Feel My Power: The Iron Fae book 2 Page 9

  It disintegrated into green mist, then he was sucked backward into the rift.

  You did it.

  “Two more to go.”

  And they hurtled out of the rift together, ax and spear and all attack. Fuck. I parried and blocked, jabbed and evaded, trying to get a strike to Balor’s eyes or to knock Lugh’s spear from his grasp, but together, they were formidable, even in a weakened state.

  I backed up until I was at the edge of the circle. I’d have to run, make a break for it into the woods, and hope to evade till sunset. They’d have to give chase, and that would wear them down. The old lady said they grew weaker the longer they were on this plane, and they were looking less solid already. If I ran, I might be able to split them up and take the jabs I needed to send them back.

  The chanting grew louder, and Lugh and Balor seemed to glow brighter, stronger. Fucking hell.

  At this rate, I’d never wear them down. The scholars were somehow recharging them.

  The scholars.

  They were doing this.

  They were keeping them here.

  Motherfucker. I dropped to avoid the sting of Balor’s ax and ran left, keeping to the perimeter of the circle and the stones, searching for—

  There, a flash of yellow.

  I whipped to the right, into the sting of whatever magic they’d woven, and made a grab for the Summer scholar. He tried to break free, frantically chanting, eyes wide with horror.

  I could kill him. I could end him, and part of me wanted to do just that. Instead, I punched him in the face hard enough to make his eyes roll back in his head. His chanting stopped, and I dropped his unconscious ass on the ground before making a run for it to avoid Lugh’s spear.

  Metal clanked against stone as I put distance between us.

  The air crackled and fizzed, and I looked back to see Lugh and Balor motionless. Lugh blinked, and the dazed look in his eyes retreated. A frown marred his forehead.

  But then the chanting grew louder, and a glazed look fell over him again. Balor was already striding toward me, ax at the ready.

  It will work. Take out one more scholar, Danika.

  But the scholars had cottoned on to my plan and were on the run. I ran after them, but they were fast. The scene must have looked ridiculous to a bystander. Me running after two Summer scholars, round and round a stone circle while trying to evade two ancient dead with lethal weapons they wanted to slice me up with.

  This was not going how I’d planned.

  Throw me.

  “What?”

  Throw me at one of them. I’ll fly true. I’ll hit my mark.

  “I don’t want to kill anyone.”

  Then you’ll die. You can’t keep this up.

  I’d shed so much blood, killed with a cold heart in the games, but it had been kill or be killed. These scholars… Who knew why they were here? Who knew if they even had a choice?

  Danika, you have to.

  “Knock him out. Pommel to the head.”

  I can’t promise that.

  “Promise me you’ll try.”

  I promise.

  I pulled back my sword arm and launched it into the air toward the nearest scholar. He flew, hilt over tip, and connected with the scholar’s head.

  The scholar went down, and the air popped. The chanting stopped. I locked gazes with the final scholar whose mouth was parted in shock. A dribble of blood ran down his chin.

  What the…? I looked down to see the tip of a spear protruding from his chest. His eyes fluttered closed, and his head slumped. Then he was propelled forward and off the spear by a boot to the back.

  Lugh lowered his spear, his piercing blue eyes fixed on me. He inclined his head as Balor joined him. They both turned and walked into the rift. It closed behind them, and the crackle of power ceased.

  Drones buzzed into the circle, surrounding me, taking shots from all angles. I tipped my head back and looked up at the clear blue sky.

  It was over.

  For now.

  14

  “I want my sword back.” I glared at Aspen, struggling to keep up with his long strides. “Where are we going? Hey!”

  I was yelling at the bastard prince. A Tuatha who could snap my neck with a flick of his wrist if he wished. But he wouldn’t. He needed me. And that made me bold. The corridor we were in was deserted, so being rude to him didn’t matter. There was no one to see.

  He stopped and turned to glare at me. “We’ve been summoned to the assembly hall. The courts have demanded a meeting.”

  He started walking again, slowly this time, so it was easier for me to keep up.

  “What about? I won their stupid blood trial. What the fuck do they want now?”

  He took a breath through his nose and exhaled. “My sources tell me they’re taking issue with you killing a scholar.”

  Killing? “No, I knocked him out, that’s all.”

  “Yes. You knocked one out, which stopped the chanting. The ancient dead killed the other one.”

  “And they blame me?” I stared at him, incredulous. “They’re the fucking ones who raised the dead.”

  “And you broke the chant that controlled them, resulting in a scholar’s demise.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, and he held up a hand to silence me. “I don’t agree with them. It’s a weak ruse to turn the tide in their favor. But we must play the game if we are to win.”

  “I won the blood trial. I survived.”

  “You were supposed to survive till sunset. They will argue that the blood trial was meant to continue until sunset. They will argue that they didn’t get enough time to best you.”

  Was he fucking serious? “Yeah? Well, if they’d had their way, the trial would have gone on forever.”

  He looked down at me with a frown as we made a left. “What do you mean?”

  “Did you know that the ancient dead are weaker on this plane? That the more energy they expend fighting, the weaker they get until they’re forced to return to the death plane?”

  “That wasn’t the information Carkal brought back.”

  I arched a brow. “No. It wasn’t.”

  Aspen’s jaw clenched. “They fed him the wrong intel.”

  “Yeah. Me dying and slipping onto the death plane meant the dead warriors would be stronger. And guess what? There is no sunset over there. They’re also stronger on that side. Summer wanted me on the other side to increase their odds of winning. They recharged the ancient dead on this side when they began to weaken, but thinking back on it now, they probably wouldn’t have been able to keep doing that.”

  He nodded and jerked his head to indicate we keep walking. “And now they want to object to your methods of bringing the trial to an end. They want recompense for the death of a scholar that they claim wasn’t part of the blood trial.”

  “They want my sword.”

  “No, they can’t keep the sword. It belongs to Winter Court, but they can prevent you from using it in the next two trials.”

  Which could only mean one thing. “The sword is a threat to them in the next trial.”

  He nodded. “They saw your skill with the blade. It wasn’t a long trial. To them, you fought for less than half an hour, and two minutes of that, you were gone, vanished through a rift, but it was enough time for you to showcase your skill.”

  We were at the assembly hall doors now. “I need my sword.”

  “I know,” he said. “So, let’s try and get it back to you.”

  The doors to the assembly hall swung open, and we walked into the gloom beyond, lit only by the huge holoscreen. Four faces watched our approach.

  The Summer Queen looked pissed. “We’ve been waiting,” she said tightly.

  “And now we’re here,” Aspen said. “What is it you wished to discuss?” He said it coolly with an enquiring edge, as if he really had no clue why we’d been summoned. He was good at this subterfuge shit, and if I didn’t dislike him so much, I’d have admired him.

  Summer looked down her no
se at us. “Your champion murdered one of our scholars, and she was unable to endure the blood trial until sunset. She must undertake a fresh trial and pay a price for the death of one of my people.”

  “Aspen,” the Winter King said. “I don’t recall a proviso stating that the trial had to continue till sunset. Am I mistaken?”

  “No, Your Majesty,” Aspen said. “Winter’s Blade was merely meant to survive until sunset, and she did that with much time to spare.”

  The Summer Queen pressed her lip together in a flat line. “Regardless, she killed a scholar. He was not part of the blood trial.”

  “I would argue that to be false,” Aspen said. “You would have no trial without your scholars to raise the dead. Winter’s Blade played the game. She survived by stopping the chanting. A smart move. And now you wish to penalize her for her intelligence?”

  It was the Autumn King who spoke. “Have you forgotten the edict that protects the knowledge keepers, Aspen?”

  I looked up at Aspen to find him pouting as if in thought. “Ah, that ancient edict. Is that still in play?” He tilted his head to the side. “Let me see, how does it go again? Ah, yes. Scholars are not warriors, they are not champions, and therefore must not be harmed in any games.”

  Fuck, was that a thing? Why hadn’t anyone told me that?

  The Autumn King’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Yes, that edict.”

  Aspen nodded. “I don’t recall it being added to the provisos for the games. Such an ancient edict should have been clarified, and Winter’s Blade should have been informed of it.”

  “Valamor,” the Winter King said. “I begin to tire of this. In fact, I’m beginning to wonder if this is a ruse on your part.”

  “We have legitimate standing,” the Summer Queen huffed. “We—"

  “Can, in hindsight, appreciate that Winter’s Blade may not have been aware of the edict,” the Autumn King said.

  The Summer Queen looked confused, but the Autumn King forged on.

  “And therefore concede Winter to be the victor of the Summer blood trial. However, Summer must be compensated for the loss of life to maintain smooth relations, of course…”

  The Winter King sighed. “Go on…”

  “Its demand that the sword of conquest be prohibited from the games is a small price to ask in recompense.”

  The Winter King nodded slowly.

  Wait, was he agreeing to this? I looked across at Aspen, hoping he’d interject, but his lips were pressed together, and his face was eerily calm.

  “A small recompense,” the Summer Queen said. “Remove the sword from play to show good faith.”

  No. I needed my sword.

  “Done,” the Winter King said. “Aspen, see that Winter’s Blade gets a new weapon.”

  Aspen inclined his head, and the screens went blank, but not before I caught the smug look on the Autumn King’s face.

  The bastard had wanted this. I’d been right. He wanted me without the weapon of conquest, which meant the next trial was going to be even more of a bitch.

  * * *

  We exited the assembly room, and I rounded on Aspen. “I thought you were going to fight for me?”

  His eyes narrowed as he looked down at me. “You have it twisted, Blade. You fight for me.”

  “Yeah? And how the fuck do I do that without my sword?”

  “You pick another weapon. We have plenty of swords for you to choose from.”

  He didn’t get it. He really didn’t get how special my sword was. “I want it back.”

  “You’ll have it, but you can’t take it to the trial with you. I’ll have Slade take you to the armory, and you can choose a new weapon for the Autumn trial tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow. I was fucking exhausted. They might have only seen me fight for twenty minutes, but for me, it had been at least an hour, not to mention all the fucking running.

  “Oh, and before I forget,” he said. “Your family seems to have some sickness and has quarantined themselves in their home, which has delayed their move to central city. You are prohibited from visiting them until they are well. I cannot have my Blade getting sick.”

  Baba had done it. He’d made them believe they were all sick. Hope bloomed in my chest. Now it was up to Magnus to get them to a safe house.

  Slade appeared as if out of nowhere. He looked down at me coolly. “Winter’s Blade, please come with me.”

  I was more than ready to get away from Aspen.

  * * *

  Slade didn’t speak a word to me as he led me through the Keep. We took a pod to the domestic floor, which I was pretty certain wouldn’t house the armory.

  “Um, Slade, is this the way to the armory?”

  “No,” he said, and kept going.

  Wait, this was the way to his rooms. We reached his quarters moments later.

  I looked up at him in confusion. “Slade?”

  He shoved open the door. “Get in, please.”

  I stepped into the room, and he followed before closing the door behind him.

  What was he up to? I turned to face him and was engulfed in a hug that pressed me to his powerful chest and crushed me to him with his tank arms.

  He rested his chin on the top of my head and held me for long, achingly sweet minutes in which every muscle in my body relaxed and unwound. My body melted against him, and I hugged him back, lapping up the contact as if it were ambrosia.

  Finally, he loosened his hold and pulled away slightly. “I needed that,” he said gruffly.

  I lifted my chin to look up at him. “No. I needed that. Thank you.”

  “You’re so tiny,” he said. “So fragile, and yet you survived the ancient dead. You went into the death realm, and you came back.” He looked at me with awe. “I know you won the Regency Games, but I didn’t know you then, and now…”

  “You thought I wouldn’t make it.”

  His chest heaved. “I was…afraid you wouldn’t. I was afraid I wouldn’t see you again.” There was a tentative edge to his tone, a yearning that made my chest ache and my mouth go dry.

  “I’m okay. I made it back.”

  He touched my cheek lightly with his index finger. “Yes, but you have to be tested again tomorrow.”

  I ducked my head, fixing my gaze on his chest so he wouldn’t see the fear in my eyes. “I’ll deal. I have no choice.”

  His finger trailed down my jaw and hooked under my chin, forcing it up so he could study my face. “You have no choice but to go, but you do have a choice of what weapon you take with you.”

  “You heard about that?”

  “I was in the room, operating the screen. I heard it all.”

  “Then you know we need to pick me out a kick-ass weapon.”

  “I already have,” he said.

  I frowned up at him. “You have?”

  His grin stretched his bottom lip over his tusks and showcased the rest of his even white teeth. “Yes, I have.”

  “What is it?”

  “Me.”

  15

  I stared into Slade’s warm brown eyes. “I don’t understand. What do you mean you’re the weapon?”

  “I’m Airm Marfach.”

  Airm Marfach meant Lethal Weapon. Oh shit. Slade was offering himself to me. Offering to head into danger with me, as my weapon. I had no words. My throat was tight, my heart beat fast, and a fluttery sensation unfurled in my chest to accompany it.

  “Will they allow it?”

  “They won’t have a choice. You can have your pick of weapons, and my official title labels me as one.”

  The panic at the loss of my sword ebbed a little, but then concern for his welfare filled my mind. I knew first-hand how brutal these games were. How deadly. He may be Airm Marfach, but I doubted he’d ever been hunted.

  I couldn’t let him do this. “No.”

  “No?” he snorted. “I’m not asking, Danika.”

  “You don’t know what it’s like to be hunted.”

  “Maybe not, but I know how it felt to wa
tch them hunt you. I want to be there.”

  “Why?”

  “I need to protect you.” He stroked my hair. “I won’t let them snuff you out. You’re too important.”

  Important? My heart leaped for some stupid reason, then reality slapped me in the face. Of course I was important to him because, without me, he and his friends had no way out of this place. I was their link to Killion, and why did that spawn a bitter, hollow feeling inside me?

  I smiled up at him. “Okay. I get it. I’ll take you with me.”

  A slight frown marred his forehead. “Do you? Get it?”

  I pulled away from him. “You need me alive so I can get you and the others like you out of here, and I need to save my sister, and Killion…I want to see him again.”

  “Killion the weapon?” Slade asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Is he your lover?”

  My cheeks heated. “No.”

  “But you want him to be?”

  I opened my mouth to say yes. That yes, I wanted to be with Killion, but the words wouldn’t come.

  Slade’s frown deepened. “Danika, do you love him? Does he love you?”

  Killion had always been there. My mentor, my guide. He’d trained me to stay alive, and somewhere along the line, I’d developed romantic feelings for him, and when he’d kissed me, my whole body had come alive. But love? Was that love?

  He’d called me his trigger. He’d told me I was his, but he’d never said he loved me. I was probably being ridiculous. There hadn’t been time for that, right?

  Regardless, I didn’t have the energy to worry about that now. “I don’t know Slade, and honestly, right now, that’s irrelevant. I need to focus on staying alive. I stayed so I could get my sister out, and in four days, when Killion comes for me, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

  Slade tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “So, let’s make sure you make it through these trials.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “I’ve been dying to kick some cold one ass and not get reprimanded for it. I’m going to enjoy the fuck outta this.”

  His enthusiasm sparked a hunger inside me. The fire to fight and win. “You know what, I think I’m going to enjoy the fuck outta it too.”