was the first thing I sensed; a peaceful sweep of a bubbling creek that was warm against your feet as you waded across. The light receded enough for me to look on my uncle’s face. He wasn’t overly tall or broad. Hanna, my angelic mom, was small too. They shared the same green eyes and had the same shape to their mouths. His beard was as blond as the hair one his head and reached down to his collarbone. He had arrived in full glory; long white wings, white robes, sandaled feet and sword and shield in his hands.

  “Who are you?” he asked before all of the heavenly light had faded.

  “Before this form, I had another. Your niece, Alidia.”

  His face showed so many emotions. He was here because he thought my essence was familiar, he never would have come otherwise. But hearing it confirmed made him lose control over his typically guarded face. Shock widened his eyes and parted his lips.
Sorrow for years lost followed and made his face crumble around the edges. Then confusion wrinkled his brow as his sword and shield faded from his hands, disappearing from sight, then he dropped to one knee in front of me and held out his hand for mine.

  I laid my hand in his and we gripped each other. “How did this happen?”

  Darby turned to face him more directly and caught his attention. Surprise captured his face this time as he asked her, “You are Naomi, aren’t you?”

  She nodded and he took her hand as well. His power tingled its way up my arm. I didn’t begrudge him that little peak. The way it made his aura seep into my skin was amazing too. All that fresh heavenly air filling me up from the inside out gave me the feeling of being home. Raguel spent very little time outside of heaven so that essence just radiated off of him.

  “May I look?” he asked of me, and I knew he meant if he could dive into my mind to find the answers to his questions. I hesitated just a moment to make eye contact with Felix. He gave me a single approving nod.

  “Yes, Uncle.”

  He released Darby’s hand and placed both of his hands around mine. There was no sensation of invasion other than my thoughts became fuzzy around the edges as he shoved my stream of conscious thought aside. I felt him withdraw again after a couple of moments. He regarded me solemnly as he went to his feet. I thought he was trying to decide what he would say.

  But it wasn’t words of comfort he was seeking. It was a debate over repercussions being worth his next action. He turned so fast, his wings and robes whipping out around him, then an intense shaft of blinding white light exploded from his open screaming mouth. It was a thousand screams laid over one. They resonated through the air as that projectile of light thundered across the room straight for Felix.

  Raguel didn’t have the power to terminate an archdemon, but he could make Felix hurt. It hit him square in the chest as he stood there between Barden and Maeve and sent him crashing back across the room, destroying two sturdy armchairs as he tumbled backwards.

  He landed against the wall and the entire room seemed to shudder. Wind blew my hair across my face as Raguel’s great wings flapped downward and vaulted him into the air. His sword reappeared and lightning swarmed down it and his arm. He swung it downward, and a great bolt of that lightning cracked across the room and struck Felix.