Contents
Smashwords Copyright
Also by A.W. Hartoin for Smashwords
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
About the Author
Also by A.W. Hartoin
To the Eternal (Away From Whipplethorn Book 5)
by A.W. Hartoin
Copyright 2016 A.W. Hartoin
Smashwords Edition
“This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Also By A.W. Hartoin
Young Adult fantasy
Flare-up (Away From Whipplethorn Short)
A Fairy's Guide To Disaster (Away From Whipplethorn Book One)
Fierce Creatures (Away From Whipplethorn Book Two)
A Monster’s Paradise (Away From Whipplethorn Book Three)
A Wicked Chill (Away From Whipplethorn Book Four)
To the Eternal (Away From Whipplethorn Book Five)
Mercy Watts Mysteries
Novels
A Good Man Gone (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book One)
Diver Down (A Mercy Watts Mystery Book Two)
Double Black Diamond (Mercy Watts Mysteries BookThree)
Drop Dead Red (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Four)
In the Worst Way (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Five)
The Wife of Riley (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Six)
My Bad Grandad (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Seven) coming soon.
Short stories
Coke with a Twist
Touch and Go
Nowhere Fast
Dry Spell
A Sin and a Shame
Paranormal
It Started with a Whisper (Sons of Witches)
This one’s for the girls, whatever their age,
who do the right thing
even when it hurts them in ways unseen.
Chapter One
THE NEWSPAPERS WERE full of me and I’d had my fill of them. And of audiences and pointing and staring. But most of all, of knowing. Everyone knew. They knew who I was and what I was. I’d been pursued before. But that was by enemies; spriggans, horen, and even a dragon or two. I’d never been pursued by love and that was much worse. You can’t fry love to a crisp. You can’t turn your back or push it away. Emperor Maximillian said the Austrian fae loved me. He even said I deserved it. Me. A kindler. One of the feared. Some said the most feared, aside from the horen, of course. But they were deadly. I was only dangerous.
And now, I wasn’t even that. Being injured in the Battle of the Cathedral had weakened me. Of course, the newspapers reported that, too. It was humiliating, not to mention risky. There were five horen in the world at any one time. Two were out of action, but the remaining three would be coming when they heard. Thanks a lot.
I peeked out from under my hood and slipped around the corner of St. Stephen’s Singer gate to the entrance of the Damumoto’s stable. I picked my simplest new cloak, but it was still fancy with heavy violet velvet that matched my eyes and an embroidered hem. Nobody followed me and people were always following me. Max had threatened to get me what he called a household, a secretary and ladies-in-waiting, but I got out of it. The last thing I wanted was people whose job it was to follow me.
I pressed my hand to the cardinal’s seal, crossed keys with a dove, and whispered, “Pax vobiscom,” It glowed red for a second and the wall disappeared. I stepped through and felt a breeze as it reappeared behind me. I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath, alone and surrounded by the wood of the stable. So much had happened, but I was still a wood fairy. Just the smell of polished teak made me feel better. Like I used to feel. Like Matilda Whipplethorn of Whipplethorn Manor. I closed my eyes and just breathed.
Then a hand touched my shoulder and I jumped a millimeter. Losing my hearing to snail pox made it easy to sneak up on me and I lit a small flame, shoving it in my assailant’s face.
“Matilda!” exclaimed Lysander, jumping back in shock.
I dashed through the arched doors of the main stable, but Lysander grabbed my arm and held me back.
“Let go,” I said.
He did let go and smoothed back his long brown hair over his small horns. “We’re not finished.” Those were strong words coming from the kapellmeister. Lysander was a musician and composer of extraordinary talent. Forcefulness wasn’t his thing. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“No, I haven’t.” I had been avoiding him. Cowardly, I know.
“Yes, you have. I’m not stupid,” said Lysander.
“I can’t tell you anything,” I said.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Ca—” Pain zipped through my chest, a not-so-gentle reminder of the contract I signed with the emperor. Neither of us could reveal the terms or we’d be punished with intense pain.
I fell against the door and gasped. Lysander steadied me, his nose brushing mine. The pain subsided and I breathed deep his lovely scent of evergreen. “You can’t,” he said.
“Stop asking.”
“I can’t. I have to know.”
I caressed his cheek. “You do know.”
“Do I? You stood up in front of all Vienna yesterday and got betrothed. You became a princess,” he said. “You didn’t even tell me yourself. I thought we were going out and now you’re marrying the emperor?”
“In ten years,” I said.
Emperor Maximilian made me an offer: protection for my family and an easier life for me. In return, I agreed to become princess royal and be his betrothed. I was all for it. I’d cleaned enough chamber pots to last me five lifetimes and not worrying about how to feed my family every single day sounded great. If I wore a crown, everything would get easier. At least, that was the plan.
“I don’t understand how this happened. Why would the Emperor be willing to wait for you? He could marry a foreign princess tomorrow, if he wanted,” said Lysander.
“He not who you think he is,” I said. “He listens to the people.”
Max’s subjects signed petitions, asking me to marry him but Max wanted to marry for love, not for politics. I was a good stand-in until he could find the one.. Max thought it worked out great for the both of us, but I wasn’t so sure. I was seen as powerful. Max wasn’t. His subjects thought he was a pale shadow of his mother, Empress Marie Karoline, but they were wrong. He had what they needed. He just hid it well. I wanted the people to look at Max, not me.
Lysander gently rubbed my shoulder. “So you’re really going to marry him in ten years?”
I wasn’t going to lie, but then an agonizing pain reminded me that I had to. “Yes,” I squeaked
out and the pain lessened.
A smile curved Lysander’s diamond-patterned skin, a subtle sign that he was half teufel, a species of troll. I didn’t care about that and he didn’t care that I was a kindler. He wasn’t like anyone else I knew, an artist instead of a fighter like Daiki, a katana. He had a kindness about him that I’d miss. I ran my finger down his cheek, feeling the pattern of who he was.
“You’re not marrying him,” Lysander said.
My chest tightened. “Yes, I am.”
He shook his head. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“You signed a contract.”
Nothing happened, so I said, “Yes. That’s what royalty does.”
Lysander’s smile took over his whole face and he kissed me lightly on the lips. “Nothing?”
“Huh?”
“Kissing wasn’t covered in the contract.”
“Er…no.”
So he kissed me again. It was warm and sweet like nothing else in my life. Then Lysander jerked back, still smiling. “Good morning, Volotora.”
I glanced over to see the damumoto looking at us from around his stall door. He was the only one in the stable. It was exercise time, but I’d known I’d find him at home. Since his mate had been killed by rioters at the Hofburg Palace, he rarely went out.
“Don’t you have someplace to be, Kapellmeister?” asked Volotora.
Lysander stepped back and bowed sharply. “Yes, indeed, as does Matilda. Rome awaits both her and the new cardinal.”
“Her Royal Highness,” insisted the damumoto.
Lysander suppressed a laugh and I said, “You don’t have to call me that.”
“He has to, Your Highness. It’s protocol.”
I snorted. “I don’t care about that.”
Lysander’s kind face got serious. “I assure you that everyone else does.”
“It’s stupid.”
He kissed my hand. “I agree, but I work for your future husband and we must see to the rules.”
“One of them is that the Princess Royal doesn’t date,” said Volotora.
Lysander stepped out of Volotora’s eye line and mouthed, “We won’t follow that one so much.”
I grinned and gave him another kiss. “I’ll see you when I get back.”
“That’s right,” he said. “You’re off to Italy and I’m off to write a symphony. Suddenly, I’m in the mood.” He made a face that I had on good authority meant he was humming.
I kissed him once more for good measure and he left the stable, his mind already steeped in music. My mind wasn’t so agreeably engaged. Italy only made me think of all that had to be done, all that must be done.
Volotora clomped over and I pressed my face into his warm flank, letting myself rise and fall with each of his deep breaths. He began talking. I could tell from the rumbling under my cheek, but I didn’t bother to look up. He was probably saying something I didn’t want to know. There’d been a lot of that going on lately. The rumbling got faster and faster until he lashed me with his long tail. Damumoto are excellent lashers and Volotora’s tail reached to his sparkly hooves.
His muscles bunched and I opened my eyes to see his blood red coat and a big dark eye looking at me. “Matilda, you can’t hide in here forever. Lysander found you. Others will too.”
“I bet I can,” I said, closing my eyes only to get lashed again. “What?”
“There’s a crowd.”
“Of what?”
“Fairies to see you, I presume,” said Volotora. “The people do love you.”
I ran my hand down his smooth side. “Maybe I could just take Iris and go.”
Flames shot out of the damumoto’s nose, flames that only I could see. “You will not run away.”
“I wouldn’t be running away. I’d be going to Rome.”
The damumoto pawed the fragrant hay. “I call that running away. What about the cardinal?”
“There’s nothing I can do.”
The cardinal was dying. He had a liver ailment. That wouldn’t have killed him with me around. My fire enhanced my healing gift. But the Emperor’s brother, Archduke Franz-Joseph, had poisoned the kind cardinal in order to steal his power and become cardinal himself. The poison had damaged the cardinal’s liver beyond repair. I incinerated the archduke and kept the cardinal going, but just barely. He was fading fast.
“The cardinal chose Iris to replace him. I’m supposed to take her to Rome to see seen by the human pope.”
“Not until the Banns of Marriage are sent and acknowledged by the other royal families.”
“They were sent this morning. Max sent me word from the palace.”
“Max?”
I smiled. “The emperor. Hello.”
“Emperor Maximilian lets you call him Max?”
“People don’t let me do anything,” I said, still smiling.
“I’ve noticed, but in the case of Rome, you’ll have to wait until your royal retinue is ready.” Volotora turned away and took a long drink from his trough. It was filled with his favorite wine, Beaujolais. Damumoto only drank red wine and I suspected that it had something to do with their striking color.
“Nobody said anything about a retinue,” I said.
He turned back, wine dripping off his muzzle. “You’re the princess royal. It is implied.”
“Forget it. I’ll just go. I can protect Iris by myself.”
“It’s not about protection. It’s about proper royal protocol. Have you picked your ladies-in-waiting?”
“Don’t need ‘em. Max agrees.”
“Really?”
“Well, he stopped asking about it anyway.”
“That’s not the same.”
“Close enough.”
Volotora shook his head and his silky mane flew back and forth. “Look out the window at the crowd. You belong to them now.”
I stepped back and crossed my arms. “I belong to myself.”
“You belong to the people. That’s royalty.”
“I’m not really royalty.” I said it without thinking and a sharp pain erupted in my chest.
Volotora gave me a suspicious look, which is pretty odd to see in a horse. “What do you mean by that?”
Another pain zinged through my chest.
“Oh, nothing. We’re not married yet.”
“You will be.”
Well…
“Of course,” I said in what I hoped was a reassuring tone. “Eventually.”
“Matilda, you accepted the crown. You must accept everything that comes with it.”
“I had to do it.” Just a little pinch as a warning that time.
Volotora got even more suspicious. “Why?”
“If I’m royal, everyone else is, too.”
He blew out a heavy breath, flapping his lips and sending a rush of wine-scented air out.
“You know what I mean. Max says that it’s a respect thing. The French holding my mom and dad won’t hurt them because they’re related to me.”
“Didn’t the rebels murder Comte de Provence? He was the king’s brother.”
I jerked my hand away from his flank and flames erupted in my palms.
Volotora dipped his head. “I apologize. I wasn’t thinking. It will help. The comte was an instigator. His attempt to ingratiate himself with the rebel factions was his undoing.”
“Ingratiate himself?” I asked.
“He joined the revolution and then they killed him.”
“I thought he was trying to escape.”
“He was, after they decided to kill him for not agreeing with everything they wanted for France.”
“My parents and our humans don’t have anything to do with politics.”
Volotora remained silent. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but my mind was on the royal milliners and watchmakers. They had nothing to do with politics either and the rebels tore them apart for serving royalty. Just serving. My chest got tight and not because of the spell.
Volotora nuzzled m
e. “It’s a different situation.”
“I wanted to protect them. What if I made it worse?”
“You didn’t. The empress is prepared to invade if anything happens to her daughter the Queen. She’ll do the same if anything happens to your parents or your humans. The rebels know that.”
“At least, I know Tess and Judd are alright.”
He nuzzled me again. “Yes. They’re fine.”
Well, they were fine eight days ago when I’d managed to reach our humans in Paris by using a cellphone. It’d been wonderful until the phalanx that was guarding them figured out who they were talking to and cut us off, demanding to know where I was and that I come back to Paris to fight for the people. Fat chance. I promised Mom that I’d take care of Iris, Gerald, and Horc, my adopted spriggan brother. Going back into that nightmare wasn’t going to happen. The phalanx threatened their lives if I didn’t cooperate. I informed him that I had sent them a message and did he remember that? He did remember. It was a rotting horen arm from the female I killed. I told him that my humans better remain alive and unharmed or he’d suffer their fate. The phalanx stammered a bit before he hung up and I decided to take that as a good sign. At least Tess and Judd weren’t in prison like my parents, along with Daiki and Lrag. I assumed the katana and teufel were alive. They were when Bentha last saw them in the Abbey, where they’d been imprisoned after my parents and Lucrece, Horc’s grandmother, had been taken to some chateau in the Loire Valley.
I clasped Daiki’s amulet filled with the horen antidote. I didn’t need the antidote since I was immune after the horen got my ankle in the antique mall, but I wore it to remember Daiki and you never knew when an antidote would come in handy for someone else.
“Maybe your humans will be able to escape,” said Volotora.
“They wouldn’t dare. There’s this hobgoblin, Robespierre. He came and told them they’d kill Mom, Dad, and Lucrece if they didn’t cooperate.”
“So they’re just sitting in an apartment in Paris, waiting for something to happen?”
I shook my head. “No. They’re doing normal stuff. They just have a cadre of brown wings with them wherever they go.” I paused and thought for a moment before saying, “No matter what the empress and Max say, I think I should just go get Iris seen. I have some anubis assigned to me. They can come for extra security.”
To the Eternal (Away From Whipplethorn Book Five) Page 1