Betrayal (3 page)

“Not finished with one date and she’s already looking for seconds?” A tiny grin touched his lips.  His thumb brushed my cheek and lingered there.

He read my embarrassed face and said, “My lady wishes to hike, my lady gets.”  Mr. Prince Charming bowed and kissed my hand in a blurred fast motion of chivalry reminding me once again he already owned the same super-nonhuman speed I was getting better at.  He was superior at it.  Just when he was pulling me up to kiss him, a shrill voice standing lower behind us cleared their throat and yipped, “Beg your forgiveness, but Master Pike needs assistance of the worst kind.”

We eyed each other fast and moved through the court to where the Fey messenger led us.  When we arrived, Ian told me to stay inside, so I did the opposite.  Right past the garden Rion was laid out flat, a position I’d never seen him in.  I saw him first and raced to see if he was hurt.  He was cut up bad, but alive.  He actually smiled I think when I moved his hair from his face. 

What happened?  Who could have actually taken this hulk down? 
              “I’ll get someone," I told him.  I didn’t think anyone else would lay down their life for me like he had several times.  A complete stranger just doesn’t do that and that’s what he was to me the first time he took a strike intended for me.  He was loyal, and I owed him my allegiance back.

I stood to see who else was hurt trying my hardest to use magic to help me get to others faster.  Everyone around the court made it look so easy.

I heard his thoughts first screaming, “
No!
” and lots of cursing.  A pang of fear coursed through me worried Pike was hurt too.

An arrow swooshed by my head and landed somewhere behind me.  I flipped around to see several Nym armed men in a fist fight, sword swinging battle that appeared like they were losing.  Yet below their feet lay two of our guards.  Neither looked dead, but both were severely wounded.

I raced away knowing I didn’t have a weapon to defend myself.  In my head I tried to think of some magical way to help myself, but for the life of me I couldn’t think how blocking would help me.  It was the first time I had to think fast with someone hurt before, not the first time I panicked.  There’s a huge difference.  Lives could be ended.  One of the first things I learned from Ian was making objects appear, but I hadn’t developed that handy dandy trick yet so well that I could rely on it if my life depended on it.  But persuasion could work.

I made a beeline to the shielded area of trees where I eyed one of our guards hiding behind a big oak.  How I made it this long without a knight in shining armor was a miracle.  Another arrow flew by my head telling me the last one came from one of my own men aimed at the enemy.

I hid with the guard, knowing the face but not his name.  He’d helped Bane and Ian on occasion at the range.  I jerked upward to see an attacker that kept avoiding my fellow guard’s arrows.  He was my height, built like an ox, and baring his teeth like an animal at both of us.  I concentrated on his hands and the second Nym who was closing in to join in his chaotic raid.  Focused, I used my magic to make the beafy one pick up a stone lodged against the base of the tree and strike the other one beside him, then drop it and run the other way until I couldn’t hold on any longer. 

My energy spent, I twisted my ankle wrong jolting to my right upon hearing my name.

Pike face’s was hidden behind a layer of wet and dried blood as well as the front and backside of his clothes.  He was bleeding on his neck and shoulders, that much I could see.  I panicked hearing a painful roar in his head. Underneath the blood on his face were obvious cuts and puffy skin abrasions.  He was a mess.  Down on the ground before him lay a body. 

Lorah!

I ran to her, hovering over her broken body.  A sword had slashed through her middle and her eyes were left open where she lay staring at the tops of the trees.  Her once sunshine yellow dress was a mix of death and earth.  I picked up her body ignoring the blood that spattered over me and the ground around me. 

Pike was frozen to the spot where I found him.  The guards surrounded me standing with their backs and swords upturned in all directions.  I didn’t think any danger was still there.

“They led a strike without warning.  They were ready for us,” a guard said to all of us, returning his sword to his side.

I didn’t hide my tears or pain.  How could I feel this much pain?  Just days ago we were laughing at silly girls and the men in our books.  I showed her how to make coffee so she could surprise Pike and the others with it brewing for the next meeting day.  When she did, the boys had simultaneously spit it out.  She’d only put half the amount of beans in the grinder.

My eyes blurred but I could see the white of Pike’s eyes amid the blood on his face and wondered if it was all his.  “Why didn’t you save her?”  I choked out.

He dropped to his knees.  “I did.”  His sword fell beneath him, a huge gash in his side.

No, he didn't.

Ian swooped me up and yanked. I held on to Lorah until I couldn’t see straight.  “Grace!”  I heard Ian call my name.  “Grace.”  I didn’t feel my feet touch the ground as Ian sat me in the garden himself covered in blood.  “I told you to stay inside.”

Pike stood over me, holding his hand against his ribcage where I’d seen the wound spilling out.  When I looked up into his eyes, his face was streaked with tear stains running through the bloody mess on his face. 

“I’m sorry Grace.  I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t have the power in me to answer.  I just laid my head on Ian’s shoulder and cried, tasting the bitterness in mouth. 

A scream blasted through the hurried air.  My arms flailed, weapons flew up in defense.  The essence of a kamikaze Nym burst through the shocked and disturbed mass of hurt and bleeding.  Still coming towards the ones I love, I refused to lose any more of them to any raging basket case Nym.  So I took action as I jumped up from the ground and swerved around to grab the sword from Pike’s side with the intention of holding it straight out and letting the hellion fall on it.  As if my plan wasn’t fool proof, Pike slammed his body against mine placing himself in front of the madman at the same time Ian sandwiched me in from the back.  Any other time I’d say this situation was highly inappropriate.

Still advancing towards us, Pike took the sword back from me, yelled something to Ian, and readied for impact.  Several of our guards moved swiftly in our direction aiming for the wayward killer, but all missed.  Pike aimed and all at once there was a crunch, smack, and thud to the ground.

Pike’s sword didn’t miss the target, but the other hadn’t missed his either.

Clean through, the sword of the enemy had penetrated the other side of Pike’s rib cage breaking a bone and who knows what else.  The pain of his body crushing into me was nothing compared to the pain he shot through his mind.  He sounded like he was dying.  The next thing I saw was the dead Nym on the ground, and Pike lying beside him.

Panic overwhelmed me.  “NO!  NO!  NO!  Not him too.”  I fell around my own feet lying across Pike’s chest and screaming to whatever creatures of the air could heal the hurt.  They were all dying around me.  All I could think about was not losing Pike.

Ian.  I yanked up searching to be sure he was safe still behind me though I could feel his hands wrapped around my waist. 

“Help them.”  I blacked out at that point and only remember Ian catching my head before it hit the ground.

The next day I finally emerged from his bed long after dawn knowing the pain had ebbed to a dull ache.  I rolled over to my stomach and put my hands under my chin.  I stared at the mp3 player on the bedside stand and forced a small smile.  I remember waking up again after fainting and being up way too late in search of answers. The day didn't end with any.

The night was long with talks of war and revenge and secret retaliation.  Pike apologized in the meeting room while wincing and cursing the very wounds that he should have died from, but the healing magic of the Fey astounded me still.  Why couldn’t all the Fey have
that
magic?

His wounds healed, Lorah’s did not.

I tried not to be bitter towards him knowing it wasn’t his fault or even that he couldn’t stop it before she was hurt.  It was wrong of me to do so.  But I found it easier to blame someone rather than accept the truth.  She was gallant and brave and in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

When I finally dressed and headed straight back to the meeting room where all others had resumed from the late night powwow, I heard Bane retelling events in his caveman voice and summing up what my head told me to assume was the unavoidable truth.  Upon entering, I let my eyes count the number of guards in the room privileged enough to hear the sordid details and at the same time tally the living.  All were here as far as I could tell.  I stopped when Pike glared at my absence in listening skills only because one had to actually look at the people as you counted them.  I didn’t want Pike riling Ian up with some stupid comment.  He’d obviously healed up well.

“We had no idea the Nyms would attack the boundaries.  Their agreement said they would stay peaceful,” Bane continued watching me enter.

So it was the  Nyms who initiated it.  I walked all the way into the doorway and watched the room still as I approached.  A weepy queen was what they expected, but not what they would get.  I wanted answers, not more crying. I cried myself out in Ian’s arms all night.  I hadn’t even comforted Sarah with more than a hug and holding her in the garden before I exited to help Ian, Pike, and Bane clean up much to their disagreements.  And where was Lorah’s body?

“What do we know?” I asked summoning patience from the walls around me.

Everyone stayed silent in wait.  They tried not to turn their heads in Ian’s direction, but it was obvious to the trained eye I’d developed around this court that all eyes still turned to Ian.  In his perfect and wonderful defense, he didn’t flinch an eye.

“Grace,” Ian didn’t cottle me in front of the others.  I admired his trust in me.  Should he?  No!  Does he?  Yes!  “Lorah will be laid upon a pyre at sundown.  The court will take care of the details and we will attend.  For now, we need to discuss the attack from the Nyms, who encouraged it, and what action to take.”

He told me what I wanted to hear and where the discussion needed to lead.  I took all of this in stride and noted to myself that though Ian was making it aware to the others that I had a say, I knew very well that he and Bane were the decision makers when it came to defensive positions and I’d do well to let them take that charge.  However, this had to have involved Kin and I wanted an answer about the other injured victim first before retaliation talks. Danella had been forthcoming with the whereabouts of my guard.

“Will Rion be okay?”

Ian looked at Pike first before me doing a guy look I couldn’t interpret.  “He was sent away.”

Rage, fear, and hurt hit me at once.  It clawed at my heart thinking that Rion might think I betrayed him.    “What?  No!  I want him back.  Now!  He doesn’t deserve that.  He is anything but loyal to me.”

I begged with my eyes.  Rion didn't fail if he was defending her.

Pike’s steady gaze turned to Ian first then said, “He can’t.”

“No, he will return.”  Ian never took his eyes off Pike.  Their silent exchange was without words inside and out.  I checked both hoping to read them this time and I couldn’t read a single thought.  They were
too
good at the blocking. 

Pike moved a step toward Ian and Ian did the same. 
What the heck?
  Were they going to fight?  Pike’s fist was balled just below the table where I could see in some attempt to stifle his rage or to prepare for it, I didn’t know.  I got what I wanted, so I changed the subject before the two went bat crazy on me. 

“What do we know of Kin behind this attack?”  I asked them all inching over absentmindedly to hold the table from another fainting spell.

Pike’s face twisted up as I watched him not answer.  Beside me, his tight fist unfurled as he popped the knuckles on both wrists and stared at me with unbidden anger.   I prayed that anger wasn’t toward me and that my best judgment wouldn’t be usurped by his diligent hard-headedness. His injuries were far in the past, but his ability to hold my stare was not.  I could tell he was bursting to say something.

“Are you going to speak?” I demanded breaking the once again man-controlled discussion.  I chanced a look at Ian seeing easily his jealous heart was in a rage at my giving Pike any attention.  I deserted Pike and moved over to the table behind where Ian stood.  His shoulders relaxed a bit superstitiously, and I heard a breath escape through his teeth. 

Bane’s gruff voice answered me.  “We know nothing of Kinsler’s involvement in the attack.  We captured one Nym guard, but he died killing himself after he attacked Pike and reached Lorah instead.”

“Why was Lorah involved?”  The question of the hour.

“She is untrained and saw only danger.  Her innocent eagerness to defend even us caused a rip in the wall our guards held by the court boundaries.  When she called my name, I turned quickly at the unexpected female voice and allowed the one Nym to enter my boundary.  Lorah was too quick to get to me and he had her.  There was nothing I could do.”

“There was,” I challenged Pike’s reasoning.  Stupid girl!

“I—“

Pike jackrabbited his body to exit.  He didn’t even fight me on the inside.  That told me right then and there that he was broken.  I’d hurt him, but Lorah was dead and nothing would bring her back.

Ian circled my waist and I inched away from the contact.  “I will talk to Kin.”

“NO!” he yelled aloud.

“Ian, he can meet on our terms.  Bane, have a message sent to meet with us in one day’s time at dawn at Pike’s domain where we met before.”

Bane stood and bowed his bulky body in my direction and then looked to Ian for either confirmation or a next move, I wasn’t sure.

“As she says.  We will be off before the hour.  You will remain to defend the court and ten of your best.  I will take mine and Grace’s guards as well as ten other.  We will return no matter what in two days time.  Please have the message to Kinsler before this meeting is adjourned.”

Ian’s brows made the deep V that always sent a signal to me that he’d
talk to me later
.

Bane bowed again and moved away but Ian still wasn't looking his way.  The group huddled and drowned out a murmur of noise away from the two of us.  Ian kept his hard etched eyes on the table in front of us, but I knew his pot was stewing with what he really wanted to say to me.  I would never know how he stayed so together when all he wanted to do was come unglued at my rash decisions.

“Thank you.”

What?
  That was the direct opposite of what I expected.  He studied my reaction and continued, “I am a patient man, Grace.  I don’t agree with the danger you’re putting yourself in, but I know you are only thinking that you arranged this meeting so I could be present with you while we interrogate Kinsler.”

Wow!  Mr. Mystery was figuring out my womanly ways.  “I want to know if he is involved and this is the only way to find out in an organized manner that I knew you’d agree to.  Kin will comply.”

“You know this only because of his other ultimate agenda.  But what you are not considering is that he might take the time to change your own agenda for the meeting tomorrow and create a frenzied attack involving you.”

“He won’t hurt me.  Or rather, it’s not me he will hurt.” I noted the insignificant curiosity of how the few Fey around the room replacing drinks and other things hear so much yet never make waves among our people.  They loyally keep our secrets. 
Our
people.

And if Ian thought for one minute that he’d convince me so easily or threaten me into complacency even in front of others, he was woefully mistaken.

“It’s not your physical harm as in attacking you with a weapon that I’m worried about.  Denial of his other capabilities doesn’t help your cause either,” he clarified as if I needed a reminder about Kin’s
capabilities
.

Did he mean he was worried about the others or that Kin would have something else in mind for me?  No point arguing!  “Not denial, but I am selective on what I articulate in front of him if that helps.”  His face showed no sign being “helped” by the thought, not that I thought it would.  Neither of us meant the altruistic kind of help.

Bane was finished and standing beside Ian again waiting for a conversation stopping point.  I told Ian I would retreat to my room to dress and ready.  He nodded unenthusiastically and turned to Bane without affection or a smile.

Bane slipped me a sad smile as I made a measured step away from Ian.