Phantom Fae (7 page)

So was that the truth of the matter? That Alton believed Brett was totally taken by the phantom fae and that would be the end of Ena being interested in him? As if Ena was interested in Brett any more than calling him a friend because he had been so dedicated to her.

"And?" Ena asked.

Alton's faster fae healing abilities had made the bruises on his face fade and his eye wasn't nearly as swollen shut now. "If he possesses mage abilities, we can use him on our side. After that, they can go their own way. Sounds like a good deal to me."

Ena hadn't ever thought she'd hear Alton suggest such a thing, but she suspected he was trying for a bit of matchmaking between the fae turned raven and Brett. She still couldn't see him as a phantom fae. And she didn't like mages in general. They could be powerful and dangerous. But she could see her household staff taking him in just as they had before and treating him like one of the family still. She could also see Alton wanting to get rid of Ena's interest in Brett, not that she was going there, but Alton seemed to think so, while he was hoping Brett would agree to stay with Freya.

Freya shifted into a raven and cawed.

Brett turned to her and frowned. He said to Ena, "She can't hold her form for long."

"So we go after this mage?" Alton asked.

Ena didn't know why Alton was so eager to help the fae. She didn't think that his plan would cement a relationship between Brett and Freya. Brett seemed to want to help her, as was his nature, but he didn't seem overly interested in her, as in looking to be her lifemate.

"We have to locate the mage first. What is his name?" Ena asked.

"Zane," Brett said, his gaze focused on Ena.

She couldn't truly figure him out. He confused her. Maybe because he was raised as a human. Even Princess Alicia, who had been raised among them also, confounded her often. "Okay, so where do we find him? The last I saw of him, he was shooting an ineffective fireball at me and then he disappeared."

"He was supposed to keep track of me and not lose sight of me. I'm supposed to die at the magic trials and then he will take over as the new queen's mage. She will want him dead, I suspect, if she learns he has lost me. Or maybe not if he's the only other mage that she can possibly have at her beck and call."

"So we use you as bait." Alton sounded way too eager.

"I suspect he's close by," Brett said. Then he turned to Freya. "Can you find him? Without earning his wrath?"

"I'll go with her," Alton said. "I can fae travel with her and we can locate him. Then it will only be a matter of bringing him to you in fae chains."

"As long as he doesn't use some deadly magic on you," Brett said.

"Maybe we should all go." Ena didn't trust the mage's power and worried Zane might get the best of Alton. Or even that of the cursed fae.

"Let's all go," Brett said.

Ena had no choice but to take hold of Brett's hand and transport him. The raven was sitting on Alton's shoulder. Ena took hold of Alton's hand also, so they wouldn't lose each other while fae transporting. Then they left.

She got a bad feeling when they ended up in a phantom fae cemetery. What if the raven-cursed fae decided to turn the two dragon shifters over to her people in return for the queen ordering the mage to free her of the curse?

Chapter 6

When Brett and his friends arrived at the cemetery near the castle of the phantom fae, the blue-black sky was threatening to dump rain. Jagged bolts of lightning speared the ground and sheets of lightning lit up the dark clouds. Brett wondered why Freya would bring them this close to the royal castle. He didn't feel it was safe here for any of them here.

Then, cocky as could be, Zane strode through the archway into the cemetery, a wicked gleam in his eyes. Brett was certain he planned to use magic to take the dragon shifters hostage. Before Zane could do anything to any of them, Brett wished he could freeze him there. Like a Popsicle.

And it was done. One wizard, hand raised as if he intended to cast a spell, frozen in time and place.

Ena stared at the mage, then turned her attention to Brett. "
You
did
that
?" She didn't sound like she was in awe of his great wizardry skills, more like she was worried he had them. Maybe that he might not have any control over them. Which he had to admit, he didn't.

"I'll take him," Alton quickly said, as if he was just as wary of being here, surrounded by the dead of the phantom fae with the castle so nearby. Most likely some soldiers would still be there and eager to learn of the dragon shifters being here.

Sure enough, soldiers began to pour into the cemetery. Zane must have warned the soldiers of the dragon shifters arrival. So he hadn't really meant to use his great magic to capture all of them. The soldiers were armed with iron mesh fishnets.

Alton shifted into his dragon form and using his talons, he grabbed up the frozen mage. Instead of landing on Brett's shoulder, Freya settled on Alton's scaly back as he flew off.

As a fae, Ena grabbed Brett in a body hug and carried him away, vanishing. He had to admit he totally approved of the closeness they now shared. Until they ended up at the edge of No Man's Land and she let go of him on the ground, then shifted into her olive green dragon form. Before she could grab him in her wickedly sharp talons, he climbed onto her back. He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not, but he felt more in control like this. Unless he fell off. Then he was doomed.

Holding onto her body with his arms and legs the best he could, he prayed he didn't fall off when she flew across the region he had meant to travel before. The rain suddenly came down in torrents, making it slippery to hold onto her. Huge sand worms erupted out of the soil, snapping jagged teeth at her. Then something strange in the woods existed beyond that, wraithlike creatures floating about. He couldn't imagine how hard it had been for Ena and her staff to make it across this region, driving wagonloads of treasures when her people weren't warrior-trained.

As soon as the wraiths saw the dragons, they flew at them in an attempt to seize Ena. Alton was already well out of site. Brett hated that he hadn't been here to aid her and her staff when they had encountered this treacherous region earlier. It also angered him that the phantom queen was the reason he couldn't do so and that her only purpose in having him join them was to give Zane target practice for his mage skills.

Beyond the woods, the land opened up into a lush green meadow, and what looked like a safe haven. Though looks could be deceiving. Ena continued to fly onward. In the distance, he saw the spires of a magnificent castle, flags waving proudly at the top of each of the five towers, hawks embroidered on the flags, proclaiming this was the royal castle of the hawk fae kingdom.

She flew to the east of it to a smaller castle separated from the larger one by a great forest. Then she settled down in the inner bailey where Alton was already standing in his fae form, eyeing them. Zane was still frozen solid beside him. And Freya, in her raven form, was sitting atop one of the walls of the courtyard.

Brett immediately slid off Ena's back. She shifted and gave him a look that could kill, which made him believe she didn't like him riding her.

"I need to consult Queen Ritasia and see if she will allow us to use the services of her mage. He is a full-fledged mage. Maybe he can get this one to do our bidding." Ena motioned to the frozen figure of the mage.

"Since he's fully-trained, he might be able to," Brett said. At least he was hopeful.

"Maybe he could teach you a thing or two." Ena turned to Alton. "Watch them. I'll be right back."

Then she vanished.

Alton glowered at Brett, who glowered right back at him. Brett was surprised to see the damage he had done to Alton's face fade so fast, courtesy of their fae genes.

Then to Brett's astonishment, Alton folded his arms and said, "Can you teach me how to fight with my fists like you do?"

Brett smiled. Could he ever.

***

As soon as Ena reached the royal castle doors, guards quickly opened them for her. "Lady Ena," one said.

She didn't think she'd ever get used to the fact that the dark fae queen had conferred on her the title of duchess for having saved her daughter-in-law. "Is Queen Ritasia here?"

"In the Great Hall."

"Thank you." She hurried off to the Great Hall where more hawk fae were preparing to go into battle, the first wave of soldiers having already left with the king. Ritasia was to follow, leading the second force. They were headed for the dragon fae castle, whereas Ena and her dragon shifters had been tasked to hit the supply wagons. They had also been accompanied by foot soldiers who had fought some of the phantom fae soldiers guarding the supply train.

As soon as she saw Ritasia, Ena realized that none of Ena's own staff had come out to greet her at her own castle, or to greet Brett, even. Which meant? They better not have left to follow her into battle after all! She would fire the lot of them.

"Queen Ritasia," Ena said, hurrying to catch her attention. "We have need of your mage's services. Can Elorian assist us?"

Ritasia's hair was nearly raven-colored. She was beautiful with skin as fair as Ena's. But like most fae women, her hair was long and pulled up in extravagant twists. "Aye, of course. What is he needed for? And why have you returned so quickly from your mission to destroy the phantom fae supply trains? Do you have good news or bad?"

"We found Brett and brought him home with us."

Ritasia smiled. "That is good news." Her smile faded. "And something is terribly wrong?"

Ena gave her an abbreviated version of what they had to do.

"Ah, Elorian is all yours. I'm so glad Brett's home."

"My lady," the blond-haired, blue-eyed mage said, suddenly appearing in the Great Hall next to her. "You wish some service of me?"

Ritasia nodded. "Go with Ena. She needs your help. Then let me know how it all turns out."

"Aye." Elorian bowed his head, then he and Ena went straight to her courtyard where she couldn't believe her eyes.

Brett and Alton were at it again, fighting with their fists. And Alton was getting the majority of the abuse, again! When he was finally looking more like himself.

"Enough!" Ena shouted, irritated to high heaven.

Both men swung around and grinned at her! Alton was already sporting a freshly swelling blackened eye, the other nearly back to normal.

"He is teaching me to fight." Alton sounded so excited she couldn't believe it.

"And he's still getting the best of you." Ena shook her head. She was not happy with him, or Brett.

"Practice makes perfect." Alton didn't seem in the least bit perturbed that it was taking him some time to catch onto this.

"Has anyone from my staff come out and greeted you?" Ena didn't have time for this. She wanted to deal with the curse, then get on their way. They had heard ten supply trains with supplies from the phantom fae kingdom were on their way to the dragon fae lands, and she and Alton needed to get back on the job. At least the other dragons must still be taking care of it.

"No. Did you want me to run in and check?" Brett asked.

"No. You need to see what Elorian can do about this." But she was totally ticked off at her staff. She knew they wouldn't be ignoring them. They had to be gone—going against her strict orders.

"What about my friends, Brian and Mark?" Brett asked.

"I'll run inside and see why no one is greeting you." Alton hurried inside before she said not to bother.

Elorian frowned at Zane. "Who froze him?"

"Brett did. The human. But now apparently he's a phantom fae and mage," Ena said.

"Apprentice," Brett corrected. "So is Zane, the frozen one."

Elorian considered Brett. "If you will unfreeze him, I'll silence him so he can't cast any spells, and freeze him to the spot, so he can't get away. But I can't do anything with him when he's frozen solid."

"All right." Brett wished that Zane would become flesh and blood again. When that didn't work, he wished him unfrozen. He hated the way everyone was watching him, waiting for him to do something, when nothing was working. He tried engulfing him in flames, just to thaw him out, but nothing happened. Then he thought if he could produce a raincloud and pour water on him… That didn't work either.

"Can we hose him down with water?" Brett asked. Water thawed out meat, after all.

Elorian tried to hide a smile. "No. You've cast a magical spell. A magical spell will have to undo it, not something of a natural occurrence. Such as we can't set him over a fire."

"Ohmigod, no. We'd cook him," Ena said.

Alton stalked back outside. "No one's in the keep. They might all be out doing shopping, or something."

"Or they went to the dragon fae kingdom to lend a hand to our cause." Which was more likely. Ena glanced at Brett. "Do something!"

"I'm trying."

Still not believing the human had suddenly become a mage, Ena frowned at Brett. "Okay. Alton and I have a mission to do. You stay here with Elorian and work on Zane so you can remove the raven's curse. Then after you take care of this, you can join us or stay here and wait for me."

"I'll join you. I work for you."

She took a deep breath, wishing he'd stay here since he didn’t seem to have a lot of control over his mage abilities. "All right." She said to Elorian, "Teach him something useful, will you?"

Elorian shook his head. "It is like housebreaking a puppy. There are bound to be lots of accidents. And lots of cleanups."

Frustrated beyond measure with the whole situation—her missing staff, an out-of-control mage, a frozen mage, and a cursed phantom fae turned raven, Ena couldn't believe the mess they were in. She shifted into her dragon form and flew off.

Alton laughed at Brett. "At least my mistakes with learning how to use fists in a fight won't ever be as disastrous as your casting spells could prove to be." Alton transformed into the dragon and flew off after Ena.