****
Unfamiliar voices talked in hushed tones above her. She was no longer on the floor but in a bed. She could feel the smallness of the room around her. Pain spiked in the back of her skull, bringing back the memory of being smashed on the floor. Oh, if she ever found out who did that to her!
“Is she dead?” a soft female voice asked.
“No, my queen.”
“Then kill her.”
“I cannot. The king gave orders that she was not to be harmed.”
“So? Pretend that you did not hear the orders. I’ll get you out of any trouble.”
Forest decided this was a good moment to open her eyes. Her would-be killers both gasped at her sudden awakening. One was an ogre the other was Queen Christiana. She’d heard of bad mother-in-laws, but this seemed a little extreme. Forest considered for a second before she thought, To hell with it.
“SYRUS!” she screamed. “SYRU—”
Christiana clamped a hand over her mouth. “I’ve heard the whole story, you grasping little Halfling! I won’t rest until you’re dead. You will never see my son again. And you will never sit on the throne!”
Damn the consequences, Forest was going to kick her royal ass, with all due respect, of course. Unfortunately, she was tied down.
“You really won’t kill her?” she asked the ogre.
He shook his head severely.
Christiana huffed in exasperation. “Fine!” she spat. “Open a portal!”
“To where, my queen?”
“Earth.”
“To the place where she lives there?” the ogre asked.
“Whatever! I don’t care.”
The ogre struck the air, and a swirling black portal opened next to him.
“I, Queen Christiana, speak into law, that Forest, the Halfling, is banished from Regia, forbidden to ever return.”
She kept her hand over Forest’s mouth as the ogre untied her. Then Christiana stepped back and the ogre scooped her off the bed and threw her into the portal. Forest screamed for Syrus as she fell through the black hole that pulled her back to Austin. It dumped her on her bed, back in her condo, and closed behind her.
Forest drowned in sorrow marbled with rage. This wasn’t the end. Her stomach twisted with nausea at being separated from Syrus. It was as though her heart had been cut from her chest and she was kept alive on bypass. She could almost hear him calling for her. Almost feel him reaching for her across the universe. She knew he would never stop reaching until he held her in his arms again.
The End
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FOREST FIRE
The spellbinding sequel in Tenaya Jayne’s all-new fantasy
Series, The Legends of Regia.
Coming soon from Cold Fire Books!
Prologue
“PROTECT THE prince!”
Redge’s yelling voice was the best sound Syrus had ever heard. Fighting erupted around them but rather than join in, Syrus pulled Forest tighter into his chest. He was whole now. He was hers and she would always possess him. Chaos, danger and death all around yet there was nothing but silence and peace inside him.
Redge opened the end of the bridge.
The harsh wind pulled them into the portal, but with Forest in his arms, he felt shielded from it. They were encapsulated in the heart of the raging noise. Regrettably, his vision would fade soon. He wanted to use the time to get lost in Forest’s eyes but she had her face buried in his chest so he contented himself watching her hair dance in the wind around them.
The soldiers in the portal tumbled in disarray. Mesmerized by Forest, Syrus didn’t react fast enough to stop the foot of one of the soldiers from slamming into the back of her head. He felt the force of the blow in his own head, coupled with an insane fury that she had been hurt. She had been clinging tightly to him but now her arms were limp.
He didn’t fear for her life. Since they had forged their connections, he would know if her life was in danger and the extent of any injury she might suffer without ever having to see it; the knowledge was innate. His heart could feel the beating of hers. The blow to her head had only knocked her unconscious.
In the next second, the portal dumped them and the whole troop of soldiers in a heap in the throne room of the Onyx castle. Syrus’ sight blurred around the edges. The soldiers untangled themselves and got to their feet, leaving Syrus in the middle of the floor, cradling Forest against him. He tipped her head back and gazed at her face for the last remaining moments of his vision. He was only dimly aware of the movement and talk around him. The unmistakable lilt of his mother’s voice was trying to break its way into his attention. He paid no mind. The world was nothing, there was only Forest. He stroked her cheek with the pads of his fingers and kissed her lips.
“I demand to know what is going on!” Christiana yelled. “Syrus! Syrus, stop it! You debase yourself in public! Get off the floor! Let go of that disgusting aberration! Syrus!”
The only thing his mother said that registered in his brain was the insult to Forest.
“She’s my destined life mate, mother,” he said calmly, without taking his eyes from Forest.
“No!” She seemed to scream in a whisper. “No! It can’t be!”
She turned her wide furious eyes on Redge. Redge merely shrugged.
“Syrus, it’s not the truth,” she said in forced composure. “You’ve been bewitched. You’re sick and you need medical attention.”
Christiana clapped her hands and five ogres came rushing into the room. Redge fled down the hallway. He had to find the king as quickly as he could or something terrible that could not be rectified would happen. Zeren jumped as Redge came bursting into his study, wild eyed and out of breath.
“What?! Is it Syrus?” Zeren demanded.
“Yes! In the throne room. You must come now!” Redge wheezed.
Christiana sent the soldiers away before giving the ogres any orders. The less witnesses the better.
“Alright. Three of you take the prince to his chambers and keep him there. Subdue him if necessary but do not let him out.”
Syrus’ vision was almost totally gone now and the sum of his whole day left him too weak to have a prayer of fighting off three ogres. Six huge hands grabbed him.
“NO! NO! Mother, don’t do this!”
His heart cried out as loud as his lungs as Forest was wrenched from his arms.
“FOREST! FOREST!”
The last thing Syrus saw was Forest lying unconscious on the floor with his mother standing triumphantly over her. Then his eyes slid into darkness. His cries reverberated through the whole castle until he was shut in and locked down.
Forest’s eyelids fluttered and she moaned. Christiana grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, lifting her, then slamming her head back down on the floor, knocking her unconscious again.
“Now, one of you, get this piece of filth out of my throne room,” Christiana ordered.
“What shall we do with her?”
“Christiana!” Zeren came barging into the room. “What is going on here?” Zeren looked down at Forest and then over to the ogres waiting to do the queen’s bidding. “Put her in a clean room and get her a doctor. No harm is to come to her. “
The ogres looked over at the queen.
“Now!” the king yelled.
Forest was picked up and taken from the room.
“Now,” Zeren turned his attention on his wife. “Tell me what is going on. Where’s Syrus?”
“He was injured. He is resting in his chambers,” she said innocently.
Redge was dying to yell, “liar!”
“Remember your place, Christiana,” Zeren said sternly. “I’m going to see my son.”
Zeren turned to leave the room when a messenger came rushing in.
“Your highness! Fighting has broken out in the shifter colonies. Philippe’s armies are moving out. They march on Kyhael!”
Zeren looked over at Redge. “Come with me.”
The two
men left the room without a backward glance at the queen.
“Give me orders, my king,” Redge said.
“I want you to stay close to Syrus. Pay attention to what the queen does. I don’t want her interfering in anything.”
“Yes, my king.”
Redge watched Zeren’s back as he rushed from the castle to confer with his generals. He didn’t have the power to control the queen. The only thing he could do was protect Syrus the way he always had. Christiana had no authority to relieve him from that duty. Nevertheless, it wasn’t Syrus that needed protecting, it was Forest, and Redge was powerless to help her.
Chapter 1
THE AQUAMARINE moonlight reached down, caressing Netriet as she lay on the stone floor. She ached to open the closed balcony doors and let the moonlight fill the room but the chain around her wrist would not permit it. She was beyond the pain. The cold of the stone under her clawed deep into the tissue of her flesh for hours and hours, finally releasing her to the pleasure of numbness. Perhaps this would be her last night. She turned aside her feelings of failure and let her eyes slide out of focus in the beautifully dim light.
Netriet was positive she had missed her window to kill Philippe. He had left two days ago in a towering rage after he learned that Forest had lied, escaped his grasp, and he’d lost the collar in the process. She’d heard the movement of the army far below her at the base of the mountain and now all was quiet. Death moved around the edges of the room, whispering peaceful seductions. Her eyelids became heavier and heavier with every blink. Sleep descended as gently as the moonlight.
“Nettie,” his voice sounded strained. “Nettie, wake up.”
The smell of blood woke her more efficiently than his shaking her. Philippe’s face was close to hers when she opened her eyes, his beard tickling her neck. He had come back. Either that or she was dreaming. He looked as though he had been in a fight. There was a cut on his forehead and scratches on his cheek.
“So,” she said weakly as he picked her up off the floor. “You didn’t forget me after all.”
“No, I was…” he looked at her sharply, his eyebrows drawn down as her hand gently cupped his cheek. His eyes searched her face for a moment before a small smile pulled into one side of his mouth.
“I have wondered,” he said before hoisting her up and crushing her mouth in a harsh kiss.
Netriet felt smothered under his ardor as he dumped her on the bed.
“Wait,” she said desperately as he pulled his cloak from his shoulders and dropped it to the floor.
“What?”
She held up her wrist. “Please take it off.”
He narrowed his eyes at her for a second then shrugged and went to get the key across the room. Her arm was freed and he again smothered her. She let her muscles go lax and she lay there like a corpse. He noticed soon enough.
“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded.
“I’m just so weak. I haven’t eaten in days and days. I’m sorry. I really want to participate.”
He smiled broadly and pulled his shirt over his head. His torso was covered in deep purple bruises.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
“Here,” he said offering her his forearm.
She sat up a little and sank her teeth deep into his flesh. This was the opportunity she had been waiting for. She pulled as hard as she could on his veins.
“My position was challenged,” he explained. “I had to fight two contenders. They’re both dead now. The army is marching to Kyhael. I will join them tomorrow, but I had to come back to tie up a few loose ends. I’ve got to get the…the…uh…”
It was starting to work. Netriet pulled harder and harder. She had never taken this much blood at one time from anyone. She looked up at his face. His eyes were getting glassy. She continued to drain him.
“Those idiots keep using the wrong words. I swear it didn’t take me half this time to become…become fluent in French. I don’t think they…um…understand why I made them…I mean…aren’t you done yet?”
He was on the brink. She felt flooded but with two more deep pulls, he would be right where she wanted him. He stroked the back of her head and then staggered to the side, pulling his arm from her mouth. She sat upright, her strength returned, but she felt nauseated. He looked at her confusedly, his eyes dilated.
“Come here. Lie down. You need to rest,” she said.
He obeyed her instantly. “Yes. I’m so tired.”
Philippe lay down next to her, all his carnal intentions had vanished, and he closed his eyes. She smiled to herself. He’d been so arrogant before that if she bit him, she’d have no persuasion over him. What a crock. She sat still for a moment. There were numbers of things she could do to kill him, but she wanted to make sure that when he was found, his death would be one of humiliating circumstances. A new werewolf leader would emerge but with Philippe dead, there would be discord. The new leader would need time to establish his authority and make changes to the whole community. The future of Regia lay in her hands, well, her hand.
She watched his chest rise and fall and considered the matter carefully. The vampires would write songs in her honor. Oh, that would just burn the queen’s ass. No one even knew she was still alive and she was about to hand her race the war.
Over the next hour, Netriet monitored Philippe’s vital signs. She continued to take blood from him to keep him right on that dangerous edge. Everything still seemed quiet and empty in the mountain, but she locked the heavy doors and slid a long sword through the handles just in case. She kept the set up simple. She unhooked the chain that had held her captive all this time from the wall and dragged it out onto the balcony. It would be an adequate trip line.
Netriet gazed into the night sky and out over the land. She could see Halussis like a speck in the distance. Home, she thought. Goodbye. Positioning herself at the very edge of the balcony, the wind and gravity attempted to pull her over the side. Netriet braced her arm on the railing. Her muscles shook with the strain every time the wind gusted. She began to whisper to him.
“Philippe,” her voice came drifting into his dreams. “Wake up, Philippe.”
He sat up and looked around for her in the darkness.
“Come to me, Philippe. Come…”
Philippe stood up, his body propelled haphazardly towards Netriet.
“Hurry!” she ordered.
Netriet braced herself as his bulk moved towards her. Would the chain hold? She held her breath. His foot caught the chain. He tripped, his arms flailing. He crashed into her, grabbing her, taking her with him over the edge. Philippe held her tightly against his chest as they fell to their deaths.
Contents
Title page
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
FOREST FIRE
Forbidden Forest (The Legends of Regia) Page 24