Fated Hope (The Fated Saga Book 3)
Page 1
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Fated Hope
(The Fated Saga #3)
By Sariah Skye
© 2017 by Sariah Skye, all rights reserved
(Cover by Deranged Doctor Design)
(this is the obligatory copyright passage, basically saying that if you steal my work to post elsewhere without permission (like a book sharing website) you can be sued. It’s naughty, wrong, and illegal. You’re not a pirate (are you!?), so don’t steal my treasure (this book I have written is my treasure…I need some better treasure huh?) and don’t take my ideas. Arr. And then some other legal-schmeagle stuff, blah.blah blah, etcetera etcetera, e pluribus unim, happy birthday to you, twinkle twinkle, little star, yahda yahda yahda; just trying to make this look long and official. Do you feel sufficiently scared yet? Please? Lie and say you are terrified. Just don’t steal my stuff. Because it actually is illegal and you’ll make me cry. Mmmkay? ‘Kay.)
(this is a work of fiction, any similarities are coincidental and accidental…but if you happen to come across any real dragons, please let me know. One of them owes me money.)
For all my friends and family who give me hope. Especially Miss Amy, my longest fan. Love ya always, my Trekkie friend!
Also, wine. Wine gives me hope.
(also to my family members over forty—please skip over the naughty parts. PLEASE. Or lie and tell me you did so I can sleep at night, okay?)
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Other works by Sariah Skye:
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
“Is it everything you ever dreamed?”
No, when I pictured my wedding night, this wasn’t what I dreamed: doing triage in the ruins of a magically destroyed village. If I dared to picture my wedding night at all, I imagined luscious silk linens on a four-poster bed, with soft music playing, champagne and lacy undergarments.
I certainly did not imagine this; my hands covered with the blood of several mythos, exhausted from magic use, and dirty from the dust left behind from broken dwellings.
I snorted, glanced wryly at Daniel, and rolled my eyes as I grabbed a clean cloth from the first aid bag I’d been given. I pressed it against the open wound on the pixie’s shoulder, and she winced.
“Sorry,” I said, grimacing at her obvious pain.
“No… it’s okay.” The pixie, a very short thing with blonde hair, hued with a spring green color, bright yellow eyes and sparkling wings on her back, said in a childlike voice. Her wings flitted open and closed slightly; something I noticed the fae did when they were stressed. The action seemed to calm them.
“It’s pretty superficial,” Daniel said to her. She was wounded by a blast of stray dragon fire, and he knelt down to examine it. “I think you’ll be okay. I’m more worried about the…”
He trailed off, and we exchanged a glance. I knew what he was going to say: Shadows.
“I would love to heal you, but I have to save my magic for the worse injuries,” I said, patting her arm lightly. “You understand, right?”
She nodded gently. “Yes, I do,” she said in a small voice.
Daniel helped her off the cot and to her feet. Being as short as she was, even the small-distance to the floor was a jarring experience. “You can wait in the next room; when we’re able, we’ll get to you.”
“I think Kit should have something to help you feel better,” I said to her, and she nodded slightly as she was motioned out of the room by Maxxus, who urged her out the door and just down the hallway.
I sighed, feeling exhausted. I took a step back, and leaned against the wall of what was Gabriel’s bedroom, in the guest quarters here in Castle Danger. The full-size bed had been taken out. Metal tables and about five cots, covered with various first aid supplies replaced it. All the rustic décor had been removed, and instead of a bedroom in the rustic Minnesota woods, it appeared more like a hospital room, with white curtains draped up from the ceiling for privacy. The room had been full with two pixies, a dragon, and a dryad just a bit ago; but we’d sent the last pixie on her way to another room next door to rest.
It was only weeks ago, that a handsome and mysterious sorcerer came into the coffee shop where I worked, ordered a latte with extra foam, and figured out who I was: a dragon shifter. A pink dragon shifter; one of a kind that hadn’t existed in years. He helped me awaken my magic, which I was grateful for, but when that happened, the Court here in Anarach became afraid of what I could do and issued a decree for my arrest. I became a fugitive, essentially, as well as Gabriel, the sorcerer, his twin brother, Daniel; Maxxus, the portal guardian and Kiarra, my brother’s fiancée, Court member and associate Loremaster.
We rescued my friend and boss, Kit Ryland, from the Shadow realm, where she’d been conned into going by Nicodemus, Maxxus’ former colleague.
Finnian, the Loremaster, had appointed Kiarra to seek me out and bring me to Castle Danger—a safe-haven in northern Minnesota for dragons and mythological creatures alike. We’d essentially been residing there for a while.
Until we learned that the Shadows—aided by Cyril the Mad, another pink dragon who supposedly died years ago but was actually banished to the mysterious realm—were attacking the castle of Anarach, my home kingdom in the dragon realm, and we had attempted to rescue and save them all. Even though they were afraid of me, had done nothing but ridiculed me for years, and would have preferred I didn’t exist, we still tried to rescue them.
It was effective, somewhat. The king, Athalos had died, but we managed to save the queen. Gabriel and Maxxus nearly died in the process in battle, and my magic unexpectedly healed them both. It also shut the Shadow portal and healed anyone directly around me. Not bad for a spirit user who didn’t know she even had magic until a short time ago.
The queen requested for Maxxus and I to rule the kingdo
m when she stepped down; much to my absolute surprise. Me? A queen? It was unheard of. Surely no one would accept my rule. But Maxxus and I reluctantly agreed, and to make the process easier, we also agreed to get married (or, “bonded” as it was in the dragon world).
That was mere hours ago. Finnian, the Loremaster and head of the Castle Danger haven, had interrupted the tail end of the ceremony, telling us that Shadows had attacked the town. They were caught completely off-guard. The battle was hard, and many buildings were destroyed; many Mythos injured and a few even killed. And it was hard to kill Mythos.
They didn’t gain any headway until Finnian, armed with potions and ancient knowledge, managed to close the portal. But at a steep price. Many of them were Shadowtouched, or disturbed by the Shadows.
The Shadows were nasty things. We knew they were former Mythos who’d given into the Shadows’ pull and became dark. Blacker than black, literally. They lost their form and turned into shapeless, dark things. All I knew about the Shadow realm was that it was the most depressing thing you could think of. Just being there, you wanted to die. Death was preferable from being in the nothingness, the darkness of the realm. It was horrible.
If you succumbed, your magic would combine with the other Shadow forms that had succumbed and you’d become powerful. But it came with a price. You were basically stuck in the Shadow realm.
Although Cyril was trying to change that.
I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I startled and looked up into the dreamy blue eyes of Maxxus—my new mate. Until just days ago, I didn’t realize that we’d had a very long relationship. Years ago, we started off as friends. It grew into something much larger that could only be described as soul mates, until magic erased our memories.
But Finnian helped us remember…and it all made sense. Although magic (a love spell cast on our bloodlines centuries ago) pushed me originally towards Gabriel, Maxxus and my hearts were pulled together in an indescribable bond.
We’d only agreed to be bonded just hours ago, and originally the idea sounded preposterous, but now? Looking into those gorgeous eyes; those eyes that were the light and hope in a room filled of despair and darkness, I knew I made the right decision.
“You okay?” he asked, with concern on his handsome face. The waves of his hair had come undone from their carefully-slicked back style, his jaw dirty with soot, and his gray T-shirt was torn at one of his broad shoulders. We’d barely had time to change out of our wedding clothes before we ported over with Finnian to Castle Danger to help.
I ran my fingers through my hair, carefully smoothing out the matted dirt of my collar-bone shoulder-length, strawberry locks. Just a couple weeks ago it had been in a short crop, but dragon hair grew fast. It fell out of the low ponytail at the nape of my neck. “I’m fine, just tired,” I said, with a sigh, looking down and noticing the dried blood on my white T-shirt and torn blue jeans.
Maxxus traced a finger lovingly along the side of my face, and I blushed under his admiring gaze. He was tired too, you could tell by the light crinkle on the sides of his eyes as they lightly drooped, but he was still amazingly handsome. Gorgeous, actually. He reminded me of a of classic-era, human movie star; glamorous and debonair. He pulled me into his arms and cradled my head against his chest; his heart beating steadily. “I think we’ve gotten through everyone we could find so far.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I really could use a nap.”
“Mmm-hmm,” he agreed, and his body tensed as he yawned sleepily.
I pulled away, giggling at him as he pretended to rest his head against my shoulder and fall asleep. “Stop,” I scolded him.
“Yeah, this is definitely not how I pictured our wedding night,” I mused with a sigh.
Maxxus lifted a brow. “Wedding night?”
I waved him off; the tradition of a “wedding night” was purely a human thing, but that still didn’t stop me from dreaming about it when I’d come to the human earth years ago.
“You’d enjoy it, I’m sure,” Daniel kidded from across the room.
I peeked around Maxxus’ broad chest and glared at him.
“What?” Daniel threw up his arms, with an innocent expression on his face. “Just trying to keep things light.”
“Not sure you have enough jokes for that,” I replied dryly. I pulled away from Maxxus and leaned back against the wall, sliding down it to the ground so I could sit cross legged.
Maxxus followed suit, and so did Daniel, opting to sit in front of me instead. “I shouldn’t sit,” he said with a groan, arching his back in an uncomfortable stretch. “The second I do, Gabe will come barreling through the door.”
I groaned, covering my face, as the main door to the room opened.
“Screw you, Gabe!” Daniel shouted. We knew it was Gabriel, because the doorknob was spelled only to open under the magic of whoever it was keyed to; in this instance, since he was the last person to use the room, it was Gabriel.
I heard him grumble from the next room; the “living room” was full of another four beds, plus stacks of medical supplies salvaged from the infirmary that was now crawling with Shadows.
“Leo!” He called. “I need you!”
With a sullen glance between Maxxus and Daniel both, we helped each other to our respective feet, and traipsed quietly through the living room-turned hospital room, and met Gabriel just outside.
“What is it?” I asked, fighting a yawn.
“I know you’re tired,” he said, briefly rubbing his temples. “But there’s a dryad family stuck in their house. It’s full of Shadow; we need to get them out.”
Feeling a small surge of adrenaline, I gathered up my courage and tiny bit of energy left.
“Where are they?” Maxxus asked, not even bothering to wait for the answer; he shifted into his large, emerald-green dragon form.
“Edge of the woods,” Gabriel said, motioning for us to follow as he began his way down the dirt path, through town and to the woods.
“Quicker to fly,” I said. I made sure my leather band was still attached to my upper arm; it would ensure that I could shift to my dragon-form and re-shift back to human, fully clothed. Some wonderful magic thanks to Finnian.
I willed the shift, my muscles and bones, pulling and twisting as I turned into my pink dragon. I was smaller than most dragons, and not very scary looking—like other dragons—but I was still tough in my own way. With a few footsteps, I caught up with Gabriel, and nudged him with my dragon nose.
“Hop on,” I said, as Daniel pouted.
“What about me?” he whined.
Maxxus’ nostrils puffed out a whiff of green smoke, as he lowered himself on his haunches for the Seer to climb on.
“Yesssssssss,” Daniel cheered. I couldn’t blame him; it was a ride on a dragon. Who wouldn’t be excited?
Gabriel snickered, but wasted no time clambering up over my back, using my deceptively delicate wings for stability. When he was safely on my back, I kicked off and beat my wings against the wind, gaining height.
Maxxus was already hovering in the air, watching me carefully. Just as gorgeous in dragon form as human—he was large, the color of shining emeralds, with a wide wing span and several small spikes on the back of his head. Most dragons from Anarach didn’t have spikes, but Maxxus was special, apparently.
“Lead the way,” he said in his lower dragons voice.
Gabriel pointed with one hand, and braced himself against my neck with the other. “West side of town.”
I flew low, just over the treetops, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone else who might be in need of help, but with the dark—well after midnight—it was impossible to see anything.
The Shadows created sort of a “haze” around Castle Danger; like bleak, black fog. It dulled the moon and starlight from above, preventing it from penetrating from the sky. Everything on the ground was charcoal gray, black, or blacker; only slight outlines where the Shadows didn’t touch were apparent. We weren’t seeing anyone until morning.
“Anyone find Ceceline yet?” I asked Gabriel as we flew.
“No,” he replied with a sigh. Finnian’s Loremaster second-in-command was still missing; leaving Finnian the sole Loremaster in Castle Danger.
“Poor Finn…” As intimidating as Ceceline was, she was a good friend to Finnian and I know he was exceedingly worried as to her whereabouts. “Hopefully she turns up!”
“Down here.” I knew Gabriel was pointing, but I couldn’t quite see; I just gently lowered myself, avoiding thick branches and heavy foliage. When my feet felt clear of objects, I set down, and Gabriel was quick to jump off.
I had to blink a handful of times to adjust my eyes. It was like standing in the darkest room, no windows, no openings… just dark on top of dark. If I had a hand, I couldn’t see it waving in front of my face.
My heart paced rapidly. I remembered this dark. Nicodemus had been “haunting” me in my sleep, tempting me to the Shadow realm. The dark—the hopelessness I felt while there was heavy on my soul. I had to shake my head briefly to remember: this isn’t the Shadow realm…this isn’t the Shadow realm…
I felt something tough and leathery against my cheek. One quick sniff and I knew it was Maxxus. With his scent of earth and musk, it was reassuring.
“You’re okay, Leo,” he said, barely audibly for anything but my sensitive dragon ears.
I smiled into the dark. “Right,” I said.
“Huh?” Gabriel piped up. I heard a sparking sound, and the area directly around us was illuminated by the orange glow of a fireball, summoned in his hand.
We glanced around, stepping forward slowly. Our eyes were met with a blank void, heavy and shuddering on our skin.
Frustrated, I called for my magic. It was a bit different calling for my magic in dragon form than human; it felt merely like taking a deep breath. I breathed my ‘fire’ out, up in the air towards Gabriel’s fireball. Raising my head slowly, and keeping my breath steady, I lifted our summoned magic into the air.
Gabriel clapped his hands together, pushing another kind of magic towards it: pure light. When they combined, they cracked in the air like thunder and spread out over us; sort of like a makeshift spotlight.