Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
Bells tolling in Leafton’s square roused me from sleep. I stretched, and heat from Jax’s side warmed my skin. Turning, I wrapped my arm around his waist, and his stomach tightened, a low groan rumbling in his chest. Outside, the sun kissed the horizon, and a pulse of magic bathed the realm. A sleepy smile lifted my lips. I loved sunrises. I loved everything about this time of day when magic from the universe called to my own.
“Good morning,” I whispered. I kissed the back of Jax’s neck and ran my hand up his middle, my fingers dancing across his skin.
His aura began to pulse. “Good morning, mate,” he replied in a husky growl.
He abruptly spun and pinned me beneath him, getting a giggle out of me. “It’s about time we had a moment to ourselves. Yesterday’s wakeup didn’t exactly go as planned.”
His eyes blazed like liquid cerulean. Dark hair draped across his forehead, and the muscles clearly defined in his shoulders bulged against his skin, begging me to touch them.
I arched into him, a low throb beginning in my lower stomach. Jax dipped his head, kissing along my neck, and then trailed soft kisses across my collarbone.
Power thrummed in his aura, calling to my magic. The mating mark on the back of my neck tingled, and the need to be with this male, to claim him, to own him...it filled me up as though a force greater than myself demanded that I be with him.
“I love you,” I whispered, and an answering pulse of love strummed along his bond.
He cupped my cheek, his eyes heated with want. “Love doesn’t accurately describe what I feel for you, Elowen. You are my realm, my stars, my moon, my life. You are everything to me. Everything .”
I pulled him in, our mouths clashing together. A low growl rumbled in his chest, and his fingers grazed against the side of my breast in a soft caress.
“Has it only been a day since I felt you inside me?” I rasped when his mouth finally left mine. “It feels like I haven’t felt you in weeks.”
A discontented sound came from him. “I shall indeed fix that.”
I closed my eyes, relishing the power that radiated from him. His head dipped again, and my fingers tangled in his hair. He moved lower, deliberately, and I knew immediately where he was headed.
I parted my thighs, my need making me quiver like a trembling leaf.
He inhaled, and a sharp spike entered his aura. “I could smell your arousal all day, and it wouldn’t be long enough.” Humming in satisfaction, he settled himself between my legs, and his tongue flicked out.
I bowed off the bed, a cry parting my lips.
Another groan came from him, and he began to lick me in earnest, but then a shout came from down the hall.
Jax’s head lifted just as a crash against a wall reverberated through the suite.
Another garbled yell that sounded more animal than fae pierced my ears.
“What in the realm is that?” I muttered.
Both of us bolted upright, and I pulled the covers up and around me just as Phillen burst through our bed chambers’ door.
Ragged breaths lifted the guard’s chest. “Jax! Bastian broke out of his room. He charged right through the wall. It’s not good.”
The crown prince of Stonewild shot out of bed as though he’d channeled God Zorifel’s power. Naked, he flew across the room, only snagging a pair of pants on his way out.
A crash came from somewhere else in the suite, then grunts and banging.
Stars Above. I rushed out of bed too and dressed hastily, then ran out of the room after them.
Hurrying, I was still trying to get my hair tied up and out of my face when Lars flew through a door into the hallway right in front of me. I skidded to a stop.
The redhead’s body slammed into the wall and fell to the floor. Dust wafted up in the air around him.
Gaping, I stepped toward him, but before I could ask the groaning guard if he was okay, Bastian was standing in the hall, having charged through the broken door after Lars. He was only three paces in front of me.
Warily, I met his gaze.
Standing tall, he was as imposing as Jax. I took a step back, then another, and Bastian’s head swayed. His antler rack brushed the ceiling. Dead-looking eyes regarded me, as if he didn’t really see me.
“Bastian?” I said tentatively.
He abruptly moved, bending low as if about to charge. His gaze locked onto mine, but it was as though he looked right through me.
“Bastian?” I stumbled back more, but he positioned his antlers to strike.
“He’s in the hall!” someone yelled from elsewhere in the suite.
Bastian charged.
I leaped back as he barreled toward me.
Jax, Phillen, and Bowan flew into the hall from a hole in the plaster in another room.
There was a hole.
In the wall.
That was big enough for fae to fit through.
“Elowen, get back!”
It was the only warning I got before a rush of fire erupted from Bastian’s hands. The fireling half-breed’s flame shot toward me at an impossibly fast rate while his antlers were only inches away from penetrating my stomach.
A wave of Jax’s magic exploded out of him, but before Jax’s power could reach his brother, my own magic reacted.
Potent lorafin energy rushed up from my internal well and engulfed me in cold shadows.
Bastian’s fire hit my magic in an explosive array of flames just as his antlers tried to pierce me. Fire licked against my magical barrier, and the scraping of his antlers shoved and searched for a way in, but even though I could sense his fire and bone-like antlers, I didn’t feel them.
Coldness seeped from my pores, dousing Bastian’s magic and strength. In a blink, my magic overpowered his, tempering his flames and halting his efforts to impale me.
It was enough time for Jax to throw himself on top of his brother. Phillen and Bowan quickly followed, piling on top of the half-breed. All three of them had cuts and bruises on their faces and bodies that were quickly healing, and a look of anguish twisted Jax’s expression as he attacked his brother.
Panting, I calmed my magic, and my shadow magic disappeared.
But even though three fae held him down, Bastian began to rise, his face entirely impassive, his eyes glazed.
It was as though a puppeteer was commanding a puppet, and Bastian wasn’t even aware of what his body was doing.
“Hold him!” Jax yelled through gritted teeth.
“I...can’t.” Bowan’s jaw ground together. “Dammit, when did he get so strong?”
Phillen grunted.
Farther down the hall, Lander stumbled into the hallway, holding his head. Blood seeped through his fingers. Groaning, Lars pushed to a stand from where he’d fallen. The redhead cradled his head as well, just as the sound of the front door opening and closing came.
Alec came into view, sauntering toward the kitchen. He carried a tray of steaming mugs of coffee. “Who’s ready for some fresh—” Alec’s jaw dropped. He lunged toward the counter, trying to set the tray down, but his movements were too hurried.
The coffee fell to the floor in a tumbling array of tipped beverages. Hot coffee spilled everywhere, and all of the mugs shattered into a hundred pieces. But Alec didn’t even pause. He leaped toward the others.
Every single one of them descended upon Bastian, Lander and Lars joining too. It was a mess of flailing limbs and grunts.
Yet Bastian kept rising.
“How is that possible?” I whispered.
Grunting, Jax and his friends grappled for Bastian, groaning and heaving.
I plastered myself to the wall to stay out of their way as the strong scent of coffee permeated the air.
“You’re going to have to knock him out,” Lander panted. He sat on Bastian’s leg, but impossibly, Bastian began to push him off.
“He’s right. It’s for his own good.” Phillen’s biceps strained when Bastian tried to wrench out of his grip. “It’s the only way we’re going to stop him. Nothing else has worked.”
Jax’s brow furrowed, his expression crestfallen, but then in his commanding Mistvale voice, he said, “ Bastian, go to sleep. Now .”
Powerful Mistvale magic spiraled toward Jax’s brother, engulfing Bastian in a sweep of energy.
I waited for him to pass out. Waited for his eyes to close. Waited for this craziness to end.
But it didn’t.
Bastian kept moving, still rising inch by inch. It was as though Jax hadn’t even spoken.
My eyes flashed wide. “That anklet’s control of him is repelling your magic, Jax.”
Wildness filled Jax’s eyes, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the first time anyone had ever resisted his Mistvale command.
“Shite!” Bowan flew back when Bastian swung his head and nearly impaled Bowan with his antlers. He grabbed Bastian’s left antler at the last moment, dodging the blow. “What are we going to do?”
“We can’t take him to Harrivee like this.” Phillen grunted again, then ducked when Bastian swung a huge fist for his head.
“ Bastian. Stop !” Jax tried again in his commanding voice.
But Bastian kept fighting.
Looks of terror descended upon all of their faces, and my mind raced.
With my eyes flashing wide, a thought struck me. I would have to call on the semelees. I hadn’t done such a thing since I was a child, and I didn’t know if I safely could now, but we were out of options.
Breathing heavily, I closed my eyes and dove my concentration inward, down to my bottomless well of power.
My soul instantly detached and hurtled through the galaxy, and not even a second later, I punched through the Veiled Between’s mist as though it were tissue paper.
Come to me. Now! I need you in the fae lands, I commanded the nearest semelee.
It swirled forward, eager to do my bidding, its demeanor curious, its fangs dripping with venom.
Fear cascaded through me. I needed to maintain control of the shadow creature. They were pure power, complete might. One wrong command on my end and?—
I faltered. Images of what had happened when I was five assaulted my mind, but I shoved those thoughts away.
Hurry. I need you in the fae lands.
The semelee paused. You wish to twist fate? But you’re not ? —
No, I don’t want to twist fate. I just need more power. Yours. Join me, for just a moment.
Yes, my princess.
My soul slammed back into my body, and somebody gasped.
I opened my eyes to see the semelee’s inky shadow body coiling around me, lifting my hair and igniting my skin with its power. Its huge serpentine form swirled in the hallway, staying close to my side. Its head’s width was easily the length of my arm, and its long body would have stretched all the way to the kitchen if it lay flat.
“What in the realm...” Lars’s eyes grew wide.
The others inched back, only Jax staying put.
“ Subdue the half-breed male ,” I commanded the semelee. “ Make him sleep .”
The shadow creature swirled forward, like inky mist in the fae lands—both see-through yet whole. Its serpentine body glided through the air, defying gravity, and the outline of its silver eyes and razor-sharp fangs were apparent in the morning light.
“Dear Gods,” Phillen muttered and surged back even more.
Jax leaped out of the way just as the shadow creature reached his brother. Bastian pushed to a stand, his dead eyes still staring at nothing. He swung toward the door and took a step toward it, but the semelee swirled around him, encompassing Bastian with its godlike power.
All it took was one squeeze from the ever-powerful semelee.
Bastian slumped to the floor, his eyes closed, his body asleep.
The semelee hissed, its body still wrapped around Jax’s brother.
“ Release him. Come to me .” Magic bled out of me, and pants lifted my chest. It’d been so long since I’d commanded a semelee like this.
A slight sting came from my collar, and I staggered. The semelee swirled around Bastian again, then glanced toward Jax and his friends. Venom dripped from one of its fangs, and its mouth opened.
“ No. Come to me !” I said in a more forceful tone.
Slowly, as though reluctantly, the semelee released Bastian once more, then drifted to my side.
It wrapped around me, its power humming with mine. I had just enough stamina left to tether it to my soul before I shot us through the galaxy.
The Veiled Between’s mist parted slowly, and it took every drop of my concentration to return the semelee to the plane between planes.
With every second that passed, I grew more fatigued and sluggish, but I had enough power left to release the shadow creature before I shot back to the fae lands.
My breath sucked in when I returned to my body, and when I opened my eyes again, it was to see Bastian unconscious on the floor and Jax and all of his friends staring at me with slackened jaws.
Relief hit me momentarily.
I’d done it, and I was still standing, still alive. And I hadn’t killed anybody this time.
But then my vision tunneled. Darkness pressed in. The realm spun, and I crashed to the floor.
I awoke to the feel of someone draping a cool cloth over my forehead.
Twitching, I moved my head from side to side.
The cool cloth lifted. “Elowen?” Jax said.
I opened my eyes to bright sunlight streaming into our bed chambers. My mate sat beside me, and a heavy dose of worry pulsed in his aura.
“Hi.”
“You’re okay?” He ran a hand over my forehead, feeling my temperature.
“I don’t have a fever.” I smiled despite the fatigue rolling through me. “I’m not sick.”
He glowered. “You passed out.”
“Yes, but that was from being tired. My collar still suppresses me too much despite its loosened state.”
A frown marred his features, and his sapphire eyes swirled in a myriad of blue colors. “You commanded a semelee in the fae lands.”
“I know. I haven’t done that since—” My throat rolled in a dry swallow, and I hastily looked around for a glass of water. One sat near the bed, on a table. I pushed up more and reached for it.
Jax instantly placed it in my hand, and I greedily consumed most of it.
Once my mouth no longer felt dry, I set it down, but I refused to meet Jax’s probing gaze. A second ticked by, only the sounds of the city on the streets below filling the quiet.
He cocked his head, and his voice turned soft. “Does your hesitation right now have anything to do with what happened when you were young?”
My attention shot to him.
An understanding look spread across his face. He settled onto the bed more, his aura billowing around him. “Have you ever spoken of it?”
For a moment, I couldn’t respond. Of course, Jax knew immediately where my thoughts had turned. He always had an uncanny knack for reading me, and since we were bonded, he could probably feel my wariness too.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to forget what happened all of those summers ago, but the screams had stayed with me. I could still hear them.
Finally, I shook my head. “No, I’ve never spoken of it.”
“Do you think it would help if you did?”
Tears moistened my eyes, but I blinked them away. Drawing my knees up, I wrapped my arms around my legs. “I can still hear them, Jax. Their screams when they died still haunt me.”
His throat bobbed, and a groove appeared between his brows. “You were a child, Elowen. You didn’t do anything on purpose.”
“But I killed them . Twenty-one fae died at my hands that day.”
“How old were you?”
“Five.”
His breath sucked in, and he inched up the bed until he sat closer, then slipped an arm around my waist so he could lean into me. “And where was your guardian when it occurred?”
My chest tightened, but I forced myself to calm and inhale deeply. “He was beside me.”
A muscle began to tick in Jax’s jaw. “And who was the one that pushed you to venture to the Veiled Between when you were only five summers old and probably had no idea what you were doing?”
I swallowed, my throat again feeling dry. “Him.”
“And when you called the semelees back to the fae lands with you, did you do it on purpose?”
“No!” The shout left my lips before I could stop it, and I drew my legs up even tighter. “I didn’t even realize I’d done so, not until I saw them swirling at my side. Truth be told, I’m not even sure how I returned them to the Veiled Between after they—” With a shaky hand, I grabbed the water again and took another hasty drink. The cup trembled in my grip.
Once finished, Jax took the glass from me and set it back down. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his eyes softening. “Yet you did return them, with nobody helping you learn how to do that. At five summers old, you stopped them from killing more fae.”
I dropped my attention to my hands and began to play with my fingers. “But I’m the reason twenty-one fae were killed that day. I still destroyed twenty-one families.”
He cupped my jaw, forcing my chin up so I had to face him.
Hardness coated his expression, and a muscle ticked even more in his jaw. “ No , Elowen, you didn’t. Your guardian is to blame for that. No adult should be demanding that a child risk her life and other lives by forcing her to learn her magic too quickly when she’s not mature enough to understand it herself. You are not to blame for what happened that day. He is.”
A tear rolled onto my cheek. Voice catching, I replied, “But he said it was my failure that caused their deaths. He always said I was to blame. He used that event to convince the courts that I should be enslaved. It was after that day that he put his collar on me.”
A spike in Jax’s aura flooded the room, and his chest rose quickly. Malevolent energy suddenly swirled around him. “Do you think your guardian asked you to call the semelees that day in hopes it would result in deaths? Because if it did, he’d then have a reason to enslave you to him.”
My lips parted. “You think he wanted fae to die?”
“You and I both know he has no bounds to his treachery. That event may have been planned by your guardian all along.” Jax took several deep breaths, but his aura still swelled in steady, thickening waves. “You’ve seen more of his true character in the past few weeks than you’ve probably seen in your entire life. Do you still think he’s innocent of any wrongdoing that day?”
My forehead furrowed, and all of the memories flooded back of what my guardian had revealed in the Ustilly Mountains and the days since then. The lies. The betrayals. The murder he committed against my own mother.
Slowly, my heartbeat began to calm, and my chest didn’t feel quite so tight. “No, he’s not innocent. He’s far from innocent.”
“And do you feel that you genuinely warrant all of the self-loathing you’ve inflicted on yourself since that horrible event?”
I nibbled on my lip, my brow furrowing more. I’d been five summers old. Five .
I shook my head. “No, I never would have tried to venture to the Veiled Between that day if he hadn’t insisted on it. I only did so because he promised me chocolate syrup on my ice cream that night if I tried.”
Jax’s lips curved up in a sad smile, and he cupped my jaw again, caressing my face. “Do you see it now for what it truly was?”
A tear hit my cheek, but instead of guilt causing it, a bolt of relief did. “He took advantage of me again that day, and like you said, maybe it was all planned from the beginning.”
“Exactly. Yet he convinced you that it was your mistake, and I have no doubt he twisted the truth when he went to the courts. And since the fae near you that day all perished, my guess is the courts issued that decree out of an abundance of caution, especially when your guardian put that collar on you that guaranteed it would never happen again.”
A rushed breath escaped me, and for the first time since that horrible day, my chest didn’t feel so crushed. So constricted. “I never would have killed those fae that day if my guardian hadn’t been involved.”
A genuine smile lifted his lips. “No, you wouldn’t have.”
I sat there for another moment, processing all of what we just discussed, and for the first time in my entire life, an emotion entered me that I’d never felt before when I thought of that day...forgiveness. Forgiveness to myself and the child who had been abused.
Remorse still filled me and likely always would. But for the very first time, the self-loathing eased, and a ray of hope entered my soul that I wasn’t entirely at fault for what had transpired that awful day.
Once again, it was becoming apparent that, like so many other events in my life leading up to this moment, I had been a victim too. A child caught up in a treacherous adult’s plan.
And I wasn’t to blame for that.