Facets of Feyrie Box Set, page 45
part #1 of Facets of Feyrie Series
He reaches across the fire that moves away from him and wipes a tear off my face.
“The creature you are is what they need. Your Darkness is your army, Iza. He is the First, infinite. And he will fight them all for you. Let him be your wrath, your justice. Let your pain feed his rage, but still share with him your hope, your faith, and your love. And that laughter, Iza. Give him the laughter.” He wipes away another tear.
And in a voice so gentle that it makes me fight to keep from crying harder, he says, “Does Phobe know you named your son after him before you even knew him? That the child they ripped from your body and murdered is the reason you will never bear another? Does he and your father know that the Blood Locks who did it, haven’t been brought to justice?” The words suck the oxygen right out of my lungs. “They do now.” He leans forward and pats my cheek. “Your son is with your father. He has been for many years, but now your father knows it.”
Frowning at me, he says, “You need to stop hiding from that pain, girl. Use it.”
He stands, and he’s no longer an old dirty man. Light and warmth radiate from where he stands. Pulling me by my numb hands to my feet, he embraces me. With that embrace, something inside of me that has long been broken heals a little.
As I pull away and look into his blue eyes, I see things I will never see again.
“Destiny is what you make it. And you, my girl, will make yours count. I grant you what you asked me for from the deepest part of your heart—from that place that many forget. And even as you take life, you give it. A rare balance that few can find but you have managed to find accidentally. Never lose that thing that makes you who you are.” He kisses my cheek and then he’s gone.
I plop back down on the crate. Holy shit, my mind has been completely melted. I get that he sees his prophecy as a saving grace for the people of several worlds. I also get that he’s helped me and hurt me over the years. Whether he realizes or not those ‘good things’ he was trying to do, didn’t end up good. And to top it off, now I’m afraid to look outside the door.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Iza snuck out of the Sidhe without telling anyone again. The last time she did this, she was taken by the humans. An endeavor, that although annoying in the beginning, ended up being a bit of fun towards the end. It was a good learning experience for Iza as well. She needs to be pushed. Not babied like these creatures keep trying to do. I only stepped in with the humans because of the Light Magiks. They caused her too much pain for me to it allow to continue.
Those are a weakness for her, Light Magiks. There’s no way to protect her from them unless I’m there, which I cannot always be if she sneaks out. Walking outside, I find her footprints. The leaves are still falling, but I can see enough of the ground to follow her trail to the lake.
Several deep gouges are torn into the ground surrounding it, and the smell of her anger is strong here, the smell of sadness even stronger. And something else; a whisper of scent barely there, then gone with the breeze. Frowning, I follow her tracks away from the lake to where they end at the top of a small hill. I can feel her ahead of me, but I can’t see her. Something is blocking me.
No, not something. Someone. A very familiar someone who should not be here but can’t seem to stop meddling. Instead of breaking through the barrier in front of me, I wait. No one will harm her in there. Not this time.
Using my Magiks to poke a hole in the shield protecting her and the creator of it, I peek in. A small shack with a light glowing merrily in the window greets me. I get a brief glimpse of her looking out the window and then she’s gone. Her inner turmoil echoes through our bond, and something inside of me is pulling towards her more because of it.
Fighting that pull is irritating but necessary. This time I will not interfere. This time. But I can listen and what I hear… death will not be enough.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Walking into the Sidhe after the disturbing but enlightening encounter with the All-Father—because only an idiot wouldn’t know it was him—I head straight for the kitchen.
I’m starving. Thinking made me hungry.
“I’ve looked for you everywhere, Iza,” Jameson says, coming up behind me at the counter where I was busy making myself a sandwich. I chased a house goblin off with a relatively good-natured growl. I want to do this my damn self. I’d prefer being able to do it in relative peace, but that’s not going to happen.
“Yes, my lady. Alagard informed us that you were having him train the children,” Nika says before Jameson can speak up. I pause mid-mayo and look up at Nika. Understanding her concerns is fine, but she needs to understand mine as well.
Plus, she picked a really shitty time to get all righteous on me.
I say, “I don’t want them defenseless. They aren’t going to be on the front lines of anything, but they have every right to know how to protect themselves. Those children need that.” I continue working on my sandwich.
Going back to the fridge, I rummage around for things to put on it besides mayo and lunchmeat. A can of sardines snags my attention, making me smile a little. I grab pickles and hot peppers, too. And spray cheese, spray cheese is good on everything. I’m going to make a supreme sandwich. Throwing it all together with a grunt of satisfaction, I take the first bite. Oh, my gods, it’s so good.
“That’s disgusting, Iza. I have no idea how you’re eating that right now,” Jameson comments, covering his mouth.
Taking another bite, I smile and very maturely open my mouth and show him my half-chewed food. When he gags, I laugh—and immediately choke. Coughing and laughing at the same time, I’m eventually able to breathe—and chew—again, and continue eating my masterpiece.
Nika and Jameson are watching me with mirrored looks of horror. You’d think I just killed someone with the way they’re looking at me.
“Back to the children. Iza, you cannot let them be taught weapons at such a young—”
I cut her off. “Those children have already suffered because they couldn’t fight back. I will not have it happen again. They will train the same as everyone else. They will learn how to use their abilities. They will learn weapons, and they will learn hand-to-hand. None here will be defenseless ever again, understand?” Speech done, I eat the last bite of my sandwich and start looking for chocolate. I know there’s some hiding in here somewhere.
“Iza, I don’t think—”
Turning to Nika, I frown at her. “The shit done to them… you really have no idea. You saw the wounds on the outside but not the ones on their souls. They want to stop being victims, and I’m going to make sure that they can.”
She looks at me, and I can see the urge to argue in her eyes, but she clamps her mouth shut. I have a point, and she knows it. The old ways of doing things are over.
“But with guns, my lady?” Oh, there’s the real pickle with Nika. Guns.
“I love knives and swords. They work against a lot of things, but not everything believes in a fair fight. This world is full of creatures that don’t believe in honorable combat. They only believe in putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger,” I explain.
“I feel like they are blasphemous to our ways,” she grumbles.
“Nika, our enemies will be using them, so we need to be using them. It’s not the 1800s anymore. And you’re forgetting one very important detail.”
“What’s that, my lady?”
“I don’t believe in your ways.” I grab a bag of cookies and leave the kitchen.
The patter of feet trying to catch up makes me sigh. Jameson was strangely quiet during our little chat in the kitchen. I’m betting that he’s—
“Iza… my lady, I don’t disagree with Nika.”
—just dying to say something.
“That’s nice.” I keep walking.
“Children are helpless. They should be cherished and protected.” At his words, I stop walking and he walks into my back.
“Those children, our children… have had things done to them that would turn your hair white. They had their innocence, their freedom, and their pride stripped away from them, in ways that are worse than even the most horrible torments you suffered in prison on Juras. Do not argue with me about allowing them to retain their dignity.” My tone is firm. I’m not going to change my mind.
The kids asked me all of them. Even little Cadey. So, yeah, they can learn to fight, and no one will stop them. Not unless they want to deal with me in a bad mood.
“Are you sure this is the right thing to do?” I turn around at his question. He’s a breath from me, so stepping up into his personal space is easy.
“You had a pretty good childhood, didn’t you?” He nods at my question. “I didn’t. Those kids didn’t. Ruthie’s mother was murdered, and she was bartered to the pack alpha for a debt of two hundred dollars. Michael’s parents were murdered in front of him, and he lived on the street as the errand boy for a bunch of bloodsuckers.” I have no choice but to tell them—otherwise, they’ll fight me tooth and nail.
So I keep going. “Lissa was raped when she was seven, and even though she fought back, it wasn’t enough. Cadey and Louise were beaten and starved right along with their sister. And Knox—” I swallow the lump in my throat. “—he was used for years as a sex slave by a pack of perverts that I pulled apart like bread for what they did to him. This is the kind of world we live in, Jameson, not the one you both imagine exists. Now, if you question my judgment on it one more time, I will rip your godsdamn heads off!” By the end of my tirade, because it’s absolutely a tirade, I’m yelling. Both are staring at me in shock.
Laughing humorlessly, I continue, “You two thought they were just poor and maybe slapped around a little?” After a moment, they both nod. “Gods, open your fucking eyes.”
With that said, I turn around and head towards my room. That shit gave me a headache. Stress-ache. How can those two call themselves Feyrie? To roll over and show their bellies. No wonder the Feyrie lost.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Iza’s anger calls me to her. I find her sitting at the end of the dock at the lake, her feet hovering inches above the freezing water, wrapped in a fluffy, white coat and wearing a neon pink hat on her head. The cold doesn’t bother her, so I imagine it was one of the many mother hens in the Sidhe. Possibly even the Sidhe itself. I go to work once again on her shields. Her thoughts are hidden from me. Thoughts she’s putting effort into hiding, once again.
This is becoming a bad habit for her, but now it's only ever a temporary one.
“When will you stop keeping me out?” I ask softly, coming up to stand beside her.
She tosses a stick into the water. “We’ve had this talk before, Phobe.”
Yes, we have. That doesn’t mean I’ve changed my stance on it. “We can try that thing again.”
She laughs a little as she says, “You mean talking?”
“Yes, that thing.”
“Nika and Jameson are pissed off I’m letting the children train.”
Foolish Feyrie. Iza is doing what’s best for her people now. “You’re doing the right thing,” I say in agreement with her.
“Oh, I know. What bothers me is they think it’s okay for the kids to be completely defenseless. That really fucking bothers me.” Then it is not their judgment concerning her. It is their naivety.
“When they see that the atrocities exist they will change their minds,” I say. She looks up at me, and her eyes flash black.
“I don’t care if they change their minds. My gut tells me it’s the right thing to do. My Magiks tell me it’s the right thing to do. They can take their opinions and shove—” Her words cut off suddenly, and she frowns at me right before she’s yanked off the dock into the water.
As she sinks, she kicked out at whatever is dragging her under the water. Belatedly, I smell them: water nymphs.
Fuck, she distracts me too much!
Feeling my Magiks flare angrily to life I watch and I wait. I cannot and will not coddle her. Iza needs to be strong. She can do this. Before her head goes under, she meets my eyes and gives me a smile of pure mischief. The tightness in my chest eases.
‘You’d think since they live in water they’d use soap once in a while.’ She would comment on something so unimportant to the situation.
‘They snuck in during the barbecue I imagine, and have lurked here waiting. There’s a bounty on our heads, and nymphs are notorious bounty hunters.’ It is the only way they could have gotten past the Sidhe.
My shadows lash out and come into contact with one of them. They pulled her away from me because they were warned about me. In this case, it’s not me they should fear. Watching the churning surface, I find it hard not to jump in and help her, but I know she can do this herself. And she wants to.
Iza has some scheme in her head, I’m sure. Plus the chit is having fun with it. The sound of running feet comes from behind me. I’m not the only one who watches her.
“Where is the lady?” Adriem asks as he stops at the edge of the water. Nightmares are not keen on swimming. The fact that he is considering it will impress Iza.
“Water nymphs,” I answer. I start counting down in my head. One-hundred and twenty-seconds are how long she has before I go in after her, whether she wants me to or not. I feel her irritation waft across our bond.
‘One-hundred seconds,’ I say to tweak her tail.
“Iza doesn’t know how to swim.” Michael’s soft voice sends a wave of irritation straight through me.
That sneaky fucking—
The water explodes upwards in a funnel as Iza rises out of the water, her Magiks a dark shadow around her. She’s laughing at the spout of water that reaches for her and misses by mere inches.
Darkness crawls down her arms, covering them in her fiend armor.
Always so clever.
With a smile directed at all of us, she turns and dives back into the water chasing the nymph who failed to recapture her.
‘Enough fun, Iza. Telling me, you can’t swim is an important thing to share before you play with water nymphs.’
I feel her exasperation, but it doesn’t stop me from diving into the water. Cutting through its cold, murky depths, I spot the first nymph. Grabbing her foot when she tries to flee my touch, turns her solid. Her blue eyes turn to me and fill with fear. Someone definitely told her about me.
With ease, I toss her out of the water onto the shore. I know, with her being locked in solid form, the water is no longer her salvation. I also know that the others are waiting on shore and will take care of her.
Iza holds one by the throat studying her rather clinically. The third nymph is trying to sneak up behind her, and I get a surprise. Iza turns her body slightly, her gaze not leaving that of the one she holds, and the bone sword Auryn gifted her appears, running right through the neck of the nymph behind her.
The nymph dissolves in death, and the sword vanishes as quickly as it appeared.
Her eyes meet mine. ‘I did survive a long time on my own, ya know.’ She smirks and floats toward the surface, the nymph in tow. I follow more slowly double-checking that there aren’t any more hiding. When I find nothing, I surface and leap onto the shore.
Adriem is holding the first nymph I tossed out close enough to the water to give her hope of escape but far enough away to make sure she doesn’t. It’s cruel, comical, and well-deserved.
Focusing my gaze on Iza yields yet another surprise. She’s walking across the water as if it were solid ground, dragging the nymph along behind her by her hair. That’s innovative.
“Cool, eh?” she says, smiling at her newfound ability.
Everyone standing at the shore watches her approach, as curious as I am. I try to look into her thoughts and find yet another shield in place. The intent I feel churning behind the block annoys me and means one sure thing. She’s going to do something I will not like.
‘Iza.’
She unashamedly ignores me. “Auryn, come here please,” she calls.
Auryn steps easily through the crowd, an inquisitive look on her face. “You wish me to kill her?” Iza shakes her head at the question and grabs Auryn’s hand. The moment their skin contacts, the nymph freezes, her mouth opens in a silent scream. Iza’s jaw clenches as she grits her teeth and squeezes the nymph’s hand hard enough for her claws to pierce the Light Fey’s skin. The nymph starts to shrink in on herself as Iza does something incredible and surprising. She pulls Light Magiks and her life source from her. A feat that should be impossible for Iza to do. It’s also one that’s showing its wear on her.
Small rivulets of sweat are running down her face, and her hair is waving around her in agitation as her skin pales even further. Iza is in pain, a lot of pain—still she’s pushing on. Auryn’s eyes widen as her face becomes more youthful and healthy. Iza tosses the dead nymph aside, releasing Auryn.
“Give me the other one,” she says through tightly clenched teeth. Adriem does readily. There’s no disobeying that command.
The nymph screams and fights to no avail. Iza gets ahold of her. Once again Iza pulls out forth the life force, except this time she’s using it differently. Slinging her arm out, the sword appears in her hand. With eyes shining darkly, her aura explodes to life. A purple and black mass of tentacled Magiks surrounds her.
Now that I know what she’s doing, I don’t like it—not one bit, but I can’t stop her from doing it without causing her even more pain than she’s already experiencing.
The sword begins to glow, and a strained groan slips out of Iza. Clenching her teeth so hard that muscles in her jaw stand out, she pours more Magiks into the sword, including some of her own. Swaying on her feet, she widens her stance and pushes harder. The power she’s using is incredible but also draining. The sword is starting to morph into the shape of a man, with a final growl, she releases the sword. As it touches the ground, the form begins to solidify into a naked, shivering man.
