She Rises, page 25
Allister's eyebrows squish together, and he starts blinking rapidly, confusion plain on his face. I catch his gaze and just shake my head at him, it’s not worth explaining how hard it is for Ned to feel anything but hatred toward the Fae.
Ned walks over to Raven and pats her on the neck. “You keep an eye on those two. Kill him if he breathes wrong.”
“Hey!” Allister shouts, sounding hurt.
I chuckle as Raven lowers her head and answers, “You have my word. It’ll be my pleasure.”
Ned walks over to Allister and points his fingers at him. “You protect them with your life, and if you hurt either of them, there is no place in all of Arealea you can hide.”
Allister smirks. “You didn’t pull out your sword. I think I’m finally growing on you.” He winks. I notice Ned rolls his eyes.
“And you,” he says as he turns, facing me. “You stay safe and stay alive.” He pulls me into another final hug. “You can do this,” he whispers in my ear. “You will conquer your powers and defeat Henrik.” He pushes me away from him and holds me at arm's length, staring me in the eyes. “And if you need me, I will be there.”
Tears fill my eyes. “I’m going to miss you, Ned.” I hiccup. “I love you.” I pull him in for a hug.
I hear him suck in air, and for a minute, I think I’ve said the wrong thing, I’ve shared too much. But then he squeezes me tighter and whispers, “I love you too.” When he pulls away, his eyes are sparkling from the tears forming in them.
I turn away into Allister’s awaiting arms, needing his comfort, pressing my body against him. I wrap my arms around his midsection as silent tears flow down my cheeks.
Ned jumps on Mylo, turns, and trots off. Raven pushes her side up against my back so I’m squished between her and Allister. “We’ll see him again before you know it.”
My eyes water as I watch Ned ride off back home, out of our lives, for now.
When Ned disappears through the trees, I lift my head and ask Allister, “So where are we headed?”
He looks down at me and squeezes me once. “You’ll see, kitten.” He glances over my head to where my part of camp is still laying on the ground. “Why don’t we pack up the rest of camp and get on the road. I don’t want that asshole circling back around and following us to where we're going.”
40
Attina
It doesn’t take us long before we’re on the road, me on Raven and Allister walking next to us again. Now, since he’s healed, there’s no reason to make Raven carry us both.
The first couple of days go by smoothly. The three of us are even able to get to know each other better. I hate to admit it but without Ned’s hatred of Allister permeating the air, things aren't so tense. We find ourselves sharing stories of our lives. Allister’s storytelling abilities amaze me and Raven, I guess by how quietly she listens to him. He makes me feel like I’m living the story with him. Although finding out Allister was royalty from a different Fae clan shocks me.
After he finishes his story, I ask, “You’re a legitimate prince?”
“Was,” he corrects. “Until Henrik killed my father and took my mother as his unwilling bride.”
"I didn't even know there was another Fae clan."
"I'm not sure what happened to my people. Henrik never speaks of it." He droops his head.
"We'll find out what happened to them, I promise."
He smiles sadly. Then like he's trying to change the subject, he blurts out, "Oh, that reminds me. I noticed Ned's map was pretty incomplete, so I brought one of my own to show you." He pulls a map out of his pocket and hands it to me.
I unfold it and my mouth drops.
I never saw Ned's map but compared to my map, this shows a more immensely massive region to the east than I ever thought possible.
To the east, like expected, are the three towns we've already passed. More towns are scattered here and there, but it's like the Fae stopped caring at some point and just left the name off of those towns.
Up in the right-hand corner of the map is a vast mountain region which is simply marked Eastern Fae. No towns are shown but with how big the area is, there must be some sort of town there.
How did I not know my world was this vast? How did I allow myself to be so sheltered, and how in the world could Henrik rule over all of this land?
After giving me a second to scrutinize the map, Allister then goes on to tell me how he met my mother and what happened to his father after their encounter. I want to ask him a million questions about my mother, but something holds me back, a rawness I hadn’t noticed was in my heart.
Instead, I ask, “So you’re Henrik's stepson?” Many people in my town had step-siblings from all the families that were ripped apart after the Day of Destruction. Usually, your step-siblings become your family, so this is a mind-blowing realization. My mate is my step-uncle? The realization has my eyes widening, what the hell—
Allister just chuckles when he notices the shocked look on my face. “Don’t worry, Fae don’t worry about those kinds of things, it’s not unusual for siblings in Fae culture to marry to keep the line pure. Besides, I’m not Henrik's kid. I became his top slayer to stay useful to him. He would have eventually killed me off if I didn’t stay useful to him.
As a child, I wasn’t a threat to him, and he ignored me. But by the time I became of age and he took notice of me, I was already one of his top slayers, and he’s never accepted me as an heir, so I made sure I became more useful to him alive than dead.”
“Oh,” is all I can think to say.
“Don’t you want to know more about your mother? I grew up around her, ya know. She taught me everything I know.” It feels like a rock hits me in the pit of my stomach. He really knew my mother so well? I could learn so much about her from him.
The night of my Awakening flashes through my head. The wide-eyed, crazed look on her face, the lack of recognition of her own daughter, her hurting my family. I never knew her, so hurting her during my Awakening wasn't a big deal. She was trying to kill me and my family. I was only trying to protect them.
But what if I learn more about her and she becomes more than just a stranger hurting my family? I don't know if I can come back from that kind of pain.
I screw up my face and turn toward him, twisting my body in the saddle. “Wait! How old are you?” I’d thought he was my age, but that’s not possible if he grew up and was trained by my mother.
“I just turned one hundred and twenty-three,” he says casually like that’s normal.
“What?” I shout, stunned.
“Fae don’t age the same way humans do. I’m barely coming into what humans would call their twenties.”
I think. Are you telling me I’m going to be all old and gray, and you’ll still look like this? I scan up and down his body.
He smiles softly instead of his usual smirk. You and Ned are the first half-Fae I’ve ever met, so I think that’s probably something we need to ask Ned about. Do you know how old he is?
I think back to all our conversations, while I learned a ton about his life on this trip, his age didn't come up. I shake my head at Allister.
His eyes soften. We’ll find out, don't worry. His eyes become bright and glossy like they're yearning, and they lock onto mine as he leans up toward me. Besides, it doesn’t matter if we grow old together or if you grow old in the next fifty years while I stay young and beautiful. He chuckles and winks at me. I’ll be by your side, bugging you until the end.
I just chuckle quietly because I don’t know what else to say. I haven’t known this man very long, and I know in my heart when he says he’ll be by my side until the end, he means it.
My soul and brain are so conflicted.
My soul says go for it, it pulls and aches to be close to Allister, to never let anything part us again, but my head doesn’t trust it. He’s too good to be true, there must be a catch. Then I notice Allister beaming up at me.
“What? Do I have something on my face?” I ask as I touch my face.
“Don’t you want to know anything about your mother? Ask me anything. I know you never got to know her, but maybe I can help you sort of get to know her. I know it's not the same, but it’s better than nothing, right?”
A cold sweat breaks out over my skin, my breath comes in short gasps. “Um... We... ell,” I stutter out.
I don’t get to finish the painful task of explaining why I don’t want to know anything about my mother because all of a sudden, the shrubs around us start shaking. I’d been too engrossed in everything we’d been talking about. But now I feel it, the slow movement of steps along the ground surrounding us. There must be twenty of them.
“Well, what?” Allister asks, his brow furrowed, completely oblivious to the fact that we’re being surrounded.
“Shh,” I spit, my head spinning around to the left and then the right. Raven and he both stop in their tracks.
I close my eyes, sensing the earth around us. I feel Raven and Allister’s weight, then at various intervals around us on all sides, I notice more sets of feet. They’re walking achingly slowly toward us. I focus more, trying to pinpoint each of them. “We’re surrounded,” I whisper. Raven widens her stance as Allister’s eyes narrow, he slowly and quietly pulls out his sword.
I close my eyes, focusing on each individual's footsteps. I notice a few of them are dragging one of their legs behind them, I even notice a couple dragging their lower halves along the ground.
“Solis... but I’ve never felt this many at once before.”
"Fuck," comes from Allister, "I couldn't hear their thoughts because they have none. I hate those sneaky bastards."
I pull out my sword, my bow will be useless in this thick brush. I climb down off of Raven, “You need to go...” But I don’t get to finish what I was saying. I notice a Solis I almost missed coming through the bushes on Raven’s flank, it only takes two strides before I’m on the Solis, but it already has its nails into her. She jumps forward, giving me the chance to swing my sword up and bring it back down on top of the thing's head. I turn and see ten pinprick holes on her rump from the Solis’ sharp fingernails. “You okay, Raven?”
“I’m fine, girl.” But I can hear the pain in her voice.
The footsteps hitting the ground quicken. “We gotta get outta here! Allister on Raven now!” We both crawl on her, and I kick her to get her to run. “Let’s go!” I shout as those footsteps turn into running feet. "Allister, you know this place.” I notice his movement behind me and his sword slicing through the air down into a Solis that attacks our right. “Is there anywhere we can fight with a little more room?”
A Solis runs straight at us. I stand up in my stirrups, leaning forward, and wrap my legs right behind the back of my saddle. I feel Allister grab my legs, I lean on top of Raven’s neck and bring my sword across the Solis’s body, splitting it in half. This Solis was a woman in black rags, her body falling in on itself, and Raven plows right through her dead body, the woman’s blood splashing all over Raven’s front.
I sit back in the saddle, my head smacking back into Allister’s shoulder. “Where the hell are we headed, Allister? We need to stop somewhere and kill these things.” I sense them all around us running, closing in on us from all sides. The ones behind us can’t keep up with Raven's Fae speed, but the ones in front of us or to the sides can definitely reach us.
“Keep going straight,” Allister yells over the wind passing past my ears, “we’re almost there.”
“Where?” I yell as I feel Allister slice his sword through the air behind Raven, the Solis’s body crashing hard to the ground.
“You’ll see.”
In a few seconds, I do just that. The forest opens to a grass field. It’s like a pocket of grass cut into the middle of the forest. In the center of this grass pocket is a massive tree.
It's the biggest tree I’ve ever seen in my whole life.
My eyes widen as I try to take it all in. I can’t even see the canopy of the tree from the ground, it just keeps climbing higher into the sky. How had I never seen this tree before? I bet you could see the top of it from almost all of Arealea.
Raven runs through the tree break, running up to the base of the tree before slamming on the brakes and skidding sideways. Stopping perpendicularly to the tree. Before she even comes to a stop, Allister already has his leg over her and is stepping off of her, racing to the edge of the tree line.
Watching him move is like watching water flow down a stream, his movements are so fluid and smooth like he’s swimming through the air.
Somewhere far off, I hear an owl's loud hoot, the noise penetrating through my thoughts.
I dismount but stay by Raven, sheathing my sword and pulling out my bow instead; now I have enough room to use it. Nocking an arrow, I stand by her protectively.
The Solis followed our path exactly, and where we came out of the forest has turned into a bottleneck.
Making the killing easy.
Solis after Solis pours out of the forest at Allister. He moves so fluidly as he swings his sword, killing each of them with one nimble swing of the blade.
A rogue Solis comes out of the forest to the right. It turns and locks on to Allister, heading straight for him. I take aim and loose an arrow before it gets close to Allister, the Solis falling to the ground with an arrow sticking out of the side of his head.
“Good job!” Raven immediately praises.
I saw him, I coulda got him, I hear Allister say in my head.
I couldn’t let you have all the fun! I answer, smirking.
It seems like it takes an hour, but by the time Allister is done killing all the Solis and the few stragglers dragging themselves along the ground, the sun is already starting to set. A mass of Solis bodies are piled high at his feet. By the end, the Solis were crawling over their dead brethren, trying to get to him.
Allister turns around and his black cloak is shinning with all the blood covering it. His face and arms are thick with blood too. He grins at me, his white teeth a stark contrast to the blood covering the rest of him.
I put my hand on my hip and cock my head. “I guess you’re not all that bad after all. I didn’t even have to save you this time!” I can’t help myself as I chuckle.
Allister slowly drags his sword up his leg, wiping the blood from it. He sheaths his sword over his back, and I swear through all the blood and gore, he’s flexing his muscles. My eyes lock on his hard chiseled arms and my mouth goes dry.
Damn. I think and immediately realize what I did wrong, my face going slack.
Allister smirks, delighted at what he just heard. He saunters slowly, thoughtfully, over to me. Making sure to pop all his muscles as he walks.
You like this?
My cheeks flush as heat rises to them with a vengeance. My body goes loose and tight at the same time, and fire pools in my belly. My mind goes blank as he reaches me and bends down.
Surprising me, he bends down and wraps his arms around my legs right under my butt. He stands and lifts me off the ground. A giggle escapes my lips. I don't care that I get covered in Solis blood too. I lower my head, smelling his scent. His scent is so strong I can still smell it over the heavy tang of blood. How does this man smell this good even while he's covered in blood and gore?
"I thought I said to never do this again or you were out?" I try to sound menacing, but a giggle escapes my lips.
“Could you two knock it off?” Raven sounds annoyed.
My head snaps to her.
“Yes, could you please put the princess down,” comes another voice from above and behind us.
In a flash, Allister softly drops me to the ground and maneuvers his body in front of mine. Raven twists so her body covers mine behind Allister.
“Who’s there?” Allister shouts. Past Raven, I can see the glint of his sword he somehow pulled back out after putting me on the ground.
I nock an arrow pulling the string tight but keeping the arrow pointed down at the ground.
I hear a hoot hoot. “Up here, idiot.”
I back away from the two shielding me and lift my bow and arrow, string taut. I move back and forth, scanning the tree's high branches.
“Good. You’re brave. I was hoping you’d be brave. I never expected you to look so much like your mother, though.”
My scanning stops as my arrow points on a gargantuan owl. Its eyes are amber with a sharp silver beak encased in a red mask. The ears atop its head are furry, and its body is a sooty mottled brown with a white throat.
My eyes narrow. “Who are you?”
The owl bows, something I didn’t realize an owl could do, and answers, “I’m Hazel, your grandmother’s owl.”
I drop my bow, shocked. Raven and Allister still stand at the ready, but if this owl wanted to do us any harm, it would have done it by now. I push past them.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’ve watched you from afar your whole life, little one. I’m here to help you kill that bastard Henrik. He’s lived far too long and killed far too many people along the way. I’ve seen your powers, and I know you can beat him, you will become queen, and I will help you do it.”
My mouth drops open.
Epilogue
James
Sanctuary finally comes into view. That old bastard beat me there, I just know it, but it doesn’t matter. I will stop Attina. I will stop her no matter what. That damn Fae has her brainwashed, and she needs to see it.
I kick the horse faster. The beast is exhausted. but I don't care. I have to get back to Sanctuary before Ned can brainwash Demarco any more than I'm sure he already has.
Her mate?
No way in hell am I lying down while he twists her mind and emotions.
He is not her mate!
She is mine and I will have her!
If I can’t have her, no one can.
The End
Other Books By Caitlin Denman
