Fearless Magic (17 page)

“I change my mind,” I blurted out, startling everyone. “Titus, you come with us, Xavier and Xander, you guys stay together.”

“Eden, it's fine.” Xander stood up straight, releasing his hold on his brother. “We'll be fine.”

“I know you will,” I promised, but without losing my resolve, “but if you aren't.... if things go differently than we want them to, you should have each other. Trust me, whatever you face, you would rather do it together,” I finished sadly.

Xavier and Xander nodded appreciatively and the climate was suddenly very somber.

“Besides, I can't really stand either one of you,” I mumbled, lightening the mood.

“Let's go then,” Jericho reached out a hand, shaking each of the brother's firmly.

Titus, even with his shorter stature and burliness, didn’t let others watching deter him from pulling them both in for a quick, but manly hug. Xander and Xavier towered over him, but seemed scrawny next to his lumberjack-like frame.

I realized then, that I was still separating brothers. In the year that the four of these guys had been together and the weeks that recently separated them and made them unsure of the future, circumstances bonded them just as closely as blood ever could. Only this time I didn’t feel sympathy; it didn’t break my heart to send them different ways. This time I felt encouraged; they were just as determined to get Avalon back as I was.

When the goodbyes were said, and the door opened, we walked out boldly into the crisp, spring, Paris morning and went opposite ways. Xander and Xavier headed back to St. Louis and the small plane that belonged to Gabriel.

Jericho hailed two taxis for the rest of us. Gabriel and Titus climbed into the first one and Sebastian, Jericho and I, the second. Sebastian sat in the middle of Jericho and I, idly playing with the hem of his navy blue dress shirt, while Jericho in perfect French instructed the driver where to go. We would be taking the Chunnel from Paris to London. Thankful that claustrophobia wasn’t on my long list of fears, I imagined how an almost three hour tunnel ride in very close quarters could become unbearable quickly.

“Jericho, promise me I will get to come back here as a tourist,” I remarked breathily, staring out the window as Paris passed by me in a flash.

“I promise,” he answered, very amused.

“Under different circumstances, I would have been glad to give you the tour,” Sebastian mumbled coldly.

“Under different circumstances
I
could have given her the tour,” Jericho grunted.

“Under different circumstances she would have left you behind in Omaha like the peasant you are,” Sebastian countered.

I sat up straighter, wishing I were the one sitting in the middle.

“Really, a peasant?” Jericho whipped his head around to face Sebastian, with a look of pure fury in his eyes.

“All right, that’s enough of that,” I said casually, sliding across Sebastian in the cramped cab and wiggling between the two of them forcing Sebastian to scoot over and take my place.

“Yes, a peasant,” Sebastian repeated, under his breath.

I let out an exasperated sigh, hoping the rest of the trip wouldn’t be like this.

“How did you know the Titans were looking for me all night?” Sebastian asked quietly. He was addressing Jericho, but refused to turn his head, because either he was too tired or because he couldn’t stand Jericho as much as Jericho couldn’t stand him. I wasn't quite sure.

“You mean, besides what common sense told me?” Jericho grumbled sardonically. “Not, every Titan is loyal to your crown.”

“So, it’s true then,” Sebastian sighed, “Eden and Avalon are the real subjects of the oath.”

“There hasn’t been enough time to truly test that theory,” Jericho maintained his cold tone, and I was surprised he hadn’t just jumped on a positive answer; I hoped that he would have come to that concrete conclusion by now. I certainly wanted to believe I was the real heir to the throne and that was the reason Titans were dying when they crossed me.

“Sure, there hasn’t, meanwhile any Titan that has gone up against Eden and Avalon are dead, whilst your traitors walk around perfectly unharmed,” Sebastian turned his head towards Jericho, his sunken eyes turning to steel.

“For now, only time will tell. Besides, not
every
Titan that's stood up to Eden and Avalon has died. Kiran’s bodyguard still lives,” Jericho explained quietly.

“I suppose,” Sebastian admitted, and then in the same calm voice, “I know that man up there, he is part of my father’s Guard.” Sebastian pointed to a cafe not far from where the cab sat in the middle of crowded traffic. A man stood next to a small table, watching us with barely veiled hatred. “They’ve found you.”

“Damn it,” Jericho cursed underneath his breath. “Sebastian, will they make a scene?”

“Truthfully, I don't know,” Sebastian replied. He sounded sincere, but I doubted every emotion and feeling I read from him.

Jericho instructed the driver in French and the taxi attempted to defensively-drive its way through the stopped traffic surrounding us. We were on the Champs Elysees, probably the busiest thoroughfare in Paris. The man, that Sebastian pointed out stood in front of a sidewalk cafe with wrought-iron chairs and tables, watched us carefully. His eyes did not leave mine, not even when he lifted his wrist to his mouth and spoke quickly into the cuff of his navy blue pea coat.

Jericho was on the cell phone with Gabriel, instructing them to continue on to the Chunnel station. It wasn't just that he was confident we would come out of the fight unharmed, he also couldn't risk losing Titus or Gabriel. If we failed, at least they could go on.

I stared back at the stoic Titan. I wasn't afraid of him, or of the backup he called. I wasn't even afraid of the audience we would have, should there be an altercation. If he wanted to fight, I was more than willing. What I was most afraid of was losing Sebastian, and the vital intelligence I needed to break into the London palace.

“Sebastian, I am going to destroy your father's Guard, is that clear?” I asked without taking my eyes from the Titan now only a few yards away.

“Yes,” Sebastian answered coldly.

“Are you going to stay with us, or am I going to have to hunt you down again?”

“I'll stay with you,” he mumbled, unconvincingly.

“Seriously, I don't care what you do. I just want to be prepared, either way.” I sat forward in the cramped cab, readying myself for the fight.

“Eden, I gave you my word. I will not leave you until you have fulfilled yours,” he said quietly, somberly.

“All right, let's go then. Jericho, let's just get this over with,” I demanded, tapping the cab driver on the shoulder and throwing a chunk of Euros at him.

“Here? Now? Wouldn't you rather wait?” Jericho asked with one hand on the door handle, the other on my knee. Excited and anxious for battle, his magical current pulsed rapidly in his palm, and I caught his energy, my electricity flaring with blood lust.

“A busy train station will be worse. Besides, I don't want to have to wait for them to make the first move. Let's go.” I gently shoved Jericho's shoulder and he was out the door. Grabbing Sebastian's hand, I pulled him along, following Jericho from the cab.

“So, how do you want to do this?” I demanded, taking a few more steps forward so I was only a few feet from my enemy.

“Um, I, um, well, you should come with me.” My fearlessness caught the nameless Titan off guard flustering him. I started to enjoy myself.

“No, that's not what I meant. I mean, do you, like, want to fight here? Or go somewhere a little more private?” I half smiled, hoping everything stayed this easy.

More Titans walked around the corner, filling in the background and every possibly escape route. Maybe twelve Titans, and what felt like more than that, surrounded the three of us just waiting for things to go badly.

They were going to go badly, I felt like I should just make that announcement.

“How about we go somewhere a little more private?” The first Titan grinned, his sinister lips curled back revealing perfectly straight, white teeth.

“Ok, wait, before we do this.... thing....” I started, wanting to debate every option. “If I go peacefully with you, where will you take us? Like, exact location, where are we going?” I narrowed my eyes at him, thinking through the easiest way to get inside the London palace.

“To the king of course,” the Titan snorted.

“No, you're not listening,” I accused, and he stood up straighter, offended by my complaint. “Exactly where would that be? Like, um.... which palace?” I danced around the exact verbiage I was tempted to use. I wanted to find out more information than I gave away.

“Well, I suppose, the Paris palace, until the king decides to move you to Romania.” The Titan thought it out, his fingers twitching impatiently.

“Ah,” I sighed, “well, that won't do.”

“Won't it?” The Titan laughed with the same accent Talbott shared, thick with amusement.

“No, it won't,” I said boldly, readying my body and igniting the magic dauntlessly in my blood.

The Titans moved as one body to enclose our space, to trap me inside of their unified army. My magic was pulsed violently through my blood, electricity palpable underneath my skin. The energy was boiling, and popping and my fingers trembled underneath the strength of power.

All of my senses came into painfully sharp focus, and my blood burst with magic both mine and stolen. I struggled to get used to the energy force I must now work with, the separate magics combining powerfully together in the melting pot that was my blood. Inside both of my hands, I held white orbs of magic waiting to be released. The amount of power I was held back overwhelmed me and I knew that if I didn't release the energy soon I would cause much more destruction than anything I could have planned.

“This was a terrible idea on your part,” I mumbled sympathetically to the lead Titan who chose that exact moment to move forward and try to grab me.

With a feral scream and my blood seconds away from its breaking point, I reached one hand out toward the approaching Titan, released my magic and sent a lightning bolt of bottled fury.

He instantly fell to the ground, popping and sizzling underneath the weight and destructive power of my disposable magic. I rolled my head around in a circle, the joints in my neck cracking, readying for the next victim.

The Titan on the ground recovered slowly, his magic obviously not as strong as mine. But I left it in tact for now. Another Titan moved tentatively from the crowd and I called on the same power, sending another bolt of magic through the crowd of Titans, disrupting restaurant tables and carelessly tearing the awning overhang, that shaded the now scattering cafe customers.

Despite the haphazard movements of my electricity, it met its mark and that Titan, too, fell to the ground, writhing in agony. The still standing Titans shifted uneasily back and forth on their toes, trying to decide what to do next.

“Who's next?” I asked calmly. “Come on, seriously,” I finished quietly, demanding a challenger.

“Eden, we need to go,” Jericho whispered in my ear, reminding me of our mission and the gathering crowd of onlookers.

The humans near enough to feel involved in our altercation stared up at the sky, trying to make sense of what they would inevitably find to be unexplainable. The crowd around us gathered quickly and I understood it was impossible to continue this way. I glanced back at Sebastian, who stood, shoulders slumped, looking bored and unimpressed.

I was tempted to give him back his magic, just so I could take it again.

“All right, gentleman, I really need to get going, so here's what we're going to do,” I spoke softly enough that I wouldn't draw human attention, but with enough confidence that the Titans surrounding us gave me their undivided attention. “I'm going to walk through this crowd and you are going to let me. You are not going to follow me and you are not going to try to continue this conversation. If you do, you will force me to take something from you that you would prefer to hang onto. But, please don't mistake me, I will take it from you with out hesitation. It's better if you just let us go, k?” I finished sweetly, pulling on a few of the magics that were closest to me. It was almost too easy, almost too simple to prove my point. The Titans that felt their magic start to diminish acted out, panicked and afraid.

I stopped pulling, leaving them sighing breaths of relief and clutching at their throats. I motioned to Jericho and Sebastian and then walked through the crowd, moving forward and never looking back. I didn't want to make any more enemies; and the truth was I knew that if I wanted to take over this kingdom I would have to eventually gain the Titans trust. But right now was not the time. Right now, I had a prince to assassinate.

Chapter Sixteen

“Who's going to stay with the prisoner during the mission?” Titus asked, as soon as Jericho and I walked through the door of a London flat, our new safe-house, owned by someone in the Resistance I had never heard of before.

“You all are,” I announced, catching them completely off guard. “I'm doing this alone.”

“Excuse me?” Jericho stopped short, turning on his heel to face me.