Fae (27 page)

I dropped to my knees,
suddenly unable to hold myself up. Exhaustion, deep and heavy,
rushed over me as my heart pounded against my chest. I let my wings
drape over me, covering me, and pulled the drilium back so I could
lay there in darkness.

I must have fallen asleep
because when a hand rested on my shoulder, I shot up, surprised,
with heavy eyes and stiff limbs.

"It's just me."

Lachlan. Good. I settled
my head back down on the ground.

"What's going on?" I
asked.

"The Mamood have left and
so has The Aurora."

My insides twinged a
little at that. Cailen had left me—for good this time.

"So we won. Yay. Now let
me get back to sleep."

A disgusted humph left his
throat. "We're only on the brink of victory. Our next target is
Auru."

Auru—my home. And I'd be
returning as a conqueror. I wondered if they'd fight us or accept
us. We were their people, after all.

I sat up again and looked
into Lachlan's black eyes. "Then let's go. What are we waiting
for?"

The green lights around
his head danced. "Your orders."

I took a deep breath and
sighed. "There's nothing stopping me anymore."

"Not even
Cailen?"

"No. Not even
him."

The blackness rushed in on
me again and this time, my body spasmed out of my
control.

***

It's late and we haven't
left yet. We're standing on the patio above the waterfall, and I'm
looking at the stars. Daddy likes to be the last to arrive because
he's nice. Everyone likes him; I hear it all the time. Some Aurumes
weren't nice and they'd arrive early at places so people would miss
whatever it was they were going to, in our case a celebration
before a bonding ceremony. Because every Aurume takes the special
statues wherever they go and once the statues are turned on, no one
can transport in or out. It's one of the highest laws: No
transporting in the presence of the Aurume. The only one higher is
keeping our existence a secret.

Four men stand guard by
us, each one holding a crystal bird statue. Right now they're clear
as ice, but when the guards turn them on, they'll glow bright
yellow, like the sun. I've lived my whole life with those statues
and ones like them all around the palace. I've never transported
before. Of course, I won't really be the one doing it now. Another
guard stands behind me, waiting for the order. When my father gives
it, the guard will grab me and transport me with him. Only the most
trusted of all Auri soldiers are given the honor of transporting
the child of the Aurume.

I feel my heart racing
beneath my chest, but I don't know what scares me more, the bonding
I'll have to witness or traveling through twisted space. Everyone
says transporting is safe and I trust them, so it must be the
bonding.

Before I have a chance to
really think through my fears, I see, out of the corner of my eye,
my father nod. The guard behind me grabs me gently by my arms and
the night lights up with the color of shimmering rainbow wings. I
draw in a quick breath and then the air melts. In and out, back and
forth, the colors move like waves on the shore. The dark night with
its twinkling stars morphs into afternoon sun. Hundreds of people
under canopies of white and blue flowers freeze mid-action and then
as one, they drop to their knees and release their wings. Gold,
purple, green, red, every shade of every color. All for my father.
Because he is the Uniter, the only one worthy of forcing the
release of our most powerful assets.

I swell with warm pride as
I take in their reaction. Living in the palace, always spending my
time with my trainers, I never experienced something like this
before. Not to this extent at least. I look at my father then and
realize he is so much more than just my daddy, the most wonderful,
loving, kind, adoring man in the world. My gaze finally rests on my
mother and I see in her eyes the same kind of pride I feel in my
heart.

Daddy takes his first step
and everyone rises. And just like that, the afternoon light seems
duller because their wings are drawn back beneath their
skin.

I follow behind my mother
and father with the guards on either side of us. The four with the
statues veer off to the edges of the flower canopy tent to place
the crystal birds and activate the peculiar energy that keeps space
from folding.

Everyone is dressed so
beautifully in silken dresses and tunics. Their exposed backs make
me cringe in jealousy, and humiliation. My own back is covered
because I'm a young one without a first release. Not having wings
at my disposal is like walking out amongst warriors as a cripple.
It only makes me feel the reality of my youth that much more. I am
nothing yet. I am not even bonded. And in a few hours, I will be
the only one here without that classification.

I grab Mommy's hand and
press it to my cheek. She is warm and safe and she smiles down at
me. I feel everyone's stares. They must be curious. The Aurume's
heir? Most have never seen me. I wonder if I'm dressed prettily
enough. If I'm what they expected.

Everyone moves for us as
Daddy leads us to the head table where the parents of the Cailen
and Anna sit. We won't actually see either of them until they're
brought out for the ceremony. Mommy explained all of this to me
earlier. Right now they're being prepped by servants and dressed in
special ceremonial clothes without bindings. When everyone has
eaten and had enough celebration, they'll be brought out and placed
in a special glass building.

I look for that building
now. It's not here, under the tent with the partiers. Here, under
the flowers that drop like rain, it is far too crowded with tables
full of food and people milling about.

We stop in front of the
head table and I'm forced to focus on the happy parents. Galen
seems brimming with joy, his wide smile and hearty laugh
practically fill up the tent. He raises a glass to my father and
thanks him for honoring his family. I turn away. I don't want to
look at Anna's family.

I let go of my mother's
hand and break away, weaving through the dense crowd. Even though
it's very warm under the tent, the occasional breeze has a bite to
it and I know I need to find that fresh air. I'm gasping by the
time I break through and stumble into an open field. A trellis of
flowers leads from the tent to a glass building across the field.
The building doesn't look like it belongs at all. The walls are
bare and smooth. There's no character to it. No beauty. It's purely
functional. It's also the only barrier between the drilium of a
first release and all the hapless victims outside.

A sudden urge to find a
rock and break that glass building wells up inside of me. I hate it
with pure loathing. I ache with yearning that this is the last time
I ever have to see one. I'll never be bonded. I'll never want
anyone but Cailen.

"Psst!"

I whip my head around as
my heart jumps into my throat.

"Ella, over here." Hiding
between two berry bushes is Cailen, already dressed in his gold
ceremonial tunic.

I duck and run to his
side, immediately dropping to the ground as soon as I reach him.
"What are you doing here?" I whisper harshly.

"I need your help." Then I
notice Cailen's eyes are wide with terror. He's pale and glistening
with a sheen of sweat. I nod and he takes me by the hand and leads
me far around the tent to the home on the estate. His
home.

We don't stop until he
pushes me into his room and fastens the door. He lets go of my hand
only to pace up and down the length of his floor.

"What's wrong?"

He freezes then turns to
me and grabs me by my shoulders. "I've done something horrible. I
don't know what to do."

"What have you
done?"

"I didn't want to be
bonded to her." His voice turns pleading, like he's begging my
forgiveness.

"What did you
do?"

"I found some ferlock out
in the woods outside and I gave some to her." He wraps his arms
around me and his tears run onto my cheek. "I just wanted her to be
sick so they would cancel the ceremony."

"What happened?" I
whisper, but my heart sinks, heavy like a stone, because I know
exactly what happened. Daddy wants me to know all the different
plants and ferlock is the one he taught first. A little can make
you sick, but it still doesn't take much more than that very little
bit to kill you. And someone my age should never have it at
all.

Cailen doesn't answer me,
maybe because he already knows that I know, or maybe it's because
he can't speak it out loud. But we both know the truth. He killed
her.

"I went to check on her,"
he finally says. "The whole time I was busy worrying about how I'd
tell anyone she was too sick to come out. But when I saw her." He
stops and starts sobbing. "I don't know what to do."

My insides turn to iron
and the answer becomes so totally clear I can't see any other
option. "We don't tell anyone." I press my lips against his ear and
hold him tight. "They'll find her and they'll know what killed her,
but they won't know who did it. And we won't tell them. As far as
anyone knows, you were excited about the ceremony. You will cry
when you hear the news and then you will lock yourself in your
room. Everyone will think you're in mourning."

He tenses and I can tell
he's unsure. "Trust me, Cailen."

He nods and I let him go.
The look in his eyes makes my pulse freeze. It's adoring and warm.
The terror is gone, completely replaced by a pure look
of...

Love.

Cailen loves me and I
think I might love him. He's my best friend and when I thought I'd
lost him, it felt like someone in my family had died.

I lean over and kiss him
lightly on the cheek. And then I leave because I cannot be found in
his room. Not if anyone is going to believe him. So I sneak down
the hall, past all the bedrooms and through the main foyer. No
one's around. Everyone is still outside under the tent, eating and
talking. There are a few mumbled voices coming from the other side
of the house though, so I pick up my pace.

Outside, it's still windy
and cool and I realize I've been sweating. The air chills like ice
against my moist skin and I'm actually thankful my back is covered
for the first time ever. Back home it never gets this cold. I hurry
across the open yard to the tent before anyone can notice I've just
come from the house. Thankfully, it's still far too early for
curious eyes to be focused on the front door. No one's thinking
about Cailen or Anna...yet. I have a feeling they will
soon.

Just then, the partiers
turn their heads towards me and I'm sure they all know. I freeze,
still several feet from the edge of the tent, struggling to pluck
an excuse from my mind. Surely they'd believe me if I said I just
wanted to say goodbye to my best friend.

I open my mouth to say
something and a squeak just makes it past my lips when I realize
they aren't staring at me. They're staring past me. I turn my head
and see servants running back and forth from the house to the head
table. I can't see the table from where I'm standing at the other
end of the flower canopy. I may be tall for my age but I'm still
much shorter than the adults around me.

A murmur starts up and the
partiers separate into groups of bowed heads. I can't hear what
they're saying and I really don't care. I already know what
happened. And as long as Cailen and I don't say anything, they
should never suspect him.

I find my parents at the
head table, alone. Galen, his wife, and Anna's parents have already
left. When my mother sees me she gets up from her seat and circles
the table to wrap her arms around me. There are tears in her eyes
as she alternatively strokes my head and presses me to
her.

"Momma, what's wrong?" I
say in my sweetest, most innocent voice. No one can know, not even
my own mother, who I trust more than anyone.

"Where were you just now?"
She chokes with worry and I just now notice my guard hovering feet
away, his sharp eyes on me.

"It was hot in here," I
say, deciding to tell her a bit of the truth. "I wanted some fresh
air, so I went to walk in the gardens and look at the mountain
range." Which is all true, in a way. That had been my plan before
Cailen found me.

"You can't just leave
without telling us. You know you can't walk off alone." At this,
she turns to glare at my guard. He squares his shoulders and
continues to stare at me, unblinking. I know now I will be
constantly watched.

I smile at my mother and
caress her cheek with my hand. Her eyes soften, but I can see the
terror deep inside. She knows what happened to Anna. I suspect her
imagination went wild when she discovered no one knew where I
was.

"I just went for a walk,"
I say. "I didn't even go very far."

Her gaze flits to the side
and I wonder then if she's going to tell me. Will she think I'm too
young to know? Part of me hopes she doesn't say anything. With my
guard's cool eyes watching me, I'm growing nervous, unsure. I don't
think I can pull off a lie under so much scrutiny. They'll know and
then Cailen will have to be punished. Who knows what they'll do to
him. Murder is...not tolerated.