Blue mist filled the room so quickly that Renn had no time to react before he found himself completely stretched out on the bed and tied to all four bedposts. He struggled to free himself from the mist ties, but as usual, the bindings held fast.
"Release me," he bellowed.
Anistana appeared againa"between Renn"s thighs, his huge c.o.c.k in her hand, her lips over the head, her eyes focused on Tierra. "I am Queen. I do as I please."
The sight of the Faerie Queen with Renn"s c.o.c.k in her hand, and so close to taking it in her mouth, filled Tierra with such fury that her hair all but stood on end.
Anistana flicked her tongue out.
Tierra flung up her hands and whipped out her spellbindings. One from each finger.
Ten bindings wrapped around the Faerie Queen in a movement so fast that Anistana had no time to react. One moment she had been about to go down on Tierra"s dark warrior, and the next she was tied from neck to toe in spellbindings, face down on the mattress, with only her wings left uncovered.
Mist ties around Renn"s wrists and ankles vanished and he moved away from Anistana and eased off the bed.
"What have you done?" Anistana shrieked and fought against the spellbindings. "My magic. I can"ta""
Satisfaction swirled within Tierra and she folded her arms across her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Can"t undo my magic, eh? Don"t tell me the all-powerful Queen isn"t exactly all-powerful."
"Release me," Anistana demanded, turning her face toward Tierra, her wings snapping open and shut with her anger.
Renn moved to Tierra"s side and smiled at his woman before turning a frown on Anistana. "First you must speak the truth to Tierra, for your binding leaves little doubt. The resemblancea"it is no coincidence, is it?"
"Silence," Anistana hissed.
"Tell her of her true heritage," Renn persisted. "Now."
Surprise widened Tierra"s eyes, but she kept her focus on her spellbindings and on Anistana"s enraged features.
The Queen scowled. "I will tell her naught."
"Tell her," Renn said in his deep, controlled voice, "or we shall let all of Faerie into your bedchamber to see you trussed up like a fatted boar. And they will all know there is one who has power enough to control you."
Anistana stilled and Tierra did not need the magic of senses of her halias to know that losing face to her people would be the worst of fates for the Faerie Queen.
Renn strode to the bed, picked up Anistana by her shoulders and raised her to a sitting position as though she was no more than a doll. "Second," he added, "before Tierra releases your bindings, you must promise to transfer us at once from Astral, directly into Sky Castle in Phoenicia. With our clothing and weapons. And Feymir, along with all of our other belongings."
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d." The Queen glared at Renn, her voice tight with anger.
She suddenly looked very young, and Tierra wondered about Faerie aging. Anistana didn"t look a day more than twenty seasons.
Like me.
"Of course I am twenty seasons," Anistana snapped, turning her fiery gaze on Tierra. "Are you so daft you have not figured it out for yourself?" She c.o.c.ked her head at Renn. "Your lover obviously has."
Tierra studied Anistana, and realization dawned upon her...she and the Queen did look alike. Very much alike. From the shape and color of their eyes to the shade of their hair.
Child of Fae... The words of To"en and one of the ebony Faerie twins echoed in Tierra"s mind.
"You and I are related," Tierra said slowly.
"Obviously I inherited the larger share of intelligence." Anistana rolled her eyes to the silver-leaved ceiling, before returning her gaze to Tierra. "Sisters. Twins. Now free me."
"Twins?" Tierra"s skin tingled all over, and she could scarce maintain her concentration on the spellbindings. "You are my sister? Ia"I am Faerie?"
Anistana gave an exaggerated sigh. "As the second born, you have no wings."
"And the starmark behind your right earlobe," Renn said to Anistana. "It matches the one on Tierra"s left."
Tierra"s gaze shot from Renn back to Anistana as the Queen replied, "Aye, "tis the mark of Astral royalty." Her gaze rolled up to the silver-leaved trees above. "The symbol matches the star pattern on the mishnui leaves. The mishnui is a most sacred tree to Astral."
Astral royalty? Tierra thought. To think that the star marked her as a royal Faerie.
"Do not get any ambitious ideas, sister." Anistana"s gaze cut to Tierra. "Now you know your heritage. Untie me and I will send you to Phoenicia at once."
"There is more." Renn"s deep voice filled the room. "You are too eager to be shed of us. There must be more. Details."
The spark seemed to fade from the Faerie Queen"s eyes and for a moment she was silent. "As you wish." Anistana swallowed before saying, "By recommendation of the Council, Father sent you away when we were mere sprites."
A sense of the surreal overcame Tierra as she eased onto the golden chair, still concentrating to control the spellbindings. "Why?" she finally asked.
Something like sadness flickered in Anistana"s eyes. "Mother had been murdered by the Fae killer, and they feared for both our lives. They decided that if you were hidden, you would be able take over the throne if something should happen to me."
Tierra let Anistana"s words sink in.
Her birth mother was a Faerie, and she had been murdered.
I am... a Princess?
Second in line for the throne of the Faerie realm. It was so bizarre, so unreal that she almost wanted to laugh.
Yet was this any more fantastic than Renn"s stories of Ranelle and Liana?
Instead of voicing her confusion and doubts, Tierra asked the next question on her mind, "Then it is me who inspires you to seek vengeance, not Renn. But why?"
Anistana"s features hardened. "Our parents gave the bulk of their magic powers to you at birth. Father said it was because you would face more adversity. But the gifts were wasted, from what I can tell."
Renn cut in, "Tierra simply needs to be trained in how to use these gifts."
The Faerie Queen"s words were almost more than Tierra could process. "I have the same powers as you?"
"Nay." Anistana shook her head. "Yours are different, mayhap similar, but beyond mine."
Still feeling dazed, Tierra murmured, "I have more powers."
Anistana raised her chin. "Do not let it go to your head. I am still the rightful Queen and will remain so "til my death."
"Which could be centuries as you are Faerie," Renn said, his expression thoughtful.
The Faerie Queen shrugged beneath the spellbindings. "Or it could be days if Mother"s killer gets to me before I find that b.a.s.t.a.r.d. He has struck again, for the first time since Mother"s death, killing more Fae."
Overwhelmed at everything she was learning, Tierra almost let control of the bindings slip and barely held them in time. "Our father still lives?"
"Aye, but I have not seen him in many moons." Anistana tossed her head back in an unconcerned manner. "He prefers the realm of the dryads."
Tierra wasn"t sure what she thought about her sister or her father at that point. Her father had given her away, her sister never sought her...would likely never have explained their heritage had she not been forced to. And Anistana cared so little about her sister, obviously anxious to send her off as quickly as possible.
Why?
"You have your answers." Anistana gave a proud toss of her head. "Now remove these wretched ties."
Tierra stood and moved to Renn, trailing her fingers along the scar on his cheek. "I want to know how Renn received this scar."
Renn shook his head. "No. You don"t."
A wicked gleam came back into Anistana"s eyes. "From a wild f.u.c.k we shared."
Heat rushed over Tierra. She clenched her fists and magically tightened the bindings around Anistana, causing her Faerie sister-b.i.t.c.h to gasp. "Mayhap I should wrap a new spellbinding around your throat, wench," Tierra said as she glared at Anistana.
Despite the tighter bindings, the Queen raised her chin, a defiant glint in her eyes. "I used aradne, a Faerie powder that acts as a powerful aphrodisiac to most males. Works particularly well with Nordain and Elvin men." The Queen smiled. "Helps them to be wild, barbaric lovers."
Tierra blinked. Renn needed help with that?
"And it always results in a child between heartmates," Renn added.
Tierra"s skin chilled and she recoiled from Renn. "You two have a child together?"
"Between heartmates," Anistana repeated very slowly as though Tierra was daft. "I not only wanted a wild f.u.c.k, but I wanted to test him to see if we were heartmates."
"Even though I made it clear we were not." Renn gestured to the scar on his cheek. "She was angry when I refused to marry and unite our kingdoms. She marked me in a fit of pique."
"It was less than you deserved." Anistana raised her chin. "The qinok should have snacked on your flesh."
"The scar on my back." Renn frowned at the Queen. "Anistana was so angry at my refusal that when I asked her to allow me to leave her realm, she transferred me to the Xardu Moors."
Anistana smiled sweetly. "I did allow you to leave, did I not?"
Renn sighed and folded his arms across his ma.s.sive chest. "I simply did not specify where, I know."
The Queen cut her emerald gaze to Tierra. "If you are through interrogating me, release these d.a.m.nable ties."
Tierra nodded. "For now. We need to get to my halias."
The spellbindings slipped away from Anistana"s body, wending their way back to Tierra"s fingers and into her body.
"Ah, yes. Ranelle"s quim is most delicious." Anistana smiled and licked her lips. "Enjoy your journey."
"Whata"" Before Tierra could finish, blue mist swirled about her like a swarm of bees. Faster and faster it wound around her, along with the scent of roses and lilies.
Once again against her will, Tierra relaxed and faded into nothingness.
Chapter Eight.
She was alone, standing on an empty battlefield.
Silence, save for the beating of her heart...and then a sound like the flap of many wings.. .each flap an answer to her heartbeats.. .faster and faster...
Chill wind lifted Tierra"s hair, twisting it around her face so that she had to brush it from her eyes to study the sky.
An oncoming storm. Black and fierce. Clouds swirling, churning.
Tierra held her breath, fear filling her belly and rising up in her throat, threatening to drive all breath from her.
She started to hold up her hands, prepared to spellbind whatever came her way...but she couldn"t move. She was frozen, her limbs stiff, her face numb. Even her heart iced in her chest.
A lone raven soared before the storm, straight toward her.
Renn?
As the nordai reached her, Tierra struggled to move, but she was as immobile as a statue made of cold, cold iron.
The bird shifted before her eyes.. .it was Renn...
No! Zanden stood before her.
Tierra"s fear turned to anger. She wanted to lash out with her spellbindings. To somehow make him pay for what he had done to her and her heart-sisters.
But G.o.ds d.a.m.n, she couldn"t even blink.
Zanden smiled, as cold as the ice chilling her heart. "You and the other wenches believe you have thwarted me by f.u.c.king my brothers and the Elvin man, but you are wrong." He raised his hand and stroked her face, his fingers impossibly colder than her frozen skin. "I am coming to retrieve my destined mate, the Tanzinite wench. I will have you, Faerie b.i.t.c.h, and my little magpie as well."
NO! Tierra screamed in her mind.
His eyes narrowed, as though he had read the refusal in her thoughts. "The babes you carry I will rip from your wombs." Zanden reached up and clenched his hand in her hair. "I will plant my seed in you and you will produce my sp.a.w.n. You will have no choice but to do everything I instruct and aid me in my rise to power. All as foretold by the Seraphine Chronicles."
Inside her frozen sh.e.l.l, Tierra trembled with rage. If only she could break free of her ice-prison, she would kill the b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Wrap a spellbinding around his throat so tight it would choke the life from him.
The Sorcerer smiled again, an evil smile that reached his black eyes. "Such fire and s.p.u.n.k, Faerie wench. I shall enjoy enslaving you." He brushed his lips over her forehead and flicked his tongue against her cold skin. "I am coming for you."
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Tierra screamed and fought against the icy bonds. "I will kill you if you touch any one of us!"
"Tierra!" a voice boomed, tearing through her fury.