by C. R. Jane
Faded Realms
The Fated Wings Series Book 4
C.R. Jane
Contents
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Faded Realms
Prologue
I. Before
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
II. After
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Prologue
Author’s Note
Other Books by C.R. Jane
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Prologue
Chapter 1
Faded Realms by C. R. Jane
Copyright © 2018 by C. R. Jane
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review, and except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
For all my wonderful readers, thanks for taking this journey with me.
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Faded Realms
Eva is in search of her past. Every time she thinks she has it figured out, something comes up that changes everything. A daughter, a lover, a queen; each part of her story fluctuates like the wind. When a new secret of her past is revealed, will it alter everything she has come to know? And will she ever discover the connections to the men that now reside in a place inside her soul? Join Eva in her journey into the faded realms. Sometimes things are better off staying hidden...
“My beautiful proof lies all in ruins.”
George Cantor
“These are the ruins
I mapped onto my body so I might always be lost.”
Traci Brimhall
Prologue
Eva
“Lexi,” I say carefully, unsure if I want to know the answer to my question. “What are you talking about? We know who my parents were.” I take a deep breath and push away the pain that comes from remembering that I will never see my mother again, a woman that I can’t remember ever meeting besides in my dreams, but who I intrinsically know loved me above all others.
She stares up at the heavens that are still pouring down rain before she looks at me. “There’s so much more to your story,” she says softly. “So much that I can’t tell you. You did this. You made it so I couldn’t share your secrets.”
I take Lexi’s hand in mine. “What are you talking about?” I ask again, frustration heavy in my tone. Lexi seems like a completely different person lately. Gone is the fun-loving girl who I first met, replaced by a girl shouldering the secrets of the past. I feel a rush of guilt at the change, it’s my fault.
“I have something of yours. I was supposed to destroy it, but I couldn’t.” She sinks to her knees in front of me, the rain-soaked grass sinking down beneath her. “Forgive me, Your Majesty.”
I lift up her chin, dragging her eyes towards mine. “Take me to it.”
As we walk away, I look back at the park bench and I can’t help but think that the girl who first walked to that bench, is not the same one that is leaving it. I once thought I knew who I was, a lost and forgotten orphan, a victim of abuse. Within months I had become a college girl, caught in the magic of New York City and Damon, Mason, and Beckham. I had just wrapped my head around the fact that I was in fact Queen of the Fey and had once been a wife to a madman, a man who had cursed an entire realm over his obsession with me. Could I handle what came next? Would I ever find out who I truly am?
I
Before
1
Eva
I wake with a start. Sharp, gleaming teeth attempt to claw their way out of my dreams and follow me into the light of day. My body shakes uncontrollably, still holding on to the images that haunted my sleep. I feel an arm tighten around my waist and I let out a yelp.
“Eva,” comes the frantic voice that I immediately recognize as one of my loves. I take a deep breath, trying to gain control of my racing heart.
“Sorry,” I whisper. “I can’t get it out of my head.”
Mason doesn’t ask who I’m talking about. He knows that I’m talking about Aiden.
“You’re safe,” he whispers into my hair. “I won’t let him touch you again.”
We both know it’s not the truth even as the reassurance comes out of his mouth. Aiden is powerful and handled Mason with ease in China. I was only able to stop him because he was caught off guard that I was able to use my power. Chances are, it would be a million times harder next time. And there would be a next time.
I let the warmth of Mason’s embrace push away the echo of the nightmare reverberating through me. He muffles a groan into my neck.
“I have to go to sound check,” he mutters, sounding like he’s actually heading to a torture chamber. He’s making up the show at the Staed de France that he missed after I disappeared thanks to the Reverend and Aiden.
“Can I go with you?” I ask, pulling my head back and turning to look at him. He’s beautiful and sometimes I still can’t believe that he’s mine.
“I have a surprise for you, but it’s not ready yet,” he says, smoothing my hair away from my face. “I’ll be back to get you as soon as sound check is done.”
I would pout at the missed opportunity to hear him sing, but there’s a whole city waiting for me to discover it.
I watch him, heat stirring inside of me as he gets out of bed. He’s not wearing a shirt and my gaze devours his perfect chest with its intricate markings. It will never get old seeing my name emblazoned on his chest. He disappears from the room, returning a few minutes later fully dressed I’m disappointed to see. He’s pulled his long hair back into the bun he favors, and his shirt and jeans fit him like a second skin. He looks like the quintessential bad boy rocker, except of course he’s a million times more gorgeous than a normal rocker. As an incubus, he exudes sexuality. Although I’m pretty positive that his powers don’t work on me, I’m not complaining about the pretty package that it makes him into. I will never get tired of looking at him. I’m extremely lucky that the inside is even prettier than the outside.
“I’ll be back in just a few hours,” he tells me, leaning down to brush his lips against mine. When he stands back up, he takes a minute to just stare at me.
“See you later, love,” he says, walking backwards out of the room as if he can’t bear to look away from me.
He disappears from sight. Without him distracting me, my mind can’t help but think of Damon. He hasn’t said more than yes or no to me since he walked in on me at Beckham’s. I’m in The City of Love with my gorgeous boyfriend, but instead of being able to enjoy it, I’m wishing Beckham and Damon were here.
Would it always be like this? Would I always be pining for whichever of them wasn’t with me? And what would happen if one, or all of them, decided to walk away. How would my heart recover then?
After getting dressed and grabbing a croissant, I leave a note for Mason on the table and head out. I will text him later. With how protective the guys have been since China, if I texted him now about where I was going, he would most likely leave his soundcheck to come find me.
The usual stares follow me as I walk out of the hotel, but I ignore them. Although the whole city is spread out before me, my feet immediately take me in the direction of the Louvre. Ever since Damon took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and opened up to me about his past, I’ve developed a new appreciation of the arts, entranced by the hidden stories behind each one. I wasn’t going to miss a chance to see some of the most famous artwork in the world.
The city is bustling. It’s one of the most beautiful places that I’ve ever seen and I still can’t believe I’m actually here. My life has changed so much in just a matter of a few months. I obviously could have done without the torture part, but if given the option of having to redo it all, even with the Reverend’s house of horrors and Aiden’s wonderland, I still would have done it all again.
Walking into the Louvre, I can’t help but wish Damon was with me. The museum is full of couples walking hand in hand and I’m almost tempted to leave and head back to the hotel, just so I don’t have to see evidence of relationships going well. Shaking my head at my ridiculousness I rent a pair of headphones and start to walk through the hallways and rooms that are filled to the brim with priceless works of art. An hour passes and although I know I should head back to the hotel so that Mason doesn't worry, something pushes me forward.
I get to a hallway that’s far less crowded than the rest. It’s like there’s a string pulling me onwards. I turn right and enter a room that at first sight seems completely empty. The room’s walls are barren, and it’s lit differently than the other rooms I’ve explored today. Thinking that I’ve somehow wandered into a storage room or something, I turn to leave. Just then my eyes flash across a painting on the far wall that I’m not sure how I missed when I first walked in. I walk over to it, half entranced by it even as the actual images on the painting remain out of sight. I stand right in front of it and can’t help but gasp as a wave of uneasiness rushes down my spine. I rub my eyes, not believing what’s in front of me.
The painting is of me.
I’m lounging in what looks like a gold throne in an intricate scarlet dress the color of blood. I would think that it was a picture of me as Queen of the Fey if it weren’t for the figure huddled on the floor in front of me. At first glance it’s Damon, his elegant charcoal wings easily recognizable. However, a closer inspection reveals a head of golden hair and intricate markings down his arms. The figure is wrapped in chains and bowing desperately in front of me.
I look for the signature of the artist or a nameplate to tell me where it came from, but there’s nothing there. Unwillingly I find myself reaching out towards the painting.
“What is it?” the girl says in a bored tone, looking at the chained creature on the floor in front of her.
“I have come to pay my debt to the faded realms,” says a voice. “I’m offering you a creature that is so rare that I believe it is the only one in existence.”
The girl looks sharply to the side where the owner of the voice must be located. “Why would I be interested in a random creature,” she says in an annoyed voice.
“It’s just a gift,” the voice says gently. “At the very least it will make an attractive slave for Your Majesty.”
She runs her eyes over the huddled figure and her eyes light up with interest. She stands up and walks over to it, examining it from all sides. The creatures majestic charcoal wings flutter when she touches its shoulder. Her eyes widen at the movement. Her face is conflicted for a moment before she drops a blank mask, hiding whatever she is feeling.
“Take it to the servant’s quarters off of my wing,” she announces to someone in the room as she walks back to her throne.
The girl watches as someone leads the chained creature out of sight, a conflicted interest on her face.
Yanking my hand away I find myself back in the room, the painting nowhere to be found. An itchy feeling crawls across my skin and I back away, something telling me not to turn my back on where the painting just was. I get to where the hallway and the room meet and then I turn around and sprint down the hall, much to the surprise of some hapless tourists admiring a sculpture in the hallway. I can’t help but take a quick look behind me, the sensation that someone is watching me too strong to be ignored. Surely it’s just my imagination that I think I see the shiny glint of teeth from a dark figure at the end of the hallway. The image is fleeting, gone as soon as I blink, but the uneasy feeling it leaves me with drives me out of the Louvre. The city suddenly doesn't seem so magical anymore as I hurry back to the safety of the hotel where Mason is hopefully waiting for me.
2
Mason
While the crew finishes getting ready for soundcheck, I glance over the setlist of the songs I’ll be singing tonight. My chest tightens when I think about the song that I’ve prepared for her. It’s one I wrote on those lonely nights when she was gone. It doesn’t capture half of the pain I felt or the emptiness that consumed my soul during that time, but I tried.
I’ll probably never admit to Eva the effect she had on me the day I met her. The thundering beat of my heart hurt my chest. I was alive again—no longer moving through one day only to find myself in the next. I was present and unsatisfied, starving. A hunger I hadn’t felt in years warred on in my stomach and in the energy consuming every part of me. I had to have her.
Tonight was the night I would finally claim her. I had it all planned out. I would play the song I wrote for her and then take her to dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant that I had rented out for us. Then we would go back to the hotel where there would be roses and champagne waiting for us. It felt like the night was in danger of being a cliché of every over the top romantic gesture a guy could make, but I didn’t care. I wanted it to be perfect for her.
I tried not to think about the fact that Beckham had already slept with her. The possessive pride in his eyes when Damon and I had walked into his apartment was almost more than I could take. But I figured that like usual, Damon was already playing the part of the overbearing, jealous boyfriend so I needed to pick a different role. Every time my chest threatened to close up with anger about that morning, I reminded myself of the resolution that I had made while in China, that I would accept the situation however Eva wanted it. The pain of losing her would only be amplified if she walked away from me and I knew that she was somewhere on earth still going about her life without me.
I also had an ace up my sleeve. Although I’d never heard Beckham’s past bed mates complain about his skills, I was an incubus. Sex was my thing. By nature of my cursed existence I had more sexual experience than probably almost anyone on the planet. While I was ashamed of that number now that I had met someone who I believed to be my fated mate, the practice would come in handy. I planned on giving Eva the best night of her life and hopefully the best morning and every other day for the rest of our existence.
I get done singing and my bandmates come over to talk to me. I’m sure they’re all relieved that Eva is back, and I seem to be getting back into the swing of things.
Layne looks twitchy, like he has something he needs to tell me.
“What’s on your mind?” I ask him.
“Courtney,” he says reluctantly.
I groan. That bitch is the last thing I need to deal with tonight. There are strict instructions on the tour that she and my ex-manager Kevin are not allowed anywhere near me, but I’m still afraid of what’s going to come out of Layne’s mouth next.
“What’s going on with Courtney?” I ask wearily
.
“She’s in town, and rumor has it she’s desperate to get into the show tonight.”
“Make sure security knows that she isn’t to be allowed even through the gates,” I say, gritting my teeth with frustration.
Layne runs a hand through his hair, “Courtney can be persistent,” he says, grimacing.
The image of her riding my manager on the sofa in my dressing room in an attempt to make me jealous flashes through my head. Yes, she can be persistent.
“Nothing is fucking going to ruin tonight,” I say, walking off to tell security myself that it means the end of their job if she gets in. There’s an uneasy feeling in my gut though that says tonight could have some surprises.
After talking to security, I head back to the hotel, eager to not spend another second away from Eva. I walk into the penthouse and I immediately can sense that she’s not there. The energy that I’ve become addicted to is missing. Walking through all the rooms just to make sure, I spot a piece of paper on the coffee table and I grab it.
Going out to explore the city. Be back soon.
All my love,
Eva