Lunar Bound, page 28
part #4 of Sky Brooks World: Ethan Series
Mason was at the table, though his position as leader of the elves was doomed. The election was two months away. Gideon’s success, as the only challenger, was certain, which was why he and Abigail, his sister, sat to Marcia’s right. Unofficially, the fraternal twins would share power. In an androgynous way, they were nearly identical, like shop mannequins. Of the two, she was the more ambitious, having already poisoned her twin to drive his political ambition.
The pack and the twins had formed a secret alliance to guarantee Gideon’s rise to the leadership of the elves. Now that he was on the cusp of victory, they might find the conclave an opportunity to be rid of us.
To Marcia’s left sat Demetrius and Michaela. She regarded the entire affair with an air of boredom, but I caught the vengeful look in her eyes when they settled on Sky. Demetrius smiled, enjoying his opportunity to judge us.
Next to them sat Liam, king of the Makellos. In a show of arrogance and self-importance, he had two of his personal guard seated behind him.
Bernard barred Josh from entering the chamber. At his gesture, a guard carrying iridium manacles approached Josh. His eyes narrowed as Bernard declared, “You will have to wear these.”
Josh fixed a defiant gaze on Marcia. In response, she raised her own bound hands—a curious touch. Scowling, he extended his arms to accept the burden.
A voice behind me addressed Sky. “You’ll need to wear cuffs as well.”
I turned to find another guard holding out cuffs to Sky. She glared back at him, uncooperative.
Marcia’s voice echoed through the chamber. “We will ask only once.”
Sky rolled her eyes as she extended her arms, held them stiff while the guard cuffed her.
Once her bindings were established, Sebastian broke the ensuing silence. “Should we get started with this witch hunt?”
“We are still waiting for the fae,” Marcia declared. “They must not be excluded in this matter.”
The door opened behind us. Turning, I was more than a little surprised to see Claudia walk in. She wore her ocher-colored suit with high beige heels that clicked against the floor. She was her usual, calm grace. The narrowed slant of Marcia’s eyes exposed her surprise to see my godmother approach the table as if she belonged there.
“I apologize for my tardiness,” Claudia declared, “but I wasn’t going to miss out on a sale of one of my favorite artist’s work for this contrived nonsense.”
Demetrius rose, pulled out the seat for her. It was a disconcerting show of respect.
Marcia watched with irritation as Claudia settled into her seat. “I am not sure why you are here, you were not invited.”
With a mild sigh, she handed Demetrius a delicate envelope from her purse. He passed it to Marcia.
The witch made a show of unfolding the enclosed letter. Her stern gaze flicked over the contents. “You are not a fae,” she declared. “I am not sure why they would send you as their representative.”
“I have no home, therefore I belong to all and none. The fae have welcomed me as their own. It was your request that all sects be represented. They chose me to do that. You have no business questioning anything further than that. The fae are being represented.” Glancing around the table, Claudia declared, “It appears all are represented, shall we continue?”
Marcia wasn’t finished. “There is no way your presence here is appropriate. You are biased and won’t be able to accept all evidence against the men you have a maternal relationship with.”
“You have no business here, either. You will not be able to take the same evidence and assess it without bias because you have already labeled them as your enemy. If I have no business here, then neither do you. If you would like, we can waste more time and hold it to a vote. But the vote will be for us both. Either we both leave or we both stay. If I am to recuse myself, then so should you.”
Marcia sucked in an angry breath, held it as she assessed the attitudes of the other figures at the table. Her lips bent into an acerbic frown as she set the letter aside. Her heavy chair scraped against the floor.
“We all agreed that due to the nature and the danger that the dark elves posed to us, regretfully they had to be contained.”
The representatives nodded, including Claudia. I doubted that her presence had been requested by the fae. She’d cashed in some favor, or perhaps offered a new mark, to put herself in this room. How the situation would play out, I wasn’t sure, but I owed her my gratitude.
Marcia continued. “The covenant wasn’t entered into lightly, but it was something we all agreed to uphold for our safety and of those not in this world. It was necessary to prevent exposure, but unfortunately Sebastian and his pack feel that they are exempt from any of our rules and reneged on the very covenant he agreed to.” She surveyed the room, rallying support. “Even if we choose not to protect ourselves, shouldn’t we protect each other from being exposed?”
Demetrius leaned back in his chair, unimpressed. He was no friend to the pack, but any support he offered Marcia might well come back to haunt him. I guessed I could thank Michaela for that; she had a habit of creating beautiful, psychotic vampires that caused a number of problems for the other factions.
Next to him, she looked up from examining her black-painted nails. Her mouth bent into a miscreant smile as she read the room, paying particular attention to Josh. Noticing, he glared back at her, to her obvious delight. He returned his attention to Marcia as she rounded the table to pace in front of it.
Her tone grave, she continued, throwing us baleful looks. “Am I the only one concerned with what Sebastian is doing? He has a witch whom he has formed an alliance with that supersedes our control. He is strong and I assure you has the potential to be dangerous. He no longer follows our rules but adheres to theirs. His final slight against us is Ethan”—she gestured to me—“the descendant of a dark elf, one who recently died. One that they kept hidden, and now—”
Claudia interrupted, her tone harsh. “Is there a point you plan to get to, or will we be treated to more of your show? I can do without the community theater. Get on with it.”
Marcia remained still, but her anger was palpable. The room stirred from it. As if sensing the effect she was having, she settled herself with a quick breath. When she spoke again, her voice was calmer, but her irritation remained obvious.
“Marcia,” Claudia pressed, “if you have a point, will you please make it?”
“Of course you will take this lightly. After all, you consider them perfect, entitled, and impervious to our rules.”
“No, not at all. But I see this for what it is, a witch hunt. Lay your torch and spear down and let’s focus on what is real. Don’t make this seem more detrimental than it is. Has Ethan hurt anyone?”
Perhaps she should be more specific.
“As a dark elf,” Claudia clarified. “Do you know of anyone who has been injured or killed by him?”
“Well, of course not. You and I both know that they are quite capable of covering it up if it were to occur.”
“Then if that is the case, why are we here? Your argument is that they broke the covenant and are at risk of exposing us. If they are in fact covering it up adequately, why are we here?”
Marcia’s control finally slipped. “Because they are dangerous, rule-less monsters incapable of being civil,” she insisted. “Do you know why there isn’t any evidence? They removed it from him!”
“Wait,” Demetrius said. “If they are capable of removing such things, I must agree with Claudia on this, why are we concerned?”
Sebastian and I were both taken aback. It was one thing for Demetrius to take a position that happened to help us, but he was actively defending us. Was this Claudia, as well?
“Honestly, Marcia,” Demetrius continued, “this is a waste of time. They keep to themselves, and whether it is out of their delusion of self-importance or they know their kind are the only ones that can tolerate them, either way, it is no concern to me. If Ethan is a danger, it will only be to them. Let them have at it. If he kills them…so? And if they can control it—then even better for them. This brings forth another issue, how are they doing it? If they can do it, I am confident they should be given the responsibility to do so. Perhaps it will keep them busy enough to stay out of others’ affairs.”
A satisfied smile briefly appeared on Marcia’s lips. I saw what was coming. Had Demetrius fallen into a trap, or helped set one for us? She addressed Sebastian as she returned to her chair. “Why don’t you tell them why you are, or rather were, able to control Ethan’s ability.”
He answered with a controlled voice, projecting calm confidence, but the muscles in his neck were cords. “Recently we came into possession of the Aufero. Before it was being hidden, unused. Our research had shown that we could use it to stop more containment. Marcia, you of all people know I share your desire to maintain our anonymity to the humans. But we don’t share the same belief about killing Ethan. As you so assiduously pointed out, I had it under control.”
A diplomatic answer, and an impressive one. He’d deftly left out that Sky was a Moura, able to wield the orb’s power. We didn’t want the attention that knowledge would bring to her, but it would establish her right to retain the Aufero. For that reason, Marcia didn’t mention it, either. Swallowing that knowledge raised her ire. Her heart quickened.
“Yes.” She glowered. “Recently the pack has acquired a lot of things, including your little special wolf. She is quite the peculiar thing, isn’t she? A wolf, with the terait and the ability to perform magic.” She looked around the room. “You all know this, right? She is wrong, very wrong. From her recent arrival on the scene and the outbreak of chaos that soon followed.”
That got everyone’s attention. All but Claudia slid to the front of their chairs, their attention fixating on Sky.
“I know you all see her as a little oddity,” Marcia continued. “The pack’s problem. But Demetrius, were you not going to use her in a ritual to remove the curse that binds your people? It wasn’t able to be used on any other were-animal but her. Is anyone curious as to why? Is that bothersome to anyone?”
Was this her trap? Had Sky been her intended target?
“Those of you who can sense magic, the variations and changes, have you noticed the change? Tre’ase, once controlled by the curses that limit their ability to wreak havoc on this world and restricted only to interact with those who seek them out, are no longer under such restrictions. Am I the only one who has noticed? Perhaps Liam can elaborate on the changes he’s experienced over the past few months.”
Michaela leaned her elbows on the table, formed a high platter with her hands as she regarded Sky. “Are you saying that we need to be concerned about Skylar? She seems harmless enough, but I could be wrong.”
Realization was dawning on everyone. They’d all experienced the changes wrought when we removed the curse on Sky. For the first time, they were figuring out that someone had been responsible for the change. They weren’t happy.
Abigail leaned close to her brother, whispered into his ear.
He nodded, addressed the table. “It seems as though we have gotten off the topic here. You brought us here to discuss a covenant that had been broken by Sebastian; now we somehow have moved on to his new little acquisition.”
Sky tensed.
“Let’s discuss Ethan.” Gideon turned to me. “How long have you been like this?”
I’d no reason to lie, yet. “Initially seven days, then we found a way to get rid of the ability. Unfortunately, it has returned.”
How we got rid of the ability was a can of worms I preferred to not open.
Mason spoke for the first time, drawing an eye roll from Abigail. “That’s not really answering the question, and since your life is on the line here, it will be to your advantage to give us more.”
Gideon gave Mason a dismissive look, but couldn’t prevent him from exercising his authority, temporary though it was.
Before he could continue, Marcia interjected, “We would like to know how you purged yourself of the ability. After all, we had tried for years, the elves have tried and the fae as well. Yet, the were-animals with access to a mediocre witch were able to.”
She threw Josh a smug look, baiting him. Marcia was in control now, steering us toward disaster. She wanted me to admit that we’d used the orb to remove the dark elf magic, which would reveal that we could manipulate the orb’s power—news that could turn the other factions against us. The only counter was to tell the truth—all of it. There were risks there as well.
While the room impatiently waited for my answer, I turned to Sebastian. He gave me his approval with the slightest of nods.
With some effort, I put on a casual smile. “Skylar, our new acquisition, as you put it, is a Moura Encantada. Most of you know what they are—if you don’t, she is responsible for guarding a protected object. She is the protector of the Aufero, which she had in her possession until yesterday. It was stolen from us and the spell reversed by Ethos. Before she had it in her possession, it was in Marcia’s. It is odd that she used it to punish the witches but not once decided to use it to help the elves from having to kill their own. That was our intention. We were fortunate to be able to practice on me, to perfect it. The reason Skylar didn’t have it in her possession before was because it was being hidden by dark magic. Now, I guess we should all consider how it was hidden by dark magic, by a witch.”
My smile widened as all eyes turned to Marcia. Her face flushed. Her narrowed gaze fixed on me.
Sebastian added, “If you all can’t see this, Marcia’s motives aren’t as pure as she would like us to believe. Last year, Demetrius’s Seethe and my pack were attacked by Ethos. His sole purpose was to control us, and the rest of you were expected to fall in line as a result of it. Now let’s think about what has occurred recently. Marcia had the Aufero, with the potential of removing the magic that makes dark elves lethal to us—she didn’t. Instead, she kept it hidden with the use of dark magic. Ethos has taken the Aufero from us and restored Ethan to the way he was, and now, we are here. My pack and I are depicted as having this Machiavellian plan. I ask you, who is the one whose behavior seems unscrupulous?”
Marcia snapped, “My actions aren’t in question here, it is their pack’s, and I hope you aren’t swayed. It would have been a bigger disservice to give false hope.”
Abigail said, “But you didn’t even do that, did you? You didn’t give an ounce of hope. Instead you kept this information to yourself.”
Marcia stared past Abigail to Gideon, who didn’t appreciate the slight on his sister.
“My sister asked a question,” he stated. “And when she does, you treat it as though it is coming from me or Mason.”
I thought Mason was going to choke on that declaration. He seemed about to rebuke Gideon, but thought better of it.
All eyes were on Marcia.
“I follow the rules. Adherence to the covenant has always been of utmost importance, not falsehoods and the hope of something that may never manifest. You all are being swept up in the little smoke screen that Sebastian and his group of rule breakers are putting before you. I am not the one who needs to be discussed, they are. We have a dark elf living among us, one who will not and cannot be controlled. What do we do? Do you trust Sebastian to handle the matter? Perhaps he will handle him in the same manner as he handles his new little acquisition.”
Sebastian straightened. “That’s doubtful, but maybe we should stop considering how I will treat Skylar and consider what you are willing to do to get your hands on the Aufero again. After all, you went as far as to have someone try to kill her, just so you could get it back. But was it motivated by your desire to make sure we no longer needed to contain the dark elves or your desire to have more control over the witches?”
Marcia’s heart thumped in her chest. Her breath quickened.
After consulting his sister, Gideon said, “I guess in this situation, we must consider him the responsibility of the elves, and if it was controlled before, I believe in good faith that Sebastian will handle it again.”
Sebastian nodded his approval.
Liam disagreed. “I have very little confidence in Sebastian or his ability to control the situation. Gideon, you are now showing exactly the essential differences in how you will rule, as a fool.”
He deflected the insult with a confident smile. After all, he had it on good authority that once he took power, circumstances would arise to trigger a civil war among the elves—Sebastian and Abigail would make certain. Liam and the Makellos didn’t stand a chance.
“This has gone on long enough,” Sebastian declared. “Frankly I am bored. You brought us here for a reason, Marcia, and I assume it was to vote on what will be done about this situation.”
Sky gave him a surprised look. I wondered if she thought we would howl and threaten to kill everyone to get our way. Strength was good, but sometimes power was politics.
Bernard and his guards approached, prepared to escort us from the room for the vote.
“We aren’t going anywhere,” Sebastian declared. “Any decision I make, I stand behind it. I will not do it behind someone’s back. If I decide you are going to die at my hands, I have no problem telling you to your face. I expect the same from you.”
Liam shot to his feet, leaning over his hands on the table. “I will not be threatened by the likes of you.”
“It’s not a threat. Simply, you are asking them to kill Ethan because of what he is. Yes, we have a covenant that I supported only because the dark elven magic wasn’t controlled, and it couldn’t be helped. And if this was the case here, I would have supported it as well. But it isn’t. It was controlled; Ethan hasn’t killed anyone accidentally. So you want him killed, we have every right to know who wants it.”
Demetrius casually remarked, “Everyone wants Ethan dead. The question remains should he die because of what he is? Stay, I have no problem with either of you knowing my vote or how I feel.”
