The Night Read online

  He had taught her so much, but it wasn’t enough. Not even his knowledge of the lost dark arts could rescue him from becoming a strange hybrid being.

  Celene drifted into the room and he lay still, watching her through half-closed eyelids in the hope that she wouldn’t notice that he was awake. He loved these stolen moments when she didn’t realise he was watching. She was a wholly different person then—not focused on him but gliding along on air and humming sweet melodies to herself.

  He frowned.

  It had been so long since he had seen her like this though. The past few months she had been heavy footed with no real smile to be seen. Now she was drifting around the room, quietly singing some melodious song to him whose language he didn’t recognise. She was so graceful that she reminded him of how she used to be. A stab of guilt in his heart pained him as he realised that she was happy again. Had he made her sad these past months?

  He sighed quietly to himself. He didn’t need to ask in order to know why she was like this.

  She was happy because she had heard from the woman she had mentioned last night and she believed that she had the knowledge she needed to lift the curse. His eyes followed her, watching her stack the books and tidy the room. She was beautiful today, her pale skin flushed with a little colour and her smile curving her heart shaped lips in a way that he realised he had missed. He had fallen for her like this, drawn to her mystery and her beauty. She had captured him the moment he had laid eyes on her.

  He couldn’t disappoint her and steal away her happiness.

  He had to go with her as he knew she would ask him to, but he didn’t know if he could face Erikka.

  Pushing the blanket aside, he sat up and drew it across his lap. He took his clothes down from the back of the nearby armchair, rose from the seat and began to dress. He could sense when she turned to watch him but kept his back to her. Although she had grown used to seeing him naked, he wasn’t sure that he had. She seemed so innocent and young sometimes that he didn’t want to taint her, not after the things he had done in the name of the kingdom of Valunthier.

  It struck him that he had been wrong to try to push her into going to Syrinia. She was safer out here, in the woods with only Gaia and the elves for company. If she travelled into one of the Tri-Kingdoms, she would lose something of herself to them. The cities had a tendency to take a part of you, chip away a piece of your soul and steal it for themselves. He wanted to keep her whole and pure. He wanted to protect the mystery that was Celene.

  He wanted to keep her to himself.

  “Will you ever wear anything but that?” she said, almost singing the words to him.

  She certainly was happy today but he could sense the underlying current of nerves and tension in her and when he turned to face her, he could see the question rising in her eyes.

  He looked down at the white shirt as he finished buttoning it, wrapping the neck cloth around his throat and tying it off. He tugged the cuffs over his hands and frowned. What was wrong with what he wore? He looked at his reflection in the long ornate gilt mirror that hung on the wall. Pushing his dark hair out of his face, he tied it back at the nape of his neck and raised an eyebrow at his appearance. It was what he had always worn since becoming a wizard. A white tall-collared shirt with cuffs that covered his hands to his knuckles, black trousers and black boots. The only thing he was missing was his frock coat. He glanced across at Celene and thought about turning her question against her and asking whether she would ever wear anything but her black dress. He hoped she wouldn’t. She was beautiful in the dress that reached her ankles, its long sleeves fitted snug to her upper arms but flaring out over her forearms and covering her hands. The neckline scooped low enough to reveal a modest amount of bosom and his gaze lingered there, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest. He frowned something flickered there. It must have been a reflection of the rising sun off the mirror. There were no marks on her. There never had been.

  Walking towards her, he summoned a delicate white flower from the air. He pushed her hair behind her ear and tucked the flower there with it. The silvery petals shone beautifully against their backdrop of blue-black hair.

  “What is it?” she said.

  He smiled. “An apology... and a moonflower.”

  She smiled and he was happy to see it, glad that he could cause such a beautiful sight.

  “I will go with you. You do not need to ask,” he said and her eyes widened as though she was surprised by how easily he had read in her what she wanted to say.

  She nodded. “I will need your power.”

  He moved aside to let her pass and his gaze followed her as she ascended the stairs. She touched the flower behind her ear and he smiled again. It faded from his face when he heard the door lock and saw that the sun had broken the horizon. Where did she go? She didn’t go there to sleep. Did she sleep? He had never once seen her do so.

  He went to the window and closed it. Staring at the sun as it crept over the trees, he pondered what she had said to him. She would need his power. Where were they going? It would have to be somewhere far if she needed his assistance to bring them there. She should have enough magic to take them both to most places in the Tri-Kingdom area, possibly even as far as the rogue kingdoms in the south.

  The only time he had heard of people needing to borrow power from others in order to reach a distant place was when they had been travelling somewhere outside this land, cities and places that were beyond normal human reach and impossible to travel to without using an incredible amount of magic.

  Were they going somewhere beyond the earthly realm?

  Celene toyed with the small glass phial as she walked down the stairs. She stared at it, watching the iridescent liquid it contained shining through the purple glass as it caught the light of the rising moon.

  She looked at Zane as he turned away from his work to face her. He looked better today and she was thankful that he had agreed to go with her. It was far easier to have him come of his own free will than her other plan of waiting for him to transform into a cat and forcing him into a wire cage.

  “What do you have there?” he said, approaching her in a cautious way.

  She held the bottle out to him and when he took it, he frowned, a look of disbelief entering his eyes.

  “Night’s Tears...” he whispered and moved the window. He held it up and it shone brightly in the moonlight. His look of fascination amused her. It was as though she had handed him something that shouldn’t exist on this plane. “How did you get such a rare ingredient? People say it is a myth.”

  Celene didn’t say anything. Instead, she took it back from him and pulled the cork out. Before Zane could press her into telling him, he had started his transformation into a cat. She didn’t watch. She focused on her work instead, using it to block out the sounds of him changing. She bent down and drew the necessary symbols on the floor using the Night’s Tears. They were intricate swirling patterns with glyphs that seemed to float above the boards once she had finished drawing them.

  The circle began to glow and she stepped into it, patted her shoulder and smiled when Zane jumped onto it, his claws digging in slightly as he tried to maintain his balance.

  “Give me everything you’ve got,” she said and stared straight ahead as she held her hands out in front of her, one above the other with palms facing.

  Celene pulled her hands apart as Zane’s magic surged through her and focused on their destination. There was a tug in her stomach and the walls distorted, bending and squirming as though they were trying to escape the magical field she was creating. They disappeared with a dull pop and the forest around them collapsed in on itself. She struggled to hold the circle as everything began to undo around them and she squinted, clenching her jaw against the pain throbbing in every inch of her body.

  The whole world shifted, pulsing in time with the pain inside her and then blinked out of existence, replaced with nothing but white, so bright that it stung her eyes.

 
; She smiled as a shape appeared out of the light.

  “Celene,” Elektra greeted her, sweeping her long blond waves from her face and smiling brightly, her eyes of gold shining with it.

  “Elektra,” Celene said and then frowned when Elektra’s look changed to one of disgust.

  “Why did you bring one of your filthy cats with you?”

  Celene’s shoulder lifted as the weight of Zane disappeared and her heart wrenched when he collapsed and struggled on the floor. She rushed to his side, afraid that using so much of his magic and bringing him to this place had hurt him. Before she could reach out and touch him, the fur covering him disappeared and he began to shift, his limbs growing and changing shape. He was forcing a transformation back into his human form. When he had finished and was human once more, she pulled him to her and cradled him in her arms as he curled into a shivering ball against her.

  “That is a strong curse to go against.” Elektra raised an eyebrow.

  “Help me, Sister.” Celene looked up at her, silently begging.

  Elektra hesitated a moment and then walked over to her. Celene put Zane’s arm around her shoulder and with her sister’s help, carried him over to the couch that had now appeared out of the whiteness. Walls began to drift into being and soon they were standing in a bright comfy living room with colourful pictures adorning the walls and books stacked neatly on the shelves.

  Celene smiled when her sister offered her a blanket and she covered Zane with it. She brushed the hair from his sweat soaked brow and sighed.

  “Is he the reason you’re here?” Elektra said with a nod in Zane’s direction. “I didn’t think he’d be so handsome.”

  The blush burned Celene’s cheeks before she could contain it and she was surprised at the flush of emotions her sister’s words had brought on. It had been centuries since she had felt anything like them.

  She continued to idly stroke Zane’s forehead, staring at his face and wondering what she could do to help him regain his strength. He was out cold, had expended all of his energy and exhausted himself.

  She heaved a sigh and furrowed her brow.

  “Oh no...” Elektra’s voice broke into her thoughts and she looked up at her. “No, Celene... not a mortal, never a mortal.”

  A shiver ran through her and she knew what her sister was saying.

  She looked down at Zane.

  “Yes, a mortal,” Celene said.

  “You can’t love him.”

  Celene frowned at Elektra. She knew the risks and the heartache firsthand, as painfully as her sister did. She also didn’t care. Her heart wanted her to be with Zane, to love him, and she didn’t have the power to stop herself from following its command.

  Zane stirred in her arms but she kept her focus on her sister.

  “Only a fool would love a mortal,” Elektra said with a glance at Zane. “Do not be a fool, dear sister.”

  Zane sat up and his eyes bore into her. Celene hesitated and then met his gaze and tried to ignore the questioning look he gave her. There was so much confusion in his expression and she didn’t know the words to make it all become clear to him.

  Snapping her fingers, she made his clothes appear and handed them to him, hoping to distract him once again so she could gather her thoughts and plan what to do next. Although he had agreed to come with her to meet Elektra, he still hadn’t said that he was willing to confront the witch that had cursed him, and she suspected she knew why.

  And why he hadn’t told her the details of his curse.

  It was about him and the witch. It was about love.

  She cursed the bitter tears that threatened to rise unwelcomed to her eyes and took a deep breath to hold them in.

  Whatever had been between the witch and Zane, it was clearly over since she had cursed him.

  “Where is this Erikka?” she said to her sister.

  Elektra looked shocked. “You ask me this when the man who you are with could easily answer in my stead?”

  Celene’s eyes drifted to Zane as he paused halfway through dressing. He looked at them both, but longest at her. There was something in his eyes that she couldn’t quite make out. It was either anger or fear. Was he angry about being asked where Erikka was, or did he fear going to see the witch?

  “She is in the Valley of the Seven Stars,” Elektra said and turned her back on Zane. “It is north of the kingdom of Valunthier and south of the faerie woods. But then he could have told you that and saved you the pain of coming here.”

  “He would not tell me... I knew that without asking,” she said.

  “He will not come with you either,” Elektra whispered, as though she feared Zane hearing her.

  “She is right,” he said with a resolute look on his face and fastened his shirt cuffs. “I will not come with you. I cannot.”

  Celene stared into his eyes for a moment to see if he was telling the truth and was fixed on his decision, and then raised her chin.

  “Then I will go alone.” She held his gaze when his faltered and a look shifted his features, a moment of anxiety crossing his face. “I won’t give up on you... even if you have given up on yourself.”

  She turned to her sister and smiled. “Thank you for your help. Please keep him safe here until I can return.”

  “Sister, what you do is wrong, no matter how much your heart tells you it is right. To meddle with such things is not why we are here... and leaving your duties will upset the fine balance of life itself.” Elektra placed a hand on her shoulder and then drew her into her arms. Celene closed her eyes to shut out Zane as he stood directly in her line of sight and sighed when her sister whispered quietly into her ear, “I will see to it that he is safe, but I believe that he might just find his bravery somewhere in his boots after all.”

  Composing herself so Zane didn’t suspect that anything had been said in secret between herself and her sister, she held her sister a moment longer and then turned and walked away.

  She was within two feet of the door when she heard the steady click of Zane’s boots on the wooden floor.

  He caught her arm and spun her to face him, and she struggled to keep her expression emotionless as he frowned at her. She waited for his harsh words and anger, but they didn’t come. The second she was facing him, he tugged her into his arms and kissed her.

  Her eyes flew wide as his warm lips danced against hers, heating her down to her very soul and stirring something in every fibre of her being. She closed her eyes and drifted along with him, her lips brushing his and her insides becoming light when his tongue touched hers. She wrapped her arms about his neck as his slid around her waist, holding her close, and melted against his firm chest.

  She was wrong.

  It hadn’t been centuries since she had felt like this.

  She had never felt this way.

  CHAPTER 4

  Zane stared out over the familiar terrain of the Valley of the Seven Stars. It seemed like only yesterday that he had been here and had been cursed. He had vowed to never return. His gaze slid across to Celene where she stood beside him. He couldn’t let her go alone. She shouldn’t be here at all. This was his curse to break, not hers, but it had become her burden and he knew that she intended to see it through to the end now.

  His hand found hers and he held it tightly, relishing the contact between them and the way it made him feel as though he was alive for the first time. These years of battling his curse had left him empty. He could see that now. Celene had filled him up again, given him hope after hope that he would make it through this and return to his normal self one day.

  She had given him hope that when that day came, he wouldn’t be alone in the world any longer.

  And neither would she.

  Her fingers curled around his hand and he looked down at them and then out onto the valley.

  It stretched before them, the long river snaking through the basin of the two hills. Where it opened into a wide plateau, he could see the seven twinkling lakes that gave it its name. They sho
ne in the moonlight, the gentle breeze causing ripples that sparkled like diamonds.

  In the distant darkness he could see the outline of one of the castles. There had been seven once, one for each of the witches, but most had fallen into ruin, leaving only three.

  He remembered what it looked like in daylight, with the hot summer sun beating down and the sky as blue as sapphires above. The whole valley had an aura of blue about it, the trees tinted with it and the lakes reflecting the heavens.

  It was breathtaking.

  He looked at Celene. She was staring into the distance at one of the castles. Did she know that was the one they were heading for? She hadn’t spoken much since they had left her sister.

  Her sister.

  He got the feeling that there was more to Elektra than met the eye, just as there was more to Celene. She had taken him to a place beyond earthly reality. He remembered the brightness of the room and the heat, as though they were standing on the surface of the sun itself. It had scorched him but hadn’t seemed to affect Celene at all.

  She raised her eyes to the stars and smiled.

  “It’s a beautiful night,” she whispered.

  He stepped closer to her and placed his arm around her shoulders. Her eyes drifted down to meet his and he gave her a smile as he gently brushed the hair from her face. He thought about producing another moonflower for her, but there were rare blooms down in the valley that would be just as beautiful against her dark hair and pale skin.

  Her eyes shone like the moon and he lost himself in them, searching for how she felt and hoping that the kiss they had shared had been what they both wanted. He’d had to show her that he had feelings for her. She needed to know before they confronted Erikka that she had replaced the witch in his heart.

  “Do we travel there now?” she said, turning to look at the castle. “We could get this over with before dawn.”

  He frowned and then laughed. “It is a long walk to the castle. I don’t think we’ll be able to make it before another night falls.”

  She tensed and he felt it. His frown returned and he ran his eyes over her profile. Something was wrong. Couldn’t she feel the magical field over the valley? It interfered with magic, preventing certain spells from working. A simple transport spell was one of those things. It dulled most basic magic, but more complex spells still worked.