Of Dreams and Sorcery (Royal Fae Guardians Book 1) Page 7

  Stryx, where are you?

  I missed my fluffy little friend. He’d know what to do with the information being given, yet he was nowhere to be found. He’d promised he would be here, and I was finding it harder to believe he was going to follow through as more time passed.

  I’ll be there soon. Quit acting like a baby.

  My eyes snapped open, and my head swiveled in every direction. “Stryx? Where are you?”

  I’m in Dásos, but I’ll be in Arvayta soon. Just be patient and quit yelling. It’s giving me a headache.

  Are you in my head? I whisper-yelled in my own mind, because this was the craziest thing I’d experienced thus far. As I paid more attention to the situation, a prodding sensation pressed down on my head each time he spoke.

  He sighed, like speaking with me was the last thing he wanted to be doing. Yes, Kaliah. I’ll explain more just as soon as I can. Give me a little bit longer to sort some things out. I promise, it will be worth it.

  The pressure released from my head and I knew he’d left. How he even got in my head in the first place was beyond me. Though it was creepy, it was also convenient. Hearing from him did give me some peace.

  Moving to the edge of the balcony, I glanced around the property until I felt like my heart rate had calmed enough to go back and finish the conversation with the others.

  Stryx was exaggerating by saying I’d been acting like a child. Sure, I could have worded things better, and I did feel bad about blaming my parents for my lack of being prepared for this world. They had been given difficult options, and since I’d never been a mom, I couldn’t say I would have made different choices. Regardless, my feelings weren’t going to change, and I needed to make sure not to roll over and do as I was told just because I was new to the place.

  Arvayta was a complicated world, and I was worried it was going to take me years to figure out. We didn’t have the luxury of me taking my sweet time with it. I knew my parents had promised some down time before I was thrust into training, but it was no longer an option we could afford.

  Deciding it was time we made a plan that included me being involved, I headed back downstairs, but as the voices drifted up to me, I slowed my pace and listened in.

  “You guys can’t keep this from her. It’s not fair to take advantage of her ignorance. Plus, you know who’s going to pay the biggest price for it? Me. She’ll kick my ass for not telling her, and I don’t call her Chuck Norris for no reason. I know she really can,” Jordan said, and my heart warmed a little. She really did love me.

  And because I was super curious as to what secrets they were still keeping, I stopped moving down the stairs and waited for someone to respond.

  “We know, Jordan, but it’s not only up to us,” Mom said. “Ryland has to decide as well.”

  Nothing but silence followed, and my curiosity was piqued at what Ryland might have to do with this big secret.

  “Well, Ryland. What are you going to do?” Jordan pushed.

  “Not a damn thing. We don’t have time for this right now. We can deal with it after we hunt down Alaryk. You of all people should understand that a mission will always come before anything else,” Ryland answered.

  “Ah, I see. You’re afraid. That’s okay, because you’re right. I do understand, but at least I had tried. There’s a huge difference here, though, and you know it. James wasn’t my Meraki. Yes, I loved him, but I wasn’t bound to him. He wasn’t my soulmate. We both knew the risks and took them anyway.

  “You, on the other hand, are denying your soul the very thing it wants most in this world and causing me to omit extremely important information from my best friend. Now, man up and deal with it or you’re more liable to cost us this mission than you are to save the day.”

  “I remember a time when I was your best friend, too,” he grumbled.

  “You still are, or I wouldn’t be saying anything at all right now and keeping your secrets,” Jordan responded and then my parents changed the subject, but I didn’t comprehend anything after that.

  Jordan had said the words “Meraki” and “soulmate”, and she was talking about me. Correction, me and Ryland. What in the world did Meraki mean, and why would she think Ryland was my soulmate? If I had some connection to him, wouldn’t I have known it?

  Sure, I thought he was hot when I first met him, but that didn’t mean anything. There was no possible way my attraction was more than that, and I was going to prove it.

  After taking a deep breath, I decided I wasn’t going to say anything. It was a secret I’d let them think they were keeping for the time being, because if Ryland was actually right—if there was something between us that somehow I wasn’t aware of—then it didn’t need to be discussed until my life and the lives of others weren’t in danger.

  Strolling into the room, I put on my best poker face and took my seat again. “Sorry about that. I just needed some air.”

  Mom reached for me. “It’s quite alright, dear. Do you feel better now?”

  “Yep. Better than ever before. So, I was thinking upstairs, I don’t want to wait. I think I should begin my training as soon as possible. How do we make that happen?”

  Ryland pushed away from the table. “We don’t make anything happen. I’m in charge of your schedule, and I’m busy tomorrow. It will begin as previously scheduled.”

  Okay, being quiet about what I’d overheard was not going to happen if he insisted on acting like a jerk. Even though I knew stooping to his level didn’t make me any better than him, I didn’t give a crap in the moment.

  “Listen, Ryland. I don’t care who you are to my parents, to Arvayta, or even to me with whatever this Meraki thing is. I realize I don’t know everything I should, but I’m willing to learn, and if you don’t want to be the person tasked to help me, then go away instead of making things harder.”

  His eyes widened for a split second before he glared at Jordan. “This is your fault.”

  Snapping my fingers, I brought his attention back to me. “No, this is your fault for acting like you’re better than me.”

  My eyes held his as emotions within me warred. Ryland infuriated me like nobody had before, and that was saying something considering my best friend was Jordan.

  “Fine. I’ll be here tomorrow morning at five. Be ready or I’ll get you ready myself.” Then, he stormed off and I couldn’t help but smirk.

  His irritation only fueled me to be better than he thought I could be. Ryland was going to learn really fast that just because I didn’t know everything about Arvayta, it didn’t mean I wasn’t capable of being a badass guardian who could protect herself from a psychotic fae.

  Or so I hoped.

  Chapter Ten

  Jordan apologized a million and one times after the brief argument with Ryland, but I didn’t really want to talk about it. Instead, I went back to the guest house and headed straight for the stack of books I’d grabbed earlier in the day.

  After picking through my horde, I focused on the ones that I thought would give me the most information about whatever Meraki meant. Once I had books in hand, I got comfy on the couch and prepared to read for as long as it took to make sense of the conversation I’d just had.

  Of course, I could have asked my mom or Jordan to explain it, but I didn’t want the guarded version of anything. I needed facts, and considering they hadn’t wanted to tell me in the first place, I wasn’t sure they’d be truthful about what I needed to know.

  This surprised me, because Jordan was normally brutally honest, but apparently, that ended with all things Arvayta. I missed Stryx even more and went as far as yelling at him in my head like a crazy person, but I hadn’t received any words back since our initial conversation.

  After staying up for most of the night, I learned a lot of things I wasn’t happy with but tried my best to accept. First, Meraki was another word for soulmate, a predestined match by the Fates that watched over our worlds. And second, there was nothing I could do to change who my Meraki was.

&nbs
p; I either accepted him or I would never have a soulmate, meaning I had two options: be a lonely spinster for the rest of my extremely long life or deal with him and hope for the best. Unfortunately, those options were only viable pending what Ryland truly thought about the whole situation.

  From what I’d observed so far, he wasn’t happy about it, nor did he seem willing to attempt to make anything work, so maybe it was option one for me, regardless. In a way, that devastated me.

  As an avid reader, romance was my jam. I loved love. Dreaming of having my own happily-ever-after happened on more occasions than I cared to admit, but maybe my knight in shining armor was merely a lonely man dressed in tinfoil and not everything the stories made him out to be.

  By the time I’d groggily gotten up, the sun hadn’t even risen, but I had a renewed determination within me. It didn’t matter what Ryland thought about me, or if he was utterly depressed to have been saddled with a Meraki. We had things to do, and feelings aside, I would make sure they got done.

  Jordan wasn’t up yet when I snuck out of the house at four, but I left a note for her and one on the door for cranky pants in case he actually showed. After learning as much as I could in the books that I’d devoured just a few hours before, I’d decided I could teach myself a few things, beginning with porting.

  Closing my eyes, I pictured the training field Jordan had shown me the prior day and tried to summon the magic within me. Flutters erupted in my stomach, but when my eyes opened, I was still shivering in front of the guest house.

  The next time I tried, I kept my eyes open and saw when my arms began to disappear, but when I got excited, they solidified once more. I didn’t have time to waste and knew there were other things I could work on, so I began jogging to the fields.

  When I reached town, I was completely warmed up and feeling better about my stamina than ever before. Picking up speed, I reached the fountain and dipped both hands into the cool water. There was a momentary boost of power within me, and I decided it was now or never to try porting again.

  Keeping my concentration on point, I conjured an image of the field. Within seconds, I was standing on the grassy knoll.

  “Yes!” I shouted, then immediately covered my mouth in case anyone else was psycho enough to be out there before five in the morning.

  I glanced around and didn’t see anyone, so I continued toward the track. Even though I’d run most of the way to the field, I still wanted to do a couple of laps before trying to draw out my magic. My hope was that I could show Ryland I was perfectly capable of becoming an Arvaytan Guardian and wasn’t some helpless fae princess.

  Before I could make it halfway around the track, Ryland appeared at my side. “Pull your shoulders back, so you’re standing tall, and breathe through your mouth instead of your nose.” He was running next to me as if he’d been there the entire time.

  Instead of responding, I followed his instructions, and surprisingly found my chest feeling lighter at the small adjustments. Maybe Ryland was more of a morning person and training with him wouldn’t be so bad.

  “Now, head into the building. It’s time to show you what happens when you don’t wait for your trainer to begin.”

  Or maybe he was still a jerk.

  With a sigh, I did as he said, because at the end of the day, I knew my parents wouldn’t have let him be assigned to the group of people responsible for getting me up to speed if he wasn’t among the best. Just because I didn’t like him, didn’t mean I wouldn’t listen to him.

  Well, most of the time.

  “When will Jordan and Oliver be here? Or will I be learning from each of you at different times?” I asked, hoping we could find some sort of common ground and not grate on each other’s nerves the entire time.

  “Jordan will be here when she feels like and Oliver should be around shortly. I dumped a bucket of cold water on him before I left the house, so I know he’s awake.” He didn’t even crack a smile, which gave me less hope he had any sense of humor.

  It was disappointing, mostly because I still found myself attracted to him; even the tick in his square jaw caught my attention. Though, it was likely only because of the Meraki bond. I just needed to do my best to ignore it until we had a chance to talk about our predicament like adults, which didn’t seem like it would be anytime soon.

  For the next hour, I worked my ass off trying to access my magic until I couldn’t stand anymore and asked for a break, which was denied.

  “You can rest as soon as you’re able to show me your magic,” Ryland retorted after my complaints.

  “I’m doing everything exactly how you demanded. Maybe you just have no idea what you’re doing, and I need a different trainer.”

  “Listen, Princess, I know exactly what I’m doing, and I’m trying my best to believe the Fates weren’t wrong about all this, which is the only reason I’m still standing here. So, get it together and show me you’re more than a pampered heir to a throne that no longer exists.”

  My teeth ground together at how badly I wanted to take his words and shove them so far down his throat he was crapping them out for a month. Instead, I took his challenge and decided to show him the only way I knew how to connect with my magic.

  Walking away from him, I headed for the drinking fountain at the wall.

  “Don’t walk away when we’re in the middle of training. Giving up isn’t an option,” he yelled, but I ignored him as I took a long pull of cold liquid.

  Thankfully, my assumption was right that the water would be drawn directly from the falls, because I could feel the effects as soon as I drank it. The same as when I had taken a shower the night before and when I touched the fountain in order to port to the training field.

  Something was broken within me, but I wouldn’t let it beat me. I’d take whatever broken pieces I could and use them to build something great, because that was what strong women did, and I refused to be weak.

  When I had inhaled as much water as I could without fear of throwing it up, I turned back to Ryland. His normally tanned face was beet red while his hands fisted at his sides.

  Grinning, I thoroughly enjoyed pushing his buttons and I was going to see just how far he’d let me before he retaliated. Recalling the books that I’d read the night before, I drew on the power I’d gathered from drinking the water and called it toward my hand. As I felt the magic build, I tucked my hands behind my back and waited to see if Ryland would do anything about my insubordination.

  Just when he was about to open his mouth, I shook my head. “I’d choose those words very carefully.”

  “Why? What could you possibly do to me?” He glared, and I decided it was time to show him.

  While pulling my hand forward, I focused on Ryland’s face as it transformed from confused, to shocked, ending with fury as the magic I’d balled into an orb within my hand slammed into his shoulder.

  I’d read that fae magic was all about intention and didn’t need spells like witch magic, just power and thoughts. So, when I began creating the orb, I thought about how I wanted it to sting but must have put a little too much weight into that particular word.

  “What the hell did you do to me?” Ryland began pounding his fist against his shoulder, then ripped his shirt off.

  When I stepped closer, I realized there were tiny red dots all over where my orb had hit. Apparently, magic was very literal, and it appeared as if Ryland had been stung by a hundred bees. Regret filtered through me, but I wasn’t sure how to fix what I’d done.

  The door flew open before Ryland could retaliate and in came Oliver, followed by my feathered friend. I ran toward the middle of the gym and lifted my arm for Stryx to land on. When he did, I pulled him close before growling in his ear.

  “Took you long enough to show.”

  He snapped his beak at me. “Not now. Let’s go see what you did to Ryland, so I can make you fix it.”

  My face twisted. “Before you see what I did, just know it wasn’t what I was going for. You have no idea what’s
been happening.”

  His wing came up and pressed against my head. “Actually, I have a pretty good idea. Your thoughts are still very loud.”

  Ugh. I wondered if I was ever going to get used to having him in my head all day, every day.

  “No, you’re not, but you’ll get over it when I turn you into a magic fighting machine,” he said, replying to my unspoken thoughts. “Now, take me to Ryland.”

  Bossy freaking owl.

  Oliver was laughing so hard, I decided it was good for us to go back anyway. It definitely had nothing to do with the beady owl eyes glaring at me until I began moving. When we got closer, I could hear the labored breathing of Ryland between the hiccups coming from Oliver and actually got a little worried I’d done some serious damage.

  “That was a low blow hitting me with bee stings. Did Jordan tell you I was mildly allergic?” he tried to snap at me, but his mouth was already starting to swell, and the words were hardly understandable.

  Before I could answer, Stryx landed on my shoulder and butted in. “You’re going to fix this, Kaliah. Your magic, your responsibility.”

  “Well, I’d love to say I could right this very moment, but I need to get another drink before I attempt it.”

  His head swiveled. “Not with me here. Search within you and you’ll find your power is just a bit stronger with me around.”

  My brow pinched as I turned to face him. “Another thing you failed to tell me?”

  “Possibly. Now focus before Ryland goes into anaphylactic shock.”

  Shaking my head, I closed my eyes and did as Stryx asked, focusing on healing magic instead of harmful. When the well of power flowed through me stronger than ever before, I knew my little owl had quite a bit of explaining to do.

  I walked closer to Ryland and pressed my palm into his shoulder, but immediately yanked it back when my hand was burned.