Eight
Calypso
“The mortal?” Ghost growled as though my very existence was offensive to him.
The darkness retreated as Azulin’s magic flame burst back into existence above my head.
“A shifter!”
I lifted my head to find Ghost glaring down at me. Overlong silver hair fell across his forehead as he regarded me with disgust, like I was a stink bug.
“I smell cat.” The irises of his amber eyes flashed in the shadows beneath his brows. Magic coiled around him like smoke, and the slight scent of burning teased my nose. I couldn’t be sure if the source was him or us considering our recent brushes with lava and the enraged dragon shifter. My ankle throbbed.
Azulin stood, drawing me up by my hand to stand beside him. I rose awkwardly, resting my weight mostly on my good leg.
The pooka laughed. “You best get used to the smell, dragon shifter. She’ll be sticking around for a while.”
Ghost glanced at Azulin, who had been watching the exchange with cold interest. “Sire? Is this true?”
Wordlessly, Azulin lifted his free arm, revealing his marked hand. The vine glimmered faintly in the light of the magical flame.
Ghost’s eyes widened. “How?”
Azulin shook his head. “It matters not. What is vital, though, is that it remains secret.”
The two men regarded each other evenly for a moment before Ghost abruptly bowed. “As you command, sire.”
“Lady Anon, this is Ghost, my enforcer, chief bodyguard, and food taster. You may trust him with your life. He owes me mine and will defend it until death.”
I frowned up at Azulin. “Why does that mean I can trust him with my life?”
“Because your life forces are entwined now,” the pooka said.
Irritation tightened Azulin’s mouth. “Pooka, are you a resident of my realm?”
“I am.” The pooka smirked with an air of knowing what was coming next.
“Then hush yourself. You’ve done quite enough for the moment.” Azulin turned back to me. The flame above us cast strange shadows, but I didn’t miss the concern in his features. “Do you have any questions?”
“More than I can count.” But a single question burned in my mind. “Can I go home to my village now?”
“Yes, but only briefly.”
“How long must I remain with you?”
The pooka made a muttering sound. Azulin’s attention snapped up, and he glared at the pooka. “Not another word. This is not the time or place.”
“We might wish to move to a more secure location,” Ghost suggested. “We are accumulating some unwelcome attention.” He nodded toward the shadows beyond our circle.
Azulin nodded. “Where exactly is your village?”
After a brief conversation about landmarks, all three males appeared confident they knew where my village was. However, there was still the problem of transportation.
“If we return to the castle, we can collect horses and reinforcements,” Ghost suggested.
“Not a good idea,” the pooka protested. “It’s a tiny human village. Approaching like a fae war party will send them into a panic. They’ll go to ground.” Ignoring Ghost’s glare, the pooka grinned at me. “It would be memorable at the very least. You will go down in village history as the woman who brought the fae to town.”
“No, thank you,” I replied. “I would rather not go home at all if that is your intention.” I turned to Azulin to find him studying me intently.
“Don’t you wish to show them you are well and explain that you will be safe with me?” he asked.
“I don’t wish for my sister and family to worry, but I also don’t want to panic the village.”
“Why don’t the two of you go and leave me and the brooding dragon behind?” The pooka elbowed the dragon shifter.
Ghost tensed. “Sire?”
Movement in the bushes behind us made Azulin turn. He twisted me about so that I was behind him as he turned to face the threat.
A towering figure emerged from the brush. Her movements were smooth and graceful despite her great height, and if she hadn’t been moving, I would’ve taken her for a tree.
“My king,” she rumbled. “Beg pardon, but might I be of assistance?”
“Identify yourself,” Ghost demanded.
The huge fae bowed, offering us a view of her great shaggy head atop her tall, spindly body. “Pardon again, I am Legioda of the Longlank Donderies. I was napping in yonder grove and overheard your arrival. As an Ettin, a species friendly to humans, my appearance rarely causes concern among those who populate the borders of the Wild Woods. Might I be able to deliver a message to the lady’s home village on your behalf?”
“What are your orders, sire?” Ghost asked.
Azulin turned to me. “We can visit your village later. After we have assessed the constraints of our current situation.”
Turning to Legioda, I bowed. “Would you deliver a message to Mindy on the southern edge of the village? Let her know that her sister is safe and well. Tell her I will come to her as soon as I am able.”
Legioda nodded her great head. “So agreed.” Then, with the same slow grace she had demonstrated before, she turned and walked away into the darkness.
“Now to return to the castle,” the pooka announced.
“Shall I carry you and the woman, sire?” Ghost asked.
“A dragon ride?” The pooka grinned.
“I don’t carry pookas.”
Azulin’s eyebrows rose, and I almost laughed aloud. However, the effort of suppressing the laugh made me cough.
The pooka straightened and stuck his nose in the air. “That is just as well. I wanted to go home, anyway. I have a crop to harvest.”
The dragon shifter snorted, and smoke came out of his nose.
Azulin nodded. “Come and visit us at my castle when you have completed your task. I am sure Callie will enjoy seeing a familiar face.”
The pooka executed a precise bow to the fae king before taking my free hand and bowing over it. “A pleasure, my lady.” Then, without a word to Ghost, he took his horse form and galloped away into the darkness.
“Finally,” Ghost muttered before stalking away in the other direction.
“This way.” Azulin gently tugged my hand. “Ghost needs space to shift, and I need to speak with you before we fly.”
After a short walk that brought us closer to the trees, Azulin drew me closer, claiming my second hand. “When we reach the castle, I need you to remain completely silent until we are alone. Don’t speak to anyone until after I have recovered enough to set a protection spell on you.”
“Being among the fae is that dangerous? They can’t be worse than the traps in the labyrinth.”
“Far worse.” The sudden hardening of Azulin’s jaw and the iciness of his expression told me far more than his simple answer. He squeezed my hands. “Promise me you will not speak until we are alone, not until I can protect you.”
I nodded.
“Keep a hold of my hand then. I have no idea how this curse is going to react.”
“I thought we had broken it. At least in part.”
Azulin frowned up at the moon. “Even now, the curse is clawing at me, but keeping in contact with you is helping. I dare not release contact completely until the moon sets and we can consult my resident expert and my advisor. For your own safety, keep your markings hidden if you can.”
I opened my mouth to ask why, but I was interrupted by a roar. Azulin turned, letting me glimpse Ghost in his dragon form for the first time.
I gasped in awe. Standing on his back feet, the silvery-white dragon arched his back, unfurled his great leathery wings, and threw back his head in a second roar that made the ground tremble beneath my feet. I edged closer to Azulin, mind crowded with panicked memories of our recent draconic encounter.
“Enough. You’ve sufficiently warned off the locals,” Azulin called up at the dragon.
Ghost swung his majestic head around and eyed us with a fiery amber eye. Then with a slow blink, he drew his expansive wings against his sides and lowered his head to in one smooth movement.
His head was the size of my sister’s garden shed and his body as large as her husband’s barn. With his scales gleaming and glinting white in the moonlight, Ghost appeared gilded in silver.
“As you wish, my king,” Ghost said in a voice so low it rumbled in my bones.
“How do you speak?” The words slipped from my mouth before I thought to catch them. “I meant no offense.”
“Later.” Azulin tugged on my hand and drew me toward Ghost’s front leg. “Now we ride.”
∞∞∞
Azulin
Normally, I enjoyed riding on Ghost’s back. Between the wind in my face and the power beneath me, I felt free. However, I knew the truth. Even when I was only the crown prince of the Seelie throne, freedom was a luxury I couldn’t afford. My father drilled duty into me with the vigilance of any good father. Yet, he had done more than teach me responsibility; he had crushed any hope I had of a choice about many aspects of my life.
Now that I was king, my life was ruled by traditions.
However, the small mortal I held in the circle of my arms changed that. No amount of foresight on my father’s or forefathers’ parts could’ve prepared me for her, or for the magic now binding us together. The very existence of the connection undermined the foundations of my life as I knew it. However overwhelming the ordeal, I was duty-bound to protect her. If I didn’t, my court would destroy her.
Apprehension tightened my shoulders. My chest still burned from the smoke and coughing. Even now, the curse clawed at my back despite the fact the moon had passed its zenith. How was I going to balance protecting her, ruling my kingdom, and researching how to end the curse completely? Fae were brutal and manipulative. How could I warn them off without remaining beside her constantly? It was impossible. The first moment my back turned, they would pounce.
My workload would demand almost all my time from the moment I set foot on the ground. Just as it had every other cycle of this wretched curse, the burden of duties would overwhelm any hope I had of discovering a solution to the curse. I would be buried in tasks until the curse dragged me—dragged the pair of us—back into the Unseelie king’s twisted torture.
Ghost began his descent with a slow turn. Calypso tensed, digging her small nails into the forearm I had wrapped around her waist and arching back against me. I tightened my arm around her waist slightly. She was so physically fragile I feared breaking her. But at the same time, I already knew she was mentally and emotionally stronger than she appeared.
Amusement eased my fears when I recalled the way she had challenged me from the first moment I rescued her. Perhaps if I gave her a chance, she might surprise me.
Ghost’s wings rose as he prepared for the final approach. Beneath us, the royal palace sprawled across the highest point on the eastern end of the Arista Peaks. Dotted by lanterns and fae lights, the white marble walls and turrets glowed in the moonlight. Only a century old, the fortress lacked the patina my father’s fortress possessed before it had been destroyed over two centuries ago.
As we banked again and began the steep descent into the inner courtyard of the keep, Calypso gasped. Pushing back, pressing into my chest, she squeaked.
“We’re almost there,” I assured her. I pulled her closer, anchoring her to me.
She turned her face to the side and squeezed her eyes closed.
“Don’t shift,” I warned. “I doubt I would be able to keep a good grasp on you.”
Ghost roared at the gathered fae on the ground, and they scattered. We came into the courtyard at a sharp angle, and he landed hard. Using a familiar sticking spell, I kept the two of us in place. Only once Ghost had settled his wings and lowered himself so his chest brushed the courtyard pavers, did I release the spell and slide us off the dragon’s back.
“Sire.” Soren, my secretary, greeted me with a bow the moment my feet touched the ground. “The household has been in an uproar since word came that you had crossed the border. Is the curse broken?”
“Not quite.” I steadied Calypso with my unmarked hand before releasing her. Thankfully, she had taken my admonishment about hiding our vine markings. She wrapped her marked arm in its ripped sleeve and held it across her body.
Once confident she could stand on her own, I turned to address my secretary. “As you can see, I have a guest.” My voice caught in my throat, causing a coughing fit that ripped through my chest. Once it finished, I groaned at the alarmed expression on my secretary’s face. “And yes, I need a healer.”
“At once, sire.” Soren turned and motioned to a servant, who strode off yelling for a page. “Shall I see to preparing a guest room for the…” He hesitated, eyeing Calypso with a critical gaze. “Lady?”
Ghost, having completed his transformation, approached Calypso from behind, glaring at Soren over her shoulder. When Ghost met my gaze, I signaled he was to guard her before turning back to my secretary.
“Yes. Lady Anon will stay for a time. Prepare a room in my tower.” I started walking toward the entrance of the main hall, hoping to draw his attention away from Calypso. “What has happened in my absence?”
“A delegation arrived from Eldarlan. King Emrys wishes to propose an alliance. A party of mountain trolls crossed the northern border to harass a woodwose village. Commander Brinner sent out an armed party to restore order and deal with the trolls. Your brother sent word that your presence is required at the winter palace at your convenience. And a messenger from the dragon alliance arrived to speak with Ghost.”
“Not interested,” Ghost commented from behind me.
Soren continued talking as though Ghost had never spoken. “Apparently, they are offended that he has debased himself by serving you.”
“It isn’t service.” I glanced behind me to find Ghost carrying a limp Calypso. Instant concern threaded through me.
“Exhaustion,” the dragon offered as an explanation, but his expression did nothing to calm my disquiet.
“My chambers, then.” I took the most direct route to my apartments in the north tower.
“I must protest.” Soren grunted as Ghost pushed past him. “She is a woman. It is most improper.”
Ghost snorted in amusement. He wove past me, still carrying Calypso, and took the steps two at a time.
“But your father…”
Soren fell far enough behind us that I didn’t catch what he thought my father would have said if he knew. Not that it mattered. Father was in his dotage brought on by mental illness, a curse worse than mine, and foolish choices on his part. His mind was so far gone now I doubted my father truly cared what I did with the kingdom, court, or reputation he had handed me when he abdicated the throne over a century ago. If I chose to change the male-only traditions of the Seelie court for the first time in three generations, I could. And with Calypso and I joined, those traditions would have to change.
My lungs burned as I labored up the stairs, struggling to keep up with Ghost’s long strides. The dragon fire and smoke had done more damage than I had thought. I groaned as I paused on a landing. Why had I chosen to place my haven so high above the rest of the castle?
“But, sire!” Soren had put on a burst of speed and appeared at my elbow. “What will the Unseelie say?”
Oh, right. That was why. The isolation suited me. I focused on regulating my breathing.
“Don’t tell them.” I coughed. “Find the healer.”
Soren dutifully ran back down the stairs.
I briefly considered attempting a portal, but the curse still clawed at me. I dared not. Shoving away from the wall, I straightened and continued up the stairs. Only one more flight to go.