Rise of the Seven (11 page)

“
Pretty, pretty,” a frost
monster murmured to Rhys’ staff.

“
Anvil,” I said with as much
calm as I could muster. He ceased transmitting the current toward
the water sprites and they shuddered, jerked, and dropped to the
floor. They were trembling and muttering incoherently, but their
audience became bored.

I stepped in before they found another
attraction. “Flora, why have you come?”

Twin amethyst jewels gleamed at me, and I had
to focus not to get lost there. Her smile was stunning, though I
knew she mocked me. The heliotropes had something very near
hypnosis if they could catch you. Her lips were thin, a muted pink
against the pale lilac of the rest of her. She wore but a scrap of
clothing, revealing the tiny feather-like strokes of mauve covering
her body.

Her only response was to purr.

I looked at Virtue. She raised a violet
brow.

“
Why?”

“
You will see, lov-el-y,”
she taunted, dragging her words out. “You. Will. See.”

I stepped forward, sword at the ready. Virtue
was more of a soft lavender with the markings of a cheetah. I’d
always heard her belly faded to white. Looking at her now, I
doubted anyone had actually gotten close enough to find out. She
wore the full armor of a warrior fey and a smile that promised to
devour you.

“
He comes,” whispered a soft
voice from behind the walls.

“
He comes,” repeated the
gray-feathered fiends, forgetting their game of stone-throwing to
watch the large hole where the window used to be.

We stood motionless, dreading the “he” who
was coming.

No sound accompanied his arrival, but as his
form appeared in the opening, the sun broke over the horizon,
silhouetting the figure of a winged god in the golden light of
dawn.

If I hadn’t been so angry, I might have
rolled my eyes.

Chapter Thirteen

Veil

Veil hovered there for a moment, allowing all
to glory in the display. Anvil spat, Grey shook his head, and Rhys
struggled to keep his staff from the pale, wiry fingers of the
frost monsters.

Finally, Veil spread his arms and drifted
into the great hall.

“
Nearly through with your
presentation?” I asked, not bothering to hide the bitterness in my
tone.

He smiled as if I’d applauded instead of
insulted him. He tilted his head to the side, perusing my attire.
He took his time and when his gaze finally came back to meet my
glare, I could practically feel the anger radiating off Chevelle
from his position behind me.

“
You look well, my Freya,”
Veil purred.

Something similar to a growl escaped my
second, who was, at least for the time being, faithfully guarding
my back.

“
You look ridiculous,” I
shot back. “And your damned insects are swarming the
castle.”

His smile turned sexy and I tried not to
notice that he was indeed worthy of the hero status he had among
the fey. “They are not like your little birdies, are they?”

I glared at him. At the moment, there wasn’t
much else I could really do.

Fey had a knack for knowing absolutely
everything. They held secrets that were impossible to learn. It
didn’t do much good to anyone else, because you could never get the
information from them and any sort of trade ended with you being in
worse shape than when you started, besides not having received your
end of the bargain. But they knew. And Veil had a special talent
for it, so I wasn’t surprised that he’d hit me with a very personal
endearment and a reference to my ability within the first minute of
conversation. But there were only two reasons he would be here now:
because I knew something he didn’t or because he knew something I
didn’t.

“
Why are you here?” I asked,
slowly enunciating each word.

He flew closer, stilling his wings as his
soft-soled boots touched the floor. “My dear,” he said as he
stepped nearer, “you are the talk of the realm. Where else would I
be?”

I tightened the grip on my sword.

His gaze flowed over me before he turned his
palms up and glanced the room. “And your Seven. My, my, what a
glorious mob.” His eyes met Ruby’s and she held his stare
defiantly. I glanced at Grey, but he seemed to be controlling
himself... unless you counted the murderous glare.

Veil continued to survey the room, pacing a
narrow circle in front of me. He was like a preening peacock,
displaying his wares. I wanted to look away, but I didn’t trust him
that much. So, instead, I watched his effort to impress me with as
much disgusted indifference as I could manage.

It was difficult, given that he was shirtless
and wore low-slung pants. But I hated fairies. He paraded his lean,
muscled torso, gorgeous amber wings dappled with a mesmerizing
pattern of swirls and circles, somehow reminiscent of eyes. His
eyes. Striking amber gems that complemented his long bronzed body,
set in a handsome face, adorned with a charismatic smile... He was
no less than captivating. But I hated fairies.

I realized he’d stopped moving; he was simply
standing there with a satisfied smile, watching me take him in.
“Are you quite done?” I snapped.

He remained as he was before replying in a
low, seductive voice, “May we speak alone?”

“
No.” I answered too
quickly, and nearly flushed before I caught it. On the other hand,
it might not have been quick enough, because I felt Chevelle go
completely still behind me. “Anything you have to say can be spoken
in front of my guard.”

Veil’s eyes were roaming my body again. “I
understand you’ve chosen a second.”

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. There were a thousand
implications in his statement, chiefly that I would not be getting
bound to Chevelle.

A crash sounded in the corridor, followed by
a high-pitched, “Oopsie,” and a giggle.

“
Get on with it, Veil,
before I slaughter your minions.”

He appeared oblivious to not only my comment,
but all of the destruction surrounding us. “An unexpected choice,
your blue-eyed guardian.”

I stepped forward. “Spit it out or I’ll
remove your tongue.”

He laughed and glanced at Anvil. Damn, I
hated fairies.

“
And especially soon. You
seem concerned for your safety,” he said, his eyes falling back to
mine.

How he knew within a matter of hours, not
only that I had chosen a second, but why, was a problem.

“
It seems you are concerned
with my affairs as well,” I said.

His face became serious, but retained the
sexy. “I am very interested.”

I leaned back.

Veil leaned forward. “Perhaps we can make an
arrangement.”

I was momentarily speechless, and not
entirely certain what he was offering.

“
I can protect you,” he
murmured.

My mouth dropped open at his word choice, and
then a few choice words emerged.

“
You are very appealing when
you’re angry, beautiful Freya.”

I was tempted to hurt him, but I couldn’t
afford a war. Not yet.

“
No?”

“
Never.”

“
Ah, well.” He stepped back,
resuming his pacing. “So then, a gift.”

I felt a sudden, though light, pull on the
cord which held my mother’s pendant at precisely the same moment
Veil winked at me.

“
Let me know if you change
your mind,” he hummed in an remarkably alluring voice.

I glanced down just as his boots lifted from
the floor and found the “gift” attached to my necklace. I didn’t
waste time unlacing it, instead yanking the entire cord free and
away from my skin. When I looked back up, the others were watching
a few dozen fey disappear from sight.

Unfortunately, that left too many still
within the hall. The pair of gray-feathered fiends looked at me and
smiled. I flinched, not only at their promise, but at what appeared
to be blood on their prickly little teeth. I secured the necklace
behind my belt and readied my sword.

“
Leave now and we will
remain at peace.”

It was really a useless warning. All who’d
traveled with Veil had only come to unearth trouble, with the
possible exception of Flora and Virtue, who followed him
everywhere. But they were gone, along with the ones who didn’t care
to risk death. Then again, I couldn’t help but offer, because I
really wanted them to just go.

The winter sprite who had been harassing
Rider moved to the center of the room and joined another of its
kind. They were very dangerous, despite their frail appearance.
They were nearly as tall as Ruby, but incredibly thin and pale.
Their hair was long, a silvery gray that fell down in waves and
complemented their paper-thin silver and white wings. And they had
the ability to create shards of ice that pierced like glass and
broke like steel.

“
We have come for the girl,”
the one farthest from me replied.

I knew exactly who she meant, but I didn’t
dare take my eyes off them to confirm Ruby’s safety. I trusted my
guard. They would protect her. Please, let them protect her.

“
She will not leave here,” I
pledged.

As if they had been waiting for the
challenge, for my denial, the rest of the fey gathered in a very
large half-moon behind them. Except for the frost monsters, who
still hovered above Rhys yelling, “Mine, mine,” for his staff. I
wasn’t sure they were even aware of the impending battle, let alone
Veil’s departure. At least they hadn’t tried freezing him yet.

I hated fairies.

“
Don’t do this.” I tried
again.

The gray fairy on the right raised a slender
hand to ready her troops. In typical fey fashion, a small male
became overly excited and broke the charge early, heading straight
for Ruby. Steed’s sword came up to meet him and sliced though his
thin frame from hip to shoulder, crosswise. It was fortunate he’d
flown in low, that was rarely the case.

“
Idiot,” the second gray
fairy muttered.

As the first lowered her hand, Anvil took a
knee to steady his shot and threw lightning at the water sprites.
He’d been battle-trained to fight the fey. I hoped the rest of my
guard knew better than to use much magic. Rhys and Rider moved to
cover our backs and Chevelle shifted to my left side. The fey split
into approximately three lines, hovering high over our heads,
hovering just above us, and at ground level.

It was a brilliant tactic. The largest were
on foot, coming at us with magic and weapons. While we were busy
chopping them down, the airborne line came at us in formation,
while the highest fey took turns swooping in to dive-bomb
unexpectedly. Swords flashed, dust flew, wings sang. It was
complete and utter chaos.

A robust ginger-skinned male with auburn hair
and orange-brown wings came at me with a half sword and I parried,
then cut through his chest on the back swing. As he fell, a
gorgeous lithe female, who might have passed for an elf if not for
the thin cerulean wings, shrieked a battle cry and leapt in a kick
at my face. I dodged and spun, knowing better than to grab her, as
she turned to face me. Over her shoulder, I could see Rhys, still
struggling with dual frost monsters, who now had hold of his
staff.

Chevelle had closed ranks behind me, covering
the attack. The fairy flung two knives at me, which I dared not
dodge for Chevelle’s sake, and spun into another kick. I deflected
one of the knives with my sword and held the other with the
smallest amount of magic I could release, which happened to be far
too much and shattered the blade. The distraction caused me to
neglect the kick, and it landed directly over my healing rib. By
then I was just pissed.

I punched her square in the nose and brought
the knife from my hip up to plant in her chest. When I moved to
return to the line, I saw the strangest thing. Standing in the
center of a triangle formed by Grey, Steed, and Rider stood a
glorious red-headed fury. True and steady, she swung her whip in
sharp circles around the lot of them. There was no particular
pattern, up and over, around, back, down. Sometimes swirling above
them several times before returning to cover the others. Each time
a fairy came in for attack, it met with a sword or risked being
tangled by whip, which brought the fliers down neatly for a knife
to the gut.

It was inspired, as the rest of us were
vulnerable to the air strikes. It made me wonder if that was the
reason she chose the weapon. And then I inhaled, which made me
wonder if Veil had known about my broken rib.

I edged in between Chevelle, who had amassed
an impressive pile of fey corpses, and Anvil, who had efficiently
removed the threat of water sprites before they’d had a chance to
flood the hall. Two large shadow stalkers rushed forward and I
raised my blade to strike. I caught one in the side but they were
fast, and the other dodged the blow completely. As I pulled back,
Chevelle sliced through the second with deadly accuracy before
turning to deflect a jade fairy’s blade. I finished off the shadow
stalker just as the advance fell.

The handful of fey that remained were
airborne, alternately lunging toward Ruby and then feigning back at
her strike.

“
Bring them down,” I
commanded, surprised at my own vehemence. “I want this over
with.”

My guard responded by surrounding Ruby in a
large, loose circle. They watched the air as two russet fey dived
simultaneously. Grey struck one with a miniscule amount of energy,
causing it to bounce into the flight path of the second. Off guard,
the second was caught by Ruby’s whip and slung to the ground by an
ankle. Steed sliced its throat. Recovered, the first tried to
rebound but was speared through the chest by Rider.