What did you do? (Infatuated fae #2)

29. Present Day

29

PRESENT DAY

Caly

L ike an apparition, he limped up from the castle’s path. His black armor barely held on to his body in most places. Bloody scratches and bruises covered his dirty face and body. His broad, muscled chest rose and fell with labored breaths, and his defined jaw clenched with effort as he stopped next to Walter.

“Mendax!” Walter rasped, throwing his arms around the giant fae.

Malum fought a smile and lost, patting his brother on the back with a wince before pushing him away.

“You’re alive! Where have you been? But…Aunt Tenebris? Is she…?” Walter asked, his face hopeful.

“No,” Mendax said as he turned his stare to mine. “Mother is dead, and I nearly was too. The Fallen vultures invaded after the Seelie army left.”

I couldn’t think enough to form words. There in front of me stood the man of my dreams and nightmares. How many times could one person play dead? Perhaps he should have been given the nickname of pet .

“How did you—?” Eli asked, sounding dumbfounded and irritated.

Mendax moved his eyes to where Eli’s hand gripped my waist.

“I have quite the number of deceitful, non-law-abiding friends in dark places.” He tipped his face to Walter. “I was in Eromreven before I went to It?re. Eletha guided me.”

Eli seemed taken aback. “Oh, sure, you were in Eromreven. Just relaxing in Eromreven?”

“You saw Eletha?” Walter said with obvious interest.

Mendax smiled and cocked his head, ignoring Eli to stare at me. “He owed me.”

“How was she? How did she look? Did she speak of anyone?” Walter asked, suddenly more flustered than I’d ever seen him.

Eli’s gaze went to Walter, shocked.

“You just went and hid in the underworld’s playground? You made friends in Eromreven and just left, did you?” Eli said in disbelief. “Sounds horrifying.”

I tried to remove my hand from Eli’s chest, but he clapped his hand over it and locked eyes with Mendax.

“Unless you’re of the dark, then it’s not so bad,” Walter countered with a smile. “It’s the other realms’ version of heaven and hell. The dark finds peace in Tartarus, while the Seelie who stayed on the path of good rest in the paradise of the Elysian Fields.”

“Unless you are a Seelie royal, in which case you are guaranteed admission into the Elysian Fields no matter how bad or evil you are,” I chimed in unexpectedly.

Mendax watched me with interest. “Yes, and it is the same for the Unseelie royals,” he replied. “They are automatically granted admission to Tartarus, no matter how good they have been.” He stared straight through me while everyone else just watched.

“Adversely, they work as the other realm’s punishment or peace, depending on what would be most torturous or joyful to that particular fae,” said Eli.

“So, you went to hell and came back,” I mumbled, unable to peel my eyes from him.

“I’ve told you from the beginning, there was nothing that would stop me from returning to you,” Mendax answered.

Tension crackled like lightning between Eli and Mendax.

“We’ve located her heart. It’s in the crypt below the castle. It’s spelled to only open for her, and she needs it now. She was held at Malvar, and then the animals came to help her.” Walter paused. “You should have seen her, Mendax. She eviscerated a man with a claw from a fucking Ladon dragon,” Walter said proudly.

“I will get her heart. The castle is halfway in ruins already,” Mendax said sternly.

“I’m already getting it,” Eli bit out. He released his hold on me to move toward Mendax. “Seeing as our souls are tied and it’s my castle.” Eli’s boots hit the toes of Mendax. “I’ll be getting my wife’s heart.”

“Is this true, my love? Did you promise to marry another while I was gone?” Mendax asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“I…I… You’re alive” was all I could say.

“She has,” Eli growled, “and I will not allow you to hurt or confuse her. She has been through enough, Mendax. Leave. Let her be happy. You and I both know that you only want her because of our rivalry. You want me, as a Seelie, to pay, so you take away the only thing that makes me happy.” Eli tightened his fists. “Right now, you stand before the new king and queen of Seelie. We will be married as soon as we get inside the castle.”

Mendax calmly placed his hands in his pockets and turned his amused expression to me. “If you think a wedding will deter me, then you don’t give my feelings for her or my lack of morals enough credit, Aurelius,” he said with a handsome grin.

“Well, while you two pissheads have a cock fight, I am going to the crypt, and I’m not leaving until I get her heart, because if none of you have fucking noticed, she’s still dying,” Walter grumbled angrily as he looped his arm in mine and urged us down the path toward the castle.

“He’s alive,” I whispered to Walter, still in shock.

“Barely,” he replied. “Look at him. He’s in worse shape than you.”

Mendax was at my side in a second, lifting me up and cradling me against his hard body. “Are you all right?” His warm chest rumbled under my cheek.

A sigh slid from the back of my throat at the feel of his heart beating against me. “Are you all right?” I asked, feeling the staggered pace of his limp as he carried me.

His smoky gaze trailed over my face. “Almost.”

“Cal, when you want down from this ogre’s grip, say the word,” Eli grumbled, walking beside us.

“Thank you,” I said, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. “But then who would carry him once he plummets down the hill on his shattered leg?”

All four of us smiled, pushing the tension away for the moment. We had things to decide, but for the moment, we all knew we were stronger together.

“Give her to me, you stubborn ass,” Walter growled after watching Mendax limp along.

“Mine,” Mendax said with a scowl and small smile as he moved a few paces ahead of the others and palmed my ass.

“Stop that right now,” Eli growled, moving next to us.

I couldn’t help but smile at Eli.

“He is going be my husband,” I said in a light, conspiratorial tone to Mendax.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” he whispered loud enough for all to hear.

As the journey to the castle progressed, my body weakened.

Several of the animals that had fought at Malvar passed us as they returned to wherever they had come from. Several times, they tried to join us, but eventually they wandered off, likely annoyed with our slow pace. Dragons flew over the treetops, sending a welcome breeze down upon us as we neared the Seelie castle.

The entire castle was surrounded by people of all different shapes and sizes only seeming to have two things in common: a very human look to them, and deadhead moth marks decorating their skin, or scales, somewhere.

Several of them coiled fire or sparks in their hands. Some appeared nearly see-through, while others, instead of skin, looked covered in a haze of static-like air. Not one of them that I saw carried a weapon, and I got the very distinct feeling they were the weapon.

“I’m going in to get the heart and make sure they don’t hurt Mother,” Eli said with a somber look at the castle.

“I will come,” I said as I slipped from Mendax’s arms, only swaying a small amount.

“No,” the three men said in unison.

“You stay here, where it’s safer.” Eli struggled to swallow. “Walter will join me in case…in case something happens to me and you need your heart faster.”

“What about the marriage?” I blurted. “We should do it now.”

Eli smiled at me before straightening to his full height and looking at Mendax. “As soon as we get everything settled, you will be my wife.”

“Oh, okay, of course.” I nodded. “Come get me when you’re ready to let me attempt to get my heart. Please don’t die.”

Eli glanced between Mendax and I.

“One of us must die anyway…for the other two to live. My death would only make things easier for you,” he choked out.

I squeezed him so tightly I thought I might pass out. My face and fingers tingled with exertion, but I couldn’t pull away. “You will not die. Either one of you,” I said, pulling Walter into the hug. “Leave the heart if it is a question. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“She’s right. Who will I fight if the two of you don’t return?” Mendax said before slapping Walter on the back and slapping Eli’s cheek lightly. Eli straightened and moved toward Mendax until Walter stepped in the middle.

“I will return when I have your heart and the queen has been detained,” Eli said, taking my hand.

Wait for me, his eyes begged.

My hands looped around his tan neck. I pulled him down to me to press a kiss full of thank-yous and sorrys onto his lips. I tensed slightly when I felt Mendax’s eyes on me, but he didn’t stop me.

With a solemn nod, Walter and Eli left us at the edge of the forest, where we watched their forms grow smaller until they disappeared behind the crowd of Fallen.

“All right, let’s go,” Mendax said, pulling me into the cover of the surrounding woods. “There’s a portal in the forest just down the path if we cut through that field.”

I knew about the portal. It was the same one Eli had shown me by the floricorns’ pasture.

“What?” I pulled back slightly, still trying to keep my eyes on the castle’s entrance.

“It’s very likely that they have one off of their rooftop, same as ours, if you’d rather climb. I’m fairly certain that’s how Saracen and my father kept their affair so secret,” he said nonchalantly as he pulled my body against his.

I hissed in pain as he touched the wound on my stomach. In return, he rolled his eyes like I was being dramatic.

“We can’t leave them. What if they need help? You don’t just leave people behind you care about,” I snapped.

“Walter will bring your heart to Unseelie, and I will have you to myself. They won’t need us here…most likely,” he whispered against my ear.

“I’m not leaving…yet. There’s a chance I’ll need to get my heart…and I’m not leaving until I know Eli and Walter are all right.” I stepped away from him and the camouflage of the deep forest to move back into the castle’s yard.

I wasn’t going anywhere until Saracen was taken care of.

Protectiveness flared inside of me for Walter. Standing a few feet in front of Mendax as we both faced the castle, I kept my head still but looked to my right as far as I could, to see him in my periphery.

His dark stare remained on me in an obsessive trance—not the castle where Walter was.

How could he just leave his friend like that?

“I have been through worse endeavors with both men. Walter’s Unseelie blood is nothing but piss and vinegar. It would take far more than this task to send him to Tartarus. I’ve come to respect and on the rarest of occasion find camaraderie with Aurelius. I do worry that he holds the key to your life, but Walter will be there.” He gripped my wrist tightly. “As you so frequently remind me, pet, I am and will always be the villain. My desires are purely selfish. Now let’s go cause some trouble and reclaim my throne before that little princess has the chance,” he purred with a smile.

I turned around, pulling my wrist free, and took another step toward the castle while I stared at the man in front of me.

“Do you only want me because of Eli’s interest in me? Is it because I’m Artemi?” I took another step toward the castle and away from him.

“Don’t be an idiot , Calypso,” Mendax snarled. “I had an interest in you well before I knew either of those things. Stop walking toward the castle.”

“Did you know of my powers when you bonded to me? Your mother had seen me as a child. I doubt she recognized me nineteen years later, but there’s still a chance,” I croaked. Every syllable I uttered made me sick. “You seem quite adamant about making me queen.” Another step back. “That’s why I held some of your powers all this time, isn’t it? It wasn’t the bond. It was because Artemi can absorb other fae’s powers when they want to, isn’t it? Because I had taken some of yours without even knowing. You had to have known then.”

Mendax’s frustrated eyes narrowed like a predator’s.

“I won’t leave with you. I told you that I couldn’t,” I said. “I have to go to Moirai.”

Both of our hands flew to our ears as a loud blast filled the air. The ground shook below our feet like it was about to split in two.

An explosion of orange light burst out from the castle, shattering hundreds of windows as glass spewed out. The pointed turret near the far end swayed slowly before crashing down onto the main structure of the castle. Sulfuric smoke and bricks of gold tumbled from the edges.

The surrounding crowd of Fallen fae stirred. With the calculated movement of an army, they flowed into the castle’s opening, showing off the many different powers they possessed as they filled the opening and disappeared inside.

“Mendax, we need to get Walter and Eli out of there!” I shouted. “Walter is in there!”

“Come with me, Caly. They are fine!” Mendax shouted angrily. “I am not heartless when I leave him. Walter is the most intelligent and skilled strategist I know. His instinct is impeccable. If he cannot get to your heart, I doubt you yourself could.”

“What about Eli?” I asked.

“What about him? I hope he dies. If he doesn’t, I’ll be forced to kill him. Why do you think I allowed him to rub his sweaty face all over yours?” Mendax smirked. “He is a man on borrowed time, Caly. Either the bond or the tie must be broken, and guess what, pet? It won’t be the bond that gets severed.” Mendax’s deep voice grated over my frayed nerves.

Thinking he was gone forever had allowed me to see how strongly I felt for him. How much I wanted him. I had shown him glimpses of my darkest parts, and he had begged for more. I knew he could handle me. Passion and danger filled every moment we were together, and I loved it. I craved the chaos.

But there was another side of me too, and that side needed the tenderness that I found in Eli. The parts of me that wanted Eli weren’t just crazed with lust or anger-fueled hate. Those parts still laughed and smiled. They felt cared for and loved. They felt good.

My untrusting mind began to spin. It didn’t really matter, I reminded myself. What I wanted didn’t matter. I needed to get my heart and continue on.

I was tired of waiting.

Refusing to give my back to Mendax for fear he would grab me, I continued my backward pace to the burning castle’s entrance.

“Stop fucking walking away. Do not step one foot inside of that castle, Calypso.”

My chest pounded as he moved until he was only a few feet in front of me. Still, my feet continued to slowly step backward. As soon as I made it to the stairs, I would bolt.

“I need to help them…and I need my heart, Mendax. I don’t even remember what it’s like to feel whole,” I whispered in a soft plea.

“You will have your heart,” Mendax growled. “But not if you enter that…” His voice trailed off.

The energy around me shifted, and Mendax stilled completely, his eyes locked on something behind me.

“Calypso.” He tried to keep his voice even and calm. “Come to me. Now,” he called as if coaxing a pet off the road. The only part of him that moved were his eyes as they continued to widen.

I froze. My skin prickled with the knowledge that something terrifying was behind me.

My eyes clenched shut as I said a silent prayer to.…well, to whatever god would listen. Blood pounded inside of my ears, reminding me how weak I still was.

Mendax twitched his finger, sending a small wisp of black smoke out.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

I whipped around to find the image of my saddest nightmares. Something cracked inside of my chest, nearly causing my knees to buckle.

“Another wisp of smoke, and you’ll pick Caly’s head off the ground just like your mother’s.” Saracen’s voice coiled around me like poison.

She stepped down the two steps that separated us, hair frizzed around her stern-looking face. Her cream-colored dress was covered in soot and dirt as if she had been dragged through a battlefield in her evening gown.

A hand with perfectly manicured nails held an insanely large, glowing dagger. One of her broken and shredded monarch wings hung limply below the other.

“This is all your fault.” Her voice trembled. Her hands shook the illuminated blade slightly, causing the amber glow to dance like fire in her eyes. “You ruined everything,” she whispered. “I set your life up to be the best it could have ever been.”

A loud bang sounded as the doors opened and Eli pushed out.

With a beating red heart in his hands.

He had it.

“Eli!” I cried out, unable to believe what was happening.

“You will not touch a hair on her head, Mother!” he shouted, placing his body between us.

“How did you do it? How did you break the spell?” the queen demanded.

Walter slipped through the door, moving to stand a few feet from Eli and Saracen.

I could have fainted from relief at the sight of both men unharmed.

Eli grabbed something around his neck and held it up—Mendax’s necklace. My tooth. “Apparently all I needed was a little desperation and bone,” he said, turning to cast a slight nod at Mendax. “Here, take this to its rightful owner. It’s been too long apart,” he said, moving to pass the crimson heart to Walter.

“No! Don’t be a lovestruck idiot! She will destroy everything in her path, Aurelius. You don’t know what Artemi can do like I do. You must destroy her and the heart,” Saracen cried out as she grabbed at her son.

Eli passed my glistening heart to Walter and removed the blade from Saracen’s hand, tightening his hold on her.

Taking two steps, Walter held it out for me.

There it was.

After nineteen years, I was about to have a whole heart again.

“Give her some space! Who knows what’s going to shoot out of her once her powers are restored,” Mendax said, sounding excited.

Walter gave me a solemn nod of encouragement. He was the only one that knew the truth.

I looked into Eli’s kind eyes. It would probably be the last time they ever looked at me like that.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to him.

His brows wrinkled. “Don’t be sorry. You’ve got this,” he encouraged.

I hovered the beating heart over my chest and looked at Saracen.

Taking a large gulp of air, I pressed the organ to my skin, just above where the other half lay.

The air around us stilled as everyone watched with bated breath to see what would happen.

At first, the heart did nothing. It pushed against my skin, making horrible squelching sounds, and I began to worry I had miscalculated, that possibly it had been twenty years and not nineteen and eight months…but then it all happened.

My chest burned like a fire was erupting when the smallest crack appeared in my skin, no bigger than a quarter. The heart in my hands moved to the opening and slid in, looking like a deflated balloon, until it was completely inside my chest.

The fissure sealed up with a pop, and I felt my chest fill as I gulped for breath.

It was finished.

I had done it.

“How do you feel? Are you okay?” questioned Eli as both he and Saracen gawked.

“Do you need anything?” Walter asked.

“Show us a trick, pet,” Mendax said from behind.

I held my hands out to the side widely as I faced Saracen with palms spread. Slowly, and a bit dramatically, I raised them up. A smile curled the edges of my lips. Then I dropped my hands to my sides.

Each of them looked at one another in confusion.

“Nothing’s going to happen.” I smiled wider. “I’m human.”

Everyone gasped.

I stepped in closer to a confused Saracen, my face in front of hers, making sure I could see every inch of her expression. I wanted to remember this moment forever.

“You killed the wrong daughter,” I whispered, savoring her expression. “Adrianna was the Artemi.”

“That’s impossible,” she protested.

“Artemi choose which child will receive their powers, and my father chose Adrianna.”

I dug my nail into the scar on my thumb painfully.

“Because of his status, Adrianna got her powers earlier than normal. She was two, and she couldn’t handle them. You can’t imagine how much pain it caused her little body and mind. The pain he caused her, leaving my mother and I to watch her suffer. When my sister was five, we learned that she could siphon off the tiniest amount of powers to one of us, only for a few hours ever, but it was enough to give her some relief. When she would pull her powers back, everything would blur for a second, and then we could see what Adrianna saw for a minute. We used to play hide-and-seek with it.”

My teeth ground together. “Adrianna had pushed some of her animal abilities into me before she went to town with Mom.” I bit the inside of my cheek to stop the tears. “I saw everything, Saracen—everything. The last words I heard from my sister’s mouth were her asking me what I’d done by saving you that day.”

“Oh my suns, Caly,” Eli murmured.

“If you saw it all, then why didn’t you do something? Why wait so long?” Saracen asked.

I watched the small lines of her mouth twitch. “Because I wanted to hurt you from the inside out. I wanted to destroy every single thing you have ever loved. It was easy to wait, knowing that one day I would hurt you. The hard part was learning there was nothing you loved.” My eyes caught Eli’s.

“What—what about me?” he questioned.

My gaze fell to the ground—I was too scared to watch his face during what I was about to tell him. “My plan was to arrive and kill all of you the instant I was empowered as a Seelie royal. Then, I’d go to Moirai and kill my father for what he did to Adrianna.”

I looked up and saw Eli’s mouth drop open, hurt in his eyes.

“You were my first mistake,” I said with a small tremble in my voice. “She never loved you, but I did. I made a promise that no matter how much I had to lie or kill to get revenge for my sister, I’d never hurt you more than I had to.”

“The only way I can ever see my sister again is if I get into the Elysian Fields,” I said, wiping at my stinging eyes. “Humans go to heaven or hell, and I-I need to tell her…tell her I’m sorry. Sorry for ever saving you in that field and bringing you into our lives!” I screamed as the rage came. “You already thought I was Artemi; this way I would get to be with Adrianna again and see my father.”

Saracen looked stunned. “But the heart?—”

“That was tricky. The act would have been up pretty fast when you realized I had no powers. You had just started to worry about taking me through the veil. I knew I needed something to convince you of my loyalty so I could get to Seelie—it was perfect.”

Saracen smiled as she tried to move from Eli’s grip, but he held her firm. “You shouldn’t have told me you’re a human.” An eerie laugh crawled from the queen’s throat. “You’ve made this far too easy.”

The Seelie queen grabbed the glowing blade from Eli’s belt and raised it high before bringing it down with force straight over my head.

From out of nowhere, Walter slammed his shoulder into mine, pushing me out of harm’s way.

Before I could scream, the sickening sound of blade and bone echoed across the open land as the queen’s dagger pushed deeper down on Walter’s head.

The world stilled.

Shouts from behind me rang out, but it felt like everything was in slow motion.

“Walter! No!” I screamed from the ground with everything I had, as if I could move him away to safety if I felt it hard enough.

Walter faltered then, dropping to his knees while a trail of onyx blood began to swell and cascade from around the blade protruding from the top of his head. The dark stream trickled over his tousled brown hair before dripping down into his kind eyes.

Loud roars behind me seemed muffled. Somehow now only a few feet from Walter, I clutched the grass at my hands to keep the world from spinning.

He moved his eyes to mine and then to someone behind me, whom I could only assume to be Mendax by the way the shifter lifted the corner of his mouth in a pitiful, blood-covered grin. His eyes locked with mine again and he let out a soft nod, letting me know he was doing it for me, before he collapsed and his face planted against the hard platform of stone below the steps. His back rose slightly with one last breath before his body relaxed deeper onto the stone, motionless.

“Now—” The queen was cut off when I launched at her.

Eli still held his mother, obviously uncertain of what he should be doing.

“You will never take another loved one away from me! Never! I knew all along, you were really training me for this.” I grabbed the sides of Saracen’s face and snapped it to the right, feeling for the pop. Her C3 and C4 vertebrae cracked loudly.

“Caly! No!” Eli cried as he still restrained her.

I swung, burying the dragon’s claw in the side of her head as she dropped to the ground as Walter had.

“Mother!” Eli cried out. He pulled a small blade from his belt and charged me.

I stumbled backward onto the grass as he stood above me, ready to kill me. He stilled, panting, as his eyes moved down to his mother instead.

Princess Tarani stood behind him at the top of the stairs, her beautiful face covered in tears.

Mendax scrambled forward to grab Walter and pulled his body onto his lap with rough movements. Choking sobs ripped from him as he pressed his face into Walter’s chest.

The stones ripped at my knees as I crawled to them. My hands moved over the scruff of Walter’s face. His brown eyes stared out, cold and unrecognizable—no longer filled with warmth and the feelings of home.

“No. God, no! Please, no,” I said, running my now-bloody hands over his face and arms, certain I would find a warm space filled with life. “This is all my fault,” I cried.

My eyes sought the comfort of Mendax, but there was no comfort to be found. He clenched his jaw to stop from saying something, and I knew it would have been something awful.

A few of the Fallen had found their way back outside, growing rowdy with whoops and cheers as soon as they saw the queen’s limp body and the prince kneeling beside her, sobbing.

“You all should leave. They mean well, but they are still thirsty,” Tarani said to Eli before turning to me. “I understand why you did what you did, and I hold no ill will, but you cannot stay in Seelie. Humans, no matter how badass they are, do not belong in Seelie,” Tarani said, her citrine eyes latched on to mine.

She softened her voice as she spoke to Eli. “The castle will be yours to claim once you return. We will restore it within the month.”

He continued to kneel at his mother’s side, staring at the scene in front of him, frozen. He held the look of a man sleepwalking as his eyes went from the bloody blade in Walter’s head to the bodies on the ground.

“Yes” was all he managed.

“The Fallen are still claiming the throne in Unseelie,” Tarani stated.

Mendax didn’t move.

The crowd of the Fallen’s voices began to carry as they sang and danced. Several tried to pick up Saracen’s dead body, starting to fight with Eli as he pushed them away from her.

“Go now. You will not want to be here for long,” she urged us again.

Eli numbly walked over to us and looked at Walter. “I’m—I’m so sorry… He saved both my and Caly’s life,” he directed at Mendax gently. “His memory and good heart will not be forgotten in Seelie,” he promised.

Hot tears poured down my face as I leaned down and kissed Walter’s cheek one last time.

One last time.

Eli helped me to stand before he and I nodded a goodbye to Tarani and walked toward the forest’s edge.

Mendax grunted and struggled as he lifted Walter’s body, setting him as gently as possible over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“You don’t leave people behind you care about. Walter will receive a proper burial,” he said curtly.