by Ellie Margot
It wasn’t a comforting thought, and Riette tried to shake it because she had no choice but to do so. Then she heard a noise to her left.
The land they were entering had woods everywhere. Deep thatches of woods that would have felt like home to Riette if they had been made of Vitan. But instead, there was the warming smell of pine in the air all around them, and the thickness of the woods made seeing into them and keeping a guard around themselves difficult.
The noise was the sound of tree limbs being crunched underfoot. Riette knew it without looking that someone, or something, was sneaking toward them.
What intentions did they have?
Samantha whipped to the side, drawing a knife in either hand far quicker than she had been able to grab them before.
“Behind,” she hissed, and the rest fell in line behind her, though Samantha grabbed Riette’s hand when she got close enough.
The power connection didn’t surge to life by simple contact. The intention of both parties had to be present. This wasn’t that.
It was a sudden jerking of her arm to still Riette and keep her by Samantha’s side.
“By me,” she barked. She flicked her head to the right in some signal, and Damian ran head first into the woods.
“What if he’s ambushed?” Riette asked as she watched his large figure disappear into the thicket.
“Watch,” Samantha said with a noise that could only be described as a giggle.
And to Riette’s horror, she did.
Damian ran like a man possessed, and not for the first time, Riette wondered if he was. He seemed faster than he should have been, larger too.
“How did he...” Riette trailed off.
“The connection,” Samantha mumbled, her eyes not leaving Damian’s retreating back. “He’s stronger because I’m stronger.”
Riette turned to look at Cassian. “Him too?” she asked quietly, but she didn’t need Samantha to answer. Standing close behind, Cassian gave a curt nod, and she saw the sweat forming at his brow.
She wondered how she hadn’t noticed it before, immediately after the transaction with Samantha.
Cassian seemed to ripple with energy even as he stood still. He didn’t look at her. Something inside of him was avoiding it, and she could see it as clearly as if he had spoken. He didn’t want the magic that was surging through him. The way his eyes seemed to shift at the feeling of her gaze indicated to Riette that he was uncomfortable.
Despite telling herself to stop staring, it took a few beats to turn back toward Damian in the woods. She knew it was because she was scared of what she would see—terrified even, though the power seemed to thrum to life inside of her and warm her palms to a tingle.
When Riette did look, she was catching the tail end of what would be this man’s last moments.
The man sneaking toward them hadn’t been alone. Riette hadn’t noticed before. Her eyes had been too focused on the bulk of Damian and how fast he moved to take in anything else, but there had to have been more than one. There was too much blood pooled at Damian’s feet to mean anything else.
Damian held the man as he twitched and dangled above the ground. He was a mage. Riette didn’t know how she knew initially, but she felt something in herself recognize the magic that was leaking and struggling to life in this man. It was a magic that was failing him as he pulled at Damian’s hands.
Sparks seemed to fly a little from where he gripped Damian, but from what Riette could tell, he felt nothing. With the man in his hands, he swayed a little from side to side as if he were drunk. Riette suspected he was because there was something else she hadn’t seen before: a smile on Damian’s lips. His teeth didn’t show, but it was a holiday level of joy she was seeing, and her stomach turned at it.
There was a wrongness to it that made her fists clench.
“Why is he playing with him?” Riette asked. She could feel the others behind her, but no one else said anything. Their eyes were glued ahead.
Samantha said nothing, and Riette jerked her elbow, yanking her attention away. “Answer me,” Riette barked. It wasn’t her own voice leaving her throat. If she hadn’t said the words, if she had only heard them, she would have sworn her mother had spoken a decree.
Samantha looked away, but just barely. Riette could see the pulse jumping in her throat as Samantha watched Damian. She wondered for a moment if the vision before her had excited Samantha, and as soon as Riette had the thought and took in the redness that seemed to be at the forefront of Samantha’s cheeks, she knew it was true.
“There’s so little in life to enjoy, right?” Samantha asked, her gaze returning back to Damian. “Why not live a little?”
“He’s dying,” said Riette. “There isn’t a need to fuck with him.”
Samantha started at Riette’s tone, not unlike a child being corrected. She looked at Riette for just a second before putting her fingers to her lips and whistling shortly. It was high pitched and quick.
Riette watched Damian, and at Samantha’s command, he pulled his hand into a fist at the man’s throat, taking the flesh of the man with it.
Blood spurted and the redness of the innards caught the sunlight in a horrible sheen before the rest of the man fell from Damian’s grip, leaving only the dripping remains of the action in Damian’s hand.
Riette stilled and heard Corin shriek behind her.
“Shut her up,” said Samantha.
“Fuck you,” said Mekhi.
Samantha laughed without humor. “I’m sorry. Shut her up before she attracts more attention and we kill or be killed. Better?” She turned toward Mekhi, who held Corin in his arms as his girlfriend buried her face into his shoulder.
“What was that?” asked Riette.
“Damian doing what Damian does best.”
“Riette,” said Cassian. He cleared his throat, and Riette knew that he was trying to cut off a fight at its beginnings, but Riette didn’t want to hear it.
“We shouldn’t kill unless we absolutely have to,” said Riette. She stepped closer to Samantha. The small gap made her height over the blonde warlock more pronounced.
“Oh, princess,” Samantha cooed.
“Stop it.”
Samantha giggled again. Riette couldn’t characterize the laugh any other way, and Riette fought the urge to hit her.
Samantha smoothed her hair, even though it didn’t need it. Riette suspected she was gathering her words as if she were speaking to someone who had difficulty understanding simple things.
Flames licked softly at Riette’s hands.
Samantha looked up quickly. The blue of her eyes looked very clear. “Where do you think you are?” She stepped back and looked at Damian again before returning her gaze to Riette. “If we hadn’t killed them, they would have taken every one of you and drained you in fucking minutes. Or sold you to be drained after doing who the fuck knows what. Then they would have let everyone know that there were Elves here to be had. They had to die.”
“We don’t know what they were after us for,” said Mekhi.
“And we never will know,” said Trinity. “Not for sure.”
Samantha looked at each of them in turn, pausing for effect. “This is my fucking house. Everything here. I know how to best handle it. You’re coming in with me, which means you need to trust this is not your fucking lane.” She sounded angry but tired. Each sentence was slower than the last. “Let me handle it.”
Chapter 20
The prison was a day’s walk away. Despite being in warlock territory, night had come the same way it always did. Riette expected things to be different there. Not the fundamental things, but there was an energy in the air that she had felt nowhere else.
Even in Vitan where she knew there was power all around her in all of the Elves, she hadn’t felt an energy like there was in the territory of the dark mages.
She didn’t see much beyond the woods that surrounded them. Some people passed on the edges of the road they traveled, but Samantha didn’t acknowledge
them. From the looks of the people, Riette surmised that she didn’t see them as much of a threat.
Riette knew little about mages, but she knew there were two types. The dark mages, like Samantha, would be the ones after her. The others weren’t interested in them to drain them of their powers. She assumed the other travelers on the road were the second type, assuming they were mages at all.
They seemed to stare only because the elves were so far removed from the things they saw in the regular day to day.
She lagged behind as they traveled. Guy eventually joined her. She watched his eyes, expecting his gaze to be on Trinity as she walked beside Cassian, but Guy was focused on Samantha at the front.
Aware of Damian behind them, Riette lowered her voice. “Unnerved by our leader too?”
Guy cast a glance at her. “She’s not our leader.”
Riette snickered. “She’s not in the front for no reason.”
“Don’t make me say it, princess. It’s not cute for either of us.”
Riette looked questioningly at him.
“You know we want you up front,” he said. “Hell, even when I was leading, I still looked back at you more than I was staring forward. You’re our little leader in training.”
Riette rolled her eyes. “With no one to train me.”
Guy kept walking. “Some people don’t need paint by number directions, darling. Some people make their own canvases.”
She frowned. “What numbers help people paint?”
“It’s an expression.”
“By who?”
“Not the point.” Guy sighed. “You didn’t need someone to give you directions.” He gave her a look. “Not to talk about something I don’t know all that much about—”
“Changing it up?”
Guy smirked. “Look, I wasn’t around you and your mother to witness the dynamics there, but I suspect you didn’t get along because you were already your own leader and she was a different type altogether.”
“No one said we didn’t get along.”
“She put us in jail, princess.”
Riette frowned. “Before that.”
“You mean when you ran away from home?”
“Don’t say it like that,” Riette said in a huff.
“Why?” Guy stopped walking.
“Because you make me sound like a petulant teenager.”
Guy started his pace again as he stole glances at her. “You do have that way about you.”
Riette hit him in the arm.
“Exhibit A.”
“Guy,” Riette growled.
“You’re right. Teenagers aren’t nearly as moody.”
They shared a laugh, and Riette looked around them. She saw Trinity look back curiously, but Riette shrugged at her in response. Trinity smiled uncertainly.
“I don’t know how to read her,” Riette said as she nodded her head in Trinity’s direction.
“She is pretty particular.”
Riette turned toward Guy as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder. “You know Cassian told her we were dating?”
Guy’s eyes narrowed. “But you said you two never dated.”
“And we didn’t.”
“Then why would he say that?”
“Exactly my point.” Riette rolled her eyes before continuing. “He claims he only said that because my mother had wanted us together and he thought that was the best way to explain it.”
“Mommy wanted you and him together?”
“Ugh, don’t say it like that.”
Guy chuckled. “No offense, but you all wouldn’t last three days as a couple.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“I mean, Cassian could only take so much.”
“Shut it, Guy,” said Riette, but there was a laugh in her voice.
“Besides, you need someone to give you shit, not just try to shut you up,” said Guy.
“How romantic.”
“Cassian can’t handle you. You have a weird brother/sister Zen thing that borders on the freak-show bizarre, but it’s not chemistry. You need someone to set your panties ablaze.”
“There are doctors to help when that happens,” Riette said, feigning concern for Guy’s sexual health.
“Ha fucking ha,” said Guy. “I meant in the emotional sense.”
“Emotionally emblazoned panties? I can’t think of anything better.”
“See? This is why no one has shown you their soft nugget-y center. You take a knife to it.”
Riette laughed until she thought about the knives in Samantha’s hands the day before and all of the gore they’d witnessed. She saw a similar transition in Guy’s expression.
“Fucking brutal,” said Guy, shaking his head.
“Makes you wonder who we got into bed with,” said Riette. She looked at the back of Corin’s head, and the guilt burned inside of her again.
Guy noticed her glance. “We’re beyond that now. Don’t trip over something behind you.”
Riette didn’t say anything else as Guy’s words echoed in her ears.
The prison stopped her in her tracks. They were still a fair distance away, enough to keep themselves hidden, but a floating prison wasn’t something she could have mentally prepared for.
Guards flanked it on the ground, and Riette could see the movement of guards along the perimeter of the floating mass that loomed above them.
“Fuck me,” said Mekhi breathily.
Corin grabbed onto his arm, and from what Riette could see, they all were in a state of shock, all of them but Samantha and Damian who eyed the figure in a way Riette could only describe as bemused.
Cassian steeled his shoulders and turned toward the group. They had naturally formed a small circle as they stood in the cover of some trees.
“There’s too many to fight off,” he said. “We have to do something different.”
“A bait and switch,” Riette said. The words felt like lead in her stomach, but she knew it would be the only way. She stepped to the center of the group. “I’ll move in, play weak and helpless, and we use one of the guards to get us up there.”
“No,” said Samantha. She kept her eyes focused almost solely on the floating structure, but her word made the rest of them silent.
“It’s the only way to get us in.” Riette stepped forward. Being this close to Zekariah was making her feel restless. She could feel the book in her bag calling to her, and he was the answer to get her to the true answers she really needed.
She needed him, and something in her soul made her know that was true.
Samantha turned toward the group. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to isolate one of you as bait. I’m saying it can’t be you, Riette.”
“Why not?”
“You don’t have the right energy. They can feel the power in you. Anyone could.” She shook her head. “They’d know too easily it was a trick. Their guards would be up—too high up.” Samantha looked at the rest of the group before her eyes landed on Trinity. “It has to be sleeper cell over there.”
Cassian bit his jaw. He opened his mouth, but Riette cut him off. “Why?”
“She’s unbranded and has weird power energy written all over her.” She looked at Trinity before continuing. “They’d eat you up. Quite literally actually, so we better get this right.”
Chapter 21
Riette didn’t jump. She knew Trinity had had enough shit for eight lifetimes. She had a history of people making decisions for her without any say in the matter, and Riette wasn’t going to let that shit continue on her watch.
She couldn’t run over her like everyone else and be able to sleep at night. There were too many other things on her mind.
Her obsession with Zeke was one, despite having no real motivation to have it. She also felt the need to save the Elf part of the world when no one but them seemed to be worried about it at all.
Riette met Cassian’s eyes from across the way. She expected to see concern in them. Hell, she thought he would be the first one
to protest against it, but he had an expression she couldn’t read on his face, and he broke eye contact quickly. His attention turned back to Samantha, and Riette wondered, not for the first time, what Cassian had lost by sealing the bond between him and the blonde.
Guy grabbed her elbow. Riette looked at him in confusion, but Guy led her slightly away from the others.
“We don’t have time for this shit,” barked Samantha.
“Make fucking time,” Guy mumbled.
Riette started at the change in tone in Guy’s voice, but he covered it quickly.
Still walking, he looked over his shoulder at Samantha. “It’ll be quick,” he said before focusing on leading Riette away again.
“What the fuck?” asked Guy quietly, but there wasn’t any shock in his voice. More like exasperation.
“All of it seems that way to me.”
“And Cassian?”
Guy’s question made Riette’s stomach drop. She wanted to pretend that what she was beginning to notice in Cassian was just her being paranoid. That didn’t work with Guy confirming it for her.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“His complete lack of giving a shit about Trinity was pretty fucked up,” he said, pulling a hand through his hair twice before running it roughly down his face.
Riette looked behind her at the rest of them. Cassian was holding Trinity’s hand, but Trinity was looking at Riette, and there was a small frown on her otherwise porcelain-looking face.
Not turning back toward Guy, Riette said, “I need to speak with her.”
“I already tried.”
“When?”
“When you and Samantha were having a meeting of the fucking minds.”
“And?” Riette asked.
“And what? She doesn’t want to talk to me. She’s fucking allergic.”
Feeling every bit disloyal, Riette muttered, “I’ve seen her looking at you, and I know you know it. Don’t make me talk about it.”