Hidden Wings

The New Mentor

"Ivy, look at me," Alzir interrupted, his tone firm as he turned and began striding rapidly back toward the castle doors. "You cannot even shield your own thoughts. Going to Earth is exactly what the Unseelie King wants."

"Then teach me how to shield them!" I demanded, jogging a step to keep up with his massive, sweeping strides. The anger in my chest was a physical heat, a sharp, suffocating pressure that didn't feel like fire or wind. It felt heavy, sweet, and entirely too intimate.

Alzir suddenly stumbled mid-step.

He froze in the middle of the stone corridor, his breath catching sharply in his throat. His chest heaved, and when he turned his head to look down at me, his eyes weren't just wide with tactical alarm anymore—they were clouded, his pupils completely dilated, a sudden, dark flush rising along his ancient, stoic jawline.

I froze, too, a sudden chill running down my spine as I realized what was happening. The air around us had grown thick, smelling faintly of jasmine and heavy rain. My succubus power. My aggression and desperation had flipped a biological switch I didn't even know existed, pulling at his energy, trying to feed on his reaction to ground my own panic.

"Stop," Alzir rasped, his voice uncharacteristically strained. He clamped his eyes shut, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white as he forced his own ancient mental discipline to slam down like an iron shutter. When he opened his eyes again, the cloudiness was gone, replaced by a deep, shaken gravity. "Control your emotions, Ivy. All of them. Before you drain the entire court by accident."

Shame burned hot in my cheeks. "I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry, I just—Alzir, please." I kept my voice low, practically pleading as we hurried down the final hallway toward the heavy oak doors of the council room. "Don't tell the Council what just happened out there. If you tell them the Dreamweaver got into my head, or that I'm throwing off succubus magic, they'll lock me in a tower. Please. Just give me a chance to get control of it."

"I am a Fae of action and knowledge, Little Bird," Alzir said grimly, his hand resting on the heavy brass handle of the council doors. "And the knowledge I have right now says you are a danger to yourself. The Council must be informed of the threat level."

Before I could beg him again, he pushed the doors open.

The grand council room was already filled with the heavy, suffocating atmosphere of a looming war. Queen Adele sat at the head of the long stone table, her expression sharp, surrounded by the high lords and the Solitary Fae representatives.

"Alzir, Ivy," Adele said, her sharp eyes instantly locking onto my disheveled, trembling form. "We were just discussing the logistics of the Earth trap. You look as though you’ve seen a ghost."

"Worse, Madam," Alzir stated, stepping into the room.

I followed behind him, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I tried to force my hands to stop shaking, tried to visualize a clean, empty canvas to wipe away the chaotic static buzzing under my skin, but it was useless. The frustration was a wall of black ink, ruining every mental line I tried to draw.

Adele stood up, her sharp gaze sweeping over the subtle, lingering trace of the heavy, sweet aura still radiating off me. She walked over, placing her hands firmly on my shoulders. "Breathe, Ivy. Look at me. Take a deep breath. Inhale the ambient energy, exhale the static. Let it go."

I took a deep, ragged breath, trying to follow her guidance, but my lungs felt tight. I exhaled, but the volatile heat under my skin didn't budge. I took another, deeper breath, but the pressure in the room only seemed to drop, the glass lanterns along the walls flickering dangerously in response to my internal storm.

"It's not working," I choked out, a wave of pure, aggressive frustration crashing over me. I ripped myself out from under my grandmother's hands, pacing away from the table. "I can't just calm down!"

The Solitary Fae representatives didn't shout or demand chains. True to their nomadic nature, they merely watched my outburst with cold, detached amusement.

"The girl is a storm," one of the Solitary elders murmured, adjusting his heavy traveling cloak. "But she is a royal storm. The problems of the court are for the Queen to settle. If she cannot be controlled by the time the gate opens, the treaty is void and our scouts withdraw."

With that, they rose from the table, filing out of the council room without a backward glance. They didn't care about our war; they only cared about efficiency.

"I'm not staying behind," I repeated, my voice hoarse, my knuckles white as I gripped the edge of the stone table. The lanterns in the room were still pulsing to the rhythm of my racing heart. "There has to be another way."

Adele exchanged a long, heavy look with Alzir. The ancient Fae of action gave a single, reluctant nod.

"There is," Adele said softly, stepping toward me. "But first, Ivy, you need to rest before you tear your own channels apart. Your core is burning too hot."

Before I could protest, Adele placed her palm flat against my forehead. A sudden, ice-cold shockwave surged through my shattered skull. It didn't hurt, but it felt like a heavy, thick velvet blanket was suddenly thrown over the roaring fire in my chest. The chaotic static in my mind went dead quiet, forced down behind a royal seal. My knees went weak, the sudden drop in adrenaline leaving me completely exhausted.

Alzir caught me by the arm, keeping me steady.

"The seal will hold her emotional leakage for tonight, Madam," Alzir said, his deep voice echoing in the quiet room. "But she cannot return to the training fields. The open air gives her too much canvas to destroy, and my presence is a liability if her allure triggers again."

"Then where do we send her, Alzir?" Adele asked, rubbing her temples. "She refuses to sit out, and we need that Dreamweaver dead."

"The Grand Library," Alzir responded.

Adele blinked, surprised. "The archive? It has been sealed for decades."

"Precisely. It is subterranean, reinforced by ancient dampening stones, and entirely empty. There is nothing for her to burn or break," Alzir explained. He looked down at me, his eyes grave. "And there is someone there who can teach her what I cannot. My nephew, Seth."

I leaned against the table, my eyelids heavy from Adele's mental block. "Seth?"

"He belongs to a rare, isolated branch of our bloodline," Alzir said. "His own nature is rooted in a heavy, immovable stillness. Your alluring powers will not affect him, because he already exists in a space where no one can touch him. If anyone can teach you how to quiet the storm in your blood, Ivy... it is him."

Adele looked at my tired face, then back at Alzir. "Prepare the lower chambers. We begin her transition to the library at dawn."