She could think of only one way out of the castle. He was not going to like it, and there was a chance they may die anyway. Arii figured it was a risk she was willing to take. Valdis would not kill them quickly should they be caught. Elijah’s very existence meant overwhelming danger - and hope. Hope that could cease all of Valdis’s plans in Bonemire.
The waterfall rumbled as they stumbled on to the Dragon Landing, light mist coating their leathers as she dragged Elijah onto the flat expanse of stone. The Sapphire Depths beyond shimmered, the dark depths a blue blanket beneath a twilight sky of purple, blue and gold.
“We cannot allow you any further.”
Arii stopped dead as a familiar voice sounded ahead.
Standing with weapons drawn, donned in full guard uniform - stood Tikkani, Emerson and Quinn.
No, no, no.
Arii grunted under Elijah’s weight, her eyes spearing to the three recruits. “Let us pass,” she said, her tone laced with stone and non-negotiable.
“What the fucking hell is going on, Arii?” snapped Tikkani, and Arii was almost surprised to see Emerson hardly flinch at the curse. The boy stood, sword lifted but she could tell it was half hearted. He was unsure.
Above them the bells tolled again. Her eyes danced over the trio, Tikkani’s look of anger, Emerson’s pain and Quinn’s drawn, unsure face. Three faces she could not bear to hurt.
“I don’t have time to explain. Let us pass,” she growled, stepping forward. When the three did not budge, Arii’s face twisted into a look of pain and fury.
“I swear to the Gods, I will kill you all if you do not let us pass - now!”
The fissure in her heart threatened to break further.
Please, do not make me do it. Please, Gods!
Tikkani shot a brief look at Emerson, and then Quinn. It was Quinn who lowered his sword first. Emerson slowly followed, then Tikkani’s voice whispered, “Go.”
Arii did not have time to thank them. She hauled Elijah past them, heading for the peak of the landing. Quinn cried suddenly. “Wait… where are you going?!”
Arii peered over her shoulder, eyes of amethyst shimmering as her lips curled, a ghost of her usual roguish grin alighting her features.
“Tell them we fell.”
Hold on Elijah, she thought.
With that, the woman clutched the man at her side and shot a prayer up to the Gods as they tipped over the stone barricade-
And fell.
Fell and disappeared into the white mist of the raging waterfall below.
Epilogue
Moments before he had followed the commotion to the throne room, Lorch had paused in the doorway of Arii’s rooms, hoping to find a clue as to where she had gone. Elijah had remained stubbornly silent the morning after her disappearance, prompting Lorch to lead his own search.
Arii’s rooms had been immaculate – not a piece of furniture out of place. What had drawn his attention to the slightly weathered chest at the foot of her bed, he was not sure. But as he neared it and spied the faintest hint of gold light filtering from the keylock, Lorch had not expected to find the luminous, magical thread inside.
He knew what it meant, everyone in Fythnar did.
The pieces had fallen together as he stared at her in the throne room some time later. Her eyes were a vivid purple, her skin luminous. Somehow, her features were sharper as her hair whipped about her face, her ears narrowed to delicate points which he had not noticed before.
Magic flamed from her palm, and Lorch felt several realisations spear his heart just as the flare rocketed out from the dais.
First, Elijah had magic. Impossibly powerful and untamed.
Second, Arii was a Fae, and he had been falling in love with her.
Then his body flew back from the force of the blast, his skull hitting marble and causing his vision to snap to black.
What felt like moments later, he was being woken by a firm shake to his shoulder.
“Lorch.”
His eyes opened slowly, before blinking rapidly. He felt as if cotton lined his eardrums and he could taste blood on his tongue. Hesitantly, Lorch stared up at the man who had woken him.
Valdis rested on his haunches and watched him silently, eyes narrowed and face flecked with tiny lacerations. Lorch remembered his father had been at the forefront, before Elijah… It had been Elijah who had made the room explode with magic, had it not? As he stole a glance past his father’s shoulder, he saw the throne room in complete disarray.
The chairs on the dais had been toppled, the table upturned and the beautiful windows - they were a shell rimmed with broken glass. The floor glittered with shards of all sizes.
Elijah had done this.
How? How had he hidden magic for so long and no one had known?
He had been by the King’s side for so long, a constant protection and faithful servant to the Crown. Lorch swallowed thickly then noticed a dark red stain on the belly of his father’s tunic.
“You’re hurt,” he choked out.
“The Fury bitch nicked me before escaping with the Fae traitor.” His father’s tone was laced with acid. Lorch felt as though strength would never return, his muscles refusing to obey.
“Get yourself looked over by the healers, then we must organise as many men as possible to form search parties. Wherever they have gone, we must find them.” Valdis motioned to the dais, where Lorch now noticed blood on the marble. “They have injuries, which may aid us in catching up to them, but we must act quickly.”
Lorch felt numb. His body, his mind, his heart. His entire being was completely and utterly devoid of emotion.
As guards escorted him to the medical ward, he felt as if the golden halls around him were a blur within a dream. Two healers fluttered about as they poked and prodded him for signs of injury but Lorch knew that apart from bruises and a few shallow cuts, physically he was fine.
It was the damage within that they could not see, damage to his heart, slowly manifesting into a raw flicker of anger.
Had it all been a lie? What he had shared with Arii in the month since his birthday celebration? He felt he had partially thawed the walls of her stoic demeanour - her guarded face began to soften as he allowed her closer. She was not like the many women he had tangled with before - he found himself chasing her. As the King, he had never had to make the effort before. She was fierce and harsh, but he saw something in her - a tiny flicker of her soul behind her large dark blue eyes.
No… not dark blue - violet like the amethyst stones lining his crown. Violet like the skies above the castle just as the sun dropped behind the mountains.
He figured then that she had dimmed her looks with magic.
He remembered the feel of her soft skin beneath his fingers as he traced her scars… her gentle moan as they came together in his bedchambers. Had his mind not been so drugged by her, perhaps he would have put things together far sooner.
Gods, he had been such a fool.
If she were indeed an assassin, why had she not ended him? She had plenty of chances, plenty of times they were alone where she could have slipped a blade into his heart.
But she had not.
Perhaps he was not her target? Perhaps it had been Elijah all along, and she had used him to slide into his best friend’s defences too.
Fire began to rise in the King’s chest.
“Leave me,” he snapped at the healers, and they exited swiftly at his command.
As the door closed behind them, Lorch stood from the cot and paced to the window. Moonlight now blanketed the courtyard below, highlighting a mad scurry of soldiers as they prepared small groups for search parties.
Elijah. His best friend, his protector, the one person with whom he felt he could be himself - was a Fae. Thinking back about their lives growing up, thin
gs were beginning to make sense - Elijah’s withdrawn nature, his memory loss resulting in him unable to tell Lorch where he had lived before the castle, his insistence on his cloaked garb. He had been hiding - and Lorch was unsure if he had even known himself what he truly was.
Elijah had always had a weighted feel about him, the very air around him charged with energy. Lorch had figured it was just his nature - a result of the battles, the intense training… the countless lives he had taken in the name of the Crown.
Now he realised it was far more than that.
The door to the medical room opened, and his father entered. Valdis pushed the door closed before striding to his son. Lorch’s gaze met his father’s, and what Valdis saw there made his face harden - but not with his usual look, Lorch realised. It was a look of determination.
“I don’t understand how we harboured a user of such immense magic, and for so long. How could we not have known?” Lorch said.
Valdis’s brows narrowed. “Elijah Wolfe took us all for fools, my son,” he paused, before speaking again. “We have reason to believe that he is in fact the last remaining son of the Herington bloodline.”
Lorch’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“Eliverus Herington, the rightful heir to your throne, my son. He appears to have survived the Kryvern said to have mauled him to death twenty years ago.”
When Lorch did not speak, his father stepped forward. “That is why it is imperative we locate him and the Violet Assassin quickly. If word spreads to the other Courts, they will rise up in support of Eliverus. They have been waiting for an opportunity such as this, I feel it in my bones.” Valdis’ tone had begun to rise, as if he were suppressing something - excitement perhaps.
Pain laced Lorch’s chest, seizing his heart in a fist. He bellowed in anger and smashed his hand across the table nearby, sending a glass of water across the room to crash in shards on the floor. Lorch dropped to his knees, clutching his hair.
Rage and pain, so potent he could taste it, shuddered through his body like shockwaves.
Valdis almost looked startled; Lorch was not known for outbursts of rage. He had always been so calm, so uncaring of anything to do with the Crown. It had made Valdis’ overarching control so easy.
Slowly his expression changed to something else.
“You’re angry, son - I can see that. This woman meant more to you than you care to admit - Elijah too. They betrayed you, betrayed the Crown.” He knelt before his son on the floor, his hand resting on one shuddering shoulder. Lorch’s head was bowed, his breaths choked and ragged as Valdis slid a hand into his own pocket.
“I have a plan, a plan that will ensure our grasp of the throne is secure, and all threats will be wiped away.”
He produced a glowing shard of ragged Nexus Crystal.
Lorch’s eyes lifted to the blue glow, then widened.
“My methods have been… well let us say not everyone would agree with them. But I am on the cusp of a breakthrough that will soon make us invincible. No one will question your place on the throne when I am done.”
Lorch stared at the severe scar on his father’s face, the spark of cold determination in the eyes that mirrored his own. He saw something else there, something shifting within the blue depths that he had only seen glimpses of before.
Madness.
In that moment though, his own heart was torn asunder, shattering like the glass windows above his throne room. He had been too gentle, too blind to see what was happening right beside him. Perhaps he had been too consumed by the fancy glitter of court life and all the perks which came with the job of being King.
It had allowed him to be used, to be stomped on and tossed aside.
No longer.
Lorch’s hand lifted to rest on top of the glowing stone. Its flickering light danced over his features as he whispered in a voice so resolute he almost believed it was not his own.
“Show me everything.”
From The Author
My story has passed through a few hands before landing in yours, so I have some people to thank who helped shape my debut novel into something incredibly special.
To my husband, Greg – I could not have written Love, Blood & Fury without your unwavering and unending support. Thank you for your patience with me, and for putting up with my hours and hours of silent treatment as I blasted music in my earphones and delved deep into my world while commandeering your work laptop. I also appreciate your help with my publishing timeline and setting out a clear plan to ensure I kept my release date in sight. I love you so much, and you are undoubtedly the gravity holding me to this Earth.
To my parents, Lynne, Allan and Carolyn – You all helped shape my love of reading from an early age, and most of all you have shaped me to be the person I am today. My fondness for reading is your doing, and without your encouragement I never would have taken this leap to publish something that is truly my own. You have all been so incredibly supportive, and I know you are all my biggest fans. I love you all immeasurably.
To my draft readers! Alisha – your intense enthusiasm from the moment I voiced my plans to you, up until the moment you finally had my draft in your hands has been a shining light on this whole journey. Thank you for picking up those hilarious typos, and for your suggestions on some key scenes.
Kate – you were the first to finish my book and the first to suggest so many great ideas that, as you will see, I took on board. Those ideas helped make Love, Blood & Fury even better, and for that I am incredibly grateful to you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Marie, Tamara and Jennie – thank you for cheering me on and taking the time to have a read through my story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
To Kalynne Vorster (Kalynne_Art on Instagram), who illustrated the three images of Arii, Lorch and Elijah – you took what was in my head and brought them to life on paper. You are severely talented, and I am incredibly grateful for your work. I am so excited to feature them in this book, and I know my readers will love the beautiful pieces as much as I do.
To my incredible editor, Carolyn Gilpin, I cannot thank you enough for your time and efforts with my manuscript. Thank you for pointing out some plot holes that I would not have noticed, along with your honesty, enthusiasm and positive feedback on my story. Your expertise has helped smooth out my work considerably and even though the readers would not see the difference – I surely can. I am so grateful to you!
To my son, who will have just been born by the time this book has been released, hopefully you inherit a bit of my love of books in the future, and I hope one day you can read this and be proud of your mum.
Lastly, to you – the reader. The fact that you are reading this right now means you made it to the end of my first novel. There are not many words to convey how truly humbled I am that you have my book in your hands right now. Whether you loved it, enjoyed it somewhat or thought it was not quite your cup of tea – just know that I am grateful that you gave Love, Blood & Fury a chance.
As I mentioned before, this is my first book. Ever. I am not a professional writer by any means, and what I have learned has all been from reading loads of books of similar genre. Those who know me will know how much of a major bookworm I am, and how much I adore books! (Not necessarily good ones, mind you. Like Arii, I too shamefully judge books by their covers!) The story of Arii, Elijah and Lorch has been in the back of my mind for a long time. The general plot, their names, their appearances and their personalities have all been stuck up in my brain for ages, just waiting for me to put pen to paper and bring them to life. I’m not going to lie and say that this process was easy – it wasn’t! I was scared – very scared – of how my book may be perceived, and if it would be liked at all. I had no idea how to make a story flow, but with the help of some writing apps, a bunch of incredible friends and an edit
or, I was finally able to get the story of Love, Blood & Fury together.
My ultimate goal was to write a story that I myself would enjoy, something I would happily pop on my overly full bookshelf along with all of my favourite books. If I were to give any advice at all to aid you if you were thinking of writing your own novel, it would simply be: Don’t think – just write!
There is a lot left to come for Arii, Elijah, Lorch and the gang, and I hope you will continue to follow their journey when I release book two in the not-too-distant future.
Finally, from the deepest depths of my heart, thank you for your support.
See you in book two!
About Melissa
Melissa J. Kincaid is a self-published author from Melbourne, Australia. Coming from a graphic design background, Melissa finds art and crafts relaxing, but she also loves playing video games. Melissa has been a bookworm all her life and has always dreamed of writing and publishing her very own fantasy novel. When her nose is not buried in a book, Melissa spends her time with her loving husband Greg, along with her dog Luna and cat Milly. At the time of writing this book, Melissa and Greg were expecting their first baby.
Love, Blood & Fury is her debut novel.
Love, Blood & Fury Page 40
