Ever Winter (A Dark Faerie Tale #3)

by Alexia Purdy

  Slowly pulling away from her mother’s body, she scanned around, blinking away the blur of tears as she searched for the one’s she loved. Dylan was not too far away, still fighting back a group of sluagh and taking hard hits to his side from one particular Troll. Benton was nowhere in sight but from the fiery pillars of smoke coming from the west side of the battlefield; she knew he was having a time frying the enemy. She stepped forward, finding a breach in Nyol’s line of soldiers where an outpouring of Unseelie made their way toward her.

  “You won’t win.” Shade whispered under her breath, closing her eyes and reaching her power out toward the earth and the wind. She set free her magic, which had lived in her all this time without release and sent its fingers crashing through the dirt, upheaving the land into a wave of mud and rock, pummeling the leak of sluagh deep into the ground. The ones behind them paused momentarily before continuing to pour in through the breach.

  This only made her madder. She curled her fingers into her palms, cutting into her skin and feeling her blood drip softly into the earth. Her face plastered in a grimace as she breathed in slowly, letting her heart beat calmly as she pulled in more energy from the earth. Fire, it burned inside, begged for release as she let her breath out.

  Let the Unseelie burn.

  She held out her arms and splayed her fingers apart as she called her fire powers and they balled up inside her palms, growing in intensity.

  The little fireballs multiplied in size and power spreading out before her until a wall of fireballs stood readied in front of her. As more sluagh made their way toward her. Nyol was now nearby, watching in a fascinated horror as she gathered more and more fire until it was funneling firestorm around her. Just before the enemy made it to her, she sent the flames toward them, igniting the line of Unseelie.

  Their screeches echoed around the battlefield, bringing all eyes of the NicScren toward the inferno consuming the Unseelie army, spreading from warrior to warrior so rapidly, and miraculously avoiding the NicScren and Shade’s loved ones. Everyone stilled in their steps, the horror of the power jumping from soldier to soldier, consuming them until nothing more than ashes remained.

  The ring of fire extinguished some ways from Shade as she exhausted her power. She stumbled back toward Jade’s body and sank to her knees, sobbing and virtually worn out. Tears were still slipping down her dirty cheeks as she scanned the land around her once more.

  The NicScren soldiers had pushed the remaining Unseelie back even further, but were still fighting the vast horde. Where was Dylan? Where’s Benton? She prayed they were okay, that this insanity had not taken them from her too. How to find them in such chaos?

  She fingered the blue orb dangling from her necklace, another gift from Dylan, who had given it to her on the dark desolate beach of her recovery. Those days on the beach and healing with Soap and Dylan seemed decades ago as she sat in a puddle of blood, bits of soldiers and her mother’s body. The summoning orb reminded her of loyalties broken, but somehow, she knew that one loyalty wasn’t really broken. Camulus had given the orb to Dylan to give to her. In a way, he must’ve done it to make sure she knew he’d always be there for her. Somehow, that assumption felt right. He had left them at The Great Divide, to her dismay, but it was under Ursad’s command, who couldn’t disobey Corb. She knew that now. Lana’s voice echoed in her head, reassuring her that her feelings were correct, that the elven-pixie would come if she summoned him, and he would take her wherever she needed to go.

  She held the orb to her lips softly rubbing her fingers over it as it pulsated and turned into a milky white. “Camulus, help us.”

  A moment later, a bend in the air and a jolting whoosh of air brought the green skinned, orange-eyed teleporter next to her. He kneeled to bow before her and searching her for affirmation and forgiveness.

  “Shade, I’ll take you wherever you need to go. Tell me, quickly.” His eyes darted toward the fighting faeries not that far away. The wall of warriors, Seelie and Unseelie alike was closing in and Shade had to get Jade’s body out of there now.

  Gripping onto her mother’s hand she held out the other toward Camulus who gripped it and held onto Jade’s other flaccid hand. “Take me to the Scren palace foyer, now!” Shade hollered over the screams of the dying. The jaunt, shook the air around them, keeping her more and more sober as they landed back inside the Scren Palace.

  “Benton, Dylan and Soap are out there! Find them, please!” She begged Camulus before letting go of his smooth, green hand. He nodded and immediately disappeared.

  She prayed he was successful. She prayed for so many things at this moment.

  Still clutching her mother, whom she’d cradled in her embrace, feeling numb and lost, one by one Camulus would reappear and drop off Dylan, Soap and then finally, Benton.

  “Shade?” Anna entered the foyer, having impatiently paced the palace as she waited for them to return. She collapsed next to her and their mother, looking at Shade in disbelief. “What’s wrong with mom? Shade?”

  Shade couldn’t answer. Her voice had been swallowed in her throat and remained there. Anna shook their mother, wailing and screaming as Benton appeared and dropped at their sides, soot and blood streaked across his face.

  “Mom!” he pressed his fingers into Jade’s neck, feeling for a pulse but finding none. “Oh no, no, no!!” He stood up and smashed his hands into a statue of a horse decorating the hall. It flew across the marble floor, pulverizing into a million, tiny pieces.

  Shade refused to move from the spot, only coming to when Dylan knelt down before her, embracing her softly, and rocking her in his arms. “Come on, baby.” He whispered into her ears, bringing a beacon into her head to return to the present. “Come back to me, Shade.”

  Turning toward the Teleen guard, her dry, red eyes focused on his grey ones. The love in them made her come back to the present, making her suck a breath in and sent her glancing around and pulling herself together. She couldn’t fall apart. Her family needed her, how could she disappear at a time like this?

  She scuffled to her feet, spinning around, still feeling like she couldn’t breathe or speak. Gulping back the knot of pain in her throat, she scanned the faces of the ones she loved, the ones that mattered.

  “I have to get Kilara. This needs to end now!” She paced the floor, pondering how to contact the Summer Seelie Ancient. She’d have to do it soon, they could no longer wait for Kilara to come willingly herself. Shade had to wake her now.

  She stopped, watching as Benton settled on the floor next to Jade, picking her up to take her to a nearby bedroom. He threw her a quick nod, assuring that she had to do what she had to do. Brisa had finally joined them and was hugging Anna as they sat clutching each other and crying on the floor. Soap, who was also covered in soot and dirt, hunched down and helped them to their feet.

  “I have to go, soon. Camulus, get Ilarial. I need her to induce a sleep where I can contact Kilara with my spirit guides.” Camulus bowed and immediately disappeared. Shade paced once more, but this time, almost losing her balance. The fatigue and blood loss was taking a toll on her, leaving her weak and dizzy. Dylan caught her before she stumbled again.

  “Come on, Shade. Let’s get cleaned up and wait for Ilarial. You have to heal or you won’t be of any use.” Intently staring at her, she nodded, letting him lead her away from her mourning family, down the hall to her room.

  “What about the Unseelie outside the gates?” She asked.

  “They can’t enter, our troops have pushed them far behind the mountain line and most have retreated since you put on that fire show.” Nyol appeared next to her, taking her arm and pulling it around his neck so that he and Dylan were supporting her. She could barely walk, so letting them carry her along was mortifying, but she had no energy to fight.

  “Are you sure, they can’t enter the palace?” Shade inquired. She hoped he was right. They needed to buy time to get Kilara back here before the Unseelie army breached the gates.

  “Yes, I�
�m very sure. Ariana may have been nuts, but she was extremely paranoid and efficient. She had some of the most powerful witches in the world ward the gates of the Scorching Scren Palace. Nothing can enter without permission of the queen. It would take more witches than Aveta has at her disposal. So we have time to find this Kilara you speak of.” They reached her room where Nyol retreated while Dylan helped her out of her filthy armor.

  Leading her to the bathroom, he ran a bath for both of them and peeled the last remnants of the torn clothes clinging to their frames. Leading her into the warm, soothing water, he held her in his embrace in the soapy water, letting her cry and shake in his arms until the tears ran out and she let the numbness encircle her aching head. In his arms she felt safe, and hoped that the smoke clouds beyond the horizon would stay far, far away, along with Aveta’s horde.

  Long after they had cleaned up and donned soft, clean clothes. Shade laid in her bed, barely feeling Ilarial enter the room, helping her to heal and sending her into a quiet, deep sleep. She remembered Dylan next to her, whispering sweet words to lull her into a calmer state, where she could do what she needed to do.

  The sun set over the horizon, sending the room into a dark cocoon. Shade finally succumbed to sleep she very much needed, setting her body still and finally resting.

  Kilara, where are you?

  Epilogue

  “WE CAN’T RETREAT now!” Aveta fidgeted on her black kelpie horse, which huffed in protest of her movements. “We’re so close now. How can you ask me to pull the army back now?” she hissed, shoving her long, black hair back, away from her face.

  Arthas, the Unseelie Ancient King, snarled at her, snapping at her to shut up. As he turned back toward the scene of the battle, he grinned at the unholy soldiers retreating from surrounding the Scren Palace.

  “Because, you don’t understand how things must play. I’ve seen it already in my visions, and this is all we need to do for now.”

  “But, Shade’s in there. We have her in the palms of our hands and you want to let her slip through your fingers, just like that?”

  “She hasn’t slipped through my fingers. I have her just where I need her to be.”

  Aveta’s confused look made him laugh, his dark eyes twinkling with amusement. “What do you mean?”

  “If you must know, dear, dear granddaughter. I need her to find Kilara, the Summer Ancient. I want each and every one of the other Ancients to pay for what they did to me. They dared seal me in an eternal slumber against my wishes and they think they got away with it? They don’t even know I’m awake. I won’t let them know I’m here, until it’s too late. For now, let her find them for me. Once the other Ancients are awake, I can take my vengeance.”

  Aveta shuddered at his determination. She wondered if awakening him had been a good decision. She’d had some satisfaction in seeing the wards of the boundaries of Faerie fall until the witches they had employed had used up all their magic and withered to death. But now, the land was going up in flames, and her goal of taking over the four realms and ruling as supreme ruler alone seemed to be slipping from her grasp.

  She bit her lip as Arthas turned his horse around and galloped away, joining the retreating army. Suddenly wishing she hadn’t awoken him and wishing she’d never discovered that being a descendant of Arthas, she was able to awaken him herself after stumbling upon the spell from one of the elder faeries she’d imprisoned and tortured for the information.

  Stanis had been hard to break, but he had caved in after endless hours of tortuous pain with iron binds. He’d given up Shade’s plans and the information on finding the Unseelie Ancient, Arthas. It had been a simple blood summoning, since Aveta was his direct descendant, she had managed to do it successfully. Awakening him and bringing him to the Withering Palace, her home. Such a simple action, yet the consequences had dug into her plans so deeply, there was no turning back now.

  Or was there?

  She jerked at the reins of her kelpie, urging it to follow Arthas back into the Unseelie camp. She was exhausted, but she had plans on her mind, including how to rid herself of not only Shade, but Arthas as well.

  About the Author

  Alexia currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada–Sin City! She loves to spend every free moment writing or playing with her four rambunctious kids. Writing has always been her dream and she has been writing ever since she can remember. She loves writing paranormal fantasy and poetry and devours books daily. Alexia also enjoys watching movies, dancing, singing loudly in the car and Italian food.

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