Out of the Mountain (24 page)

“The others are under this spell as well.” She stated it as fact.

“We noticed it today. Dahlia, I have to know that we can trust you.” I almost apologized.

“Tell me what you need me to do.” She didn’t hesitate. She seemed to be on our side.

“First we need to call Seraphina, have her check Malachi over. I have no doubt he will get a clean bill of health. Then you will need to go about the rest of your day, act as normal as possible. We cannot allow them to become suspicious. I can’t really explain it to you now, but meet us tonight in the guard HQ, and we will explain.”

“Yes, I can do that,” she agreed before leaving us to retrieve Seraphina.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, love,” Malachi said when we were alone.

“Me too, dear.” I sighed, patting his arm.

***

It was just past midnight, and I was trying my best to stay awake while we waited for Dahlia to arrive. Malachi had filled the group in on what had happened, leaving them to puzzle why I had been able to force thoughts into Malachi’s mind for a while before chocking it up to my bizarre powers emerging. I began to worry that someone had discovered what I had done for Dahlia and something had went wrong. The others weren’t too happy with my addition to the plan, but I couldn’t just turn someone who was asking for my help away. It wasn’t in me.

When Dahlia walked into the room I stood up, quickly shaking the sleepiness out of my head. She appeared normal, but I couldn’t be sure until I touched her. At my wary expression she grinned, reaching out her hand to me. I took it and tried to search for any traces of the dark magic. She was clean.

“So how did it go?” I asked curiously.

“I played my part as well as you did, I expect.” She nodded toward Malachi, and I blushed.

“So no one noticed or questioned you at all?”

“No, it was business as usual,” she reassured me and I exhaled in relief.

“Someone fill her in,” I said, sinking into my chair and laying my head on the table in relief. Rowan started talking, and his steady tone lulled me to sleep within seconds.

I felt someone lift me, or maybe I was dreaming. I was so exhausted from the magic use and stress that the day had been filled with. I curled into a warm, hard chest and sighed in contentment as big arms wrapped around me and held me secure.

“Shouldn’t Malachi be the one to return her to her room?” Adelaide suggested, and Rowan stiffened underneath me.

“She must not be left unguarded,” he said quietly, and I thought I heard footsteps approach.

“I’ll stay with her,” Malachi said solemnly.

“I need to speak to Malachi alone,” Rowan murmured, and I heard an angry gasp before footsteps pounded away.

“You will not touch her,” Rowan growled low in his chest.

“That’s going to be impossible.” Malachi tried to joke, but it fell flat. “Look, I’m not going to try and move in on her if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s just platonic with her, I swear . . . she’s too . . . innocent, vulnerable? The more I get to know her . . . I don’t know. All I know is that I like her as a friend; she’s fun and loyal, and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. I want to keep her safe,” he said, and Rowan grunted in acceptance. I slipped from one man’s hold to the other’s easily. I missed the comfort of Rowan’s touch immediately but knew there was nothing I could do about it.

“See to it that you do.”

“A few words of advice, though. I don’t know what you have for the girl, but let it go. She’s got a crush on the wolf. Let her have fun with that. You can’t keep a claim on her that you don’t intend to fulfill, and besides, you have Adelaide. It’s not fair to either of them,” he suggested boldly.

“If I wanted advice, I would ask for it,” Rowan barked, and I heard footsteps leading briskly away. I fell back into deeper sleep with a smile on my face.

I awoke in my bed, confused, as my eyes adjusted to the morning light. I ran through the foggy memories of the night before and groaned to myself.

“Morning, Princess,” I heard Malachi say next to me, and I jumped up. He was lying beside me on the bed, shirtless and sleepy-eyed, which clued me in on the fact that he had slept in the bed next to me all night. I looked down at what I was wearing and let out a loud squeal that quickly turned to an angry shriek at his chuckling. He was messing with me. I was wearing a long thin shirt that I assume was his, since it smelled like him and he clearly wasn’t wearing one. All the important parts were covered, but still . . . I conjured a pillow from the bed to throw at his head forcefully.

“I am going to kill you!” I yelled, anger already diminishing. The door burst open as Tamora and Rowan poured inside.

“What are you doing?” I yelped, peeking from behind Malachi, who had quickly jumped in front of me at the sound.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Tamora groaned, agitated, but Rowan was seething. I pushed myself in front of Malachi, quickly trying to defuse the situation. Rowan’s eyes were blazing yellow, and his jaw was stretching at an odd angle.

“Nothing happened,” I said, slowly putting my hand out to stop him from advancing any farther. More people piled into the doorway at the commotion, and I groaned.

“Has no one heard of privacy around here?” I hissed, angry at the intrusion. Something that was supposed to be a small joke between friends had escalated into a public spectacle. This was ridiculous.

I conjured myself into my own clothes and glared at Rowan. Enough was enough.

“You should probably take that unsolicited advice you were given last night.”

“I probably should,” he agreed, turning on his heel and leaving the room. Malachi chucked from behind me.

“You mean you were awake and made me carry you all that way?” He scoffed, and I laughed.

“I was only lucid for a few moments of it. Thank you, by the way,” I said, and he winked.

“OK, show’s over folks. Move along,” he said, ushering Tasmin, Marlowe, and Willa from the room. Tamora stayed where she was, and I didn’t mind.

I left my two remaining guards to argue over whether or not Rowan could in fact eat Malachi in a single bite and closed myself into the bathroom. I sighed, taking in my reflection in the mirror. I tried to comb the tangles from my hair quickly, but eventually I had to slow down, and it gave me time to think. Rowan was beautiful and strong and abrasive, but was it really his fault that I had this . . . infatuation with him?

I tried to think about it from his perspective: a girl he knew and swore a blood-oath to as a child shows up, basically swoons at the sight of him, and then runs around behaving in a way that he deems reckless. He thinks I’m vulnerable and naïve, and maybe I am a little, but one thing I’m not is a child, and he sees that. He wants to protect me from harm, every kind of harm . . . even heart break?

So here he is, sworn to protect me, and I throw myself at him. Try to force my feelings onto him, never stopping to wonder if maybe he just didn’t feel the same way as I did. He has a girlfriend and a duty to fulfill, and I hadn’t respected any of it. I felt ashamed. A tear slid from my eye, and I sighed, exhausted with myself. There was so much more going on here, and I was locked in my bathroom crying over a man who didn’t want me back? Ugh, it was disgusting.

I quickly washed my face and straightened my clothes. I was going to be an adult about this. I would apologize and back off. I could do it, and it would make everything a lot easier around here. I liked Luca, but I hadn’t been willing to give him a real chance before. That was changing as of now. Master Liung often told me that I needed to learn to stop trying to force everything to bend to my will. That instead I needed to step back and let things unfold as they should and at their own pace.
Patience, Vivienne . . .
I could practically hear his smooth and calm voice in my head. I smiled at myself before exiting the bathroom and facing the day.

***

I walked into the dining hall with my head held high as Malachi escorted me to take my seat at the head table with the Six. I was attending breakfast with the others like a good girl today. He kissed my forehead for their benefit, and I smiled, waving him away. Farran appeared at my side and sat.

“Young love.” He faked a gagging sound, and I smacked his arm.

“You were young once.” I stuck my tongue out at him.

“I am young always.” He sighed, and I sensed a sadness behind his words.

“If only we were all so lucky,” Mauve chimed in with obvious envy in her voice. She shook her head as if noticing it, and smiled as if to soften her words. We ate in silence for a bit before Mauve turned to me again.

“So Vivienne, I had a wonderful idea last night.”

“Oh?” I asked as I wiped my mouth with the napkin that had been lying on my lap.

“What if we had a sort of . . . coronation ball for you?” She clapped her hands as if excited, and I grinned, trying to hide my suspicion.

“That sounds like a marvelous idea!” Dahlia chimed in, and the others agreed.

“OK, I guess that would be nice . . . ,” I said, eyeing Farran warily, but he was looking intently at Mauve.

“This is going to be great, Vivienne. The people will be so happy to have a formal royal ceremony! We will begin planning immediately!” she said, looking to the others, who nodded approval. Farran reach for my hand.

“Sounds marvelous. How about we have it at the end of this month?” he chimed in, and Mauve practically vibrated out of her skin at his suggestion.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” She smiled too brightly, and I swear I saw her eyes briefly flash red.

“Wonderful! Well, we will leave you to it! The princess has training to attend to.” He smiled, pulling me to my feet, and she shooed us away.

“She means to gather everyone so it’s easier to dispose of the ones she doesn’t like,” I said, taken aback.

“What else would you expect from an evildoer?” Farran shrugged. “At least this way, we will have organized chaos!” he continued, trying to see the bright side

***

We were working with weapons today, and I was excited. Rowan and Adelaide were our instructors once again, but I had my big-girl panties on now, so it didn’t bother me . . . much. We had our choice from an assortment of wooden weapons lying on the ground when we arrived. My eyes immediately found the dagger, a little shorter than mine, but it would work fine as a practice instrument.

“Choose your weapons wisely. There won’t be time to train thoroughly with anything else by the time you’ll be forced to use them,” Adelaide said, voice grave. I didn’t need time to think; I already knew what I wanted to choose. I stepped forward and picked up the wooden dagger, unable to stop my bright smile when Rowan grabbed a smaller wooden dagger and tossed it to me as well.

I got used to the feel of the practice weapons in my hands as I waited patiently for the other novices to make their decisions. Finley chose a long bow, which I had to admit was a great idea. He could fly to high positions and use the weapon long range. Briony, thinking along the same lines, chose a crossbow and stood next to me to wait. I was glad she chose a longer-range weapon to train with. She was small and these creatures were big. Luca picked up a sword, Griffin chose a long, double-sided axe that was topped with what appeared to be a spear head. After a long inner debate, Jonah finally decided on some kind of long staff (that I couldn’t imagine would be a very effective weapon), and Genevieve and Peyton both chose katanas.

Satisfied with our choices, our instructors came to us one by one and showed us the practice sequences that we would be using to get used to the feel of our weapons. When Adelaide stopped on me, I tried to keep my face neutral. She looked at the weapons in my hands and worried her lip for a minute lost in thought. Even I could see how attractive this woman was. It was effortless for her. I tried not to hold it against her.

“OK, I think this will work,” she finally said as she showed me a succession of steps, swipes, jabs, and parries. It was a little complicated, but I rose to the challenge. She nodded her approval before moving down the line. We practiced for hours in the hot sun before they finally allowed us a break. I sunk to the ground, soaked in sweat. Food and water were offered, but I couldn’t make myself move to get to any of it.

“If the creatures don’t kill us, the heat will do it for them,” Briony griped, dropping down beside me. She handed me a drink and a sandwich, and I wanted to kiss her.

“I think I’m already dead,” I complained, and she laughed.

“How’s it going with your crossbow?” I asked, taking a big bite of my food.

“They made me use it like a blunt weapon. Rowan says I need to be prepared in case I am ‘ambushed from above.’ Like the sky is going to suddenly rain evil creatures upon us,” she whined, and I took a quick drink of water to keep from choking.

“It’s probably a good idea, though,” I replied honestly, and she narrowed her eyes at me.

“Hey, you may not realize this yet, but we always take each other’s sides. No matter how right the opposing side might be. It’s what best friends do,” she grumbled, and I laughed.

“Oh, of course, I meant to say that Rowan was a tyrant out to destroy us all, one glare at a time.”

“Is that so?” I heard and accidently dropped the remaining few bites of my sandwich. Rowan’s voice was brusque but amusement was in his eyes.

“We were joking. Apparently that’s something friends do. I’m still learning the basics,” I quipped, and he grinned at us, showing that damn dimple before turning to walk away. I chugged the rest of my water quickly.

“Hey, wait a second!” I yelled, pulling myself to my feet and jogging to catch up to his retreating form.

“Yes?” He eyed me warily, and I felt guilt hit me again.

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry . . . for how I’ve been acting. I thought about things, and I understand where you are coming from. I wanted to offer a fresh start, and I hope we can become good friends,” I said quickly, and when he didn’t reply immediately, I became nervous and began babbling.

“It’s just that, I really respect you and what you have sacrificed for me in the past. The oath and everything. It just . . . means a lot to have someone that I know is looking out for me no matter what. I mean, you kind of don’t have a choice, right? I wonder if I turned evil and went on a rampage . . . would you still be bound by your oath? I’m not exactly sure how it all works. I suppose I should ask Farran to explain it to me . . .” I stopped talking as his hand appeared in the air in front of him, and I noticed his shoulders were starting to shake. Laughter full and light spilled from him, the most glorious sound I had ever heard. A full smile was on his face, and his eyes were bright.