15. Ciara
Malachi’s hands glowed with an iridescent light that made my power respond. The magical creatures walking toward us stopped in their tracks. The fog swirled thicker coating their presence in a preternatural gray mist. I imagined this was how I appeared when I used my powers.
“Relax, Malachi,” I said softly and placed a hand on his arm. “We have to show them we mean no harm.”
“I can’t even see them,” Malachi said. “Who can hide their presence like they did?”
“Me.”
His shoulders dropped, and the light disappeared from his hands.
“We mean no harm,” I called out to the people in the thick fog.
“Tell your boyfriend that,” a husky woman’s voice called from the fog.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I called back.
The woman appeared through the fog. A shimmering gray dress clung along her curvaceous figure leaving nothing covered since the material was see-through.
“Well then, this changes things,” the woman purred stepping closer, bringing the mist with her. “He’s very handsome. Malachi, wasn’t it?”
“Aye,” Malachi said. “And who might you be?”
“Nerita at your service. Any service you require.”
“Um.” Malachi tugged at the human clothes which were still damp, and his white shirt was see-through too.
I had to keep averting my eyes while we waited because seeing the outline of his muscles through his shirt had made an insistent throb start between my legs. I’d sat on the log for hours upon hours afraid to reposition. Afraid Malachi would be horrified if he comprehended I wanted him as more than a friend.
“These are Kishi, Thames, and Mako.”
“I thought there were more of you?” I asked glancing into the fog which still hung heavy in the air.
Nerita flung her thick, long hair over her shoulder. Did it have a sparkle of blue on the strands?
“There were, but it’s only us out in the forest now. State your business or be on your way. Although Malachi is welcome to stay.” She closed the distance between them and ran a finger over the button at his throat.
Malachi clenched his jaw but said nothing. Why wasn’t he swatting her away? Dia, I longed to rip her nail from her finger because she was touching Malachi. I shook my head to clear my thoughts of jealousy. We needed these people.
“I request an audience with your Master.”
Her striking blue eyes slid my way. “What for?” she snapped.
“It is a very personal matter and only one I’m willing to discuss with your leader.”
“Hmm.” She tapped her pointed fingernail on her lip. “Bye-bye.” She waved her hand toward the tunnel.
“Please.” Malachi’s hand shot out and landed on her hip. “Help us.”
I’d never seen him touch a woman so intimately before. Sure, it was only her hip, but the way he held onto it suggested otherwise. And the look on his face as he pleaded with her… Envy pounded inside my skull. Had Malachi found his fated mate with this woman? Is that why he was letting her touch him? The reason he was touching her too?
Nerita smiled in a way I didn’t like at all. “Sweetheart, since you asked so nicely. Come with us.”
She turned toward the forest, but the gray fog hung heavy around the trees making it hard to see where we were walking. I reached my hand out for Malachi out of habit, but he was behind me walking with Nerita. She’d linked her arm through his in the same way I had to climb the wall. The jealousy intensified, but I shoved it down so I could concentrate on where we were walking. The man she’d referred to as Thames walked a pace in front of me, and Mako to the side of me but he didn’t touch me thankfully. Kishi walked behind us all, her very blue hair matching her eyes and making it obvious she wasn’t a human. I assumed they were all water sprites going by the way their hair glinted blue in varying hues. I had read a little about them in my research, but I hadn’t been looking for information on them. Perhaps I should have.
The fog was thick and damp against my skin and clothes. The dreadful material had almost dried while we’d waited, but now they were once again wet, clingy, and itching my skin. Each uncomfortable step through the forest made me want to rip them from my body. Instead, I lifted my chin and marched through the tall trees and fernery of the forest like the princess I was. Fronds brushed against my arms as though testing who I was before accepting I wasn’t an enemy and letting me pass.
From inside the fog, two white stone pillars appeared. The carved faces peered down on me judging me even more. My muscles tightened, and I called my power to hover at the ready for this was where the darts nearly hit Rian and Sophia.
A loud gong rang through the forest. The fog muffled the sound, but it rippled on and on as though cocooned inside the magic of this place. I assumed it meant someone had announced our arrival.
Power flared between the two columns in a parting curtain of luminous blue. The eyes on the statues closed. Did this mean it was safe to pass through without the poisonous darts?
Thames strode ahead as though he didn’t have a care in the world, so I assumed it meant we were safe to walk through the pillars too. Either that or we were about to die. My foot hovered a split second before I placed it down. Either way, we’d be dead soon if we didn’t fix the spring. When nothing shot at us, I let out a small sigh of relief. Thames glanced over his shoulder and sent me a seductive smile. I frowned but kept my irritation in check.
The fog seemed to follow us through the forest and out to the other side. Many buildings were hovering on stilts above a massive expanse of water. My mind whirled at the village laying before us. Thicker fog formed instantly around us until we could no longer see the village. I’d read once the temperature was cold enough on Earth, the vapor condensed into tiny water droplets. And it wasn’t cold here. The fog grew and receded too quickly to be anything other than made by magic. If the Water Sprites influenced tiny particles, then they must have enough power to fix our spring, unlike Saoirse who’d had no luck using her powers over water. Perhaps because she wasn’t a king and only kings were powerful enough to mend what was broken. But then Father had failed. His powers had helped for a time, but perhaps a being who was the Master of Water magic would be powerful enough to cure our ailments. I had to believe there was someone with more power who could fix our spring.
At long last I’d found my hope.
Turning, I smiled at Malachi over my shoulder, but his gaze was on Nerita who was unabashedly batting her eyelashes at him and chatting happily with him. Malachi seemed interested in whatever she was saying although I couldn’t hear her, I saw the way he was leaning in toward her body. Their arms brushed on purpose with each step. I swung back around before I caused her bodily harm.
The fog parted, and a house appeared in front of us. It had a thick thatched roof, but it was the fact the house was on stilts and surrounded by water that surprised me the most. I hadn’t noticed we were walking along a boardwalk once we’d entered the village since the fog had covered the fact. One step wrong and I’d have plummeted off the side of the walkway into the water below.
Thames knocked on the door and then opened it.
“Sir Axis Foxlace will see you and only you.”
“But?”
“His Kingdom. His rules.” Thames shrugged. “Do you still wish to speak with him?”
I turned to Malachi, who at last stared at me. He nodded his head for me to go inside which made my gut twist. Had he found his fated mate? Did he want me to leave them alone so they’d connect? There was no other explanation because Malachi had always been by my side and now, he was telling me to go on without him.
“Aye.”
He turned to Nerita as though eager to follow the beautiful water sprite anywhere.
I turned back around and stepped through the door.