Chapter 43 Surrounded
Surrounded
“Nyleeria,” a familiar voice whispered into my ear, calling me from the realm of dreams. I roused, feeling groggy.
As I blinked and my eyes adjusted to the low light of the large cavern, panic sliced through me.
Eyes wide, I took in a breath through my nose, readying to scream through the cool hand over my mouth.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” he warned. I trembled under his weight, a glint of retribution playing in those blue-gray eyes. The ones I knew all too well. The ones that belonged to King Thaddeus Artimus Alton the Third.
Despite his warning, I screamed and thrashed. Unable to grab a blade, my panic doubled, dousing my ability to call forth my magic.
Come on. Come on. Come on.
Nothing.
Not knowing what else to do, I opened my mouth as best I could with the harsh pressure of his hand against it and bit down as hard as I could.
“Bitch,” he roared before backhanding me.
I rolled onto my hands and knees, not feeling the ache that should’ve bloomed across my face from the force of the hit, and was grateful for my fae body as I slipped a dagger into each hand and jumped to my feet, ready to defend myself.
“Whoa, Spark. It’s me,” Artton said, his large frame menacing from the shadows the fire cast across his features.
Still crouching, I looked around, eyes wild as I searched for Thaddeus. “Where is he?” I said, my voice betraying the fear coursing through my veins.
“Who?” Sidrick asked from my other side, and I stepped back, raising my blades a little higher.
“Thaddeus,” Kaelun guessed, only it felt more like he knew.
I nodded, focus darting to the darkest corners of the cavern for him.
“He’s not here,” Kaelun said. “We just came in from the final watch to wake you and get ready to leave. I promise, no one passed us.”
He looked to his brother, who must have been on watch with him, as he nodded in confirmation before saying, “And there’s only one entrance.”
“I didn’t feel any magic, which means no one valenned in,” Kaelun added.
While the logical side of my mind believed them, their words did very little to lighten the boulder settled firmly in the pit of my stomach—though I did re-sheath my daggers.
I’d experienced dreams like that before.
Had searched for Tarrin in the dark recesses of one as he took his last gurgling breaths, only to find him half-dead in real life days later.
“Something’s not right,” I said. Tarrin’s features shifted from curious to concerned as I stared at him, unable to get the wet sounds of his lungs slowly drowning on his own blood out of my mind.
Trying to dispel the memory, I turned my focus to the summer commanders.
“Do you remember the first night I slept in the Summer Court? As fae?” I added.
“You destroyed your room and took down the wards, Spark. It’s not something any of us are bound to forget.”
Right. I’d been so shaken by the dream itself that the aftermath played a much smaller role when I looked back on it. “This was like that, Artton.” I shook my head. “Something isn’t right.” My eyes darted back and forth between the two commanders, imploring them to believe me.
Crossing his arms, Artton eyed me for a moment, the muscles in his strong jaw feathering as he chewed on my words. “We know for a fact the king wasn’t physically here.”
I went to interject, but with his arms still crossed he raised a finger to let him finish.
“But,” he said, drawing out the word, “that doesn’t mean I don’t believe you. Stranger things have happened with your powers—that’s for sure.”
“Like having a vision give up Thaddeus’ secrets,” Tarrin muttered.
Artton cocked an accusatory brow at him.
“Yeah, yeah,” Tarrin said, raising his hands. “Because someone had to, right?”
Artton’s self-satisfied smirk was enough to make our human companion grind his teeth, and honestly, it was the first time since he’d woken up that I had to give Tarrin credit—personally, I would’ve been more inclined to smack that smirk right off the commander’s smug face.
Knowing he’d made his point, Artton turned his focus back to me.
“I appreciate your concern, Spark. I do. But we’re already being as careful as we can be.
I just got back from doing a wide perimeter sweep.
We’ll continue to be vigilant, but unless your dream can provide concrete details, we’re going to continue as planned. ”
Frowning, I played the short dream fragment several times before I sighed.
He was right. Other than feeling like something was wrong, I had no information to share, and if I were in his shoes, I’d make the same decision.
I couldn’t imagine being Artton, having to face his High Lord after defying direct orders only to say we turned back because I had a feeling.
But damn it, it didn’t make me feel any better.
“Okay,” I finally conceded. “We continued as planned.”
We traveled east through aspen woods dense enough that we were forced to turn our bodies to this side in some places.
As we weaved through the papery white columns of trees, I reveled in their deep, sweet earthy scent.
The leathers on my arms had long since retreated again as the warmth of the autumn sun melted away the morning frost, the tiny billows of white creeping up from the ground dancing around us as we passed through.
It was no secret that autumn represented death and decay to the fae, but in a land covered by a tapestry of rustic hues that glittered with droplets of sun-captured dew, I couldn’t help but muse as to how far from lifeless this place truly was as the breeze ran her fingers through the changing leaves like a musician across a harp. And stars, if this was death—
A twig snapped to my right, and I had my daggers out faster than my next heartbeat.
“Fuck, Spark. It’s just a fawn,” Artton grumbled from my side.
We watched the speckled youngling continue to make noise as it picked up each hoof with great exaggeration, looking as if he could topple at any moment as he made for his mother’s milk a few paces away.
“You know,” he said as the suckling sounds reached us, “I’m fairly certain fae can’t die from our hearts failing, but given you’ve had mine jumping out of my chest every ten minutes, I’m beginning to question that,” he said, mouth pursing.
I slid my blade back and rolled my eyes. “It’s not every ten minutes.”
“No, it’s every twenty minutes on average,” Sidrick said, on my other side.
“Traitor,” I shot at him with narrowed eyes.
“Yeah, Ny, you forget how old we are,” Tarrin chimed in.
“You too?” I groused, the corners of my mouth ticking up.
“Give her a break,” Kaelun said, and I could’ve kissed him for coming to my defense. “If you knew how wound-up she actually was, you’d be impressed that it’s not every five minutes.”
“Hey,” I said in protest, “what is this, pick on the new girl?”
Artton snorted. “The new girl? Given you’re the spark, you’re older than any of us.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“Technically—”
“Finish that sentence, fetus, I dare you,” I shot at Kaelun before he could finish making Artton’s point.
Laughing, he raised his hands in defense. “Sorry, Uncle Arty, you’re on your own. I’m not going to mess with the Sp—”
Kaelun cut himself off abruptly, his neck snapping to the left, and a dark seriousness I’d never seen from him had the tiny hairs on my body stand on edge.
Artton leaned across me toward Kaelun. “What is it?” he demanded in a whisper.
“Something brushed along the westernmost reach of my unara,” he explained.
“Magic?” Sidrick asked.
Tarrin and I exchanged a glance before he focused on the others, and I found no comfort in the calculating commander I saw waiting for answers.
“Yes. But it felt… wrong,” my shadow said. He took a half-step forward, then another, before closing his eyes and tipping his head to the side as if trying to hear something.
A moment later, his power called to mine before his eyes snapped open, quickly looking to the south, then the north, then the east.
Terror prickled through my heating blood, and without understanding how I knew this truth, I breathed, “We’re surrounded.”
Kaelun looked at me with wide eyes as if my words had allowed him to believe it for himself. “Yes,” he said, his focus still on me.
“Fuck,” Artton said.
“How did they find us?” Tarrin asked.
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Artton said, his eyes cold as he processed this information, running through every possibility and eventuality in seconds before he nodded to himself as if making a decision.
I wasn’t sure what he was about to say, but his eyes held an apology in them as he looked at Sidrick.
“No,” his commanding partner said in disbelief. “I’ll stay—let Kaelun go with them.”
My brows creased in confusion as I took the others in and saw that they clearly knew what had been decided.
Artton put a hand on Sidrick’s shoulder and squeezed.
“I’m sorry, I need Kaelun here with me. His powers are more versatile than yours, and he can help me navigate a true threat assessment.
It could just be a regular patrol. You and Tarrin take her to…
” He glanced at Kaelun, who looked around us seeing something we couldn’t.
“Southwest or northeast,” Kaelun supplied.
“Our southwestern meeting spot,” Artton said.
“Understood,” Sidrick confirmed, though the word was tight as his eyes lingered on his little brother, making my heart ache.
“If we’re not there by Fenorryn’s rise, then go directly back through the Autumn-Summer border and inform Caius,” Artton ordered.
“Understood,” Sidrick said again, then turned to his brother and pulled him into his chest. “Remember your training. Don’t be a hero. And get your asses back to us by the time the second moon rises, okay?” His eyes held Artton’s over his brother’s shoulders as he said the words.
Releasing his embrace, his kid brother took a step back and held a fist to his chest in what I recognized as a summer salute. “Yes, sir.”
Sidrick’s throat bobbed with a swallow before he nodded to his brother and then his friend.
“We’re seriously just supposed to leave you?” I said, hating the idea of separating.
“Yes. And you’ll do it now,” Artton said, standing tall. “Understood?”
“But—”
“No, Spark. You promised. This is a direct order.”
“Damn it,” I said, knowing he was right.
I took the briefest moment to look between the two summer fae as if committing their features to memory as Tarrin and Sidrick inched away in a silent call for me to follow.
“Don’t be stupid,” I said to Artton, whose mouth pulled up just enough to show that indomitable dimple.
“And you,” I said, pointing to Kaelun. “We’ve got a centennial to celebrate; I’ll be pissed if you take that away from me. ”
“Who says you’re invited?” He winked, and for the briefest moment I felt his warmth before the situation sucked it away.
“Come on, Ny, we don’t know how long we’ll have to slip through their perimeter,” Tarrin said.
Hating that he was right, I turned away and slipped between him and Sidrick, who led us away. Before we got too far, I turned around to find them still staring after us.
Be safe, I mouthed to Kaelun.
I will, he mouthed back.
Without another silent word, Kaelun and Artton turned their backs on us and walked away. Just like that, I was reminded—while beautiful—this court is home to all different manners of death. As Endymion had said, the na’li was just one of death’s creatures.
Focusing forward, I nearly walked into Sidrick’s back.
“What is it?” I hissed.
“We’re too late,” Sidrick said, and raised his hands in front of him, readying to conjure.
A heartbeat later, the undeniable sensation of someone about to valen hit me. Tarrin turned to see what caught our attention, his brows furrowing as Artton and Kaelun looked to us with wide eyes from where we’d just tried to part ways.
One moment I was looking into Artton’s panicked eyes; the next, three large figures blocked my view of the summer commander, but it was the gray-blue eyes of the one in the middle that had my veins fill with ice.
“I wondered when you’d be returned to me,” Thaddeus said, and then, all hells broke loose.