Solstice (Midsummer #3)

25. Lex

25

Lex

“M alysh! Malysh! ” Aunt Vera wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug, kissing the side of my face before licking her thumb and wiping off the lipstick she left behind. It didn’t matter how old I got; I’d always be a little boy around her. “You’re getting married! Such a beautiful thing!”

Vera had always been most comfortable in Russian, so we kept the conversation in her native tongue. I greeted her and turned to Uncle Dmitri, who’d arrived with four or five bodyguards currently roaming the outskirts of the Washington estate.

“ Dyadya , good to see you.” I shook his hand, and he pulled me into a big hug.

“Good to see you, too.” He laughed and clapped my shoulder, inhaling his cigar. In the two years since I’d dropped Poppy at his doorstep, he hadn’t aged at all. He was still the big, burly man with the gold chain and the expensive suit.

“Look at you, huh?” He grabbed my chin and gave it a rough shake. “A full grown man now!” Dmitri kissed either side of my face before turning to the crowd. “Where’s my beautiful sister?”

My mother, Anna, appeared with my father, throwing out her arms so she could embrace her sibling. I didn’t know the last time they’d seen each other, but it had certainly been longer than it had for me.

“There she is!” Dmitri kissed my mother and hugged her tight.

“So happy you two could make it.” Mother and Vera talked about their trip in, and Dmitri asked my father about a foreign policy the emperor wanted to push through. I sensed my presence was superfluous, so I tried to take a step back, figuring we would catch up about my previous request later. My uncle put his hand on my shoulder to stop me.

“Alexei, I wondered if you might give me a tour of the grounds. I have something I wish to discuss with you.”

Oh?

I looked from my uncle to my father. He straightened, an eyebrow going up his forehead.

“Romanov to Romanov.” Dmitri smiled, giving Father a knowing look that demanded he not ask for an invite.

“Of course,” I said. “Excuse us.”

My father didn’t like being told to fuck off at his own party, but I’d admit, a little smirk came to my face as we walked past him. I led Dmitri onto the balcony and down the steps to the backyard, my thoughts going to the funeral we’d held for my brother all those years ago. I’d first kissed Ivy by that bench over there, and then she’d slugged the shit out of me. I smiled at the memory, putting my hands in my pockets as we walked.

“How is the engagement going?” Dmitri puffed on his cigar. “Are you happy with your new wife?”

I shrugged, and maybe I was feeling nostalgic because I muttered, “There are worse people I could marry.” It was the same flimsy excuse I’d given Ivy when our parents first announced this farce.

He laughed. “She’s very beautiful. She’ll make you a man.”

She already did.

“What’s on your mind, dyadya? Is this about my phone call a few weeks ago? ”

He frowned and tilted his head to the side. “Yes…and no.”

“Oh?” I lit a cigarette while we fell into a stroll. “What does that mean?”

He chuckled. “That depends on what you tell me.”

I narrowed my eyes and took a long drag on my cigarette.

“Sometimes, when your Poppy goes to sleep, I check on her in the middle of the night and she’s not there.” Dmitri shrugged. “You say you’ve come to get her, but no vehicles have been by my house.”

I cleared my throat.

“When I look into her eyes, I can see there is something else going on.” Dmitri watched me, gauging my reaction.

I swallowed down my non-surprise that she hadn’t been good about hiding what she could do.

“As a child, my nanny used to tell me stories about the vila , beautiful women that lived in the woods. They changed their form at will, teleported long distances.” Dmitri shook his head. “I’m not saying I believe in such things. But…” He stopped and turned to face me, staring down at me like he, too, could detect the truth in other people. “If I did, would you say you believed in them?”

I raked my gaze over my uncle, focusing on his stern expression. I’d never known him to be a liar, or someone to fuck with me just for the sake of fucking with me, and I did thrust this child on him with very little explanation or concern for what she’d be capable of doing to him as a result. I never said I made all the right choices. I only did what I thought was best.

“I would say I did, yes.”

“And if I asked you…is this child a vila ? What would you say to that?” His eyebrow shot up his forehead as he considered me.

I took another long drag on my smoke and nodded. “She’s not a vila . But she’s not…from around here.”

He pursed his lips. “And you gave this child to me without telling me this?”

I let out a sardonic laugh. “I told her not to give herself away.”

“She’s not good at keeping secrets.” He tsked, continuing to walk down the riverbank. I knew that, too, as I still suspected she’d been keeping the location of the queen from us. “Oh, Alexei, I could have you killed for this.”

I chuckled. “But you won’t.”

“I won’t. It would not be fair to Ivy to deliver a corpse as a groom on her wedding day.” He shook his head. “My mother did not raise me to have such ill manners.”

“I apologize . I didn’t think she’d be living with you this long.”

He held up his hand. “Alexei, I would do anything for you. My sister’s son, you are very dear to my heart.” Dmitri shook his head and gave me a genuine smile, clapping me on the side of the cheek. “I have a gift for you.”

“A gift?” Anticipation rose in my chest.

“Come with me.” He led me farther away from the house where a black Range Rover with tinted windows was parked. Power emanated from inside the vehicle, a strange magic I recognized from Faerie. This wasn’t dark and twisted like the king. This was light and airy, and it made me want to fall to my knees with idolatry.

When two of his guards circled around us, going to the back door, I almost told them to stop. One guard opened it, and the other reached inside to yank out a tall blond woman in soiled white robes.

The queen.

“Holy shit. You did it.” I took a step forward, and her wild eyes darted between me and the other men.

“Of course I did it. Who do you think I am?” Dmitri smirked.

She’d been gagged with a piece of cloth and her wrists were zip-tied together in front of her body. Her skin had turned a pale, ghostly white, and that once radiant look in her eye was now faded to a haunted imitation of what it used to be. Slicing cold terror replaced that excitement inside me, and my stomach dropped. Even on this side of the realm, she still radiated with the eternal, vibrant energy that terrified and exhilarated me.

“How did you find her? Where did you find her?”

“My guards caught her sneaking around Poppy’s rooms. You were right.” Dmitri waved his hand to his guards. “Poppy has been hiding her this whole time.”

I fucking knew it.

If the queen remembered me, she didn’t act like it. She struggled against the bodyguards, trying to use her weight to attempt to escape, and the more she struggled, the tighter they held her. Bruises lined her wrists and biceps. It must have been a long journey to get to this point.

“Wait, stop!” I took a step closer and held up my hand. “Be gentle.”

She was the queen of the fairies, for fuck’s sake.

“Your Highness.” I came closer, and she eyed me up and down, still suspicious but cautiously interested. “Do you remember me from Samhain a few years ago?”

Her panicked gaze flicked between us like she didn’t understand and waited for someone else to translate. When no one did, she struggled and tried to hit one of them in the face. He ducked out of the way and grabbed her wrists, tossing her in the back seat before slamming the door shut.

“She’s a wild animal,” the guard said.

“She bit me.” The other guard held up a red bruise on his forearm.

“She’s scared.” I turned to Dmitri. “I’ll be back with help. We’ll take her from here.”

His eyes narrowed. “What are you caught up in, malysh ?”

I shook my head. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“I’ve believed a lot.”

I nodded and put my hand on his shoulder. “One day, Uncle. You’ll get me drunk, and I’ll explain the whole thing.”

“One day.” He eyed me skeptically. “Before I leave this trip. Yes?”

“Yes.”

“Uh-huh.” He turned to head back toward the house, and I followed him. “As for Poppy.” He shrugged. “She didn’t want to come to the wedding. I cannot force her.”

“She’s still in Russia?” It was my attempt at making sure she was still going through with the plan…at least until she realized her queen had been taken. She had to appear as normal as possible, as hidden as possible, until the time was right.

He nodded. “She was when I left. As for where she is right now?” Dmitri shrugged.

“That’s okay.” I pulled out my phone and sent a message to Ivy to meet me out here. We had to figure out how to hide a fairy queen until the wedding was over. With Siobhan not answering and two days to figure out a new plan, we were fucking screwed no matter what.

“Do you need anything else from me, Alexei? Manpower? Protection?”

“No, Uncle. Protect yourself. I’ll be okay.”

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “I do not like this. Take three of my most trusted guards. They will stay until after the wedding, until you can sort this out.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.” Moreover, I didn’t trust guys I didn’t know.

“You didn’t ask,” he said. “I insist. You can’t tell your mother. This is what uncles are for, huh?”

I laughed. “Thank you. I’m not worthy.”

“You’re Romanov. That is enough.” He smiled and kissed my cheek again. “For now.”

* * *

“Holy shit.” Ivy stared into the back of the van with her mouth open. “Dmitri just found her wandering around his house?”

I nodded. “She’s been looking for Poppy. That explains why she came to the cabin over Solstice; Poppy was there.”

“Your Highness,” Ivy said to the queen. “Please, let me first say?—”

I shook my head. “She doesn’t understand. Donnelly was right. She’s been bewitched.”

The queen’s eyes darted from me to Ivy and back again, eyebrows furrowed as we talked. She’d settled down now that I’d cut the bindings on her hands and taken the gag out. She still didn’t seem to remember me or Ivy, but I believed she could tell we meant her no harm.

I inhaled my cigarette and glanced back at the house where our relatives mingled, drinking alcohol like the world wasn’t ending. No one could see us out here, no one could know about her. “I tried to make her tell the truth, but that went as well this time as it did last.”

Right on cue, the queen babbled something in a language that didn’t sound real. Ivy took a deep breath and took a step forward, holding her hands up in solidarity. The queen backed away at first, but she must have found something in Ivy that seemed peaceful because she slowly leaned forward.

She put a hand on Diana’s wrist, a gentle, simple touch, nothing to suggest anything untoward. Their eyes closed, and I held my breath, waiting to see if Ivy’s gift would work where mine hadn’t. But she shook her head and dropped her hand to her side.

“I can’t get through, either. It’s like…she has a force field around her mind. It’s powerful.”

“Well, shit.” I stabbed my cigarette out and threw the butt in a nearby garbage. “Any ideas what to do with her?”

Ivy shook her head. “Christ, we can’t keep her in the Range Rover all night.”

“What about the servants’ quarters?” Mount Vernon had been ripped apart and renovated five different times since the original Washingtons owned it, and sometime during the Victorian era, an entire servants’ corridor had been added in the basement, replacing the old wine cellars and kitchen.

“It would take one outburst for everyone to hear her.”

I rubbed at the crease between my eyebrows, a headache brewing on the horizon. “We could take her home, maybe keep her there until this is all over.”

“I mean, Siobhan told us to find her, right? That she was the only thing that could protect us from Alberich?”

I mulled that over. “Yeah, but what good is she in this condition?”

Ivy crossed her arms and looked back at the house. “Taking her home is probably the safest. The house is warded. The king won’t be able to enter without a welcome.”

“Dmitri gave me a few guys to watch her. I’ll ask them to keep her entertained.” I gestured to the big dudes standing next to another black SUV a few yards away. “They’ll stay with her for the wedding.”

Ivy shook her head and pursed her lips. “I don’t like this.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

She pulled her lip between her teeth. “Lex…maybe we should stop this? We haven’t heard from Siobhan or Poppy or any of the others. We were supposed to regroup three days ago.”

I should have told her Poppy had been hiding Diana all this time, but that too would have to wait. “Whatever shit they had to do to rally the troops, it didn’t sound like it would be easy.”

“What if they’re dead?” Ivy’s eyes radiated all the anxiety in her body. “What if we’re on our own?”

“We don’t know that, and until the day of the wedding, we have no idea what’s going to happen. Take a deep breath and be patient.”

“What if Siobhan and Ashley don’t come?” Ivy folded her hands together and pressed them to her mouth. “Lex, we should cancel this and tell all these people to go home, to run as far away from us as they can.”

“We have two things he wants. Poppy and the queen. He’s on our playing field. He has to come to us.” I wrapped an arm around her body and tried to pull her into a hug. She let me up until I said, “That gives us an advantage.”

Ivy groaned and shoved me away, rubbing her hands over her face. “You sound so arrogant.”

“Okay, what’s your big plan?” Anger surged in my chest, the thrill of fighting with Ivy rising up in me. “March in there with all our family and friends and tell them we need to postpone the biggest media event of the fucking year because a fairy king might be our guest of honor?”

She put her hands on her hips and stared at the queen, currently running her fingertips over the fabric-covered ceiling of the SUV. “What if he kills everyone?”

I shook my head, betting it all on the fact that he wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be what I would do. “That’s not a smart move.”

No, the better move would be to pick us off one by one, wait until we were the most vulnerable to hit us with the kill strike. If he came tomorrow, it would be to make a scene. He’d want to establish his power, which was fine because it meant we could establish ours.

We weren’t weak fucking no ones. We were also powerful, and this was our realm, goddamn it.

“So you’re suggesting we go through with this when we suspect it’ll turn into a bloodbath? That’s what you want?”

I winced. “A bloodbath is unlikely.”

“Lex,” she groaned my name, sounding exasperated and stressed out.

“Look, this was my plan from the start, lure him out to where we have the advantage.” I ran my hands over her upper arms, hoping to soothe her and ease her mind. “Your family has lived on this property for two hundred years. This is your home. If anyone can protect it, it’s you.”

I sounded like Carter.

I’d like to thank the Academy.

The truth was that I, too, thought this would turn out to be a nightmare, but I didn’t see how we had any other choice. There was no stopping this avalanche. We had to let it smother us and hope we could dig out in the cold light of day.

She took a deep breath and sighed. “I guess you’re right. There’s no way we can get out of this.” Ivy stepped closer to me and wrapped her arms around my neck, pushing up on her toes to give me a kiss of solidarity.

I chuckled, remembering the last time we’d kissed out here and half expecting her to haul off and smack me again. She didn’t, just pulled away and looked at the fairy in the back of the SUV. The queen squealed in delight, clapping at our kiss while saying something in a jovial, encouraging tone.

“How are we going to sneak home and back without anyone noticing?” Ivy asked with a grimace.

I ran my hands over the back of my hair and sighed. “Ahh, fuck.”

* * *

Ivy texted Kit and Abigail to cover us, and I could only imagine the stories those two came up with to explain our absence. When we pulled into the garage of our townhouse, the three bodyguards helped the queen out of the vehicle and flanked either side of her as we walked up the stairs and across the back porch.

When we got to the entryway, the queen stopped and peered inside while I unlocked the door. My breath fogged around me on this chilly spring night, but the queen seemed completely undisturbed by the weather. I stepped inside and turned to face Diana, trying not to smile at the silly grin she gave me. She looked so eager and excited to be involved, such a contrast to my fiancée at her side, who nervously glanced around to ensure none of the neighbors could see us.

“Queen of Faerie, we invite you inside our home.” The queen’s smile widened as she walked through the door, her hands behind her, scoping the place out. The guards came in next, managing to keep their cool while she looked up at the giant chandelier over our dining room table and spun around in a circle to admire it.

“Ahh,” she said, pointing at it. “Spritzen!”

“Right.” Ivy grabbed her hand and put it down, wrapping an arm over the queen’s shoulders to usher her through the living room and over to the stairs. We intended to put her in the guest room for now, but she needed a shower and some clean clothes immediately.

The queen nodded, folded her hands in front of her, and tiptoed around with a look of astonishment.

“This way.” Ivy led the group down the hallway to our guest room, the one Miri normally slept in. She hadn’t been here in so long, it had become an abandoned space, lifeless and cold. We didn’t go in here anymore, but it would have to do. I opened the door and gestured them inside. The queen’s mouth dropped when she spotted the bed, and she ran up to it, grabbing her legs before springing cannonball style into the center.

“Jesus Christ.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “That’s not the same woman we met at Samhain.” This person was a far cry from the powerful forest nymph who’d put me in my place when I tried to use my gift on her. Did she even remember who she was?

Ivy snorted and shrugged. “Even queens like jumping on the bed.”

The air had once tasted magnetic in her presence, her magic coating my skin and my tongue in awareness of her. In this realm, her light had dimmed to nothing. Would it be the same with the king? Or had he stolen something essential from her in order to get what he wanted?

Ivy fiddled with her phone, pressing a button and bringing it to her ear. When it went to the automated voicemail, she shook her head and said, “Fuck, I still can’t reach Siobhan.”

“The three of them made a pact with us. They’re coming back.”

“What if they don’t? What if the entire Fianna is dead?”

“Stop ruminating,” I said. “We don’t have time for that.” I looked at the three guards and said in Russian, “ She stays here. Don’t let her leave, and don’t harm her again, you understand?”

Each of the bodyguards nodded.

I turned to the queen, hoping something I said would break through her barrier. “You’ll keep out of trouble, yes?”

She narrowed her eyebrows for a moment, but nodded again, smiling with her bottom lip tucked between her teeth. I went to the bathroom and clicked on the light. “You can shower in here.”

“I’ll bring you some of my clothes,” Ivy said.

The queen clapped and nodded, jumping off the bed to throw her arms around my neck and kiss me on the cheek before doing the same to my fiancée.

What the fuck had the king done to her?

I met Ivy’s gaze, who seemed as confused and concerned as me.

I put my hands on the queen’s shoulders and pushed her back, trying to put as much sincerity in my eyes as I could. “You’re safe here, okay?”

I didn’t think she understood my words, but she nodded and that was enough for me. She gave me another hug and went to the shower, turning on the heat before stripping her robe over her head, careless of the five other people in the room. The guards turned away to give her some privacy.

Okay. She seems content enough.

I turned and shut the bathroom door behind me. Ivy rubbed at the spot on her neck where her X appeared and came closer so the guards couldn’t hear.

“Do you think she can still do magic?”

“If she could, she would have used it by now.” She ran her hands over her face. “This is such a bad idea.”

“Hey.” I snatched her chin and forced her to look up at me, my hands on either side of her cheeks. “Don’t fucking do that. We’re in the homestretch, and I need you, X.”

She nodded and steeled her gaze, swallowing down whatever anxiety she’d let bubble to the surface.

A few moments later, the bathroom door opened and Diana emerged wearing a towel. Ivy brought her an old pair of my gray sweatpants and a TWU hoodie. She put them on, caring little for propriety as she shucked the towel down to the ground before slipping the clothes over her body. Even dressed, she lacked that certain something that had made her the queen.

“Feeling better?” Ivy asked.

Diana smiled, pointing at Ivy and saying something that sounded jovial and uplifting. I imagined she liked my fiancée.

“We have to go back to Mount Vernon.”

The queen turned to face me.

“I wish we could do this any other way. I know you don’t like this, but…” I stood and went to her, holding her wrists between us. “Tell me the truth. Are you still in there?” I glanced between her eyes, and she blinked, grimacing for barely a second before ultimately nodding.

Did it work?

I tried again. “How do we break this curse? How do we fix you? Tell me the truth.”

She winced this time and pulled her arms away, moaning and rubbing at the places I touched her. She made incoherent and rambling sounds, occasionally scoffing and rolling her eyes. I had no idea what she was saying, but I understood all the same.

Don’t fucking touch me.

Despite the rejection, the response gave me fucking hope. That was the first sign of the real queen I’d seen since Dmitri gave her to me.

“You stay here. Understand?”

I had no idea if she really did, of course. But we couldn’t risk her getting out or the king finding her, so with one more stern word to the guards, we left them there and headed back to our party.