Chapter 21

I was really starting to hate this weather. Between the monsoon, the freezing cold, and now enough heat to fry an egg on a rock, I had no idea what kind of weather we’d be facing next. Every day on Endova really was a Jumanji game, I swear. I would not be the least bit surprised if stampeding rhinos and invading monkeys were next on the list of things we’d encounter.

The heat was unbearable. The sun’s rays filtered through the muggy haze hanging over our heads, trapping the heat and making me feel like I was walking in a sauna. My shirt stuck to my back and the nasty smell from my still damp boots assaulted me with every step. I puckered my lips and blew upwards, trying to lift the hair plastered to my forehead.

Glaring up at the merciless sun, not for the first time today did I desperately wish I had a hat to keep some of the heat off my face and neck. I would be a lobster by the end of the day, no doubt. But it wasn’t all bad, I guess. At least I could attribute the heat in my cheeks every time Starke looked my way to the sun. And he’d been looking my way a lot today, with this weird expression on his face like he was trying to figure something out. Maybe? I hoped he wasn’t trying to figure out why he kissed me twice last night. Well, once really. I’d kissed him first. Maybe that was it. Maybe he was suffering a bout of regret. I truly hoped not, but my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. Maybe he was trying to think of a way to let me down easy so I wouldn’t kiss him again like I did last night. Ugh. I still couldn’t believe I did that. What was I thinking?

Jette, don’t be a moron from now on. Keep your hands and your lips to yourself. He doesn’t need to find out about your wretched feelings when he already has so much on his plate.

God I was pathetic. Worse than pathetic. If this was what love did to you, then no wonder I avoided it for all these years. Who needed this complicated bullshit in their life?

Kara wasn’t making it any easier. She’d been smirking at me all day. I avoided her for most of the morning, offering to take back lookout, but somehow she talked Bish into switching position with her, so now she walked abreast of me, leering over like she knew a secret I didn’t.

“What?” I snapped at her, finally having enough of her sideways peeks of amusement.

“Nothing,” she threw back with another devious smile.

“Don’t tell me nothing,” I glared at her. “You’ve been grinning at me all morning like the cat that swallowed the canary. Spill it already.”

“I saw you guys last night. You know, kissing.”

Of course she did. I knew it.

“Keep your voice down,” I hissed at her. “You don’t need to tell everyone.”

I glanced at the back of the wagon, but the villagers inside were too caught up in their own misery. They weren’t paying the least bit of attention to us. They could care less who I’d been locking lips with.

Kara made her way closer to me.

“How long has it been going on?”

“How long has what been going on?” I asked, keeping my eyes straight ahead.

“You know,” she nudged my shoulder. “You and the Prince. What do you say in your world? How long have you two been an iota?”

I rolled my eyes. “I think you mean item. Geez, you’re worse than Starke trying to pretend you know human slang. And we’re not an item. I don’t know why you think that. It was just a kiss. You know, a spur of the moment thing. It wasn’t anything serious.”

“Looked pretty serious to me.”

“Well it wasn’t.” I cut her off.

Starke looked back from his position at the front of the wagon at my raised voice and quirked his brow. My cheeks flamed even redder. I swear even my eyelids were on fire. Did he hear anything?

“Okay. No need to be defensive,” Kara laughed. “I believe you. Although I think you’re protesting a little too much.”

“Seriously, Kara, don’t you think you’re a little too invested in this? I’m sure you’ve had your share of kisses with some Faerie dudes or dudettes in your time, yeah?”

“Of course,” she shrugged. “Physical intimacy is quite common and normal in our world. But none of them have been with a prince or a princess.” She nudged my shoulder and pointed her chin at Starke’s back. “Do you like him?”

“What kind of question is that?” I huffed at her. “I don’t make a habit of going around swapping spit with people I don’t like.”

“Swapping spit?”

“Kissing,” I responded. “Swapping spit is just a slang way of saying it.”

“Sounds disgusting.” She wrinkled her nose at me.

“I didn’t come up with it,” I snapped.

“So you do like him then.” She grinned at me, ignoring my weary sigh.

“Go away, Kara. It is too hot for this discussion right now.”

“And it’s about to get hotter,” she whispered as she drifted off to the side. I glanced up, wondering why she was giving up on me so easy. Instead I met Starke’s gaze as he strode my way. He stopped long enough to say a few words to the people in the wagon, fishing through the bag on his back and handing out tin flasks of water to impatient hands. A couple people reached out, eager to touch their prince. To garner some form of reassurance from him. He accepted the hands willingly. Grasping a few fingers. Mussing up a couple of the kids’ hair. Simple gestures that probably meant way more to them than it should have. But they needed it and Starke somehow knew that.

He left them with a smile as he covered the few strides to reach me. I sucked in air at his approach, wondering how he still smelled like smoky pine when I’m pretty sure I reeked like a week-old beached whale.

“Hey,” he said, like we were just meeting casually on the sidewalk.

“Hey yourself,” I responded.

He stared at me for a moment like he was waiting for me to say more. When I didn’t, he fished a flask from the bag and held it out.

“Water?”

“Yes please.”

I reached for the flask, grateful for his thoughtfulness. After a couple of huge gulps, I wiped my mouth with my sleeve.

“Thank you.” I handed it back.

“Of course.”

He fell in step with me as I tried to ignore Kara smirking at us from the other side of the path.

We walked in silence for a few moments, the rocks crunching under the wagon wheels the only sound.

“How are you today?” Starke finally asked.

“Why are you asking?’

“I’m just asking, Jette. You had a panic attack last night. Not something to be taken lightly. I watched you after you fell asleep. You were tossing and turning terribly. Something was obviously on your mind enough to interfere with your rest.”

I turned my head and squinted up at him.

“You were watching me while I slept? Oh, dude, you have so much to learn. That is so stalkerish and wrong. Don’t ever do that again, okay? Or at least never admit to it.”

“There was nothing wrong about it at all. I watched all my people. Guarding them through the night.” He grinned down at me. “It’s not all about you, Jette.”

Flame on again. The heat went straight to my hair roots.

“Well, that was awkward, thanks. But that does make it a little better knowing you were watching everyone and not just me.” I peered at his face, noticing for the first time the dark smudges under his eyes. I’d been so busy trying to read him that I hadn’t really seen him. “Have you slept at all? You look terrible.”

He didn’t, really. He looked fantastic. Sleep deprived, but still hot as hell. If I had gone without sleep like him, I’d be more along the lines of the walking dead zombie type.

He shrugged. “There will be time for sleep once I get everyone to the village in one piece.”

Damn. No one person should be that noble.

“Maybe. You know Athena will insist on us finding the last elemental as soon as we get home. She won’t want to wait.I thought I was a boiling mess of impatience and irritation. I got nothing on my grandmother.”

His lips tilted. “You are very similar in temperament, that is for certain. We will go as soon as we are able. We won’t make the jump unprepared.”

“Yeah, I get that. So far our track record with these worlds haven’t been the best. God only knows what will be waiting for us on the other end of this jump. Although I will say, from the hallucinations I had of Larry—”

“Sash,” Starke interrupted.

“Sash,” I repeated, “he always looked happy and healthy. I think out of all of us, he was the luckiest. He ended up on a good world.”

“Hmm,” Starke muttered. I glanced up.

“That wasn’t a good hmm.”

“You were being pursued by a morqual when they came for you. Jill was already taken by Asha and we freed her. Zoe was easy to convince to leave her world once we showed her a way to help fight the oppression there. Sash, if his life is good, may not be the easiest to convince to join us. We may have to persuade him. Be prepared for that possibility.”

“And by persuade you mean kidnap?”

He tilted his head “If the shoe fits.”

I nodded at his questioning raised brow. “Yes, you used that in the right context. You’re getting better.”

He bumped his shoulder with mine. “I have a good teacher.”

I gave him a slight grin as we fell silent once more. Then, “Starke. I have to ask you something. I don’t need your anger or redirection. I need the truth. You say you can’t lie to me. Tell me you will give me the straight truth on this and no misdirection.”

He stared down at me, his eyes wide with puzzlement. “I will try my best.”

I took a deep breath not knowing where to start. “I didn’t want to ask you this back at your village. Shay’s loss was too raw, but I need to know. It’s been gnawing at me. When we found Shay, you said you could save her, but she wouldn’t let you. She said if you did, Asha would win. So instead of using blood magic, you chose to abide by her wish. You chose to let her die. Why? If you could have saved her, why didn’t you? I think I deserve to know.”

At first I didn’t think he would answer. His eyes darkened to a stormy blue-green and his jaw jutted out like he was controlling his rage. But just like watching storm clouds abate, his face lost the anger and was replaced, oddly enough, by sadness.

“You’re right, Jette. You do deserve to know. I should have told you this long ago.” He sucked in a deep breath and exhaled, as if he knew I wasn’t going to like what I was about to hear.

“I could have saved, Shay. I would have. I would have given up my own life to save hers. But she did not want me to make that sacrifice, for she knew if I saved her, I would be dooming all others. Asha had wounded her with blood magic. Blood magic is—” he paused for a moment as if trying to think of the right words.“Primordial. As old as time. As powerful as the elements that make up our multiverse. As dark and wicked as the deepest depths of Hades. All members of the Unseelie court carry the bloodline. The ability to wield this wicked magic. As do any with the faintest of Fae blood. Like you and the other elementals.”

His eyes bored deep into mine, silently asking if I wished to hear more. I couldn’t say no even if I wanted to. He must have read my answer since he continued talking.

“I have resisted blood magic my whole life. It has not been easy. Once you’ve let this depraved monster into your soul, it hooks dig deep and refuses to let go. With its every use my runes spread and deepen, cutting into me, refusing to let me forget it is my master.”

I reached out and grabbed his forearm. “Back at the gas station on Bixby’s world, when you defeated the cannibals, you were someone different. You were darker. Deadlier. You told me not to touch you…you were under its control then, weren’t you?”

He nodded slowly, almost as if ashamed of his admission. “Yes. But I had no choice. I was too weak to defeat those creatures on my own. I needed the help of the monster, for no matter how weak I am, it is always overflowing with malevolence.”

“But you controlled it then. And when you helped us escape from the tower. Why not with Shay?”

“Shay’s injuries were caused by blood magic. To heal them would have taken far more than I have ever used.” He closed his eyes for a moment as if in pain. “Far more than Shay was willing for me to risk.”

“She was afraid you wouldn’t come back from it,” I whispered. “And that’s what your mother wants.”

“Yes. If I fall under her dark powers, I will not return. I will not be strong enough to resist and those around me, including you and everyone in your grandmother’s village, would be in grave peril.”

I swallowed the saliva pooling in my mouth.

“You said elementals can wield blood magic as well?”

“I did.”

“So we’re all in jeopardy of becoming that…thing you were in the gas station? Please tell me that isn’t possible since that is crazy scary.”

He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “I wish I could tell you otherwise, but yes, you also can fall under the spell of blood magic. Your instruments are all embedded with the runes of the Unseelie. At one time the elementals and the Unseelie were one. One honorable force to rule the multiverse and follow the prism. Over time, some of the Unseelie kings and queens became seduced by the powerful dark magic and became its disciples instead of its master. Controlled by the dark magic just as Asha has become. To utter the words of a blood magic spell and ignite the runes would make you elementals susceptible to the same fate.”

He must have seen the horror in my expression since he hurried on.“But I would never let that happen, Jette. While I am by your side you will never fall under the dark magic’s grip. That is a promise. I swear on my life.”

He took my hand in his, the electricity jolting through my wrist and up my arm bringing with it the sincerity of his promise. I knew right then and there that Starke would never let anything bad happen to me. Not if he could help it.

Warmth radiated over me as my heart thumped in my chest. I didn’t know how to respond. No one had ever cared this much about what happened to me. Not since my mother. I didn’t know how to handle it. I cupped his cheek with my free hand, not really caring at this point in time who saw it.

“Starke,” I started just as the ground reverberated under our feet. My gaze dropped from Starke’s face as a rider galloped into view. One of our scouts. He shot past the front of our party and past the wagon to pull up short in front of Starke. The horse was lathered and panting noisily, its tongue hanging from its head. The soldier had ridden it hard in this heat and fear swelled in my chest before he even spoke.

“Sire, there is movement in the valley below. Soldiers on horseback. They are flying the queen’s colors.”

“Are you sure? Could you be mistaken and it’s my grandmother’s people?” I asked but I knew it was wishful thinking.

“No, I am not mistaken. The queen’s army approaches from the west.”

Bishop and Kara joined us, faces etched with worry so I knew they had already heard the news.

“Did they see you?” Starke questioned, snapping into prince mode.

“I do not believe so, sire.”

“Good. Bishop, get the wagon off the road and into the trees. Cover the tracks. Jette, you and Kara get the other villagers into the trees and ward them along with the wagon.”

“A deflection ward?” Kara threw at Starke and he nodded.

“Yes, that should keep you hidden well enough until they pass.”

Kara and Bishop started herding the riders and the wagon. I knew I should help them, but I grabbed Starke’s arm as he began walking away.

“What about you?”

“The guards and I will draw them off your trail and lead them away.”

“What? No,” I protested. “We will all hide together. We don’t even know if they are looking for us. Just let them pass on by. There’s no need to put yourselves in the line of fire.”

“Jette,” he dropped his hands on my shoulders. “We have to draw them away. A deflection ward will pass a simple locater spell but if they are searching for us with any strong magic, they will find us. I will not let any more of my people die.” His hands shifted up to cup my face. “You are scared. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Ya think?” I whispered, moving my hands up to cover his.

“Trust me little rabbit, I will not let any harm come to any of you. And I will be back as soon as I can. We have unfinished business, you and I.”

“You promise?”

“On my life and my heart. Now go.”