Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

I forced myself not to run toward the throne room. The urge to do so was strong, but the people—fae and human alike—who lined the halls were already filled with terror.

The stench practically rolled off them. Thick like a fog of fear that they couldn’t help but expel when faced with creatures from Underhill. Mind you, more than a few people pinched their noses as I strode by, so perhaps it was my own stench they were reacting to.

That was entirely possible.

“What do you think is happening?” Orlaith caught up to me, trying to braid my hair as we walked.

“Butting of heads,” I muttered. “Humans don’t want to share this massive world with the fae. This won’t surprise anyone.”

A couple of humans blushed beet red when my words reached them, but they couldn’t deny it. The human world was, by all accounts, a selfish one. The question only was what had they already done, and to which creatures of Underhill had they done it to?

“If we’re not in a rush, you could stop, and I could finish this braid,” Orlaith said. Her finger slipped and all of her work came loose. “Damn it! The whole thing came apart.”

“Leave her be,” Sigella snapped, and Orlaith was yanked from my side. “She doesn’t need us for this battle.”

I felt intent on those who awaited my arrival, and I could sense the situation waiting for me as clearly as if I could already see it with my eyes. Sigella was right. This was my fight, not theirs.

The humans had decided to wait for me to arrive before they did anything drastic to defend themselves against the amassed fae creatures. They’d never heard of me before the fae queen’s mention of me today. They wanted to see what other enemies they might possess. They’d also never seen anything like the creatures they’d witnessed, and their instincts–if they still possessed them–warned them to act with caution.

One of Cinth’s royal ladies-in-waiting came bustling toward me as I neared the throne room, her grass green eyes wild and her cheeks in high color. She waved her hands in the air in a flurry of nonsense. “Hurry! They’re going to kill them! Queen Hyacinth won’t want that.”

“Who’s killing who?” I snapped.

“The half-serpent creatures are going to kill the humans,” she sobbed.

I managed not to roll my eyes at her hysterics. “The naga will wait for me to make the call on whether the humans live or die.”

The green-eyed lady-in-waiting gasped and clutched at her chest.

She’d come to hurry me along, but had only further delayed me. I lifted my hand and set her firmly aside with a burst of magic.

Rolling my shoulders, I braced myself to push past the crowd of soldiers at the entrance to the throne room. But they parted for me without order, their armor and weapons clinking as they allowed me to glimpse the scene below.

And what a scene it was.

Queen Hyacinth stood before her throne. Her dress of deep fuchsia hugged her curves, and the thick gold band belted around her middle accentuated her ample bosom. A delicate crown nestled perfectly in her coiled hair—Orlaith would be extra unhappy about the state of mine next to that expert voluminous and sleek…thing. The queen’s face was tight, her gaze locked on the action in the middle of the room.

On her left was her mate, Ronan, and on her right hunched the stooped and hooded figure of the Oracle. My sister, Kallik. Just behind Kallik was Faolan, poised in the shadows with his weapons at the ready.

“Mistress of Underhill, we have human visitors, and they’re being threatened. You need to deal with these fae,” Queen Hyacinth said. “The naga will not listen to reason.”

Of that I had no doubt. But if the naga were pissed, there was a cause.

“Nesssst mate.”

My eyes swept to the king of the Naga at the center of the room. He’d wrapped his serpentine upper body around a human male dressed in a stiff and unyielding garment with sharp, angled lapels. The king was surrounded by his many queens and the greater nest of naga, but a thick band of uniformed humans surrounded the naga, their weapons raised. At least one hundred.

The naga swayed in unison, their once gold, but now silver coins tinkling and singing with their movements. More than a few fae and humans swayed with them, their eyes glazed.

But not all had succumbed to the trance magic of these creatures. The naga were outnumbered, and their magic had been spread thin to cover the volume of creatures in the room.

The human at the mercy of the naga king had his eyes half closed, and I couldn’t tell if lack of air or trance magic had caused that. The man wasn’t thrashing about in fear, by any means. He stood quietly, as if he too were waiting for me.

Or maybe he was keenly aware these moments could be his last.

I tipped my head to the king. “What is the meaning of this, King of the Naga? Why do you hold this man so close to death? I ordered no attacks. I ordered no fighting with the humans.”

He hissed low. “Thisssss human…took naga coins. Sssstole them.”

I blinked, more than a little surprised. Naga coins were nearly impossible to steal. I looked closer at the human. He didn’t seem extraordinary at first glance. Brown hair fell over gray eyes. The pallor of his skin made me wonder if he often saw the sun, and the softness of his body implied he wasn’t accustomed to chasing his food or running after predators. He certainly didn’t look to be the sort who could successfully steal coins from naga.

“Where and how did you manage to steal from the naga?” I asked him.

“I didn’t touch anything,” he spluttered. “I didn’t take anything either!”

He was very adamant about that.

“The king needs to let Canada’s ambassador go—immediately,” Hyacinth snarled. “This will not help the negotiations, not one bit. There’s no proof of any theft, he’s had a fae with him every step of the way to this throne room.”

I held up a hand. “Wait.”

The naga let me pass through their outer circle, bowing to me as I went, which pulled a rumbling murmur from the crowd. The chiming of the naga’s silver coins sent a second rumble through the crowd, but this was more of a sigh. A few human bodies dropped to the ground, asleep.

“What’s happening?” blustered another, similarly suited human male. His white hair could have implied wisdom, but…“Why are we waiting on a girl to make decisions when you are a queen, or so you say, Queen Hyacinth? You said the ruler of the fae realm was coming.” His words, his tone, his disrespect…they were all too much.

I snapped a hand outward, drawing power from the world around me, not singling out a particular color or strand, faster than I’d ever drawn on my magic before. Flicking my fingers, I bound him up and lifted him from the ground.

He squawked like a chicken strung up by its legs—no words, just high-pitched squawking. I wove my magic into his throat to keep him from speaking anything other than grunts or more squawks. That way, everyone would know how stupid he really was. The other humans didn’t move to help him, and instead backed away, establishing distance between themselves and their companion.

“Do not disrespect our queen,” I told them. “Ever. Or you will face me, you fool of a human.” I’d spoken the words, but my voice sounded deeper and more sonorous. The words resonated through the room and silenced the muttering of both the humans and fae.

Holding the disrespectful one in the air, I approached the thief.

I could feel something hanging in the air, different than my magic and different than the connection to the creatures of Underhill and the fae. I wanted to touch this new thing, so I lowered my right hand, stretching my fingers toward the unseen force, which wove itself around my legs like a large cat.

A quick glance through my magic showed me a strange glimmer of rippling movement as though a shimmering piece of transparent fabric stretched between me and the thief of all people. It seemed to pronounce that this was a moment that mattered.

Balance. You must find true balance. For this collection of realms is shattering. Gaia’s voice whispered up through my feet, settling me and guiding me.

Balance wasn’t easy to maintain, but wasn’t balance a lot like justice? Didn’t they go together?

I raised my left hand in front of the thief’s face. “Speak the truth and I’ll let you live. Lie, and I will make an example of what happens to those who think the fae weak. The choice is yours.”

His eyes narrowed, and the future paths that rolled around him were indiscernible for the time being. Would he speak the truth? I could sense the silver coins hidden inside an inner pocket of his outfit. They called to me. In his eyes, I saw contempt. His nose wrinkled, and I smiled at him—not a happy smile. The possible paths hadn’t cleared, but I did feel like I could win either way.

“I’m not a thief.” He spoke the lie with as much conviction as anyone could, I supposed.

That didn’t make it any less of a lie.

“Silver, we believe our ambassadors from the human realm, of course. They are not to be harmed,” Cinth pleaded with me.

Perhaps this ambassador thought his strange suit would protect him. Or did he think his human friends would come to his aid? He wished to take advantage of the fae and get away with it. He’d rather use his power against them than spend time learning to respect them.

“The hidden place under your right armpit has seven silver coins that you stole from the naga on your way into the throne room. While I’m impressed that your clothing has such a sly hiding place, I am deeply saddened that you chose to rely on your power and status to shield you from accountability.”

“He sssssstole from a youngling,” the naga king said. “Kicked her assside and took her necklacccce.”

“Silver, you must stop this,” Queen Hyacinth said in a tight voice. “We are friends with humans, most especially to those just south of our island. We do not accuse them of stealing.”

I heard her. She wanted to get along with her neighbors. Mostly because they had large weapons and not much sense.

I glanced over my shoulder at her. “But do we not hold thieves accountable, Queen Hyacinth? I do. This ambassador has chosen not to hand the coins back. If he had, we might have admired his strength and cunning in stealing naga coins. That is not a task for the weak. Instead, this man intends to keep the coins. He intends to display them to his friends and colleagues as the first spoils of a war they intend to win.”

Hyacinth shook her head ever so subtly, and fear radiated from her. But it was Kallik I looked to, because like me, she could see the swirling paths.

“Only you can choose the path, Mistress of Underhill.” Kallik tipped her robed head to me.

Cinth spun to stare at her friend. “You can’t be serious.”

A slow clap of hands drew all eyes to the far right of the room. A man stepped through the gathered crowd, and they parted for him too. He wore black from head to foot. His boots came to his knees, his dark hair was pulled back, and the sharp lines of his face were far too familiar to me.

Unbalance himself.

I withheld a groan. Great.

“You mean to kill him, Silver?” Andas cocked his head, and when I looked around, I saw that everyone had stilled, and not because they were terrified of the monster who’d strolled into their midst as casually as a summer breeze blowing through.

No, they were frozen by the power he’d wrapped around them to keep them immobile. I focused on the magic he’d woven through the space. I hadn’t even sensed him doing that. But the eyes, ears, and mouths of everyone in the space were blocked from making or hearing sound, and of seeing or doing anything.

“I mean to hold him accountable.” I moved opposite Andas, weaving through the crowd to keep my sights on him.

“Interesting,” he hummed, and the sound reverberated through the air, caressing its way down my arms, making the hair on them stand up.

“Why would that interest you?” I asked.

If Andas was here, then this had to be a pivotal moment for him too.

“Well…it’s what I want. Killing him will start the war with the humans. A war that will create chaos and unbalance and feed my power and reign for a very, very long time. Those humans hold amazing, pitiful grudges, better even than the most selfish and weak of fae.” He flashed a smile, and I caught a gut-wrenching glimmer of Cormac in the gesture.

“Killing him could start a war, but you warn me of that because you’d like me to choose the opposite.” The path where I let the thief live was darker yet, I sensed, seeing a glimmer of it. In that future, fae were enslaved to humans and placed in zoos, even turned into pets. That pathway didn’t have an end point in sight, whereas a war between humans and fae did, and if I’d learned one thing in recent months, it was that the impossible was never impossible. I could figure out a way to stop a war from happening.

“You lose this round either way. I wanted to witness your defeat.” he said after a pause that let me know I’d guessed his ploy right. He wasn’t happy about it, but war would suit him just fine.

“Sending a message to the humans is the right course,” I said. “They can’t be allowed to believe fae are unworthy of respect or a place in this world. I will not allow fae to become pets .”

He laughed. “Truly, I should have set my sights on you sooner. That is not what your mother would have said.”

I frowned. “She would have protected?—”

“She kept the fae enslaved to the rules the humans created for them. Her fear kept her in a place where there was no escaping the humans’ control.” He shrugged. “That you disagree is intriguing to me.”

That was the second time I’d made him curious. Go me. “So you’re here to gloat.”

He was very close now. His circling had narrowed the distance between us. “That’s what I told myself. And yet, I wonder if I came to see you make the same choice I would. How often do Balance and Unbalance agree?”

There was a solidarity in his words that called to a lonely part of myself.

Did he feel that loneliness too? We were apex predators. No one in the realms would ever possess the magic we possessed, or the burdens and power. Only I could understand him. Only he could understand me.

He held out his hand to me.

I stepped back. “Why are you not attacking me?”

“Because you’re about to set the world on a course of action that I desire, does that not deserve a cease fire? You feel the truth of my words. Let us pause to admire this unison that cannot be experienced more than once a millennia.”

He moved like lightning to grab my hand and pull me into his arms. His mouth pressed lightly to mine. “I find myself enjoying this game we play.”

“Game?” I spluttered, and then his lips crushed against mine. Or did I crush mine to his?

I forgot that I was afraid of him.

I forgot that we were fighting on opposite sides.

Spring rain, ice in the winter, spice and sweet, fire and wild wind…all were wrapped into the taste of him. Both Cormac and Aaden were in this kiss, and I could never get enough of them.

I kissed Andas, and he groaned. His hands slid up to cup the back of my head, fingers digging through my hair, holding me tightly against his powerful frame. He wanted me, and as much as I wanted to believe that longing went one way, I also wanted him because he was Cormac and Aaden.

I bit his lower lip and tasted blood. He growled and returned the favor, and the sharp sting of teeth made me yelp and pull back, breathing hard.

His eyes were a mixture of green, gold, and black. Two souls I loved, blended with the darkness of Unbalance.

“Do not give up,” he whispered so quietly I was not sure I heard him right.

Then his hands were sliding down my arms, trailing heat and promises as he put distance between us. The world began to speed up. His eyes flickered, the colors swirling, and then they were completely dark again. “In case you decide to change your mind.”

He pulled a short dagger from his hip and offered me the handle. As if he hadn’t heard the four words he’d just spoken.

I exhaled slowly.

He didn’t know. Cormac and Aaden had just taken over, and Andas was none the wiser.

Hope seized my chest, and when I blinked, Andas was gone. The human and fae ambassadors started to fidget and rustle as they shook off his magic.

The dagger weighed heavy in my hand, and I peered down at the weapon, noting how one side of the blade was silver while the other side was black. Light and dark, wrapped in a single weapon.

“Silver, don’t,” Cinth screamed.

There was a surge toward me, soldiers, fae, and human alike. The naga circle swayed in earnest, putting most people back into a trance in a matter of seconds.

“You’re a thief, ambassador.” I looked at the ambassador from Canada and spotted the darkness in him that had driven him to this choice—a darkness he’d invited in by making corrupt decisions again and again. I’d imagine that Unbalance had merely needed to pluck a few strings to make this human steal the naga coins, because I had no doubt Unbalance was behind this.

“I’m here to do my master’s bidding,” the ambassador said, confirming my suspicions. “And then I will be given riches untold and a prestigious position by his side. My master knows you are not a murderer. You will not kill me today.”

As a human, he shouldn’t have been able to break the naga king’s hold or pull a weapon without me being able to stop him, but magic burst against me, weighing my limbs as if I’d been stuffed into a bog pit up to my neck.

The ambassador yanked a long thin knife from under his strange suit and slashed it across the Naga king’s arm. On the back-handed swing, he buried the blade into the king’s neck.

I screamed a wordless howl as pain ripped through my body—my connection to the naga lit with grief and fury. Whatever power Unbalance had used to freeze me—and I was sure this, too, had been him—released. I lunged and drove my new dagger into the thief’s heart, twisting the blade as I buried it deep.

He smiled at me. “My master thanks you. For this and the kiss”

His body slumped to the floor, his lifeblood pouring from the wound, and his chest quickly stilled.

The naga king demanded my attention. He was fading quickly.

I dropped to my knees and poured my magic into his wound. My magic slid off, hovering uselessly as blood pooled around us. What?

I tried again, and when my magic failed to connect with his essence, I grabbed the thin knife from the thief’s limp hand and studied it. Darkness. Impenetrable.

Andas had poured a great deal of power into this. But his was only the top layer infusing the weapon.

“Many darknessesss have formed thissss,” a queen sobbed behind me.

I lowered the knife. “Yes.”

She was right. This weapon was ancient beyond measure and tended by more than one Unbalance in its existence.

I couldn’t help him with magic.

“I need a human healer,” I roared.

The throne room was in chaos. Bodies careened, feet thundered, and yelling echoed in all directions.

I crouched beside the Naga king, and he fumbled for my hand. “No healersssss. It isssss time. Thissss musssst be.”

“No, no, it’s not.” I pressed a hand against his wound. This was the naga who’d invited me into his nest when I’d only ever taunted and toyed with his people. He’d given me a family when I’d had none. He’d made it possible for me to free Sigella. The naga had lost so much recently. I couldn’t bear for them to lose their beloved king. “It’s not your time. There are healers here.”

“You defend the nessssst, Silver one. You fight the darknessss. Naga bessssside you. All creaturessss bessssside you.” He fumbled with something at his side. Cormac’s sword.

My heart leaped into my throat. “I gave that to you.”

“You take now. Need sssssword. Nesssst mate.”

I took the weapon but laid it down so I could keep a hand on his wound.

“Stay with our family,” I begged him despite the heavy knowledge in my heart and mind.

“Time,” he whispered, nuzzling into the shaking caresses of his queens. The other naga circled around, swaying, singing softly between hissed sobs.

Hessuwa, hessuwa, davishula lisseni ap aw worine, mianana hik la, reginata.

The king’s slitted eyes stared past me, a shadow sliding through them as his light slipped away, gone from the world. I knew death, I’d seen it enough times, but it didn’t lessen the shock of seeing the king die.

Gentle nudges urged me to my feet. The other naga. I looked around to see that the room had been mostly cleared out.

Hyacinth sat on her throne, face pale. Kallik lingered beside her.

“This is…this is the worst thing that could have happened,” Cinth breathed out. “I can’t do this. I can’t do whatever this is.”

“This was meant to happen,” Kallik told her. “The other alternative was far worse, and Unbalance gave her no choice in the end.”

“Silver?” Orlaith’s voice turned me around and the naga let her through as if she were an extension of me. Maybe, as one of my helpmates, she was. “What were they singing? The song was beautiful.”

I closed my eyes and swayed with them. “They said, ‘We remember, we remember, death is not the end for our nest mate, his soul lives on.’”

“No one speaks Naga,” Kallik said.

“Nessssst matesssss do.” The naga spoke as one as they bent to pick up their fallen king, carrying him away.

I faced Hyacinth. I expected rage, but all I saw was sadness and pain and regret that she’d ever agreed to become queen in her best friend’s stead.

“This is the war you’ve been seeing, isn’t it?” Her question was directed at Kallik.

My sister sighed and nodded. “Yes. I thought it was years away, but this was the start. Unbalance has won a great victory today.”

And I’d never seen him happier. Happy enough to kiss his adversary.

Cinth paled, then focused on me. “But you’ll save us now. Balance will find a way to end it.”

Kallik looked at me, too, from the depths of her deep, black hood, but didn’t say a word.

Like me, she saw just how much trouble lay ahead.