into the house minutes after our arrival, looking exhausted and pale, but also relieved. The human called Gabriel would not only survive, but might also regain his ability to speak due to her diligent ministrations. I had a feeling the news would go a long way toward calming the Fire Starter’s frazzled nerves, but her temper would not be under tight rein again until we finally took care of Aurora.
With protective spells in place, we all settled into our respective sleeping spots an hour before dawn, but sleep would not come. I lay with Rowe’s arm possessively thrown across my stomach, his soft snoring rumbling in my ear. However, my own rush of thoughts kept me awake. I knew what we were planning would never be enough if we hoped to defeat Aurora. Something else needed to be done if Cynnia, Rowe, and so many others were going to survive the coming days and nights.
Using a spell to deepen Rowe’s sleep, I slipped away from him and out of the house without disturbing the protective spells or alerting anyone to my exodus. With a sigh on my lips, I took to the sky with my wings spread wide on the breeze I had conjured up. The feeling of flying free above the earth, even as the sun rose behind me, was exhilarating. For just a brief moment in time I felt free of the burdens that had been weighing on my shoulders during the past several months. There was only me and the soft caress of the wind blessed by the Great Mother.
Yet, as I drew closer to Aurora, I knew it all was an illusion. The weight was still there and growing heavier by the second as I approached her camp. I didn’t know her exact location, but then I only needed to step into the perimeter of her camp and her guards would pick me up and take me to the demented queen. I hated not telling Cynnia or Rowe about my plans, but I knew that neither would have let me out of the house if I’d revealed my intentions.
I circled the clearing once before bringing in my wings enough to glide down to the earth. My feet had barely sunk into the soft soil when a harsh voice ordered me to halt. I raised both of my hands, palms out, to show that I was unarmed. I extended my wings as far as they would reach on either side of me, keeping myself vulnerable. I was surrounded by six naturi, all of whom had weapons trained on me.
“I’ve come to speak with Aurora,” I announced in a loud voice, so it carried to the other guards, who were waiting in the shadows of the forest. A low murmur of conversation drifted through the trees like a breeze whispering through the leaves.
“Her Majesty has nothing to say to you, traitor,” barked one of the naturi. “She simply wants you dead along with your traitorous sister.”
“She’ll meet with me. Just ask her,” I said, my voice full of confidence.
The murmur of conversation resumed as they weighed my words. I’d been banking on their hesitance to kill the one person who had led them through the centuries. Once Rowe had been trapped outside the cage, I became the captain and commander of Aurora’s armed forces. They were accustomed to following my orders.
“Besides, wouldn’t she rather see me killed in person than hear about it later?” I asked. This new incentive was enough to get one naturi ordered back to Aurora’s camp for orders. I was a dangerous creature in my own right, and they were more than a little wary of bringing me within their safe haven.
Slowly lowering my hands while wrapping my wings around my shoulders, I sat on the ground and crossed my legs as we all waited to hear what Aurora wanted. The five naturi that stepped out of the woods upon my landing edged closer. Wrist crossbows, short swords, and bows and arrows were trained on me, ready to be loosed if I so much as breathed too deeply.
While I didn’t come to Aurora’s camp unarmed, I was careful to keep my weapons limited to a couple small daggers concealed on my person. I was secretly hoping they would forget to search me—I might need to fight my way out of Aurora’s camp before this meeting was over.
After several minutes, two naturi returned to the clearing, including one I’d rather not have seen.
Greenwood was tall and lanky, his long brown hair flecked with gray. His face was slashed with wrinkles, as if worn by exposure to the elements. The earth clan did not age gracefully, but remained long-lived and spry despite their appearance. Greenwood had always been upset that Rowe was chosen to be Aurora’s consort over him. He had both age and experience over the wind clan member. However, Rowe’s ruthless grace had appealed to Aurora at the time. Now it seemed that Greenwood was finally getting his shot.
“I’m surprised you came,” he said, opening with a soft chuckle. “You were always a careful strategist, taking only calculated risks that were in your favor to win. Surely you realize you’re not leaving this camp alive, even if you are permitted an audience with Aurora.”
“I did not come to speak with you, Greenwood. The earth clan and your play at politics are of no interest to me. Take me to Aurora. She will want to hear what I have to say.”
Greenwood took a wary step backward as I rose, eyeing me with a new caution. I showed no fear despite the fact that my heart was pounding like a thing gone mad in my chest, and my stomach was twisting into knots. Six naturi surrounded me in the immediate vicinity, but I could sense another dozen waiting in the shadows of the trees. I didn’t have much of a chance against these odds. Even if I took straight to the sky, there was a good chance they would shoot me down before I got far. But given my reputation, the naturi watching me now were afraid to be the first to strike. I had to use that fear to my advantage.
After a long silence, Greenwood let out a low chuckle that sounded strained and forced to my ears. “Lose the wings and let us bind your hands, then I will have you escorted to Aurora so she can see you killed in person. I’m sure that would bring her some pleasure. Wouldn’t it be a great triumph to carry your head on a pike into battle so it is the first thing Cynnia sees as she faces us?”
I said nothing, focusing on causing my wings to dissolve into black sand that poured like a waterfall down my back to the ground. Putting my hands together in front of me, I kept my face perfectly blank as one pale naturi stepped forward and roughly bound my wrists behind my back with a thick piece of rope. At the same time, a second naturi stepped forward and patted me down, removing my two knives.
The naturi that bound my hands gave me a hard kick that sent me stumbling forward. “Get moving,” he ordered with a laugh.
The walk to Aurora’s camp was one of the longest in my entire memory. It seemed as if all the naturi that rallied around her banner had come out to see me, jeering, spitting, and stabbing me. While most of the wounds were relatively superficial in nature, I was bruised, bloody, and covered in dirt when I was finally brought to Aurora’s pristine white tent. Beside it, there was a somewhat less grand green tent, most likely Greenwood’s. It was somewhat reassuring that they were maintaining separate residences for now. If I knew Aurora as well as I thought I did, I suspected she was waiting for him to deliver both Cynnia and me to her feet dead before finally taking him as her consort.
As I came within a dozen feet of the tent, the two sides were parted and Aurora stepped out. It seemed as if a shaft of golden light shot through the trees to shine on her beautiful blond hair and pale skin. She shone before me like a fallen star or a ray of perfect sunlight on a cloudy day. She wore her usual white robes, but now with a breastplate made of polished, gleaming gold. I knew, however, it was merely a ceremonial piece in an effort to more closely align herself with the army that she would soon order to their death.
My older sister looked down on me and smiled smugly. She didn’t care that she would never have been able to accomplish this if I hadn’t willingly turned myself over to her. Her only care was that she had me bound and battered, striking a blow against the traitors rising up against her.
“The first of the traitors has come to meet their fate!” she exclaimed to the crowd that had gathered before her. A loud cheer went up, causing the tree limbs to tremble. A shiver ran through me as I listened to those bloodthirsty voices. It sounded as if she had acquired a greater army than I initially thought she would. I knew all the naturi would not flock to her side. Some had rallied around Cynnia’s banner, while another group remained as far from the two sides as they could, hoping to remain unnoticed until the fighting finally blew over.
“I’ve come to talk,” I sharply said as the cheering died down.
“You lost the opportunity to talk your way out of your execution a long time ago,” Aurora smirked at me.
“You never gave me that opportunity. You proclaimed me to be a traitor and then ordered my execution before I could plead my case to you,” I growled, taking a step forward. As I did, a pair of swords points dug were pointed at my throat, keeping me from moving any closer. “But I’ve not come to plead for mercy from you. I’ve come to offer you a chance at preserving your own life. It will be your one and only chance. I wouldn’t turn my back on it.”
“My life?” Aurora laughed, tossing her blond locks away from her face. “If you’ve not figured it out by now, we are the ones that are going to destroy Cynnia and her little army. We are the ones that are going to restore order to
