Broken, but Not Defeated

Chapter 42 (Caldina)

I watch as Juliana walks away from Prince Rowan. Sighing, I turn from the window. Trying to convince the Fae to fight with us would be like trying to convince a stone wall. The Fae were known for their impeccable skills at tracking, riding, and fighting. Many of my witches had lost their lives to Fae assassins. If humans thought that we were dangerous, a mad Fae was like a bull on a rampage. If they wanted someone dead, that person wouldn't survive three hours.

"Any luck?" Sienna asks, stepping in.

"None; they refuse to join. Besides, the Prince is a pig head."

"It seems to me that he has set his eyes on Juliana," Sienna remarks.

Just then I got a novel idea. "Sienna, please tell me you are thinking the same thing I am."

"Nope!" Sienna says in a confused voice.

"Sienna, go grab Juliana."

A few minutes later, Juliana and Sienna walk back into my room.

"You needed me, Caldina?" Juliana inquires, a tightness to her voice. I grab her shoulders.

"Don't kill me, but we really need the Fae's help in this battle. I need you to convince the Prince to fight with us."

"Who's the prince?" Juliana asks, confused.

"Prince Rowan," I explain..

"Oh, he didn't tell me he was a prince, " Juliana remarks.

"Now, that is a surprise. You would have thought with his ego, he would have told you," Sienna says with a laugh.

I look at her giving her a look, telling her to shut up.

"What it's true? Everyone knows about the Prince's ego. I bet you, he wouldn't even deny it. Ask Juliana, I'm sure she agrees with me."

"I do!" Juliana says, stepping away from me. "His ego is way too big. I'm even surprised he could fit in the palace with his ego."

I sigh. "You just missed the point entirely."

"No, I didn't. You said you wanted me to convince the prince."

"Good, I thought you were beginning to grow stupid on me." I say walking to the window.

"One tiny question."

"What?" I ask, looking at her.

"How exactly do you expect me to do that?" Juliana demands, laughing dryly.

"Your charm. You charmed Caldina into liking you somehow," Sienna says.

"You think that he is just going to forget that I hated him, like, literally two minutes ago?"

"Juliana, if we don't have the Fae's help to defeat my aunt, then there is no way we can win this."

"What am I supposed to do, huh?"

"As I said before, Caldina might be able to control fire, but her heart is an ice block. And you just happened to melt it. Believe me, it took me over five years to get her to actually smile. But you, my friend, did that in two days," Sienna encourages, wrapping her arm around Juliana. "Actually, you got every single one of us cold-hearted witches to like you. How did you do it?"

"Being myself, I guess," Juliana states.

"Perfect," I say. "Be yourself for the prince and we're good."

Juliana laughs with no humor. "Why me, why can't you have one of your witches do it?"

"Because for some odd reason, he likes you."

"Fine, I'll try it for a week, but if nothing happens, I'm going back to hating him."

"Good, because we only have a week's time."

"Bye, lover girl," Sienna says, waving as Juliana leaves. Then she turns on me. "So that was your brilliant plan? To send your sister to be food to the wolves? You're an idiot!" she exclaims before leaving quickly.

I sigh. "Mave, send for one of the Fae ambassadors."

"My lady, may I remind you that my people are not to be called for like dogs." Petro, one of the lower ambassadors says coming in. I looked up from the maps I had been pouring over.

"And need I remind you that your king gave me permission to ask you questions, did he not?" I say, baring my teeth. The ambassador's face slightly paled.

"Of course, my lady. Whatever you like."

I smirk to myself, Fae might be good, but it is very rare for one to possess enough power to take down one of the thirteen. Especially the leader.

"Good, I need you to send a letter to the king asking him to come."

"I'm sorry?"

I stand up. "I said, send a letter to your king, and either he comes here, or the prince, your fellow ambassadors, and you will be spending another week here. Got it? Now get out," I command, pointing to the door.

I have never seen Fae move so fast to get away from me. I chuckle as the door shuts behind him. Stupid Fae! If we didn't need them so badly I would have slit his throat. Sighing, for the third time in less than an hour—What is wrong with me?—I stand up and walk to the door. Ripping it open hard enough to practically rip the hinges off, I storm into the training arena. There I find a few different witches. Esta and some of the protegees are fighting in the middle. I didn't know she was training today.

"Esta!" I shout from behind the line of protegees waiting their turn to spar. Esta looks my way, which gives the younger witch enough time to launch herself at Esta.

"A bit busy!" Esta shouts, pushing the witch off her, and pinning the girl to the ground. "Why did you attack me?" she asks, her knife pinned to the girl's neck.

"Because you said that fights are never fair," the girl stutters between breaths.

"Good answer," I tell her, looking at Esta and raising my eyebrows.

"Want to show your little protegees what a real fight looks like?" I ask, stepping into the arena.

The young witch hurries out of the arena. Just as Esta starts to answer, I toss myself at her, sliding her feet from underneath her. She lands on her back.

"What was that?" she asks, struggling to her feet.

"Like the protegee said, 'A fight is never fair.' Now, again."

This time Esta attacks. Instead of fighting with knives, we use hand-to-hand combat.