Heir of the Fae

by Linsey Hall

  The fire slammed into him, driving him to the ground. It was even bigger than it had been when he’d shot it at me, and he smashed to the stones in a flaming heap.

  He didn’t get up again.

  I looked down at myself, shocked.

  What the hell?

  Aeri screamed.

  I turned, heart pounding, and saw a blast of flame nearly hit the rope that held her suspended.

  Shit!

  I sprinted for her, then launched myself back into the air. My wings hurt from the flame that had blasted into them and my shoulder felt like an elephant had stepped on it, but I made it up into the air. I flew as fast as I could, wings aching and heart pounding.

  When the cold pain sliced through my right wing, I screamed and fell, tumbling through the air. I hit the ground again, this time on my hip. Agony flared as I lay on the hard stone, stunned.

  An icicle smashed into the ground next to my head, shattering in a hundred pieces.

  Adrenaline drove me to my feet. I whirled, searching for the attacker. Another Unseelie stood on the ground about fifty yards from me. A black cloak whipped around her form, and her hair was tipped with blue. She grinned evilly and raised her hand, conjuring another icicle that could pierce me straight through.

  Again, there was nowhere to hide. My shield wouldn’t come when called.

  I braced myself for impact, ready to dive. When the Fae shot the icicle at me, it flew through the air so fast I could hardly see it. I dived right, ready for impact because there was no way I would escape it entirely. These Fae were just too fast. When the icicle hit me, it didn’t pierce the skin like it had pierced my wing. Instead, my body absorbed it and the magic that had created it. The power swelled inside me, then shot back out, an icicle forming in midair that hurtled right for my attacker.

  She dived out of the way, barely escaping as the icicle whizzed past.

  What the hell was going on with me?

  12

  I had a new power, but how the hell did it work?

  My mind raced, going back over the three times I’d used this magic. What exactly had happened each time?

  And then it came to me.

  If I didn’t see the blow coming, it would hit me like normal.

  If I did see it and could brace for impact, I could send it back at my attacker.

  Maybe I could even aim, if I tried hard enough.

  The Fae called upon another icicle, aiming right for me. This time, when it flew, I stood stock still and stared at it. My heartbeat thundered so loudly that I thought it would deafen me, but I didn’t try to run.

  When the ice slammed into me, I let the power fill me up to bursting. I imagined sending it right back at the attacker’s chest. A fraction of a second later, the magic exploded out of me and formed a gleaming blue icicle. It hurtled through the air and hit the attacker right in the chest.

  She shrieked, then disappeared in a poof of smoke.

  Maybe she’d been real. Maybe she’d been a figment of magic meant to force me to learn my skills.

  Whatever the case, I had Aeri to save.

  She was real. Not a figment. I could feel it.

  I turned, my gaze going toward her just in time to see a blast of fire hit the rope that held her.

  It ignited.

  Terror flared in my chest.

  The rope would burn, and she would die.

  I nearly launched myself into the air, then stopped.

  No. Just because I had wings didn’t mean I should use them. I’d been too exposed up in the air. I needed to see the attacks that were coming, and when I was airborne, the Unseelie could attack from below as well as all sides.

  I’d have to get right below her and shoot up from there, grabbing her before she fell.

  I ran, sprinting across the stone ground. It arched up as a bridge ahead of me, and I followed it, crossing over a river that bubbled with acid. I tried to keep my gaze swiveling all around, searching for attackers.

  Ahead of me, there were hundreds of flat pillars of rock jutting up at different heights. They looked a bit like the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, and I could climb them like stairs if I was careful. They were all different levels, but I could run across them to the other side.

  I raced for the stones, my injured hip aching and my bare feet pounding on stone. I leapt onto the first stone, then the next and the next.

  Something flashed out of the corner of my eye.

  Bright light.

  Electric current.

  I dived low, tumbling on the pillars of stone but managing to avoid a direct hit. Electricity glanced off my thigh, hurting like hell but not keeping me down.

  I scrambled up, whirling to face my attacker.

  Another Unseelie Fae had climbed onto one of the stone pillars. His eyes glowed with the same electric blue fire that flickered around his hand. He hurled the magic at me, and I braced for impact.

  It slammed into me, and I absorbed it, sending it right back at him. He dived left, freakishly fast.

  Shit.

  “You can’t get me.” He laughed, a sound so confident that I wanted to smack him in the face.

  Again, he fired. I caught it like I had the last time, but when I sent it back, he dived away again, moving almost as quickly as the current itself.

  The only time he stood still was when he fired at me.

  Otherwise, he was too quick.

  We could do this all day, except for the fact that every hit weakened me. Not a lot—not nearly as bad as taking a true hit. But it definitely depleted my power.

  Subtly, I prepared to grab the obsidian dagger that hung from the decorative belt on my dress. This was a Fae fashion I could get behind.

  As the Fae finally stood still to fire his magic at me, I grabbed the dagger and threw. My blade left my hand at the same time his electricity left his. He tried dodging, but I’d been too fast while he was standing still. The dagger hit him in the gut.

  He stumbled, clutching the hilt of the blade.

  I took his electric hit head-on, absorbing it and sending it right back at him.

  Slowed by the blade in his gut, the electricity plowed into him, lighting him up like a firework. He dropped to the ground.

  I turned from the Fae, spotting Aeri just as the flame ate through the last of the rope and it snapped.

  I launched myself into the air, combining my Dragon Blood speed with my Fae wings. I shot like a bullet, reaching her right before she crashed into the ground. I grabbed her around the waist, and we tumbled through the air, finally slamming to the ground and skidding along the rock.

  The dress tore, and it hurt like hell on my bare skin.

  Finally, we rolled to a stop.

  Panting, I pulled back, frantic. “Are you okay?”

  Aeri was sprawled beneath me, looking pale and windblown. “Fine. Fates, that sucked.”

  “How’d you get here?” I demanded, not even sure where here was. It felt like a magical half realm. “Did they kidnap you?”

  “Some weird smoke lady said I had to come help you master your magic. She had power like I’d never felt.” Awe echoed in her voice.

  She had to be talking about the figure who had called me Heir of the Fae.

  “And you just did it?” I nearly shrieked. “That’s like getting in the car of a stranger with candy!”

  “It was obvious she was telling the truth. I could feel it.” She gripped my upper arms. “It was real, Mari. I mean, she’s clearly kind of evil, but also immensely powerful. And you needed me. So I agreed, and some crazy magic swept me up and stuck me in that rope.”

  I threw my arms around her. “Jeez, you’re dumb. But thank you. Let’s get out of here.”

  She frowned, and her form seemed to shimmer. “I’m being pulled away.” She drew back. “I think my part here is done. Good luck.”

  With that, she disappeared.

  I stumbled back, shocked.

  I felt like I was on acid.

  Shaking, I stood a
nd turned in a circle.

  All around, the crazy rock formations disappeared. Wisps of smoke and mist began to fill the huge cavern. I spun, looking for a way out.

  But there was just smoke. Some of it coalesced into big clouds low to the ground. They pulled at me.

  I blinked.

  What the hell?

  Something pulled hard from my right, tugging at my very soul.

  Truth.

  I could feel it in my bones.

  I turned to the right, squinting into the thick white mist. There was a figure ahead of me, shrouded in white fog and impossible to clearly see. There were more shadowy figures to my left and right. But only this one really called to me.

  I ran to it, compelled by something I didn’t understand. The word truth kept echoing in my head. As I neared the shadowy figure, the mist began to clear.

  And I saw myself.

  What the hell?

  Another version of myself was running toward Burn, who was attacking an Unseelie Fae. The thorn wolf snapped at the Fae, his white teeth grabbing the Fae’s arm as he waved a dagger.

  “Burn!” I shouted.

  The wolf didn’t even notice me, just kept attacking the guard.

  I looked at the other version of myself. She looked like hell, her lacy black dress torn, skin beat up, wings wounded from fire and ice. She was still running toward Burn.

  “Hey, me!” I shouted, feeling crazy. “Mari!”

  But the other version of me didn’t look over.

  I ran up to her, but she didn’t so much as flinch when I tried to touch her shoulder. My hand passed right through.

  This was a vision of some kind.

  I spun in a circle, my head aching from trying to see the other figures in the mist. Things were happening all around me, like hidden vignettes, but I couldn’t quite see them.

  I could feel them, though.

  Some called to me, echoing with the word truth.

  Others didn’t interest me at all. False.

  Hadn’t Aethelred once mentioned his seer powers appearing to him in a similar way? Was that what was happening?

  I needed to see more.

  One shadowy figure pulled hardest at me, so I went toward it, running through the mist with my ragged dress flapping. Finally, the mist cleared enough, and I saw Burn again. Another version of him, attacking the same Unseelie Fae in the same way.

  But there was no other version of me.

  “Burn!” I shouted.

  This time, the dog looked at me.

  But there was still no other me.

  Quickly, I darted toward Burn and touched his tail. Burn’s thorns were cool and smooth beneath my hand, and the Fae he wrestled stared at me with anger.

  I stumbled back, leaving them to their fight. They were definitely real, and definitely here. Burn had my back while I figured this stuff out, keeping the Unseelie off me to buy me some time to think.

  My heart thundered and my mind spun.

  I ran toward another group of figured.

  When I got close enough that the mist cleared, I saw me and Aeri. I was dressed as my usual fabulous self, whereas Aeri looked great in her sleek white silk suit. We both held wineglasses painted with vampire fangs, and we both grinned.

  Hang on.

  I’d bought those wineglasses last week, and we planned to use them during a True Blood marathon sometime in the future. We were saving them especially for that.

  Was I really seeing the future?

  I strode forward to the figures, who didn't so much as blink at me. My hand passed right through my other version’s shoulder.

  I played back the images of me and Burn in my mind. The first vision had been me witnessing the very near future—myself finding Burn in the mist, protecting me.

  The second had not really been a vision at all. It had been me really coming upon Burn protecting me.

  And now I was seeing something that should happen a week or two from now.

  Holy fates, I was seeing the future.

  I turned, spinning as I searched the mist for more visions. The figures who hovered just out of sight still echoed with feelings of true and false.

  What if I ran toward a false one?

  I tried it, heading toward a vision that didn’t feel right. It almost made me nauseous to keep going, but I pushed onward.

  When I finally reached the image and saw it, I nearly vomited.

  Me, beheading Aeri with a sword as I grinned maliciously.

  I spun away, my stomach heaving.

  I would never do that.

  That confirmed it—if I wanted to see the future, I just needed to choose to go towards the shadowy figures who felt true. I needed to control this. To ask the questions about things I wanted to see, not just be a passive vessel receiving messages from the universe about the future.

  Tarron.

  An image of him popped into my mind.

  The feelings followed.

  Confusion, sadness, admiration, fear, lust.

  Fated mates.

  What did that mean for us? What did our future hold? I was lying to him about my mother and the fact that her magic had been present when the Unseelie had invaded his realm—or at least, I was hiding the truth.

  He hated my species.

  Not to mention, he drove me insane. Insane with lust, and just plain insane sometimes.

  We had so much stacked against us.

  What did the future hold?

  I couldn’t help but want to cheat and see something. If one could really call it cheating.

  Several of the shadowy vignettes called to me, but one of them screamed truth.

  I ran for it, my heart beginning to pound. Adrenaline raced through my veins.

  When the mist cleared enough that I could see the vision, I stumbled, confused.

  In front of me, Tarron and I stood in a near embrace. Tears leaked in my eyes. Grief shined there as well.

  And I stuck a dagger into his heart.

  He fell.

  Dead.

  I stumbled back, gasping.

  I would kill Tarron?

  No. No way.

  My head pounded. I ran from the vision, spinning and sprinting blindly into the mist. I ran until my lungs burned and my feet ached. Finally, I slowed, the white mist still floating around me, vignettes hazy in the distance.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and shoved away the image of me killing Tarron. I couldn’t think about that right now. I had to get through this.

  It wasn’t over yet. The mist would go away if this test was over.

  I needed to ask another question. I needed to see something else.

  Heir of the Fae.

  What did it mean?

  I needed a vision related to that. I called on my new magic. Premonition or whatever it was. It swelled inside me as the vignettes around me called out. One spoke particularly strongly to my soul, so I ran toward that.

  My mother.

  Heir had to do with my mother.

  I needed to see her in the mist.

  As I neared the vision and the smoke began to clear, my skin chilled with fear. What would she be like?

  When I saw her, my eyes widened.

  She looked just like me. Older, with thick streaks of white through her black hair, but just like me. No wonder some of the Unseelie had looked at me like they recognized me.

  And for the briefest second, the sharpest desire pierced me. Desire for acceptance. From my mom.

  A woman I’d never known who was probably evil.

  I couldn’t help it though.

  My throat tightened as I looked at her. She wore a glorious gown of black lace and an obsidian crown that looked sharp and deadly.

  A crown.

  Queen of the Unseelie Fae.

  Holy shit, my mother was queen.

  Oh, that was bad news.

  More figures appeared in the vignette as the scene changed. Tarron, bound with a thorny vine. Pain creased his features as the thorns stabbed him. My mother laughed
.

  My heart rate spiked, and I reached out.

  No. He’d been captured.

  Or he would be captured?

  When in the future was this?

  I couldn’t see that.

  In all of these visions, I’d never been able to tell when they happened.

  But this vision—it would happen soon. Maybe in a few hours. Maybe in a few seconds. I could feel it.

  I pulled myself away from the vignette, shoving it from my mind.

  The mist cleared, disappearing as quickly as it had come.

  Suddenly, I stood in the middle of the crystal palace again. The shadowy woman made of smoke drifted toward me on a light breeze. The same dark and light power radiated from her, heavy on the dark.

  “You have seen, Heir of the Fae.”

  Thoughts raced. Aeri. My mother. Tarron.

  “Is my sister safe?” I demanded. “Did you really return her to earth?”

  “Didn’t you just see her in a vision of the future?”

  Oh, wow. She had a point. If I had been able to see her in the future, it meant she was all right. Adrenaline raced through me. For good measure, I tried again.

  I closed my eyes and called on the power of premonition that had come to life inside me. Fog filled my mind, and if felt like I was back in the misty space I’d just escaped.

  “Aeri. Show me Aeri in the future.” I spoke the words aloud, not caring that I was talking to myself.

  And suddenly, I saw her. Appearing through the mist, drinking a martini.

  Truth.

  My eyes popped open, and I searched for the ephemeral figure, knowing I had no time to waste. “Where’s my mother? Where’s Tarron?

  She waved a smoky arm in a broad gesture, and the crystal ceiling of the palace disappeared. The dark sky beckoned from above. “Find them yourself.”

  She disappeared.

  And I was done.

  Somehow, I could tell that my trials were over.

  I called upon my wings and launched myself into the air, flying up through the roof and into the night sky. Wind tore at my hair and ragged dress as I flew, shooting higher and higher upward. When the air turned to water, somehow I wasn’t surprised.

  I just started swimming, kicking myself to the surface.

  My head broke through the water, and I gasped, my gaze going for the stone ledge where I’d first dived in. Burn stood there, eyes keen on me. He woofed low.