“Oh,” Esmelle muttered, and her shoulders slumped. “Well, drat. What are our options? Should we make plans to take Sabine away from the city?”
Sabine studied her hands, wishing there were a clear solution. “I don’t know if leaving and hiding elsewhere is a viable option. I’ve never heard of anyone being able to outrun the Wild Hunt, and I won’t risk allowing anyone here to stand beside me when it comes. I’m not sure what can be done.”
Bane scowled. “Absolutely not. Sabine, do not even think about sacrifi—”
At Balkin’s threatening growl, Sabine held Bane’s gaze and shook her head in warning. The demon glanced over at Balkin, his eyes flashing to silver briefly. Bane wasn’t happy at her request for silence, but she didn’t want another confrontation with Balkin. Even if the Beastman could be a little overbearing at times, he had more experience in these matters than any of them. While she might rely upon and trust Dax and Bane, Balkin didn’t have the same sort of relationship with them. She needed Balkin’s help. He’d managed to keep her alive this long. Hopefully, he might have some insight into how she could escape from this mess.
Someone knocked on the door, and Dax pushed away from the table. He strolled over to the door, opened it a crack, and snapped, “I told you no interruptions. The next person who knocks on this door will have their head removed from their shoulders.”
The slightest trace of hesitation colored Javyn’s words as he said, “A-apologies, Dax. I know you don’t wish to be disturbed, but the ship captain has returned. He claims Sabine is expecting him.”
“Fine. Send him in,” Dax said with disgust and turned away, prowling over to the far side of the room where he kept a selection of liquor. “I should have killed the ship captain when he first arrived.”
Javyn stepped aside, allowing Malek to enter the room, and then closed the door behind him. If Malek had heard Dax’s remark, he chose not to comment. Instead, Malek paused, taking in the room’s occupants before his gaze fell on Sabine. His expression softened, and a trace of lingering regret filled his eyes. In that moment, Sabine knew she’d been right about trusting him, despite the secrets they’d kept from each other.
Balkin moved to stand beside her, drawing Malek’s attention. Malek gave the Beastman a small nod in greeting, acknowledging his presence but nothing more. If they’d been in a formal Faerie court setting, such a move would have been expected. The fact Malek had known the proper greeting to one of the Beastpeople was surprising and disconcerting. But nothing much should surprise her anymore when it came to Malek. The self-proclaimed ship captain had proven to be skilled at adapting no matter the circumstances.
Before Sabine could address him or introduce Balkin, Blossom abandoned her braiding and darted out from her hair. The tiny pixie fluttered around Malek, inspecting him from various angles. “Are you really a dragon? I heard they smell like burned leaves, but you don’t. And where’s your tail? Dragons are supposed to have a tail. Big teeth too. And fire magic. Right?”
A laugh bubbled out of Esmelle. Malek glanced over at Sabine and arched his eyebrow. The deviation from protocol eased the worst of the tension in the room.
Sabine’s mouth twitched in a smile. “He’s really a dragon, Blossom. The warding medallion around his neck is still active. Maybe you can convince him to take it off later.” She gestured to Balkin, who was still in a defensive position beside her and too well-trained to relax over a pixie’s wayward comments. “Malek, I’d like you to meet Balkin, my blood-bonded guardian. I believe you already know everyone else.”
Malek studied Balkin for a long time and dipped his head even lower, a sign of deep respect. “Well met, Balkin. It’s an honor to meet one of the Beastpeople.”
A heavy pause filled the room. Balkin prowled around the table toward Malek. “So you’re the dragon wanting to get his hands on the artifacts used to seal the portal? And you want to use my mistress to do so?”
Sabine remained still, curious how Malek would handle Balkin’s questions.
“I am, but only if she is willing,” Malek agreed and glanced at Sabine again. He gestured to the small wooden box under his arm. “I brought some of my notes detailing my search. It’s my hope Sabine will consent to aid me in my hunt for the missing artifacts. If not, I will continue my search elsewhere. I mean her no harm, regardless of her decision.”
Balkin’s pelt shifted, smoothing over in the way it did when he eased out of fight mode. It could change instantly, but Malek’s comments had in some small way reassured Balkin. The Beastman didn’t trust easily, but he was at least willing to hear Malek out. Sabine nodded at Balkin, and he gestured for Malek to place the box on the table.
The box itself was rather unremarkable, but it appeared to have been carved from one solid piece of wood. Runed symbols of protection had been etched into silver locks, the only ornamentation on the container. Malek unfastened the locking mechanism and slid it open. Curious, Sabine walked over to the box and watched as Malek withdrew a large stack of parchment. Her eyes widened in surprise. He’d obviously dedicated a significant amount of time to this endeavor.
Blossom darted back over to Sabine’s shoulder and under her hair. Sabine ignored her giggles and the light tugging as the pixie started braiding her hair again. Malek spread out his notes on the table.
“I’ve brought most of my research, including information acquired by some of my family members over the years. When we first realized the portal was failing, we believed the Fae or the gods themselves had found a way to deactivate it. We’ve spent years trying to identify and search for the artifacts used in the original workings to seal it.”
Sabine picked up one of the loose parchment pieces. It was a sketch of a chalice that bore a striking resemblance to the one currently sitting on the table. “How did you come to learn about this one?”
Malek studied the drawing she held. “When I was a child, my grandmother told me the story about the portal. She saw the chalice once, before it was passed along to the cupbearer to hide. The sketch was made by her hand, years before we realized the portal was becoming active once again. I found the sketch in her belongings after she left this world.”
Sabine nodded, staring at the drawing again. The flowing signature at the bottom caught her attention. She didn’t recognize the clan name, but the name Elis’andreia was definitely Fae in origin.
Balkin rifled through the papers, skimming over each one briefly before he moved on to the next. He looked at the sketch in Sabine’s hand and growled low in his throat. “I recognize that name. It was believed Elis’andreia was killed in a skirmish with the dragons after the portal was closed. You claim she was living in the Sky Cities?”
Malek nodded. “She was captured but later freed. The story I heard was she’d been injured by an iron blade and left for dead. My grandfather found her after the battle had been won. He was so enamored with her beauty, he brought her back to the Sky Cities and offered a boon to any healer who managed to save her life.”
Sabine looked up at Malek in surprise. Any wounds made from an iron weapon usually acted like a lethal poison to a Fae, moving throughout their bloodstream and cutting off their ties to their magic. Iron wasn’t native to this world, but the dragons had found a way to bring the rocks from the heavens and through the portal. When combined with dragonfire, these meteorites could be crafted into iron weapons.
“Did she recover fully?”
He smiled down at her and nodded. “Yes. It took a great number of healers and many years before she regained her strength. While she was recovering, my grandfather visited her often. At first, she didn’t want anything to do with him. He started bringing her gifts, hoping her feelings toward him would eventually change.”
“A dragon parting with their hoard?” Dax scoffed in disbelief and walked to the sidebar to pour himself another drink.
Esmelle wrinkled her nose at Dax. “You’re one to talk. How many gifts have you given to Sabine after you’ve made her angry?”
&n
bsp; Ignoring Dax’s scowl, Sabine asked, “Was that enough for her feelings to change?”
Malek glanced down at her hand on his arm, and his gaze softened. She hadn’t realized she’d reached out to him. “No. She still didn’t want anything to do with him. He purchased gifts from merchants who had traveled to the farthest reaches of the world. He offered Elisa jewels, gold, silks, paintings, anything and everything you could imagine. She refused all of them.”
Esmelle rested her head in her hands. “So what finally changed her mind?”
“A flower.”
Sabine blinked up at him in surprise. “She missed her home, and he offered her a piece of it.”
“Yes,” he agreed, reaching up to adjust one of the lavender flowers Blossom had tucked into her braids. “He loved her too much to force her to remain in the Sky Cities. So he went to her one last time with nothing more than a flower from the Silver Forest and an offer of freedom. He told her he would arrange for safe passage back to Faerie, if she wanted to return. And if not, he said his ship would take her anywhere in the world if she wanted to travel.”
“But she didn’t want to go. She’d fallen in love with him too,” Sabine guessed, wondering how she would have handled it if she’d been in the same position. Leaving Faerie had changed Sabine so much she wasn’t sure how she would adapt when the time came for her to return. She’d seen and done too much to fall back easily into that way of life, even if part of her desperately missed it.
Malek nodded. “Elisa used her magic on the flower, making it grow and designing an entire garden in tribute to it. That garden thrived for the rest of her life and was a constant source of enjoyment for our family. My grandfather frequently kept an eye out for more plants from the Silver Forest, and Elisa added them to her garden.”
“That’s how the pixies found her, isn’t it?” Sabine asked, recalling pieces of the story Malek had already shared.
“I believe so. One day, they just appeared in her garden, and my grandmother was thrilled. She used to say she had her very own piece of Faerie right in the Sky Cities.”
Bane arched his brow. “A charming yet somewhat sentimental tale. I’ve heard other much more believable stories about dragons and their Fae captives, not to mention the ugly reality of everything that entailed. It’s unlikely he would have allowed her to leave.”
Sabine paused and pulled her hand away from Malek in acknowledgment of Bane’s warning. “You don’t believe he could have charmed her?”
“Anything is possible,” Bane admitted, picking up her wine and bringing it over to where Sabine stood. “But this story is one that was probably told to an impressionable child—a child who would have wanted to believe in the romance of the tale, rather than the harsh truth about his family or how a Fae captive could have been brutalized in the hands of the dragons.”
Unsettled at the thought, Sabine accepted the wine from him and took a sip, the memory of Fae magic sharp on her tongue. She replayed the story Malek had just shared in her mind. Perhaps Bane was right; truth was often written by the victors, and it probably wasn’t as romantic as Malek’s story suggested. But maybe there was an element of truth somewhere.
Malek looked down at Sabine. “I wasn’t there, so I can only share with you what I’ve heard. That was the version of the story my grandmother told me. One day, I asked her if she missed her home and wanted to go back. She told me she didn’t. My grandfather had even offered to send word to her family, letting them know she was alive and well, but she refused. She didn’t think they would understand her decision to stay. It was better, she said, for them to think she had perished during the battle.”
“Elis’andreia was correct,” Balkin said, putting the parchment he’d been reviewing back in the box. “I did not know her personally, but I heard stories. Elis’andreia was skilled in nature magic and was able to communicate directly with the Silver Trees. It was by her blood and magic that one of the strongest rings of protective trees was grown and became sentient in the Silver Forest. They were her children. When the trees attacked the invading dragons, the dragons burned that area of the forest to the ground.”
Sabine shook her head, her heart breaking for the loss of the forest. “I’ve never understood why they attacked the trees. They’re only part of Faerie’s defense, not designed for an offensive attack.”
Balkin patted her shoulder in understanding. “It was a different time, my darling kitten. The magic of this world was being used by the gods to battle the dragons in the heavens, and very little was leftover for the creatures here trying to defend the world. The Fae were dying at an alarming rate and this world along with them. They needed the Silver Forest and the Beastpeople to help protect them from extinction.”
“I think I’m missing something,” Esmelle said with a frown. “Why would the dragons have focused on the Fae and the Silver Forest? It’s such a small piece of territory. I thought their war was with the gods.”
Sabine gave her a sad smile, recalling the lessons from her youth. “It was, but the Fae have always been the caretakers of this world. We were gifted with the magic of the gods, and as we nurtured this world, our power grew, as did that of the gods. Once, at the height of our power, the Silver Forests covered much of this continent and far beyond it. But as Balkin mentioned, the trees weren’t always sentient. That was done out of necessity after the dragons began targeting our people to try to diminish the power of the gods. My people were forced to withdraw to a very small and more defensible position. There, they have remained—nurturing the heart of Faerie.”
“A lot of the pixie clans died too,” Blossom said as she darted over to grab another bunch of lavender flowers. She buried her nose in the petals and added, “When the forests and flowers died, we didn’t have anywhere to go. Nothing would grow in the sand or without the Fae to give life to the soil. It was the Starving Times. We remember.”
At the sight of Blossom’s distress, Sabine held out her hand. Blossom landed on her palm, and Sabine sent a light wave of reassuring magic over the tiny pixie. It wasn’t just the Fae who had suffered during the war. The effects had spread far and wide, blanketing large portions of the world and rendering some areas mostly barren. Even after the portal had been closed, the Fae were reluctant to venture far from Faerie. It was too dangerous, and their numbers were too few. The world had suffered as a result.
“I haven’t heard it referred to as the Starving Times for many years. The pixie’s correct though. That was why the demons and dwarves made an alliance with the Unseelie Fae,” Bane said, reaching over to refill Sabine’s wine glass. “We embraced their darker magics and allowed them refuge in our underground cities. The Unseelie were generous in sharing their magic with us, while the pretentious Seelie got a sunburn.” He gave her a mocking courtly bow usually only seen in Faerie. “Unless they’re called Sabine and deign to bring us into the light along with her.”
Sabine’s mouth twitched in a hint of a smile, and she shook her head in exasperation. “Behave.”
Malek’s brow furrowed. “I haven’t heard most of this. I admit, information can be somewhat skewed depending on the source. My grandmother rarely spoke about the time she spent living with the Fae. She said it was too painful to remember.”
Dax sneered. “Convenient you only remember the sentimental and romantic parts of the story, especially given your desire for Sabine to assist you.” He put his mug on the table with a clank and gestured to Sabine. “Regardless of what you claim, your presence here and knowing Sabine’s identity puts her in danger. And that, I will not tolerate.”
Malek arched his brow. “No more a danger than consorting with demons.”
Dax slapped his hand to his weapon. Sabine tensed and started to intervene, but Balkin moved in front of Dax.
“Enough,” Balkin said, a trace of a growl in his voice. “I will speak with this dragon in private. Dax, you will escort the witch, the pixie, and your brother elsewhere until my business is concluded.”
Da
x’s eyes flared to silver as he studied Malek. A wicked smile curved the corners of his mouth as though pleased at what Balkin’s request might mean for the ship captain. Sabine frowned, but Malek didn’t seem concerned. She didn’t know why Balkin wanted to speak with him alone, nor did she know Malek well enough to be confident he wouldn’t offend the Beastman. Even if she was still unsure about Malek, she didn’t want him harmed.
Esmelle hesitated, glancing back and forth between them. Finally, she shrugged. “Right. I’m thinking this probably isn’t the best place to be right now. Blossom, you want to come with me?”
Sabine nodded at the pixie. Blossom smiled shyly and dove back under the cover of the lavender plant. Esmelle picked up the pot and said, “We’ll wait for you in the kitchen. I think Martha might have some honey cakes for Blossom.”
Blossom trilled happily as Esmelle headed out of the room. Dax started to follow but paused, arching his brow at Bane who hadn’t moved. Bane returned his wordless stare with a meaningful look. Dax chuckled and gave him a curt nod before heading for the door. Sabine frowned. It had been several years since they’d engaged in their wordless communication, and it usually indicated impending trouble.
“I don’t follow your orders, Beastman,” Bane said, crossing his arms over his chest. “My agreement is only with Sabine. If she stays, I will remain with her.”
Sabine hesitated, glancing back and forth between Balkin and Bane. This had the potential to be very bad. Bane was usually much more levelheaded and controlled about things, but he was acting more like Dax. It wasn’t entirely within his character.
Balkin narrowed his eyes on the demon. “You believe I’m not capable of protecting the daughter of my heart?”
“I believe your absence has affected her more than you want to admit. You left her here in this city and did not think she would form equally strong bonds with those who stayed by her side?”
To Kill a Fae Page 26