Fragile Reign (Mortal Enchantment Book 2)

by Stacey O'Neale

  It felt alive.

  A voice whispered in my mind. At first, I only heard my name repeated. Each time the voice was louder, clearer. Brita spoke to me the same way—telepathically. Were the spirits within the flame trying to communicate with me? I rubbed the back of my neck. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. There was no script for this. I decided the voice was waiting for me to answer back. I bent on one knee. “Yes,” I said, out loud. “I am Rowan, son of Prisma from the House Djin. I came here—”

  A deep voice answered back from within my head. “We know who you are, son of Prisma, and first queen of the court of fire.”

  I kept looking around, expecting someone to come out of the fire. “Do you know why I am here?” I asked.

  “You have come to be remade.”

  I suddenly had visions of myself as a piece of Play-Doh. “No, I think I’m made pretty well.” I waved my palms out in front of me. “No complaints here.”

  “We have watched you for some time, Prince Rowan of House Djin. We know of your struggles, the pain you endured to save another, the risks you took to secure the safety of your court. You have exhibited strength, knowledge, and selflessness. Are these not the characteristics of a true king? Rise up young king and accept our gift.”

  I stood.

  Before I could guess the meaning of the words, pain shot through my entire body. Searing pain unlike anything I had ever experienced. This was even worse than having Marcus tear my wings from my body. Definitely not the gift I was hoping for. “What are you doing to me,” I cried out. My teeth clenched, my eyes squeezed shut. The pain shifted almost entirely to my back. The scars felt as if they were opening while the skin stretched. Bones in my back shifted, relocating into different positions.

  Was I being remade into a Gabriel Hound?

  My knees buckled and I hit the ground with a hard thump. I felt something tugging at my wrists as if it were caught in the brisk wind. When I opened my eyes, I realized it was my shirt. Whatever was happening to my back has ripped my shirt in half. Something feeling similar to a knife sliced down my spine. I screamed out, unable to hold back. My back bowed. A moment later, I fell forward. My face hit the hard ground. Blood dripped from my nose.

  I took turns panting and wailing from the sheer agony. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck. When I reached the point where I thought I could take no more, the pain ended. The sudden change took me by surprise. I continued to lay on the hard surface for another minute. I needed to make sure the pain wouldn’t return before I attempted to stand again. After a while, I managed to get onto all fours. But something was different. There was a heavy weight on my back. Reaching back, my fingers landed on something soft.

  Feathers.

  I rose to my feet. Black feathers stretched out on either side of my body. I ran my hand over them, still not believing what I was seeing. The feathers were exactly how I remembered them: soft on the edges and course at the tip. The cartilage and bones connecting them to me expanded. They were part of me, attached to my spine. I shook my head in total astonishment as happiness overwhelmed me. It was like Christmas and Birthdays and Disney World all wrapped into one. I had never imagined in all my dreams that I would know this feeling again.

  Wings. The eternal flame had returned my wings.

  I fell to my knees, tears bursting from my eyes. My heart was beating a million miles a minute, yet it didn’t feel real. It was as if I were dreaming. “Thank you,” I said, out loud.

  I didn’t wait for a response. I had a certain elemental on a power trip that needed to be dealt with. I backed up on the flat surface, giving myself some running room. I took off, hitting full speed after about five seconds. Leaping up, I spread my wings as far as they would expand. Air rushed between the individual feathers, tickling me. Hot wind whipped against my face. I was going fast, allowing my power to flow through my new wings. Soon, I had the doorway in sight. I shot through it like a rocket.

  The cave was crawling with fire elementals emerged in war. Bloodied bodies lined the floor. The hounds were taking on multiple rogues at a time. Valac was likely responsible for this. He must have assumed I was dead. I truly had no idea how long I was in there. The pain made it seem like an eternity. I swooped down, clutching my sword in my hand. I twisted in between the clusters of fighting elementals.

  I needed to get their attention.

  “Enough! Put down your weapons.” I flew only a few feet above the fighting. Using my sword, I sliced in between the warriors to interrupt their attacks on one another. Slowly, the battle came to an end. Most stood with their mouths open, total shock appeared to be their reaction. I was going for a big entrance and judging by their looks of astonishment, I would say I succeeded. I landed on top of a broken pillar. From this height I could see them all. Marcus appeared from out of the crowd and relief spilled over my shoulders. Blood dripped down from his mouth, but otherwise, he appeared to be okay.

  I sheathed my sword. With my fists on my hips and wings flared at my sides, I said, “Now you have the proof you need. Swear you allegiance to me. This is the last chance you’ll get.”

  The Gabriel Hounds were the first to bow, lowering their massive heads. Rogue elementals lowered their weapons, letting them clank against the hard ground one at a time. Each of the remaining elementals bent on one knee. This was what I had been waiting for. I had finally managed to unite the fire court. Only one thing left to do: find Valac in the crowd and rip his throat out. “Where is Valac?” I asked. “Show yourself, coward.”

  A bogie stepped forward, covered in blood. I wasn’t surprised to see them involved in the skirmish. They were well-known for their love of a good brawl. The creatures were half the size of a full-grown mortal, but extremely dangerous. They were covered in coarse body hair with large noses and pointy ears. “I saw Valac leave some time ago,” he said. “A few elementals followed him.”

  I don’t know why I was surprised. Valac did exactly what I said he would do. There was never a plan for him to fight his own battle. He expected his army to do the dirty work. I would bet money he left when the fighting began. Little did he know, his luck was about to run out. “Now that I am king, I command that Valac be found and made to stand trial. He will be accountable for his crimes.”

  I will end him and finally bring peace to the court of fire.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Kalin

  I had reached the pinnacle of frustration.

  No matter what I did or how hard I concentrated, I could not summon my power. Nothing. Not even the slightest glow of my aura. Zero. I put my hands over my face, shaking my head. There couldn’t be a worse time for all of this to happen. Too much was at stake. I reached a point where I was checking in on Dad every few hours, probably driving him nuts. He hadn’t made any improvement. His power was there—which was more than I could say for myself—but it was weak. Mom worried. I could tell by the creases across her forehead. As always, she kept her feelings to herself.

  No matter how bad things got, she never wanted to burden me.

  Pulling my knees to my chest, I stared out into the clear skies. It was another beautiful day in Avalon. The temperatures were in the lower seventies without any hint of rain. It was a perfect t-shirt and jeans weather day, which was what I wore. I had been outside since the sun rose. For the last few hours the castle had been bustling. Air elementals prepared for the big engagement party hosted by the woodland court. The party I couldn’t talk them out of—no matter how hard I tried.

  Orion and Marlena promised a lavish affair, and it looks like they were not exaggerating. The party invitations—engraved onto thin slices of twenty-four carat gold—were delivered by tiny will-o’-the-wisps. All of the elementals from each court had been invited. Dread ached in my chest. This had ‘bad idea’ written all over it. Many members of the fire court had come to despise the air and woodland elementals. How easy would it be for a war to start right there at the party? Too easy. But Orion thought the party might bring the co
urts back together.

  His view of the situation was about as far away from mine as possible.

  Bash’s response shocked me the most. He knew better than anyone that our engagement wasn’t real. It was his suggestion after all. Why would he want to parade around as my soon-to-be-husband only to reveal the big lie later on? Those exact words came from Rowan. He hadn’t trusted Bash from the beginning. But he had never met him. Since he first arrived at the castle, Bash had been there for me. From his words of encouragement to his unwavering friendship. No, it was unfair to doubt him. Rowan would realize that once they met.

  “Princess Kalin.” One of my guards called out, awakening me from my thoughts. “I am sorry to disturb you, but Ariel insists that you are needed in your quarters. She said it is an emergency.”

  I packed the akasha journals back into my bag, hoisting the handle over my shoulder. “Thanks.” I said, giving the knight a two finger salute. After all this time, they still weirded me out. Having someone watching me all the time felt pretty stalkerish, but I got it. That was their job.

  I made it back to my room in no time at all. When I opened the door I had to step over piles of fabric and sewing equipment. Apparently, the seamstresses had been busy in my absence. The evidence was all over the floor. Ariel sat slumped in a chair, her fingers tapping the armrest. This wasn’t the cheery elemental I was used to seeing. And the scowl across her face told me it was about to get ugly in here.

  “Do you know what I’ve been doing all morning?” Ariel asked, voice full of agitation.

  “Perfecting your twerk?” I joked, unsuccessfully attempting to lighten the mood.

  It looked as if steam was about to come out of her ears. “I’ve been trying on dresses. Your dresses for your fake engagement party. They’ve all been fitted for me because you were gone.”

  I cringed. When I went out this morning, I asked not to be disturbed. I told the guards to say that I wished to be in private, no matter who came asking. I had forgotten all about the dress fitting. I grabbed her hands, pulling her up and out of the chair. “I’m so sorry, Ariel. I genuinely forgot.” I glanced over to the bed. A stack of dresses lay on top in a rainbow of colors. “I can see you’ve worked really hard on this. I’ll find some way to make it up to you. I promise.”

  Ariel rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah you will.” She said, crossing her arms. “But for right now, we need to get you ready for this party.”

  Oh right, like I could forget. Instead of focusing my time on regaining my powers, I was only hours away from my big fat fake engagement party. Where was Bash and his awesome wine when I needed him? “You know this is going to be a total disaster, right?”

  “Of course it will,” she agreed, without a second of hesitation. “But on a positive side, you’re going to look ridiculously hot.”

  Ariel plopped me down into a chair, swirling my seat around to face the mirror. She immediately went to work on my hair. As she curled my hair into submission, she spoke of the rumors she had heard. As I expected, the woodland king and queen went overboard. Food had been catered by the best mortal chefs from all around the world. Their ballroom was apparently dripping with rare breeds of flowers from top to bottom. Special jeweled goblets had been made for every guest. At some point the details became overwhelming and I just stopped listening. The lies I would have to tell for the entire evening sickened me.

  “This may be my best work yet.” She said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

  My hair hung in loose curls down my back. Every piece identical to the next. She was right to applaud herself. This hairdo deserved to be on a magazine cover. “What would I ever do without you?”

  “I don’t know, girl.” Ariel said, shaking her head. “Pray the day never comes.”

  I playfully smacked her on the arm. “I’m serious. You’re the best. You really are.” I pulled her into a tight hug.

  She patted me on the back. “You can revel in my awesomeness later. I still have plenty of work to do.”

  Laughing, I sat back down in the chair. Ariel opened her make-up arsenal, lining up all of her brushes in order, smallest to largest. Then she opened a palette of eye powders. The colors had been organized alphabetically by name. This girl was beyond organized. There were actual medical conditions that could explain what I was seeing. The words obsessive compulsive disorder kept flashing in my head. “Are you planning to use all of them on me?”

  “Patience, my Padawan.” She winked.

  My mouth hung open. I was completely impressed until I remembered that she had never seen any of the movies. “Oh no, you cannot quote Star Wars.”

  “Why not?” Ariel chuckled, applying sparkly eye shadow to my lids.

  In a faux serious tone, I said, “Those who mock the series may never quote the series. That’s the rule.”

  We both giggled. It was nice. Freeing, even. For a while she made me forget about everything going wrong in my life. Our banter reminded me of my mortal friends. Whenever I was around them, I never had to think about my life in Avalon or my impending responsibilities. I could just be a teenage girl. We hung out together, shopped for clothes we didn’t need, and gossiped about who was taking who to prom. It was blissful and I missed it. I missed all of them. That’s why Ariel was so important to me. She somehow filled the void. Without her, I would’ve been lost here.

  As the day passed into twilight I arrived at the engagement party with my parents, Bash by my side. My canary-yellow floor-length gown had a tight, strapless bodice with a flowing skirt. Bash wore a black tuxedo with a long jacket. He was very handsome, as usual. Dad wore his traditional black tuxedo with a yellow bowtie, but he had something special made for Mom. Her floor-length, capped sleeve gown was hand-beaded with sparkling yellow crystals. She had her hair twisted into a braided bun, making her look like a queen.

  But her smile was the best part. I had never seen her so happy.

  The ballroom in the woodland castle looked like something straight out of a Disney movie. Couples in formal wear glided across the gold accented flooring to the music coming from the orchestra. Elementals from each court were present, but the bulk of them were from the air and woodland courts. Taking in our audience only reminded me of the turmoil between the courts. It would take much more than a party to mend those deep wounds, to rebuild the trust we once had with one another.

  We were all seated together at a long rectangular table. We sat a bit higher than the dance floor, making it easy to take in the exquisite room. Golden pillars lined the walls, shimmering almost as much as the massive crystal chandeliers. The entire space was lit with hundreds of white candles giving the ballroom a creamy, romantic glow. Waiters served wine in the goblets Ariel had described. When I got one in my hand I took in the carvings and the multi-colored, large-cut jewels embedded into them.

  The goblets matched the place settings on our table. Each porcelain plate was lined in gold and cut stones. Even the freaking silverware was gold. Without asking, food was brought out to us. It was caviar. I had never eaten fish eggs before, but the ache in my stomach was advising me not to try it. I sat back in my chair trying to wrap my head around all of this for a moment. Everything in the room had to be worth millions of mortal dollars. You could feed an entire country for a month just by cashing in some of this stuff. I had never seen anything so lavish in my life.

  Even Donald Trump would have been impressed.

  “Have you ever tried caviar?” Bash asked, spooning some onto a warm blinis. “It’s always been one of my favorites.”

  Bash ate the caviar with such enthusiasm. He relished in all things regal. I assumed it came from his upbringing. Royals were supposed to eat elegant dishes prepared by the finest chefs. Too bad I was a hamburger and fries kind of girl. I couldn’t imagine Bash eating anything greasy. He was too pristine for any of that. All the more reason we should never marry. He would not be happy with someone like me. I had to be dressed up, made to appear as if this were my environment. In reality, I could live wi
thout all of these luxuries. I was into…different things.

  I was into Rowan.

  Then, it hit me like a slap against the back of the head. I was supposed to meet Rowan at the beach at sundown. With all the party plans and my issues with my power, I had completely forgotten about our agreement. He was probably there now and worried about me. I had to find a way to send a message to him before he went to the air court castle looking for me. There, someone would tell him I was here attending my engagement party. I couldn’t imagine that would go over well. I stood. “I have to go.”

  Bash grabbed my forearm. “Where are you going?”

  “Rowan is waiting for me.” I said, voice frantic. “I have to get a message to him. He’ll be worried if I don’t show up.”

  “Please sit down,” he said, guiding me back into my chair. “Let me take care of this for you. I can send someone right away. You stay and enjoy the party with your parents.”

  I turned to my parents. Both were greeting a group of water elementals. I realized I should be with them, speaking to other guests. This party was about more than just my fake engagement. Dad hoped to lessen the tension between the courts. As a princess and future queen, it was my duty to do what I could. I smiled at Bash, appreciative of his kindness. “Thank you so much for doing this for me. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to join my parents.”

  “Of course,” he said, bowing. A second later, he was off speaking to a group of air court knights.

  I was about to join my parents when I noticed Brita—the water queen—standing on the other side of the dance floor. She was difficult to miss, wearing an iridescent gown that seemed to change colors in the candlelight. Her perfectly straight black hair flowed down her back, making her porcelain skin appear even paler than it already was. As I got closer, I could see the white henna-styled tattoos on the sides of her face.