Page 49 of Light Fae's Love
A hand clamps on my shoulder then, and I spin, growling like an animal and heaving my auric wings up to fight even as I raise my hands. But Alleno is fast, and stronger than me right now; with a quick whip of magic, he slices through my near-attack. He heaves me to the floor of the Livingtree’s main room, pressing his forearm to my neck.
“Alleno!” I cough, choking beneath his force. “Let me up, dammit!”
“Not until you have control of yourself. Because where the fuck do you think you’re going buck-naked in the middle of the night?” Alleno’s words are sharp, his green eyes vivid in the silver shadows inside the quiet Livingtree. The tree doesn’t like our commotion; with an ancient groan, it shifts beneath us, branches sliding as it shakes its silver leaves, its white flowers shimmering outside.
I pause beneath Alleno’s choke; because only now do I realize I’m still naked from bed and had been headed out the main doors of the Livingtree without a thought of where I was going, how I was going to get there, or even clothing. It was simply instinct when I felt Quinn get staked.
Instinct that pulled me to him—to save him at all costs.
I rub my chest now; as I gather my wits, Alleno leaves off choking me. He releases his pressure and rises; as he offers me a hand, I take it and he heaves me up to standing. I’m amazed by the power in Alleno’s body right now, and nearly come unbalanced as he heaves me up. Only because I’m so very weak, though.
Taken to my bed ever since Quinn and Ariana left, and letting the life-force of my Livingtree revive me.
“I didn’t even stop to dress.” I glance down at my nakedness, astonished, as Alleno hands me an embroidered blue silk robe with the vines of my house crest on it. I slide it on, fixing the closures down the front and shaking my head to dispel the last of my fugue.
Alleno sets a hand to my shoulder, escorting me back up the stairwell that runs along the inside of the gargantuan tree. As we reach my room at the very top, I know I won’t be returning to the palace anytime soon. None of my Fae populace can see me like this, so disastrously weak right now, without most of my energy to bolster me. I gave it all to Ariana.
As much as I could stand, before she and Quinn departed last night.
“What happened?” Alleno asks me now as he escorts me to the bed, pouring me a glass of water from a pitcher on the bedside. He hands it to me and I drink.
And revel in the water's coolness as it revives me the smallest bit.
“Quinn. He was stabbed in Rome. A Devilswood stake.” I close my eyes, trying to reestablish the connection with him and Ariana, though their presence inside me feels so very far away. It’s both from physical distance and also from not having my usual power right now.
I at last connect to Ariana, feeling her blood and magic revive Quinn to the point he won’t die. I’m able to concentrate my strength enough to send her a single thought. I will try to keep tabs on you as much as I can. The connection shuts down, since I don’t have enough energy to maintain it. Not before I understand Quinn has had to take back some of his own power stored inside Ariana, however.
My energy blazing like an unstable star in her veins now—unbalanced by Quinn’s Night.
“Devilswood. Fuck.” Alleno knows what that means as he goes to one knee before me, searching my gaze soberly. “Is he going to survive?”
“Yes,” I say. Deep inside me, something eases as I know my words for true. “Ariana is giving him blood and energy. He’ll live. But he had to take back some of his power inside her… and I don’t know what that means for us now in Rome.”
“Double fuck,” Alleno says with a growl, and I see his emerald eyes flash bright with his Royal Summer Fae power, while mine feels so dim and lacking.
Because this is worse than any magical exhaustion I’ve experienced, this period of going without my power while it’s stored inside Ariana. Though I’ve known this kind of drained exhaustion before when my power was put in someone else for the Darkwatch to use long ago during battle, this is entirely different, needing to weather this dragging dimness for days on end.
Most of my normal Fae revelry is distant while the bulk of my magic is stored inside Ariana. I just feel weak and drained, and will be until she uses my power during Quinn’s demonstration and it comes home to me. I can take little sips of energy as I revel in the moon shining high above my midnight bower, and in the stars so bright in the cloudless August night. The ancient tree breathing all around me in its quiet forest gives me trickles of energy.
And that’s all I get—little sips of Light, until Quinn and Ariana succeed in Rome.
As I sip my water now, however, I fight a terrible feeling that everything is not alright. “I need to get down to Rome. Now.” I struggle up from the bed, but Alleno sets his hands to my shoulders and pushes me right back down.
I’m weak as a ten-day-old kitten, and can’t even stand up to my cousin as he insists I stay put.
“You are going nowhere.” Alleno is firm as he goes to my table, fetching a plate of sweets, which are the only thing I seem to want to eat right now, since they bolster my Fae energy the most. “You cannot take a risk one of your father’s people might see you right now and tell your budding rebellion you’re unfit to lead them, Lucca. And you certainly can’t fight a bunch of Master Vampires in this condition. Quinn and Ariana will benefit the most by you staying put and staying safe. Let your Light survive so they have it when they need it in Rome.”
“You’re right, I know you’re right.” I say with a hard sigh, rubbing my chest with one hand even as I pick through the chocolate-dipped dates with the other. I find a few that look juicy and pop them in my mouth. “But I have the most terrible feeling they don’t have the stability they need in our power anymore, Alleno. I need to go to Rome. I need to be there, and use my Light in person to help them return a Revenant in front of the Vampire Council. Because I fear the worst if I do not. That the entire endeavor will fail, and Quinn and Ariana will die.”
“The Vampire Council forbade you going to Rome, on pain of death.” Alleno is insistent now as he draws up a chair beside me, twisting it around so he sits on it backwards, still holding the plate of sweets out for me. “You’ll die if you go down to take on the Vampire Council without backup—an army’s worth of backup. And you’ll put Quinn’s and Ariana’s lives in danger also, for disobeying the Council’s specific demands. You know you will.”
“I know, I know.” I am terse, still rubbing my chest where my heart continues to pound. “There has to be another way, though. There just has to.”
“This is the way.” Alleno holds my gaze with no bullshit. “You stay here—and stay alive so they have a chance.”
Rage burns me to my marrow now, knowing Quinn and Ariana are in desperate danger and I’m unable to help them. I rise from bed and head out to my balcony overlooking the forest; with silent grace, Alleno accompanies me. As I sink to a seat on the balcony of twisted vines and ancient branches, Alleno crouches beside me. The tree groans, shifting its limbs so it forms low, cushioned seats for us.
As we stare out over the silver forest, listening to the night, I revel in the moonlight. Alleno shares the silence with me as we feel the tree’s support all around and the forest beyond that. Everything in nature bolsters a Fae; I revel in it now, taking it all in with heightened senses as I slip into a trance state, though not so much that I go rushing off to Rome naked again.