The Swarm Trilogy (25 page)

A third rope dangled in the air, moving back and forth. I glanced down. Chase was pulling himself up, hand-over-hand. He gained quickly on me.

“I could have done that,” I said. I hated sitting on the bench like a helpless woman.

“Really?” He pulled up next to me, looped his foot in the rope, and hung out for a moment. “And just how would you have done that with the baby?” He nodded his head at Trevin.

I’d forgotten for a moment that he was there. He’d fallen asleep in the carrier. His precious eyelids fluttered in what I hoped was a pleasant dream. Chase palmed up a couple more times, coming eye-to-eye with me.

“I could have figured out a way,” I said, refusing to give him the satisfaction.

Chase’s laugh rang out in the forest. “You are just as difficult as Mags said.”

I frowned. “Sometimes you talk about Mags like she’s an enemy. Other times you act like she’s a friend. What’s going on up here?”

“It’s complicated,” Chase said.

“It isn’t if you explain it to me.” I needed to be prepared for anything I would find.

“Maybe another time,” he said. “Enjoying having your gift back?”

I looked down at him. He’d stopped again, while my bench continued to ascend. “My gift? What’s that?”

“Gift, magic, power, whatever you want to call it,” he said. He climbed the rope like a monkey and zipped up past me. “Enjoy it while you’ve got it. I’m going to shield you again as soon as we get up top. I thought giving it back might help you with your fear of heights. It appears I was right.”

He shimmied up the rope faster and pulled himself through the canopy. I huffed, waiting impatiently while the seat slowly inched upward. So not only did he know I had magic, but he could block it. Even though I’d only recently gotten it, having it ripped away from me was unforgivable. I liked him less every second I spent with him.

The leaves tickled the top of my head. I let go of one rope and wrapped my arm around Trevin, waiting for the branches to scratch at us as they pulled us up. But the leaves parted and we emerged above the canopy. I gasped. A city of wood spread out before me. Dozens of people milled around the platform I’d emerged on. Many more watched from above, from platforms reaching high into the treetops.

But only one face stood out to me. There she was, perched only one platform above us, her dark hair cascading over her shoulders and that smile so familiar, so like finding home, that I almost felt my heart burst with joy.

“Mags!” I cried out.

Chapter Three

As soon as my feet hit the wooden platform, I leapt off the bench, my arms wrapped securely around Trevin.

“Lianne! Watch out,” Chase yelled. He grabbed me, pulling me into his arms.

I struggled against him, jabbing my elbow in his gut. Unfortunately, because I was holding Trevin, it didn’t have quite the impact it needed to free me. “Let me go!”

“Stop it,” he screamed in my ear. “You’re going to kill yourself and Trevin if you’re not careful.”

I ceased my struggle and looked down. I’d completely forgotten that I’d just emerged from a hole in the platform. Before they’d had a chance to secure the hatch, I’d tried to step into it. If Chase hadn’t caught me, Trevin and I would have plunged to our deaths.

Still, I didn’t like being trapped in his arms.

“Sorry,” I whispered under my breath, “and thank you.”

“What was that?” he said. “A little louder. I can’t quite hear you.”

“Too bad because I won’t say it again.” I whipped my head around, slapping him on the face with my auburn curls. It would sting. I knew firsthand. While fighting, I always put my hair in a ponytail. I’d been slapped in the face with it more than once. A few times I had left red marks on my own face. I could only hope I’d left a few on his.

“Trevin!” Mags ran toward us. She jumped over the hole as if she’d lived there her whole life. Just a couple weeks ago she’d been confined to her bed most of the time, living a life of luxury as the queen while she cared for Trevin.

She’d changed so much.

Her dark curls bounced around her shoulders. Her eyes sparkled with a vigor I’d never seen in all the years I’d known her. She seemed healthy, happy even. Mags’ dark eyes had always held the weight of the world in them. She’d been forced to marry the king, a man she deeply despised. The only romantic love she’d found in her life died because of me.

“You brought Trevin to me!” She reached over and swiped him from my grasp. She dropped kisses all over Trevin’s little head. He giggled, reaching a hand up toward her face. She rested her cheek on his tiny palm. “Where are my other boys? Daniel and Michael? Are they here too?”

I shook my head. “No, they are still being held at the castle, under constant guard.” If I had known a way to free them, I would have. Mags would know that. She was my best friend.

She looked up at me, a curtain of anger falling across her face.

“And how are you, Lianne? Is Bryden still alive or did you get him killed with your reckless plans too?”

Her words stung me all over, like I’d just disturbed a swarm of angry bees. Aric, the man she’d loved, had died because of our plans to free her. They’d found out that Aric was Trevin’s father, not the king. He’d lost his head for it.

“I didn’t mean for him to die. I swear. He wanted to help us. Particularly you and Trevin. He still loved you, Mags.”

“And look where it got him. My world collapsed that day. I lost both Aric and all three of my sons in one swoop.”

“I know. I’m so sorry.” I reached out to her. Mags took a step back. She pulled Trevin even closer to her chest, as if she was trying to shield him from me. I’d cared for him day and night since I’d rescued him from Kellan’s trap. I took him with the intention to reunite him with his mother. It was the only way I could begin to make up for ruining everything.

“Don’t touch me. Or Trevin. Not ever again. Do you understand me?”

Mags’ eyes turned to stone, all the love she’d once given me was now blocked away. For years, she’d been my friend in a land where everyone hated me because of my birthright. I was nothing to them, little more than a servant to do their bidding. Mags had been just as trapped as I was. Knowing that she blamed me ripped my soul to shreds. Without her, and now without Bryden beside me, I had no one left.

I turned my back on Mags, refusing to beg anymore. “I’ve done what I set out to do in the forest. How do I get back down?”

Chase looked over my head, refusing to meet my gaze.

“I want to leave.” I grabbed his chin with my fingertips and forced him to look down at me. “Can you please tell me how to get back down?”

The others who had used the winches to pull Trevin and me up slowly dispersed. Not one of them looked at me. Within moments, Chase and I were totally alone on the platform. In the distance I heard people talking, but it was clear to me no one was interested in interfering in our conversation.

“You can’t leave, Lianne.”

My fingers dropped from his chin, like I’d been stuck by lightning. “What do you mean? Of course I can.”

“How? Are you going to jump? Fly? Just how are you going to get down to the ground?”

“Well how did you and that other brute get down? Where do your people get food? You can’t expect me to believe no one can leave. I’m not that stupid.”

Chase sighed. “I never suggested you were stupid, but the simple fact is that I cannot allow you to leave. I need you here.”

“You need me? Wrong! Bryden is the one who needs me. Obviously Mags doesn’t want me around either. Why not let me go?”

“I can’t tell you yet.”

I fumed. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn smoke was steaming out my ears. My magic, which I had harnessed on the ride up to the canopy, had apparently left me again. But this time, I noticed it. The fire doused, leaving me feeling completely and totally empty.

“Why are you doing that? How are you doing it?” I wanted to rip his head off. Chase may have taken my magic, but I’d lived without it most of my life and still took good care of myself.

I punched with my right arm and clocked him, hard, on the chin. My body fell into a fighting stance, preparing to take on a new opponent.

“Don’t do this,” Chase said, shaking his head.

“Why? Afraid to get beat up by a girl?”

“No, I’m afraid you’re going to embarrass yourself and then you’ll be even more difficult to be around. What’s happening here,” he said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb toward the tree house community behind us, “is so far beyond anything you can imagine.”

“Don’t give me that,” I fired back. “I know exactly what’s going on. The Fithians thought they were the conquerors and the Dalagans were under their thumb. Turns out it was the other way around and my people were using magic to control the Fithian’s memories. I know it all.”

Chase’s arm flung out and he grabbed my wrist. He twisted it to the side, forcing me to bend at the waist for fear he’d break my arm. I’d used that move on Kellan plenty of times. I thought I was fast, but Chase was quickly proving me wrong.

He forced my elbow to bend. Leaning over my back, Chase’s lips fell to my ear. “This little spat between the Fithians and the Dalagans is nothing. There are bigger issues in the world than you realize.”

I twisted my head to the side. “How is that my problem?”

Chase’s grasp on me loosened. I straightened up and shook my arm out, relieving some of the pressure. Blood rushed through my veins, bringing life back to my sore, tired arm.

“It doesn’t have to be your problem,” Chase admitted with a shrug. “But without you, I can’t finish what I’ve started.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

He held out his calloused hand, palm up. “Will you come with me? There’s something I need to show you.”

I hesitated. Chase had run hot and cold from the moment he’d captured me in the forest. One minute he was treating me like a criminal, the next he wanted my friendship. I wasn’t sure which side of him to trust. I glanced down into the canopy, but I couldn’t see the ground. From my ascent, I knew how high up I was. Jumping was out of the question. Until I could figure a way off this prison in the sky, I decided to play along.

I slipped my hand in Chase’s, trying to ignore the jolt I felt when we touched. It wasn’t anything like the exciting warmth I experience when I was with Bryden. It almost felt like my magic was coming to life, or connecting to a well of unlimited power.

“Show me,” I said.

Chapter Four

Chase held my hand so tight, almost as if he was afraid I’d fall off the platform to my death. I glanced at the picket wooden railings bordering the platform’s edges. They looked strong, but I wasn’t sure how secure they would be if someone tripped or was pushed into them. I found myself squeezing Chase’s hand a little tighter. I knew he was draining my magic from me, I could feel it leaking away with every passing second.

He led me around a few small structures. Dishes clattered and people conversed. “Is that where the residents live?” I asked. Chase nodded. No doubt, there was little privacy in a community like this.

“How secret is this place? Can’t it be seen from the castle?” I asked. Surely someone had to know it was here. It couldn’t be easy to stay hidden.

Chase stopped. I focused on his face because looking over the edge of the railing made my stomach spin in circles. My ears filled with cotton. The railings moved closer, then farther away. Faster and faster, they shook until I couldn’t focus.

“I think I’m...” I slumped at the waist. My shoulders pitched forward and for one split second, I knew I was about to die. Chase’s arms wrapped around my body. He lifted, cradling me like I’d held Trevin not long ago. I rested my head on his shoulder, too dizzy to care that he was whispering in my ear, his lips tickling my earlobe.

“It’s vertigo. You’re not the first. Just hold still and I’ll get you someplace you can rest,” he said.

I nodded and left my chin on his chest. My hair fell across my face, forming a curtain between my eyes and the drop to certain death below me. Not caring what he said, as long as whatever he was promising would mean the dizziness would go away, I let him carry me. It went against every fiber in my being to avoid struggling, but I was too weak to care for once.

His knee lifted, barely scraping my bottom, as he kicked something in front of us. I forced my eyes open. A door swung in front of us. Chase strode through and my breath flowed back into my lungs. I glanced down at the solid wooden floor. It didn’t betray one glimpse of the lengths below us.

“It’s safe here,” he said, placing me gently on a bed. “You can’t see out unless you want to.” He pointed to the windows, far above the height of the bed. “And this cottage has the strongest floor in the community.”

I braved a smile. “Why?”

“Because I reinforced it myself. I grew up in a castle made of stone. The thought of plummeting to the ground had me concerned at first too. When I moved in, there were tiny slits between the wood. I could actually see the leaves below. No, thank you. I wanted them all covered, so I refloored it.”

My head came back to me quickly, the dizziness receding into the background. My ears unclogged and my vision returned to normal.