Magic Gambit (Hidden World Academy Book 3)

by Sadie Moss

  We head out and manage to reach the fae realm without incident, unless you count my usual dry heaving after we jump through the portal as an incident. We land and collect our bearings.

  Almost immediately, guards approach us. “This must be because of the cult,” Kasian whispers. “I bet they’ve got guards stationed at the entrance all the time now.”

  King Anzac never said it outright, but I got the impression that not a lot of humans came into the fae realm for the past few decades before I started popping in here all the time. When we first came here, there was nothing around the portal, and we had to walk for quite a way before the fae started to notice us. Now we’ve been here a few times, and we’re bringing news of a cult that will try to steal from the fae, so I don’t blame King Anzac for increasing his border guards.

  There’s a need for it now.

  The guards are all various types of fae, with the usual fae combination of good looks and an unsettling air. Fae are incredibly beautiful, honestly. But they so obviously aren’t human that when you look at them, you can’t help but feel that otherness.

  It’s not like vampires, where they look human except for, you know, the fangs. Or werewolves, who really are human most times, except when they shift. Or even creatures like gnomes or centaurs. They aren’t human either, but I see them on the streets of Valencia all the time, so there’s something very commonplace and casual about them.

  Fae are just their own thing.

  One of the guards, the one I remember as the captain, steps up. He looks mostly human, except that his eyes are a such a deep blue they look nearly black. He’s tall and muscled like a dancer—or a warrior, I suppose—with broad shoulders and dark purple skin that has an otherworldly sheen.

  “You have returned,” he says to me.

  “Of course we did,” Bianca pipes up immediately, stepping forward. “Did you think we wouldn’t?”

  The guys and I all turn and stare at her. I thought I told you not to get in trouble! I think-scream at her. Not that Bianca can read my mind or anything, but I’m pretty sure that my thoughts are written all over my face anyway.

  The captain narrows his eyes at her, and his jaw twitches. “I was speaking to your leader, not to you.”

  “Hey, we’re all equals here, buddy,” Bianca retorts.

  “Gee, thanks,” I mumble.

  She smirks at me, then turns her attention back to the captain. “We’ve got something important for your king, so…” She waves her hand to indicate they should escort us to the palace, and when the captain just stares at her, she laughs. “Unless you’d like to keep chatting here? I really don’t mind. We could exchange star signs.”

  Hmm. She’s being sarcastic, but in a way that I’ve never heard from her before. It’s like she’s… teasing? Is she teasing him?

  I look at Cross, who shrugs. He seems just as baffled as I am.

  Kasian looks like he’s wishing he’d just come here on his own to deal with this so he wouldn’t have to put up with all this nonsense. “We really are short on time,” he notes, his tone serious.

  The captain has been glaring at Bianca, and he starts a little, as if he’d almost forgotten that the rest of us are here. He draws himself up straight. “Yes. Of course. You will follow me.”

  “How about we throw a ‘please’ in there?” Bianca asks, making her tone extremely innocent.

  The captain… I think he rolls his eyes? It’s hard to tell when they’re just all blue like that. “You are lucky that your companions are more polite than you are,” he says darkly. “In our realm, we would show you the consequences of speaking with such disrespect.”

  “Oh, is that a promise?”

  Theo makes a choked, pained sort of noise as he realizes the same thing that I do, at the same moment that I realize it. Bianca isn’t just being sassy for the sake of it, she’s being sassy because she’s flirting with this guy. With a fae.

  Holy crap. I might be friends with Bianca now, but I am never, ever going to understand her. I should just give up on that idea right now.

  The captain gestures to the rest of the guards and turns stiffly to lead us toward the city in the distance. The guys and I all share looks that range from amused to slightly worried, but we follow along without protest.

  As we walk, the captain and Bianca keep throwing verbal jabs at each other. Well, it’s actually more like she keeps sassing him, and he keeps growling threats, but they both seem to be enjoying it. By the time we’re halfway to the city, I think they’ve both forgotten that the rest of us are here again.

  Okay. Now, I don’t know this guy at all, so I can’t be certain—but I’m pretty sure he has a thing for her too. There’s clear annoyance in his voice every time he speaks to her, but he’s walking awfully close to her, and his dark blue eyes seem to spark every time he looks down at her.

  I’m not really up on fae dating habits, but everything I’m reading off of this guy screams interested.

  I keep my mouth shut. I’m tempted to tease Bianca or to interject, and I can tell that Cross is gearing up to say something too, but Kasian and I both clamp down on his wrists to keep him from doing it. There’s no way Bianca will be happy if we interrupt her flirting to tease her and honestly, what could it hurt if she gets into the good graces of another fae, right? That can only help our cause in the long run.

  Then I hear her say, “You honestly think that? No wonder Roxie had such an easy time of it stealing your disc,” and my heart leaps into my throat.

  “Bianca!” I hiss.

  Oh fuck, oh fuck. Way to bring up a major sore spot.

  Roxie’s head is still going to end up on a pike, or worse, if she returns to the Hidden World and the fae find out about it. Anzac let me off the hook after I did him the favor of getting his ring back, since I’m not Roxie and didn’t actually steal from them. But my twin did steal, and the fae consider that one of the highest possible crimes.

  Moving fluidly, the captain grabs Bianca’s arms and forces them behind her, and her wrists snap together like he’s put her in handcuffs. I can’t actually see any handcuffs, or rope, or anything else like that. It has to be some kind of magical spell, even though I didn’t see him make a gesture. Fae don’t use magic the same way witches and warlocks do.

  Bianca gives the captain a look that’s somewhere between sassy and annoyed, like she’s trying to say ooh, kinky and get these stupid things off me at the same time.

  And of course, the fae captain didn’t put anything over Bianca’s mouth, so despite the binds wrapped around her wrists, she doesn’t stop snarking at him.

  Theo sighs in a long-suffering kind of way and we continue to walk up to the palace. It’s a familiar path by now, and although I’m not exactly relaxed, I don’t feel terrified and overwhelmed like I did the first time I came here. I had no idea what to expect then. Now I feel a lot less concerned. A lot more on my game. I know what’s coming.

  When we reach the throne room, King Anzac seems pleased to see us. It’s kind of hard to tell with the fae, to guess exactly what they’re feeling. But he claps his hands together lightly as we approach and walks down to our level.

  “Ah, you have returned much sooner than I expected. The winds of change buffet you still.”

  “We had a stroke of luck,” I tell him. I pull out the jar of pink pixie dust and hand it to him.

  Anzac opens the jar, first inspecting the dust visually, then sticking his nose into the top and getting a whiff, and finally by dipping his finger into it to taste the smallest bit on his tongue. Holy fuck, I feel like a drug dealer.

  Yep, this is my life now; I deal pixie dust to fairies. My parents would have an absolute field day of heart attacks if they could see me now.

  “You never cease to perform wondrous things, do you, Dull Worlder? Perhaps we should not call your world Dull if it produces such intriguing creatures as yourself.” He puts the lid back on the jar and hands it off to a silent attendant, who bows and takes it, whisking it away. Then his
brows furrow. “You obtained that pixie dust willingly, did you not?”

  “Um… yes? How could you tell? It was… it was in thanks.” Quickly, I tell him what happened with the pixies and the spider, although I leave out the part about the prophecy and the interpreter. No reason to get sidetracked, and I don’t want more people meddling in this mess than I have to.

  Anzac seems very amused by this story. I have no doubt that he would probably find a hideous terrifying spider crab to be “delightful” and want to take it home as a pet or something. Ugh. The very idea makes a shiver run up my spine, and I’m reminded all over again that the fae aren’t exactly normal by human standards.

  “We, um, also have these.” I pull out the other two jars that I have and hand them over.

  Anzac’s eyes go a bit wide, and his smile is sharp as a shark’s. “This is above and beyond what I had asked of you, and yet you give it so freely. Are you certain you would keep none for yourselves?”

  I shake my head. “What would we do with it?”

  I’m serious here. I have no clue what I’d do with the pixie dust besides get high off of it, and that’s probably not a very good idea. I liked it when I was on it, but I don’t see myself having any free time to just sit around and do recreational drugs. What with the crazy cult coming after me and all that.

  “In that case, it would appear that the tables have turned upon us, and I am the one owing you a favor,” Anzac says after sampling the two new jars of fairy dust and passing them off to his attendants.

  What? I didn’t expect that. But then, fairies are all about rules. Things have to be fair, and they have to be even. Humans are much more casual about this kind of thing.

  I open my mouth to tell Anzac that this really isn’t necessary, that he doesn’t owe us—but then I press my lips together and say nothing.

  After all, it can’t be a bad thing, to have the king of a fairy realm owe you something.

  Right?

  Anzac seems to think for a moment, tapping fingers in the air like he’s playing an invisible upright piano, and then he claps his hands together and smiles at me. “I know. Little one, you are not of this world. This must be a struggle for you. You have expressed to me your dissatisfaction at being unable to understand your twin, the thief who stole from us, have you not?”

  He snaps his fingers and another servant appears. Anzac says something to the servant in a language that I can’t even begin to understand, one that sounds like wailing and moaning and the wind in the trees, and somehow nothing like that at all, and the servant disappears.

  The captain is still standing with us, even though the other soldiers are outside, and he shifts his weight with only a slight bit of awkwardness. “Should we be gifting so much to these people?” he asks. “They are untrustworthy. Insolent.”

  Bianca snorts, but I swear I see a blush creep up her cheeks, like the captain just paid her a compliment.

  “This one has proven herself trustworthy,” Anzac replies as he gestures to me, speaking in a tone that suggests he’s not going to be argued with about this.

  I try not to preen.

  Bianca shoots the captain a smug look. The purple-skinned fae glares back at her.

  They’re not exactly being subtle, and Anzac definitely notices. Instead of looking concerned or annoyed, he looks absolutely delighted.

  His gaze flicks back and forth, and I remember that when he told us about the ring getting taken from him, he made it pretty clear the ring was stolen by his lover in his bedroom. Fae do take on human lovers, although that’s far from my type of thing, and I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who’s picking up on these vibes between Bianca and the captain.

  Not that I’m going to say anything about it. If Anzac wants to go ahead and comment on it, that’s on his head.

  The servant reappears while Bianca and the captain are still locked in a staring contest. The fae, who has green skin with a bark-like texture, hands Anzac a small device, which the king hands to me.

  “This will help you in your quest,” Anzac declares. “Now you can speak with your other, despite being across worlds.”

  It’s like a circular magnet, compact, and I can hold it in the palm of my hand. I blink, a little stunned, and clasp it tightly in my hand. “Thank you.”

  Holy crap. I’m fucking floored.

  This is a really important gift to me. Maybe it’s not much to Anzac. I mean, I would assume that making such a device would be difficult, but it’s a long-distance communication device, essentially. Surely that’s below the kind of things fae would usually make for themselves. Why do they even have this on hand? Honestly, what would they need it for? Fairies don’t have people in the Dull World they’re trying to contact…

  Oh.

  I look down at the magnet, then up at Anzac again. The corners of his lips twitch almost imperceptibly.

  I know somehow in my bones that he will never, ever admit to this if I try to confront him on it. But Anzac likes me. We’re allies, and I’m fully aware he’s welcomed me and been more lenient with me than fae generally are with humans. And there is literally no reason for him to have had this device made. So while he might deny it forever and a day if I try to get him to confess it… I’m sure, more sure than I am of almost anything else, that Anzac had this device made for me.

  And that maybe, just maybe, he was hoping I would find a way to earn it so that he could fairly give it to me, in an exchange instead of as a gift.

  Because he wanted to help me.

  Bowing might be over the top, but I don’t know how else to express that I know, without making it too obvious and embarrassing both of us. So I just give a small sort of half-bow, and Anzac inclines his head at me in return, and then we turn to go.

  “I do hope that I will have the honor of seeing you again, Dull Child,” Anzac says, and I get the oddest feeling that he doesn’t want me to leave this world either.

  I swallow.

  It’s ridiculous, honestly, how in just a few short months this world has become more home to me than the one I’ve spent two decades growing up in.

  “I hope so too, your majesty,” I reply.

  Chapter 25

  We leave the fae realm with a much smaller escort of guards in what look like slightly more ceremonial attire, except for the captain, who hasn’t changed—seeing as he was standing there glaring at Bianca the entire time.

  I can practically feel him thinking in angry confusion, why am I attracted to this woman?

  It kind of reminds me of Cross, actually, and I have to stifle laughter. I doubt that either this guy or Bianca would appreciate my laughing at them about this. I’m not sure she expected this to happen either, but pheromones are powerful things.

  Bianca and the captain poke at each other the entire way back to the portal. She nags him until he undoes her wrists, and then she complains that he hurt her wrists, and then he growls at her that she shouldn’t have been so rude and threatening, so she tells him that if he’s threatened by one wee little human that maybe fae aren’t as tough as she thought or maybe it’s just him, and by that point the rest of us—including the other guards—are actively pretending we can’t hear any of this.

  We don’t want to get into the middle of whatever weird mating ritual this is turning into.

  “So. You fae have phones?” Bianca asks as we approach the portal. She pulls out her cell phone to illustrate her point.

  The captain stares at her like she’s asked if they eat snails. “No.”

  “Well, you should get one. Or some other communication device so you can talk to humans.” She performs a spell, and a piece of paper appears in the air.

  It has her phone number and her name on it.

  She hands the piece of paper to the captain. “If you get a phone, you can call me.”

  Oh my God. I wish I was that bold. All of my boyfriends had to basically haul me into their laps so that I would be brave enough to make a move in return. And when I finally decide
d to say exactly what I wanted and ask them all to be with me, my bravery was heavily assisted by fae wine.

  Honestly, for all that this is hilarious and a little bit weird, I hope that Bianca’s thing with this guy works out. Yes, he’s fae, but fae aren’t all bad. Anzac’s become kind of a friend by now. You just have to respect them and not screw them over, and really, isn’t that how you should treat everyone?

  Bianca deserves to get over Gunner. To find someone who will treat her right. Gunner was an asshole, and not just because of the whole trying to kill us thing. He didn’t want people to know he was dating Bianca; he never made her feel special. And Bianca deserves to feel special.

  This fae guard might look at Bianca like he wants to throw her over his knee and teach her some manners, but he also looks at her like… like she’s nothing he’s ever seen before. Like she’s thrown his entire world off-kilter. Like he can’t quite believe she’s real.

  The portal makes nausea swirl in my stomach, and it also reminds me just how little there is in my stomach. The last time I ate was before we left the Aeriglades.

  By the time we get back to Radcliffe, I feel exhausted—I haven’t gotten any actual sleep in forty-eight hours—but there’s no way I can go to sleep. I need to see if this device from Anzac works, and if I can contact Roxie. If I can manage that, this will change everything.

  It will mean we can actually pool our information. The two of us can make a plan together, and maybe that will finally give us an advantage against the cult.

  I hurry up to my dorm room, and the guys follow—Bianca as well. I give them all questioning looks.

  Kasian shakes his head. “As if we don’t know what you’re up to,” he tells me. “And we’re not going to let you go it alone.”

  “I wasn’t going to ask you to leave,” I admit, catching his hand in mine.

  I don’t want them to leave. We’re all in this together now, for better or for worse. I’m terrified, I won’t lie about that. I don’t know what it’ll be like to finally talk to my twin, to speak directly to Roxie. It’s so weird. I’ve been inside of her mind. I’ve seen her memories. I’ve heard all about her from my guys, from Bianca, from her family—from pretty much everyone in the world, it feels like.