by Linsey Hall
She glided toward us, and I stiffened my spine against the fear that threatened to weaken me.
“Caera of the Fire Fae, you return.” Her head turned toward Iain. “And you’ve brought the one that I warned you about.”
I nodded. “Not by choice, Wise One.”
She didn’t have brows, but I could swear that one arched. “You were found?”
I nodded. “Just a day ago. He’s taken my brother.”
She sighed. “He was always your weakness.”
“Family isn’t a weakness.” I started the sentence with a snappy tone that faded off as I remembered who I was speaking to. “Apologies, Wise One.”
“You are both correct and incorrect about that statement.” She drifted toward Iain. “And what do you have to say for yourself, Your Highness?”
His jaw tightened, but when he spoke, I could hear the honesty in his words. “I do not want to sacrifice her at the solstice, but I will if it is the only way to save my people. We seek another way.”
I could almost hear the edge of desperation in his words. Though perhaps I was imagining it.
I looked at the seer, hoping to read her expression.
Impossible, of course.
She sighed. “You’re in a difficult situation.” Her gaze turned to me. “Both of you.”
“How do we get out of it?”
“I told you what I knew years ago. Everything that I was able to see, I shared.” She strode toward me and stopped right in front of me. She raised an ethereal hand and rested it against my shoulder. “You are more powerful now. Older and wiser. Perhaps your blood will give me the ability to see more.”
Of course. I’d almost forgotten that part. Hearing the prophecy—and the aftermath—had been so traumatic that I’d forgotten about the link between her gift and what it took to make it work.
“What do you mean?” Iain asked.
“My gift is propelled by the blood of the one who seeks an answer,” the seer said. “You must spill your blood at the base of the tree. The more you spill—and the more powerful it is—the clearer the prophecy.”
“I’m much stronger now.” I stepped forward. The years on my own had hardened me—so much so that the shadow of the Fae girl I’d once been was long gone. I pulled a blade from the ether. “I’m ready. Tell me all that you can.”
“I will participate as well,” Iain said. “Surely more will help.”
The seer nodded. “You are both tied in this prophecy. With a contribution from each of you, I shall see much farther.” Her gaze turned toward Iain. “With you, particularly. You are vital to this prophecy, yet we did not have your blood when we tried to see the future the first time.”
He drew a blade from the ether and nodded.
The seer waved us toward the tree. “Come.”
We followed her, sharing a quick glance as we walked.
Somehow, it was so loaded with tension that I couldn’t bear it. I looked back toward the dark, blackened trunk of the tree.
She gestured to the ground in front of the trunk. “Give as much as you can.”
I knelt at the base of the tree, and Iain followed suit. Together, we sliced into our veins, letting the blood drip to the ground. Pain thrummed as the red liquid sank into the grass, and the tree began to come back to life. The black bark turned brown, and leaves began to grow.
Next to me, the seer gasped. Her form didn’t shift, but magic and power seemed to glow from her.
I dragged the blade farther up my arm, allowing more blood to flow.
“Stop,” Iain said. “Too much.”
“Not with everything on the line.”
He dragged the blade across his flesh again. “Let me.”
I frowned at him, conflicted about the sacrifices he was making for me. Maybe it was just to keep me alive, but I thought it was more. He was compelled to protect me.
It softened me toward him, even though it shouldn’t.
I needed him to care about me, even if it made me start to care in return. If the Rowan Seer didn’t have a solution for us, making him love me was the only way to stop him from killing me.
My vision grew woozy as my blood poured to the ground. More and more, I allowed it to flow, determined to get the most out of this prophecy. If there was a way to circumvent this, I’d be damned if I’d miss out on it.
My vision was nearly black when I heard Iain hiss, “You could die from this.”
Something liquid and warm flowed over the gash in my arm, and I looked down to see him pouring a healing solution over the cut.
I blinked up at him. “Thanks.”
He looked pale as death, and the puddle of blood around him was enormous.
Vaguely, I thought that if he just kept bleeding until he died, my problems would be mostly solved.
Except for the guilt over his dying Court.
And guilt over him.
Which was stupid, given what he’d done to me and what was on the line, but I felt it anyway.
I gasped. “Stop.”
His eyes flashed with surprise, and I scowled. I should have just kept my mouth shut. My conscience objected to that idea, pinching inside me.
“It is enough.” The seer’s voice echoed with power, and above us, the tree was lush and green, no longer withered and charred.
I looked up at the seer, my breathing coming slowly despite my anxiety. I didn’t have the strength for much more.
Her form glowed with magic and strength, and I leaned toward her, basking in her light. Near me, Iain sat stoic and tall, but I could feel his tension.
“Well?” I asked. “Is there another way?”
“No.” The seer’s voice echoed with power, and horror opened up inside me. “You are not here for a different fate. What I prophesied when you were young will still come to pass. You will still be the sacrifice on the solstice.”
“But?” Iain demanded, desperation definitely tinging his voice. “There must be more.”
“I do see more.” Her voice grew fainter, as if she were somewhere else, paying attention to something else.
“You must complete the sacrifice ceremony on the solstice, Caera. But you can have more control of it than you thought.”
“Over my own death?”
“I never said it must be death. It could be the death of your physical body, yes. But it could be another kind of death—one that does not take you permanently, perhaps.”
“What other kind of death is there?” I asked.
“There are many kinds. But if you wish to have some control over your fate at the ceremony, you must seek the SoulStone. It will help you break the ancient curse on King Iain’s Court. Perhaps you may survive. Not whole, and not as you are, but you may survive.”
The SoulStone. I’d heard of that before. It was here, on my ancestral land. Not far away at all. It was the heart of our people, the sacred source of Fire Fae power.
And I was supposed to steal it?
“I don’t understand,” Iain bit out. “What do you mean, not whole?”
“There are many things she can sacrifice. Valuable things that will complete the ceremony and help to break the curse.”
What the hell did that mean?
“Caera can break the curse on her own, but if she can bring the SoulStone to the ceremony, it will buoy her enough that she may survive.”
“That’s actually more confusing when you put it like that.” Frustration seethed inside me. “I don’t understand any of this.”
“It is within your power to save the Sea Fae.” The magic around her snapped, dissipating almost immediately. The spell was broken. She looked at us. “I trust that will help you?”
“Not really.” I stood, wobbly as hell.
Iain rose as well, slightly more steadily, and moved closer so I could lean against him for support. “We have more information, but I don’t understand what exactly we’re supposed to do.”
“You must interpret it.”
“Who cast the curse?” Iain
asked.
“That, I do not know.”
“You must leave now,” she said. “I have told you all that I can see, and you have no more blood left to give.”
Shit, shit, shit.
I looked at Iain. He looked as confused as I felt. There was a solution somewhere. Obviously there was. But I couldn't quite decipher it. Maybe it was because my head was woozy from blood loss, but I was at a total loss.
“Go now.” The seer held out her hands, and magic burst from her fingertips. It surrounded us, a portal that sucked us in. As I flew through the ether, the seer’s voice echoed in my head, as if sending me a message that only I could hear. “He will never let you go.”
I chill raced over me, then the ether thrust me out onto the windswept tor on Dartmoor.
Wind buffeted me, and I stumbled into Iain, my head still woozy and my muscles weak. He gripped me tightly, then pulled me toward him, wrapping his arms around me.
He will never let you go.
I tried to pull away, but his magic surged, and the ether dragged at me again as he transported us back to his kingdom.
I stepped away from him, my mind spinning with the seer’s last words. They threatened to devour me, but I had no time for them right now. I thrust them away and looked around.
We had arrived in his chambers. I’d never been here before, it was obvious enough from the massive bed and sumptuous decor that these were his personal quarters. The room was a massive rectangle with huge windows overlooking the sea. I could hear the waves crashing down below, and this had to be one of the lower chambers in the castle, built to take advantage of the proximity to the ocean.
Ice had built up over the windows, but one was free of the stuff. It had clearly been chiseled back to provide a view of the water.
Iain staggered toward the window and looked out, drawing a deep breath of the sea air. It seemed to revive him a bit, which made sense, given that they were the Sea Fae and not, in fact, the Ice Fae. I had purposefully avoided learning their lore, not wanting to think about the king whose existence had threatened my life since I’d first heard the prophecy as a teenager. I didn’t want to die, and thinking of the people who my death could save had felt terrible. So I’d forced the thoughts from my mind.
Now that I was actually paying attention…
It made me feel for them.
I hated it—it was a weakness I couldn’t afford if my priority was going to be saving my brother and my people—but I couldn’t help it.
It made me determined to fix this.
As Iain looked out at the sea, seeming to absorb strength from it, I spotted my pack sitting on a side table. It was the one the guards had taken from me. Clearly he’d moved it to his chambers.
Holy fates, this was good news.
Clumsily, I hurried toward it. There was a tiny vial of sleeping potion in it that could come in handy. And my cell phone.
I fumbled through, grabbing the phone and tiny vial of sleeping potion. A clutter of other vials tumbled around the bottom of the pack, and I spotted the red one.
Love potion.
Holy fates, I’d forgotten that was in there. I’d packed this bag so long ago that I’d forgotten the assortment of potions Connor had given me. I hadn’t had access to the bag before now, but the little vial of red liquid was just what I needed it. He wouldn’t fall over himself with love for me, but it would amp up how much he cared for the next forty-eight hours or so. He was strong, so his system might fight it off, but hopefully it would work for long enough to get me past solstice.
I pocketed the tiny vial, shoving it alongside the sleeping potion, then I turned toward Iain, who still stood by the window, speaking into the comms charm at his wrist.
I stumbled toward him, my body weak and my head fuzzy. My gaze caught on a lyre hung on the wall. It was an instrument I rarely played—I was particularly terrible at it—but the sight of it soothed me. I looked away from it. Now was not the time.
As I neared Iain, I caught snippets of words—healer and food, mostly.
I joined him at the window, shivering at the cold breeze. The ocean was a steel gray today, the waves crashing below. It was beautiful, in a terrifying way. As I watched, it turned blue.
Iain stiffened, then looked at me. “That’s you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your presence turns it blue. You heal this place.”
I had no idea what to say. I didn’t want to play such an important role here. After this was all over, I wanted to go back to my life. If I was responsible for good things here, he was even more likely try to keep me.
“I’ve called for a healer,” he said. “We’ll need to rest a bit, but the healer should help us recover more quickly.”
“Good. Because we need to get started looking for the SoulStone.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“I have an idea.” My vision went a bit blurry as I stared at the waves. “But I don’t know what to do with it.”
“The seer implied that you wouldn’t have to die.”
“She also implied that I wouldn’t get out of this whole.”
He was silent at that, discomfort emanating from him.
“You know nothing about the curse?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He frowned. “We suspected, of course. This doesn’t just happen randomly. But we were never able to find out who did it. Or how.”
We had absolutely no clues, either, which made it unlikely we were going to figure it out before the solstice. The best we could do was find the SoulStone and hope the ceremony didn’t kill me.
I shuddered. It was a terrible plan, but it was the best we had right now. If I could give him the love potion, he might not kill me. But there was no guarantee.
And I was committed to trying this, I realized. Maybe it was because I had some hope, now. True, it didn’t sound like I was going to enjoy this. And I was going to come out changed on the other end.
But I also couldn’t ignore all these Fae freezing and their dying kingdom.
I had to try to help them.
Maybe it was Iain rubbing off on me. While we stood there, weak and exhausted, it was like a veil had fallen away and I could see beneath his hard exterior.
He cares.
Like, really really cares.
As much as I cared about Connor. I cared about my Court, of course. In a distant way. I wouldn’t let them die—not as long as I could save them. But they’d evicted me from my home. Connor, however, had always had my back. I loved Connor like I loved nothing else in this world.
That’s how Iain felt about the people in his kingdom.
And he’d do whatever it took to save them.
Including sacrificing me. I was his mate, so it would take him out, too. Eventually.
But he was willing to do it.
What a heavy burden.
“How do you bear it?” I asked.
He looked at me, surprised. “Bear what?”
“What you have to do?”
“I—” He searched for the words, then shrugged. “I just do it.”
“You don’t think about it.”
“I avoid it as much as I can, yes. But now that you’re here…” He reached for me. Before he could make contact, he curled his hand into a fist and dropped it.
It was like the burden I bore, except I still didn’t know how I was supposed to save my people. I didn’t think it would involve sacrificing my mate, and my one chance at true happiness.
“You’ll sacrifice a lot to save your people,” I said.
“So would you,” he said. “You already have.”
I frowned. “You mean by leaving my Court?”
He nodded. “Leaving your homeland. I saw how you love it. And leaving your wings behind.”
“I had to.”
“Because of me.”
It was probably the blood loss that was making us speak so candidly, but I didn’t hate it.
“My Court made me,” I said. “They thoug
ht that hiding in the human realm would be safer.”
“They were right. I’ve searched for you for years. I would have waged war to find you.”
“You never would have found me, if not for my light.” I still didn’t know what it was or how it had burst out of me, but it’d led him to me.
“If not for your light, we’d all be frozen.”
I shivered. It was a terrible idea.
“How did you survive for so long away from your Court?” he asked. “A Fae without a Court…”
His voice trailed off, but I got the gist. A Fae without a Court had a hard time. I had two half Fae friends who had lived away from their Courts—still did, in fact. But they were half. It made it possible. I was full Fae, and I wouldn’t lie—it had been tough.
“My brother came with me.”
“Willingly?”
“Of course. He’s my brother. I’d do the same for him.”
“Not many would.”
“Well, we’re not many. Connor and I have been a team forever. If not for him, I’d never have survived out here.”
“I doubt that.”
“Maybe I’d have survived, but I wouldn’t have been happy.”
He nodded.
“You know the love you feel for your people?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“I feel that much love, but for one person. For my brother. And you’ve locked him in this ice trap.”
He made a low noise in his throat. If it was disagreement or regret, I couldn't tell.
“Release him. Please. I’ll still help you. I swear it. Another blood oath.”
He hesitated, his jaw tight.
A knock sounded at the door, and he turned to it, dropping the subject.
Damn it.
11
Iain strode to the door and let the healer into the room. I hung back by the windows, mostly because I was too weak to walk. Giving so much blood to the Rowan Seer had totally sapped my strength.
Several other Fae entered behind the old woman, each carrying a tray of food they placed on a long table by the wall. All had the tired, weary looks of people constantly afraid for their lives. If I looked closely enough, I could see signs of wear on their clothing—something unusual for the Fae. They usually took great pride in their attire, and Iain’s kingdom was very wealthy from everything I’d seen. There was no reason for their clothing to look a bit worn.