by Everly Frost
Calida’s nostrils flare as she inhales. It’s a reaction to my threat, but it has another effect. A curious expression floods her face and her focus shifts back to the Fell. “The creature smells like…”
Thank the stars for caramel.
I take a step away from her as the fire fades from her suddenly loose fingers. She gives herself a shake, not quite relenting in her aggression as she takes another look at him. He has dropped to all fours on the ground, gasping for breath beneath the pressure of the sash. He thumps the ground as he looks up.
The weak rays of the day’s first sunlight hits his back and makes his silhouette glow, highlighting his perfectly masculine shape and the alluring inky flecks in his eyes.
I bend over him, but not for the purpose of releasing him. Grabbing his hair and pulling his head back, I’m careful not to touch his scalp while making the gesture as dominant as I can.
“He’s an unusual specimen,” I say, keeping my tone clinical. “I expect the Queen will be quite pleased. She can do whatever she wants with him. But it’s her choice.”
I turn my hard stare away from the glaring Fell to Calida, daring her to contradict me.
“Now,” I say. “Let me pass before you kill a dying child.”
She startles and shakes herself, this time backing away from me. She’s so self-centered she must have completely forgotten about the sick girl.
I don’t take any chances that she’ll change her mind and make a spontaneous strike.
“Get up!” I snarl at the Fell, yanking the ropes upward and striding forward as he clambers to obey me. I deftly loosen the binding so he can breathe again but conceal my movements. The remaining women part to let me through while Talsa quickly follows at the Fell’s back. I’m grateful that she inserts herself between the Solstice women and him. I don’t trust them not to strike the Fell in the back.
Inside the room, I nearly stumble.
The Queen weeps beside the fountain in the center of the room, her long silken robes pooling across the floor. The Inner Sanctuary is filled with flowers, a place of peace where the Queen comes to meditate. Every time she comes here, she fills a flower with some of the essence of her power. Unlike other Sunstream fae, she controls all of the elements of the seasons, but she doesn’t keep her power selfishly to herself. She gifts the flowers to those who need light in their lives, those who are struggling with some aspect of life. She must have hoped that she could draw on her stored power to heal the girl.
She has sunk to the floor holding the girl, who appears to be about three years old. The child’s chest rises and falls, but her breaths are shallow gasps. Even from a distance, I can see that the girl’s arms and legs are twisted in unnatural directions, but they don’t flop like they would if they were broken.
I nearly drop the Fell’s bindings to run to her.
Hurrying him along as fast as I can, I’m aware of Calida’s family gathering behind me, watching me and the Fell with sharp eyes.
The Queen raises her head, her cheeks blotchy. Bright pearls spill across her robes. Her tears… turn to pearls as soon as they drip from her cheeks. She has shed so many of them this morning.
Even when she’s crying, she’s beautiful. Her lips are perfectly full and ruby red, her eyes are like glittering azure blue gems, and her blood-red hair flows down her back to her waist.
“Aura!” she cries. “I need your help.”
Her soft voice wrenches at my heart.
“I’m here.” I drop to my knees beside her, still gripping the halberd and pulling the Fell to the floor with me. For the second time, he lands on his hands and knees beside me, but he seems resigned to being treated like an object now.
Queen Imatra’s gaze passes across me to him and her eyes widen in shock.
Her voice is a low whisper. “Aura! What have you done? How could you bring a Fell creature—”
The first full rays of sunlight spear through the glass windows and catch on the halberd’s gleaming blade.
The Queen freezes as her focus is pulled to it, the bright gleam reflecting in her eyes. The emblem on the blade blazes in her eyes as if it had come to life.
Her jaw drops and her lips form a perfect circle. “Oh. Dear stars.”
The Fell told me that his weapon would save us both.
For some reason, it’s had a profound effect on the Queen and I… well, I have no idea why. For now, I’ll accept that it has caused her to rethink what was no doubt going to be an order to kill him.
Her focus shifts back to the Fell and her demeanor changes from shocked to watchful.
She addresses me carefully. “You’ve done well to bring him to me, Aura. Whatever you do, do not let go of that rope. You don’t know what you’re holding on to.”
She’s right about that. This Fell is a complete mystery to me.
She swallows hard. “First, the child. The healers have tried everything, but her limbs twist farther with every hour that passes. I’ve drawn on every aspect of my power without success. The darkness is too great…”
The Fell twitches beside me. From the corner of my eye, I see him lean forward, fixated on the child’s misshapen legs.
Interjecting myself into the space between them to block his view, I carefully place his weapon on the floor even though I’m reluctant to let it go.
I run my hand lightly over the girl’s head, along the damp strands of her golden hair and across her shoulders, resting my palm over the location of her heart. She’s burning up with a fever and her heart is pounding far too fast. Her eyes remain closed, blonde eyelashes heavy across her colorless cheeks. Her lips are rimmed with purple, an unnatural color like a deep bruise.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a child inflicted with these symptoms.
“This is the second case this month,” I murmur, meeting the Queen’s gaze. “What is this illness?”
The Fell’s harsh whisper sounds beside me. “Ebon Rot. That’s the first stage. But it shouldn’t affect children.”
The Queen startles and so do I.
Fear fills her eyes and I have no choice but to twist and pull the sash tightly around the Fell’s throat. “Do not speak!”
His glare burns me, but I refuse to consider the consequences if he’s telling the truth. His people kill themselves once they are affected. He implied that there is no cure, but… I know there is.
My power is fading with the rising sun and I need to act quickly. I close my eyes and focus on the light inside me. It’s a bright spark that begins as a cold sensation in my mind. Every time I touch my power, I have the urge to linger in that cold, immense place. It’s empty somehow but peaceful, a vast expanse of possibilities, as if I’m staring at the night sky filled with stars and each one could be a version of the future.
I force myself to draw back and pull the power down to my chest, feeling it flow like a cold stream to my hand, where it finally becomes warm.
Pressing my palm to the girl’s heart, I allow starlight to trickle across her, sensing her deep inhale. I don’t fight the sucking sensation as she draws on my power. In this moment, I am giving. There is no take for me.
I open my eyes as soon as her heartbeat slows to normal.
Running my hand down her arms first, and then her legs, I ease them between my fingers. Slowly, they unfurl beneath the glow of my fingers like rope uncoiling.
She breathes deeply as I finally sit back. I check the color of her cheeks—a pale pink again. “She’s sleeping now.”
A final tear slips down the Queen’s cheek. “Your power, Aura…” She shakes her head, choking up. “It’s a blessing to us.”
She raises her eyes to the watching fae with a teary smile. “Come! Get your kin. She is well again.”
Calida hurries forward, skirting wide around the Fell to gather up the sleeping girl into her arms.
She snarls at me as she draws herself upright. “This doesn’t change anything. I’m still challenging you.”
I remain impassive. “O
f course you are.”
Calida backs away with the girl in her arms, but the Queen stops her.
“Wait, Calida,” Imatra says. “All of you come forward. You will bear witness now.”
To me she says softly, “Rise, Aura.”
Somehow, she always manages to give an order without it sounding like a command.
I gather the halberd into my hand and rise to my feet as Calida’s family crowds behind us, keeping a safe distance from the Fell. I sense his gaze on me, a deep burning stare that hasn’t stopped since he said the girl was sick. If I look at him, I imagine I will see a thousand stormy thoughts in his eyes. He just saw me cure the illness that plagues his people and kills them one by one.
The Queen draws herself to her feet, scattering pearls across the floor. They roll into nearby flower bushes as she turns her full attention to the Fell. “State your name.”
I loosen the sash around his neck, remaining unemotional despite the marks it leaves on his skin. “Now you may speak.”
He clears his expression, rapidly hiding a blaze of emotion as he speaks to the Queen. “You recognize the weapon I brought with me. That means you know who I am.”
The Queen allows a small smile to touch her lips. “I recognize the weapon, but that doesn’t mean I know the human holding it.”
His eyes narrow and his shoulders tense, turning his face fully into the light, demanding that she look at him. “Am I not my father’s son?”
She doesn’t miss a beat. “You are. But I still wish to know what he called you.”
I stare, confused, between them. Whose son is he? He said his father was betrayed in the last battle, but he never said who his father was.
A muscle ticks in his jaw, an angry beat. “My name is Nathaniel Shield.”
Queen Imatra’s lips purse and a look of mild surprise passes across her face. “That’s not the name I expected.”
Nathaniel… I roll his name around in my mind, wondering why it sits so well with me. But I’m more puzzled by what they’re not saying.
The Queen glances at me. “Aura… you are confused?”
I nod. There’s no lying to the Queen. “I would like to know why his name is important to you?”
She leaves her position beside the gurgling fountain to circle Nathaniel slowly. Her gaze runs up and down his body. “We fae take our names from our power. You are Aura of the Lucidia, because Lucidia means brightest light in our ancient language. But the Fell take their second name from their occupation, which can change throughout the course of their lives. This Fell… right now…”
She tilts her head, studying him as she returns to a stop in front of us. “He is a Shield. The Fell King’s Shield, to be precise.”
My forehead creases. He’s a… shield? What does that mean?
Nathaniel’s stare burns me again and suddenly the breath stops in my chest. A shield is a defense. An object you hold in front of you to stop the knife aimed at your heart…
The Queen raises her voice and claps her hands with delight. “Today is a day for rejoicing.”
Her eyes burn me like Nathaniel’s as she continues, jubilant. “My champion has captured the Fell King’s champion.”
Chapter 6
“Go now,” the Queen says to Calida’s family. “Spread the news that King Cyrian’s champion has been captured.”
I half-turn to watch Calida throw her head back unhappily. She has no choice but to sing my praises, but she’s calculating how to gather our people’s support for her challenge now. Beating me in the coliseum is one thing, but the people also need to respect her.
Before she and her family can turn away, Nathaniel raises his voice in a command. “Stop. You will not leave.”
Calida whirls back to us with a shriek. “You do not tell me what to do—”
The Queen has also stiffened, an unusual anger flushing her cheeks red. “You will not address my people, Fell.”
Nathaniel’s response is an angry rumble. “I invoke the Law of Champions.”
The Queen freezes like stone. The color drains from her cheeks.
I reach out for her. “My Queen?”
She doesn’t answer me. Alarmed, I count out the heartbeats while she doesn’t move a single muscle.
“That’s old law.” Her voice squeezes between her bloodless lips. “It no longer applies—”
“The old law is the only law that applies to the Fell. You know that,” he answers. “You have no choice but to obey it.”
A deathly silence descends on the room. Nobody but the Queen and Nathaniel seem to know what’s going on, but the tension between them is strong enough to make me nervous.
Behind us, Calida turns to her family, who are all giving each other confused looks. Even her mother’s forehead is creased in bewilderment. The old laws aren’t well known anymore. Only a few fae are aware of them. I’ve never had reason to study them, let alone understand them.
Imatra’s chest rises and falls rapidly as if she’s about to panic.
I can’t let go of Nathaniel, but it’s my job to protect her. Stepping between him and her, I allow her to focus on me, trusting that my calmness will help her.
I keep my voice low and controlled. “Tell me what’s going on so I can help you.”
She takes a deep breath, her hand fluttering at her chest.
“The Law of Champions is a challenge to the throne,” she says, speaking directly to me. “The winner takes all on behalf of their Queen… or King. It exists as a last resort to settle the outcome of war between our races. No monarch has ever invoked it because there’s too much to lose: an entire Queendom. Do you understand, Aura?”
“You mean our land could fall to the Fell?”
“Yes.”
My heart plummets, but I hide it. She needs me to be calm. “What does the challenge involve?”
She swallows visibly, her voice becoming a forced whisper. “My champion and the Fell King’s champion must fight… must fight each other… The winner takes all…” She squeezes her eyes closed, her eyelashes pressing to her cheeks. “It’s a fight to the death, Aura.”
A sick feeling rises up inside my stomach and my chest, pressing in on me. This Fell… who makes me glow… who talks of light and dark and betrayal and loyalty… wants to kill me?
Of course he does. He refrained from killing me at the border because it suited his purpose. He only fought me as hard as he needed to so that he could stand here in front of my Queen and invoke the Law of Champions, to make his challenge for control of our land.
He is a Fell.
He is my enemy.
Now he wants to kill me… despite the fact that he just saw me cure the illness that decimates his people. Surely, any sane person would want to keep me alive, use me somehow to help his people?
More than fear, confusion swamps me now.
Every time I think I have a handle on Nathaniel’s motives, he sweeps the foundations out from under me again.
Behind me, Nathaniel remains very still, but I sense his gaze burning into me as Imatra continues speaking.
“Once the Law is invoked,” she says, “the champions must be bound, the Law sealed, and the champions must fight within three days. The Law can’t be reversed or stopped. If one of the champions refuses to fight, the old magic will take hold and that champion will die at the end of the third day.”
As she presses her hand to her heart, my thoughts whirl. “The Fell has invoked the Law,” I say. “But you said it has to be sealed too. Whatever sealing involves, I’m sure we can avoid it—”
The Queen shakes her head. “Sealing the Law is a formality. It requires the Vanem Dragon to bind the two champions. The Vanem Dragon can choose when to seal the Law, as long as it is done within the first day.”
A hot, boiling mess of emotions rises inside me. I feel like a stone sinking to the bottom of an icy lake.
Thank the stars I’m good at hiding my feelings.
“He won’t beat me.” I raise my chin and cast a
haughty glance back at Nathaniel. My disdain is also for the benefit of Calida’s family. I will never show fear in front of them.
“There’s only one uncertainty,” Imatra says, stepping closer to me. “My champion is yet to be determined.”
I blink at her.
Of course… she’s right.
Calida might be the one to fight Nathaniel.
I hold in a bitter laugh. She wouldn’t have a chance. He’d annihilate her.
Which means it’s even more important that I win my fight with her today and retain my position of Queen’s Champion.
“I guess we’ll find out,” I say.
Imatra takes a deep breath, finally regaining her composure. She can’t pre-empt the outcome of today’s challenge, but the determined gleam in her eyes tells me she needs me to win.
“You must release Nathaniel now, Aura,” she says. “He is as bound by the Law as my champion will be. If he hurts any fae from this moment until the fight, the Law will be broken. I’m sure he doesn’t want that.”
My response is instinctive. My hand opens, allowing the sash to fall, releasing Nathaniel from my grip.
He quickly unravels the sash from around his neck and just as deftly slips the knots I tied around his wrists and waist as if they were nothing. I’m not surprised by his skill, but Calida lets out a gasp at how fast he undoes his bindings.
“You didn’t tie him tightly enough,” she accuses.
I arch an eyebrow at her. If she wasn’t my challenger, I would be entitled to strike her for insulting me. As it is, I have to make do with a glare. “Nathaniel may be a Fell, but do not underestimate him.”
I turn, ignoring the hint of a smile touching Nathaniel’s full lips.
How dare he smile at me when he’s challenged me to a fight to the death?
It has to be me. I have to fight him. Not Calida. She won’t stand a chance.
“There’s one last thing before you go, Calida,” Queen Imatra says, addressing the tall blonde. “As the challenger, you have the right to choose the environment in which you will fight Aura today. What is your choice?”
A slow, devious smile passes across Calida’s mouth. “I choose a desert at high noon.”