by Amy Sumida
“It was necessary, Rue.”
“I doubt that very much,” she took a deep breath and looked me over. “Toss her out the window, darling. I want rid of her.”
“Rue, she's a princess of Fairy,” Uisdean reasoned. “The Sluagh will rise and avenge her.”
“She's half human,” the evil queen scoffed. “The Sluagh will approve.”
“Rue,” Uisdean gaped at her. “No.”
“No?” She looked as if she didn't understand the word. “I asked you to kill her, my love. Why won't you do this small thing for me?”
“Told you,” I shook my head at Uisdean. “Tainted.”
“Silence!” He snarled at me.
“Just tip her over the ledge,” Rue cajoled. “Won't it be lovely to watch her blood paint the rocks below?”
“Rue,” Uisdean gaped at her. “Is that truly what you want?”
“Call it a reunion gift,” she shrugged.
“Not only would the Sluagh rise but it would start a war,” Uisdean shook his head. “Keir rules his own kingdom now. He is King of Twilight.”
“Twilight?” She huffed. “It's a baby kingdom. A farce. A little border between the true kingdoms of Fairy.”
“Not anymore, love,” Uisdean stroked his hand over her blood-red hair. “Keir grew up and claimed his birthright. The Twilight Kingdom has grown into a considerable force.”
“Fine, if you will not do it, I will,” Rue waved her hand and a freezing gust of wind blew me out of the tower.
It happened so fast, I barely had time to scream. The wind whistled by me as Uisdean shouted in alarm. I saw his face leaning over the ledge, his arm extended towards me, and a pillow of air caught me. I was lifted and started floating back to safety.
I glanced behind me and saw that Rue had flung me out so far, I would have gone over the castle wall and down the cliff which Castle Unseelie perched upon. I would have indeed painted the jagged rocks below with my blood. But my relief lasted only a moment. Someone, we all know who, jerked Uisdean away and I began to fall once more.
As the polished onyx of the castle walls blurred, I thought to myself that at least my death would solve the Rue problem. The Sluagh would destroy her and save the Unseelie Kingdom from a truly evil queen. So maybe my death would mean something. But then a horrible ache filled me and Keir's face flashed though my mind. How would he survive losing me, when he still mourned my mother? It would be a horrible blow to him. And then there was Tiernan. I hated the thought of his sadness and the fact that I would never touch him again.
And Raza. Yes, as death approached, I could be honest with myself. I lo-
A roar cut off my thoughts and the air was squeezed from my lungs as a massive claw caught me about the waist. The jagged rocks below lurched into view as my body bent backwards. But then the claws shifted around me, sliding beneath my knees and shoulders, and I found myself lying in a dragon claw hammock. I heard shouting come from somewhere above but couldn't see my uncle or his zombie wife. My view was dominated by the bright crimson belly of the dragon who had just saved my life. Again.
“I've got you, my Seren,” Raza rumbled above me. “I've got you. It's going to be okay.”
I sighed and relaxed in the cage of his claw as I stared up his long neck and admired the way the moonlight glistened off his scales. I was so exhausted, both mentally and physically, I just couldn't hold onto consciousness. The wind stung my cheeks so I curled my bruised face into the thick padding on the inside of Raza's claw. It was surprisingly comfortable and I drifted off to sleep, feeling safe within the grip of the dragon who loved me. Just before I succumbed to slumber, I heard her voice in my head.
I never left you and I never will.
Chapter Thirty
When I woke, we were still flying. I blinked and rubbed at my eyes but the chains hampered me. Squinting into the sting of the wind, I looked forward and saw a smoke-colored mountain rising up before us. Its peaks were mostly cloaked in clouds but what I could see of them were coated in snow. Below the mountain, a sparkling lake spread out to the edge of a thick jungle. The jungle looked more inhospitable than any forest I'd seen on Fairy. It encircled the whole mountain with its nearly impenetrable ceiling of leaves and vines.
Within the center of the mountain, at its very heart, a ledge flared out before a giant castle set right into the mountainside. It looked as if a castle sized nook had been carved from the stone and then the castle carefully slid into it. A road led down from the generous ledge to a clearing beside the lake but we wouldn't be using the path. The shelf was more than wide enough for Raza to land on.
The castle stuck out from the mountain enough that three of its towers were free of the overhang and were able to shoot up towards the sky. The rest of the castle nestled within its deep hollow, with a border of verdant land to either side. Dark windows stared out at us but they were soon lost to the glare of the sun rising behind us. Sunlight struck the amber and ruby walls, bringing the whole construction to life. Light was pulled within the smooth stones and trapped. The castle became an enormous ember set within the fireplace of the mountain. Just waiting for a god to come and warm his feet beside it.
Or a dragon.
“Welcome to Craos-Teine, Princess. Home of the first kings of the Unseelie,” Raza lowered us to the ledge before the castle and gently released me.
“Raza,” I stumbled to my feet and stared up at him. “Why did you bring me here?”
His form shimmered and shrunk until he stood before me as a man. A nude man, of course. Clothes never survived such transformations, magic or not. But I hardly noticed his magnificent body in light of the situation. Though the situation's light was only slightly more interesting than the sunlight outlining Raza, glistening over the curves of his muscles and caressing the-
“Who did this to you?” His eyes burned suddenly as his hand slid gently over my face.
“I did it to myself,” I shook my head sadly.
“What? How?”
“I went after Uisdean.”
“Seren,” he shook his head. “I know. You had to pursue him after what he did.”
“How do you know any of this?” My stomach clenched as I thought about him hearing about how I'd led my men to their deaths.
“The other twilight fey returned to your father with the bodies of the knights,” he pulled me into his embrace and kissed the top of my head gently. “Keir scried us to make sure that you had returned to Alaska safely and that's when I knew what you'd done.”
“How did you know?” I pulled back to stare up at him.
“Because it's what I would have done,” he smiled sadly. “I knew you couldn't give up so easily. Nor would you allow Uisdean to get away with murder.”
“But he did, didn't he?” I said morosely.
“Tell me,” he stepped back . “Tell me what happened when you confronted him.”
“This happened,” I tried to wave my hands at my face and the chains clanged.
“Damn him,” Raza reached down and tore the chains apart like they were made of paper. Then he took each manacle and cracked them open like walnuts. “He's gone too far.”
I gaped at my free wrists while he bent down and did the same to my ankles. It seemed that magic muting chains didn't work on dragon-djinn. My magic rushed through my body like blood into a sleeping limb and I gave a deep sigh of relief. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed it until it was back. Suddenly I felt more alive.
“But, Seren,” Raza stood and stared hard into my eyes. “How did you end up falling from that tower?”
“Rue,” I said simply and Raza's eyes widened.
“So he brought her back?”
“And even though he swore that taking the lives of my men wasn't murder, she still returned wrong, Raza.” I shook my head in remorse. “I watched her change. For just a few moments she was as she must have once been. She cried and asked Uisdean what he'd done to her. It was heartbreaking.”
“The poor woman,” Raza sighed.<
br />
“Then something took control of her,” I went on. “She went through these convulsions and when it was over, she looked at me and all I saw in her eyes was evil. I've never seen that in anyone, not even Queen Iseabal. There was nothing in Rue but malice and hatred; it was chilling.”
“And her first act as Queen was to attempt to execute you,” Raza's jaw clenched.
“The Sluagh will still go after her, won't they? She tried to murder me. She used her magic to toss me out of that tower.”
“I don't know, Seren,” he grimaced. “She's a soul reborn, a queen brought back from death. I'm not sure what rules apply to her anymore.”
“You're saying she could kill anyone without consequences?” I breathed too deeply and pain shot through my chest. I gave a sharp gasp. Right; take shallow breaths when you have a broken rib.
“I'm saying, there's no precedent for a fairy queen returning to life and then attempting to murder a fairy princess,” he laid a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Let's get you inside where I can work some healing magic on you.”
“You can heal?” I lifted a brow.
“Not very well but for you, I'll try,” he smiled but it was shaky. Then he dropped to his knees in front of me and clutched at my waist. “I saw you falling and for one horrible moment, I was certain I wouldn't reach you in time. If that gust hadn't caught you...”
“That was Uisdean,” I gave a disbelieving laugh. “He tried to save me.”
“Then maybe we should try and save him,” he pressed his cheek to my belly and wrapped his arms around my legs. A tremor went through his body as my hands settled on his shoulders. Then he relaxed against me and whispered, “But I'm going to kill that bitch.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“But why are we here?” I asked as Raza again as he led me to the imposing doors of Castle Craos-Teine.
“I'm not sure why I headed here, actually,” he frowned. “I believe I may have been guided in this direction by Danu.”
“Danu,” I huffed. “She spoke to me finally.”
“Good.”
“Not good,” I growled and then moaned as my rib sent pain shooting through my middle. “She was too late and she only halfway healed me.”
“Halfway?”
“Well, that may have been because I told her to fuck off,” I muttered.
“You what?” He gaped at me.
“I was pissed off. Where was she when my men were being murdered?”
“You cannot fault the Goddess for our decisions, Seren,” he admonished. “She tries to guide you and you grumble, then she steps back and you grumble more. You're behaving like a toddler. Now, stop being so angry for just a moment. I want to show you my ancestral home.”
With that, he pushed the doors open and a pop of magic brought with it a gust of air. I took a breath of the cool breeze scented with sweet herbs and then looked to Raza in question.
“I laid a preservation spell over the castle before I left,” he gave me a sly wink.
As we passed beneath the arch of the doorway, I stared up at it in awe. It was high enough to admit a full sized dragon and I think that alone was very telling of who once ruled Unseelie. Just like the underwater courts, the earth dragons had gone about in their dragon forms often enough to require architectural adjustments.
But just because the castle was ruled by dragons, it didn't mean it was fit for animals. Craos-Teine had a grandeur to it that was breath-stealing. The whole of it was built of massive pieces of amber, citrine, carnelian, and ruby. Gleaming slabs of precious stones pieced together in a pattern of flames, with gold serving as the mortar, so it appeared as if the walls were made of fire itself.
It made sense, all djinns were closely attuned to fire but especially the dragon-djinns. The human myths claimed that djinns were born of smokeless, scorching fire, though I wasn't sure how much of that was true. I hadn't found any reference to it in the books I'd been studying back in Twilight. Still, fire was definitely their dominant element and dragon-djinns in particular loved treasure nearly as much as fire. So the walls would doubly appeal to them. But this amazing architecture was only a backdrop for the opulence of the Craos-Teine.
Raza's hand flung outward and a ripple of magic flowed through the castle. Fairy lanterns burst into light and the castle came to life. With the addition of the magical illumination, the walls seemed to undulate like true flames. They rose up from an inlaid stone floor which was patterned to look like the night sky. It was a strange contrast to the walls but supremely beautiful. It reminded me instantly of the entryway of the newer Unseelie castle.
“Where do you think King Dhoire got his inspiration?” Raza answered my unspoken question. “Not only does Unseelie rule the night but we dragons love the sky. It's comforting for us to walk across its image when we're not soaring through it.”
“The deep blue is stunning against the fiery walls.”
“Complimentary colors,” he shrugged.
“Blue and orange,” I mused. “It's a very Moroccan color combination actually, and didn't your people frequent that area?”
“Where do you think the Berbers got their inspiration?” He chuckled.
“Well, you dragons seem to inspire creativity as much as fear,” I smirked.
“Take that back,” he teased as he led me further into the castle.
The hallways were bare, no paintings or sculptures to distract the eye from the beauty of the castle itself, but the rooms we passed were lavishly appointed. I saw carved wood bookcases inset with swirling strips of gold, furniture fashioned from jewels and precious metals with velvet cushions laid over them, and carpets thick enough to lose your feet in. Fairy lanterns were trapped within massive golden cages shaped like fey creatures. These golden beasts hung from the ceiling in serene and sometimes menacing poses. Silk curtains were pulled back to reveal faceted crystal windows, which drew even more light into the castle. The sunlight shone across the smooth curves of stone statues, carved to represent fairies who must have been important long ago.
Craos-Teine had none of the darkness I expected from the Unseelie Court and it was hard to imagine all the atrocities Raza had hinted at, happening here. Still, if there was one thing the fey were good at, it was hiding violence under a beautiful façade. I stepped over the diamond stars laid within the lapis floor and wondered how much blood had been washed from their sparkling surfaces.
We passed by a massive mirror held within the golden arms of two proud dragons, and I caught a glimpse of us. The naked dragon-djinn, with his wings folded back to better display his fine form, and the broken princess, dirty and beaten, covered in the blood of her kin and herself. What a pair of royals we made.
But it still felt oddly satisfying to stroll through those galleries, to glimpse empty rooms and imagine what they had looked like full of unseelie fey. Or what the halls had been like when dragons strode through them. Did the stone vibrate with the tread of clawed feet or echo with roars? But I suppose I was romanticizing a violent time within the Unseelie Kingdom and I doubt the beauty had been worth the blood.
We climbed a gold railed staircase which curved up through the heart of the castle; the pure white heart. Both the steps and the surrounding walls were a gleaming, snowy marble. The cylindrical stairway shot up past the numerous floors of the castle and ended in a domed ceiling. At the apex of this ceiling hung a gold dragon by its tail. It stared down at us menacingly, wigs outstretched and claws extended. In its throat was a fairy light, beaming out of its mouth and illuminating the whole stairwell with its glow.
I gave it one last admiring look before Raza led me out onto the top floor and down a short hallway. We entered a room with a decidedly masculine feel to it. I breathed in a familiar scent and new immediately where I was. From the polished wood floors to the soaring gold ceiling, this room was completely saturated with Raza. I could scent and sense him in every detail.
He helped me ease back onto an expansive bed with quartz crystal posters. The posts wer
e highly detailed carvings of dragon tails. Each one curved up from beneath the bed, barbed-tip pointed aggressively to the ceiling, as if four dragons were lurking under the mattress. I rolled my head and sighed as the black velvet bedding cushioned me and released another whiff of Raza. Smoke and sugar; like the roasted marshmallows we ate around Chad's campfire the other night. That was Raza; a seduction of sweetness with just the slightest hint that fire may follow. It was a little overwhelming to be surrounded by him.
To my right, a crystal covered window let in rainbow shards of sunlight. Through it, I glimpsed a pale blue sky, full of fluffy clouds. We were so high up, even the birds didn't dare to fly here but I imagined that there had once been a time when the view from this window had been full of dragons.
I looked back at the strange furnishings; the stunning wardrobe made of polished sapphire, the gold throne-like chair set beside the fireplace, and on the mantle; a portrait of a smiling couple, the male with Raza's dragon features. It felt like I was in an entirely new world. As if Raza had taken me through a rath and we'd emerged onto a third planet, one unknown to both fairies and humans.
“Here there be dragons,” I whispered as I looked up into Raza's sweet face.
When had it become so sweet? When had it shifted from the face of a predator into that of a friend? When had he transformed into someone important to me? And why did all of those thoughts feel so right and comforting?
“Just one dragon and I won't hurt you,” he whispered as he lowered his face to gently brush his lips against mine in a brief kiss. “Close your eyes, Seren.”
So I did. I closed my eyes and felt his hands glide over me, his magic seep into my body. It was like slipping into a hot bath. His warm energy soaked through the layers; skin, flesh, bone. There was a twitching feeling in my chest, like an itch I couldn't reach, and then the pain in my ribs eased and I was able to take a deep breath. I sighed as the magic surged upwards, flooding my face with heat. The swelling around my eyes receded and with a little tickle, my cheek knitted together.