Crown of Visions

by R. A. Rock

  “Find who? Who’s the Great Hunter?” Tess said again.

  “Yes, it will have to be Tess who has the note,” Perdira said, continuing to ignore Tessa and figure out the details with Isadore.

  “Indeed.”

  “Who is this that we need to find?” Tess said again.

  “An ally,” Perdira said. “You’ll see.”

  Finn exchanged a look with Tessa.

  “There is a chance, then, that you might make it,” Perdira said, turning to Finn and Tess. “I can send you. I will hide your ears. I’ll implant a universal translation spell that will function while you’re on Earth—it’s a pretty standard spell that all Fae use when they travel to other realms.”

  “How does it work?” Finn asked.

  “You can basically understand and speak any language that is spoken to you.”

  “Amazing,” Finn muttered as Perdira continued to list what she needed to do.

  “I’ll give you Earth clothes and give Tessa the note. The Joining vow will bring you together. And hopefully, the ally I mentioned will help you. It’s not perfect, but it is your best chance.”

  “What about finding the Chalice?” Finn said. “Aren’t you going to put in the note where to find it?”

  “If I knew I’d tell you, Big Boy,” Perdira said, with regret in her eyes. “But I had to return to Ahlenerra before the King actually hid it. We had no idea that it would take so long. Shadows-cursed blizzard.”

  “She’s telling the truth, Finn, Tessa,” Izzie said, his eyes worried. “It is the best chance. Perhaps the only chance you have.”

  “All you have to do is choose,” Perdira said.

  “Sounds like there’s no choice,” Tess said, her face determined. “You must send us. Finn?”

  Tess met his eyes.

  “Tessa’s right. We have no choice. Send us to the Earthly realm.”

  Perdira gave a swipe of her hand, and Tess saw Finn’s ears turn round. Then she opened her arms above her head and brought her arms down so that her hands pointed right at Finn and Tess. When Tess looked down at herself, she was wearing strange clothing. She peeked at Finn and he was dressed in similar clothing. He looked strange, but no doubt, they would blend right in with the humans.

  Then she snapped her fingers and opened her palm. A piece of paper lay in her hand. She held it out to Tess, who tucked it into her pocket. There was no point in trying to read it now because the magic wouldn’t show the message until she opened it on the Earthly realm.

  With these preparations, they were ready to go.

  “I need to send you now,” Perdira said. “I can sense the King and Dark Queen getting close.”

  “Can we just have a moment to say goodbye?” Tess said, and Perdira rolled her eyes.

  Tess took that as a yes.

  They walked into the other room, shutting the door behind them. Then they faced each other. Tess looked up at him.

  “Finn,” she said, just as he said her name at the same time.

  “Let me go first,” Tess said, searching his eyes. “Look, Finn. We might not survive this. And if we do, we won’t remember what we’ve been through together. But for what it’s worth, I want you to know that…”

  She stopped and wiped the tears that were threatening to fall.

  “I love you.”

  Finn’s face stayed solemn.

  “And I know you don’t want to hear that,” she said. “And you think I betrayed you and your family. But I swear that I believed I could save them. And I knew Ransetta wouldn’t keep her end of the deal, even if I did make one with her. I wish that it hadn’t—”

  Tess stopped because Finn had put a finger to her lips.

  “I love you too, Tessa,” he said, his voice low and rough. “But I’m going to be honest. I don’t know if I can forgive you for risking my family. I know that they were never truly in danger and that it was for the greater good. But I can’t help asking myself which you love more. Me or your quest?”

  “Finn—”

  “Because, forgive me for my selfishness, but I have this funny idea that the woman I love should love me more than she loves her mission. I know it’s crazy, but—”

  “Finn, I do.”

  He shook his head, and she stopped speaking.

  “Don’t Tess. We both know that’s not true. I totally understand why you did what you did. And I mean it when I say I love you. But that doesn’t mean that I can forgive you.”

  The tears were running freely down Tessa’s cheeks now, and she made no effort to stop them.

  “If I could take it back…” she got out.

  “It wouldn’t make a bit of difference,” Finn said, kissing her forehead. “There is that prophecy.”

  “The blind Seer?”

  All Finn did was gaze into her eyes, his own sparkling with unshed tears.

  “He said you would be mine to hold for a time. I have to be honest, though, I didn’t think it would be such a short time.”

  “No, Finn. It can’t end like this.”

  “It’s not over, Tess. Not yet. But you can’t argue with what is.”

  “No, no,” she said, sinking to the floor and covering her face with her hands.

  “There’s no getting around it, Tessa. We were never meant to be.”

  Tess sobbed and Finn wrapped his arms around her. There were no more words. And there was nothing Tess could do to change what was happening. She had never hurt so much in her life.

  There was an impatient knock at the door.

  Tess lifted her head, and Finn pressed a long kiss to her lips. Then he pulled away, his brown eyes sad.

  “Time to go,” Finn said, pulling her to her feet. “Our destiny awaits.”

  Chapter 42

  The woman opened her eyes, putting her hand to her head. She had a splitting headache, but she sat up in spite of it. She had a feeling that she was used to pain and could tolerate it quite well. Glancing down at her body, she felt relieved to see nothing missing and no pain, other than the headache. She wasn’t sure why she was glad to see her body intact, but she definitely was.

  What was going on?

  She felt a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach as she realized that she couldn’t remember her name.

  In fact, she couldn’t remember anything.

  This disturbing thought brought her to her feet, and she reeled a little at the dizziness she felt from standing.

  The woman looked around. She was in a hallway. This seemed wrong somehow.

  What was she doing in a hallway?

  “Where am I?” she said, and though she couldn’t remember anything, she was quite sure she had never seen this place before.

  What had happened that she had no memory?

  The woman was sure she had lost something. Something infinitely precious. But she couldn’t remember what.

  She took stock of her surroundings. She was in a hallway on the floor. Nothing but doors met her eyes as far as she could see down the endless grey corridor.

  She peered down the hall, feeling unsteady, and as she did so she heard the crinkle of a paper.

  There was something in the pocket.

  She withdrew the paper and unfolded it.

  There were only a few words on it.

  Your name is Tessa Callahan. Find Ethan Hunter, the musician. Finn Noble will arrive soon to help you with your search. Ethan is the only one who can assist you in your quest. There isn’t much time, Tess. Hurry.

  Perdira

  She read it over three times, trying to make sense of the words. Then it suddenly turned into a puff of smoke and was gone.

  “Tessa Callahan,” she whispered.

  At least she knew her name. But who was this Finn that was to help her find someone named Ethan Hunter? And why wasn’t there much time? It was all so confusing. But clearly, there was someone trying to help her. And whoever it was had known that Tess wouldn’t remember anything.

  The place seemed designed to instill calm but the woman fel
t fear rising in her instead.

  What was going on? Why couldn’t she remember anything? The woman began to panic. She ran down the hallway and as she came into a sort of hub where six hallways came together, she crashed straight into an old man. They both fell down and the woman’s head hit the floor.

  She lay there for a moment, feeling stunned and hurt, but not quite so afraid anymore. At least here was someone who might be able to help her understand what was going on.

  “Are you alright?” the old man said, reaching a hand down to help her up. “I didn’t see you coming. Not usually too many Fae running up and down these halls.”

  “Fae?” she said, a flicker of memory disappearing quickly from her mind.

  “Yes, you know, faeries?” the man said, pulling as she got to her feet again. She swayed a little and the man frowned. “Maybe you should sit down.”

  He indicated a bench. But the woman wasn’t interested in sitting, she wanted answers.

  “Are you saying that you’re a faerie?” the woman asked. “Or I am?”

  “We’re both faeries. There’s no other species that uses these portals. They’re for Fae only and they go between realms or between places on Earth.”

  "Earth?"

  "Yes," the old Fae said. "This is the Earthly Realm."

  The End

  Continue the Saga…

  Chalice Of Life, Book Three in the Fae series releases September 12th!

  Stay informed HERE!

  Author Note

  Hello dear reader,

  I am so happy and excited that you read Crown of Visions. This book was at once so much fun and SO frustrating to write. I had no idea how difficult the Truce spell was going to make things.

  Of course, I knew that writing about the Hundred Years Ball would need to have something that would prevent the two sides from attacking each other, since the Dark Queen and King are enemies. And over the course of the years, the Seelie and Unseelie courts have come to consider the other side their enemies, too. Even though it was almost entirely chance that decided whether you ended up in the Dark Court or the Light Court when the Severance happened.

  So I knew that if the two sides were supposed to meet and coexist for a week, they would need something to protect themselves from each other.

  Thus, the Truce spell was born.

  But do you know how hard it is to write an adventure book where the people can’t be harmed? Bad enough they’re immortal but there’s the Shadows-cursed Truce spell, too?

  Now, the ghost wyrm could very nicely kill Fae, so that at least made it possible for them to threaten each other. Thank goodness. At least now we could have some life or death stakes!

  Then I had to go and turn them into something like ghosts where they passed through objects and could be seen through, as well. That was so tricky too. I wrote myself into a corner more times than I can count in this book. And I would find myself asking, well, Stars above, how can I get them out of this pickle?

  The entire book, anything that seemed like a super fun idea, ended up being extremely hard to execute. So, I hope that you enjoyed all those little magical intricacies because I slaved over them, trying to have them make sense and follow the magical rules I’d already set out. I had to cut some scenes that I thought would be fun because I just couldn’t figure out how to make them work.

  I also wanted a lot of cool scenes and interesting Fae culture stuff in this book and I think I got a lot of that in. The Fae food at the reception, the masquerade, the Grand Revel, the marketplace, the flying races. All of that was fun to write and I hope you felt like you were really pulled into their world as if you were actually there at Summerswind Keep.

  Of course, at the end of the book, we find out that the adventure is much, much bigger than they originally thought. Yay, more Tess and Finn! So, once they translated the Scroll, they understood that they needed seven magical objects, plus the Scroll in order to end the Severance.

  They’ve got the Scroll and now the Crown and the next thing they need is the Chalice of Life, which the King hid on the Earthly Realm.

  Woo hoo! We’re going to the Earthly Realm in Book 3, reader! It’s going to be so much fun. Of course, they don’t remember who they are, why they’re there, or what they came for. But that’s not a big deal. Tess and Finn ought to be able to handle that. Right?

  There are some new characters that are going to be introduced that I hope you’ll like. And more adventure but this time in our world. So, I hope you’ll come along with me on the next wild ride. It’s going to be a great time!

  Of course, if you’ve enjoyed this book, please consider giving it some book love by leaving a review that will help other readers. Sometimes we forget that books need love too. No doubt the Stars will light your way forever if you do.

  Thank you so much for reading and as they say in Ahlenerra…

  May the Stars shine their light upon you.

  Sincerely,

  R. A. Rock

  For more extras, info about my other books, and to get to know me better please go to…

  rockthefae.com and/or follow me on Instagram. I’m @wordsrock.

  (And yes, I love word play, as you might have guessed. More of that in Book 3!)

  About Seven Sons

  Seven Sons is Fantasy. Urban Fantasy. Paranormal. Romance. Adventure. Relationships. Trials. Death. Journey. Finding yourself. Stepping into your next Big Adventure. Join us. Now.

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  To learn more about BrixBaxter publishing, please visit www.brixbaxter.com.

  About The Author

  When I was in grade two, my well-meaning teacher told me that I overused the word nice in my writing. As you can imagine, my younger self was both irritated and insulted. Somehow my eight-year-old brain thought that nice was the perfect adjective to describe… well, just about everything, I suppose. And anyways who was she to tell me how to write? If I wanted to use the word nice, I was darn well going to use it.

  Fast-forward thirty-three years and my stories are anything but nice, perhaps in reaction to that very first criticism. I like to write about what people do when terrible things occur. Hm. What would these characters do if the worst thing they can possibly imagine… happened? Let’s put them in that situation and see. I love magic and mystery, action and adventure, fight scenes, and sweet moments, too. And I’m all about taking the reader along for the ride. So, I hope you’ll come along on this magical adventure. I can’t wait to see where it leads! (I hope it’s someplace nice.)

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  COPYRIGHT

  Crown Of Visions

  Blade Of The Fae Book 2

  Copyright © R. A. Rock 2019

  First published in US as a paperback and ebook. This imprint by BrixBaxter Publishing & LMBPN Publishing 2019

  Cover Designer: Moonchild Ljilia

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and plot are all either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons – living or dead – is purely coincidental.