He shrugs. “They thought you coming here would be an opening for them to take your kingdom, but instead, your people rallied and fought back harder than ever in your stead.” He rubs his hand over his chin. “So they made a deal with me.”
“And that is?”
“I hobble you, and they send the soldiers.” He grins. “Given how strong the bond is between you and your kingdom, how will they react if you fall here in the human world, without an army to guard you?”
My stomach drops out as though I’m hollow and filled with pure dread as I imagine the effect on my people.
He grins. “Seems like they might lose their morale. If the kingdom of darkness falls, that’s a huge win for chaos. We could overwhelm the whole fae world.”
“Why do you care?” I snap at him. “You’re no soldier.”
He leans on one palm, propping his elbow on the desk. “It’s simple, really. How am I supposed to find an ice princess I can control in our world?”
“You aren’t,” I grate out. “And you’ll never have Eva.”
“You still don’t understand the situation you’re in, do you?” He looks over his shoulder as chaos soldiers, dark shadows in the shape of people, start pouring out from the stairwell, spreading out into the spare spaces in the basement.
Their eyes glow red as they look up, catching sight of us, and they lock eyes on me like I’m some kind of target.
“You might say we’ve been preparing for some time now,” Ray says. “Testing the portal we would use to bring them here when I got you down here and suppressed. In fact, I think the frequent chaos lately got to Bill, though he’s a piece of shit even without it. But he isn’t usually so… aggressive.”
That all makes sense, not that it makes me regret clocking the guy.
But I need to figure out how to deal with this, regardless of the suppressor he put on me.
I’m still powerful, and I’m still darkness.
And even though I can’t summon my wand or go into my true form, he’s a fool if he thinks I can’t do anything.
“Anyway, enjoy your fight, Tanner. Tynan. Whatever you want to be called.” He grins. “I know I’ll enjoy the beacon.” He rubs his hands together. “So much power.”
Then he grabs me by the shoulder and shoves me out of the office, locking it behind him and closing the blinds, leaving me in this half-empty basement with only waves of chaos soldiers coming my way.
I close my eyes and let everything go dark, then open my eyes and begin punching everything that comes near me as hard as I can, and they scream and run in confusion.
The room isn’t as dark as it could be, but it’s dark enough to still punch a bunch of chaos rats.
I send a surge of darkness through them, killing at least a dozen as pain sears me to my soul.
The cost of magic is high with this suppressor on.
I send another surge and feel something clench up, like my chest is seizing, and I fall to one knee as chaos soldiers begin to pile in around me, ignoring their fallen comrades.
Beyond them are even stronger soldiers, already pulling out their wands.
I try to punch off the ones near me, but where one disappears, two appear, and it’s beginning to get lighter in the basement.
I’m not in my world. I’m not in my true form. I’m not with my army…
And as I cover my head and try to think of a plan, wondering how we could be so stupid about how advanced chaos tech has gotten, I wonder for the first time if I’m actually about to die.
No, I need to live so I can apologize to Eva. Stay with Eva. Protect Eva.
The thought has me rising, throwing chaos thugs off me, ready to fight to my last breath.
Eva
I’m really glad Dawn has been here to eat lunch with me, distracting me by talking about fun, girly topics, because I really do feel much calmer.
And guilty for how I treated Tanner.
I was so caught up in panic, in frustration that I was in an uncontrollable, chaotic situation again, that I didn’t give him a true chance to explain.
This is a new world for him too, and if I hadn’t been so shocked by the double betrayal of him breaking his promise and finding out Qualtechnics is firing me, I would have maybe been able to stay calm enough to hear him out.
I’ve already decided that after this, I’m going to file an official harassment complaint about Bill, just in case it helps Tanner.
I don’t know that it will do much, and it will probably get me blacklisted since I can’t prove anything, but I’ll do whatever I can to protect the man I love.
Even if he ends up going back to his world.
I look down at my phone for any texts from him and sigh when I see nothing.
Of course he would be respecting my wishes not to see him now.
My heart aches, wondering if he has already left yet. He wouldn’t, right? Should I say something or let him focus on his family, since it sounds like they need him even more than I do right now?
Sure, a part of me is still angry that he went over my head, that he didn’t listen, but now that I’m not overwhelmed with emotion, I know that Tanner is a good man. And I’m sure he has reasons for what he did.
And part of being with someone is accepting that they are their own person and might sometimes do things you disagree with.
But unlike my parents, I can put aside my pride and try to work it out.
I glance down at my phone again, wondering if I should text him.
“You’re worried about Tanner, aren’t you?” Dawn asks, her green eyes full of concern. “You think he’s the one who attacked Bill.”
I glance up at her. “Do you think anyone else suspects him?”
She shakes her head. “No. Just Ray mentioned he wasn’t in his office. He was the one who said I should come check on you. Make sure you’re all right.” She nudges me with her arm. “Though, I’m just glad to have another girlfriend.”
I smile at her. “Me too.”
She gets a text and frowns down at her phone. “Actually, that’s Ray. He says Tanner is with him.”
My heart lights up with both nervousness and relief. He came back. But he didn’t come to see me.
Maybe I wasn’t in my office…
Hope that we can put this behind us as quickly as possible makes me stand up immediately, pulling Dawn along with me as I go. “Where is he? Let’s go see him.”
“Damn, girl,” she says, looking over at me. “Patience.” She strides over to the elevator and pushes the button.
I fidget as the doors open and we walk in, still trying to figure out what I’m going to say to Tanner.
First, I’ll ask him how his family is. Then I’ll tell him if he wants to go back to his world, I’ll at least try to adjust, like he has in this world.
Then I’ll tell him I love him and that in the future, I’ll try to be more understanding when he makes quick decisions if he’ll try to think more carefully before he acts.
I can hold him back, and he can push me forward.
He was right. Bill had to go. But I was right too, and we could have protected Tanner better by causing less trouble.
Together, as long as we try to be careful with each other’s edges and soft spots, I think we will be okay.