Chapter 52
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
RAE
“Are telchins always so cryptic?” I grumble as I return to Jai’s side.
“Yes.” Jai is frowning after the telchin whose tall form is heading toward the dais with the still empty throne. “That’s their defining feature.”
I think of Lynn. How do you call on a ghost? Was what she told me when I first met her important? “They say that if you control the big dragons, the Great Dara, command them to fly anti-clockwise around the Pillar, its rotations will slow, and a gate will open to the other worlds.”
My head throbs.
The music is still playing, I realize, and couples are dancing. I think I see Mera together with a fae lord, but I’m not sure it’s her, and the next moment she’s gone.
And then the guests scatter, screaming as a winged shape descends on us.
A pale darakin. Breathing plumes of fire. And aiming straight for me.
“Remi,” I gasp when he lands on my shoulder with a flutter of his leathery wings, “now is not a good time. I—”
“I have a bad feeling, Aethry.” His teeth click. “A very bad feeling.”
A very bad feeling about what?
“What you’re about to do.”
“What is she about to do?” Jai turns to me, eyes flashing, and I realize he can hear our silent conversation, too. “Little Thorn, what is he talking about?”
“Nothing,” I breathe. Remi, go. You’re scaring everyone.
“Call Keres and get away. You don’t have to do anything. This isn’t your war.”
Even if I ran away, the king still has his mark on me.
“Distance can mute its power.”
Remi… The king killed you. It’s you, isn’t it? You’re my brother. You’re Flynn.
“Not the best time for such conversations, makhair,” Jai mutters, “even if he is your brother.”
Is it you? I pet his scaly head. Are you my brother, Remi? Are you Remian Flynn? Did Phaethon transform you, too?
“What would it change if I were and if he did?” the darakin says in my mind, shifting on my shoulder, talons digging into my flesh. “We have all changed, Aethry. Just… don’t go through with your plan. There has to be another way.”
And he takes off again, flying up and circling overhead before he heads toward the shore.
No sooner has he flown off than trumpets and horns sound, a grand fanfare that stops the music and cuts through the voices and laughter of the ball.
The king is here.
Crowned and stern, he’s standing on the dais. Caught up in my conversation with Remi, I hadn’t noticed him arrive.
Remi… Or Flynn. My brother. He didn’t deny it. Could it really be him? I want to cry, and I don’t know if it’s joy or sorrow.
Those who drown sometimes transform into finnfolk, and those buried sometimes turn into wyrms, but our world has no records of humans dying and turning into dragons. Flynn and I seem to be the exceptions.
Because Phaethon willed it.
A trill of emotion comes through my mind as if Phaethon… disagrees.
“It wasn’t me,” he sends the thought. “And this darakin is young.”
I frown.
Jai approaches me, takes my hand. “Everything all right?”
I wish I knew.
The king is dressed in black like Jai, a fact that must come as a shock to his court, I’m sure. It looks as startling on him as it does on me, both of us pale creatures.
Not on Jai, though. Black fits him like a well-worn glove, fitting in with his shadows and his dark hair and eyes.
The telchin stands beside the king, whispering something in his ear. Fae nobility flanks him. His guards encircle the dais.
A lady with a silver circlet on her head stands to the side. It has to be Lady Selene, his fae betrothed. Is she looking at me? It’s hard to tell from here but I swear I feel the same chilly touch as when the king stares at me.
The king lifts his hands and smiles as the crowd falls deathly silent. “Welcome to the second ball of the Three-hundredth Pillar Celebration!”
The crowd shifts uneasily, mostly quiet. Some are still staring at me, even though Remi has flown off.
The king’s gaze sweeps over us, those cold eyes touching me like a blast of frigid air. “Tomorrow is the third and final trial. The trial of water!”
The crowd claps and whistles. Because it’s the last trial? Because he looks angry and they’re eager to placate him?
“Our four survivors are here among you, and I expect you to accommodate them with everything they need,” he goes on and gestures in my direction. “Now I call forth my betrothed, Lady Rae, for a dance.”
“Fuck, no. You’re not going up there.” Jai’s voice is dangerous, his hold on me bruising. “This night is for us. It belongs to us, not to him.”
“I know.”
“No, Rae. I won’t let him hurt you.”
“He won’t. Tomorrow is the third trial. He wouldn’t dare.”
This is breaking me into pieces. He’s right, this is our night. Our last night. And I thought I’d have more time with Jai before joining the king and attempting to kill him.
“I have to go, Jai,” I whisper. “Forgive me. I love you. I love you more than you can ever know.”
“Why the fuck are you telling me this now?” His dark eyes glitter. He hauls me against him, gazing down at me. “Dance with him if you must, and then come back to me.”
“But if I don’t, remember what I said.” My breath hitches. “You have my heart, Jai. You always had it.”
Blinking away tears, I rise on tiptoe to kiss him. I try to memorize his face, the feel of his strong hands cupping my face, the taste of his lips.
It’s over way too soon.
But then he bows his head, frantically peppering my face with kisses, then finding my mouth again and plundering it.
I’m crying now and when he tastes my tears, he breaks the kiss. “Fuck…”
“I have to go.” I pull away. “I have to dance with him, Jai. If I don’t go, he can use the mark to make me. I’d rather walk there of my own will.”
His face falls, then rage sparks in his eyes. “I’m going to tear him apart.”
“But not tonight. It’s fine. Just a dance.” This time, I paste on a smile. “I’ll see you later.”
He’s trembling. He grabs my arm. “Promise me. Fuck. Promise me you will come back to me, Rae.”
I swallow hard. “I promise I’ll try.”
“Not good enough. Come back to me, or I’ll burn the world down to find you.”
Swallowing more tears, I step away, certain my heart is breaking in two. It hurts that bad.
I hear a howl in my mind, and I’m not sure whether it’s Jai or Phaethon, or both of them together.
Lifting my chin, steeling myself, I make my way to the dais.
The music is playing and playing. I can barely hear it. Everything around me is a blur, a buzzing. My heart stayed with Jai. I feel hollow as I curtsy in front of the fae king. Hollow and wrung out.
Sadness is already weighing me down. I’m missing Jai although we have barely parted. I miss our tomorrows. Our lazy days together. Having children who look like him. Growing old together.
But that was probably off the table anyway, I tell myself, as a measure of consolation. Who knows what dying and coming back can do to a body? Losing color in your skin, eyes, and hair surely isn’t all there is to it.
There’s also the turning into a dragon part, of course, but… right, apart from that.
“Your Highness,” I say, straightening.
“There you are.” His countenance is pleasant, but his gaze is hard. “I feared I’d have to send my guards to retrieve you. Or use the mark.”
I incline my head, fighting back anger.
Lady Selene is glaring at me. From up close, it’s easy to see. Surrounded by her ladies in waiting, she’s wearing a sharp smile that has nothing to do with joy.
The king blatantly ignores her, though. He steps down from the dais. Then he lifts a hand. “Play!”
Immediately, the musicians strike up a stately tune. I shiver as the king pulls me into his arms and leads me into a simple courtly dance.
The other fae stand still at first, while the king bows to me at the center of the terrace and I curtsy.
But as we move through the first steps of the dance, they take it as a signal to resume festivities.
They return to talking and drinking and dancing.
Couples swirl around us as the king pulls me close and spins me around.
Much like Jai had done, and yet so different.
“One last trial,” the king says as he wraps his arm around my back. “One more game.”
“I know.” I frown. “I’ll—”
“After you win the third trial and return with Jai,” the king says, “we will marry, and you will come with me.”
“Marry.” I don’t follow this change in topic, but dread hits my stomach like a rock. “Come where?”
“Across the gate. Into another world. My world.”
I swallow. My throat is dry like a bone. “I see. Did you tell Jai about your idea?”
“It was Phaethon’s suggestion.”
I gasp, the words a punch to my stomach.
“How will you open the gate?” I ask to buy time, thinking furiously. “I thought Phaethon wasn’t ready yet.”
“But maybe you are.”
“Me?”
“What is your true form? In the sea, what form do you take?”
A chill that has nothing to do with the temperature of the air hits me. “Nothing special.”
“You rode a drak after the second trial. You speak with a darakin. You’re a dragon, aren’t you?”
He knows. Now my gown makes sense. He truly knows what I am.
I break away from him—or try to, his hands slipping down my arms to my wrists, tightening like manacles. “I’m not.”
“Don’t lie to me. The mark lets me know when you’re panicking.”
“I’m panicking because I don’t want to be here with you!”
“You are a sea dragon. I wonder how that happened. In my home world, you needed to find a dragonskin and a dragon egg to become a dragon. It’s so confusing, how differently magic works in this world.”
“It doesn’t matter what I am.”
“But it does. The dragonlords are gone. The Great Dara won’t obey. But a dragon could make them. Perhaps you could do it. Then I wouldn’t have to wait for Phaethon to regain his powers and call the Great Dara to open the gates. You can do it for me.”
“But I—”
“So don’t bother with saving Jai. I have no need of him anymore. You will control the big dragons, tell them to fly anti-clockwise around the Pillar, slowing its rotations and opening a gate to the other worlds.”
Just like Lynn had told me. But this is stupid. I can’t control the dragons.
And he means to get rid of Jai. I can’t allow it.
“Being a dragon shifter doesn’t make me a dragon summoner!” I protest. “A dragon cannot command other dragons. Only speak to them. Eosphors are the dragon lords. Only Phaethon can do what you want.”
He gazes down at me, his eyes searching, probing. “Are you speaking the truth? Has Phaethon spoken to you? Is he ready to begin?”
I hate the machinations he’s working on, the twists of his mind. He’s hammering us to see who produces the best tune.
But he’s distracted. Now, now is the time. Do it, I think to myself, do it and be done with it!
With a cry of wordless rage, I pull my dagger from my bodice, lift it.
And stick it into his chest, angling for the heart.
Pain tears through me. I gasp, dropping to my knees. A beat passes in which time stands still, the agony in my chest robbing me of breath.
I wait for death to take us both.
Then a howl rings out. It’s unmistakably Jai. “Rae! No!”
The king pulls the dagger out. Blood rolls down his chest. He looks stunned, face white, eyes stark, but…
He’s not dying. Why isn’t he dying?
I failed.
“Rae.” Jai is here, sweeping me up in his arms and standing. “Are you all right? Talk to me!”
“I had to try,” I whisper.
The guards are pointing their spears at us, and suddenly a thousand voices rise in a deafening din.
The king only chuckles, shaking his crowned head, a hand pressed to the wound in his chest. “Good try, but my heart is old. It’s an ancient, black root and hard to cut out. Much like your lover’s. Oh, I want to see her face when your memories return, Athdara.”
“I…” Jai stumbles backward. His heart is banging wildly inside his chest. “I don’t…”
Then he turns away, clutching me to his chest, and starts toward the stairs, his face a mask of pain.