27. Tempest
27
TEMPEST
T here were too many limits on my power. I’d discovered if I thought about what I wanted and sent that out in a spell, it rarely worked, much to my endless frustration. When I mastered whatever it was that was growing inside me, would that mean I was finally “prepared” to kill the king?
Turning back to face Vexxion, I lifted myself off the floor again, a handy trick I’d just discovered. What else could I do that I’d yet to explore? There wasn’t enough time in the day to look into this.
I held his face again. This wretchedly gorgeous fae man tended to hold things back, but his eyes and that twitch of his jawline gave him away. I didn’t have much else to work with.
I gathered power from my well and sent it to him, and damn it was such a turn-on to do something like this for him. Not necessarily arousing, but stimulating in a way nothing else could ever be. This man needed me if only for this, and that thrilled through me. It was pure bliss to do something for him, and I’d savor it if only for this moment.
“Enough,” he growled, shutting me off.
“I can give you more.”
“You will not.”
With a sigh, I lowered myself to the ground. I don’t feel depleted at all.
You’re not supposed to.
Yet you still are. I could feel it.
He took a lot tonight. How’s Reyla?
Fine. She was sleepy so I left her in her room. The king went to bed. We were still bound to the chairs! He would’ve left us there all night, then dined on us for breakfast. I figured out how to make the vines retreat.
I’m not surprised.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work with my collar.
You need to leave that in place—for now, he said.
We’d see about that. This has to stop. We need to either get Reyla and Brodine out of the castle or find a way to hide them. I can’t imagine what the king’s doing to him. I haven’t been able to get near him to find out. He’s so lost. My voice croaked . I’m worried about Bro. Everyone, actually. The weight of trying to help every single trapped soul inside the castle dragged across my soul.
I haven’t been able to get close to Brodine either, he said, strain still coming through in his voice. He hadn’t taken enough of my power. I wanted to give him more. I plan to, though. Soon.
If someone comes here while you’re traveling, will you know?
Yes. I’ll travel back and groan at the appropriate moments .
I don’t like leaving your body here. Can I cast a spell to protect you?
From everyone but Ivenrail? he said. Yes.
Teach me.
It wasn’t an easy spell. But when were they ever? Finally, after about an hour of ripping out my hair, I got it right. A barrier shimmered around Vexxion.
Will anyone else see it? I asked him.
No, but they’ll feel it if they try to touch me. Even better, if someone tries to harm me, you’ll feel it.
Me, not you?
You crafted the spell, he said. Hence, you’ll feel someone trying to breach it.
Amazing.
The grin he sent me made my knees melt. That’s you, my love. Amazing.
One of these days, we need to take time for us. Would that day ever come?
His smile faded. One of these days. He said it like a promise, but we both knew the odds of that happening were nearly nil. You flit to our suite, and I’ll follow.
You travel first, and I’ll follow. I would insist on this. I could defend myself, more or less. He could not. He was still too weak after the king drained him. He put on a brave front, and I appreciated how hard he tried, but he was slowly fading away.
He gave me a long look before nodding. His body slumped, and seeing it happen stole half of my heart. I’d never get it back again. I wanted to shake him, but that was the point of this. Ivenrail needed to think he was “repenting” .
I flitted to our suite, finding Vexxion lounging on our bed—no, lying there because he was incredibly weak.
It crushed me that he kept taking the blows meant for me and every other Nullen inside the castle. I didn’t want the king draining me instead, but this situation was untenable. We couldn’t keep it up for much longer, yet we still had days to get through until the king would try to collar Brenna.
Vexxion could barely stay awake.
I climbed into bed with him and for tonight, I held him .
He was gone when I woke in the morning.
Are you safe? I asked, feeling frantic.
I’m alright—relatively.
Drask shot over and landed on Vexxion’s pillow, tilting his head, watching me as if he could hear the thoughts in my head. I jerked my hand out to pat his back, and he took off, landing on his perch to stare at me from a safe distance.
Where are you? I asked.
The king released me from the dungeon. I bathed and changed mid-flit. Ivenrail requested my presence in the throne room.
Requested?
As he does.
Is Madrood there? I barked.
Yes, why?
I clutched my fist to my chest. Stay out of fire-blasting range.
Vexxion’s low laugh rang out, thrilling down my spine and easing my tension. Will do .
He was alright. He had to be.
I swiped the tears from my face. How do you feel?
Surprisingly refreshed, he drawled. What did you do?
Nothing you wouldn’t.
Fury, he growled.
I’d fed him more power last night. He’d do the same for me.
As soon as I’m finished with the king, I’m cornering Brodine, he said. I’ll see if I can help him.
We need to remove these collars.
I’m working on that.
That made me sit bolt upright. Have you found a way?
I am the controller. All I can do is try.
You said anyone collared would be hunted.
Only if they can tell that the collar has been removed.
Will the king be able to tell? I asked.
A long silence followed.
We can’t risk it. Can we grab Brodine and hide him?
As long as the collar’s in place, Ivenrail will be able to find Brodine no matter where we hide him.
Would he bother to look for a drained Nullen?
He’s unpredictable. Just as he knows Reyla’s your friend, he knows Brodine is too. He won’t risk losing a way to force you to behave.
Is there anything we can do? I asked.
I have an idea, he said. He paused, then his voice came out urgent. I have to go.
You’re still safe?
For now.
He cut me off, but I had to trust he’d watch out for himself since I wasn’t there to do it for him. The thought was laughable. He was so much more powerful than me, even after he was drained. What could I do for him that he couldn’t do for himself?
After bathing, I dressed in one of my simpler gowns. With Drask on my shoulder, I left my room and went down the back staircase, exiting out into the hallway with the portrait where the fluffy blue creatures were trapped.
Because I didn’t want to scare them again, I cautiously approached from the side.
This time, when I showed my face, I did so from across the hall. And this time, they watched me rather than scurry into the woods. I swore I read excitement in their eyes. They must see I was trying to help them. I hoped their confidence in me wasn’t unfounded.
While Drask fluttered his wings and stroked his beak through his feathers, grooming himself while sitting on my shoulder, I drew on my power and whispered the spell Vexxion taught me. Predictably, nothing happened, though the marscapoles shuddered like they had the times before. That encouraged me, so I cast the spell over and over again, not willing to leave until I’d done something .
Finally, I could tell I needed to go. Brenna was decent enough as far as would-be queens were concerned, but she wasn’t above scolding someone for arriving late and who needed to deal with that?
“One more time.” I drew in more power, scrambling to tug some from a deeper, smokier section of my well. After pinching my eyes closed and making a wish, I watched the blue creatures as I sent the wish out with the spell.
The marscapoles tumbled out of the painting, plopping onto the floor.
I wasn’t sure who was more surprised, them or me. They weren’t very big, not much larger than a full-grown chall, coming only halfway up my shin. Their fur appeared soft and lush, but I knew better than to touch it.
They blinked up at me before releasing high-pitched cheeps.
“Alright, then,” I whispered. I bolted down the hall and opened the exterior door. “Would you like to be free, little guys?”
They scampered out through the opening.
I watched as they raced across the stone platform and leaped, landing on the grass and scrambling across the open area. They disappeared into the woods.
I didn’t chide myself for having tears in my eyes.
After assisting Brenna, she dismissed us.
Reyla appeared unchanged by what happened the night before. I still felt horrified.
I returned to the suite I shared with Vexxion and dropped onto the sofa, tugging Ember’s Shadow onto my lap. My carved dragon stood on the table where I’d left it. I swear it watched me, though such a thing wasn’t possible.
I skimmed the chapter on bonding with dragons, though I didn’t get much out of it that I didn’t already know. Treat them kindly. Finally, I had validation. There were a few short phrases in italics, and I whispered them into the air, though nothing happened.
With a shake of my head, I dismissed this chapter as simple lore and turned to the one entitled The Lost Fae .
Lost fae, huh? I’d heard of other fae kingdoms on distant continents, but as far as I knew, they hadn’t reached out to us and no one here had spoken to them.
What kind of world might there be far from this one?
With a shrug, I flipped past Lost Fae to the chapter about bone coins. But I’d only read the first line when someone knocked on the door.
I rose and crept over to the panel, leaning against it rather than haphazardly opening it. You never knew who might blast you with magic if you did something like that. If I’d learned nothing else since leaving the fortress, it was caution.
“Who’s there?” I called out.
No reply.
I spoke again.
Still no reply.
I cracked the door and peeked through but found no one there.
Leaning out, I peered down the hall in both directions, but I still didn’t see anyone around. With a grunt, I stepped back inside and closed the door. I returned to the sofa and sat, opening the book once more. A subtle sound drew my attention to the table.
The wooden dragon’s left front leg twitched as if he was about to take a step.
My gasp echoed in the room. I tossed aside the book and leaned close to the figurine, but he didn’t move. Had I imagined it? I lifted the dragon, turning it every which way and tugging on the leg that remained as stable as, well, wood.
“The carving did not move,” I whispered, holding it up to eye-level and squinting at it. It stared right back at me with the same beady eyes and unmoving body Vexxion had formed into this position.
“What do you think, Drask?” I asked my pet sitting on his perch.
He ignored me, still staring out the window.
“I’m losing my mind,” I said.
Drask chirped.
“Thanks, buddy.”
I needed to do something productive.
Tossing the book onto the coffee table and placing the carved dragon on top of it, I dressed in leathers, and ran through a series of exercises Vexxion had taught me.
Then I practiced with blades, throwing them at the target I created and hung on the back of the door.
More workout generated more sweat until I finally dropped down onto the sofa again and stretched out my legs.
I focused on the spell for moving objects, but no matter how many times I cast it, the wooden dragon still stood on the book. Maybe I wasn’t saying the spell right. I had a solid memory, but I could’ve misremembered.
Since I wasn’t expected back to help Brenna until it was time for her to get ready for dinner, I might as well keep busy at the aerie.
“Want to come with me, Drask?” I asked, but when I looked his way, I found his perch empty. He must’ve gone outside to hunt. Well, he’d find me in the stable if he needed me.
A flit took me to the aerie entrance.
“I tell you, someone has to do it,” Will said to one of the stable hands as I walked down the hall, pushing the cart I’d soon fill with dragon poop. There was something incredibly satisfying about shoveling shit. The dragons seemed to appreciate my efforts, and I enjoyed looking around a clean stall, knowing I’d made it happen. I also did my best thinking during that time, and if there was something I needed right now, it was time lost in my thoughts.
I’d imagined the carved dragon moving, hadn’t I?
I stopped beside my new friends. “What does someone have to do?”
Will shot me an odd look. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was angry with me, though he had no reason to feel that way.
“It’s nothing,” he said shortly.
He couldn’t be upset that I showed up here every day. No one would complain about me cleaning stalls.
“Maybe she’d be willing to do it,” Airia said, teasing her fingertips across one of her tiny braids. I’d met her yesterday, though we’d only exchanged a few words and our names. She’d come from one of the villages in the center of Nullen territory and was claimed a few years ago by one of the fae living near Bledmire Court. Like Will, she said her lord was a decent person and hadn’t drained her.
“What might I be willing to do?” I asked, keeping my tone pleasant. It never paid to irritate anyone, another lesson I’d learned over the past few months. My, how I’d grown. Back at the fortress, I hadn’t cared if I pissed anyone off. But with only three days left before I was going to kill the king, I needed all the allies I could get. You never knew who might hide you when you were on the run.
“Take care of Madrood,” Prenton said. “We usually take turns. But you don’t have to go in there. We appreciate the work you’re doing here already. You do it for free.”
“ We don’t get paid,” Will said with a twist of his lips.
“No, but we’re assigned to work here,” Prenton said in a kinder tone than I’d use. “She isn’t.”
“It’s nice of you to come help us,” Airia said. “But Madrood? There’s no reason you need to ever go near his stall.”
Frankly, I was surprised no one had tried to toss me into Madrood’s pen from the moment I arrived. I was a volunteer, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be asked to work with the unruly dragons.
Airia studied my face. “The controller claimed you, right? What was that like?” Her attention zoned in on my collar and like all the other times when someone noted it, it twisted, reminding me of its presence, reminding me that it monitored me at all times.
“Painful like yours.”
“Yeah, the collar sucks,” she said. “But I meant, what’s it like to belong to the controller? He’s scary.”
“It also sucks.” I had no problem lying to this group, to anyone here, actually, though I wanted to defend Vexxion to the world.
“That’s not what I heard,” Will said with a snort. A slick grin rose on his face. “I heard you sleep in his suite. In his bed, actually.”
“He needs me to stay in his suite. Remember? The collar comes with access to my power.” While I was willing to lie, I wouldn’t disparage Vexxion. Maintain the ruse and his rep, sure, but I wouldn’t let them believe he raped me or anything like that.
He frowned. “Do you actually have much power to offer? You never look like he’s drained you.”
“He’s not guzzling it down. He’s not greedy.”
“I don’t see him as the cautious, caring type,” Airia pointed out.
Because she didn’t know him.
“We get along, and that’s all that matters. The suites have more than one room.” Let them think I slept on one of the sofas. I glanced toward Madrood’s stall. “What does the king’s dragon need?”
“Everything, but for now, he’s got scales in his eyes.” Will’s gaze took a sly slant. “I don’t suppose you have any tricks for handling something like that, do you? Since, as you said, you’re so good with dragons.”
“They like me,” I said. “I treat them with kindness, and they respect that.”
“Dragons respect this and this alone.” Will lifted his fist.
Airia and Prenton frowned but said nothing.
It was like the fortress all over again. I bit back my sigh. I wasn’t going to be here long enough to educate anyone. I might not live long enough to educate anyone .
Will’s gaze flicked past me, to the entrance, and I glanced in that direction, not finding anyone there.
“I’ll take care of Madrood,” I said.
Airia sucked in a breath. “Be careful. He’s mean.”
“Stay near his side and watch out,” Prenton added. “He doesn’t usually blast anyone with fire unless the king gives the command, but like a lot of dragons, he can be unpredictable.”
“I’ll work fast and get out of there as quickly as I can,” I said.
“You’re either a fool or really brave.” Will shook his head. “But if you’re willing to try, we appreciate it.” He nudged Prenton with an elbow, and his low laugh burst out. “We get to keep our heads for another day.”
“I’ll groom him and clean his stall while I’m there.”
Will’s eyes widened. “I don’t get it. You don’t have to be here, so why take on the worst assignment in the aerie?”
“I like to help.” I was willing to leave it at that.
A touch of fear slid down my spine, but I shrugged it away. I’d approach Madrood carefully. I’d watch his eyes. If he made any threatening moves, I’d leave his stall and try again later. If he killed everyone who worked with him, there wouldn’t be anyone left, and that clearly wasn’t true.
I almost looked forward to the challenge. I was no fool, though I was brave. I’d had to be to survive in the fortress.
Prenton’s frown deepened. “Everything you need to work with him is in the tack room. Good luck.”
Will’s high-pitched snicker rang out as Prenton opened a stall gate and stepped inside. “We’ll clean up your remains later.”
Airia shot a glare at him but said nothing .
Will looked toward the entrance again.
Prickles raced across my skin. What was up with him?
After those fae tried to kill me yesterday, I couldn’t be too careful. Vexxion had eliminated them as a threat, but had they been working alone?
“Who claimed you, Will?” I asked casually. “I don’t believe you told me.”
“I didn’t.” He strode over and lifted the handles of the cart I’d brought inside and wheeled it down the hallway, the shovel clattering on the side as he aimed for the end of the corridor.
“Who claimed you?” I called after him.
He opened Glim’s gate and steered the cart inside, shutting it behind him.
“I’m not sure what the big secret is. Everyone knows.” Airia rolled her eyes. “Delaine claimed Will.”
My throat tightened. “Delaine?”
“You must know her. She’s High Advisor Adwarin’s daughter.”
Delaine claimed Will, huh? Wasn’t that interesting? I wasn’t sure what, if anything, I should do with the information, but I couldn’t trust him. Not that I trusted anyone here other than Vexxion, but still.
I gathered a bunch of tools inside the tack room, tossed them into a basket, and strode to Madrood’s gate. After sucking in a few deep breaths and releasing them, my spine loosened enough I dared release the latch. I cautiously creaked the gate open but remained to the side as I eased it wider. If he was in a bad mood, I’d clean a few stalls and come back after. There was no need to be blasted with fire .
When nothing happened, I poked my head inside. He stood near the exit to the valley, staring out through a gap in the netting. Dragons cooped up in the aerie most of the time got bored. Did the king exercise him regularly? Vexxion said the king adored dragons, but I hadn’t seen any evidence of that outside his adoration for what Madrood could do with his fire inside the throne room.
I stepped into the stall and closed the gate, lowering the basket of tools to the sandy floor.
“Hey, Madrood. Nice day, huh?” The sun was shining, and the temperature was perfect for working. Not too hot. Not too cold. With my heart pattering much too fast, I pawed through the basket, grabbing a brush. With light footsteps, I moved around to his left side. “Grooming first, buddy. You’ll like that, won’t you?”
He ignored me, staring through the small gap in the screen blocking the opening to the world outside.
When I started brushing the scales on his leg, he twitched, but he didn’t turn his head my way.
“They haven’t been taking care of you,” I chided, noting the poor condition of his scales. “A shame.” They were afraid of him and for good reason, but that didn’t mean he didn’t need care. If you were going to keep a beast like this in your aerie, you had to find a way to keep him in top shape. Otherwise, he’d be useless to you when you needed him the most.
I worked my way along his side, adding oil to the brush, massaging it into his scales with a vigorous rub.
When he groaned, my hand stilled on his side. My breathing came to a shuddering halt, and my heart went tick, tick, ti . . . ck.
He shuffled his feet and shot me a look that I took to mean, why did you stop, you foolish girl?
So, I got working again, rubbing harder with the brush.
He groaned again and leaned into my touch.
“You’re a big softie, aren’t you?” I whispered, grabbing the stool I’d brought, climbing it, and starting on his shoulder. I worked oil into those scales, using a light touch with the ones that had cracked. When I’d finished this side, I made my way along the other. I’d have to get a taller stool to reach the spikes marching down his neck to his shoulders. This dragon was huge when compared to Seevar.
“What do you think, Madrood?” I asked as I hopped off the stool, my feet hitting the sand with a dull thud. My thigh twitched, but it was cooperating so far. “Should I oil your claws while I’m at it?” I eased around his front to approach the basket.
His snout snapped out, his fangs going for my throat.
I yelped and flung myself away, smacking into the mesh screening the pen from the valley below.
It gave way, and I tumbled backward, falling . . .