Fae Flower

by Michelle R. Reid

  He frowned. “As the spare Sun Fae prince, it wasn’t necessary for me to stay in Lasair all the time and learn how to rule the kingdom. My big brother is a natural. I can’t even compete with him or Father power wise. So, my mother always insisted I stay with her in the Frost Kingdom. It was easy to choose her side when my parents fought. To blame my father for anything that went wrong. Alana could love Father simply, no matter what Mother said. But I couldn’t.” His finger stiffened around me then softened, his face hard with guilt. “It wasn’t until recently that I began to notice that my mother was the one who started the fights. And after, I always had to be at her beck and call —” He paused and muttered, “Since our faces were the same and she couldn’t order my father around. I began to doubt everything I ever learned growing up.”

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered and brushed a lock of his bright hair off his forehead.

  He gave a bitter laugh. “No, it actually opened my eyes to all the lies my mother had wrapped around me.” He looked with steady eyes at his father flying ahead. “I finally was able to see that even though she surrounded herself with secondary husbands and people blindly adoring her, she obsessed over making sure my father wasn’t happy. Anything good that happened to him, she would destroy. Because she couldn’t handle the thought that he didn’t love her.” He was quiet for a minute. “I sometimes worry about Alana. I’ve noticed lately that Mother gets jealous of the attention my sister gets. Alana is strong, and the people love her. And it’s common knowledge that the Frost Kingdom has flourished since Alana has begun helping out governing.”

  “Being a magical prince, I would have thought your life was a fairytale. I’m sorry it was so rough.” I paused. “You mother actually scares me a little.”

  His mouth twisted bitterly. “I can’t blame you for that, after what she did.” His bright eyes caught mine, so steady and true. “You needn’t worry about her. I’ll keep you safe.”

  Warmth, like a fire in the chill of night, spread in my heart. He kept saying that. It was so sweet. “And I’ll try my best to keep you safe, too.”

  His eyes widened, then he smiled like the light of a thousand suns, stealing my breath away. “It’s a promise then. You know, I can’t regret my parents’ hatred. It was because of it that I finally began to ask about my father’s past. And searching for the Fae Eyes led me to you. I will always be grateful for that. And I finally understand my father and how he must have felt. Because I feel it too.” His arms tightened around me, pulling me closer to his chest.

  My heart was so tight, it felt like it was going to burst. Tears, happy tears, swelled in my eyes. My hand shook as I reached up and gently touched his cheek. “I understand what my mama must have felt then, too.”

  Marabell screamed, her voice high with terror.

  King Helios let out a loud curse and threw himself backwards, wobbling in the air under Mama’s weight. Mama held onto him, moaning in fear. My stomach twisted as Aeden jerked to the side, barely missing them. Marabell screamed again as the drafts from the Sun fae wings caused her to spin to the side. She stopped inches from hitting a tree’s trunk.

  From below, hundreds of small wooden arrows rushed at us.

  Chapter 15

  A flash of fire appeared in front of us, incinerating some of the arrows, but there were too many.

  I screamed and clung to Aeden as he spun in the air, grunting under the strain of maneuvering us so quickly. Arrows whizzed past us, embedding into branches and causing leaves to rain down on us. Marabell shrieked and dove into my cloak, burying into my stomach and clinging.

  “Gah!” Aeden jerked his head to the side as one came close enough to move his hair.

  Unable to resist, I looked over his shoulder at the ground through Aeden’s golden, transparent wings.

  The ground was moving. Gone was the beautiful painting of bright and dark greens mingled with earthy brown tones. The ground was only brown, rippling like a giant dirty river, as arrow after arrow fired from its depth. No, I realized as my blood turned cold. That wasn’t just ground below us.

  It was thousands of Red Caps.

  “Get above the trees!” Aeden yelled, weaving this way and that. His hands tightened on me painfully, but as long as he held me this tight, he couldn’t drop me. Right? He angled up, putting on a burst of speed to push through the branches and leaves in the way.

  The sickening taste of bile settled in the back of my throat as my stomach lurched with motion sickness. I clung to him with all my might, twigs grabbing at my cloak like tiny little fingers as we pushed through. It was daytime! How could that many Red Caps be out? They were weak against the sun!

  The king yelled out.

  “No!” Mama screamed. “No!”

  I peeked at them, then gasped when I saw an arrow sticking out of the back of the king’s calf. His face contorted with pain, but still he beat his wings determinedly.

  Aeden looked back and tossed his head to get some leaves out of his face. “Father!”

  King Helios shook his head. “I’m fine! Keep going!”

  Aeden nodded. We broke through the canopy.

  My eyes watered, blinded by the sudden sun as blue sky stretched out above us. I took in a deep breath of fresh air, still feeling like a tightly wound spool. We were safe, the Red Caps couldn’t get us up here. But we were also easy to track this way since there was nothing we could hide behind now. Above the canopy, it was just us in the open sky.

  “Are you okay?” Aeden asked softly, puffing breath in and out.

  I nodded and peeked at the king, visibly drooping in the air.

  “Helios! Are you okay?” Mama gasped.

  The trees under us shuddered. Then shook violently.

  “What was that?” I whispered. I looked over my shoulder, down into the leaves.

  The hideous face of a Red Cap burst through a hole in the leaf canopy, its wide mouth stretched wide in a horrible smile.

  I screamed and clutched Aeden harder.

  More and more faces appeared. Every hole in the canopy filled with Red Caps. All at the once, the comforting protection of the canopy turned sinister, a blanket hiding the monster beneath.

  The Red Caps howled something in their gravelly language, like an encouraging cheer. Then they drew more arrows.

  “Fly!” Aeden yelled.

  Two giant fireballs exploded in the trees, lighting them on fire. Red Caps screamed under and around the fires. But even more released arrows.

  With a burst of speed, Aeden lunged back in the air. I yelled and clung to him. Buried in my stomach, Marabell shrieked, her little fingers twisting the fabric of my dress as she latched on. The arrows sailed straight up past us, creating a wall. Aeden cursed and turned, flying as fast as he could in the opposite direction, his father trailing behind us.

  I glanced at the trees behind us as they shivered again. Through the wind in my ears, I could have sworn I heard giggling.

  We were going the wrong way now, I realized. Back toward the Summer Palace.

  The arrows never stopped. They just kept raining on us, one after another, cutting off any way Aeden and King Helios could fly except for one. Aeden’s twisting and turning to avoid them finally got to me. I was forced to close my eyes so I didn’t get sick. All I could do was hang on and have faith that Aeden would get us there safely.

  But even if we got there, would we really be safe? The Fae didn’t use glass in their windows. Each opening was a way in.

  “There!” Aeden yelled.

  I peeked over my shoulder. Barely visible between the leaves were the arches of the Summer Palace entryway. My heart tightened as I desperately willed Aeden to fly faster. I glanced at King Helios and bit my lips. His face was so pale and each beat of his wings looked like it took too much energy. Even without the arrows, he couldn’t have flown in a straight line. Mama’s lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying.

  I glanced at the arrow sticking out of his leg. It must be poisoned.

 
; A chill went through my body, as if walking through a draft of cold air. The air around us shimmered blue, or was that just a trick of my eyes?

  An odd pinging noise behind me caused me to jump. I looked around and gasped. The arrows were hitting something invisible in the air. Each strike caused a blue sparkle to shimmer and fade. The sparkles reminded me of the silver and gold cord that Alana had pulled between our hands. Magic. It was magic. The barrier around the Summer Palace that Alana mentioned earlier?

  If the arrows couldn’t get in, did that mean the Red Caps couldn’t get in? Forever or for now?

  “Finally,” Aeden gasped with relief and sank to the ground, aiming for the opening in the arched roof.

  Marabell peeked out of my cloak and looked around. Hesitantly, she climbed out and fluttered down with the Sun Fae.

  The air cooled as we lowered, equal to the amount of ice around the trees. Aeden’s feet touched down and we sank to the ground, me in his lap. Panting, Aeden tipped his head back, face toward the sun streaming down from above.

  A thud hit the ground behind us.

  “Helios!” Mama gasped. “Helios!”

  Aeden and I twisted around. King Helios was on the ground, face down and motionless. I climbed off Aeden and ran over as Aeden struggled to his feet.

  Mama pulled at the material around the arrow, tearing the hole wider. The skin around the shaft was turning a dark shade of green.

  I gasped. I’d never seen Fae poison that potent. Instinctively I felt for my pockets and the tonics that I always carried there. But I was in a Fae dress. There were no pockets and I had no tonics. I wasn’t even sure they would work against something like this.

  “That looks bad,” Marabell gasped, clutching her dress and lifting it up to her chin. She shook, the light dimming around her wings.

  “We need to get the arrow out,” Mama announced, her face was set but her voice shook slightly.

  Aeden dropped down to his knees by the arrow. He looked at me and Mama. “Hold Father down. I’ll take it out.”

  Mama hurried over to Helios’s other side and put her hands on his back, careful of his wings. I bit my lips and mirrored her position, feeling his wings warm against the back of my fingers. Under my hands, his heart fluttered like a scared bird.

  Aeden took a deep breath, his face set. Then he grabbed the arrow shaft and pushed down with a hard jerk. The arrow erupted from the other side of King Helios’s leg as blood pooled through his pants and onto the ground.

  King Helios arched his back and cried out. His wings lifted straight up in the air and flickered bright. Then he collapsed to the ground, wings limp and dull.

  Aeden’s face contorted with guilt and fear, but still he grabbed the shaft with both hands and broke it in half, removing the feathered part at the end. Carefully, he lifted his father’s leg and slowly pulled the broken arrow out.

  Mama pulled off her cloak and pressed it hard against the wound.

  “Mama, do you have any healing tonics?”

  She shook her head, tears wet on her cheeks.

  King Helios moaned and thrashed his head to the side, sweat dripping from his forehead.

  “There’s a nectar spring here.” Aeden pushed to his feet. He wobbled a bit, obviously still winded. “It’ll heal the poison.” He shook his head, a troubled look on his face. “But it’s small and Frost nectar, so it won’t actually restore his strength.”

  I jumped to my feet. “I’ll go with you. My hands are steadier than yours right now.”

  Aeden opened his mouth to argue.

  Boom! Boom!

  I jumped and looked toward the front door. The sound hadn’t come from the door itself, but somewhere just on the other side.

  Screeches and chanting rose up, soft at first then louder and louder until I could feel it in my head, like a rat trying to scratch its way out. I clamped my hands over my ears. “What is that?”

  Mama flinched, her face going ashen. Her hands, already trembling slightly, shook so violently she had to let go of the king’s pants to keep from hurting him more. She gripped her hands together and looked at me, determination mingling with the fear in her eyes. “It’ll be okay, Kyna. The barrier will hold.” I couldn’t help but wonder if half of those words were for her own sake.

  Aeden grabbed my hand and turned. “This way.” He ran down the empty hall to the right, pulling me behind him. He was faster than me, but his tired state made it easier for me to keep up. We ran down a hall then rounded another corner, everything a blur of ice-covered trees and walls.

  “Are the staff really all gone?” I asked, puffing air out. Was there no one here to help us?

  Aeden nodded. “It’s something Mother does to dig at Father. Anything to make his stay more uncomfortable. But right now, it’s a little extreme.”

  We slowed to a stop outside a pair of white double doors. Breathing hard, I stared up at the door. Silver knots looped around the edges, and crystal flowers glittered from the white wood.

  Aeden paused. “You’re not supposed to go in here, Kyna. Any human caught near a nectar spring is killed immediately. So, don’t tell anyone, okay?” He put his hand on the door. Golden sparkles surrounded his hand and spread out like vines on the door, following the scrolling silver pattern plated on the door.

  I gasped and stepped closer, watching the beauty spread out before me. “Those sparkles. Are they yours? Is that your magic?”

  Aeden glanced down at me. “Yes. This is a sacred room, protected by very powerful magic. Only a select few can enter.” He smiled, softly. “Your eyes are beginning to open, even after such a simple exercise.” He nodded his head to the side, amending his words. “Well, simple for Alana.”

  Was he talking about the string that Alana formed between our hands? I glanced at the door in wonder. This is what Aeden could see all the time? These beautiful lights of magic?

  The golden glow collected on the metal, swirling and sparkling. Silently, the doors swung open.

  I gasped, unable to breathe from the beauty before me.

  In the middle of the large circular room grew a giant, ice-covered, silver birch tree. Old and thick as ten men, its limbs stretched out like a tent, green leaves blocking out most of the sun, leaving only tiny beams that streamed down and lit up the frost-tipped moss on the ground. At the base of the tree, blue and white icicles jutted from the ground like giant crystals. They clustered together, a collection of every shape and size, like a design from a master artist. The ice crystals glowed and shimmered with silver magic, illuminating the room in a soft, almost holy light.

  “It’s lovely,” I whispered, afraid to speak too loudly. What if I tainted it with my humanness? Should I really go in there?

  “Yes,” Aeden agreed, looking at the tree with pride. He walked over to the wall on our right. Several glass vials sat on a shelf, waiting to be used. He picked one up and turned to me, his breath coming out in puffs of steam.

  I bit my lips, still not sure if I really should go in.

  He reached out and took my hand, gently tugging me in. As soon as my foot touched the ground, a wave of energy vibrated from my toes up to my hair. The tension that plagued my mind melted away as the serenity of the room swayed my emotions. I felt lightheaded and grounded at the same time, so wonderful I could fly. Even Aeden’s heavy steps regained their usual airy flare. Hand in hand, he led me over to the moss. The Fae Silk cloak protected me from the cold, but the little patches of frost on the ground sent a surprised shiver up my back when I accidently stepped on them.

  Trying not to gape like an idiot but still dying to see everything, I looked this way and that, blindly following Aeden. Between patches of moss, smaller ice crystals peeked through, glowing like stars between the shimmering frost. White flowers bloomed all around, their stems dark against the ice drops that clung to their leaves.

  Aeden let go of my hand and I looked up at the tree. It was massive — the base wider than two carriages side by side. Threads of silvery sparkles wove arou
nd its trunk and branches, under the ice that coated and protected it from the cold. I watched the magic circulate around the tree, down through its roots and out across the ground, sifting around the moss, out to the very walls of the room, where it circulated and came back. It was like the tree was connected to everything and everything was connected to the tree.

  Aeden knelt down between the crystals and reached out with the vial.

  I leaned over his shoulder, trying to see what he was doing.

  From the base of the centermost crystal, silvery liquid dripped into a tiny puddle that shimmered like liquid stardust. Aeden held the vial against the ice crystal and waited as the Fae nectar dripped in.

  “I’ve never actually seen Fae nectar before,” I whispered, my hushed tones still echoing in the space. “I thought there would be more than this.” I eyed the puddle at the base of the crystal. There couldn’t be more than a few ounces there.

  “The pools in Lasair and Friseailte are. Nectar pools form when enough Fae magic pulls the magic up from the earth. The more Fae there are, the bigger the nectar pool, enough for each Fae to survive.” Aeden’s voice was low, a soothing hum to my nerves. “This one was raised here by my parents, when they agreed on the location of the Summer Palace. Since it’s only for emergencies, it doesn’t need to be big. When I come to stay, I usually bring Sun nectar from Lasair, since I’m more compatible with it. But I usually don’t keep extra rations because it’s better served to stay in the pool where a needing person has access to it.”

  I opened my mouth to ask another question but paused, although I don’t know why. Something suddenly felt off.

  Boom.

  A pulse of … something echoed around us. I didn’t hear it as much as I felt it with every essence of my being. It came from somewhere behind me.