Blade of the Fae Read online

  She hoped no one was working out right then.

  Because she seriously needed to punch something.

  Tessa smashed her fists into the punching bag. Jab, punch. Punch, punch. Jab, jab, punch, punch. She put all her anger and fury into the strikes.

  “Glad I’m not on the receiving end this time,” said a voice from behind her.

  She whipped around, pulling the sword she almost always carried on her back.

  It was Finn Noble.

  “I like that sword,” he said.

  Tessa didn’t answer him.

  “You can put it away if you want.”

  She sheathed the sword and went back to punching.

  He walked around until he was in her field of vision, limping slightly. The man looked as though he had had his ass kicked. She would have pitied him if it would have done him any good.

  She punched again and then kicked. Hard.

  The punching bag swung back and forth, making a slight squeaking sound as it moved away from her.

  “You were going to kill me,” he said.

  She didn’t pause in her hammering of the bag. Didn’t even bother to look at him.

  “The queen’s whims are not my fault.”

  This last statement finally broke through to Tessa.

  “Certainly not, but you didn’t have to bring me into this attempt to save your miserable life,” she said, stalking toward him. It pleased her that he took a step backward, then straightened his spine and stood his ground.

  “It wasn’t anything personal. Any warrior would have done for my purposes.”

  “You asked for her greatest warrior,” Tessa said, pulling air in through her nose to calm herself and regretting it when she breathed in the stale-sweat stench of the training arena. “I’m the Captain of the Guard. There better not be any greater warriors than me.”

  “True. Look, I’m sorry.” Finn dragged a hand through his hair. He did look truly sorry. This man wouldn’t last a week in the Dark Court. “I didn’t mean to drag you into this. You were going to kill me. I had to use the blades.”

  Tessa shook her head, wishing she didn’t feel so much compassion for the poor fool.

  “A quick snap of your neck would have been a more merciful death than what awaits you.”

  His eyebrows drew together, and she cursed herself for noticing how sexy he looked with the black eye and bruises.

  He was a dead man walking. Tessa had no business noticing his looks. Or his courage. It wouldn’t do her any good. And she would just be more upset when he was killed. As he most definitely would be.

  “What awaits me?”

  Tessa glanced at him and rolled her eyes, unwinding the rags she had wrapped around her hands.

  “You’ve only delayed the inevitable, Mr. Noble.”

  He stared down at the floor of the training arena and kicked at the dirt, thinking. Then he glanced up at her with a grin.

  “Well, if I’ve only got three months left, I better live a little,” he said, giving her a wink.

  She snorted, unable to hold back her smile. Then her face turned serious.

  “Don’t look at me for help with that, Mr. Noble,” she said, turning her back toward him and heading for the door. “I know nothing of living.”

  Tessa knocked at the queen’s chambers later that evening. She felt nervous because about fifty percent of the time, she was denied admittance or occasionally thrown out on her ass. The other fifty percent of the time, she was allowed in, but she almost wished she hadn’t been.

  One of the queen’s many handmaidens answered the knock and went to make the request, her footsteps silent. She returned and inclined her head, showing Tessa into the bathing chamber, which was huge and hands down the most beautiful bathroom she had ever seen. Ransetta was reclining in the hot water. Her eyes were closed, her cheeks pink, sweat on her brow.

  “Callahan, what do you want?” she asked, not sounding too irritated. Tessa took that as a good sign.

  “This quest, your majesty. I don’t understand. I am your right hand. I need to be here. What if there is an attack? What if something happens and I’m needed here? Runa is competent—barely—but it is I who have been the Captain of the Guard for three hundred years.”

  Ransetta sighed, the top of her breasts showing through the bubbles for a moment and then disappearing. It seemed wrong that she was so beautiful on the outside and so awful on the inside.

  “It’s true. You are my right hand, Tessa, and I trust you more than I trust anyone. And that’s saying something. Which is why I need you to go get a pair of those blades.”

  “But why?” Tessa asked, trying to understand what the queen was scheming now.

  Ransetta’s eyes flew open, and she twisted to face Tessa, splashing warm water onto her boots. A handmaiden moved forward in silence to wipe the spill.

  “Do you not see the power in those blades?”

  “I don’t, your majesty.”

  “You can’t help it. It’s because I am The First. I can sense the magic in them. It’s old. And powerful. And extremely deadly if activated.”

  “Yes, my queen.” Tessa trusted her in this. It was true that the queen had been The First faerie to fall in the beginning. The King of the Fae had been lonely and had longed for a companion, so he had sung down the first star that had become the queen.

  Back then, it was said, she had been as good as she had been beautiful. As The First, Ransetta was the most powerful faerie in Esper after the king, and she was extremely sensitive to magic.

  “And if it’s so old and powerful, my next question is, how is it that some nobody from The Valley of the Chasm, practically a Light Fae, has a set of these blades and we don’t know about them?”

  Tessa swallowed hard, not sure if this was a criticism of her.

  “I—” Tessa stammered, thinking about that fact. “I’m not sure how our spies missed them.”

  “Exactly,” Ransetta said, and Tessa relaxed a little. “There’s something special about those blades, and I don’t want a peasant from The Valley to be the only one to have any. I’d kill him and just take them from him, but he seems as though he could be useful, especially if he can train you in how to use them.” She made a pouty face, one delicate finger playing with the bubbles. “Plus, he keeps them in an Otherworld sheath, which means that he’s the only one who can withdraw and wield them. I couldn’t steal them without a great deal of difficulty. And killing him would only result in the blades being lost forever in the Otherworld.”

  “That’s true,” Tessa said, nodding.

  “But if we can find the source of the blades, then we could perhaps acquire enough for our entire army.”

  Oh, so that’s what she's planning.

  “Yes, my queen. A weapon like that, with the magic activated, would be an excellent addition to our arsenal.”

  The queen gave her a look that made Tessa feel as though she was the stupidest creature to ever crawl out of a hole in the ground.

  “Callahan,” she said, the evil in her heart showing in her eyes as they flashed to black and then back to their natural purple. Tessa deliberately did not flinch, though she wanted to. “A weapon like that would not just be an excellent addition to our arsenal, Tessa. A weapon like that would finally give me what I need to defeat the King, destroy the Light Court, and take back my land. Then I would truly be the Queen of the Fae.”

  Chapter 5

  Over the next few days, a whirlwind of preparations for the journey swirled around Tessa. The servants packed the supplies and loaded the saddle bags. And now the morning of her departure was here.

  Tessa had gathered her few things and put them in her backpack. She had lived in this same small room in Direwood Castle for over three hundred years, yet all her personal possessions fit in one bag. It was almost as if she had always lived lightly in order to be ready to leave at any moment.

  She sat down on her bed in the dim light of false dawn, looking around at the empty shelves and feeling
a sudden cloud of black depression. All this time, she had never really been here. She had been simply existing day to day, waiting to escape.

  Well, that wasn’t entirely true. The first hundred years had been pretty busy. She had been terribly soft when she had first arrived, and it had taken some time to get strong and train with the bow and the sword and the knife. Then she had fought her way up the ranks until she had become Captain of the Guard.

  It was years more before the queen trusted her.

  But then once she had the queen’s trust, she had brought back crucial information that had allowed the Light Court to protect itself. Over and over, she had seemed to help plan an assault on the Light Court that eventually failed because she had sabotaged it from the start by warning them.

  So far, the queen hadn’t picked up on it because the Light Court had always been careful not to seem too prepared. Unfortunately, many lives had still been lost. But in the end, the Dark Queen had been unable to destroy the Light Court.

  Because of Tessa.

  She was the reason the Light Court still stood. Again and again, she had saved them.

  And the King—Shadows take him—still wouldn’t let her go home.

  She wanted to go home to the Light Court. More than anything else.

  She was tired of giving and giving of herself and never being appreciated. Sure, the King would say thanks for the warning. Sometimes, he would give her a gift. Or a couple days with the Jewel of Bliss.

  And she knew she was making a difference. That she was important. But, it wasn’t enough anymore. Because then it was always the same orders.

  Go back to the Dark Court.

  Find out what the queen was planning.

  Waste your life away in the darkness.

  Well, the king didn’t explicitly say that last one, but it felt implied.

  Tessa felt the frustration rising. The feeling of being trapped, like an animal in a cage. The sensation of being about to explode into a million pieces.

  She grabbed her bag and slipped it over her shoulders, slinging her quiver of arrows and her bow over her shoulder. Then she put her cloak over everything.

  It was early. Not time to leave yet. But she needed out of this place.

  She took the dizzying spiral staircase two steps at a time all the way, her boots clicking on every step. Tessa arrived at the top, barely out of breath and glad to be out of the musty stairwell and into the fresh air. She was standing on one of the four square towers that guarded each corner of the castle. Up here was the only place in the castle that she felt she could breathe freely.

  She gazed out across the forest and tried to calm down. She had felt like this a hundred times before, and a hundred times, she had been able to bring herself back to peace. To figure out a way to go on. This time would be no different. She drew deep breaths of pine-scented air and felt her shoulders dropping, her jaw unclenching.

  The door to the tower opened behind her, and Tessa whipped around, an arrow nocked.

  Nat appeared. She saw the arrow aimed at her, and her eyes got wide. Then she walked forward, frowning and pushed the bow aside so that it wasn’t pointing at her anymore. She wasn’t in the least bit concerned.

  “Put that thing away, Tessa,” she said. “It’s impolite to shoot your friends.”

  “Friend,” Tessa corrected.

  “You have more than one.”

  Tessa shook her head and turned again to look out over the dark twisted trees.

  “I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Nat said, linking her arm in Tessa’s. “The whole court is buzzing about this stranger with the blades. Are you really going on some sort of quest to get another pair of them?”

  Tessa turned back toward her friend, a bitter, twisted expression on her face. Nat’s pretty eyebrows drew together at the sight.

  “Unfortunately, yes. Apparently, the Dark Court can do without me for an extended period of time. No problem.”

  Nat frowned at her words.

  “Extended period of time?”

  “The Dark Queen says that Runa can handle it. So much for being someone necessary to the court.”

  “Don’t be silly, Tessa,” Nat said. “Of course, you’re necessary. The only reason the queen can let you go and leave Runa in charge is because you’ve got those soldiers trained so well at this point that a child could run things.”

  Tessa turned her head to look at Nat. “You really think so?”

  “I know so. Now, why does the queen want these blades so badly?”

  “Well, she’s decided that they’re the very thing to finally destroy the Light Court. So I, the Captain of the Guard, am being sent on a fool’s errand in order to bring them back.”

  Nat dropped her voice. “Careful of your tongue, Tessa. You know there are ears everywhere. And you know that you are very much in favor with the Dark Court if you are being sent on such an important mission.”

  Tessa shook her head at Nat’s warning. She almost didn’t care about the spies that might be lurking. She was so sick of everything.

  “I’m afraid the guard will fall to pieces while I’m away,” she confided to Nat.

  Nat waved her hand, dismissing her worries. “You have them so well trained, they can run on automatic for a few weeks.”

  “Months,” Tessa said, turning toward Nat. “We’re to be gone three months.”

  “Three months?” Nat asked, raising one eyebrow. “How handsome is this stranger?”

  “Finn Noble,” Tessa said, a hint of a blush rising to her cheeks at the thought of the man she had fought.

  Nat raised her eyebrows, this time in astonishment.

  “That’s the stranger’s name, Finn Noble,” Tessa said hastily before Nat could say anything. “But never mind that, Nat. I have no interest in him. And besides, you know that he’ll end up dead like all the rest. So it would be foolish to…”

  Nat was grinning at her.

  “What?”

  “Methinks you doth protest too much, Miss Callahan.”

  “Never mind, Nat,” she growled in her Captain of the Guard voice. “Don’t get ideas in your head.”

  “Ideas?” She gave Tessa an innocent look. “Not me.”

  Tessa rolled her eyes and went on with her grievances. “Being Captain of the Guard is the only thing that makes my life worthwhile, Nat. What if something happens while I’m away and the queen blames me and takes my post from me?”

  “There’s more to your life than just being Captain of the Guard.”

  Tessa stared at her friend, trying to think what there was aside from work. “No, Nat. I don’t think there is.”

  “Well, there’s me,” she said, dropping her eyes, a hurt look on her face. “Am I nothing to you?”

  Tessa turned to Nat and smiled.

  “You know I appreciate you, Nat. More than you know.” Tessa gave her friend a hug. “I don’t know what I would do if it wasn’t for you.”

  “I know, Tess. But maybe there should be something more to your life than being the Captain of the Guard? Like, maybe you should find someone? A partner?”

  “No. No, I don’t want that. If I found someone and cared about them and they were… killed accidentally or something like that, I wouldn’t get over it easily, Nat. I don’t want to find someone. That’s foolish talk.”

  “Fine,” Nat said. “You don’t want a man? Whatever. But you need to stop worrying about this quest. Of course, you’ll get the blades. Of course, you’ll come back. It will just be a few months, and then you’ll return. And everything will go back to normal.”

  Tessa turned to stare at the horizon to the east where the sky was beginning to lighten with streaks of pink and orange cutting through the grey clouds. She sighed heavily. The last thing she wanted was for everything to go back to normal. She hated normal more than anything.

  “Nothing in Ahlenerra has been normal since the Severance, Nat,” Tessa said, meeting Nat’s gaze. “It hasn’t been normal for thousands of years.”


  Nat shook her head, lowering her voice, a stormy look on her face.

  “Once again, I tell you, watch your words, Tessa. Obviously, you’re the Captain of the Guard, so you probably wouldn’t come under suspicion. But just be careful what you say. There is no one who is completely free of scrutiny.”

  Tessa nodded. She knew Nat was right.

  “I just mean, I never feel normal. I feel as though my whole life I’ve never been myself. I’m always just playing a role and doing what someone else tells me to do. No matter what I’ve achieved, Nat.”

  “I get it, Tess,” she said. “It’s hard to feel normal when your land and people have been torn apart. And you have to go around with an aching empty feeling in your heart all the time.”

  Tessa knew that when she said that, Nat wasn’t talking about the Severance. She was referring to the complete disappearance of the Elves from Esper. Nat was one of the few wandering Elves that lived amongst the other races. Despite all kinds of conflicting rumors, no one really knew what had happened to the rest of them. And the Elves that remained had all been born in exile and were lonely creatures without any true home.

  “Exactly,” Tessa said. “And the only thing that has made sense during all this time was my work. I’m just afraid that that’s going to be taken from me, too. And then, who will I be?”

  “What are you talking about? You’d be Tessa.” Nat took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “You’d still be you.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Tessa said, a desolate feeling entering her heart.

  Nat gave her a compassionate look.

  “Let’s go find this stranger with the blades and get you on your way,” Nat said. “You’ll feel better once you have a goal and are moving toward it.”

  “You’re right, Nat,” Tessa said, dragging a smile out.

  “I’m always right,” Nat said, giving her a wink. “Come on.”

  The Captain of the Guard was late.

  She was Finn’s ticket out of this place, and she was late.

  Finn paced, the various smells of the animals tickling his nose. He glanced toward the eastern sky. He checked his horse’s saddle one more time, cinching it a tiny bit tighter. If the Captain didn’t get here soon, his poor horse wasn’t going to be able to breathe, never mind carry him.