by River Starr
I leveled her with a look. “Then it’s a good thing I’m only half-fae, aren’t I? Back up.”
“Nyx,” Dax said from across the way. He and Titus stood side by side, watching me.
I ignored him and reached between the bars once more, feeling my way around the lock. The iron-poisoning hit immediately as soon as I rested my wrists on the outer face of the lock. I groaned as nausea washed over me.
Deep breaths. That’d stave off the nausea, as well as any nerves.
Carefully, I used the lockpick to work my way around the inner portion of the lock. It was complicated and filled with several tumblers. But there was no way I’d let my record be broken on today of all days. Not while the water continued rising and explosions sounded every few seconds. At one point, it sounded like there was fighting on the floor above us. The ceiling above our cell cracked and more water dripped down.
“Nyx,” Frost said, her tone growing desperate.
“Almost there,” I said, sticking my tongue into the side of my cheek. “Come on, come on.”
Click.
The door unlocked and slid open.
I grinned wide. “Not a single lock in the world that I can’t break.”
Frost leaped forward and hugged me tight. “You’re one hell of a thief! A better thief than a murderer.”
I unwrapped Frost’s arms from me and hurried across the way to the guys’ cell.
“Nice work,” Dax said as I started on their lock.
“Thanks.” I briefly glanced down the corridor as I worked on the lock, ignoring the way my hands and wrists had been burned by the iron. “I don’t know if I have time to get everyone free.”
“Don’t,” Titus said. “Most people here are truly monsters.”
“And some, like us, are innocents,” I argued.
Frost appeared in my vision, her light eyes filled with determination. “We’re getting out of here. Just the four of us. We can’t save everyone.” She rose to Dax’s height. “Have you figured out how to work the teleportation circles?”
“Yes,” Dax said. “It’s a combination of thinking where you want to go, fae magic, and some words.”
“Fae words?” Frost asked.
“Yes.”
She smiled. “Great.” Then her expression grew curious. “How do you know the fae language?”
I swallowed hard and focused on their lock. Dax knew the language because of Eos, no doubt. Which meant Eos and Dax’s relationship had gone of for a long time without my knowing.
“Don’t worry about it,” Dax said.
Frost went to protest, but the lock clicked open. It was enough to distract her from that line of questioning. “Perfect. Let’s get out of here.”
Weaponless save for the small amount of magic we had at our disposal, the four of us moved down the corridor toward the rune circle. Our fellow inmates shouted and pleaded for help and freedom, but we ignored them. It was hard to do. I was sure that the sea fae, in all their cruelty, had imprisoned many innocent people like Titus and me. But I could only look out for myself and my own unit. There was no guarantee we’d even make it to the circle for our plan to work.
When we got to the end of the corridor, no guards in sight, Frost pulled us all into the center of the circle. It was a tight fit. Now I understood why the guards only took us one at a time. I was pressed between the guys and their opposite body temperatures. Dax’s skin was nearly as cold as the water collecting around our shins, but Titus’s fiery dragon shifter form kept me warm enough that shivers were staved off.
“Home,” Frost said in the fae language. I didn’t know how to read or write it, but I understood just enough to get that word.
The circle didn’t light up.
“Truro,” Dax said next.
Frost shot Dax a glare as nothing they tried worked. “What the hell?”
Titus pointed upward. “There’s a circle on every floor.”
I nodded as panic started setting in. “You’re right. What if the only one designed to work and leave the prison is on the infirmary level for emergencies or the docking platform?” The room spun a little and I staggered. Dax caught me, a questioning look in his eyes. “Iron-poisoning.”
Titus inclined his head, either unaware of my predicament or without care for it. “Each circle does look different. The one I drew for you was more complicated.”
Frost sighed heavily and clasped and unclasped her hands. She was antsy, and I understood. Our window for escape was closing fast. “Okay. Infirmary.”
The circle lit up and a bright light flashed. In the next moment, the old fae magic had deposited us on the infirmary level… and right into an all-out brawl.
Rebels, denoted by their lack of uniforms and their rough iron blades, fought against the prison guards. Blood lined the floor and spattered across the walls. Our arrival caught one rebel’s attention, a male with long, dark hair and bright sea-green eyes. He whistled loudly and several more rebels turned toward us.
“Shit,” I exclaimed as I brought my hands up, ready to fight.
Frost opened her mouth to say another location, but a torrent of water flew toward us through the air, courtesy of the rebels.
I threw up my hands and divided it around us, but the effort it took combined with the iron-poisoning from picking our locks sent me straight to me knees. I landed palms against the sea stone, my chest heaving.
“Watch out!” Dax shouted as three rebels charged our way.
Frost went to toss out some of her own magic but ended up having to dodge several attacks made with iron weapons. She cursed under her breath and continued dancing expertly around the swipes.
Titus barreled forward and tackled one of the rebels to the ground. With a few brutal punches, Titus stood and grabbed the rebel’s weapon.
Dax squared off against the other two rebels, taking only a swipe to the arm from one of their blades before breaking the neck of the other. Frost shot out a tiny shard of ice right through the remaining rebel’s throat. I turned away as Dax’s eyes shone red and he took advantage of the meal before him.
“The prisoners have escaped!” one of the sea fae guard called. “Get them!”
Great. Now we had a three-way fight on our hands.
“Get back to the circle—now!” Frost called as she did so herself. She stood now in the middle with a dark blue glow to her eyes that lessened only as she began to wince.
That’s when I felt it too: the tracking tattoos seared fire right into my neck. Fever washed over me almost immediately, a wave of burning warmth that added to the iron-poisoning and made me feel woozy. The room spun as the fighting continued. I pressed against the stone and forced myself to stand, even if it meant leaning on the wall beside me.
Through bleary eyes and agony, I watched the prison guards fight both the rebels and my unit. With Frost, Titus, and Dax helping, the rebels’ numbers were thinned, but so too were the guards’ as my unit attacked without regard.
That was when I saw him weaving through the fight, his armor tight and his trident gleaming with sea fae magic. Zavian danced like the wind between attackers on his way down the corridor, silencing rebel forces as he went.
Dax cried out as a prison guard sliced him once more. He returned the favor by breaking his neck and smiling ferociously with blood between his teeth and dripping down his chin.
Another explosion rocked the prison. I ducked out of the way of falling debris and slammed right into one of the rebels, this time a woman with white hair tied tight to her head. She snarled at me and reeled back her first. I inhaled quickly to steel myself, then caught the attack and punched her square in the face. Even that motion sent off another wave of agony as the glow from my tracking tattoo shone even brighter. I commanded the water at our feet to wrap around her ankles and pulled her sideways to the ground.
“Nyx!” Dax shouted. “Shit!”
The desperation in his voice chilled me to the bone. I followed his line of sight to where, amongst the chaos, Frost had
pulled back to the teleportation circle and now had Zavian held against her, an iron blade against his throat even as her own hand shook from iron-poisoning. Zavian’s magic reached out to mine, but not with the same force as before. His power was weak, and growing weaker yet thanks to the iron at his throat.
“No!” I screamed, my throat raw by the end of it. Seeing him so close to death shorn my heart in two. It had me staggering forward on weak feet, clawing at the wall for support. “Don’t do it, Frost!”
Panic swept through me. I’d lose Zavian if she slit his throat. I’d lose my fated mate. Even if healing magic was immediately applied, the iron in his system from the blade would halt all healing attempts on a wound that fatal. And even though I still wanted to punch him senseless for not working on freeing me with the standing he held, even though I wanted to hate him, I didn’t want him to die. I wanted Zavian here with me, both of us dancing around each other in a song of hate and passion until we both died together, a long time from now, of old age.
“I’m getting out of here either way,” Frost said as she glared at all of us. “This is the only way. I refuse to bow to this prison and rot in hell.” She moved the blade closer to Zavian’s throat.
His face paled from the iron-poisoning, his eyebrows knitting together. His normally light blue cerulean gaze turned dark.
Another explosion hit the prison, rattling the walls. Zavian took the distraction and cried out, “Kill them all!”
His fellow prison guards returned the cry, and the battle around us returned into full chaotic swing. Another rebel charged me, but Titus appeared at the last second and tackled him to the ground while I approached Frost with a raised hand.
“You don’t have to do this,” I told her.
“I do.” Frost’s eyes glowed along with the runes beneath her feet. “And I’m taking your lover with me. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. I know the deals you’ve made. You never intended to break out with all of us, so I’m leaving without any of you.”
The last of the runes lit up. My time was running out.
At the very moment Frost opened her mouth to speak the words necessary to leave this prison, I lunged for her, commanding water to slide up between the hairsbreadth of space between her blade and Zavian’s throat. I threw my hand to the side and pulled the knife away as our bodies connected. The three of us went tumbling past the rune circle and back toward the infirmary as yet another explosion shattered the ceiling above us.
Water poured in as Frost and I wrestled for the iron blade. She was stronger than me right now thanks to my iron-poisoning, and in these tight quarters, I wasn’t quick enough to disarm her before she yanked the blade from my grip, dragging it along my palm at the same time.
This final hit of iron sent my eyes rolling back, my body with it to the sea stone floor. Through closing eyes, I watched as Frost made it back to the remains of the rune circle. Even though she said the words and cast her fae magic on it, the runes blinked in and out as though broken and unreliable. When the bright light finally shone, a successful connection, it wavered as water continued to pour in from the ceiling.
At the very moment Frost disappeared, another chunk of ceiling fell through right next to the circle and blocked off the entire corridor. Zavian and I were trapped.
My head hit the sea stone floor. Ice cold water filled my ears and sound became muffled. Zavian’s face appeared above mine and he pulled me from the water, cradling me in his arms.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Zavian said as he took his free hand and waved it over my neck. The icy cold water had sobered my mind, but as his magic caressed my neck, the searing pain from the tracking tattoo went away too.
“I wasn’t going to let her kill you,” I said softly.
“Yet you let them kill as many prison guards as rebels.” His tone was curt and angry as he ripped off a portion of his uniform and wrapped it around my injured hand, still with me cradled in his arms. My head rested in the crook of his elbow.
Zavian’s face in the midst of this chaos was like a sunrise after a never-ending, dreadful night. He was the sun and moon all the same, as sea fae believed in the power of that moon and its sway over water. Over life itself.
I reached up and brushed my fingertips against his beautiful Romanesque face. I wanted to touch him, to feel the warmth from his sunrise as my body ran cold. My vision spun, but Zavian’s warm, strong hold anchored me in reality.
“We can treat the iron-poisoning,” he said, all matter-of-fact as he took my hand away from his face. His eyes wrinkled and a deep worry line formed in his brow.
Why would he do that? Take my hand away from his face? I needed his warmth, his sun, his life to save mine.
Gods, what is this iron-poisoning doing to me?
“Nyx?” he asked, looking down at me. The moment our eyes connected as he held me in his arms, warmth bloomed in my chest, a heavy weight of emotion that both sobered my mind and sent my feelings spiraling, soaring over everything else. Nothing mattered in that moment. Not the attack on the prison, not my wounds. Not the thin red line of blood along his neck. Not even that we were both soaking wet with cold water that tightened parts of me as much as touching him did.
Zavian was warmth and life and everything. Literally everything in this moment.
My gaze fluttered down to his full lips and the wet white-blond hair framing his face. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to simply kiss him. To taste the saltwater on his lips. To wrap my arms around him and tangle my fingers into his long hair and completely lose whatever of myself still remained these days.
“You’re under the effects of iron-poisoning,” he whispered. His voice sent shivers rippling through me. Zavian took measured breaths, almost as if he were afraid to move.
“I’m not.”
His eyes narrowed, but there was a desperate sort of look about them. A pleading in his tone as he leaned down toward me. He moved his arm just enough to bring me closer to him. “Yes, you are, Nyx.”
I shuddered as he said my name with all the weight of the world. His voice wrapped around me like a cocoon. Outside our cutoff portion of the hallway, sounds of the fight continued. But in this moment, nothing but us existed.
I wanted him to know I was okay. That yes, I was poisoned, but I would recover. Already, I felt a hundred times better because he’d taken away the burning of the tracking tattoo.
I touched a hand to his chest, my palm flat against his armor. His breath hitched as my fingers touched him. I could feel his heartbeat racing in his chest. “Zavian…”
With a growl, he pulled me toward him and our lips crashed together with all the satisfaction of a crescendo in an unearthly melody. His mouth was a frenzy against mine as he pulled me up into his lap. He tasted like saltwater and cinnamon. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he inclined his head, deepening the kiss and exploring my mouth with wild abandon. My cheeks flushed, my breath ran ragged, but nothing, nothing was going to interrupt this moment. Rebel attack be damned. I’d make love to him right now if he’d let me.
I slid against him and he held a hand firmly to my back, pressing us as close together as we could possibly be in this moment. His cold, wet clothes glided along my own as my nipples hardened against his armor. He groaned as I tangled my fingers into his long, white-blond hair, using it as leverage to take over control of the kiss. He inhaled sharply at that and pulled back roughly, staring at me with hooded cerulean eyes.
I grinned. “Why stop? Don’t. No one can see us here.”
“You’re injured.”
“Your touch heals me, Zavian. I need you.” Gods, I needed him. I hadn’t realized it until now, until I’d seen him on death’s door, that life without Zavian would be hallow and dulled. I couldn’t stand to think of him dying because there was no part of me that could handle losing him for good. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I realized I might actually have real, genuine feelings for him. “Zavian, I—”
A hungry look over
took his expression. He pulled me back to him, kissing me again with fiery abandon. He moved me, shifting so my legs wrapped around him and only a few layers of clothes separated his growing hardness from me. I couldn’t help it as my hips slid against him there, our kiss wild and hot. I moaned into his mouth as our bodies connected at the right angle to send pleasure rippling through me for a hot second before—
The room spun again, unconsciousness threatening with all the effort of this kiss. I was still poisoned, and only now as our lips crashed against one another did that weakness return. Not even the touch and feel of my fated mate could keep the iron-poisoning away for long.
Worse than that, though, was the presence I felt tugging on that unconsciousness, as though helping the curtain lower on me.
“No,” I mumbled against Zavian’s lips. “Gods. Please, no.”
Zavian leaned back, a worried, confused expression on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“I…”
The world turned black before I could answer.
24
Eos
I awoke in the arms of a sea fae whose very power hummed at the same frequency of my own. It seemed as though I’d awakened in Nyx’s body during the throes of utmost passion. I grinned and leaned in to kiss her lover harder, silencing his questions and running my fingers through his hair. If this poor sea fae with Atlantean blood noticed the change in persona, he didn’t seem to mind. And it would make Dax furious. I liked when he was furious.
He was handsome, this sea fae. Beautiful like the Atlanteans of old, with large muscles and strong magic that strengthened my own. He was also utterly oblivious.
This poor fool didn’t see my attack coming as I moved my hands from his hair, down his shoulders and to his chest. He groaned with pleasure as I ground my hips against his hardness. He must have really liked Nyx. Sadly, I had other things to attend to. Things Nyx had apparently forgotten that I’d directed her to do last night.
I slowly slid my hands up this guard’s chest and wrapped them around his throat, strangling him. His eyes went wide and he jerked back his head, glaring in surprise at me.