Through Time-Whiplash (9 page)

~ Seven ~

HE COULDN’T HOLD back any longer. He had watched her stand before his queen, knowing that everything she had been taught told her to be afraid of the Queen of Seelie Fae.

Jazmine Decker had stood—a brave lass, enchantingly beautiful and willing to put her life on the line to do what she could to stop a force so powerful it could wipe her out of existence with so very little effort. She knew that and was willing. It was as though her soul glowed brightly all around her, mesmerizing him, holding him, drawing him closer.

She had stood, lovely and strong, with those deep blue eyes filled with courage and honesty, and he found he couldn’t control himself any longer.

He wanted her
. He had been wanting her and denying it to himself. She was mortal, and he shouldn’t intrude on her life, but even if it was for a short time, he wanted her—had to have her.
But
did she want him?

He moved in, and when he took her into his arms, it felt so right, it felt so undeniably right, and her lips parted for his. Ecstasy—the immediate understanding that she wanted him as well! Her tongue danced sweetly, hotly, with his, and she was too delicious to deny. He tasted her; she was honey and vanilla and life, and ready and his. She had to be his!

In that moment, he wasn’t just kissing her; he found himself adoring every nuance that was Jazmine Decker, every move she made, every delicious breath she inhaled and exhaled. He felt her take his kiss with hunger and return it with passion, and he felt himself on fire with feral need. He pressed his hard shaft against her body, and she pressed back. Hot, hot, hot, hot—no thought, just hot.

It was as though a net of primal desire had wrapped itself around them, and he couldn’t stop kissing her, tasting her, touching! By Danu, her breasts even through the muslin gown she wore were delectable, and he wanted to lick her nipples and see their fullness and …

She put a hand out to his chest and pushed at him.

He heard her murmur the word ‘no’, and he was jolted, couldn’t believe, but stopped himself nonetheless.

It took such great effort, but he stopped and held her away by her shoulders. He stared down into those blue eyes that kept him captive still and whispered questioningly, “No?”

“No,” she said softly. “My friend Tammy recently told me to have fun, even for one night,
just have fun
,
and if ever a girl could have
fun
, it would be with
you
, but I am not about ‘fun’. I should be, but I am afraid I would get lost in you,
with you,
and we are from different worlds. When this is over, you will return to Faery—your Isles of Tir—and I will hopefully be off for my permanent job as a marine biologist. I am very certain I would compare every man I meet in the future
to you
, and none would measure up—so,
no
.” She turned from him, and he released her.

Prince Trevor watched her walk away and followed a few steps after her. He saw her take the stairs to her bedchamber, felt a loss that was so much more than he had expected.

Her words about no other man being able to compare to him had lifted him. Her words about meeting and being with another man in the future had dropped him into a pit of depression.

How could he think of her with someone else?

It was what he had to do—let her go to someone who would be there for her, grow old with her …

She had spoken realistically. One day he would go to Tir, and she would remain in the Human Realm, and she would take a human man who would have what he never could. And this thought brought his fists heavenward as he silently bellowed!

* * *

It had been three days since Trevor had taken her into his arms and kissed her. She could feel and taste him still.

It was all she dreamed about. It followed her everywhere she went, through everything they did. At least she was busy with Frankie most of the time.

She had asked Trevor to return her clothes to her and had also requested him to outfit Frankie with breeches and a shirt instead of a dress.

Frankie had laughed to see herself dressed like a boy but loved the comfort, and Jazz had taken her outdoors and started teaching her the art of self-defense. It was at the end of one of these training sessions that she asked, “Frankie, did your mother have any opportunity to help you grow as a Fios? Do you know what you can do … with your magic as a seer?”

Frankie looked down at her boots and did not answer, so Jazz took her chin. “Don’t you think you can trust me with this?”

Frankie still did not answer, but Jazz tenaciously prodded. “Come on, Frankie. You told me you want to stay with me, so I guess that means you trust me, right?”

“I trust you with m’life, Miss Jazz,” Frankie said solemnly.

“I know your mom probably told you never to speak about what you are, but you and I … we are well past that, so, tell me, show me.” Jazz looked right into the girl’s sad hazel eyes.

“I be that afraid … not of ye, but of it …”

“Show me, and I’ll help you learn how to control whatever it is you are afraid of. Okay?”

She smiled at Jazz and used the word she had adopted days before. “Okay. This thing I can do … doesn’t work against people, only Fae, and m’mum said that I must never use it unless it was a last resort … something to help me escape, and she said if humans saw me do it, they would burn me as a witch.”

Jazz put an arm around her. “You know that is never going to happen. We are well past that, and no one can see you use this ‘thing’ of yours, as we are on warded and concealed ground. Humans and Dark Fae can’t see us here, so trust me.”

“Okay,” Frankie said and smiled.

“First, tell me, have you ever used this against a Fae?”

Frankie shook her head. “Never had to. Always pretend not to see them.”

“But if one was coming at you, and you needed to escape, this would be something that would buy you time?”

“Yes,” Frankie said gravely. “I call it my fireball.”

“Show me.” Excitement infiltrated Jazz’s system.

Frankie concentrated with her eyes closed and held her hands out, palms up. Sparks began to fly in a circular motion around both her palms. The sparks attached to one another in quick order and within moments formed a ball the size of a baseball.

Jazz clapped her hands and said, “Throw it at an imaginary Fae. Think … there it is, right in front of you … twenty feet.”

“I’ve never tried to throw it,” Frankie said tentatively. “I was always afraid someone would see.”

“No one will see. Throw it, sweetie, with all your might!”

Frankie threw the ball, and it went well past the distance of twenty feet and landed in the tall grass. It ignited a small fire, and Frankie again surprised Jazz by closing her eyes, blowing softly, and extinguishing the blaze. She said solemnly, “Don’t want to burn the field …”

Jazz hugged her. “That was superb! Frankie, I am going to work with you and teach you to control your fireballs so that you can perfect your skills.”

“M’mum said that the fireball once thrown will attach itself to a Fae and then remove their magic from them long enough for me to run and hide,” Frankie said in that lilting Irish as though she were reciting a poem. “But I don’t know if it would really work, as I never used it.”

“I wonder …” Jazz said, formulating an idea.

Frankie now began to chatter as she shook her head and shrugged. “M’mum didn’t have the fireball magic in her. She said she had speed and the sight … little more, but that she thought I might grow up to be the most powerful of all Fios. Said it was in our blood.”

“Speed? How fast can you run, Frankie?” Jazz asked excitedly.

“Well now, Miss Jazz, I can run … very fast.” Frankie beamed, but then her smile vanished. “I used to run from Farmer Higgens when he first brought me to his farm. He would drink and call me lazy and raise a hand to me, and I used to run, but it only made it worse for me the next time …”

Jazz hugged her again and thought of going back to visit Higgens and teach him a lesson he would never forget. “Never mind that, because he will never hurt you again.”

“There is something else—I heal … very quickly. M’mum said it only proved I was meant to do great things.” Frankie shuffled her feet. “He noticed it … Farmer Higgens, he noticed that I healed quickly, and it would make him angry … and he would hit me again.” She sighed. “I heal, but I do feel the hurt, ye know.”

Jazz held Frankie’s shoulders. “When you are done, you will be a proficient little fighter, and you will have all your Fios skills lined up and ready to use. You will be the greatest Fios ever born. I can feel it, Frankie. Right now, we have a Dark Fae Prince by the name of Hordly, and he means us harm. He is here in the past by mistake, and we are going to have to find a way to send him back to where he came from before he does something in the past to terribly alter the future.”

“I know. I’ve heard you and Prince Trevor talk about him.” Frankie put her hand in Jazz’s hand and looked up at her. “I also heard you say you need to get back to your time, and it worries me.”

“Why, sweetie?”

“When ye go … I want to go with ye. Please don’t leave without me.”

Jazz thought about this. Could she somehow adopt Frankie? Could papers be created saying she was her ‘sister’?

“There’s time enough to deal with that, but I will never leave you unless you wish me to. I promise that I will look out for you one way or another. Okay?”

Frankie smiled. “Okay, but I don’t want another family. I want you and Trevor.”

Jazz was already more attached to Frankie than she cared to admit. She flicked Frankie’s nose. “We’ll see, but one thing is for sure, I will look out for you.”

“Then you’ll never leave me,” Frankie said with such a serious face that all Jazz could do was hug her close.

And then it happened.

The sky turned black—as though someone had turned a switch.

Dark, billowing clouds filled the heavens but not overhead, only on the other side of the wards.

She knew at once this was Dark Magic. She knew it was meant to impress, but was it the Dark Prince’s magic?
It didn’t have his feel.

Overhead everything was still clear and blue, a lovely day at Prince Breslyn’s estate.
Bizarre,
she thought as she watched and waited.

Bolts of fire struck, but they took shape. They slithered through the sky, slithered over the earth … snakes of fire testing the wards.

Glinting daggers of blood-splattered metal slashed through the atmosphere, and even though Jazz knew they were safe on their side of the invisible fence, she pushed Frankie back towards the house and commanded, “Go on, get Trevor … he has to see this.” She watched Frankie run towards the house and turned back towards the slithering fire-snakes that filled the atmosphere. While the blood-tinted daggers slashed the air with no discernible pattern or target only feet away, Jazz bolstered herself and walked towards the anomaly.

Oh, yeah
, she thought, this was most definitely Dark Magic,
but it wasn’t
Dark Fae magic.
This was sorcery.

She had met a wizard once in her life, but he had been like a Dumbledore, with a beautiful smile and bright, warm eyes.
He
wouldn’t do this.

The Wizard Rysdale was all about Light Magic. She had been lucky enough to encounter him when she was younger and traveling through Ireland with her parents. He had saved her life when she had tripped and fallen backwards into traffic. He had simply looked her way, and she felt his magic wrap around her and lift her back onto the curbing.

The Wizard Rysdale knew at once what she and her mother were and had introduced himself before he vanished.

This was not anything like the Wizard Rysdale, and yet, she mused, it felt familiar.

Suddenly a dark, round hole similar to what she thought of as a wormhole appeared, and a being began to take shape right before her eyes.

Standing with his arms outstretched, he brought them together with a clap of thunder, rubbed them, and glanced her way to cluck at her.

Holy shit
, Jazz thought, opening her eyes wide. Damn, but he looked like Rysdale’s twin—could be his twin, except this one had dark gray hair while Rysdale’s hair and beard had been white. This one had coal-dark eyes full with the flames of Dark Magic displaying explicitly what he had become.

His robe was styled like the Wizard Rysdale’s but was black with flame-lit stars throughout, as was the black cone hat on top of his head.

Who the hell was this, and what did he want?

Instinctively Jazz now took a step backward as she wondered if the wards would withstand a wizard’s power. “You are by now wondering who I am,” he said with a soft and coaxing tone.

“Yes, I am,” she answered, giving nothing away.

He laughed, but it was an unpleasant sound. “Ah, allow me to introduce myself. I am the Wizard Baudali.”

“You look like someone I know …” she said before she realized she shouldn’t tell him anything.