King of Deception, page 11
part #3 of Helios Mage Series
“Okay, so we discover his plan. Then what?” asks Astrid.
“Then we implement stage two. It will run simultaneously with stage one, and I need volunteers. We need to rescue Achilles and Jania. Achilles is a significant player; he’s been a thorn in Alston’s side since he helped me escape Talaron when I was a baby. It’s something Alston will never forgive, and if he’s alive and on our side, we can taunt the king with that. A rage filled mind is a messy mind. He’ll make mistakes in his anger.”
“I’ll do it,” says Tempest. “I can go with Caspian. We can flash out with two people. If he’s willing, of course.”
We all turn to Caspian. “I can help, definitely. But we’ll need another. If we have an opportunity to rescue Finch, we’ll take it.”
“Are you sure, old friend?” asks Rone. “It will be dangerous.”
“I’ve hidden behind the mask of professor at Orion House for long enough. I have had a long life, and if anything should happen, I will be glad to give my life to this cause. Under his rule, Talaron is dying,” says Caspian.
I admire his bravery and poise and thank him for it before calling for another volunteer. Everyone is quiet, fidgeting. None of the girls want to return to those dungeons.
After several moments of silence, Sasi speaks up. “I’ll go. I can’t travel through the shadows with a passenger, but I’m able to get to safety if I need to. The rest of the girls don’t have that ability. I’ll do it.”
“Thank you, Sasi,” I say. I pour every ounce of sincerity into the three words. “Once we have all the pieces we need, we go ahead with stage three. We remove his power. With the players already in the game, thanks to Rone, we can undermine any plan he makes. We tear down his plans and rip them to shreds.”
That’s my role in all of this; discovering what he knows. That’s where Mum comes in. Because if Alston knows about Octavia, he’ll come for her. And without her, we can’t restore the Faerie portal. If we fix the portal, the people of Talaron won’t need to rely on the king and his stolen powers.
Not that his ridiculous plan will work, anyway.
“Please say we get to lock him in a dungeon,” says North.
I laugh. “Oh, I wish. No, but stage three also involves getting the fae involved. Damita, I think you’re perfect for this job.”
She sits straighter, her dull blue eyes shining brighter. “What do I have to do?”
“Do whatever you need to in order to get them on board. We can’t fight Alston on our own. I don’t care how you do it. Just get it done.”
Sage, Astrid, and Dove all agree to convince the fae royals with Damita. But Octavia surprises me by saying, “I’ll be a part of that team. I know the fae. I’ll be an asset.”
“Okay. Thank you. Now, stage four. We tear him down. Everything we gain from stages one through three, we throw at him. With no leg to stand on, I’m hoping he abdicates the throne.”
“And if it comes to a fight?” asks Sage.
“Then we fight,” answers Rone. “We fight for our homes, our families, and our lives. Give it everything you’ve got.”
The room is quiet as his words sink in. Everyone is adjusting to the possibility of one last battle. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, I’m ready. I’m ready to fight for my people.
After the meeting, most of the group retire to their rooms to prepare for the night. Tempest and Sasi are getting some much needed rest, so they’re alert and ready for the rescue of Uncle Chilli and Queen Jania. North is doing the same, so she’s at her strongest for her secret operation. Damita, Sage, Astrid, and Dove are all in Damita’s room, making themselves beautiful; Aneira of the Spring Court accepted their request for a meeting tonight.
The only people left in the living area are me, Caspian, Rone, the twins, and Octavia.
“We should leave soon,” says Caspian. “Everyone will be at The Garrison for the king’s announcement. It’s the perfect time to free Achilles and Jania.”
“Me, too,” I say. “The twins and I will use the same distraction to speak with a ghost in Spectral Grove.”
“Curse the fates, Bloom. Not this again,” growls Rone.
“This is important. Octavia can’t restore the portal if your father is hunting her down. We need to know how much he knows. I know you’re worried, Rone. But I’ll be okay. Everyone will be at The Garrison; he won’t catch me. And if it looks like we’re about to be caught, Clove will portal us out of there. I was hoping Larry could change my appearance, just in case, though.”
“Oh, I can help with that,” says Octavia, as she darts through the room toward the door. “Don’t move! I’ll be back soon.”
“Doing this alone isn’t an option, Bloom,” says Rone, his tone leaving no room for argument. “I’m coming with you.”
Now Octavia has left, I can give Rone his part in my plan. “No, I have another job for you. Besides, I won’t be alone. The twins will be with me.”
fifteen
Octavia returns an hour later with Dwyn and a bag of supplies. I straighten from my reclined position against Rone. “What’s all this?”
“Dwyn here is the Spring Court rune master. He’s here to give you a few. How do you feel about tattoos?” She ticks off her fingers as she says, “A glamour rune, the time rune, and stealth rune.”
“Excellent,” I say, clapping my hands together. “Put them on my arm.”
Ever since I saw Rone’s tattoo sleeves, I’ve wanted ink of my own. This is going to be epic.
“Actually, each rune has a specific location. The glamour will go behind your ear, the time above your heart, and the stealth on your ankle,” says Dwyn.
I expect Dwyn to unpack a tattoo gun from the pack, but he pulls free a paintbrush, razor blade, and pot of ink instead. The sight of the small silver blade sends my heart rate stampeding in my chest, and my breath comes in rapid bursts. It’s not the same, I remind myself. This isn’t the same skin carving as in the torture room. He’s not trying to steal your magic. Breathe.
You’re okay.
Seeing my alarm, Octavia rushes to say, “It doesn’t hurt. There’s a numbing agent on the blade. If anything, it feels kind of nice.”
“I don’t think it’s the pain that has her panicking,” says June. “It’s the reminder of what that sick fuck did to her.”
“That sick fuck is my father,” says Rone, “and he’ll pay for what he did to her and the other girls. I’ll be here the whole time, Bloom.”
I clamp my hand over Rone’s and watch with curiosity as Dwyn pulls the neck of my tee aside and uses the blade to scratch a rune into my skin. The circle with a dot in its centre doesn’t hurt at all, but feels warm and gentle, like someone is dragging a finger across the area. When the carving is complete, he dips the brush into shimmering blue ink and paints over the raw skin.
When the ink, imbued with magic, soaks into the rune, a faint light emanates from the site. My skin tingles as the power settles.
One down, two to go.
Dwyn carves the stealth rune just above my ankle. The vertical line has a triangle protruding from one side, and a dot on the other; I wonder if the runes are part of the fae language, or from some long-lost dialect from millennia ago.
The glamour rune, which Octavia tells me is a vertical, double-ended arrow over a circle, is the most uncomfortable by far. The sensitive skin behind my ear isn’t meant for blades and carving, but for delicate kisses and the trace of a tongue.
Having someone hold a blade just above my throat is proving more difficult than I expected, but thinking of Rone worshipping the same area is the perfect distraction. It does, however, establish a growing ache between my legs.
Since coming to Faerie, Rone and I have struggled to find over ten minutes alone. We retire at night exhausted, fear and worry draining our energy faster than any physical exertion could hope to. With everything we’re planning tonight, I’m making time. I need that connection to him before running back to Talaron.
I watch him as he watches Dwyn repack his rune bag. His gaze meets mine after a beat. He must sense my growing desire or read something behind the icy blue of my eyes, because as soon as Dwyn announces his leave, I’m being thrown over Rone’s shoulder and hauled to our bedroom.
Yes!
“Make sure to wash off the excess ink,” Octavia shouts after us. “It’s a bitch to get out of the bed sheets.”
“Sounds like a plan,” says Rone, depositing me on the bench beside the sink once we’re in the ensuite bathroom. “Don’t move.”
With hooded eyes, I watch as he uses one hand to pull his shirt over his head and another to turn on the shower. His abs ripple with the movement, only increasing the desire pooling between my legs. “Hurry up,” I moan.
His lop-sided smile doesn’t help. As steam billows around the room, he slides of his jeans teasingly, achingly slow. I rip my top over my head, ball it up, and throw it at him, followed in quick succession by my red lace bra.
He clicks his tongue and saunters over. “So impatient. But so beautiful.”
I trail my finger from his chest, through the grooves of his abs, and down into that delectable V. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
He drags a soft hand over my shoulder, pushing my hair back. Following the ebony strands, he drags his fingers across my scalp. Tightening his grip, he angles my face toward him before claiming my mouth. I reciprocate eagerly, sliding my tongue across his bottom lip.
Groaning, he lifts me and backs us into the shower, where he lets me slide down his body. The water cascades over us, encasing us in a bubble of lust and steam. I bite my lip as he hooks his thumbs into my jeans and slides them down my legs, then kisses his way back to my mouth, lingering over my most sensitive parts.
We’re lost to the fury of our desire, and we’re soon panting together, my back pressed against the wall and legs wrapped around his waist as he thrusts inside me. The pool of pleasure in my core swells, expanding with every jerk of his hips.
Rone’s fingers tighten against my hips as he plunges into me one last time, and we explode together. I press my mouth against his shoulder to stifle my moans as waves of pleasure throb from my centre.
Rone plants a soft kiss on my neck. “I don’t know how to let you do this,” he says, resting his forehead against mine. “How do I let you run head on into danger?”
“I don’t have any words of wisdom for you other than you just do. You take a deep breath, know I’ll be as safe as I can be, and let me do this without having to worry about you hating me. We all have sacrifices to make, and this is ours.” I press my lips to his, whispering, “Please be careful.”
He returns the kiss. What starts as soft and loving transforms into fierce and full of need in a heartbeat. Need to know the other will be safe, need for one last moment of closeness before we both run into the groping hands of danger.
He pulls back. “If anything happens, if you’re injured or captured or worse, I won’t forgive you. You know that, right?”
I run my hands through his hair, smiling, “I know. But I know I can make it up to you. And if this all goes according to plan, I’ll have a lifetime to do it.” He twitches inside me and I laugh. “Me, too. But we don’t have time, unfortunately.”
He lowers me to the floor with a pout. “Then we best get you clean.”
Washing in silence is a morose kind of peace. We could have this. We could spend the rest of our lives showering together, cleaning one another, and making love in the evenings. But first, we have to create the world where we can do that without fearing for our lives or freedom.
It’s been a long time coming.
With my jaw set and a grim smile, I head into the bedroom in search of new jeans. The pair I choose, I haven’t seen in a while, so I’m surprised when a gold leaf flutters from the back pocket. Gasping, I pick it up. How could I have forgotten?
Obella Tyche, Augur Sybil.
I had shoved the oracle Mum saw while pregnant to the back of my mind until now. Was there a reason Crystal Bloom left this calling card in her journal? What does it mean? I have every intention of finding out. Knowing what she told Mum is as important as knowing how much the king knows. What was Obella’s prophecy?
As fast as I can, I button up my jeans and shove my arms into my denim jacket. “Rone?”
“What is it?” he asks, entering the bedroom dressed in jeans and a deep green tee. I hand him the gold leaf; he stares at it for a moment before his face falls. “You want to go to Augur Sybil while you’re in Talaron?”
“I don’t know what Augur Sybil is. Is it a place?”
He nods. “It’s in sector five, at the end of the rope bridges connecting Alston Castle to the rest of the kingdom. It could be dangerous.”
“You think I shouldn’t go?”
“I think you’ll do it if you believe the information will help.” He sighs. “You’re going to turn me prematurely grey, Bloom.”
“You’ll still be sexy and I’ll still think of you as Man Candy.” He cocks an eyebrow, confused, so I add, “You were so committed to hiding your identity when we first met that you refused to tell me your name. So, I referred to you as ‘Man Candy’ in my head.”
He smirks. “I thought of you as ‘Tequila’ for a while.”
I laugh, remembering the first time I laid eyes on Rone when I was at the bar with Kai and Della. The laugh fizzles out at the thought of my friends in the big wide. “Fates, I miss them. Kai would have loved Faerie. No, that’s wrong. He would have loved Dwyn and his blue hair. Della, she would thrive on the constant action.”
He cups my face, forcing me to look at him. With his thumb, he wipes away a stray tear. “When all of this is over, we’ll go see them, okay? But we’re walking everywhere. I’m not getting back into that death trap you call a car.”
I gasp and hold a hand against my heart. “How dare you insult my baby like that.”
With the mood successfully lightened, we head into the living room. Rone didn’t exactly forbid me from visiting Augur Sybil while I’m in Talaron. Which means I’ll be making a second stop on my mission to gather information.
I’ll visit Mum first, but if there are any holes in her story, I’ll need to see this Obella Tyche woman and see what she remembers. Maybe she can even look into my future again and tell me if my plan to save Octavia is worth it, whether the errand I’m sending Rone on will work.
Fuck, I hope so.
Rone, North, and Octavia join me and the twins at the temporary portal. Octavia was confused why Rone and North were joining us, but I told her we had requested their help—extra backup and all that. I think she bought it.
I hope she did.
Tempest, Caspian, and Sasi left half an hour ago. I’ve spent that time twisting the Commu-ring on my thumb, wondering how their quest is going, and whether they’ve found themselves in strife. Tempest has my ring’s pair; she’ll call for help if they need it. I’m thankful to have something else to occupy my mind now.
We’re silent as we approach the shimmering rainbow. The rock arch and the algae lake are nothing but blurred images beyond the veil, still and lonely while they await our arrival. I wave the others forward so I can have a moment alone with Octavia.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask,” I say, once we’re alone beside the roaring fireplace. “Why were you at the portal that day? When you told me to come back.”
“You mean when you were covered in sweat, mud, and who knows what else?” She shakes her head. “You don’t understand what it was like for me and Dad. We spent twenty-five years wondering about you. Never knowing if you were alive, or if you were in Talaron or on Earth, or even if you knew about us. We organised our lives around this portal. There was always someone here waiting, just in case. We’d have moved into this room if Aneira would let us.”
“You spent your life waiting beside a portal?” I ask, finding it hard to believe.
She shrugs. “We couldn’t go looking for you; the fae wouldn’t allow me to leave. Waiting was all we could do. Sometimes friends helped out if we needed it, but yeah, we waited for you. When I saw you that day, I was so relieved.”
Whether she was relieved to have found me after all this time or thankful she wouldn’t have to waste her life away in one room any longer, I don’t know; I don’t bother asking just in case the answer isn’t what I want to hear. Instead, I wrap her in a tight embrace. “Thank you.”
“Be safe out there.” She pulls away, uncomfortable with the closeness. “Your time and stealth runes are always active, but you’ll need to trigger your glamour. Just run your fingers over it and think about the features you want.”
“Got it. Good luck with Aneira,” I say, stepping through the portal.
In Oberon Caves, Clove already has his own indigo portal ready. He and June are doing that creepy mind link thing, while Rone and North are going over last-minute details.
“Just watch my back. Hold off any attack long enough for me to regain focus, then we run if it comes to it,” says Rone.
“We’ve been through this three times. I understand,” snaps North, adding hastily, “Your Highness.”
“Are we all ready to go?” I ask, taking Rone’s hand and linking our fingers. When they all nod, I say, “I’ll glamour myself here. We can’t risk anyone recognising me. Even if they’re all at The Garrison, discovery is not a risk we should take.”
“Before you change your appearance. I have something for you,” says Rone. He pulls a small velvet bag from his pocket. “Hold out your hand.”
I do as he asks, and he upends the pouch over my palm. A gold ring tumbles out, an onyx gem glinting in the low light. Freeing my fingers from Rone’s hand, I pick it up to look closer; the way the jeweller has secured the gem to the simple gold band makes it look like a sun. “It’s beautiful,” I whisper. “Is this the onyx from the Circlet of Alba?”
