by Kristie Cook
I must have dozed off, however, because the next thing I knew, I bolted upright, screaming as visions of fires and bodies scattered around me faded away.
“Ach. No wonder you’re afraid,” said an unfamiliar female voice to my right.
I snapped my head toward the chair, the only other piece of furniture in the tiny room. A female fae rose from it, taking her full height of nearly six feet tall. A brown armored corset and black low-cut pants showed off tremendous amounts of flawless, golden brown flesh over perfectly sculpted muscles. Her deep black hair—blacker than mine—was cut asymmetrically, cropped close to the head in the back and on the sides, with long, spiky bangs swept to the side, revealing eyes like amethysts.
“Who are you? And what the hell does that mean?” I demanded.
Her angled brow lifted as her gaze traveled over me. “Come now. It’s time to conquer that fear.”
She strode out of the room, her ass a work of perfection in those tight pants. Thick, round, and muscular. But besides the admiring thought, I felt nothing for her—or from her. Not like I did with Tor. All that ass made me think of—all it made me want—was Sadie.
“Yasta!” she barked from the living room.
I slid out of bed and into my fighting leathers, finding her holding a mug of coffee and a cinnamon bun out to me.
“Yasta?” I asked, though I didn’t expect her to reply since she hadn’t bothered to answer my other questions.
“Make haste,” she said. “And I am Seer-sha. Tor said he warned you I was coming.”
I glanced at the note still on the counter. “He said Say-or-see … Ser-see?”
She rolled her eyes. “Ach. Saoirse. It’s pronounced seer-sha. Come now. We apparently have much work to do.”
“What did you mean about me being afraid?” I asked as I hurried out the door after her. “You can’t possibly know what I’m afraid of!”
She spun on her heel, her face suddenly transformed into one of those still bodies from my dream…from my memory.
I sloshed coffee all over my front. “How the hell?”
Her face morphed back into the beautiful fae. “I was bored watching you sleep, so I did a little dream walking.” She shrugged, as if invading my unconscious mind meant nothing. She must have seen the rage forming on my face, because she held her hands up. “Tor sent for me for a reason. If we’re going to break you of whatever is holding you back, I need to understand you. Now I do.”
“You know nothing about me,” I seethed.
“I know enough.”
Without warning, she went on the attack, trying to provoke me as Tor had done all the days before. Her power was not like his, though. Not quite as dark—not dark enough to interest my beast. So I had no problem only using my magic and weapons, no temptation to tap into my own dark power as she poked and prodded, attacked and withdrew. So much for breaking me, I thought as this went on for hours. Why had Tor even bothered sending for her? And where had he gone anyway?
“You need to eat. It’s inside. I’ll be back.” And with that, she disappeared.
She didn’t return by the time I finished the meal of meat and parsnips, the plate indeed waiting for me when I entered the cottage. Although no sun or moon ever shone here, I did notice a darkening of the sky as more time passed. I went outside and back to the stream, peering into the forest for any sign of Tor or Saoirse.
I wasn’t exhausted like I’d been while working with Tor. Bed didn’t beckon me, and my stomach didn’t ache for food. The only thing preoccupying my mind was a single thought:
Now’s my chance.
Chapter 16
My wings exploded from my back, and after doing a quick check that all weapons were in place, I sprang straight into the sky from the clearing in front of the cottage. I needed a bird’s eye view to gain my bearings and see the lay of the land. Perhaps discern the best direction to head. As I circled around, however, all I could see to the horizon in all directions was more of the dark forest, the bioluminescence hardly noticeable from up here. Far in the distance one way appeared to be mountains—dark, jagged points against a slightly lighter sky—but with no sun or moon and no real idea what time of day it was anyway, I didn’t know if that was north, south, east, or west. Not that it mattered. The Shadow Lands hadn’t been on the maps I’d seen while in Winter Court. I had no idea where I was in relation to anything else. Especially not to home.
I needed to find a Circle of Knowing. That was my only hope.
We’d come from the City of Shadows from the opposite side of the clearing as the cottage, so I flew past the cottage, over the stream and the forest on the far side of it. Once over the forest, I could see nothing of the ground through the canopy of leaves, and as I flew, the landscape remained the same. I banked a bit to my right, my gaze sweeping over the lands but not even finding another clearing. I turned sharper to the left until I soared parallel to the mountains, and still the terrain was unchanged. Just more and more dark forest.
Flying was supposed to give me a vantage point, but how much below the trees was I missing? For all I knew, I’d flown over several stone circles already. Angling my body downward, I prepared to dip below the canopy, hoping there was enough space between trees and branches to fly. If not, I could just run, but flying was easier and faster—and so much more fun.
I hadn’t even broken through the tops of the trees, though, when a paw the size of a car tire swiped out and batted at me, sending me tumbling through the air and crashing through branches until I hit the ground with an unimpressive thud.
“Son of a bitch,” I grumbled, jumping to my feet, my sword already in hand as I surveyed my surroundings. My head craned back to see what had hit me, and I swallowed a gasp as a huge feline type creature crawled down the tree. She looked like a lioness, though her fur was a powder blue color with highlights that glowed an electric blue, and two horns curled out from the top of her head, between her ears. Her tail, big and fluffy like a fox’s, swished back and forth, painting a galaxy of stars in its wake. The size of a large horse, she was terrifyingly beautiful, and I had no idea how to respond. Freeze? Play dead? Try to look as big as I could make myself? We’d read in a brochure about such techniques when facing a wild animal in the mountains where our school was. I couldn’t recall reading anything about feline faerie beasts, however, so I did nothing but harden my feathers, just in case she attacked.
A snap in the woods behind me made both of us freeze.
On the ground now, the cat-beast crouched, blue eyes peering into the space beyond me. I remained perfectly still, sending out all of my senses.
The darkness was thorough.
The faerie feline sensed it, too. With a hiss, she sprang away, darting through the trees until she disappeared a second later.
Slowly I turned, bracing myself. A swirl of black fog pulsed and throbbed between two trees, slashes opening and then closing, revealing Tor’s eye here, his mouth and chin there, the side of his cheek and the other eye next. We watched each other for a long moment, and then he disappeared.
I spun, finding him again—no. Not him. I didn’t sense Tor anywhere. The ebbing and flowing of black night behind another tree was not Tor. Hatred immediately bubbled up in me, awakening my beast.
“What a pleasant surprise to see you again, little shade,” the black mist purred. “Though I see my son has failed to break you. That is a shame.”
The mist sucked into the form of the Shadow king, a nasty grin stretched across his inhumanly beautiful, ageless face.
“It’ll take more than a few days to break me,” I said as I continued scanning my surroundings, wondering if I could make a run for it. Not at all wondering what happened to Tor.
“For anyone else, perhaps, even for my son. But not for me.” A tendril of black mist swished out and sliced through the air, slashing at me like a whip, dark energy curling around me, needling into my flesh, into my veins.
My beast sprang fully alert, a roar building in her chest. In my
chest.
I surveyed the area again. Sent out all my senses once more. Was the king really alone? If so, I could let her loose. Explode that bomb with no risk of casualties.
The king laughed. “You can’t kill me, little shade. How I’d love to see you try, but you won’t, will you? What do I have to do to break you? Kill your sister? Would that do it?”
“You promised,” I hissed through a clenched jaw. “We made a deal.”
“Ah, yes. So we did. Then how about that sorceress friend of yours?” Did he mean Charleigh? She was a powerful witch, but not a sorceress. If he wanted to believe that, though, I wouldn’t correct him. “I wonder how loud she’ll scream as I drain her magic. How her torment will taste.” A pale tongue swiped over his thin lips. “I wonder who might pay highly for her as a slave. Perhaps she can join Ena at Winter Court.”
His taunts were enough. He did know how to break me.
No, not break me. I would make this choice—this choice to end him now. This was an opportunity, not coercion. I had made a promise to myself to kill him, and I would follow through. Now was as good a time as any.
I allowed my power to build, the Darkness flowing freely through my veins, into my flesh, swirling through my torso until I could hold it in no more. I threw open the cage and freed the beast. And exploded like the bomb I was.
“Son of a fucking bitch!” The familiar female voice came from where the king had been a moment ago.
“I warned you.” Tor’s voice approached fast, and when the dust cleared, I saw him bending over, his hand stretched out toward Saoirse.
They were in a shallow crater—a crater I’d created, trees laid out, roots upended.
Saoirse took Tor’s hand and let him help her up. She looked quite a bit worse for the wear, her hair disheveled, and multiple slashes across her face and her arms. She moved slowly, groaning a bit as she straightened up. Still, as she brushed leaves and dirt off that perfect ass, she gazed up at me with what might have been a little awe mixed with a lot of triumph.
“You definitely pack some punch,” she said. “Just not enough. Yet anyway. We need to hone that power of yours, and it will be deadly, even to a king.”
I dropped my hands to my hips. “But you’re not the king. You tricked me.”
She shrugged. “I got you to break, didn’t I?” She gave Tor a pointed look. “I told you it would work, didn’t I? You should listen to me more often.”
My mouth gaped opened, then shut, and open again as I struggled to find the words I wanted to spew at her. Renewed hatred grew, and my beast clawed at the cage I’d already clanged around her. The longer I glared at Saoirse, though, the taller she stood, the clearer her skin became as the cuts healed, and the bigger her grin grew. At the same time, the heat of the hatred I felt for the king, first, and then for her, cooled.
“Fuck you,” I managed to bite out with the last bit of loathing I could muster. She shuddered with the sentiment, her purple eyes glowing contentedly, as though I’d literally just fucked her.
“Saoirse, we’ll meet you at home,” Tor said, the command clear in his tone.
The fae female pushed her bottom lip out in a fake pout before the corner of her mouth curled into a small smile.
“I can’t wait,” she said, her voice the sound of a delicious promise, then she winked at me before sifting away.
I turned fully at Tor, my hands still on my hips and my mouth open to unleash on him the anger that was already rebuilding. But the look in his aqua blue eyes, in the stoniness of his expression shut me up right quick.
“You were leaving,” he said, not quite a question but not quite an accusation, either, his voice low and frighteningly calm. Before I could answer, he went on. “Did you have a route for the thousands of miles to the border? A plan for how to feed and shelter yourself for the weeks it would take to reach the closest one? Do you know how to protect yourself from much more deadly beasts than the cait sith you just met? Or were you just…how do the humans say…winging it? In a land where everything and everyone wants to kill you?”
I shrugged. “That’s pretty much the norm wherever I go. And as you keep reminding me, I have a most deadly power.”
“Which you don’t know how to use.”
“I just did, didn’t I?”
“What, do you expect the beasts to insult you and your family first? Will it take the threat of rape or worse from my father’s men before you fight them back? That seems to be the only way for you to even acknowledge your power. You react emotionally. That is not control or use.”
I pressed my lips together, unable to argue because he was right. From what I’d heard about my mother, I came by that talent naturally. Of course, Mom had been trying to use herself as a cautionary tale when teaching us about the difference between reacting and responding.
“Even if you had made it all the way to the borders and managed to escape the Shadow Lands, you made a deal with a very powerful fae. I don’t recommend breaking it, if you care for anyone in any realm. He won’t kill you. He will torment you and all you love.”
Of course, he would. “So do you have any other recommendations?” I tried, cheekily. “Besides marrying you?”
“Would that be so bad?” His aqua gaze traveled over my body, leaving a trail of heat I both despised and basked in. Would it be so bad? Was I really asking myself that? Then he turned, shrugging. “You’ll just have to learn to trust me, Elliana Knight.” He swished a finger in the air, and Needan and Tor’s horse came trotting through the forest. “We’re leaving.”
“To where?”
“To my home.”
Giving him a wary look, I paused before striding over to Needan. “So you trust me now?”
He shrugged as he handed me the reins. “You could have tried to kill me, if you really wanted to. There have been no innocent lives around us for days to become collateral damage. There will be many at the Court of Souls, however, so I presume that I will be safe.”
Shit. I should have let him teach me control while I had the chance. To make my power an arrow rather than a bomb so I could shoot it into his heart, if he even had one. What had I been thinking?
“You will learn eventually,” he said. “I believe Saoirse may be a better teacher than I. Besides, I have business to tend to.” He paused, his mouth stretching into a wide grin that bared his teeth. “A wedding to plan.”
I rolled my eyes and flipped him off before hiding my wings and swinging myself onto Needan’s back. I really needed to figure out how to disentangle myself from this damn deal, preferably the right way that wouldn’t endanger myself or my family.
We rode through the forest in silence for what must have been hours when the path started winding up a hill. The forest gave way to patchy clearings, the air growing colder as we climbed. Eventually, it gave way completely to nothing but stone. We hadn’t been climbing a mere hill but a mountain. When it became too steep for the horses to carry us, we dismounted and led them upward. My breath caught when we reached the pinnacle. Before us spread a mountain range in blues and purples, blanketed in layers of dark fog, and beyond it appeared to be a valley lost in the shadows.
“That is true Annwn, and the Court of Souls is there,” Tor said, pointing vaguely toward the valley.
“And that is your home?”
“It is my creation.”
That was an interesting way to put it. The name he’d given it was also intriguing.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if I flew and you sifted?” I asked as we remounted the horses for the climb downward. “Or you could just sift us both?”
“I want you to see the beauty of my lands,” he replied, pride filling his words. “What will become the lands of my lady … and eventually my queen.”
If I’d been drinking anything, I would have spewed it out, showering my horse’s mane. Queen? I didn’t much like the sound of being anyone’s lady, but queen had a whole different ring to it. And if I kept the deal I’d made, that’s what I would become.
Perhaps I could wait to kill Tor.
Ahead of me, Tor snorted. I’d forgotten Needan would share my thoughts with his true master. Now I began to think of all the ways I could kill him and his father.
“You have to be more creative than that,” he said after a few minutes of this. I envisioned slicing off his ears and using them like my throwing stars, jamming their points into his father’s eyeballs. Tor laughed. “Better, but that wouldn’t kill him.”
Scowling, I changed my train of thoughts. Otherwise, he’d undoubtedly start haranguing me about the only way to kill any of them—by using my power. So I internally admired the beauty of his lands instead.
The snow-covered mountaintops reminded me of school in the shiny world, and then my mind drifted to Sadie. As I recalled our time together, Tor stiffened in his saddle. No, that was not a good train of thought either. I needed to simply meditate, not think at all, but as I watched his back, that didn’t work either.
“You want to kill your father,” I blurted and immediately wished I could take the words back. What had come over me to say them in the first place? He could kill me in an instant for suggesting such a thing. Even if I was right—especially because I was right.
“And why would I want to do that?” the prince asked, his voice even as though I hadn’t just accused him of treason.
I hesitated before answering. Was this really his response or was he setting me up?
“Because you want the throne, of course.” As if that wasn’t the most obvious reason.
“Do I?” he asked. “I have the Court of Souls. You haven’t seen it yet, but when you do, you will understand why it could be enough for me.”
My brows pinched together. Could be seemed to be the operative words there.
“So why do you want to kill him?” I dared to ask since he hadn’t attacked me on the initial accusation. I knew it was true. He hadn’t once argued with me or given me any reason to not kill King Caellach. In fact, he often seemed amused when I mentioned—or thought about—murdering his father.