Chapter 21

Anna

 

I sat at a table with Drake, his brothers, and an accompaniment of other fae, my eyes glazed over in boredom. While Drake and Froston were in the habit of speaking English around me, these other fae were not. Drake hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he simply needed me to sit here and not say a word, I couldn’t contribute to the discussion even if I wanted to.

The ‘fight’ for the throne was surprisingly civil. It seemed the fae preferred sly insults and threats of power to actual battle. I reached for the glass of wine that had been placed in front me a half hour before, but Froston gave me an almost imperceptible shake of his head. I sighed and laid my hands back in my lap. Now that I knew that the refreshments here weren’t safe for me to drink, it made me even thirstier.

Froston had warned me ahead of time that many of the fae like Drake and himself had taken to speaking English because they found it entertaining and it made communicating with their human staff easier. Humans that were mostly stolen from Canada and the US. Drake said that it had become ‘fashionable’ to speak English at court, but the purists among them hated the trend. Some of the older and more powerful fae saw themselves as gods to the humans, and felt that it was beneath them to speak the language of servants.

That left me sitting here with nothing to drink, nothing to do, and not even a book to read. The fae language was beautiful, but knowing that the people speaking it would probably like to slit my throat took all the fun out of listening to it. At least I had Cody here.

Cody was standing along the wall behind me with the advisors and guards of the fae at the table. His comforting presence made me feel safer; he wouldn’t let anyone stab me in the back. “Hey, Cody, I’m bored,” I sent to him through the pack bond.

“Yeah, I’m ready to get out of here too. The way that some of those fae are looking at you is making me twitchy.”

I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t smile. “So after we finish up here and save the world from a giant hurricane, you wanna go get a burger?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Cody said with enthusiasm. Cody was my favorite burger and a beer buddy; he knew all the best spots in Hampton Roads.

“I heard there’s a place in Port Idris that has candied bacon for their barbecue burgers,” I teased him.

“I’m intrigued… I’ve never had my bacon candied before.”

“Me neither, but I like my barbecue sauce with a little sweetness so…” I trailed off when I realized that the fae were looking in my direction as they spoke. This wasn’t good.

“Anna,” Drake’s oldest brother addressed me. “We’ve decided to lift your banishment to the human world.”

I blinked in surprise. I hadn’t known that I was banished from the fae world. It looks like both Drake and Froston had been holding out on me, not that I was surprised. But you would think they would mention something as serious as a banishment.

“Okay,” I said. I knew better than to say thank you or anything like that, because that would be saying that I owed them something. I was fine with being banished to the human world, it gave me a great excuse not to come back here.

My answer wasn’t what he had expected because he scowled at me. “Drake will be responsible for you and will teach you to manage your magic responsibly. I take it you have learned your lesson from your punishment?”

I nodded but flicked a glance towards Froston, whose face was stoically blank. Why was I being handed off to the prince and not to my father? I shook my head. It didn’t matter, I wasn’t staying here anyway. I was going back to my world as soon as this meeting ended. It was quite ironic that what they considered a punishment, I considered desirable. Not that I was going to mention that now. It did make my heart ache for Talen; I knew it wasn’t easy for him to stay in the human world.

It said a lot that the punishment for killing the king of Winter was a short banishment to the human world.

The fae spoke for a couple more minutes and then everyone was standing. I pushed my chair back and got to my feet enthusiastically. Now it was time to go home and save my pack.

“That was a lot less violent than I thought it would be,” I commented to Drake. “I was expecting you to be at each other’s throats.”

Drake shook his head. “Our last king was a tyrant, so we’ve come together to decide on the future king without bloodshed.”

“That’s very modern of you,” I said in surprise.

Drake smirked. “Besides, who wants to give up their immortality and face death over something so petty? Especially when we could simply wait and assassinate the contender later.”

I sighed. “That sounds more like the fae I know. The drinks?”

Froston shrugged. “Could have been easily poisoned, best not to take a chance.”

Froston opened a portal for us in the courtyard and I grabbed Cody’s hand before stepping through. Snow and ice swirled around us as we waited for the prince to step through and Froston to open the second portal. I watched carefully as Froston worked. Arminius had put the idea in my head that I could one day do this. Froston worked so quickly that the magic he used was a blur. I was going to need him to slow down for me to understand exactly what he was doing.

My intense concentration must have showed on my face because Froston smiled at me. “You’re too young for this, Anna. You need more than a basic understanding of magic to master this without harming yourself or others.”

I let out a sigh. “I’m learning too slowly.”

“You’re still fighting your true nature,” Froston said gently. “It will come easier once you stop being so human.”

I gave him a dubious look but didn’t answer. What did that even mean, stop being so human? We stepped onto the familiar beach in Seaside and I smiled in relief. A part of me had been afraid that Drake was lying and I would get stuck in his world.

“We could use Talen for this,” Drake told me pointedly. “I heard he’s staying with you?”

“He is.” I closed my eyes to use the pack bond, but Cody squeezed my hand.

“I already told Austin we were back, he’s on his way now.” Cody’s eyes glazed over for a second. “And he’ll bring Talen.”

“Anna, are you ready to see what fae magic can really do?” Drake teased me.

I stretched my arms over my head and cracked my back. “I’m ready.”

I felt Austin and Talen coming with a large number of our pack mates. Froston had chosen a spot on the beach that wasn’t far from the house, so we only had moments to wait before they were here. I ran to Austin and gave him a huge hug. It had only been hours for him, but for me, I had been away for a day and a half. Austin held me close but looked over my shoulder to Froston and Drake. “You’ve brought company.”

I pulled away. “It’s going to take more than one of us to do this.” I turned to Talen. “Are you ready?”

He nodded and stepped toward me. “Caleb reported that the eye of the hurricane is five hundred and thirty miles southeast from here.”

Froston nodded and opened up another portal. “This will bring us into the forward path of the hurricane. By the time we’re done the eye should pass over us.”

My jaw dropped when I saw the thundering rain and violent ocean waves through it. “We’re not going in there.”

Drake laughed. “Where’s your sense of adventure, Anna? You didn’t really think we could do this from five hundred miles away, did you?”

I gave an embarrassed shrug. “I guess not.”

Froston stepped through the portal first and I gasped. Instead of sinking down below the agitated ocean waves, he stood on an invisible platform. Drake smiled at me and waved a hand. A wooden platform appeared under Froston’s feet. “Is that better?”

I eyed the platform, examined the magic that the two fae had used and committed it to memory. Drake had merely laid a glamour over the magic that Froston had used to make it look like we weren’t floating on a magical platform in the middle of the ocean during a category four hurricane. I shook my head. What had my life become?

I stepped through the portal but stayed between Drake and Froston as if that would make this safer. Froston sealed a barrier around us as he closed the portal to protect us from the onslaught of water, but the rain, wind, and sea created too much of a mess to see far.

“This is a new lesson for you, Anna,” Talen said quietly. “Froston has made a barrier to protect us, but you are going to have to use magic outside of it.”

I watched what the others did first before attempting to do the same. I floundered at first, but strengthened as I added my magic to theirs. “Where are the Summer fae?” I asked. “I thought you said it was them that was driving this.”

Drake laughed out loud. “So you thought there was actually a group of fae, hovering in a bubble inside of a hurricane, driving it like a boat?”

My face turned bright red. “Um, not exactly.” His description was actually pretty close to what I had been imagining.

“They would have been doing something like we’re doing,” Talen said gently. “They’ve been coming here to bolster the storm and kept it going in the direction they wanted. They wouldn’t have needed to remain here permanently.”

“That makes sense,” I mumbled. Magic poured out of me and I started to sweat with exertion. There was no more room for talk. This took all of my concentration.

Our magic extended for as far as I could sense, but we kept going for an hour or more. I kept waiting for one of the elusive Summer fae to pop up and stop us, but no one appeared. Maybe it was like Drake said - they weren’t willing to face us head on in battle, they would simply wait for another sneaky opportunity.

I swayed and sank down to my knees on the platform, my exhaustion going bone-deep. “You need to take more magic in,” Froston chided me. “Remember the storm on the beach, this is no different. There’s a ring of thunderstorms around the eye that will be passing over us shortly. Prepare yourself.”

I sat down on the platform and crossed my legs. There was no reason why I couldn’t be seated to do this. I took a deep breath and reached up into the storm. There was energy in the angry wind and rain that swirled around us, but that was like small drops compared to the full glass that I needed. I extended my awareness and felt what Froston had been talking about. The energy crackling around the eye of the hurricane was much stronger; it was exactly what I needed.

I reached out for it as it got closer and drew from the storm the way that I had drawn from the king. Magic filled the emptiness inside me and crackled around my limbs, I funneled the magic through myself and into our work. “Good job, Anna,” Froston called to me.

The familiar buzz of having too much magic hit me and I giggled. “I’m not done, yet.” I opened myself up even further to the energy of the storm so that instead of sucking it through a straw, my entire body was absorbing it. My vision went white, and then I lost all the sensations of my body. All I could feel was the magic buzzing through me as I channeled it into cooling the water beneath us and ahead of the path of the storm.

I could sense the ocean as a mass of swirling energy with almost unlimited depths. Even with the insane amount of magic I was pouring into it, I barely felt the effects on the ocean. I knew that I only needed to change the surface temperature of the ocean by a few degrees to have an effect, but it seemed like an impossible task.

I opened myself even further to the magic flowing through me, taking in more than I ever would have thought possible. I lost all sense of myself until the only thing left was my sense of purpose. Save Seaside. I felt like I was just a buzzing mass of energy with nothing to hold me together. I was so lost in the sensation that I didn’t realize that I had started to lose myself in the magic. The only thing that prevented me from completely giving into the magic were these thin golden tendrils of light. I touched one and felt worry for a girl named Anna thrumming through it. That’s when I realized that I was losing myself.

I fought to cut off the flow of energy that had threatened to sweep me away. As I slowly narrowed the flood into a more manageable trickle, I could feel my body again and memories came back to me. My heart started pounding faster once I was completely back in my right state of mind and fear made my breath hitch. What would have happened if I had let go completely? Would I have lost my mind?

I struggled to my feet as Talen gave me a hand up. “Anna, you need to keep a little in reserve.”

I gave him a tired smile but opened myself back up to the last bit of faded energy from the storm. It was enough to give me a slight boost so I could stand up straight. I was cautious to take only a small amount; I had come too close to losing everything.

I stiffened when I felt the prickle of magic in front of us, and my heart started pounding faster as I saw a portal shimmer into existence. Two male fae stepped out, and I bolstered the magic reserves that I had left to ready myself to defend against an attack from them.

Both males were tall and beautiful in the way that I had begun to associate with the fae. They had high cheekbones that would put any male model to shame and both had their long hair tied back at the nape of their neck. Their elaborately embroidered brocade clothing made them look like they had just stepped out of Louis XIV’s court.

The one with golden brown hair sneered at me derisively. “I didn’t expect to find your illegitimate spawn here, Lord Froston.”

“And the prince himself,” his blond companion mocked. “Have you given up your pursuit of the throne to become the errand boy of a half-breed?”

“Speaking of errand boys,” Drake said smoothly. “Have you lost favor with the king so soon?” Anger flashed across both their faces but Drake didn’t back off. “I know you wouldn’t step foot in this realm if you were given a chance, Aeolus, Zephyrus.”

Aeolus smirked. “But since we’re here, we might as well entertain ourselves.”

“By destroying my home?” I asked angrily. “I’ve never even met you before.”

Zephyrus laughed. “Winter shouldn’t have a foothold in this world.” He turned to Froston. “You shouldn’t be sending your spawn out to colonize to get around our agreement.”

“My mother is from this world,” I said heatedly. “I have the right to be here.”

Both men turned their attention to me. “You deny your connection to Winter?” Aeolus asked with a glint in his eye.

“Anna has our protection,” Froston interrupted. “But she isn’t an agent of the court.”

“So you say,” Zephyrus sneered. “But here she is with a prince and a lord of winter.”

“I don’t deny either side of myself,” I said quietly. “I just want to be left alone to live in peace.”

“Withdraw to Winter where you belong,” Aeolus ordered.

“I belong here,” I hissed.

“Then it appears that we are at an impasse,” Zephyrus said with a grin and a dark look in his eye. I felt the magic building inside of him a moment before he struck.

I hastily threw up a barrier just as he threw a ball of fire directly at me. The fire splattered over my shield and spluttered out only a moment later.

Froston flung icicles at both the Summer fae, but they had erected barriers of their own and the icicles fell harmlessly into the ocean below us. Aeolus and Zephyrus laughed until Drake sent out tendrils of black magic towards them. I shuddered at the cold sense of death emanating from his magic as a tendril passed too close to me, but his magic didn’t pass through their shield. They were tense until they saw Drake’s magic stopped by their barrier, then smug amusement returned to their faces.

I narrowed my eyes in concentration and focused on their shields, determined to wipe that look right off their stupid faces. I tugged at the magic holding their barrier together, and the two fae looked at me in surprise and then horror once the barrier between us started to disintegrate. I could feel one of them start to erect another barrier to replace it, but I quickly grabbed ahold of that magic and pulled it to me as well. True worry was etched on their faces as I unraveled and sucked up their magic.

One of them hastily opened a portal and they stumbled through just as I sucked up the last of the magic that was holding the barrier together. Drake’s black tendrils of magic pursued them, but the portal closed behind them, cutting off our view.

I took a deep breath as Froston looked at me with worry, but Drake had an excited gleam in his eyes. “You’ve progressed since we last trained together,” he said with a grin.

I shrugged. “Talen has been helping me develop my magic further.”

“You don’t seem to have the usual limits the rest of us do,” Froston said cautiously.

I sighed. “Can we go home?” I was tired, and I didn’t want to participate in another discussion about how weird I was.

“Of course, darling,” Drake said solicitously as he slid his arm around the small of my back.

I scowled at him and stepped out of his embrace as Froston opened a portal back to Seaside. “Not now, Drake.”

Drake didn’t seem offended when he let me go, but I didn’t like the calculating way that he watched me. I had a feeling that Drake was going to be causing me more problems in the future.

Austin was waiting for us with a large group of our pack members when I stepped through the portal. Our eyes met and I saw relief cross his face. It had been hours since I had left the pack behind to battle with the hurricane. Austin was in a rare state of undress. Instead of his usual slacks and button-down shirt, he was barefoot in just a pair of jeans. The golden eyes of his wolf tattoo glimmered under the moonlight, and I had to stop myself from staring at his half-naked form.

As much as I didn’t want to appear weak in front of the rest of the pack, I couldn’t resist melting into his embrace and inhaling his scent. Most of our pack was already shifted into wolf form, and a chorus of howls went up around us. I could hear answering howls from around the house and further in the distance.

Dark clouds hovered above our heads, and the wind had picked up, but it was nowhere near the hurricane strength gales that had battered our bubble while we were fighting the hurricane.

“Wolves of Seaside,” the prince announced with a flourish. “We have conquered the hurricane and saved your fair lands from disaster.”

I rolled my eyes, but a bunch of the wolves bumped Talen in support. Drake seemed to think that their thanks was completely for him, whereas Froston stood back, completely aloof from the rest of us.

“Caleb tells us the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm, and may even break apart before reaching land,” Austin said quietly.

“Yeah, we did the best that we could.” I debated whether or not I should tell him about the ambush from the Summer fae, but decided that could wait until we were alone. We should celebrate our victory for now and wait to worry about future attacks later.

“My prince,” Froston called. “We should depart.” He looked in my direction, but remained at a distance. “Anna, I’ll check back with you later.”

I sighed. ‘Later’ could mean anything in Froston’s terms, but I doubted we would be seeing him anytime soon. I briefly considered asking him about the journals that my mother had left for me, but I didn’t fully trust him and I definitely didn’t trust Drake.

Drake gave Froston a nod and held his hand out to me. “Lady Anna, it was a pleasure as always.”

I allowed him to take my hand and give it a kiss, but I felt Austin stiffen beside me. “Thank you for your help, Drake.” I pulled away from him as soon as I could, but I could tell that Drake wasn’t discouraged. One side of his mouth quirked up in the beginning of a smirk and his eyes flicked to Austin.

“Don’t,” I cautioned him.

Drake smiled at me. “Until next time.”

I nodded, but hoped that next time was very far away. As much as I appreciated Drake’s help, I worried that this would end up costing me more than a visit to Winter.