by Linsey Hall
I sure wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of that.
“Go,” Brigid said. “The queen’s power was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. She may not be slowed much. It is up to you to stop her.”
I nodded, swallowing hard.
Talk about pressure.
“We will create a portal for you,” Vesta said. “You should not use your transport magic until you are out from under her spell. If it overtakes you while you are in the ether, you might try to transport yourself directly to her.”
That would be literally the worst.
I nodded. “Thank you.”
The goddesses combined their magic to create a shimmery silver portal.
“Where to?” Hestia asked.
“Potions & Pastilles, on Factory Row in Magic’s Bend.”
She nodded, then flicked her hand toward the portal. It glowed with golden light. “You may enter. And good luck.”
“Thanks.” We were going to need it.
Tarron reached for my hand and gripped it tight, and we stepped into the portal at the same time.
Just as we stepped in, I heard Brigid’s voice. “Be careful. All is not what it seems.”
Then the ether sucked us in. He kept a tight hold on me as the ether spun us through space. What the hell did she mean by that?
We arrived in front of Potions & Pastilles. The street was dark and quiet, chill with the early morning air. The shop itself was empty save for the glowing lights within, which gave it a feeling of life even though no one was inside. Quickly, I waved a hand in front of my face, using a bit of magic to clean myself up so it appeared I was dressed the way I normally did.
There was power in appearances, and I wouldn’t give up mine. Connor was a friend, but still. I liked to be put together—or to look that way, at least.
I knocked on the glass door, praying that Connor was still up. For a moment, there was no response. I knocked harder.
“Coming!” The voice sounded from above, and I looked up to see Connor leaning out of a second-story window. “Mordaca!”
“Hey. Any chance you have that antidote?”
He grinned, but it didn’t go all the way to his eyes. “Half an antidote.”
“Better than nothing.”
The grin spread a bit wider. “I’ll be right down.”
Tarron and I stood on the doorstep, waiting. Silence thickened the air. It was the first time since I’d woken that we weren’t running for our lives. And a hell of a lot had happened.
The night before played through my mind. Today, too, and the knowledge that we’d missed my mother by a hair’s breadth.
She might get the flame.
I swallowed hard.
To distract myself, I pressed my fingertips to my comms charm. “Aeri? We’re at P & P. Any chance you can meet?”
“Finally. Been waiting to see you. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks.” I cut the connection.
Connor swung the door open and gestured us inside. “Just give me a few minutes, okay? I need to take it off the burner, but I think it’s ready.”
“What will it do?” I asked. “I’ve been hit with another dose, so I need something strong.”
He blanched. “Another?”
“Just now.”
“Shit. Well, this will help. It won’t get her influence entirely out of your system—you’d need a bit of her blood for that—but it will help you resist her call.”
“It’ll have to do. Thanks.”
He nodded and hurried off, calling over his shoulder as he disappeared into the room behind the counter, “Help yourself to anything.”
Instead of finding food or drink, Tarron and I just stood there. It was like the shock of the last twenty-four hours was catching up with us. Me, especially, now that I was back on familiar ground.
Apparently I’d lost my mind when I’d slept with him. “So. The elephant in the room.”
“Last night?” he asked.
“That’s it.”
“What of it?”
Weirdness slipped over my skin. I felt like I was trapped—between my feelings for him and the looming threat provided by my mother. By the lies that I could no longer keep. Yet I didn’t know how to say. Frustration made me feel like I was going to burst.
So I said something that wasn’t entirely true. “I just hate this fated mates thing. It’s so hard to trust that we’re in control of our own actions. That you really want me and it’s not just fate driving you.”
He laughed, a slightly weary sound. “Hardly.”
I scowled at him.
His gaze, when it met mine, was hot with banked fire. “I would want you if we were fated enemies.”
“We kind of are, aren’t we?” The memory of the premonition flashed in my mind. “How could we possibly be fated mates, considering who my mother is and what she is trying to do?”
He strode toward me and gripped my shoulders, pulling me close. The tortured frustration that radiated off of him was so strong it was nearly visible as an aura. “You drive me insane, Mari. Your mother is literally my greatest enemy, responsible for the death of my only family. But you? No. You are not my enemy. You are my Mograh.”
I drew in a shuddery breath.
“Discipline is my life,” he said. “In every aspect, I have no problem doing what I must.”
That was an understatement. He didn’t want to be king. Never had. Yet he let his entire kingdom think he had murdered his brother for the throne, solely so he could preserve his brother’s legacy and protect his kingdom. He had crafted it specifically so they would believe that.
“And yet with you, I can’t fight what’s happening between us.” His voice sounded torn from his throat. “And I don’t know that I want to try.”
I didn't want to either. Part of me wanted him forever, which sounded crazy. But I couldn’t have it. Not as long as I was fated to kill him.
Guilt flashed through me.
Fates, I’m a mess.
A total, freaking mess.
I met his gaze, my heart thundering. “It’s fate making you say these things.”
I hated this fated mate connection. It made it even harder to trust the one you were falling for. Were his feelings real, or manipulated by some cosmic connection? Was it just fate meddling or his own emotions?
My own emotions? I didn’t want that bitch making decisions for me.
“It’s not.” Intensity shined in his gaze. “It’s you. Fated connection or no, it’s you.”
I scowled at him. “How can I trust that?”
“You’re smart and strong and stubborn and a bitch. And I like it.”
“That’s supposed to be a compliment?” I asked the question, but the truth was, it sure sounded like one to me. Bitches got shit done.
“The highest compliment. I don’t want a weak woman. Or a nice woman. I want a fighter. One who does the right thing, even when it’s hard.”
“I’m not nice?”
He shook his head. “No. You’re kind. There’s a difference. One is a social tool; the other is real. You are real. And I want you, no matter what fate says.”
Warmth ignited inside me.
I wanted him, too. Liked him, too. Like his reluctant leadership of the Seelie kingdom. The sacrifice he’d made for his brother. The way he was kind to Burn.
The realization made my heart flutter. Panic followed close on its heels.
The world was bearing down on us, and every vision I’d had of the future was bad.
I couldn’t fall for him right now. Couldn’t be distracted from what lay ahead of us.
“I’m fated to kill you!” I burst out, determined to drive him off this path. Determined to finally tell the truth, now that I was running out of time to change the future. I pulled back, my mind racing. “I thought I could stop it. But I don’t know if I can.”
“What?” Confusion flickered in his gaze.
“Tarron. I’m fated to kill you.”
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He frowned, disbelieving. “Explain.”
His tone was neither angry nor frightened—though to be honest, I wouldn’t have expected fear from him.
I recounted the vision I’d been keeping to myself, feeling guilt washing over me. This was a huge lie.
“But it may not even happen,” he said. “Aethelred said that we don’t know if you see the one true future or a possible future.”
“Right. But it could happen.”
“But it hasn’t.”
“I lied.”
“You omitted.” His brow furrowed. “I can’t abide the lies, but this isn’t the same as hiding the past or something you know for certain.”
“It feels the same.”
He gripped my hand. “I—”
Connor entered the room through the door behind the counter, and I jerked.
I’d totally forgotten where we were.
Holy fates, we’d just had this conversation in an empty P & P.
“I’ve got it here…” Connor’s gaze moved between our faces. He frowned briefly, then clearly decided he would just forge on. “You’ll be feeling better in no time. Not perfect—not until we get some of her blood to fully break the curse—but definitely better. More yourself.”
“Less like an evil minion?”
“Precisely.” He smiled, his dark hair flopping over his forehead as he looked down at the vial in his hand. “I’m afraid this doesn’t taste very good, however.”
“They rarely do.”
I approached and took the little blue vial from him. “Thank you so much. You really are a lifesaver.”
He shrugged. “It’s not that different from making cocktails really.”
“Those are also a lifesaver.” And damned if I wouldn’t love a Manhattan right now.
That was a long way off, however.
I swigged back the potion, feeling Tarron’s eyes on me. I shuddered as the sour taste exploded on my tongue, then handed the vial back to Connor. “Thanks.”
He nodded. “Anytime. Can I get you anything else?”
My stomach grumbled. Now that I’d partially come down from the terrifying high of seeing my mother and confessing to Tarron, I could feel the ravenous ache.
“Food.” Connor grinned. “No problem.”
He returned to the space behind the counter and began to fiddle around with things. I turned back to Tarron, surprised to see him still watching me and seemingly unconcerned.
He really wasn’t that bothered about the killing thing—no doubt because he thought it wouldn’t happen—and he was only partially ruffled by the lie.
I shook my head slowly, perplexed.
His gaze swept down my body. “You need some real clothes.”
“It’s a bit hard to fight battles in a bathrobe, yeah. Not that I’m not up to it, of course.”
“Course not.” He conjured me a set of my usual clothes and boots.
“Thanks.” I took them and headed to the bathroom, then changed quickly and ditched the robe in the cabinet below the sink. It was too nice to throw out. Maybe I’d come back to get it.
Dressed, I returned to the main part of the bar. Aeri rushed into the room a moment later, the front door allowing a gust of wind to enter the bar.
“Well?” she demanded, her gaze bright.
“We have our work cut out for us.” I frowned.
“I’m going to check in with the Court Guard while you two catch up,” he said.
I watched him walk toward the corner of the room, then turned my attention to Aeri. “Tell me you found a way to keep me from having to kill Tarron.”
“I don’t know that I have, but I’ve at least found out why you might have to kill him.” Worry entered her eyes. “Does this mean that your mother got the location of the Eternal Flame.”
“She did.” Anger twisted my insides, and regret. Regret for the fact that I had been born to such a sociopath, even though I couldn’t have controlled that anyway. “We need to go to Mount Chimaera to stop her, as soon as possible.”
“Okay, well, first, you need to talk to this Fae historian that I met while helping Luna find reinforcements to protect the Seelie Court.”
“We don’t have time.”
“He’s right there.” She turned and pointed to a slender man who waited outside, shifting impatiently from foot to foot. “He’s the reason I couldn’t come right here. I needed to go get him. I’ve left Declan with Luna to keep helping.”
Declan was her boyfriend, and he’d probably do a good job finding reinforcements.
I studied the slight Fae man who stood outside. “Who is he?”
“What is the royal historian doing here?” Tarron asked from behind me.
I turned to see his gaze on the man outside, his brow furrowed.
“Ah, he’s my partner for recruiting reinforcements,” Aeri lied. “He’s just waiting for me.”
“It’s okay, Aeri. I told him.” I turned to Tarron. “I told her that I was fated to kill you and asked for her to look for the reason why, considering that we were too busy hunting my mother.”
“Well, let’s go talk to the man, then.” Tarron sounded matter-of-fact about it. He strode toward the door.
Aeri looked at me, brows raised. “He took it rather well.”
“I don’t know if there is any other way to take it,” I whispered. “Hysterics is the only other possible option, and he’s not really prone to them, is he?”
“No. Definitely not.”
We followed Tarron outside.
The Fae historian’s eyes widened when he saw Tarron. He bowed deep, the silver thread on his navy blue coat catching the light. His hair gleamed a similar color. “My lord.”
Tarron inclined his head. “What do you have to tell us, Orin?”
I stepped up alongside Tarron, waiting with my breath held.
“Well, ah. You see… There’s a royal blade.”
“That will be used to kill me?”
“To kill any Fae royal, really.” He blinked, his eyes almost owlish despite the fact that he wasn’t even wearing glasses. “The woman here”—he gestured to Aeri—“asked me how your death might be able to extinguish the blaze that could devour our kingdom.”
“And?” Tarron prodded.
“Well, once she described that you could be stabbed—I knew. There is a special blade. It starts as a normal dagger, but it must be one owned by Fae Royalty.”
“Any of my daggers, then,” Tarron said.
“Yes. Or any of the Unseelie Queen’s. If one were to anoint this dagger in the flames of the Eternal Fire, it would undergo a transformation that would imbue it with the magic to channel a royal’s power.”
“In what way?” I asked.
“If you were to kill him—or the queen—with a dagger such as this, it would release all of their magic in a blast great enough to blow out the Eternal Fire.”
“Just blow it out?” Aeri asked.
“It would be an extremely concussive force. Any person standing in the vicinity would be knocked unconscious, surely.”
“But not killed?” Tarron asked.
“No, a normal Fae would not be killed,” the historian said. “However, the other Fae royal would also die. The Unseelie and Seelie are two halves of a coin, you see. If the Seelie King is killed with this blade, the true Unseelie ruler will die as well. Two deaths, magically connected.”
Oh boy, that was a lot to absorb. But I’d stop all of this before I had to use the dagger on Tarron, so it was a moot point. I just had to believe that.
I met the historian’s gaze. “Thank you for the information.”
He inclined his head. “I’m off, then.” His gaze moved to Tarron. “My lord?”
“You may go. Thank you, Orin.”
The Fae disappeared, and I turned to Tarron and Aeri. “We need to get to Mount Chimaera.”
Tarron nodded sharply. “I have a transport charm.”
“Good.” Even with Connor’s semi-antidote, I didn
’t want to risk entering the ether with my own power. I looked at Aeri. “Ready?”
She frowned. “As I’ll ever be.”
I felt her on that one. What I’d really like was a trip home to shower, nap, and change my clothes. But that wasn’t going to happen. It’d only been about six hours since I’d woken in the cavern, but if felt like a lifetime.
Connor stepped outside with a paper bag. He stuck it out toward us. “You have to eat. For strength. And there’s a pep-up potion in there for each of you if you haven’t been downing them like champs already.”
I smiled and took the bag from him. “You’re truly the best. Thank you.”
He nodded, then ducked back into the shop.
I dug into the bag and handed out the pasties—extra large—and bottles of water. We ate quickly, and I was grateful for the hearty beef and potato. I swigged down the water bottle and followed it up with a small vial of sweet-tasting potion. We’d only had one of these so far, so another would be fine.
Tarron and Aeri took theirs. After the food and magical caffeine, both looked more alert. I certainly felt better.
“Ready?” Tarron dug into his pocket.
“Ready,” Aeri and I said.
Tarron threw the transport charm to the ground and stepped inside. He reached for my hand and gripped it tight. Aeri followed, and the ether sucked the three of us in, spinning us through space.
The ether spit us out a few seconds later, and I stumbled on the dirt. The sun was approaching the horizon here, and a small town sat a couple hundred yards in the distance.
“That has to be it,” Tarron said.
“Could you explain exactly what we’re doing?” Aeri asked.
I realized that we hadn’t updated her on that yet. We’d spent all our time talking about other things. Other justifiably important things.
“The goddesses who guard the location of the Eternal Flame gave us tips on how to reach our goal.” We found a road and walked toward it. As we made our way through the brush, I explained everything that had happened with the goddesses in great detail.
“Thank fates you made it to them,” Aeri said.
“Not in time, though.” The memory still made me angry.
“I’m not so sure about that. Sounds like they’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”