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

by Candace Osmond

  We were alone.

  I was alone with Cillian in my apartment.

  And he was looking at me like I was… desirable.

  My breath hitched. “Do you want some tea?” I immediately regretted the words. Why was I such a spaz?

  Cillian’s mouth–his warm, inviting mouth–curved upward. “Do you want tea?”

  “No.” I shook my head and pressed my lips together, a movement he watched very closely as he slowly leaned closer. My heart sped up even more. “I definitely don’t want tea.”

  “Me neither,” he said through a coy smile. His fingers carefully took mine, moving sensually to trace lazy lines on the back of my hand.

  Only a few inches separated us, and I gobbled up the nearness of him. The feel of his skin on my hand–my arm. His leg pressed up against mine on the couch. Those eyes stared at me with a look that said so much. And I hoped the answer reflected in mine. Cillian’s cool breath brushed over my face.

  But I couldn’t stop my mouth from spewing more words. “Did you mean what you said? Back at the gallery, about kissing me?”

  “Yes, every word.”

  My hand moved over his knee, and I gripped his hard thigh. Cillian cupped my face in one hand, his thumb brushing the skin of my too-warm cheek. His touch was cool, soothing, and I turned my face in his palm, pressing my mouth to it.

  The sensual moan that turned over in his chest vibrated in the bit of space between us. Space that lessened even more as he moved closer, that wide mouth just a hair from mine. My lips parted, and I sucked in a sharp breath of air–cool air that spilled over his bottom lip.

  The door barged open, and I yelped. Cillian immediately tensed and shuffled to the end of the sofa.

  “Oh my god!” Julie said as she sped across the apartment, eyes alight with panic. “I was worried sick! I couldn’t find you anywhere! Are you okay?” She plunked down on the couch to my other side. “Why did you leave?”

  “Shit.” I cringed. “I’m such an idiot. I should have asked Celadine to tell you.”

  The cushions shifted as Cillian stood up and cleared his throat. “I’m, uh, I’m just going to head back and see if Cellie needs any help at the gallery.”

  “Are you sure?” I practically floated across the floor as I walked him to the door. He stopped in the open frame and leaned against it. I lowered my voice. “You can stay, you know.”

  His cerulean eyes flickered to something over my shoulder, and they glistened with a bit of amusement before falling on me again. His expression wrought with a deep look of longing, one that made my breath still in my chest.

  “Until next time,” he whispered and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek.

  And then he was gone. I shut and locked the door but then stood there staring at it. Julie appeared at my side, and I turned to look at her. She raised her pale brows, confusion all over her face.

  “Cellie?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Julie blew out a long, exasperated breath as I finished explaining everything to her. How the guy I was falling for was also the brother of my boss and mentor. I told her about each time I’d crossed paths with him and the events that had led to tonight.

  She hugged a pillow to her chest as she rocked back on the sofa. “So, Celadine’s not mad, then?”

  I shook my head. “Not that I can tell. I mean, yeah, she was a bit peeved at her brother for not listening, for not staying away from me.” I rubbed my hand over my lips in thought. “I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on between them. I mean, why would she get so upset about the possibility of him dating her apprentice?”

  Julie shrugged. “Maybe something happened in the past? Maybe he’d dated a previous apprentice of hers, and it didn’t work out?”

  I considered it. I suppose that would explain Celadine’s apprehension. To put all that work and effort into molding someone, only for them to leave due to a broken heart. I swallowed dryly.

  That could be me one day.

  A commotion came from behind the closed door of my bedroom. Like something falling to the floor, and both Julie and I whipped our heads in the direction of the noise. Another series of banging and clanking echoed inside my bedroom, so I leaped to my feet and swung the door open to find Lattie on the floor, wrestling with a fabric bag she fought to keep closed in her tiny hands.

  She hissed up at me, and I gave her a scolding look. “Where the hell have you been?”

  “I was hunting,” she replied and lost her grip on the bag. A kitten scurried out.

  Wide-eyed, I caught it in my hands and cradled the shivering thing to my chest. “Lattie! You can’t eat people’s pets!” The cat meowed in my arms. “Birds and mice, fine. But no cats!”

  I didn’t need to turn around to know Julie stood right behind me, quietly observing everything. Lattie’s big black, almond-shaped eyes fixed on her over my shoulder. But she said nothing of my friend’s presence.

  I walked over to the window and carefully set down the cat on its four legs and waited for it to crawl down the fire escape before I spun back around to the murderous little creature now sitting on the edge of my dresser. Her long, blue legs dangling.

  “You’ve been gone for days,” I said to her. “I nearly got myself killed trying to find you.”

  “Like I said,” she replied through pointed, gritted teeth, “I was hunting. It’s what my kind does. And you just lost my supper.”

  “Lattie, I will not let you drag back the neighborhood cats to eat in my house,” I scolded. “If you’re going to be doing that, then keep it away from here.”

  “Fine.” She crossed her too-long arms in a huff and then cocked her head to a wide-eyed Julie standing in the open doorway. “Care to explain?”

  I heaved a deep sigh and rubbed my hands over my exhausted face. So many moving parts to my life, and I felt like I had no control over any of them. “This is Julie,” I said and then laughed tiredly. The cat was out of the bag–both literally and figuratively. “My roommate I told you about. She’s like you. She’s Fae.”

  Lattie blinked at me and then at Julie. “Is that so?”

  Julie nodded once. “Yeah, Solitary. Raised in Ironworld.” She tipped her head, examining my tiny blue friend. “Strange, I’ve never seen you around.”

  Those little blue wings puffed out as Lattie hovered in the air between us. “I’m not Solitary. I came from Faerie shortly before I met Avery.”

  “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you,” Julie said with all honesty.

  Lattie fluttered over to her, swirling around her head, touching her hair, and sniffing her skin. She then looked at me, her face pinching. “What did you mean before, when you said you nearly got yourself killed looking for me? Killed how?”

  I explained to Lattie all about my run-in at the nightclub Umbra. Her withering expression told me she knew exactly what club I was talking about. Julie just listened intently, knowing what had already happened. But then I realized… I hadn’t told her everything about that night.

  I sighed and plopped down on the edge of my bed. “And there was this woman. A creature, or… something. I don’t know what she is or who she is. All I know is that she’s been following me pretty much everywhere.”

  “Wait, what?” Julie tensed.

  “I forgot to mention it before. I think I was in shock.” I chortled. “Still am. But she was at that nightclub, stalking me. And again, tonight, at the gallery. She keeps trying to lure me away with her.”

  “What did she look like?” Julie asked sternly.

  Bringing the image of her to the forefront of my mind made me cringe. “Black, everywhere. Dripping with it. A witch’s cackle. Eyes so dark they almost seem pitless.” I pressed my lips together. “And wings like a bat’s. Leathery, big, all torn up. They drag on the ground when she walks.”

  Julie and Lattie both gasped in unison.

  “I take it you’ve heard of her?” I asked.

  “Av’,” Julie’s voice was an icy whisper. “Why didn’t yo
u tell me?”

  I pointed to my head, brows raised. “Shock, remember? My little human brain can barely keep up with any of this. And to be honest, I thought… maybe I was losing my mind.” Lattie’s expression fell sadly. “Why? Who is she?”

  They exchanged a look, and Lattie hovered in the air next to my face. “Evaine. The creature you describe is undoubtedly Evaine. She’s one of Faerie’s most lethal assassins for hire.”

  I froze, my limbs tense with fear. “Jules?”

  My best friend nodded solemnly.

  “Could your presence at Umbra have maybe attracted the wrong attention?” Lattie questioned.

  I thought for a moment. “No. She’s been following me long before that.”

  Julie began pacing. “When did you first start noticing her?”

  “In Tess’s garden one evening, just before we came to the city. I was painting…”

  “What was the painting of?” Julie drilled.

  “Just the usual whimsical stuff,” I replied as I struggled to pull up the memory “Some sort of castle, far in the distance, over strange treetops.”

  “Where is the painting now?”

  “Still at Tess’s.” She brimmed with anxiousness, making me nervous about whatever was calculating in her brain. “Why? Jules, what’s going on?”

  She glanced at Lattie, and the little blue creature nodded dutifully. “I think we need to see it.”

  ***

  The sun was barely up when we drove to Tess’s cottage the following day. Julie squeezed onto the seat behind me as I drove the short highway on my Vespa. Lattie said she’d meet us there. How she knew where to go, how to find Tess’s house, was beyond me.

  The gravel crunched beneath the hot tires as I turned down the long, narrow driveway that led right up to the quaint country cottage, tucked neatly away in a thicket of trees and shrubs. Scents of exotic flowers and unpicked apples, along with some kind of baked goods, wafted by my nose before I even had my helmet off. Home. It smelled of home. Julie stopped and took a deep breath as she stared at the front porch.

  “You ready for this?” she asked me quietly.

  I took a steadying breath. “Yeah, I am. I just want answers.” Her sky-blue eyes glistened as I stared into them. I gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m not afraid anymore.”

  “Girls!” Tess called from the front door, now swung open. She clenched her pink wool sweater at her chin. She barely contained her blonde hair in a messy braid that hung down over her shoulder. “What are you doing here?” She immediately fell into a bit as she twisted her face into a withering frown and hunched her back. She shuffled stiffly toward the railing and adjusted invisible glasses. “It’s been forty years. I hardly recognize you. Have you come to see your dear ol’ aunt?”

  We erupted into laughter. A good, hefty laugh that stirred the stress in my gut, so it wasn’t just some big lump. It was good to be home.

  “Just had some time and figured we visit for the day,” I told her and bounded up the stairs with Julie close behind. “Feel like some company?” I wrapped my aunt in a tight embrace.

  “What’s that?” she replied, still in her crone’s voice, and cupped her hand to her ear as she pulled away from me and hauled Julie in for a clumsy hug. “You’ll have to speak up, dearies. The years have not been good to my failing ears.”

  Julie and I exchanged an amused look, and I rolled my eyes as we filed inside. “Yeah, yeah. I get it.” I squeezed Tess’s hand. “I’ll visit more. I promise.”

  Her face gleamed with a smile, and she said in her normal voice, “I’ll make some tea.”

  While Tess noisily brewed a pot of tea and prepared snacks in the kitchen, Julie and I hunched over my back pile of unfinished paintings in my bedroom. The door shut and locked behind us. A gentle tap on the window reminded me who else came with us, and I hauled it open to let Lattie in. She buzzed around my room, taking in the new surroundings, and then hovered in front of us over the stack of canvases.

  “It should be here in this collection,” I said quietly and began rifling through them. And then a second time. “No, it can’t be.” I spun and dug through the bottom of my closet. But it was empty. I turned to Julie and Lattie. “It’s not here.”

  “What do you mean?” Julie asked.

  My shoulders tensed. “It’s gone. The painting that Evaine saw me working on in the garden that night. It’s not here.”

  Julie chewed at the inside of her cheek. “Maybe Tess moved it?”

  “Lattie, stay here, okay?” I pleaded. “And try not to make any noise.”

  She nodded and set herself on my handmade quilt as she poked around at the collection of paintings. I secured the door behind us and headed back out to the house. Tess was just moving a tray to the dining room table stacked with a steaming teapot and cups and spoons.

  “Hey Tess, did you move any of my paintings?”

  She straightened and gave us a curious look. “No. Not that I can recall. Why?”

  I played it off like it was no big deal and sat down with as much of a carefree expression as I could manage. “Oh, it’s just… I never finished it, and I was hoping to take it back to the city with me.”

  She squeezed a heap of honey into her mug. “Which one? Maybe I moved it while I was cleaning.”

  Julie shot me a look of warning that said, watch what you say.

  I averted my gaze from my aunt’s inquisitive stare and slowly prepared my tea. “It’s, uh, just some dark treetops with a whimsical castle in the background.”

  Her face paled as she thought, her expression gone blank. “No. I can’t say I’ve seen it.”

  “Are you sure?’ Julie pressed.

  Tess glanced between us, and I could see all lightheartedness was gone. She was my overprotective aunt once again. “Is something wrong?” she asked tersely. “Did something happen? Are you being safe?”

  “What?” I let out a nervous laugh and leaned back in my chair stiffly. Nothing got by her. “No, everything’s fine, Tess. Chill.”

  Then a thought occurred to me. I had some sort of evil fairy assassin after me. If my knowledge of crime fiction was any bit helpful, I knew what that meant. It would only be a matter of time before Evaine began to hurt the people I loved just to get to me. I couldn’t let Tess know I was in any danger whatsoever. She’d insist I move home immediately. And, while I’d love nothing more than to slither back to the safety of her nest, I couldn’t lead Evaine to my aunt.

  I took a deep, steadying breath. “I just… Celadine had mentioned wanting one of my pieces. I thought she’d like that one if I finished it.”

  She considered it for a moment. “Well, at least stay for supper. I’m hitting the road again soon with the Home and Garden Show and won’t see you for weeks.”

  Something inside me sighed in relief at that. Tess would be gone. Far from here. Safe.

  Julie cleared her throat. “We should actually head back.” She gave Tess an apologetic look. “We’ve got classes in the morning.”

  “Oh, please.” My aunt’s face turned down with the most exaggerated frown. “This is the first time you girls have come home to visit since moving to the city.”

  I threw Julie a side glance, and she nodded. “Okay, we’ll stay,” I gave in and smiled.

  Julie leaned forward in her chair. “But only if you make your tarragon rice!”

  Tess chuckled and stood up, overlapping the flaps of her sweater across her body. “How could I deny that? I just have to run to the store.” She drained her tea to the dregs. “I’ll be right back.”

  She was barely halfway down the driveway when Lattie poked her head out from my bedroom door. “Is she gone?”

  “Yeah,” Julie replied and shoved off her chair. “But we’re staying a while. You should head back to the city.”

  Her massive black eyes blinked up at us, laced with concern. She set them on me. “When were you in Faerie?”

  “What are you talking about?” My face twisted with confusion. “I-I�
�ve never been to Faerie.”

  The tiny blue creature cocked her head toward my bedroom, motioning us to follow. When Julie and I stood just inside the room, Lattie pointed at my paintings that she’d laid out on display across my bed.

  “Ly Erg, Batta,” she said and pointed to each one. “This is the Matton Forest. This one here is a beach in the Summer Kingdom where mermaids often come to visit.”

  My eyes were dry as I blinked, and my throat protested with a dry swallow. “Wait… are you saying these are actually things from Faerie?”

  Julie said nothing as she slowly approached the bed and examined the paintings–paintings she’d seen a hundred times–now taking them in with a whole new light. Her home. A home she doesn’t remember, had never returned to. Her fingers reached but never touched as she slowly circled the bed.

  “Lattie,” I said. “How could I possibly paint images of a world I’d never seen before?”

  “I do not know.” She shook her little head. “But I’m certain. These are but mere glimpses, but I’d recognize the imagery anywhere.”

  “It can’t be,” I said, mostly to myself. Because the truth was blaring in my face. “My work always comes from dreams or… just my imagination.”

  We stood in the stark silence of my childhood bedroom, and the weight of the discovery began to sink in for all three of us. My chest heaved with a burning, anxious breath.

  “There’s only one solution I see here,” Lattie cut the silence. “You’re some kind of Oracle.”

  “Oracle?”

  Julie’s head whipped to me, her face alight with understanding. “A mortal Seer.” The words spilled over her lips in a whisper.

  Lattie’s wings carried her around the room, and she then hovered in the space before me. Her depthless eyes examined every inch of me. “We’ve not seen one in a few centuries. The last mortal Seer predicted the war between Fae and Therians. He saved the king’s life.”

  “Av’, that might explain why Evaine wants you,” Julie piped up. “Maybe she’s been hired by someone, this apparent person, to track down a Seer. It would explain so much. In fact… it would explain everything. How you can see these things and how you have the Sight, the ability to see through glamors.”