The Dark Queen (The Dark Queens Book 5) (17 page)

Fable’s sadness was such a tangible, terrible thing that he was helpless but to respond to it. Though it was more than that. More than the call of that emotion that played havoc with his soul, it was the woman herself.

Once, many moons ago there’d been another woman. One who’d made his soul long, just as Fable did now. Weary, aching everywhere, he forced himself to not think about Aiyana.

Walking painfully slow down the winding staircase, he made his way gingerly toward the exit of the castle itself. He needed to rid himself of her demons soon.

It was never pleasant hanging on to the sins of another, but Fable’s sins were far darker and deeper than most. By the time he took the last step his body ached like that of a broken and aged elder not long for this world.

The moment he stepped into the weak rays of sunlight, he tipped his face toward the Great Spirit—in any realm, tribe, or incarnation, his peoples never changed. The names might be different for all, but they were all one and the same.

“I call you Sister Mountain Lion. Brother Coyote. Sister Crow. And Brother Eagle,” he intoned, feeling his insides began to quake and tremble as he prepared to shed this weak mortal form for that of his true one. “I ask you to accept my sacrifice. Take of me. Cleanse me. Purify my heart, mind, and soul to do what it is I’ve been called to do. Show me truth.”

Raising his hands toward the sky, he spread his fingers wide, dropped his head and felt the call of the Great Spirit descend from above.

As breath left him, the wind rolled and gathered to the four corners of this land. A great cry sounded from the sky above, as the spirit form of Brother Eagle and Sister Crow fell upon him.

Eagle—a screen of clouds and starlight—landed on his shoulders. Hooking sharply curved talons into his flesh.

He grunted, beginning the chant of release.

Crow—came not as spirit, but in true animal form. With feathers, gleaming like polished obsidian and emeralds as his large wings fluttered gracefully, and with each flap thunder rolled. He rested upon Owiot’s head, cawing loudly.

Owiot’s body shook violently. Fable’s demons inside of him screamed, clawing at his innermost self, demanding he not do them as he was about to do. Biting down on his back teeth, he accepted the pain as his own, becoming one with it and sliding deeper into the spirit world.

“To me, Coyote...and, and Mountain Lion,” he stuttered with the last vestige of strength he still possessed.

And then he knew they were there. Even without turning, he felt the sly, trickster pad through the woods behind him, slinking in shadow and chuckling softly to himself.

Mountain Lion was not too far behind her brother. She came at Owiot from the front, her tawny-eyed gaze piercing through the veil of Owiot’s mortal form into the god beneath.

Coyote pounced from behind, and Mountain Lion from the front. Slamming him to the ground and sinking their claws into him.

The touch of the four released his soul. He erupted from the shell... a god.

~*~

Fable

S
he was drawn to the window. Knowing, without knowing, that he was out there.

Moving like a thought, as though in a trance toward it, she got to the casement in time to witness the majesty of Owiot’s transformation from man to more.

Her eyes grew wide as the animals—who were clearly not true animals at all—came to him. An eagle built of stars and clouds. A crow with feathers beyond the scope of imagination. A mountain lion more regal and lovely than any feline she’d ever seen, and a laughing coyote, they surrounded Owiot in a tight circle, and before she knew it the beautiful, beautiful man who’d touched something deep inside of her soul exploded outward like a supernova.

The sky exploded with lightning and thunder, turning from lavender to pitch black. And now bursting with stars.

But the stars, they did not remain just within the sky. The stars were everywhere.

In the trees. On the ground.

Even, in her room.

Gasping, she reached for one of them. An impossibly bright jewel of white that winked and twinkled and beckoned for her to touch it.

The tiny star landed on her palm, and she couldn’t begin to describe the emotions that assailed her then.

Glory.

Wonder.

Awe.

But so much more too.

“Owiot,” she whispered, somehow understanding that this, all of this was him. Caressing the tiny gem a moment, she then curled her fingers around it and brought it to her chest.

Warmth spread throughout her body. She closed her eyes and was once more falling into a net of stars.

But this time, it was different.

It didn’t hurt.

It was so lovely. And though she stumbled, she knew she’d not be harmed, because the stars were so much more than just lights. The stars were him—Owiot, and the wind whispered his chant to her, “
you are not alone, Fable. Not ever alone
.”

Fable

S
he blinked her eyes open, confused for a moment where she was. Back in her tower in the Enchanted Forest, everything looked the same and yet it was somehow different too.

But then slowly the memories of the night before came back to her. The games. A man bathed in shadows. Warm, chocolate eyes. A gentle touch. Coyote. Crow. Mountain Lion. Eagle. And stars.

With a gasp, she tossed her sheets aside. Wondering when she’d gotten into bed. When she’d fallen asleep. But the thought was fleeting.

Had he left her forever?

What had happened yesterday?

Really happened?

She’d felt him take of her darkness. Extract it from her. And though she still sensed a wellspring of it deep within her, she also felt freer, lighter than she had in forever.

“Owiot,” she breathed his name like a benediction.

Taking less than a minute to brush her teeth, and pull on a robe of whatever color—she didn’t even care—from the closet, she bounded down the steps as fast as she could. She could snap her fingers and escape, but she wouldn’t know where to. So she had to settle for searching for him the old fashioned way, by using the two legs she’d been born with.

Panic beat heavy wings in her chest as she looked inside one empty room after another. Had this all been a strange, wonderful dream? Had she imagined the god? Had he never even been real at all?

And if it had, then why did she suddenly feel so empty, sad, and lonely? That was her life on a daily basis. She never got to sit down to a nice spot a tea with a friend talking over the day’s events, never knew what it felt like to invited to a ball she did not put on, she never even got the chance to simply sit and have a conversation based on nothing with a stranger.

Because in the Enchanted Forest all knew her, and knew to stay well clear of their “Dark Queen.” Owiot had been the only human since she’d assumed the crown who had ever treated her—not even as an equal—but as simply another woman. He wasn’t scared of her, and never acted as though she was above him in stature or rank, to him she’d simply been Fable and not the Evil Queen.

It was that epiphany that had her running faster. He couldn’t leave her now. Not when she finally knew what it felt like to be
normal
.

Tripping over the long belt of her robe, that she’d forgotten to tie up, she would have fallen flat on her face except for the fact that a pair of strong arms suddenly caught her.

Strong, and very human looking arms.

Clinging tight to them, she glanced up and squeaked, “Owiot! You’re here.”

His grin was brighter than the sun, and literally filled every crack and crevice of the castle with its light. Anywhere he moved, he obliterated the darkness.

Beautiful brown eyes ensnared her. “Yes,
darkness
, I am.”

The way he said that word made her shiver. She swallowed hard, still gripping tight to his arms, unable to peel her fingers off him.

Up until now, Owiot had been the epitome of gentlemanly. Looking at her with respect, and difference. But he was looking at her very differently now. His gaze was hot, smoldering as he straightened them both and slowly perused her body at his leisure.

Her knees shook under the weight of his intense stare. She’d been looked at with lust many times in her life, but this was more than mere lust. This was something else entirely.

It was visceral.

Raw.

Carnal.

Need.

She gulped. Owiot looked similar to what he had yesterday. But his leggings were painted with red clay markings. His moccasins gleaming with beads of turquoise and cobalt, and his chest was painted with black slashes down his ridged and tightly corded abdomen. His hair was still free and long, but a lone eagle feather had been braided into it.

“I thought you left me,” she whispered, digging her nails in deep. Not realizing her actions, until he looked down at her hands, still wearing his ever-present and patient smile.

With a start she released him, tasting her pulse on the back of her tongue.

“I’m...I’m sorry.”

He tipped her chin up. “Don’t be. We have one more day before the trials.”

She knew what he was saying. She nodded. “Spend the day with me, Owiot.”

Not since first meeting George had Fable felt this kind of soul deep need, and honestly, it scared the life out of her.

She’d made herself weak once before, and had nearly paid with her life for it. She’d sworn she’d never do it again. But when she’d woken up this morning without the weight of the demons bearing down on her, and fearing that Owiot had fled, she’d known the choice was no longer her own.

“Always,” he said in a steady voice.

~*~

Calypso

I
f Calypso’s jaw could have hit the floor, it would have hit the floor. Turning her gaze off the sea orb she watched her granddaughter and Owiot through, she looked at her lifelong friend, Aphrodite, with a stunned expression.

“Holy. Tartarus,” Dite squeaked, looking much the same way Caly felt.

Hades, who rarely participated in the games, except for an occasional update on his only granddaughter grunted, cleared his throat loudly and said, “I’m going for a walk.”

“Mmhmm,” Dite chortled after he’d left. “Because he knows those two are gonna get their bow chicka wow wow’s on real quick. Did you see the way he looked at her!” She clasped her fingers together and squealed again, before tossing herself back on Caly’s clamshell bed with a delirious smile wreathing her pretty face.

But Calypso couldn’t speak.

Because the tears that had been lodged in her throat the day she’d found Fable standing over Snow White were about to break loose.

It took Dite more than a second to realize that her normally gregarious friend still hadn’t said a word.

Frowning now, looking concerned, she jerked to a sitting position. “Cals?”

And that was it. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Calypso sobbed.

But rather than turn the waves into a choppy tsunami of fury, her tears were happy and grateful and so damned relieved that the waters began to glow an ethereal blue.

The sea animals within joined in their goddess’s joy, chattering and swimming happily.

Understanding immediately touched Dite’s brows. “Oh, Cals. It’s okay, sweetling. She’s okay. She’s going to be okay. I told you, you’ll get her back. Love may not be able to build a mansion of gold, but I’ve found that love can often do wonders to heal a fractured soul.”

Then tugging on Calypso’s shoulder, Aphrodite pulled her in for a tight hug, and the elemental goddess who never cried now cried for the second time in so many days. Tears of absolute and incandescent joy, because deep down she knew her granddaughter was truly going to be okay now.

Aphrodite looked back at the sea orb with a bright and happy smile on her face. “I am going to do something for your granddaughter, something I rarely do, my sweet Calypso, but only because I love you so much.”

Caly frowned. “What?”

“I am going to meddle,” she said sweetly, and then touching the very tip of her finger to the sea orb, she closed her eyes and glowed with love.

The waves of that powerful emotion filtered through her very pores, pouring into the sea orb in rushing, pulsing waves of incandescent mother of pearl. The light show last less than a minute, and when it was done, and Aphrodite no longer glowed, she turned to Calypso and smiled wide.

Her big blue eyes practically gleamed in her stunningly, beautiful face.

“What did you do, Dites?”

Themis, who was mostly a wraith in this games, stepped through into Caly’s room just then. Dressed in scuffed jeans at the knees, barefoot, and wearing a Def Leppard t-shirt that cut off at her belly button smiled brightly, her lambent milky white eyes gazed upon them—it was no small thing to be stared down by Justice, only the few with nerves built of steel could endure it, but even Caly got fidgety about it if it lasted too long. Themis had also recently dyed her naturally silver-white hair to a shocking shade of fire-engine red. In short Blindy looked hawt.

Themis was the goddess of justice, and one of a very few on the short list of besties she had.

“I believe I can answer that,” she smirked.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. “Don’t start with me, Thems. You’d better not tell me that was breaking any rules because you and I both know—”

“What in holy Tartarus did you do!” Caly snapped, feeling anxious and nervous for her granddaughter.

Themis crossed her arms, glared hotly at Calypso, but then realizing the elemental was about to completely lose her mind, finally sighed deeply and said, “Aphrodite pumped their realm full of love juice. Basically shot them up with a speedball of love, lust, etc., etc,” she said as she rolled her wrist.

Calypso frowned. “But weren’t they already well on their way to—”

Aphrodite pinched her brows, rubbing them as though she were tired. “Yes. They were. But I wanted to help not only Fable, who I love deeply but you and Hades too, Cals. Their partnership is a true one, no matter how much I might wish I could, if the hearts aren’t meant to be joined even I cannot make it so. I simply ensured that the match was accelerated.”