Seven Black Diamonds

  EILIDH

  “Eilidh. Eilidh. Eilidh.” The voice kept tugging at her, pulling her out of slumber. After blinking away the lingering tendrils of a very inappropriate dream about her betrothed, Eilidh looked around her room. The only people who could ascend the tower stair were those to whom she was related or betrothed. That left exactly two potential fae who wished her harm: her Seelie brothers, Nacton and Calder. However, she was fairly sure that either her mother or Rhys had some sort of system in place to notify them if either of the Seelie princes entered her home.

  “Eilidh. Eilidh. Eilidh,” the voice continued.

  The words wafted in on the sliver-thin edge of a breeze.

  “Eilidh, it’s about Lilywhite,” it added.

  At that, she knew and came tumbling out of her bed. Hurriedly, she dressed and crept out of the tower. At this time of the night, there was no one standing below and staring at the glass tower. The moonlight made it shimmer a little, not as bright or glaring as the sunlight could. Instead it looked vaguely luminous as the softer light reflected from the salt-encrusted glass.

  Unfortunately, that light was still enough to make Eilidh stand out clearly as she fled her home, so she walked slowly, trying to seem as if she only meant to take a night stroll. There were no visible watchers, but that didn’t mean that no one waited in the shadows where she couldn’t see them.

  Once Eilidh was far enough from the glow of her home, she increased her speed, twisting quickly through the labyrinthine tunnels of the cave so quickly that a follower would need to either be close enough that she would see them or know these paths well enough to predict her destination. Few fae bothered with the gates to the known world, especially as the queen had banned them from return to the Hidden Lands if they left without her permission.

  When Eilidh came out of the tunnels on the sea-edged side of the Hidden Lands, she saw her guest. He stood with his arms held loosely at his side, as if waiting for an attack. Unlike the fae, he had no safe place to hide. In the world where he lived, his blood was cause for imprisonment. In her world, he was an object, a tool created at the queen’s order and deployed in secret. The Sleeper program wasn’t common knowledge.

  “Creed Morrison,” she greeted.

  He bowed deeply, the gesture far more courtly than she expected from him. It did little to assuage her worries. Seeing him at the edge of the Hidden Lands was not the most surprising part of her week, but Eilidh had never been summoned by Creed before tonight. She’d sought him out a few years earlier, and she’d worked with him so he could send messages to her over air. At the time, she’d vacillated between him and the other air affinity in the group, but the other Sleeper, Will, was a touch too observant for Eilidh’s comfort.

  “Is Lily injured?”

  “No.” Creed glanced past her, as if his half-human sight would somehow be enough to see any threat that was clever enough to follow her this far. He moved closer to the sea, where the battering of waves against earth would make his words harder to hear.

  Eilidh followed. If her betrothed or brother were here, there would be much lecturing on risks, but despite her mother’s misuse of the Sleepers, Eilidh trusted this one. She was also standing on earth with sea in reach, so two of her affinities were easily called upon. So many of the fae acted as if Eilidh’s physical differences made her weak, and in some ways, they were right. She wasn’t as strong as some fae, but she was a daughter of the two regents. She was far from the fragile flower people thought her to be.

  “Lily knows nothing of the fae,” Creed said when Eilidh was at his side. His words were all but placed in her ears like tactile things. His control of his affinity was better than she’d ever seen from him.

  “She knows she is, at least, fae-blood,” Eilidh said.

  Creed nodded. “She’s more though, and she doesn’t know about the Sleepers. She wants proof.”

  Eilidh smiled, causing Creed to frown at her. She had no urge to explain herself. She was too much her mother’s daughter to be interested in unspoken questions, and even though she trusted Creed as much as she could trust any of the weapons her mother had wrought, she trusted no one completely. Telling Creed that she was well aware of what Lily did and did not know was unnecessary. “So you offered her proof.”

  “I told her there was someone I knew who could prove it,” he hedged, obviously ill at ease now that he was faced with the audacity of offering her up. “I didn’t say who. If you want to send someone else, you can . . .”

  Eilidh’s smile threatened to become a laugh. This was the thing that the queen would never see: the unpredictability of the humans, or in this case, the half-humans who had been told they were true fae. They believed the queen, and it didn’t serve any purpose to reveal the truth—not yet at least. Eilidh opted to let them think they were changelings, to let them think the Queen of Blood and Rage might one day declare their service done. To the queen, they were disposable. To her, they were . . . a reminder of how far the queen would go. At least, most of them were nothing more than that. Lily, of course, was different, and for her, Eilidh would allow herself to be summoned.

  Creed had said she “could” send someone else. She found it oddly enchanting being told she could do anything. She was the heir of the Hidden Throne. That meant that there was little that she was denied. Certainly there were those things disallowed for her safety, but in all, she was . . . well, the princess, which meant that her whims could be laws if she saw fit. She didn’t, but the possibility remained.

  “I will come.”

  Creed nodded awkwardly. His gaze was fixed on faraway waves on the sea. “You won’t hurt her,” he said, the words sounding very little like a question.

  “You care for her,” Eilidh replied.

  He shrugged.

  “You want her to know not because I asked you to speak to her, but because you care,” Eilidh pressed.

  Creed’s gaze darted to her. “I know the whole Sleeper thing isn’t your plan, but it’s . . . it’s no good. The people who are dying aren’t the ones who killed the queen’s baby. They’re just people. Me, and Lily, and the rest of us . . . and whatever other Sleepers are out there . . . we’re being made to hurt people who are innocent.”

  Eilidh sighed. There was nothing she could say that wouldn’t either be a lie or an admission she’d rather not make.

  twenty-one

  LILY

  Walking into Zephyr and Creed’s suite was a lot more difficult than Lily would’ve liked. Violet didn’t even pause to knock. She opened the door and stepped inside. “Hey, pretty boys! I’m home early. Get your lazy arses out of bed.”

  Both boys came out of their rooms. Zephyr was topless, clad only in a pair of pajama pants. Creed was in the same clothes he’d had on the night before—aside from the shirt he’d given Lily. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all.

  “Hey!” He scooped Violet up as soon as he saw her and spun her around like she was a child. They looked like siblings as they cuddled close, the same dusky skin and striking eyes. He smiled at the tiny tempest still in his arms. “You said you weren’t going to be here for days yet!”

  “I explained to them that there was no way I could wait that long.” Violet shrugged. “They adjusted.”

  Creed laughed. “Ninian forbid anyone tell you no.”

  “Hush.” Violet kissed both of his cheeks. “I heard from a reliable source that you were a mess without my supervision.”

  Creed shrugged and said, “Broken heart. I’d met a girl.”

  “A girl? Well, then she’s an idiot,” Violet said loyally. “Do you want me to talk to her?”

  Creed shook his head and glancing in Lily’s direction. “I’m coping better now.”

  Thankfully, Violet let it go—although there was no doubt that she noticed Creed’s look as much as Lily had. He was far too blunt, far too often for her comfort. The mere idea of making eye contact with him right now was enough to cause anxiety.

  “Did you rest well?” Zephyr ask
ed from Lily’s side, startling her. The contrast between his quiet solicitousness and Creed’s intensity seemed designed to make her crazy. She needed to keep her focus on the larger issues—the group of fae-bloods surrounding her and their theory that she was unavoidably meant to be involved in their terrorist activities.

  Lily nodded in answer to Zephyr just as Creed released Violet.

  “Well? Where’s my hello?” Violet prompted Zephyr with the same tone Lily suspected dictators used.

  “I can never guess what you want, Vi,” he teased as he stepped forward and hugged her.

  “I am subtle, oh, never.” Violet stepped back from him. “I hear you had to go see the q—”

  “Breakfast,” Creed interrupted, cutting off any reference to the Unseelie Queen. He glanced at Lily again, which Alkamy and Zephyr both noticed.

  “No talk of her,” Alkamy told Zephyr and Violet in a tone that allowed for no debate.

  “We’ll talk later,” Zephyr said to Violet. “Let me grab clothes. Someone tell Will and Roan to meet us at the gate.”

  As he walked back to his room, Alkamy’s gaze slid over Zephyr like she could physically touch him with it. She studied him like she was examining him for bruises. “Is he okay?”

  “You know Zeph.” Creed crossed his arms over his chest.

  “That’s why I asked.”

  “His feet were cut up, and his hands were too, but nothing needing treatment.”

  “I’m going to go talk to him,” Alkamy said. She didn’t wait for a reply, simply tapped lightly on the closed door before letting herself into his room.

  “They’re not together,” Violet said.

  Creed glared at her.

  “Well, they obviously should be.” Lily shook her head at the insistence that Alkamy wasn’t with the boy she clearly loved. It was never easy joining an established group of friends, but these people had more baggage than she wanted to even begin to process. She glanced at Creed. “Meet you all outside the gate.”

  And then before they could stop her, she walked out of the room.

  She only made it to the end of the hallway before Creed caught up with her. The feel of his presence was distinctive. She didn’t need to turn her head to know it was him. Something about the way the world felt when he was near made her body hum, as if a light electric current pulsed just under her skin.

  “Are you trying to fight with Zephyr?” she asked.

  “No, but I’m not trying not to either.” Creed draped his arm over her shoulder. “Zephyr isn’t my priority.”

  Lily fought back the sigh that his words and touch elicited. “We agreed to be friends this week. Remember?”

  “Yes. I’m being friendly.” He walked with surety toward Zephyr’s secret exit. “I want to see you though.”

  “Creed, Erik proposed,” she said. “You were there that night.”

  “But you didn’t say yes.” Creed’s fingers tangled in her hair with a familiarity he hadn’t earned. “You wouldn’t have danced so close to me if you were planning to be engaged to Erik.”

  Lily wanted to say he was wrong, but he obviously had seen through her attempt at a lie. It was harder with someone who was accustomed to the fae habit of verbal tricks. With most people, she could twist her words to seem like palatable truths. With the Sleepers, that habit wasn’t a viable option.

  She shrugged his arm off her shoulders. “I’m not a conquest.”

  “You’re not,” he agreed.

  “Friends,” Lily repeated weakly, speeding up to reach the passage.

  “Tell me about the Abernathy Commandments.”

  At his question, Lily’s steps faltered. “The what?”

  “You mentioned one last night. Number fifteen maybe?”

  “Always have a way out, more than one if possible,” Lily said quietly. “There are commandments, rules for life that my father made.”

  “Tell me, please?” The words were more of an order, but she heard the lift in his voice that made the sentence a question too.

  As they walked, she listed the primary ones:

  #1: Choices matter.

  #2: Be yourself.

  #3: Never get caught.

  #4: Weigh the consequences before beginning a course of action.

  #5: Be bold.

  #6: Never confess your vulnerabilities if you can avoid it.

  After she was done with the first few commandments, she paused in her recitation. There were more, but those were the most critical ones. They sounded even more so as her voice had broken the silence of the dim passageway.

  “And you live by these? All of them?”

  Lily nodded, and then she realized he probably couldn’t see her in the low light of the tunnel. “As much as I am able,” she said.

  Creed’s hand fell on her shoulder again, stopping her this time. “I could vow to live by these with you. As a sign of my . . . affection.”

  The pain in her heart was only equaled by the exhilaration in her body.

  “I can’t do this,” she said after several tense moments. “We agreed to be friends, Creed. You admitted that Zephyr wouldn’t approve of your interest in me. I don’t want to cause you two trouble, especially as you seem to have enough trouble already. Be my friend, Creed.”

  “Don’t say you aren’t feeling the same things I am.”

  Lily exhaled roughly. “I never said that. It doesn’t change anything though. All this talk of being fae, of a mission, it all sounds . . .”

  “Crazy.” Creed’s arm snaked around her waist, holding her to him. “I think you’re breaking your own commandments, Lily. Be bold. Be assertive.” His words brushed against her skin, not because of his affinity but because he was standing that close. “You’re my deadly girl, and I’m yours whether you want me or not.”

  Her one affinity that she’d not shared with him flared to life at his words, and she leaned back into his embrace and let him see that part of her too. Flickers of fire danced on her hands; sparks of blue and white flames slid across her flesh like prima ballerinas dancing across a stage. “I don’t want to be drawn into the war.”

  Creed reached out like he’d touch the flames on her hands. “None of us do. We can’t avoid it though, and if I’m going to die, I’m not interested in wasting time that should be spent living. Being with you, talking to you, touching you, that’s living. If it comes with some risks . . .” He shrugged. “Feeling like I do around you is worth any risk.”

  “I don’t want . . .” She tried to finish the lie and found herself unable to do so. She did want him to want her, did want to be his, even though it was a very bad idea.

  Creed murmured against her ear, “I’m yours to command no matter whether you love me back or not.”

  “People can’t love someone that fast,” she objected, even though it took a lot of effort to say it.

  “Really?” Creed whispered, and she couldn’t tell whether it was his affinity or if he was now so close that his breath stroked her skin. “Maybe people can’t, but that’s not what we are. I may not like the lot we have in life because of our heritage, but I like this part of being fae. I like knowing that my heart has found its home. I wasn’t sure it would happen before I died.”

  She couldn’t speak, couldn’t keep trying to lie. His words were playing havoc with her emotions. Lily knew she could trust him, felt it in her marrow, but that didn’t mean she liked it—or that she could return his feelings.

  “We should go,” she said finally. “The others will think the wrong thing if we take too long.”

  “Not the wrong thing, Lily. The inevitable thing.”

  She chose to ignore him again, stepping out of his embrace and walking into the dark. This time, though, she kept the fire in her hand. He knew now, and she liked having the light to help guide her.

  When they reached the other side of the passageway and stepped out into the garden, the others were all waiting there. Two cars idled. As Lily and Creed came into view, doors opened in both cars. Violet sa
t in one with two boys Lily presumed to be Will and Roan, and Zephyr and Alkamy were in the other.

  “Lilywhite.” Violet beckoned as she stepped out of the car. She glanced at Creed and ordered, “You can ride with Kamy and Zephyr.”

  “Oh joy,” Creed muttered. Still in a low voice, he added, “Better me than you, though, right? He needs to get it through his head that he has no claim on you.”

  Lily didn’t acknowledge what Creed said, although she agreed with him. She walked out to the car where Violet was and slid in. Violet opened the front passenger door and climbed in there, leaving Lily in the back with Roan and Will.

  “Hi,” she said. “I’m Lily.”

  The boy immediately beside her peered at her from behind black-rimmed glasses that she was sure he didn’t need, unless he was only barely fae. The sheer ugliness of his glasses did, however, help at drawing her attention away from his exquisite, delicate features. He had a soft mouth and the thickest eyelashes Lily had ever seen. He was dressed like he’d stepped out of an Ivy League university brochure, and his hair was cropped in a faux military style. His physique was anything but delicate; he looked like he exercised nonstop.

  The other boy was the antithesis of the pretty conservative boy next to her. Floppy dark-brown hair fell into his face, partially hiding seal-dark eyes. His skin was also as dark as a seal’s. He was obviously the other water affinity fae-blood.

  “Roan, right?” Lily looked to the boy seated closer to her. “That makes you Will.”

  They nodded.

  “I have water,” she told them, selecting her words carefully since she didn’t know the driver. “Not strong enough to swim though.”

  “I thought you were earth,” Will said.

  “I’m a mixed bag of tricks.”

  “No wonder those two are acting worse than usual.” Roan draped an arm around Will possessively. “Luckily, we’re already spoken for.”

  Lily smiled at the warning. “I don’t poach.” She met their eyes each in turn, looking from Roan to Will to Violet as she said, “And Zephyr is very obviously as much in love with Alkamy as she is with him, so he also . . .”