Genesis (17 page)

As much as he tried to cover the fear
under his expression, I saw through it. “I do not wish to encounter
a pack.”

That was good enough for me. “Let’s go
then.”

“
I’m sorry, Rayla. I didn’t
mean to ruin our fun.” He edged closer. “You
were
having fun, right?”

I nodded, finding my voice vacant.
Absentmindedly, I nibbled my lip. Jett was a different person than
I had taken him for. First impressions aside, I now counted him as
a friend, and I was loath to change that emotion. I liked the
comfortable connection we shared.

Tenderly, his fingers brushed my
shoulder. “Ready to go?”

He set off, and I followed him out of
the pool. Before I could even wish myself dry, new clothes covered
me.

“
Thanks,” I said. “One day I
really need to learn to do that myself.”

He grunted in reply then whistled.
Bastion appeared in the sky and touched down in a matter of
moments. I shut my eyes tight against the blowing sand, covering my
nose and mouth against the musty wind.

When we were halfway back to the
castle, I asked, “What exactly is a wraith?”

“
I will explain later,” Jett
called over his shoulder. “Hold on.”

I barely got my arms around him when
Bastion leaned into the final turn. She whinnied like an ordinary
horse. I wished, once again, I could contact her
mentally.

Just in case she could understand me
but didn’t want Jett to hear us, I waited until he set her free in
the pasture to try again. She didn’t respond, so I decided to ask
him what had been bothering me since I saw her again. This could
shove a wedge between us, but I had to know.

I cleared my dry throat. “Why do you
have Bastion? I mean, you don’t exactly need her to get
around.”

Jett glanced at me sidelong. “I wished
for a different mount initially, but someone else took him before I
could lay claim.”

I had a pretty good idea who that other
mount was. “I’ve spoken with Styx. He hates you.”

Jett shrugged. “I am aware.”

“
You still haven’t answered
my question.”

“
Not all fae have the
ability to drift. I have only recently mastered it myself. As head
of our army, I required means of transportation between
realms.”

“
You took his mate,” I said,
stiffening my spine.

He released a sigh. “I’ve made mistakes
in the past, Rayla. I cannot undo them.”

What kind of excuse was that? “If you
feel bad, just let her go.”

His head snapped toward me, showing a
face full of contempt. “Things are not so simple. When the pegusi
came here, they agreed to servitude. If I didn’t have her, another
would swiftly claim her.”

Justification if you asked me. “But
that’s not right.”

He gave a slight grimace. “I do not
mistreat her. She has become my closest confidant. I value her more
than you can know.”

“
Styx loves her, too. He
misses her.”

He whirled to face me. “Enough! I will
not release her. Styx had his chance.”

My hands found my hips. “So
you
are
punishing
him for picking Zach.”

His face flushed. “I’m not punishing
anyone. He did this to himself, and I am supposed to lose a valued
member of my army because he now regrets his choice?”

I touched his hard shoulder. “You
should do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

“
Right for whom, Rayla?
Can’t you see I need her?”

I didn’t know about that. “I can see
you think you need her.”

He clenched his teeth together and
quickened his step.

This had gotten out of hand so fast, I
hadn’t been able to ask him about Bastion. “Why can’t I talk to
her?”

He glanced at me. “What?”

“
I couldn’t get into her
mind.”

He shook his head. “You’d have to ask
her that.” With that he stormed past me into the courtyard and
through the doors that led to his chambers.

What the heck just happened? He implied
Bastion was the one blocking me. Why would she do that?

Dinner was awkward. Jett kept silent
throughout the meal, so I was left to talk with people I didn’t
really know. They asked me how I liked Eldrea, and I had a hard
time covering my current emotions. Jett was being plain stubborn.
I’d tried to pin him down with a stare several times, but it hadn’t
worked.

After giving up completely I excused
myself then headed for my room, eager to get some rest. This was
the last night I would spend here, and I was ready to leave now. If
Jett couldn’t even discuss something as simple as getting a
different horse, how would he be with important things? No, that
really wasn’t fair. He loved Bastion, but so did Styx.

Love complicates everything.

My shoes came off first when I shut the
door. They sailed through the air before slamming into the wall
with a thwap. How was I going to help Styx? Even if Jett released
Bastion, he made it clear someone else would snap her up. Would
they allow Zach to have two pegusi? At least she seemed happy with
Jett. I groaned. Somehow, I needed to find a way to talk to her, to
find out what she wanted. If she was content, who was I to
interfere?

An hour later, I still couldn’t sleep.
The night sky descended, blotting out the glow of day. Stars
twinkled above my enchanting canopy. Beautiful as it was, it didn’t
take away my anxiety. I still didn’t know what to expect from the
future. No one really does, but it’s nice to have the illusion
sometimes.

I slipped out of bed and stepped into a
pair of fluffy slippers. Nights here held a beauty I related to.
The desert has a feel not easily replicated. Even on the sultriest
of nights, a chill can take hold of your bones.

This was one of those
nights.

I wrapped myself in a robe and wandered
to the balcony. The door stuck when I tried to pull it open, so I
put my whole bodyweight into it. It didn’t budge.

I stepped back, studying the door. No
way. Was I on lockdown?

When I checked the door to the hallway,
it opened. Relief calmed me a little. The balcony door was probably
locked.

I tried again. It didn’t yield, yet the
handle turned. Weird.

Or maybe not. If borderland creatures
roamed Eldrea, I could see why they would take such a precaution.
Still, knowing I couldn’t breathe the fresh air made my lungs ache
for it.

I’d just have to find something else to
keep me occupied. Silent as I could be, I peeked up and down the
hallway before I headed for the courtyard. At least there I could
get some fresh air and practice manipulating earth.

I would have rather taken a nice long
run, but lopping along the corridors this late wouldn’t make me
popular with the locals. I shouldn’t have even cared, but somehow
knowing my mom was the queen here gave me motivation to at least
try to be thoughtful.

It couldn’t have been more than ten pm,
but the deserted halls made me wonder if I had dozed off without
knowing it. I made it to the courtyard without encountering a
single person along the way. Something intangible held me just
outside the threshold.

Something? No.

It was the night. Once again, familiar
fear tickled my neck.

I couldn’t let it control me. I had to
face it eventually. Why not now? Determination overrode my faulty
instincts, so I took in a slow breath.

The bright moonlight may have given me
a bit more courage than usual, but I was ready to face this demon.
I picked up my foot, yet instead of going forward, I stepped back.
What the heck? I tried again. One more step that went the wrong
way.

Okay, someone was messing with me.
“Where are you?” I hissed into the deserted space.

No one answered me. Yeah, now I was
pretty much freaking out. Since whatever force had stopped me from
going into the courtyard seemed reluctant to reveal itself, I
pitched forward, only to be flung against the opposite
wall.

“
Ow!” Stumbling to my feet,
I rubbed my neck. “That was uncalled for.”

“
No miss,” said a familiar
raspy voice. “Refusing to keep yourself out of harm’s way is what’s
uncalled for.”

My heart jumped. “Gibbit?”

He materialized three feet away from
me. He was just how I remembered him. Little orange eyes, pale
purple skin, stumpy body, and lazy smirk. I nearly flung my arms
around him, but I couldn’t do that right now. It was his fault the
Order had captured me. He left me to face them alone even though he
knew I was walking into a trap. “Let me show you something,” he
said, as if we didn’t have trust issues.

Too bad he didn’t seem to see the
gaping chasm between us. “I will never go anywhere with you again!”
I barked. Who cared if I woke the entire fortress?

He actually frowned at me. “I didn’t
have nothing to do with you choosing to go to that island. I told
you to stay away, but you wouldn’t listen. Don’t be getting angry
with me over something what is your fault.”

“
My fault?” I stepped
closer. “My fault!”

He crossed his stumps for
arms.

I studied him, not wanting
the truth to be real. He
had
warned me. Something within me still thought he
knew more than he had shared. How could I trust him? How could I
trust anyone for that matter? “If you want to show me something, it
will have to be here. I am not leaving until tomorrow when Jett
takes me to Altasia.”

He mimicked my movements like a two
year old. “I weren’t asking you to go nowhere. You assumed that.
Haven’t you ever heard what assuming does?”

“
Haha, Gibbit.” I gave him a
fake smile. “Get on with it.”

“
All right, miss snooty
pants,” he said. “I will.” He snapped his fingers together and a
gigantic leg of…something appeared in the air between
us.

I immediately pinched my nose. “Eww.
Did you have to pick a rotten one? What is it for,
anyway?”

He gazed out into the courtyard then
flicked his wrist. The meat sailed into the moonlight and within
seconds was gone. Clean picked bone clattered to the
dirt.

Ice crackled over me. “What’s out
there?” I whispered.

“
Them’s the nasty things I
told you about before. You once asked me what was worse than
hellhounds, well, my lady, you’ve just witnessed what the
Alpluachra can do to the unsuspecting traveler.”

I blanched. “The Alp-what?”

“
Joint eaters,” said Jett
from over my shoulder.

I nearly jumped out of my fuzzy
slippers. The name I couldn’t pronounce was much better.

Jett stepped between me and Gibbit.
“Out doing your master’s dirty work, I see.”

Gibbit’s pale purple skin blanched to
nearly white. “I have no master, as well you know.”

I sidestepped Jett so I could see what
was going on better—not to mention to tell Jett off. I bumped his
shoulder. “Why didn’t you mention these things? I could have been
eaten!”

He cocked his head. “I didn’t think you
would be foolish enough to wander an unfamiliar castle at
night—especially after I told you the creatures from the
borderlands roam our lands.”

I pointed at the courtyard.
“This isn’t your
lands
; this is your castle. If it isn’t safe to wander, you should
have signs posted!”

He laughed. “Who other than you would
need them?”

Good point, but I wasn’t going to
concede that to him. “Well, it’s a good thing Gibbit showed up when
he did.”

He shook his head. “Gibbit
showing up is
never
a good thing, and for your information, I was watching
you.”

“
Perve,” I said because
nothing else came to me.

Gibbit laughed. “You fight with him the
same way you do the lord of fire.”

Why did he have to mention Heath? I’d
come down here to avoid having to spend an entire night dreaming
about him. Besides, no I didn’t. “I’m not the problem
here.”

Jett licked his lips, not commenting,
but the light in his eyes and his smug grin told me all I needed to
know.

I faced Gibbit. “So
why
are
you
here?”

He lowered his eyes. “I came to warn
you.”

“
Ha,” said Jett. “More like
wrap your master’s tendrils around her neck.”

Gibbit stiffened. “I already told you I
don’t have no master. Stop insisting I do.”

“
Who sent you here?” I
asked.

“
I come on my own accord,
miss. Thought we were friends.”

I’d thought that too before I found
myself smack in the middle of hell all because he had taken me from
Ignis. I wasn’t being very fair, but it was how I felt. “Okay.
Let’s assume you are here because you like me, and you don’t want
me to get hurt.”