Chapter 21 #2
My tail lashed wildly. My claws ached to tear into someone’s flesh. I would burn Ashgate to the ground. Every single dirty thug in it would pay for the distress she suffered in that city. Every single one of them…
The cool air high above the world and the thoughts of Elaine eventually brought my rage under control, taming it from a burning inferno to a river of molten lava. It remained just as deadly but gave me a chance to think a little more rationally.
I served in the royal army most of my life. I’d led warriors into hundreds of battles, most of which I’d won. I’d been a general long enough to know that victory never came from rage and determination alone.
Raging into an attack on Ashgate didn’t mean I would win that fight. But I must win it. I couldn’t risk a defeat.
Victory required a cold head, enough force to overpower the enemy, and a plan. All of which I currently lacked. If I attacked recklessly, I risked being killed. My death wouldn’t help Elaine. It wouldn’t save her. To bring her back, I had to live. I also needed an army and a plan.
I slowed down in my flight. Behind me, the distant lights of Teneris had faded to a golden glow on the horizon.
Elaine believed that Teneris was the safest city in the kingdom for her. According to her, Prince Rha had learned to care about her friend, also a human woman.
I served with the prince in the queen’s army, but I didn’t know him well.
For most of my career, my rank had been too low to rub elbows with the royalty.
After the dragon’s bite and my dismissal from the army, my bitterness against the crown, the army, and the queen had encompassed Prince Rha as well.
However, I knew the prince was well-respected by his warriors. He was brave, just, and capable as a leader. He also had made several attempts to find Ashgate and bring the kingdom’s law into the lawless city.
Well, maybe I could help him finally find it this time.
Twisting in the air, I took a sharp turn, heading back toward Teneris.
Ashgate had to fall. That entire rotten to the core place had to pay, but I couldn’t do it alone.
I didn’t fear death, far from it. But I couldn’t risk losing Elaine for good.
Mazra or whoever took her would expect me to come for her.
They would be prepared for my fury. They’d seen me in action and know what I was capable of.
What they wouldn’t expect is me coming for them with an army.
I circled over the city, found the brightly lit, golden rooftops of the royal palace, and descended lower for a better look.
It was the busiest time of the night. The prince could’ve been anywhere at this hour. If he were inside, I’d have a harder time finding him.
As I flew along the outer wall of the palace, however, I spotted a couple kissing on one of the upper floor’s balconies.
Kissing.
Shadow fae didn’t normally kiss. They derived no pleasure from the action that humans filled with so much joy. I’d kissed Elaine enough times to know that.
The woman was pale, both her skin and hair stood out in a stark contrast to the man’s dark fae skin. She had to be human. All six of the man’s tendrils were connected with her leilatha harness.
Was he Prince Rha then?
I descended lower for a better look. I was quiet, but the man broke the kiss and spun around to face me. The blade of a sword sparked with red as he drew it from the sheath strapped to his back. The golden royal circlet glistened in his long, black hair.
The prince was prepared to defend his woman.
“Good,” I thought, “then maybe he will understand my need to defend Elaine too.”
“I mean no harm, Your Highness.” I turned my palms to him to demonstrate my peaceful intentions. But of course, at the sight of my claws, the prince gripped his sword tighter.
“Who are you and what do you want?” he gritted through his teeth, standing between me and the woman he’d just kissed.
His tendrils were still connected to her, and she peered cautiously at me from behind his bicep.
I bowed my head to the prince. “My name is Timur. I was a general in your mother’s army when a bite from a virutu dragon poisoned my body, turning me into what I am today.”
“General Timur…” the prince said slowly, dragging my name from his memories.
I lowered myself onto the seat of the swing that stood on the patio nearby and folded my wings, hiding them in the dragon spine on my back.
It was highly disrespectful to sit in front of the royalty without explicit permission. But I gathered that hovering over the prince while blowing the wind with my wings into his face might be considered even less so.
“My apologies, Your Highness,” I spoke in a calm, even voice, hoping to convince the prince that I meant no harm to him or his woman, despite my frightening appearance.
“I mean no disrespect. But the dragon’s poison rendered me unable to stand or walk on my own. Though it did provide me with wings.”
“What exactly are you?” the woman asked.
She seemed slightly taller than Elaine, a little slimmer maybe. Her yellow hair was pinned up and arranged into elegant coils on the back of her head. She wore more gold and gems than even the prince, indicating that her status at his side held important significance.
“What are you?” she’d asked. Not who. Because no matter what I said or how I behaved, I remained a hideous beast to her. My looks spoke louder than my words or actions.
Prince Rha shifted to the side, concealing her from my sight behind his broad back.
“Go inside, Dawn,” he said quietly, yet his tendrils remained connected to her as if he couldn’t bear to part from her.
“Dawn?” I exhaled in recognition. “You’re Elaine’s friend?”
She gripped Prince Rha’s bicep, peeked from around it again.
“What do you know about Elaine?” she asked anxiously.
Dawn had different colored eyes, I noticed. One was blue-gray, the other one brown, mismatched to a far lesser degree than my eyes were. Still, it amazed me to find a similar imperfection in the woman favored by the prince when only absolute perfection was normally worshiped by the highborn.
“Are you the one who stole her?” Dawn asked suspiciously, squinting her bi-colored eyes at me.
“No. I didn’t steal Elaine. I bought her.”
Dawn snarled, baring her teeth and curling her fingers into Prince Rha’s arm, like she was ready to claw my eyes out in hatred.
“I bought her,” I repeated, keeping my head high. “Only she’s the one who owns me now. All of me—my heart, body, and soul—belong to her.”
Dawn’s scowl softened a little. She tilted her head, running a curious gaze down my frame.
“Is Elaine here then? Did you bring her to Teneris?” Excitement ignited her expression.
“No, sadly. Though I’m glad to find you here, Sweet O—”
“Lady Dawn,” Prince Rha corrected me promptly.
“Lady Dawn,” I repeated with a bow of deference to her. Elaine was right about coming to Teneris if the ruler of the city demanded respect for humans here. “I promised Elaine I’d find her friends. I just never thought it would happen so quickly.”
Dawn’s pale face grew even paler.
“Where is she then? What happened to her?” she asked.
“She was taken,” I said grimly, then turned to the prince again. “I’ve come to ask for your help to rescue her, Your Highness.”
Dawn gripped the prince’s arm so hard, her fingers left dents in his muscle. Yet he didn’t flinch and didn’t lower his sword.
“What do you need from me?” he asked.
“An army.”
He exhaled a brief, derisive laugh. “You want me to risk my warriors’ lives because you failed to keep your illegally acquired Joy Vessel and now need someone to return her to you?”
His words caused more pain than his sword ever could.
“We can’t return Elaine to him,” Dawn said to the prince with a quick glare at me. “She isn’t his property. We need to bring her here. This is the only place where she can be safe.”
“Elaine can choose for herself where she wants to be,” I said evenly, struggling to contain both my indignation and my impatience. “My heart’s deepest desire has always been to give her the freedom to be her own person and to make her own decisions. But she can't do that where she is right now.”
“Where is she?” Dawn asked.
I fixed my gaze on the prince. “I’ll tell you exactly where she is. I’ll lead you there myself, in exchange for your promise to help me free her.”
He somewhat lowered his sword, but the suspicion in his golden eyes hadn’t eased much. “Why do you think I would make a deal with you?”
“Because I believe you would like to know the location of the place where Elaine is being held. After all, you spent many years searching for it with the queen’s army. Ashgate City.”
His hand with the sword dropped to his side.
“No one knows where it’s located,” he muttered, his features distorted in shock.
“Many do.” I shrugged. “Some can even lead you to it. A magical beacon has been implanted at its border for many decades if not centuries now. I can build a shadow tunnel to it.”
“How do you know about the beacon? Were you the one who implanted it?” His questions sounded like an interrogation now.
“Not me. It was way before my time. I heard a disgruntled mage did it. But that’s not the point at the moment, is it?
The important thing is that I know where Ashgate is, and I can take you there.
You and as many warriors as you can bring with you.
” I ran a hand over my hair, trying to calm my impatience.
Time was slipping through my fingers, and every moment Elaine wasn’t with me, she was at the mercy of the most hardened criminals of the kingdom.
“Please, Rha,” Dawn said softly.
Her plea affected the prince far more profoundly than any of my words.
“What exactly do you need me to do?” he asked me, sheathing his sword. “What’s your plan?”
My heart soared with hope. I would’ve hugged Dawn for her help, but I knew the prince would draw his sword again and likely skewer me with it if I so much as moved in her direction.