A Kingdom of Iron & Wine : New Adult Fantasy Romance (The Ironworld Series Book 1)

by Candace Osmond

  “Hello?” I asked.

  The eyes became a head as a strange horse-like creature emerged to its neck. I froze. I knew what creature this was. I pulled quick glimpses from the pile of texts Moya had borrowed from the Territory of Dreams. I’d skimmed a section on various Fae creatures. This was a kelpie.

  “Avery.”

  “Yes?” I replied hesitantly.

  I knew the creature thrived in the waters. Often swamps and small lakes where people frequented. People… because it loved to torture its prey. With the upper body of a horse and the lower body of a sea serpent, kelpies were known for luring their prey into the water, where they then drowned the person and sucked the marrow from its bones.

  “Why don’t you come into the water where I can see you better?” Its voice was like eerie music I’d never heard before. Seeping into my ears like warm oil.

  “No, thanks,” I replied, shaking the mesmerizing hold it had on me. “You won’t be drowning me today, kelpie.”

  Wet steam huffed from his snout, and the creature emerged even further, revealing black scales that looked like they were dripping with black tar. “Not even to save your friend?”

  “My friend?”

  “Avery!” Lattie’s panicked voice echoed in the wind.

  My heart raced. “Let her go!”

  “Come into the water and trade for her.”

  “I told you,” I breathed heavily, “That won’t be happening.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Its gaze averted downward.

  I was up to my knees in water. But I didn’t recall moving from the safety of the beach, I hadn’t taken a single step. Terror struck me, and I turned to bolt but found the kelpie’s power held me in place. I was in its domain now. The creature floated closer. I struggled to tear my feet from the mud they were stuck in, but it was no use. I may as well have been cemented in.

  “Don’t come any closer!” I demanded. But the kelpie only chuckled darkly. Its tail rose from the water and gently touched my hair with its tip, trailing down my arm.

  “Such a pretty thing,” it cooed. “Shame for it to go.”

  “H-how did you get here?” I asked. “This is a sanctuary for Solitary Fae.”

  “Am I not Solitary?” it preened. “I answer to no Lord, no ruler of courts. I govern myself, as I have since the beginning of our time.”

  I narrowed my eyes, refusing to let my fear fill my scent. A detail I’d read about the kelpie. “What’s it going to take to let me go?”

  “Offer another in your place.”

  “No,” I replied, and remembered how most Fae loved to make deals and trades. “But I’m willing to make some sort of trade.”

  “What do you offer, Avery Quinn?”

  I cringed at the sound of my full name on its lips. “What do you want?”

  “Marrow.”

  “What else do you want?”

  “Blood.”

  I rolled my eyes as impatience toiled in my gut. “What else do you want that doesn’t require the loss of life?”

  The creature dipped below the water, and panic seared my veins as I searched for it. Silence fell, and all that could be heard were my labored breaths, and a fog spilled from my mouth. The kelpie then popped up right next to me, its fish stench bombarding my nostrils.

  “That bracelet of yours is quite lovely,” it cooed again. “I do love trinkets.” It ended the word with a snake’s hiss.

  I glanced down at the bracelet Tess made for me. “The next best thing to marrow and blood is… a piece of jewelry?”

  “It’s not the object itself but what it represents,” the kelpie said. “It means something to you, yes?”

  I swallowed wetly. “Yes, it was a gift. But how did–”

  “Then I want it.”

  I turned it over my wrist, contemplating. “And you’ll let me go?”

  That massive horse’s head nodded and huffed more wet steam. “Yes, for your bracelet, I’ll free you from my bind.”

  Without another thought, I slipped it off my wrist and held it out for the beast.

  It slanted its head, showing me its oily mane woven with various things. Bones, jewels, children’s toys. I shuddered at the thought. “Would you mind weaving it into my hair?” Its tail swished in the distance.

  With trembling hands, I reached out to tie the bracelet to its slick, wiry mane. The strands were so sharp they sliced my fingertips. A few drops of blood hit the water when I pulled away, and the creature immediately flew into a frenzy. Moving with lightning speed as it gripped me with its tail. I fought and struggled against the crushing hold and let out one mighty scream before it yanked me beneath the water.

  I could tell I was drowning almost immediately. I’d expelled every ounce of air from my lungs with that last cry for help, and now my lungs burned for breath, filling with the murky lake water. But I didn’t give up. I’d fight until the last drop of life seeped from me. I kicked and pulled and pushed at the thick tail, but the kelpie dove deeper, dragging me to the bottom of the lake. The water was cooler down there, but it still burned in my lungs all the same.

  With the last of my life, I gripped the thick, scaly tail in my hands, and a strange but familiar light formed under my palms, spreading outward, burning in its wake. It was as if the kelpie’s scales possessed a magic of their own, glowing and searing and blinding with an otherworldly light.

  There she is!

  She’s come back!

  It’s not her. She’s a human.

  Look closer. She doesn’t know.

  She doesn’t know…

  The whispers surrounded me, coming from all directions. Like that night I fell in Tess’ fountain. What were they talking about? Who were they?

  He knows. He’ll come for her yet.

  But the death grip around my body loosened as if the light… bothered the beast, and I frantically kicked for the surface. I broke through and gasped for air, filling my waterlogged lungs, desperate to live. I managed to take a few deep breaths before the kelpie claimed me again and yanked me back down to the depths, where two eyes peered at me through the murkiness, a darkness so thick it had to be supernatural. The sinister stare cleaved the water, heading straight for me.

  Evaine.

  I panicked and gripped my scaly prison once again, and that blazing light formed beneath my palms, but this time… I was in control of it. It grew brighter and brighter until even I couldn’t see anymore. I let it pour from my hands with no kind of damper. A force building. I closed my eyes as the pressure grew too much. And it blasted me out of the water like a shot out of a gun. My body slammed onto the beach. Harsh rocks and bits of sharp sand dug into my skin, and lake water purged from my lungs as the sound of the world slowly came back to me.

  “Avery!” Julie’s voice reached my ears, and I flinched. But it was her, really her. Not some illusion of sound from the kelpie. Julie ran to me and dropped to her knees at my side. “What were you thinking?” she balked, and Lattie fluttered up from behind her. “Never go into the water with a kelpie!”

  I couldn’t answer her. I still coughed, gurgled bits of water, and I deflated on the beach as I rolled over. Moya was there now, too. Appearing next to Julie. Lattie had the good sense to actually look concerned as she cast her gaze out over the now quiet waters.

  “I heard your voice,” I croaked with strain. The tinge of blood stained my raw throat. Lattie whipped her head to me, eyes wide. “The kelpie told me it had you.”

  “You… you braved a kelpie to save me?”

  “It was a trick,” Moya said. “That’s what it does.” She peered down at me. “Are you alright?”

  I nodded and pushed myself into a sitting position. “Evaine.” The memory nearly knocked me back down. “Evaine was in the water.”

  The three of them whipped their heads toward the lake in search.

  “I see nothing,” Moya said, unsure. “But I wager it’s best we leave.”

  “Av’,” Julie said quietly as she helped me to
my feet. “What was that blast of light?”

  I stared at my trembling hands, no evidence of burned flesh to be found. But I could still remember what it felt like on my skin to wield the light in my hands. My throat tightened as all the possibilities crashed down over my tired mind. I looked up at them. Me, I thought, but couldn’t say. My jaw was heavy. It was me.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I sat on our couch after I’d changed into dry black leggings and a navy wool sweater. My chin rested on my knees as I attempted to rub some warmth back into my feet. But it was no use. My fingers were just as cold. The moisture from my hair soaked into my dry clothes. I could still smell it. The lake water. Cold and dirty and musty.

  Julie sat just as silent as me on the other end of the couch. The only sound to be heard was the ticking of the clock that hung in the kitchen. Moya stepped inside from the patio, and my eyes shot to her.

  She sauntered over to where we sat. A golden fur cowl around her neck. Her eerie pink hair was half pulled back and held in place with kelp green combs lined with pearls.

  “I’m all done,” Moya said. “I couldn’t do the coffee shop, but I warded both entrances to your apartment, as well as every window and the patio door.”

  I loved the way her hair gleamed with magic right to the tips. The way it caught the light, unnatural and beautiful. A sight I desperately wanted to paint. The layers of iridescence. And, in that moment, I loved my ability. The Sight. To see these otherworldly things as they truly were.

  Minus the kelpie.

  I swallowed tightly. “Thank you so much.”

  “And might I suggest a trip to the Territory of Dreams. Soon?”

  Yes. I needed to know more about my newfound magic. “Definitely.”

  “Excellent,” Moya replied and plucked some nuts from a bowl on the table. “Just give me a few days to secure some time in the temple.”

  I couldn’t wait a few days. But I didn’t want to push. I just nodded in thanks and made a mental note to pay a visit to the Blood Reader myself.

  “What should we do for now?” Julie asked eagerly.

  Moya shoved a handful of nuts to the side of her mouth. “Just go about your regular lives. Stay away from shadows or roaming alone at night. The apartment is an iron cage. The wards you already had in place were good. I just built off of them.”

  I exchanged a look with Julie, and she shook her head. “We didn’t have any wards in place.”

  The sea maiden tipped her head in a very non-human way. “Well, then you either have an unknown ally, or someone wants you kept their little secret. A mortal Oracle? I’d say word’s spread by now.”

  I couldn’t imagine who might be our ally. No one else knew. Which only left the idea that someone was homing in on me. On my ability. To use me for themselves. To… keep me a secret. I cleared my throat. “Do… do vampires have the ability to place wards?”

  All three heads whipped in my direction. While I could see Julie’s confused expression from the corner of my eye, Moya tipped her chin up in realization. “The man in the market.”

  I just nodded.

  “What are you talking about?” Julie shifted where she sat and unfolded her legs from beneath her.

  I took a stilling breath and flexed my fingers in my lap. “Cillian and Celadine are vampires.” I struggled to get the word out.

  Julie’s eye slowly bulged in the sockets, and her hand came up to cover her mouth. “What?” She shook her head. “No, that’s not possible.”

  Moya then grabbed an apple from a small basket on the countertop and bit into it as she watched Julie piece things together.

  “It was a shock for me, too,” I said with a tickle in my throat.

  “No, I mean, it’s not possible,” Julie urged and dragged herself across the sofa to face me. “I would have known.”

  Moya pointed a finger with the hand that held the apple, brows raised. “Yes, that’s true. I didn’t feel it in the market. I’d only known because I smelled fresh blood on his breath. Plus, his general appearance.” She rolled her eyes, and I knew exactly what she meant. Too perfect. Too beautiful. A predator in every sense of the word. “Although, his eyes were not black.”

  “Black eyes?” I questioned and pulled the ivory knitted blanket from the back of the couch, bundling it to me as I recalled the kiss. The one that left Cillian’s eyes black.

  Moya tossed a grape on the floor, and Lattie chased it like a cat.

  “Vampires are known in our world for their black eyes. And, because Fae are natural prey to vampires, we have an extra sense to protect ourselves.”

  I rubbed at my face. “An extra sense?”

  Julie fidgeted with the sleeves of her white hoodie. “Yeah, sort of like a spidey sense. It’s almost like a little ping of nausea when we’re close to them.” I blinked at her. “I never got that around either of them.”

  “At all?” I wondered why I still questioned it because part of me knew there was truth there. Cillian and Celadine must be different.

  “Are you sure they’re vampires?”

  I mindlessly reached for my swollen lip, and Julie let out the tiniest sharp inhale, and our eyes met. An understanding passed between us, and my eyes glossed over. Julie stood up and put on a smile for Moya.

  “Thanks so much for helping us out.”

  “Of course,” Moya replied and wiped her hands together as she chewed the last of her snacks.

  Something Lattie once told me, a small passing detail, poked the back of my mind. If you feed a Fae, you’ll never get rid of them. They’re like stray cats. Moya said her goodbyes and was gone in a poof.

  Julie immediately spun to me, her smile fading. “Tell me everything.”

  I collapsed back on the sofa with a huff. “I don’t… I don’t even know where to begin.”

  “Start with the facts,” she said and sat next to me, her expression moving with concern. “How did you get that fat lip? Did he hurt you?”

  “No,” I replied with a cringe. “Not… exactly. I found out what he was, and I freaked.”

  She nodded in understanding. “That’s why you went home.”

  “Yeah, I just needed to get away from it all, y’know? To clear my head.” I pressed my lips tightly in thought. “But then he found me. He knew how to find me. He showed up in Tess’s backyard, wanting to talk. To convince me not to quit my job–”

  “You quit?” Julie balked, and I just gave her a tipped look. “Oh, right, yes. Vampires. Continue.”

  I shook my head, assembling my thoughts. “One thing led to another, and I kissed him.”

  “You kissed him, or he kissed you?”

  “I kissed him,” I said begrudgingly. “And turns out, I’m not that great at it.” I’d kissed guys before back home in our one-horse town. But they’d been innocent pecks of teenage curiosity, nothing like the hot, passionate show Cillian and I put on. “I clumsily smashed my mouth to his, and my lip cut on my tooth. And… the blood…” I could hardly finish the sentence. The vivid flashes of his cool mouth on mine, his teeth biting ever so slightly, his tongue sucking the blood from my wound. All the while… he still kissed me. The most mind-blowing kiss. “Anyway, I told him to leave. And he did.”

  A long period of silence hung in the air. Even Lattie, perched on the arm of the sofa, was quiet. Julie gnawed at her thumbnail, her gaze distant.

  “So, your boss and boyfriend are vampires,” Julie seemed to say to herself as if she just couldn’t grasp the fact. But she lived in this world, this crazy mythical world. Why was it so hard to believe?

  “He’s not my boyfriend.” The words cut like a knife, and my heart squeezed.

  She took a deep breath and exchanged a quick glance with Lattie. “Well, what do you want him to be?”

  “Does it matter what I want?” I said hopelessly. “He’s a vampire. I’m nothing more than a meal to him. This whole time… he’s been setting the trap.”

  “But it makes no sense. I’ve been around vampires before. I g
ot nothing when I was around the two of them. I didn’t even suspect they were otherworldly at all.”

  I hugged my knees to my chest and stared at my best friend with glossy eyes. “What do I do, Jules? Cillian and Celadine had inexplicably woven themselves into my life. I can quit my job, I can tell Cillian to leave me alone, but will that really stop them?”

  “I think the real question is if it’s even necessary. I mean, it feels a little over the top, the way they’ve sought you out. The time they’ve both invested into gaining your trust.”

  “I’ve never known a vampire to drag out a kill so long,” Lattie finally chimed in. I cringed at the word kill. As if I were nothing more than a cornered deer. “They’re known to be civilized when they want to be. When they need to be. But good?” Her head shook sadly. “I’m not sure.”

  “How can I get the answers I need?”

  Julie stood and paced with a pondering look. “We do a little recon.”

  “What?”

  She grinned. “You know where they live. Let’s go. Sneak around, listen in. Peer in windows. See how they behave when you’re not around.”

  “Jules, it’s the middle of the god damn night.”

  She shrugged cheekily and fetched her coat from the back of a chair. “Perfect time to spy on vampires, then. Don’t you think?”

  ***

  Even though I’d nearly lost my life to a kelpie or the fact that the sun would be up in a few hours, Julie and I trekked across the quiet downtown with Lattie in tow. My mind was spinning. Questions, so many impossible, unanswered questions. It didn’t feel real. That I had… magic. Power of my own. This blinding, burning light that lay dormant under my skin. I wondered how I’d made it my whole life without knowing, without it surfacing in some way. One fact pounded in my chest; there was no way I could wait for Moya to get me into the Temple of Dreams. I needed answers now.

  “Jules?”

  “Yeah?” she replied absently as she scanned the empty streets.