x
Char’s wings felt like they were about to fall off.
Rath had suggested stopping to rest several times, but Char had refused every time. He needed to put as much distance between Iris and that mage as possible, even if that meant pushing himself harder than ever before. Whenever he began to wonder if he had anything left in him, he focused on her, shivering in the grip of his right claw, and that gave him the willpower to keep going.
The sight of the flight cavern flooded his weary body with relief.
That was the clumsiest landing he'd ever made in his life. He managed to stay upright and keep his weight off of his right forelimb long enough to set Iris against the wall, safe and out of the way, and then he let his battered body collapse as the ice rushed out of his veins.
That was a new sensation.
He’d never lost control of his own magic before. A few more minutes, and he would’ve transformed midair and fallen out of the sky.
He rolled onto his back, breathing hard. A rush of black scales filled his vision as Rath landed on top of him. Talons scraped the stone right next to Char's head—on purpose. Rath was trying to get a rise out of him. But Char was too tired to react.
A gust of freezing wind swept through the cavern and left Rath in his human form, standing over his brother. He nudged Char with the toe of his boot. “You dead?”
“Shut up and give me a hand.”
“Just stay put and catch your breath. I’ll take her inside.” Rath flashed Char a smirk as he turned away. “Then I’ll come back to carry you in.”
“You’re the worst.”
Char took a deep breath and pushed himself up on his elbows. He wasn’t about to lie there and rest while Iris was in such a critical state. The fairy was flitting around her motionless form, anxiety and worry written into its every jerky movement, and Char gritted his teeth and staggered to his feet. His own needs had to wait.
“What the heck happened to her?” Rath muttered as he scooped her up. “Get the door for me, will ya?”
Char didn’t bother answering Rath’s first question. There was too much to tell, and he didn’t have the energy to both explain and walk, much less talk while opening the door. It felt much heavier than usual. He had to throw his shoulder into heaving it aside.
“Why is she whimpering like this? Is she in pain or something?”
Rath furrowed his brow as he looked down at her. The blanket wrapped around her hid all but her face, pale as death, and she was limp except for her violent shivering. Soft, pained sounds escaped her lips with each convulsion.
Char clenched his fists at his side. “Yeah, she is. We need to—”
“You need to explain.”
Suddenly, Kelnor stood in the doorway, his feet planted and his arms crossed his arms over his broad chest. The scowl on his face and the flashing of his red eyes made the message clear: ‘You’re in big trouble.’
Just what Char needed.
He sighed and met his commanding officer’s glare. “Move.”
A moment of tense silence passed between them.
Then Kelnor sighed, too, and his eyes shifted to Iris. He stepped aside. “This had better be good.”
They encountered nobody else on the way back to Char and Rath’s living quarters. The fairy zoomed ahead of them, and when they arrived, it had somehow opened the door just enough to slip inside through a crack. Char moved to push the door all the way open, but Kelnor beat him to it.
“I don’t need you passing out.”
Char didn’t respond.
The fairies were waiting for them. They swarmed around Iris, and then they darted into Char’s bedroom. The three men followed. Rath laid her on the bed and stepped back, and the fairies got to work, peeling the blankets back and prying her bloody hand free from the amulet to reveal a deep gash across her palm. Golden lights blurred around her as they zipped about, to and from the bathroom, tending to her with practiced skill.
Char felt sick. This wasn’t the first time they’d done this.
A few fairies emerged from the bunch to push against the dragons’ chests, telling them to leave. Char swallowed down bile and complied, collapsing on the sofa in the living room with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. Two sets of footsteps followed him.
“What’s going on?” Kelnor asked him.
“I hand delivered her to the king’s mage, that’s what’s going on. He’s been extracting magic from her this whole time.”
Kelnor cursed under his breath. “That’s why his magic has been stronger every time we see him.”
“Char, you didn’t know—”
“I should have,” Char spat, lifting his head to meet Rath’s eyes. “He disguised himself as a friend of mine, but there were little things I should have picked up on. Snapping his fingers at the fairies. Jonah never did that. And he called her ‘sweet little Iris,’ just like the king's mage.”
“Jonah. Who is that? I’ve never heard of him.”
“Because you and Mother wouldn’t have approved of Father and I being friends with a human mage.” Char sighed, dropping his face into his hands again. “But he was a good guy, and I trusted him. And, as it turns out, so did Iris, since he was one of Father John’s orphans and basically her older brother. Which is why I didn’t question the things that didn’t add up. She was so happy to see him.” Char grimaced. “He probably started in on her right after I left.”
“So did Jonah ever exist, or was he the king’s mage all along?” Kelnor asked.
Char shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”
There was a pause before Rath spoke again.
“Okay, well, while you’re figuring that out, take off your shirt.”
Char looked up at his brother and frowned. “What?”
“I watched you destroy a stone tower by transforming inside it. You can’t tell me you didn’t get hurt doing that. The fairies are dealing with Iris, so now you can take a break and let me deal with you. Unless you’d rather I get Mother?”
Char heaved a sigh, but started unbuttoning his shirt.
“You transformed inside a building?” Kelnor asked, raising one red eyebrow.
“I didn’t exactly have time to grab her and run for the exit. The king's mage had his hands all over her when I got there, and then he started casting magic left and right, trapping me in an orb and trying to kill the fairy that tagged along with me. When I saw an opportunity, I had to take it.”
“That was those burns are from?” Kelnor’s eyes flicked to Char’s red, raw palms.
“Yeah.” Char winced as he shrugged out of his shirt. Bruises of varying shades, bloody scrapes, and burns covered his torso.
Rath whistled. “Wow. You really did a number on yourself.”
“At least you had the sense not to transform while you were inside that orb,” Kelnor said.
“I thought about it. Ow! What was that for?” Char complained, rubbing the back of his head where Rath smacked him.
“For being an idiot. Just keep talking.”
Char shot his brother a glare and then turned his green eyes back to Kelnor. “Anyway, Iris was unconscious when I got there. The king's mage trapped me in a magical orb and started talking about how he was punishing her for something. I don’t know what she did, but it sounded like he’s been threatening the fairies and me to make her do what he wants. Ow! Can’t you try to be a little gentle?”
Rath smirked. “First of all, the idiot who used his own body to break out of a building has no grounds to tell someone to be ‘gentle’ with him; second, it isn’t my fault disinfectant stings; and third, I told you something was wrong with her.”
“Cut the crap,” Kelnor interrupted. “Char, stop complaining. Rath, shut up.”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.
“Char, you left yesterday morning to see Iris. Did the king's mage have you trapped there all day?”
Char’s green eyes widened. “You knew?”
Kelnor snorted. “Of course, I knew. You’ve been disappearing every time I give you a day off, and all Rath can come up with as an excuse is that you’re in bed with a bad hangover. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
Rath gave him a sheepish grin. “Darn it. Thought I was more convincing than that.”
“Maybe you would be, if every stunt you pulled didn’t come straight out of your father’s playbook. So, Char? How long did that mage have you there? Did you learn anything useful?”
“Uh, no, I wasn’t there all day. Iris… When I got there the first time, Iris told me she didn’t want to see me anymore, and she made me leave.”
“She was getting ready to try fighting back,” Kelnor mused.
Char nodded. “I think so. I think she sent the fairies here, too. They showed up not long after I got back, and they were insistent that I had to go back for her. And then… Well, I got there; I found the king's mage with her; he tried killing that fairy; she shielded it; and then she broke me out of that orb somehow. The king's mage didn’t know how she was doing it all. She never woke up, not once, but she was shielding me, too, until I got us out of there.”
“With my help,” Rath interjected.
Kelnor pursed his lips in thought. “Any idea when she’ll wake up?”
Char shook his head. “The king's mage said in the morning, it will be possible to rouse her, but every movement will be excruciatingly painful. I’m guessing if we wait longer, she’ll wake up on her own. The fairies have obviously helped her through this before.”
“Anything else you can think of? Anything he said or did that we can use?”
Char thought for a moment and nodded. “He talks a lot when he’s confident. When I first took Iris there, he told us a lot about the amulet. It’s been changing hands for a thousand years, choosing who can use it and then holding onto that person’s power after they die, so it becomes more powerful with each new bearer. A master at the human magic school killed for it, but the amulet didn’t choose him, so he couldn’t use it. The king’s mage was apprenticed to that master, and he killed for it, but Iris’ mother, a serving girl, had already stolen it and left it with Iris at the church. Jonah found her and recognized the amulet was magical, so he told the priest to lock it up and keep it a secret.”
“So, Jonah did exist.”
Char took a deep breath and nodded. That was some small relief, if nothing else. “Yeah, he did. I’ve known him for years. He set up in a tower in the middle of an enchanted forest to hide from the king’s mage.”
“And when the mage killed Jonah, he found out about Iris and the amulet. That’s why he went to Little Rest. It had nothing to do with the war. He was looking for her,” Rath summarized.
Kelnor nodded. “Sounds like it. Well, I can keep this quite a little longer. Not much any of us can do until she wakes up, anyway, and it’s in our best interest to hear what she has to say. Get some sleep, boys.” He patted Char on the shoulder as he passed him. “And good work.”
Char waited until the stone door ground shut behind Kelnor to mutter, “Yeah, right.”
“Hey, none of that,” Rath reprimanded him. “You did the best you could with the information you had. She’s safe now, and she’ll be okay. Much as it pains me to say it, Kelnor is right. There’s nothing we can do until she wakes up, and we both flew like maniacs there and back. I, for one, am beat, and now that you’re all patched up, I’m going to bed.” He stretched his arms over his head. “So stop beating yourself up and go to sleep. If you want, I can beat you up some more in the morning.”
Char snorted. “You wish.”
Rath shrugged. “Or I can have Mother do it. She’s going to kill you. And then hug you to death. And then kill you again.”
“Goodnight, Rath.”
“Goodnight, Char.”
Char sat back against the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. He was tired. Dead tired. But his mind was still going, and he wasn’t sure he could sleep.
How could he have missed all the signs? How could he have let this happen?
A burst of warmth touched the back of his hand. He looked down at the fairy, and it hopped into the air and darted toward his bedroom. When he didn’t follow, it darted back and landed on his hand again, repeating the process.
He sighed and stood. The little creature was persistent.
Iris’ color was returning, and she wasn’t shivering and whimpering anymore. The fairies had cleaned her up and tucked her in with the blanket drawn up to her chin. Most of them were resting on the blanket beside her, ever watchful of their charge. The one that led him into the room had opened a bureau drawer and was rummaging around in his clothes.
The one that led him into the room had opened a bureau drawer and was rummaging around in his clothes.
“Thanks, but I can take care of myself,” he whispered. Then he realized he could shout, and he still wouldn’t wake her. He snatched his pajamas from the insistent fairy, irritated with his failure all over again.
The fairy zipped up and touched his lips.
His eyes widened in surprise.
Then the fairy darted over to Iris and touched her lips. The softest, sweetest smile spread across her sleeping face.
Char stared in wonder at her and the little orb of golden light settling on the pillow next to her head.
A kiss. The fairy had just facilitated a kiss.
He smiled despite himself and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When he emerged from the bathroom, Iris’ smile was gone, but her expression was peaceful. Out in the living room, the fairies had propped a couple of pillows up at one end of the sofa and laid a folded blanket at the other.
He shook his head and smiled. Maybe he could get some sleep after all.
ns216.73.216.117da2
