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Chapter thirty-three

A Lack of Control

“Y ou’re telling me that the five of you went to Hellscape alone to bargain with Medusa for information regarding the princess of the Court of Peace and Pride and found a rift through the divide into the mortal realm,” Gemini repeated, dumbfounded, as she stared around at all of us where we were gathered upon the furniture that Lark had summoned back once the others had returned.

“Technically, we already knew about the rifts from when we helped Ren with hers,” Rook intervened.

“Again, not my rift,” I grumbled.

“Do you know what this means?” Gemini asked, turning to her niece and nephew.

“That the heir to the Peace Court, who doesn’t much care for me—” Lark began.

“I wonder why,” Cass muttered under her breath.

“And whose daughter is currently staying in my apartment after a failed rescue or abduction attempt, not quite sure about that, from the Court of Friends is tearing hole after hole into the Divide from the confines of Hellscape, risking the exposure of our existence to the mortals as we speak?”

“Why would she do that?” Cass asked.

“Ariadne is obsessed with mortals,” Gemini explained, her tone growing grim. “Specifically, controlling them. If she has amplified her power enough to tear through the Divide, imagine what she might do to their minds. She could control legions of them, all mindlessly marching to their death to win her war, to do her bidding. Millions of minions succumbing to her every desire, suffering the same fate as your father.”

Gemini’s gaze flicked to me and I felt bile rising in my throat.

“She wouldn’t do that,” Cass said in a horrified whisper but I could tell that she hadn’t even convinced herself. “Why would she do that?”

“It’s not for me to answer for madness,” Gemini replied with a shrug. “But I know she’s always longed for the day where she could rule over the mortals. I thought the position of ambassador would satisfy her but it’s clear to me now that this was a threat I should have taken far more seriously.”

“How can we stop her?” Lark asked, his eyes dark, his tone unforgiving.

Gemini looked at me again.

“No,” Lark growled.

“Ariadne has gone too far, Canis,” Gemini snapped, the use of his given name from the lips of someone he trusted making him flinch. “Seren might be the only person left alive who could talk some sense into her. We should try. Even if it doesn’t work, we should try. Think of the countless lives we could save.”

“She has a point,” I told him, reaching over and laying a hand on his. “If I could stop her—”

“Absolutely not,” he said, his voice rough. “I won’t allow it.”

“Lark,” Cass chided gently.

“You know how this goes, Canis,” Gemini said slowly, letting the meaning of her words sink in. “When Fae begin to consider the possibility of mortal subservience, when they seek a way to enslave humanity—”

“This isn’t like that,” Lark argued but I saw his shoulders slump, his eyes dart from her to me and back again. “The Immortal War ended two thousand years ago.”

“You don’t have to tell me, boy. I remember. I was there.”

I glanced between them, at their narrowed gaze and, though it likely wasn’t the time, my academic side got the best of me and I had to ask.

“The Immortal War?” I inquired.

Lark and Gemini held each other’s gaze in challenge and, when it became clear that neither one of them was going to answer, Cass sighed and accepted the role of my educator once more.

“Two thousand years ago, we lived among the mortals. All of us together, entwined. But then some Fae started to believe that equality wasn’t the right way to coexist, that our magic and our immortality made us superior to humanity. They fashioned themselves as gods and ruled over human subjects that they enslaved over generations. The Fae who disagreed decided on a route of separation. Though they preferred the idea of living amongst humans, they recognized the mortals would be safer without them, without the threat of enslavement to surface again later. So they fought the Immortal War, the first civil war of our kind, a war of ideology. Brother against brother, sister against sister, parents against children. You chose your side and you were willing to die for it. In the end, the separatists won. They executed the slavers, hunted down the beasts threatening the mortals’ existence, and erected the Divide. They made Hellscape later, a prison in a hollowed out volcano in the middle of the lands forever dead from the fighting.”

“Even now, two thousand years later, it would be foolish to believe there are not slavers among us,” Gemini added, narrowing her gaze in her nephew’s direction. “Alban was on the right side of the Immortal War but Ariadne is not her father.”

“You were there?” I asked, amazed. “You fought in the Immortal War?”

“Gemini, our father, and Alban Dawnpaw are the only ones still alive from that time,” Cass told me and my lips parted in awe.

“I don’t intend to see another come to pass,” she snapped, her stare fixed upon Lark.

“Why isn’t Alban stopping her?” I asked, looking between them.

“A good question,” Gemini acknowledged with a raised brow.

“We can’t know until we get there,” Lark replied, standing suddenly from his spot on the couch.

“You can’t possibly still mean to go through with this foolish plan,” Gemini hissed.

“It’s better than sending Ren in to die or lose her mind, or worse.”

I raised a hand to my mouth. Cass patted my knee reassuringly.

“Seems like the same thing from where I’m sitting,” Gemini snapped, standing with him and following him as he paced into the kitchen. “How do you intend to cross her borders without her knowledge?”

“No magic,” he said, holding up his hands. “She can only trace me through magic and, believe me, I’ve had enough practice avoiding it.”

“She hasn’t,” Gemini argued, pointing to Cass and then pointing at me. “She’s a magic cannon. She has absolutely no control over herself. Taking her into enemy territory will be like firing a flare.”

“I don’t intend to take her.”

I dropped my hand to my side, wide eyes darting up to him but he stood with his back to me, every muscle tensed. Even Gemini faltered at that, some of the fight going out of her at the revelation she wasn’t expecting.

“You would leave her here?” Gemini asked, stunned.

“She will be with a trusted family member,” Lark replied, turning cold eyes on her. “A beloved aunt.”

“You would dare—”

“Keep her safe until we return. That’s all I ask.”

Gemini’s words fell away. Her mouth remained open, working but failing to find the words she wished to say.

“For the love you bear me,” Lark said, gazing intently into Gemini’s eyes to make her see how fervently he cared about my safety, “for all that we have ever done in the name of good, protect her until I return, Aunt Gem.”

How could anyone deny him that?

She didn’t. She just closed her mouth and gave one curt nod and suddenly everyone was moving at once. It seemed that having a plan spurred them into action and they were big believers in the mantra that there was no time like the present. Rook was already strapping weapons to himself. Cass was watching it all, wide eyed, staring at her aunt in awe. I wondered if she had ever seen Gemini Morningstar back down before. It wasn’t a sight that I would forget anytime soon.

Lark waved a hand over himself and his black tee shirt disappeared, replaced by that signature black, embellished tunic. I stood from my spot and strode toward him. Gemini stepped away as I passed, rightfully assuming this was a moment with him that I would rather have alone.

“You’re leaving,” I said, my tone more accusatory than I had intended as I reached him. “Now?”

“Every moment we wait it becomes harder to locate the gorgon,” he explained, reaching out to take my hands. I stared down at the contact, still having not gotten used to that yet. “Believe me when I say that right now leaving you is the absolute last thing I want to be doing. But you’re safer here.”

He left the rest unsaid. That they were all safer with me here as well. Gemini was right. My lack of control over my magic meant that if I loosed even an ounce of it in the Peace Court’s territory, it would be like a homing beacon to our location.

“I’ll get better,” I promised. “I’ll learn how to control it.”

“I know,” he told me with a sad smile, raising a hand against my face in a gentle caress. “Why do you think I’m leaving you with the best trainer in the entire realm?”

I smiled.

“Don’t tell her I said that,” he added with a wink, reaching up and brushing a strand of hair from my face. “Besides, I made you a promise that you wouldn’t have to face this, face her, until you were ready. And I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you don’t have to set foot on the Peace Court’s lands until that day.”

I leaned forward, onto my tiptoes, and pressed my lips against his.

A moment later, his arms were around me, pulling me into him. I put everything I had into that kiss, leaving my mark upon him, begging him to come home. And the kiss he gave me in return felt like a promise that he would.

“Alright, seriously,” Rook interrupted, slapping Lark on the back so hard that he broke away from me. “We really have to talk about this when we get back.”

He gestured between us and we smiled back at him.

“Are you ready?” Rook asked and I peered behind him to see Cass already waiting by the door. Lark gave a curt nod and Rook strode off to join her.

“Don’t let her kick your ass too bad while I’m gone,” Lark told me with a wink.

I laughed, landing a playful punch on his arm as he pushed away from the counter and headed toward the door with the others.

“Don’t worry,” I called back. “Nobody kicks my ass quite like you, Fae.”

He grinned before wrenching open the door and ducking through it. Rook followed right behind him. Cass hesitated a moment longer, giving me a sad smile and a small little wave before she went. My brow furrowed at the sight. It was unlike Cass to be so nervous when heading out on one of her brother’s missions.

“You want to go with them next time?” Gemini asked from over my shoulder, drawing my attention back to her. “Get into position.”

Then she waved her hand and the furniture disappeared.