I frowned at him, and a feeling of dread crept through me.
“Avenge him,” Winona had said. Ville and Ibbe turned to him face Maddox, and
the general held up his hands. “These people serve Wren. And she is now our
queen.”
I rubbed my temples and met the Shifter’s tired blue
gaze. “What are you talking about, Bleddyn? Where is father?”
He shook his head sadly. “You don’t know? The king was
poisoned and attacked… he probably won’t live out the day.” My heart
clenched. This was why Winona had fought so furiously. Why her hatred for me
had grown. She thought I aided the enemy who had killed not only her mother,
but our father as well. The cynical, rational part of my brain- what was left
of it- wondered if the humans had wanted Winona in power, knowing that she
would be so enraged there would be no possibility of peace. If only she had
listened to me. It was all so senseless.
I rolled my shoulders, striving for calm. This wasn’t the
time or place to fall apart. A big, warm hand squeeze my shoulder and Ville’s
strength washed over me. I felt his complex emotions- compassion, sadness, guilt,
the desire to shelter me. If I had been alone at that moment, I would have
collapsed, given up. But he kept me on my feet.
“General Maddox, I need you to help me round up all of
the staff and anyone important you can find. I have an announcement to make
and I need to do it fast, before rumors start to spread.” I gestured to the
various Fallen in the room. “These people are not our enemies. They didn’t
order father’s assassination. But I know who did.”
Bleddyn stepped forward. “Your majesty, with all due
respect, is this man who I think he is?” His eyes darted to Ville, standing
watchful and quiet at my side. This was my place, his posture said, he
wouldn’t interfere.
Ville shook the other man’s hand. “Ville Wei,” he said
calmly.
Bleddyn shook his hand and stepped back with a nod. “I
had thought so. But what is the emperor of the Sky Clan doing here?”
I lifted my chin and met his eyes. “He’s my husband,” I
said firmly. “Which…”
Bleddyn cut me off. “Which makes him… our king....” He
blinked a few times and his mouth opened and closed as if he were thinking of
things to say and immediately censoring himself. Maybe the thoughts just
couldn’t quite make it from his head to his mouth. It was a lot to digest,
even for him.
I stooped and picked up my sword, tucking it back into its
sheath at my hip. “Logan, help Maddox. Yates, I’m putting you in lock up
until you calm down and hear the whole story. I don’t blame you for seeing
this as a hostile takeover. But it isn’t. I tried to reason with Winona.” My
throat clenched and I fought back tears. “You can stew until you remember
that.”
Bleddyn directed Logan and Marshall to the jail, and Yates
went along quietly. I stood there with Ibbe and Ville, trying to remember what
I needed to do next. I came out of my contemplation when Ibbe took my hand and
knelt at my feet.
“Please forgive me,” she said softly. “I only wanted to
protect you. I didn’t mean to kill her.” Her voice was barely a whisper. Her
head was bowed and her shoulders hunched protectively. Did she expect me to
punish her?
“You did what you needed to do,” I said flatly. It was
probably just instinctive to strike as she did. “Winona would have killed
me.” I glanced at Ville. I could only imagine how he would have reacted if that
had happened. “Then this war would never see an end.” She stood, and her dark
eyes met mine. I still couldn’t believe she had moved so quickly to defend
me. “I thought you hated me,” I said bluntly. “Why would you save my life?”
She smiled. “Did you forget that you’re my queen?”
I shook my head. “So it was only that?”
She put a slender hand on my shoulder. “You are also my
dear friend.”
Ville snorted, and she shot him a gaze filled with blue
daggers. “I can have friends.”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “I’m sure you can. I’ve just
never seen it before.”
My eyes fell on Winona and my mood deflated as I watched
one of the maids place a sheet over her body. “I need to see my father.”
*****
Father was in his bedchamber. His sheets were tangled, as
if he had tossed and turned, but he was still when I entered. Ibbe and Ville
came with me, standing guard just outside the door. I paced to the bed and
sank down on the mattress beside him.
“Oh Dad, what have they done to you?” I took his hand in
mine, noting how light it felt, how fragile. He had lost a lot of weight, the
burly, muscular warrior reduced to a skinny old man.
He didn’t open his eyes. His face had a grey pallor to it
and his breathing was so slow that I thought for sure the next one wouldn’t
come. Tears trickled down my cheeks. The humans had done this, all to keep
our people fighting. Winona had been possessed by rage. She was known to be
bloodthirsty and determined. The people who did this had to have known they
were putting a live bomb on the throne. If only someone had paused long enough
to listen to reason- to question their actions. This whole mess was just one
misunderstanding after another.
I leaned forward and rested my head on his chest. His
heartbeat was so faint I could barely hear it. I had spoken to the physician
before I entered. The man’s face was tired and drawn. He had refused to meet
my eyes when he told me father might live. Probably because he was lying.
The door creaked open and Ville and Ibbe came in. Ibbe
perched on the other side of the bed, while Ville stood beside me, his warm
touch on my head a comforting balm. “I think I can help,” Ibbe said softly.
“If you’ll let me.”
I lifted my head and regarded her in surprise. “You can
help him?”
She nodded. “My affinity is for healing.” Her sorrowful
eyes met mine. “Some acute, life threatening wounds are beyond my abilities.”
I knew she was referring to Winona. “But illness- sometimes I can help the
body to be strong enough to endure.” She lifted one slender shoulder in a
shrug. “I’ve never tried to heal a Shifter, but I can hardly make it worse.”
Ville cleared his throat at her less than gentle statement
of the obvious, but she was right. He wasn’t going to live much longer. I
nodded at my father’s still form. “Do what you can, please.”
Ibbe rolled up her long sleeves and kicked off her boots.
I raised my eyebrows when she climbed up onto the bed, straddling my father’s
legs, her snowy wings spread slightly for balance. Her power rose up to
surround her in a haze of blue. Then she closed her eyes and leaned forward,
pressing her forehead to his, her hands over his heart and her breath mingling
with his.
The blue energy of her aura flowed out to cover both their
bodies in a shimmery sheen. Her wings trembled and her breath left her with a
sigh. She stayed in that posture for some time, barely moving, just breathing
slow and deep. Initially the energy around my father was more subtle than that
surrounding Ibbe, but I saw it shift, the energy around my father growing
brighter. The power equalized, then shifted, so that his energy was brighter
than hers. She was giving him some of her spirit energy, and he was absorbing
it.
The door opened and someone inhaled sharply. Logan and a
short, middle-aged woman were standing in the doorway, looking shocked. I motioned
them in, pressing a finger to my lips. I wasn’t sure if noise would break
Ibbe’s concentration. They went to stand on the other side of the bed and I
studied the woman in short, covert glances. She was about my height, with the
same figure- light on the top and heavy in the hips. However, by far the most
obvious resemblance between us was her flaming red hair.
Ibbe sat up and stretched her wings, taking a deep breath
and letting it out. “That should do it, I think.” At the sound of her voice,
father’s chocolate brown eyes fluttered open.
He stared up at the ethereal winged creature. “Are you an
angel?”
Ibbe laughed and climbed off the bed. “A Fallen Angel,
maybe.”
Father blinked and heaved a tired sigh. His breathing
sounded more regular and even, though he still looked ill. His gaze fell on
me. “And where there are Fallen, there is Wren. I knew you’d come back.” He
closed his eyes. “Are you here to kill me?”
I snorted. “I’ve missed you too. The Angel’s name is
Ibbe, and she just saved your life. You might try a thank you.”
He opened one eye. “Thank you.” I stood, and his bony hand
grasped my wrist. “I’m sorry. Don’t leave.”
Ville and Ibbe ghosted to the door, giving me some
privacy. Logan followed, but the woman stayed. I ignored her. “Dad,” I said
softly. “There is so much I need to tell you, but it can wait until you’re
well.” I thought of Winona and my heart clenched. She was his darling. It
would have been easier for him if I had died instead.
His gaze met mine and he pushed himself up to recline
against the back of the bed. Just that much effort left him panting and exhausted.
“Where is Winona?” He knew. I could see it in his eyes.
“I tried to reason with her. I never wanted her to be
hurt.” I bit my lip. Not knowing what to say, I rushed on. “She tried to
kill me, and …”
He closed his eyes, a painful expression on his face, as
if he had just been struck. “I’m sorry, Dad,” I said in a whisper. “I know
she was your world. I loved her too- though you might not believe me. I’m
sorry.”
His big, bony hand squeezed mine. I didn’t think he had
noticed the other woman in the room. “Are you apologizing for not dying?” A
tear leaked out from beneath his closed eyes. I never thought I would see this
stoic man cry. “All of those things I said when I sent you away…I’m sorry
Wren. I’m a foolish old man. Sometimes I try to hide it by being a blustery
ass.”
I snorted with laughter and he continued. “I love you. I
always have. I’ve treated you poorly all these years because you remind me of
the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.”
I bowed my head, stung. “I know.”
He shook his head, still not looking at me. “No. You
don’t.” His voice was tired and raspy. “I loved your mother, Wren. More than
I’ve ever loved anyone in my life. My time with her wasn’t the mistake. Where
I messed up was letting her leave- and being too damned stubborn to go find her
and bring her back home.” He sighed. “And every time I looked at you, I could
see her; see living proof of what I’d done.”
I stared at him, wide eyed. That was it? That was the
reason he was so angry and bitter? I wasn’t sure if I should laugh, or cry, or
smack him. All this time, I had viewed my father as this giant, rock of a man,
unaffected by things like emotion. And here he was pining over a lost love?
The woman in the corner moved to the bedside. “Can you
leave us alone now, Wren?” Her voice even sounded like mine- a soft alto with
just a hint of northern accent. “This stupid old man and I have some things to
discuss.”
Father’s eyes flew open and he struggled to sit up taller,
his eyes wide. “Aderyn?”
I met the woman’s gaze and nodded. I turned to leave, but
she stopped me. “I expected you to curse me and send me away. Aren’t you
angry that I abandoned you?”
I shook my head. “I’ve learned a lot about people’s
perceptions just recently. I’m sure you have your reasons, and it doesn’t do
me any good to be mad until I’ve given you a chance to tell me what they
were.” I heaved a massive sigh, feeling bone deep, soul stealing tired. “Besides,
I have bigger things to worry about. I’ll… talk to you later.” I said, at a
loss. “Once I’ve taken care of the whole war… thing.”
She chuckled. “You’ve grown into an amazing woman.”
I turned and left the room where my mother and father were
having their reunion.
A
clock ticked somewhere in the darkness, outside the soft glow of the desk
lamp. The human president stood behind his big mahogany desk, trying to look
dignified in his checkered flannel pajamas. His fine, dark brown hair kept
flopping forward over his round face, ruining the effect. In all the photos
I’d seen, he always wore it slicked back. I rather thought the current effect
was an improvement.
Logan must have been thinking the same thing. “Not so
imposing in your jammies.” Marshall snorted. Ibbe and Ville were as cool as
ice.
“What do you monsters want, barging into my home in the
middle of the night?” He jerked his floppy collar straight and glared around
the room.
I strode forward and placed my hands on his desk, leaning toward
him to close the distance between us. “The only monster in this room is you.
What we want to know is if this whole mess was orchestrated by you alone, or if
it was a group effort?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I know you. You’re the
beast king’s daughter- the youngest one.” The unimportant one, his tone said.
He lifted his eyes to Ville. “And you’re the emperor.” His gaze darted
between us. “Don’t tell me your people have decided to try to play nice together
after all these years?”
Ville fluttered his massive wings and seemed to grow
larger. His sharp teeth flashed as he spoke. “Despite your efforts to keep us
at each other’s throats.”
President Weiss tried to look confused. “What are you
talking about?” I narrowed my eyes at him and watched him inch his fingers
toward the shiny black button on the side of his desk. He probably thought he
was being sneaky.
We all waited while he pushed the button. Nothing happened,
and he frowned and pushed it several more times. Finally, he sighed and
collapsed into his plush leather office chair, like a petulant child. “You’ve
taken out all my security.”
Ibbe cocked a hip and studied her fingernails, waspish in
her form-fitting head to toe black ensemble. “Can we just get this over with?”