Breathing heavily, I turned my face outward. Looking at the vastness of my parents’ kingdom. Wonderland. Beautiful madness, it was. But it would never be mine.
The twisted trees. The haunted forests. The demons that ran wild within. The denizens full of laughter and drink. Nothing serious. Nothing real here. All of it, all of it, nothing at all like me.
I did not belong to this place. Though I’d been born of it, I felt no pride in it. The insanity of this place had infected my mother’s womb, had birthed an abomination. Only once had I ever shown my true form outside of these walls... only to her. I would regret my decision till my dying breath.
Shuddering, I closed my eyes, but the memories were too close, and no matter how hard I tried to forget, they would never let me. The look of shock on Seraphina’s beautiful face. The revulsion where once there’d been love. The wound of her rejection had pierced me like a blade.
I’d thought there could be nothing worse than to have your intended’s heart suddenly turn to hate. But there could. And there had.
To perdition with this place.
I would never rule here. I wanted no part of it.
“He needs more help than we can give him, Zel.” Ragoth’s voice was calm, steady. Echoing with the dragon’s wisdom.
“But to him? To them? How can we hand him over like that? What could they possibly do for him?”
Going still, I cocked my head, trying in vain to draw closer so that I missed not one word now being whispered low between them.
“I feel the quiver of Fate in all of this, Zel.”
“Yes, but to just hand him over, he will think we do not—”
A mist of black shadow suddenly curled from out of the casement, wrapping like tentacles around my body and clinging like dark leeches.
“Hades!” Zelena and Ragoth gasped at the same moment that a dark head leaned out of the window, pinning me with a steely, intelligent look.
I’d never seen Hades personally, but I knew of him from father’s association with Olympus.
Olive-skinned, with deep blue eyes and a head of shaggy black hair, there was something almost feral looking about the Lord of the Underworld. Hades was predatory in his mannerisms.
“We have a visitor,” he said simply and in the deep voice of what you might expect the Lord of the Underworld to sound like.
I notched my chin. Determined not to be cowed by Death.
“Come inside, boy,” he commanded with a flick of his finger before disappearing back inside. So sure that I would do exactly as he’d said.
“Syrith is out there!” Zelena gasped. The rush of footsteps preceded her pretty face popping out of the window a moment later, taking up Hades’s spot of just moments ago.
There was pain reflected in the bright blue of her eyes, and her hair, normally a striking shade of blond, was now dull, almost dirty looking. A testament to the fact that mother had been in agony for the past three years over me and hadn’t been taking good enough care of herself.
Nothing in this world hurt me more than to see her pain. My heart clenched, but I bit down on my back teeth, trying to shove it away as I had everything else.
“You sat out there and listened to us, son?” A thread of wounded hurt trembled through her words.
Because of my ability to transform, I’d been able to listen in on my parents’ private conversations for as long as I could remember.
Mother had often chastised me about it growing up. I’d promised years ago never to do it again.
Hurt reflected clearly back at me as her lips thinned. No longer able to abide her wounded gaze, I turned my eyes away.
A second later, Father joined Mother, and I felt his gaze burn right through me.
“Get inside, Syrith,” he commanded with the hard edge of the dragon in his tone.
I waited until they’d disappeared back inside before crawling in. I didn’t want to hurt them, and yet I couldn’t help but glare at them. Blaming them in some ways for what’d been done to me.
Before that day, she’d not known. Seraphina had liked me well enough, and I knew that, given time, she’d learn to love me. I’d wanted there to be nothing but truth between us. True, we’d been a matched pair meant to join two nations as one. But I’d fallen hard and fast for the innocent-looking raven-haired beauty. Within the village, rumors floated around me. That I did not care for the company of others. That I was standoffish and even cruel.
I was none of those things. I’d blossomed by Seraphina’s side, believing I finally had a partner. An equal in every way. It’d been mother who’d urged me not to keep any secrets from my future bride.
Determined not to show either of them how torn up I truly was inside, I notched my chin and stared at the one I cared nothing about.
Hades’s eyes were cold, calculating. “So you are he?” he said only a moment later, without preamble.
“As you see,” I growled. “Why are you here? Why have you come?”
“Syrith!” Zelena gasped. “Manners! We’ve raised you better than this.”
Curling my fingers into fists, I glared at her. It was easier to hide the pain when I could focus on the anger. I wanted to tell her I was no child. Not anymore. And I hadn’t been for quite some time.
“Do not look at your mother that way!” Ragoth snapped, standing in front of her, shielding her from my view.
The apology rested heavily on my tongue, but the words were stuck fast. I breathed hard, turning my eyes away. I was the royal heir to the throne of Wonderland. I had a duty to fulfill.
Once, I’d believed in honor. Faith. And becoming an even better monarch than even my parents. Not now, though. Not anymore.
“He cannot do this, Hades. I do not know why you’ve come, but I am sorry to say that whoever told you Syrith was your man was wrong,” Zelena rushed on, clenching her fingers tight before her.
The dark lord lifted a brow, staring at me with the force of a heated beam. As though peering through my soul. The look of disdain on his lips heated my blood, made me want to punch him.
Hurt him.
And then he shook his head, as if finding me lacking. My nostrils flared, the burn of my magic tingling through my blood, wanting nothing more than to transform into something powerful, terrifying, something that would help me swallow the pain down deep with its violence.
Mother shook her head. And I knew she knew what I was thinking, what I wanted to do. She’d always known me too well.
I trembled.
“He is definitely who I’ve come for, Queen of Hearts.” Hades’s voice caused a stir of rumbles in the clouds above.
But I heard what he hadn’t said. The doubt in his eyes was as clear as day. For whatever purpose he’d come for me, he wasn’t doing it of his own accord. Someone else had sent him along. Whatever I was or wasn’t to Hades, in his eyes, I was lacking. Just as I’d been to everyone else.
I bit down on my tongue, counting slowly to ten in my head.
“No.” Zelena shook her head. “No. I can’t allow this. Won’t—”
“Zel,” Ragoth grabbed her flailing hands, clinging to them gently. “My love, stop it.”
Her tiny nostrils flared, and her blue eyes clouded with hurt and anguish.
“I’ll go.” I squared my shoulders. Ignoring my mother’s gasp of shock. I looked at Hades, hating him with every fiber of my soul but wanting nothing more than to leave this cursed place. I didn’t care where I went or why. I just needed to get away.
“Syrith, but—” Zelena shrugged out of Ragoth’s grip, coming to me and yanking me to her.
I towered over my mother by several feet. In my true form and in the one I now wore.
Gripping her arms tight, but not to hurt, I looked at her directly. “Mother, I cannot stay. Don’t you understand?”
Tears swam in her eyes, and she shook her head.
It was father who came to my rescue. Gently peeling my mother off my rigid form, he grasped and held her tight. Rubbing his hand down the back
of her spine, soothing her despite her protestations.
Ragoth looked to Hades. “Watch over our son, Hades. It’s all I ask. Bring him back home to us.”
I didn’t have it in me to tell my father I’d never return again. Not to this place, where the pain and the memories lived and breathed and haunted my every step.
Hades turned toward me. He did not answer my father. I think because he knew, as well as I did, that I’d not be coming back.
Gripping my shoulder, Hades squeezed, and instantly, we were travelling. Moving through a tunnel of shadows and darkness that pulsed and breathed around us.
I frowned. I’d never left Wonderland before and had no idea where the Lord of the Underworld was taking me.
It should have worried me; he was the Lord of the Underworld. I could potentially be going to my doom. But even that didn’t frighten me. At least then there’d be an end to the pain.
“I’m sure you’re curious.”
“Not really. No.”
Turning toward me with a lifted brow, Hades cocked his head. A look of curiosity crossed his features. “You are not at all what I expected, son of the dragon.”
I jutted out my chin. “I get that a lot.”
Inhaling deeply, Hades spread his fingers wide. “Look. I have much to say to you and not much time to say it. So listen and do not interrupt. We go to a game of sorts. A love game.”
I hissed, twirling on him. He could not have said anything else that could have elicited this reaction from me. “No.”
“Listen, boy!” This time when Hades gripped my shoulder, his eyes flashed with obsidian smoke, and ghostly hands reached out from within the tunnel itself. The echoes of haunting moans and groans causing my flesh to shiver. “You are young and know so very little. Do you honestly think you’re the only one who’s ever suffered in love?”
I jerked, wondering if my parents had spoken of it to him. “What would you—”
He scoffed. “More than you could know, you bloody fool. Let me impart a bit of wisdom to you, whelp—had it truly been real love, you’d not be standing here with me today. We are creatures of desire, creatures that cannot function without a purpose. Whatever you imagine Seraphina was to you, I vow to you she was not. You hurt. Then hurt. But do not enshrine her—the little fool does not deserve it.”
“Don’t you dare say anything against—”
He shook me, and the groaning grew louder.
“I am the Lord of the Underworld. You think I do not know her. I know her. Better than you. She was weak. Feeble. And unworthy of the idealistic pedestal you’ve set her on. Where I take you now, I need all of you in this game. Do you hear me?”
His growl caused the wailing moans to cease. As though they feared their Lord’s fury. But I was empty, and death did not frighten me.
“You cannot force me to love another.”
“That is not what this is for you,” he said, still gripping my shoulder with hands now digging into me like claws.
I blinked. He made no sense. “What?”
A light drew closer—wherever we were headed, we were close.
“This is so much more than merely finding a soul mate, Syrith. For you, anyway. You’ve been tasked with something far greater.”
Still confused but also intrigued, I shook my head. “What exactly?”
“You must save her. Save The Blue.”
The Blue? I’d never heard of her. “Who is that?”
“She is a foul, hateful, evil creature who’d just as soon stab you in the back the moment you turn around. But that is not who she truly is.”
More perplexed than ever before, I didn’t know what to say.
“The others in this game must believe that you are nothing more than they are. Simply players in a quest for love.”
“Why?”
His chest heaved as he took a deep breath. “I do not know all the particulars. All I know is the Fates’ hands are in this. We must save her. And the only one who can is you.”
That made no sense to me at all. I could barely keep my own head above water; how the bloody hell was I supposed to help anyone else?
“How am I to pull this off?”
The light drew closer, and now I could begin to see the hazy images of others just on the other side of the tunnel.
“You are a prince of your land. You know how to act. So do it. Be something other than yourself. During the day, you will trial just as they do. What no one else will know is that The Blue will not truly be a part of the games. She’s been trapped. For the safety of herself as well as others.”
I shook my head because none of this made sense to me.
“She is too unstable. Too uncertain. Completely unbalanced. To save her, you will brave not one but two trials. The love games, which will merely be a charade for you. A reason for your being here only. Your true trial will run during the night. When you enter the mirror.”
I frowned, not liking any of this. “So I am to run around this game alone?”
“No.” He glanced over his shoulder as his lips tugged down. “No. You won’t. My woman, Calypso, has created a facsimile of The Blue. She looks and even feels real—that’s because a part of her is. We were able to siphon off a sliver of The Blue’s soul to fashion the copy. But understand, The Blue’s soul is a terrible and dark thing. During the games, the clone will be alert and autonomous. Only once you step within the world of the mirror will she power down.”
“I do not understand any of this.”
Hades’s jaw clenched. “Do or don’t. It doesn’t matter. Only know this—none can know what you’re doing. If they were to learn it, they might try to stop you.”
I frowned even harder. “Why would they care if I saved The Blue or not?”
This time he was the one to look confused. “I’m not sure, to be honest. I only know that what happens within that mirror will impact all of Kingdom.”
I thought instantly of my parents and wondered just what in the blue blazes Hades meant by that.
“Chin up, whelp.” He growled. “For it is now show time.”
The tunnel widened, revealing to me the world on the other side. There were shrieks and groans racing through the winds. Trees towering as high as the clouds themselves, and a gathering ring of confused-looking men.
Hades shoved me out of the tunnel. I snarled, twirling on him. But the calculating God walked past me. Casually ignoring me, as though I wasn’t worth the bother.
It wasn’t hard pretending to be furious.
While I did not regret leaving Wonderland, I very much resented finding myself here.
Whoever this Blue was, I hated her already.
Chapter 7: And So It Begins...
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Wringing my hands together, I watched as the god and goddesses explained the rules of the “game” to their charges. Hades had draped the men in shadows so that the women couldn’t see them.
But my eyes were for Syrith alone. He’d played his part well. Acting the uptight and spoiled royal that all surely believed him to be.
Biting onto my bottom lip, I looked up toward the heavens, knowing The Creator’s eyes were already on me.
I’d gotten everything set this far. Whispering into the ears of all three gods, letting them believe Fate was the one guiding their hand, when in truth, every step was ordained so far as the dragon heir and The Blue were concerned.
Peeking inside of Syrith’s heart, I was worried, though, and I didn’t mind admitting that. The boy, who wasn’t truly a boy in years—but seemed it to one as ancient as me—wasn’t the friendliest sort.
I’d not known of his troubles, which no doubt accounted for his attitude, but certainly this could not bode well for The Blue.
Be patient, golden one...
I heard the voice of my Creator, and instantly, my mind quieted.
“I am nervous,” I whispered softly, my voice echoing like the howls of moans and wails in the breeze surrounding the glen.
Have faith. I heard I
ts patient chuckle, and I couldn’t help but fidget.
“I’ll try. But you know that’s never been my forte. Can I just ask one question, Creator?”
Always.
“What if the replacement vessel doesn’t show? What if nothing comes to save Galeta? I’m scared.” The last part sounded like a shriek in the woods, causing several sets of eyes to widen and faces to turn and look.
I was not a ghost. But I was outside the realm of this universe. Unless I wanted them to see me, they wouldn’t. Though for some odd reason, I couldn’t seem to control the noise of my passing.
I’d been told before that my voice carried an otherworldly, almost ghostly quality to it. Rather off-putting to those around me, or so it was said. I thought I had a lovely voice.
The vessel comes, my darling. In fact, it is already there. It simply doesn’t know it yet.
“What? Who? Can’t you tell me?” I asked with excitement tinging my words, studying the lot before me with brand-new eyes, wondering which of the twelve it could possibly be.
A centauress to the front of me suddenly turned around, her eyes narrowing, looking at me head on. I knew she could not see me. And yet, for a span of time, I froze. She was half-horse, so perhaps her animal nature sensed what no one else could.
She was pretty enough, with a chestnut-brown flank and ropes of braids coiled high upon her head. Her fingers caressed the tip of her bow, and I shivered. Was she the vessel?
You know I cannot, It said softly, and I sighed. Because of course I knew. But oh, just for once, why couldn’t life be simple?
Its laughter caused the tops of the trees to quiver. Even the goddesses now looked slightly baffled. A bit later, the women dispersed, grabbing up their men one by one. The centauress looked back once, but this time her eyes missed me completely. A perplexed frown had crossed her lovely features. And then she laid a hand upon the shadowed male before her and they were gone.
My lips turned down. I’d never cared before that none could see me. In fact, I’d thrived upon moving undetected between worlds. I wondered what it might feel like to talk with someone other than my Creator. To laugh.
Something about the centauress intrigued me. There’d been great wisdom in her eyes. More and more, it seemed she might be the one.
The Fairy Queen (The Dark Queens Book 6) Page 5
