Page 19

Juniper

‘P henex… Phenex, wake up,’ I pleaded as I watched his eyes close the rest of the way. He seemed content, but it only made my panic greater. He couldn’t leave me when I’d only just found him…

I glared at the Fae woman still kneeling beside us, her gaze darting between us with a curiosity that I wasn’t willing to sate while Phenex was fading away.

‘What did you do to him?’ I demanded.

She couldn’t understand my words, but she certainly understood my pain. With soft eyes, she acting out a handshake and I felt my world tilt on its axis. The Fae were said to have been tricksters, the stories warning never to make a deal with one because they always backfired. If Phenex had made a deal with a Fae to bring me back from the brink of death I would bring him back and kill him myself, because magic always had to come from somewhere and the rules of bargaining with a Fae were clear.

He had given me his lifeforce to keep my alive while he took my place on death’s door.

Relief swamped me at the realisation because I hadn’t been at death’s door at all. Sure, my energy was depleted, but I just needed to replenish it. Some food and some rest was all I needed and I would have been right as rain.

I collapsed beside him, my forehead resting on my knees as the sounds of the Fae slicing the creature to pieces, even though I was fairly sure it was already dead, created an ironically macabre backdrop for the moment. The Fae hesitated for a moment before joining me, mirroring my curled up pose as she peered over her knees at the scene before us.

I startled when she jumped to her feet, her posture rigid as someone approached. I couldn’t see much, but there were enough embers still burning from the fireball that I could see it was Evander approaching, a contingency of Fae following a short distance behind him. Each of them were covered in blood, their fair features stained crimson in a sight that was oddly beautiful in its violence, and I couldn’t help but admire Evander’s ethereal beautiful as he stepped closer.

He exchanged words with the woman and she scuttered off to rejoin the ranks of the other Fae. She cast one last glance in my direction, curiosity shining through her eyes before she was swallowed by her people and hidden from my sight.

Evander took her place beside me, crouching down until he we were at eye level. He studied me for a beat before coming to some sort of conclusion, then extended his hand. My brows shot skyward. If he expected to make a deal with me he was sorely mistaken. He must have read the words in my expression because his lips twitched in amusement that he quickly covered up. Instead of dropping his hand, however, he patted me on the shoulder the way one would a friend, then rose to join his comrades.

‘Leave this one alone. She saved our lives and Elvina has repaid our debt,’ he said and I startled when I could understand his words.

‘Evander?’ I called out to him and he stilled, then turned to face me with an enigmatic expression. ‘I understood that.’

He sucked in a shocked breath, his entire body tensing at my words. ‘I understood you, too.’

A murmur exploded behind him as everyone processed the significance of what he’d said, and it was curious to me how they didn’t seem to understand me as well.

I nodded behind him. ‘Your friends don’t seem to,’ I pointed out.

‘How?’ he demanded in a hard, suspicious tone.

‘I think it’s these trials. Phenex and I can understand one another but… well, I guess we never got the chance to see how far that extended since we were separated from everyone else.’

‘You should find your people. It is not safe here without them,’ he said, then as if that was the most important piece of knowledge he could have imparted on me, he turned and strode back to his people. As one they left without another word, though a few glanced at me and Phenex as they headed in the direction we had come from. I supposed it may have been a little more difficult to pass whatever mess they’d left behind of those creatures, but as he was dismissing me and leaving me to my fate I decided to let him find out the hard way he was headed towards a dead end.

Instead, I settled down beside Phenex and snuggled into him. I struggled with his heavy arm as I wrapped it around my body, enjoying his warmth. I exhaled slowly, releasing all my annoyance and the stress of the past few days in that one breath. I knew it would come back eventually, but just for now I wanted to sleep without the burden of the Unity Trials, cryptic clues that appeared out of nowhere, or mysterious prophecies and life-ruining curses. Just for now, I wanted to sleep peacefully by the man I had decided would be mine forever, and who seemed to agree wholeheartedly.

∞∞∞

I felt like I had only closed my eyes for a minute when I was jolted awake by the sound of shuffling nearby. At first I thought it was just Phenex moving around, but then I nuzzled into his warm body, his arm tightening around me and I realised it couldn’t possibly be him.

I bolted upright, my eyes wide as they attempted to adjust to seeing in the darkness. I couldn’t see at all, which was how I figured out what the sound was. People were using the walls as a guide, brushing against them as they walked.

I nudged Phenex, rocking him awake. He mumbled something unintelligible as he roused, but a quick smack to the shoulder shut him up. His hands shot out to feel me, patting me down as if he were reassuring himself I was here, that I was real. Or perhaps it was the other way around, if he’d believed he was giving his life for mine. My heart melted even more for him and I pressed myself against him again, pleased when he immediately calmed. His breath ruffled my hair as he sighed and I leant further into him.

He finally seemed to notice the others because he tensed again when he heard the shuffling sounds. I stroked my fingers lightly over his forearm to soothe him, knowing it was just the Fae returning after discovering the dead end. He relaxed minutely but wrapped his arm around me to pull me back into his lap, and then he rose, holding me to him with one arm like he did before. Unfortunately, we weren’t as quiet as intended. He must have miscalculated the distance to the wall and ended up scraping his horns over the rocks, drawing the attention of the Fae.

They stilled, not even a breath to be heard, and then I a yell I recognised as Evander’s cut through the quiet and they sprang into action.

I cursed under my breath then lifted my finger to illuminate the space again. ‘ Lumen!’

They flinched back from the light, covering their eyes from the sudden assault but recovered quickly. They pushed forward again, Evander leading the charge only for his eyes to widen with recognition before he brought his blade down on us. Phenex took advantage of his hesitation to shove him back before he put me on the ground and shoved me behind him, crouching protectively in front of me with a snarl.

Evander shouted something I didn’t understand and the rest of the Fae paused and then backed down. Some sheathed their blades while others kept them out, ready to attack at a moment’s notice. I noted some certain looks sent our way, suspicion and distrust the dominant emotion among them.

Evander said something else to them and they backed up further, but what caught my attention was how I couldn’t understand his words like I had before.

‘Evander,’ I called out, and he angled his body so that he could keep an eye on both his people and Phenex who was still blocking me from their view. I peeked out from behind him and asked the question that was making me second guess everything I had thought I’d figured out about the Unity Trials so far.

‘Can you understand me?’

His frown told me everything I needed to know. The magic that had previously allowed us to communicate had disappeared, leaving us at an impasse yet again.

Panicked, I turned asked the same to Phenex.

‘Yes,’ he said and I sagged in relief. The last thing I wanted was for this connection between to us break for any reason. ‘I can understand you, Beautiful. What is going on?’

I explained to him how I’d spoken with Evander before and how something had changed to prevent us from understanding one another again. He hummed thoughtfully but relaxed a little more when Evander returned to his people on the other side of the tunnel. There wasn’t much space separating us, but the clear divide eased some of my worries.

And then it hit me.

‘Oh, shit. Phenex, I think that’s it!’ I exclaimed, gripping onto him excitedly and bouncing on my toes.

He smiled down at me with a bemused expression, allowing my excess of energy with a fondness that made me blush. ‘What did you just figure out, Beautiful?’

‘The Unity Trials, Phenex. I totally have a theory!’

He grabbed my hand that was lighting up the tunnel to keep it steady and I stilled, though my body vibrated with the need to move at the connection I’d just made, and I used my other hand to gesture to the space between us and the Fae. It wasn’t just a physical distance, but a metaphorical one, too.

‘Think about it. When did we start to understand one another?’

His eyes darkened with a fierce possessiveness. ‘After we kissed.’

It took me a moment to realise he thought I’d kissed Evander, and I shook my head rapidly. ‘No, not kissed. I didn’t kiss him, I promise.’

He relaxed at the reassurance but then squinted his eyes as the cogs started turning in his mind. When he gasped I knew he’d made the same connection I had. ‘When we accepted each other. We didn’t care about our race, just each other.’

I smacked his arm repeatedly, my excitement getting the better of me again. ‘Exactly! Which is why Evander and I can’t understand each other anymore. He chose to turn his back on us and walked away and broke the connection we’d just made.’

‘I can understand you,’ a light, feminine voice called out and the woman from yesterday that had made a deal with Phenex stepped forward. She flinched away from the scathing looks her people sent her, but she scampered to us in spite of them even if her head remained lowered in submission. She was either incredibly shy and hated the attention or she was afraid of them. Or perhaps it was a combination of both, if they timid way she stood before us was any indication.

She took a shaky breath in and forced herself to make eye contact with me. ‘I can understand you both.’

‘You’re the one that helped us,’ Phenex stated, scrutinising her and the Fae’s reaction to her stepping out of their formation.

‘Yes,’ she confirmed. ‘I am Elvina.’ Her voice steadier now that she knew we wouldn’t condemn her for daring to speak and approach us. If that was how the Fae treated their women, I was going to ignore my theory and leave them here to rot.

My glare found Evander’s and he glared back even harder. After saving their lives, I would have thought they’d have been friendlier than this, but you couldn’t win everyone over, apparently.

‘You are figuring it out where others are failing, and you are strong,’ she told me. ‘I would like to come with you.’

A series of shocked gasps resounded throughout the tunnel, including my own. Surely her people wouldn’t take kindly to her deserting them for someone they clearly didn’t see as an equal? Although, they didn’t see her as one either, so I supposed that wasn’t the biggest issue here.

‘Oh, uh… sure?’ I tentatively agreed, looking to Phenex for his opinion. He merely shrugged and moved Elvina to join me behind his protective stance, claiming her as ours now in front of them all.

Outraged mutterings sounded from the Fae, and I knew Elvina’s choice was going to send ripples of doubt throughout their numbers, among a variety of other emotions.

We waited to see what action they would take, but Evander barked out something that sounded like orders and they strode off down the tunnel back the way they’d come as they were being chased by those… whatever they were. I still hadn’t seen them yet, or what was left of them, but they were likely the predators that I had deduced lived within this maze of tunnels.

Their mass exodus halted, however, when they came upon the slain beasts that were still blocking the way. A disgusting squelching noise echoed back to us followed by the sound of someone retching, and I wrinkled my nose. Someone must have stepped in the gore.

I felt Elvina shudder beside me and sent her an apologetic smile. She caught onto my silent meaning and groaned. ‘We have to go that way, too.’

‘Yup,’ I said, inserting some chipperness into my tone to try to lighten the mood. I didn’t really work, but neither of them said anything.

On a positive note, we didn’t have to do any of the work clearing the tunnel to get through. We stood back and waited for the Fae to push the dead things to the sides, then followed at a distance when they moved on. It was dark enough that I couldn’t see all the details of the dead creatures, but I did catch sight of a stray claw or two, an upturned piece of thick, leathery skin, and a severed leg with a bone protruding from multiple places. I did my best not to look at the rest by keeping my gaze fixed on the Fae’s backs, but those parts I did see were going to haunt me for quite some time. I couldn’t even tell what the beasts were supposed to have been they were so mangled.

A few of the Fae that took up the rear kept sending nasty glares at us over their shoulders that caused Elvina to wince and duck her head, so I took her hand in mine and squeezed reassuringly. She didn’t respond, but she didn’t shake me off, either so I took that as a win.

‘Where to?’ Phenex asked me in his deep, rumbly voice. Shivers skittered down my spine, his effect on me instantaneous and involuntary but very, very welcome.

Stop it , I berated my vagina.

‘ Junie?’ Oz’s voice sounded in my head, faint but audible and I tripped over nothing.

‘ Ozzie? Oh, thank fuck! Are you okay? Where are you?’

‘I’m fine. We’re still in the same chamber where you and Tinky Winky disappeared. Where are you ? Are you okay? He didn’t try anything else, did he? I’ll kill him…’

I blushed as he continued his protective brother tirade, unsure how to tell him that Phenex did, in fact, try something. And I let him.

‘Phenex and I are fine,’ I said, emphasising his name but also trying to contain my amusement because he really did look like a hotter, Daemonic version of the purple Teletubby. ‘ We’re trying to find our way back to everyone else and we ran into the group of Fae. Things are… tense, but I figured something out.’ I told him about our theory and how we’d worked it out, and while he needed that information I was mostly just using it to distract him from asking any more questions about me and Phenex. I wasn’t really sure how to answer them. What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey, brother dearest. I let some random Daemon come down my throat and now we’re together because I think we might be soulmates.’ Because that would go down so well.

Silence simmered on the other end of our connection, and I could practically feel the steam coming from his ears.

‘ What the fuck did you just say?’ he demanded, his voice low and deceptively calm.

Oh, shit… I hadn’t projected those thoughts to him, had I?

‘ Yes, Junie. Yes you did.’

‘Fuck,’ I swore out loud, my feet freezing where they stood like I was suddenly stuck in mud. The mud was my brother’s wrath and my own mortification.

Phenex looked down at me in alarm, immediately on alert while Elvina stepped back like something was going to jump out of the shadows and attack us.

‘What is it?’ Phenex asked, the hardness in his voice exacerbating the gravelly tones.

‘Nothing,’ I squeaked, unable to tell him even though I knew I should. Stupid curse.

‘ He’s a dead man. What were you thinking, Juniper? He’s not even Human, for fuck’s sake!’

I tried to hide my wince at Oz’s shouting knowing it would look weird to an outsider, but I wasn’t very successful. Phenex and Elvina both shot me concerned looks, though Elvina’s seemed more like she was concerned for her choice in companions. I didn’t blame her, though I wished I could tell her I wasn’t insane.

‘Does this have something to do with the curse?’ Phenex asked me and I swayed with the speed my blood drained from my face.

‘What curse?’ I asked, my voice a higher pitch than normal which didn’t help me look any less guilty.

He lifted a single brow again in that way that made me think of Oz, and I knew I was caught. There was nothing I could do about it though because I literally could not get the words out to explain.

‘The curse the clue mentioned. You read it out, Beautiful,’ he pointed out and my mouth literally slammed shut. I couldn’t split open my lips even to breathe, they were sealed so well. He noticed and a mixture of hope and trepidation filled me that he would work it out.

‘Is that part of the curse? You can’t talk about it?’

My breathing became so heavy I thought I might actually start to hyperventilate. He was so close. He was right there .

‘I see. I can’t ask you any questions, can I?’ he realised and studied my eyes for any reaction. I blinked rapidly, the only way I could even attempt to communicate with him in that moment.

Elvina’s gaze was bouncing between us and she finally plucked up enough courage to ask the question on the tip of her tongue. ‘What curse? What’s going on?’

Her words attracted the Fae’s attention and they came to a screeching halt to stare back at us. The mention of a curse would likely get that sort of reaction from anyone, but this was not ideal.

‘ Oz… I think Phenex is close to figuring things out,’ I thought to my twin since he was the only one I could actually talk to right now.

‘ What? What’s going on?’

‘After we kissed a clue appeared out of thin air. A piece of paper with writing on it. At first it was in the language of the Legion so I couldn’t read it but he could. Then the words were replaced with English and I read it out loud.’

‘What did it say, Junie?’

‘His said ‘ connections made, rewards reaped’.’

‘And the English clue?’

‘Mine said ‘the curse is the key’.’

His curses bounced around my head and I couldn’t even react now that the curse had taken hold of me. I was stuck standing here like a statue, barely able to breathe with the force of its restraints.

‘I think we could use his help, Ozzie,’ I cut through his tirade.

‘ How? He can’t find out, Junie. We don’t know what will happen.’

‘But what if he figures it out on his own? What if he puts the pieces together without any help?’ I argued.

‘ That’s…’ he hesitated, thinking through my words. ‘ That might actually work.’

‘I know,’ I agreed. ‘ No one’s ever tried to dig deeper before so we don’t know how the curse will react. What we do know is that we can’t tell anyone ourselves. This could be the break we need, Ozzie.’

I felt more than heard his sigh through our bond. ‘ Okay. I trust you. If you trust him…’

‘I do, Oz. I trust him. I don’t know how to explain it, but he’s a part of this somehow. We’re meant to be.’

I giggled at the sound of his gagging, my eyes widening when every eye turned toward me.

A Fae I didn’t recognise stepped from the crowd and stalked toward us, his cold eyes intent on Elvina. She stumbled back a step and Phenex moved to block his path. He leaned around the larger Daemon to spit a nasty sounding question at Elvina, but she merely shook her head.

‘What did he say?’ Phenex asked her.

‘He wants to know about the curse.’

‘Well, tell him he can fuck off. It doesn’t concern him.’

She choked on her breath. ‘I-I… I can’t s-say that,’ she stammered.

He softened his tone so as not to spook her further. ‘Please relay the message, Elvina. It doesn’t have to be word for word.’

She suddenly seemed to find some semblance of a backbone, though, because she didn’t relay the message straight away. Instead, she pinned us with her attention.

‘He has a point. What curse do you speak of?’

‘I have nothing else to say on the matter, now drop it and tell them to as well or you can go right back to them. I will not have you putting my mate at risk to sate your curiosity,’ he said firmly, though not harshly.

She pursed her lips and studied me for a moment before making her decision, and I relaxed infinitesimally when she chose us. Each time she did it seemed to chip away at a piece of her, however, and I wondered how much it cost her to keep turning her back on her people. I didn’t think she was. Not really. If anything, I thought she was doing this to help her people, not abandon them.

They hadn’t seemed to figure that out, though, and my heart went out to her.

‘The topic of curses is closed and has nothing to do with us. You will get nothing more from them,’ she told him. He sneered at her, obviously not liking her answer, but he took it for what it was and stomped back to his group.

One by one the Fae dismissed us, giving us their backs as they continued down the tunnel. However, one stayed back for a moment longer, his gaze penetrating as it studied me and Phenex. Evander narrowed his eyes at me, deciding I was the most likely the source of the trouble and sniffed haughtily before spinning on his heel and rejoining his friends.

‘Well,’ I said, eager to use my mouth as soon as I felt the curse drop it’s shackles now that no one was asking any questions. ‘That was fun.’

‘I will figure it out, Beautiful. Now that I know you are being blocked from speaking of it, I will work tireless to help you,’ he vowed.

I couldn’t respond in any way that acknowledged the curse, so I waited for a beat and then gave him a hug.

I believed him, and if anyone could help me and Oz break free, I knew it would be him, and I was more thankful than ever that I had found him.