"I know what you're thinking."
I stretched my arms above me, tucking my hands between my head and the pillow. Sunlight poured over me from the giant window but did little to help my troubled mood. I'd been sullen and quiet all morning. "Not likely."
Dorian reached over to a tray of assorted pastries and sweets that had been sitting by the bed when we awoke. That and the newly built-up fire were only a couple of signs that tidying servants had been up and around in here. Their presence shouldn't have bothered me; everyone had already believed Dorian and I were sleeping together. Yet, knowing others had moved around us while we slept still felt odd.
He popped a marzipan-stuffed tartlet into my mouth. I made a surprised sound but ate it anyway. He had excellent cooks. "Well, then, let me guess anyway. I do so love trying to reason out your thoughts."
He grinned at me, every inch the lighthearted and frivolous man I usually knew. He bore almost no trace of the impassioned lover from last night, the one who'd repeatedly told me in explicit detail exactly what he could do to me if he wanted - and then proved that he could.
I rolled to my side, putting my back to him. "Knock yourself out."
"All right. You're now realizing you did the unthinkable. You made love to me - one of the shining ones. You crossed over that invisible line, and now the horror and regret of that is eating you up."
"No."
"No?"
"No, that's not what I'm thinking."
"Oh."
I heard him shift again and then felt a cookie balanced delicately on my arm. I snagged it and munched on it, getting crumbs on the sheets while he reconsidered. Lemon sugar.
"Very well. How about this: You're thinking about the kitsune. About Kiyo. You miss him and lament what happened. Being with me makes you feel guilty."
I hadn't been thinking about Kiyo, but mentioning him suddenly brought him to mind. I did miss Kiyo. I missed the easy way we interacted, his solid and steady presence. I missed the way he held me and made me feel safe.
"No."
"Hmm. Well, then. My perception appears to be off this morning. It has been known to happen once or twice before."
I stared out the window, unsettled emotions turning over and over in me. Finally, I said, "I'm bothered by...how it was last night. How rough it was."
"Truly? I really don't know you so well. I thought you enjoyed it."
"I did."
He waited a beat. "Forgive me, then, but I don't quite grasp your concern."
I rolled back over toward him, and it all spilled out. "Don't you get it? All this time I've been trying to avoid hordes of gentry and monsters from raping me. And yet...that's essentially what happened last night. I let you...I let you be aggressive and possessive. And then I liked it. What's that say about me? What's wrong with me?"
Dorian's face shifted to that rare and serious concern that sometimes seized it. He reached out and cupped my face with both of his hands. "Oh, gods, no. Is that what's upset you? Eugenie, Eugenie. That's not rape. Rape is brutal. Rape is done against your will, usually with someone you hate - or at least like a little less than me. What we did last night...that was a game. I believe it initially helped you get over a mental stumbling block, but after that...there was nothing violent or bad. It was a...novel way of approaching sex. You consented. There's nothing wrong with you for liking it."
Maybe he was right, but it still made me feel strange. "I've just never done anything like that. I've had rough sex before but never anything so...kinky."
"Kinky. Fantastic word. It always takes us awhile to catch up with your world's slang."
"It makes things weird between us. I mean, weirder than usual."
He ran his hand over my cheek and through my hair. "Then tell me how to make things right."
"I don't know."
"Perhaps this will cheer you up: We're ready to go to Aeson's now."
"What?" That didn't cheer me up so much as surprise me. Where had this come from?
"We can go whenever you wish."
"You're giving in because I have morning-after regrets?"
"I'm 'giving in' because you crossed the point I wanted you to with your magic."
I scoffed and rolled away. "Bullshit. I can make water drops appear in the air. Somehow I doubt that's the life-or-death difference needed on this mission."
"The life-or-death factor here is that you can control a fine portion of your magic now. I needed that to happen before I felt comfortable on this venture. I couldn't risk your emotions flaring and creating a storm that might kill us. Now, you may very well still have some sort of magical breakdown, but I believe your current skills will go far to at least minimize the impact."
"Then what you said before - about it being protection in case I was defenseless..."
"Yes. I'm afraid that was a ruse. I'd hoped the thought might spur you on to try harder."
Typical Dorian. His absurdity made me half-smile.
"You're happier now?" he asked.
"I don't know if happy is the right word, but I will be when the Jasmine thing is over."
"Excellent. Come here."
He motioned me into his outstretched arm, and for a moment, I expected an advance. Like a Hey, baby, I'll make you happier type thing. I moved over tentatively, and he only put his arms around me. Just that simple. No jokes. No kinkiness. Just a simple embrace between two people, two people close enough to have rattled the headboard last night. I took comfort in it, relaxing into his warmth and security. He wasn't Kiyo, but he felt nice.
At last he moved his face away so he could look at me. "Very well, then. Tell me how you would like this to unfold."
Staging another heist turned out to take a fair bit of planning and didn't actually unfold until later the next day. We assembled all three of my minions in one of Dorian's lounges. They waited patiently for orders, each watching me as their minds undoubtedly stirred with their assorted neuroses. As Volusian had once pointed out, they had little to lose. They couldn't die. When Dorian called in Shaya to join us, I couldn't help an exclamation of surprise.
"Remember the distraction we discussed?" he asked me.
I did. Before getting out of bed, we had come up with the tentative outline of a plan. Part of it had included a major distraction near Aeson's home, enough to draw the attention of his guard so we could enter undetected. My spirits had long since verified that the siege tunnel had been blocked off.
Shaya, he explained, would be our distraction. She had the power to command small ranges of vegetation. In particular, she could summon and order around trees - something she'd apparently done before to great effect. Dorian's thought was that Shaya would have a small regiment of said trees attack the western side of Aeson's hold. On the eastern side, we knew there was a servants' entrance we could slip into. Normally, that would be too exposed but not if the castle's security was preoccupied elsewhere.
I nodded, thinking it was a good plan. Shaya crossed her arms and looked thoroughly displeased.
"You got a problem with it?"
"I don't think it's our place to interfere with Aeson's affairs, nor do I feel this is worth risking my king's life over."
I glanced between her and Dorian uneasily. "So you won't do it?"
"Of course I will. My king gives a command, and I obey. I am merely expressing my honest opinion first. I would be doing a disservice otherwise."
Dorian touched her cheek, smiling at her stern expression. "And that is why you are so valued."
"It's a bad idea," said Finn suddenly.
We all turned to him.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"What's a few trees? It screams, 'Hey, look at our obvious distraction.' It'll make them suspicious. You want to really get their attention, send him in." He inclined his head toward Dorian. "A little bit of that rock mojo, and they'll think there's an all-out assault going on."
"We can't. I need him as my backup," I argued, "and protection for Jasmine. Shaya can do her thing and get out of there quickly. If I go in without him, then we're in exactly the same situation as before."
"Except without the army waiting for you," said Finn.
Shaya shook her head, glossy black braids swinging. "I don't like the idea of my king left alone."
"He'll be in and out, no problem. And if he has to face off, he can take anything Aeson's people throw at him."
"Unless it's Aeson himself," mused Dorian.
"Is he stronger than you?" I asked.
"We're very evenly matched."
"Huh. That surprises me. I mean, Kiyo walked away alive from a fight with him."
"King Aeson wasn't using his full power then," said Nandi. "Most likely he feared burning down his home." Seeing my startled look, she continued. "It would have created a terrible inferno from whence you would not have escaped. Your skin would have melted, only your bones left behind."
"So you're saying he wouldn't have to worry about that outdoors. He could unleash as much as he liked." Something struck me, and I turned back to Dorian. "What about you? Are you limited indoors?"
"Hypothetically, no. Realistically? Well...I still have to operate in a way that won't bury us alive." He smiled, seeing my consternation. "Don't worry, my dear. I'll still be of use to you."
"More use outside," said Finn. "We won't even need extra backup, not if nobody's inside to find us."
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I'd walked into Aeson's with a lot less planning last time, and foolish or not, it had been a hell of a lot simpler than this. I turned to the room's darkest corner, which had been silent thus far.
"Volusian?"
He straightened up from where he'd slouched in the shadows. "I will be very surprised if we emerge from this without any sort of confrontation, regardless of who creates the initial distraction. If I must honestly answer what will keep you alive" - he sighed, obviously unhappy about that outcome. I suspected Nandi's horrific description of my death by fire had kindled warm and fuzzy feelings in him - "then yes, bringing the Oak King affords more protection for you and the girl, mistress."
"Then it's settled."
Finn pouted and turned his back on us, pacing around sulkily.
After that, it simply became a matter of waiting. We wanted to go under cover of darkness. Dorian and Shaya left to pursue household duties, and the spirits flitted off to do whatever it was they did. This left me with a lot of downtime. I paced the castle's grounds, ruminating over the same old things: Kiyo, the upcoming raid, and the prophecy.
The appointed time came, and our strike team reassembled for a few last-minute details. Most of it was simply a repetition of what we already knew. The spirits drifted along, but the rest of us set out on horseback. Shaya rode with the physical grace that permeated her normal movements, but I was surprised to see how agilely Dorian rode as well. He seemed so languid and comfort-oriented in his day-to-day affairs that I never thought of him as having athletic abilities, his feats in bed notwithstanding.
We crisscrossed the assorted kingdoms. It seemed to take longer than last time, and Volusian affirmed as much for me.
"The land has shifted its layout," he explained.
"It does that," said Dorian, seeing the panic on my face. "It's normal. We're on the right path."
"Yeah, but will we make it there before sunrise?"
"Certainly."
He smiled too broadly, and I could tell he didn't know for sure. I looked up. Right now we had perfect blackness, lit only by stars. The moon was dark tonight. Persephone's moon. I could feel the tingle of the butterfly on my arm and felt reassured. Before, I'd needed Hecate to escape back to my own world. Here, that wasn't an issue. Staying alive and sending my enemies on to death was the issue now, so I didn't mind the boost to my connection with the Underworld.
"How much farther?" I asked a little while later. I felt like a kid on a road trip but couldn't help the anxiety tickling my brain. I might have imagined it, but I swore the eastern sky now looked deep purple rather than black.
"Not far," said Shaya, voice calm.
Sure enough, we pulled off and secured the horses, going the rest of the way on foot, traveling through trees and undergrowth. I couldn't see anything, but we soon reached some significant point. Shaya split off from us to do her thing. Dorian squeezed her arm before she left, and she made a solemn bow of acknowledgment. I watched her disappear before I turned and joined the others to continue straight ahead.
Aeson's fortress finally loomed up before us as we reached the edge of the tree line. It could really be perceived only through its blockage of the stars. Otherwise, it appeared almost as black as the sky beyond. We stopped just before the terrain cleared, staying under cover. Studying the building further, I could make out small black figures moving back and forth in front of the wall. Guards. Presumably there were lookouts on the towers too.
"Now we wait," I muttered. I was tired of waiting. I wanted action.
Almost opposite us, on the other side of the forest, Shaya should have been preparing to summon her tree warriors. She and Dorian swore it would be a noisy affair, so there'd been no need for a secret countdown or anything like that. The castle was too far away for me to make out any identifiable features, but the spirits indicated the spot containing the side door.
Minutes dragged by, and I imagined all sorts of horrible fates for Shaya. Oh, God. What if they caught and killed her? She'd come here out of loyalty to Dorian, and no matter what else had happened, I'd come to respect her immensely. I didn't want her to die because of this.
Dorian approached my right side and put an arm around me. "Don't worry. This will be finished before you know it. Ah - there we are."
In the distance, we heard it. Wood crackling and splitting. A low roar. Faint shouts of alarm carried over the air, and the guards in our view took off running toward the noise. We waited until they'd cleared the area.
"Now is our time," murmured Volusian. "Go."
We streaked across the open area, toward the doorway. I could hear the noise on the other side. The sound of something breaking. More shouts. Shaya's plan had been to send about a dozen massive trees to beat on the walls over there. What a wake-up call that had to have been.
"W-wait! Hold it!" I suddenly cried.
The spirits stopped instantly. Dorian took a moment longer to slow down and gave me an odd glance. "What's wrong?"
I peered around. My senses tingled. I could feel water, lots of it. The way I felt in crowds or at Dorian's. Water in numerous condensed clusters. The water sources were people. Lots of them.
We'd been set up. Again.
"Fuck!"
They seemed to come out from everywhere, though I knew they all had to have been hiding in the castle's vicinity or else I would have felt them sooner. They came down from the roofs, out the door we'd been staking out, from around the corner. And somehow I knew the ones who ostensibly had run off would return.
I heard Dorian yell, "They won't kill you - not if they don't have to!" Then, the side of the castle exploded in a downpour of huge black rocks, causing those above and still scaling to fall down to death or at least serious injury. Others standing nearby were buried by the fallout.
My spirits had standing orders to attack anyone attacking us, and I saw them flare up for battle. As for me, I'd come packing two guns tonight, again courtesy of Lara. Both had steel cartridges, and my pockets held more clips still, plus a few silver ones. I kept what distance I could from the thick of the fray and fired, aiming for heads and faces if I could, but mostly happy if I could bring anyone down at all.
Regular range practice paid off, and I hit almost everyone I fixed on. No one ever managed to get too close to me. The spirits I ignored. They couldn't die, and only another shaman or Dorian-caliber magic user could banish them.
After his spectacular wall demolition, Dorian had resorted to a more conventional method: a copper sword he'd worn sheathed under his cloak. It glowed red in the darkness, and I realized he could enhance its power since copper came from inside the earth. He didn't fight with brute force, but he moved with speed and skill, surprising me as much as the horse-riding had. I wouldn't have minded another show of that earth power, but all magic took its toll. It would do no good for him to burn himself out yet.
Suddenly, I saw one of the guards moving up on him, just out of Dorian's line of sight. I started to cry out a warning, and then a large, four-legged form ran forward, snarling as he threw his weight into the guard. Dorian gave a quick glance of surprise but quickly returned to fighting. I couldn't recover so quickly and could only stare as Kiyo, in what I had jokingly dubbed the "superfox" form, clawed and ripped at his victim. The man did manage to slice Kiyo's side, making me wince, but the fox seemed unaffected. Shaking my head, knowing I could neither wonder how he'd shown up nor worry about his safety, I returned to my own battles.
A few victims later, I had my aim on someone when I sensed another form sneaking up behind me. I turned but wasn't quite fast enough. He grabbed my arm and bent the gun away from him, forcing me to the ground. With my left hand, I managed to drag out the other gun. It was more or less smothered as his body tried to pin mine down, and I had no real target. It didn't matter. I just sort of aimed in an upward direction and fired. He screamed and recoiled enough for me to push off and fire again with more precision.
Someone else took advantage of my distraction and grabbed me from behind. I'd stuffed the extra gun back in my pants and now struggled against him with the first gun when suddenly it grew hot in my hands. Burning hot. I yelped and dropped it, staring as it lay sizzling on the ground, glowing faintly orange.
I didn't have to hear his voice in my ear to know who held me.
"Eugenie Markham, lovely of you to pay me a visit."
"I'm going to kill you," I hissed.
"Yes, yes, you told me that before, and yet, I see it's not really working out. You should have taken me up on my earlier offer." He barked out a command to a nearby guard who ran up to us. "Disarm her before she kills anyone else."
With all the confusion, none of my other allies noticed what was happening. I opened my mouth and began chanting the ritual words to bring the spirits. They were currently too far out of range to simply hear me shout. Realizing what I attempted, Aeson threw me onto the ground, using his body weight to hold me while one hand covered my mouth.
"Hurry!"
The guard removed my athames and wand. For the extra gun, he wrapped his hand in the folds of his cloak to retrieve the weapon and then hastily tossed it away.
"You're a damned nuisance - and a deadly one," muttered Aeson. "Keeping you alive for nine months may be more trouble than it's - ow!"
I didn't see what happened to him but heard a thunk above me.
"You used your power to toss one rock at me?" he exclaimed, an almost comic note of incredulity in his voice.
"On the contrary," I heard Dorian say pleasantly. "I didn't use magic for that. I just threw it."
Aeson tossed me toward his guard, just as flames rose up from the ground. In the darkness, the bright light hurt my eyes, forcing me to glance away. Heat rolled off that scorching orange wall, instantly heating up my skin. The guard attempted to scramble back and hold me at the same time, doing a half-assed job at both, though he still managed - just barely - to keep me restrained.
My gaze stayed on the fire's flickering colors until I suddenly felt the ground shake. Jerking my head up as much as my restraint allowed, I saw a cloud of darkness rise above the flames. It crashed down, like the palm of one's hand, and the fire abruptly went out, extinguished as pounds of dirt slammed it to the ground.
Without missing a beat, Dorian gestured to the spot Aeson stood on. I felt shaking again and saw the earth ripple, like a wave of water moved under the surface. It knocked Aeson off-balance, and then a storm of rock shards - much as I'd seen with the nixies - swirled around, taking aim. Still on the ground, Aeson lifted his own hands. Waves of heat blasted away the rocks, scattering them in different directions. Some of them melted, dripping back to the earth in a molten shower.
Ashes filled the air, and I could hear Aeson coughing as he stumbled to his feet. The ground trembled again, pushing him back to his knees. He supported himself with one hand and gave a shaking, raspy laugh.
"It didn't have to come to this," he said. "If you would have just shared her, she might already be with child."
A shower of rocks spattered Aeson as Dorian strode forward. They weren't razor sharp, but they looked like they hurt. The Alder King winced and shielded his face.
"I don't share," Dorian said flatly. The earth near Aeson coalesced into ropes of dirt, winding their way around his limbs. Score one for bondage fetishes.
"Too bad. You might have lived had you felt differently."
Aeson suddenly burst up, breaking through the bonds of earth. As he did, fire blasted from all around him, outlining him and then shooting forward. My scream was smothered in my captor's hand as I saw Dorian fly backward. Aeson charged forward, his hands controlling and shaping the flames into a ring around Dorian's crouching form. The walls flared up high and thick, so hot they gleamed blue and white. I wouldn't have thought Dorian could survive that inferno, but Aeson kept talking to him as though he were still alive.
"Too many theatrics, Dorian, and not enough strength left now to free yourself."
I looked around desperately. There weren't many guards left. In the distance, I saw Kiyo nail some guy pretty handily - the man's pain-filled scream affirmed as much - but he was too far to help, just like the spirits. I realized then my guard's hold had slackened; he was apparently transfixed by his master's showdown. Others, just as captivated, stopped and stared.
Taking advantage of the guard's lack of attention, I shoved my elbow back into his stomach and attempted to spring free. I didn't really expect to achieve that goal, but it did uncover my mouth. I spoke the summoning words, and Nandi and Volusian appeared.
"Get Aes - " I began, just before the hand slammed on my mouth again. Another guard joined mine to help with the confinement.
The spirits shifted from humanoid form to something else, still vaguely anthropomorphic but more like a cloud of energy. They swooped toward Aeson, one shining and blue, the other black and silver.
He deflected them with flames while still holding the walls on Dorian. An instant later, I saw a wand in one of his hands. No. He couldn't -
He spoke banishing words, and I felt the surge of power in the air as he tore open a hole to the Underworld. The form that was Nandi trembled and then exploded, disappearing in sparkles. She'd found her peace at last - and without another two years of service to me.
"Call the other one off," snapped Aeson, "unless you want to lose him too."
The hand on my mouth lifted. I hesitated. I had nothing to lose if Volusian won or lost. In fact, Aeson's request likely indicated he couldn't banish the spirit to the land of death. Gentry rarely had that kind of power anyway, so Aeson probably couldn't do what I had been unable to do. But if he fought Volusian, it was possible he could have enough strength to break my control and enslave him as a minion. That was not an option. Better for the spirit to be destroyed than turned against me.
"Hold, Volusian."
He retreated immediately, coalescing back into his normal shape.
Aeson returned to Dorian. The Alder King held up his hand and brought his fingers together in a fist. The burning walls contracted, resembling more of a cocoon than a cylinder now. Through the crackling of flames, I heard Dorian scream.
Helplessness choked my heart. Just like with the mud elemental. Just like with the nixies. I had no weapons and no freedom. This was exactly the kind of situation Dorian kept speaking of. The time magic would be handy. I couldn't use it, however. My abilities included only miniscule water manipulation and out-of-control storms and their consequences.
Yet, suddenly, I didn't care about the consequences. I wanted to summon a major storm, a storm to devastate this whole area. Maybe it'd kill my friends and me, but things didn't really look good for us anyway. Focusing my mind on that, I tried to recall the angry tempests I'd created before.
Only...it didn't work. Maybe it was because I'd never consciously done such a thing before. Or maybe it was because I could no longer see storms as a whole. They were pressure and charged particles and - most importantly - water. Dorian had taught me to compartmentalize the elements, and that's all I could do now. I thought about storms, but all my mind did was reach out and touch all the water sources nearby. Damn it. Finding water did no good, not unless I could move a whole lake and douse the fire. I doubted I could command that much water, even if I had a source like that nearby.
But I didn't need one that big.
I only needed to summon a smaller water source, one my powers could manage. I refocused. My magic reached out, grasping and connecting with the water molecules I wanted. They recognized me, and I called them forward. They resisted a little. There were more of them here than had been in the pitcher.
Obey me! I shouted to them. Come to me! I am your mistress.
Only a few seconds passed while I struggled for control of the water. Meanwhile, Aeson was still holding his arms up, collapsing the walls slowly in what was probably a sadistic effort to prolong Dorian's pain. Still, I needed the delay as I pushed and pulled the water more fiercely.
A funny look crossed Aeson's face just then, and he glanced around, as though trying to find something. Yet, he didn't know what that was.
Come to me!
I could feel the water breaking free, unable to resist my command. A look of horror twisted Aeson's face. His hands dropped and clutched his head, almost as if he would claw it off. Behind him the flames around Dorian abruptly faded and disappeared, almost as if a lake had dropped onto them after all.
But as I'd noted, I hadn't needed a lake. I'd only needed a smaller source. I'd needed Aeson. The water in him was a size I could manage, the source I'd called out to and commanded. After all, the human - or gentry - body is 65 percent water.
And a moment later, all of it came to me. The other 35 percent didn't.
