Flame and Starlight by Dana Isaly
Chapter Twelve
Emric had time to brace himself, but my newfound strength sent him soaring backwards in the air as my hands collided with his chest. I had really only meant to shove him back a few feet, but I guess I wasn’t quite used to my muscles yet. He flew backwards and landed right on his butt. He did a backwards somersault and landed in a crouched position.
“Whoa,” I said, looking at my hands, and then I burst out laughing. Asher’s mark on my shoulder grew warm, and I looked over at him to find him staring at me with a smile on his face. I reared back like I was going to push him, too, and he threw his hands up in the air.
“Don’t start a fight you can’t finish, little duck.” He had a wicked glint in his eyes that made me think better of it. I let my arms drop. Asher winked at me, and I wondered how so much evil could fit inside someone who looked that handsome. Emric took advantage of me being distracted to come at me full speed and kick me directly in the stomach. The air whooshed out of me, but he must’ve held back because I didn’t go flying like he had. I stumbled back a few steps but thought quickly and used his combat training to start throwing punches and ducking at his.
I got a few good hits and kicks in, but I could feel it when he decided to really push himself into the fight. His punches I was blocking hit my forearms harder, and they kept coming more quickly. I let out a small yelp of excitement, and my cheeks hurt from smiling so broadly.
I ducked to miss another hit, but he changed his tactic and swept his leg down and under mine, and I hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of me. I groaned through the pain in my wings. Before I could catch my breath, he was on top of me and pressing the point of his dagger he always kept in his belt to my throat.
Asher let out a low growl, and Emric was immediately up and off me.
“Spoilsport,” I said through a cough at Asher.
“Good game, Wheezy. Now the fun can really begin,” Emric laughed. Asher grabbed my arm to help me up, and even the fabric of my sweater couldn’t protect me from the onslaught of his emotions. I pulled away from him, and if there was any surprise in his eyes, he covered it quickly.
“What was in the forest back there?” I asked
“Let’s go inside and get you dry and warm, first, please,” Asher said, gesturing towards the castle. I reached my hands up in my hair to wring some of the water out, and little crystals of ice held it together. I conceded and let them lead the way.
“I’d like to be able to get in and out without one of you. If Emric hadn’t come tonight and I had reached the castle in time, I wouldn’t have been able to get in.” Even though both of their backs were facing me, I saw the look they exchanged. I could feel the wariness seep into the air. “Where am I going to go? According to you guys, I’ve got a bounty on my head. Or people want to kill me. I don’t even know how to get back to England, and if I did, I wouldn’t fit in there anymore. Clearly.”
“She’s got a point, Ash,” Emric said. Asher sighed and turned around, stopping to face me.
“The promise you made me out in those woods stands if I allow you this and teach you how to do it.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know you don’t know me and you have no reason to trust me, but I made a promise. I will stand by it. But keep that in mind when you ask things of me. You haven’t earned my trust yet either.”
He didn’t seem to like that but nodded and led us back inside. Walking up to the door, Asher suddenly remembered that Isolde had run off and asked Emric to go get her and then meet us in his study.
“Hey, how do I get these things to go away?” I asked, pointing to the black bat-like wings towering out of my shoulder blades.
“You’ll have to use your magick. Don’t think too hard or you’ll just make it harder on yourself.” He came closer until the only scent around me was his. My head swam, and those stupid butterflies fluttered back to life. “Just tell them to go away.” He took one of my curls and twirled it around his finger. Heat curled deep in my belly. I watched it as he let it fall back to my shoulder. “Close your eyes, Alyssandra,” he purred. My entire body responded to the warmth pooling around his dust on my shoulder. I didn’t trust myself to look at him, so I did as he said.
“And then just tell them to go away?” I asked, my voice wavering more than I’d hoped it would.
“Use your power and tell them to go away for now. Create a space for them in the ether where they can stay until you need them again. They’re part of you and will listen.” I felt his breath on my face and struggled to concentrate.
“Maybe if you gave me a little space,” I said through a whisper. I heard him give a small laugh before the coolness of his shadows gave way. I took a steadying breath, free from him, and tried to steady myself.
“I’ve created a little space for you,” I said in my mind. “You’ll be safe there. Go there.”
The sudden absence of their weight made me take a step forward, my body bumping lightly into his. My eyes opened, and I looked behind me, and sure enough, they were gone. I took a step back.
“That will get quicker with time. They’ll learn to just know when you want them around and when you don’t.” He shrugged one shoulder and took off down the hall.
I knew my way around enough now that I could make it back to my room on my own. Asher, going off in another direction to do Gods knows what, shouted after me that his study was the door down the hall from his bedchamber. I waved back over my head and kept going. I wasn’t sure if it was a side effect of the change I had just gone through or if I just had too much to sort through and process, but I was exhausted.
All this newfound power meant things were going to start changing. I would be strong enough to protect myself now, and Asher would ultimately have to figure out what to do with me. It seemed inevitable that Theron would find out where I was and would either come for me or come for us both. I didn’t like this feeling of being in limbo, between two worlds.
Well, maybe not so much between two worlds anymore. Now that Nyxa had forced my hand and made me change, it was more like I was between two courts: a court of flame and a court of starlight. I couldn’t see myself ever going back to the human world. Even if I could learn how to use my magic to glamour myself, going back to see my friends would be torture. I’d never be able to live in that world again.
I also was trying to come to grips with why I hadn’t told Asher I could feel his emotions. His Faery GPS seemed to be a two-way street now, as well. It didn’t seem to work as clearly as it did for him, but I could sense him. I knew he was alive before I even saw him. I could sense his smile and laugh. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted him to know his every emotion was broadcast to me yet. I didn’t trust anyone in this castle completely yet, not even Mavka. And this could give me an advantage. It could help me.
Mavka wasn’t in the room when I made it back, and I took a selfish look at myself in the mirror. I couldn’t help it—I smiled at my reflection there. Even though I was still very wet from falling in the lake, I was beautiful. My skin was clear and healthy, and my eyes had changed as well. They were still the same honey color that Asher hated so much, but there was a light behind them now that made it look like they were glowing. The freckles across my nose and cheeks were still faintly there. I was still me, there was just more life in me now.
I peeled off my wet clothes and hung them near the fire to dry and kicked my boots off onto the hearth. The sweater I was wearing was unsalvageable, though: it had been ripped to shreds when my wings made an appearance. I threw the sweater into the bin. I twisted my damp curls up into a haphazard bun and threw on some warm clothes before making my way back out of my room. I turned to say hi to the guard that would surely be there now that Asher had told them I was back, but there was no one there. Maybe I didn’t warrant constant watching now that I was a relatively equal match to someone that might come looking for me.
I walked right into Asher’s study without really thinking about knocking and found him reclined in the chair behind his desk, swirling an amber liquid in his glass. He had changed and wore a pair of loose black pants and a black T-shirt that stretched tightly across his broad shoulders and showed off his chiseled arms and the tattoos. I cringed when I remembered why those tattoos graced his skin. He had one leg casually draped over one of the arms of the chair and the other one curled up underneath. His head was reclined back, but he opened his eyes when I walked in.
“Please, come in.”
I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm and surveyed the room. At his back was a fireplace, roaring and cracking with heat. The windows on the wall opposite the door I had come through were deep and covered in cushions. The rest of the room was relatively bare besides the couch and chairs in front of his desk. There were a few bookshelves scattered up against the walls, but that was it.
I took up residence in the window closest to his desk and looked out at the swirls in the night sky. I pulled my knees to my chest and curled my bare feet into the velvet cushion. I tried to ignore how his dust danced over my skin the same way his did under his. It tickled when he was near, like it could sense its home was close and wanted to get out of me and back to him.
I turned to look at him, but he was right next to me, holding a glass that matched his, filled halfway with the same amber liquid. I smiled and carefully took it, trying not to let our fingers graze. His eyes didn’t leave my face as I took a sip. I was expecting the smooth burn of whiskey, but instead, it floated over my tongue like warm honey. I took another drink and reclined my head onto the wall behind me, and a satisfied moan came through my lips.
“What is this?” I looked up at him and watched as his heated eyes stared at my mouth. Between his moods and my own feelings towards him, I was going to get whiplash.
“Whiskey,” he answered and made his way back to his desk. “But everything is going to taste better to you now that you’re Fae. Your taste buds are heightened.”
Emric walked in and let his hair drop out of the bun and fall to his shoulders. He ran his hands through it a few times before pouring himself a glass of whiskey. He downed it in one go, poured another glass for himself, and filled my now empty one before making his way over to the couch.
“What’d I miss?” He reclined and crossed his legs, one ankle resting on the knee of the other.
“I was just about to tell Alyssandra what the creatures were in the woods that chased her.” Emric raised his eyebrows at that and took another drink.
“The floor is yours,” Emric said. Asher leaned on the side of the desk facing me and crossed his arms.
“There are a lot of creatures that call Esteria home that are not Faeries. And tonight it seems some Serrens came across your scent. Their hunger is fierce. They’re some evil little shits that will skin you alive and suck the fat off your bones.” I shivered at the thought of the hot breath I felt on my ear as Isolde pushed us past the castle gates.
“Did you have to fight them?” I asked. “I know at least one followed me. I could hear the trees breaking behind me, and I know I felt it close to me.” I took another drink. My body started to get warm under the influence of it. I wasn’t a lightweight per se, but if I was drinking straight whiskey, I wouldn’t last long.
“A couple stayed behind, but I took care of them. By the time I was done, you were already crawling out of the lake.”
“You don’t look like you had a fight,” I said, looking over his face and arms for any sign of scratches or bruises. Nothing.
“Contrary to what you saw on Mayassar, I’m not an easy target. I’m over four hundred years old, Alys. Give me some credit.” Emric snorted at that and then became very interested in the fabric of the couch when Asher turned his stare to him.
“Okay, so the woods aren’t the safest place to be at night. Got it.” I took another drink and found my glass was empty again. I went to the little bar and filled my glass back up. My hair was starting to give me a headache from the weight of it on top of my head. I took it down and shook it out before leaning against the bar.
Asher cleared his throat and seemed to struggle to take his eyes off me. He sat back down in his chair, leaned his elbows on his knees, and looked up at me through his stupidly long lashes. God, sometimes I really wanted to punch his pretty face. I turned my attention to his shadows dancing in the firelight. I was definitely starting to feel the heated, sluggish effects of the whiskey.
“Alys,” he said, his voice curling around me like the smoke around him.
“Yea?” I asked, pulling my eyes to his.
“I’d like to discuss what you saw in the lake tonight. Or rather who you saw in the lake tonight.”
