Rise of the Magi (2 page)

A few more sniffles and he wiped his nose on the sleeve of his navy shirt. “A bunch of us went to Andrew and Neve’s last night to play cards like normal, right? Everything was fine. I thought we were having a great time, then early this morning when we were about to leave, I noticed how much Neve was glowing, you know? Holding her baby belly, just grinning like a fiend, and Andrew rubbing it all proud daddy-like.” Cas let out a sound of agony and sniffed a few more times. “I want that with Brígh, and I thought she did, too. Thinking it’d earn some brownie points, I took Neve’s hand and put it on Brígh’s belly and said,
maybe it’s about time you put a little of your magic here
.” He shrugged. “Is that some woman-thing no-no I don’t know about? I didn’t mean to make her mad.”

“Beats me,” I said, eyes narrowed as I tried to connect his action with her reaction. “What did she say to make you think you upset her?”

“She just went all white and screamed, ‘
how could you?’
, then took off.” He threw his palms up, and they smacked down on his denim-covered thighs. “I swear I will never understand women.”

“Amen to that.” Liam grinned while I glowered.

Knowing how much Brígh wanted children, how envious she’d been of Neve’s and my babies to be, I couldn’t understand how that would upset her. Why wouldn’t she want her sister to evoke her new gift of fertility?

I stared at Liam over Cas’s head. My mate shrugged his broad shoulders, his thoughts making about as much sense out of the scenario as mine. As in none.

“I don’t think you did anything wrong.” I gave Cas’ shoulder a squeeze before getting up. “Something else must be bothering her. Why don’t you guys rustle us up some breakfast since I’m starving.” Holding my shields tighter than ever to keep my worry to myself, I forced a smile to cover my dread.
And I’ll go find her.

“There’s a surprise.” Liam full lips quirked up.

“Oh, shut it. The baby’s hungry, so I’m hungry, okay?” It seemed like all I did was eat, or think about eating. It was a wonder I didn’t weigh four hundred pounds.

As usual, Liam didn’t bother putting any clothes on. Naked was okay most places, but not in the kitchen. Before he made it to the door, I threw a pair of shorts around his neck.

He gave me a wolfish grin, tugged the shorts down tighter like a scarf, and left with all of his junk swinging merrily in the breeze. If I hadn’t been so freaked out on the inside, I might have laughed or made a few cat calls, but worry over Brígh and the stupid Magi sucked away my energy. At least Gallagher had taught me how to shield baby Garret from most of it. He’d become a little sponge, aware of what I and Liam thought and what turbulent states our emotions went through.

More interested in comfort than fashion since my kid’s feet were jammed into my ribs, I pulled on a white T-shirt and a pair of black yoga pants.

Heart pounding, I exited our room and took the transport down to the main level of the castle. The yellow grand hall greeted me as I stepped out, blinking at the brilliance of the space.

“Hey, Lila.” Trevor, one of my guards stood by the exit with Andrew, Neve’s mate and another of my keepers of the peace.

I managed a tight smile and strode over to them. “Hey, Trevor.” Too uptight to make small talk, I turned to Andrew while braiding my annoying golden-blonde hair. “No word on where Brígh’s gotten off to?” I asked.

He roughed a hand over his shaved head, lips held in a grim line. The scar traversing his cheek and nose appeared darker, as it often did when something worried him. “Nope. Looked everywhere, and Neve’s still racing all over hell’s half acre, cursing up a storm. Poor kid’s probably feeling like she’s turning into a milkshake in there.”

“I’ll find her.” I pinned him under a hard stare. “What really happened last night? I’m thinking Cas maybe did something bad without realizing it?” At least, I hoped he had for all of our sakes, and Brígh’s meltdown wasn’t a symptom of a much larger problem. I had enough of those.

Andrew shrugged and recounted the night’s events. “Sorry, boss lady. I don’t get it, either. She just wigged and took off.”

“I told you not to call me that.” I crossed my arms so I wouldn’t be tempted to smack him. “Have you got someone on the portal door so we know if anyone comes or goes?”

He saluted with a snide grin, confusing me as to whether he was annoyed or amused. Probably both since that’s all he seemed to be, lately. “Yes, ma’am. I might not be the brightest bulb in this joint, but security’s my bag. She hasn’t gone out.”

“Don’t be a smart-ass, Andrew.” I strode off, shaking my head to his, “Better than being a dumb-ass,” retort.

Once outside on the steps, I stopped and inhaled. Iress. Honeysuckle and roses. The scent of home. A place where my heart finally breathed a sigh of relief and quieted after searching for such an elusive place for so long. Sweet, heady, calming better than any drug humans had concocted to fry their brains. As I allowed it to unfurl my clenched muscles, I decided the situation warranted using my Sight of the Goddess.

Since I’d forced a melding of darkness and Light in myself, and in the rest of the fae in the city to fight the Shadowborn, using my Sight put a greater drain on my power for reasons even Gallagher hadn’t deciphered. Not to mention touching others through metaphysical means had become a much more overwhelming experience than before.

Brígh thought it had something to do with my inner self being more like an open field than the dark, tangled forest it once was, particularly before the elves of Freymoor Wood had gotten a hold of me, and that I gave more of myself in everything I did. Fewer places to hide, or something like that. I told her she was nuts, but I didn’t have a better explanation, so I ignored it.

The best place for me to evoke my Sight was in the heart of Iress. Not an indoor Court like we’d had in Dun Bray, but a garden that had grown after I’d killed Alastair, the Magi’s obedient otherworldly assassin who’d stolen hundreds of human souls to hunt me. Or so I’d thought. It had all been a ploy to make me accept my darkness and open myself to unimaginable power. For what purpose, I still had no idea, but it scared me, whatever it was.

Doing my best to greet the fae I passed walking along the cobblestone, and uttering short “hellos”, I sped toward the Court and wished with all my might that Brígh would be okay.

2

Beyond the gates of the Court, I found my favorite place—a garden lush with wildflowers and shiny black trees topped with feather-soft pink foliage that swayed back and forth despite there being no breeze. They reminded me of tufts of sea grass dancing in the current, hypnotic and soothing. Hundreds of small, grassy platforms were arranged on the stadium-like hill leading down to where Liam’s and my dais—a mound overflowing with tiny white star flowers and Talawen’s leafless cherry tree—sat in the middle.

Down near the front, Gallagher lay on his back on one of the smaller daises, his black fingers linked together over his stomach. Wrinkles covered his tweed suit, and his bowtie lay askew as if he’d been tugging at it.

Worried he might add even more issues to my list, I padded over to him and stared down at my old pain-in-the-ass friend. His closed lids fluttered, suggesting some internal pain or unpleasant thought. I didn’t bother reaching out mentally to him, though. He could shield better than any of us, except Brígh. “Did you sleep here?”

He sprang up like a launched rocket, choking on breath. “By the spirits, Lila Gray. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Facing skyward, he pounded a fist to his chest.

I arched a brow at him, my concern ratcheting up. “You’re a telepath. You usually know where I am every second of the day, even before I do.”

He huffed and smoothed out his suit, patted his white dreads flat and picked out a few bits of grass from them. “Yes, well, I have been trying to reach my protégé for an update on our surveillance team in Talawen’s wood but haven’t been able to reach her since last night. Such concentration steals my local senses for a time.”

I held up my hand. “Hold that thought. Brígh’s missing, and I need to deal with her first. As soon as I’m done,”—I pointed my finger back and forth between us—“you, me and Liam have a date.”

Rubbing a hand over his chin, he opened his mouth but shut it again. Weariness dragged at his features. It couldn’t have been good that dark circles dug deep under his eyes, especially on almost black skin. “Very well. And you’ll tell me about what troubles her then?”

That he didn’t already know shocked me all to hell. He was quite the busybody most of the time. Too wound up to do anything else, I nodded and continued to my dais, where I faced the sky and spread my arms. “Goddess, lend me your Sight.”

From within, a mental ripple spilled out of me and swept Iress, more something I knew in my soul than what I could see, except for the momentary flutter of the pink feather leaves before they went back to their rhythmic dance. Moments passed before my Sight hijacked a bird, images from far above returning to me from its sharp eyes, the picture clearer than ever before as if I’d become the bird.

We passed over Iress, a beautiful rainbow mosaic of houses, paths and tropical gardens. In the distance, a patchwork of farmlands the chefs from the Black City had been working on spread like a never-ending natural quilt. With the hour still early for most, only a few fae wandered outside their homes, puttering at one thing or another. In a circular pattern, outward from the garden where my physical body stood, I guided the bird in search of my friend. Over thousands of rooftops we went, searching for any movement. After fifteen minutes, my worry stole away the one shred of patience I owned.

My legs wobbled as a nauseating wave of exhaustion hit. It seemed to be all or nothing with me lately; I couldn’t give only a little when it came to using that particular ability anymore. I expected, one day, the bird might just fly off with my spirit and leave my body an empty husk.

Pulling my Sight back, I slowed my breathing and readied my mind and body to be flooded with life and thought that wasn’t my own. My Light flared white around me. It flashed over Gallagher, who’d laid back down on one of the daises with a strange look on his face. Wonder? A tired sort of interest? He was much stronger at mind screwing people than I was, so I didn’t understand why anything I could do would impress the old fart.

I flexed my senses and allowed my power to flow out through my feet, into the ground, through my skin, and into the air as I called out for her, emptying myself until I remained a shell—an anchor for my energy that roamed the land.
“Where are you, Brígh?”

Hundreds of minds woke, their surprise prickling my nape. Fear and curiosity bubbled into me. Fighting to focus through the crowd growing in my head, I lowered to my knees on the grass and pushed out harder. I hopped from head to head, whizzing through minds with the speed of a laser. Some sang in the shower. A few were in mid-bite of their breakfast toast and eggs. Others jumped apart from bedroom activities.
Oops
. I muttered mental apologies and jettisoned farther. When Brígh’s snarled mess of a mind slammed into me, the force of it knocked the air from my lungs.

“Stay out!”
She expelled me with force. I fell on my face and lost my connection to her innermost sanctuary.

I held tight to her peripheral senses, pushing out harder to look through her eyes. She ran, and by her even breaths, she’d just begun. Who was she running from?

“You,”
she thought at me.
“Leave me alone, Lila. I mean it.”

Why would she run from me? Memories of the dream haunted me, and I slammed my mental door shut on them.
“Have you met me?”
I injected my thoughts into hers and laughed, hoping it would ease her back from the edge she stood upon, but she only fought me harder and grew angrier, prickly fire eating at my skull. I’d never seen her angry before, and I never wanted to see it again.
“Talk to me, dammit!”

“No. Stay away!”

When I recognized the pink shutters on Neve and Andrew’s place, I realized she ran along the street toward the home she and Cas shared. Senses returning to my body, I sped out of the Court and hopped the gate, Gallagher gasping behind me. Probably not the brightest move considering I was five months pregnant.

Shifters awakened, blinking their window eyes at me as I passed without greeting—an unusual occurrence for me.

As I approached Brígh’s bungalow, Neve beat me up the front walk and pounded on the door, her white tank top hanging off one shoulder. “Let me in right now, or I swear I’ll kick in your fucking door. I’m your sister, God dammit. Tell me what’s going on!”

I approached and put a hand on Neve’s shoulder. Her blue Light flared, searing my fingers. She whirled to me, her fae eyes blazing, nostrils flared, chest heaving. Most of her pink hair was secured in a high pony tail, but the springs that had come loose made her look almost wild.

The sight of her stalled my breath for a few beats. “Let me,” I said softly, filtering away some of her darkness into myself, like swallowing a sulphur fog out of a volcano.

Neve glared at me for a few seconds, her hands wrapping around her basketball-sized belly, before she dropped her gaze and nodded. The tension in her shoulders eased, lowering their hunch. Her breath shuddered out on a sigh.

I understood her fear—for the little one she carried. Thoughts of our uncertain future scorched me, too, right where it hurt down in my foundation.

Instead of trying to convince Brígh to open the door, I placed my hand on the wall of the fuchsia shifter and let my intent fill my thoughts. “
Let me help her.”
The creature trembled as if feeling whatever pained Brígh and opened a hole for me to step through.

The small, open-concept home, simply furnished in white and red with pine trim, appeared the same as the last time I’d been there. Clothing dotted the living room as if she and Cas dressed in a hurry that morning. A half-carved block of wood he’d been turning into a horse sat on the table. For the child he hoped for? What had happened to their fairytale happiness?