The Myths of Ophelia (The Curse of Ophelia #4)

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Ophelia

Unfortunately, any hope of a flight with Sapphire was drowned in the rain that cracked before Tolek and I even returned home. My heart twisted for my warrior horse-turned-pegasus, but I stepped across the threshold, wet hair plastered to my skin, and for a moment, my concern vanished.

A piece of me I hadn’t realized was dulled ignited at Jezebel and Santorina standing in the small stone cottage we were staying in. Though cottage was a loose term given the six bedrooms flanking its gray cobbled walls, each with a slightly different style. Like they were added as needed rather than all at once.

The Seawatcher Chancellor, Ezalia Ridgebrook, and my sister’s partner, Erista, stood with them.

“Jez, Rina!” I shouted as I hurried into the combined sitting-and-dining room strewn with books and notes on Angel magic. Warm wooden surfaces, worn couches, and the fire flickering in the stone hearth made the home cozy against the rain.

A high voice shrieked, “Tolek!” And Ezalia’s young children bounced around the sofa, jumping on Tol.

“Seli, Auggie, you just saw him,” Ezalia chastised with a laugh. But Tolek was already caught up in a game with the twins.

“Ezalia,” I greeted, disentangling myself from my sister and Rina to hug the Seawatcher Chancellor. “I didn’t realize the children were here.”

Seron, Ezalia’s partner, wheeled around the corner in the chair he’d had custom built after losing his legs in the hunt for the Seawatcher emblem. Guilt hardened in my throat as it always did when I remembered what he gave for this curse.

“They’ve been here for hours. They keep Tolek busy,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone’s complaining about that,” I joked as Seli grabbed Tolek’s hands and starting spinning in circles, fast enough that soon her little feet were flying off the floor. Jezebel knelt beside her twin, asking what book he held. “You’re always welcome here. Will you be staying for dinner?”

“Thank you, but I want to get them home,” Ezalia said with a nod to her kids.

Herding them out the door proved a more difficult challenge than the chancellor expected, though, the kids continuously turning around to call one more thing to any member of our family.

“Thank you for everything,” Rina added before Ezalia disappeared out the door with a wave.

As the latch clicked shut, I watched the spot where the chancellor had been. I admired how she held her family together amid loss and warfare, yet still managed to assist us with the Angelcurse. After that first trial, she and Seron had made an effort to spend more time as a family, and seeing her balance it all was inspiring.

It was how we’d ended up here, needing grounds to host the fae queen’s court. The Ridgebrooks were already in the southernmost part of the islands for winter and happened to know of both a cottage we could stay in and a location for that impending meeting.

With a final grateful nod after the chancellor, I looped my arm through Rina’s and led her upstairs. We both slipped into dry clothing, then ducked back down into the brightly lit kitchen. Pale blue lace curtains framed rain-streaked windows and a mosaic of coral tiles comprised the floor.

Jezebel and Erista were both in clean, dry clothes now, too, and they dropped onto the bench along the breakfast nook as Tolek placed a small tray laden with a carafe of crisp white wine, glasses, and snacks before them.

“Thank the Spirits.” Jezebel snatched up a wedge of soft cheese and spread it on a chunk of bread. “I was famished ,” she hummed as she swallowed.

“We stopped to eat a few hours ago.” Erista laughed softly, leaning back against the bench

“Hours!” Jez complained.

Chuckling, I fell into the seat beside Jezebel and pulled the book I’d been leafing through earlier toward me, toying with the cover. “Now you’re fed and comfortable, so tell us everything.”

Tolek tossed me a towel to finish drying my hair, then joined us at the table as Santorina pulled out a chair beside me.

“The human training camps are going…wonderfully,” Rina said with a hint of what almost sounded like disbelief. “Ezalia took us to each of the key cities where Leo established contact. One is even nearing one hundred participants now.” The chancellor had introduced us to her brother back in Brontain when we were hunting for Gaveny’s emblem, and he’d been instrumental in Santorina’s progress so far.

“And we stopped in the largest human town in Mystique Territory,” Erista chimed in as Jezebel nodded with eager, wide eyes, cheeks stuffed. Half of the food was already gone.

“The soldiers Lyria sent are doing well, then?” Tolek asked as he poured glasses of wine.

“Phenomenally,” Erista said, taking one from him.

Jezebel swallowed her mouthful. “Three of her lieutenants have spread throughout the territory, but this one, south of Caprecion, was up to ninety-two humans training to fight as warriors.”

“Excellent.” Tolek grinned, and I thought there was a bit of pride for his sister’s soldiers’ aid.

Our weeks here had been a facade of peace, but with the fae coming to Gallantia, it was more imperative than ever that we were prepared—and that meant everyone.

Despite the fact that the queen’s court was to be contained to a plot of land off the coast, I didn’t trust them. We’d told city leaders throughout the territories to be on alert.

Because the fae were coming to Gallantia, and their bloody history preceded them.

“What’s happened here?” Santorina asked.

I summoned a bud of Angellight in response. It slipped around my hand, dancing up my arm. Then, I twirled it about the room, mingling with the lace curtains behind us and frolicking over the mystlight stove.

“You have better control!” Rina gushed between bites of fruit.

“Yes, and she terrorizes me with it,” Tolek mockingly complained with a shake of his head. In answer, I sent the Angellight to weave through his hair, swaying and lifting the brown locks.

“I’m only trying to understand what it does,” I said sweetly, calling the light back to my hand. Beside me, Jezebel watched it curiously, a crease between her brows.

“Didn’t you learn what it does when you two went to that other realm?” Erista asked. Wrapping her arm around my sister, the Soulguider gently dragged her fingertips over her shoulder and Jez melted against her.

“The Spirit Realm,” I corrected. We guessed that was where we’d been during the battle. “And we didn’t learn much,” I added glumly. Angellight slowed its dance around my wrist as if in thought. “But we were rather distracted.”

“Yes, swallowing an unclassified vial of magic, traveling to a new realm because of it, and using your miraculous Angel power to blast a threat on this realm to smithereens is rather distracting,” Tolek mocked.

“I’m glad you understand,” I said seriously, but I sent that lingering thread of Angellight to twine around his head and flick him in the ear.

As we picked at snacks, everyone discussed tomorrow’s plans. Santorina was venturing to nearby cliffs to assess the flora growing there. Apparently being in a different territory meant a whole host of new ingredients for her healing practice. She was already writing to our Bodymelder friends about it.

Jezebel and Erista had no agenda beyond lounging on one of the white sand beaches with a stack of books that could pertain to Jezzie’s spirit-speaking power. We hadn’t figured out why she was able to hear those on the verge of death or how she’d been able to control departing spirits in their final moments. But my sister had her cycle this week and swore she needed to rest to accommodate it, despite the tonic Rina gave us that made them less severe the few times a year we suffered them.

Beneath the table, Tolek ran a foot up my calf, silently calling my attention. He sat back in his chair, arms folded and a brow quirked as if to ask, What would you like to do?

With the way desire shot through his eyes—and my body—I had many ideas of what I’d like to do, but none fell under the order of remaining visible to any spying fae. Unless we truly gave them a show?—

“Morbid reading choice,” Jezebel interrupted the thought, nearly choking on her wine as she picked up the book beside me and flipped to the page I’d marked. At the title heading the excerpt in looping letters, any heat Tolek had ignited promptly dissipated.

“ An Angel’s Fall to Magic ?” Erista read, tilting her head with more innocent curiosity than the rest of the table who all appeared various levels of concerned.

The mood sobered, and I leaned back against the bench, picking up my routine with the Angellight. “We still have to find the Soulguider and Starsearcher emblems, and while we now have a better grasp on where we should be looking”—the three we’d found were in sites sacred to the Angels, though that left many possibilities—“we don’t know what they’re for. I can’t stop thinking about when Kakias died.”

A chill swept across the room, but Tolek said, “Because when Bant’s Spirit was released from Kakias’s body, it meant something.” He didn’t add any qualifiers to the sentence. No you thought or it might have . I’d told him I’d felt in my bones that Bant’s Spirit and the magic in the Angel emblems were connected, that the way the powers of Angels had warred in my blood had to indicate something , and he believed me.

“It…disappeared into the mountains.” Why? And what would it do now? I continued, “I can’t stop thinking about how much this connection to the Angellight seemed to change when Jezebel and I went to the Spirit Realm. Before then, I’d harnessed Angellight through bleeding on the emblems, but now…”

Light flared in the palm of my hand again.

A beat of silence passed in the room, the theories of ancient, unheard of magics pressing down on us.

“Those files your father found on Annellius said he died of blood loss, correct?” Rina asked of the first Chosen of the Angels. A pang went through my heart at the mention of my father. Jezzie’s hand clasped mine under the table, and I nodded. “Maybe it was from using Angelblood on the emblems.”

Tolek stiffened, ready to dissuade any more use of the Angel tokens if it risked my life, but I spoke up. “That could be, but it feels…wrong. I’m supposed to use the emblems—to unite them—so how could doing that have killed him and effectively stopped his efforts?” I held the shard of Damien’s power hanging on my necklace. “No, I think Annellius did something he wasn’t supposed to do in hiding them. And I think that led to his downfall.”

“Greedy, greedy warrior,” Erista said thoughtfully, watching my Angellight wind over the table.

Was he? Did that legacy ring true, or was there more buried beneath the histories?

As the thought itched deeper beneath my skin and the others returned to their leisurely plans, my fingers twitched against the side of my cup. The whirling light sped with my agitation.

“Excuse me,” I said, popping out of my seat and wandering into the living room. I didn’t stop until I stood in front of the window that took up most of the front wall, looking out over the small, rain-soaked garden and the ambling path beyond.

“Feeling crowded in there?” Tolek asked, wrapping his arms around my waist. I leaned my head back against his shoulder and inhaled the citrus and spice scent that calmed my nerves.

“A bit.”

“We’ve been here a while,” Tolek began.

I sighed. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this.” Spinning out of his grasp, I pressed a hand to the glass, watching raindrops I couldn’t touch slip down. “I feel trapped. Stifled. These rules—I’m ready to tell Ritalia where she can put them.”

Tolek huffed a laugh. Clasping his hands behind his back, he leaned against the wall beside the window. “Though I’d love to see you take on the fae queen—and while I’m certain you could win—we’ve made it this long. Let’s keep planning, keep searching for hints of the emblems and your magic. Your sister is back, and when the rain stops, you can see Sapphire.”

My warrior horse—pegasus—did always calm me. Flying with her secretly, under the cover of night these weeks, had been one of the few reliefs bringing me joy.

I took a deep breath, searching for the reasons I knew Tolek’s suggestions were correct as I watched the empty road out front. “Remain docile here to appease the bargain, welcome the queen, receive our information, get her out quickly, and return to what’s important.”

“One correction,” he said, voice rough. And he took a slow, tempting step toward me. My eyes flashed to his, those amber specks burning. Tol dropped his head, and his lips brushed my ear as he whispered, “Not too docile.”

I sucked in a breath as he tugged my robe open, his hand dropping to skim the hem of my nightgown. As his calloused fingers brushed my thighs and heat pooled in my core, I didn’t care that there were others in the cottage, that we were up against the glass, shutters thrown wide. My head rolled back as he kissed along my neck, every breath a rasp that absorbed my worries.

All I cared about now was the unsettled, restless creature inside of me and how Tolek could tame it, soothe it, give me an outlet to let all that wild energy peak?—

A knock sounded on the front door, crashing through every indecent, lustful plan I was concocting. Based on Tolek’s sigh as he stepped back and the way he adjusted himself, I thought he might have had his own plans brewing.

I followed him lazily toward the foyer, admiring the way his powerful back cut against his thin shirt. But when he opened the door and every one of those defined muscles stiffened, my own body tightened. Magic hummed in my veins, ready to be wielded.

Hurrying to Tol, I ducked beneath his arm and met two pairs of dark eyes. Canines flashed in the male’s pointed smile, conveying every reason he was here without saying a word. And when he tugged his hood back, pointed ears peeked through his rain-soaked hair. At his side, his sister grinned fiercely.

“Ophelia?” Jezebel called from the kitchen. “Who is it?”

A scrape of chairs and a chorus of padding footsteps told me they were all coming to see.

“Plans are off for the week,” I said without looking over my shoulder. And I matched Lancaster’s and Mora’s feral grins, curious magic riling beneath my skin. “Her Highness is finally ready to meet.”