Tempered illusions shado.., p.1
Tempered Illusions: Shadows of Otherside, #6, page 1
part #6 of Shadows of Otherside Series
Tempered Illusions
Whitney Hill
This is a work of fiction. Any references to real events, people, or places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental.
TEMPERED ILLUSIONS
Copyright © 2023 by Whitney Hill
All rights reserved. This book is for your personal use only. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Thank you for supporting the author by purchasing this book.
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ISBN (ebook): 978-1-7376311-8-7
ISBN (pbook): 978-1-7376311-9-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022919006
Cover Designer: Pintado (99Designs)
Editor: Jeni Chappelle (Jeni Chappelle Editorial)
Contents
Content Warnings
Dedication
1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 22
23. Chapter 23
24. Chapter 24
25. Chapter 25
26. Chapter 26
27. Chapter 27
28. Chapter 28
29. Chapter 29
30. Chapter 30
31. Chapter 31
Acknowledgments
Also by Whitney Hill
About the Author
Content Warnings
This book contains strong physical violence and gore, on-page death, swearing, slurs (not toward any real racial or ethnic group/identity), alcohol use, knife violence, threat of sexual violence, mention of past abuse by a guardian, deadnaming, kidnapping, state-sanctioned violence, blood-drinking, and consensual on-page sex scenes.
For those who have fought to build new lives for themselves in the ashes of the old.
Chapter 1
The darkness weighing on my aura and the chill biting down my spine wasn’t just from being underdressed in the forest on a February night as the moon waned. It was a power signature, a strong one.
A psychological play as well, I suspected.
I slipped through the trees, staying low and placing my feet carefully, as I’d been shown, shields tight. It reminded me of another night in these same woods, one I almost hadn’t survived but had because the man hunting me now had pulled me out of the lake he’d thrown me in with a concrete block tied around my ankles.
I shivered, remembering it, then pushed the memory aside.
Focus. I needed focus.
Troy Solari was even deadlier than Troy Monteague had been two and some years ago, and I couldn’t afford to lose this hunt. Mostly because it was my final exam for the first course new Darkwatch agents were put through, and I had to prove to the rest of the East Coast elves that I was not to be fucked with.
The energy in the woods shifted.
With our bond locked down tight and me shielding like hell to keep my own power signature from giving my position away, I had to rely on all my other senses to both navigate through the forest and evade Troy. He might be my fiancé and my king, but when it came to training me, he was as brutally unforgiving as he’d be with any other recruit. My life depended on it, and there was nothing he held more valuable.
I’d gotten the flag from the locked box hidden in the bole of a lightning-struck oak. That’d been the first test—whether my senses, amplified by the massive boost in my power during the Wild Hunt, had reached elf-level and whether I could evade the physical and Aetheric traps that’d littered the path to the tree and surrounded the box itself.
Now I had to escape the woods with my prize.
Nothing moved. Even the wind had stilled, like it wanted nothing to do with this. If I eased up on my shields, I could find Troy and everyone else hiding among the trees by reading the wind’s movement. I could read air currents as a passive power, but Troy had figured out my range months ago and usually managed to stay out of it until he was ready to strike. Then he was all terrifying speed, devastatingly strong Aether, and sharp teeth.
Goddess, I loved the man.
Shaking off the thought, I took another silent but deep lungful of night air so sharp it tried to cut my lungs. I was almost out of the woods. The glow of the damn LED lantern signaling the clearing where the boathouse sat was right there. But elves were ambush predators. Troy, in particular, was patient and took a wicked delight in springing traps at the last moment. He was taller and faster than me, although I was nearly as strong now. And he’d been trained as an assassin and commando since childhood.
Of course, he knew I knew that. Which meant he knew all my little tricks.
All my habits. All my fears.
That’s it.
My way out wasn’t letting him ambush me in the trees this close to the finish line and trying to fight my way free when I was outnumbered.
It was doing something nobody would expect.
I burst into a run, which he would expect.
There.
Movement to my left, on the side away from Jordan Lake. A deeper patch of shadow in the dark. Troy.
He knew me, body, mind, heart, and soul. Which meant he knew the last thing on Earth I’d ever do was jump into Jordan Lake, especially in February. Especially here, at the boathouse where I’d nearly died for the first time.
I had to win this. I owed it to myself, for all the hard work I’d put in. I’d earned this win. I was as good as any elf, and I’d prove it.
The shadow that was Troy angled to cut me off.
I planted a foot and, instead of trying to get past him, pivoted and hoofed it for the lake. As I ran, heart pounding, I made sure the flag was secured in the pocket of my Darkwatch-issue pants. There was a bluff—
I almost didn’t see it in time to turn my headlong run into a shallow dive rather than a tumble.
“Arden, no!”
Troy’s shout was the last thing I heard before hitting the water.
The slap of cold nearly knocked me out, as did the rock I would have smashed into headfirst had I not dropped my shields and thrown up a bubble of Air as I leaped. The rock shifted. I flailed and managed to turn in time to take the rest of the impact on my feet. It jarred through my thighs, numbing my legs almost as much as the icy water did.
Dropping my bubble was the last thing I wanted to do, but I still had to get to shore. Sofia, my undine friend, had guided me into a passive Water ability that would let me hold my breath longer than I could otherwise. Val, her dea sister, had taught me a little self-warming trick with Fire, but that would make steam rise from the freezing lake and give me away. I’d just have to hurry and swim before I froze to death.
Fortunately, the finish line wasn’t far.
As I kicked off, two more splashes disturbed the water behind me. One was almost certainly Troy. The other would be one of the Ebon Guard. A rescue rather than a capture probably, but the joke was on them. I was passing this exam, come the ninth circle of hell or the high water of this Goddess-damned lake.
Grimly, I stayed beneath the surface and kept kicking. The lake was deep on this side, with short beaches and steep drop-offs. Some folks who jumped in didn’t come back up, even when the weather was nice.
Again, I wrenched my mind away from the memory of almost being one of them. I refused. Kept kicking. Let the imagination of Troy’s fury at the fool move I’d made keep me warm.
Almost there.
Almost—
The pillar of the dock was suddenly in front of me so fast I almost swam into it. I hauled myself out, gasping for breath. Sofi’s little trick didn’t work as well for sylph-born me, for all I was a primordial now.
Digging deep, I pushed myself into a run. If someone tagged me before I reached the lantern—
Air currents shifted, and I dodged, hitting the ground and rolling as an arm passed overhead.
“Here!” Allegra shouted. “She’s out. She’s over here!”
I found my feet and launched myself at the lantern in a dive, crashing into it to send it flying just as Allegra’s grip closed around my ankle.
I would have sworn I’d touched the lantern before she touched me, but I was busy trying not to throw up or choke on big heaves of icy air that sliced my lungs at the same time.
It had been cold enough before without being wet and exhausted. Now I was paying for it. I opened the bond with Troy, knowing he’d b
He melted out of the night as he dropped his shadows, dripping lake water. “What in the ever-loving fuck was that?”
Oh boy. I was in big trouble.
Troy’s fury was always as icy as his power signature, but the swears—those were the biggest giveaway. I was too tired to move though, so I just laid there shivering as Etain hurried over with two of the silvery emergency blankets I’d gotten way too familiar with in the last few years.
Troy snatched them from her, knelt in front of me, pulled me up into a seated position, and wrapped both around me with rough tugs. “Never do that again.”
I scowled. “You giving me orders, Troy?”
“You’re damn right I am. This is training. You’re my subordinate here. That was fucking dangerous. Headfirst into a lake? In February? Into this lake? What the hell, Arden?”
Temper flaring, I inhaled to snap back at him—and caught the rotted-herb scent that said he was terrified. The gold flecks in his hazel eyes, the ones that apparently marked an elf who was too close to what the elves had once been for the modern standards that’d kept them from being discovered pre-Reveal, flashed in the low light. His grip stayed locked on the blankets, holding them tight around me rather than taking one to warm himself.
Glancing away, I remembered we had an audience: Troy’s sister-cousin Allegra Monteague and Etain Bossence, my half-elven captain of the Ebon Guard. Haroun Carrell, the other of my personal bodyguards, also wet and shaking. Apparently, he’d been the second splash. Lachlan Sequoyah and Felip Luna, who doubled as healers. And maybe worst of all, Omar Monteague, aka the Captain, looking on with arms crossed and a heavy scowl on his dark face.
I grimaced, face flaming, and lowered my gaze. I kept forgetting it wasn’t just about me now. There were people who would die for me, even if it was my bad call. “You’re right,” I said stiffly. “That was reckless.”
Troy, ready to keep fighting, blinked and sat down. “What?”
I shrugged, annoyed and embarrassed now on top of being cold and wet. My cold hardiness only went so far in temps this low. “I knew you’d wait to strike until I was almost home free. Y’all needed to see if I could do the first part of the test, so while you could have taken me earlier, you wouldn’t have known if I could find the flag and disarm the traps. I figured everyone else would hang back and let you flush me out in case I lost it at being ambushed. If they were behind and on the far side of the lake and you were in front, the only way out was the lake itself.”
He stared at me in consternation as I recited my thought process, report-style, then started rubbing my arms. The blanket made a crackling noise, and Haroun fished a lighter from his pocket to light the nearby fire kettle. The lighter sputtered a few times before he gave up and let Allegra light it with a dry one.
I could have lit it myself, but Troy was right—I might be High Queen of House Solari and Arbiter for the Carolinas demesne, but he gave the orders in training exercises. One of those had been not leaning on my powers unless my life was in danger. I was cold, but I’d be fine, so I hadn’t coaxed Fire to me to light the prepared wood myself.
Behind me, Allegra said, “She’s not wrong, T. Batshit crazy, but she anticipated the strategy and found a tactic to counter it.”
Troy wasn’t having it. Heat scalded me in the bond. “She dove. Into. The lake.”
“Which you were counting on her PTSD to stop her from doing. Another point to her for mental toughness.”
He glared at her then transferred the look to me. “The flag?”
I shifted and dragged it out of the cargo pocket.
Troy shook his head, scrubbing his hands over his face. “Nobody tagged her before she hit the lantern?”
“Allegra did.” I couldn’t quite keep the sullen note out of my voice.
“Nope.” She moved closer to the fire. “You knocked over the lantern first. You won, sis.”
“I did?” My heart lifted. I needed some damn good news.
The Triangle—the country really—was going to hell in a handbasket as conservative politicians elected in the last year overturned early wins we’d secured for Otherside rights and protections, rolling back laws defending us. I’d instigated the two Reveals that’d outed the vampires, werewolves, elves, and witches, so all of Otherside was blaming me for the upheaval. The Darkwatch had suppressed as many records as they could, but I was still reeling from having my privacy largely stripped away in the media frenzy that’d followed the aversion of the Wild Hunt and the quieter backlash from Otherside.
We’d won. But lately it was feeling like we’d lost, and I didn’t know what to do about it other than what I had done: step back and mind my business for a little while. All I knew was that I wanted more than anything to feel safe and in control. Hence, taking Troy up on his suggestion to take my training regimen up a notch and into the first level of the full Darkwatch program.
Troy glanced over his shoulder at Omar. The relationship between the two was strained as hell these days, but Omar Monteague was Captain of the Darkwatch, at least here on the East Coast, and still had the final say in who passed its tests.
Omar’s lips pressed together in deep disapproval. Then he shook his head, much as Troy had. “It was a near thing, but she did win. If the lantern had been a getaway car, she’d have made it. At least close enough to be covered by backup.” He arched an eyebrow. “Alone, she’d be in trouble. But that’s why we don’t send agents alone.” A glance at Troy, one that might have been remorseful from anyone else. “Usually.”
My heart pounded as I waited for the judgment.
I’d been training for the last year for this. Busting my ass daily alongside Troy, Allegra, and whichever of the Ebon Guard wanted to try me after Maria and the rest of the parliament had accepted me stepping back from dealing with mundane affairs, as much to calm the rest of Otherside as the mundanes. I’d needed something else to do with my time. Hell, even the wereleopards had helped with my training.
Self-defense had seemed like a good idea. Complaints from the elven conclaves in Richmond and Charleston had gotten louder. I knew from experience and with the Sight that I’d need to defend myself sooner or later. Troy might not always be there to save my ass.
And frankly, I was hoping if the Houses heard I was properly Darkwatch-trained, they’d either think twice about coming for me or have to send a large enough force that Omar or Etain would hear about it.
Omar sighed heavily. “Take one of those blankets, son, before you freeze to death and leave House Solari without an heir.”
Annoyance flashed from Troy at the word “son” from his uncle and adoptive father, but for once, he let it rest as the bond echoed with both my frustration and Troy’s embarrassment.
The topic of heirs was a touchy one. One I refused to think about just now. Heat faded from my face as I stomped the thought down and pushed it into a box.
I nudged Troy, and he stared at me before shaking himself and taking one of the blankets. Sometimes, we were a little too tightly meshed together and it took a moment to separate whose thoughts were whose.
We all moved closer to the fire, although Troy hung back a little. I might have dived right in, but I had trauma around water—the lake. His was around fire, specifically fire in braziers in the dark and what his grandmother and sister had done to torture him to within an inch of death. I shifted to stand in front of him, both to put a physical barrier between him and the fire and because leaning my back against his front would soothe him. We were both wet and cold. It wasn’t like I could make it worse.
The snarl of emotions in the back of my mind loosened, although he didn’t embrace me like I knew he wanted to. This was still a training exercise, and Omar was still the father figure who’d raised him and been his military superior.
The Captain studied me. “The conditions are satisfied.” As my heart leaped, he held up a hand. “I don’t like how they were satisfied. What you did was dangerously unconventional and almost criminally reckless. Your king and a member of your Guard followed you in because you could have—should have—cracked your head open and drowned. They could have followed you. Losing either you or Troy would throw the entire Eastern Seaboard into chaos because of how much you’ve destabilized the region by reorganizing the power structure and allowing Maria to hold the seconds of the New York and Miami coteries. I’m not convinced we’ve seen the last of Sergei or Roman Volkov, but you refuse to have either of them killed.”
