by Linsey Hall
One of her words stuck with me. “Curse?”
“Something is wrong with the land. The missing stone, yes. That is leading to their loss of control. But there is a darkness there.”
A darkness. “Like the one I saw in Iain’s kingdom when we saved them from the ice?”
“Possibly.” She shrugged. “You need to find the tools to stop it and shore up the strength of your people.”
“But the SoulStone isn’t strong enough to repair the tor.” I thrust out the stone so that she could see it. “How do I fix this?”
The Oracle leaned over the stone and inspected it. “Yes, I see what you mean. The two of you are dreadfully injured.”
“I still don’t understand what you mean when you say we are connected.”
“You will learn. But first, you must repair the stone. You have no hope as long as it is in this condition. It will never recover like this.”
“How do I do that?”
She frowned, as if debating whether or not to help.
“Please.” I would get on my knees if I had to.
She sighed and said, “Fine. I cannot guarantee this will work, but I believe that if you take the stone to Restormel Castle and wash it in the holy font, that you will be able to remove the gray curse that marks it.”
“Isn’t that place guarded by a sect of warrior nuns called the Daughters of Danu?” Iain asked.
“It is indeed. You must convince them that you are worthy and wash the gray curse from the stone.”
“The gray curse? Does it have anything to do with the dark, smoke-like evil that cursed the Sea Fae with eternal ice?” I’d last seen it when I’d broken the curse on Iain’s land and was sure it was responsible.
“It may indeed,” The Oracle said. “And you must wash the stain of it from the SoulStone. Afterward, you may take it to the Grove of Life to repair the crack.”
“Will it repair me as well?” I asked.
“That is the hope.”
“Where do we find the Grove of Life?” Iain asked.
“The Daughters of Danu will tell you.” She smiled enigmatically. “And that is the best I can do.”
“Wait!” I held out a hand. “What about the Tor of the Ancients? It was so damaged that I don’t think we can get there. The path looked destroyed.”
She sighed. “You spotted that, did you?”
I nodded. “Is there another way in?”
“From the back, yes.” She reached into her chest, her right hand pushing through the ghostly flesh. I could see her make a fist inside, and it was the strangest thing. When she withdrew her hand, something gleamed within. She held it out to me, opening her palm to reveal a small blue stone. “This charm will transport you to a safer path that will allow you to access the Tor of the Ancients. But don’t go until the SoulStone is repaired. There is no point in replacing it if it is still broken.”
I smiled gratefully. “Thank you. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate your help.”
“Don’t tell me. Show me. Save the Fire Fae.” Her eyes hardened. “But I do have a word of warning. Recovering your magic will not be enough to save you or your kin. You must become more.”
“More? How?”
“That is something you must determine.” Her gaze moved between me and Iain, and she seemed to decide something. “I have a message for you, fated mates—one that I wasn’t sure I would deliver.”
“Yes?” Nerves skated through me.
“A union started in division will end in division. Two courts, once at war will end at war, with you in the middle, doomed to fail.”
“What?” Shock lanced me. “How do we fix that?”
“What does that mean?” Iain demanded.
With a flash of light, she disappeared.
I turned to Connor. “Bring her back.”
“I can’t.” His eyes flashed with worry. “I could perhaps find her again, but I would have to make the potion. It will take hours. Possibly a day.”
“We don’t have that kind of time.” Memories of the children in the Court of Flames flickered in my mind. They didn’t have that kind of time.
“Her last prophecy wasn’t about the Fire Fae burning,” Iain said. “It was something different. Something to do with us.”
“We’ll deal with it later.” I steeled myself against the worry. It was our only option. We couldn’t deal with it now. Not until the SoulStone was returned.
I turned to Connor, shoving away worries about Iain and myself. “Good job finding The Oracle.”
He nodded. “I’m just glad she had something useful to say.”
Useful and terrifying. From the doorway, someone cleared their throat. I turned to see a servant bearing a tray of Cornish Pasties.
“They don’t have fish in them,” Iain said.
“Fish?” Connor frowned.
“I’ll tell you later.”
He gave me a quizzical look, but I ignored it.
Iain gestured for the servant to enter, and the man placed the tray on the table, away from the cauldron.
I reached for one, delighted to find that it was cheese and onion, my favorite. I glanced at Iain. “Did you know these were my favorite?”
“I pay attention.”
Hmm.
My brother looked between the two of us, brows raised. I scowled at him.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked.
I thought for a moment, grateful to have family who would have my back like this. “We shouldn’t approach the Daughters of Danu with a large group or they might consider it a threat, so you shouldn’t come with us now.”
“Want me to go work on another potion to call back The Oracle?”
“Yeah. Perfect.” I had a feeling she might have told us everything she was going to, but we had to try.
He nodded and gripped my shoulder. “Be careful, sis.”
“I will.” I hugged him.
Connor shared a look with Iain, then disappeared through the door. I caught the flash of a guard’s cloak as his escort joined him.
“How do you feel?” Iain asked.
“Well enough to get moving. We should go find the Daughters of Danu.”
“I always thought they were a myth, lost to time. But they’re real?”
“Real as you or I, though I’ve never met them.”
“How do we find them?”
“We need a Wayfinder.” The Fire Fae had one of the astronomical instruments, kept under careful lock and key because it was such a valuable artifact. “Do you have one here?”
“We do. In the vault of historical objects. We’d use one of those?”
“Their location can only be found with one, and only if it is a clear enough night to see the stars.” I looked out the window, grateful to see that the night sky was clear.
“How do you know so much about how to find them?”
“When I first ran from the Court of Flame—from you—I considered going to them.”
Iain’s jaw tightened. I ignored it. Let him grapple with that—he was the one who’d hunted me, after all.
“In the end, I decided not to join them. I appreciate nature for all that it is, but I don’t want to dedicate my life to its worship.” The Daughters of Danu didn’t worship a single deity. Rather, they worshiped all that nature had to offer. But they didn’t stop there—they defended it as well. Sometimes violently, if necessary.
It would have been a nice life, actually. But not quite right for me. And Connor couldn’t have joined, as it was a group of all women.
“We’ll go get the Wayfinder now,” Iain said. “It won’t take long.”
Another figure appeared at the door, holding a stack of neatly folded clothes. “Dry apparel, Your Highness.”
Iain nodded at the pale Fae male. “Thank you, Eowin.”
Eowin entered and deposited the clothes on a wide bench that sat against the wall, then departed swiftly and silently. Iain gathered up a small selection of black fabric, then strode to me and handed
it over. “For you. You may change in the dressing room, if you like.”
I took the clothes, noticing that they looked a hell of a lot like the ones I usually favored for this type of dangerous work. Dark, sturdy, comfortable. He clearly paid attention.
“Thank you.” I went to the dressing room, which was a large space. A huge window overlooked the sea, which glittered under the moonlight.
As I changed out of my wet clothes and into dry, I noted that Iain didn’t have as many clothes as I’d expect royalty to have. There were plenty, sure. But most of it was all the same—a uniform, in truth.
I supposed it suited his no-nonsense personality.
Finally outfitted in dry clothes, I rejoined Iain in the main room. He’d just finished changing into his own clean, dry, clothing.
“Ready?” Iain asked.
I nodded, and we left the room. Iain strode quickly down the hall, and I followed, noting all of the Fae who looked at us curiously as we passed.
Finally, we reached an enormous wooden door decorated with silver filigree. There was no lock, though I could feel the value of the objects inside. There were dozens of magical signatures, some so powerful that they took my breath away.
Iain opened the door and gestured for me to enter. I walked in, wowed by the sheer number of beautiful objects filling the shelves and pedestals. There were items from all over the world, most of them of Fae origin.
“The Court before me traded for years to acquire these,” Iain said. “Though that trade stopped when the ice came. After that, we dedicated all of our resources to saving ourselves.”
“And you just leave this room unlocked?”
“No one here would steal from this room.”
“That’s probably what the Primordial queen thought.”
A small smile tugged up at the corner of his lips. “I suppose you’re right. But nothing in here is so valuable that I consider it to be worth locking it away from the people of the Court. It’s for them, not for one or two powerful people to look at.” He shrugged. “The risk seems worth it.”
“I think I respect that.” I spun in a circle, looking for the small navigational instrument that we sought.
“It’s over here.” Iain walked across the room and removed a golden Wayfinder from a marble pedestal. He returned and handed it to me.
I took it, feeling the buzz of magic from within. It looked a bit like a sextant, but with a slightly different shape and a lot more magic.
“We need to go to High Willhays,” I said. “It’s the tallest hill, and perfect for use with this.”
“I’ll transport us there. But first, I’m going to get us some energy potions to bring along. I don’t know when we’ll next sleep.”
I nodded, liking the sound of that. I couldn't afford any breaks unless absolutely necessary, and neither could my people.
We made a quick stop at the potion master’s workshop to collect some of her version of a pep-up potion, then headed to the front of the castle.
I stepped out into the cool summer night, breathing deeply of the air. It looked so much different than when it had been frozen. Last time I’d stood on these steps, we’d been about to go to the mating ceremony.
I shot a look at Iain. Something flickered in his eyes, and I had to imagine that he was thinking the exact same thing.
He held out his hand. “Ready?”
I swallowed hard and nodded, then gripped his hand with mine. A fizz of awareness shot up my arm, bringing with it a wave of heat.
As Iain’s magic swept us into the ether, I thought of The Oracle’s words. Two courts, once at war will end at war, with you in the middle, doomed to fail.
14
The ether spat us out on the top of High Willhays, the tallest hill in Dartmoor. Wind whipped my hair as I stepped back into the shelter of one of the huge granite stacks.
Iain joined me, positioning himself between me and the worst of the wind. He leaned down and spoke into my ear, his voice pitched low. “Do you know how to use that thing?”
“I think so.” At least, it should come back to me if I fiddled with it. I’d had one lesson back when I was a teenager, and I prayed I’d absorbed all of it.
The moon provided enough light to see by, and Iain blocked the wind, making it easier to work. I raised the device and inspected it, fiddling with the dials and making sure that all the little bits were lined up. There were tiny tabs of gold protruding from the curved edge, each tipped with a different gemstone. The top was a thin golden plate with holes meant to align with specific stars.
“What are the stones for?” Iain asked.
“I need to line them up with some of the more powerful ascent monuments on the moor, like the stone circles and rows.”
“Do you know which ones?”
“I don’t quite remember. I was hoping it would be obvious.”
He turned around so that he could look down the hill at the moorland that sloped away from us. After a few seconds, he turned back around. “There are a few monuments out there, but they all look to be of similar size.”
I frowned. “Can you see which ones are still intact and which have been damaged by time? I think the nuns would have maintained the ones that are used to find their castle.”
“I’ll fly out over them and get a better look.”
“Okay.” I continued to fiddle with the device as Iain called upon his wings. I made a point not to look—both out of jealousy and self-preservation. He was particularly attractive when his wings were drawn, and I didn’t need to see him like that. Not if we were fated to end this like enemies, as The Oracle said.
But it was impossible to ignore when he launched himself into the sky. I watched him swoop over the landscape, his wings glinting in the moonlight. He looked so powerful and alone up there that I ached to touch him.
I squeezed my free hand into a fist and raised the Wayfinder to my face. As soon as I looked through, the stars seemed to be brighter. I moved the device so that the brightest stars lined up with the holes in the golden device, but there were a few different combinations that fit.
If only I’d paid more attention to my stargazing lesson, but it had been so long ago.
I looked down at the moor, trying to figure out which ancient monument to use to line up the device properly.
There were too many.
I lowered the device just as Iain landed next to me, his hair windblown and his wings spread wide behind his back. Quickly, he stowed the wings away. Many Fae liked to leave them out in the breeze, saying it felt good. I could remember the feeling myself and had to agree.
Not Iain.
Was he concerned for my feelings?
Possibly, and I appreciated it. “Any luck?”
He nodded, then came to stand behind me, stretching his arm out over my shoulder and positioning his bicep near my ear. It allowed me to get a better idea of where he was pointing, and I did my best to ignore his heady scent and the feeling of being surrounded as I tried to spot what he was pointing to.
His voice sounded low in my ear, making me shiver. “That stone circle is complete. No fallen stones.” He moved his arm to the left, his bicep touching my cheek and sending heat racing through me. My gaze landed on the stone pile. “That cairn is in very good shape.” He moved his hand one more time. “And that stone row looks very good as well.”
He stepped away from me.
“Thanks.” I maneuvered the Wayfinder to line it up with the stone monuments and the stars. The stone circle and the cairn ended up being the right ones, allowing the stars to shine perfectly through the holes cut into the gold.
Magic sparked from the device, swirling around the Wayfinder and glowing red on the horizon. The color coalesced to shine on one particular spot of land—a forest.
“We need to go there, to that dark spot near the horizon.” I pointed to the trees. “I think it’s a forest.”
“I can get us there.”
I lowered the Wayfinder.
Iain hel
d out his hand, and I took it, gripping him tightly. A shiver raced up my arm, and I tried to ignore it, annoyed with the fact that I was no more used to his touch than I had been on the day we’d met. I wasn’t sure I ever would be.
The ether pulled on us, sucking us through space and pulling us toward the ancient forest. We arrived in the middle of a cluster of trees, the moonlight blocked by the heavy cover of leaves. The oaks towered around us, tall and strong, and I could feel something watching me.
I blinked, allowing my eyes to adjust, and dropped Iain’s hand.
“There are a lot of eyes here,” Iain murmured.
My vision cleared enough to catch sight of what he was referencing.
Crap.
They really were a lot of eyes. Glowing in pairs, all yellow or green. I blinked a few more times, adjusting to the darkness.
Hundreds of owls appeared, all brilliant white and sitting on branches, staring at us.
“How the hell did I miss them?” I whispered. “They’re so bright.”
“I think they were hiding themselves.”
“Everything but the eyes.” I shivered. “Do they look like they’re about to attack?”
Dozens of them moved, ruffling their feathers as they watched us. More than a few clicked their beaks.
“Yes,” Iain said. “I think we need to prove ourselves worthy. Or at the very least, harmless.”
“They don’t want us to hurt the Daughters of Danu.” I was fairly certain that if any hurting was going to go down, it would be on us. The Daughters of Danu were legendary. I was no slouch and Iain was an excellent fighter, but I already knew we weren’t a threat to so many warrior nuns on their home turf.
What the hell were the owls expecting of us?
One of the snowy birds swept down from the sky, floating gracefully through the leaves as it approached us on silent wings. The creature was large, with clever dark eyes that were unlike the rest.
I blinked.
There was something familiar about those eyes.
“Puka?”
The owl landed on the ground in front of me, and magic swirled around it. The feathers disappeared and the head shrank. Soon, Puka was standing before me in her white fox form, her head tilted as she inspected me.
