Blood of Half Gods (5 page)

Walking in, I flop down on the bed and sink into it about six inches.  “Wow, this bed is really soft.”

“A soft bed to help soften your mood swings,” Kegan teases.  I throw a pillow at him, which he catches with ease.

Alita is standing in the doorway with her discomfort still evident on her face.  She is wringing her hands in front of her and looking down.  “Alita, come try this bed.  It’s super comfortable.”

She looks up at me and gives me a faint smile.  “I am fine, thank you.  I should go to my room.”

I scowl and get up off the bed.  I walk to the door and take her hand in mine, pulling her into the room towards the bed.  “You can’t let that awful woman make you feel badly.  She’s not worth it.”

The faint smile fades, not even leaving a shadow behind.  “It is not just her that feels the way she does, Xandra.  You cannot throw everyone who does not like me through a wall.”

I sigh heavily.  I know she’s right, and I don’t know how I can fix that.  There has to be something I can do.  As if on cue, a light shines over my head.  Actually, it really does.  I think my magic is trying to be funny.  Then, I realize, I didn’t pull any magic.  Kegan is laughing, though, and I glare at him.

“You had such a look of concentration on your face; it was quite evident when you came up with an idea.  It was too tempting to resist.”

Even Alita smiles a bit at his joke.  I guess it was kind of funny.  Ignoring the whole thing, I say, “Don’t princesses have ladies in waiting, or something like that?”

It takes a second, but then Kegan sees where I’m going with this.  “Yes, I believe they do.”

“And they’re treated as part of the royal family, right?”

Kegan shrugs slightly.  “That might be pushing it a little bit, but yes, they are treated with respect.  The Queen had several in the palace before she left Dagda.” 

She wasn’t a big fan of her husband having sex with my mother.  Eew.  Bad mental image.  Must think of something else, quickly.  “So, if I name her as one of …”

Alita speaks up now and there’s a little edge in her voice.  That’s unusual for her.  “I am right here.  You speak of me as if you cannot see me.”

I look at her sheepishly.  “Sorry, I was just excited about the idea.  I don’t like it when people aren’t nice to you.”

Her expression softens.  “I appreciate that, but you cannot change my heritage.”

“No, but I can make sure that other people are nice to you.”

She crosses her arms over her chest and raises her eyebrows.  “How do you know I even want to be your lady in waiting?  I have not yet heard the job description.   Considering the amount of trouble you find yourself in, it seems as if this would be a hazardous position to accept.”

She does have a point.  “True, I do tend to have a little drama in my life.”  I never used to.  Then again, I never had friends or a boyfriend either, tucked away in the mountains like I was.  It’s a tradeoff.

Her brows raise higher.  “A little drama?”

I roll my eyes.  “Fine.  Great big heaping, burning piles of drama.  On a daily basis.” 

“Hey, what is the job description?  I may want to apply myself,” Kegan says with a sly grin.

“The position includes you flying out a hole in the wall just as Radella did,” Kallen says dryly from the doorway.  I suspect Kegan knew he was there when he spoke.

Ignoring them both, I say to Alita, “Since I don’t know what a lady in waiting does, I guess you could do whatever you want.”

She laughs.  “You would make a terrible boss.  You would never have me work.”

I grin.  “Is that such a bad thing?”

“No, but I like what I do for the King now.  I feel like I’m doing something for the realm, not just hanging out with my friends.”

I shake my head.  “You and your ethics.  I can’t believe we’re friends, sometimes.”

Kallen flops down on the other side of the bed against the pillows.  “I got the gist of what you were talking about.  I think Alita’s right; she will do more good in her current position.  It will also garner her more respect over time.”

I throw a pillow at him.  I hate it when he’s right.  “But, what are we going to do about Alita sleeping in the servants’ quarters?”  He shrugs.  Not helpful.  Pursing my lips a moment, I say, “I guess she could stay in here with me and you could go bunk with Kegan.”  This time, I’m the one who gets a pillow to the head.  “Hey!”

“I will not be kicked out of my room.”

I narrow my eyes in his direction.  “You’re awfully confident that I even want you in here with me.”

This time, he pulls on my arm, making me fall over him.  “Yes, I am.”  He leans down and kisses me. 

It doesn’t take me long to acquiesce.  “Okay, you can stay,” I murmur against his lips.

“You do realize we are still here, right?” Kegan asks dryly.

Awkwardness written all over my face, I sit.  “Sorry.”  He just rolls his eyes.

“Xandra, really, I will be alright in the servant’s quarters.”

“No, you will not,” Kegan says, with more passion in his voice than I think he intended.  “You will sleep in my room.  I shall sleep elsewhere in my bird form.”  He never says sparrow, just bird. 

Surprisingly, Alita doesn’t argue with him.  She does blush, though.  How cute.  I look over at Kallen and he has a smug smile on his face.  I think he knew Kegan would step up and offer her his room.  Hmm, guess I’m not the only matchmaker here.  “Okay, it’s decided then,” I say.  Wanting to change the subject so that neither Kegan nor Alita back out, I ask, “What are we supposed to do to entertain ourselves?”  Kallen starts to say something, but I cut him off.  “Other than that.”  Now, I’m blushing.

“We could play cards,” Kegan says, pulling a deck out of his pocket.

A sudden lurching tells me that we’re now moving.  The lurch wasn’t so bad, but this swaying back and forth is making me a bit nauseated.  The ride smooths out some after a moment, but I still have some serious motion sickness going on all of a sudden.  And three sets of eyes looking at me warily.

“You look a little green.  You are not going to throw up on us, right?  Do you need to move to the bathroom?” Kegan asks.

I stick my tongue out at him.  “Thanks for your concern.”

“You are several shades paler,” Alita says.

“I’ll be fine in a minute.  I just have to get used to it.  I didn’t travel much in my realm.”  At all, really.  The occasional shopping trip into Denver was it, and even then I got a little car sick.  I’ve never been on a plane or a boat.  I wonder what herb or plant here is equivalent to Dramamine?

As if reading my mind, Alita stands up and says, “I believe there are mint leaves in the kitchen.  I will make you some mint tea. That should help.”

I hate to have her go to the trouble, but I really don’t feel well.  “Thank you.”  Laying back against the pillows next Kallen, I ask, “Is it going to sway like this the whole trip?”

He slips an arm under me and pulls me against him.  “I am afraid that it is quite difficult to keep a carriage this size off the ground.  Dagda employees some very powerful Fairies, but I do not know that even your magic could completely remove the swaying.”

“Maybe I should try,” I say, as I swallow back a little bit of bile that’s trying to escape. 

“And blow us all up?  I do not think so,” he says.  I wish I could say he was half joking.  He’s not.  Completely serious.  “It takes a great deal of training to perform this type of magic.  And patience.  Something that always seems to be in short supply for you.”

I’m tempted to pinch him, but I refrain.  He’s lucky.  It would have hurt.  A lot.  “Should I start listing your faults?”

Kegan snorts.  “The trip is not that long.” 

Kallen flings a pillow at him.  “She is well aware of how perfect I am.”  My turn to snort.

A loud knock on the door startles me.  “Come in.”  I thought it was going to be Alita back already with my tea, but it’s Radella.  Woo hoo, something to take my mind off the motion sickness.  Too bad it’s such a sucky thing.  “What do you want?”  My supply of politeness always runs a little low, too, I’m afraid.

She strides briskly into the room and stops at the end of the bed.  Completely ignoring Kegan and Kallen, she looks only at me.  If I could paint a picture of hatred to use as an example of the definition in the dictionary, it would be of her face right at this moment.  “Princess.”  Good thing there aren’t any more letters in that word, she practically chokes on the last two.  Another letter or two would have required Kegan or Kallen to do the Heimlich.  I would have watched supportively.  “I apologize for my outburst earlier.  I was not respectful…” she coughs and her face twists into something ugly as she says this, “of your honored position as a member of the royal family.  I will not make that mistake again.”

Yes, she will.  I don’t think she’ll be able to make it the rest of the day without doing something to annoy me.  “Did Dagda make you say that?”

She stands up straighter.  “Your
father,
the King, suggested I make amends.”

Changing the subject because I still feel badly even if I don’t like her, I ask, “Did I hurt you earlier?”  She probably won’t admit it, if I did.

She inclines her head slightly.  “It was not the most comfortable experience.  I had heard of your ability to wield magic; I did not believe the rumors to be true.  In my position, that was a dangerous mistake to make.  I deserved the consequences of that error.”

I frown as I sit up.  “You think you deserve to have been thrown through a wall and a second story drop to the ground?”  Does she have low self-esteem issues, or what? 

“I believe Radella was insinuating that she is lucky that is all she received after such insubordination,” Kallen says, daring her to say something different.  Something passes between the two of them, but I don’t know what.

“Of course,” Radella says.  She doesn’t look or sound like she means it.

For some reason, my next words think this a grand time to make an entrance into the sound waves of the universe.  “You know Kallen and I aren’t having sex, right?”  It bothers me that people may think we’re lying.  It shouldn’t, but it does.

To say she is taken aback is a serious understatement.  It takes her a moment to get herself together again.  “Your relationship with Kallen is none of my concern.”  She put some weird twist of tone on Kallen’s name. 

Good lord, did they date?  And Kallen forgot to mention it? A strong surge of jealousy shoots through my blood and I start pulling magic.  Kallen immediately tips my chin up so he can see my face.  “Xandra, what are you thinking of doing?”

I’m thinking of throwing Radella out another magic made hole in the wall, that’s what.  I don’t want to say that out loud, though.  I have my pride.  It takes a great force of will to push the magic back down to the earth.  It’s waiting for me to change my mind, though.  I can feel it.  “Nothing,” I say, pulling my face out of his hold.  Looking back at Radella, understanding flashes in her eyes, and a teeny tiny smirk crawls onto her thin little lips.

“Again, my humblest apologies,” she says, suddenly in a much better mood.  The magic is begging me to pull it back up; I can’t believe I’m able to resist its call.  Maybe I am getting the hang of this.

Radella walks to the door and stops with her hand on the knob.  Over her shoulder, she says, “It is good to know that Kallen still has the option to be hand-fasted with a full blooded Fairy, as he has always preferred.”

I can’t help it.  The magic wins.  It’s working in conjunction with my jealousy, and together, they make one hell of a force of nature.  The door she is holding suddenly wraps itself around her as it comes off its hinges and shoots out of the giant hole that now exists in the wall of the carriage.  Lucky for her, we’re not close to any trees at the moment.

Kegan is laughing so hard he falls off his chair.  Kallen is looking at me as if I’m a crazy person, and Alita is now standing in the doorless doorway with her mouth hanging open, holding a cup of tea.  I know my face is beet red.  And there are absolutely no words coming into my mind to justify my actions.  At least, none I want to own up to.

“What on earth possessed you to do that?” Kallen asks, and I suddenly want to throw him out the hole, too.

Kegan pulls himself up off the floor.  “I believe this is a conversation best left in private.  Good luck, cousin,” he says, as he walks to the door and steers Alita down the hall.

Kallen’s still looking at me as if I’m crazy.  Jerk.  He can’t think I’m that stupid.  “Obviously, you and Radella dated.”

Now
, he looks uncomfortable.  He tries to shutter his face as soon as understanding hits, but he’s having trouble with it.  “We had one arranged date.  It went poorly.  Regardless, her family approached Grandmother about hand-fasting and they were promptly turned down.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me about it before
she
made sure I knew it?”

He’s blushing.  He’s actually blushing.  “I have tried very hard to wipe the memory from my mind.  When I say that it went poorly, I was being kind.”

I stare at him a moment.  I thought he’d be smart enough not to try to leave it at that.  He’s not.  “I’m waiting.”