Flame and Starlight by Dana Isaly
Chapter Eleven
I knew if I headed straight back through the trees, I would find the road. But Isolde was going so fast that I could barely make out the trees as we passed them. I couldn’t hear anything over the hoofbeats and my own heavy breathing. But Asher was right—so far Isolde was letting me ride her easily as we made our way back. All of a sudden, we broke through the trees, and we were on the road. And, shit. Asher hadn’t told me how to turn.
“Left, Isolde!” I shouted and pulled on the left side of the reins. She let out a loud protest but skidded and took a sharp left. I looked down at the snow and saw our old tracks as we took off again. I nudged her lightly with my boot, and she picked up the pace. Then I heard them, loud screams, like what I imagined a banshee would sound like, cutting through the silence behind me. Without thinking, I sent up a prayer to the only higher power I knew of in this world: Nyxa. I prayed to her, shouting in my mind that she would spare myself and Asher.
My heartbeat was erratic. It felt like it might beat right out of my chest at any moment. My breaths were coming in and out just as quickly and probably as loudly as Isolde’s were. I heard branches start snapping and cracking behind me. It took all my willpower not to look behind us as we soldiered on. The feeling of someone watching me crept over me like a thousand spiders, and panic set in. Something was after me, and I wasn’t going to survive. I was going to die a weak and pathetic human.
Another wail came from behind me, this time much closer, and I fought back a scream. A sob broke through me as I felt Asher’s magick fail me. The cold cut across my face like knives and whipped through my hair. My hands, gripping the reins, turned into ice. I knew I was visible to whatever those creatures were, and if they didn’t kill me first, the cold would. The sweater I wore did very little to protect against the wind. I might as well have just been in a bra.
My body shook with relief at the sight of the castle coming into view. The gate that led into the grounds was so close. Another sob bubbled up through my throat, and the tears fell over my cheeks and froze in the wind. Trees were snapping next to us now instead of behind us, and I felt hot breath on my ear.
We broke through the gate, and I screamed Emric’s name as loud as I could. It must’ve spooked Isolde because she took off in the opposite direction I needed to go. She banked left and rode along the tree line, passing them so quickly they were a blur of dark greens and browns. I couldn’t feel the creatures near us anymore, but that didn’t make me feel any safer so close to the woods.
“Isolde!” I yelled and pulled on the reins as hard as I could out of pure fear. She reared back at my demand, and I fell off her and onto the ground, knocking all of the air out of my lungs. They screamed in protest as I tried to gulp the frosty air inside of them. Isolde was off, running further and further down the grounds. The adrenaline was still pumping through my veins, and it forced me to sit up without a second thought and take off running towards the castle.
“Emric!” I shouted again, my voice hoarse and painful. I was so thankful that I had managed to get past Mavka and wear boots tonight. If I had been dressed for a normal dinner, I would be dead.
It took me a second to get my bearings in the dark. I was on the lake side of the castle now. It was between me and safety, and I ran towards it as fast as I could, my heart beating against my chest in protest. My legs were aching, but thanks to all the training I had been through, it was a good ache. I could do it. I could make it back in one piece. I tripped in a hole and rolled my ankle, falling to the ground. I cursed under my breath and got back up, forcing my body to ignore the pain as I repeated a mantra in my head over and over: One foot in front of the other, Alys.
I reached the edge of the lake and decided to just run straight across it. It would save me time, and because of where I was, I wouldn’t have to go through the deepest parts. With how cold it had been, it was definitely frozen completely over by now. Emric was still nowhere to be seen, and I started to panic again. What if he couldn’t hear me and I would get to the door only to be locked out? I didn’t have any magick. I couldn’t just unlock the stupid doors and waltz in. That would have to be something I discussed with Asher in future. If I survived.
A cracking noise came underneath me, and my stomach fell through my body. This time, it wasn’t the trees that were snapping; it was the ice. I was wrong—it hadn’t been cold enough to support my weight. I picked up my speed, ignoring the stabbing pain coursing up through my leg from my ankle. The ice was breaking more quickly now. I could feel it shift beneath my feet with every step, and I was still so far from the shore.
“If I could get some help, that would be great!” I yelled to no one in particular. “Can I get some wings? Some Fae speed?” I shouted between breaths. If my Fae side had kicked in, I would easily make it to land.
But it didn’t. And I didn’t.
The ice gave way, and I fell hard into the icy water, my ribs cracking against the edge of the open ice on my way down. I grunted as I kicked my legs and dug my nails into the snow, but the water was too cold. It froze my bottom half and shocked the rest of my body. My arms couldn’t hold me up against the momentum I had as I fell in.
Water went up my nose as I sank deeper. It was dark, and I was panicking. I tried to kick and swim, but I just couldn’t. I knew how to swim, but this water froze the very blood in my veins. My muscles wouldn’t work. I screamed, but it was muted by the muddy water that floated in. All my life, I had been terrified of open water. I refused to swim in anything but a pool.
What a cruel twist of fucking fate.
My lungs started to ache, and my head swam. Any second now, my body would try to breathe of its own accord, and the cold water would fill my lungs. I had heard drowning was the most painful way to go, but down here, in this moment, it was quiet and almost peaceful. I thought of my mother, and a million memories flooded my brain, playing like movies. Without thinking, I sent up another quick prayer to Nyxa, in a last-ditch effort to survive. She was the only God I knew, and I figured it would be safer to pray to a God of this world than of my own. Stars swam into my vision, and my lungs burned with their demand for air.
“Now is not your time, my child,” said an echoed voice. My lungs expanded with air, momentarily relieving the strain, and my eyes flew open. Light radiated around the figure in front of me. I blinked as I floated there in front of her. Her face was inches from mine as her white eyes gazed into my honey ones. Black hair swam around her glowing face. “Change,” she said.
She touched the space in between my eyebrows, and blinding pain seared through every nerve in my body. I closed my eyes against the tortuous fire in my blood and felt myself fly through the water and up into the air above the lake. I crashed onto the side of the lake and screamed into it. It felt like claws were scraping down my back, like my bones were breaking at every angle. And then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone. I collapsed against the snow and breathed in the fresh air in heavy gulps.
“Alys?” I heard Emric yell. “Alys!”
“Here!” I tried to yell back. I must’ve been loud enough for his Fae hearing because I heard his steps come my way quickly. Where the hell had that Fae hearing been earlier?
“Holy shit,” he said as he came upon me. I rolled up onto my knees, coughing and still struggling to breathe, and looked up at him. His hair was back in his normal top knot, but pieces had fallen out around his face from the wind.
“Asher told me to run. Something was out there,” I croaked. He bent down and helped me stand up. His shock exploded through my veins, and I pulled away from him, rocking back on my heels, a bit off-balance. “Asher is still out there,” I said, looking around wildly like I might see him in the distance.
“Alys, I don’t want you to freak out right now. So I need you to promise me that you are going to stay calm, okay?”
I locked eyes with him then. “Where’s Asher, Emric?” I practically shouted at him. “Did he make it back?” Dread settled deep in my stomach. If Asher wasn’t around to give me shelter and safety anymore, I was screwed. Emric’s eyes darted over my body. “Emric!” I yelled, and he flinched. My shoulder warmed where Asher’s dust was and spread through my neck. I didn’t know how, but I just knew he was close. He was alive. I felt it in my bones that he was alive.
“Asher?” I yelled into the open air, my eyes scanning the horizon. The stars and moon must’ve been shining more brightly then because I could see much more than I had been able to earlier. Wind swept through my hair, and my neck tingled as a loud thud sounded behind me. I whirled around and saw him standing there, wings shining black, blue, and purple in the starlight.
Relief swept through me. I wanted to throw myself at him, but my body had other ideas. I went to take a step towards him, my heart pounding with relief, and fell to my knees in exhaustion. Emric and Asher both raced towards me, ready to catch me.
“Please, don’t,” I said, holding a hand up at them. Emric seemed to understand and took a step back. But when I looked up, Asher knelt in front of me, wings magicked away. Even with him on his knees, I had to crane my head back to look at him. “I fell in the lake,” I said.
“I see that,” he said with a small laugh. “How do you feel, Alys?”
“Exhausted. Isolde threw me, and I ran as fast as I could. I tripped and hurt my ankle. And then to add insult to injury, I fell in the lake, and I’m pretty sure I cracked my ribs in the process.” I paused and remembered what happened in the water.
He bent down more on my eye level and searched my eyes. “And then what happened, Alys?”
I looked to the ground, sorting through my thoughts. “I-I’m not sure. I saw someone down there. She had white eyes, and her hair looked black. She was glowing.” I looked back up to his eyes. “She saved me.” I watched Asher and Emric look at each other, a thousand thoughts exchanged between them. “What?” I asked, looking back and forth between them.
“Alys.” Asher’s voice came surprisingly gentle. “You’ve changed.”
“Changed? Changed how? Wait, like, I’m Fae now?” I asked, looking down at my hands, but my fingers weren’t charred as I had expected being from the Autumn Court. I lifted my hands to my ears and felt them come to a point at the tips. I gasped and dropped my hands as I ran my tongue along my teeth. My eye teeth felt like they could slice right through it. They both watched me as I processed. I noticed I wasn’t as cold anymore. I could feel the chill in the air and snow under my knees, but it didn’t hurt me like it had earlier. The pain in my ankle and ribs was nearly gone now, thanks to my newfound healing abilities.
“Alys, I don’t think it was your near drowning that made you change,” he said slowly and evenly.
“I know it wasn’t,” I answered. “It was the lady in the lake. She told me to change, and when she touched me, I did.”
“Yes, but that wasn’t just some lady.” He exchanged a quick glance at Emric, who was staring intently at my back.
I slowly moved my head over my shoulder, but Asher grabbed my face before I could. I took a deep breath as, for the first time, Asher’s emotions flooded my system, wrecking my very existence with their force. Every muscle in my body tensed, and I could barely force air in and out of my lungs. My teeth ground down on my cheeks, and I tasted blood. The sheer anguish I felt coming off him was excruciating. I pulled my face from his grasp and tried to breathe evenly through my nose, not letting on I could feel his emotions just yet.
“Nyxa was the one that saved you. And she has gifted you with her own wings.”
I whipped my head around and found black, bat-like wings hanging limply from my back. As I took notice of them, they held themselves a bit higher, and I felt the strain in my muscles. I stood up and teetered under their newfound weight. I tested my muscles and stretched them as far as I could. They caught the wind and forced me back a few steps before I tightened them back in. I saw Asher stand, and Emric took his place at his side, an amused grin on his face.
“I’ve never seen a Fae have wings like that. But Nyxa does,” Asher said as he watched me taking them in and out from my body.
They both watched me as I tried over and over again to open and close them, reveling in the feel of their weight. Now that I had them, I couldn’t imagine ever being without them. I let myself smile as I felt my ears again, their tips still gently pointed at the end under my wet hair. I felt giddy as I looked at my right shoulder, Asher’s dust now dancing a bit more brightly under my skin. I turned back to them and smiled broadly. Emric let out a laugh, and I bit the air at him, flashing my new fangs. Asher laughed softly.
“I think it’s more of a fair fight now.” I rolled my head from side to side. “Let’s give it a go,” I said and leapt into the air towards Emric.
