EIGHTEEN

SEVENTEEN

THE PORTAL ENVELOPED me. Cool and welcoming.

Vision, or at least some semblance of it, returned.

Soft darkness wrapped around me like a lover"s embrace, more beautiful than I could ever imagine. Only pierced by periodic streaks of color, breathtaking as they nestled next to each other. Each one necessary for the whole. Tightly interwoven, impossible to separate, they held every color of the spectrum and a few I had no words for.

They left me feeling that if I looked hard enough for long enough I'd find the answers to the universe. Secrets hovered outside my grasp.

Calm sank into my being, the velvet, deep shades oddly mesmerizing. Emeralds so dark they were almost black. Purples that reminded me of the night sky before dawn. Blues that spoke of the depths of night.

They took the fear and terror, replacing it with rational thought.

As quickly as it had consumed me, the dark spat me out again.

I came to myself in a room, staring up at a ceiling made of stone, the only clue to my whereabouts. The world was full of shadows—muted and dim.

Without the ability to turn my head, I was stuck like this, my view limited.

With my sight out, it left me to feel the world around me with my other senses.

Magic welled under where I lay, seemingly infinite as it saturated the air.

Wherever this was, it wasn"t the human world. It was much more. The place I called home wasn"t rich in magic, at least not to where you could practically taste it on the back of your tongue.

That left limited options for my current whereabouts. A barrow would be best. It would be much easier to escape than a realm, but something told me I wasn"t that lucky.

Panic and fear threatened to replace the calm I"d managed to achieve. I swallowed them back. They wouldn"t help me right now. I needed a plan and to do that I needed to be at my best.

The murmur of voices from all around made me aware I wasn"t alone. Some were urgent. Expectant. Others angry.

I felt numb. My face, my hands, even my nose.

Terror surged again. Without being able to sense my body, it was much more difficult to keep at bay. There was no way to breathe through it since I couldn"t feel my chest and lungs. Whatever heartbeat I had was slow and erratic.

As an experience in sensory deprivation, it was nearly perfect.

Blindfold me, stick cotton in my ears, and I would be entirely cut off with only my own thoughts for company.

Now that was a grim notion.

How long would it take before madness and insanity took hold?

Would I even be able to die in this state?

And now, I really wish I hadn"t had that thought.

Technically, vampires didn"t need to breathe. Under normal circumstances, my heart beat very slowly, but I didn't really need it to live.

Gradual madness or final death?

Hard to choose.

"Na, Callie, why is she a statue?" Someone leaned over me. Eyes lacking any pupil met mine. They were a light violet, the look in them curious. Long silver hair fell over her shoulder to brush my numb face. Scattered dots of light crossed the bridge of her nose onto both cheeks, like tiny freckles that looked like stars in the violet black of her skin.

Unlike Callie and Don, she had no dense black shadow cloaking her power. Gazing at her was like looking into the sun. My eyes watered but no tears fell as her immense power threatened to sear the retinas from my skull.

"Get away from there," Callie scolded, pulling the strange Fae from view.

"She looks tasty. Can I eat her?" the stranger asked.

A disgruntled growl came from my left. "You know you can"t, Astrid."

The stranger hummed in dissatisfaction.

"What"s so special about this one anyway?" Astrid poked my forehead.

Rude.

"Her lineage."

My thoughts went still, my mind frozen. If I could still draw breath, I would have held it.

Because I knew that voice. Had heard it barking orders numerous times.

Footsteps moved closer as I strained to see. I had to be wrong. He wouldn"t be here. Please let me be wrong.

There were some betrayals that were too horrible to contemplate. This was mine.

At the same time, it felt almost inevitable, like I'd been waiting for this for a while.

All the clues; all the arguments by the people close to me. It all led to this forgone conclusion.

Travis Spencer. Former captain. Biggest traitor I didn't want to see coming.

His smile was gentle. "Hello, Aileen. It"s good to see you again."

I threw myself against my inner prison. Rage scorched my insides as I contemplated all the ways someone like him could die.

He was one of them. Fae. Scattered.

The only good thing about that was I knew it would take him that much longer to die when I finally got my hands on him.

I lost track of the conversation for a spell, consumed with fantasies of skinning him an inch at a time.

"Right about now, I can guess you're pretty unhappy with me." His smile was less charming than I remembered. "I"m sorry for the deception."

Not yet, but he would be.

I could rip out his entrails and feed them to him. I bet he wouldn"t like that.

Travis was talking again. "You"ve really got yourself into quite the predicament." His gaze moved over me. "I wish you"d taken the meeting I asked for. It would have made all of this so much easier."

I called bullshit.

If I"d made the meet, the ambush would have happened a little sooner. That was it.

It was obvious now that the bastard had planned this from the start. From his very first call.

"What are we going to do with her?" Astrid asked. "She"s not going to be of much use like this."

Travis"s eyes never left mine as he smiled. "I can think of a few options."

There was rustling in the room as people I couldn"t see moved around.

Travis leaned down, his face filling my vision.

The human version of him had been forgettable and easily overlooked if not for the way he carried himself—with confidence.

The troops had never thought to question his authority. He"d been beloved and respected. The type of soldier you held up to others as an example.

All a big, fat lie.

"You sit tight. We"ll be back soon," he said.

He straightened, moving out of my line of sight. I listened, hearing the footsteps of the others and then a door opening and closing.

Someone"s soft breathing told me I wasn't alone yet.

A snake slithered onto my face, raising its head to peer into my eyes.

"I"m sorry, Aileen." For her part, Callie really did sound regretful. "This wasn"t how this was supposed to go. We"ll reverse this. I promise."

Then, she too, left. I was alone with my thoughts, nothing better to do than stew in this latest situation.

*

When your senses were dulled and the world little more than a dream, time had little meaning.

I had no idea how long they left me in the room by myself with nothing to do but sit and wait.

The inevitable creep of the clock was impossible to track when you had no sense of self, no way to moor yourself to reality.

I drifted for a time, only coming back to myself when the doors banged open.

"There was no need for such drastic measures," a sly voice said.

"Such an insult to be taken from our beds in this manner. Our master will be displeased," another voice, identical to the first, drawled.

"You exaggerate. There were no beds involved," a gruff sounding man said. "And you barely put up a fight."

"That's the only sensible course when faced with one such as you, Owen," the first said with amusement.

"We are delicate creatures," the second agreed. "It only made sense not to resist when there was little chance of escape."

An exasperated sound came from the man they were conversing with.

"Enough," Travis said. "This wouldn"t have been necessary if you"d come when we put out the call."

"We are not dogs to answer a summons so prettily," One said.

"Nor are you the ruler of the Scattered," Two agreed.

As they spoke, I was starting to get an idea of who the two strangers were.

The twins. And it sounded like they weren't here voluntarily.

I allowed myself an internal smile. Good. I hoped they were three times as annoying and creepy as when they interacted with me.

"Don"t let your master"s favor make you forget who you really are," Travis instructed. "You"re the same as us. You answer when the call goes out."

"We forget nothing," the twins said in tandem. "Perhaps you are the one who forgets. Without the crown, the Scattered are leaderless. We have no ruler. By rights, there can be no call."

"Baran, Breandan, stop playing games," Callie ordered. "We have a chance to restore what we lost."

One of the twins circled into my line of sight, his expression filled with boredom.

"Perhaps we are happy with the current state of things and don"t wish to return to the past," the one I couldn"t see said.

"You may have landed with a lord who protects you, but many of us are still lost and adrift," Don chided.

Breandan glanced at me, puzzlement replaced by recognition.

"What is an Aileen statue doing in such a place?" he asked, tilting his head in an oddly birdlike manner.

Baran moved into view, his gaze fascinated. He came closer, tapping my cheek. It sounded hollow.

"She"s the reason we called you," Callie said, appearing on my other side.

"We meet again, little vampire." Breandan looked me over, mirth dancing in his expression. "How did this happen?"

Callie"s expression became uncomfortable. "She bit me and drank some of my blood."

Both twins stared at her before sharing a long look. They burst into laughter.

Still giggling, Breandan patted my cheek. "Silly, vampire. Why would you do such a foolish thing?"

I longed for the ability of speech. Not being able to voice my thoughts—especially when Fae were making fun of me—was a torture in and of itself.

Baran leaned over me and whispered, "Haven"t you ever heard you are what you eat? You bite a creature that turns others to stone and it"s little wonder when you find yourself becoming stone as well."

Breandan's gaze was fascinated as he ran his hand down a part of me I couldn"t see. "Arlan did say she was special, but I don"t think he meant in quite this way."

Yes, yes, I was so special I became a statue.

"You need to fix her," the one who the twins had called Owen demanded. "Like this, she"s useless."

Breandan hummed, his gaze going distant.

Baran moved to my other side, shifting Callie out of the way.

The twins shared a look over my body, their gazes playful as if this was all a giant game.

I suppose since they weren"t the ones stuck as a statue, it was.

In tandem, they bent and licked my cheek. They hummed again, their expressions mirroring each other. As if they were the same person yet separate.

"I taste betrayal."

"And the most delicious rage."

Breandan's eyes closed as he sucked in an orgasmic breath. "Such a potent cocktail."

He ran his nose along mine. "I would like to feast on your emotions."

Baran pushed him back. "Now, now, twin. That"s not what they kidnapped us for."

Breandan"s lips pulled down in a disappointed moue.

"Can you fix her?" Travis asked.

Baran studied his fingernails. "There"s no need. She"ll eventually fix herself. Already her magic is loosening the bonds."

I felt my heart leap. This wasn"t permanent. Thank God.

"How long?" Travis asked impatiently.

Baran"s shrug was unconcerned. "To know that we will need to monitor the rate her magic eats the medusa"s."

"That"ll take too long," Travis said brusquely.

"Magic of the level you"re asking has consequences," Breandan pointed out.

"You could end up burning out her mind," Baran added.

"Or enslaving her to your will." Breandan held up his hands as if to say what can you do.

Baran looked way too intrigued by that possibility. "Actually, twin, there would be worse things than an Aileen who would do anything we asked of her."

Breandan danced toward him. "You're right, twin."

They joined hands and capered in a circle.

"No, we"ll wait," Callie said.

The twins came to a stop, identical frowns of disappointment on their faces. They looked like children denied a toy. An uncomfortable simile considering what they"d just been discussing.

"Callie," Travis started.

"No. You said we needed her and I listened, but we will not treat a daughter of the royal line in this way." Her tone didn"t invite argument.

"There"s a lot at stake," Don said.

"We"ve lived on the outskirts of society for too long," Owen rumbled.

"Maybe so, but we can"t sacrifice her on the off chance she can change things," Callie argued. "We don"t even know if she can move past the veil."

Silence replaced the arguments.

The twins had stilled, trading significant glances. One of them winked at me. The expression so fast I almost thought I"d imagined it.

"I"m not saying we don"t use the twins. I simply want to give her a chance," Callie relented.

The moment stretched, my fate hanging on a bunch of people I couldn"t even see or talk to.

"Very well," Travis said at last. "We"ll try it your way."

"What if this doesn"t work?" Astrid asked.

Nobody spoke for several tense seconds.

"We do what is necessary," Travis said with a note of finality.

There was no argument this time.

I caught the sounds of people moving toward where I thought the door was.

In other circumstances, ones where my body wasn"t an immovable block of stone, I would have seen this as an opportunity to escape.

As it was, I couldn"t even turn my head to see how many people were still around me.

"I know this isn"t your preference," Callie said when it had gone quiet again. "But I think it"s the right choice."

"I hope you"re right." Travis let out a weary sigh.

"If not, there will be trouble," Don said. "This is the first time in centuries so many of the Scattered have been in one place. It will draw attention—if it hasn"t already."

The twins were the only ones in my view, listening with fascination to the three who seemed to have forgotten they were still here.

"I can"t help but feel we should have waited a couple more decades," Callie said.

"That wasn"t possible. Her power is starting to germinate. Already she"s drawn the kind of attention we can"t afford," Travis argued. "If we waited, another would have taken the prize."

"Perhaps if you"d told us when you found her, we could have accounted for that." Don"s voice was careful.

I perked up.

Was that a possible divide between my captors?

It seemed my former captain hadn"t only been keeping secrets from me, and his companions weren't happy about that fact.

"I told you why I felt secrecy was necessary." Travis" tone carried a warning.

"Yes, you wanted to safeguard her existence," Don agreed.

"I did the best I could," Travis said defensively. "This very scenario is why I didn"t want her mingling with vampires. Their blood, along with human blood, made her powers bloom faster than they should have. It's moved the entire timeline up."

Liam had been right. Everything had been a lie. Travis had manipulated and lied to me to steer me to the path he wanted.

Some observational skills I had; I'd never even suspected.

"There"s no point in casting blame," Callie said soothingly. "What"s done is done. We can only move forward now."

There was a small sound from my right.

"As ever, you are right, Lady," Don said. "I"ll take my leave."

Again, silence descended as the door opened and closed.

A heavy sigh came. "I am sorry, cousin. This wasn"t my intent."

Travis"s voice gentled. "It's not entirely your fault. I know full well how stubborn and head strong she can be. I should have warned you."

Clothing rustled and Callie"s face came into view, her eyes earnest, holding a kindness I hadn"t expected in an assassin. She looked down at me. "I hope you can do this. If you can"t we have no choice but to do it the twins" way. You won't like that option. I can promise you that."

How exactly was I supposed to do what they were expecting?

Every other time I"d broken an enchantment, I"d been looking at the enchanted thing. If I couldn"t move, I couldn"t see myself. That left me with nothing to unravel.

"Good luck, Aileen, daughter of Brin. I wish you well."

Callie left the room.

By my count that left only the captain and the twins.

Hands took my shoulders, shifting me so I had a better view of the room. Mostly of the upper half of the wall and part of the ceiling, but considering what I"d been staring at, it was an improvement. At least I could see a bright red drape out of the corner of my eye, the color welcome after bland grays.

Wry disbelief curved Travis"s mouth as he shook his head. "You"ve certainly made a mess, sergeant."

Yeah, because this was all my fault.

He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I really wish you"d listened to me when I told you to avoid the vampires. We wouldn"t now be in this predicament."

He tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling, his expression weary. "I know you"re not going to understand my reasoning. I don"t expect you too. You"ve barely occupied a blip of time. You can"t know what it"s like to be us."

What I wouldn"t give to be able to roll my eyes.

If he hoped this would cool some of my anger, he"d sorely miscalculated. Listening to his excuses and platitudes made me even more bloodthirsty than before.

His laugh was little more than a puff of air. "You"re so very like him."

His gaze went distant, nostalgia settling on his features. He shook himself and reached for me, lowering me back into my previous position.

"If he"d done his duty and given me the crown, none of this would be necessary. So, you see, Aileen, the one you should blame is your father."

I didn"t know what he was talking about, and I didn"t care. More excuses. The man had a silver tongue and liked to wield it to assuage his own conscience.

"I don"t really care if you break free on your own or not," Travis confessed. "All I care about are the end results. Try not to disappoint me, sergeant."

Quiet followed, marred only by the opening of the door.

"Oh, Aileen, one last thing," Travis said, pausing. "Right now, you"re telling yourself you"ll never help me. I want to remind you; eternity is a very long time—and pain is a powerful motivator."

A threat. Not even a subtle one.

I guess we were past the point where he needed to pretend to be on my side.

Oddly enough, I preferred this version of him. At least now I knew what and who he was—the coward who would stick the knife in your back if given half the chance.

The twins whistled. "That one has always been a bit two-faced. Few ever see it. You must have annoyed him."

"He did always get angry when people destroyed his precious plans," the other twin said.

With them out of sight, it was hard telling which was which.

"I wonder what you did."

Breandan gazed down at me. "If I were you, I would listen to the medusa"s advice and break free yourself."

"Though we admit, there"s a part of us that hopes you don"t," Baran whispered next to my ear. "We"ve wanted a pet for so long."

Now, that was a less than cheery thought.

I couldn"t imagine they treated their pets well. Not to mention one who promised to be as disobedient and difficult as I was likely to be.

"Poor, poor, Aileen," Breandan said.

I was over this whole statue thing.

Sign me up for torture and mayhem. Whatever. Just not this.

"We"ll take good care of you," Baran crooned.

"Well," Breandan started. "You might not agree."

Baran nodded. "This is probably true. You former mortals are so rigid in your values."

"But really, try your best." Breandan's face appeared over me, close enough for his lips to brush mine.

"Neither one of us wants to be stuck here," Baran said from out of sight.

Breandan shifted until he was lying on top of me so he could prop his elbows on my chest and cradle his chin in his hands.

There was no pressure announcing that a giant man was using me as a couch. Nothing.

"I hate being back here," Baran said.

Breandan kicked his feet. "As do I, twin."

"Such an awful place. I don"t understand why they want it back."

Breandan folded his arms on my chest and rested his head on them. "They yearn for what was."

Baran made an annoyed sound. "You"d better hurry, Aileen. We wish to go home."

Breandan smiled at me. "You heard my twin."

The scent of him swirled around me, earthy and sweet.

"Remember, pretty vampire—all things come at a cost." He leaned forward, sharp teeth nipping my jaw. "If we save you, you"ll be ours.

Baran giggled. "Forever and ever and ever."

Cold dread whispered through me. I would die first.

With those final words, Breandan rolled off me. A light thud announced his landing.

The two whistled a melody as they followed the rest, leaving me totally and utterly alone once again.

Blindly, I stared at the corner of the ceiling as my mind moved through different scenarios. Travis hadn"t quite gotten my original position exactly right.

As a result, my view had shifted, leaving me looking at a spider web, fat droplets of water that looked like diamonds caught in the strands.

Figured the Fae wouldn"t be so pedestrian as to have normal, everyday spiders.

No, theirs probably glowed in the dark and had a special kind of venom.

The distraction of considering what type of venom their spiders had didn"t last long.

Things could always be worse, I decided.

On one hand, the Scattered didn"t seem to want me dead. That was a plus.

On the other, they had some other purpose for me and they didn"t particularly care what type of shape I was in to do it.

One thing we all agreed on was that I couldn"t stay like this. And an eternity as someone"s pet held no temptation for me.

Which meant my first order of business was breaking this enchantment. Only then would I worry about escaping a Fae realm that I had no idea existed.

How exactly did I break magic I couldn"t see? That was the important question.

Again, I strained to no avail. My limbs remained locked in place, paralyzed like the rest of my body.

The woo woo stuff wasn"t working.

I was stuck. Well and truly.

I contemplated the ceiling, watching the web glisten and glimmer as I considered my predicament.

I missed sighing. Frowning would feel glorious right about now. Maybe even a blink or two.

No one ever tells you about the boredom that comes hand in hand with danger. All they cared about was the rush—when things were happening fast and furious and adrenaline flooded your veins.

People never remembered the times where all you could do was sit and think, wishing and praying for a future you might not see.

Break the magic. Right. Because it was that easy.

Maybe I could raise a mountain or part the ocean while I was at it.

Time, the elusive ticking of seconds that humans were so obsessed with, went a little pear shaped when it was just you and your tangled thoughts.

Eventually, my focus turned inward. I slipped into a meditative state, helped along by the lack of awareness of my own body. The very thing that prevented me from escaping this reality, was now an asset.

Over the last few years, visiting my internal mental landscape had become old hat—easy and familiar. It was my first line of defense against telepaths or other mental attacks, and it had saved me on more than one occasion.

As a result, I maintained its defenses with a diligence my mother would have been proud of when I was younger.

This visit, I bypassed the tangled forest I"d created, sinking deeper than I"d ever gone before. My consciousness was little more than a piece of drift wood, bobbing along the currents.

Velvet black greeted me. It was what I always imagined would be waiting for me when I finally went to my last sleep.

Slowly, I became aware of the dance of color trapped within, eddying around invisible obstructions. There were dozens of streams, reminding me of what I"d seen in the portal.

I paused, fascinated, watching as those colors grew more vibrant with each passing breath until they replaced the absolute black with a tapestry of never-ending light.

Power pulsed within every current, varied and infinite.

This was confirmation. I was in no barrow. This wasn"t a shallow piece of the world carved from the spaces between.

This was a realm fed by a magic so immense my mind couldn"t hope to comprehend it.

Some instinct told me it wasn"t the Fae lands either. The conversation between the rest of my captors backed that up.

This was something else. Something ancient and mostly forgotten except by a very few.

Secrets whispered along the currents, long denied someone who was willing to listen. Someone who would care for them.

They heard me too, their voices becoming focused, their dry rasp blending together as they spoke all at once.

I struggled not to listen, knowing if I did, the Aileen of before would cease to exist.

But the secrets ached to be revealed.

They would make me a goddess. Place power most could only dream about at my fingertips.

Forget escaping my prison. I could obliterate anything and everything.

Nothing and no one would ever threaten me again.

A discordant note entered the harmony. With it came knowledge.

If I accepted the secrets, I"d never step foot beyond this realm"s boundaries. This would be my home. My life and magic would forevermore fuel the realm, even as the realm fed me. I"d become its keeper and guardian.

I"d be like the librarian. Never to step foot outside. Never to see my home again. My friends.

Some hidden strength inside me rejected what the voices were offering.

No, thank you.

I wasn"t all powerful, but I was happy. Finally. For the first time in what felt like my entire life, I was satisfied with who I was and who I was becoming.

They could keep their power. I"d find another way.

As if sensing my decision, the whispers were silenced. The feeling of being watched by a million eyes replaced the rustle of indistinguishable voices.

Within the play of colors, a patch of darkness beckoned. As deep and vast as space, it was a void amid the rest.

Fascinated, I drifted closer, something in it calling to me. I couldn"t ignore the siren"s call even with the knowledge that I needed to keep moving. The captain and the rest of the Scattered weren"t going to wait forever.

The sense of being watched came back, stronger than before. An ancient existence pressed down on me. Whatever this was, it was older than mankind. Birthed somewhere in the miasma of the beginning.

Primordial.

That should have been a hint. A warning to flee.

Instead, I pressed closer, something familiar beckoning me.

Like a toddler to a hot fire, not yet having the sense of self-preservation to know when to leave things that could hurt me alone, I reached out to the void.

My mind brushed against its edge.

Pain screeched through me. Lava poured through my mind, stripping back every barrier until there was nothing left. Until I exploded into a thousand pieces.