‘You have to admit,’ I tried not to smirk as I looked at Isla, ‘that is impressive.’
‘I’ll admit no such thing.’ She lifted her chin and flicked her braid back over her shoulder. ‘Not in public, anyway. I have an image to uphold.’
We were staring up at Emstillia castle. The whole thing, turrets and walls and even the bridge over the large moat, glistened like a black jewel in the sun.
We had been stopped by yet more guards and now we waited for King Arracon to be notified of our presence. I was taking advantage of the break to scoff another couple of rock-hard biscuits. I had given my share of the dried meat to Scruffy. He was starting to look lean from all the walking, and while I thought it suited him, you could tell by the way he begged for food that he wasn’t happy about it.
‘What’s it made of?’ I wondered out loud.
Wolfgang took a seat beside me. ‘Ice.’
I stared at him while I chewed my latest bite of biscuit till I’d generated enough saliva to swallow. ‘You’re kidding, right?’
‘Made by magic, from magic, within magic.’
‘That doesn’t make any sense.’
He stared at the castle for a few moments longer. ‘I don’t suppose it does,’ he said. ‘I read that. Can’t remember where.’
A few minutes later a guard strode back across the bridge. ‘The King welcomes you Prince Aethan, brother of Prince Orion, son of King Arwyn, and all your friends. We will take you to your rooms and your horses to stables.’
Aethan eyed him for a moment. ‘Our mounts are not to be stabled in the same stalls as your hagons.’
The man shrugged one shoulder. ‘Of course not, Prince. We would not think of it.’ But a twitch of his mouth made it obvious he might have thought of it if Aethan had not mentioned it. ‘We will take the dog as well.’
‘My familiar stays with me,’ I said, sweeping Scruffy up in my arms.
‘A witch?’ He fairly spat the words.
‘Part witch, part faery.’ I stared at him, just daring him to take offence. I was trying to be open minded, but Isla was rubbing off on me.
He met my eyes, and I was reminded of how similar and yet different the night faeries were from the land faeries.
Being the same height and build, from behind it might be possible to mistake us for each other. But while land faeries’ skin was snowy white, night faeries’ was an olive brown. Also our eyes were rounder than their almond ones, and whilst our hair varied from blonde to dark, all of the night faeries I had seen, had jet-black hair.
‘Very well,’ he finally said, ‘the familiar stays with you.’ His tongue flashed out of his mouth and licked his upper lip and then he turned and strode back towards the bridge.
I stared after him. ‘Was his tongue…?’
‘Forked?’ Isla said. ‘It’s why they sound like they do.’
‘They’re born like that?’
She looked at me and squared her shoulders. ‘They do it to their new-born babes. Something for Orion and his new bride to fight about.’
With that bouncing around in my head we were half-way across the bridge before I thought of my other question. ‘What’s a hagon?’ I said to Wilfred.
‘Cross between a dragon and a horse.’
‘Well the original hagons were,’ Wolfgang added. ‘They trapped the souls of baby dragons and forced them into horses.’
I could feel my eyes bulging as I imagined Emerald’s soul being forced into a horse. It made me want to hit something. ‘They must be hard to train.’
‘The originals were impossible to train, so they bred them. The resulting animals are not as intelligent as the originals, but they can still breathe fire.’
As we crossed the threshold, the cold of the castle hit me like a wall of snow. We turned left into a hallway which curved with the shape of the castle. Walls of ice towered above us, dominating us with their cold presence. I reached out a finger to touch one but Isla stayed my hand.
‘Ever touched dry ice?’
I shook my head.
‘Well don’t,’ she said.
I stared instead at the icy, black walls. Soft lights glowed from within and illuminated our path. The hall seemed to go on forever, spiralling gently upwards, room-after-room opening off it.
When my legs were starting to complain about a night and day of walking, our guide stopped and opened one of the doors. ‘This will be your suite.’ He gestured for us all to enter.
The door opened into a cavernous room made of black ice. Thick, white, fur rugs littered the cold, hard floor and chandeliers of black crystals hung from the ceiling. Black cushions were scattered around the edges of the rugs and more doors opened off the room. It was bitterly cold and oppressive and I wanted to run all the way back down that hall till I burst into the warmth of the sun.
But instead I opened one of the doors to reveal a smaller room. This one housed a bed piled high with blankets and fur. A small ensuite opened off it.
‘Rest,’ the guide said. ‘We will bring you your evening meal.’
‘I bags this one.’ I entered the room and deposited Scruffy on the bed with my saddlebags. I hoped those blankets were going to be enough to keep us warm.
While the thought of a warm shower was inviting, I doubted I would be warm for long once I turned the hot water off. So instead, I pulled as many layers of clothing on as I could and crawled under the blankets pulling Scruffy in with me.
I stayed like that for a few minutes before guilt got the better of me. Mum would be frantic by now. The small mirror was close enough that I didn’t have to leave the blanket nest to get it. I held it up in front of me and concentrated on thoughts of Mum.
She appeared suddenly, her face a mask of surprise as she stared at me. I gathered by the damp tendrils of hair that clung to her face and the steam that whirled around her, that she had just hopped out of the shower.
‘Isadora,’ she yelped, pulling her robe closed around her.
‘What’s that love?’ A man’s voice asked.
The look on her face turned from surprise to horror. ‘Nothing,’ she yelled, holding a hand up in front of the mirror.
‘I can still see.’ I peered around her hand. Who was there with her?
Mum whipped her wand out of her hair and flicked it. A towel rose from the floor and hovered in front of the mirror.
‘Mum?’ I said.
‘How did you do that?’
‘Do what?’
‘Activate the spell from your end. How did you even know where I’d be?’
‘Lucky guess,’ I lied. ‘I can call back later if this is inconvenient for you.’ That voice had sounded familiar.
‘Hang on a minute.’
I heard the bathroom door close and then a few minutes later the towel dropped from in front of the mirror. Mum had replaced the robe with a pale-green dress. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled.
‘Is there somebody there?’
‘Hmmm? Why would you think that?’
‘That man’s voice.’
She laughed a little too loudly. ‘I had the television on in my room. Some terrible movie. I turned it off.’
I didn’t call her on her obvious lie. ‘So, you haven’t been worried about me?’
‘Of course I have. I’ve been worried sick. What with you and your Grams both off Dark Sky knows where.
‘Grams is still missing?’
‘She contacted me.’ Mum sniffed. ‘Wouldn’t tell me where she was though. Was acting all secretive, checking over her shoulder every thirty seconds as if someone might be following her.’ She let out a laugh. ‘Sometimes she’s such a drama queen.’
‘Ahhh Mum.’ I paused unsure of how to phrase my question. There wasn’t any easy way to ask her if she’d had relations with Santanas. ‘Are you sure who my father was?’
Her eyes narrowed and her lips pinched tight. Okay so perhaps that hadn’t been the best way to phrase it.
‘I don’t mean it like that,’ I said. Goodness knows I wasn’t accusing her of being a slut. ‘I mean it was definitely Alexis wasn’t it? It couldn’t have been somebody pretending to be him.’
The I’m-going-to-make-you-wish-you’d-never-been-born look relaxed off her face and I let out a sigh of relief.
‘Well I was assigned as his personal assistant so I was with him the whole conference,’ she said. ‘All the other dignitaries thought it was him. So did all the other faeries. What’s this all about?’
‘Oh nothing,’ I said. ‘I was just wondering why he hasn’t come to see me. You know, now that my presence is common knowledge.’
‘Last I heard he was an ambassador in Australia. Perhaps he doesn’t know about you yet?’
‘Maybe,’ I said. That hadn’t been my true line of investigation but now, for the first time, I was curious about my father.
‘I’ve got to go,’ she said. ‘I’m going to be late for book club.’
I resisted the urge to say, ‘Yeah right.’ It looked like Grams had been right about the whole book club thing. Mum was doing something naughty and I was dying to know with whom.
I packed my mirror back in my saddlebags and then dug around until I found my dream-catcher. I hung it on the bed head and lay back, pulling the pile of blankets right up over Scruffy and me, tucking the edges in underneath us. The cold seeped in if you left any gaps. And then I thought about Grams.
Was someone following her or was it all just another one of her games? That thought would normally have been enough to give me a sleepless night. But as soon as I closed my eyes, it drifted from my mind and, before I knew it, I was sound asleep.
***
‘What are they waiting for?’ Aethan paced up-and-down the manicured lawn of the Royal Gardens.
‘I say we leave.’ Isla had been pushing for that the entire three days we had waited to be summoned before the king.
Aethan didn’t even bother responding. He just threw a glare at her as he continued his pacing. The waiting was making him cranky.
I sat up and crossed my legs. ‘Anyone want to walk to the fountain?’ We spent our days in the garden soaking up the warmth of the sun. I dreaded returning to the cold of the castle.
‘I’ll come.’ Wolfgang unfolded himself out of the painful looking yoga position he had been holding and jumped to his feet. ‘I need to stretch my legs.’
‘You looked like you were stretching them pretty well already.’
He chuckled as we walked away from the others. ‘That was a static stretch.’
We followed Scruffy as he sniffed and peed his way down the garden. There was a question I wanted to ask Wolfgang, but I was scared of the possible answer. I grasped my courage in my hands and said, ‘Did you want to continue my training?’
He scratched at his cheeks with both hands. ‘Not having to shave every day only just makes up for the itching.’ When he’d finished scratching he said, ‘Frankly I don’t think there’s much point in continuing your training.’
My heart sank. He didn’t think it was worth training me. I was a total loss.
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘I see.’ I tried not to let my disappointment show in my voice but I mustn’t have been successful.
He glanced over at me, his bushy eyebrows wiggling up-and-down as he examined my face. ‘Not like that.’ He shook his head. ‘I mean I don’t think training can help you. Hmmmm. That didn’t come out right either.’ He paused and stared up at some birds circling overhead. ‘You can already do everything you need to; you just need to have faith in yourself.’
‘But what about my limitations? How will I know what I can and can’t do?’
‘That’s the beautiful thing about the way you wield the power. Most of us have to think about cause and effect. You need only imagine the effect.’
‘But it’s so unpredictable.’
‘Yes,’ he nodded his head, ‘it is. But unpredictable can be advantageous when you are engaging the enemy.’
I could see the fountain in the distance. I spent a large portion of each day there letting the enormous spouts of water gushing into the air soothe my fractious boredom.
‘Izzy, Wolfgang.’
We spun to see Luke running towards us.
‘We have been summoned.’
‘Finally,’ Wolfgang said, smoothing down his robes.
We trotted back to the others and formed two lines with Wolfgang at our head. Aethan and Isla stood behind him, and then Wilfred and I. Luke and Brent took up the rear. Like that, we followed the messenger into the icy castle.
Instead of heading up the path we normally took to our rooms, the messenger wound around to the right, circling down into the bowels of the castle. The icy walls threw out enough light to see where we put our feet, but the cold grew in intensity, icy fingers wrapping around my bones till my teeth chattered as we walked. I hugged Scruffy to my chest and hoped we didn’t have to go much further.
Down, down, down we wound till I couldn’t feel my fingers or the tip of my nose. The lights in the walls dimmed until shadow clothed our features. I yearned for warmth and light. I ached to feel the sun kissing my skin.
Just before I lost control and starting sprinting back up the way we had come, the messenger stopped and rapped on a door.
A voice boomed from the other side of the door. ‘Who dares to enter the Royal Throne Room?’
‘Prince Aethan and Princess Isla Gabrielle of Isilvitania,’ Wolfgang said. ‘We come with a retinue to discuss a proposal with King Arracon.’
There was silence for a few moments before the same voice said, ‘Come in peace.’
A gust of warmth hit us as the door creaked open to reveal a room very different from any other I had seen in the castle. Stone ringed the circular space and paved the floors. A huge fire roared in an ornately carved fireplace. Animals, frozen in time by a master craftsman, continued up the wall and around the tops of the arches and pillars, as if they were leading a merry chase around the room.
A row of high-backed chairs stood on either side of an enormous throne. Men, dressed entirely in black, sat in the chairs, but the throne was empty.
As if nothing were wrong, Wolfgang strode to stand in front of the throne. ‘We come with bad tidings and an offer of a new beginning.’
The man to the left of the throne stood. ‘Peace cousin. We have had no emissaries from Isilvitania for years. We would share a meal and talk of pleasantries before we hear of these bad tidings.’
I could see the muscles in Aethan’s cheeks bulging and practically hear his teeth grinding. We get ignored for three days and now this? No king, and they want to eat first.
I placed Scruffy on the floor as we followed the men to an adjoining room. A large fire roared in this one as well and I wondered why the rest of the castle was so cold. To keep visitors off centre? None of us had had a good night’s sleep since we’d gotten there. We were definitely not at our best.
A long table had been set ready for a meal. We sat down one side with the dignitaries on the other. I managed to get close enough to the fire that I could feel the warmth through my clothes.
We sat in silence as a line of serving women bustled into the room carrying baskets of flat bread, jugs of icy water and platters of meat and vegetables. The silence continued as we filled our plates and ate. So much for the talking pleasantries bit.
When all our plates were empty, the serving women cleared the table, reappearing with pots of steaming tea. We waited while they poured the tea into eggshell-thin porcelain cups. When they had finished, Wolfgang cleared his throat.
‘King Arwyn and Queen Eloise send their respects and ask after the health of King Arracon and Queen Titania.’
The man at the head of the table bowed his head. ‘I am Tyfon, I speak for the King. Unfortunately Queen Titania is not at her best. King Arracon is with her even as we speak.’
Aethan’s shoulders relaxed and he sunk back into his seat. ‘Please convey our wishes that she may recover soon.’
‘Oh the Queen is not sick.’ Tyfon took a sip of his tea. ‘She is with child. It has not been an easy pregnancy.’
Aethan nodded. ‘Well, please convey our best wishes and congratulations.’
‘You spoke of ill news,’ Tyfon said. ‘Is all well in Isilvitania?’
‘All is well,’ Wolfgang said, ‘for now.’
I watched the looks on the night faery men’s faces as Wolfgang told them of Santanas’s release.
‘This is ill news indeed,’ Tyfon said when Wolfgang had finished, ‘but why have the Prince and Princess’s lives been risked to bring us this news?’
Aethan hopped up and paced around the table to stand in front of him. He dropped to one knee and bowed his head. ‘I come on behalf of Prince Orion, Crown Prince of Isilvitania. He seeks a truce to help us combat the dark years to come. In good faith, he offers himself into marriage with a night faery maiden of marriageable age and Royal Blood.’
There were a few seconds of silence when Aethan had finished talking. Tyfon rubbed his chin while he considered Aethan’s words. ‘I see,’ he finally said. ‘I will convey your best wishes and your message to their Royal Highnesses. Please enjoy the comfort of our home while they contemplate your words.’
Nobody spoke until we were back in our rooms. ‘Contemplate our words?’ Aethan kicked one of the cushions across to the other side of the room.
‘I mean really, I don’t know why you expected anything different.’ Isla dropped delicately into a cross-legged position, looking very Zen in comparison to Aethan’s anger.
Wolfgang sat beside her. ‘It could have been worse.’
‘How?’ Aethan waved his arms around. ‘We’re stuck here while we are needed elsewhere.’
‘Perhaps you should have considered that before you set out.’ Isla’s icy composure only made Aethan madder.
‘If I had my choice, we would be hunting Galanta.’ He glanced at me in a way that would have made me cringe if I’d thought he knew about my failed hunting expedition in Trillania.
‘Well, go hunt her.’ Isla threw a hand in the direction of the door.
‘I can’t.’ Another pillow followed the first. ‘I promised Orion. And he’s right. This is too important.’ He slumped to the ground and lay staring at the ceiling.
I hated seeing him like this – so frustrated and… alone.
‘I’m going out.’ I picked up Scruffy and walked to the door. It was unbearable being near him and not being able to soothe him.
Even though I jogged down the ramp, it was still too long till I was back outside. The castle suited the people who lived in it. Cold as ice. I couldn’t wait to be gone from this place.
Taking our time, Scruffy and I wandered back down towards the fountain. I found my favourite spot on the far side of it and sunk into the long grass. The warmth beat down on me and I closed my eyes. I wouldn’t go to sleep. I would just lie there enjoying the warmth. I felt Scruffy turn around and around in the grass next to me before settling down against me.
The sound of the water cascading back into the pond increased the danger of my falling asleep. I opened my eyes and stared at the sky. It would be foolish to fall asleep here.
I sat back up and perched on the edge of the fountain. The water felt so silky and smooth as I dragged my fingers through it. I pulled my hair up on top of my head and tied it in a loose knot. The water felt delicious on my face and neck. I unzipped my vest just a little and wet my upper chest through my tank top. For one wild minute I contemplated the thought of stripping off to my underwear and swimming in the fountain, but the thought of having to explain what I was doing to the row of tight-lipped men we’d lunched with stopped me.
I spun around so that the water was behind me. Scruffy was sound asleep with his legs in the air. I cocked my head and concentrated. Off to the left, it sounded like somebody was… what were they doing?
I crept to the manicured shrubs and threaded my way through them till I came to a grassy lawn. Aethan stood with his back to me. He held a sword extended to his side as he peered down the shaft. He was stripped bare to his waist and his back muscles bunched in anticipation of his next move.
I licked my lips and moved closer.
He leapt into the air, spinning so fast he was a blur. Landing on one knee, he thrust the sword upwards to the front. Then he tucked and rolled in the other direction, coming up onto his feet and kicking his left leg to the side. His sword swept through a flurry of motion as he moved forwards against his imaginary opponent.
He was magnificent as he flowed from one fighting stance to the next. His long, hard body made the movements seem easy. Then he flicked backwards through two one-armed backflips, spinning on the last one so that he was facing my direction. He landed with the tip of his sword pressed against my throat.
Breathing hard, he stared into my startled eyes. Then he lowered his blade and stepped back, running his free hand through his hair. ‘Want to train?’ he asked.
I took a deep breath to steady my wildly-beating heart. ‘Is it helping with your bad mood?’
His mouth quirked up at one corner. ‘Something like that.’
‘I didn’t bring my sword.’
He slid the sword back into its sheath and unbuckled the waist band. ‘Free hand?’
‘Sure.’ I pushed my way out of the shrubbery and unzipped my vest, dropping it on the ground near his sword. Scruffy emerged from the shrubs a few seconds later and climbed on top of it, massaging it with his paws till it was deemed comfortable enough to lie on.
‘Do you want me to tie one hand behind my back?’ The look on his face said he was serious.
I snorted. ‘Oh please.’ And then I dived through the air, sweeping an arm out behind me as I rolled past. I timed it perfectly, connecting with the back of his knees with enough force to collapse his legs.
He went down to a crouch and I leapt on his back, forcing him onto his face. I grabbed one arm and twisted it up behind his back till he grunted in pain.
‘If I want one of your arms tied,’ I whispered in his ear, ‘I’ll do it myself.’ Then I jumped backwards, putting enough distance between us that I would have some warning of his attack. He was going to make me pay for that move and I was going to enjoy every second of it.
He sprang to his feet like a cat and spun to face me. ‘Point taken,’ he said, spitting a piece of grass out of his mouth.
He advanced on me slowly and I resisted the urge to squeal and run off into the trees like I had sometimes done in the past. But that had always been so he could catch me and kiss me, and there wasn’t going to be any of that going on today. Which was a pity, because I had always found that an enjoyable way to cure a bad mood.
He jabbed twice with his left fist and I patted it away, knowing what he would do next. Sure enough, he followed it up with a right uppercut and a left hook, but I knew they were all camouflage for the kick that was about to come.
I bobbed and weaved around his strikes and then ducked under his trademark roundhouse kick, darting in close enough to palm strike him in the face. His head whipped back and I leapt up, ball-kicking him in the chest as I turned a backward somersault.
He staggered back as he shook his head, blood dribbling out of his nose. His eyes narrowed as he stared at me and then he charged.
I leapt to the side, but he swept an arm out wide, collecting me around my waist. He tossed me onto the ground but before he could pin me, I rolled, spinning over onto my knees and then leaping back to my feet.
The huge smile I could feel stretched across my face mirrored the one he wore. It was just like old times, the only difference being that I had the advantage. I knew his fighting style; knew his favourite moves and his dirty tricks. I knew his weaknesses and his strengths. And he had no idea about mine.
Out of all the things that had come from Galanta’s spell, this was the only one that didn’t suck.
‘Right,’ he said. ‘I was going to go easy on you. Don’t say you didn’t ask for this.’
‘Bring it on big boy.’ I danced from foot-to-foot.
He attacked with lightning speed, jabbing and hooking, forcing me backwards across the lawn as I dodged and blocked. I flicked his fists and darted left, jumping into the air to superman punch him. His head rocked to the side, but he spun, swinging his leg around in a low arc. It connected with mine, sweeping them out from beneath me.
My breath exploded from me as my back hit the ground, but before he could take advantage of my vulnerable position, I rocked back onto my shoulders and flicked my legs up into the air. I wrapped them around his waist, hooking my ankles behind his back, and then I twisted, dragging him to the ground.
I unlocked my legs and leapt on top of him, punching my fist down towards his cheek. He moved his head at the last second and my fist drove into a rock that was hidden in the grass.
I was good, but I wasn’t made of steel, and my fist came off second best against that rock. The unmistakeable sound of bones breaking preceded the pain by mere milliseconds. I screeched and nursed my fist to my chest, wiggling backwards out of range. I was going to have to fight one-handed.
Pain radiated up my arm and tears threatened at the corners of my eyes as I readied myself for his next attack.
‘Hey,’ he said, sitting up. ‘You’re hurt.’ He pulled me down onto his lap and gently took hold of my hand. It was already starting to swell. ‘Well you certainly taught that rock a lesson.’ He reached up and wiped away the unshed tears lingering in the corners of my eyes, and for one glorious second, things were as they had been. Uncomplicated and honest. Just a man loving a woman.
‘You’d better not have hurt her too much you brute,’ Isla said as she stepped from the trees. Aethan let out a low oath, tipping me from his lap as he sprung to his feet. And just like that the moment was over.
‘Sorry, sorry,’ he said, grabbing my good arm to help me up. ‘We’d better go find Wolfgang.’
‘The healing is going to have to wait.’ She pulled an apologetic face. ‘That’s what I came to tell you. King Arracon has requested an audience with you and Wolfgang. Wolfgang has gone on ahead to avoid insult by making him wait.’
‘What about you?’ I asked. ‘Why aren’t you invited?’ She was an heir to the throne as well.
‘It’s complicated.’ She spun away from me but not before I saw a line of tension between her eyes.
Aethan set off at a run towards the castle. Isla and I followed at a much more sedate pace. I felt a layer of depression settle over me as we entered the castle. The sloping hall that wound around the inside of the external wall meant that none of the rooms had windows. And even though light emanated from the walls, the black ice threw a shadow over everything. How did they stand living here?
Shivering, I wrapped my good arm around my chest.
‘I know how you feel.’ Isla’s eyes took on a haunted look.
I stared at her for a moment, wondering if she would tell me what she was thinking. But she never had before, so I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t this time.
Wilfred, Brent and Luke were playing cards when we got back to our chamber. ‘You found him?’ Wilfred asked.
Isla nodded her head and plonked down on a cushion next to him. The pain from my hand had dulled to a throb. I kicked a few cushions together and lay down, resting my broken knuckles against the icy floor. It turned out there was one thing a castle made of ice was good for.
‘What happened?’ Luke lowered his cards and nodded in my direction.
‘Izzy tried to beat a rock into submission.’
‘Huh,’ Brent said. ‘How’d that work out for you?’
‘Hunky dory.’ It was going to be a while before they let me forget about this one.
‘Were you caught between a rock and a hard place?’
I poked my tongue out at Wilfred. ‘That wasn’t even funny.’
‘I know. It’s this place. It’s drained the funny out of me.’
‘Well hopefully we’ll have an answer today,’ Isla said.
I closed my eyes and tried to ignore my hand. I wasn’t looking forward to the healing, but the pain was getting old fast. It felt like forever before the door banged open and Wolfgang and Aethan returned.
‘What did he say?’
‘What happened?’
‘Can we get out of here now?’
Our questions jumbled over each other.
Aethan ran his hands through his hair and said, ‘Yes and no.’
Wilfred picked up a cushion and threw it at him.
He laughed and grabbed the cushion out of the air and tossed it onto the ground. Taking a seat he said, ‘Arracon agrees that a union between our nations is desirable. And since the initial union didn’t work out,’ he threw a guilty glance in Isla’s direction, ‘that a marriage between a Royal maiden and Orion would be suitable.’
Isla snorted. ‘Suitable? Just suitable? We’re offering him our crown prince.’
‘Down girl,’ Wilfred murmured, placing a hand on her arm.
For a second I thought she might punch him, but instead she shook her arm till his hand fell off and turned her back on him.
‘There will be a banquet tonight, at which the chosen lady will be presented to us.’
‘And then we can go home?’ Brent’s face broke out into a broad smile.
Aethan shook his head. ‘No,’ he said, ‘and then I get to court her on Orion’s behalf.’
That made me sit up. Court her, like he’d courted me?
I gritted my teeth as pressure grew inside me.
I would have to sit and listen to their pretty conversation, while he charmed her on Orion’s behalf?
It felt like every single hair on my body was standing on end.
I would have to witness her fluttering her eyelashes and giggling at his jokes? I would have to watch her leaning into him till they were close enough to kiss?
The power pulsed through me and my vision turned red. If she lay one pretty little nail on him, I was going to do things to her that had never been done to a living person before. If she even thought of gracing his lips with her own I would…
‘Isadora.’ I snapped open my eyes to find Aethan staring into my face. ‘Is it the pain?’
‘Yes,’ I growled. Oh, it was pain all right, just not the kind he was thinking.
‘Wolfgang,’ Aethan said. ‘I think Isadora broke her hand.’
The look on everybody else’s faces told me they knew exactly what was going through my mind; sympathy from the men and malicious glee from Isla, as if she were hoping that I would tear the chosen night faery limb-from-limb.
Aethan, however, was totally clueless. ‘I’m hoping you’ll spend some time with her as well,’ he said to me. ‘So that she has at least one friend when we get home.’
I’d be her friend once she was married to Orion, but while she was treating Aethan as her future husband, I would be her mortal enemy.
‘Sure,’ I spat out, struggling to contain the fury that wanted to punch holes through the castle walls. ‘Maybe we can paint each other’s nails.’
Wilfred let out a chuckle. ‘Perhaps you should let her heal,’ he said.
Wolfgang was watching my face with a concerned expression. ‘Come along Isadora,’ he said.
I followed him to my bedroom and sat on the edge of my bed.
‘You need to control yourself before I can heal you,’ he said. ‘If I were to join my power with you like this, it is possible you would take control of it as well. I don’t fancy having to explain to the night faeries why their castle blew up.’
I took a deep breath, and then another until I could feel the tension melting out of me.
‘That’s better,’ Wolfgang said when I finally opened my eyes. ‘Now give me your hand.’
I placed my damaged limb into his. Now that the rage was gone, the throbbing had returned. He closed his eyes and I felt a tingle run down my arm and through my hand.
‘It’s broken all right.’ He stood and walked back to the doorway. ‘I’ll need some assistance please.’
The others filed into the room while I lay back on the bed. Brent and Luke took my legs and Wilfred pinned down my uninjured arm. Isla laid a cool hand either side of my head, and Aethan held down the shoulder of the arm that was to be healed.
I closed my eyes as Wolfgang’s power surged into me. White, hot lances spiked into my fist again and again. Flesh bubbled and boiled inside me, steam tearing apart my cells. I arched my back and struggled to pull away from him as a scream ripped from my throat.
Then the heat was gone and a wall of ice rammed into my head. Inch-by-inch it crept over my body. I could hear crackling as my flesh solidified.
Scruffy let out a howl and started scrabbling at the side of my body.
‘What’s happening?’ Isla’s hands jerked away from my face as my skin froze beneath her touch.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Do something.’ Aethan’s face distorted as my eyeballs solidified.
I tried to scream but my mouth froze open in a macabre grimace as the ice continued its path through my cells.
‘What’s going on here?’ I recognised the sibilant sounds of a night faery man. ‘Why are you using magic within our walls?’
‘She broke her hand. I was healing her.’
For a moment I could make out a shadow man peering down towards me, but then, as my eyes finished freezing, even that was gone.
‘Interesting,’ he said. ‘Normally it is the spell maker that is affected by the punishment curse.’
‘What’s happening to her?’
‘She is dying.’ He didn’t sound at all concerned.
If I had thought the healing was painful it had nothing on being turned into a snowman.
‘Do something,’ Aethan growled. There was the sound of cloth tearing.
‘Release me,’ the night faery snapped. ‘The price must be paid.’
‘We were not warned,’ Isla said.
‘We do not need to warn you oath breaker. It is our home.’
Scruffy let out a bark and I heard the night faery swearing. ‘Get him off me. Stupid dog.’
There was more tearing and then a smacking sound and Scruffy let out a low whine.
He had hurt him. That stupid night faery had hurt my dog. I didn’t care that he was willing to watch me die. That was the sort of behaviour I would have expected from them. But nobody, and I mean nobody, hurt my familiar and got away with it.
I ignored the pain from the ice and concentrated on the white heat of my fury, filling myself with it till I thought my legs and chest must be glowing white. Then I forced it upwards to where the ice met healthy flesh.
‘Help her or die,’ Wilfred growled.
‘Do not threaten me bear. You brought this on yourselves.’
I ignored their fighting as slowly, ever so slowly, I forced the glacier back up towards the tip of my head. I wanted to cry out with the pain of the steam bubbling in my cells, but instead I concentrated on my anger. I would make him pay if it were the last thing I did.
‘What’s happening?’ I felt a soft hand on my chest. ‘She’s warm again.’
‘That’s not possible.’ The night faery sounded torn between disappointment and confusion.
The thought of wrapping my hands around his throat gave me the strength to keep going. Up past my neck, into my face. I wondered if steam was oozing off me. I blinked my eyes as my lids unfroze, and then, as my eyeballs liquefied I did let out a scream. Burning, stabbing, white hot pokers in my eye sockets, but when the pain finally ebbed I could see.
Pushing, pushing, the ice fought me every inch. I knew if I let go, even for a second, I would lose the battle. Up my forehead, to the tip of my head. One last push and with a roar I forced the spell out of me. But that wasn’t enough. I wanted to make sure that it never did that to any other person.
I felt the spell fleeing back to where it had come from and I followed it. Down through the walls of the castle we raced. Round and round as we circled deeper and deeper. Tendrils of the spell embedded in the castle ripped out like a weeded creeper. And then we were diving through the floor, to a huge, black gem buried deep within the earth.
Anger and hate pulsed from the stone. I almost gave up as the toxic emotions washed up against my psyche. But then I remembered the feel of it stealing my life away and I poured myself into it.
Jealousy raged inside me, clawing me apart from the inside out. Aethan was mine, mine! The pulsing of the stone grew stronger as it fed off me. It was the cause of the discontent within the land. A parasite. The gem encouraged pain and then fed off it.
No wonder the night faeries were the way they were. No wonder they had changed so much from what they had been. The magic from this stone infused the castle. It was evil. It had to die.
I pushed away my jealousy and concentrated on happy thoughts. I thought about Mum, Grams and Sabby and how much they meant to me. I thought about all my friends within the Border Guards. And then I thought about Aethan. Love filled me till I could feel it bursting out of me. I took that love and I channelled it into the stone.
It fought me, plucking negative thoughts and feelings out of my head and throwing them back at me. But I ignored them, infusing it with love until the black pulsing energy dimmed and slowed and finally stopped. A small crack started in the heart of the stone, spreading out towards the edges like a cobweb. Dark light pulsed one more time and then died, the previously translucent gem now a lump of dead rock.
When I was done, I flowed back into my body. The whole fight had taken no more than a few seconds. Ignoring the residual pain, I sat up on the bed and turned to face the night faery.
‘What did you do?’ The look of shock on his face was priceless. ‘You should be dead.’
I stood up and stalked towards him, grasping his neck with my hands.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, eyes bulging wide, ‘I couldn’t save you. Once the spell is activated it is unstoppable.’
‘You hurt my dog,’ I hissed, shaking him with each word till his head rattled from side-to-side.
‘Your dog?’
‘My dog.’ I gave him one last shake and tossed him aside. ‘Don’t do it again.’ I pivoted to the side and scooped Scruffy into my arms, placing him on the bed. He looked up at me with his amber eyes and gave my hand a lick.
The night faery man scrambled from the room and pulled the door shut behind him.
I clenched my hand into a fist and relaxed it again. ‘Well that feels better,’ I said, looking at the rest of them for the first time.
Nobody had moved and they were all staring at me.
‘How?’ Wolfgang licked his lips. ‘How did you do that?’
‘Turns out I’ve got a lot of repressed anger.’ I laughed and then punched Wilfred on the arm. ‘What? No wise-arse response?’
‘Still getting over the vision of you turning from icicle to flame.’
‘When you’re hot you’re hot.’ A wave of exhaustion hit me and I sat down on the bed.
‘You need to rest,’ Wolfgang said. ‘It will take you days to get over that.’
‘Perhaps you should stay here tonight,’ Aethan said.
‘And miss all the fun?’ And not see the woman he was to court? ‘Not likely.’ I gave him my broadest smile. ‘Isla will you wake me with enough time to get ready?’ For some reason, I knew in this instance, I could depend on her. The rest of them would probably let me sleep ‘for my own good’.
She nodded. ‘We can get ready together.’
They filed out of my room as I crawled under my blankets with Scruffy. The nice thing was, with the warmth still flickering through my system, the cold from the castle didn’t touch me. I closed my eyes, and had the best sleep I’d had since we’d arrived at the cursed place.