Chapter 31
C assia
“Birds,” I muttered. “What does that mean? Is it because I used nectar? Lukas said birds drink this stuff.”
All of that was for nothing. Shame washed through me, thinking about how I wasted time and their resources.
“Elijah!” Selena yelled. He lifted his chin, acknowledging her. “Birds? There’s crows in the crystal ball, what does that mean?” He shrugged. “Please?” She asked.
Leaving the other man behind, he strode over to us. He placed his hand on the glass and peered inside. “Probably Kiam’s birds. He has a connection with them.” He glanced at me. “It's common, I use them as messengers.”
My fingers gripped the edge of the altar. “So, you think maybe he heard me?”
“It’s possible. From my standpoint, I’d assume Kiam sent crows to assist Lukas.”
My emotions were getting whiplash. I glanced at Selena. “There’s hope.”
She smiled at me. “People use crows and other birds more commonly in the Second, so you’ll get used to it.”
Elijah walked away and rejoined Markus. “What’s it like there? Do you have friends there?” I asked.
Her mood shifted. “I did. Mostly this girl, Sara. I’m not sure what happened to her, she was on the run from some guy, hiding out. She was cool though.”
“I left people behind, back home. Sybil and Katie.” I laughed a little. “They probably think I’m some crazy killer, now. I’m not sure how anyone would think I was that strong, but Lukas and Kiam did a number on my apartment.”
We both stood there, staring at the crystal ball and watching the images fade. “I have nothing to go back to,” I said quietly.
Selena placed a hand on my forearm before letting it fall away. “Well, you’ve got me.” She smiled. “You’re cool, I like you.”
She cleared her throat before continuing, “The Second is different than here. There’s blue sky but there’s an orange haze and fog that’s kinda everywhere.
There’s lots of demon clans—it’s kinda a stronghold.
They’ve been at war with the vampires for, like, forever.
So, there’s skirmishes all the time. But it's pretty safe in the castle. There’s a demon city that reminded me of New York whenever I saw the skyline, but I never went. You’d be pretty stupid to go there.”
My arms fell to my sides. “You’re not making it sound very nice.”
“There’s pretty gardens, and the dirt is cool in places because of all the ruby production. There’s really nice gardens and houses. And the Bloodmoon flowers you like so much are there everywhere. There’s plenty of beauty, in its own way. I was happy to stay there.”
Living like this, I’d never run out of things to paint.
I’d be able to recreate landscapes and scenes that others only dreamt of or imagined.
Selena was right, that there was plenty of beauty.
I’d always found it no matter where I went, and living in other dimensions couldn’t change the trait that was so fundamentally my own.
I smiled at my friend. “I’ll never run out of things to paint.”
She pointed at me and nodded her head. “Very true.”
“I’m going to have to convince Lukas to let you guys come visit us.”
Selena glanced at Elijah, who was now polishing a sword.
Her shoulders stiffened. “I’m not sure he would accept.
He’s got a pretty big ego and it nearly killed him when he took everything away from him.
He had spent years trying to salvage the mess there.
” She looked at me. “He was sooooo close to creating the kingdom he wanted.”
“I know it's not my fault but I’m sorry you guys had to go through that.” It was strange, feeling as close to Selena as I did and knowing our men had such a rough history. Even stranger knowing that my own, by his law, should have killed her husband.
She shrugged. “Can’t say it's okay, but we’re happy here.”
I wanted to change the subject. “Just know, wherever I am, the door is open.”
She patted my shoulder. “I want to know what’s going on outside.”
Selena walked over the short bridge that spanned the stream, and I followed her. Elijah set his sword to the side, and Markus stared at us both.
“Any word?” She asked.
Her squirrel leaped down from a light fixture and landed on her head. She gripped it around the middle and tugged him away. Strands of hair were caught in its little claws. Elijah stared daggers at the creature while she repositioned it on her shoulder.
My feet itched to move. “Let’s go look.” I tugged at her. “We can peek out a window. I don’t hear anymore thunder.”
Elijah tossed the sword to Selena, which she deftly caught. “Let’s go.”
We trekked up the stairs and down corridors, the two of us side by side. The castle was empty, other than a couple maids peeking out of doorways. We ignored them and continued until we reached a small room.
The space was larger than a closet and contained a wooden bench against one wall. “What is this?” I asked. “Looks like a jail but the door...”
She glanced at me quickly before heading toward the window. “I don’t know, just a room. I have no idea what it was used for. There’s a million rooms like this.”
I joined her by the window. “This window faces the direction he left in,” Selena said.
I gazed out over the landscape until I saw mountains in the distance. Thick, steel gray clouds covered the sky, although the sun broke through in a couple of places. A black fog covered one of the peaks.
“Do you see that?” I pointed toward the distance. “What is that?”
She tilted her head up. “Let’s go to a different window.”
We ran down the hall, took a few turns, and sprinted through another corridor. Selena shoved open a doorway at the end, and we entered a room with sheet covered furniture.
She shoved a table out of the way, and we approached a wide window. This one gave a different perspective on the landscape, and I spotted the dark cloud without anything blocking it. The black mist was thick and moved in ways I’d never seen fog move before.
“Do you think... I mean, that’s not fog, is it?” She shook her head, her gaze wide with wonder. “I think that’s crows,” I said.
My eyes strained, trying to focus on whatever it was we were witnessing. The mountains were so incredibly far away that it was impossible to say with any certainty what was going on. But I dared to hope.
Her voice was nearly a whisper. “You could very well be right. For your sake, I hope you are.”
Please, please, please. The words repeated in my head, over and over.
All I wanted was for everything to be okay. I wanted the man I’d come to love to return to me and come back as whole and well as he could. I was under no illusion he wouldn’t be hurt somehow, but this was Lukas we were talking about. He had to be mostly okay.
We stayed watching the strange mist for a while, both of us lost in our thoughts. Selena moved first, her gaze tilting downward.
When she looked at me, her normal olive-toned skin was white. “Don’t move,” she hissed.
Her hand slapped my side when, naturally, I moved. “What?” I hissed back at her.
“It's a fucking unicorn,” she said, dread filling her voice. She unsheathed the sword Elijah had given her from her back.
Leaning forward, I spotted the majestic creature. “Oh my God!” I exclaimed. “I know him!”
Pushing my friend to the side, I ran from the room. Selena’s footsteps pounded after me and she kept yelling at me to stop before finally screaming, “Elijah!”
Before I could make it to the castle's entrance doorway, he appeared in front of me, and I skidded to a stop, smacking into the wood paneling in surprise.
“Oof,” I grunted.
Elijah peered down at me. “You are not leaving this building.”
Crossing my arms, I stated, “I know that unicorn. He’s here to see me, I know it.”
I didn’t “know it,” but I strongly suspected. Why else would it have shown up?
No sooner had I said those words to Elijah than the unicorn let out a loud neigh. Selena glanced at me and then Elijah.
“Hold her back,” he instructed Selena. She tossed him her sword and he walked away.
She yanked my arms behind my back and grabbed my wrists, shoving them down. She wrapped one of her legs between one of mine, so I was stuck to her.
“This is fucked up,” I snarled at her. The temptation to slam my head back against her face was there, but I didn’t do it.
“Shush,” she whispered. “Listen. If I was you, I’d want to be out there too, but I don’t want your man hurting mine so deal with it.”
Groaning, I said, “At least move us in front of the door so we can see.”
Selena shuffled us to a better view, and we watched Elijah trot down the staircase, sword in hand. My heart thudded in my chest, praying nothing would happen to either man or unicorn.
The beast stomped his feet and swung his head my way. Elijah turned his head slightly, gazing at me with a look of sheer disbelief. I raised my eyebrows at him and tilted my head to the side.
Told you .
Selena snickered in my ear. “You’re even cooler than I thought.”
“Let go of me.”
“No.”
Elijah motioned to his wife. “Send her down here. Both of you come down here.”
She let go of me, and I shook out my arms, letting the blood flow back into my shoulders. I glared at her for the hell of it, and she rolled her eyes before grinning at me. I smiled back and hurried down the steps.
The unicorn was on the stone bridge, and Elijah shoved his arm out, not letting me go past him. “Look,” he said to both of us.
When I tore my eyes away from the magical creature, I saw what he was looking at. Bodies lay strewn across the road at the other end of the walkway, piled on top of each other.
“Are those Kakian demons?”
Now that I noticed them, I couldn’t figure out how we would have missed such a sight.
There were probably hundreds, laying in the brush, under trees, and then I spotted some when I glanced over the side of the bridge.
It was clear the animal gored them with its horn.
I had to assume it had stomped them as well, going by their flattened legs and arms and other signs of trauma.
“They are,” Elijah answered, scanning the woods. “It seems the animal protected the castle. Or, I should say, Cassia. Doubt it gives a shit about the rest of us.”
The unicorn lifted its head gracefully and lightly shook its mane, eyeing me.
Slowly, I approached, hearing Selena suck in a breath. I stopped several feet away before I said, “Thank you.”
The unicorn nodded his head like he understood me and then walked up close, making a sighing sound. I lifted my hand and he nuzzled it.
“If I’d known, I would have brought you an apple or something,” I said quietly. It nibbled the side of my hand carefully, searching as if I had a hidden treat.
I turned my head. “Do you guys have apples here?”
Elijah smirked at Selena, and she answered, “Yeah, maybe. Somewhere. But I’m not going anywhere.”
I stroked the animal’s nose and said, “Maybe next time.”
Elijah took a couple steps closer to me. “No unicorn has ever come to the castle. Not while I’ve been here, nor that I’ve read about.”
“No?” I looked around. “You’d think it’d draw more attention.”
“Everyone is in hiding,” he twisted his neck and I followed his gaze, “some are watching.”
Heads poked out some of the windows above us; others had their foreheads pressed to glass.
“This will protect you, beyond Lukas’s protection. Unicorns don’t suffer humans to live, and you have gained a familiar, or so it would seem.”
Elijah gave me a pointed glance, and I looked at the beast again.
There was no way I could take him to the Second Realm with me, only people and birds could transition.
That was what I’d been told. But it was nice to know I had a unicorn friend in one of the Realms. And should Lukas not return, I had this extra advantage.
“Thank you,” I said. “For doing all this for me.”
The creature neighed, shook out its mane and trotted in a circle. It waved its tail before going and standing sentry at the end of the bridge.
Lukas had said I couldn’t have a unicorn as a pet, but it seemed like I’d gotten something better.
A laugh escaped me as I walked back over to Selena and Elijah.
I looked at her. “Never in a million years did I ever think I’d get to meet a real life, bad ass unicorn. Kinda ridiculous, but here I am.”
She nodded vigorously. “I know!” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “These guys will never understand how crazy it can seem. I fucking slaughtered a demon before,” she giggled. “Probably the best day of my life.”
A rumble left Elijah’s chest. “Outside of meeting you, of course,” she told him.
She glanced at me with a wince and I smirked. He peered down at me, and I quickly erased the expression from my face.
We almost made it to the door when a flashing light blinded me.
“What the hell was that?” I heard Selena yell.
I tripped over her.