by Elena Lawson
My chest grew cold, and an electrifying energy sped through my veins, my back arched at the release of power and my eyes flew open. Frost blossomed from my palms, freezing the table—spreading up onto the clay bowl. I pushed harder, forcing the ice from my body. The bowl shattered under the immense cold and water flooded the table. Finn jumped back, and I pulled my hands away, breaking out of the trancelike state.
“You did it,” Alaric exclaimed, rushing over to lift me from the ground in a crushing embrace. “Ice. Your Grace is ice, Liana!”
Ice. I had finally done it. I was Graced. My ancestors hadn’t abandoned me. Relief rushed through me, detangling all the tensed muscles the stress of not knowing had created.
Finn pulled me from Alaric to wrap me in an embrace of his own, though Alaric still held one of my hands. “Congrat—” The Draconian jumped back as though burned, dropping his arms. He stumbled back, bumping into the now thawing table.
“What did you just do?” he asked me, raising a hand to his chest, “I felt—it was like—”
Alaric cocked his head at my sentry, “What is it, Finn?”
But he simply shook his head, “Never mind, it was nothing,” he said, and went back to eating his berries in pensive silence.
Chapter Twenty-Six
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t conjure the ice again. What good was a Grace if I couldn’t use it when I wanted to? Alaric told me to give it more time, but Finn seemed confused and told me even when he was still developing his Grace, he could at least summon a bit of frost.
Alaric spoke to Kade in private when he returned, but I got the gist of their conversation, overheard in snippets and chunks. Thana and Rin remained unconscious and Ronan offered nothing to explain the second attempt at poisoning me, nor the foreign Draconian’s attack. Even though, by the sound of it Kade hadn’t gone easy on him—burning one of his hands down to bare bone.
I knew it was ridiculous to feel sorry for my former Captain—he had tried to kill me, but I saw the pain in Selbi’s eyes when Kade used his Grace on her, and he had gone easy then. I couldn’t imagine what the full force of his fire felt like and wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
“But he admitted to giving Selbi the verbane?” Alaric asked Kade for the second time, their voices drifting into the sitting room.
“Yes.”
“Good. Finn and I will try to get more information from him, but at the very least, that crime alone is enough to see him executed. At least one threat will be dealt with.”
The two returned to the sitting room, and Alaric belted his sword to his waist, “We’ll be back in the morning,” he said by way of goodbye, brushing a strand of my hair behind my ear, “Be safe,” he said. “Any sign of trouble and you run, understand?”
I nodded, though since we arrived I hadn’t seen another soul, and there were no roads to be seen anywhere around the cottage. I didn’t expect any visitors, welcome ones or no.
“So,” Kade said after Finn and Alaric left, “Alaric told me your Grace is ice. And I’ve got to say, I’m not buying it.”
I raised my brows at him, blowing air out my lips, “Is that so?”
“Yes, it is,” he said, coming nearer. He was shirtless and the hourlong flight had further darkened his tan skin, making the ochre of his eyes seem brighter and his hair copperier than it had been before. He was magnificent, and I wished I could find a flaw on his body, if only to prove he was real, and not a figment of my imagination. “There’s fire in you. I know it’s there. I feel it calling to me when I touch you.”
Regardless of what some old librarian told me about Morgana, I knew it was impossible to have more than one Grace. It had never happened. The only way to gain a second Grace was to steal it using the Blessed Blade, and that was a myth—a bedtime story used to scare children into listening to their elders.
“I’m bored,” I said, changing the subject before he asked me to prove my Grace to him, because I wasn’t sure I could. “I’m going for a swim.” I told him and pulled a few laces free from my corset.
He growled at the subtle invitation and rushed to follow me from the cottage. The gown and corset were off of me within seconds, and I shivered at the feel of the sun on my bare back. With only my sheer panties left to clothe me, I ran into the water, sucking in a tight breath when my skin met the cool sea.
I dove under and pushed myself out, swimming further, and further from the shore. When I came up for air, Kade was hopping on one foot, trying to pull off his other boot.
“Wait,” he called over the waves, “Not too far.”
I laughed and plunged under again, pushing past the breakwater and out into the calm blue. The sunlight shone through the surface of water, reflecting on the sandy floor in a wavy pattern of gold. I had missed this. I hadn’t swum for weeks, and before I left the isle, it was something I did every day—if only to escape the lessons and constant ridicule of Thana.
The water was an old friend, welcoming me into her cool embrace. I came up for air only once, and pushed myself further, deeper, relishing in the burn of my muscles.
A shape darted near in my peripherals. A streak of shining sapphire. I spun and was face to face with a wraith. Bubbles of air exploded from my mouth as I tried to make for the surface. But it wrapped a tentacle around my ankle, holding me in place.
With light shining down through the water, the wraith was crystal clear, and I was awestruck at its dangerous beauty. Its upper half was humanlike, with breasts and a narrow waist, though its skin was a translucent blue that glowed from within. Six tentacles made up its lower extremities where legs would have been. But it was the wraith’s face that drew me. Big eyes, black as ink seemed to stare into me. The eyes set in a small, angular heart shaped face, with perfect lips and a wild mane of silver hair, not unlike my own.
Hauntingly beautiful.
Not hurt you. Never hurt you. its raspy song-like voice wrapped around my mind, scraping at my skull.
You’re hurting me right now! I wanted to shout at it, it’s grip on my ankle was like a vise—any tighter and it would fracture the bone.
Must listen. It crooned, not safe… Queen must not return to her stone tower. He will not stop. Queen will fall… Queen must stay here. Queen is safe here.
My lungs were constricting. I needed air. I needed to get to the surface. The last of my breath was forcibly trickling from my mouth as I tried to pull the tentacle off me.
Let me go!
A dark shape hurtled towards us from behind the wraith, speeding through the water unlike anything I’d ever seen. His wings expanded, and contracted, pushing him faster toward me. Kade.
The wraith must’ve heard him coming. Without warning she released my ankle and pushed me upward to the surface before she disappeared quick as a loosed arrow out to sea.
The air hurried to fill my lungs when I broke the surface. I was light-headed and fought to stay afloat.
“Where’d it go?” Kade bellowed, bursting from the water not an arms length away. Steam rolled from his shoulders, and the water near me warmed as his anger unleashed his Grace. But the steam stopped, and the water cooled when he beheld my face, “Damn, Liana,” he cursed, pulling me to him, “Lets get you back to shore.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kade had me wrapped in a blanket on the settee. A fire blazed in the hearth.
“No shit you aren’t safe at the palace,” he said after I told him what the wraith said under the water, “We know that, already.”
“But it said he will not stop. Do you think it was talking about Ronan?”
Kade handed me a mug of warm tea and sunk down onto the settee beside me, wearing nothing but his still damp trousers, “I don’t know, Liana, but good intentions or not, if another one of those ugly things touches you, I’ll kill it.”
“You can be such a brute,” I told him, earning myself a tight-lipped smirk from the Draconian. I shoved him, “I’m fine,” I told him for the third time since he’d pulled me from the sea.
“And I promise, no more swimming, ok?”
His ochre eyes fell on me, tracing a line from the top of my head down to my collarbone, stopping to rest on my exposed shoulder.
“It’s getting late,” he said, “You should get some rest. With any luck, Finn and Alaric will get to the bottom of these assassination attempts and we’ll be back at court tomorrow.”
I nodded but knew sleep wouldn’t come, I was too wired on the aftereffects of the adrenaline still coursing through my body. Rising from the settee, I dropped the blanket to the floor, baring myself to the fire. My skin was still slick with wet from the sea but dried as I neared the hearth.
A low rumble started in Kade’s chest, audible from where I stood—just out of his reach. “Liana,” he warned, and I turned to find him clutching the arm of the settee. The look in his eyes made my insides squirm.
“Yes, Kade?” I said, knowing exactly what the sight of my near-naked body was doing to him. Etiquette be damned. After so many days spent in perpetual worry, I wanted to feel good—needed an escape, and I knew my golden-eyed warrior would oblige me.
Kade locked his lips onto mine before I had time to register he’d moved. The kiss was not gentle, it was wild and hard and hungry. His warm chest brushed against my breasts and my nipples hardened in response. His tongue flicked against mine and I moaned, my nails biting down into the hard muscle of his back.
“Gods, Liana,” he said between fervent kisses, his hands exploring the curves of my hips, “I want you,” he growled, and pressed his cock against me, compelling another moan from my lips. The feel of his hardened length made my pulse thunder in my ears. As if in answer to an unasked question, my sex wetted.
He lifted me onto him, his hands cupping my backside, and carried me to the bedchamber. I fell onto the bed, and he bent over me, his wings spreading out to reach either side of the room, surrounding us in a cocoon of tempered darkness.
I reached up to stroke the soft membrane, and his delicious groan reverberated in my core. He pinned my hands above my head and descended upon me. His tongue flicked my nipple and my back arched, breath coming in ragged gasps. He reached down with his free hand and my panties vanished with a flick of his fingers.
Kade moved slowly, like a wildcat stalking its prey, licking and nipping and biting flesh as his mouth went ever-lower. He released my hands and took hold of my hips with burning fingers, tugging me to the edge of the bed.
“What are you—” I said, but the words were swallowed up by the raw—pure sensation cascading through me when his mouth settled over my sex. His tongue circled my opening, and my body tightened in response. My hips moved against him, urging him to go faster, harder. I thought I might die from the building pressure—from the heat. From the unchecked energy coursing over me, through me.
The heat built to a precipice, and I bucked and writhed, calling out his name as my release exploded through me.
My eyes flew open and were met with fire. Where my hands had been clutching the cotton sheets a fire was spreading. Kade jumped back, pulling me from the bed. His hands felt cold against the blaze of my skin. He released me as though burned, and the fire in my palms extinguished.
I couldn’t move—could hardly breathe. What had just happened? Kade darted to grab a pitcher of water from the basin and tossed it over the bed. A plume of smoke coiled up from the blackened, tattered bedding.
My Grace was ice—not fire. I couldn’t have…
“I knew it,” Kade said, “I knew your Grace was fire.”
But only that morning, frost had blossomed beneath my fingers.
Impossible.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Three days had passed since we first arrived at the cottage. They passed in a blur of mind-numbing lessons and constant arguments. If I had to stay another night, I felt I’d go mad.
My Grace, or Graces seemed only to present themselves when one of the twins was touching me. I could summon ice without issue when Finn laid a hand on my shoulder, and I could conjure fire with a flick of my finger when Kade did the same. But the moment they released me, I would lose all control over the abilities. It made no sense, and though Tiernan had been tirelessly searching the archives for more information, the males told me he had found nothing to explain it.
“The Solstice Ball is tomorrow night,” I shouted in exasperation at Alaric. “I don’t care if Ronan is to blame for all the attacks or not, I must return to court. I’ve been away too long already, and you said yourself, the nobles are starting to wonder. And Thana is probably sick with worry.”
Alaric itched at the stubble on his jaw, lost in thought.
“Alaric!” I shouted louder to get his attention.
“Hmmm—oh… right. Yes, I know it’s tomorrow. Darius brought your gown to your chambers last night before I left.”
“So?” I asked, drawing out the word.
Alaric took another drink of his mulled wine, setting the empty goblet down onto the table, “We’ll all stay here tonight,” he declared, “Rest. And tomorrow at dawn we’ll return to the palace.”
I sighed in relief, eager to return to my bed, to see Thana and to present a Grace to my court, though I hadn’t decided which one. It would have to be large enough of a spectacle that everyone could see. Kade suggested setting my gown on fire and letting it burn off me—not surprising. And Finn suggested turning the entire floor to ice and watching all the nobles fall on their backsides. The latter sounded more appealing than I cared to admit, but either way, one of the Draconian warriors would have to be in contact with me for me to do anything.
The lines on Alaric’s beautiful face had deepened with worry over the last few days. And it pained me to see him that way even though I was still angry with him for more than one reason. I moved into the seat next to him, and pulled his hands into my lap, “Hey,” I said, “It’ll be alright. We’ll figure this out. Together.”
He gazed into my ever-changing eyes, his tensed shoulders relaxing, “I hope so.”
“I know so,” I said, giving his hands a tight squeeze. “I’ve been hard on you, but I know you’re doing all you can to keep me safe. And—well I want to thank you.”
I kissed him on the cheek and his lips tipped up into a sad smile before he rose and went into the bedchamber alone, closing the door behind him.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
We snuck onto the terrace of my bedchamber the next morning just before sunrise. Alaric sent Kade to meet the sentries he had sent to the Wastes. We saw them returning to the palace from the northern road as we flew overhead. And now Alaric was using my bathing room to get himself cleaned up—having refused to go back to his own quarters. Once finished, he would fetch Thana to ready me for the ball.
Finn leaned against the wall, studiously picking something from under his fingernails. He had been suspiciously quiet since returning to the cottage after I set the bed ablaze. I had an inkling I knew what he thought had happened, and though he wasn’t far off, he was wrong. “Kade and I—” I began, “We didn’t—well we didn’t do what you think we did.”
“It’s not that, Liana. I’m worried about you is all. It isn’t possible for Fae to have two Graces. One is enough to control. Kade nearly burned our entire village to the ground when he was learning to control his.”
“I can’t even access mine without help, so I doubt that will be an issue.”
He sighed, readjusting his wings behind him, “Which makes this all even more confusing.” He pushed off from the wall, and the stone splintered—the outline of a doorway materialized where he had stood.
A doorway?
I ran toward it, pulling on the edge of the clean-cut stone.
A passageway lay behind it, dark, and seeming to go on forever. Finn cursed from behind me, and took hold of my wrist, “Step back,” he warned.
But the familiar pull in my chest began again—the same one that drew me towards the Great Hall all those nights ago. I was thinking I had imagined it.
Liana… th
e ominous voice called.
“Did you hear that?” I asked Finn, pulling my wrist out of his grasp.
“Hear what?”
“I’m going inside.”
“No, you aren’t.” Finn said, stepping in front of me to block the passageway. “We have no idea where this leads. Go get Alaric.”
Come… the voice said, and the pull in my chest intensified, becoming almost painful. I winced.
Alaric would only drag me from the palace again at the discovery of a hidden passageway leading right to my bedchamber. No, I wouldn’t go get Alaric. The force expanded in my chest, and I curled inward, gasping.
I hated myself for what I was about to do, but I had to go inside. “I order you to step aside.”
He was taken aback at the command, and the shock broke way to hurt as he looked away and stepped from my path. “I can’t let you go in there alone,” he said between gritted teeth.
“Then don’t,” I answered him, stepping into the shadows, “Grab a torch. We’ll need it to light the way.”
My chest tightened as we delved further into the gloom. The torchlight illuminated the way as we followed the path down a flight of slippery stone steps. Bats clung to the rough ceiling, squeaking and writhing as we passed under them. Finn was careful not to disturb them, lest they attack.
The pull in my chest strengthened, propelling me to go faster, almost running through the dark.
Finn cursed, “Slow down,” he said in a harsh whisper, “You’ll slip.”
It grew cold as we descended, down and down and down. For a time, it seemed there would be no end to the stairs, but then there was the sound of water, and we rushed to clear the last few steps.
The moment we entered the cavernous chamber, a hundred torches flared to life, ringing the walls in flickering blue flame. The chamber was empty save for a statue at the center. It was Morgana, standing tall with a look of defiance in her eyes. The water we heard ran from the palms of her outstretched hands, cascading over her fingertips and falling into a pool around her feet. Four dragons carved of the same stone formed a barrier around her, their faces shaped to portray a primal fury.