by Nissa Leder
Vida knew exactly who she meant: the Fates, daughters of the King of Death. They’d grown stronger each day, desperate to take Queen Dana’s power for themselves.
“What will happen to you?” Vida asked.
“When I step into the tree, it will strip my power and send me away to a land without magic. With me gone, this land will remain safe.”
“And our magic?”
“It will be trapped here.” The queen looked at the tall tree. “You will need to protect our home.”
“Will you return?”
“Not as myself. Only when the magic of the two other kingdoms reunites with my essence will a portal to this realm reopen. Until then, you will be safe.”
“And when that happens, then what? Will the Fates rule?”
“I cannot see that far ahead. I can only prolong the war for so long.” The queen sighed. “Goodbye, my friend.”
Tears dripped down Vida’s cheeks as the queen stepped inside the tree and disappeared.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Scarlett scanned the room of the castle around her.
The high ceilings made the room seem huge. Windows climbed up the wall in front of her, overlooking the valley and the tree below.
When she’d absorbed the magic, she’d become queen of this realm somehow connected to the woman in Vida’s memories. The people had welcomed her, bowing as a sign of allegiance.
Vida and her tribe vowed to protect her. Scarlett had seen glimpses of memory, but she still didn’t understand her part in everything. She would ask more questions later. Right now, she needed some time to herself.
Raith’s face surfaced in her mind and she pushed it away. The Raith she knew was gone. Somehow, she would get him back. Or, if she couldn’t, she would make the Fates pay for taking him.
With everyone around her, Scarlett closed her eyes and reached inside her magic.
A wooden door with white designs matching her tattoos appeared.
“This will lead back to the mortal realm,” Scarlett said. She didn’t know how she knew she could create it, but she did. “We should get going.”
Rowen stepped forward. “You need to stay here for now. The Fates will still want the power you took, and I’m sure others will, too. You’ll be safer here. I’ll stay with you.”
Scarlett’s shoulders slumped. Ashleigh was in the mortal realm. Scarlett needed to fix things, and being in separate realms wasn’t going to help.
But Scarlett needed to learn about her new powers and her part in the looming war. The stronger she became, the more she could protect those she loved.
For now, she needed Ashleigh kept safe.
Scarlett turned to Kaelem. “Look after Ashleigh. You owe me.”
“I will. I’ll make Aria bring her back to the Unseelie Court for now.”
Scarlett didn’t like the idea of taking away Ashleigh’s free will, but her sister didn’t understand. There was so much more to the world than mortals knew, too many who would use Ashleigh against Scarlett. “I’ll come soon and talk to her and make her see the danger she’s in.”
Kaelem leaned into Scarlett and kissed her cheek. “Until we meet again.”
Scarlett wanted to say something. To apologize for stabbing him or reply with something witty. But instead, she remained silent as he disappeared through the door.
Next, Cade and Poppy stepped forward.
“I know our past is rocky, but I want you both as allies,” Scarlett said. “I’m not sure what the Fates want, but I know they’ll do whatever they can to get it.”
Cade looked at Poppy then to Scarlett. “We will need time to think. I won’t make a promise I can’t keep.”
It was a risk to let them leave. Scarlett had the advantage in this realm.
But they’d done her no harm, and she wouldn’t be the one to make them enemies. “Very well.”
After they’d left, Sage looked at Scarlett. “We will save him.”
Who was Sage to care for Raith? Why had he wanted to bring her with them so badly? Jealousy boiled inside of Scarlett. She felt her magic bubbling. It would be so easy to send Sage flying across the room, to show her how weak she really was.
Scarlett twitched.
Sage’s brows furrowed. “Are you okay?”
What was Scarlett thinking? Hurting Sage for caring for Raith. What was wrong with her? She thought she’d learned to better control herself. “I’m fine. And yes, we will.”
“I’ll meet with my father and warn him,” Sage said to Scarlett before walking to the door. “I’ll do my best to make him see which side he should choose.”
“Thanks,” Scarlett replied.
Sage walked through the door.
With everyone else gone, Scarlett looked at Rowen. There was so much for her to learn about this new realm and her new powers, but she was glad to not be alone.
Aria was at a college frat party with Ashleigh when Kaelem found her.
He needed to get his sister—and, as promised, Ashleigh—back to the Unseelie Palace right away.
Aria leaned against the wall as she laughed. Next to her, a young mortal woman watched Kaelem’s sister with lustful eyes.
“Hello, dear sister.” Kaelem approached. “I’m afraid I need to steal you for a moment.”
Aria exuded herself and followed Kaelem outside. Begrudgingly, she agreed to take herself and Ashleigh back to the palace.
Kaelem told her he’d meet her there, but first, he had to make one more stop.
The Seelie Queen sat on her throne with her advisor standing next to her.
“What a surprise.” She rested her hands in her lap.
“I’ve come with news.” Kaelem shared what had happened.
“You went off to another realm for power and didn’t think to tell me first?”
“No, I’m afraid I didn’t. But I’m here now.”
Kaelem reached his mind out and was met with a flash of bright light. The queen’s shields were up, as he figured they would be. When Kaelem’s mind moved to her advisor, he saw a flicker of a familiar face.
An auburn-haired woman had flashed in Laik’s mind—the same woman Kaelem had seen hanging in a photograph in Scarlett’s room.
Her mother.
“I must return to my court now,” Kaelem said. “But I hope our alliance continues as the fae world as we know it heads for war.”
The Seelie Queen nodded. “Thank you for your visit.”
As Kaelem exited the Seelie Castle so he could evanesce home, he couldn’t help but wonder why Scarlett’s mother’s face would be in Laik’s mind.
Scarlett had walked around the castle at least ten times, but had found herself most drawn to the library. She ran her hand across the spines.
Some books seemed normal, but others emitted traces of magic. In the back corner of the room, one book, in particular, stood out to Scarlett.
She pulled it from the shelf and set it on a table. She sat and flipped it open. Inside, spells filled the pages.
The deeper into the book she got, the darker the spells grew.
“Are you in here?” Rowen’s voice echoed through the room.
“Yeah.” Scarlett slammed the book shut and returned it to the shelf. Whatever she’d just found, she didn’t want anyone to catch her looking at it.
“Vida is here to see you.”
“Perfect.” Scarlett followed Rowen out of the library.
She’d return later to see what the rest of the book said.
A Dark Eternity
Chapter One
The scent of paper filled the dark library. With a mere thought, Scarlett lit three candlesticks placed on the back desk and closed the door behind her. Soon, the sun would rise and her duties as queen would begin, but, for now, she enjoyed some time to herself.
On the other side of the desk, on the bottom shelf of the tall bookcase, Scarlett pulled out four books and set them on the ground. They weren’t the books she wanted. Behind them, she’d hidden the one she needed. She car
efully lifted it onto the desk. It was a large book made of black leather. Intricate gold stars of different shapes and sizes were etched into the cover and surrounded the quarter moon carved into the center.
Scarlett hovered her hand—now tattooed in white ink with a sun-like flower in its center connected to a vine pattern that circled her wrist like a bracelet—over the book’s top. She closed her eyes and felt it. A coolness swam through her veins as she inhaled.
She flipped it open and traced her fingers over the spells inside. Magic radiated from the crisp paper like heat from a fire. Some of the other books in the library possessed small sparks of magic, but this was the only book she’d found that felt powerful. The rest were filled with the realm’s history, children’s fairy tales, poems of love and loss, stories of adventure, and any other kind of book one might find in a mortal library. But none of them fascinated Scarlett like this one.
Every morning, she started her day before morning light at the desk reading the book. Like every book in the library, a different language filled the pages. Before she’d absorbed the tree’s power, it would have seemed foreign. But now, she read it with ease as if it was written her native tongue.
She’d spent countless hours entranced by the magical book over the past two weeks since learning she was the queen of this unknown realm. Something told her others might not approve of whatever the book was. Whenever anyone found her, she claimed to be studying. She needed to know more about the realm if she wanted to be a good queen to its people. It wasn’t a complete lie. But the truth was she didn’t want to be queen. Two weeks ago, she was the weakest of her group, not allowed to do anything more than hold a stupid compass.
Now, she was somehow supposed to be a ruler?
Instead of worrying, she let the book consume her. As she flipped through its crisp pages, any uneasiness in her new position or fear of the enemies she’d gained since discovering the fae world flew far away, replaced with a trance as she focused on the words in front of her. Today, she read a spell about stealing someone’s breath. Morbid, but the more morbid something was the more likely she was to need it these days.
A knock startled her. How long had she been in the library? The warm glow of sunrise shined into the room. She’d been there a while.
Scarlett hurriedly slid the book back into its hiding spot and returned to her seat at the desk. “Come in.”
Rowen, dressed in black fighting leathers, entered. Her dark hair was pulled into a bun. The solemn expression on her face reminded Scarlett of the events that occurred after she’d absorbed the power from the Life Tree—when Raith had sacrificed himself to save his mother’s life. Rowen wore her guilt in the dark circles underneath her eyes.
Scarlett had offered to share the assortment of dresses she’d found in Dana’s closet, but Rowen politely declined. Truthfully, Scarlett would have refused them too if she could have, but Vida suggested the people would be more comfortable with Scarlett as queen if she resembled their former ruler, who apparently was Scarlett’s long-lost grandmother.
She hadn’t admitted it to anyone, but the thought of ruling others brought nausea to her stomach. She might have some new, great power in her, but she didn’t know how to use it. She barely knew how to take care of herself. All she ever did was let people down. Although she wasn’t the same weak mortal so easily lured into Faerie, sometimes she felt just as worthless as she had standing upon the hill too afraid to visit her mother’s grave.
There was one benefit to her new authority. At least no one would tell her what she could or couldn’t do now. A refreshing change.
“Vida and the other council members have gathered in the throne room.” Rowen glanced to the empty table. “Is everything okay?”
Rowen’s blue eyes reminded Scarlett of Raith, sending a pang of sorrow to her chest. She stood and smoothed out her long ivory dress. “I enjoy the feel of the library.” She grinned as nonchalantly as she could. “I’m still adjusting to everything.”
“Of course you are.” Rowen’s gaze dropped. “I’m sure this is all incredibly overwhelming.”
“Just a bit. But it is what it is.” Scarlett shrugged. Probably not a very queen-like gesture, but oh well. “Better not make them wait too long.”
Though she hadn’t mastered it yet, after receiving the Life Tree’s power, Scarlett had gained the ability to evanesce. She’d always hated the queasy feeling it gave her, but she had to admit it was an efficient way to travel. So far, she’d only been able to evanesce from one room to an adjacent one.
She considered trying to make it to the throne room but reconsidered. Walking was slower, and she was in no hurry to sit in front of anyone and pretend she knew how to protect them from the Fates.
She hadn’t even been able to save Raith.
Rowen remained silent as she kept a few steps behind Scarlett. From the moment Raith had sacrificed himself, a constant wave of shame surrounded her. After doing so much to save him, he’d been the one to save her. His mother had put her energy into helping Scarlett in any way she could, which Scarlett appreciated. She felt most comfortable around Rowen, who treated her half normal. Everyone else treated her like royalty. Despite the fact that she was, it still freaked her out.
The hallway was wide—nearly as wide as Scarlett’s bedroom growing up. Windows, mostly rectangular save for their rounded tops, lined the walls allowing light to shine in, quite the change from the dark library Scarlett spent her morning in.
As the sunshine soaked into her skin, it warmed her. And not only in the normal way she’d felt when she and Natalie would spend their summers bathing in the rays, desperate for a tan, but, in a way, that made her feel powerful. The thought of Natalie tightened her chest. What was her best friend doing? Did she worry about Scarlett? Or did she have a new best friend to go shopping with or stay up late with, giggling over the silliest things?
She approached a tall, wooden door shaped like the hallway windows. Floral and geometrical designs like those on her arms were carved into the white wood. The same pattern was carved into the stone border surrounding the door. Every detail of the castle was perfect. From the stone floor to the high ceilings, Scarlett had yet to see a blemish or place where attention to detail had been spared.
And it was her castle. Would she ever get used to it? She remembered the awe that struck her when she first entered Faerie with Cade. Despite the overwhelming grief she carried, the grandeur of the world made her feel like a princess—whenever she wasn’t too numb to feel anything, that was. He’d needed her emotion, and she quickly learned she was no Cinderella to him, but now the magic and castle belonged to her
The previous queen, Dana, had sacrificed her magic and become mortal to postpone a vision she’d seen. The Otherworld had mostly belonged to Dana but the darkest part of the realm, called the Darkland, belong to Ankou, father to the Fates who had stolen Raith.
Scarlett hesitated outside the door. Maybe she should evanesce back to the library and walk back. It would be good practice. She sighed. Putting it off wouldn’t change the result. She had to meet with the council. Might as well get it over with.
She inhaled before entering the throne room.
Two rows of people created a path to the rose gold throne at the front of the room. Scarlett held her breath as she walked past everyone, finally exhaling when she made it to the throne.
When she turned and faced the crowd, they bowed then shifted to stand in front of her. Scarlett resisted the urge to cross her arms, a nervous habit she’d always had. She kept them pinned to her sides, allowing herself to run her thumbs over the tips of her fingers.
“My queen,” Vida spoke from the front of the group.
“Hello, Vida.” Scarlett smiled as she sat. She wasn’t sure if queens were supposed to smile at their subjects in this realm, but she felt awkward so, smiling it was.
“We’ve come with information regarding the Fates. A few of my tribe members snuck to the barrier entrance between our side of the realm
and Ankou’s. As we suspected, it’s well guarded with his creatures.”
So, they’d found nothing? What good was meeting to tell her they’d failed. Anger rose in Scarlett’s throat. She clenched her fists.
What was wrong with her? They’d tried. What did she expect them to do? Die needlessly?
Scarlett inhaled and exhaled slowly, releasing the wrath inside of her.
“Any news of my friend?” She nervously bit her lip.
Scarlett could sense the anxiousness exuding from Rowen in the back of the room. With her heightened powers, sensing emotion had become second nature to her. Her gaze met Rowen’s and she saw the fear she felt reflected in Rowen’s eyes.
“None, yet. But I know them. They didn’t take him to kill him or they would have done it in front of you.”
How reassuring.
Scarlett tapped her fingertips on the cold metal of the throne. She was hopeful Raith was still alive, but that didn’t mean he was safe. They could be torturing him for information as she sat here doing nothing.
“What do you suggest we do? Sit here and wait for them to attack us?” Scarlett’s tone was harsher than she intended. “I don’t like feeling helpless.”
“We’ll try again.”
Param—the half goat, half human man, which Scarlett learned was called a satyr, who’d quizzed Scarlett and Kaelem before allowing them to go to the tree—stepped forward, his hooves clicking against the tiles. His large horns that curved backward from his head made him seem taller and regal. He served on the council as head of the guard. “The protections we have in place to keep the Fates away are still holding strong. We will continue to maintain them and research other methods to keep you safe at all times.”
“Thank you, Param.”
Next, Ailani—the satyr who’d protected the entrance to the Life Tree the others had gone through—stepped forward. She was the head of communications with the Sidhe people. “The people are excited to once again have a queen. They’ve been dropping off gifts, which we’ve stored in the castle’s ballroom. They are eager to meet you and shower you in their appreciation in person, my queen.”