Inevitably Yours

QUINN

The sun was still out. Certainly, we had been here at least a day by the time Arathorn returned. I knew it only benefited us if I were compliant, so I offered my hands to be tied again before Arathorn could ask. Surprisingly, he declined. I didn’t bother hiding my surprise. But he didn’t let Michael come with me, and I was scared.

I had no idea what these trials would be, but they seemed less doable without Michael by my side. I could feel his love pulsing through our mate bond, and I tried to return my own. At this point, it seemed we couldn’t link with each other.

As we exited the stables, I heard a deafening roar. I knew that sound; that was Eros. Sapphire whimpered.

“M, please don’t do anything stupid,” I silently begged him. Letting Eros out was a bad idea; they could think he was a threat.

“Did you not have a device on your face previously?” Arathorn broke the silence as we walked, ignoring the sound of my mate behind us. I reached up and touched under my eyes. Where were my glasses? Why could I see?

“I lost my glasses,” I muttered, confused.

“No matter. You shouldn’t need your contraptions here,” he said.

He was right. I hadn’t even noticed my glasses were gone because I could see perfectly without them. I snuck a peek at Arathorn as we walked. We weren’t headed inside but further away from the palace. Arathorn had changed clothes, but they were of a similar style to the others he had worn previously. I was having difficulty figuring him out, but I wasn’t brave enough to question him. He wouldn’t be on my side anyway, so he was unlikely to tell me anything.

“Survival tip,” Arathorn said. “You may want to tell your face not to broadcast every thought or emotion you have.” He looked sideways at me. “The tall one is much better at it, although he only shows his anger.”

“You took us from our home, our children. Of course, he is angry….” I mumbled, looking away from the Fae.

“I only followed my orders, I assure you, and I actually received an earful thanks to your little bargaining to bring that brute with you instead of the halflings you created,” he complained.

“You mean my pups, right? They are just wolves,” I told him. I pulled my sweater tighter around me and crossed my arms. “I told you already. I don’t make anything happen, it just does, and it’s nothing special. I know when my kids lie about who broke something. And when people eat something I cook, they seem to feel better.”

“We will see the extent of your… Power in the trials,” he said in what sounded to me like a mocking tone. Arathorn confused me. Sometimes he seemed disgusted at my existence, but other times he acted like he was only following orders and didn’t want to bring us here. I guessed they weren’t mutually exclusive feelings.

“We have to survive this and get back to mate,” Sapphire whined. Being cut off from Michael and Eros was taking a toll on her, and I wasn’t doing much better.

“Thank you,” I managed to get out. It almost stuck in my throat. I hated this Arathorn for tearing my family apart, but I needed any amount of goodwill I could get from him.

“For what?” he asked with an amused air.

“For taking my mate instead of my kids and me. They didn’t deserve this, and I know it caused you trouble. So… thank you,” I replied.

“Think nothing of it,” he said dismissively, but I could see the hint of a smile on his face for the first time.

We walked in silence the rest of the way. Soon, I saw a new building in the distance. It was a tower with nothing else around it, and as we grew closer, it appeared to have no entrance. It was smooth and looked like obsidian. There was no path or any indication of how to enter it. I looked up at Arathorn in confusion, but he just continued walking towards the structure as if it were somewhere he went daily.

The closer we became, the more massive the structure looked until, finally, we were only a few feet away from the base. Arathorn kept the same pace, walking towards the seemingly stone wall as if it weren’t there. Afraid I was going to crash right into the tower, I started slowing. Arathorn grabbed behind my elbow and pulled me after him, and to my surprise, we walked right through without harm. As we crossed through to the other side, he let me go.

“How did-” I began to stutter.

“You must have permission to enter this tower, and I gave it to you. Otherwise, you would have broken much of your face on the wall outside,” he replied simply.

“Why didn’t you tell me first?” I asked in exasperation.

He made a derisive noise in his throat as if this was common sense, so I let it go.

I looked around, and the inside of the tower far exceeded its apparent diameter from the outside. Fae bustled around as if they were busy, although about half were staring off into space as if they were contemplating the meaning of the universe. I must have been staring around too obviously because Arathorn decided to explain lazily.

“This is a place of research,” he said simply. “Here, they study the type of magic you will be tested in using in the first trial. They have a room built for the purpose.”

That must have been as much as he felt like explaining because I got nothing further from him. Still, it was more than I was expecting. I felt a cold chill rip right through the clothes I’d managed to get into before we were kidnapped, and a shiver ran down my spine. I was glad the rogues gave us a warning because I would have been pulled through the streets naked if things had continued progressing in bed with Michael.

We stopped at a cylinder the same color as the outside of the tower, again with no break in its smooth surface. He watched it as if he was waiting on something, then walked into what I now assumed was magical stone. This time, I carefully followed my captor, and when I stepped through, it was into an elevator of sorts. It took us upward, and I realized I could surprisingly see everything around us through the cylinder. From the inside, it looked like glass, tinted black. The floor we started on disappeared, and I watched countless more flash by. Whatever spatial magic they were using was incredible. I wished they didn’t see us as less than them. I could be learning here how to use my magic to make life better for the pack instead.

“Do try to keep up,” Arathorn drawled. He’d already stepped out as I was lost in thought. I rushed after him until he stopped at the end of a long hallway stretching from the elevator at the only door within it.

“Come along,” he chided, walking through. As I stepped into the room, I saw the king regally sitting to the left, the bored look on his face even worse than before. To the right, a small representation of the Fae who had been on both sides of our fate was seated. The woman who advocated for the trials smiled at me warmly but quickly looked away. I assumed it was bad form to look at me positively in any way; still, I appreciated having some form of an ally among them. Arathorn led me to the center of the room and had me kneel at what looked like an altar of some sort.

“Mortal, you will be tested in the skill of reality manipulation for your first trial,” Arathorn announced.

“I don’t know what that is,” I tried to whisper, but he ignored me.

“Is my king ready to witness the first trial?” Arathorn asked, turning towards their monarch.

“Sure, whatever. Do that,” he said, his mind clearly not there.

“This Celestial damned obsession with Elvinia has to stop,” he muttered under his breath. I didn’t know if I was supposed to hear it, but I did. “Completely absent even when he’s present.”

“You may begin the first trial,” Arathorn directed. Suddenly, the room was plunged into total darkness. All I could see was the altar before me, and everything else was gone.

A small clear orb appeared. I reached out to touch it, and a vibrant blue smoke began to swirl within it.

“What color do you see?” Arathorn’s bored voice asked from all around me. I couldn’t tell where anyone was, and I started to wonder if I had been sent somewhere else in the darkness.

“Blue,” I answered honestly.

I heard a gasp from all around me. It sounded like the nice Fae woman. Then I heard muffled buzzing like the assembled Fae were in a heated, whispered argument.

“That is… unfortunate,” Arathorn muttered. The blue orb vanished, and a cloth covered something replaced it. When I removed the fabric, I found solid balls of about the same size as the orb. They were all obsidian like the tower.

“There are four ivory balls among those in front of you. Find them.”

My lie detector was going off, but I reached out and picked up a ball to inspect it. As I did, I realized the ball in my hand was now white. I thought maybe the number was a lie, not the color? Looking back at the rest though, they were all still black.

“I don’t understand….” I mumbled, trying to figure out the test. I’d always been good at tests. Always got an A. This one just didn’t make any sense.

“What you perceived as a lie detector,” Arathorn began, his voice dripping in annoyance. “Is reality manipulation. Each time you feel the buzzing in your head, it signals that you may correct a falsehood. The fabric of reality is welcoming you to change it. That’s why the inside of this tower is larger than the outside. Fae may warp many things to suit their needs or desires. This is a test we perform with our children to find their aptitude at this magical skill. You made the ball ivory, passing the first trial.”

His voice was tense like he hadn’t wanted me to pass. The lights came up, and the room around me seemed to compress back into the form it was before the endless darkness settled around me. Arathorn’s lips were pursed, and the woman behind me was white in the face, along with those who were clearly on her side. The rest wore angry expressions and stared daggers into me. The king, however, looked as bored as ever.

“Ready the second trial,” he sighed, not even looking down at us.

I was rushed from the room and to the elevator. As we stepped in, I could tell something was off. It felt like Arathorn stopped time again. When I turned, he wasn’t the one next to me. It was a short woman with dark blue hair in pigtails that spiraled down to her waist. Bright blue eyes stared back at me with curiosity but also some sadness.

“Who are you?” I asked the strange woman. Her ability to make Arathorn disappear and replace him scared me more than I wanted to admit.

“I think you know,” she said, her voice ethereal, filling me with warmth. My eyes trailed to a small crescent shape on her forehead peeking out from under her bangs, and it clicked. It felt like my heart had stopped, and I wasn’t sure I could breathe. How could she be here?

“My child,” she began. “The point of the trials is to fail them. I fear now that you have passed the first one, the most you could hope for is a life of servitude to the Fae.”

“Couldn’t you…?” I hoped she knew I was asking her to rescue us. The words wouldn’t come out.

She shook her head, sorrow written all over her face, “This is as much as I can intervene. I’m sorry, but I was sealed away from this world long ago. Even projecting myself into is taxing.”

Her form flickered like a candle, and I realized she was struggling. I felt the tears stinging my eyes. I’d let myself hope, if only for a moment, the Goddess appeared to save us from this hell we’d found ourselves in.

“Why was what I did so bad?” I asked. I didn’t understand. “It would seem like nothing but a useless parlor trick at home.”

“Oh, my sweet child,” she answered, a wistful smile on her lips as she looked at me. “The orb glowing blue was a measure of your power. While your hybrid nature suppresses your abilities in the other realm, here you just tested as a full Fae and a powerful one at that. The tattoos you gave your mate? Those are the reality manipulation they spoke of. You are more powerful than you know.”

A full Fae? No. That couldn’t be me. I’m not powerful. I’m just a girl who can’t do basic wolf thing right, like healing or being warm.

“Yes,” she answered simply as if my spiraling had been out loud. “That’s why you were able to make four hybrids. It’s why you have full Fae hair instead of strands. You are… unusual. Your ailments in the other realm are simply your body’s inability to handle both natures at once, the wolf and the Fae.”

She flickered heavily this time, completely disappearing for a moment before regaining herself.

“I fear my time has come to a close,” she said apologetically. “I wanted to see you after keeping an eye on you from afar. I’m sorry for the hardships in your formative years and beyond, but I do hope the bond you’ve been given is some comfort. I’ve rarely seen one as powerful. Your love is special, even among wolves.”

“What should I do?” I asked, tears streaming down my face now. “I need to save him… I need to see my kids again…”

Slowly, her form began to fade completely instead of flicker. She reached out and touched my hand, sending comfort and warmth through my body again, even though I was sure mine and Michael’s lives would never be the same after what she’d told me.

“You must try to fail the next two trials. I don’t believe they will let you go now, but you must try. Just remember, Arathorn is trying to help you, even if it is self-serving. He doesn’t want to be sentenced to an eternity as your keeper. Know that I have loved you from afar all your life, and I will be watching.”

With that, my audience with my creator ended. I could never have imagined what had just occurred, and as soon as she was gone, Arathorn was beside me again with the elevator traveling to the ground. He clearly hadn’t noticed what happened, so I didn’t tell him. I was so lost in thought about my encounter that I didn’t even realize we were back at our cage.

“In,” Arathorn commanded. I obliged quickly, and the door was slammed behind me without another word.

“Q,” Michael hissed across our hall, looking at me with a worried expression through the bars. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I have so much to tell you, though.”