A Kingdom of Iron & Wine : New Adult Fantasy Romance (The Ironworld Series Book 1)

by Candace Osmond

  “Tell me more about your life,” she said, her violet eyes raking me over with a strange curiosity. “School, your friends, your family.” As if realizing she might be prying a bit too much for someone meant to be my employer, she straightened and added, “You’re my apprentice, I’m to teach you all I know, but I feel as if I hardly even know who you are.” The kettle whistled, and she turned to fetch it from the stove. As she filled our cups, she said, “Are you enjoying life in the city?”

  I thought of the shadows that seemed to follow me everywhere. The tiny blue fairy I’d had in my room… or thought I had in my room. I thought of Max and how I dreaded walking into class each morning for fear her death stare would one day actually kill me on sight. I thought of how Julie, my best friend and the driving force behind my decision to leave behind the country, and how she just seemed to fit in. How she’d already had friends from school, a guy she was interested in. It’d been weeks since our move to the city, and I still had yet to find my place in it all. Not entirely, anyway.

  I wrapped my cold hands around the teacup and soaked up the warmth. “It’s great. Everything’s… great,” I lied. But then I remembered… my promise to myself. To live without the thumb of fear pressing down on me. I’d told myself I would start embracing my new life. To stop scaring myself out of living here. Julie had her own classes, a temp job at the library, and Tomas… on some level. I had to find my thing. My place here. So, I smiled and asked, “What about your brother?” Celadine’s already pale face lost what little color she held in her cheeks. “You mentioned having to deal with some business matters with him or something? Is everything okay?”

  She put her teacup to her lips and nodded gently, avoiding eye contact, and waved a hand in the air. “Oh, it was nothing to be concerned over.” She forced a sigh and smiled as she set down her cup. “The life of being an older sibling.”

  Tea warmed my inside as I swallowed another sip. “So, what’s today’s lesson in apprenticeship?”

  Celadine’s heavily ringed fingers fiddled with the rim of her cup. “For today, I’d love to discuss an upcoming showing I just booked.”

  “Oh?” I replied. “Anything good?”

  She grinned. “It’s a Mitchell showing.”

  A gasp turned over in my throat. Mitchell. That was the artist I mentioned in my interview. His stuff was unparalleled. “That’s amazing! I’d love to help.”

  “More than help,” she replied. “I’d like you to plan and organize everything. With my oversight, of course. I’ll give you the gallery Visa with a breakdown of the budget and a list of things to be done. From there, it’ll be up to you. So, are you ready?” She fetched a stack of papers from a boho-style shoulder bag I hadn’t noticed she was carrying.

  My nerves were racing. But I thrived on it. This was it. This was the beginning of my career, the path I’d been waiting for. With a deep breath, I nodded and took the papers from my mentor. My… friend.

  “Yes, absolutely.”

  Chapter Eight

  “I’m telling you,” Tomas said as he took Julie’s place at the pool table. He lined up his shot and looked at me from across the green. “Limited series is the way to go. From a filmmaker’s perspective.”

  “But movies would be so much fun to make,” I argued lightly as I leaned against my upright pool stick. I tipped my chin to Julie, who sat behind Tomas. She stuffed nachos to the side of her mouth as she met my gaze. “Julie. Movies or limited TV series. Which would you go with?”

  Her eyes immediately went to Tomas’s as if to say, does it matter? “I mean, there’re pros and cons to both, I guess.”

  They switched places again, and Tomas came around the table to argue his point like the film nerd he was. I loved it.

  “With movies, you’re forced to rush the storyline.” His eyes were lit with passion. Passion for his art, for the thing he loved most in this world.

  I stared back with nothing but admiration. This was what I needed. Busy, loud frat parties were definitely not my thing. But this… the three of us, all hailing from different corners of the art world–fine arts, media, and literature–gathered around a pool table under the dim golden hue of an old Irish pub, serenaded by the sounds of alt and Celtic rock.

  This was the life I wanted. I knew it with such certainty. Especially after another dreadful week of facing Max’s unwarranted anger each day, coffee spills and minor burns as I learned the ropes in the café, and the nightmares that fought for space in my mind as I stuffed it full of apprentice stuff.

  Working with Celadine has been a dream, and my apprenticeship has only just begun. I wondered–hoped–it would be the starting point, the open door that would lead me to find my place here, in the city, in this new life.

  Tomas continued, reeling me in from my own mind and anchoring me in the moment. “But with a limited TV series, you have the room to play.” He took a deep, excited breath. “Room to fully develop the characters and storylines.”

  “But without the pressure to drag it out over several seasons,” Julie piped up from the other side.

  She’d grown tired of waiting for me to take my turn and retreated back to her giant plate of nachos. Tomas’s cheeks flushed with red as he gave her that look. The one that said, I think I’m in love. I just gave a defeated eye roll and took my shot. I sank three balls, and Tomas let out a long whistle.

  “You never said you were a sharpshooter.” He casually flipped his short brown waves to the side and smiled.

  I shrugged and rubbed the cube of blue chalk around the tip of my stick. “You should see me at bowling.”

  Tomas laughed as Julie just nodded over the plate of nachos. It was true. I killed at bowling. Around us, the gentle rock music that played in the tiny Irish pub suddenly stopped. The live band was getting ready to play, but they were still setting up.

  “I’m getting a refill,” I told them. “And maybe a hotdog. You guys want anything?”

  Tomas shook his head, but Julie said, “Can you grab me a Coke?”

  I left them leaning toward each other over the small bar table and made my way to the main bar across the pub. A semi-circle manned by just one bartender. I approached the worn oak edge and rested my elbows against it as I waited for his attention to fall on me as he made his way around to the three other people waiting.

  When the bartender, a cheerful guy in a green plaid shirt, smiled at me, I placed my order and waited. But, as he turned away, I caught the deathly blue stare of someone across the bar, and my stomach clenched. Then threatened to heave as I watched him rise from his chair and saunter over to me.

  “I see you made it,” he said and leaned against the bar just inches from me. His black leather jacket, so perfectly fit his body, crunched as he shifted and leaned away. He stared at me with that grin. “The bus. You looked like you were about to pass out.”

  I realized then, my mouth… gaped open, and he must have mistaken my expression for confusion. I shook my head and reminded myself how to smile. “Oh, yeah. That. I… don’t travel well.”

  He didn’t reply, only lingered. Staring. Ogling was more like it. As if there were words written all over me, and he wanted to read every single one. I could feel my heart in my throat. “So… what are you, like, stalking me or something?”

  His brows raised in delight. “Would you like me to?”

  His wide pink lips turned up with a cheeky grin, and I ached to run my finger over the sharp lines of them. Knew exactly how I’d draw them. My heart rattled in its cage, and I swear… he almost seemed to hear it. Those dark blue eyes darted to that spot on my throat where I knew my pulse thrummed.

  The bartender appeared with my drinks. “The hotdog will be another few minutes.”

  I just nodded, and he zipped off to serve someone else. I grabbed my beer as I pulled Julie’s Coke close. “I’d rather not end up on a milk carton, thanks.”

  He straightened, and only then did I realize just how tall this guy was. With both of us upright together. H
e loomed over me, and I swallowed dryly.

  His dark brows pinched together. “You think I’d hurt you?”

  I took a sip to hide my nerves and shook my head. “I don’t… I don’t even know you.”

  He gave me a hesitant smile, a loveliness against the sharp contrast of his pale skin and dark looks, and held out a hand. I just stared at it.

  “Cillian.”

  The name trickled off his lips like the word… cookie, and my eyes traced the sharp lines of them. Sketched them into my brain to no doubt resurface in my art later.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked, and I tore my gaze from his mouth.

  Definitely not cookies.

  I stared at his still-outstretched hand, gawked at the gesture, and then up at his awaiting face. Something in his eyes almost seemed to say–to beg, don’t take it. Or was it just my measly sense of self-perseverance speaking to me? I took a deep breath, and, against all better judgment, I slowly placed my hand in his.

  “Avery,” I said and shook.

  Cillian’s long, cool fingers wrapped all the way around my hand. He eyed it, every finger, the paint caked under my nails. My cheeks warmed, and I slid my hand back.

  “There,” Cillian spoke. The sound was nothing but a deep rasp that caressed my spine. “Now you know me.”

  “And… you know me,” I replied, my brows raised to convey the deeper meaning of my words. Please don’t stalk and kill me in the street.

  But I couldn’t live my life afraid. Always missing out on… living. I refused to ever go back to the Avery I was mere weeks ago. The country girl who painted pictures of birds and fairies in her backyard. I’d moved to the city to have more. See more. Do more. Meet different people, friends, maybe even date. A concept I’d never really ever entertained until now. Not because Tess would have made it impossible, but because I had always been too preoccupied with my art. And home school isn’t exactly the best method to meet guys. I’d been a nobody, a whisper of existence.

  Until now.

  So, I gave Cillian a smile and let out a laugh, playing off my tense behavior. But my cheeks still felt warm. I glanced over my shoulder at my friends, who suddenly found themselves fascinated with a spot on the wall. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Cillian.

  “I’m with some–”

  “Oh, of course.” He waved a hand, signaling me to go on. “Don’t let me keep you. I just wanted to say hello. You know, since you’re not being harassed by some drunken idiot or losing your supper in the bushes.”

  Even though he poked fun at me, I could watch him speak all day. The way his too beautiful face moved. I fought not to stare at his mouth. So, I settled for those eyes. The ones I desperately wanted to paint. “Would you… like to join us?”

  My hotdog appeared, and I cradled it to my chest with the two drinks. Cillian leaned into me, and I inhaled the cool, leathery scent of him. Frozen, captivated by his mere presence.

  He said in a brush of air against the side of my face, “I don’t think we’re ready for that just yet. Besides, I was just leaving.”

  I watched as he backed away, grinning knowingly, his drink in hand. He tipped it up and took the last sip as he stared at me with delight over the rim. He placed the empty class on the bar and threw the bartender a wink as if he knew him–the returning wink confirmed–and then left me with the most devilish grin I’d ever seen outside of a cheesy teen drama as he slipped out the front door.

  He was gone, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that anchored me in place. Was it fear or lust? The fact that I couldn’t tell the difference was enough to send a cold shiver down my spine, and I spun around as I headed back to my friends.

  Cillian seemed to have some kind of interest in me. People just didn’t have as many happenstances as we had. The party, the bus, and now here. But he felt… wrong. No, not wrong. I searched the bottom of my gut for the word.

  Forbidden.

  It was the only word that made sense to my rattling nerves. The strange tingling Cillian seemed to rouse under my skin. An itch I couldn’t scratch. I took a long, deep breath and purged the encounter from my mind as I set Julie’s Coke down in front of her.

  “Who the hell was that?” she asked, her grassy eyes wide.

  I shrugged coolly as I took a bite of my hotdog and stuffed it to the side of my mouth. “Just some guy I’ve seen around here and there.”

  Julie let out a long breath and chuckled. “I thought he was a figment of my imagination.”

  “He’s pretentious,” I said, suddenly annoyed in the aftermath of the encounter. “And he’s painfully good-looking. That’s not normal.”

  She nodded, and Tomas took his shot, sinking the white ball. His shoulders slumped as he walked over to where the ball popped out on the side of the table. “It’s true. Definitely some kind of alien life form.”

  I nodded and sipped my drink, keeping with the bit. “Definitely. Clearly, he appears in the form I most desire because I’m the key to taking over the planet.”

  Julie howled with laughter, and I couldn’t hold back, especially when Tomas joined in. He took another shot, and sank a ball then pointed his stick toward me. “Look, I’m not an expert on dating the male species, but I think it’s safe to say that you’d be crazy to pass up that guy.”

  “Yeah?” I failed to stifle my laugh.

  He held out an open palm. “Painfully handsome, hypnotic eyes, tall and lurky,” he counted down on his fingers, “Movie star hair. How much more convincing do you need?”

  I exchanged a look with Julie, and we both burst into laughter. “Not as little as you, apparently.”

  Tomas’s cheeks reddened, but he squared his shoulders. “I’m confident enough in my manhood to know when to admit another man is, how do you say… ” he waved a hand in the air with an exaggerated motion. “Hot as fuck?”

  “I think I know bad news when I see it,” I replied with an eye roll and took my shot, sinking two balls.

  Julie hopped down from her bar stool and readied her pool stick. “I agree. A guy like that’s either a serial killer or a heartbreaker.”

  “So, safe to say, I should just steer clear.” I sucked in a long, deep breath.

  We played a few more games of pool and shared more drinks before I had to fight off a yawn. I set my stick back in the holder on the wall and turned to my friends.

  “I think I’m going to head home for the night,” I told them. “I’m beat, and I’ve got a ton of stuff to do for the gallery tomorrow.”

  “You want us to walk you home?” Julie asked, and Tomas nodded from over her shoulder.

  “Nah,” I replied and shoved my arms into the sleeves of my army green jacket. “It’s just a couple of streets over.”

  I left them chatting over a shared space in a corner where we’d played and headed out to the bustling street. One good thing about downtown Halifax, you’re never really alone. The sidewalks were always littered with walkers–students and locals just going about their business.

  I turned a corner, past a flourishing hedge of wild roses, but a loud rustling brought me to a halt, and I stared at the thick foliage as my pulse quickened. But nothing appeared. I walked faster, speeding for the coffee shop that I could already see up ahead. Shadows chased me across two crosswalks and floated up the old rickety staircase at the back of the Chocolate Kettle. I fumbled with my keys as the steps below darkened one by one. Each second passed like a needle to my throat. Finally, the key slid in, and I bolted inside the apartment before slamming the door shut.

  Inside the dark porch, I pressed my back against the wall as I strained to calm my breathing. It’s nothing, it’s nothing, I told myself. I imagined it all. But, just as my heart began to settle, a loud thunk sound came from my bedroom. I plucked an umbrella from the hooks lining the porch wall and slowly crept toward my bedroom door. My knuckles were white as the handle moaned in my palms. I held my breath as I opened the door, and a gentle breeze blew in from the open window by my bed.


  “Well, it’s about time you came home,” spoke a tiny, musical voice. My eyes darted to the mattress, and there it was. The blue fairy I’d captured before. So… it wasn’t just in my mind. The fairy sat atop a small burlap sack as something wriggled inside.

  “What do you want?” I asked. The umbrella draped across my front. I hovered near the door and reached out to close it. My eyes on the fairy.

  It smiled up at me with a wide mouth of pointed teeth. Those all-black buggish eyes blinked. “You’ll be pleased to know you didn’t injure me beyond repair.” She unfolded her boney legs and reached inside the bag. Those long, claw-like fingers pulled out a mouse by its neck, and I jumped back against the wall. “Oh, and I remember my name. It’s Lattie.”

  The rodent squirmed and squealed in the fairy’s grasp. I set the umbrella down and crossed my arms. “Yeah, and?”

  Lattie’s bottom jaw lowered, and she lobbed off the tiny mouse’s head in a single bite. I fought the urge to vomit. I tried to look away, but she shoved bits to the side of her toothy mouth, blood now covered my white duvet, and said, “And yours is Avery Quinn.”

  ***

  Cheese, crackers.

  “I think I’m falling for him,” Julie said as she leaned against the old white fridge.

  It took every ounce of willpower to look normal as Julie gossiped in my ear. I had to step away from my bedroom. I couldn’t stand to watch the little beast eat a mouse on my bed. So, I mindlessly piled snacks onto a plate instead.

  Grapes, a handful of cashews.

  “I thought you weren’t looking for anything serious?” I managed to say and added an awkward smile at the end. If she noticed I was behaving strangely, she said nothing.

  “Who says it needs to be serious?” Julie plucked a grape off my plate and popped it in her mouth with a wink as she turned and headed to her room. “Night!”

  “Night,” I replied and gripped the plate of snacks before turning to my room.

  I quickly shut the door behind me, balancing the plate with one hand as I stood just inside the quiet of my bedroom. Just to be sure, I used my lock for the first time. I couldn’t risk Julie walking in on… I turned toward my bed as I gripped the plate with both hands and peered down at the blue fairy that sat waiting on my bed. No sign of the small animal it had consumed while I was gone.