“I told you this is where they come to giggle and gossip and act like silly girls, which is what they truly are, not the warriors they pretend to be.”
“Who is he talking to?” Nissa looked around.
There wasn’t anyone near him that Peri could see. She shrugged. “Maybe he’s as crazy as his father was.”
Then from the left two females came rushing out of the thick trees, so dense that even without leaves, it was difficult to see through them.
“Is that…?” Nissa began, her voice soft.
“Our mothers,” Peri finished. She felt tears immediately gather in her eyes as the memories poured forth. It was as if a dam had been broken, and a massive waterfall now barreled forward.
Alston suddenly appeared, standing next to his son. His body glowed with the magic of his high fae status. He stalked slowly toward them. Xoltan wore a stupid grin that Peri wanted to slap off and then slap him again just for the hell of it.
“Alston, you cannot stop what is to be,” Calthia, Peri’s mother, shouted. She and Yavon, Nissa’s mother, began moving toward them as well.
“Says who?” Alston pushed his son forward. “There’s only two of them, boy. You should be able to handle them easily. Let’s be done with this.”
Xoltan held out his hand, and a sword appeared in it.
Peri jumped to her feet, allowing her magic to flow through her, her balance now perfect even on the ice. She held a dagger in each hand. Nissa stood as well and immediately crouched into a fighting stance before her own sword appeared.
“Mother, leave!” Peri shouted. But she knew the stubborn woman wouldn’t.
Alston lifted his hand toward Calthia and Yavon, and the pair suddenly froze. He was a high fae. They were not. The power difference was obvious.
Xoltan continued to bear down on them. They’d fought him many times. Peri knew most of his tells. But she remembered he’d gotten better lately about not being so predictable. And though she and Nissa had bested him many times, they didn’t wineverytime. Would this be a win or loss? That part of the memory was yet unclear.
Then another high fae appeared beside Alston. They spoke, but it was so quiet that even Peri’s supernatural hearing couldn’t pick it up.
Suddenly, Xoltan broke out into a run. His feet didn’t even appear to touch the ground as he raised his blade. The advancing fae bellowed a battle cry, as if he was facing off against thousands instead of two female warriors in training.
Peri ran toward him, meeting him with her two blades. She sent her magic down through her arms and into the blades, bolstering their strength. When they met Xoltan’s descending sword, there was a flash, and he was thrown backward. His fae gracefulness kept him from falling. He slid away a few feet and paused.
Xoltan’s eyes, filled with malice, met hers. “I’m going to gut you.”
“All because I have ovaries and you don’t? I’ll donate one of mine if you’re that desperate to have one. You don’t have to be jealous. Or is it the breasts? It’s the breasts, isn’t it? I’m not willing to part with either of mine. So I can’t donate one of those.”
“Do you have to taunt him, Peri?” Nissa came up beside her.
“Of course I do. High emotions cause mistakes. He’s already full of rage, and now he will feel humiliation. It will make him respond rashly.”
“Peri! Flash away. Just go.”
Peri shook her head at her mother. She couldn’t. She knew what was going to happen, but maybe this time she could change it. Maybe this was a do-over.
Xoltan came at them again, now focusing on Nissa, as if she was any less of a fighter than Peri. They danced with their blades, darting forward, clashing blows only to jump back and regroup. Peri would take Nissa’s place, and then they’d switch again. They’d fought so much together that the pair practically moved as one.
“As if you could ever be a high fae,” Xoltan bit out.
Peri frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t pretend your mother didn’t tell you what the sprite queen told her.”
Peri dug through her memories, but they came up empty. Her mother had said nothing to her about the sprite queen.
“I am to be a high fae,” Alston’s son spat. “Not you. Or you.” He looked at Nissa. “You’re just two silly females. Real warriors would be led to their deaths under your leadership. It’s better this way.”
“Is he seriously trying to kill us?” Nissa asked.
