Blood of the Phoenix: Book 17 of The Witch Fairy Series Read online

  Eliana turns her head back toward me and giggles. “Did you really do that?”

  “Regularly,” I tell her with a grin.

  Shaking her head, she replies, “It’s a wonder you have any friends at all.”

  “Trust me, my cousin deserved everything he was served,” Kallen assures her.

  “There it is!” Josh exclaims, pointing out the window. Eliana turns around again to enjoy the view instead of listening to Kegan’s response to Kallen. Huh, I guess he’s not too worried about the words Keelan may be learning.

  I try to remember the excitement of seeing the palace for the first time, but my memory is marred by the fact that Dagda and I were still basically enemies then. At least, he seemed like he was my enemy at the time. I’m certainly glad that turned out to be incorrect. I enjoy watching the excitement on my friends’ faces, though.

  When we pull up in front of the palace, the doorman rushes forward to open the carriage door, assuming that Isla is inside. He tries to hide his disappointment when he finds us instead. I shake my head. Someday, maybe Dagda will hire a doorman who is actually nice to me.

  Once inside, we stop on the balcony that looks over the great hall so Eliana and Josh can take it all in. Turning to me, Eliana asks, “You will live here one day?”

  I nod. “If Dagda had his way, Kallen and I already would. We prefer Isla’s house for now, though.”

  “Not ready for all the politics?” Josh asks with a knowing grin.

  “Exactly.” Turning toward one of the sets of stairs leading down to the Great Hall, I say over my shoulder, “Come on, let’s go find the others.”

  Clearing his throat, Kallen stops my forward movement. “Xandra, did you forget the new rule Dagda passed?”

  Rolling my eyes, I sigh loudly. “I’m only allowed in the archives if the realm is in imminent danger and there is no other possible solution that either he or Isla can come up with.” Glancing up at Eliana and Josh, I add, “Long story.”

  “Stories,” Kegan mutters and I glare at him.

  “Geez, you destroy a room a few times and no one lets you forget it,” I mutter under my breath.

  “It looks like the point is moot,” Kallen says with a relieved smile. Across the hall, Sam, Jenna and Alita emerge from a hallway. When they spot us, Jenna waves.

  We meet them in the middle of the Great Hall, and Jenna is all smiles. “Isn’t this place amazing? I can’t believe the river runs right through the palace.”

  Noticing the books Sam has tucked under his arms, Eliana asks, “Did you guys find something?”

  Nodding excitedly, Jenna replies, “We think we did.”

  I wish there was a little more certainty in her voice, but I don’t want to burst her excitement bubble by saying so. “What did you find?”

  Glancing around the busy hall that always has Fairies coming and going, Sam asks in a hushed voice, “Should we take this conversation someplace a little more private?”

  “Isn’t he cute when he’s in spy mode?” Jenna asks with a giggle, which earns her a hard stare from her boyfriend. She ignores it.

  Despite Jenna’s teasing, Kallen nods. “We should indeed.” I’m not sure if he’s just indulging Sam, or if he really thinks we should take the conversation somewhere more private. Probably a little of both. After all, we don’t know who Dagda has told about the possible end of the universe. Causing mass panic amongst his staff is something I am actively trying to avoid.

  Leading the way to a small conference room, Kallen opens the door and ushers us all in. Sam sets the books he is carrying down on the table in the middle of the room, and Jenna begins flipping pages in the first book. When she finds the one she is looking for in that one, she leaves it open and moves on to the next one. When that is open to the right page, she glances up at the rest of us. “Did any of you know that the Phoenix has an enemy?”

  Frowning, Kallen says, “It is no secret that many covet the power of the Phoenix.”

  Jenna shakes her head. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. She has a true enemy. Someone she has been fighting for a long time.”

  “Do you think that has something to do with why the Phoenix is willing to destroy the universe?” I ask.

  “Maybe she’s tired of running,” Eliana suggests.

  Again, Jenna shakes her head. “No, I don’t think that’s why she’s doing it.”

  I bite my lips so I don’t say, ‘why did you bring it up then?’. So, my words sound muffled when I say them anyway. Kallen scowls at my rudeness, but hey, it was a fair question.

  Jenna is not offended. She actually smiles and says, “I’m glad you asked.” With a dramatic flourish of her hand, she points at the second book. “That’s why.”

  The rest of us who were not in the archives when the discovery was made crowd together to read the passage Jenna is indicating. When we are done, we read it again. After that, we read it one more time. Finally, Kegan is the first to speak. “I do not get it.” Neither do I.

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  “Neither did I, at first,” Jenna says with a grin.

  “Care to explain for those of us who are a little slower on the uptake?” Eliana urges, trying to keep the impatience out of her voice.

  Jenna finally understands that none of us are enjoying the suspense. She gets to the point. “This,” she says, indicating the second book, “is a copy of a firsthand account of a Fairy who met the Phoenix. The scribe said the original was a crumbling scroll so the previous scribe preserved the information here.”

  “That’s probably enough backstory about the how of it,” Sam interrupts. Glad he said it before me, because he gets a nasty glare thrown at him by Jenna. She still likes me as far as I can tell. I don’t want to spoil that with my rude comments.

  Despite her annoyance with Sam, Jenna does move on. “Anyway, if you read closely what the Fairy described, I think the enemy of the Phoenix is herself.”

  Dragging my doubting eyes away from Jenna and back to the book, I reread the words printed there. ‘Darkness followed the Phoenix wherever she went. An inescapable force constantly reminding her of her past with all if its losses and mistakes. Never did she dwell on moments of happiness though I know they existed. No matter how hard she tried, the Phoenix could not keep the darkness at bay. I fear for her soul.’

  Kallen is the first to speak. “You believe this darkness has become too much for her to bear?”

  Jenna nods excitedly. “Yes, I do.” Probably not the best thing in the universe to be excited about. I assume she is excited about her discovery, not our possible demise.

  “So, what, she’s tired of continuing on while everyone she loves during her lives die?” I ask. I’m not sure I buy it. “Do you really think she would doom the entire universe to run away from her memories?” She was created to be a superior being with a whole lot of responsibility. Eternal responsibility. I would certainly hope she was made of stronger stuff than that. Then again, depression can be a deadly force. Maybe Jenna is right. Maybe we need to look into finding an antidepressant strong enough to withstand Cosmic Fire. I doubt Prozac is up for the job.

  “Can you imagine how many she has lost by now?” Jenna asks. As if reading my thoughts from a second ago, she adds, “Who could handle that degree of grief and depression forever?”

  In a neutral voice, Kallen acknowledges, “You make a good point.” Though he has on his best poker face, I am convinced that he is not convinced by Jenna’s theory. I believe he’s with me on the ‘made to be able to handle it or why else does she exist’ theory.

  “Okay,” Kegan begins hesitantly, “say this is true. What do we do about it?” His eyes flick to me and I see that he is willing to accept this explanation. “You could use that memory spell on her that you used on the Elf warriors. Get rid of the memories that she doesn’t want anymore.”

  I shake my head emphatically. “No way am I going to poke around inside the brain of the one being responsible for keeping the universe alive.” Besides, how the
heck would I even know what memories to get rid of? Would she make me a list? Considering the fact that she has been around since the beginning of time, I don’t think even my magic is strong enough to erase that many memories. Not to mention the amount of time it would take. I doubt I could beat the Cosmic Fire clock.

  “I concur. That would be a bad idea,” Kallen agrees instantly. I take a moment to decide if I should be insulted by his ready agreement. Ultimately, I decide I should not be insulted by the truth. This time, anyway. There are times that I find the truth very insulting.

  Jenna shrugs. “I’m not sure what you should do with this information. But, other than histories of her origin story and purpose, there’s really not much else in the archives that references the Phoenix. The scribe is going to keep looking for anything else that could be useful, of course, but she thought we were lucky to find these two things.”

  I glance up at Kallen. “Should we bring this to Isla?”

  He nods. “We need to share all the information we find. Grandmother may even recognize who wrote this.”

  Sam is shocked by his words. “She may have been alive when this was written?”

  Kegan laughs. “Grandmother is old, but not quite that old. He meant that she may recognize the name.”

  Sam’s cheeks turn a light shade of pink. “That makes more sense.”

  “Fairy lives are centuries longer than Cowan lives, though,” I tell him. “It was a reasonable question.”

  “You may not want to repeat that in front of Grandmother,” Kegan smirks.

  I toss a sour look his way. I was trying to make Sam feel better, and he just ruined it. Parenthood has not done much to reduce the number of times in a day he is a jerk. “Alita,” I say with my most saccharine sweet smile. “I promise when I make you a single parent that Kallen and I will always be there for you and Keelan.”

  “Uh, thank you,” Alita says, trying to determine just how serious I am. Ultimately, she turns to her husband and shakes her head solemnly. “I guess I will never be able to hold our son again.”

  This wipes the smirk from Kegan’s face. “Why not?”

  “Because as soon as you set him down, I may lose you forever.” She tries not to giggle as she says these words to her husband. I guess she decided that I wasn’t serious, after all. Darn. I need to get better at being threatening.

  Kegan just rolls his eyes. “With all the craziness in her life, Xandra will never get around to me.” Hmm. He may have a point. I need to be sure to pencil revenge in somewhere on my schedule. Kallen will probably help me remember since it involves Kegan.

  Shaking her head with an amused smile on her lips, Eliana says, “Perhaps we should get back to discussing what to do with this information.”

  Kallen appreciates having another level head in the room. “Yes, we should,” he agrees. “We will return to the house and share this information with Grandmother.” To Jenna, Sam and Alita, he adds, “Good work finding this.” Even if he doesn’t necessarily agree with Jenna’s assessment of the information, he does appreciate their hard work.

  I slip my hand into Kallen’s and give it a loving squeeze. Then, his words sink in and I groan. “Can’t you just send a message?” I ask hopefully. Yes, I said I was going to be less whiny. Goblin stank could make anyone go back on her word, though.

  Understanding where my mind has gone, Kallen chuckles. “We cannot avoid home for the duration of time there are Goblins in attendance.”

  “Why not?” I demand, growing to like the idea. “We do have a bedroom here, and there are plenty of guest rooms for everyone else.”

  Jenna wrinkles her pretty, freckled nose. “Are they really that bad?” she asks.

  “Worse,” Eliana nods.

  “They are pretty bad,” Josh agrees. “You’ll want to breathe through your mouth, not your nose.”

  “You don’t have a spell to make gas masks?” Sam asks.

  I consider the possibility until Kallen spoils it for us all. “That may not be culturally sensitive,” he says dryly. No, probably not.

  “By this time, Grandmother has insisted that they remain closer to their lodging than the house,” Kegan points out. Which is most likely true, despite Tabitha’s love for the small beings.

  “I’m starting to feel very guilty for leaving Jadyn there,” Eliana remarks, making my own guilt on the matter surface.

  “Alright, grab those books and let’s go,” I say with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. Which means I sound more like I’m going to get several toenails pulled off and then glued back on with a salt based paste.

  We don’t go straight to the carriage, however. Despite his insistence that we return home, Kallen suggests a quick tour of the castle for our friends. After all, this may be the only time our friends travel to this realm; they really should see everything while they are here. I get suspicious that Kallen is avoiding the Goblins, too, but just doesn’t want to admit it as his tour becomes very thorough. Did our friends really need to see every spot he and Kegan hid when they were in trouble as children? The only thing hiding in most of these dark, small spaces now is spiders. Big, hairy brown spiders that I am positive are poisonous even though both Kallen and Kegan assure me they are not. Still, Dagda should really do something about them. He doesn’t want to end up with a palace full of spiders. If it does happen, I hope it’s before Kallen and I take up residence.

  It is two hours later when we finally make our way to the carriage and back home. Jadyn is drinking a cup of tea with Tabitha in the kitchen when we arrive. “Nice of you to finally rejoin us,” she drawls.

  All my guilt comes rushing back. “Sorry about that.”

  “That would be much more convincing if you sounded like you meant it,” Jadyn replies. She smiles at the older Fairy whose company she has been enjoying. “It’s a good thing Tabitha has plenty of amusing stories to share about all of you.”

  I give Tabitha, who is smiling innocently, a sour look. “How nice of you to be so entertaining.”

  “One of us needed to entertain our guest,” she says smugly.

  Inhaling deeply, Kegan asks, “How did you get the Goblin stench out of here. You cannot even tell the little beasts are around.”

  Since he is not holding his son, Tabitha reaches behind him and smacks the back of his head. “Do not be rude,” she admonishes.

  Rubbing the spot that may develop a goose egg, Kegan grouses, “I thought you would stop doing that when I became a father.”

  Tabitha snorts. “I will stop doing that when you no longer deserve it.”

  “Then your last act upon your deathbed will be one last slap to his head,” Kallen smirks. Kegan reaches around his wife and punches him in the arm, making my charming husband laugh.

  His laugh is short-lived, though. Beside me, Kallen tenses. “The Elves are here.”

  “Yes, they arrived a few minutes ago. The Elf Queen was looking for the two of you,” Jadyn informs us.

  I roll my eyes. “Of course she was.”

  With a sideways glance at Sam and Jenna, Jadyn asks, “Have you prepared them for the effects of glamour?”

  No, we have not. With everything else going on, I completely forgot to warn them. Turning to the Cowans in the room, I explain, “The stories about glamour are true. The Elves can make you feel like joining them is the most wonderful idea in the world. Try to keep in mind that they would make you slaves, and you’d spend the rest of a very long life serving them and believing you are happy to do it.”

  “No way,” Sam scoffs.

  “It does seem unlikely that anyone or anything could convince Sam to be that nice,” Josh smirks. “Even magic.”

  By his initial expression, it is obvious that Sam knows he’s being insulted. But surprisingly, he doesn’t argue. His eyes are suddenly glued to the door. His face becomes slightly slack and a dopey smile unfolds on his lips. Uh oh.

  “I assure you, if I desired your company, you would come willingly to serve me,” a soft, sexy voice says behi
nd me.

  I don’t need to turn around to know who it is. I felt her coming. And her glamour. “Knock it off,” I growl. Spinning around, I inform the Elf Queen, “These Cowans are off limits. If you use even the tiniest amount of glamour on them again, I will strip you of the ability permanently.” I’m not certain I could actually do that to such a powerful being as the Queen, but she doesn’t know that.

  She isn’t willing to risk her magic. With the slightest of pouts on her face, she withdraws her glamour. “I was only having a little fun with your friend. I would not have permanently altered his state of mind.”

  Jenna gasps. “Permanently altered his state of mind?”

  Her voice dripping with distaste, Eliana steps closer to her friends and tells Addylyn, “You will not have fun at my friends’ expense. If it happens again, Xandra will not be the only one coming after you.”

  Instead of becoming defensive after being threatened by a total stranger, Addylyn studies Eliana more closely. “You are not a Cowan.” It sounds more like an accusation than a statement of fact.

  “You are incorrect,” Eliana says evenly, offering no other explanation.

  “Addylyn,” a sharp, male voice says from behind her. “You promised to behave.” A large Elf warrior steps out of the shadows and into the kitchen.

  The pout is back on the Elf Queen’s face as she turns to her husband. “Are you following me?”

  “Yes,” her estranged husband says.

  Stepping around Addylyn, Kallen holds his hand out to the Elf warrior. “It is nice to see you again.” Oh, he’s smooth. Nice way to prevent a marital spat in the middle of the kitchen.

  The Elf warrior returns the greeting, ignoring the glower his wife is sending his way for admitting to following her. “Yes, always a pleasure. Please forgive the intrusion, and know that your friends are safe from any more glamour from the Queen.”

  Addylyn opens her mouth to admonish him for speaking of her like she is an unruly child, until she remembers that she is trying to win him back. She decides to focus on something else. Pasting a pleasant smile on her face, she returns her attention to Eliana. “You may be Cowan, but there is more to you than that. Are you a hybrid as our dear Xandra is?”