by Rowan, Cate
Alvarr, I’ll love you always. She steeled herself and looked up at Bhruic to meet her death.
A voice boomed behind him. “Hallenath! Passur toval ist!” She spied Alvarr crouched in a fighter’s stance, his sword gleaming in the torchlight.
Jilian scrambled to her feet as Bhruic whirled to face him, snarling. “You think to take my fire? I’ll have your life!” A bolt of blue flame sped from his palm toward the prince.
Alvarr vaulted out of the bolt’s path and swung his blade. It whistled through vacant air as Bhruic ducked and shot another bolt.
Jilian lurched back, sick with understanding. Since Alvarr’s spell hadn’t worked, his power was no match for Bhruic’s. He had only his sword against the dark mage’s cunning and twisted magic. He’d lose.
Unless she could reach him to transfer her kyrra… But to do that, she’d have to cross to him unprotected through Bhruic’s firebolts.
She stared at Alvarr, the man who’d loved her and had breached his enemy’s stronghold to rescue her, and charged forward.
“Relgin kurtung!” Bhruic screamed. A frosted white cloud shot from his mouth toward his enemy.
Alvarr leapt again, but not fast enough. The cloud engulfed him and cleaved to his body as ice crystals. He froze in place, sword arm raised, jaw open to shout.
Jilian cried out, terrified death had reached him before she had.
The crystals plunged away with a loud crack. Alvarr whirled from a new bolt of fire, evading it by inches, but his skin was deadly pale and his breathing labored.
With a blistering laugh, Bhruic dodged another sword-thrust. A flash of bright green grew in his hands and he flung it.
Alvarr evaded it by a hair’s breadth. The bolt continued past him and hit the rock wall.
The wall exploded and green fire rocketed off the stones. A globule shot toward Jilian, who’d nearly reached Alvarr.
The blast caught her in the shoulder. She screamed at the searing agony and fell to her knees, twisting to stare in shock at the blackened skin. She raised her stunned gaze to the mages.
“Sara!” Bhruic froze, staring at her with haunted eyes.
But Alvarr sprang toward her, and the distress on his face was louder than her still-echoing scream.
When he reached for her, she clamped her hand over his wrist. “Don’t kill him!” Pain scorched her as she created the pipe, but soon her body hummed in harmony with his, transferring her kyrra.
Alvarr whirled around, sword slicing through the air. “No!” Jilian shouted, unsure if he’d heard her.
From the sword’s tip, a gray orb bolted toward the shock-still Bhruic. It shrouded the mage and he crumpled to the floor.
Alvarr’s sword clattered to the ground and he landed on his knees by her side. He enveloped her in his arms, careful of her seared shoulder.
“Oh, Alvarr,” she said, burying her face in his chest. Sobs rose from her belly to her throat. “You came. You came here for me.”
He brushed his lips over her hair. “Now and always.”
She turned her cheek against his neck, inhaling the male scents of leather and sweat. Her body began to quake with shock and pain.
His arms tightened around her. “How is your shoulder?”
“Like hell blistered over.”
A short laugh escaped him. “Then help me heal you, Love.”
She clasped his warm hand, welcoming the rich hum throughout her body. Under his touch, the scorched horror of her shoulder faded to pink skin and the aching bruises on her neck dissolved.
He leaned down and brushed his mouth against hers—a soft, lingering caress that deepened with longing, and need, and love.
His breath warmed her cheek as he whispered, “Jilian…don’t ever leave me again.”
She raised her gaze to his and made a promise with her whole heart: “I will never leave you, Alvarr.”
She tugged him down for another kiss, which sent a delicious rumble through her body. The sensation deepened until their souls seemed to meld.
At last she broke the kiss, then pulled herself up to sit beside him, letting their thighs touch. Reluctantly she gazed across the room, where a small gray orb hung in the air over Bhruic’s body. “Did you…kill him?”
“No.” He looked toward the orb and twined his fingers in hers. “I told you once that I don’t kill unless it’s unavoidable.”
“Then what happened?”
“He’s…sleeping, I suppose you could say. I took his soul.”
She turned and blinked at him.
“It was Nenth’s idea.” His voice softened at the name, and he pulled a blue glass vial from his pocket. “She committed suicide so I could come to you.”
“What? Why…” She trailed off in horror.
Grief surged into his gaze as he raised the vial and stared into it. “Nenth was in love with me, and I never saw it.”
Jilian made a sound low in her throat and nodded. “I’d guessed that.”
“Everyone seems to have realized it but me.” Sorrow roughened his voice. “Truly, I am a blind and ignorant fool.”
He looked over and squeezed her hand. “And yet, Jilian, you’re the only woman this fool could love.”
The love and sorrow that filled the moment stole all her words. She squeezed back.
His gaze dropped. “You should know that Nenth was the one who had you kidnapped.”
“But Bhruic… How?”
“Nenth didn’t realize Bhruic was behind it. She just wanted you out of her way for a bit so she could get my attention.”
Jilian’s jaw slackened.
“I know. But while the wardweavings were torn, Bhruic influenced her. I don’t think she would have done something like that without it. In any case, when she realized what had happened—that you were in Bhruic’s hands—she killed herself before I could stop her.”
Jilian took a sharp breath, unsure of what to say.
He fingered a lock of her hair, then tucked it behind her ear. “Nenth’s last wish was for you and me to be together. To redeem her actions against you, she sacrificed her soul so I’d have the kyrra to come to you in Fallorm. When she arranged for you to be abducted, she risked your life as well as the freedom of Teganne. But her last act was the most unselfish I can imagine.”
Jilian swallowed, wishing she could heal his anguish as easily as they’d healed her physical wounds. “She loved you. Very much.”
“Yes. And she loved me enough to want me to be happy. With you.” He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss into her palm. “She gave everything for that. I hope that where she is, she’s been released from her burdens and is feeling great joy, as much as I am right now, at your side.”
“I hope that, too.” Her tears for Nenth’s gift spilled over his fingers. If love was just, Nenth would find her own, even in the afterlife.
But there was more to be said. “You need to know something.” She took a deep breath, unsure how to go on. “I…Bhruic is my real father.” She cringed, waiting for his shock.
He didn’t even blink. “Thoren surmised it long ago, but didn’t tell me until today. How did you find out?”
“My mother left a journal.” She turned to the table, relieved to see the book still there. “Rokad had it with his lore books, and I’d put it in my pocket just before I was kidnapped.”
Alvarr glanced toward Bhruic’s lifeless body and the orb circling above it. “Did you want me to spare him because he’s your father?”
“Yes. Well, I’m not sure, really.” She studied his crumpled body. “He was… You saw him. He was sick. Mentally ill. I think something was damaged in him long ago.”
“He called you by your mother’s name.”
Jilian nodded. “He got…confused. In his own strange way, I think he truly loved my mother.” She shuddered with a mixture of revulsion and pity.
Alvarr put the blue vial carefully back in his pocket and withdrew another one of clear glass. When he opened it, the gray orb hovering over Bhrui
c’s body flew into it and spun. He closed the stopper with a solid twist and a whispered spell, placed the vial on the floor, and stared at it. “There lies the soul of my enemy, the slayer of my parents, a brutal despot, and the man who helped give you life.”
Jilian leaned against him. “It’s hard to believe—all of this.”
“I know. But it’s over.”
Alvarr wrapped an arm around her and held her close, his palm splayed warm at her waist. She was utterly secure in the shelter of his arms and the brilliant glow of their love.
“And now,” he said, “it’s our turn at last.”
EPILOGUE
Out of sheer anxiety, Jilian clung to Alvarr’s hand even though she couldn’t feel his touch. But she saw his eyes, gray and deep—calm, full of love—and that steadied her breath. Oh please…
With a bang of sensation, they materialized in Sara’s old study. Jilian blinked at the bright daylight pouring through the window, then turned for the door…
And saw her mother in the soft leather chair, regarding them with a burgeoning smile.
Jilian covered her mouth. “Mom?”
Sara’s eyes shone. “Jilly Love! You’re back!”
And then she rose and walked—walked—toward her daughter.
Jilian yelled out in an explosion of joy and wrapped her arms around her mother. Laughing, Sara returned the hug so tightly that Jilian could barely breathe. She didn’t mind a bit.
Then she caught sight of Alvarr’s patient grin. She stepped back and guided Sara to him. “Mom, this is—”
“Alvarr? You have the look of both your parents.”
Alvarr seemed pleased. “I wasn’t sure—”
“I’d never forget my own FriendSon. I may not have been there to watch you grow up, but I thought of you often.” Her voice was gentle, almost wistful.
He stood still a moment, then engulfed her in his arms. “FriendMother.” He glanced at Jilian. “Your daughter and I…we’ve made a few decisions, if you’ll give your blessing.”
“Oh?” Sara’s gaze bounced first to Alvarr, then to Jilian. “Hmm,” she said, beaming.
Jilian laughed and hugged her mother again, swaying in a slow, joyful dance.
At last Sara stepped back, holding onto Jilian’s hand. She took in the pendant dangling from her daughter’s neck and fingered it, smiling. “Well, you two, it seems there’s a lot to discuss. Why don’t we go sit down?”
In the kitchen, over a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, the three of them talked over the events of the last few weeks.
The starlace had worked quickly, astonishing Sara’s doctors, as well as the Fort Nevis police, who had no interest in investigating a recovery miracle as a suicide—despite what a hysterical nurse, overweight guard and annoyed receptionist had thought of Sara’s odd visitor. The doctors had run tests, shaken their heads, shrugged their collective shoulders, and released her with admonishments to come back if she felt any sort of relapse.
“Speaking of the police,” Sara said, “Officer Dougal Macauley stopped by. He had quite a tale to tell.” Her eyes twinkled, contradicting the prim set to her mouth.
Jilian blushed. “The poor man. I just…” She turned to Alvarr. “I never…”
He chuckled. “You told me everything and I believe you.”
The adoring look that passed between them wasn’t lost on Sara. Placing her hands on her hips, she eyed Alvarr. “So when’s the wedding?”
Alvarr flashed a smile. “In a week.”
Sara cackled. “You work fast, son.”
Jilian reached across the table and took her mother’s hand. “You’ll come, won’t you?”
“As if I’d miss it!” Sara straightened in her chair, eyes widened in mock offense. “Just imagine, finally returning after all these years, and for my own daughter’s wedding to the Prince of Teganne!” But then her face turned grave.
“Mom? What’s the matter?”
Sara took a deep breath. “M’girl, there was a man, in Alvarr’s world, that—”
“Bhruic?”
Sara stared at her. “Yes. He…I…”
“It’s okay,” Jilian said in a soft voice. “He’s not a threat anymore. We defeated him and his soul is…in safekeeping. He’ll never hurt you again.”
At those words, Sara blanched. “You saw him?”
“Mom…I know.” Jilian took her hand. “I know he’s my father.”
Sara’s green eyes grew large and her surprised breath flowed over their clasped hands.
Jilian simply gazed at her with all her love.
Sara shifted on the chair. “It was a long time ago, Jilly, and the biggest mistake of my life. I’d been grieving. And lonely. He was handsome, charming, brilliant. And forbidden to me, because of our calling…which, after so many years of obeying all the rules, somehow made it all the more tempting.”
She looked away as if reliving it. “He loved me to distraction, spoiled me, met my every wish and desire—with an intensity that came to scare me. The inner cracks he’d fought so hard to cover started to show. Gaping fractures, deep through his mind and soul, ones that love could never fill. His life before me…it’s a story best left for another day, but there are some things no human should have to face. He’d been…broken by them. The fractures terrified me. And they were deeper than I’d guessed. Do you know about Sources, Jil?”
“I do. I’m one myself.”
Sara paused a moment to take that in, then glanced at Alvarr and back to Jilian in understanding. “I see you’re both willing to break the rules yourself. And do you know what happened to all the other Sources in Teganne?”
Jilian slowly nodded. “He murdered them.”
“Because I had the audacity to leave him.” Sara shuddered, reminding Jilian of how she’d felt when she’d looked into Bhruic’s eyes. “But if I hadn’t been with him, you’d not be here.” Tears flowed unchecked down Sara’s weathered cheek and she squeezed her hand. “I love you, Jilly.”
“I love you, too.” Answering tears welled in Jilian’s eyes and she sniffed, then laughed at herself as she wiped them away with the back of her hand. “It’s all so strange. After you left Teganne, Bhruic usurped Fallorm and became its Prince. He did horrifying things to the realm and its people. It will take years for Fallorm to recover. But since I’m his daughter, and legally, he’s no longer in a fit state to rule… I’m now its Princess.”
Sara straightened in her chair, then laughter pealed from her. “My daughter, the princess!” She glanced slyly at Alvarr. “Seems to me that after wedding the prince of Teganne, you’ll be a princess twice over.”
Jilian grinned back, but as the most important question tugged at her, tension filled her chest. “Mom…will you come live with us in Teganne?”
Sara looked down at their clasped fingers and placed her other hand on top of her daughter’s. “For almost thirty years I’ve been far from my home. I left my friends and the only life I’d ever known to protect you. For Fate’s sake, I even took on a Scots accent.” She grinned cheekily, then sobered. “Nothing would please me more than to return home forever—except for one thing. And that’s to see my daughter marry her prince.”
At last, when all the events had been shared and all the cookies consumed (with Alvarr particularly enthusiastic about the chocolate chips), the three of them looked at each other with a tacit understanding. Alvarr and Sara left the kitchen to give Jilian privacy. A sadness curled in her chest as she walked through the rooms of her father’s house one last time—because Colin Stewart was still her father, blood ties or not.
“Dad,” she whispered into the air, “thank you for the love you gave me, and to my mother, all those years ago. Things didn’t work out as you two had hoped, but you loved me deeply in your own way. I will always cherish that.”
When she met up with the others in her mother’s study, Alvarr held out his hand and pulled her to him, then wrapped his other arm around Sara, who beamed like a full moon.
&n
bsp; He leaned down and kissed Jilian softly. “I came here to Earth to save my people. But it was you who saved me.”
And his eyes promised more mutual rescuing, when they reached their royal bedroom in Teganne.
Sara poked him in the ribs. “Watch it. She’s still my daughter.”
He laughed and laid his chin on Sara’s head, hugging her tight. Then he turned his gaze to Jilian, and with a familiar, sensual thrum and a corresponding gleam in Alvarr’s gray eyes, they made the Crossing to a new life.
Author’s Note
It’s been my pleasure to share the world of Alvarr and Jilian with you. I have an excerpt from another novel to share with you in the following pages, but if you enjoyed The Source of Magic, please (pretty please) consider taking a moment right now to post a quick review at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, GoodReads, or elsewhere—or telling your book club or readers’ groups, mentioning it on Facebook or Twitter or a blog, or simply letting your friends know about it. Good word of mouth is the breath of life for an independent author. You have my deepest thanks.
I strive for perfection, so if you found a typo within this book, please let me know by emailing me at [email protected].
I’ll be publishing more novels set in the world of Alaia (which includes the realms of Kad and Teganne) as well as other fantasy lands. If you’d like to be notified about future releases, drop by http://CateRowan.com to read my blog or join my newsletter. You can also connect with me at Facebook, GoodReads, LibraryThing, Shelfari and Twitter. I look forward to your visit.
—Cate Rowan
Bonus Novel Excerpt
Kismet’s Kiss takes place years after The Source of Magic. In the desert realm of Kad, a deadly epidemic strikes the palace of Sultan Kuramos. Only a magical healer from an enemy land could save his people. He doesn't realize that the healer is a woman… And yes, that woman is Varene na Seryn, the Royal Healer of Teganne!
Kismet’s Kiss was a two-time Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® finalist and was nominated by The Romance Reviews for Best Fantasy Romance and Best Debut of 2010.