I clutched at my stomach and took a deep breath to fight the urge to vomit. A dizzy spell made my legs weak, and Luke gathered me up into his arms.
Luis approached Luke accusingly. "She's sick. I think you hurt her. Give her to me; I'll take care of her."
Luke refused to hand me over. "It was not my intention; I was trying to melt the surrounding ice. You had a block of it around you, and I am astonished that we all survived. The entire castle was freezing under this power."
I pushed on Luis's chest when he lunged forward. I didn't need him to start a battle with Luke. That would not get us out of this mess, and I was too sick to put up a fight.
My three banmuinen had returned to find the pandemonium in the dungeon. Beth approached Erick and laid a hand on his arm. "What happened?".
"We believe someone tried to assassinate Madeline from the outside, and her powers activated in self-preservation." Erick frowned down at her. "It's too dangerous down here, Beth. Go back upstairs."
She laid a hand on his cheek. "I want to stay here with you."
Erick glanced at me, and I stared at the floor as I tried to pull the shreds of my dignity together. This had to be the woman whom he betrayed me for. When I found out for sure... I'd... do something, that's for sure. I made a choking sound and leaned my head against Luke's shoulder. No use sticking myself with an old knife.
I felt a sudden flash of emotion like the release of doves at a magic show. Within me, I recognized the feeling as surprise. Luke was surprised that I'd sought comfort from him and I was surprised too.
"Are you certain about the attack, Luke?" Elsie asked. She'd come along beside Luke and me and was stroking my head. It felt nice. Elsie reminded me of a mom, and I was all for it.
"No, but I heard you upset Lady Emerlee, and she is an ice naga, one of the most powerful in the land." Erick was still easily touching Beth's back to direct her out. It made my mouth pucker with disgust. He glanced at me sharply and snatched his hands away from her as he looked at me with shock. Shock felt like ice cubes down my back, and I didn't like it. I found myself clinging more as I shivered.
"Let us go to the healer," Luke said, then he carried me up the stairs.
Once I was moving, relief spread through me. The thinning oxygen in the crowded, narrow dungeon had made me dizzier. Why did my mother have dungeons beneath the mansion, anyway? I puzzled over that until I remembered my grandfather had ordered my death as a baby. I guess dungeons were an excellent accessory for infanticide-wishing grandpas.
Luis supported my elbow as we exited the dungeon. Klick and Klack returned to my shoulders, and I was glad they hadn't been around during the mysterious event that connected me with five no.. seven people. I wouldn't have wanted this injured.
It attached me to the unlikeliest of seven men. If this were a reverse-harem novel, it would have attached me to men with swoon-worthy faces and abs galore. We'd do lots of smoldering together, and all run towards a perfect sunset arm in arm at the end. I lucked out with three platonic friends, one traitor, and a tyrant. Yay. Who knew what the other two were going to be like?
Luke gave them a narrow-eyed glance, but he shook his head and kept moving until he'd brought me to his study. The guards went back to their stations, and the banmuinen were asked to stay outside as there was no more room.
Luke put me into a chair, and I leaned forward as that helped with nausea. Soon enough, a healer came in and laid her hand on my back before tending to the rest of us. When she'd touched me, I flinched, worried that her touch might cause that weird chain reaction again. I was happy when all that happened was instant relief. She made to leave after she'd seen us all, but Luke stopped her.
"Fansa, do you see anything odd between Madeline and us?" he asked her.
She scrutinized all of us, then shook her head at Luke. "I see nothing unusual. Are you still feeling ill, Majesty?"
Luke sat down but made no move to make anyone else comfortable. So the rest of the group remained standing. He studied the thin roots between us, then shot me a relieved expression. At least no one else could see them.
"Thank you, Fansa. You may go."
When the healer had left, I said, "I guess this isn't part of the court thing?"
"No... I have no idea what this means." He shot a glance at Erick. "Or why he is involved. He was never intended to be part of your court."
"I had no intention to be caught up in this," Erick said as he wiped at the thread attaching him to me. It stayed stubbornly stuck. A smack of wet sponges went up against my senses. Erick was worried.
I felt a hollow disappointment that boiled into a question I didn't want to ask but had to, lest I burst. "Is that the one you betrayed me for, Erick?"
The silence crushed me and let me know the truth. Shame that felt like the chipping away of a precious statue filled Erick. That statue felt like my soul, and it hurt. It hurt.
"Wow." I barked a laugh as I rubbed at my heart. Feeling these emotions sucked.
"Hummingbird..." Erick began, using the childhood nickname he gave me.
"Don't." The nickname hurt worse than his actions.
"I have been promised to her since birth." Erick fixed his eyes on the pattern of the carpet. More shame. More hurt.
"You said you loved me. Liar." I crossed my arms. It was the day before my mother, and I ran to San Francisco. Erick had taken me to our secret glen, the one that caught some sunlight and allowed violets to grow in a thick circle. Among the violets and under an oak tree, he said he loved me. I gave him my first kiss.
Luis growled. I glanced at him and saw that he looked at Erick like he wanted to tear him to shreds. Same, Luis, same. His rage felt like shards of steel that cut into me. I flinched and held out a hand to my best friend. Comfort like a warm blanket enwrapping me soothed the pain of shame and rage from my psyche.
"I loved you. I love you. It's complicated." Erick looked away. More shame and it made me want to buckle underneath it. Luis's comfort turned to wet sponges that made things worse. I let him go.
I snorted at Erick as I tried to overcome all these conflicting sensations. "A cheater's excuse. Now I get why Beth's been so hostile. I thought it was because of Emerlee."
He had the grace not to defend himself. He just stared at me like he wanted to die. Despair emanated from him like boulders being stacked upon our link.
"So, what? Did she follow us or something? Did she go running back to mommy and daddy and tell her everything?" I sounded weary. The weight of his despair made it hard to keep my outrage.
He swallowed, "The geas.."
"The geas," I echoed. "Yeah. I see. So I'm assuming you were talking about Beth in the plane."
Erick looked down and said nothing. Bingo.
"That's messed up." Adrian put his hand on mine. "I'm only just getting over the fact that I wasn't crazy and you really are a girl, but shit, your life's been hell! And you're a prick!" He directed the last statement to Erick. He was angry, and though I appreciated it, the feeling of sandpaper rubbing that it brought was bringing about a monumental headache.
"Don't be so self-righteous, Adrian." Erick's abrupt laugh lacked humor. "You might have done the same if it meant your family would live." Despite his words, shame continued to batter me. Despair dropped more rocks.
"Leave Adrian alone. He's not the one who hurt me," I said. I closed my eyes and wished for my bed. My headache throbbed.
Erick paused and took a breath. "After everything, the Sidhe found us and attacked. Master Luke took me and made me his vassal. He blames me for the Brigid's death. My clan is in hiding... from Luke's punishment."
"They fled from their certain death, you mean. And now I know one has come looking for it..." Luke's voice trailed off as he picked up his cellphone and dialed a guard. "Arrest Beth." I could feel the rage emanating from him like stabbing knives. I wanted to sit down. If only they knew how much their anger affected me, but it didn't seem like they could feel it.
"I get to talk to her first," I said over Erick's cry of protest.
"Madeline," Erick whispered, his eyes begging me, "don't hurt her, please."
"Don't hurt her?" I laughed. "My mother is dead, Erick. You should be lucky I'm not the murdering kind."
"Don't get distracted, Matt. We have to talk about what happened in the dungeon. Anything else can wait." Luis said.
I flinched at his callous words. This was my mother we were talking about. My voice was edged with bitterness as I said, "You seem to know more about what happened than I do, Luis." I stared at him suspiciously.
Luis stared back at me with a challenging expression but said nothing. Annoyed, I sneered at him.
The phone rang and Luke answered it. When I learned of Beth's arrest, I felt a thread of malice curl within me. As it did, the roots became spikey, and everyone linked to me glanced at me, looking uncomfortable.
"What was that?" Adrian said, "It feels like acid mixed with oatmeal... jeez..."
My sharp glance speared him. "You felt that?"
He nodded as he rubbed his head. "Yeah. I've been feeling a lot of things. Making me feel ill, actually."
I nodded, and felt a little relieved. "Maybe we should all calm down a little. Maybe we need to cancel this party and just regroup?"
"Nothing can wait," Luke growled. "We must continue with everything as planned, including the party. Even with this turn of events, too much is at stake for the kingdom. I will post more guards outside since this was an attack. We must appear unfazed by their attempts. The world is still descending into an ice age, and Madeline is the key to that puzzle. We'll talk more about these roots tomorrow."
I rubbed my forehead as my headache reached samba level. "Can't we wait just one more day for everything? I'd like time to process."
"I'm afraid not. If I delay it, people will want to know why. The Counsul will hold an investigation and may decide to confine you to the Temple. They might even attempt to kill you because we tend to do away with things we don't understand in Lars."
"Great." I rubbed my head and Dominic came beside me and tried to help. Another warm blanket of comfort and I found myself leaning against him. Luis rubbed my shoulders, not even complaining that Dom was so close.
"Yes." Luke's tone was wry but his brow was creasing with concern.
I exhaled sharply. "All right. I get it. If the Counsul finds out about this connection between us, we're probably all dead." I blew out my breath in a tired stream. "Fine. I'd like to live."
"Can I say something?" Dominic was holding a hand to his heart and looking at me.
I scrunched my shoulders and gave Dominic a guilty nod. "Sure..."
"I don't even have words for what you've been through." He pressed his lips together. "I just want you to know; I decided that I don't care about you being what you are or about this." He waved at the root. "You're still Matt... and what I said to my dad in the restaurant hasn't changed." He smiled at me and affection floated around me like tufts of cotton candy.
My heart warmed, although I hadn't examined whether I felt the same about him. I smiled back, nonetheless.
"I don't know what to think, Matt..." Adrian shook his head. "This is a lot. I was trying to find you, but I wasn't ready for something like this."
"Sorry, Adrian."
"Yeah... not like you did it on purpose..." He lifted one side of his mouth into a half-smile. "Guess it will be hard for you to run away from me now." Surprising affection also floated from him.
I snorted, "Yeah."
"I don't like it. The sooner we're all separated, the better." Luis was glaring at the rest of the men in the room. His jealousy was like an oily sludge that dampened the tufts of affection within me.
"That's true, Luis." I exhaled. It was so weird feeling everything. "So, what do we do?"
"I will have to ensure no one tells tales. I will spell your banmuinen not to reveal any secrets, and we will have to find the other two persons attached to you. We'll have to study this and find out what this connection does between us." Luke said as he pondered our predicament. Then he asked the men in the room, "Do all of you gentlemen agree to be in her court?" Luke asked.
"I would be honored," Dominic sighed. He looked at me adoringly. "I'm just so happy to be here; you just don't know. I have been a fantasy addict since I was a child!"
Adrian shrugged. "I guess so. Hope I'm not sorry I said yes."
Luis nodded. Erick stared at the floor but nodded when Luke cleared his throat.
"I don't want him as part of my court." I faced Erick with a cold expression.
"We need to keep the seven links close to us until we find out why we're linked. Hopefully, we'll find the other two links before the ceremony. You must not remove any of your banmuinen. Doing so will tip-off those seeking to ruin us by proving that we are not in control. I ask that you allow this, Madeline."
Luke touched my arm, and I shook it off. It felt even weirder to have one of them touch me. The emotions flowed more strongly. While Luke had been carrying me, I felt like I was in a bed of them. I could only figure out the angry and worried ones at first. They felt like sandpaper and wet sponges in my psyche, but there were some other emotions I couldn't name mixed in. One felt like silk, and another like wisps of smoke.
"Fine," I growled. Since he'd asked with such conviction, maybe he knew best.
Luke addressed my friends and Erick. "Leave us; I need to speak to Madeline alone."
My friends started to protest, but I held up my hand, "It's fine. I'll come to talk to you all when we're done."
They left, and I felt their presence as they went up the stairs. I supposed I could pinpoint the other two if I tried, but I didn't try for the present.
Luke was staring at me, worried. I squirmed under the sensation, deciding worry was somehow even more uncomfortable than anger. "What!" I finally exclaimed.
"Your time with Erick was only a kiss?"
My brow raised. "Ye-es? Why?"
"Our goddess is a goddess of purity."
"She's not my Goddess."
"Be that as it may, there will be a purity test at the Becoming. "