Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

M y boots sank into the powdery snow with every step as we charted a path across the tundra towards the distant Pinnacle where our air magic was finally going to be tested to its fullest.

In the last two months, our time taking instruction on our air magic had been focused on control, limiting our power and reigning it in. There had been more than a few grumbles heard within the ranks of the air conscripts, but I had fixed my attention on mastering every precise movement the Reapers had informed us about, every tiny action, each whisper of the wind across my skin and between my fingers. Until I was able to perform tasks with my magic in as much complexity as if I were using my own hands to execute them.

Within the first few weeks I could braid my own hair and turn the pages of a book or place a log on the fire.

Then I had honed that control until I could unlock doors by shaping my power to mimic a key or pluck a single piece of hay from a haystack.

My eyes ached from reading late into the night, my chest always hollow with the emptiness of expending all of my considerable power before I slept. It meant I had to steal magic from the other Fae come morning, tempting their desires to the forefront of their minds and sometimes making them act on them too.

It was utterly exhausting and yet the most exhilarating thing I had ever experienced. I was used to owning my power – used to thriving in battle and bloodshed and shining within the heart of chaos and pain, of drawing on ether and paying the price for wielding it but that was simply me harnessing the raw power of the world. Nothing compared to the flood of power which lived within me, utterly my own. It was a wild, lawless beast, a reflection of my own unfettered soul and the freedoms I had always yearned for with such desperation. It was raw and brutal and mine to command, and there was nothing in this world which would hold me back now that I had claimed it.

The subtle control of my magic which I could now wield with enough precision to thread a needle on the far side of my bedroom was a beautiful thing. But as the days had passed, I had found myself repeatedly looking from the windows of my tower to the east where an icy tower called my name.

The Pinnacle sat a three mile hike from the training courtyard in the Vault of Sky at Never Keep, the rocky mountain pass making it only accessible via this one route. Most days, when the fog rolled in, the snow tumbled from the sky and the clouds hung low and thick across this barren and unforgiving landscape, it was impossible to even see it from the Keep.

We were headed inland, and though I had purchased a set of thick furs to stave off the worst of the frigid cold, my cheeks were still chapping and my fingers were growing stiff.

"If it's much further I might have to gut someone just so that I can warm my hands up with their innards," Dalia muttered from my right, drawing a smile to my lips.

"Best do it fast before they freeze through then," I replied.

Dalia cast a look around at the Fae who stalked behind us. Cayde was of course keeping pace with us several feet to Moraine's left, his silence almost as offensive as the sound of his voice - should he ever deign to use it. We led the pack as always and behind us trudged an army of neophytes, each looking as disgusted with the weather as I felt. But I didn't let it show on my face.

Ahead of us, four Reapers hung suspended above the ground, floating towards our destination and setting a punishing pace for those of us forced to forge through the snow. They wore only their gold cloaks as usual, though as they had contained themselves within a shield of air magic, I supposed they were protected from the biting wind.

This week in our Cardinal Magic instructions we had been taught how to power share, meaning we could combine our power with that of others through physical touch. It required full trust to open the channels of magic between one Fae and another and very few of the other conscripts had been able to manage it but Dalia, Moraine and myself were bonded more closely than many true siblings. We had taken to it like ducks to water. The rush of combining our power was one of the best I'd ever had and we had been practicing it ever since, creating powerful shields or blasts of magic which would be capable of ripping our enemies apart in combat. My mind was full of fantasies about our next battle and I was jolted out of them as Moraine spoke.

"My cousin in Wrathbane wrote me this morning," she said, changing the subject. "The royals are hosting a huge party from the western tip – do you know of the Collingsdales?"

"Coal miners," I grunted, my studies on the aristocracy of Stormfell as proficient as necessary to not appear entirely like an uneducated waifhouse stray when I was among them.

"More than that," Dalia added. "I heard they found diamonds in their mines a few years back and are arguably wealthier than the royal family now."

I scoffed but a glance at Moraine confirmed it. To my irritation, Cayde was watching me from beyond her, clearly eavesdropping on our conversation. I considered throwing up a silencing shield to cut him out but honestly, nothing we were saying was particularly interesting and I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had irritated me.

"And why are the oh so wealthy Collingsdales visiting Wrathbane?" I asked, trying to summon some intrigue even though I hated discussing court bullshit.

"That's the thing – no one knows. But the entire palace has been scrubbed from turret to cellar in anticipation of their arrival and decorated for some grand event. Apparently it's all anyone can talk about."

"Thank fuck we aren't there then," I drawled, gaining a laugh from my sisters.

A cry came from behind us and I glanced back, finding a neophyte on her knees in the snow, teeth chattering and face blue with cold. Huge swathes of the air kingdom was capped with snow for the winter so most of us were used to these kinds of conditions, but I assumed she hailed from somewhere to the south of our lands.

I sneered at her in disgust – if we were deployed into battle then we all knew what happened to those who fell behind so I made no effort to help her up. She'd either find the strength in her bones to forge on or would remain there and freeze to death, proving herself unworthy of serving the mighty sovereignty of air.

"This is fucking ridiculous," I muttered, looking ahead again, the snow billowing from the clouds and making it impossible to see much of the Pinnacle ahead of us but a darker shape was forming within the haze of white, denoting it.

I took my hands from my gloves, inhaling deeply as I called on the well of power within me before releasing it in a furious blast which cleared the snow from our path.

"Last one to the peak goes without pudding," Dalia challenged, breaking into a sprint without waiting for our agreement.

I exchanged a look with Moraine, the two of us clearly considering whether or not we would play this childish game before giving in to the competitive natures that had thrust us to the forefront of the Sinfair.

I shoved her and she danced away before throwing a wall of air magic up between us and allowing her to break free.

I called her a host of wildly unpleasant names, digging my fingers into the solid wall of air and forcing my power against it until it shattered. Then I was running.

The wind toyed with my hair and the sound of thousands of boots thundering after us made it clear that we had started a charge.

I didn't look back; my gaze was locked on the two women I loved most dearly in this world with the singular goal of seeing them fall.

They were both far taller than me but I was fast despite their longer strides, my physical training paramount even in this stone fortress of frost and ruin. I never took a day off, never allowed myself a rest, never took the chance that I might dull the edge I had worked so hard to gain. Every day I spent two hours before dawn training in combat with Moraine and Dalia – Cayde often watching from the shadows while refusing to join us. Then I made time to fit in a run and my strength training too. I wouldn't slip. I couldn't.

I barely even noticed the stone tower as it was revealed through the snow, perched upon what appeared to be a glacier, though I imagined stone must lie beneath the ice and snow. Great spires struck out towards the sky, stone balconies jutting from them at ever increasing heights until the tallest of them disappeared into the low-hanging cloud.

Moraine was the fastest of us, her silver braids slapping against her spine as she charged after Dalia who was laughing wildly, lost to the thrill of the game. I'd bet she'd have run even faster if there had been some prey for her to catch.

I twisted my wrists, tangling a knot of air magic between my fingers like a whip before throwing it out ahead of me. I hooked Dalia's ankle into my grasp and yanked her off of her feet so violently that her chin struck the ground and she spat blood at my feet as I passed.

"Bitch!" she cackled and I raised my middle finger at her over my shoulder, racing after Moraine who was closing in on the Reapers where they clustered on the steps at the foot of the tower.

I tried to lash Moraine into my grasp but her own air magic cracked down, slicing mine in two and leaving me with nothing but her goading catcalls to chase after.

She was almost there, mere feet from the steps and a petty glory which I refused to allow her to claim. I skidded to a halt, air magic rising within me like a tempest as the thundering feet of all those at my back drew nearer.

I raised my hands to the sky, sensing rather than fully knowing what to do and yet this power was so intrinsic to me, to who and what I was that it made sense to bend it to my will this way.

I drove my hands towards the ground and a wall of air slammed into place before Moraine, the sickening crack of her crashing into it at full speed reaching me even from this distance.

She was thrown to the ground and I broke into a run again, sweeping my arms out behind me and blasting the Fae on my heels back blindly.

A victorious smile burned across my face as I sprinted past Moraine who was clutching her bleeding nose on the ground while simultaneously kicking snow at me.

The Reapers watched us with assessing, calculating expressions, giving nothing away but I knew they would at least see that I had beaten every other Fae to this-

"Bastard!" I yelled, magic crackling in my fingers as Cayde dove from the sky on those obnoxious black wings and landed in front of me a heartbeat before I could reach the bottom step.

"Such a big mouth, and such little legs," he mocked, his gaze dripping over me, daring me to strike him.

I stepped up to him, glaring into his honey brown eyes, promising him all kinds of torturous endings before smiling sweetly instead of enacting any of them.

"Congratulations," I purred. "You proved you can win a race against unshifted Fae by using your Order gifts. How impressive. Would you by any chance like to see what I can do when I unleash the monster in me?"

The roiling tempest of my Order form rose to the surface of my skin, my shoulder blades burning as I held his gaze, the taste of his desire coating my tongue as I took measure of him. Oh, he wanted power. He hungered for it with a desperation which was likely only rivalled by my own. He wanted to be seen, he wanted to wrap his hand around my throat while sliding the other beneath my-

"Enough," Reaper Tessa commanded and I blinked, forcing my focus back to myself, vaguely noticing the Fae who had thrown themselves at me while drawn in by my power. They'd met with an air shield which it seemed the Reaper herself had erected to keep them back.

Cayde's hands were gripping my waist, his mouth hovering over mine so that I could almost taste the intoxicating-

I shoved him back with a snarl. "Down boy," I mocked, flicking my fingers at him and using air to push him several more steps away.

"Lemme tug your tatas," a huge guy begged, his words squashed together by the crush of his face against the air shield.

"I need a banana," a girl wailed. "I need a fucking banana!"

"Someone skipped breakfast," Dalia snorted, but her eyes kept skipping over me in a way which gave away her own reaction to my power.

"I would like you to play me like a harp," another asshole yelled and I was forcibly reminded of all the reasons I had to keep the full extent of my power locked down most of the time.

"Anyone unable to control themselves will face a week of reparations," the Reaper said firmly before dropping the air shield and allowing the conscripts to decide their own fate.

Hands reached for me and I stiffened, my fingers curling into a fist, but only one actually dared touch me, the woman's gentle caress brushing my sleeve before she hastily withdrew, apologising.

"You have mastered the basics of air control," the Reaper called, no longer paying any heed to my gifts. "So now it is time you test the strength of what you have claimed. The Pinnacle is designed for one reason only – to practice launching yourself into the sky and maintaining control over your magic whilst doing so. There are many levels in the towers at my back, each of which holding balconies where you will be expected to jump and take to the sky. The lowest of these, for those of you not yet confident in your ability – meaning all of you as it stands – are only twenty feet from the ground. With this level of snowfall, failure won't be fatal. But we expect all of you to be leaping from The Spear by the end of your six months at Never Keep. Understood?"

She jerked her chin upward to make her point more clearly and either by magic or intervention of fate, the clouds parted, revealing the jagged towers to their full extent. There were ten in all, each of varying width and size but the one in the heart of the group stood far taller than the rest, its peak so clearly resembling a spear that there was no doubting her meaning. Just below the tip, I could make out a stone balcony when I squinted and my heart pounded with a mixture of fear and excitement as I took in that challenge.

"Begin," Reaper Tessa commanded when no one raised any questions and I stalked ahead of the flood of Fae as all of us headed for the collection of towers. I'd taken a moment to read my tarot cards this morning and hadn't foreseen my death in them, so I was going to stick with the self-assurance which generally served me so well in my attempt at this.

"Where should we start?" Moraine asked sardonically, as though it hadn't been obvious from the moment those clouds had parted. She'd wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her hand but all that had really done was smear it across her mouth. At least it appeared to have stopped bleeding.

"I want the full force of my magic in my hands before attempting it," I replied, looking around the assembled Fae and selecting a target from them. I could sense the weight of their power on the air itself, those of lesser quality also of lesser appeal but this Fae was strong, I could practically taste his power.

"You!" I called, pointing at the red haired male who had been casting me subtle looks instead of heading into one of the towers.

"Me?" he questioned, glancing around.

"I can't see any other dense assholes lingering close by – oh wait, Cayde is still here so I apologise, but I've already had a taste of him and I found him indigestible," I said dismissively, not looking at the Drake who had gone suspiciously quiet since falling prey to my gifts.

The tempestuous nature of the power I had syphoned from him was making my blood pump faster, the weight of his magic an unwelcome distraction which I certainly didn't need any more of. This Fae before me, though powerful, looked as bland as a dry biscuit and that was precisely what I needed to settle my rampant pulse.

"What do you need, my…Sky Witch?" the man asked, taking a tentative step closer.

"Simply tell me what you'd like to do to me," I purred, beckoning him and smiling so sweetly I almost got toothache. My gifts coiled around him, his desires whispering to me as I began to tug at them, drawing his magic into me.

His eyes moved from me and landed on Cayde though, the lust which had been somewhat dormant ramping up considerably.

"Oh, even better," I said, offering him my hand. "Let's hear what you'd do to the brooding bastard with the wings if only he'd loosen up enough to try it."

The male took my hand, wetting his lips as his lust for Cayde grew beyond measure at the contact, his desire filling my magical reserves while his restraint came tumbling down.

"I'd lay beneath him while he stood naked over me with those wings out," he breathed, power slipping from him and into me. "I'd watch as his muscles flexed with every pump of his fist over his rigid cock."

"Are we thinking Cayde here has a big cock or did the stars deign him one as lacking as his personality?" Dalia asked innocently and I snorted a laugh while Cayde took the opportunity to stalk away from us like the haughty bastard he was.

"Big," the Fae holding my hand near moaned. "He'd fist my hair in his hand and drive it down my throat. I'd come close to choking on it but I'd take it, every inch-"

I snatched my hand from his as that image forced itself into my mind, except I was the Fae on my knees before Cayde, my body burning with lust as he used me for his own pleasure and I loved every fucking second of it.

"Enough," I snapped, shoving the Fae away from me so hard that he almost fell with the shock of being released from my hold. I ignored him, leading my sisters towards the central tower with a jerk of my chin.

"What was that about?" Moraine asked in a low voice as we stepped through the stone archway which might once have held a door but now simply stood open, allowing the base of the tower to fill with snow.

"My gifts," I muttered, trying to force away the image of Cade's cock in my mouth, the taste of him, the way my body blazed with heat. "They're stronger since my elemental magic was Awakened. I feel what the Fae I'm draining feel and apparently now I see it too."

"Seriously?" Dalia asked with glee. "You can just slip right into other people's fantasies? So how big was Cayde's cock?'

"His fantasy cock – that asshole had never actually seen him naked," I reminded her but she shrugged like that was irrelevant.

I rolled my eyes, dismissing her far more easily than that image.

The cold seemed thicker as we stepped inside the shadow of the tower, the snow tumbling over the toes of my boots while the wind whipped up small flurries which banked against the outer walls.

"Come on. The climb is going to take forever."

Dalia sighed dramatically, leading the way across the empty space and stepping onto the black stairs which coiled out of sight in an alcove by the far wall.

I followed with Moraine, taking up the rear, more speculation about the mysterious event at court falling from her lips as we began to climb the twisting stairs. I leaned over the stone balustrade, looking up through the hole in the centre of the spiralling staircase but the top of the tower was lost to shadow in the dizzying expanse above.

"Something is happening at Never Keep," I interrupted just as she got started on a guess that there might be a circus appearing in Wrathborn – we all knew the king wouldn't have ordered the palace scrubbed for a bunch of carnival folk who wouldn't even be allowed to step within its walls.

"Did you hear about that too?" Dalia asked, looking back at me, the strands of her short black hair tumbling over her forehead before she swept them away again. "About the water guy who was caught with an icicle lodged so far up his ass that it took two Reapers and a dog to-"

"Dalia your stories are the most ridiculous heap of bullshit," I snorted.

"They spread like wildfire through the refectory though," she replied, smug as shit about the ludicrous rumours she'd been spreading about the conscripts from the other elements. "Besides, at least half of them are true – or only mildly embellished. For example, there may not have been a dog."

"No shit? There wasn't a dog in this barren place where I haven't seen hide nor hair of a single creature for the last two months outside of shifters?" I replied.

"The dog adds the kind of juicy detail which makes the rumour fly," Dalia replied stubbornly.

"Was there really an icicle then?" Moraine asked.

"I swear on the shiny ass of Venus herself that I witnessed it. The idiot was yelling something about slipping while practicing his magic, but why were his trousers bunched around his ankles then? And that's some pretty precise aim for an accident."

"That's a real choice spot for frostbite," I muttered.

"This asinine conversation began with you telling us that something was happening at the Keep," Moraine prompted as we slipped towards silence again, the heavy trudge of our boots against the stairs the only sound.

I glanced around. We appeared to be alone on the stairs but doorways opened off of them, leading out into rooms with balconies at lower levels and you never could be certain if a rat was lurking nearby. Especially in this place, surrounded by our foes.

With a twist of my fingers I erected a silencing shield around the three of us, making certain that our conversation remained private.

"I should have told you about it before," I began. "But in the Keep I always feel like there are too many ears listening in. Besides, knowing this might be dangerous. In fact, I know it's dangerous."

"And yet you still hogged all the fun of that knowledge for yourself," Dalia chided. "You really are a selfish creature, V."

I shook my head, knowing I really should have expected that answer. Of course danger would never deter my beastly companions.

"The day that fire asshole was executed in the Heliacal Courtyard after Astral Sanctuary," I began.

"You mean when you enraged him by choosing to enter the Temple of Leo and he lost his shit, pulled a knife and stabbed the closest Raincarver to death while you conveniently slipped away?" Moraine clarified.

"Six karmas to me, Moraine," Dalia chipped in. "I told you she'd offer up the truth before we were forced to ask."

"Took you a month though, V," Moraine accused and I had the decency to feel a little shitty about it.

"Yeah, that day," I agreed because we didn't do apologies, we just smacked each other around when we got emotional about things and unless one of them was about to throw the first punch, there was no need for me to comment any further on my lack of forthrightness. "Well, I may have followed the Reapers into their private passages beneath the Keep and trespassed on this fucked-up ritual they were performing."

Moraine and Dalia listened attentively as I recounted all I could, describing whatever the fuck had been in that room in as much detail as possible. But truthfully I hadn't gotten a good look at it and I was reluctant to admit how fucking terrified I'd been. We didn't go for piss your pants bullshit in the Sinfair.

"Have you found out any more since?" Dalia asked when I was done, not wasting time on questioning my account of things no matter how insane they sounded.

"No," I grunted.

"You've been out sneaking around every night," Moraine commented and I scowled.

"You weren't supposed to have noticed that. I thought I was subtle."

"Sure. As subtle as a Succubus scuttling past our doors two times a night," Dalia said as if that were some turn of phrase and not pure nonsense.

"That. And I laid magical threads across the hallways which let me know when someone passes through them. I keyed them to recognise your magical signatures so that I wouldn't have to leap out of bed with a knife in hand every time one of you goes sculking off somewhere you shouldn't be," Moraine added.

"That's fucking smart," Dalia said, raising her brows at me.

"It is," I agreed. "You'll teach us how to replicate it."

"If you insist," Moraine replied lightly but she knew that was some clever, sneaky shit and she knew we'd want in from the moment she'd figured out how to do it.

"So you're assassinating targets for the prince and investigating the Reapers?" Dalia confirmed.

"You're not supposed to know that the prince asked me to-"

"Oh come on, V," Dalia scoffed. "Like it wasn't obvious – Dragor must have had you all alone at least four times on the flight to the Keep and he hand delivered you to the doors. If he wasn't tasking you with an assignment then you were definitely fucking, and as much as I know you pant over him, I haven't picked up the smug bitch vibes I think you'd have been glowing with if you'd actually been riding his cock, so-"

"I hate you," I said flatly and she cackled obnoxiously.

"And what possible assignment could he have given you to carry out while at Never Keep?" Moraine asked lightly. "It was either espionage or assassination and since that fire asshole lost his shit so spectacularly in Astral Sanctuary and then that wet fish from water went and fell down the stairs right after you'd gone to take a piss-"

"Tell me you only figured that out because you bitches are so deep into my business and not because it was actually in any way obvious," I groaned.

"Don't worry, V, it was entirely because we're so obsessed with you. So unless any other fucker has been stalking you, I very much doubt they could put it together. But I don't think the stairs shit will go unnoticed twice," Moraine said.

"It was too easy," I sighed. "I'd only been following her to get to know her movements a bit more and then suddenly, we were all alone on the stairs at the same time – I don't even think she knew I was behind her. She was toying with her wet, splashy shit and made a puddle on the floor and before I knew what was happening, I'd just snapped her neck and given her a shove." I shrugged innocently. "Honestly I think she was only a target because she was due to inherit some title or something. She certainly wasn't well trained or particularly threatening."

We fell into a discussion about the things I'd seen the Reapers hiding but neither of them were very keen to investigate it further. Moraine was of the mindset that the Reapers had nothing to do with us, while Dalia was secretly a pious little twat and actually believed that whatever it was the Reapers were up to could only be because they were following the guidance of the stars – something us mere single elementals couldn't possibly understand. I loved her but her blind faith in the stars to guide our fates drove me batshit sometimes.

As we finally reached the top of the stairs, I let my silencing shield fall away and pushed between my two sisters in arms as we found ourselves standing in a wide space with open stone archways offering a view out of the land all around us.

A pointed roof covered our heads, keeping the worst of the snow from settling inside the tower but frost still clung to the pale brickwork, small snowdrifts accumulated beneath the arched windows.

We took a moment to catch our breaths, gazing out over the view of the barren, stunning landscape. Everything was coated in a thick layer of snow, Never Keep to the east like a black stain before the iron waters of the sea.

The clouds had lifted entirely now, a pale blue sky offering a view of the rugged mountains to the north and endless flat, snow-covered plains to the west. I could just make out a pool of bright blue water in the distance – the hot springs which I knew lurked in this volcanic terrain. It was breathtaking in its beauty, the arctic wind doing nothing to lessen the thrill of standing here at the top of the world and breathing it all in.

"Fuck, that's a lot of snow," Dalia cooed.

"Are we doing this then?" Moraine asked, heading for the widest of the archways and the only one which fully reached the floor where a balcony protruded from the side of the tower, no handrail in place to save you from a fall.

"Keep your wings away," I told her firmly. "You use your magic or you go splat – just like me and Dalia."

"Technically-" Dalia began but I gave her a dark look and she bowed her head in deference, dropping it.

"Fine," Moraine sighed dramatically like I was such a pain in her ass. "Splat it is."

We stepped out onto the balcony as one, striding forward until the toes of our boots protruded from the edge and the wild wind threatened to pitch us straight off of it.

I reached out and took each of their hands, the three of us smiling at one another like the pack of heathens we were. We may have been shunned and shamed, forced to fight harder than any others for our place in this war and given nothing from anyone else to aid us, but we had this. Each other. It was brutal, and bloodthirsty, built perhaps from necessity rather than a desire for companionship or love but it had become so much more than any of that. We were family. A fucked-up family who cussed each other out and beat each other up and yet a family all the same. The only one I'd ever known.

The wind tore my pink hair back from my face and I smiled into it as we stepped from the balcony as one and fell into the void beneath the tower with clasped hands and matching raucous laughter rolling from our throats.

I had to release my hold on them to cast, the magic inside me rising up into a tempest before bursting from me like a flood from a dam. It spun me around, hurling me towards the stone wall of the tower for three terrifying seconds, and then I wrenched it under my command and launched myself towards the sky with a triumphant whoop.

I twisted around from my pillar of air magic, my gut swooping as I dipped and bucked within the maelstrom, figuring out how to control it to its fullest. Relief filled me as I found Dalia spinning through the sky to my right and Moraine speeding over the rooftops of the lower towers beneath us.

I tipped my head back to the sky and howled like a beast as my magic pulsed around me, offering up a taste of a reality which I had dreamed of so many times that I had lost count. I was flying. And I would never again be confined to a life rooted to the ground.