Courts and Cabals 2 by G.S. D'Moore (best novel books to read .txt) 📕

pre-Revelation. “Here’s a truth bomb for you . . . no one is that impressed.”

I felt my cheeks heat with anger. “You want to talk about bombs. We’ve got fucking A-bombs, probably enough to destroy this realm, and all the others too,” I was swinging for the fences.

“That’s true,” Lark conceded the point, “but what use is the biggest stick if you can’t use it. You can’t drop an A-bomb on Vegas to take out the cabal. All you’ve done is use your greatest weapon against yourselves. That’s not a good track record.”

My fists clenched hard enough I felt like my bones were going to burst through my flesh so I looked like Skeletor.

“Easy, Cam,” Lark made calming gestures. “I don’t know why you’ve got your panties in a bunch. You’re hardly human anymore. Maybe a quarter at this point, and that’s a good thing.”

“Wait,” my anger evaporated. “You know what I am?”

“Yes,” his voice wasn’t carefree anymore.

“What am I?” I pleaded, and grabbed the Fae’s four fingered hand.

“I can’t tell you,” he sighed, but I could sense he wanted to. “I’m bound by court, covenant, blood oath, royal oath, and several other oaths that would literally tear me to shreds if I broke them.”

He was being dead serious, and that just pissed me off more. “Does Venus? Her children? Lilith?” I fired away into the dark hoping to hit something.

“Ask them if you wish, but I can tell you one thing; your being here will lead to great, or terrible, things. Only time will tell.”

“Well, that’s cryptic as fuck. Thanks for the fortune cookie bullshit,” I glared at him.

“Enough about us,” Lark waved aside the biblical conversation, and my origins. “I’m here to teach you about that bit of power you got burning away in your gut.”

It was hard to move on from such a fundamental question of my being. It was like I was an inch away from grabbing some ass, but couldn’t get there. It was fucking frustrating; still, I needed to know about my Fae gifts. Peter was right. If shit had gone down in a crowded place, I would have killed a whole lot of innocent people.

Ser Fredrick’s power had helped me fight Peter a hell of a lot better than I could have beforehand. If I was being honest, the ability to finally punch at a supernatural weight class had me salivating. I sat up like a dog ready to beg, and the Fae smiled knowingly.

“Let’s start with the basics,” he began. “What do you remember about the troll?”

“Um,” I searched my memory. “He was strong, but I heard not very fast. I don’t remember him ever having telekinesis or fire powers. He could change his appearance and do that stepping between worlds thing. Other than that, I’m not sure.”

Lark nodded as I spoke. “All Fae have glamour to some degree. Some might just be able to affect their bodies, while others can conjure a world around them. May I?” he reached forward like he wanted to place a hand on my head.

“Why the hell not,” I nodded.

I thought something was going to happen, like Amanda, the Anima mage’s mindfuck, but all I felt was warmth spread through me.

“Yes,” Lark nodded and removed his hand. “First off, don’t expect to be as strong as the troll knight.”

That was a bit of a disappointment, but even a weak troll was a hell of a lot better than the strongest human.

“The passage of power in the bleeding grounds is designed for Fae to Fae. Your otherness,” he kept it vague, never shedding any light on my actual lineage, “has a symbiotic quality to it. If I had to wager a guess, you were able to absorb eighty percent of the power. You should be fairly strong, and definitely faster than the troll; you can thank your human side for blunting that weakness. You have to be quick to lay a hand on Peter,” he gestured at the broken room, “so, we’ll mark that in the win column.”

“You should be able to work glamour, and maybe even step safely into the Lands Between. Another plus, you likely won’t have the same cold iron weakness as the rest of us; so, you should count yourself very lucky, Cam,” the Fae grinned. “Peter will make you into a proper warrior.”

I didn’t feel very lucky, and there was still a lot I didn’t know, but the knowledge was a start.

“The first thing we need to do is be able to access your power. Think of it like a separate conduit. Your precognitive ability is likely a part of your otherness lineage, and activates automatically. You’ll get better about using that gift with time, and the same is true of your Fae gifts.”

“In my fight with Peter, I couldn’t do both at the same time,” I relayed my revelation that stopped the fight.

“That makes sense. You’re effectively changing your body’s radio from FM to AM. The magical energies interact with you differently, but you probably won’t be able to ever use both consecutively. However, I might be talking out my ass. I’m an expert on Fae gifts, not your otherness.”

“Interesting,” he knew what I was, but not how I worked. Since Lark had been around for basically forever, that said a lot about the possibilities. Namely, it was something I definitely hadn’t encountered before.

I also relayed to him how I imagined the white ball of fire that seemed to spring forth when I needed it. It was a good place to start the training. It turned into visualizing, chanting, meditating; anything to bring on the Fae gift without a serious emotional trigger. Despite all that effort, we got nowhere in the next four hours.

Then . . . eureka. I checked my phone to see an email from Peter. It had my