may have run out. Angus may be many things, but he is not a great keeper of secrets. Even if we were to somehow get you out of here without anyone else knowing, I don’t believe he would keep anything from the king.”
“Great,” Callie muttered.
As if to confirm what Torin had just said, Angus slipped inside. His porcelain skin flushed a deep red. “The king requests all three of you to join him in the throne room.”
Callie gasped, and Torin shot Angus a dark look that had the color draining from the Lampir’s face. “I promise you, sir, I didn’t mean to say anything…I just…”
“It’s fine. You were only doing your duty, soldier.” Torin couldn’t really argue with the young man’s decision. They had been trained not to keep anything from their king. “Let’s go, Maddock, Miss Callie.”
Callie twisted her hands and rose on unsteady feet. Nervous energy racked her body, and a roll of thunder echoed in the distance.
“Where’s Conall when you need him?” Maddock joked, gently guiding Callie with his hand on the small of her back in an effort to lend her some of his strength.
“I could—” Angus started to offer, but all three of them barked, “NO!”
He wisely closed his lips and led the way to the throne room.
FOUR
A SECOND ROLL of thunder made Torin pause at the stairs. “Deep breaths, dear. The weather mimics your emotions when you’re not in control, and to master it, you have master your emotions. If ever I wished I had my dear Indra with me…” He shook his head briefly. “A century may have passed, but I’ll try to recall what she used to tell Reid when he was learning to master his skills.”
Callie was perplexed. Did he mean to say the thunder was her doing? Could she really control the weather? She took a deep breath in and out to calm her rising panic.
“If what Evin and Angus have both told us is true, it would appear that not only are you a Luas like Evin, you’re also a strong Aimsir, a Fae who can manipulate the weather.”
Aimsir? Laus? Her mind whirled. A Luas must be Evin’s type of Fae characterized by their preternatural speed. She rolled the word Aimsir around in her head. It almost sounded like I’m shirt without the T, which made her giggle, or perhaps it was the absurdity of how quickly everything in her life had changed. “I thought Fae were only one kind,” she said, squashing the giggles with her curiosity.
“Magic is an unpredictable mistress. When magical heritage is passed down from parents to children, usually one type is dominant. Some only exhibit the dominant magic while others may keep the recessive as well, but it’s weaker than their first.”
“And then there’s some magic that skips generations and pops up unexpectedly,” Maddock added in.
“So you only know which magic is dominant when you see the baby’s eye color?” she asked, trying to remember all she had learned from Ianthe about how to identify Fae.
“Well, eye color does often have something to do with a Fae’s dominant magic, but not always.” He scratched his chin. “What’s your normal eye color?”
“Hazel, but Evin said earlier when I was using my speed he could see flecks of gold like his eyes and yours. Why?”
Torin stared into her eyes, which were now fading from stormy grey back to hazel. It seemed their conversation had distracted her enough to calm her magic. “Well, after the roll of thunder, your eyes were grey, but now they’re back to your normal color. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
A throat was cleared, interrupting their exchange as Angus stood at the bottom of the stairs, impatiently awaiting their descent. The two Fae ushered her down, careful not to rush her and provoke another thunderstorm.
She hesitated at the grand doors, the breathtaking opulence of the palace overtaking her worry. It was surreal, like stepping onto a movie set or entering the Palace of Versailles. Before she knew it, they had entered a large room the size of a basketball court with high ceilings and ornate tapestries amidst beautiful wood accents on the walls. There was a raised platform with a golden throne in its center, and on the throne, studying them, sat the Seelie king.
He was an imposing figure with short black hair and tanned skin. He possessed the usual sharp, chiseled features of Fae, but what made him truly unique were his lavender eyes. They were lighter than her best friend