by Leia Stone
The voices…
There were a lot. Like… a lot.
For the middle of Montana, it sure did sound like the hustle and bustle of a city.
I weaved in and out of the trees, all the while feeling the sensation of a stone sinking in my gut. Something felt wrong, just… a bad feeling. My eyes flicked up to meet Liam’s, and I knew he felt it too. His brows were drawn downward, and his mouth pulled into a frown.
The moment I broke out into the clearing, I couldn’t help the sharp intake of breath that lodged in my throat. Elle tried to pull me back into the thick trees, but all I could do was float midair and stare…
Thousands… there were thousands of fae.
There was a huge dome like the one that used to cover Faerie.
The dome was the size of a small city, spanning hundreds of acres over hundreds of cabins, and at the entrance, they had a sign: “Welcome to New Faerie.”
Chrys, the witch, was there, letting people in. Letting in fae by the dozens. My eyes roamed over the small village to see the streets were packed with… warriors. There was some kind of festival going on. The streets were lit by small tealights. People danced and drank and held up swords. Children, men, women of all ages. Full-blown fae with colored hair and wings but also Sons of Darkness. They were chanting something.
“I need to get closer,” I told Elle, struggling out of her grasp. The sun was setting, orange and pink bleeding into the sky.
I needed to hear what they were saying because if it was what I thought it was…
“Lily!” Elle hissed when I dropped to the ground and wove in and out of the crowd.
Pulling my long pink hair over one side of my face to hopefully disguise my identity, I walked up to the opening that Chrysanthemum had made in the dome to allow fae to come inside.
I heard it then, filtering through the opening like a bad dream.
“Long live the Winter King. Long live the Winter King.” That’s what they were chanting, and that’s exactly what I’d thought I heard.
I was going to step forward, try to sneak inside, past Chrys, and sniff out the crystals when a hand clamped around my upper arm.
“Not now.” Liam’s voice was low as he guided me away from the opening.
I allowed him to pull me away. He was right. There were too many of them. If we were caught—
“Guards!” Chrys’ shrill snarl rose up into the twilight air, and Liam yanked me upward so hard that my arm hurt. We took to the skies, racing back through the trees.
“Run!” Liam warned his men who couldn’t fly.
Risking a glance behind me, I felt my stomach drop.
Fuck.
Over two dozen armed, full-blown, flying fae were hot on our tail.
I spun, midair, and let loose with a stream of sunlight. It shot one of them right in the wing, and he dropped like a stack of bricks.
“We need to buy my men time to get back to Mara,” Liam told me, spinning as well and holding his hands out.
He seemed to assess the situation rapidly, eying the advancing horde. Liam’s men couldn’t fly… they’d be picked off first if we didn’t stop these fae.
“I need to use my fire magic. You might have to help me back to the door,” he said.
I remembered then when we’d gone into the dark forest to get the healing water for his mother, and the stag attacked. He’d burned it but it had left him drained. Cam had said something about it being his weaker power and that it took more out of him.
“Do it,” I told him.
Without hesitation, a ten-foot flame shot from his hand like a blowtorch, and the dry, brittle tips of the trees ignited.
The fae yelped, dropping to their feet to avoid the flames, and started to advance on foot, so we dropped as well. I tucked my wings flat to my back and landed smoothly. That warm zip of magic ran up my arm as I shot beam of sunlight after beam of sunlight at the advancing fae army. But Liam’s fire had worked. It had leveled the playing field and forced the fae warriors to come after us on foot lest they be burned.
A whistle sounded behind us, Elle, letting us know we were clear to head back.
Time to run.
I spun on my heel just as Liam keeled forward and collapsed in my arms.
Shit.
He was a heavy bastard. Clearly, hitting the gym was a bonus when we needed to kick someone’s ass, but when your… girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend? Whatever we were, had to carry you, it was a definite hindrance.
“Eat less,” I grunted as I dragged him backward. His color was ashy, and sweat beaded his brow as he struggled to stay upright, using his heels to walk backward into my chest and help me a small bit.
I was running, backward, as fast as I could, holding his nearly dead weight, when I smacked into a body.
A yelp tore from my throat when I recognized the familiar face of Cam. He scooped Liam up into his arms, and then we sprinted the rest of the way, pushing our way into the shed door.
We crowded into Mara’s little mudroom, pushed up against the washer and dryer, and I held the doorknob in my hand. It rattled against my palms, and my eyes widened.
If they had another seeker, they could open this door and let everyone in…
“Go!” I screamed behind me, hoping Mara was within earshot. I wasn’t sure if they had another seeker, or maybe the king could be on the other side of this door and open it, so I was going to hold it shut as best I could.
A loud thwack reverberated against the door, and then splintered wood dropped onto my chest as an arrow stopped inches from my face.
Holy fuck.
I barely had time to react when we were thrown across the room. Inertia ripped me from the door handle, and Liam’s strong arm wrapped around my waist, pinning me to the floor beneath him. His other hand held onto the edge of the kitchen cabinet, and then everything stopped moving.
The weight of his body on top of me caused heat to creep up my cheeks. I remembered the first time we had sex, fluttering in the air at the cabin in Asheville.
“You okay?” he asked, his gaze scanning my body.
I nodded, looking at his lips, which he wetted with his tongue.
I missed him. Missed his touch, his kisses. I worried that the differences between us now were too great for us to find our way fully back to each other again.
A sadness crossed over his features, and I wondered if he was thinking the same. With a sigh, he released me, and I was glad to see the color return to his cheeks. It seemed that using the fire power only incapacitated him for a short time.
“New Faerie.” My voice was hollow.
The Winter King had stolen our crystals and was now making his own magical lands on Earth.
Liam swallowed hard, looking at the brightly painted floors in agony.
“What’s wrong?”
The halflings started to move about, funneling toward the exit of Mara’s home and back into Faerie when Liam looked at me with the saddest blue-eyed gaze I’d ever seen.
“Nothing… I’m just coming to terms with the fact that I’m going to have to kill my own father.”
Oh, gods.
My heart broke then. Yes, his father was evil and totally misguided, but he was still Liam’s dad. I was reminded of when I used Liam’s hair to have the memory vision and how, even though Liam had despised his father for trying to take Cain and the crystal and all of that, there had been a tenderness there. A yearning for the old dad, the man who used to just play with him in the yard and teach him to fly while his mother cooked dinner. All before he became obsessed with seeding a new race.
He stood, and I reached out, wrapping my hand around his, standing to meet him at eye level. “I’ll make sure you don’t have to do that,” I told him.
My intention was clear.
You won’t have to kill your own father. If it comes to it, I will.
Reaching up, he stroked the ends of my pink hair and stepped closer to me, bringing the heat of his body flush against mine. My heart picked up pace i
n my chest as he stroked his thumb over my bottom lip.
“I’d never make you do that.” My eyes fluttered and then closed as I felt his warm finger trail my skin. “Go on a date with me? Tonight, in Faerie?” he whispered against my ear.
A grin pulled at my lips, and my eyes snapped open.
A date.
Starting over felt good. It felt like this was how we should have done it all along.
“Yes,” I breathed when a shrill scream rocked through the house.
Elle.
Liam and I both tore through the kitchen, narrowly avoiding a collision with Bashur when we came to Mara’s office. She and Liam’s mother were peering out the door to Faerie with a frown.
“What is it?” I shouted, making my way across the room.
Mara looked over her shoulder at me, eyes wide. “While we were gone, there was an attack. A forest creature…”
Why would Elle scream like that… unless. I burst out from behind the ladies and onto the rocky shore to see Elle holding her mother, bleeding and gasping, in her arms. Her sweet mother, my nanny since birth, held a sharped bloody arrow tip in her limp fingers. A harpy lay dead a few feet away.
“Get Kira!” I shouted the second I saw her mother was still breathing. Cam took off running for our house as heat started to ignite in my palms.
Healing… I’d done it once before with Cam, and Kira had said it looked like he’d already been healed… I wasn’t trained, but maybe I could stop the bleeding.
Falling to my knees before my best friend, I felt my heart squeeze at the sound of her sobs, the limp way in which her mother’s body lay, the wet rattling of her chest.
Elle looked up at me with such desperation I nearly burst into tears. We’d attracted a crowd now, and I didn’t want to fall apart in front of everyone. I needed to be strong for Elle and my people.
“Lil,” she whimpered.
The heat pulsed in my hands, and a fierce need to take her into my arms overcame me. Light emanated from my palms, and I reached out for her mother, taking her from Elle.
“I’m not going to let her die,” I promised my bestie as she released her grip on her mother’s frail body, depositing her into my arms. The second she dropped into my arms, pulses of buttery sunlight shot from my hands and into her body where I held her. The fae surrounding us, including Liam’s men, gasped and staggered backward.
“She’s a healer too?” someone whispered.
“A Queen of the people,” another said.
“Long live Queen Lily!” one yelled, and I tried not to cringe. I was a temp Queen, nothing more. Pushing their murmurs from my mind, I cradled Elle’s mother in my arms and pumped the light into her body. It was like a language, the pulses; they weren’t random. It was as if the light was tapping out a rhythm in her body.
After she took one final shuddering breath, her eyes snapped open, and she looked up at me. A cough wracked her body, and then she gasped long and clear, taking in deep lungfuls of air.
“Lily.” She cupped my face.
Relief poured through me, and the light turned off in my palms instantly as if it sensed it was no longer needed.
Elle leaned forward, taking her mother into her arms as they both held each other and cried. By the time Cam ran up with Kira… it was done.
I’d healed her… like fully healed her from near death.
I didn’t know who was more shocked, me, Kira, or the entire village.
Getting to my feet, I wiped my hands off on my clothes, streaking them with blood. “Tell me about the attack. We need to up our security.” I got right down to business.
As one of my fae from the farm started to explain what happened, Liam stepped up beside me, listening intently. I slipped my hand into his, no longer caring what my people would think of it. Liam looked over at me but said nothing, only squeezed my hand in understanding.
The farmer fae faltered for a second at the sight of me holding Liam’s hand, but then he carried on. Had word gotten around that Liam killed my mother? I hoped not.
“We had two bowmen try to track the creature, but she was a fast flyer.” The farmer fae told me.
Yes, the harpies were fast fliers, but we needed to do better.
“Your highness, if I may.” Jasper’s cool voice came from behind me.
I spun, facing him. “Yes, Jasper?”
“We are at war. With the Dark Fae, with the forest creatures, with an unknown foe. I think it’s high time you started a war council and assembled a court.” He held his head high in a smug way that only Jasper could pull off without being rude.
“Let me guess, you want a seat on said council?” I raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged. “Well, obviously as your lead warlock advisor, it would behoove you to have me on the council.”
Suddenly, Elle was there, covered in her mother’s blood, eyes red-rimmed and yet ready to be at my side. She had a book split open in her palms. “A war council would require a representative from each court.”
I frowned. “Like the elders?”
I didn’t want to bring them back in the know. I knew they had a lot of knowledge, but I couldn’t trust them.
She nodded. “Or new elders you appoint or a descendant from royal blood.” Her eyes flicked to Liam.
Ahh, yes. I understood now.
“Very well. Let’s assemble a war council. It’s time we rebuilt Faerie properly,” I told the surrounding crowd.
They looked at Liam hesitantly. Full of furrowed brows and frowns.
“Liam is of royal blood. He’s a quarter Winter and a quarter Summer. He’ll be joining the council and sitting on the court with me until the Queen awakens and decides what she wants to do going forward.”
Silence, even Liam’s men were completely still.
“I know there has been a lot of change lately,” I told the surrounding fae as they pushed closer. “But I need you to trust me. I’ve gotten you this far, haven’t I?”
One by one, they covered a fist over their chest and bowed their heads in respect. With that, I stepped away from them, Liam’s hand still in mine, and walked toward my new home, watching the crowd parting as I passed.
I was totally screwing this temp thing up. But I couldn’t help the smile that pulled at the corners of my mouth.
The warm hand in mine told me that I wouldn’t be alone.
Chapter 8
“We need to start a rumor.” Jasper said as Trissa, Elle, Liam, Cam, and I all sat around our new ‘War room table.’ We’d converted the library into the war room and pulled out the chairs, bringing in the large dining table from my childhood home. On it was a map of the fairy realm on the upper half and a map of Earth on the lower half. Mara sat in the open doorway with Liam’s mom, listening in at my request. I thought having a human, a portal keeper, a Son of Darkness, and the rest of our team was a good mix.
“What kind of rumor?” I asked Jasper.
“One about you and Liam being engaged.” He picked a piece of lint off of his Gucci jacket.
My mouth dropped open, and Liam froze next to me.
“No way.” I shifted uncomfortably. “Why would we do that?”
Jasper waved me off. “Listen, people don’t like seeing you together yet. If they all thought there was a royal wedding to look forward to—”
“No.” My voice was firm. “Let’s stay on task. How are we going to tear down ‘New Faerie’ and get the crystals back while also protecting our borders here back at home?”
Leave it to Jasper to say something so ridiculous.
Trissa chewed on her bottom lip, and it was clear my mother’s guard was thinking. “Trissa, what’s on your mind?” I asked her.
She looked at me with a gaze I couldn’t quite interpret. “What?” I pressed her.
“You’re not really a full-fledged Queen. If you were, you’d have twice the power and be better able to take on our enemies,” she hedged.
“But I don’t want to take power from the Queen while she sleeps,
lest she fall deeper,” I explained.
Trissa nodded. “But, traditionally, after the Spring Queen is crowned, she receives an activation of sorts from the Spring Tree.”
The Spring Tree… that was a myth… right?
“Yes!” Jasper clapped his hands. “And you’ve given some of your power to the Life Tree, so you’re weaker than you should be.”
“Gee, thanks.” I rolled my eyes.
“It’s a good idea,” Mara chimed in. “The Spring Tree is at the Spring Castle. The activation would give you enough power to set up the perimeter protection dome again.”
Relief melted through me; setting up the protection again meant we could go away for long trips without having to worry about the village being attacked. “Well, why didn’t you start with that?” I nodded. “Let’s do it. Right now.”
I stood to leave, and Trissa stopped me, reaching out to place a hand on my shoulder.
“There’s a catch.” Her voice held a sadness, and my stomach sank. “If you take the power activation from the Spring Tree, it will weaken the Queen because it will pull the power from her.”
Of course, because nothing could be easy.
Great.
The last thing I wanted to do was weaken the Queen further. What if I took too much power and she never woke? As of right now, Kira thought that she might be able to awaken naturally once we had more than six crystals. Would taking more power mean I would need all twelve to wake her? I needed to know more about how she fell into this coma, to begin with, and I had an idea.
“I need to think on it. Let’s break for the day,” I told everyone and stood.
Liam shot me a sympathetic glance. “Raincheck on our date?”
My heart plunged even deeper into my stomach, and I nodded. “Yeah, sorry. Sounds good.”
Reaching out, he grabbed my hand and squeezed. We were just trying to find our way back to each other, and life kept getting in the way.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what Trissa said. Take the activation from the Spring Tree and weaken the Queen in her already weakened state? I just couldn’t conceive of that. What if it killed her? It would help to know what was even wrong with her. If she’d fallen into a restorative sleep after putting too much energy into saving Faerie and the protection domes, like Indra said, or something else… I just couldn’t believe anything Indra said anymore. There was only one way to find out. Reaching out, I grabbed the book I’d placed Indra’s hair in and walked back to my room, leaving everyone else to sit there in silence.