by G. Bailey
“You must do this. It’s an important skill,” she tells me, looking at me like she is one second away from throwing something at me.
“I will shift anyway, so I won’t need to use daggers,” I remind her. “I’m better in my wolf form.”
“But you can’t use your lightning while shifted, Queen Adelaide,” she tells me, and I sigh. I guess she does have a point.
“Call me Adie, Casella,” I remind her.
“I will if you do this,” she says, arching an eyebrow. “If you don’t, I’m going to call you Queen Adelaide Autumn of Frayan at every moment I get.”
“That’s called bribing someone,” I mutter.
“Does it work?” she asks with a grin.
“Possibly,” I reply, smiling myself.
“Get on with it then,” she suggests, and I close my eyes, calling my lightning powers. I pull my hand back, gripping the dagger tightly, and open my eyes. Lightning flickers around my body like a wave, and Casella has moved away. I look up at the dagger, seeing it glowing blue with lightning. I let my magic guide me as I throw the dagger, and I use my wings to spin around, throwing the second dagger with the movement. I force the lightning to disappear, and stare at the targets, which are dead on centre, still sparkling with lightning.
“Good job, Adie,” she tells me, and I roll my eyes at her, which only makes her laugh more.
“Thanks,” I say with a big smile. We both fly down and land on the ground just as we hear someone clapping. Jonas and Rick are clapping as they walk to us, and Rick kisses me before picking me up and swinging me around.
“Hey, you,” he gently says.
“Hey, what are you two up to?” I ask.
“Practice training, want to watch?” Jonas answers.
“Sure,” I say, and Rick kisses my cheek as he lets me go. I head over to the bench by the wall at the back, with Casella following behind me. We both sit down as we watch Rick and Jonas get swords that are bigger than me and move to the centre of the room.
“Have you watched them fight before?” Casella quietly asks me.
“Not Jonas and Rick. I’ve seen my pack practicing,” I answer her, and I never like to see them fighting like that, even though I know they won’t actually hurt each other.
“Oh, you are in for a treat then. Dragon against wolf,” she excitedly says. Casella is a strange woman. I sit back, resting my hands on my leather trousers as I watch Jonas kiss his sword, and it turns into blue ice. “That’s a special trick I taught him. Sexy, right?” she asks proudly. I just shake my head at her, but my lips tilt up in a smile.
“Pretty tricks for a pretty boy that can’t fight for shit,” Rick teases him, and Jonas spins his sword.
“Don’t want to let your girl down, do you? Less chatting,” Jonas teases right back before slamming his sword towards Rick, who effortlessly blocks him. He shoves him off before jumping to the side and spinning his sword down on Jonas, who dodges and hits right back. They both are equally matched, both of them so well trained, as they fight for a long time till both of them are dripping with sweat. The fight takes a sudden turn as Rick slams his arm into Jonas’s chest, knocking him off guard, and in one moment, Rick has his sword held across Jonas’s neck.
“Dammit,” Jonas mutters, dropping his sword on the floor and holding his hands up.
“Don’t sweat it, man, you are a damn good fighter,” Rick says, moving his sword away as I get up with Casella and walk over. “Now that I’ve won, want to go for a drink? You can freeze them.”
“Are you ladies going to join us?” Jonas asks as Rick grins at me, reaching out and catching my hand and pulling me to him, sweaty and all, before kissing me.
“Sure, a drink sounds good. Have you ever had a Frozen Frayan?” Casella asks, and Jonas laughs.
“No, you’ll have to teach me how to make it.”
“We will catch up in a bit,” Rick says as he picks me up and carries me away as I laugh.
“Why? Where are we going?” I ask.
“To shower. Alone. We might be a while,” he tells me, and I giggle as he kisses my neck. A shower with Rick? Sounds entirely perfect.
7
“There are more people arriving than I thought,” Josh tells me, watching the influx of boats arriving at the shores of the academy. I look to Josh, his black hair blowing around in the breeze, and his jaw now has a five o’clock shadow which really suits him. It makes him look like a dark prince from a fairy tale, the prince that breaks all the hearts but you love him anyway, especially when his black wings ever so carefully spread out of their own accord. His black cloak whips around in the wind, mimicking my own dark red cloak I have on.
I pull my gaze back to the boats with so many men and women carrying weapons and climbing out of the small boats. Some of them have small children, who they no doubt want us to protect in payment for them fighting for us. I just hope not many of them die in this war, leaving the poor children without parents. I know how that feels. My attention moves on to one boat in particular, where an older woman is struggling to get out of it and onto the rocks needed to climb to the steps. I watch the people around her, noticing how everyone is so busy helping others out of the boats that they haven’t noticed her yet.
“We should help,” I say, noticing that the lady is determined to carry a large box covered in a sheet with her, and there isn’t anyone else helping. Josh wraps his arm around my waist and lifts us off the ground, landing us on the rocks nearby. Many people bow as I walk past them, and I lean down to the boat as Josh lands inside it, behind the lady. The wind blows her hood back so I can see she is much older than I thought, and her eyes only reveal how happy she is.
“May we help you?” Josh speaks first, offering his hand out. “If you pass Adelaide the box, I can help you out of the boat.”
“That would be kind. The box is a cage, and it is a gift for you, Queen Adelaide,” she tells me, offering me the cage as I struggle to grip my feet on the slippery rocks. There have been so many gifts brought from the people arriving that our room is full of everything from sweets to flowers, and there is even a dress made from pure woven silver that I can’t wait to wear to something special. Though I don’t have anything that is in a cage in my room, I guess. I step back with the heavier-than-it-looks cage as Josh helps the lady out of the boat.
“May I carry you up the steps? It’s such a long way,” Josh suggests, and I smile at him. He is sweeter than he knows.
“I may look old, dear, but I am much more able than I appear,” she tells him, patting his cheek and moving her gaze to me. She bows her head before looking me directly in my eyes. “My name is Doris Spring, and I came a long way to give you this gift.”
“Thank you very much, though you didn’t have to bring me anything. May I open it?” I ask, placing the cage on a flat rock near us.
“Of course,” she says, coming to my side and placing her hand on my shoulder. I lift the blanket off the cage to see two solid green eggs. They are about the size of a loaf of bread, and one is slightly bigger than the other. They are resting in straw at the bottom of the cage, and string is tied around them to hold them in place.
“I believe you have seen the winged creature Lilyanne was given as a child,” she asks me. “I heard you were in her castle.”
“A Zenilo?” I ask.
“Yes. Zenilos are believed to be all but extinct except for the one that is bonded to Lilyanne. When she dies, her Zenilo will pass away with her unless the Zenilo dies first, of course. The birds link themselves to one soul, and they will do anything to make sure their owner lives. I had two Zenilos growing up. Both of them were such beautiful creatures. Their first egg was a stillborn, their second egg was stolen, and my Zenilos were gravely injured trying to protect the egg, so much so they did not leave my side for years. Then one day, they showed me these two eggs, just before they both passed onto the next life. Zenilo eggs remain still until their owner drops a tiny bit of blood onto their shells. After that, they will s
oon hatch and hopefully protect you well when they are older. It takes them about ten years to grow to their full strength.”
“Thank you so very much for such a unique and special gift,” I tell her, really meaning it. “You should keep one.”
“I am old and weary. I do not need anyone to protect me from death, not anymore,” she tells me so carefully. “Perhaps if you do not need a Zenilo to protect you, a baby of yours might one day. They make lovely childhood companions, perfect for a little royal.”
“Adie, watch out!” Josh shouts, and I spin around, seeing a dagger heading straight for me, but before I can block it, Doris pushes me out of the way, and the man holding the dagger stabs it into her heart. I scream as lightning slams out of my hands and into the chest of the man. He stumbles backwards, begging to be spared as I stand up. Life soon leaves his eyes, and he falls back into the sea, his dead eyes fixed on me as he falls. Josh has picked up Doris by the time I spin around, holding a hand over the wound in her chest. He meets my eyes for a second and shakes his head, telling me everything. We can’t heal her from this.
“Why did you do that?” I question her, placing my hand on her cheek, feeling the tears there.
“Y-you mu-s-t be qu-een,” she says before her head rolls to the side, and I bow my head. There is utter silence, not a child cries nor even the wind attempts to fill the silence of her death. Someone just died for me, and I suspect she will not be the last one before this war is over. Tears fall down my cheeks as I take a moment to honour her sacrifice. I only move to close her eyes shut before wiping my tears away.
“Another death to add to the reasons why Lilyanne must die,” I finally say to Josh, who is filled with fury as he holds Doris in his arms. She didn’t want to be carried, but now choice.
“Let’s go,” he gently suggests, knowing there’s not a lot to say. She is dead. We can’t change anything. I should not have been here, but that assassin could have found me alone somewhere else. We knew there was a chance Lilyanne would send assassins in to finish me off. I pick up the cage and hold it to my chest as I fly into the air, Josh following behind me.
Thank you, Doris.
8
“Are you going to hatch them?” Josh asks me not long after coming into the room, where I’m sitting on a chair, staring at the eggs in front of me. It’s been two weeks since Doris gave them to me and died protecting me, and I’ve thought many times about hatching them…but I can’t. I guess you know when something feels right and when it does not.
“I don’t want to link them to me; it doesn’t feel right,” I admit to Josh, looking over at him as he unclips his cloak and hangs it on the back of the door. He pulls his blue shirt off next, leaving me gulping at the display of muscles and how unbelievably handsome he is.
“Perhaps we can keep them for our children,” Josh suggests. “That was Doris’s suggestion, right?”
“Our children? You’re planning ahead,” I chuckle, looking up at him. “We have a war to win first.”
“Come here,” Josh beckons as he sits on the end of the bed and undoes his boots. I walk over and sit next to him, and the second his boots are off, he pulls me onto his chest, and I giggle as he rolls us over so he is half resting over me. “I want to stay in Frayan. Forever.”
“What about Earth? And Winter? I know you miss her terribly,” I ask, knowing Winter is like a mother to him and he loves his home.
“When I’m on Earth, my demon side is too close to the surface, and I hate the man it makes me. Here, I can control that side, I can be who I am and not who the demon is. I’ve known from the second I landed here that this is my home, with you,” he gently tells me. “Winter, more than anyone, will understand this choice.”
“Suppressing a side of you isn’t—”
“It is right, and it makes me happy. I’m happy here with you, Adie, and I want you as my mate,” he tells me. “I know I’m all kinds of messed up, but in the darkness, you are my light that reminds me of who I really am. You bring my soul to life with every touch, with every kiss, with everything you do.”
“Josh, I want the same,” I happily admit to him. “I’ve liked you since we first met and you glared at me like I was the devil. I felt a connection, even back then. I will never forget how you walked through lightning to save me and jumped into a portal after me, not knowing where we would land. I’ve loved you a long time, Josh, and there isn’t anywhere in any world that I wouldn’t follow you to.”
“Darling, you don’t have to follow me. I’m never leaving you,” he tells me and kisses me. Josh brushes his lips against mine teasingly at first before we both lose all sense of control, falling headfirst into each other without ever looking back. We kiss harshly as I run my hands over his chest as he rolls on top of me, pushing my satin nightdress up to my waist. I start undoing the belt of his trousers as his hand finds my core and softly slides a finger inside of me. I moan against his lips, my back arching off the bed as he rubs my clit and drives me slowly insane with need.
“How do angels and demons mate?” I gasp as he removes his hand and undoes his buckle, pushing his trousers and boxers down.
“A blood exchange,” he tells me, pulling a small silver dagger out of a trouser pocket. He cuts the palm of his hand before offering me the blood covered knife. I take it from him and cut my own hand, wincing at the pain before dropping the knife onto the bed. He offers me his hand at the same time I take his, and presses the cut to my mouth. The bond is instant, a slam of emotions bursting into my mind as pleasure shakes through my body. Josh covers my body with his and thrusts inside me, and before I know it, my orgasm blasts into my body at the same time as I feel his pleasure and need as strong as mine, making everything better.
It only makes everything better. Josh kisses me, and I kiss him back as he continues thrusting in and out of me, filling me up. I moan as I feel him come, and he moans against my lips at the same time.
“Hi, mate,” I say, and he chuckles.
“Hi—” he stops as blaring alarms blast outside the room, hurting my ears. We make quick work of getting dressed and heading outside into the corridor. I don’t see anyone to ask what is going on until we bump into Jonas and Casella who are heading down the steps.
“Ah, you’re here, your majesty,” Casella says, taking my arm in hers. “Lilyanne’s army has started to leave the Spring court. The war is about to begin.”
“And we will win,” Josh says to us. Jonas pats his shoulder and smiles at me, a look of confidence.
I know war comes at a cost; I just hope the war doesn’t come with too high of a price.
9
“No matter how many times I eat this stew, it always tastes better than the last time,” I admit, finishing off the last bit of my stew. I’ve told the cooks a million times how utterly amazing they are, but they don’t believe me, and they seem to always up their game. I guess I’m used to human food, and it really has nothing on Frayan food, even though everything is made purely of vegetables, fruit or fish due to the lack of animals on Frayan. Apparently even when they had animals here, they never ate any of them, not even the chickens. They just found better ways to make food, and by god, they excelled at that.
“I feel that about kissing you,” Rick sweetly says, and the other guys groan. Josh hits him on the arm, never spilling his wine as he does.
“You’re being all romantic and shit again,” he warns Rick, which has happened a few times. Josh doesn’t do romance, so all this is a new thing for him. Nath and Mich, I’m sure, have a secret competition going on about who can be the most romantic, but I’m yet to actually catch them talking about it.
Or what the prize is. I suspect it’s a night in our room alone, which never, ever happens. Five of us sharing a room means at least three people are in there, and it’s almost funny how they all argue about who gets to sleep either side of me in the bed. I feel like a prize that they all want to share, but they really don’t have a clue how to.
“I like being rom
antic. You should try it sometime,” Rick says, his usual charming self. I’m just happy there are no other girls around to see his charm. Except Casella sitting next to me, but Casella is more likely to chop parts of my mate off than see him as an interesting guy.
“Do they always argue like this?” Casella whispers to me, and I grin as I look to her.
“Always, but it’s playful. It keeps their friendship strong, how playful they can be with each other,” I quietly reply to her, watching her downcast eyes and the little look she gives to Jonas at her side as he talks to another Fray. She nods, clearly thinking about it as I pick up my glass of wine and draw my eyes to the large group of dancers in the middle of the tables. Groups of Fray dance in mini circles, holding each other’s hands and spinning, every so often kicking their leg back, and letting go to clap their hands. They spin around the back of the person at their right and take their space, before doing it all over again. All of them wear woven dresses, or the men in clothes like my mates, which are made of leather they make here. Casella has ordered me an outfit to be made for the battle, but she wouldn’t tell me what it will look like, only that it is perfect for the queen of Frayan to wear. Queen. If the child version of myself could know I would one day be a queen and have lands to build a castle on, she would have been so happy.
But a queen isn’t just a woman in a pretty dress with a nice crown and jewels. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. I never understood that saying, but my dad used to say it all the time, and until recently, I never realised what he was going on about. He was warning me of my future he knew I would have, in his own way that wouldn’t actually tell me anything. It makes me go over every little thing my parents told me, if somewhere deep down they were trying to guide me for this future.