Flame and Starlight by Dana Isaly

Chapter Five

Cold was an understatement. It was absolutely frigid outside. Mavka had me bundled up in about five different layers of fighting leathers and wool to keep me warm. I had durable but lightweight boots on, laced all the way up over thick socks, and gloves to keep my fingers from falling off. I had my hair collected in a heavy ponytail at the top of my head and a thick headband around my ears. Each step through the snow was muffled. Beside me, Emric was much less bundled up than I was. He turned and caught me looking.

“I’m partially used to the cold, and my Fae blood also keeps me warmer than your human blood does. I’m hoping the Fae side of you kicks in sooner rather than later.” Yeah, me too, if it’ll keep me warm,I thought.

“Is there nowhere in that massive castle that we could’ve trained instead?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“We will go back inside after the run, I promise.” He smiled and led the way down over a small hill towards a massive lake. It was surrounded on most sides by trees blanketed in snow. The lake itself hadn’t completely frozen over yet, only patches of ice and snow here and there. Otherwise, it was a beautiful deep teal and stretched for miles.

“We—we aren’t running around that, are we?”

“Stretch, please,” he said through a smile. He began moving this way and that, stretching his legs and arms.

“I can’t run around that, Emric.” I was still standing there, stiff as a board.

“Stretch, Alys. We don’t have to run the entire time, but we need to get your stamina up. Ash also thinks the harder I push you, the quicker your Fae blood will take over. And trust me, you need that to happen.”

I started mimicking his stretches, if only to just get my mind off this daunting task in front of me. I knew I was being dramatic, but I was never a runner, and my anxiety didn’t really let me be nonchalant about something new.

“Do you measure in miles here? How many miles is that?”

“We aren’t cavemen, Alys,” he laughed. “It’s about five miles all the way around it.”

“And how fast could you run it if I weren’t around to slow you down?”

He thought about it for a moment, the dark strands of his hair blowing around his face. “Twenty minutes, maybe? If I had to get to the other side, though, running wouldn’t be my first choice.” I made a face.

“What would be?”

Suddenly, gigantic wings erupted from his back, the wind from them forcing me to take a few steps back.

“Holy shit,” I breathed. They were enormous and made him tower over me more than he originally had. Both wings started out as a deep grey at his shoulders and faded out into a bright white that blended in with the snow around us. “Where the hell were you hiding those?” The words came out in more of a squeak than I was proud to admit. That same shit-eating grin that I had seen Asher wear so often was now on his face.

“I can magick them away whenever I want. All my clothes have slits in them over my shoulder blades so they can come out whenever I need them.”

“They’re beautiful,” I said and reached out to touch their feathers. They looked like the softest silk. He stepped back, and they folded back in and away. Magicked out of sight.

“Thank you, but touching a Fae’s wings is very”—his violet eyes flashed—“intimate.”

I felt my cheeks flush with heat. “I’m sorry,” I said, bringing my hand to my mouth.

“It’s okay,” he said through a laugh. “I just don’t think we’re on that level yet.” He winked, and I flipped him off. He laughed harder. “Ash wasn’t kidding about your attitude.” He slapped me on the shoulder. “Let’s go, Alys. Let’s get this over with.”

And with that, he was off, loping at a much slower speed than I knew he could go. I started after him, not enjoying the feel of the icy-cold air filling my lungs with each breath. Within minutes, my chest was burning, and I just knew my legs were going to cramp up and fall off at any moment. I was desperate for him to not hear my labored breathing, but I knew there was no fighting it. I was sure Mavka, wherever she was in the castle, could probably hear me drag each breath in harder than the last.

“If you’re getting a stitch in your side,” he said, sounding not out of breath at all, “breathe out for as long as you can before you take another breath in. That should help.” I could feel my ponytail slapping the back of my neck. The layers that I was thankful for earlier were now going to smother me. I was going to literally sweat to death. Trickles of it rolled down my spine. I peeled my gloves off and shoved them into my coat pockets.

“Can you…magick away…some layers?” I asked between breaths.

“How many layers?” He wagged his dark eyebrows.

“If I wasn’t so out of breath, I would punch you.” He turned around and started jogging backwards. “Show-off!” He smiled and snapped his fingers. And just like the night before when Asher had made food appear out of nowhere, Emric had made a couple of layers disappear. The icy air made the sweat on my skin feel like it was freezing in place, but at least I was cooler now. “I need a minute,” I said, slowing to a walk.

“We’re halfway through—I think you should just keep going. We need to push your body, Alys.” He jogged circles around me as I stopped and bent over, hands on my knees, heaving gulps of air into my lungs.

“Fuck off, Emric. I’m not a full Faery. I’m a human, with a barely healed gash on her face and a body that is very much not used to physical exertion.”

He studied me for a minute, trying to see how serious I was. He must’ve decided not very.

“Okay, Wheezy, you’ve had a minute,” he said, giving my ponytail a tug. I whipped around on him, but he was already running again. “If you can catch me, you can punch me. How about that for incentive?” he yelled back at me. I took off after him, pushing through the fire in my legs and lungs. I was determined to catch him. One thing I knew for sure: when I did reach him, and I did punch him, I would be imagining it was Asher’s smug face my fist was making contact with.

* * *

I did not catch him. And when we got back and he took me to a big open room on the first level of the castle, he proceeded to kick my ass. I was assigned hundreds of crunches, lunges, multiple types of upper-body workouts, and even some boxing. My legs were pudding, and my arms were heavier than my entire body, so every punch I threw probably hit as hard as falling paper.

My hair had almost completely fallen out around my face, and it clung to my forehead, my cheeks, and my neck. I felt disgusting. I could not imagine how I must smell. When Emric told me we were done for the day, I fell down on the floor in pure exhaustion and relief that it was over.

“Humans are so dramatic,” he said, looking down at me.

“Shut up, Emric, and just sit down here for a minute before making me walk a mile to my room.” He sat down next to me and took a drink of water. I stared up at the ornate ceiling and followed the gold swirls in the molding. “My friend Ashley did this to my head.” I pointed at the cut on my forehead that was almost healed thanks to that little tin of magick. “I’m not sure why she would’ve done that? Could Asher have forced her?”

“I don’t know if that’s a conversation for us to have. Ash would probably prefer to answer your questions.”

I sat up and looked at him. “I would have a hard time believing anything your High Lord says anyway. So why don’t you just tell me?” I took a drink of my own water, and he rolled his eyes, resigned that I probably wasn’t going to give up on it.

“Most High Fae have the ability to glamour humans. There was no other way to get you out of there without causing suspicion.” He watched me from the corner of his eye. “I’m sure he used a lot of glamour that night on a lot of people to get you out safely.”

“Safely,” I snorted. “Minus my head being thrown full force into a mirror and then a hard-ass sink. Minus the bruises all over my arm from him supposedly forgetting his strength. Minus the river water I unintentionally swallowed and then vomited back up.” I mentally gagged at the memory. “You people must have a very loose definition of safe.”

“You people?” he said, gripping his chest. “You wound me.” I kicked his thigh as hard as I could, which was more of a tap. My muscles strained at the effort. Tomorrow was really going to suck. “He got you here alive. I think that’s safe enough.”

“He also has his own version of a microchip on my shoulder,” I said, motioning to the dust. “I’m basically his dog.”

“You are far too important to be considered a dog, Alys.” He stood up and offered me his hand, and I grabbed it. A jolt of emotion went through my arm at the contact, flooding my mind with amusement and the all-too-familiar taste of worry. I yanked my hand out of his and stood up on my own. I stared down at his hand, still hovering there in midair. “You okay, Wheezy?”

I wiped my hands on my pants. That was the second time I felt emotions that weren’t quite my own.

“Yeah,” I said and changed the subject, hoping he thought I was just weird. “And why am I so important?”

“That one is definitely going to come from him.” He cut me off when he saw my mouth open to protest again. “You won’t get this one out of me. You can ask Ash tonight at dinner.”

My shoulders slumped at the thought of having to get in another dress instead of just sleeping until tomorrow. “Do I have to dine with him every single night?”

“I have a feeling, Alys, that the answer to that is yes.”

I groaned and followed him out of the training room and back up to my own.

* * *

“Mav,” I groaned hours later, “I swear to whatever gods you believe in that I will die if I have to get out of this bed.” I had already decided earlier after my bath and clean clothes that I would beg like my life depended on it to stay in bed until Emric dragged me out of them the next morning. Mavka tsk’d at me as she went in search of another dress. “You can tell him that his stupid training has literally killed me and that he doesn’t have to worry about keeping me alive any longer.”

“I think this dark green will go beautifully with your eyes,” she said, walking out of the bath chamber with a heavy-looking swathe of emerald velvet. I peeked over my mountain of covers at it. With its long slim sleeves and slits that would go up to either thigh, it was beautiful. “And I know you’re hungry. You haven’t eaten since breakfast because you were, what was it? ‘Literally too dead to eat’ when you came back with Emric?”

I was hungry. I sighed and got out of bed to let her dress me.

“I heard the first day of training went…well,” Asher said as I walked into the dining hall. I gave him a sarcastic smile before hanging my cloak up and making my way over to him. He pulled out the same seat for me, the food already on the table tonight. The shadows around his body moved more this evening, restless and whirling around him like storm clouds. I half expected to see lightning flashing through them.

“I learned some interesting things today.” I filled my own plate tonight.

“Did you?”

“Do you have wings like Emric?”

He gave a soft laugh. “I do have wings, yes. But they do not look like Emric’s. Mine are much bigger,” he said with a wink.

I groaned at his massive male ego and asked, “Can I see them?”

“Oh, Alyssandra.” He leaned into the table and locked his eyes on mine, a stormier shade of grey blue. Everything about him tonight seemed more tense than the night before. “Let’s save that for later. I wouldn’t want to get you all hot and bothered at the dinner table.”

I leaned back in my chair, rolled my eyes, and quickly changed the subject. “I also learned that you used your glamour to convince Ashley to throw my head into the mirror like a football.”

No hint of a smile on those lips then as he took a drink of his wine and leaned back. Even the wine was dark to match the night around him. “Mm, indeed I did. I didn’t think she’d resort to such harsh tactics, but then again, my magick was spread very thin that night, so I probably wasn’t very clear. I was glamouring an entire bar, I’ll have you know.”

“How does it work? And why not just use glamour on me to get me to come peacefully? I think it would’ve saved you some grief.” I was shoveling food in my mouth tonight, not really caring about any decorum I should probably have in front of a High Lord. I was starving from the training this morning. He watched each bite with rapt attention.

“In that instance, I had to do it from a distance so it wasn’t as strong as it would have been one-on-one. But time was of the essence. So I reached my magic out, just like I did with a bit of my dust with you. I reached out and told them all to think you were drunk, so drunk that someone had to carry you out. I glamoured away the blood. And all I asked Ashley to do was incapacitate you a little. I think Ashley has some underlying anger issues.”

He took a few bites as I processed.

“But I assure you, the excuse she gave to your friends will be a good one. I was able to glamour her directly in the bathroom. I also didn’t glamour you because I wasn’t sure how well it would work with your Fae blood. And I didn’t want you to be following me like a blind puppy. I figured it would be easier to experience it all happening instead of just closing your eyes in a bar and then opening them in a foreign place with no idea how you got there.”

I mulled that over and reluctantly agreed with him. I groaned inwardly. I did not like agreeing with him. “And what excuse did Ashley give? Are you sure they’re all going to blindly believe her? They’re like my family, and if one of them just disappeared, I would have questions.”

“I didn’t stick around to find out. I know you’re thinking that your precious Thomas will be worried and wondering where you are. That boy has a lot less going on”—he tapped his temple—“than you so wildly wanted to believe he did. He’s weak, and her excuse will suffice.”

My chest felt tight at the harshness in his words. I didn’t even realize until he said it that I was, in fact, thinking of Tom. My stupid crush in the grand scheme of things now I guess would seem trivial to someone like Asher.

“I was trying to get you out of there quickly, Alyssandra.” He paused and took another long drink. “Quickly enough that Aoife wouldn’t be a problem,” he said under his breath.

“Why would Aoife be a problem?” My fork clanged on the plate at the mention of her name.

“Because Aoife is Fae and was sent to watch you.” He drank the rest of his wine in one mouthful. “And she was there to eventually take you.”