When Scarlett first shifted at the age of six, she wished she could have had a different life entirely. Until Edward disappeared, she wanted nothing to do with being Alpha. Sure, to the world, she would always be Lady Scarlett of Shagari, daughter of King and Queen Ilael, and princess to her people. In her home, she had a duty to those people; to be the leader. Putting that responsibility before her impulsive nature was not something she could do easily.
“So, do we know why we came to Ikrith in the first place?” Scarlett asked the other three as they rode the dinghy to shore.
Alara turned to her. “Yes, to find out if Iren knew where the captive men were being held.”
“No, I don’t think that was it,” Declan said. “I think it was to find out why Talia needs an army.”
“Did we ever find that out?” Scarlett asked.
“As a matter of fact, no,” Cedric said. “He dismissed us before we had a chance to ask him.”
“So, then we went to Thea, the new queen of the fae. For what?” she asked then.
“Alara needs to know how to control the magic in her. Then there was the one thing I needed to help Iren with to complete a task for Tomas. All of which will help us find the missing lords and healers, and figure out what Talia could need an army for.” Cedric looked at her and cocked his brow.
Alara regarded Scarlett. “I know you want to find your father and cousin. I do too. More than anything, I want to get Talia out of the palace and try to talk some sense into Landon. He can’t be that far gone yet.” Alara turned her eyes toward her hands in her lap. She’d begun to shake her knee but stopped when she realized the force of it might tip the small vessel.
“Alara, I hate to say it, but he’s gone. He betrayed us, killed the sisters, and didn’t even look sorry for it. He’s gone. Nothing can bring him back.” Declan put his hand on her shoulder as he spoke.
“I can’t believe that.” Scarlett could see Alara wipe a tear from her eyes. She hadn’t known the boy very long, but Scarlett could imagine Alara had grown attached to him from all the years thinking he was her lost son. Alara barely acknowledged his crimes. As a matter of fact, she hadn’t spoken of them at all.
The boat reached the shore. Cedric and Declan both jumped into the water on opposite sides and pulled it to the sandy beach. Declan offered Scarlett a hand as she climbed out. They reached the wall and called for Iren, but to their dismay, no answer sounded.
They saw the figures coming at them from the sky. Five fae flew their way, Maglana and Thea at the head of the group.
“What’s going on?” Alara asked the fae queen as they touched down on the beach.
“Talia did not leave the island pleasantly as she has in the past. This time, she’d wrought magic that will take all of us to break.” She took Alara by the hands.
“All of us? I don’t know how to use it. I mean, I did once, and not very well.” She thought of the scar across her abdomen from Queenie’s hoof; and the wound in Declan’s shoulder that was healed by the fae when they went to Idrisi.
“It’s the only way. You’ll understand when you see Iren. Come, we must carry you.” Thea motioned to the others who each grabbed a human for transport. Thea held onto Alara’s hand, and she floated through the air. The green glow was less visible in the light of the sun. The sandy beach looked gold from the top of the trees.
When they touched down on the other side, Scarlett saw what she could only imagine was laying beyond it. The last time she was there, she hadn’t been permitted beyond the wall. It had been a long while since she last saw the island, long before the curse settled over it, barring anyone from entering.
They landed amongst a row of pines. Beyond, a large open field spread before them as far as the eye could see. Trees moved in a circle around the flat land of grass and wildflowers. In the middle of it stood a sizeable castle-looking structure. Made of stone and quite large, it had no towers or turrets. Scarlett could only compare it to the magnificent Citadel of Shagari, which sat high in the mountains surrounded for miles by nothing except wilderness.
“Where do you suppose he is?” Declan asked, looking around the empty area.
“That’s why we are here. Talia has done something unimaginable.” Thea spoke low and pointed to the building. “He’s there.”
“That’s his home. I remember it from my visits as a child,” Alara stated.
“Well, let’s go then.” Cedric held out a hand to Alara, and they started on the downward slope to the open field.
Scarlett wished she had a knight looking after her as Cedric did for the queen. Such things would not do well to dwell on. She flipped her red cloak off one shoulder and took up space behind them. Declan took up the rear as Thea, and her companions all took to the sky.
The closer they got to the structure, the easier they made out the colossal drawbridge in front of the sorcerer’s home. The stone wall jutted up high in the sky, with finials at its edge in front of a wall walk. Then she saw the reason for the drawbridge. It wasn’t particularly deep or vast, yet a small stream of water encircled the small castle.
“Can we get in?” Scarlett asked, watching as the rest made it to the edge of the embankment.
Thea touched down from above. “With magic, we can do just about anything.” She moved her hands in a twisting motion in front of her, and a green shimmer moved from her hands to the gears of the bridge.
Metal groaned under duress. The bridge lowered, and everyone took three hefty steps backward. Landing with a loud rumble, the wooden bridge dropped to the ground. The earth shook a bit with the force, and parts of the embankment crumbled away into the water below.
“Jump!” Declan yelled, grabbing hold of Alara.
Cedric gave Scarlett a hand, and soon they all rolled onto the bridge.
“Maybe…” Declan tried to catch his breath. “Maybe next time you can lower it slowly.” He lifted his head to the fairies who fluttered nearby.
“Terribly sorry,” said the fae queen. She dropped in front of the large double doors and knocked, as customary to do, motioning to the two big fairies to open the doors.
Scarlett stood in awe of what she saw as the doors creaked open on rusted hinges. The inside of the castle appeared to be in ruins. No better off than Vlora, stone scattered all around. They climbed over sections of wall and were soon covered in a white residue of stone dust. The sun poked through the ceiling off the far wall.
Scarlett stopped in her tracks, even as the rest continued on. Her back went up, and a low growl came from deep within. She tried to force it away, but it was no use. Her nails grew, the skin around her cuticles turning black to match them. She could feel her incisors elongating in her mouth.
Alara stopped to look at her, but she’d wrapped herself in her cloak, her hood covering her head. “What’s wrong, Scarlett?”
“I can’t go in there.” She turned and headed back through the door, Alara quick on her heels.
“Why, what’s the matter?” Alara tried to grab hold of her friend.
“No, don’t.” She pulled her shoulder away from Alara as she watched her nails go back to normal. She felt the edge of her teeth shrink down as well. She no longer changed. Turning to face Alara, she almost wept. “I have a curse on me as well,” she choked out. “All of Shagari does, in fact. I don’t know what’s in there, but my senses tell me it’s predatory. I can’t go in there.” She felt the sobs coming but pushed them at bay.
Thea moved out to the bridge with the two women. She took one look at Scarlett and lay her hand on top of her head. “You shall not change here. The beast in there is no threat to any of us. Come.”
“With all due respect—” Scarlett said before she was interrupted.
The fae woman held up a hand and looked into Scarlett’s eyes. “I will not let you turn. You are safe here.” The fae had spoken to her in her mind, a message that magic would prevent her curse from coming to the surface.
Scarlett gave a nod and let Alara lead her into the great room
of the castle. Back across overturned stones. Now that the blood no longer pumped hard in her head, she heard the soft purr of a sleeping creature; a large animal.
They all gave an exasperated sigh when they saw what waited for them. The giant beast barely fit in the space. It had green scales, with spikes for horns on its head and the tip of its tail. When Scarlett finally managed to close, her mouth agape, the dragon huffed a billow of smoke from its nostrils. “Am I worse to look at than your other form?” Iren spoke from within the beast.
“No, sir,” she stammered, “but how?”
“An excellent question, indeed.” He spoke to the rest in the room. “Perhaps we can get to that after Thea tells me what she’s come to say.” His eyes were so blue they were white and bore into the fae queen. “What have I done to earn such a visit from not one, but three queens in one day?”
“This is not your fate.” She motioned to Alara. “Come, we must do this now. The longer he stays in this form, the harder it will be to change him back.”
“You will not be able to work around Talia’s magic. She has changed. Dark.” The dragon fought for breath to speak.
“What would you have me do then? Leave you this way? We have need of you. You cannot perform your duties of High Master Sorcerer as a dragon.” Thea grabbed onto Alara’s hand. “The time for training comes later. For now, I will simply channel your magic.” Alara nodded to the fae.
Declan and Cedric both stood beside Alara, fearful for what may happen. The fae moved around the room, scanning the openings of the castle for any threats that may have been lurking nearby. Scarlett stood far enough away that she wouldn’t be in the way and hopefully wouldn’t get injured in a backlash. She’d not had very good experiences with magic in the past.
When her lands became cursed, her family brought in sorcerers from all over to lift it, but none could. In fact, in some instances, they contended with their other form for more than a year, stuck inside a failed spell. When it was broken, her father swore to leave well enough alone. They had managed to change it so that they would only shift in dire circumstances, such as when an unknown predator was nearby and during a full moon.
The air around the two queens shimmered silver and gold as Thea worked her magic on the dragon. The green scales shined in its aura as it moved to encompass the dragon’s form. Thea removed one of her hands from Alara to roll and twist it, pointing it at Iren.
The scales dimmed as the beast shrunk. The sorcerer merged from dragon to human form. His arms shrunk down as the spikes on his head melted away. The scales dropped to the floor around him, and instead of a giant dragon who lay on his belly in the castle, he was a man on all fours. Cedric grabbed a robe from nearby and flung it over the man’s naked form.
With Iren resting quietly, Cedric and Declan—with the help of the four fae men—cleaned up the stone and debris in the great room. Once the sorcerer woke, he’d made them stop. With a wave of his hand, the destruction around his home disappeared. The only thing remaining was the thick, black iron bars. Encased with Talia’s magic, they could not be removed. She’d remembered to infuse the metal, but not the beast— something Thea sensed when she entered the small castle and found Iren.
Alara found herself alone. She wandered the halls until she heard raised voices coming from behind a door. She stopped outside of it, pressing her ear closer to listen to what was said on the other side.
“She needs proper training. We can discuss everything else later,” Thea said to Iren.
“She is human. They don’t have a later if they’re not careful. We need to rid the world of Talia now. I have the magic to do that. This need not be her fight.” Iren shouted back.
“I will take her back to Idrisi and train her. You fight against the usurper. We will not lose the queen again. She will be safe with us.” Thea all but decided Alara’s fate on her own.
Alara had enough of listening behind closed doors. She pushed into the kitchen, where the two sat at a small square table. Thea’s fae guards in the corners of the room moved a fraction before seeing that it was Alara and not a masked enemy.
“I don’t mean to be a pain, but I’m not going to Idrisi. I don’t want to be trained in magic. I want this curse lifted, and Talia gone. To do that, we need to locate the missing lords and find out why Talia is using my people to form her own army. What does she need an army for?” Alara stood in front of the table, fists down onto the wood.
“Alara, we need to lift the curse on the island, and we mean to. The sorcerer’s and healers will fight once more. However, you are too important to risk your life in this war,” Thea said softly.
“Don’t coddle me. I may look the child, but I can assure you I’m not. I will fight in this war. I am not the ruler of Anaphias any longer. If you need to protect somebody, protect my son.” She threw her hands up in the air.
“There is something you need to know,” Thea said, looking at her before turning her eyes to Iren. They both appeared as if the weight of the world rested on their shoulders. “The reason why…”
“The reason why we had to go to Idrisi.” Cedric moved into the room behind Alara. She spun around to look at him. “You wanted to know what gift Tomas left me? What request he had of me?”
Alara shook her head. Cedric looked at her through blue eyes he hadn’t had before. His hair darkened slightly, and he must have cut it while she wandered around the castle. “Yes, what was so important that we had to leave here like that?”
“Alara, you have to know Tomas knew what was happening.” Iren stood.
Cedric put up a hand, and the old man sat again.
Cedric moved to Alara and took her hands in his. He rubbed the tops of them with the pads of his thumbs, something Tomas had done more times than she could count when he had precarious news to give her. News he knew she would not take well.
“He left himself for me. Something I was spelled to forget.” Cedric held the empty vial Thea had given him in Idrisi. “The instructions were a smoke screen. I had to drink this before we left the island of the fae. The hours you slept on board the ship, I spent hiding out in the cargo hold getting memories I shouldn’t even have. Memories of a desperate king, trying to stay alive for his queen. Tomas didn’t want you to wake and him not be here.” Cedric stared at her with eyes that did not belong to him. Yet, they were familiar somehow.
“You mean he gave you his memories, to what end?” Alara’s eyes grew wide, her back tensed having heard the words spoken out loud. She pulled her hands from him and circled the room. “What did he think would happen? That I’d fall for you because you know of our life together?”
“It’s more than that.” Thea stood.
“Please, this is my mess. Let me at least be the one to explain it.” Cedric moved her with him to the other side of the room. They stood next to the hearth, heat from the small fire warmed them. He didn’t try to touch her again but spoke while she stared into the flames. “He didn’t give me his memories, Alara. He made me… him.”
“That sounds ridiculous.” Alara turned to see Declan in the doorway. “Are you trying to convince my mother that somehow, my father used magic to make you into another version of himself? You really have no idea how absurd that sounds?”
“I know. Believe me.” Cedric watched Alara, not meeting Declan’s gaze.
“I need to say something here.” Iren stood, but his weary bones made him sit again. “Your father came to me with a sixteen-year-old boy and told me to put his essence inside of him. The boy had no family; no one that would miss him. He was giving this child a better life than that of a king’s guard. I thought he was mad, your father.”
“Sounds about right,” Declan snapped.
“Well, he told me Talia was killing him. He knew your mother would wake, and more than anything, he didn’t want her to have to live without him as he’d lived without her.” Iren glanced back to Cedric.
“His essence,” Alara whispered to herself. “What does that mean?” She turned to
Iren, then Cedric.
“It means when your Tomas died, his soul did not. He’s here, inside of Cedric.” The old man stood and walked to the stove in the corner. His legs shook with every step. He reached out with his hand, using the back of the chair for support. Just as he reached it, a tea kettle whistled. As he poured his water into a small copper mug, nobody spoke.
“I think it’s romantic,” Scarlett said, pushing open the door of the kitchen. When all eyes landed on her, she shrugged her shoulders. “What? Everyone else was in on this little meeting.”
“It wasn’t exactly a meeting. Iren and I were discussing the queen’s safety. I think she should travel to Idrisi. As ruler of the kingdoms, she needs to stay safe.” Thea observed Alara and Cedric, who stood so close, but so far apart. Alara shook her head. She couldn’t think of everything all at once.
Alara moved away from Cedric. She noted the look of hurt in his eyes but couldn’t allow herself to think about his gift from Tomas at that moment. “We need to find out why Talia needs an army. More than that, we need to find all the people who have gone missing in the years I was cursed, like Scarlett’s father and cousin. I want to help. I don’t want to be shoved away on an island, safely under cover.” She took Iren’s empty seat, playing with her hands in her lap while Iren moved about the kitchen.
“What do you think, Declan, of your mother’s involvement in the war?” the sorcerer asked her son.
“I don’t think he’s the right person to ask. He can barely be impartial,” Alara snapped at Iren.
“Actually, Mother, I think it would do you some good to be involved, though you do need a proper guard.” He gave Cedric a sidelong glance, whose back faced the room as he added logs to the fire.
“I agree. Alara needs more guards. However, we have none to offer at the moment.” Cedric stood and turned to face them. “The guards left in the palace are loyal to Talia. She’s been gathering forces for years, almost as long as she’s been poisoning Tomas. As for the rest, she sent them away to be a part of the army she’s been building to take over the lands in the west. That’s her purpose, and something the king wanted nothing to do with. She wants a bigger kingdom to rule. What’s more, is she needs it.”
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