Night Seeker

Chapter 13

We’d been walking for about ten minutes when we found a meadow, with a large boulder in the center. We huddled near the granite slab, waiting, and within twenty minutes, I looked overhead and saw the great horned owl. Wrath. He’d found us. He circled high, getting his bearings, then slowly settled to the ground, turning back into the King of Summer as he landed. I ran over to him.

“We found the heartstone. But Myst almost caught us. Kaylin took the gem and dreamwalked out of there.”

“I know. He was there when I left.” My father stared at me. “He told us about the end fight. How did you escape Myst?” His gaze pierced into me and I knew I’d have to tell him what had happened. Everything, without censoring myself.

“The fan…it took hold of me and I became the hurricane. And then I used the obsidian blade to slaughter one of the Shadow Hunters. Myst and her other two guardians ran. She was scared of me.” My words came out in a rush as I realized what I was saying. But it was true. I’d seen her face, felt the shock in her. Myst had retreated.

Wrath pressed his lips together. He let out a long breath and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Come, we need to get home. Lainule must have her heartstone and you must be the one to present it to her. I cannot touch it. We will speak of these other things later.” But under the steady tones of his voice, I could hear the thunder in the distance.

We were a mere ten minutes from the road, though the distance was some nine or ten miles from where we’d begun our journey two days back. I called Peyton and gave her my father’s coordinates and as we trudged through the snow, none of us said much. At least Kaylin had made it back. And it was daylight, so I wouldn’t have to deal with Lannan-whatever his state-until tonight.

We broke through the undergrowth, out onto the road without any interference and there was Peyton, waiting. She looked grim, as we climbed into the car, but gave me a weary smile.

“I’m so glad you’re back. Lannan’s been pissed out of his mind and he’s been raging around the mansion.”

“Why did you go there instead of stay in the realm of Summer?” I glanced at her, then Wrath. Both of them looked uncomfortable.

Peyton bit her lip. “The energy within Summer’s realm is like alcohol to my father. He was giddy on it, and one of the guards tried to goad him into drinking wine. Rex is a recovering alcoholic. He felt cornered, and when a werepuma feels cornered, the resulting tiff isn’t pretty.”

Wrath sighed. “Rex turned into his puma self and went after the guard. He didn’t hurt him-” He held up his hand when I shot up, worried that Peyton’s father might have been hurt. “Neither man was harmed. But it wasn’t an auspicious start and it seemed better to have them join Lannan in his mansion. Luna and Zoey went with them. I checked on them yesterday and they were fine, and Lannan-for all his foibles-kept them safe. The realm of Summer is an uneasy place for any but those of Fae blood, either half or full.”

I grumbled, leaning back, but kept my mouth shut. I had the feeling the guard had been deliberately baiting Rex, but there was no way to prove it, and really, what good would it do except to cause even more animosity? So I decided to leave it alone. We had enough problems as it was.

“Is Lannan angry at me for not showing up for two nights?” Better to hear what I was in for now, rather than be surprised when we got back to the mansion.

“Lannan is…shall we say…livid. He swore that if you didn’t come back in one piece, he’d go after Wrath and Lainule himself.” Peyton cleared her throat, glancing at Wrath in the rearview mirror. But he just shrugged.

“The vampire would stand no chance. We have more powers than he can imagine.” He glanced at me. “And some of us are letting our powers run wild.”

I shivered under his watchful eye. I knew Wrath was pissed at me for disobeying him about the knife. And Lainule wouldn’t be all that pleased by how casually I’d been using the fan, but too fucking bad. We didn’t have a choice. And I’d proven one thing: We could scare Myst.

Peyton wound through the streets. It was unnaturally quiet in New Forest, hardly anybody on the sidewalks, even though it was now morning.

“Did something happen?” I glanced around sharply. There was a feeling in the air of foreboding. I could practically smell the fear.

She cleared her throat again. “There was another massacre last night. A theater. The Vampiric Fae got in and barred the other exits. It was…bad.”

“How bad?” I didn’t want to hear, but I had no choice. I had to know.

“Thirteen dead, before they could get the exits open. Another five killed in the streets. Four of them children. People are asking what happened to Geoffrey. Lannan’s scheduled to give a speech tonight. He’d do it by television, but his image wouldn’t show up on it, so he’s going to give it via radio. A notice has gone out in the paper about it, and a news team will broadcast the audio simultaneously on television.”

“Eighteen dead?”

“Yeah. There would have been more, but Lannan’s guards busted up the scene. They took down seven Shadow Hunters. Lannan said he’s not going to pussyfoot around with the public. He’s going to warn them about Myst and tell people to get the hell out if they can.”

I stared at my nails, pretending to examine them. There he went again, doing something I was forced to give him credit for. I didn’t want to give him kudos. I wanted to fault him for everything I possibly could, but the fact was that Geoffrey had tiptoed around this matter until people died. Lannan was taking direct action.

“That’s going to be dangerous. You can bet Myst will try to stop him.” The thought of Myst getting hold of Lannan set my stomach on edge. As much as I’d threatened to stake him, at the core Lannan wasn’t the enemy.

“That’s why Lainule must rise today. She can marshal the Summer Guardians. They take their orders from her. They would obey me, but they look to her for morale and inspiration and there is very little of that in the realm lately. If Lainule returns to health…they will willingly fight.” Wrath leaned forward. “Can you drive any faster?”

Peyton nodded and stepped on the gas. The car roared and lurched forward. I leaned back in the seat, closing my eyes. I wanted to ask what Luna’s sister had found but not in front of Grieve-there were too many risks for me to get his hopes up yet.

“Another thing,” Peyton said as she rounded a curve, hugging the road with the car. She was an excellent driver.

“What now?”

“I called Ysandra at the Consortium. I told her that we need help tonight-that when Lannan gives the order to get out of town, we know Myst is going to try to stop him. She said she’d send one of their elite squads. I have no clue what she meant by that, but it sounds like the cavalry is coming.” She sounded very pleased with herself and I gave a little cheer.

“Good going. We need all the help we can get.” We were squashed into the car like bugs, but I didn’t care. The promise of a hot shower and clean, warm clothes loomed large in my mind.

But first…first we would visit Lainule, and I would take her the heartstone, and she would survive. For the rest of the drive we were silent, all deep in our thoughts. I leaned my head on Grieve’s shoulder and he slipped his arm around my shoulders. At this point, any comfort was better than none.

Wrath hurried us into the mansion, under the watchful eyes of Lannan’s day-runners. He surprised me by instructing me to take a quick shower. “You need to revive yourself, to be at your best. And by now I know you enough to know that a shower will help. Your cousin must also come with us. And Chatter and Grieve. The rest-stay here.”

Surprised that the others were coming, too, I acceded without question. I followed Peyton, who led me up the stairs of what had been Geoffrey’s mansion and now belonged to my own master. Master. The word grated on my tongue, but I had to accept it-Lannan owned my contract. And we needed him too much right now for me to fight the fact.

The room he’d assigned to me was lush, with blatant sexual portraits lining the walls. Although they could all be called art, they were definitely erotica bordering on outright porn. Lannan was needling me but I ignored it. The bathroom beckoned, and I stripped on my way there, leaving clothes in a trail behind me. My skin was raw and chapped, and in the warehouse we’d had to use a sink to wash up. This bathroom was anything but utilitarian.

The spa tub lured me like a promise from a lover, but I knew that I didn’t have time for that luxury. But soon, I whispered to it. Soon I’d be soaking in a bubble bath. Instead, I chose a vanilla-scented bodywash from the selection on the counter and entered the walk-in shower. The tiles were heated, radiant heat pouring through the floor, and I groaned as I sank to the bench in the stall. I turned on the rain showerhead full force and let the soothing, steaming water stream over my naked body.

My muscles hurt. My bones hurt. Everything ached. I closed my eyes, leaning back as the spray hit me full force from three directions. I pushed away the thought of where I was and just enjoyed the beading water on my skin. My hand drifted over my stomach, over my wolf, and I felt a warm growl come from it, and the flare of arousal.

Lightly stroking the tattoo, I closed my eyes and thought of Grieve, of his platinum hair streaming down his shoulders and his otherworldly features and those brilliant dark eyes, black as night, swirling with stars. I thought of his hands and how they played across my body, and his lean, muscled frame and how I felt when I ran my tongue across his chest and down toward the V leading to his cock.

My wolf let out a low rumble and I circled it with my hand. “My love,” I whispered. “I am thinking of you. Wanting you.”

The next moment, I felt someone watching me. My eyes flew open and I looked up to see Grieve, standing beside me, naked and aroused. I did not question him, said nothing, but opened my arms as he reached down to embrace me. He lifted me to stand in front of him, leaned me against his shoulder, danced with me under the water, slowly moving, kissing my hair, my face, my lips. I sought his mouth and pressed against it, my tongue sliding between the soft folds of his lips as he turned and sat on the bench, bringing me down on him, to slide down the length of his cock.

As he rigidly thrust inside me, I moaned, my pussy opening up like a flower blooming to spring. I leaned back, braced by his arms, the water pounding against my breasts and face, soaking in the heat of the steam and the heat of his body. Grieve let out a low groan and, holding me tightly, gently lowered me to the floor of the shower. As the water pulsed over us, he began to thrust, his cock rubbing against my clit, driving me higher. The steam grew thick around us, and the water streamed off his back, down his sides, to rain lightly against me.

I rested my head on the heated tiles, my back soapy and sliding as he drove into me, again and again. Seeking for something I couldn’t even verbalize, I gazed into his face, drinking in his expression.

Grieve snarled, his teeth gleaming. And his snarl hit my core like whisky, burning my throat, burning my stomach, making me ache for him to eat me up, drink me down, to possess me in a way no one ever had.

My breasts rubbed against his chest with every stroke he made, and I began to cry. The world was heartless and hopeless, but here, within this shower stall, within this tiny bubble where we were the only two alive, I felt the power that we could create between us.

“I love you. I love you with my heart and my soul, forever and ever.” I whispered the words, not trusting the slipstream. If it caught them, it might carry them afar, to those waiting to destroy what happiness we’d managed to scrape together.

“Cicely, you are my own. You are my queen. You are the world for me. There is no life without you.” He pressed his lips to mine again, driving the words out of my thoughts until only passion remained.

I wondered if we were going to meet Luna’s sister before we left, but that was not to be. We were dressed and downstairs without too much delay, where Wrath simply looked at us and nodded to the crystal box sitting on the table. I slowly approached. Lainule’s heartstone shimmered within, glowing, fading. Picking up the box, I felt it quicken.

Rhia and Chatter joined us, looking rosy-cheeked, and I had the feeling their shower had gone something along the lines of ours. But none of us spoke. There was nothing left to say until we found out if this was going to work.

Wrath led us out onto the grounds, where Peyton and Rex were waiting. They drove us to the rippling waters of Dovetail Lake-a large pond or small lake, depending on how you looked at it. We remained silent. So much rode on what would happen next. If Lainule failed to rally…I didn’t want to even think about the consequences then.

Peyton and Rex waited in the car for us. Since it was daylight, the chance of being attacked by Shadow Hunters was almost nil. We headed out, to the portal leading to Summer.

A guard was on the lookout for us. I don’t know how he knew we were coming, but it was obvious he’d been expecting us. Wrath looked at him.

“My Lady?”

“Still lives, my Lord.”

Wrath nodded, then led us through the shimmering veil into the realm of Summer. I reveled as the warm weather hit but was struck by the leaves on the trees. There was no mistaking it this time. They were turning color. Autumn had found its way into the Court of Rivers and Rushes, and the bloom was fading even as Lainule’s powers waned.

We followed him through the grass, to the royal barrow. Once again, we were ushered into a hushed chamber, and from there, Wrath led us to Lainule’s bedchamber. As I entered, I couldn’t help but let out a prayer to whoever might be listening that this work.

“Approach the bed.” Wrath motioned for the others to stand back as I slowly drew close to the four-poster bed and climbed the steps beside it. Lainule looked still as death, but her lips were parted and I could still see the rise and fall of her breast as she took shallow breaths.

“I have your heartstone.” I leaned down and handed her the box, but she could not reach up for it. Biting my lip, I turned back, but Wrath would not speak to me, and I realized it was up to me to figure out what to do.

I opened the lid and the pulsing of the heartstone filled the room. I thought I heard panpipes, and drums echoing in the distance, and a sudden wash of the scents of apple and honey and sweet wine rushed past me. I closed my eyes as a ray of sun broke through the room, coming from the center of the heartstone as its brilliant green rays collided with the lights that sparkled in the air and on the walls.

Slowly, hoping I was not making a mistake, I lifted the heartstone out of the box and held it in my hands. It burned brightly against my skin, and I cried out, almost dropping it as my skin reddened. I turned quickly, on instinct.

“Rhia-come help me.”

Rhiannon nimbly climbed the steps and sat beside me. She reached up, took the heartstone from my hands, and gasped, her head dropping back as a low growl of ecstasy rolled from her throat. I stared at her. Her hair sprang out of its braid, wild around her shoulders.

“On her chest-the stone must rest on her chest.” I knew what to do, but it turned out I wasn’t the one who could actually do it. However, I could pull down Lainule’s comforter to expose her perfect, tanned breasts. They were lovely and I stared at her. Unearthly she was in her beauty, even though she was almost dead.

Rhia slowly lowered the stone to rest on Lainule’s chest, between her breasts, and a rumble filled the chamber. The music grew louder, the drums grew stronger. I clasped my hands to my ears, but Rhia reached out and grabbed them, and we held hands, waiting and watching. The roar was deafening, and yet the music caught me up in its rhythm and I began to drift.

The stone began to glow so brightly that I thought it would blind me. And then it began to-melt? The gem began to liquefy against Lainule’s skin, and the liquid emerald pooled between her breasts. I wanted to reach out, to touch the glowing gem’s essence, but I knew better. I kept hold of Rhia’s hands. We watched, wordless, speechless, as the gemstone liqueur began to soak into Lainule’s body, leaving a red mark on her skin where it had been.

As the drumming grew louder and the panpipes more frenzied, Lainule’s eyes began to flutter.

Wrath uttered a low moan and fell to his knees, hanging his head. He looked both overjoyed and bereft, the two emotions waging war in his eyes. Grieve and Chatter looked slightly confused, but then Grieve looked up at me and caught my gaze and I felt a stirring from my wolf, but this time it wasn’t seductive so much as a recognition of something I felt I should understand but didn’t.

Another moment and the heartstone had vanished into Lainule’s skin. Her breathing grew stronger, and in the next beat she sprang to a sitting position, her eyes flying open. She turned to me, her face a whirl of expression, and then she looked at Rhiannon.

The next moment, tears began to trickle down her cheeks. “Thank you, my girls. Thank you. You are both my salvation and my doom.” And with that, she rose from her bed, glowing like the sunrise, and I realized that I’d never truly seen her in her power. I’d only met her after Myst drove her from her center, from the core that made up her wellspring.

“What do you mean, your doom?” My words hung in the air as Lainule ducked her head, smiling.

She leaned down to give me a kiss on the forehead. “Worry not about it at this moment, child. What is to be is now in motion. What was is passing away. What is important is that we now have some control over this situation. Now I can fight back.” She turned to Wrath, who sprang to her side. “My Lord, I am so sorry…”

“No more. Say no more. ’Tis all forgotten, my beloved.” He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her, long and deep, and I felt their bond-an ancient one from times long past. “I will go with you, wherever you journey. You know that, my sweet.” He rested his head on her shoulder.

“I can be a trial at times, and my whims are not always pleasant, but you have always been there, to walk by my side.” She held the back of his head, a tender look on her face, and I felt like we should turn away, leave the room-this was a private moment, intimate in a way beyond even sex.

“And always, always shall I be.”

They kissed again, and then Lainule turned to me. She held out her hand. “My stepdaughter, come. You and your cousin.”

I stepped forward again, Rhia beside me. “Lainule, I am so glad to see you are well and healed.” I gazed at her. Something was different, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

“Healed? I suppose you can call it that. Come now, I must be off to rally my warriors. There is to be havoc tonight-I can feel it rising in the air and Myst is behind it.” She paused, looking at me again. “What did you do to yourself? Cicely…the fan…”

I hung my head. “I was facing Myst. I summoned up a hurricane. I became the storm.” And that’s when I realized that’s exactly what had happened. I hadn’t been caught up by the hurricane, I had become the hurricane. I had carried the winds with me as I moved. I turned to her. “That’s why you warned me about the fan-why you had Ulean warn me?”

She smiled faintly, the aloof reserved nature creeping back. “Yes. Once the fan masters you, you will be forever ridden by the Element. You now belong to the air, my young one. It is good your Cambyra nature is Uwilahsidhe-the owl.”

“What would happen if I’d had something where its primary element was earth?”

“You would be soil-bound, tied forever to the earth, unable to fly. You would be hobbled when in owl form. As it is, you have enhanced your natural abilities, but the price is a great one. However, you have paid a far greater price by restoring me. Do not think I will forget your deed.”

I wanted to ask just what price I’d paid, but before I could, Lainule turned to Rhiannon. “By your births, you and Cicely are tied to each other’s fate. Your life is about to shift, my dear, in ways you could never imagine. But there will be time enough for that later. I must be away, to round up my Summer Guardians. Quickly, tell me what is happening. I can feel the shift on the slipstream.”

And so, a thousand questions whirling in the back of my mind, I forced myself to push them away as we told her about Lannan, Geoffrey, and the rumble we expected that evening.

Lainule dismissed us but bade us stay within the realm for a while longer. “I will have news for you. Go and rest for a moment.”

Wrath stayed with her, while Rhiannon, Grieve, Chatter, and I left the barrow. The leaves on the trees were no longer fading-I could feel the shift, but they hadn’t regained their color as I’d expected.

“I want to go flying while we’re here.” The feel of the sun on my skin made me long to shed my clothes and soar into the sky.

“Aren’t you tired?” Rhia wrapped her arm around my waist as we sat on a stone bench outside the barrow. The cobblestone seat was engraved with runes and swirls, with delicate chips of peridot and garnet caught in the mortar holding together the smooth, rounded pebbles. I traced the stones with my fingers, listening to the zing of magic that raced up my hands.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, letting the sun stream on my face. “Exhausted of this battle? Yes. Tired? No. But I want to fly. I need to stretch my wings.”

“Then do so.” Grieve leaned over me, looking strangely out of place. “Fly free, my love. Take it on the wing.”

I glanced around. “Would anybody mind?”

“Go ahead. It will be all right. And we are safe here.”

I stood, shedding my clothes. I was beginning to feel less self-conscious about the process, and nakedness was starting to be commonplace with me. Rhia watched, a smile playing on her lips.

“I’ve never really seen you change. We’ve always been in battle, or you’ve shifted before I came on the scene, or something or other. Now I get to watch what happens. Does it hurt?” she asked.

I shrugged. “A little. More so when it’s cold, but that’s one of the downsides. It’s like…shedding your skin. Putting on a new mask for the night. Or, rather, taking off a mask.” I wasn’t sure exactly whether the owl form was my natural form, or the two-legged Cambyra/magic-born, but right now I didn’t care.

I stepped away from the bench and looked for a tree. The oak nearby would do. Nimbly, I swung up, caught the lowest branch, and climbed up the bark face, ignoring the abrasions it caused my knees and feet. After a few minutes, I was high enough to edge out on a thick limb-carefully, considering it was between my legs. I did not need a set of pussy slivers to deal with.

Cautiously, I held on to the trunk as I stood, balancing on the branch, bending slightly to keep several of the higher branches from knocking me off. The ground was a dizzying distance below, but it didn’t bother me. Instead, I clutched my moonstone pendant and closed my eyes, feeling the power grow. Then, with one long deep breath, I spread my arms and toppled forward.

The rush of air whistled around me as I fell. The rush of plummeting to the ground sent me into a delighted giggle as I began to transform. Arms to wing, torso to body, nails to talons-and then I soared. The updraft carried me aloft, and I realized I could hear laughter in the wind around me.

Ulean? Is that you laughing?

No, but I am here.

Who did I hear?

The wind spirits. Sylphan ones. They are playing in the currents and they dance now around you. They want to play.

How do they play?

With their biting winds and whirling leaves.

And then I felt them. I could feel the swirl of their bodies, the tailwinds in their wake. I spun and flew, diving into the center of their circle and through to the other side. They wheeled around me, laughing. I rode the currents, soared upward, screeching loud as the freedom of being on the wing overtook me. All I wanted to do was fly, soar, hunt, ignore everything else. I rode the winds, feeling free again for the first time in a while.

As I swooped down to speed past Rhia and Grieve and Chatter, I heard their laughter as they watched me, Rhiannon pointing with wonder in her eyes. And then, as I circled, I saw the great horned owl-my father-waiting in the tree for me. I soared up, losing my playful spirit, intent. As I settled on the branch near him, I could feel his desire to hunt.

Come with me. We will hunt. You need the practice.

And so I followed him, wings outspread, into the wide field, as we went to catch our prey. Hunters, we were, and usually cloaked in shadows. Maybe there was a little bit of Myst in us both.