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I stroked Amalourne as we drove back to the Villa. I wonder what had her so scared earlier. She seems remarkably calm now. I glanced quickly at my cell phone as the Curia Cloisters’ map app refreshed. “It seems the Cloisters followed up.”
“Already? That was fast,” Aristide sounded mildly surprised. “Those little task forces of theirs are getting to be more efficient.”
Charon glanced at me, although the SUV didn’t so much as drift from the center of the lane. “How can you tell, Your Majesty?”
“They’ve closed all the streets down surrounding the bakery according to my cell phone map app.” I curled my hand against Amalourne, making sure she wasn’t shaking. Considering she usually runs as soon as I pull out my weapons, she was surprisingly calm during the raid. Or she was once she arrived after her terrifying sprint across town.
Charon turned into the cul-de-sac. “Then the issue is closed. The broken artifacts will no longer be sold, our people will be safe, and the confusion charms will mean no one will remember us.”
I raised an eyebrow at my steward. It was slightly wishful thinking on Charon’s part, but I wasn’t going to naysay him. I stroked Amalourne as I turned my thoughts back to the feeling of terror that I had felt through the bonding magic. What could have possibly scared her that bad?
I slipped out of the SUV intending to carry her to my room after a quick trip to the kitchen for some food for her, but she slipped out of my grasp and wandered off. Instead I offered Aristide my arm so Ker didn’t have to climb over him.
“It’s a bit disappointing that things will be back to normal,” he had the gall to say. “I rather enjoyed our field trips of running around the city.”
“Shut your traitorous mouth right now,” I said with mock sharpness.
Aristide poked me in the chest, right over my heart. “Bore!”
I shrugged with enough motion for Aristide to be able to feel, before walking off towards the front door as I glanced around for Amalourne. Aristide grumbled something over his shoulder at Ker, but I ignored them as I watched Amalourne meander out past the gate.
“Ama,” I called, putting a bit of magic behind my words, hoping that she would maybe respond a bit more to my natural animal magic that didn’t seem to affect her nearly as much as it should. “No. We’re going inside.”
“Have fun corralling your persnickety feline!” Aristide cackled.
Charon, ever faithful, paused next to me. “Do you want some help, Your Majesty?”
“No, I think she’s just exploring.” I folded my arms across my chest and leaned against one of the pillars on the porch as I watched my wayward cat sniff at a pile of trash. “You can head inside, Charon. Thanks for your help tonight.”
Charon bowed. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
I waited until I heard the door click shut and I knew my steward had passed through the portal. “Amalourne!” I called with a bit more force than before.
She paused and looked back at me for a moment. Her head swiveled back and forth as she looked between me and whatever had caught her interest in the street. The tip of her tail twitched. “Amalourne.”
Finally, she turned towards me and took a few steps before pausing to look behind her. I heard some footsteps coming down the sidewalk and some fae appeared walking down the street. I am going to throw the Paragon across town the next time he comes by. It’s all thanks to him that all these blasted fae keep showing up!
“Amalourne…” My voice trailed off as the trash she had been sniffing suddenly came to life and a faun grabbed her.
“I got her!”
Amalourne scratched and clawed at the fae, but he had leather gloves on that she couldn’t scratch him through.
“I got her,” he repeated as the rest of the fae ran up.
I felt my rage building as I felt Amalourne’s terror through the bonding magic. “Release my cat.” My voice was quiet, but it held the promise of death. The faun didn’t seem to notice as he lowered Amalourne from over his head, although he continued to hold her away from him. Interestingly, I felt her terror recede as though the fae were not a big threat.
“Sir.” A naiad bowed. Her fear was so palpable I could feel it from here. “We have been sent by the Unseelie Queen of Magiford. She is done bargaining with you to join her Court.”
Really? Would they leave me alone then?
It was a ridiculous thought, but one I wished I could entertain for a moment. But as they had my cat, currently my only source of peace, I figured they were not going to simply leave me alone. “Oh?”
The naiad gulped, but she either was being forced to speak these words by her monarch, or she was incredibly dense to her imminent death. “If you do not join her as a warrior under her services, there will be consequences.”
I couldn’t believe that the Unseelie Queen thought she had any power over me. Amalourne hissed and twisted around trying to get free. You truly expect me, King of the Mors Elves, to become a servant to the Unseelie fae Queen?
I felt my powers ripple through me as tightly controlled rage threatened to burst out of me. “Consequences? Like the capture of my cat?” My voice had taken a deadly turn. The last time I had used this voice, the person I had spoken with died.
The naiad must have finally felt the immanence of death in my tone. “Y-yes,” her voice shook. “If you do not swear fealty to Her Majesty, we are to take your cat.”
I reined in my growing anger and exhaled. I was practically bursting at the seams with magic. I unconsciously rubbed at the shackles that bound my magic. Wild magic was singing so loudly in my ears that I could barely think straight.
“I’m not joining the Unseelie Court, or the Seelie Court. Both factions are small, unimportant, and have nothing to do with me. If Queen Darina wants to save her people, she’d be better off throwing herself at the Night Queen’s feet.” I said. My patience snapped. “Now, give me my cat!”
The faun holding Amalourne tottered back a few steps and one of the fae pulled an ax from his belt. Fine. You want a fight? I’ll give you a fight.
The naiad refused to give up despite my building powers. “I’m afraid we can’t do that,” she said. “We will take her back to Queen Darina. If you change your mind-”
“No.” My power crackled around me with the word. Wild magic, which had been steadily growing louder in a plea I couldn’t ignore if I wanted to, sang with triumph as I reached for my magic, ready to snap my shackles.
“Our queen looks forward to hearing from you,” the naiad sputtered.
I tilted my head as I let my magic go. It shattered the shackles and I smoothly gathered the pieces in my magic so they floated in the air around me.
I reached out with my right hand as well as my magic as I pulled out Rioten. As I pulled out the gleaming sword, magic swirled around me and hardened into armor, harder than steel and so light I barely felt its weight.
The idiot fae with the ax took a step towards me. As though he thought he could inflict damage on me with that dull blade. I extended my hand and clenched it. My magic, ever ready to to do my bidding, eagerly crumpled the inferior weapon as wild magic crescendoed in chimes so appealing, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard it so joyful.
Wild magic sang so loudly, I was distracted enough that I did not immediately notice when the faun dropped Amalourne. I was drunk on the intoxicating music, but I held my emotions in rigid control as my magic, ever sensitive to my moods, flowed around the neighborhood locking the fae in place.
The naiad tried to speak, but my magic was so thick she collapsed. I sensed more than saw Amalourne run past me to the front porch. Good. She can go inside where it’s safe while I take care of this trash.
Somehow, through the thunderous music wild magic was singing in my ears, I heard a faint mew. For some reason, unknown to me, my beautiful cat, who was so timid she was practically scared of her own shadow, was sitting on the porch waiting for me to take her inside.
I shifted slightly and wrapped my magic around Rioten, prepared to rain death and destruction down on the terrified fae. A slight tap on my foot alerted me to Amalourne’s presence at my feet. What was she doing? She hated weapons, and here she was mewing at me in the middle of a fight. Not that it was much of a fight.
Lights were starting to turn on in the neighborhood and I knew I needed to end this quickly. But before I could tap my growing power, I suddenly found Chloe of Book Nookery standing where Amalourne had been.
Wild magic swirled around us and I could almost hear the purr of satisfaction in its ever growing chorus.
“Noctus, it’s okay! I’m fine!” Chloe shouted. I looked down at her confused. Of course she was okay. But that didn’t mean the fae weren’t going to pay for threatening her. A frown tugged at my mouth as I tried to figure out the significance of her standing in front of me as a human, but with the wild magic ringing in my ears, I couldn’t quite grasp it.
Chloe threw her arms around me and placed her head on my shoulder. For a moment, she was a small frightened cat I needed to soothe. “You need to stop! You’re going to blow the neighborhood up!” she said.
I could feel her terror through the bond, and without thought I wrapped an arm gently around her waist in an attempt to calm her. “Amalourne,” I said soothingly. I didn’t want her scared of me, but the fae must pay. “They threatened you,” I said darkly.
Chloe pulled her head back from shoulder and I oddly wanted her to put it back. “They did, but they are very sorry now,” she babbled. “You can let them go.”
“Let them go?” I asked. Why would I let them go? “They threatened you,” I repeated. Maybe she hadn’t heard me the first time.
“Yes, I was there,” she said as though I had forgotten the past few moments. “But they didn’t know not to mess with you. Now they know better.”
“Yes…” I shifted my arm around her waist so I was better supporting her. I suppose I could see her point, but there was no way I could hide this sort of magic if I wanted to keep my people safe. I still held my magic wrapped around Rioten. It would only take a moment to decimate the fae, but it would mean letting go of Amalourne. “But they might be able to figure it out,” I finally said.
“Who you are?”
“Yes.”
“That would be a problem.” She rubbed a finger across one of the razor sharp decorative feathers on my chest plate. She would cut herself if she wasn’t careful.
All the rage I had worked to suppress at the fae had vanished at Amalourne’s touch. But the controlled fury I now felt furthered my resolve that these fae would never touch her again.
“You can make portals to the fae realm?” Amalourne asked, surprising me out of my thoughts.
“Yes,” I said automatically. What is she getting at?
“Can you pull magic from the fae realm and pump it through them?” she asked. “They’re not a landed Court. They’ve been cut off from magic for so long, they’ll get drunk off it. It will addle their brains. Or you could throw a confusion charm on them.”
The idea had merit. It would certainly mean that anything the fae could remember about our encounter would be chalked up their drunken state. But they threatened Amalourne! Wild magic sang in my ears as I considered crushing them under the weight of my power.
“It’s a worthy idea,” I replied. “But it’s not the lesson they need.”
“Have Charon tie the ruined ax to one of them. That will be all the communication you’ll need.”
I unnecessarily doubled down on my emotions. The wild magic was practically begging me on bended knee to slaughter the fae who had threatened Amalourne. But she was pleading with me to spare them. If I killed them, they could never harm Amalourne again, but how would she view me after that? I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out.
“Fine.” I lowered Rioten and pointed it at the ground under the fae’s feet. Magic poured from me as I pulled pure magic from the fae realm. The fae slumped, splayed out on the hard ground.
“Woah,” Amalourne sounded amazed. “I was not expecting that strong of a response.”
I shrugged slightly. “It was the superior idea to the confusion charm.” Keeping my arm around her back, I turned towards the house and guided Chloe to the front door. “They’ll be addled for days after exposure to unfiltered, unadulterated fae realm magic.”
I released my magic and tossed Rioten into the hidden pocket of the fae realm that housed all of my elven weapons. As I nudged Amalourne… Chloe… into the house, the thought that had been nagging at me finally broke through the still rejoicing wild magic.
Amalourne was a shadow.