Rogue Fae
A Spy Among the Fallen Series
Crawford C.N.
Corey Press
For my little boy Ronan, who is beginning to learn the magic of how hands work.
If man were a beast or an angel, he would not be able to be in dread, and the greater the dread the greater the man.
Søren Kierkegaard
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Crawford C.N.
Chapter 1
Adonis handed me a canteen of water. Sunlight filtered through the laurel leaves, sparking in his pale eyes. Above us, Drakon—his dragonile—swooped between the tree branches.
“See?” Adonis said. “I remember things about you. You need to drink water to stay alive. I may have even packed you and Hazel sandwiches.”
I took the canteen gratefully from him. “Your understanding of biology astounds me.” I cocked my head. “What did you put in the sandwiches?”
“Bread with strawberries and butter. And a little pepper.”
I quirked a smile. Adonis had no idea how food worked. “That is weird as hell, but it sounds strangely delicious.” Much like him, in fact.
It was sweet of him, anyway. Unfortunately, we weren’t alone, or I might have kissed him right then.
Muriel, an angel friend of his we’d just met this morning, was staring right at us. “I’m just concerned that Ruby and Hazel are slowing us down.” She delivered this declaration to my sister and me in a sickly sweet tone, batting her eyelids.
Adonis shot her a sharp look. “Don’t be ridiculous, Muriel. We’re making good time.”
I glared at her. Ostentatious diamonds glittered from her wrists and from her blond curls. They were probably real, but her smile was fake as dollar-store rhinestones. Everything about her annoyed me, to the point where I nearly forgot about the fact that we were probably on our way to be slaughtered.
Adonis had arranged to meet the Horseman of Conquest to discuss an alliance. Kratos had chosen the location. Did I trust him? Hell no, I didn’t trust him. Hence, I’d brought my bow and arrows with me.
I had a strong feeling Kratos had set a trap for us. And yet, Adonis seemed to think this meeting was our only chance to win in a war against the two evil horsemen. The ones who were just about ready to cleanse the rest of the earth of every human, fae, and demon.
I screwed the top back on the canteen. “Let’s just keep going, shall we?”
Muriel cast an irritated glance over her shoulder. “No offense, but I don’t think we need the fae. Sometimes powerful forces take on dead weight, and that’s bad for everyone. We all know animals get overtired easily.”
Adonis halted his march over the forest floor, and I nearly ran into his back. At the look he was giving Muriel, a chill rippled over my skin. Even he was about to lose it with his old friend.
“Sorry.” She blew me a kiss. “I forgot the fae can be sensitive about being called animals. But people should just accept what they are, right? Just like I’ve accepted that I’m divine. Right, my darlings?”
Muriel had a way of unleashing the most brutal commentary with kisses and terms of endearment that made my skin crawl.
Hazel seemed amazingly unperturbed by Muriel’s attitude. She ignored the insults, lazily threading a string of leaves together as she walked.
Clenching my jaw, I started marching again, and the others moved along with me. Even though I was trying to keep my cool, the gemstones in my forehead were heating up, ready to claim some angel life.
“Just so we’re clear,” I snarled. “I’ve infiltrated the fortresses of two horsemen. I stole the gemstones from Aereus and the Old Gods, blocked the Heavenly Host from the earth with a magic blue shield, and I rescued Adonis from the underworld. And I’m the Bringer of Light.”
“I don’t even know what that is.” She wrinkled her nose. “And the Heavenly Host broke through that crappy shield you made, then disappeared somewhere on earth, so, I’m not super impressed with your powers.” She sighed, flicking her eyes to the heavens like a martyr. “Look, there’s no reason to get upset with me, sweetie. I dedicate my life to helping people. I ask for nothing in return.”
Annoying as she was, she had a point about the Heavenly Host. The shield I’d created to block the angels from the earth had only been temporary. Now, we were on borrowed time before the angels destroyed the rest of the earth, and all of my attempts to create new shields had failed miserably.
Ever since I’d stolen the gemstones, I’d had the feeling that the Old Gods didn’t really want me using their powers. Believe me, I’d been trying to master my new skills over the past few days. My life—maybe everyone’s life—depended on it. But each time I tried to summon the magic of the Old Gods, it seemed like the magic would kill me. I’d actually spent an entire week in an empty field outside Adonis’s castle trying to conjure a new shield, and each time my magic intensified, it had felt as if my body was about to blow apart with the force of their rage, and I could no longer focus. Since I’d stolen the gemstones, I’d completely lost control of the magic.
If I had to guess, the Old Gods didn’t take to kindly to thievery. And worse, I thought they might want me dead now, but I kept that last part to myself. I was supposed to be the earth’s only hope. It wouldn’t do any good to extinguish hope, right? I’d just have to work at my powers, until they didn’t kill me.
“Let’s just keep going, shall we?” I snapped. “We don’t want to be late for Kratos’s slaughter party.” I’d only known Muriel for a few hours, but already I wanted to fling her into the gorge.
Still, as much as I’d like to see her perfect body tumble down the rugged slope—slamming against every jagged rock on the way—she had a purpose here. Muriel was a bridge between Kratos and Adonis. In fact, she’d known them both for a thousand years or so. She was supposed to function as some sort of mediator in our negotiations. If either Kratos or Adonis tried to pull any shit, Muriel would use her angel powers to keep them in line.
Apparently, they both trusted her, even though she was clearly an asshole.
“How long have you two known each other, anyway?” My voice sounded a little too sharp as I glared at her.
“For centuries, sweetie. Adonis was there to help me when I nearly fell from grace.”
“Oh?” At last, Muriel was starting to seem interesting.
“Centuries ago,” she said. “In London. A wickedly beautiful incubus seduced me. Only Adonis’s magic was able to pull me back from eternal ruination.” She shuddered. “I’d started to grow horns. Like a demon. Revolting.”
These angels and their abstinence. It really was a sad waste of life.
A languid sigh escaped Muriel. “Such young creatures, these two little fae.”
“How old are you, anyw
ay?” asked Hazel.
Muriel stretched her arms over her head. “Older than Adonis. I was there when Eve ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden.”
Hazel scrunched her nose. “Wait—the Garden of Eden is real? I thought that was just a myth, like alligators who live in sewers and plants that give you rashes.”
“Plants can give you rashes.” I scowled at the leaves in her grip. “Hazel, that’s poison ivy.”
“Whoops.” She dropped them on the ground, wiping her hands on her jeans.
“And the Garden of Eden was real,” Adonis added. “Only it wasn’t an apple that Eve ate. It was a grape.”
Hazel frowned. “Well, grapes don’t grow on trees, so there are holes in your story already.”
Muriel stared at her nails. “I don’t see what was so great about the Garden, anyway. Nature’s boring.”
Another reason why Muriel was dumb as rocks. Right now, we were walking through a sylvan paradise, and she couldn’t even see it. Edible mushrooms grew along the forest floor, and ripe hawthorn berries and rose hips grew from the shrubs around us. Drakon swooped through the cherry trees above us, his teeth stained with the fruit. There was a banquet here for those who knew where to look. Forget Eden. This was Paradise—nature was the church of the gods.
My gaze flicked to the left of the path, where chinks of sunlight flecked a simple cottage. It looked like it had just been built since the Great Nightmare began.
Smoke curled from the chimney, rising between the gnarled boughs of an oak. Through the window, I caught a glimpse of a woman stirring something in a pot over a fireplace. Soup, I imagined. When she tucked a strand of her platinum hair behind her ear, I realized her ears were pointed. A fae—just like me. I stared as a fae male came up behind her, planting a kiss on her cheek.
That’s what I’m missing. Living out here in nature like the fae were supposed to. A simple life, surrounded by the paradise of nature.
“A little fae cottage,” said Muriel. “How quaint. Until they go feral and eat each other.”
I blocked her out, already envisioning my life in a cottage like that. I’d hunt deer and drink ice-cold water from a forest stream…. Adonis would wear nothing but a fig leaf. At night, we would sit in front of the fire sipping home brews, eating soup. Then, he’d push me up against an oak tree, grab my thighs, and—
“Ruby,” said Hazel. “You’re about to walk into a tree.”
My eyes snapped open, and I stopped short of a laurel trunk. “I know what I’m doing,” I muttered.
“What were you thinking about?” asked Hazel.
I cleared my throat. “Nothing. Just the upcoming meeting with Kratos. I was thinking about our best strategy.”
Ugh. Weird that the vision had been so potent. I was beginning to suspect that the stones I’d stolen from the Old Gods might be messing with my head a little. These days, my fantasies—my phantom life—sometimes seemed more vibrant than the real world.
Or—it was possibly the fact that Adonis and I had been separated for a week after I saved him from the underworld, and now I couldn’t stop staring at his muscled body. For a full week, he’d been away, trying to make contact with Kratos.
“Are you nervous for this meeting?” asked Hazel. “What if it’s an ambush? What if Kratos is just luring us into a trap?”
“I certainly don’t trust Kratos. But we have Adonis on our side, and if it comes down to an angel battle, I like his odds.”
As I looked at Adonis’s perfect body, it occurred to me that maybe the problem with temptation in the Garden of Eden had nothing to do with Eve. From my perspective, everything was the angels’ fault. If had to guess, Azazeyl—the angel who tempted Eve—was a stone-cold hottie. And when she ate the grapes he offered her, Paradise was lost. Not her fault, even though it did ruin everything for everyone.
Azazeyl cursed humanity with the ability to speak—and with language came neurosis. Adam and Eve were no longer simply cavorting through the plants and screwing up against oak trees. After the fall, they were thinking about things like What is death, and what happens to your soul when you die? Does Adam always have to chew with his mouth open? Is there more to life than fig leaves and fruit trees? And is Azazeyl ever coming back here or did I weird him out when I tried to compliment his abs?
If it weren’t for the angels, Adam and Eve and the rest of humanity would have happily stayed in their paradise, neurosis-free.
Angels had screwed up everything.
And now, I’d be relying on these same angels to fix the whole apocalypse they started.
Muriel turned to frown at me. “I’ve always wondered if the fae take baths or if you just lick yourselves clean like dogs?”
I picked up a clump of earth from the ground and hurled it at Muriel, eliciting a shriek when it hit her white gown.
“That’s cats, dipshit,” I shouted.
Since the world’s fate depended on it, it was a good thing I had a natural rapport with these angels.
Chapter 2
The cave’s entrance didn’t look like much—a four-foot-tall hole that opened from the side of a vine-covered rock. Tree roots grew around it, and Adonis had to crouch to fit through the opening.
Muriel followed right behind him, close enough to be all up in his metaphorical fig leaves.
I crawled on my hands and knees into the cave. After a few feet, the passage opened up enough that I could stand.
Muriel spoke a few words in Angelic, and a glowing orb appeared above her, casting warm light over smooth stone walls.
“What is this place?” asked Hazel.
“Once, these caves were used by the Templars,” said Adonis. “They built them as a place to worship the gods in secret. If the Inquisition had found these temples, they would have burned the Templars.”
“Like they did in France,” added Muriel.
My eyes roamed over the carvings on the walls—the Angelic script and alchemical symbols—stars, kings, two men riding a horse.
As we walked deeper into the caves, the walls became rougher and the pictures more primitive. The carvings changed—no longer words, but now thorny vines and gnarled boughs of trees, the lines increasingly crude and violent. Somehow, it seemed like we were walking back in time.
In these ancient caverns, a shiver rippled over me. Kratos had chosen an isolated place for this meeting point.
“You’re sure he doesn’t want to trap us here?” I whispered.
“We had to take a risk,” said Adonis. “He insisted on meeting on his terms.”
“Sure,” I said. “That doesn’t sound suspicious at all.”
“I thought you had goddess powers,” said Muriel.
“Yep.” It’s just that they’ll kill me, so I’m not eager to use them.
“Anyway,” Muriel continued. “If I know anything about Kratos, it’s that he’s serious about having the horseman curse removed. The man has been desperate to make love to a woman for thousands of years. Only you can make that happen.”
“What an honor,” I said. “I’m like a cosmic wingman.”
At last, the tunnel opened into a large cavern, and my heart sped up at the sight of Kratos. He stood alone, his coppery wings swooping behind him. Always, at the first sight of Kratos, I had the strongest urge to drop to my knees, his power of conquest washing over me. I wanted to lower my eyes, to sink to the ground. Still, I fought the urge, forcing myself to keep his gaze.
The candlelight wavered over his masculine features, his eyes blazing like sunlight.
It took me a moment to realize that someone else had come with him—Elan, the fae servant from his castle. Elan smiled at me, nervously tugging on the hem of his cat sweater. I smiled back at him. With tension thick in the air, it felt good to see a friendly face.
“Kratos,” said Adonis. His dark magic whipped around him with an air of menace. I had to wonder if he did that on purpose, like a cat raising his hackles to seem more threatening. “I received your missive.”
“Do
you have news about Aereus and Johnny?” asked Kratos.
Adonis shook his head. “Only that they’ve joined forces at Sadeckrav Castle. Are you committed to joining an alliance with us? As allies, we might be able to combat the other horsemen while Ruby fights the Heavenly Host. As soon as we find them.”
Kratos stared at me. “Remove the curse from me, and I’m on your side.”
I tried not to think about the fact that if I pulled his curse off him, the first thing he’d be doing was trying to get laid. That was his own business.
I took a step closer to him, letting my gaze become unfocused until I could see the dark magic of the curse writhing around his neck. “Are you ready for this?”
“I’m stiff with anticipation.”
I narrowed my eyes. Was it just me, or was that a double entendre?
“I’m ready to thrust myself deeply into my new life,” he continued. “Until I reach the fulfillment I’ve always been seeking.”
He had to be doing this on purpose. He looked dead serious, though.
I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and stared at the magic swirling around his neck. With the curse removed, Kratos would no longer have to follow the demands of the Heavenly Host—to hunt humans, to force them into submission. He’d no longer have to worry about falling from grace if he indulged in pleasure.
In short, I had the power to free him completely.
The stones in my forehead began to warm, and the ancient power of the Old Gods began to thrum over my body as I prepared to pull the curse off him.
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