Luminary (Faylinn Book 3), page 20
“Thank you for your willingness to help.” I turned to walk away.
“Don’t let him win,” Evan murmured.
I stopped and looked over at him. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen, Evan.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
CALLIOPE
“Dad?” I looked all around, spinning in circles. “Dad?” I squeaked.
Out of the shadow of a nearby tree, a figure emerged. My eyes must be deceiving me.
“Dad?” I breathed. “What are you… How did you…” I didn’t attempt to finish my questions before I raced to him. Unabashedly, I threw my arms around his neck.
His hand stroked my hair in our tight embrace. “Hi, daughter.”
“Oh my gosh,” I choked. My thoughts jumbled together. “But how… how did you… how is this…” Never had I been more grateful to be in the arms of my dad. A part of me actually believed I’d never see him again.
“We’ll explain it to you,” he said reassuringly, holding my head against his chest. “I’m just so glad you’re all right.”
“Wait… we?” Pulling back, I opened my eyes to peer around him. He wasn’t alone. Someone stood behind him, hiding off to the side in a cluster of tree trunks. When my brain registered the dark, disheveled hair and indigo eyes, I gasped his name. He stepped forward and faintly nodded. A small smirk played on his lips. Without any thought, I ran to him, throwing myself into his arms.
“Whoa.” Kai stumbled slightly and hesitantly wrapped his arms around me. His face buried in my neck and breathed me in. “Hey,” he said softly, and though it was just one tiny word, it came from his lips. He was alive.
I held him tighter, letting my feet dangle just above the ground. I tossed caution to the wind, forgetting every bitter feeling I’d felt toward him. Abandonment? Rejection? Anger? What was that?
“I’ve missed you so much,” I choked out the words through my tears. “You don’t even know.”
“I think I have a little bit of an idea.” I could hear the smirk in his voice as he stroked my hair.
I pulled back to look at his face, a face I wasn’t sure I would ever see again. My hands ran down his jaw, taking his perfect face in my hands. I missed this face. It didn’t matter that it had only been a week; looking at him now made it feel like months. He even looked different. As my eyes drank him in, something was off. Something was very wrong.
I gasped loudly.
“Kai,” I barely breathed. Our little world came crumbling down. “Kai, what did you do?” My head shook, disbelieving. He didn’t. He wouldn’t.
Kai stared back at me with perfectly shaped and faded human eyes. They sadly watched me take in his appearance. They observed as the realization set in. I lifted my hand to his ears and traced along the edge of ears no longer adorned with points.
“Kai,” I wept, holding his jaw in my hands. My head continued to shake, not wanting it to be true.
“I did what I had to do.” His eyes turned down, and he shrugged as if that explained everything. “It was the only way to bring your father back and be what he needs to be to help you. You need him more than you need me. Faylinn needs him more than me.”
My hand covered my mouth to muffle another cry. I turned to my dad. His pointed ears now poked through his graying hair. “You… switched?” I started to hyperventilate. “We have to change him back! Kai’s not strong enough this way. He can’t stay here. Adair will kill him in an instant! What did you do?” I shrieked like a mad woman. If I didn’t calm down, Sakari would know something was wrong. It could destroy our plan. He probably already felt it. Crap! Sakari.
“We will change him back after we deal with Adair,” Dad explained. “He’ll be okay until then.”
Kai’s body didn’t look nearly as strong. His skin was paler. His muscles were less defined. His once fiercely indigo eyes looked more purplish-gray. “Are you feeling okay?”
“The change isn’t sitting well with him,” Dad answered for him. “But as soon as I’m finished, we can change back. We’ll end this today. I’ll go back to Mom and he can stay with you.”
He can’t stay here with me anymore. The thought wrecked what was left of my heart. I thought I lost it completely yesterday, but watching Kai now—knowing he hadn’t disregarded me or given up on our kingdom, knowing he could never be mine—disintegrated the last part of hope I’d clung to.
I just wanted this moment for a bit longer. I reached my hand up to touch Kai’s cheek, his human face. “You shouldn’t be here. You should have stayed with my mom to rest.”
“I’m not missing this. I can fight. I can defend us,” he said firmly. “And I don’t want to be away from you any longer,” he whispered, though my dad could hear every word, of course.
I sobbed over the gut-wrenching realization. “You’re too late.”
He swallowed, absorbing my confession. “I saw,” Kai said. What? He had been there. I hadn’t imagined those eyes.
“How did you…”
“You really think I’m going to let a sham bonding to Sakari stand in my way?”
My head shook, spilling more tears down my face. He didn’t get it. There was so much more to a Royal bonding. There was more to Sakari and me.
“The connection,” my dad realized, taking a step forward. The distress in his voice was booming.
Stepping away from Kai, I could only nod.
“We need to go into hiding, Kai. Now,” he said.
“Why?” Kai questioned.
“Sakari is going to sense something is wrong, and he’ll come to look for her. We can’t let anyone see us yet. We’re not prepared.”
“How? He doesn’t own her,” Kai fought, standing with a puffed-out chest.
“My dad’s right, Kai.” I exhaled. “When Royals bond it’s different. Our emotions are connected. He can sense me just as I can sense him. If something’s not right, he will know. He’s coming back to find me. He should have been back already.” Dread set in that he wouldn’t make it back.
“Let him come. I can fight him.”
“You’re not going to fight Sakari,” I said flatly. “And besides, you don’t have nearly enough strength and agility now that you’re not a faery. I can see that just by looking at you.”
“Do you question my abilities? I’ll be fine.”
“No, you won’t,” I argued. “You won’t be able to fight anyone in your condition.”
“I’ll take them all out.”
“It’s useless, Calliope,” Dad interjected. “I already tried to convince to him to sit this out. He won’t listen to reason, but he’ll be okay. Kai is a strong fighter.”
“Everyone keeps saying that, but it’s ridiculous out there! You’re a fool, you know that?” I narrowed my eyes at Kai. “So dang stubborn.”
“It’s one of things about me you can’t resist.” He smirked, but it was half-hearted.
Well, at least my Kai was still in there somewhere, even if he didn’t look like my Kai.
I shook some sense back into my head. He wasn’t my Kai anymore. “Sakari is going to be here any minute. You have to hide. You guys have to go!”
“We’ll go back to your hut, Kai, in the meantime. They shouldn’t find us there.”
“I don’t want to be that far away. You saw the other kingdoms, Finnian. We have to help now.”
“Calliope, what’s going on?”
Over the last few months I’d experienced fear on various levels. Lives had been threatened. Battles had been fought. Families had been torn apart. Faeries had died. After all of that, this still ranked at the top.
Petrified in place, I sucked in a breath. With my back to him, I tried to focus on calming down enough to face him. This was the true test. Would Sakari be on my side and let them go? Or would he alert the Keepers, just to be rid of Kai?
“So good of you to come and greet us, Sakari,” Kai remarked, and I tensed.
“Calliope,” Sakari repeated. One word was filled with so many different emotions. But I didn’t need his tone to tell me how he was feeling. Betrayal ran through his veins. He misunderstood the situation entirely.
I turned to face Sakari. “Please remain calm.”
“Remain calm? How? When you’re out here meeting with Kai behind my back!” He jabbed a finger at Kai, and then his gaze grew confused. His pointed finger moved to my father. “And who’s he? What is going on?”
“Please listen to me, Sakari. That’s my father.” My eyes pled with him, but he wouldn’t look at me. “It’s not what it looks like. They just got here.” Sakari watched them carefully, his anger swelling. “Look at me, Sakari. You know the truth. Am I lying?”
After a couple breaths, he blinked and grit his teeth. He didn’t want to accept it, but he knew it was true. “I believe you, Calliope,” he grunted and shifted his stare to me. “But they can’t stay here. They have to go. If they are caught, I can’t save them and neither can you.”
“I know. They were just leaving.” I turned back to my dad and Kai. “Right, guys?”
“I thought the party was just beginning,” Kai remarked. “Sakari and I have some reacquainting to do. How’s the bonded life treating you?” He took a step forward, eyes focused on Sakari. “How does it feel to know she only bonded with you because she was forced?”
“Kai! Enough!” I moved in between Sakari and Kai before someone lost their life. And I had a feeling it wouldn’t be Sakari. “Dad, will you please take him and go?”
“Calliope, Kai is right,” my father said regrettably and stepped forward. “About the other kingdoms. We can’t go into hiding now. We came here to help, and that’s what we’re going to do. There’s no time to be wasted.”
“Everyone has been poisoned, Dad, and those who weren’t poisoned are in hiding. Or did you miss that part? Sakari and I were going to try and find this flower that could supposedly be a cure. There’s nothing you can do until then.”
“Calliope,” Sakari said softly. “Evan didn’t know the location. Or, if he did, he didn’t trust me enough to tell me.”
“Evan? What about Cavan?”
Sakari subtly shook his head, averting his eyes, and I knew. He was gone.
I held in tears. I couldn’t break apart right now. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I took a couple breaths to try to gain my bearings. “Dad… Dad, do you know about the purus blossom?”
“I do, but it’s rarely in bloom. Is that the only option? We can’t help heal?”
“The poison is transferred during the healing process. Those who try to help become infected.” I nearly mentioned Lorelle’s name, but I couldn’t risk telling Kai. He would race to her in a heartbeat. It wasn’t safe. “Adair has the cure, but he’s not giving it out unless the faeries pledge their allegiance to me as their Queen.”
“I can take care of Adair,” Dad said, “but getting rid of him won’t stop the poison from killing everyone before it’s too late. Whatever he used…” He shook his head. “You don’t have a lot of time.”
“My father is prepared for a fight,” Sakari interjected. “I don’t know exactly what his plan is, but I know he’s not taking any chances of losing this battle. The entire kingdom is prepared to fight. Not just the Keepers.”
Two subtle thumps landed behind us. “You know, you can put me down now.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
CALLIOPE
I spun around to see Declan holding Cameron in his arms, a stunned look on his face. “Kai?” Declan gasped.
“Yup. Still waiting for you to let me go,” Cameron said, his arms folded.
I couldn’t stifle my grin. “Declan,” I prompted, nodding to Cam in his arms.
He blinked and looked down blankly before loosening his death-grip on him. Setting Cameron on his feet, he uttered, “Kai, you’re alive… and a… human.”
“Appears that way.”
“When Calliope said you didn’t come back when she summoned you, I assumed you were dead. This makes much more sense now. Oh, thank the Fallen Fae.” He moved past me and grabbed Kai in a hug, slapping his back. Kai even let a genuine smile escape.
“She summoned me?” he asked Declan as they pulled apart.
Kai’s eyes flickered in my direction. Declan peered over at me and then back to Kai. “Desperate times.”
While Declan got all up to speed, I leaned into Cameron. “You didn’t want to just jump on his back?” I asked quietly.
“Have you ever tried hanging on to one of them when they go a bazillion miles an hour through those trees?” he remarked, eyes wide. “I’d rather not put my life at risk today. Well… more than it already is.”
I set my head on his shoulder and laughed. “Gosh, I hate it when you’re not around.”
“Me too, Cal.” He rested his arm around my shoulders. “So, your dad’s here.”
I nodded. “Kai brought him back for me. He switched places with my dad to do so.”
“Well, isn’t that a crap shoot?” Cameron noticed Sakari then, who stood just off to the side of us. “I mean, that your dad wasn’t here sooner. Before all the poisoning and stuff.” He scratched his head, uncomfortable.
So many emotions ran through Sakari’s veins. I couldn’t figure out how to pinpoint or process them. None of them were good. I could figure out that much. The expression on his face didn’t help either. He stood by my side with a straight face as he listened to my dad, Declan, and Kai—refusing to meet my eyes.
Sakari had never really been mad at me before. I mean… he had, but now I actually cared. I couldn’t stand it. Instinctively, I reached over and latched onto his hand. Without looking at me, he slowly intertwined his fingers with mine, and I felt him slowly calming down.
I clued back into the conversation when my dad said, “The purus is in Novalora. Seeing how I’ve been gone for quite some time, I have no idea what moon cycle we are on now. I’m not sure that it’s the best idea to rely solely on the purus.”
“Then what do you suggest, Dad?”
“We split up. As Kai and I have tried to remain hidden, scoping out the situation, we’ve noticed Keepers roaming the forest. It’s more likely they’ll discover us if we stay in a large group.” His eyes focused on Declan. “Declan, you need to stay and spread the word that trying to heal the poisoned will only do more harm. We can’t afford to have any more affected than there already are. Prepare as many fae in Faylinn as you can for a fight. Keeper or not. Everyone who is able, arm them.”
“Yes, sir.” Declan nodded.
“The rest of us need to remain unseen. I’m the only one who knows what the purus looks like, but it won’t be hard to spot if I describe it to you. I want to stay behind and devise a new plan. Yesterday was spent recuperating and scouting the land. Things are much different than what Kai described. The game has changed. I wasn’t prepared for all of the other kingdoms to be here already, especially not in their condition.”
My dad looked to Declan. “You mentioned that Elfland isn’t here yet. If I know Elena at all, which I think I do, it’s possible she put up wards just in time if she thought Adair was a threat.”
“She knew,” Declan said. “I went to her for help the night Rymidon invaded. Her Keepers wouldn’t let me anywhere near her.”
Dad nodded “She’s getting prepared,” he said with confidence. “If they were poisoned, they would have been here already.”
“Unless the poison killed them on contact,” I said.
“That’s not likely. Adair won’t let anyone see it, but Elena was his weakness. His first love. He wouldn’t kill her.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure” Sakari interjected. “He was most likely the one who killed my mother to keep her from warning Faylinn before. He’s been planning this invasion since before Favner took over. My father is capable of anything.”
My dad’s expression faltered. “Well, then we’re going to have to do everything in our power to be prepared. I’ll see what I can do to get in contact with Elena. If she did put up wards, I might be able to get past it. Without a cure we’ll need Elfland to defeat Adair.”
“The Waking Oak was loaded with Keepers before. How will you get by them to get to Elfland?”
My dad and Kai shared a glance. “We saw the Waking Oak,” he said gravely. “Rymidonians are no longer surrounding it. The only ones around the Oak are the rest of the poisoned kingdoms. There are so many, there’s no room for Rymidon to even get within a few hundred yards of the Oak.”
My heart sank and clenched. “With the Oak depleting, what will happen if you can’t get back to Lake Haven? What if it won’t let you back through? What if you can’t change back?” I was now shouting. I knew I was losing it, but I couldn’t contain my panic.
“We’re hoping the poison is reversible,” Dad tried to reassure. “The Waking Oak is a very powerful tree, Calliope. It’s possible it might restore itself.”
“But that’s not for certain. It’s possible that it won’t be able to restore itself.”
“At this point anything is possible, but you can’t afford to think like that, Calliope. You can’t afford to worry about it when we have more pressing matters. Let me worry about that. You worry about finding the purus. That should be your only focus right now.”
Focus. How am I supposed to focus?
I took a deep breath, letting go of Sakari’s hand, and turned away from everyone. I stared into the trees to regain my bearings and clear my tears.
“How much longer do you think we have before she loses it? I give her one more minute,” Kai murmured, and I ignored him. He was only trying to create levity that didn’t exist.
“She’s going to be fine,” Declan insisted. “She just needs a minute.”
He had more faith in me than I had in myself. Every kingdom was slowly dying. We were about to search for a cure that may or may not exist. And if we did find the cure, war was imminent. Kai was gradually fading every minute he stayed a human. And now he might not be able to change back? My dad might not be able to return to my mom?
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