Reign of Ice (Forever Fae #4)(50)
He and Sorcha turned to leave, but I stopped them with my next words. “He took some of my power, Drake.” With eyes wide, they both turned around and everyone stared at me, shocked. I nodded and continued, “Yeah, when I touched the talisman to get it off of Zanna’s neck it siphoned some of my energy. I didn’t realize it could do that without it being around my neck. So now his quest is complete. He’s going to be stronger, and even with all of our courts combined it’s going to be a devastating battle.”
“Shit,” he hissed, running his hands through his thick, red hair. “We need to get prepared quickly. I’ll inform Mom and Dad and get the Summer warriors ready. This isn’t going to be good.” He and Sorcha rushed up to the palace and disappeared inside the walls.
“Meliantha,” I said, turning toward her, “we’re going to need the Tyvar and Redcaps in this. Is there any way to alert them and have them ready to fight?”
She nodded. “They will come. Bayleon and Bastian promised they would be ready when the time came. They won’t let me down.” Kalen scoffed and rolled his eyes. He didn’t like the Tyvar much considering they wanted to make Meliantha their sex slave back when she was taken captive by them. Her power saved her from their clutches, and since they were enamored by her they let her free when they found out who she was. Bayleon and Bastian had kept in touch with Meliantha and would always send her gifts, which Kalen didn’t like at all. Bayleon was the Tyvar leader, and Bastian was his brother and also one of the leaders who had taken an instant liking to me when I met them several months ago. I was out in the garden with Meliantha when they arrived one time, and ever since then I always made a point to be with her when they visited.
They weren’t bad men at all, except for their utter lack of control when being around women they could seduce. One thing about being one of the powerful Four was that I couldn’t be seduced by them … unless I wanted to. They weren’t allowed inside the court grounds, so when they visited it had to be right outside the gate. When Bastian began to show more of an interest in me, he was warned by my sister that I could never be his. I think the appeal was that he could actually be around me and I wouldn’t fall victim to his charms. He could have something real; he could have true love.
Kalen and Meliantha marched off, leaving only Brayden and me with Ryder and Calista. Ryder pulled Brayden to the side and they began discussing what they were going to do while Calista stayed beside me so she could talk to me alone. I couldn’t keep my gaze off of Brayden, and deep in my heart I wondered how I was ever going to find the courage to leave him and break his heart.
“I can feel the weariness in you, Ariella,” Calista whispered. “Care to talk to me about it?”
I really wanted to tell her how angry it made me that she deliberately kept me in the dark about things. It made me furious to be treated like I couldn’t handle it, but being the person that Calista was I knew all she wanted was to protect me. I would probably do the same thing if I was in her position.
Sighing, I finally met her gaze and shrugged a shoulder saying, “I’m just ready for it all to be over. How are we going to get close enough to the sorcerer to kill him with the dagger? Not to mention one of us has to do it,” I mentioned curiously, trying to see if she’d confide in me. I tried to keep my tone indifferent, but being that I was talking to Calista nothing ever seemed to get past her.
She started to speak, but stopped and narrowed her eyes at me, studying me. Pursing my lips, I stood there with my arms crossed, waiting and wondering what she was going to say now. Was she going to be honest or tell more lies? Cursing quietly, she groaned and closed her eyes. “Who told you? Was it Sorcha?”
“Now what would Sorcha have told me?” I asked sarcastically. “Is there something I should know?”
All she did was lift a brow and stare at me with that look on her face that said, ‘Don’t mess with me.’
Rolling my eyes, I answered, “Fine, I’ll tell you and no, it wasn’t Sorcha. I’ve known this whole time that it was I who had to kill the sorcerer. Although, Sorcha does know that I am aware of the situation. She came to me in a dream and I told her because I said I wasn’t going to bond with Brayden. I didn’t want him to suffer with my loss if I wasn’t going to survive.”
Her eyes misted with unshed tears, but the fierceness in her gaze was anything except sad. She grabbed me by the shoulders and leaned in close. “You listen to me, Ariella. I know how you are and so help me if you do something stupid I’m going to come after you and kill you myself, do you understand? We didn’t come all this way and endure all of our losses for it to end this way. This whole mess started out with us, and it’s going to end with us.”
“Is everything okay?” Ryder asked, coming to Calista’s side with a furrowed brow. Calista nodded quickly and smiled, but then turned her serious gaze to me.
“Yes, everything is fine,” she assured him. “I just wanted to wish the best for my little sister on what will be one of the most magical nights of her life.”
“Is that what you tell everyone ours was like?” Ryder teased, kissing her on the cheek.
“Of course,” she agreed. “It was the most magical night of my life, and one I will never forget.” Flinging her arms around my neck, she squeezed me tight and whispered in my ear, “You’re going to make a wonderful queen, Ariella. I love you so much even though you are hard headed.”