Sabine surfaced from sleep rather abruptly. The chamber was so dark she could not even see James, who lay underneath her, still in slumber and gently snoring. Despite an inability to see anything, she sensed they were not alone.
Before she could extract herself from her lover’s lax hold and summon a sword, magic flared across the room. A small blue sphere of light floated a few feet away, illuminating the face of Xander, the shifter to whom she had gifted her magic. She gasped.
“Lightbearer magic is certainly handy.”
Sabine, her heart pounding uncomfortably fast, slid off the bed and snagged her dress, covering herself as quickly as she could. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice a harsh whisper. “And how did you get in?”
“Come,” he said, and he turned his back on her and walked toward the outer chamber. “I would rather not disturb your bedmate, if it’s all the same to you.”
She trailed after him, and repeated her question once they had left the sleeping chamber. Xander pointed at the cracked, rocky ceiling. “The ability to shift into any form, including a mouse, also comes in handy.”
“I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky you had not figured that out before I was able to summon a sword.”
“No luck was involved. I was only able to determine the location of your coterie because you gave me your magic. Although, perhaps luck is involved, as I’ve come to give you both a warning and a solution.” He bowed, as if he’d already provided her with such and expected praise. When she did not react to his words or movements, he snapped out of his bow and glared at her through narrowed eyes.
“I find you fascinating because you have spirit and an intriguing lack of fear. Now, you appear to have added confidence to that list of enticing attributes. I can only assume the king has declared you his mate.” He sounded cross—was he bitter about that fact?
“Why should that matter to you?”
“It shouldn’t.” He glanced at the dimming blue ball of light. “I do not suppose you could use your own magic to brighten the room? I’ve spent a great deal of my own this day, and fear I am about to run out, at least until the next sunrise.”
Sabine did not hide her exasperation as she pulled on her own magic and created a second, brighter ball of light. The other winked out and Xander nodded.
“I cannot give you more,” she warned. “You will have to learn to harness what you have.”
“Oh, I shall. You may be assured of that fact.”
She opened her mouth and he lifted his hand, palm facing out. “While I would thoroughly enjoy sparring with you all the remaining night, Lightbearer, I’m afraid there is not time. I’ve brought you a visitor. She is waiting outside. I shall let you lead the way, as I doubt you are able to go out the way I came in.”
Sabine stoically ignored the snide reminder he now held more magic than her. Nor did she move to leave the chamber. She had little reason to trust the shifter. While he had held up his end of the bargain and not killed her or James when she’d given him her magic, she could not imagine his appearance within the coterie held positive ramifications.
“You are speaking in riddles.”
“No, not at all, actually. I am merely not telling the entire tale.” He glanced over his shoulder, to where James still slept in the other chamber. “And as I mentioned previously, I have no wish to speak to your lover tonight.” He scowled, and Sabine arched her brows. His scowl deepened.
“Your coterie is in grave danger,” he finally admitted. “Others of my kind have learned of your location. You have precious little time.”
“You were supposed to convince them—”
“There is no convincing. Not with this lot. I once ran with this pack. They are the ones who instilled in me the belief that to kill you was to inherit your magic.”
Sabine’s eyes widened. Their shared magic connection confirmed he spoke the truth. He nodded, as if pleased by what he saw in her features, and then indicated the curtain covering the doorway to the hall.
While she still reeled from all that had happened between her and James, one aspect was clear: she was Queen of the Lightbearers. The king had decreed it. And as such, it was now her responsibility to protect her people.
She lifted her chin and swept from the room, knowing without looking over her shoulder that he followed. A short time later, she hesitated at the entrance to the coterie, but the shifter strode past her, out into the night. “Come,” he tossed back at her. “Time is a precious commodity at the moment.”
She first summoned a sword, the effort nearly drained all remaining magic she possessed. If what waited outside was dangerous, she hoped she would be able to fend it off with a weapon alone. She wished she had gone against the shifter’s wishes and woken James.
Taking a deep, fortifying breath, she stepped outside to find the most elegant and beautiful woman she had ever seen standing there. Her hair was long and as dark and shiny as a crow’s feathers. Save for a thick braid that draped over her right shoulder and was secured with a golden clasp, the rest hung down her back to the swell of her hips. Over her hair rested a golden headpiece that wrapped around her forehead and sparkled with inlaid jewels. The tall, statuesque woman wore a black cloak, but it had been thrown over one shoulder, revealing a fitted pale blue dress that shimmered and sparkled as if it were alive. Her silver-eyed gaze stared back with a fascinated look edged with a distinct hunger that made Sabine nervous.
“Sabine, I give you the Queen of the Fae,” the shifter pronounced. “And Queen Tatiana, I give you, er, I suspect, the Queen of the Lightbearers.”
“You suspect?” the woman replied in a musical voice. “You led me to believe you knew this female.”
“I do. I believe her status within the coterie has changed in the last few hours.”
Sabine felt the flush rise up her chest until her face flamed, giving proof to the shifter’s words. The queen appeared amused by her reaction.
“I see. Congratulations, I suppose.” She chuckled. The sound was like tinkling glass.
The shifter sniffed the air and frowned. “Time is in short order, I’m afraid.”
“Of course.” The queen focused her attention on Sabine. “This rather unique shifter has made it known that your coterie is in grave danger.”
“So he told me, as well.”
“I have a solution for you, if you are willing to take it.”
Sabine only knew as much about the fae as she had learned in her history lessons as a youngling. While the fae did not want to kill the Lightbearers, they wanted to possess them, own them, control them. Lightbearers were to the fae what berries were to the young Lightbearer they’d rescued the day before: incredibly tantalizing and addictive. This uncontrollable urge was the reason the Lightbearers had left the Land of the Fae five centuries ago and moved to the human world—only to be faced with an entirely different and equally as dangerous threat from shifters. Where they destined to fight off a new threat every 500 years?
“What is this solution?” Sabine asked.
“I would have you agree to the terms before I divulge the details.”
“What are your terms?” It was likely the suspicion in Sabine’s voice that caused the flicker of annoyance to briefly mar the queen’s beautiful features.
“I know of a place where your entire coterie can hide from the shapeshifters for the rest of time, where they would never think to search for you. Once there, I will ensure it is properly protected with fae magic so that only Lightbearers will be able to find it. You will have fresh water, game, and plenty of land to grow fruits and vegetables. You will have the ability to be entirely self-sustaining; therefore Lightbearers shall never have to leave your coterie. You will finally be free of the threat that has plagued you since you entered this world.”
“Why would you help us?” She did not trust the queen based on what she had been taught about the tricky beings. They were unable to lie, but they could twist the truth to the point where it was anything but, if it s
erved their purpose.
“In exchange for all that I offer, I give you this.” She lifted her hand, in which she cupped what looked like a blown-glass ornament. Inside was a tiny, carved village. There was only one resident in the little town, and he appeared to be alive, beating on the glass wall of his enclosure. He had dark hair, wore strange clothing, and looked utterly furious.
“I would like you to keep it safe for me. Do not break the glass; do not tell anyone else you have it, except subsequent rulers. He may never leave his prison. Chaos shall ensue.” The queen offered the glass ball. Sabine stared at it and made no move to take it.
Xander plucked it from the faery queen’s hand and lifted it to eye level, studying the being trapped within. “Is that a demon?”
Another look of annoyance flashed across the faery queen’s face. “Precisely why this prison should never be broken.”
Xander tossed the glass ball into the air, sending the figure within tumbling about his glass enclosure. Once Xander caught the ball, the figure inside righted himself and flashed the shifter an obscene hand gesture. “You would have the Lightbearers harbor a demon in their midst? That does not sound particularly safe.”
Suddenly a shifter was concerned for the safety of Sabine’s people? To say this was a deviation from their normally contentious relationship was an understatement. Was it a result of the Lightbearer magic she’d given him?
“It is entirely safe, so long as the glass is never broken,” the faery queen said.
“Then why do you not keep it for yourself?” Xander offered the ball of glass to the dark-haired woman. The demon inside waved his hands at the queen, a challenging gesture, which she ignored.
Instead, her silver eyes flashed and began to swirl like thick liquid. “The Land of the Fae is in a state of upheaval. There are enemies of the crown who would take great pleasure in shattering the glass and freeing that demon, in an effort to destroy me. And this creature has wreaked quite enough destruction to last several lifetimes. Eternal lifetimes.” She paused, the ebb and flow of her eyes slowing until they appeared almost human. “Securing him in a magically protected community here in the human world is the most logical and safe place, for everyone. Should you wish to take advantage of my offer, at any rate.”
“Why are you doing this?” Sabine asked Xander.
“Yes,” came another voice from behind her. She whipped around to find James standing at the entrance of the coterie, his sword at the ready. “Why don’t you enlighten all of us, shifter?”
He strode to Sabine’s side and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder. Xander scowled. The faery queen inclined her head.
“You must be the Lightbearer king,” she said. “It is an honor and pleasure to meet you.” The woman’s eyes began to swirl again. Sabine slipped her arm around James’s waist. She did not like the interest she saw in the other woman’s eyes.
“That is not what is important here,” Xander said. “What is, is whether you intend to accept the queen’s offer. And I suggest you not take significant time to ponder. Your worst fears are encroaching as we speak.” He glanced over his shoulder, as if he were afraid a pack of feral shifters would appear out of the darkness.
“The shifter speaks the truth,” the faery queen confirmed. “Your enemies will be here by sunrise.”
“Where would you have us go?” James asked.
The queen inclined her head toward Xander. “Would you deliberately tell the shifter in your midst?”
“He is not the enemy,” Sabine blurted before she could catch herself. The queen appeared amused by her outburst.
“The queen is wise. You should not divulge such information in front of me. While I am not inclined to rejoin the pack coming for you, they could persuade me otherwise. And if I know where you are hiding …”
Sabine struggled with indecision that was not all her own. While her connection to James was clearly defined by their having mated, she could also feel a connection to the shifter, as a result of their shared magic. Both men leaned toward agreeing on the safest course of action for the Lightbearers, yet each resented the other’s involvement.
“As I understand it, you are the same queen who sent us here to this world, five centuries ago,” James said.
The queen inclined her head, one succinct nod.
“Did you know the shifters would be a threat when you made that decision?” he asked, watching her steadily.
She appeared surprised by his question, and took a moment to contemplate her answer. “I did not. I knew they lived here, that they were the only magical beings who resided in this world. But I could not have foreseen their desire to seek your magic. Shifters, likely as a result of having been the only magic-bearing individuals in this world for so long, have always considered themselves superior to all other magical beings. I had assumed that meant they would have no interest in the Lightbearers when, in fact, the exact opposite happened and they determined they should claim Lightbearer magic as well as their own.” She turned her silver gaze onto Xander, who shrugged.
“I do not detect any half-truths in her response,” James said.
“We could stay and fight,” Sabine said. “We are not lambs to their wolves.”
“Lambs or wolves are irrelevant when the numbers are drastically skewed,” Xander stated. “The encroaching pack has grown significantly since I left. They may have a thousand members by now, and undoubtedly have picked up strays along the way. Their leader is charismatic, and tells them fantastical stories of what he believes their lives will be like, when they possess both shifter and Lightbearer magic. Do you have enough warriors to fend them off?”
Sabine felt James stiffen, undoubtedly from the shifter’s challenging tone. She subtly moved so she stood between the two men. When James did not reply, she said, “We do not.”
She touched James’s arm. “Perhaps we should do it. Run one last time. Once we are in our new home, we will test everyone, figure out who has the ability to conjure a sword. We will train every day. We will assume we are not safe, so we never let our guard down. We will ensure we are never in a position to allow a shifter to kill one of our own, ever again. Do you agree?” she asked, watching the king. Her mate.
“It is done,” the queen pronounced before James had an opportunity to voice his opinion. The atmosphere crackled with faery magic. While similar to a Lightbearer’s magic, the fae did not require sunlight to regenerate each day. They were an ancient species and had powers far beyond anything Lightbearers or shifters could comprehend.
“We fae have the ability to move through space and time within the world in which we are currently located, so long as we recognize our destination. However, I can only take perhaps half a dozen of you at a time,” the queen explained. “Still, it will be significantly faster and safer than your entire coterie travelling across the land to your new home.”
Sabine knew James feared leading his people into a trap, as much as he feared staying put and facing the well-known threat. Sabine pushed him toward the faery queen, ignoring the renewed spark of interest in the other woman’s eyes.
“Go. Take Dirk and a few others. And a healer. See for yourself that she speaks the truth, although we already know this, as she cannot lie. I will stay here and gather the rest in the main chamber. If the destination is not to your liking, come back with her, and we will find another way.” She snagged the glass ball containing the angry demon.
“I will keep this until I know you are safe. And if I do not hear from you in a timely manner, I shall set the demon free.”
The queen’s eyes flared with anger and possibly a trace of respect. She paused, her nostrils flaring, and then she inclined her head. “You are a worthy queen, Lightbearer.”
Sabine barely acknowledged the compliment before striding toward the entrance to the cave. James caught up with her when she reached the main chamber. He grabbed her arm and flung her around to face him. She worried he would lash out, be angry with her, but instead, he pu
lled her into his arms and hugged her until she could scarcely breathe. Then he cupped her face and kissed her with aching gentleness.
“We will be together again,” he vowed. “I swear it. I will not—I cannot rule this coterie without you by my side.”
Sabine smiled and blinked against unexpected tears. “You will not. I promise.”
“I cannot wait to officially declare you my queen, with our subjects as witness.”
“So this is your choice for a mate?”
Sabine and James both turned their heads when his mother stepped out of the shadows and into the light James must have summoned before stepping outside earlier. Unlike most people who were awakened in the middle of the night, she was as elegant and put together as if she had spent hours preparing to attend a soirée.
“Do not question my decision, Mother,” James said, his voiced edged with anger. “I realize she is not of the proper social standing to please you, but—”
“But she makes you happy.”
James snapped his mouth shut and stared at his mother, while Sabine stared at him.
“That is all I ever wanted, you know. Well, and a plethora of grandbabes to spoil.”
“You—you—all you’ve ever done was push these simpering socialites at me,” James protested.
His mother rolled her eyes and flapped a hand as if swatting at a fly. “What else would you expect? That is who I know. I am the king’s mother. I do not make it a habit of socializing with our peasants. Whether right or wrong, that is the truth. Now, I will start the efforts to rouse the coterie and prepare them for travel. We are leaving tonight, I presume?”
James nodded.
“I will start with your parents, Sabine.” Before either of them could respond, she swept away across the hall and disappeared into the darkness.
James pulled Sabine back into his arms and kissed her more fiercely than any other time previous. She clung to him, relishing the warmth spreading through her body, and silently vowed that once they had moved their people to their new home, she would never leave his side again.
“We should practice giving your mother those grandbabes as soon as we are together again,” she said when he finally broke the kiss.
He laughed. “Whatever your heart desires.”
Sabine stepped out of his embrace and pointed at the hall to her right. “Go. Wake Dirk. I will help your mother gather the others and assign them to groups of six each. I will join you when all other Lightbearers have made it safely to our new home.”
She turned away from him. It was time to wake her people. It was time to move them to safety.