Ever Wrath

THE VISCOUS FLOW
of blood dripped from the razor’s edge of Shade’s sword, black as pitch, which coated the ground beneath her in a gritty mess. She could hear the next Unseelie warrior coming around the bend, where the pine trees stood tall and the ground shifted with the accumulation of dried leaves and needles. Bending her knees, she held the sword out horizontally. Her eyes focused on the faraway drifts of rustling wind, and her ears listened to every traitorous snap of twigs under feet.

With a blur,
she flicked her wrists, and the blade met its target, allowing another smear of red to join the darkened, sticky blood pouring over her fingers and embedding itself in the cracked lines in her hands. The warrior fell, never to fight again. He hadn’t had even a chance to reciprocate. She listened for more, but nothing else echoed across the vast trunks of trees with their branches softly swaying in the breeze, stretching across the horizon like welcoming arms.

Wiping her sword on the dirty clothes covering one of the
downed Unseelie she had bested, she frowned, noting their pale skin and blackened eyes. A flash of memory stumped her, and a vision of the malicious Lady Blythe echoed in her mind. The woman’s inhuman screech resonated like a phantom, chastising her as her blackened insect eyes stared her down from a time long ago. Lady Blythe, evil Queen of the Dryads and ally to the Unseelie Queen Aveta, was long dead and only lived in a sliver of Shade’s thoughts.

“Are there
any more?” Nautilus bounded from behind her, his long, dark dreadlocks swinging over his shoulders as he halted. Dylan flanked her to the right, covered in equal amounts of dirt and blood. His black hair was dusted from a struggle, and dried leaves stuck to his armor as his gleaming, steel-colored eyes scanned the horizon, eager for more-challenging foes.

“No,
that’s the last of them for now,” she answered. She pulled a rag from her pack and wiped her hands as best she could. An odd, chilled feeling washed over her as she watched the rag turn colors from the gore and blood. How long ago had she been a normal teenager, struggling with grades, homework and meddling voices echoing in her head? Now… well, things were vastly different. She was a queen of an entire Faerie realm, engaged to a handsome Teleen warrior, and didn’t have any qualms about killing anyone.

It made her chuckle and shake her head, earning a puzzled look from both Dylan and Nautilus.

The hardened shell around her heart had solidified the day her mother was killed. Jade had been her rock, the one person who’d kept her family from falling apart. Now it was all up to Shade to keep her sister and brothers together. Benton was in charge, for now, back at the Scren Palace in the south, even after griping and grumbling about missing out on the action of this precarious mission. Shade just couldn’t risk losing any more family. It would crush what little humanity was left inside her.

Hopefully
, all would go as planned and they would be on their way back home to the palace with the Summer Ancient Kilara in tow. If they were lucky, they’d find Rowan, the Spring Ancient, as well. But that was a big “if.”

Shade
squinted toward the horizon, down into the majestic lake below. More morbid feelings crept into her chest and arrested her breath before she could swat them away. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on slowing her heart rate, willing the uncertainty to leave. Nothing would stop her from completing her mission. She’d make sure the Unseelie would pay with flesh and blood for everything they’d done to her and her family, and more.

“Hey.
” Dylan’s voice yanked her out of her head, and she glanced over to him as his warm hand slipped over her shoulder. “What’s bothering you?”

Shaking her head, she stuffed the bloody cloth back into her
pack and stood up. “We’re close. I can feel Kilara. We need to continue to the shoreline of the lake. I know her sanctuary can’t be that far.” With that, she paused, indulging in a brief admiration of his features and flushing as he reciprocated.

Since leaving
Teleen, his light skin had morphed into a nice, rich tan, causing the startling shine of his gunmetal eyes to flash even brighter than before. His dark, black hair had grown past his shoulders, stopping mid back in length, but remained tied back in a tight ponytail. She reached up to push back a loose strand of black then plucked a small leaf clinging to his locks. His sharp nose flared, and she could tell her touch was affecting him more than she would ever know.

Watching him react to her
actions made a smile play at the corners of her mouth. She felt it, too, even when she let her hand drop away to find her ring finger, where her engagement band remained snug against her skin. It tingled, filled with magic. In Faerie, the promise of marriage carried powerful bonds. She knew Dylan’s matching ring would be tingling as well, letting them both feel their emotions even more than without the rings. Their blood bind amplified their connection, which had been unsettling at first, but she’d gotten more used to it as time went on. It stopped short of allowing them to read each other’s thoughts—she was grateful it didn’t go that far—and even though it was rather invasive, it was still comforting at times.

“Let’s go.
” Dylan offered his hand to her, and she slipped her grimy fingers, still sticky with blood, through his. At least down by the water they could wash up before continuing. Hopefully, the small bands of Unseelie soldiers had finished with them for now.

Trekking their way down the
mountainside, Shade felt more at home than she’d ever felt at the Scren Palace. The weather was cooler here, but the smell of pine and mulch laced with a taint of ozone was calming. The robust trees stretched upward with seemingly endless branches, stroking the sky. Maybe one day, she would live here. Maybe then the insanity of it all would smooth over and let her breathe once more. With Aveta and Arthas lurking about, it would be a terribly long time before peace would once again reign.

“And if
it’s not on the shoreline?” Nautilus jogged up beside her, pushing Dylan ahead of them. He didn’t exactly like Dylan, but the mutual respect of a former captain and a current captain of the Teleen Guard kept them in check.

“If what
’s not on the shoreline?” Shade asked and craned her neck toward him, confused by his question.

“Lake Tahoe is a vast lake,
very cold and exceptionally deep. It’s a former volcano, now dormant. So many places to hide at the bottom of a dark lake, don’t you think? Though it does make for a perfect place for Kilara’s sanctuary.” Nautilus smirked.

His eyes sparkled,
as if he was mischievously hiding some conniving thoughts under their twinkling exteriors. They were similar to Dylan’s, but with hazel specks throughout and without the metal sheen. His skin was also darker. The days spent outdoors had quickly shaded it even more since they’d met, making his dark dreadlocks stand starkly against the browning of his tan. His merfolk and Teleen background was puzzling, making Shade wonder how that had come about.

“That’s what
you’re here for.” Shade threw him a toothy grin and changed direction, following Dylan down a brushy incline where the branches poked at her arms and scraped her skin, grasping at her as if to never let her escape. The sharp rocks dug into her hands as she allowed her body to slide down the slope, steadying herself with one arm. It was the fastest way to get down, but not one without annoying injuries.

“I can swim down there
, if that’s what you mean, but you, Miss Elemental, can’t breathe underwater. Or… can you?” Nautilus caught up at the bottom of the hill, but she didn’t answer him. Joining her, he reached over to pluck some twigs ensnarled with the ends of Shade’s hair as she dusted her clothes off. Dylan’s eyes burned into him from ahead, but he didn’t care. He was always game for an invigorating spat.

Shade
ignored them both, more bothered by the leather armor making her sweaty and itchy under her clothes. It did little to keep the dirt from working its way under it all on this hot July afternoon, it had her wanting to dive into the cold waters below as quickly as possible.

“We’ll row to the middle of the lake if we have to.
Wherever I can feel her power the most. That’s where we’ll have to dive and look.” She paused and glanced over to Nautilus, who was scoping out the shimmering water ahead. “We’ll search the entire lake bottom if we have to. There are ways of breathing under water even if you aren’t part merfolk, aren’t there?”

If anyone knew the answer to that, Nautilus would be the one. “Yes.”
He smiled to himself, as though he knew she’d known the answer all along. “Nothing gets past you, Shade.”

“A lot gets past me.”

His gaze turned serious as he slowed down to a halt beside her. “Not everything.” Craning his neck, he squinted at the choppy waves ahead, reflecting the sun’s late afternoon gleam. The water called to him, sending a surging ache through his bones which he had to shake off before going mad. He was happy to have been chosen to come along—he’d hoped to get closer to Shade—but with Dylan in tow, it proved to be a nearly impossible task.

“Do you still have the ruby
rock I gave you?”

Shade
slowed up her pace to fall in step with him, following his solemn stare toward the shoreline. “Yes, I do.” Fishing it out of her pack, she held it out. The brilliant, rough surface bled out red in the blinding sunlight.

“Good,
you’ll need it to get down there.” He cupped her hands in both of his, curling her fingers tightly around the gem. “Don’t lose it. It’s the essence of life underwater. It allows one to breathe where there is no air.”

Shade’s
eyes widened, sliding her gaze down to his hands encasing hers. They were rough and callused, as if he’d been training hard with swords and riding horses, which had been their main source of transportation lately. His warm skin sent a thrill up her arm until it was met with the shiver of jealousy seeping from her engagement ring.

Suddenly, she jerked her hand
s out of his hold and turned slowly to find Dylan watching them from a small hill, several meters away. His eyes burned a metallic blue, his lips a tight line.

Shade gulped
, letting her arms drop to her side. Guilt seared across her face, and she covered it by hopping down the hill, sliding with the gravel to stifle the feelings within. Her grip on the ruby tightened, letting it embed a painful mark into her palm. She hoped her sprint across the bumpy landscape had covered up her flushed embarrassment. Her heart continued to race, but it wasn’t from the quick run.

She joined
Dylan, and he immediately continued on down the slope. He turned away and shaded his face, avoiding her pleading eyes. “The human roads are here. Throw on your glamour to disguise your weapons and armor. We don’t want to catch anyone’s attention.” His voice was deep but calm, yet Shade could still feel his energy pulsating through the ring. He wasn’t happy. Not one bit. It was a struggle to keep his temper wrangled.

She pulled her glamour over her body. I
t felt like a snug, tight-fitting suit for a moment before absorbing into her flesh. When it did, it felt as though nothing was there, but it turned her armor into jeans with a shirt and hoodie. Her boots had morphed into hiking shoes, and her leather pack was now a standard backpack. She glanced at Dylan as he put on his own glamour and couldn’t get over how different he looked in civilian clothing. She decided he could pass for the yummiest, best-looking human guy she’d ever met.

She glanced back at Nautilus. Hi
s dreads were now gathered into a bunch, tightly bound to his nape. It brought out his startling eyes, and the light blue shirt and dark jeans he now wore failed at hiding his striking looks. Shade had thought getting engaged to a Teleen would end the parade of suitors from the Faerie clan, but she’d been sorely mistaken. Trying hard not to glance back at Nautilus, she felt her world shake underneath her hardened exterior. She wasn’t attracted to him. Well, maybe just a bit. But how could she even allow that? It was surprising how hard he was to shake off, even when she wanted to ignore his presence.

Crossing the road and back into the human realm, she
felt the magic of Faerie pull at her. It was like thick, sticky taffy, begging and longing to keep her in its grasp. She almost felt naked walking away from the magic land along the asphalt, thick with the tarry smell of newly laid road. Bundled rows of houses lined the lakeshore near them. She liked their rustic appeal. Some were tightly clustered while others had private driveways ending at enormous log cabins touching the canopies of the thick evergreens. They made their way down one of the many dirt roads leading toward the rocky beaches.