Sign of the Throne: Book One in the Solas Beir Trilogy (32 page)

Abby sat up. “Oh! Don’t even!”

He laughed. “Well, it was.” David casually tucked his hands behind his head and gave her a cocky smile. It was an arrogant gesture that begged to be challenged.

Abby was happy to take him down a notch. She rolled onto her knees and threw a leg over his chest, straddling him. “Yeah, well, don’t think I won’t toss you on your scrawny butt again if I need to.”

He looked at her, raising that eyebrow. “Oh, you think so, do you?”

She grabbed his wrists and yanked his hands out from under his head, pinning his arms to the ground. “Yes—I do.”

He grinned. “Hmm, I’d
really
like to see that.”

“Tempt me and you might.”

He stared at her as if considering it, and then narrowed his eyes. “I would, but I’d get grass stains all over that pretty white dress of yours. Plus, you’ve insulted my butt. It is
not
scrawny.”

She laughed, releasing his arms. “It’s a little scrawny. I kind of like it though.”

“Oh, good. I was worried.” The cocky smile returned as he pulled her back down into his arms.

“Hey,” she said, laying her head on his chest. “I have a serious question.”

“What’s that?”

“Your parents—won’t people wonder what happened to them?” she asked. “Especially since Calder trashed your house and Jon’s car? And what will happen to your motorcycle?”

“Ah yes, the great cover-up,” David said. “Apparently there’s some kind of ‘magical pixie-dust cleanup crew’ from here for that kind of thing. The bike and car will vanish, and the authorities will find my parents’ boat missing, presumably lost at sea.”

Abby stared at him, trying to figure out if he
was joking or not. He kept a straight face, so it was impossible to tell. There was something in his eyes though, a deep sadness. She wondered if he were trying to cover his grief about his parents with humor. Maybe he didn’t feel comfortable being that vulnerable in front of her yet, but she hoped he knew she would be there if he needed her. Still, she didn’t want to pressure him, so she pressed on. “And you were on the boat, too, supposedly?”

David shook his head. “No. It will be like I never existed in your world. I will be able to come and go
, and no one will recognize me there unless I want them to. Another mystical perk of being the Solas Beir.”

“Is that how it will be with me?”

“It could be. It depends on what you want. I’m not going to force you to cut ties with the world you’ve always known. You’re saying yes now, but you might change your mind about being here with me.”

“I won’t,” she insisted.

“You might,” David countered, “especially now that you’ve bathed in the pool of healing. I don’t know if you realize this, but both of us are near-immortal now. It’s a side effect of the pool—even if you return to your world, you won’t age like everyone else. It will be slow, and you’ll live a long time. And if you’re here, you won’t age at all.”

“Like Adelae?”

“Yep. Sans insanity.”

“I should hope so,” Abby said. “So if I stay here with you, I’ll really live forever?”

David nodded. “Yes. But I don’t want you to make the decision lightly. When you live forever, it’s a
long
time to be with someone.”

“Well, what if you get tired of being with me?”

“Not going to happen.” He kissed her again. “Now they really are going to miss us, you know. We should get back to the celebration.”

“You’re right,” she said. “Let’s go.”

David stood up and pulled Abby to her feet. She locked her arms around his neck, and they rose into the air again. Abby looked back at the island happily. Then she saw movement, and she froze in horror.

Something large was perched just below the grassy area where she and David had been standing not a minute before. Against the rocks at the base of the island, its dark, grey-dappled skin acted as camouflage, making it impossible to see until it moved. The thing splashed into the sea, moving too fast for Abby to identify it, aside from one distinguishing feature that contrasted with the rest of the creature’s body: a blur of black-and-white stripes twisting around a serpentine tail. She tightened her grip around David’s neck. “David…?”

David’s attention had been on flying, his brow furrowed in concentration as he steered them back toward Caislucis. “Yes?” he asked. He glanced at her quickly and then returned his gaze to their destination.

“Not to sound paranoid, but I think we were being watched,” Abby said, trying to inject calm into her voice. She didn’t want to distract him from his task, not now that they were soaring hundreds of feet above the sea. “I just saw something leap from the rocks into the water.” What would have happened if they had stayed on the island a moment longer?
Stop it
, she thought.
You don’t even know what it was. Don’t jump to conclusions.
But the tail, that black-and-white striped tail…

David looked back. “I don’t see anything—but maybe next time we sneak off together, we should find a less vulnerable location.” He turned back to look at the castle, adjusting his flight slightly as he moved past an ivory turret.

“Good idea,” Abby agreed.

They were almost to the courtyard. A few couples had come outside to dance. “Looks like the party is still going,” David observed. “See, no one even noticed we were gone. I’ll land on your balcony
, and then we’ll go down and join them.”

David touched down perfectly on the white marble balcony leading to Abby’s room. He took her hand and they went inside, passing under the columned arch. Temperate coastal air wafted in from the sea.

“I have to say, I’m
very
impressed with your landing skills,” Abby said, smiling at him. “I mean, it’s amazing that you can fly and all, but I really think landing is the crucial part.”

“Thank you. I think,” David laughed. “
Was
that a compliment?”

“Yes, it was…” Abby stopped, her thought interrupted. The easy smile vanished from her face.

“What’s wrong?” David asked, pulling her close to him. Abby’s face had drained of color.

“Is that blood?” She pointed to a red streak on the pale stone surface of the floor. It began at the door and disappeared around the corner of the bed. She broke from David’s embrace, and hurried to the other side of the bed. He followed close behind.

Nysa was lying prone on the floor, silent, still, and bleeding from a number of places on her body.

“Oh no! Nysa!” Abby dropped to her knees beside the tiny nixie. She caressed Nysa’s cheek. “Her skin is hot, feverish.” At Abby’s touch, the little water sprite stirred and opened her eyes. The nixie’s eyes were a pale, sickly yellow—the warm, amber glow was gone.

“Abby,” Nysa whispered.

David knelt down beside Abby. “Nysa—what happened?”

“Got hurt bad. Malden…” Nysa’s eyes fluttered closed.

There was a knock on the door, and Eulalia called out, concerned. “Abby? David? Is everything all right?”

David jumped up to open the door. Eulalia and Cael entered, looking alarmed at the look on his face.

“David—why did you and Abby leave the banquet? I noticed you were missing
, and I had this horrible feeling something was wrong,” Eulalia started.

David cut her short. “Mother, Nysa’s hurt—Malden attacked her. We have to get her to the pool to heal.”

Eulalia hurried over to the nixie, inspecting her many wounds. “There is no time—she has been like this for too long—he poisoned her with his bite.”

“No, it can’t be too late!” Abby insisted.

“David—you have to heal her. It is time to try to use the first of your powers,” Eulalia said.

A wave of guilt washed over David. “Yes, okay. What do I do?”

“Hold your hands over her wounds,” Eulalia instructed. “Focus your mind on healing them—visualize the poison disappearing and the wounds closing, healing. Then let go and feel the power course through your body.”

David knelt down again and placed his hands over Nysa’s body. Then he closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and concentrated. In his mind, he could see black particles of poison flo
ating within the nixie’s blood. They started shrinking and finally disappearing. He could see the blood flowing from the bites coagulate and new skin form over the wounds. He felt his hands grow warm, almost hot. He opened his eyes, and just as he had imagined, the wounds were healing.

Beads of sweat formed on Nysa’s forehead as her fever broke. She opened her eyes. The sick
, yellow color in her eyes was fading, and there was a peaceful smile on her Kewpie-doll face.

David smiled back, relieved, and then grabbed his stomach as his guts wrenched inside him.

Abby noticed first. “David—what’s wrong?”

“I think I’m going to be sick.” He leapt up and ran for the bathing area in Abby’s room.

“I have him,” said Cael, following.

David grabbed a washbasin and vomited violently, emptying the contents of his stomach. Black particles of poison, exactly as he had imagined, floated in the mess.

“Oh, so much for the feast,” he groaned. “That was horrible.”

Cael poured David a glass of water to wash out the nasty taste. David gargled the water and spit into the basin. Cael took the basin and placed it out of the way to be cleaned, and then poured David a fresh glass of water. “Feeling better?”

David took a long drink and then nodded, handing back the glass. “Yes, thanks. That has never happened to me before.”

“Why is he sick? He’s never been sick before. Never,” Abby said. “Isn’t he supposed to be invulnerable to things like

that? Especially now that he’s Solas Beir?”

“The power of the Solas Beir always comes with a price,” explained Cael. “The poison had to be purged by someone.”

“Could have warned me,” David grumbled.

“There was little time,” Cael apologized. “And would that have prevented you from healing the nixie?”

“No, of course not. But will that happen every time I heal someone?”

“Not necessarily. With poison, yes, but there will likely be other consequences to using your power. The debt comes due eventually. It is a system of checks and balances to prevent the Solas Beir from abusing power.”

Cael’s words sounded harsh, but looking into the man’s gentle brown eyes, David could see that he wasn’t being unkind. He was taking advantage of a teachable moment. David understood intuitively that this man knew a great deal about paying the price, about putting others before himself, about making sacrifices. David also sensed that many of those sacrifices had been made for him.

“Good to know,” David replied. It occurred to him that being Solas Beir might be a blessing and a curse, perhaps more of a curse than he had realized. He ventured further. “Are there, uh, similar consequences for flying?”

Eulalia seemed to understand what he hadn’t said. “You have already been using power.”

“Yes, I’m sorry,” David admitted. “It was during the feast, and I didn’t realize there would be a consequence.”

Eulalia shook her head. “No, you need not apologize. It is wonderful news that you have already discovered that ability. Experimentation is part of learning. Now you just need to know when it is appropriate to use the power.”

David was relieved. “I’m glad you’re not angry with me.”

“I am curious, not angry,” Eulalia said. “It seems unusual that you would be able to levitate so quickly. That seems to be one of the more challenging abilities for most Solas Beirs. To defy gravity is to defy reason.”

“Well, I’m not sure about levitation, but I was able to fly all the way over the castle wall and out to that little island offshore. I carried Abby with me.”

Eulalia and Cael were silent. A look passed between them.

“What?” David asked.

“I am both impressed and concerned,” Eulalia explained. “Impressed because of the height and distance of your first flight, and that you were able to carry someone with you. That is very unusual. You did not have any trouble with this?”

David shook his head. “None at all—it felt very easy.”

“Extraordinary,” Eulalia mused.

“Why did you say you were concerned?” David asked.

“You left the castle grounds—that could have been very dangerous. There are many dangers in this world that you do not yet know about, especially when it comes to the sea. It is best if you do not leave the grounds without protection, at least until your powers are fully developed,” Eulalia explained.

“And we do not yet know how Tierney’s followers will react to your presence. Even now, his spies could be watching, gathering information to help the Kruorumbrae,” added Cael.

“I think you’re right,” Abby agreed. “When we were on the island, I think something
was
watching us—something big, with a black-and-white striped tail, like a sea serpent—”