The cat floated at the edge of sanity and reason, a creature of madness and lunacy unable to go further for fear of losing himself beyond the safety of his magic forest.
Ahead the land rolled like the soft swell of a rolling sea. Stopping, Ewan panted, catching his breath, waiting for his heartbeat to return to its normal rhythm. Jinni floated by his side, gazing up at the bejeweled sky with profound longing painted on his face.
“The fairy has lied to you, wolf.” Cheshire lifted a brow, the perpetual grin curving higher like twin sickles. Cat’s voice was low, filled with hubris. “The girl is not here. She never was. She’s on Earth. A place called, A-Laska.”
His chuckle grated on Ewan’s nerves.
Popping his eyeballs out, Cheshire juggled them in the palms of his fuzzy hands. “Ask me how I know, dog.”
“The cat lies, Ewan,” Jinni hissed. “Do not listen to his madness.”
“Do I? I did not think that I did.” He tossed the eyes higher into the air with each pass, until finally he threw them so hard, they blazed a white streak through the night.
A memory floated to the very edge of his consciousness, so brief it’d almost slipped by unnoticed. Ewan latched onto the image. Danika had mentioned something at the table the night she’d promised Hatter his mate; their mates were from Earth.
His nostrils fluttered. He’d dismissed her words as unimportant, all knew Red was his, and hidden somewhere within Kingdom. Danika had been talking to the others, not to him.
But what if she hadn’t been? What if she’d slipped and he’d been too stupid to realize it? Was Red on Earth? And if so, why had Danika sent him on chases all through Kingdom for years with ‘sightings’. Surely not. His godmother wouldn’t lie to him? Not like that.
But what if…
Calling the unbecoming, Ewan ignored the sharp sizzle of snapping, sliding bones, and strutted to the gloating cat.
“What do ye ken, Cheshire?” His voice shook from the depths of his belly.
Balls of white fell back to the cat’s open mouth. He swallowed the twin orbs and blinking rapidly, readjusted his pale silver eyes before answering. “The birds talk. Talk. Talk. Incessant chatter; drives me simply mad.”
He narrowed his eyes, tugged on the cat’s scruff, surprised Cheshire let him. It didn’t last long, the cat faded in a puff of smoke. Only his whisper remained.
“She’s been found.” Then he laughed, and the woods behind him echoed with the strain of a thousand eerie cackles.
“What?!” Ewan thundered, whirling on the only other soul around.
“He’s a liar,” Jinni said with a firm shake of his head. “Do not listen.”
Fury ripped through his body, blanketed his mind with visions of death, and gore. “Danika!” Ewan thundered, roared her names to the heavens.
Hot air smacked his cheek, and with a crack of lightening, Danika hovered before him. Corn silk blue eyes were large in her pale face; wisps of gray blond curls framed her head in a halo effect. But he wasn’t fooled. He knew what the fairies were capable of, had seen their savagery for himself.
Taking a deep breath, Danika nodded. “It is true.”
Words escaped him, his mind went blank.
“The cat should not have told you. I came only just now to--”
Snarling, Ewan snatched her from the air, wishing her could squeeze the life from her fragile body. “How could ye? I’ve done all ye’ve asked and more. Trusting ye would help me find her, ye swore it. When I found Gerard that was yer promise. Yer oath…”
Her lashes fluttered, but gave no other outward sign of distress. “Three months ago Miriam told me--”
Trembling, Ewan dropped her, knowing he’d kill her if he held on any longer. “Miriam,” he thundered, his brogue becoming deeper with his shock. “Ye’ve talked with the Shunned? How long, Danika? How long have ye known where to find my mate? How bloody long!” Spittle flew from his lips, but he didn’t care. His vision swam in his head, out of focus, in and out making him dizzy.
“Since the beginning.”
There was no longer heat in veins, but ice. It sunk its claws into his soul, turning him numb. “An eternity,” he murmured and she flinched.
Memories crashed over him, rolling past his mind in a constant stream. Macabre visions of a desperate wolf mad with want for his mate. Bloody knives slicing through veins, rushing into the fray of battle as fiery arrows pierced his jugular, being forced repeatedly by fairy magic to return to the land of living. Dying slowly inside each day, soul shriveling down to nothing as the years rolled by one after the other. Returned from death so many times. Alive. But never whole.
She must have known, must have realized what the separation did to him. Danika had begun sending him on missions of hope. The flowers had spotted the Heartsong hidden deep within the Ogre’s woods, atop Cloud Mountain, within the briny depths of Davy Jones’ locker. Danika had sent him on fool’s errand, knowing all along his mate was on Earth.
“How did you do it?” he asked, his voice dead, monotone.
Danika licked her lips, glancing at Jinni, then back at him. “You must understand, I did what I must. T’was for the good of Kingdom, for us all…”
He held up his hand, unwilling to listen to one more word fall from her viperous, liars tongue.
“Answer the question, fairy. How did ye make me hear her last night? Did ye throw yer voice? Bribe Cheshire with a bag of bloody hearts? HOW?”
As he’d spoken, she’d begun to look more and more confused, until finally shaking her head, she said, “You heard her? Are you sure?”
“Don’t. Lie. To. Me.” Each word, so full of scorn, made her flit back, as if slapped. “How did ye do it?”
“I…I didn’t. I…” she grabbed her face, “dear gods, you heard her? Then it really is time. Miriam was right, the hour is upon us. You must save her, Ewan.”
Hissing, he thrust his face to within inches of hers, forcing her to back up. Her dragonfly wings trembled violently.
“Where is she?”
She took a deep breath. “She is where the cat claimed. Alaska. Malvena’s spies are close, Miriam has already killed many.”
He made to go, but she reached out a small hand to stop him. Ewan shrugged her off.
Hugging her hand to her chest, she said, “This is bigger than you, or her, Ewan. The moment Violet steps foot in Kingdom it will be a race against time. Not only will Malvena sense the return of the Heartsong, so will Galeta.”
“I don’t care.”
“You must!” she shrieked, face contorting, blunt teeth becoming momentarily sharp as familiar eyes bled with shades of red. The kind visage became for a moment, the true face of the fae. “I’ve not protected her all these years only to have her slaughtered because you feel the need to rut her like a mad fool. She is not what you think she is, Ewan. Aye, she’s your mate, but she is much more than that. Much more than just fairy magic. Do you understand what the lass truly is?”
Grinding his jaw, he inhaled deeply. “Mine. That’s what she is. I’ll protect her--”
She scoffed, her laughter hollow and dripped with scorn. “Do you not wonder, for even a moment, why she’s been hidden? Why I lied to you? I love all my boys. I always have. Especially you, you were never supposed to be mine. You belonged to the dark witch and I hated you for it. For choosing her, for fighting for wrong. But then I saw your heart and I hated myself for lying to you. The girl is powerful, but she’s dark. Wicked. Her heart is full of hate.”
“Because of ye and yer kind,” he growled, unable to hold his tongue. Nails clawed grooves in the palms of his hands.
“Nay! Because it is in her nature.” Danika’s wand sputtered and crackled with energy, no longer did the wee fae tremble. “She is all the darkness that is within a fae soul. Thousands of years, legend states, that the Ten most powerful fairies in all of Kingdom divested themselves of their darker nature. Dumping that darkness into the earth. That blight took form. A beautiful babe emerged from the g
round, swaddled in shadow. They should have killed it then.”
He growled and her eyes shot to his.
“But they couldn’t. She was a child, and the Ten decided Jana was the most pure of them, and would guard her, keep her safe.”
Ewan remembered the day Malvena’s crows sought out his clan. A muscle in his jaw ticked as the night turned chilly. “I ken what happened.”
She nodded. “Aye, as do I.”
“Why did ye keep us apart?”
Danika pinched the bridge of her nose, her features reflecting the innocence of before. “She must kill Malvena. ‘Tis the only way.”
“I could kill the Black. I know her weaknesses.”
She shook her head, her curls bobbed hard. “No, it has been foretold, it must be the girl and no other. But to do it, she had to come into her powers and to do that, she had to learn to hate. Her powers are driven by darkness, Ewan. Not love. Not light. Keeping her safe and sheltered kept her weak.”
“I need her back,” he heard himself plead, hated himself for it, but he was desperate.
“She will hate you,” Danika didn’t blink, “but in order for her not to destroy herself, and all of Kingdom with her, she needs you too.” She closed her eyes. “This will not be easy, Ewan. But I will do all that I can to protect you both and see you safely to Malvena’s castle.”
“I understand why ye did it, Danika.”
Her eyes were wide, brimming with unshed tears, a soft smile flickered the corner of her rosebud lips.
“But I don’t forgive ye for it. Take me to my mate.”
A single tear spilled from her left eye. She didn’t wipe it up. “Aye, Ewan. I’ll take you.” Glancing at Jinni, Danika nodded. “It is good that you are here, Jinni.”
His lips curled into a tight grimace. “Deceiver. I hate your kind, I always have.”
The old fire returned to her face and a nasty smirk crossed her lips. “You and I are not so different, are we genie? Or have you forgotten what brought you to me?”
His hand flexed into a tight fist.
“Aye, my friend, not so very different at all.” She nodded toward Ewan. “You’re to go with him. You’ve a purpose to fill in all of this.” With those words, she swished her wand, a glowing portal opened before them and Ewan’s heart sped.
There would be blood. Lots of it.
Chapter 34
The moment they stepped through Danika’s tunnel, he smelled her. But she was different. Before she’d been fresh, like the sharp scent of verdant grass and new life. She still smelled of life, the warmth of the sun, and magic… but all of it edged in violence.
The woods were dark, shadows danced on trees, twisting them into shades of the macabre. Ewan ran, ignoring Danika’s cries or Jinni’s caution. Blood--particles of it--tickled his sensitive nose, teased his brain with visions of slaughter. The metallic, iron rich scent flooded his synapses, making him go blank, think of nothing other than his desperate need to reach his mate.
After all this time, she was near. And though there was blood, the scent of her crisp scent reached out to him, shivering across his skin like thousands of massaging fingers.
Air, thick and white, puffed from his jaws as he urged his muscles to work harder, push faster. He swerved in and around trees, paws sinking into the thick fluffy snow. Sweat slathered his haunches, even as the cold brushed an icy caress against his face, threatening to freeze the air he frantically gulped into heaving lungs.
Ahead a wash of light beckoned like a beacon, he was a moth to its flame, drawn by scent and sight. She was in there.
His heart clenched.
There were wolves about, he smelled their woodsy musk. The stench of their mistress lay heavy in the woods, like oily residue it clung to his pelt, reeking of death and decay. Black beady eyes stared at him from within the shadows of the trees; he didn’t need to see them to feel them everywhere. He’d worked for Malvena for centuries; he knew the way her twisted mind worked. The crows were here, they’d found her.
With a huff, he pushed fatiguing muscles to their limits, stretching his limbs to the point of pain, anything to reach her faster.
The light grew brighter, opening like a golden bloom, filling his mind and head. Was she safe? What would he find?
Roaring, he shouldered his way through the half open door, panting like a hound of hell come to devour a soul. His eyes scanned frantically, his nose lifted, scenting the eerie stillness of her home. Memories plagued him, bombarded his thoughts, so that he whimpered remembering the night long ago. The hated memories of seeing his mate curled within her red hood, shielding her body from him.
Calling the unbecoming, Ewan shifted. “Violet,” he screamed, adrenaline flooded his tongue, his throat. Bile worked its way up, like a panicked horse spotting a snake on its path, dread surged within him.
“Violet, where the bloody hell are ye, lass? Answer me!”
He smelled her everywhere, blood so much blood, and yet there was nothing. Like his nose and his eyes worked independent of one another. He turned in a circle, there were wood carved chairs covered in colorful knitted blankets, threadbare rugs, a crackling flame in a hearth. All so peaceful, serene, but his nose knew truth. Violence had happened here.
He ran through the small cottage, following the confusing miasma of scents. Blood and sunshine. Where was she? There were three rooms, each white, each bare; with nothing to distinguish one from the other. All empty. Each time he opened a door, his heart pounded harder.
“Violet, lass, I ken yer around. Shew yerself,” he said, brogue becoming so thick it was nearly unintelligible. Madness swirled through his veins, blanketed his vision. So close, closer than he’d been in years. He’d not be denied now.
He threw open another door. A bathroom; and here the blood was thickest. Viscous, coating the inside of his mouth with iron so thick he gagged. Gods above, someone had died. That was the only thing that could account for so much blood.
Then he saw it, a ripple like a wave in a placid pool, in the very bottom corner of the small room. And the moment he spotted the ripple, he felt the undulation of fairy magic move against his chest like a gentle swell. But though he knew magic covered the truth, he could not see through the casting.
“Violet,” he roared, “I’ll not harm ye, lass.” Was his mate dying? Dead? He shuddered, unable to bear thought.
“Hush, now,” a strong female voice shushed him, then a face he could never forget scowled at him. “Ye’ll bring the wolves.”
“Shunned,” he warned, voice trembling with a rumble of violence seconds from erupting, “where is she?” His fingers clenched, unclenched, wanting desperately to smash his fist through something and watch the blood spill.
Miriam looked as if she wanted to say more, her lips thinned, and with a jerk of her head she pointed toward the living room. Immediately the mirage dropped, and the truth of what he’d smelled was now visible to the eye.
A trail of blood, black as night, saturated the carpets. Bloody handprints dotted the walls, as if someone had dragged themselves along.
Ewan jogged, it didn’t take him long before he saw her. He wanted to savor the moment, the first time in years he’d seen her, was within reaching distance of his mate, but he couldn’t. Her lips were blue, her skin lily white.
The blonde hair he’d remembered that curled so effortlessly around her face, now hung limp and crusted with blood. Her hand rested on her breast, not a muscle moved, her chest did not rise, and Ewan’s heart slid to his feet. Suddenly he felt too heavy for his body, but somehow he was able to make his way to her.
A macabre vision of loveliness formed in his eyes. Finally able to give into his weakness, he dropped to his knees, not knowing where to touch her. A strange sound kept flitting in his ear, an annoying moan he couldn’t place.
Gingerly, not wanting to further injure her, he hefted her slight weight into his arms. The moan grew louder, then voices sifted through his consciousness, but they were distorted--filtered t
hrough a long tunnel, low and hard to understand.
His hand was so dark against her pale, lovely face. Her neck was tilted at an odd angle, blonde hair rained down around her shoulders. The moaning grew louder, like the buzz of an angry wasp’s nest disturbed. He traced the curve of her sharp cheekbone, gently, reverently. Following the line to her nose, so straight and perfect, her heart shaped jaw. Small, beautiful ears. She had freckles. He’d never known that. Flattening his fingertips against her neck he waited.
There was no pulse.
Blue lips did not part to utter protest at her lover’s caress. She still looked as young and as angelic as he’d remembered, she’d aged not at all. Youth personified was his mate. Slowly, with measured ease, he slid his hand down the front of her still, cold body. Where was the wound? What had wrecked such devastation upon her? He smelled wolf, the stench of it lay thick in his nostrils--the musk of woods and upturned leaves, of bloody meat, and fatty marrow.
His hands slipped beneath her shirt. Maybe there was still time. Maybe the fairies could still heal her. Then his fingers found thick groves torn within her flesh, deep into the muscle. A sickening suction pulled at his digit and he shuddered, fire burned his throat. The sound cascaded all around him; the low moan was now an eruption of pain.
His chest heaved, his eyes swelled, and then he howled, pulling her beloved face into his chest. Crying out to the night; pain pouring out through his song.
Hands clasped onto his shoulders. Small ones, they squeezed. “Ewan,” Danika began.
He hissed, jerking out of her reach, rushing to his feet; holding the lifeless body to his chest, as if he could somehow force his life’s essence into her.
“Ye did this!” He snarled, the wild in him coming to the forefront, obscuring his reason or sanity. Only knowing the pain consumed and burned and he needed to release it or risk dying from the agony of his shattered soul.
[Kingdom 01.0 - 03.0] Kingdom Series Collection Page 31