I was floating.
The thought pierced the veil of black covering my senses, slowly dragging me out to consciousness.
I cracked my eyes open. The sky looked so blue and clear that it hurt. The air around my body was pleasantly warm, but as I floated upward, it became cooler.
I was floating upward. How weird was that? I wanted to turn my head, check if my mind was playing tricks on me. But I was too tired. I did see buildings in the distance around me, though. I was on level with their highest floor. Wow, I was actually flying.
Impressive, but I wanted to sleep more than I wanted to enjoy my brush with insanity. The pain started from my limbs and slowly crawled up my entire body. Oh, no. Not again. I just wanted to sleep.
A black dot in the sky, growing bigger. A helicopter? I was floating towards it. I really was going insane.
The noise increased as I approached. So damn loud. The noise and the pain just wouldn't let me take a damn nap.
The cold air became almost unbearable next to the flying machine, but it only lasted a few seconds as the helicopter hovered in place. Its door opened. I turned my head slightly, blinking lazily at the man who reached out and plucked me out of the air.
So warm.
Warm hands, a warm chest. And I realized I was naked.
"Go, go!" Arthur's voice ordered. He laid me down on something soft. A man I didn't know appeared in my line of sight. He shone a tiny torchlight in my eyes. I flinched and mumbled something about sleep.
Two big, warm hands held my head and tilted it to the side. Arthur.
Damn. He was still as good looking as I remembered.
"You idiot," he said through gritted teeth, though the lines of his face were in an expression I could only describe as concern. Oh, that's so cute. I had the urge to laugh.
Some prodding in my chest. I gasped at the pain.
"Sire, there are traces of silver in her system." A woman's voice said, as if from far away. Arthur looked up and mumbled something in a low voice.
"Anyone...hurt?" I said, or at least tried to. My voice was so raspy that I didn't know if he heard me at all. I only wanted to distract myself from the pain. My entire body was screaming at me, every single nerve was in suffering.
"No," Arthur replied, his hands still holding my head in place. "Only you."
"Ah..." I sighed in relief, now I could die in peace. Maybe I was already dead? hmm...
"Are you dead, too?" I asked Arthur, a crazy question but one that made sense in my muddied up mind.
"Stop talking nonsense." Arthur said, his eyes flicked upward when someone spoke. He nodded, removed one hand from my head to put an ice chip between my lips.
The cool liquid felt like soothing balm on my abused throat. More prodding all over my body.
"Arthur."
"Yes?"
"She's dead."
"She?"
"The demon... a female," I said. Understanding colored his expression and he nodded. I continued, "there were...humans...too."
"Alright," his fingers brushed something off my cheek. "Stop talking. Rest."
"I can't...feel...my... limbs."
He swallowed, his eyes glancing down my body. The flurry of activity around me never ceased as the helicopter flew.
"How bad... does it look?" I asked, barely holding onto the rope of consciousness.
"You look fine."
I smiled, "you're really... bad ...giving ...compliments."
My eyelids grew heavy as sleep pulled me under. Arthur's brown eyes warmed a little, the icy look gone as he whispered, "sleep, you'll be fine."
***
"...what are you going to do? The high council won't stay put for long. They'll want to see her sooner or later."
"She's in my territory."
"Still-"
"If anyone is giving trouble, Harvey, tell them to contact me personally."
"As you wish, Sire." silence, then, "The fact that she survived that explosion... It was a magnificent burst of power. The only way she would've survived that is if she was..."
"If she was the source of it."
"She's not just a normal human, is she?"
"No," a long pause, "she's not even a normal immortal."
***
"Come on, Irene," I knew that voice, it was usually cheerful and full of life. Unlike now. "You need some fresh air."
Irene. The name evoked a burst of warmth and spirited fire in my memory. But I couldn't focus enough to recall the face.
"The place is crawling with bastards who want to get their hands on her, Amanda. I'm not leaving her alone."
A sigh, "Arthur is not going to let anyone near her."
Mutinous silence. "What do they want with her, Amanda? The fae don't usually care about anything that doesn't concern them, why are they here? And the witches, what is going on?"
"It doesn't matter, Arthur will take care of it."
"Will she be fine? She looks..." A choked up sound.
"She will be just fine, sweetheart." Amanda said firmly, "She's strong, a fighter. She'll bounce back in no time at all."
***
This time around when I woke up, there was no pain waiting for me, no insufferable heat, no sharp teeth biting into my flesh. My heart still sped up, though, as if bracing for the hell I had been in.
It took all of my strength to crack my eyes open. A white ceiling. My body rested on a soft, warm surface. It smelled like disinfectant. I'd never stayed in a hospital, but I'd been in enough to recognize the distinctive scent.
The sound of the heart rate monitor in the background was comforting to a certain extent. So, I didn't die. Unless they had heart monitors in the afterlife.
I turned my head to the side. The fluffy pillow did nothing to dispel the headache that the simple move triggered.
Irene slumped on a chair next to the bed, her head lolled to the side and eyes closed. Dark circles and exhaustion marred her usually flawless skin. A fresh scar on her left cheek.
"You look like hell," I croaked out. My voice was a mere whisper, but Irene was a shapeshifter and she jumped up, eyes wide open, and approached the bed.
The concern never left her eyes, but she glared at me, "you're not one to talk."
She pressed the nurse call button on the wall, then gave me an ice chip. A memory of Arthur doing the same came to the forefront of my mind, along with snippets of conversation and faint memories of how I got here.
I looked down at my body, my arms and legs seemed to still be there. My arms were bandaged from my shoulder to the very tips of my fingers. My legs were under the blanket so I couldn't see them, but when I flexed my toes they moved.
"How bad?" I asked Irene.
"Considering I was expecting to find only your ashes, this isn't bad at all." Irene said lightly, but her expression was grim. I must look like hell. I wondered what my face looked like. The silver burns must be serious.
Right then, the door opened. A woman in a white doctor coat entered, followed by a nurse. Both were witches. The nurse, a brunette with large brown eyes and tawny skin, came to one side of the bed while the doctor took the other.
Irene moved back to lean against the wall while the medical staff probed and poked and took all sorts of measurements.
"Well, Miss Sanders," the doctor said, her skin pure, rich brown glinting under the light, "you're very lucky. Your legs and arms only need some rest and physiotherapy to get back to normal. The nerves were badly damaged and the silver in your system didn't help matters."
I sighed. Awesome. Now everyone was speaking as if my identity as an immortal was a fact of life. No more secret keeping for me.
The doctor's light brown eyes smiled at me,as if guessing my train of thought.
"The fact that you can heal as well as the rest of us, of course, was a great help. The silver burns will leave some scars which will take some time to fade. The wound in your chest, however, is surprisingly almost gone. It healed rather quickly."
"How long have I been unconscious?" I asked. The doctor put another ice chip between my lips.
"Almost two weeks." The two women continued their examinations of me for another ten minutes, then proceeded to change the bandages on my arms and legs.
Bile rose in my throat at the sight of my mangled arms. The skin hadn't yet closed around the places where the demon had bitten chunks of flesh off, but the muscle underneath had almost grown back fully. The burn scars on my wrists and ankles from the silver chains were healing into a pink color.
It didn't even look as bad as I expected, but the sight of my bare flesh brought back memories of the excruciating pain and the desperation that came with it.
I clenched my jaw hard against the assault of feelings, closed my eyes and leaned my head back. I didn't even want to see my legs.
After applying an ointment on my arms, legs, face and chest, they dressed the wounds again and left me with the instructions to drink as much liquid as I could.
"I feel like a mummy." I told Irene as she came to stand next to me. My entire arms and legs were bandaged. Irene snorted, but her eyes still hadn't lost the bleak look. "Is there a mirror around here?" I asked.
"There's a bathroom," Irene said, "You should wait-"
"I want to see."
Standing on my own two legs was embarrassingly difficult. I wasn't used to being this helpless and weak. I was dizzy and my muscles quivered from the effort it took to walk a few steps, even though Irene was holding most of my weight.
I dragged my I.V. drip to the bathroom with me. The small white space had a simple bathtub shower, a toilet and a sink with a mirror. I stopped by the mirror.
"Well," I blinked at my reflection, "at least the patterns are pretty."
Rivulet-like scars ran down my cheeks, chin and neck, then disappeared under the hospital gown down my chest. The lines were thin and light pink in color.
I never thought of myself as vain, but I would be lying if I said the sight didn't bother me at all. I tried opening the wrap around hospital gown, but my fingers were too shaky. I swallowed my frustration while Irene took over the task in silence.
The scar lines stretched down my chest in irregular patterns until they touched my breasts. The wound the demon made to get to my heart healed into a firework patterned scar, the skin surprisingly smooth when I touched it. Interesting. That was where the flames had broken free.
I was about to pass out by the time I reached the bed again. "How long was I gone before you found me?" I said breathlessly.
"Seventy hours." Irene pulled the covers over my legs after fixing the bed so I was sitting down rather than lying.
"Thank you," I said, "why do I feel so damn faint." I hated it.
"The silver," Irene replied, her back to me as she searched in her bag by the feet of the chair she'd been sleeping on, "they found large amounts of it in your system. They performed a few dialysis sessions, but couldn't get rid of it all." she turned to me with a sheathed knife. "That's why the doctor said you should drink as much as you can."
I took the knife she handed me with a smile, already feeling my spirit rise when the weight settled in my hands, "have I told you how much I love you?"
Irene grinned, "not today. We looked in the place where you've been, but there was no trace of your weapons. Well, there was no trace of anything, really. The flames turned everything to ash."
I nodded, stuffing the blade under my pillow. Irene crossed her arms, "so, are you going to tell me how in the world did you manage to get out of that explosion."
"Well," I sighed. Irene wasn't stupid. "I guess you already know. Everyone knows by this point." And I was in a shitload of trouble. "And 'explosion' is a bit of an exaggeration."
Irene scoffed, fished her phone out of her pocket. A minute later I was watching the video of the 'explosion', as she'd termed it. Someone was filming from above, the city down below was deserted.
"How much did Arthur evacuate?"
"The entire city." Irene replied. I paused the video and looked at her in surprise.
"The entire city?"
"Yep," Irene nodded with a smile, "when a powerful telekinetic wants things done, there's almost nothing that can stop him. He had the entire population evacuated in twenty four hours."
I shook my head, then went back to watch the video.
"Choppers were flying over the city the whole time, that's why they were able to catch that." Irene explained, right as an apartment building literally caved down on itself. It looked as if the building was being purposefully demolished. Then all the buildings in a couple of miles radius around it did the same. The chopper swayed unsteadily, the view of the video changed to the inside of the helicopter for a few seconds, the voices of the people in it loud, shocked and afraid.
The view went back to the city. All the buildings were flattened to the ground, but what made the person filming gasp was the way the rubble was moving and swaying like the surface of the sea during a violent storm.
"What the hell is happening?!" a man asked, his voice barely heard under the noise of the helicopter.
Then, as if the earth was swallowing it, the rubble started sinking slowly. Smoke rose out of the ground right as a burst of blinding blue light enveloped the entire area in one quiet sweep. The screen was a uniform bright blue. When it cleared again, beautiful blue flames danced in the wind, swallowing everything they touched. There was nothing visible beyond the sapphire fire. It burned vividly in the destroyed area, swallowing everything.
The chopper flew higher, and the camera encompassed the whole affected area in its view. The flames formed a circle, the heart of it was a blue so intense it hurt the eyes, and its edges slowly crawled farther and farther for a few minutes then they stopped advancing.
I swallowed. The perimeter of the fire was much, much larger than when I was fourteen. My magic had grown enormously in the span of eleven years. It also took a lot longer to burn out completely.
Once my magic flowed out, I couldn't stop it, I couldn't control it. Uncle Robert had guessed it was a side effect to the sealing spell that kept me "human". We had experienced with my magic when I was little. At the age of five, my magic would burn everything up to ten feet around me. At seven, it was fifty feet. At nine, it was seventy feet. Fortunately, during all our experiments, uncle Robert never stayed close by. Always overestimating my reach so he'd stay safe. However, at the age of ten, my reach expanded to three hundred feet, an exponential growth in one year, and uncle Robert was almost burned to a crisp. He'd been paying attention, though, and when he saw the flames growing stronger and not weaker at one hundred feet away from me, he ran for his life.
Ever since then, I refused to use my magic again. I didn't want to hurt him, and seeing the forest burned down to dirt always made me feel guilty. So I stopped.
Now, watching the video of the flames burning and showing no signs of dying down, the same feelings of guilt arose. All those buildings, they were people's homes, they had their belongings, memories that could never be recreated, their lives, and I burned everything down.
Irene took the phone from my limp hands.
"It continued to burn for about six hours, continuously." she sat down next to me on the bed, her eager, excited tone lighting up my mood. "We tried everything to put it out, fire extinguishers, water, sand. Arthur even called two elemental faeries from Europe, they arrived at the scene when the blue fire started showing signs of receding, but even then, they couldn't do anything. It was... amazing actually."
"Really? Amazing?" I arched my brow at her. She was way too excited by this.
"Yes!" she said, eyes alight with excitement, "this is cool! Not many people could say they outpowered an elemental! And you did!"
"How does it look now?" I asked, "the city?"
She fiddled with her phone some more then gave it to me. On it was the image of a giant crater.
"Two point two miles radius, fifty feet deep in the center." Irene said with obvious glee, "and you were in the center of it when the flames finally died down. Arthur took the chopper over the site despite the awful heat, he lifted you using his telekinesis- which is also awesome, by the way."
I sighed heavily, giving her back the phone. "I don't know why you're liking it this much, I just destroyed half the city."
Her eyes widened, she swiped the phone away from my hand, "are you kidding me, you're...you're... you're so freaking cool. To have that much power, I don't know if regular fae have this much power. So, what else can you do?"
"Alright, turn it down a notch, foxy."
she scowled, I continued, "who were the elementals Arthur called? Where are they from?"
That was more important to me than anything else right now. Anyone who had been near the site would be able to feel the strong traces of fae magic.
"A fire elementalist and a water elementalist." Irene frowned, "from Germany, I think."
So they weren't from Ireland. Though that didn't really matter. All the existing fae reported to Ireland, wherever they were in the world.
But if they'd lived in Germany for long enough, then perhaps they wouldn't recognize me. Uncle Robert had always said that except for my coloring, I looked like an exact replica of my mother.
"Are they still around?" I asked, picking up the hospital mug filled with water that the nurse left behind and taking deep sips through the straw.
"They're not, but-" her expression lost all its buoyancy.
"What is it?"
"Well, they left, but other people are -"
The door opened then. The air in the room changed drastically before he even stepped inside. That dark gaze found me first, its impact as arresting as I remembered.
He was pissed off, his quiet anger a rolling wave pushing against my senses and telling me to get out of this predator's way or grab the knife under my pillow to defend myself. Laughable, considering I couldn't even stand on my own.
Arthur's eyes shifted to Irene's, "Leave us," he ordered quietly.
She opened her mouth to protest, a flash of defiance in her eyes. I reached out and squeezed her hand. Arthur was in a mood. And whatever the case, we had to talk sooner or later. Of course, I would've preferred to speak with him at a time when I wasn't so weak. But I didn't really have a choice; I just wrecked half his city.
Irene walked out, closing the door quietly behind her. Arthur strode to the chair and sat down with his left ankle resting on his right knee. A very relaxed stance. He could've fooled me into thinking he was calm if his eyes didn't burn with well hidden irritation.
He didn't utter a word for two minutes, simply stared at me.
"I'm sorry," I said, "about the city."
"Mhm, it'll be back to normal in no time," his lips twitched up, "though it will bear your mark forever."
I winced, "the buildings?"
"Everyone affected will be generously compensated," he said, "that's not what I'm here to discuss."
"What is it?" I took another large gulp from my water.
"Some people are here to see you."
My entire body tensed. "Who?"
"A delegation from the high council of witchcraft," he paused, "and an envoy from the fae's royal court."
I took a deep breath and broke eye contact. This was bad. This was very bad. Arthur kept talking.
"Everyone knows you are Fae now," Arthur said, "the ripple of fae magic from the fire was too strong to contain, all the immortals around felt it."
And people like to talk. Gossip would've reached Europe in no time at all.
"What do they want from me?"
"I already told you that immortals value their offspring. The fact that you were taken from the immortal community, and the fact that there is no record of you, is not acceptable. Witches want to make sure you're not one of them, and the fae want to know who your parents are." he paused, "they'll probably want to take you back to Europe, to live among the fae."
Alarmed, I looked at him again. "They can't do that."
"Who will stop them?" Arthur said, speaking the harsh fact, "you're fae, you belong with them. The royal family doesn't like having a fae not loyal to them."
He was right, of course. The fae were not like other races. Ruled by the royal family based in the british isles, every single fae swears their loyalty to the royal line. A blood oath when the child is first born.
I, on the other hand, had no loyalty to them. No blood pledge. Although considering my blood, I wouldn't really need one. But that didn't matter. The fae wouldn't want one of them, especially one as strong as I was, out of their reach. And there was no one and nothing to stop them. Especially with how weak I currently was.
My heart started beating faster, my gaze flickering to the door. I was truly cornered, now. I couldn't even walk on my own, let alone escape a bunch of fae hell bent on taking me back. Except...
I looked at Arthur, "why am I not on the way to Europe?" because Arthur could've let them take me away anytime. It didn't matter that I was unconscious or injured.
The irritation flared in his eyes "Believe me, there were a few attempts to ignore my orders and take you without my consent. But it does not matter. You were under my protection."
"Were?"
He arched a brow, "you've been under a threat in my territory. I took you in under my protection, to my island. Then you were kidnapped and injured while fighting with my forces. Until you were conscious and healthy again, I was honor bound to keep you safe."
"And now?"
"Now, you're fair game. I can't keep them off you forever."
I narrowed my eyes at him, catching the calculative glint in his, "cut the crap Arthur. You can do whatever the hell you want. If you didn't want them in your territory, you wouldn't have allowed them in in the first place."
His lips stretched in a lazy smile.
"What's the catch?" I said, "you know I don't want to go anywhere near a fae. And you can make that happen, can't you?"
"I can," he scratched his jaw, the stubble had grown to a short beard, and the jet black strands of his hair grew into a wave that kissed his neck.
I wrenched my gaze away from his hair and glared at him, "but..."
"There's no but," he said, "the only way to keep the fae from taking you back is if I claimed you as mine."
He couldn't possibly mean ..., "yours as in..."
He grinned, teeth white and eyes full of mischief, "that's not what I meant. Not that I'm opposed to that idea. Maybe when you're healthy enough that you're not about to pass out after a little conversation."
Heat crawling up my neck, I kept scowling, "What did you mean?"
"I meant," he uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, elbows on his knees, "you'll swear your allegiance to me. Like Amanda, Like Irene. You'll be one of my people. If that happens, any attempt on you will be considered an attempt on me."
And no one, not even the fae, would want to incur the wrath of one of the Five. This looked to be the only way out. And Arthur, for some reason, wanted me to be one of his people. Because, let's be honest, he wouldn't have moved a finger to stop the fae if he really didn't care.
"Why do you care?" I asked him, "you could've just let them take me, it's not your problem anyway."
He cocked his head, "you have a weird way of showing your gratitude."
"Thank you for the offer, but it's not like you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart. What's in it for you?"
He laughed out loud, rich and deeply masculine, then shook his head, "ah, you are right, in a way. What I will gain is a very strong person in my ranks."
My mind was beginning to work normally again, "and it's an advantage if that person is fae."
He nodded, his smile still wide. "There's not many fae who aren't loyal to the royal line, none that I know of, actually. Having a fae on my side will be a great advantage, indeed."
"How long do I have? To think about this?" I asked.
"It's either yes or no, Elle. Once I walk out of this room the offer is off the table."
Asshole. He wanted me to make a decision now that I was vulnerable and the only viable choice was to accept his offer.
Ugh. Fine. It wasn't like I would find a better solution, anyway. "Fine." I said, my displeasure no doubt apparent.
Arthur nodded, "good, but I do want to know a few things first before I accept your plea."
Don't hit him. Don't hit him. Don't hit him.
I grinned. "Of course, your highness. What do you want to know?"
Amused, Arthur sprawled back on the chair. "What can you do? Most fae have elemental abilities. But the blue fire wasn't one, was it?"
I sighed, "I don't know. Elementals can yield regular fire. Mine isn't anything like that, as you know by now."
"Never tested your abilities?"
I shifted in my seat. He was ready to take me in, he deserved to know the risk. "Not really. Whenever I experienced with it in the past, it was like what happened. Once I let the flames out, I can't control them. They burn everything around me until the energy of my magic is depleted."
Arthur frowned thoughtfully, "you can't control it at all?"
"I can't."
"Mhm," he linked his hands in front of him, "alright. What else can you do?"
"Nothing, really," I cocked my head, "the blue fire is the only way I can use my magic."
Arthur was quiet for a long time, then he nodded, "very well. Now, tell me why you don't want to go to Europe. It will not be bad. In fact, I'm sure they will take good care of you."
"No." I said, "I won't tell you that. I can't."
"Elle, I need to know the risk I'm taking in."
I almost laughed. If he truly knew, my head would be unattached to my shoulders right now.
I shook my head. Arthur sighed, his jaw clenched and unclenched before he continued. "I know you're afraid someone will recognize you. Considering you've never been to Europe before, I assume you resemble someone there, you don't want to be linked to them."
I stared at him, hoping against hope my eyes weren't giving away the panic. He was spot on, damn him.
"Your parents?" he arched one arrogant brow, "who are you, Elle?"
"You don't need to know." I said, and because I knew he wouldn't drop the subject before he got something out of it, I added, "I can't tell you. But you have my word, if there ever comes a point in the future when that knowledge becomes necessary to ensure the safety of your people, I will tell you."
It was a promise I was willing to make, because no matter how bad I wanted to live, if my life meant putting others' at risk, it wasn't worth it.
I held his gaze for a long moment. Finally, he nodded.
"Very well. I will hold you to your word."