Atone: A Fairytale (Fairytale Trilogy) (14 page)

Becca was pretty sure if you stood the most attractive male model up next to this guy, the model would be forced to slink away in shame that he had ever thought himself good looking.

She felt something soft pressing up against her legs and spared a quick glance down. Violet plants were growing up around her feet, blooming in a profusion of bright color, their sweet smell beginning to permeate the air. Almost without her thinking consciously about it, a semi-solid wall of purple tinged magic formed in front of her. It was as if she felt the need for protection, and her magic had responded before she could even command it.

The fae in front of her smiled sardonically. “I am not planning to hurt you.”

“I appreciate that,” she replied, without dropping the protective wall.

“You should not have come through the portal. As its guardian I must insist that you return to the human world.”

“You’re the portal’s guardian? So you can tell me about the spell that’s affecting my friend.”

Irritation skated across the fae’s face. “I suppose you mean the human who removed the portal from its hiding place.”

Becca nodded. The fae crossed his bare arms, muscles flexing. He was wearing clothes that she’d never seen on a fae. Well, really she only had Briar Rose and the other sisters with their dresses and brightly colored cloaks to go by. This fae was wearing pants and a vest that looked as if they were made out of a soft leather. His feet were bare like hers.

“The human is shallow and weak and obsessed with magic. He has meddled where he should not. Why are you friends with him, petite-fae?”

“It’s Becca,” she answered. His inflection on the term “petite-fae” made it clear he didn’t consider it an endearment. According to Lilia, in Arraine it had mattered how much fae blood you had. If you were only half human you were called demi-fae, but if you were any more than half you were downgraded to petite-fae. Still, even a petite-fae was more exotic and exciting than plain old human any day, and many of them could do magic. Becca could tell this fae found her pedigree to be sub-par. She didn’t respond to any of the accusations about Nicholas because what would she say? He was pretty much right; that’s how Nicholas was…or had been. “Do you know of us? Of my friend and I?”

“The petite-fae who are running around with the little terre-verde princess and doing magic in the human world? Yes, I have heard of you.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘running around’ precisely.” She tried unsuccessfully to keep the dryness out of her voice. He smirked at her, but she ignored it. “What’d you call Lilia? A terre-verde princess? What does that even mean?”

“You do not know much about the fae, do you?”

Becca had thought he didn’t look that old, maybe in his late teens or early twenties. That could account for his know-it-all voice. Although in this situation, she supposed he did know it all, or at least more than she did. “No,” she admitted. “Only a little bit.”

“The verdes are strongest in plant magic, the terres in earth magic.”

“Like gems and metals,” Becca replied, thinking of her metal shaping ability. “And Lilia is both?”

“That whole family is. And like most terres and verdes, they are more fond of the human world than any fae should be.”

My family
. She was descended from one of Lilia’s sisters.

“And you’re not a terre or a verde?” She knew the answer. And she knew she must be on some kind of dividing line because she could feel the earth magic behind her, but in front of her…

“I am a fera. And you are on fera land.”

“Fera,” she repeated. “Animal magic.”

An approving look came into his unsettling, tawny eyes. “You are quick.”

“The magic feels different, more wild.” She looked back at the spells on the mirror, the way they pulsed and moved. “It’s a fera portal.”

“Yes. It was created by a fera many years ago.”

“And you guard the entrance…are you going to tell me your name?”

He shrugged his shoulders, his arms still across his chest. “Talon.”

“Do I even want to know what your emblem is?” The sisters’ names had all reflected their emblem flower, but somehow “Talon” sounded like it would end up being more intimidating than lilies or violets.

Talon uncrossed his arms and lifted one of his hands waist high. A bright stream of magic roared to life from the center of his upraised palm and shot toward the sky. Becca took an involuntary step back. Her protective wall of magic had been hovering at about chest height; now it flared up to over her head.

The energy pulsed out of his palm. It was a warm gold color, completely different than the golden tinge that infused the violet of Becca’s power. This was more deep yellow and was incredibly quick moving. It curled in on itself, taking on shape as it rose up over Talon’s head. It vibrated with an almost living energy, twisting and turning and solidifying. The shape hovering about fifteen feet over the fae looked almost familiar.

The shape unfolded a pair of large wings. It stretched out its long, lean legs from a compact, lion’s body, as if taking a huge stride in the air. It lifted its shaggy head, mouth opening in a roar. From wing tip to wing tip the griffin, made entirely out of the energy of Talon’s magic, measured at least twenty feet. It was an impressive sight, and the rush of energy that flowed out of the apparition as it roared was equally so. Talon closed his fist and the griffin shuddered in the air for a moment before dissipating almost as quickly as it had appeared.

“And here I thought griffins were mythological.” Becca was proud at how steady her voice was.

“I believe most humans think that about the fae as well,” he replied easily. She could tell by the glint in his eye that he’d enjoyed showing off his power.

“Is that why the portal has made Nicholas into a beast? ‘Cause it’s made of fera magic?”

“Your friend,” he put a sarcastic inflection on the term as he crossed his arms again, “has been altered by the spell that protects the portal. Fera protection spells can affect humans—weak, self-obsessed humans—that way.”

“Yes,” Becca replied through gritted teeth, not sure if she was more irritated with him or with herself for having to tamp down the desire to jump to Nicholas’s defense. “You’ve mentioned the self-obsessed thing.”

Talon’s only answer was another smirk.

“It’s happened before, that you’ve turned a human into a beast?”

“Fera protection spells have affected humans before, when they have meddled where they should not. We do not have many spells left in the human world.” He inclined his head toward her in acknowledgement.

“How do I fix it? How can I stop it from affecting him that way?”

“The spell protects the portal. Close the portal and the need for protection will cease.”

Becca gaped at him. “That’s it? I just have to close the portal? How do I do that?”

“There is a gem that closes it.”

“And where’s that?”

He shrugged. “I do not know.”

Becca puffed out a frustrated breath. “Well, what does it look like?”

Talon shrugged again.

“Seriously? You aren’t even going to tell me what it looks like?”

“The mirror was created before I was born. I merely guard the entrance into our Realm.” He sounded disinterested, as if he were discussing what to have for dinner, not the fate of someone she cared about.

“That,” Becca snapped, “is extremely unhelpful.”

Talon grinned at her. “If your friend had not removed the mirror from its hiding place, you would not have needed to close the portal. I think your frustration would be better directed at him.”

“Oh yes, the weak, self-absorbed human. But the mirror calls to humans, doesn’t it? I’ve felt it. It’s not really playing fair to tempt someone with power that consumes their mind and then turn them into an animal.”

“The fairness of it is not my concern.”

“What
is
your concern, Talon?” Becca’s leash on her temper was getting short. “It seems to me that you’d want to unbeast Nicholas and get this portal closed. Wouldn’t that make the Fae Realm safer? Stop more humans from stumbling through the mirror?”

“There are those here who grow impatient. They do not approve of a human beast being allowed to wander around the human world.”

Becca blinked at him. “Is that some kind of threat?”

“I am not threatening you.” His too handsome face was implacable.

“Are others?” she demanded.

He shrugged again. She wanted to sock him in the shoulder. If he shrugged one more time, she wouldn’t be held responsible for her actions.

“And closing the portal is the only way I can break the curse—“ she broke off as he raised a golden eyebrow. “Or the affects of the protection spell,” she amended. “Close the portal; everyone’s happy. And Nicholas is back to normal?”

“Yes.”

“I guess I’ll have to do that then.” Becca turned toward the magic representation of the mirror. She let her protective wall fall as she walked. She figured if Talon had wanted to hurt her, he probably would have done it when he’d unleashed his griffin-shaped power. She tossed a glance over her shoulder at him. “I can just jump back through?”

He nodded. She didn’t bother saying goodbye, just got a running start and launched herself back through the center of the spell.

~ Chapter Ten ~

“
B
ECCA!”
N
ICHOLAS ROARED
in surprise and relief as she stumbled back through the mirror. “Are you okay?”

She bent over, propping her hands on her now jeans-clad knees and tried to catch her breath. The trip back through the mirror had disoriented her. The pulse of magic here was so different than from in the Fae Realm that it made her feel off-balance. “Yeah. Okay.”

“What the hell were you thinking?” he exploded.

Becca winced. His voice, too close and too loud, was bouncing off the inside of her skull. “Stop yelling at me.”

“You deserve to be yelled at! Or worse!”

“Worse?” She managed to lift her head up enough to smirk at him. “What’re you gonna do, turn me over your knee?”

“Don’t tempt me.”

Becca straightened up. “You know, I’m trying to help you here. You could try being a little more grateful.”

“Grateful?” he roared. “Because you’re trying to kill yourself? Like I need that on my conscience.”

“Nice to know my death would be a burden, now that you’ve developed one.”

Nicholas threw his head back, his mane flying around his face. “Fine. Go ahead. Kill yourself. See if I care.”

“That’s more like the Nicholas of old. Welcome back.” Becca wasn’t sure why she was pushing him. She realized that she’d probably scared him when she’d jumped through the mirror. Sometimes scared came out as angry.

He whirled and bounded to the other side of the room, as if to put more distance between them. Becca wondered for a second if he would really contemplate punishing her for scaring her somehow. The idea held a strange appeal. She had an excess of magic simmering in her chest once again and she’d love to kick his butt.

“At least I tried. Unlike you,” he bit out. “You never change.”

Hurt and surprise flashed through her, but she kept her voice steady. “God, I hope not. I like me.”

“Yes, you do. Self-righteous, better than everyone, snarky and always so sure you know what’s best for the world, reacting emotionally to everything even when you think you’re always so calm and rational. What’s not to like?” He stalked deliberately back toward her.

“Reacting emotionally? Me? Or are we talking about you again?” She clenched her fists at her sides. He was close enough now that she was afraid she might reach out and try to throttle him.

“You’re the one jumping into magic mirrors,” he roared. “You’re the one who burned my couch to the ground.”

“Wow, you’re really haven’t changed. I thought maybe you—” Becca broke off as he jumped forward with a bone-chilling growl. She almost ducked out of the way, but he wasn’t aiming for her. Nicholas grabbed the mirror by its sides, his large paws gripped the metal claws. The spell swirled around him. He roared in pain and then he threw the mirror down. It fell to the floor at her feet with a crash that shook the room.

“I shouldn’t be around this thing,” he panted. “You shouldn’t be around it. I don’t want it to hurt you.”

Becca stared at the mirror, momentarily panicked that he’d damaged it somehow. It seemed fine. She knew it had a pretty hefty protection spell on it—hefty enough to be keeping Nicholas a beast. “That thing weights a ton.”

“Not quite a ton.”

She swung her eyes back to Nicholas. He’d moved to the other side of the room, as far from the mirror as he could get. His chest was still heaving, but he seemed spent. He was looking out the windows, avoiding her gaze.

“I shouldn’t have said any of that.” Regret colored his quiet voice. “It wasn’t true. I was trying to hurt you.”