Fae (17 page)

"That might have made me
feel better if I actually knew what you meant."

He smiled and ran his hand
through his hair. "We don't just control the elements. The elements
control us, too. Firestarters are passionate, often angry, and
always giving in to their feelings, whatever they are.
Watergatherers are fluid, artistic, sometimes a bit emotional too.
But Windbringers crave logic and wisdom. We don't like being
controlled by our emotions. In fact, any weaknesses regarding them
are usually trained out of us when we're young."

"So you don't feel
things?" Whatever Cailen said, I couldn't buy that. He felt things.
I knew he did. At least, I hoped he did. Doubt and overwhelming
sadness gripped at my sides.

He leaned in and brushed
his lips against mine. The hand that was not still behind his back
circled my waist and pressed me closer to him. "Of course we do. Of
course
I
do. More
than you can imagine."

I leaned forward, melting
into his embrace when a thought hit me and I pulled away. "You've
been angry. I've felt it. You've been angry with me."

He shrugged, not denying
anything. "I'm not perfect at it. In fact, a lot of Windbringers
look down on me for my lack of control."

I smiled at that. Cailen
the rebel. Of course, if he was out of control, I wondered what
they thought of me. Probably not good things.

"Are you ready for your
present?" A mischievous smile spread across his face, his white
teeth showing.

"Only if it's a good one."
I scrunched my nose at him and he shoved my shoulder
playfully.

He brought his hand out
from behind his back. Whatever present he'd brought, it was small.
I couldn't see anything in his closed fist. I stared, waiting. He
opened his fist one finger at a time and there, sitting right in
the center of his palm, was a silver leaf, dry around the edges but
mostly intact. I recognized it instantly as the leaf from the
courtyard in my memory.

A tear slid down my cheek
and a lump formed in my throat.

"Cailen." My voice came
out thick. I swallowed and reached for the leaf. My leaf. My
fingers paused just above his hand, for a moment terrified that
touching it would make it go away.

"After you were taken," he
whispered. "I spent a lot of time in your room just..." he cleared
his throat, his voice as thick as mine "...mourning. I found this
and kept it."

I squeezed my eyes shut.
The tears rimming my lids poured down, scorching my flushed cheeks.
"Thank you."

***

After we ate some food in
his room, Cailen decided I needed a tour of his ship. Maybe I
should have shown a bit more decorum—as the Aurume and all—but I
practically skipped from one room to the other. Everything was just
so...me. From the walls that literally breathed out air to the
bionic plants that grew up from the floor. These people celebrated
both technology and nature and I realized with warmth that grew
from the core of my being and spread out to the end of each limb
that I belonged.

No more strange looks or
averted gazes. I was welcome here. And not just welcomed, but
absolutely desired. Everyone I met welcomed me with smiles that
practically erupted with joy. Many people gave me treats and
presents
—saying their thanks for coming
home—and wishing El's blessings upon me.

And yet, there was still a
little twinge of something in the back of my mind that told me all
this still wasn't mine. None of these people were monsters. But I
was.

At the last stop of the
day, Cailen took me to the heart of the Aurora—the Core. Unlike
most spaceships, Cailen told me, Auri crafts didn't have windows.
Cailen explained that was because the plant their ships had grafted
with was the strongest known living thing in the universe. The Bana
plant. The same thing the fibers of my dresses and cloak had been
fashioned out of. And in order to maintain that level of strength,
the ships had to be entirely seamless. In other words, no windows.
Or doors.

So while most control
rooms might have been at the front of a ship, The Aurora's was in
the center.

I stood at Cailen's side
in awe. My gaze scanned the gargantuan room, not really sure what I
was seeing. There were a lot of lights, but no control panels. All
the lights hovered in the air looking like stars.

Cailen slid his fingers
between mine and led me to the far right end of the domed room. The
further we walked from the entrance to the Core the more I noticed
an order to the lights. There were dozens—possibly hundreds—of
different globes, all of them hovering above disks resembling the
one on Cailen's night stand. Except these disks couldn't be held in
anyone's hand. In the center of each disk stood a
person.

A man in the center of the
disk we were now heading toward stared back at us as we approached.
I expected Cailen to stop at the edge of the disk and globe of
lights, but he didn't. He led me right through it. I cringed and
brought my hand up, but of course nothing happened. They were just
lights. But it my instincts told me I was walking through a wall,
even if my instincts ended up being wrong.

After I passed through the
lights and lifted my head, I stood in absolute awe. Inside, the
lights made sense. They showed images. Right then we were looking
at the outer limits of Co'ladesh, at the wall of crystal towers and
the horde of Mosandarian and Soltakian soldiers surrounding
it.

The man smiled and dipped
his head before turning to Cailen.

"Have you found the Marid
yet?" Cailen asked in his deep leader voice. It was the same one
he'd used on the
Meridian
when he'd ordered his men to look for me. A
flutter of pride tickled my insides. I bit my lip to keep from
smiling.

"We have it narrowed down
to three people, sir," the man said with a voice like rippling
wind. He waved his hands in a back and forth motion and the image
in the globe rushed underneath the city to The Block. Three people
popped up around us. Two of them were heartbreakingly beautiful
with high cheekbones, silky hair, and vivid eyes.

Cailen pointed to the one
who didn't belong."Who is he?"

"That's the Emperor's
First."

I leaned in closer and
realized with surprise that, yes, it was First. He was walking now,
down one of the corridors in his gold uniform, completely unaware
that we watched him.

"Why is he on the list?"
Cailen asked.

"I believe he is faking
his limp. Sometimes it seems as though he favors the wrong leg. I
cannot be sure, though."

"I've never seen a
Watergatherer look so awkward."

The man waved his hands
again and the image of First took up the whole globe. Seeing him
that close, it was easy to pick out the way his shoulders hunched
forward, the way his eyes stayed downcast. I knew First and he was
no Fae'ri. Not unless the deadliest force the Order of Fae could
come up with was as gentle as a puppy.

Cailen leaned forward,
studying, with his eyes creased in concentration. "He's very young,
though. Is it possible for someone his age to have received all the
Marid training?"

"I do not know,
sir."

"Well, keep watching
everyone on your list. Maybe one of them will do something to
reveal himself."

"Why don't we just go
after all three of them?" I asked. "Wouldn't it be obvious when one
of them started fighting back?" I knew I didn't have a whole lot of
experience with the Auri and Fae'ri, but this seemed pretty easy to
figure out. Plus, I had this strange sensation to get Cailen's
attention away from First. I didn't want him studying him
anymore.

Cailen shook his head, his
eyes soft and sad. "We aren't strong enough. If I do give the order
to take down the Marid, I'll need every last Auri on this ship. If
we pick the wrong person, though, the real Marid would know our
plan and we'd lose any hope of defeating him."

A chill traveled down my
spine and I shivered. One Fae'ri, stronger than thousands of Auri?
"How is that even possible?"

"Like I said before;
they're bred for it. And distance isn't a problem for them. A Marid
could kill every one of my soldiers at the same time just by
expanding all the water molecules within his reach. A reach that is
pretty limitless."

A new chill traveled down
my spine. Did Cailen know I imploded a star? I looked at him,
terrified and waiting for the accusations. We’d never really talked
about the finer details. He’d never asked and I’d never divulged.
Would he hate me if he knew?

Mistaking my terror, he
squeezed my hand and smiled. "We'll be all right, Ella." His smile
widened. "We've got the Aurume on our side."

I tried to smile back, but
I wondered. Was I on their side? These gods among men took care of
people. They didn't hurt them or flaunt their powers. They
sacrificed themselves.

And suddenly that little
inkling of a thought grew bigger. Maybe I didn't belong with them.
A Destructor didn't belong with saviors.

Cailen squeezed my hand
again before turning back to the man. "Show me what's going on off
the planet."

The man waved his hands
again in the opposite direction from before. The image receded
until First disappeared and the city of Co'ladesh looked like a
speck on a very large, very brown planet. And eventually, even the
planet receded until all we saw was a brown and grey ball suspended
in a black sea.

Little specks swarmed
around the planet, weaving in and out of formation. Tiny explosions
popped up all around the globe. The man waved his hand by one of
the larger swarms and the globe of lights zeroed in on and expanded
the fight scene.

Unfortunately, even with
the up close and personal show, I still had no idea who was who. I
watched in horror as metallic tentacles slid out of an insect-like
ship and enveloped a silver, streamlined vessel, ripping it
apart.

I turned away, but not
before I saw the bodies pouring out into space. "We have to do
something," I said through deep breaths. "We can't just
watch."

Cailen rubbed circles on
my back. "I know. And we have to do it before the Fae'ri become
involved. So far they're just watching too."

I shuddered.

"That's an appropriate
reaction."

I thought about our
options. There weren't many. We needed to save Soltak. We couldn't
just let them be destroyed. If we had any power to help, we needed
to use it. Plus Meir was still down there. The Emperor.
Ranen.

The first thing we needed
to do was see what happened to Auru. If the Fae'ri were involved,
the Auri needed to be too. And not just Cailen's ship. One ship
couldn't go up against thousands and hope to win. Despite all my
earlier convictions, I knew this was different. The Fae'ri were
involved on a much larger scale than we'd ever imagined. I
straightened and smoothed out my dress, taking another deep breath.
"Auru needs to be brought into this." Cailen's sparkling green eyes
went flat.

"You know we've tried. The
scout who returned from Auru reported seeing dozens of Fae’ri ships
circling the planet. With communications down, I’m expecting the
worst.”

I ran my fingers through
my hair like I'd seen Cailen do so many times before. This was not
a time for overreactions. It was a time for plans, and action.
"Well, then we need to think about rescuing who we can. We need to
get as many of the civilians on this ship as possible."

He nodded, deferring to
his leader. "I agree."

"Do the Fae'ri know we're
here?"

"I don't think so. Their
sensors shouldn't be able to pick us up as long as we can keep the
moon between us and them."

"What are we going to do
in case they find out?"

"There's only one room in
the whole ship that allows transport. The rest is shielded. I've
already got my best Firestarters guarding it."

I closed my eyes and
rubbed my forehead. "This is really happening, isn't
it?"

He peeled my hands from my
head to press his lips there. "Not yet." His lips tickled against
my skin. "But very soon. You'll know it's really happening when the
screaming starts."

Chapter Four

The Voice on My Shoulder

Cailen woke me in the
middle of the night with a quick shake.

"We've just intercepted a
transmission between the Fae'ri ships," he said as he gathered
things into a bag. "They're going to attack Soltak in a few hours,
specifically targeting civilians. I'm taking a few hundred of my
soldiers down there to get them out and bring them back
here."

Without a word, I climbed
out of bed, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and grabbed my cloak.
Luckily, I was still in the habit of wearing my clothes to sleep so
I didn't need to do any more preparation. "I'm going with you," I
said.

Cailen froze with his bag
hanging half open. "We need to be tactical about this."