Forged in Fire (The Forged Chronicles Book 3)

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  “You have not tried our spirits; they have more properties than what you are used to.”

  “But does it work the way alcohol does?”

  “Work in what way?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “One glass will not make you drunk.”

  I considered his words, and part of me was tempted, but my common sense kicked in. “No thanks.”

  “Your choice. I will pour myself some.” Elron disappeared into the other room.

  “I am disappointed, but that does not mean I will not help.” Adaline rested her hands in front of her.

  “Disappointed?”

  “You would have made a fine partner for him. You have a strength most women of your species lack. But that is not to pass.”

  “Oh.” More awkward talk. “Yeah, that’s definitely not why I’m here.”

  “Whether he knows it or not the time for an alliance has come, but you are already the kindred of a Guardian. Breaking that bond might change the future in irreparable ways.”

  “To be honest, I don’t know much about the kindred bond.” I was laying so much out there already. I figured admitting that couldn’t help.

  “It is rare, and nearly always occurs for a reason.”

  “For a reason beyond a Guard falling in love?” I had a feeling this was all going to return to a discussion of the Source, and I wasn’t sure I was up for any more of the vague answers.

  She smiled. “Love. I take it you believe in that term?”

  I thought about my answer before giving it. “Yes. I believe in love.”

  “But do you truly understand it?”

  “A few days ago I would have said yes. Now I’m afraid to say I understand anything.”

  “Never be afraid to express yourself.”

  “I have to be. I’m in a world where I have no knowledge of the rules and traditions. At first that was kind of cool, but now it’s overwhelming.”

  She smiled. “You are having no difficulty expressing yourself to me.”

  “Thanks, but that speaks more for you than for my expressive abilities.”

  “You do not know me, so that cannot be the case.” She brushed some of her hair behind her ear.

  I shook myself from staring at her exposed ear. “That just means I lack judgement.”

  “It means you know I am trustworthy. You should trust your instincts.”

  “My instincts have gotten me in trouble plenty of times.” No matter what I did I seemed to get in trouble.

  “My guess is that even the trouble has happened for a reason.”

  “You mean fate?” That was another word I wasn’t sure if I completely understood.

  “Fate, like love, is such a simple term for something far more complicated.”

  “What do we have to do?” Reality dawned on me. For every moment we talked, that was a moment longer until I reached Belgard.

  Elron returned with three glasses of a dark brown liquid. “In case you change your mind.” He set it down in front of me.

  “Thanks.” I nodded. “Your mother was about to tell me what I have to do.”

  “I was, but the first question I have for you is what do you know of your father?” She flipped her hand over on the table palm up.

  “Not much. I mean, if he’s a Winthrop it’s probably Monty, but before this I knew nothing. My mom never told me much of anything about him.”

  “And you were raised in the lost world?”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  “And how did you get returned to Belgard?”

  “James brought me back, to protect me.” That was what he was doing. He’d been doing the only thing he thought he could. Considering what happened to Grace, it was likely they would have gotten me regardless of what we did. At least I knew why. Sort of. He wanted to make me a vessel. Although would that have been possible if I hadn’t slept with James?

  “Protecting you from him?” Her forehead furrowed.

  “No.” I shook my head. “Well, and kind of yes. At first it was from others working for his father.” He hated his father. I remembered the way he first described him to me, and now James was forced to do his bidding. I couldn’t imagine how hard all that had to be for him. “But now he’s struggling to fight off the darkness.”

  “And your feelings for him are strong. You love him in all ways you know how?” She watched me intently.

  I nodded again. ”Yes.” I wasn’t sure how much was supernatural, but either way I was hooked.

  “Despite his father.”

  “Yes. No one should be judged for the crimes of their parents.” Of course now everything had changed—but he was still James. “I have never felt this strongly about anyone, and I know it’s more than the poison. Maybe it’s the kindred thing, but I believe it’s even more. It’s real, and it’s not something I can turn on and off.”

  “You feel this way despite him giving you the darkness?” Elron leaned toward me.

  “He never meant to poison me.” I did believe him. Adaline had told me to trust my instincts, and I knew that one was right. “He never would have—.” I stopped myself before I could make the conversation more awkward. “He never would have allowed things with us to have gotten as far as they did had he had any hint as to what was to come.”

  “And that is enough for you to forgive him?” Her expression was soft.

  “Are you looking for me to give another answer? Am I wrong to feel the way I do?” I crossed my arms.

  “No.” She shook her head. “Not at all. I am trying to understand your heart before I can come up with a solution.”

  “My heart is messed up.”

  “Actually it is the opposite. It is pure.”

  “Elron said Elves can tell whether a heart is dark or light.” Although I knew nothing was that simple. No one was pure evil or pure good. Well maybe Blake had been pure evil, but everyone else fell in the middle. Like Charlotte. She was supposed to be so good, yet she refused to help James when he needed her.

  “And yours is as light as they get for humans.” She wrapped her hand around my forearm. “You should not be so hard on yourself.”

  “I’ve done bad things. I’ve hurt people.” And I’ve gotten people in trouble. If something happened to Grace I would never forgive myself. But at the moment something might happen to everyone I loved, and I had to find a way to stop it.

  “Everyone has. That has nothing to do with your heart.”

  “It doesn’t?” And I’d thought I was finally understanding something.

  “You are not malicious. You do not seek to hurt others. That is a major difference.”

  “Will that make whatever we are about to do any easier?” I felt a surge of hopefulness.

  “No.” She shook her head. “Nothing I can do to help will be easy. In fact the most logical solution will be the hardest.”

  I sighed. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Can you help her?” Elron set down his drink. “Can you stop the darkness from changing her?”

  “The darkness will never change her.” Adaline smiled. “That much I can tell.”

  “Her heart is that pure.” Elron beamed. “It was not an illusion.”

  “It is not. And I do believe her father was Monty. She gets it from him.”

  “Because the other uncle didn’t or doesn’t have a pure heart?” Once again I was lost.

  “Monty was killed by Blake.” Adaline took my hand.

  “Yes… Elron told me, and he seemed happy about it.”

  She turned to her son. “Happy?”

  “Excited at what that could mean,” Elron quickly explained. “Of course I was not happy about his death. That would be absurd.”

  She turned back to me. “Elron speaks the truth. He was not happy about his death, but at how it could help your situation.”

  “Could one of you explain what in the world you are talking about?” I shrugged off Adaline’s hands. “I am sick and tired of being left in the dark. Maybe I’m slow, b
ut I have no clue how his death helps us at all.”

  “Blake was the Cipher.”

  “Yeah… I know that.” I unfortunately knew far too much about the Cipher and his corpses. I still refused to believe that James had really become it. How could I still love someone who was completely evil? I shuddered. It was impossible. He may have had a darkness in him, but it wasn’t him.

  “The power of the Cipher can pass in many ways. One way is through death.”

  “Ok…” Now we were getting somewhere.

  “Blake would have only killed Monty with his own hands if he knew Monty would be incapable of accepting the dark power.”

  “And that helps us?” There went the whole getting somewhere thing.

  “It means that you are likely incapable of accepting the darkness either.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I do not believe you inherit something like that from your parents. I am more of a nature person.”

  “Nature?” Elron wrinkled his brow. “You enjoy animals in their native environment?”

  “I mean the nature vs. nurture debate. It isn’t all in your genes.”

  “Oh.” Elron nodded. “I understand what you are saying, but this is specific to you. Not a broad rule. To have a heart so pure as to completely resist the darkness is almost unheard of in humans. The most rare traits tend to pass.”

  “What are you talking about?” I struggled to remember the little bit of genetics I knew. “That’s the opposite.”

  “Forget what you think you know. We are not discussing anything you have knowledge of. Understanding the heart is our expertise.”

  “Ok, fine. Assuming I inherited a pure heart from my dad, what does that mean for us?”

  Adaline took both of my hands in hers. “It means you are stronger than you think. But it will not be easy because we still need to break the toxic connection between you and James. It is the only way to save your life.”

  “Break the connection?”

  “The poison.” Elron stood from his chair. “The poison in your system will kill you even if it doesn’t take over your heart.”

  “But only if I’m not with James.”

  “And you are not with James now.” Adaline squeezed my hands. “Why is that?”

  I sighed. “Because he wanted me to go to Belgard to get help from the Essence. It’s where I should be now.”

  “The Essence cannot break this connection.”

  “She is strong.”

  “Yes, but she is young, and this poison is designed to be resistant to her abilities.”

  “Fine. Forget the poison in me. We have an entire world of people to worry about. Let’s focus on saving them.”

  “Do you truly believe James will destroy your world?” Elron took the seat on my other side. I was sandwiched in.

  I shook my head. “No, but I know he is not the James I love. He almost killed a man. His half-brother.”

  “That does not mean he would destroy innocents.” Adaline straightened her shoulders. “He had the strength to send you away. And he must have done that for a reason.”

  “He said it was too dangerous for me there.”

  “He understood you were a weapon.” Elron leaned forward on his elbows. “If we break the connection, you can help the Essence. We can defeat the darkness and rid all the worlds of the Cipher’s power once and for all.”

  “Uh…”

  “Yes.” Adaline smiled. “That is right.”

  “How am I going to help the Essence?”

  “You have Winthrop blood strengthened by the darkness.”

  “How can darkness strengthen blood?” I buried my head in my hands. “Isn’t that counter intuitive?”

  “No.” Adaline shook her head. “Your resistance strengthened you.”

  “I wish. There is nothing strong about me.”

  “There is everything strong about you.” Adaline gripped my hands even tighter. “Start believing that.”

  “Ok. So what do we do?” I didn’t know what I believed, but getting rid of the Cipher’s power seemed like a good place to start.

  “That answer hinges on one question only you can answer.”

  “What is that?”

  “Is the love you share with James strong enough to fight the darkness?”

  I didn’t hesitate with my answer. “Yes.”

  “Then we start by finding James.”

  17

  James

  I would find her. I would find Ainsley and make everything right. She was mine, and she belonged by my side. I should have believed in myself more. I should have believed I could fight the darkness. I never should have sent her away. But something inside my heart told me it had been the right decision. If there was any solution to the disastrous situation we were in, it would only come with sending her away.

  I headed toward Icentris both hoping Ainsley would be there, and that she wouldn’t. I wanted her to have made it to Belgard already even though my desire to have her near was far stronger than anything else.

  It should not have taken me so long to think of Icentris. The location had significance that went far beyond the Arcos. It was where my father kept Emma prisoner, and there had to have been a reason. If he had only wanted isolation there were many other places for that. There was something there. Something he wanted or needed. I searched the new memories and found nothing. The only memories I had of Icentris were my own, and that had to have significance too. He had allowed me access to some of his most personal experiences. To leave the Icentris ones out could not have been a coincidence. The bigger question was whether the omission was by choice.

  As I rode across the barren plains, I thought over everything I had learned since accepting my father’s help. He was not the man I had once thought he was, but neither was I. I could not have accepted the Cipher’s power unless I already had a darkness in me. I had spent my entire adult life trying to be someone I was never meant to be.

  And what did that mean for Ainsley? Did I deserve to have such a woman when I was unworthy? But she was my kindred. She was meant to be mine. Maybe that was it. She was given to me as a punishment. She was meant to mock me and show me the happiness I did not deserve.

  But how could I live without her? How could I spend the rest of my life alone after experiencing all the pleasure and happiness that could come with having Ainsley?

  My heart ached for the loss I feared must come. I needed to save her. There had to be a way to sever our connection so she could go on with her life without me. She could. She would find someone else. Someone worthy of her goodness. Someone like Brad. My blood boiled as I thought about the idiot back in Charleston. He was unworthy of her too. All men were.

  She was mine. Why was I even considering the opposite? There was no need. Whether I was successful or not, she would still be mine.

  I reached the icy landscape. I urged my horse on even though she wanted to stop. She did not respond to me the way she used to. She felt my darkness.

  I saw no one as I reached the crest of the hill and the great icy wall of the prison came into view, but I knew there were Arcos around. They were hidden, their white fur blending in with the snow and ice. It did not matter. No Arco wanted to step foot in the prison now.

  I left my horse and walked up to the massive metal wall covered in ice. I hesitated just outside of the large archway that led inside the compound. The last time I entered the prison it was to rescue Emma. I had never imagined I would return.

  Once through the archway I entered a cave. Like everything else in Icentris it was coated completely in ice. Large icicles hung from the ceiling obstructing the faint glow I followed from the other side of the cave.

  As I exited the cave entrance I stood in the open courtyard and looked up at the large metal prison box that sat atop a tall tower. The metal box looked the same as when we left it so many years before, and I remembered at the time we had believed freeing Emma would fix everything. We had been wrong. Even killing my father had failed. He had
lived on somehow.

  And then it hit me. Like a bolt of lightning, a new understanding shocked my system. He had been there all along, dormant and waiting. I had no idea how it happened, but it had. My heart had been dark enough to accept the power. It had been there waiting until it was ready to rise again.

  I felt sick. My empty stomach heaved as I realized people had been right about me. I was like my father. No, I was my father.

  I fell to my knees in the ice and snow. My head pounded with the realization I had failed everyone. I had failed Charlotte—the Essence I was bound to protect. And I had failed Ainsley, the woman I would love until my dying breath.

  I needed to be destroyed. Destroyed in a way that the darkness could no longer be transferred, but that was impossible. We had failed with my father and they would fail now when they sought to destroy me.

  I had to figure out why my father had imprisoned Emma here. That might be the only way.

  I looked at the icy wall. I had no ice picks or rope. I had nothing to make my climb up the wall, but somehow it would not matter. My father had designed this prison for Emma, and I was positive he would have made it so he could visit her anytime he wanted. It was his obsession with her that fueled him and kept his power growing. As is my obsession with Ainsley. The thought flitted through my mind.

  But mine was not obsession. It was love, and I would not allow it to become corrupted the way my father’s had.

  I looked up at the box and then down at the ground. The spot just below the prison was a slightly different color, as if the ice had not been frozen for quite as long.

  I kneeled down and put my hand on top of it. An intense heat flooded me before the ice in that spot disappeared. I leaned over to look into the dark hole full of water I had created. I saw nothing. I reached my hand down through the cold water, not sure what I would find. At first I felt nothing, but then I reached further into the icy slush until I felt a rock. Convinced it was nothing, I was about to throw it down when I noticed a hint of something blue inside. I grabbed it and pulled it out. When I opened my hand I found a small blue crystal key. It looked a lot like the crystal key I always carried with me to get access to the lost world, but this one was different. I pulled out my own key, that I also carried with me, and compared it. Aside from the different color, it also had a completely different groove pattern.