She Conquers, page 4
I take my hand off of my mouth and place it on his cheek. "No you did nothing, it's—" I'm cut off before I can finish though as the moonlight illuminates a big puff of smoke as it rises from my mouth. I see Allister's head as it moves following the puff.
"What was that?" he asks in awe.
"I don't know. It felt like a flame ignited when our tongues touched. That's why I pulled back."
In the moonlight I can see his eyes widen into saucers. "Last time I was in the throne room with Henrik he spit out this lava flame stuff and it melted the ground in front of me. I wonder if you can do it too!" He's obviously excited about this turn of events but I'm not. I feel like a freak all over again.
"I'm sorry; I'm so embarrassed." I cover my face again and push my forehead into his chest.
Allister hooks my chin and lifts my face to his as he pulls my hands down from my face, locking eyes with me. "Hey, you don't have to be sorry or embarrassed."
"Yes I do. We were kissing and I turned into a human chimney. It's embarrassing."
He holds my hands in his and squeezes them. "No it's not. It's really freaking cool!"
I chuckle. "You're just being nice."
"No I'm not. My mate is so turned on by me her body literally started a fire! You know how many people can say the same thing?"
"I don't know."
"I'm willing to guess zero because Henrik is the only person I've seen able to spit fire. He shakes my hands. "And hey, we will figure this out together. For how worthless Hazel's been thus far I have a feeling the stupid bird will be able to help us. And tomorrow I will search through all of your mother's papers, maybe there's something in there which can help us figure all of this out."
"All right." I whimper as I stare down at his chest. I hate myself for how sad the words come out.
He cups my face with one of his hands and pushes my face up so he can lock eyes with me. "And until then, I can wait. I can keep my hands to myself until we can figure out your powers and you're comfortable with this."
I smile. "I am comfortable with you though, I hope you know that."
"I do now. But the smoke obviously spooked you and I want our first time together to be perfect. I don't want you worried about what could happen if you lose control of your powers if something did happen between us."
I nervously grab at my mother's necklace. "Thank you for understanding. I honestly didn't think about that, but I could never forgive myself if I hurt you; even on accident."
Allister brings his hand down and turns until he's flat on his back, dragging me with him so my head lays where his chest and shoulder meet. "Of course, kitten. I'll always have your best interest at heart. Forever."
The word scares me. Forever is an awfully long time, but it doesn't scare me in the way I thought it would. It frightens me in the sense of what if my lifespan isn't as long as his lifespan? What if he outlives me? I try to push it from my mind though, no sense in worrying about something we may not figure out until we live it.
But then it feels like a bucket of cold water is thrown over me as my mind races to my parents. My mother fell in love with my father knowing she wouldn't get a forever with him. A human life must feel insanely insignificant compared to a Fae life. I decide I need to talk to Allister about something.
I ask into the night because I don't think I can look Allister in the face while we talk about this. "Allister. Can I talk to you about something?"
He tugs me in closer to him. "Yes of course, always."
"Just please let me get this out before you say anything. Can you do that?" I feel his chin nodding against my head, urging me to continue. "It's about my mother. I know you and her had a great relationship," I place my hand on his chest, "and I'm truly happy you did. But I didn't have the same relationship with her. She gave birth to me and then disappeared. My father was both my father and my mother. I didn't meet Titania until my Awakening when she was killing my father and Oak. I hate her. I know you won't like hearing it but it's true. She took all the people I adored from me. I know you want to tell me more about her but in my mind I killed a crazy monster, not a person. If you start telling me things about her, then she becomes a person. I don't think I could handle it if the crazy woman from before became my mother in my mind. Does that make sense?"
His hand reaches over and cups my chin, pulling my face up to meet his intense gaze. When our eyes meet, tears instantly fill my eyes. His gaze always lays me bare, it's truly loving and I can almost see the hurt he feels for me there. "I understand completely. We don't have to talk about her until you're ready. But when you are ready I'd absolutely love to tell you all about her. She was like a mother to me growing up and it would make me incredibly happy to share my memories of her with you." He brings his lips down and lightly kisses my lips before bringing his forehead down to mine. "Whatever you need, I'm here for you."
Tears run down my face as I settle back onto his chest I whisper, "Thank you" into the night. I take in a deep, calming breath. "Goodnight, Allister."
"Goodnight, Attina."
5
NED
Thank the gods I was able to make it back to Sanctuary long before James. Mylo is a much bigger and faster horse than the one James brought along. Besides, from what I saw when he rode away, he didn't appear to be a particularly adept rider. From the little I've gleaned from Attina, he's a much better hunter than rider.
I took a more direct route than the one we took to search for supplies. I bet James only knew the route on which he followed us, and I was right. After unsaddling and feeding Mylo, I head over to Commander Demarco's office. I stride past his young secretary, Sarah's desk.
Her short, cropped hair bobs against her gray sweats. She stands up and walks right along with me as she hurriedly asks, "Um, do you have an appointment with Commander Demarco?" She tries to stop me, but my steps are too long for her to keep up even a short distance.
I make it to the door with a silver plaque in the middle which says, "Commander John Demarco." Waving her away with my hand, I throw a glance at her dull brown eyes. "No but this can't wait." I put my hand on the doorknob before she has a chance to grab it and push my way past her.
John is sitting hunched over at his enormous desk reading some papers. I notice although he wears the same gray ensemble everyone here wears, his massive shoulders pull the fabric of his sweatshirt tight. Behind me, I hear Sarah's meek voice. "I'm sorry, Commander. He barged right past me."
He finally gazes up from his papers and pulls the reading glasses he wears down off of his face. "It's fine, Sarah. I doubt you would have been able to stop him anyway. When he's determined he's damn near impossible to reason with." His gaze shifts to me and turns to a glare. It's so slight that unless I knew him as well as I do I wouldn't have caught it. His eyes shift back to Sarah. "You're dismissed."
She bows and backs out the door, closing it behind her.
I gaze down at the glasses in his hands. We really are getting older; he didn't need glasses to read before. John folds them up and quickly puts them in the drawer to his right, obviously embarrassed by them. He clears his throat and focuses on straightening his papers as he says, "Well, where is that girl of yours?"
"Attina," I emphasize, "is still out searching for supplies."
His fierce green eyes dart up to meet mine and his face scrunches up in confusion, "What do you mean? Why are you here then?"
I take in a deep steadying breath. I need to tip toe over this the right way. I need to get him on my side before James gets here and throws a wrench into our plans. "It's a long story, John, but the gist of it is there's something mentally wrong with James. He's obsessed and seeing things."
John shakes his head and says, "What? Start from the beginning." I do as he asks and start with the night before we left on our mission. When I'm done telling him how he assaulted Attina, John's face has become a little ashen. "And I sent him after you guys. I played right into his hands."
"Don't blame yourself you didn't know what happened and you were told there was a sighting of a Fae around us. I understand why you did what you did." I make my way over to one of the chairs in front of his desk, taking a seat. Then I tell him how he caught up to us and tried to forcibly drag Attina back to Sanctuary.
I leave out Allister and how she used her magic to defend herself and instead say, "Thank goodness I taught her to fight. By the time we got too far on our journey she had become such a skilled warrior she was able to fend him off. When he gets here you'll see a big shiner on his face, Attina put it there." So I bent the truth a little, she was the one to kick his ass, Allister only helped a bit.
His mouth falls open and he sits up a little straighter. "Good for her."
I continue. "When he left he said he would come back here and tell you we were consorting with the Fae. He wants you to start a war with the Fae, all to get Attina back."
His eyes narrow, "Well, why didn't you bring Attina back here where she would be safe? Why did you leave her out there? Didn't you realize he could have simply turned around and gone back to her after you left?" His hand goes up to grab his chin between his fingers. "Besides, why would you leave her out there on her own?"
"She's perfectly capable of being out on her own. If you remember, she made it all the way from Daruk here on her own."
His brow furrows and his hands clench. "Still, something doesn't seem right."
Fuck.
We talk for hours in circles but eventually I get him to see things my way. He's a lot more likely to believe James is crazy than to believe I could be disloyal him. I hate to betray him, but this is the only way to bring peace to the world. John is too quick to start a fight, and the humans would be massacred by the Fae if they went to war against each other—whether he can see it or not.
6
JAMES
When I make it back to Sanctuary, Ned already has his claws dug deep Into Commander Demarco. Sarah told me he's twisted the story around. According to him, I came out, attacked them both with no provocation, and then left to bring back some made up story to the Commander. Ned then chased after me, leaving Attina out in the world to continue searching for supplies. She told me he said I was crazily flipping out about some Fae and attacked Attina.
What a crock of shit.
Attina is mine and she ran off with that Fae. She must be brainwashed by him. Their mission to take down the Fae king will get us all killed. I know it. She needs to be forced to return and never allowed to leave again.
I'm to have a meeting with Commander Demarco tomorrow to see what he wants to do with me, but I'm not worried about it. I will sway him to my way of thinking. He's a man and all men can be manipulated; you only need to find the right bait.
And I know just the bait to use.
7
ATTINA
The next morning we dress and head down the tree. Raven is already standing next to where the door opens when Allister and I make it around the tree. I don't even unlatch my necklace this time, I simply lean my face up next to the colorful bark and place my rose pendant in the keyhole.
Just like last night, the door opens, and we all walk in.
The rest of the day is spent scouring the gigantic room. Allister sits on the bed and pours over the mountain of papers covering it since he is the only one of the three of us who can read Fae runes. Raven and I search the rest of the room, but pretty much come up empty.
Before I get frustrated I decide to make myself useful. I walk over to Allister and put my hand on his shoulder. He lifts his head for a split second before putting his nose back into the paper he was reading.
"I'm taking Raven to go for a hunt. We'll be back in a few hours."
He waves me off. "Fine, sounds good I'll see you then."
Well that was more abrupt than I expected. I huff and stomp out the door calling over my shoulder, "Let's head out, Raven."
I get outside and trudge over to the other side of the tree, by the platform, where my bow, sword, and Raven's saddle were left. Raven trots up to my side. "You all right? What happened?"
I shake my head. "It's nothing, I'm probably being overly sensitive."
I throw her saddle on her back and tighten her cinch. Then I buckle my sword to my hips and throw my bow across my back before climbing into the saddle. "You ready to go hunt?"
"Always."
We walk in silence. I'm too lost in thought to talk to Raven. I feel like last night Allister and I really connected, but when Raven and I left, he seemed flippant, like he didn't care.
Raven shakes her body under me, knocking me out of my reverie. "Hey, did you hear me, kid?"
I shake my head, clearing it. "No, what did you say?"
"What's happening between you two? Is everything okay? Do I need to kill him?"
I sigh. "I think so?" I proceed to explain what happened last night. Making sure not to leave out a single detail. "I felt like we had a breakthrough between us last night, but when we left just now, I felt like he blew me off. I'm confused. Maybe I'm making too much of it." I scan the scenery around us. "This is probably a good spot to stop."
Raven stops by a tree and I stand up on top of the saddle. I grab hold of a branch and lift myself up into the tree. Below me I hear a voice say, "So I guess this means we're done talking about it?"
I sit down on the branch and peer down at her. "I don't even know how I feel or what's happening at the moment, so maybe later? When I've collected my thoughts, if that's all right?"
She nods, "Of course." She scans the area around us. "I'll head out and hide a little deeper into the forest. Yell if you need me."
"I will. Be careful, it's always possible for Solis to be roaming the woods." Raven grunts in affirmation and starts walking off but before she gets out of ear reach I call after her, "Thank you for always being someone I can count on."
Raven turns her head but continues walking. "I'll be by your side forever." She makes her way through some trees, and I lose sight of her.
I continue climbing up the branches until I'm tucked into a spot where I'm hidden between branches and leaves. I get into a comfortable position, wiggling my butt down onto the branch and pulling my bow off of my back. I nock an arrow and lean back on to the tree trunk.
Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and feel the world around me. I still have to concentrate when I use my powers. I hope one day it'll be second nature for me, and I won't have to think about using them, but that isn't the case yet. I feel the air touching my skin. The wind brushing over the leaves. The roots spidering down deep through the earth's floor around me. All the other tree's roots around me intermingling in places.
I reach my senses out further. I feel what must be rabbits, by how daintily but quickly they move, scuttling around a den. I dig deeper into my powers and feel four split hooves, pushing down on the ground not far off.
A deer.
I push a gust of wind behind the deer which urges it forward while also pulling my scent, which would spook the animal, away from it. The animal takes a tentative step forward and then starts confidently striding toward me.
I pull the string on my bow back, with the arrow between my fingers, and let the string sit on the side of my lip. I freeze in position as I wait for the deer to walk through the tree line close enough that I can loose an arrow into it.
The minutes tick by but eventually the animal pokes its head through the trees. Its head is up and alert. Its ears move back and forth along with its head, constantly on the lookout for a predator. I push another gust behind it, urging it forward a little closer. I take a deep breath in, planning to release the arrow after my next exhale, between breaths.
But I can't.
This isn't hunting; it's shooting fish in a barrel.
I felt the deer when it was impossibly far off. I pushed the deer to me with my magic and I kept the deer from smelling my scent. It didn't have a chance.
I huff out loudly and the deer slices its head up staring into the tree I'm sitting in. I lower my bow and it must see the movement because it gazes directly where I'm sitting, turns and runs off.
Thank goodness.
But as the deer turns and races off between some trees, two pheasants pop out of the brush, flying up, trying to flee the chaos. I quickly re-aim my arrow and shoot one. I see it fall down in my peripherals as I nock another arrow and let it loose. The arrow hits the second bird right before it could fly up into the canopy and away from my line of sight.
"Hey, Raven, get over here!" I shout as I crawl down the tree and stride over to where the pheasants landed.
One has an arrow poking out of its eye and the other has a huge hole ripping right through its chest. The birds would be brilliantly beautiful if it wasn't for the blood staining their feathers. They have blue heads with red masks; both have a white band around their throats which leads into a purple chest. Their wings and back however are brown with speckles dotted throughout, perfect for hunkering down and blending in.
"I thought you wanted to get a deer?" Raven questions beside me.
I turn my head to her. "I did." I bend down, pick up the birds and wrench the arrow out of one's eye. I scan around the immediate area, but my other arrow is nowhere to be found—great. Now I only have one arrow left. I used all my special Fae arrows, which were made out of Fae hawk feathers, and shot faster and truer, on those Fae slayers back in Rawu. And I've lost arrows along our journey off and on, I guess I need to sit down and make some arrows. "I was able to get a deer to come to me with my magic. But it didn't feel fair. The deer didn't have a chance. I didn't know I would care about it having a fighting chance against me, but apparently I do. We're not starving, and I don't have a town full of people to feed, I couldn't bring myself to kill it."
"What about those?" she asks as she peers down at the birds in my hand. "They couldn't have had any more of a chance than the deer did."
