Dark Matter (38 page)

“
You have no idea what I am
capable of,” growled Ainessa, pressing the knife deeper into my
throat. “The time for waiting is over. The council has shown their
cowardice one too many times.”

Zach laughed menacingly. “Even if you
managed to bond with the girl then what? Neither of you have the
experience to ignite the germ. Think about what you are doing,
Ainessa. It would only be a matter of time before she would be
taken from you. There are better ways to address your concerns.
Consider what you are risking here.”

I could feel her shake her head behind
me. The knife bit deeper into my skin, and I winced. With her
distracted, I was able to consentrate. I imagined a suit of armor
between me and that blade. The pressure was gone
immediately.

She leaned nearer. “This isn’t over,
Rayla. It won’t be until your power is mine.” With the strength of
a freight train, she shoved me out of her way.

I went sprawling toward the earth but
managed to glance up just in time to see her grab Mr. Lambert, who
was screaming at her to take me with them, and vanish.

Dawn was approaching, bringing the rest
of the fae army with it. Winged horses littered the sky, moving in
unison like flocks of birds.

The air around me swirled with their
descent, kicking dust into my eyes. Lacey ran over to me and threw
her arms around my neck. “I can’t believe she left you here,” she
said.

I couldn’t either. What had changed her
mind?

Lacey laughed. “Nice look, by the
way.”

What was she…oh, the armor. Instead of
the bulky medieval things I had seen in pictures, I was wearing
what looked like a cat suit. Only this appeared to be made of
diamonds. It cast prisms all over Lacey. I just
shrugged.

I marveled at the destruction around
me. The buildings were leveled as if by an air-raid when moments
before most of them had still been standing. I had expected a
fight, but this didn’t resemble any battle I had ever heard of,
although I was no expert. It wasn’t as if I had ever actually
witnessed a war.

Ainessa’s statement repeated in my head
like a mantra. She wasn’t about to give me up, and now I knew she
was willing to kill me if she couldn’t have me. Her thoughts had
penetrated my mind moments before she vanished. A dark foreboding
was brewing inside me, twisting my insides into something
unrecognizable.

Shadows danced at the edges of my
vision. Elementals walked tentatively out of the jungle, gathering
around us. They all had the same stunned expression plastered to
their dirty faces.

All in all there were about a hundred
girls left. One of them started screaming, shrinking away from
something more horrible than the Grim Reaper from the look in her
eyes.

A fae warrior circled above her,
staring at her as if she was Athena herself. Lacey rushed to her
side positioning herself between the girl and the man.

She began patting the girl’s shoulder
and looking at me for help. How was I supposed to know what to
do?

I walked up to the two of them and bent
toward the shuddering frame of the fragile looking girl. She had to
be about my age. Maybe a bit younger, I couldn’t tell for sure. I
caught her attention and asked, “What’s your name?”

She sniffed and wiped her nose on her
sleeve. “Beth,” she replied softly.

I looked up. The man had circled around
for another pass. More of the fae were positioning to land. “I know
they look really scary, but I’ve been to the fae realms. Apart from
being a bit brighter than here, it’s not much different.” I was
acting as if I knew everything about the place simply to calm her
down. I wasn’t sure why I had taken to lying, but I felt the need
to comfort her.

Her gaze pierced my own. “It
is?”

“
It’s actually quite
beautiful. The mountains around Ignis put the ones in Alaska to
shame.”

She leaned closer to me, whispering, “I
don’t want to go with them. I miss my mom.”

I nodded gravely. I knew exactly how
she felt. My mom was in Eldrea, yet I didn’t dare contact her. I
hoped at some point I would be able to, but until I was bound to
someone, I couldn’t do much about it.

“
Maybe they’ll let you visit
her from time to time.” I knew that wasn’t really a possibility,
but I wondered if it could be. If I was as powerful as I had been
lead to believe, I might be able to get some much needed change to
happen between the fae and Elementals.

Styx touched down near us. Beth looked
into his onyx gaze and let out another wail. I shook my head at
Zach who only shrugged before he jumped to the ground.

He stalked over to me, clamping his
fingers around my elbow. He turned toward Lacey. “Excuse us,
please.”

Since when had he become so
polite?

“
If you don’t stop making
stupid decisions you are going to get us all…”

His voice faltered when he saw my
expression. “You might want to back up a bit,” I said coolly. “I am
done getting bossed around by you or anyone. If you want me to
start making better choices, I suggest you fill me in on some much
needed details.”

He nodded covering his shock with a
slap on my back. “First things first, we need to get you back to
Lombarda where you will be safe.”

My awareness of the Elementals around
me intensified. I could feel their fear as if it were my own. “What
will happen to them,” I whispered.

He shrugged. “We haven’t had access to
this many Elementals in a very long time. The council will need to
vote before we can determine what will be done.”

I moved closer to him. His bright eyes
watched me closely. “I have a better idea,” I said motioning toward
the girls behind me. “Let them choose.”

He laughed. With all the strength I
could muster I shot a compulsion at him to listen to me.

His face fell into a severe frown. “I
don’t think I like how Heath has influenced you.”

“
I don’t care,” I said
grouchily.

He touched my cheek lightly. “Why are
you so angry with me?”

I couldn’t believe he was actually
asking me that. “You left me for the wolves to pick apart, Zach.
What do you expect?”

“
If I hadn’t, Ainessa would
have had full access to you by now. I had to protect
you.”

I leveled a steely expression at him.
“Here’s a thought I’m sure you would never have on your own. Why
don’t you teach me how to protect myself?”

Just then Luke and Heath showed up with
Roger in tow. Luke turned toward Zach, “What are we supposed to do
with him?”

I stepped in between them. “He’s coming
with us.”

Jett chimed in. “The council will never
agree—”

“
Blame it on me,” I
said.

He glanced at me. His look told me he
wasn’t pleased that I was speaking. Too bad for him.

He heaved in a ragged breath. “What
makes you think they will care what you want?”

“
Why wouldn’t they?” I asked
sweetly.

He bristled at me, but Heath stepped
nearer. “Get away from her,” he said in a menacing tone.

Jett moved closer to Heath and they had
a wordless faceoff. I just walked away. I had never been impressed
with male bravado. You’d think that men who were millions of years
old would know better than to act like that.

I caught Lacey’s attention. “Will you
help me round up the girls? We’ve got a lot to talk
about.”

When we were all within a half circle,
I stepped into the middle. “Believe me,” I started. “I know this is
not how you expected your life to unfold. I am also fully aware of
how scary this is. I was in your shoes not that long ago.” I
laughed lightly. “Strike that. I still am, and so you have to trust
me when I say that as bad as the fae seem, the Order is a hundred
times worse.”

“
Traitor,” one of the girls
yelled.

I raised my hand. “If wanting to
control my own life makes me a traitor then I fully accept that
label.” I looked around, catching the gazes of as many of them as I
could. “You have been taught to fear the fae, but do you really
know anything about them?”

“
I would rather die than
allow them to have access to my power,” said another girl and many
more spoke up to agree with her.

I frowned sadly. “I guess that’s your
decision to make, but what you don’t realize is that we have an
opportunity to change things here. What if you were given an option
to choose your own mate?”

A girl with dark hair stepped forward
with her arms folded across her chest. “No matter how many of them
you wave in front of my face I will never want one.”

I walked over to her, taking in her
striking features. She had shoulder length black hair so straight
you could probably iron a shirt on it; however, it wasn’t
artificial in any way. Her onyx eyes were exotic, slightly tilted
upwards at the edges. I faced her and said, “How would you
know?”

She looked taken aback momentarily then
stiffened her stance. “Who died and made you queen of the
world?”

I touched her shoulder and she recoiled
away from me. “I’m sorry if that’s how I appear to you. I am only
trying to help.”

“
Yeah?” she said. “Then make
them leave us alone. Make them leave our planet. They have no right
to be here.”

I couldn’t blame her for feeling that
way. If I recalled correctly I had once reacted similarly. “Trust
me when I say that I know how you feel, but I have seen goodness in
the fae. I know things could be better between us.”

“
Why would you care about
them?” she hissed at me, giving a short nod toward the fae
warriors.

I gave her a knowing smile. “The same
reason I would care for any person,” I answered plainly. “You do
realize they are people, right?”

She got the strangest expression on her
face as if she was wondering if I had any brain cells left. “You
have to be under a compulsion right now. You don’t know what you’re
saying.”

I shook my head. “I will be the first
to admit that compulsion is unsavory. No one should have their will
manipulated like that, but the Order is no better than the fae in
that regard. I was forced to marry Roger, experimented upon,
inseminated, and nearly killed. I can’t say the same thing about
the fae. Compulsion intensifies feelings that are already there. It
is a magnification of will, nothing more.” I felt someone watching
me. When I looked around, Luke had a self satisfied smile adorning
his lips. “Besides,” I added, ignoring him. “The fae want to live
peaceably with humans. Given all you know about them, can you say
the same thing about the Order?”

Her dark eyes searched mine for a while
before she spoke. “Do you honestly believe they will let us have
some choices for a change?”

The vision of Jessica facing Taylor for
the first time drifted into my consciousness. She had been in love
with Adam. That note she gave me just before she was taken spilled
it all to him. I regretted the fact that I hadn’t been able to
deliver it for her, but I also wondered if it wasn’t for the best.
Adam was better off not knowing the extent of her feelings for
him.

I still hadn’t seen her again, but I
was going to insist on it. Even though I hadn’t liked her all that
much, I needed to see that she was okay—that she was happy with
Taylor.

“
All I can offer at the
moment is a bit of hope. From what I have witnessed of the fae,
most are reasonable. If I’m wrong, the worst you’ll get is an
attentive husband out of the deal. The Order wants your power as
badly as the fae. They are just a bit more persuasive when it comes
to making you think you are doing what you want, when in reality
you have been led to do what they want.”

The woman standing in front of me
nodded fractionally considering what I had said. “I’m willing to
see this out, but if you are wrong, you will have our deaths on
your head.”

I extended my hand toward her.
“Agreed.”

Hushed voices broke our connection. She
glanced around then disappeared into the middle of the
circle.

“
Who is she?” I asked Lacey,
trying to spot the girl amongst the others.

“
Her name is Robin. She was
May’s second. If you can win her over, you might have a chance at
changing things.” She touched my shoulder, stealing my attention.
“Do you really believe that crap you were spouting, or were you
just trying to delay the inevitable?”

I laughed and clamped my hand around
her elbow in a friendly gesture. “Only time can truly answer that
question.”

Jett interrupted us. His gaze slid over
Lacey so subtly that I might have missed it if I hadn’t been
watching him closely. “We’d better get going.” He turned his
attention completely to me, all evidence that he had noticed her
gone from his expression. “You will be riding with me.”

I cocked my head. “Yeah? Who’s going to
make me?”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Why do
you have to be so difficult all the time?”