12. Raven
CHAPTER 12
Raven
W e all turned to stare at Cleona in stunned silence. Had this vain, childish fae-woman just blown our chances of saving the world with a fat joke ?
“What?” she asked, eyes wide with mock innocence. “What did I say?”
"Try to contact her again, Loch," Diana snapped, gesturing to the hologram box.
I could feel the fury oozing from her every pore and was pretty sure that wasn't just our bond. She wasn't exactly hiding it well as her green eyes narrowed on Cleona with a laser intensity that I was glad was not pointed at me.
Luckily, Cleona was already preoccupied with her kiwis and didn't seem to notice. "I must say, this is very, very good. Almost as nice as the ones we grow on Guisala," she said, sliding a spoon into the tender flesh and popping another bite into her mouth like she didn't have a fucking care in the world.
Nope.
Me getting mad was only going to set Diana off worse. Instead, I tried to exude cool, calm, and collected thoughts.
I tapped a finger on the table, drawing eyes to me. "If Loch can't get her back online, let's continue with the rest of us so this isn't a total waste of time. Rabia seems reasonable. I imagine she will be open to a private discussion with Diana once she's calmed down."
"Good luck." Cleona rolled her eyes. "She's always polishing that halo, getting all in a tizzy about what everyone else is doing wrong. She'll milk this melodrama for ages."
Melodrama. As if what Cleona just said hadn’t possibly made it so we all ended up in early graves.
"Be that as it may,” Diana drawled, “I'll contact her in a day or so and present her with the information we are about to share here today. She'll see, just as you all will, that we have little choice in this matter."
"That will have to do, because she's not picking up,” Loch muttered.
Cleona shot me a "told you so," raised brow, but I didn't give her the satisfaction of a response.
Diana stood and began a restless circle of the room before finally stopping at the head of the table.
"The goddess whose name I shall not speak has sworn to destroy this earth, and everyone on it, so that she may start anew. I asked you all here today to impress how dire this threat is, and to plead with you to join in our fight against her."
For the next half hour, Diana poured her heart out. Told story after story of the carnage Lilis had wrought. Recapped the battles she had instigated between the vampires and the demons and the wolves. Told of the brutal death of King Malach and what it was like to witness it first-hand.
By the time it was over, I'd have been hard pressed to tell her no even if I was her sworn enemy. And it was only then that she pulled out the big guns, asking us all to follow her to the water's edge…
"Xefia?" she called.
All was quiet for so long that I wondered if Xefia had decided not to come after all. She’d insisted she be here, but if she’d changed her mind, I could hardly blame her. She was just a kid and had suffered a truly traumatic event. Still, not having her testimony would only make Diana's job harder…
Just as Dom and I exchanged worried glances, the water began to roil, and a moment later, a familiar swath of green hair swirled to the surface and broke through.
“Hello, Diana,” Xefia said, baring her pointed teeth in a little smile.
“Thank you so much for coming, Xefia. These are my—” Diana broke off before pressing on, "colleagues, Queen Cleona of the Fae, King Gabriel of the Demons, and King William of the Vampires. And you know my friends from our travels.”
She nodded and swam closer, resting her arms and torso on the grassy bank. “Hello.”
“As you are aware, we're in talks to determine the best way to stop the goddess from continuing her path of destruction. We hoped that hearing your story firsthand might illustrate just how dangerous she is, and what kind of devastation the different species face if we do not band together.”
Xefia's bottom lip wobbled for a moment, and she nipped at it lightly before lifting her gaze and taking a deep breath. “It was a beautiful day,” Xefia began, her eyes taking on a faraway look as if she were lost in the memory. “We were celebrating one of our elders' 300th birthday. Yesenia was her name. She was the matriarch of my people, and we had been planning the day for months. We'd spent the afternoon playing games and competing. The younger children were doing acrobatics and whoever did the greatest trick would win a string of rose-colored pearls. Faria won that morning for demonstrating the highest quadruple flip that I've ever seen…Hers was the first body that I saw shattered by a power that was not visible.”
She sounded so grown up compared to just weeks before, but the air of composed maturity slipped as she let out a snuffle and a tear slid down her cheek. I could see Diana wanted to reach for her, but Xefia pressed on, her voice a broken whisper.
“We'd finished our evening feast. Lobsters, scallops, mussels, clams…Someone blew into the conch shell, a sign of the dancing and merriment to come, but I was so sleepy and content, I snuck off into a secret little cave spot that I go to sometimes when I want to be alone, to sleep the night away. The smell of blood woke me a short time later. At first, I thought maybe it was a rogue shark attack. We don't usually have any problems with them, but occasionally you get one that loses its way. I swam out in a panic only to realize that this was no shark attack. The water was so thick with blood that I couldn’t see…I could hardly breathe. I kicked my way to the surface wiping my eyes clear and that's when I saw…” her throat worked as she swallowed hard, “Bodies as far as the eye could see. My friends, my family, our matriarch, the children…all dead because of the dark one’s fury.”
I wanted to reach out and hug the kid, but I knew she just wanted to get through her tale and return back to the shelter of the water.
“She needs to be stopped,” Xefia said, lifting her gaze again and searching the faces of those around her. “She relishes the pain of others, and I will do whatever I can to return that same pain to her a hundred times over. If you agree to help Diana in her quest to unite the keys, restore the Veil, and rid the world of the evil goddess, I promise that you will have an ally and a friend in me, and all the creatures in the sea for all time.”
She turned and shot Diana a grim smile before blowing her a kiss and disappearing back into the water once again.
I took a glance around and was surprised to find even Cleona's mouth was slightly downturned.
“Poor kid,” Gabe rumbled, huffing out a breath as he turned his eyes from the water. “She shouldn’t have had to see something like that. No one should.”
“She's now the queen of her people,” Diana said, “which is part of the reason I wanted to invite her here. As she said, she and those who remain are committed to the cause.”
“Are there any more sad mermaids coming, or can we go back inside?” Cleona said with a shudder. “That was depressing, and it's getting colder by the minute.”
Gods, she was a cold bitch.
We all headed back into the room and retook our seats, except for Diana and Nicholas, who stood behind Mav's chair. Here we go, the real show is about to start. If this didn’t move Cleona…nothing would.
“There's one more thing I wanted to show you that is perhaps the most important piece. Maverick witnessed the moment that triggered the fall of the Veil. Nicholas of Southwind has an ability that allows him to broadcast the thoughts of others, and Maverick has offered to allow us to show you what happened that day, so you can see for yourselves.”
I didn't relish Maverick getting any sort of accolades. In fact, I still wasn't sure he hadn't tried to murder us all. But watching Nicholas put his hand on the bastard’s head for a good round of brainfucking certainly didn't hurt my feelings.
As it had the first time we’d seen it months before, Maverick’s memories began to play out like an ethereal movie projected from the palm of the vampire’s hand. The massive rocks that made up Stonehenge came into focus, as did the faces of the orphans that surrounded them.
Sienna, her hair not yet the flaming red it was now, but still recognizable enough that Cleona tore her gaze away from the memory to flick a glance her way. Another girl, whip-thin and pale, with long, white-blonde hair, who we now knew to be Jade’s sister, Opal. And then three others…one veiled in a black cloak, deep dark curls spilling from within the hood, a chubby girl with glasses and mousy brown hair, and the third one, a waif of a girl with hair that looked as though it had been dyed, as I’d never seen a natural head of hair that shade of blue.
It looked to be a peaceful and normal day, but that all changed in an instant when a dark figure flickered past the children, reappearing in the dead center of the stones. Ghostly, but there, perhaps not even fully seen and recognized by Maverick or the girls.
A moment later, a flash of blinding light followed a boom splitting the air. Countless, crystalline shards shot through the air like so much shrapnel. Maverick’s view shifted as he turned toward the white-blonde haired girl who’d been thrown a dozen feet by the blast. She was motionless and caked in blood. With a curse, he dashed toward her, tossed her roughly over his shoulder, then sprinted away. The image above the table shimmered and then dissolved.
Mav slumped forward as Nicholas removed his hand, and the room went quiet until Cleona let out a gasp.
“Wow, that was amazing. Even better than the Titanic.” She began to clap with glee. “Truly sensational. Do it again.”
I looked over to see Gabe nodding his head in agreement. I was with them both, only my reason was twofold. Mav had finally served his last useful purpose. If I needed to kill him, there was nothing stopping me now. But also, Diana's case seemed airtight.
Surely everyone was going to sign on to support her now. All we had to do was work on Rabia, and we’d be on our way to an alliance ready to stop Lilis.
Diana stood back up, her hands on the table as she leaned forward. “Sienna and I now each hold pieces of the shard. We need to unite with the other three keys in order to restore the Veil. I ask you now to pledge your support and your allyship. We'd like each of the monarchs to go back to their Territory and request that their people be on the lookout for anyone who resembles the women we’re looking for—the other three we saw in Maverick’s memories. While they could be anywhere, the shards seem to be directing them to the territories—bringing them closer to us. Lochlin will be sending you all a file that contains a description as well as a time elapsed rendering of what these children might have grown up to look like, as best we can tell. If we start to spread the word, I think it's possible we could at least track down the other keys quickly and stop the goddess in her tracks before she regains full strength.”
Diana looked around the room and lifted her chin.
“So now I ask you…will you pledge your support and help us restore the Veil?”
William held up a hand immediately. “You have my support and the support of my people.”
Diana turned toward Gabe. He paused for a heartbeat, but then he nodded.
“We're going to have to address Malach's death, and it's going to take some politicking, but I see now that there's no way to get around this. You have my support.”
Finally, we all turned to Cleona, and she lifted one slim shoulder.
“Mmm…so, it’s going to be a no from me.”
The air left the room in a collective whoosh .
“Wait, what?” Gabe asked, finding his voice before the rest of us. “Do you not believe that this bitch goddess is going to obliterate the world?”
“Oh, I believe it. The weather has been crazy, and I’ve heard what this Lilis can do.”
We all collectively flinched as she used the goddesses name, and I wondered where she’d heard it, but she just kept on talking with her stupid mouth. “I just…don’t care?” she said, wrinkling her pert nose. “I get why you guys do. But we fae have Guisala. So even if everything falls to shit, well…we’re untouchable there. It’s high up, largely sheltered by sheer cliffs and bolstered by magic. We control the weather there, and if anyone tries to attack from below, we can see them coming from miles away. We’ll just wait it out and get on that new world program. I’m not hating the idea of a fresh start, removing the trash, if you will.”
Her smile was sharp as a knife as she looked us over. My resolve to stay calm wavered as the anger snapped and grew in my chest.
“Why did you even agree to come if you knew you weren’t going to help us?” Diana demanded, clearly reeling after the gut punch the Fae Queen had just delivered.
“Honestly? I wanted to see if becoming king had made Will even sexier. And I must admit, it has.” She shot the Vampire king a long look beneath her lashes. “Totally worth the trip. And that little movie you played out of the human’s head was,” she paused and kissed her fingers. “Bravo! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to head back to my people. We’ve a party planned for tonight. Good luck with your…” she fluttered a hand through the air in a vague motion, “whatever it is that’s happening to you guys. If I happen to see anyone who looks like any of those girls at Stonehenge, I’ll let you know.”
She was gone a moment later, her magic wrapping around her as she left us all staring after her.
“Selfish bitch,” Maverick muttered under his breath.
I only wished that selfish bitch had heard him and would have cut his tongue loose like she'd threatened earlier.
“I have to admit, I didn't see that coming,” Gabe said, letting out a low whistle. “That's a massive blow. Having Cleona bow out actually might help me smooth things over with my people but losing them both is going to make our job tougher for sure.”
Diana sighed and sat down gingerly, as if her body hurt, but I knew that was not the case. She was just heartsick, it rolled between us, clear as day. “I'll contact Rabia once you've got your people on board, Gabe. I think I can broker peace and get her on our side. She's a right-thinking leader with good morals, so I'm sure she'll agree to help, especially with Cleona out of the picture. The rest of us are just going to have to do the extra work and hope that none of the keys are located in Fae Territory,” Diana said with a grim smile. “Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky?”
By the expression on everyone else's face that I was sure matched my own, no one had high hopes of getting lucky after the way things had been going.
“I'll get those images and descriptions of the other keys out to you all by end of day,” Lochlin added, pushing back his chair to stand.
We exited the ruins a short time later, and I was just about to get into my carriage with Nicholas when Diana waved me over, and Lochlin stepped in my place.
“I think you're on deck,” Loch said, patting my arm before he climbed into the other carriage.
For most of the ride back, Diana said nothing, and I just sat beside her in silence, loath to interrupt her thoughts. I hoped she could feel my support, but all I could feel was her sense of failure and impending doom.
“I don't know where to go from here,” she finally murmured. “The Fae were our best shot of finding the other keys quickly with their magic.” She lifted her gaze to meet mine. “Without Cleona’s pledge, I don’t think we’re going to make it before this weather or that evil bitch does us in.”
“Then we have to change her mind. Once we get back to the keep and regroup, we can put our heads together and figure out what we have that we can use to our advantage.” I said. “There has to be a way.”
“Too bad Will is married. I like Bee and all, but I wouldn’t be above asking Will to toss Cleona a bone, if you know what I mean.” Her words were so at odds with her forlorn expression, I couldn’t help but bark out a laugh.
“Pragmatic and witty. Two of the reasons I love you.”
The declaration hung between us, but I didn’t back away from it. If she shot me down again, so be it. I’d long since resigned myself to the fact that being shot down by Diana for the rest of my life was a far better fate than knowing I had even the slimmest shot of having her and didn’t try.
“I don’t see how this could ever be a happy ending, Raven, but curse my eyes, I fucking love you too.”
If only I’d had even five minutes to let those words ring through me. To savor the moment, to grab her and kiss her. But the inside of our carriage suddenly blossomed with flickering, orange light.
We both turned toward the windows, and I let out a snarl as a giant sign, the letters made of flames, came into full view just half a mile from the keep.
BURN THE VAMPIRE QUEEN!