CHAPTER THREE
The Palace of the Fae twisted in a veritable warren of golden corridors. Stained-glass transoms spilled a kaleidoscope of color over priceless antiquities, breath-catching works of art and into endless nooks, open spaces and withdrawing rooms. Insignificant in the grandeur of it all, I was left to find my way back to Jade and her healers.
Verily, as Castian’s daughter, Jade would be well cared for. By the time I found them, I was certain she would be resting peaceably with Galan at her bedside. Or so I prayed.
After an hour’s time, I found myself no closer to knowing where I was than where I had been. Several times, Fae goddesses wearing one-shouldered gowns, and elegant chignons, swept past me. It seemed, I was invisible.
Twice I thought to approach one of them but, at the last moment, held my tongue and continued on my own.
At the end of one of the main corridors, the space opened into a vast, vaulted rotunda. Shimmering gold walls reached up five stories and terminated with a domed Oculus. Centered on the marble mosaic beneath the arched ceiling, stood a life-size bronze of Castian battling two evil and hideous beasts. With one foe in front of him and the other behind, he was frozen in a twisted stance, sword raised, blocking a killing blow. As I walked one full rotation, I examined the craftsmanship. Try as I might, I would never be able to describe its majesty to Maryssa, our village sculptress—assuming I ever ventured back to visit the Highborne village.
Pressing on, I ignored the wide, slow arc of the marble staircase. If nothing else, I remained certain that at least I walked the correct floor. As my steps quickened, my chest tightened. What if Galan needed me? What if something unspeakable happened to the unborn twins? Turning the corner, I caught sight of a pale blue gown disappearing through a doorway.
Enough was enough.
Hustling along to the withdrawing room, I peered in. “Hello?” I rapped my knuckles on the door jamb and waited. Strange. The room appeared to be empty.
Three overstuffed plum sofas created a u-shaped seating arrangement before a wide, marble hearth. Though not lit, the faint scent of chestnut lingered from its last burning. Four picture windows covered with sheers and framed with heavy velvet drapes spanned the back wall. It seemed sunlight prevailed over the clouds and the brilliance of the afternoon light filtered in.
“Hello?” I repeated.
One of the drapes rustled and a young woman peeked out of its shadow.
“Sorry,” she said, looking over my shoulder. “I’ll explain—” As quick footsteps terminated outside the doorway, the woman’s eyes grew round and she ducked back behind the drapes.
“Who are you?” a female asked from the hall behind me. Though the iridescent skin of the goddess standing outside the doorway was beyond beauty, her austere glare took me aback. “Why are you wandering around loose in the palace?”
“I am Lia, merry meet.”
She brushed past me and scanned the room, hands fisted on her hips. “Have you seen Zophia?”
“Apologies. Who?”
The female turned on me. “Zophia. She was headed this way. Long brown braid, dark blue eyes. . ..” She leaned closer. “Have you seen her or not?”
“I cannot say—”
“Who were you talking to?” She stepped forward, staring down the sharp bridge of her nose. “I heard voices.”
I buried my hands into the folds of my skirt. My fingers brushed over something hard in my pocket and I held out Jade’s phone. “I was speaking into this . . . to someone . . . not in this room. Someone at Haven.” I nodded once and exhaled. “Yes. I was speaking to someone at Haven on this telephone.”
The female lost interest and paced the room. “If you see her—”
“Apologies. Who?”
“Zophia!” An unflattering blush crept up the female’s long ivory neck. “Good grief, are you daft? Okay, I’ll speak slowly. If you see Zophia, tell her Castian’s love-child has gone and gotten herself beaten in the forest somewhere.”
“Jade. Yes, I was there.” I tucked the phone back into my pocket, lest she somehow make the connection it was not mine own. “Is she well? Are the young—”
The female crossed her arms under her ample bosom and scowled at me. “Do I look like a news reporter?”
I shrugged. “Verily, I cannot say, but if you could direct me back to—”
“Not a tour guide either,” she said, holding a hand between us. “Zophia needs to assure Uncle we had nothing to do with this. Some human did it, not us.” Message delivered, she swept back toward the door, muttering to herself. “This is why people of the realm don’t deserve free will. Look at the trouble they cause us when left to their own.”
I stood there dazzled until her voice eventually faded down the hall. Blinking at the empty doorway, I drew a deep breath.
“Sorry about her,” the girl in blue said, extracting herself from the draperies. She approached, hand extended. She did indeed have chestnut hair and midnight blue eyes and now that she was in the open, her opal skin shimmered in the sunlight as well. “I am Zophia. You’re Lia, right? Galan’s sister?”
I shook her hand and nodded. “I am. Merry meet. How did you know?”
“It’s the hair.” She pointed, her mouth twitching in a shy smile. “I am the Keeper of Lives in Progress in the Realm of the Fair. Right now, Galan and his sister are the only two living descendants of Rheagan.”
I stiffened.
Her grip tightened and she shook her head. “No. Please don’t be alarmed. We are family, distant, but blood none the less. I am Castian’s niece as well.”
Her melodic voice emphasized the as well and I took pause. “Verily, I never considered myself Castian’s niece, but I suppose. . ..”
“You’re the great-great-great however many times daughter of his sister, Rheagan.” She swept her intricate braid to her front and draped it over her arm like a wrap. The length still dangled halfway down her gown toward the floor. “I’m the daughter of his brother Dane. We’re cousins.”
“I am quite certain your sister does not feel the same familial tie.”
Zophia giggled. “You’re better off. I wish I were invisible in the lives of Zana and my half-sisters. Maybe they’d leave me out of their drama. Instead, I’m a modern-day Cinderella. It’s exhausting.”
As she spoke, she fluttered toward the open door and peeked out, looking up the hallway and down. “Coast is clear. Would you like me to take you back to Jade and Galan?”
“Oh, I would be in your debt.”
Zophia waved her hand. “After saving me from Zana, it’s me who owes you. Now, let’s go see what’s happening with Jade, shall we?”
The fear when discovering Jade in the forest was naught to the panic which gripped me when Galan greeted me in her recovery suite. His hair hung loose of its usual leather thong and looked as though he fingered through it like a madman. His essence bled agony and when he embraced me, his trembling squeeze sucked the breath from my lungs.
I glanced to the recovery bed and my hand went to my throat. Sweet Shalana, Jade was dying. It was plain.
Though the physical signs of her assault were gone, so too was her vitality. She appeared to be naught but a child, a frail form lost and absorbed in a cradle of pillows and a frenetic weave of tubes. Her rich copper skin, which usually shone as if kissed by the sun god himself, was the putrid color of old tea and her gemstone emerald eyes were dull and heavy.
“That good, huh?” She whispered as she beckoned me closer. “Galan said I was radiant, as always, but I knew he was full of shit.”
“Apologies.” I caught myself and moved to her bedside. “Galan is correct, you are resplendent as always, sister mine.”
Her eyes pinched closed and a groan ripped from deep in her throat. As she twisted on the bed, energy crackled through the air and sparks ignited from her fingertips.
Galan collapsed at her bedside. “Castian, I beg of you, make it stop.”
Jade placed her hand on his bowed head and stroked his hair. “It’s all right, Galan. Even gods have tenets to live by.” She shifted slightly and exhaled. “I’ll be fine.”
Galan scrubbed his palm over his face. “Of course, you will. You are the strongest female alive and will accept nothing less.”
“And don’t you forget it.” Jade’s smile relaxed as she looked to me. “Thanks for the rescue, girly. I heard you found me in the nick of time.”
I eased down on the bed’s edge opposite Galan. “It was terrifying . . . and quite queer.”
“Queer? How so?”
I retold the tale of the giant bird leading me straight to where she’d fallen in the brush.
Her deep-red brow knitted. “A hawk?”
“Yes. One moment it was there and the next, it dropped my wrap and flew off.”
Jade looked bewildered, but the distraction of the conversation seemed to lift her spirits. It all seemed so surreal. “Why would one of your students harm you like this?”
Her fingers drifted to her bare neck. “Clay stole my pendant. Said he needed to return it to its rightful owner.”
Galan cursed, shaking his disheveled hair.
“Rightful owner?” I said. “You are Galan’s mate, by our ancestral traditions you are its rightful owner.”
Jade covered my hand with hers and cried out as another wave of electricity snapped in the air. The attack set off alarms and as she stiffened beneath the sheets, a rush of attendants flooded the room.
Galan and I were swept out to the patio.
“Jade is strong, like you said,” I reminded him.
While the caregivers hustled on the other side of the decorative glass doors, my brother drew me further across the patio. “It is the young who are in the greatest peril, not their naneth.”
Though, knowing Jade, the loss of the twins would kill her spirit even if she survived physically.
“Sire,” a voice called from the now open door, “she’s asking for you.”
Galan kissed my head and rushed back inside.
Left with naught for me to do, I stared out upon the palace grounds. Despite the warmth of the surroundings, a shiver ran up the length of my spine.
***
The manicured lawns Behind the Veil rolled out and away from the palace in a plush emerald carpet. The sky, a perfect cerulean blue, swirled with a soft breeze carrying the scents of mint and bergamot across the property. The beauty of the palace paled when held against Jade’s suffering.
Since the moment Galan left for his Ambar Lenn, our lives had spiraled in a constant state of turmoil: the Scourge attack, my kidnapping, his struggles finding his footing with Jade, my struggles adapting to an entirely new life. How was I to adapt after what happened. No one spoke of it but—
An agonizing darkness exploded inside my skull. Staggering forward, I rested my elbows on the rail and leaned forward. I breathed deeply as Jade had shown me.
After a long moment, my world righted itself.
A glance over my shoulder assured me Galan had not seen my episode. Good. He had enough to deal with. Deciding to take a moment to gather myself, I trudged off the patio and onto Castian’s grounds.
I untied the lacings of my suede boots and slipped them off. I tucked them under a boxwood and strode barefoot across the lawn. Somehow, prancing on the lawn of the Fae Palace barefoot seem wickedly indecent.
However, as the stress of the day continued to bombard, and with no stream in sight, social propriety took second place to making the world melt away. Scrunching my toes into the cool pile of the velvet grass, I raised my face to the warmth of the late afternoon sun and tried to focus.
How could things go so horribly awry in such a short period? This morning, Jade and I sipped tea and discussed the mural to be painted on the nursery walls.
Now? Oh, gods, what now?
I was jostled out of my commiseration, inundated by nuzzling noses and inquiring glances. The wide round eyes of Castian’s deer assess me. Dozens of the inquisitive beasts had gathered and surrounded me. I stopped strolling and scanned the lawn again.
“Who keeps your grass so pristine, little ones?” Ears flickered and tails twitched as if in answer. “Is there a Brownie dedicated to the removal of skat from godly grounds?”
An assertive doe with one droopy ear seemed intent on searching my palms and pockets. Huge round eyes blinked as she nudged her insistence.
I widened my stance to keep from being toppled over. “Apologies. I have nothing for you, milady.”
Her fellow grazers joined the prodding, their curiosity transforming to insistence. Recognizing my time to leave, I slipped through an iron gate dividing the threshold between lawns and rose garden, and left the herd behind.
Rows of rosebushes and elaborate wooden arbors laden heavy with multicolored blooms stretched before me. It seemed impossible that eight months had passed since I’d last been here, when Galan and Jade had rescued me from the netherworld. Rescued was a deceiving term.
They escorted my spirit back to my body lying vacant and uninhabited, but even yet, I never felt whole.
Fighting the wave of emotions about to overwhelm me, I drew deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth. Again. And once more. I called on the strength of Mika’s Earth Spirits and focused on the power of her Earth Mother as healing breaths filled my lungs. Better.
“Miss?”
I screeched and spun.
One of the Palace help, a stableman by the look of him, froze upon the garden path behind me. A brawny male, squat in stature, stood a fair distance off, holding his hands open.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you, Miss. You have a visitor.”
I looked around. “Me? You mistake me, sir, I—”
He raised a beefy finger along the path from whence he came and pointed. “No, mistake. The gentleman asked for you by name, Miss Lia. Described your silver locks. Paid me five copper to fetch you.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders, dropping his gaze. “I would’ve done it for nothing when my work was done, but he insisted it be now. Seems distraught, the poor fellow, more than usual.”
“I see. So, who is it?”
“Master Murray.”
I shook my head.
“A Celt. Had a string of bad luck last year and stayed here for a while for safekeeping. Didn’t seem to want to talk much, but spent quite a lot of time walking the grounds. Can’t do much of that now, though, blind as he is.”
“Ah, yes, Samuel.” I glanced back to the palace. I was still barefoot. What did it matter? There were more important things happening after all. “Very well, where is he?”
“In the arbor, up a’ways. I’ll walk you. It’s on my way back to the paddock.”
I drew in a slow breath. Though testing the air for any hint of fetid musk or deceit, there was none. The stableman gave off the richest scents of horse, hay and the pungent aroma of a male who had worked hard on a sunny day.
I missed that.
As hard as the people of Haven worked, few males knew the blessings of filling their days tending stock. Their hands rarely felt callused, their banded muscles not earned from physical labor but from exercise machines in a training center.
“Very well, sir. Lead the way.” We walked side by side, he on the stone walk and me on its grassy edge. “Queer how the weather rebounded after the violent skies earlier.”
He glanced at the cerulean sky. “It happens that way at times. When the sky blackens, it’s best to keep your head down and wait for the storm to pass.”
We walked on, speaking cordially about the grounds and his duties. He had a lovely manner and I decided his sturdy frame would be an asset when handling horses.
“Here we are, Miss. The end of our journey.”
I curtsied, then stepped under the arched entrance to an iron gazebo grown over with creeping vines and brilliant blooms of violet, fuchsia and ivory. Before entering fully, I peeked inside. Samuel sat on a marble reflection bench, looking pale as pastry dough.
“Samuel?”
His head snapped to my voice. “You came. Thank you.” He stood, hesitated, scrubbing his palms on the thighs of his slacks. “Especially after this morning.”
Ah yes. “When you swore you never need speak to me again?” I stepped further inside the arbor and clasped my hands. “Yet here you are.”
He sighed. “Aye. Here I am.”
“What is it you want?”
“Jade.” His voice broke and he swallowed. “I need to know . . . how is she?”
I took a step back. “That is private. A family matter. You have no right to—”
He raised his hand in the air between us. “Nobody at Haven knows a damn thing and I couldna wait around. I thought, maybe you’d know more.”
I laughed and stepped further into the shade of the arbor. “And you thought me so genteel I would ease your suffering after you cursed me and the entire Highborne race? Or mayhap you think me as addled from capture as the rest? I assure you, Samuel Murray, I have the good sense to know—”
Both his hands rose. “I’m sorry I offended you.”
“And yet you offend me further by asking me to betray my brother’s confidence. Have you no propriety?”
He scowled. “Fuck propriety. I’m outta me head here.”
“Is that my burden? Galan is my brother. Jade is his life.”
“She was my life first!” The echo of his voice died off, followed by a tormented silence. He took a tentative step forward and cursed under his breath. “I canna turn off my feelings like a switch just because the Fates say I’m no the one to love her. I would if I could.”
He scrubbed his hands roughly over his face and through his hair, leaving black tufts standing on end. “It would be a shit-load simpler not to die more every time I’m reminded she’s his now.”
“And yet you—”
“Life is messy,” he said. “I’m no enjoying any of this.”
“Then let her go.”
He barked a laugh and shook his head. “Ye’ve obviously never been in love, because ye dinnae get it. I pictured a future with Jade. In my mind, I bought the lot, built the house and moved us in, bairns, a wee doggy, the whole nine yards. In an instant, it was gone.” Staggering back, his leg touched the bench and he sank down and buried his head in his hands.
Though I had no use for the man, the smoky stench of his anguish was more than I could bear. I moved to the bench and sat next to him. “We have a saying in our village, Lle mela ya llemela—You love whom you love.”
Whether human or elf, suffering was suffering. And Samuel, indeed, suffered. “Verily there is little the mind and body can do when someone captures your soul. And for the loss of your love, my heart goes out to you.”
His jaw clenched. “So ye understand why I must know.”
“But Galan is my blood—”
“Do ye want me to beg?” He sank to the ground before me, his breath ragged. “Never have I begged for anything, but if ye want it—”
“No. No male should be made to beg and certainly not a warrior of noble character.” I pulled him by the elbow until he settled next to me again and sighed. “Jade is resting. The tear on her insides has been mended and her blood level restored.”
“And the weens?”
“Weens?”
“The wee bairns. The twins.”
“The young are . . . in peril.”
“How bad?”
My voice died in my throat as I envisioned Jade thrashing. “When the student attacked Jade, he used a high-powered stunning device. The jolt of current upset the energy balance of her powers. They cannot control the surging. The young are under a great deal of stress. Their survival is doubtful. Castian’s caregivers told her to prepare for their loss.”
With elbows on his knees, he dropped his head into his hands. After a long moment, he cleared his throat. “Ye may not believe me but, no matter what I wanted for Jade and me, I never wanted anything to happen to her, those babies or yer brother.”
Warm tears dripped silently off my jaw. His agony and despair tingled bitter in my nostrils, his pain almost palpable in the air between us but the truth of his words burned sweet. “You love her to that depth?”
His mouth narrowed into a thin line. “When will they know more?”
“They want her to rest undisturbed for several weeks, possibly a full moon cycle. If the young survive until then, well, we must needs wait and see.”
He punched the bench, the surface vibrating beneath me. “I hate feeling so feckin’ useless. I cannae comfort, Jade. I cannae help with the search to find the bastard who did this. I cannae do a goddamn thing.” Samuel stared straight ahead. In the long stretch of quiet, I watched the muscle in his jaw twitch.
I closed my tear-blurred eyes and sent Castian a prayer.
“Here. It’s clean.” Samuel held out a crumpled, ivory handkerchief with a plaid ribbon embroidered on one corner.
I wiped my eyes, cheeks and nose as delicately as possible. “Gratitude, how did you—”
“I’m blind, lass. My other senses work just fine.”
I bit my lip, stifling my urge to respond. We sat there, in sad silence, for a long while. I too felt useless and adrift. “What if there was something we could do?”
His brow creased as he laughed at me. “Are ye a healer, then? Or should the blind man join the search for the Scourge mole, maybe infiltrate Abaddon’s compound again?”
I shot him a scathing look and realized my expression was lost on him. “Knowing Jade, she will worry how her recovery time will affect her students so close to their examinations. She has spoken many times to your skills as an instructor of the Academy—”
“Past tense,” he muttered. “I’m not that man anymore.”
“You could be. The student-filled castle halls would be difficult to maneuver in your current condition, but if—”
“Forget it.” Launching to his feet, he raised his palm to the latticed screen covering the arbor wall and stepped away. “If I can’t see, I can’t teach.”
“Why not?”
His shoulders stiffened. “Aside from bumping into the desks, not seeing a raised hand and not being able to write on the feckin’ white board, an instructor needs to command the respect of his students to retain control. I cannae do it.”
“Pish posh, you are afraid to look a fool. Nothing more.”
“Have me figured out, do ye?” His hands clenched in white knuckled fists. “Well, my motivations are none of your goddamn business—”
“But they are.”
He glared toward me. “How do ye figure?”
“You wish to help Jade. I do as well. Aust can take up her Herbology classes, but what does he know about Realm History or the Theory of Healing Through Affinities?”
“Those aren’t my specialties eith—”
“I realize that!” I stretched my fingers and softened my tone. “If I were your aide in the physical aspects of teaching, you could instruct. It is not ideal, but it would be of comfort to Jade to know her classes were taken care of. And it would raise her spirits to know you were in a classroom once again.”
Samuel’s blank stare froze on me while the breeze stirred the scent of his conflict. “Why would ye do it?”
“Why would I not? Jade has been a true and loving sister since the day she and Galan were mated. I can do no other than to be the same for her.”
He cocked an ebony brow. “Your brother is going to blow a gasket when he finds out we’re working together.”
“I should think that fact alone would inspire you to accept.”
His mouth twitched up at the corners and after a moment he nodded. “All right. I’ll speak to Reign and we’ll give it a try. Don’t get yer hopes up, though. This is going to blow up in both our faces.”