by G. Bailey
“I don’t want to hurt anyone...I just can’t stop how I feel,” I admit to him. “I just don’t know how to live not loving each of you.”
“You aren’t hurting anyone, Adie. We understand it,” he softly tells me.
“I love you, Rick,” I tell him and lean up, pressing my lips to his just as I hear a whooshing sound. We both jump up and spin around to face whatever it is, only to find a blue piece of paper, a little on fire, in front of us. I look to Rick, who is as confused as I am. We stand up, and I stomp on it a few times to stop the fire. I pick it up, not recognising the wax seal on the other side. It’s blue wax with a snowflake design, with a crown resting above the snowflake.
“It’s the royal seal from home,” Rick tells me, and I quickly open it, though half the letter is burnt and some words are missing in places where they have been burned.
For Rick, Josh, Nath, Mich and Adelaide,
We hope this note finds you well, Atticus has struggled to find a way to direct the note towards you, but we figured out a spell in the end.
We wrote to tell you that
“We can’t read what it says. Atti figured out a spell to get it to us, but not without setting the note on fire. At least we can tell them to use fireproof paper next time,” Rick says, and I chuckle. I turn the letter over, where there is nothing but one sentence.
We will get revenge and be with you soon.
Love, your family
“Revenge for what exactly?” I ask Rick, who clearly doesn’t know anything more than I do. A nervous feeling settles in my stomach, and I wrap my arms around Rick, praying to all the fates that nothing else is taken from me.
3
“Finally, we are home,” Josh comments as I come out of the woods after pulling my clothes on. Rick, Nath and Mich are not far behind me as the rest of the pack waits in the woods, staying in wolf form in case anything goes wrong. The skies are empty, and everything is as still as the sea in front of us.
“Josh and I are going to fly to the academy and send boats back,” I state as Rick comes out the woods first.
“I don’t think that is safe—”
“She will be safe with me, brother,” Josh interrupts, and I wink at Rick before closing my eyes. Sparks of electricity flicker out of my fingertips as my feet leave the ground. I’m damn near terrified when I open my eyes, finding myself floating over the cliff with my large glowing blue wings holding me in the air. Josh meets my gaze as I stretch my hands out, and he grins.
“Don’t let the wind blow you away. You must push through it. Come on.” Josh shoots off, his large black wings propelling him across the sea. Using all the strength I can find, I make my wings move fast and direct myself to follow Josh. I soon catch up with him, and he holds his hand out for me as we glide just above the still sea below us. I reach my hand out for him as I look at the bridge under the water. It glimmers in the night as much as it does in the sunlight as we fly towards the academy. Rather than using the side entrance, we fly up and over the academy ruins. My heart feels like it’s in my throat as we stop above the cavern, and Josh pulls me to his chest.
“Just fall and trust me.” I keep my eyes locked on his as he leans closer and kisses me at the same time he lets us just fall into the cavern. The kiss is addicting as it is dangerously taking all my senses and making me forget the world around us. In one smooth motion, Josh breaks the kiss and uses his wings to propel us up a little before landing us on the ground.
“Queen Adelaide!” Casella’s voice rings to me as I realise there are dozens of people bowing low in a circle around us. More and more people join the bowing as Casella, with Jonas right behind her, walks through them to us. They both bow low when they get to us, and I place my hand on Casella’s shoulder.
“We need boats, a lot of them, to travel to the land. I have brought my father’s wolf pack back with us to fight in the war,” I tell her.
“Of course,” she mutters, but her eyes fall on my wings and then to my wrists, where the bracelets are gone. She doesn’t say anything, but Jonas does.
“When did you get your wings back?” Jonas asks, coming to me and briefly hugging me before fisting bumping Josh.
“Josh, Jonas, can you move out of the way for a minute or so?” I ask, offering Casella my hand to take. She looks confused as she meets my eyes, but I have to do something, something that feels right in my soul. I was meant to do this.
“Of course,” Josh says, patting Jonas’s back, making him walk out of the circle.
“Once, a queen took your powers and locked them away with chains around your wrists. Now, your true queen will give you back your true, destined power and free you of any binds. This is the will of fate,” I whisper to her and close my eyes. I summon every bit of power I can find inside me, feeling it buzzing around my skin like lightning and energy, before I let it go, feeling it escape me in waves. I open my eyes to find Casella and me floating in the air, both our skin buzzing with blue lightning, and it is flickering around to everyone in the room. The room is silent other than the sound of all the bracelets snapping off and falling to the ground. Casella has beautiful white wings, almost see-through like glass, and very slowly snow begins to fall from the sky. Thick tears fall down her cheeks as she wraps her arms around me and hugs me tightly, and I hug her right back as she sobs. We spin around, and cheers erupt as people realize they will have their power back.
“Ready to fight for me? For Frayan?” I whisper to her.
“Oh, I’m ready. We will kill her for our families, for our future, and for Frayan.”
“For Frayan!” Josh shouts, and everyone copies him, shouting the two words so loudly it’s a wonder the whole of Frayan doesn’t hear them.
I hope Lilyanne does.
I hope she knows exactly what is coming her way.
4
Mich
“We still have the dire problem that Lilyanne’s army is over twice the size of ours, even with the addition of the wolf pack,” Cirro says, for the fifth or fourth time, I can’t remember now. I lean back in my seat, catching Rick as he yawns. It’s been five hours since we started this meeting, and yet no one has come up with a solution to what we should do with our numbers. There have been several ideas, but most of them leave us in danger one way or another. I glance over at Adelaide who is trying to stay interested as she quietly talks to Casella, but we are all getting to the point where we need to take a break. Adie’s long red hair is up in a bun, with little bits of her soft hair shaping her face, and it matches her dark red cloak that covers her amazing figure. I could watch her forever, which is a little bit creepy, so I move my gaze away to see Nath watching me with a smirk on his annoying face.
“My wolves can take down at least three times what one of your Fray can,” Anthony, the head beta, says. The three speechless betas all nod in agreement. I sometimes wonder if they can speak to each other in their minds, as they are always in agreement with each other. They are also always, always together. I haven’t decided if it’s creepy or sweet yet.
“Who are you again?” Cirro asks. “I am sorry, my memory of names is terrible.”
“Anthony, beta of the pack,” he tells him, not looking impressed.
“Well, Anthony, there aren’t enough. It simply won’t be enough,” Cirro argues.
“I have an idea,” I say, and everyone turns to look at me. I keep my eyes on Adie’s as she softly smiles at me.
“Mich, what do you think?” Cirro asks as I stand up and pull the map closer to me. I point at the woods surrounding the cliff close to the academy.
“We should have all wolves in the woods, hiding in the trees. The Fray should be split up into two groups. Group one should travel to the Summer court and follow the court all the way up to the middle of Frayan and stay quiet as Lilyanne’s army passes them. Then they should follow, keeping a good distance away,” I propose.
“Then they will be surrounded,” Cirro muses. “It would be risky to cut our army in half, but we could ch
oose our stealthy soldiers to make their way across the courts.”
“It’s a really good idea, Mich,” Rick comments, nodding his head at me. In my mind, he sends a single message. About time you suggested something. You’re the smart one, dude.
“The wolves can easily hide and blend into the trees. We have done that for years, and trust me, no one will find us until we want them to,” Anthony says.
“All children and people that cannot fight will be hidden at the bottom of the academy,” Casella says. “We have been carrying beds and food down there for weeks.”
“We stick to this plan; it has a chance of working,” Adelaide says, standing up, and everyone rises after her. “And I don’t know about everyone else, but I am awfully hungry and tired. Shall we leave?”
“That’s a very good plan,” I say and smile at her as I walk over. She links her hand through my arm and leans on my shoulder as we turn to wait for Rick, Josh and Nath who are talking with Cirro and Anthony.
“Go ahead, guys, we won’t be long,” Rick says, coming over and gently kissing Adie. I hate how he can kiss her so easily, admit his feelings so easily. I wish I could do the same, but I can’t. I’m stuck not having a clue how to actually tell Adie how I feel.
Or I’m too much of a coward to actually admit it. I almost shake my head at myself as Adie says goodbye to Rick and the others, and we leave the council rooms. She rests her head back on my shoulder as we head down the corridor, passing many people who all bow and wave at Adie. They all love her. We all do.
“Are you hungry?” Adie asks me, looking up at me so sweetly that all I want to do is kiss her. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.
“No—I mean yes,” I mutter, sounding like a right idiot. She just smiles at me, not laughing or judging me on anything. Adie is so easy to fall in love with, it’s a wonder the entire world doesn’t love her like I do.
“Are you okay?” she asks me, both of us pausing in the empty corridor not far from our room.
“I love you,” I all but blurt out, and I look down. “I’ve loved you for a long damn time, and I didn’t know how to tell you it. See, since I was a kid, I’ve been scared of getting close to people after what the witches did to me. I’ve done my best to push people away just in case they hurt me, in case I can’t trust them, because I actually trusted my pack and the witches to protect me as a child, and they didn’t. Rick, Nath and Josh were the first people I let in, and they fixed a lot of the gaps in my heart that needed fixing. Then you came into our lives, Adie, and you might as well have ripped my broken heart out of my chest and replaced it with a new one that only wants to love you and our pack.”
“Mich,” she says, her voice full of emotion and on the cusp of crying. I look up as she moves a step closer, pressing her small body against mine. She places her hands on my cheeks before she kisses me. I groan at the taste of her lips and how damn soft they are as we kiss. She breaks away, and I barely restrain myself from pulling her back to me. “I love you too. I want you as my mate if you will have me. I know it’s complicated between our pack, and this would make it more, but—”
“Yes,” I answer her and pick her up as she giggles. “It’s always yes for you. Fuck the complications.”
“Fuck the complications,” she replies with a chuckle before she kisses me once again. I carry her to our room before taking my time tugging her clothes off one piece at a time, and she takes mine off as well. I kiss every inch of her sweet body before sliding inside of her, and she arches her back in pleasure. Our lips battle against each other as I thrust in and out, and she meets me for every thrust. She surprises me by pushing me onto my back and climbing on top of me, making everything even better. I lean up and pull her lips to mine, kissing her as she rides me. Just as I’m getting close, she turns her neck to the side, and I don’t think twice before kissing her neck and biting her, marking her as my own. She bites down on my shoulder, and in seconds, I’m coming with a long groan, my legs shaking as she collapses onto me. I hold my mate tightly, and I never want to let go.
5
“May I borrow our queen?” Nath asks, his hands moving to rest on the back of my chair as I sit plaiting the hair of an eight-year-old girl in front of me. Her three friends are giggling with her as I finish the plait and tie the end. I don’t know how I went from walking in search of Rick to being asked to do the little girl’s hair the next second. Not that I mind; if anything, it’s a bit of normal. I glance at Nath from the corner of my eye. His dark blond hair has recently been cut, stylishly suiting him. He has a deep blue cloak clipped to his muscular shoulders, and his eyes are full of humour.
“Of course,” I look up and tell Nath before looking back at the girl as she turns to face me. She has the same hair as Sophie, a deep brown, and I remember Sophie at about the same age. So innocent, so sweet. This Frayan girl isn’t any different except for the fact she lives in a world where she has to hide in an academy, scared to lose her parents. All the children here live in this world, and I have to make it better for them.
“Thank you, Queen Adelaide. My hair is so pretty now,” she tells me, and I grin at her as I stand up off the wooden chair.
“I believe someone baked cookies in the kitchens. Maybe you four should sneak in and have a few,” Nath says, and the girls all laugh in happiness as they run off out of the room.
“Did you bring me some cookies?” I ask as Nath walks to my side and wraps an arm around my waist, leading me out of the small cavern room and down the corridor.
“I found you something far better,” he tells me as I rest my head on his shoulder. The sun is setting as we walk up the dozens of steps to the top of the cavern, and Nath pushes open double doors at the top, letting orange light of the setting sun blast into my eyes. I step out with the cold breeze brushing against my skin and open my eyes, looking at the remains of the academy around us.
“I bet this was a beautiful castle once,” I say, looking at the little pieces of the building that are left. Even burnt and covered in vines, you can see it was once something great. I would love to see old paintings of it and to understand what the academy was used for.
“It can be again. Perhaps a school for the young Frayan, somewhere safe for them to learn magic and mix with other races,” Nath suggests. “Queen Winter and Queen Isola have come together to open an academy, one between the worlds. Maybe there could be a third world added to the mix.”
“I would like that. Why did you bring me up here?” I ask him. “Did you want me all alone?”
“This way, it’s a surprise,” he tells me, offering me his hand to take. I sink my hand into his and follow him across the ruins, stepping over large pieces of stone that were most likely once a ceiling.
“Jonas told me about this,” he tells me as he helps me climb over a stone and to the other side. He stops me in front of him and strokes his hands down my arms. “Close your eyes.”
“Okay,” I say and instantly close my eyes.
“I love how you trust me,” he tells me, taking my hands and guiding me a few steps closer before I feel him move around me to my back, and his hands come to rest on my hips. “Open your eyes.”
I open them and just stare down into the sea below where it looks like the stars themselves have fallen in. Multicoloured, glowing stars swirl around in circles in the sea, the waves making it look like the night sky is moving, when it is in fact the sea. It’s one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life.
“The creatures are called enchantments. It is said that to hold one in your hand is to be lost to the stars forever. The enchantments travel the seas of Fray because they are truly free and can never be captured,” he explains to me, and I feel lost in the sound of his voice. I feel lost in his arms, overlooking the crashing sea below.
“Nath, they are stunning,” I admit.
“They remind me of you, enchanting and beautiful. They may be stunning to look at, but next to you, my queen, they are merely stars,” he whispers to me. I turn
around and kiss him before he can say any more sweet words that make my heart warm. Nath picks me up and lays me down on the cold stone. The mixture of the heat of his body over mine and the cold stone below will be in my memory forever. I undo his trousers at the same time he pushes my dress up my legs and tugs my underwear down. I gasp as he leans down and kisses my clit, moving his tongue in perfect circles that send me crashing into an orgasm in mere moments. He climbs up my body and slides inside me in one smooth move, and I moan as he thrusts in and out of me.
“Make me your mate, Nath,” I ask him as he thrusts in and out me, his lips skimming down my jaw. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he tells me and bites down on my neck, just over where Mich bit me only a week ago. I moan as pleasure bursts through me. Then I lean into Nath as he finishes, and I bite his neck. He groans, swearing under his breath as we both collapse onto the stone, gasping for air.
“Can we come here every day and do that?” he asks, and I chuckle, kissing his cheek softly.
“Only if you bring the stars, my mate.”
6
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I say, gripping the two daggers in my hands tighter as I hover in the air, and Casella hovers a few inches to my right. Everyone came to the decision that I need to practice my fighting and lightning skills together, in case lightning on its own doesn’t kill Lilyanne. We are going into a war, and they are going to protect me as best they can, but it’s important I have a good idea how to use the weapons I have. So for the past two weeks, Casella has taught me how to stab a doll with daggers, but now the crazy girl wants me to channel lightning through the daggers and throw them at the dolls hung in front of us. Casella just shakes her head at me and sighs.