Forced into retirement and ordered to take a mate, she had hoped that taking a bite out of life would involve so many teeth.
Thadra has spent decades as the fey executioner. When the fey or their half-human offspring need to be punished, the human courts have no power, so the fey court must step in. If the court pronounces a death sentence, Thadra must go in and prove that the accused isn’t redeemable by letting them commit the predatory crime one more time.
Dealing out death takes a toll, and when the fey court forcibly retires her, her marching orders include a trip to the Crossroads until she meets her match.
Rik has been waiting for weeks at the Crossroads, and the moment he sees the fey woman radiating power and control, he knows that she is meant for him. He just has to convince her that a fey shark shifter is warmer blooded than their reputation would suggest.
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Crying Fire
Copyright © 2019 Zenina Masters
ISBN: 978-1-4874-2234-9
Cover art by Angela Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Crying Fire
Shifting Crossroads Book 49
By
Zenina Masters
Chapter One
Thadra smiled at her guests and did a quick rundown. “This cabin has no Wi-Fi, no internet, and if you need anything, call at the main cabin. There is a set of instructions on the desk, snacks are in the fridge, and help yourself to anything, it is all included.”
The man smiled. “What about heat? It looks like there is a blizzard in the offing.”
Thadra inclined her head. “We have geothermal power. Your floors are heated wirelessly. You will remain warm.”
“Thank you. That will be all.” His dismissive tone was evident, but the young woman looking up at him seemed to worship the words coming from his mouth.
Thadra shrugged and walked out, closing the door behind her.
She was on the alert for any sounds coming from that cabin, but if they weren’t going to give her trouble, she was ready for a nice, calm night.
She snorted as she headed for the main cabin. If things were going to go well, she never would have been assigned here for this evening.
Thadra entered the cabin, and the resort owner looked at her.
“Well?”
“Well, she isn’t in thrall; she is just young, and he is a jerk. If he is going to abuse her, we will have to wait until she calls for help.”
Maryanne swallowed. “We have to wait?”
“Yes. If he is a fey and he is using magic to torture young women, we have to verify it and catch him in the act. Then, and only then, can I engage in my authorized actions.”
“They never said that you would have to wait.”
Thadra didn’t roll her eyes at the half-elf who ran the bed and breakfast on the side of the mountain, but it was a near thing.
“You noted the pattern, and I am here to confirm it. When I see what I need to see, I will carry out my orders. Don’t worry. You won’t be implicated.”
Maryanne’s eyes widened, and she cleared her throat. “I have never seen you in your official capacity before. You are a little more... controlled than I imagined.”
Thadra sighed. “I am working, there is no room for frivolities.”
“I see.”
Thadra looked at her friend and tried not to show the turmoil inside. This was how it always went. The friendship was fun, her work duties caused tension, and when she executed her office, the horror would be seen in her friend’s eyes. It was not the first time, nor would it be the last.
Thadra took a seat on the floor next to the hearth, and she closed her eyes. Her senses focused on the cabin, and she monitored the mood of her target.
It took two hours while Maryanne fidgeted and asked questions that Thadra didn’t answer, but finally, the girl in the cabin showed fear and pain while dark pleasure and fury mixed in the half-elf Thadra was here to see to.
Thadra got up and left the main cabin, heading through the snow to the small cottage where an assault was underway.
She walked up the steps and placed her palm on the door. The lock melted under her hand, and she pushed the door open. Thadra walked inside and silently went to the bedroom upstairs. When she saw what was taking place, she lashed out and knocked her target out.
“Aw, fuck.”
The girl whimpered and pulled at her tied wrists. Her body was marked with red welts, and one of her eyes had swelled shut. The gag had been tied cruelly tight. The only sounds coming from her were coming through her nose.
“Hold still. I will get you free, but as soon as I do, I want you to grab your clothing and run to the main house. Maryanne is there, and she will take care of you.”
Thadra looked her in the eyes. “Do you understand?”
The girl nodded slowly, fat tears running down her cheeks.
Thadra reached out and carefully touched the knot of the gag. It smouldered, and the ashes pulled apart easily. The gag came loose, and the girl inhaled a deep breath. She whispered, “He’s waking up.”
Thadra used her finger to slice through the ties that held her wrists to the headboard. “Get your things and go. I will take care of him. He won’t hurt you again.”
The girl nodded, still silently crying as she pulled her shirt on and then grabbed her jeans and shoes. She thudded down the stairs, and Thadra sat on the bed to wait.
Ergonic West struggled to sit up. He was wearing his pants and nothing else.
“What the hell?” His dazed eyes looked around, and he spotted Thadra. Fury filled him, and he started to puff up in aggression.
Thadra loved that part. She loved it when they thought they were untouchable, when they thought their fey parent would come running and rescue them because they were born of fey magic and a human woman.
She mouthed along as he said it.
“Do you know who I am?”
Instead of answering, she spoke softly as she got to her feet. “Sara Ikart, Lema Denali, Sheba Wilks.”
She moved quickly and snagged him by the hair and slowly dragged him across the floor as he screamed and kicked. His invoking of his father came next, and finally, he was begging as she finished her litany of his victims, and she had pulled him through the snow, ending up deep in the woods. She tossed him into a ring of trees and stood on the outskirts of it.
“Emmy Barry.”
He paused. “Who?”
“The young woman you just beat and were about to rape. She has a name, she had a life before you, and she will have one after you.”
He sneered. “She won’t press charges. They never do.”
&
nbsp; “She will not have to. You have been charged, you have been sentenced, and now, that sentence will be carried out.”
He blinked. “My father will hear of this.”
She quirked her lips and cocked her head. “He already has. It was your father who told me where you would be and with whom. He is tired of this dance, and you are a failure as a son.”
That stunned him. “I demand to speak to him. I am a half-elf, and I have rights.”
She pursed her lips together. “Well, frankly, you were never registered as a human. Your life and death have been in the hands of the fey court, and the sentence is death.”
She spread her hands, and fire danced upward as molten stone dripped from her fingers. “I am Destruction, and this is your sentence.”
Fire swirled from her hands, wrapped around him, and slowly worked inward. Years of practice had taught her that if the voice was gone, the body would heighten its agony, so she proceeded to wrap him in the fury of the earth, and when she was done, there was nothing but melted snow and a coating of ash.
The small ball of light that had lit the target zone was still there.
“I hope you got that. There are no do-overs.”
The light twisted, came down to hover in front of her, and then, it disappeared.
She nodded and headed back to the cabin, checking to see what was left behind and gathering it all. The purse that Emmy had left was picked up, and Thadra took it back to the main cabin.
Emmy was sitting on the floor, leaning against Maryanne.
“It is done. Emmy, I would like to touch your head if I may? This will hurt, but it will heal you.”
“Where is he?”
“He has been sent to sentencing. His punishment is assured.”
Emmy nodded and swallowed. “You can touch my head.”
Thadra smiled at the strength that it took to let someone touch her. “It will be quick.”
Thadra touched the woman’s hair, and she focused on keeping the healing to a quick flash. Nothing was broken, so it took only a heartbeat, burning out the memory of the evening and of the abuse.
It hadn’t been a long association, so the removal of the memory was easy compared to some that she had removed in the past.
When she was done, she released Emmy’s head and stepped back.
Maryanne whispered, “What did you do?”
“I removed her memory of him. Now, I will take her to her home, and she will think she has lost a few days due to partying.”
Thadra lifted the unconscious woman in her arms, with her purse, her shoes, and everything together. She walked out the door, and a portal appeared in front of her. She passed through it and stepped into Emmy’s apartment.
Thadra tucked Emmy into bed and removed all traces of Ergonic from the woman’s phone, computer, and even her calendar.
Memories had been planted. If her friends asked her about the half-elf, she would simply reply that he changed his mind and cancelled on her.
Thadra grimaced and transported herself to her family library. She stepped out of the gateway, and she shuddered. “This technology will be the end of me,” Thadra spoke to the room at large.
“Now, child, you will not die for a very long time.” Her father looked up from the tome he was reading. “How was the assignment?”
“Concluded and witnessed by the court. He is ash in the wind.”
“Oh, you left ash? That is a nice touch, but what if they test the DNA?”
“There isn’t any. I destroyed his clothing, and the court is sending a retriever for his vehicle. It will be as if it never was, except in the heart of his father.”
Her father nodded. “And he can no longer reproduce, so that is one worry taken care of. The death of a bad bloodline.”
“Yes, Father.”
He sighed and looked at her. “Don’t look so sad, Thadra. You are a very efficient executioner.”
“I know, Father, but I had to take her memories, and that isn’t something that I get over right away.”
“Yes, of course. Go and rest, darling. There may be a new contract when you wake.”
She swallowed and nodded, leaving her father in the study.
Chapter Two
Thadra couldn’t rest. There was nothing easy about killing someone, even if her job as executioner to the fey court was held in high esteem. The dead were still dead, and she had to escort them to that state. It was hard on her soul.
She walked out of the house and to the edge of the island. She needed to blow off steam, and this was a project she had been waiting to do for some time.
Thadra crouched at the very edge of the stone protrusion and plunged her hand into the water. It took a bit of concentration to get herself into the mood to create rather than destroy, but once she was there, she began to create a molten walkway, glowing stone rising from the ocean waves.
She walked along the path, and her focus kept the stone under her feet. A tendril of stone became a flat walkway, and she stepped away from her path and onto her island. It was time to add room for a patio, and then, she could rest.
She hoped she didn’t dream.
* * * *
“Arkus, where is she?” His transport had been smooth, but his executioner was nowhere to be seen.
Arkus Hellerwell looked up, and then, he leapt to his feet, bowing deeply. “Your Majesty.”
“Yes, I know who I am. Now, where is your daughter?”
Arkus blinked and looked around. “She... I believe she went to lie down.”
King Larion grunted and walked out of the library, lifting his head to catch a sense of her.
She was outside. Quite a bit of distance from her home. He transported to her side and paused.
The fey Destruction was lying on hard stone, curled into a ball like a child and whimpering as her dreams haunted her. She was crying in her sleep, and the tears were tracks of fire.
Larion crouched down and touched her head. He closed his eyes and shared her dreams.
After a few minutes, he pulled his hand away. She was done. She carried the deaths of nearly two hundred fey, halflings, and enchanted creatures who preyed on humans. She was exhausted, and those deaths were haunting her. She needed a break, and his seers had just spoken up on her behalf.
The half-born Destruction had a destiny with a shifter, and Larion acknowledged that it was definitely time to let her go. Arkus was loyal, and he would agree once it was explained that he had no choice.
Larion had hoped to come and convince Thadra that she should go to the Crossroads, but now, he was going to make it an order. She needed a fresh start and a break from everything around her reminding her of her duties as his executioner.
Her mate was a sea dweller, so she would still be able to create land when she was stressed, but she wouldn’t have to do it alone. He wished he could make things more clear to her, but the twins only saw teeth and black eyes. The guess was a shark shifter, but they had no idea what kind.
He sighed and returned to her father. “Arkus, I have news for you.”
Arkus smiled and sat up. “Is she getting a new assignment?”
“No. She is done as my executioner. She cannot contain any more death. She is done.” Larion watched the elf to see what he was thinking.
“What will she do? I mean, I could find a way to wipe her mind, and then, she could be the executioner once I retrained her to speak and use her powers again.”
Larion was shocked. “No. She is to be sent to the Crossroads and wait there until she finds a mate. You are not to do anything to her. She will recover on her own. She needs time. The Crossroads can give her that.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. We are your servants, and I will tell her the moment she returns.”
Larion nodded. “If I don’t get word that she has arrived in the next two days, I will return, and you will not like the result.”
Arkus swallowed and bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Not every fey would allow their half-human son or daughter to be the hand of the court. It had taken nine years to find Thadra. She had worked well, but Larion wasn’t ignorant of the toll it was taking on her. She needed an honourable out, and he was giving it to her. Who knew? Perhaps her child would be suited to a position in the court one day.
He sighed, summoned his secretary, and started to pore over the options for a new executioner who had the victims in mind while the sentence was carried out. It was a characteristic that he always looked for, and one that was difficult to find.
* * * *
Thadra woke with puddles of gold under her cheek. She sniffled and sat up, wiping her face. The night was edging toward morning, and her body was cold.
She smiled. It was so hard to stop the fire inside her that she welcomed the cold. She must have cried herself out.
She left the gold on the rippling black stone and got to her feet. She walked back along the cold stone path that was now elevated above the water as the tide had shifted.
The home she shared with her father was a low, stoned assembly that could be covered with a light magic shell during storms. Her father was a book collector, but he worked with census records to gain his income.
Her income went into some kind of trust that the court held for her.
She walked back in the now-cool footsteps that she had made the previous evening. She was hungry, and breakfast was calling her.
Thadra entered through the sliding door of the kitchen and puttered around, lighting a fire and setting a pot of water over it for tea. She went into the cool box and found the dinner that her father had made for her the night before. It was a habit. He would make it and set it aside until she returned. Warming it up was a matter of moments, but she did have to cup both her hands under the plate to get it nominally warm before she set the plate on the table and warmed her food from the top down.
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