by L. H. Nicole
She confirmed it. “He told me all about his home, in Atlantis, the Isle of the Blessed and Avalon. We became good friends.”
“So I wasn’t imagining it when I thought I saw you leaving with him from the Champion feast?”
She sighed, a dreamy expression on her face. “I hadn’t seen him since the Manticore attack.”
Dawn pushed her plate away. “Okay, this is lovely, but I’m confused.”
“Yeah,” Lacy added. “What does any of this have to do with…all of this?” The blond girl frowned. “None of this is making any real sense.”
“Actually I think it is, lass.” Leo looked to Sophvira. “He owed you a life debt, so he saved you from the poison bracelet.”
“My soul, at least. Or that’s how he explained it, anyway.” Her young face fell. “After it happened he said I had a choice. I could move on to a new life, or he could protect my soul until he found a way to give me my life back.”
“You chose to wait,” Lacy said, sounding awed, looking at Vira like she was seeing her in a whole new light. Dawn was too. Aliana looked at Guin, their eyes meeting. They both knew how strong a spirit the teen had.
“How he managed everything, I don’t know. The last thing I remember is him putting me to sleep, then waking up in Rothik’s chamber with Merlin and Lancelot hovering over me like a pair of nanny goats.”
The girls cracked up, and even Guin hid her giggle behind her hand.
Arthur decided to call everyone’s attention back to the original conversation. “All right, settle down. We need to focus on our next move.”
Dawn apparently decided to take that as her cue to speak up. “If Sophvira is friends with Puck, can’t she just ask him to come and tell us where the Grail is?”
Vira looked down sadly. “Before I woke up, he said he wouldn’t be able to see me for a while, and he always found me.”
Aliana frowned, not sure that was the whole truth. But she would get the answer from her later, privately.
“Then we’re back to square one,” Percy moaned.
Merlin held up the blank piece of magic paper. “No. We have the map. I will study it.”
“We have time on our side,” Dagg said, speaking up for the first time. “Viviane and Morgana cannot know the location of the Grail either. They would not hesitate to use that kind of power, especially if they are still busy trying to free Mordrid from whatever dark hole Queen Titania put him in when she sent us to Camelot.”
Aliana nodded. “Dagg’s right. I would think, with all of us scattered, they would have tried something if they could have. You all were at your most vulnerable being divided.”
“Then let’s hope that is indeed the case.” Leo motioned to Owen and Lancelot. “Sire,” he turned to address Arthur. “Owen, Lancelot, and myself can help Merlin study this map. Four minds are better than one.”
Arthur agreed. “While you do that, the rest of us will put together a strategy for traveling through Atlantis, learning all we can about its peoples and terrain.”
Aliana sat back in her chair taking in all the chatter of the knights in full planning mode. This was where she belonged, even as hard as it had been, and as hard as it was all guaranteed to become. She may have always been meant to be the Destined One, but until Mordrid had nearly killed her, she hadn’t ever really accepted the title.
Despite what Vira said about Puck, Aliana had a feeling she needed to find the trickster sooner rather than later. With Vira’s new life, their family, their Round Table was truly whole again. Now she just had to make sure it stayed that way. She was the Destined One after all.
Epilogue
KING OBERON SAT BACK in his imperial throne as he watched his Lady wife, Queen Titania, carry on a reserved conversation with one of the Elf princes. The winter celebrations were already in full swing, but all the king could think of was what his scheming wife had planned next.
Despite their nearly eight hundred year separation, he had never stopped caring for the only woman who had ever captured his affections. There was no other to match her, none other he would ever want by his side. But he also knew that her grand plans stretched far beyond all the power and realms she already controlled, starting with one of her bloodline on the throne of Camelot. Even before his lady queen had conjured the Dragon’s ruined city into her realm, she had made a bid for such power. A bid that failed when her niece had not wed the golden king after years at his side.
Titania wanted ultimate power.
He couldn’t let her get it.
Not without needing him to help her acquire and maintain it.
He needed the Grail of Power, had to have it before his wife got her elegant hands on it. With the Grail, she could unlock all the hidden power of the Hel gems her Destined One had so cleverly sealed away. He recalled the first whispers of the Jewels, when a stray Fae had come to his loyal fire Elves and demanded they be set in a sword for the Golden King of Camelot.
He had never been able to glean the information he wanted from that charming Fae, who was his queen’s niece, after he had his assassins bring her to him. To this day, it incited a rage in the Elf king that he did not know how or who had helped her escape questioning. He had his suspicions, but Puck had proven impossible to blame for the daring rescue. Perhaps Titania herself had aided in the escape. It was rare, but his vixen queen had shown many times she did care for the fate of her blood kin.
The silver wine goblet in his hand bent and cracked, red liquid running down his palm and wrist like blood. He cast the ruined cup away, the tarnished metal vanishing before it hit the floor, the wine spilling down his arm fading with it.
It was time King Oberon took matters into his own hands. If he had the Grail, then Titania would need him to help her unseal and restore the great powers of the Hel jewels. He could bargain with her to remain by his side. Such unstoppable magic would only serve to make both of their ruling realms that much more powerful.
Oberon understood Titania in a way he was sure even she didn’t realize or understand, but one thing eluded him. Would she seek to revive the sword, take the power of the eclipse herself, or wait until after the dark Wizard faced the Golden King and the Destined One in the final war?
His sister had just finished requesting that he once again send his armies to aid the king in that very war. Varaness made a passionate case, but her own feelings for one of the human knights, Sir Galahad, had always clouded her judgment. He had assured her he would think on it, but he would not once again give his warriors over so easily.
His lips turned up in a smirk as Titania bowed her head ever so slightly to him, her ringlets of copper red brushing her sharp cheeks. He bowed his head to her in respect. Her emerald eyes gleamed as she held his gaze, a move no other living being would have ever dared do.
Except the Destined One, Aliana. His queen’s granddaughter and the granddaughter of the Underlord. He himself had realized her true heritage when he held her captive in the Isle, for that short time. The Fae king had learned much from that one invasion into her mind. But she would be of no real use to him, or his queen, until she rid herself of the magics battling inside her. Foreign magics she didn’t even realize his lady wife and another had cast upon her even before her birth. Forces that were hampering the true strength of her magic.
A flash of black behind a marble pillar caught the king’s attention as Titania moved to where Varaness stood with the other four members of her council.
One of his most trusted assassins inclined his head, his deadly silver eyes alert and pleased.
“We have him, my king. The trickster awaits you in the pits.”
Oberon rose from his throne. Titania came immediately to his side.
“My Lord, do you mean to leave these celebrations?”
He took her free hand, brought it to his lips. His kiss was quick, but he felt the minute change in her pulse, the awareness of the effect his touch still had over her.
“I must see to a matter of Avalon, my lady. I shall re
turn with all haste.”
She nodded, stepping back as he made his way through the throngs of Elves and other magical creatures. They all bowed low as he passed.
He had truths to get from Puck, one way or another. The Atlantian trickster was finally going to be made to tell his king all he knew of the Grail and where it was hidden in the underwater realm.
He was King Oberon, his will would not be denied.
Acknowledgments
I want to thank everyone who helped put this book, and my series together and bring it to life. First up are my editors Bev and Sean, whose honesty and support helped bring everything together. My publicist, and friend, Jenn for being the amazing person she is and putting up with my craziness. The entire Omnific family for their continued support. And of course, all my readers. Without you, no author would get to share their stories.
About the Author
LH Nicole is a seasoned pastry chef in our nation’s capitol and a lifelong fairy tale (Disney and Grimm) lover. She believes in love at first sight, is addicted to eighties and nineties cartoons, and anything that can capture her ADD-way-too-overactive imagination. Joan Lowery Nixon and L.J. Smith were the first authors she became addicted to, and they inspired her to steal away whenever she could to read and write. You can keep up with LH and all her news and adventures on:
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