47. A CREATURE OLD AS THE EARTH
Chapter forty-seven
A CREATURE OLD AS THE EARTH
Amira
T he meeting with Riordan’s advisors to discuss the Fuath was about as productive as our own ponderings had been. Everyone came to the conclusion that the only Imítheos with the power and inclination to thwart Riordan was his cousin, Nikos. But we had been keeping a close eye on him since he left the city, and there were no reports of him engaging with anyone or any suspicious behaviour.
For hours and hours we talked circles around the issue, and we were no closer to finding answers.
Of course, it did not help that I was so distracted with everything Orion told me earlier. By the thought of that fucking brand hidden on his arm and the scars that were clearly a result of him trying to cut or burn it off of him. And then there was his complete confusion over how I could feel that this was a priority.
It broke my fucking heart when I recalled the way he stumbled over his words. Completely overwrought.
But mostly, I worried that kissing his arm had been the wrong thing to do when his past was probably so full of confusing sexual encounters. I felt grubby . Like I’d taken advantage of him in a vulnerable moment right after I had established myself as safe. I’d only wanted to show him he was not repulsive, but I had not thought enough about my actions to anticipate how he might respond to them.
And I couldn’t even bring myself to begin analyzing my reaction to him when he kissed me.
I was not sure why, but when he leaned in, I had been expecting it to feel the same as when Riordan kissed me. Perhaps that was naive, but I had assumed that once one learned how to kiss, then it would be the same, but that was not the case! It was like dancing. There was a rhythm to learn, a sequence that would be unique to us…
If we ever got the opportunity to uncover it together.
“Thank you,” sighed Riordan, dismissing his advisors when he tired of getting nowhere while discussing Nikos. “We will reconvene once I meet with our spies again.”
I waited for the three advisors to leave, smiling for Dio—the only one I was personally familiar with—when he gave a solemn nod on his way past me. Once the door had closed behind them, leaving Orion and I alone with our king, I moved to sit on the edge of the desk in front of my pensive mate.
“You need to sleep on it,” I urged gently when he did not even seem to notice me moving closer. Lover? I added in his mind, and he finally looked up as if he was startled.
“You are right,” he concurred. “I only—”
There was a quiet but rather frantic knock on the door which had Orion bristling and stepping in front of us.
“Come in,” called Riordan, rising from his chair to put a protective hand on my lower back, but it was only Ares who entered the office.
My guardian cast a narrow-eyed glower at Orion that made Orion smirk, before Ares focused on Riordan.
“I did not want to interrupt your meeting, but we heard from Olirik. He is waiting for you in the Spring Quadrant with the envoy sent on behalf of King Balor.”
We could not wait until morning to see the kelpie since her kind was unable to stay out of sea water for very long. Which meant it was the middle of the night by the time we arrived at the watchtower.
I had not had a chance to change out of the plain cotton dress I donned for serving soup in the Rookery. Orion and I had returned to Ergastiri just in time to attend Riordan’s meeting, and there hadn’t been time to change before we left for the Spring Quadrant either. I had not even had an opportunity to discuss Orion with Riordan, but I could tell that my mate was curious and hopeful about it.
Especially considering the fact Orion had barely left my side since we got back.
But at least Riordan was dressed in his gold armour, and he had summoned his crown magically the same way his mother had at his coronation. The man always looked like a king to me, but I could not stop staring at him while we walked down the stairs from the landing platform at the top of the tower to the command office.
And I’d noticed Orion looking at him too which had sent an unexpected pulse of excitement through me.
“I will secure the room first,” Orion informed us when we reached the door where the envoy waited. He did not wait for confirmation before leaving us in the hall with Ares and closing the door behind him.
My mate brushed my cheek, drawing my attention up to him before he tilted my head back and bent his head to begin kissing leisurely along my neck.
“I still smell him on you,” he informed me, his voice taking on that huskier tone that made me want to melt.
Although it did not have the same effect on poor Ares, who I could see pivoting slowly away from us out of the corner of my eye. Like he was trying to give us privacy while still doing his job protecting us.
Words failed me for long moments, my eyes closing and my heart pounding as Riordan continued to kiss and nip along my neck and jaw.
“And how does it make you feel?” I asked breathlessly once I could finally manage to form a coherent sentence. Even though I was pretty sure I already knew…
He did not have an opportunity to answer before Orion opened the door again, hesitating at the sight of us standing so close together with Riordan’s lips on my neck. But he remained composed and tilted his head to indicate that we should enter. Riordan and I followed him into the room, leaving Ares to stand guard in the hallway.
I hadn’t been sure what to expect of a kelpie and had felt a little ridiculous asking for a description, but she was pretty much what I anticipated. A lithe female form that looked wet, her dark, weedy hair plastered to her and still dripping profusely all over the floor. Her skin was greyish green and covered in faint scales with swampy growths like moss and mushrooms all over her. She was wearing what appeared to be a man’s shirt that reached her knees, so I assumed she had come naked. I understood her kind were shifters that could take the appearance of an aquatic, carnivorous half horse with a tail.
Needless to say, I was in no hurry to get any closer and stayed a step behind Riordan after closing the door.
“Please accept my apologies for keeping you waiting,” said my king as he came to stand before the kelpie and our orc spy, Olirik, who stood next to her.
“My King,” said Olirik, sweeping into a dramatic bow. “This is Clodagh,” he added with a gesture at the female envoy once he had straightened again.
The kelpie was observing Riordan with her reptilian, green-and-gold eyes, her black lips pressed tight. But he seemed to meet whatever expectation she’d had of him because she bowed at the waist deeply.
“Thank you for meeting me, Your Majesty. Long have our enemies hunted for King Balor, and I needed to know that this was not an elaborate plot of the Autumn Prince,” Clodagh explained. Her voice was a warm rasp.
“I perfectly understand your caution. We are prepared to meet whatever measures you require in preparing to meet your king. We want you to be assured of his safety,” Riordan assured her.
“There is no more need to prepare for receiving him. King Balor is anxious to meet you,” Clodagh revealed.
Riordan hesitated. It was a barely perceivable hitch in an otherwise calm exterior to anyone who did not know the king well enough to recognize his concern.
“He wants to come… now?” I verified for him.
“As I said, our enemies have been hunting for him. Their snares grow tight. We worry hourly that it is only a matter of time before he is in their grasp,” Clodagh said, her clawed hands clasping in front of her anxiously.
We had not prepared to meet with the Spring King. Weakened or not, Balor was still a powerful entity.
Orion was tense, and I could feel him communicating with Riordan when that highway I could not access in my mate’s mind began to hum. It bothered me not to be privy to the discussion, but I held my tongue as they debated.
Do you know how to cast a binding spell? Would you perform one on a salt circle?
I blinked in surprise at Riordan’s question, but I gave him my confirmation.
“Very well,” said Riordan aloud. “You will understand, however, that I must take precautions before inviting a fey king into my kingdom before a contract is created.”
“What precautions do you need?” the kelpie asked.
“You may bring your king to this room now, but until we sign our agreement in blood, you both must stay in a salt circle,” Riordan stipulated.
The kelpie hesitated, but their people must truly be desperate because she nodded almost right away.
“Our portal may stay open?” she verified, and Riordan inclined his head in agreement. “Agreed,” she declared.
Orion moved from his place at the wall and held out a hand to indicate Olirik should follow him, and with a bow for Riordan, the orc went with Orion into the hall.
He is getting you what you need, Riordan explained when I began to worry about where Orion was going.
After a tense and quiet moment, I decided to begin clearing the chairs and rug from the middle of the room where I would create the salt circle. I could feel Riordan’s caution as he watched the kelpie watching me.
“You are a witch,” Clodagh realized aloud once I was nearly finished. There was some surprise in her voice but mostly the distaste that most fey harboured for my kind.
“And you are a kelpie,” I replied to her as seamlessly as I could before refocusing on my task.
“My apologies, Clodagh, this is Amira Kelley. She is my mate and my Royal Consort,” Riordan told the envoy with an unmistakable tone of warning in his voice.
“Consort,” repeated Clodagh without bothering to hide her astonishment. “A high honour for a witchling.”
“A high honour for me ,” Riordan corrected her before I could respond.
Orion returned then, carrying a bowl, a jug, and a bag. He took the bowl and jug to Clodagh and then brought the bag of salt to me. Our fingers brushed as he put it into my hands before shifting to stand behind me.
I saw the kelpie pouring water from the jug into the bowl and caught a whiff of salty swamp water. I realized she must need it to make her portal just as Ornella needed living roots.
I moved toward Clodagh, and Orion stepped forward with me as I began to disperse salt around her. The kelpie watched me closely, and I could almost taste a bitterness in the air that I instinctively knew was her fear. She was undoubtedly anxious about allowing a witch to cast a spell near her king, but she did not interrupt.
More testament to how desperate her king must be.
I finished the circle and then straightened and lifted my hands to pool my elemental magic. I remembered that fire was the element of the Autumn Fey when Clodagh hissed softly at me, but she still did not protest.
I’d always been proficient with my magic and rarely had to speak my spells aloud. Most of the fancy Latin words that other witches used were perfectly meaningless and only helped to focus one’s intentions. But I decided to use the words this time since this was an important spell, and I had not performed it since my mother and I used it to trap vampires while we fled or killed them.
“Circulum hunc claudite,” I began, uttering the words low and deep with fierce intention. “Hunc tuere circulum. Hic circulus invia est.”
Once I was sure that my objective had fully saturated the magic in my hands, I directed the flames at the salt. The fire spread quickly around the circle to form a barrier around the kelpie which reached her knees. Once the salt was completely engulfed in flames, I felt the air vibrate as my magic sealed the circle tight.
I could tell that Riordan was impressed by the power. Honestly, I was kind of impressed. I did not remember it being that impactful when I used it on vampires.
Clodagh eyed the fire with obvious disdain as she set her bowl of swamp water on the ground and conjured a portal toward the back of the circle. It looked like an oval swirl of murky water and weedy debris that smelled muddy and brackish. But it also held the hint of a sweet fragrance that reminded me of lily pads.
My heart began to pound as the surface was disturbed by ripples before a kelpie male appeared wearing scaly armour and a crown of lilies and fish bones.
King Balor, the Spring King of the Formorian Fey, stepped into my salt circle.
I felt his aura expanding and slamming up against the boundaries of my magic with such force that it made the curtains in the room shudder and glass rattle. It kept coming, like it was pouring off of him, and I began to worry that my power might not hold. I was sure that if he were at his full strength, then it would not have withstood even a second of his presence. Even the king seemed surprised when it held, and he tilted his dark, wet head with preternatural grace as he looked at the flames before his gaze rose to me.
Pinning me with the knowing stare of a creature that was as old as the earth.
There was an ominous silence as the Spring King took his time to look around the room, although his reptilian eyes continuously returned to my flames. I had the sense he would have extended his aura to deduce more of the world into which he’d stepped. But my circle held him.
The portal stayed open behind them, presumably as a quick exit should we prove to be a threat to the fey king. Clodagh also shifted closer to him and provided him with an arm to lean on if he needed it. I could not tell if he really was weak, despite the magnitude of power swelling around him, or if it was all an act to help make him seem less threatening to us.
“Welcome, King Balor,” said Riordan with his usual confidence and poise despite the fact that my hands were trembling slightly in fear. I tucked them behind me.
“King Riordan,” replied the Spring King with a deep, raspy voice. “Even lessened as I am, it is uncomfortable to be thus contained.”
“A necessary precaution until we reach an agreement,” Riordan maintained firmly but with just the right touch of apology. Riordan insisted diplomacy was not something he did well, but I vehemently disagreed. He was not as subtle or sneaky as some of the council members, but he knew people. How to read, inspire, and control them.
“It is a testament to my decline when a mortal witch can contain me,” Balor lamented, turning contemplative, green eyes on me again. His appraisal was not kind, and I really hoped he was not able to perceive my nervousness. This was my first interdimensional diplomatic meeting as Riordan’s mate, and I didn’t want to falter, but I could not help wishing that I was standing safely next to my mate.
You are flawless, Amira. You are doing perfectly.
“Amira is highly impressive,” Riordan added aloud, sounding as if he were agreeing with the king when we all knew that Balor had not meant to pay me a compliment. “Clodagh tells us that our mutual enemy is getting close to finding you,” Riordan continued, smoothly steering the conversation toward business. “You are here to discuss sanctuary for your people in exchange for assistance with defeating Rian DorTìodhlac.”
Balor tore his attention away from me. I was not sure why I seemed to hold his interest. Perhaps it was merely that he was annoyed that I had managed to contain him. But I had the sense that it was more than that.
“Correct,” he croaked.
“We will come to a mutually agreeable plan of action, but then I will need to discuss everything with the King’s Council before proceeding,” Riordan asserted. “There will be no contract today.”
I was surprised to hear that he intended to discuss this with the council, but perhaps that was a good thing. If he made an alliance like this without addressing it with them first, I didn’t think it would go over well.
“Time is of the essence,” Balor asserted with a hiss.
“Certainly. But I will not make hasty decisions on matters of this nature. Nor will I insult my council by disregarding them in our process.”
Balor eyed Riordan, really looking him over as if he were truly taking note of him for the first time. I realized that although Riordan was centuries old, he would be a child to the Spring King. Balor had thought this would be an easy negotiation where he could strong-arm my mate.
“They told me that you were young and impulsive and headstrong,” Balor admitted, confirming my suspicions. Another of those backhanded compliments I hated which didn’t even faze my mate. Riordan merely smiled.
“The Vale obeys my will. Your influence within the Spring Quadrant will be limited to a warded territory,” Riordan continued.
Balor’s eyes almost slid to me, and I knew my ability to contain him had been more uncomfortable for him than he had let on. I unsettled him.
“I do require a great deal of space to sustain myself,” Balor insisted.
“I cannot do too much. Not without displacing a great deal of my own civilians in the Spring Quadrant, and I will not inconvenience them,” explained Riordan.
“They need not be displaced. I am their rightful king,” Balor pointed out, and I sensed the first hint of irritation from Riordan.
“Be that as it may, most of them were born here. I will not deny anyone the right to choose their own allegiances, but I will not force it upon them. It will be up to them to move into your territory if they wish. And you will not be permitted to encourage their migration by force, coercion, or bribery,” Riordan maintained.
Creatures such as the fey kings and queens took their power from the concentration of the Tithriall which was in the very blood of fey. So the more Spring fey that Balor had close to him, the more power he would have.
Balor did not like this stipulation, and while I could understand why, it unsettled me.
“This is not an opportunity to establish a new court for yourself. This is merely an opportunity to seek temporary sanctuary from an aggressor. Once we’ve defeated Rian, you will return to the Spring Court,” Riordan clarified.
Balor was quiet for a time, deliberating on the loose terms that Riordan had laid out for him.
“I see this differently. I see it as an opportunity for a true unity between Spring and the Vale,” he proclaimed.
“And what do you propose?” Riordan asked, although I could tell he was just humouring the king. There was no way he would consider any kind of formal fusion between the Spring Court and the Vale.
“You are a young male in his prime. I have a daughter, a siren of unsurpassable beauty for your consideration to take as a mate. I have long denied her suitors, but I know griffins hold considerable esteem for their chosen mates, so she would be treated with a gentle respect.”
It felt like the floorboards tilted sharply under my feet, my stomach turning at the mere thought of Riordan with another woman, and every insecurity screamed in panic. But Riordan was there immediately, a gentle and soothing presence that whispered through my mind like a thousand reassuring kisses.
“A siren,” laughed Orion, although I could not help but wonder if he would have preferred such a mate as well. “So she might whisper your will in his ears?”
“Aisling is a sweet-tempered child with no aspirations for politics,” Balor objected in offense.
“It matters not,” Riordan spoke up with the intention of shutting down this possibility. “I already have a mate.”
This seemed to genuinely surprise Balor, but the king recovered quickly, and then he looked right at me with such knowing certainty that it was terrifying.
“Then the dreíocha is yours after all. That is such an unfortunate affliction, and no doubt, she already syphons your power as if it were her own,” Balor lamented.
He knows what I am! I thought urgently to Riordan.
Act alarmed. Make him think he is revealing a secret that might destabilize our union, so he does not think to leverage the information, Riordan urged me.
Seeing his quick wisdom, I glanced at him with as much worry as I could muster without it looking fake at the same time that he looked at me with suspicion.
Even while his warmth and approval filled my mind.
Balor positively cackled. “You did not know that you have been ensnared?” he verified excitedly.
“I do not know what you mean by dreíocha, but I trust my mate,” Riordan insisted, goading the king with naivety which only made Balor lean forward eagerly.
“Allow me to caution you. One king to another.”
Riordan looked genuinely reluctant but also anxious. His ability to manipulate his expression was uncanny and impressive. If I did not have direct access to his mind to know his truth on a deeper level, I might have wondered how well I knew this man.
Meanwhile, I had to lower my head or risk the king seeing my excitement to finally know what kind of bond existed between me and Riordan.
“ Dreíocha typically do not plague fey or demigods. They are a menace most frequently visited upon vampires and werewolves. A creature that can bind you to her in spite of your disinclination and apprehend your power. Your long life. Your will in this world,” claimed Balor.
The colour drained from my face at his unexpected last words, and I risked a peek up at Riordan who was keeping his face very cold and stern. He felt me reach out to him, tentatively seeking his feelings on this revelation, and he filled me again with reassurance.
But I felt Orion’s attention on me now, and it was not quite as reassuring.
“You may hear them called Dowrra,” added Balor.
Riordan sensed my immediate reaction, my shock and confusion at this revelation. I understood now what I was, even if he did not, so he decided there was no more need to carry on the charade with the Spring King.
“A private matter,” he said, ending the conversation before the king could go on.
“We had not heard that you were mated, King Riordan, so the union must still be new. She is not yet with your first child, so there is time now to make another decision concerning an heir. I propose taking my Aisling—”
“No,” Riordan interrupted him, his voice a growl.
“Such an heir would unite our people. And you could return to the dreíocha after, if you are attached to her,” offered Balor as if he were being reasonable.
Riordan could not contain his agitation in spite of his intention to remain cool and detached. I felt his ire swell in my mind and through the air until the wind howled in a rage against the darkened windows of the tower.
“Insult Amira again, King Balor, and you will find that your offer for sanctuary here has been revoked,” my mate told the Spring King unconditionally.
This seemed to shock Balor as much as it shocked me. Riordan did not make idle threats, and we still needed the Spring Court as allies against Ahnnaòin. I may hate the Spring King for his disgusting offer, but I did not expect Riordan to throw away an ally because of it.
Neither Balor nor Clodagh could prevent themselves from gaping at Riordan’s threat, but the king got himself under control and raised his head with a snarl.
“I do not mean to insult her. This is politics! There is no place for tender hearts when alliances are being made. If anyone has a right to be offended by this, it is me and my daughter,” Balor protested angrily before he seemed to catch himself and breathed in deeply. “But,” he added more calmly, “I can see I overstepped. My apologies.”
“The offer is sanctuary in exchange for your counsel and aid to defeat the Autumn Court,” Riordan clarified.
Balor wavered in uncertainty.
“I invite you to share your trepidations that we might discuss them,” Riordan prompted him impatiently.
“I am not confident my world will survive this war,” Balor admitted, making all of us hesitate in surprise.
“Why would your world not survive?” Riordan asked him with a head tilt of confusion.
“His power is beyond what you can imagine. He is a devourer of all things, but he craves elemental magic,” explained Balor, his voice rising with urgency. “I am not confident any of our worlds will survive his hunger.”
“You think he can somehow… consume your world?” verified Orion with obvious skepticism.
“I would not expect a magicless griffin to understand such things, but if you knew his origins, then you would know to fear him,” Balor snarled.
“We will protect the Four Courts. Including Autumn. We cannot forget that Rian is a tyrant whose people are also victims of his ambition,” Riordan reminded them.
“And if we cannot? What if our home is lost forever?” Balor demanded. “Can you blame me for hoping to secure some firm connections here?”
“Should that happen, then we would renegotiate, but I am confident it will not come to that,” Riordan insisted.
Balor reconsidered, chewing over the situation with dissatisfaction. Clearly he needed more concrete assurances.
Riordan ventured to offer him some.
“We have been… looking into a way to prevent Rian from using his power against us,” Riordan admitted.
The king’s gaze sharpened. “ How ?”
“I cannot say until a contract is signed, and you have come here to stay. I cannot risk the information getting back to him,” Riordan explained.
“You have a weapon,” Balor guessed, looking hopeful and relieved when my mate inclined his head.
“Yes,” said Riordan.
“I sensed something upon my arrival. Starlight. It is on you now, or it has been recently enough to leave a trace of its essence upon you,” the king insisted excitedly.
Riordan merely waited, and the king deliberated for a moment longer before he nodded finally.
“Very well, King Riordan. We will come and confine ourselves to the allotment you allow. We will be subject to your wards, and I will not pressure my people to join us. In exchange for this, I will provide you with my counsel and the might of my warriors to help you win this war. And should our world not survive this war, then we will renegotiate our presence in the Vale,” said Balor.
I could tell that Riordan was confident it would not come to that. He would not allow the Spring Court or any other court to be lost. He would use the dagger on Rian before he ever allowed that to happen.