by Chanda Hahn
“Here. This is the source.” I pointed down into the darkness.
“Of the blight?” Liam asked.
I nodded, feeling sick to my stomach with the feelings that were rising up to me. An echo of the past ringing into my soul. “I need to go down there. I need to see more.”
“No, it’s too dangerous.” Liam grabbed my arm as I was about to head into the passageway.
“I’m not afraid,” I said.
“You should be.”
I smiled reassuringly at him. “Not when you’re with me.”
Liam nodded. He released my arm and pulled his sword out of his sheath, moving down the steps first. He motioned for me to stay behind. The sunlight only shone on the first few steps before he was swallowed up by the gloom.
I waited expectantly and heard him call for me. “All clear.”
Bounding down the steps, I came up to his side and shook my head.
“I guess you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“Yes, there’s no one down here.” I pushed past him and hesitated as the light didn’t penetrate farther. I spotted the burned-out torches lining the walls.
Fiergo.
With a flicker, the torches came alight, and we could see that most of the tunnel was still intact, but sections had collapsed.
“Are you getting stronger?” Liam asked, taking a torch from the wall.
“I think it’s because of where we are. It’s boosting my magic. I’ve never been able to conjure more than a mere flicker of fire, but here . . . it’s almost more than I can control.” I tried to hide my concern.
We followed the cave. There were sections where the entire ceiling had collapsed, and the ground was illuminated by the setting sun. Other areas of the tunnel were blocked, and Liam had to clear giant rocks and boulders before we could go on.
“How much farther?”
“Not far.” I could feel my stomach roiling with anticipation.
The ground leveled out, and all around us the packed dirt and walls were marked with deep grooves that ran parallel to the floor.
Running my finger along the indention, I followed it to an archway and stopped.
“There.” I pointed to the arched door made of roots. “The source of the blight came from within.”
The door had been destroyed and lay buried in the earth. I inspected it, reading the sigils and the warning along the door.
Liam came back outside. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s a curse,” I said, reading the history that was embedded within the iron door. “One that had been cast on the king of Rya for a great wrong he committed.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, and it was a deadly curse. One that was sealed away inside this vault. But someone broke the lock, and the curse is free to run its course.”
“What does the curse do?”
I shook my head. “Death and destruction.”
Liam gestured for me to stay put. He held out the torch and entered the room while I studied the locks and wards placed on the door. There was something familiar about the wording and handwriting.
I was scared to investigate further, but I felt compelled to find the truth. Kneeling in front of the door, I used my magic to search for the telltale signature of the castor. My heart thudded loudly in my chest, and my hand trembled.
“It was Mother,” I whispered.
“What was?” Liam stepped back out of the room.
“She was the one who bound the curse in this vault. I recognize her spell work.”
Liam shifted his weight and wouldn’t make eye contact. “Aura, there’s something you should see.”
“What?”
He ducked back into the darkened room and held the torch up high, casting a circular glow along the walls. The light caught hundreds of crystals that glittered in the wall, each in a very specific pattern.
“They’re the constellations,” I said in awe.
“Aura, look.” Liam drew my attention away from the sparkling wall and to the object in the center of the room.
A stone dais, and upon it, a bed with a pillow and red sheet lay discarded on the floor. Scratched into the dais and all over the floor were various spells, but the one repeated over and over gave me a clue to what had really happened here.
Somnus—sleep.
“This isn’t a vault. It’s a prison cell,” I gasped.
Looking around with fresh eyes, I took in the prison with the bed inside.
“My mother mentioned nothing about this.”
“She probably didn’t want you to know.”
“It’s a person,” I cried. “Mother Eville imprisoned someone in here, casting a sleeping spell.” I covered my mouth with my hands and held back my disgust as I remembered all of our lessons in weaving sleeping spells. “An actual person is responsible for all of this.”
“We don’t know Lorelai Eville’s reasons, but look at the damage they’ve done since they’ve escaped. It moved across the kingdom, targeting the holdings and towns. It’s only a matter of time before it chooses to go after the king. I have to believe its path of destruction was deliberate. To strike fear into the king, because where it goes”—he ran my finger along the deep gouges made by the thorns—“death and destruction follow.”
“You’re right.” I nodded. “This was probably the reason my mother didn’t want us to come here. She knew how dangerous this being was.”
“What do we do now?” Liam asked.
“We know two things. One, the blight isn’t a curse, so it can be defeated. And two, there’s only one place left for it to go.”
His mouth pinched in a determined line. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“It’s already here.” Liam pulled Pern to a stop, and we looked upon the pass completely enveloped by a giant mass of twisting thorns. Even from a distance, we could hear the creaking and crackling of the branches as they grew and twisted around each other, giving it an ominous voice as it slithered across the ground like a snake. “The blight finally reached the mountain. The next stop is the palace.”
“What do we do?” Hayes removed his helm to gaze upon the blight up close.
My fingers dug moon-shaped divots in my palm as their fear washed over me.
Liam had a white-knuckle grip on his reins. “We do what we were sent to do. We stop it here, now.” Liam gave me a pained smile. “We’re not alone in our fight. The blight can be defeated. It has been contained before, and we will do it again.”
I stared at the twisting thicket that looked very much like the same firethorn from the fae court. But it was here, growing and moving slowly across the land, concealed behind miles of thick, impassable fog. It was the fog that hid the real threat from the world, and I had a feeling that if I could get through the thorns, I would find the one responsible. It was just another barrier of protection. Refusing to show my own fear, I slipped off of the horse to study the thorns closer. Liam kept a close eye on me.
I reached out to touch a thorn, and Liam slapped my hand away. In an instant, the closest green barb shot out of the branch into a thorn larger than my spindle. Seconds later, it shifted back into a harmless thorn.
“They’re poisonous,” Liam warned.
“To non-fae,” I added, letting my thoughts swirl with possibilities and drawing the same conclusion.
After I inspected the twisting and churning firethorns, I ended up with more questions than answers. All flora needed nutrients to grow, and to grow at the speed the firethorns were growing, they would need a constant supply of magic. Could it possibly be a ley line of power?
Imagining the maps of the ley lines Lorn had once shown me, I tried to calculate where they would be. “Get me the map of Rya. Show me everywhere the fog has moved and where the thorns have been sighted,” I said.
It took a few minutes before Hayes could dig out a map, and after Liam and his men measured out the locations from their reports, they could mark the path of the thorns.
&
nbsp; “There is a pattern,” I said smugly, not able to contain my grin. “There are two separate events we are tracking. The fog is moving from city to city spreading like a disease, while the thorns are only sighted along this direct route concealed by another fog.” I drew my finger in a straight line down the center of Rya, and straight through the fae court.
“What’s that?” Devin asked.
“It’s a ley line of power. The strongest sorcerers can tap into it to aid their magic, and that is happening with the thorns. This is the direct path that the thorns will follow straight to the palace. And what do you see between the thorns and the palace?” I tapped the lines on the map.
“The mountains,” Liam said.
“Yes, it’s pure stone. Harder to access the ley line, and that held up the magic user and slowed them down. I bet you they are in the middle of that thorn forest using it as protection while they head straight to the king. Remember what you said about the thorns?”
Liam’s sword flew at a branch that had snuck up to them. He sliced the offending intruder clean through.
“Yeah,” Liam snapped and turned to place himself in harm’s way again. “They’re poisonous to humans.”
“Which makes navigating them successfully impossible for the men from Rya. It’s the perfect defense.”
After another candle mark of discussing the map, laying out all possible routes, I had come to a final decision. The men spoke in low voices, a dull mumble that Liam couldn’t hear, but I could hear them loud and clear.
They found nothing.
“What do you think we should do?” Liam asked.
“I can’t get your men through the firethorn safely,” I said through clenched teeth. “They will surely get attacked and die. I think the best course of action would be for them to go around the mountain and come up to the palace on the south side, avoiding the ley line and thorns altogether.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to take the direct route—into the forest of thorns.”
“Aura, I told you it’s certain death.”
“No, it’s not. Because I’m part fae.” I held up my finger to show him the still healing wound on my finger. “I touched the firethorn tree in the fae court.”
“You are?”
“I knew I had fae blood. Lorn hinted to me long ago that empathy gifts are predominantly passed down in fae families.”
“Then that settles it.”
“What?” I asked.
“I will escort you through the firethorns. For where you go, I go. Even if it means certain death.”
I smiled encouragingly. “You don’t remember, do you?”
“Remember what?”
“When we healed you, Maeve pulled a firethorn out of you. Yes, the wound was infected from not being cleaned, but the poison didn’t kill you straight away. Because you, Liam, are fae.”
“I don’t believe it.” Liam let out a long breath.
My brows furrowed. “There’s nothing wrong with being fae, or even part fae. It would explain your magic.”
“It’s just, I had a certain vision in my head. An idea, and I guess being fae wasn’t part of it.”
“Are you disappointed?” I asked.
He frowned. “No, I think this gives me a place to start. A clue I didn’t have before. And for that I’m grateful.” He rubbed the back of his head and turned to look at the setting sun.
“We should make camp for the night. Are we safe here? So close to the thorns.”
I nodded. “We’re safe tonight. The basajaun will guard us while we sleep.”
Liam looked over his shoulder and searched the tree line. “You trust him?”
“I do.”
“You did a good thing healing him, then.”
“No, I did the right thing.”
Liam silently nodded. “Get some rest. I will tell the men of our plan. Tomorrow, you and I will attempt to enter the thorn forest.” Liam patted my shoulder.
I sighed, knowing that rest would not come easy.
Instead of sleeping, I spent the next candle mark walking through camp worrying about all the lives that were lost. For all lives mattered, fae, human, and even the halflings. Baist and Florin were the less accepting of the fae kind, and they avoided those kingdoms altogether. Rya, Isla, and a few others lived in a precarious balance with the fae, each their own society existing within each other. The humans obeyed the king while the fae had their own nobles in the fae courts. The only difference was that the fae courts could shift and move between realms and kingdoms.
I wandered into a grove of untouched willow trees and spread out my bedroll under the canopy of the long green branches and tried to block out the thoughts of the men.
I can’t sleep. This is most definitely a trap. The beast will kill us as soon as I close my eyes.
Rolling over, I tucked my arm under my head and pressed my palm to my ear, hoping to ease the pressure.
I think the girl is in league with the fae. She’s plotting to destroy us all.
After many hours, their thoughts finally settled as one by one the men fell asleep and I drifted off.
My dreams were tormented by the echo of emotions that remained in the land. The memories of the dryads and their last dying breaths. Their screams like breaking branches. The fairies as they tried to escape the smoke and flames, and the basajaunak fighting bravely, hurling rocks from the cliffs on the soldiers below, the female falling to their poisoned iron swords and arrows.
Horses, screams, blood, smoke, fire.
Tears burned in my eyes and I whimpered, feeling my own throat swell closed from breathing in the fire. I was suffocating, unable to breathe. The injured basajaun ran to a cave and rolled a rock in front, protecting whatever lay within.
“No,” I whispered. “No.” I flung my fist out and hit a solid wall of flesh.
A hand grasped mine and pulled me close. I fell into strong protective arms. Liam’s.
“Shh,” he whispered. “I’ll protect you.” He gathered me to him, easily moving me onto his lap, cradling me as he rested his back against the trunk of the willow.
My head rested on his chest, and the voices and haunted memories ceased. The only sound I heard was the fast rhythmic beating of Liam’s heart.
Why does he have to be so gentle?
I pulled from his embrace, and he moaned into my hair. “Please, don’t leave.”
I froze at his words.
“I know you don’t want me to chase away the darkness.” It was a statement, but the next thought slipped through. But I need you to chase away mine.
“Liam,” I began, my heart swelling with unspoken feelings.
“I know you chose Devin,” he whispered. “But I can’t accept it. I feel it here in my heart that you’re mine.” Liam leaned back. His hand cupped my face and gazed into my eyes.
Could he feel the racing of my heart? The desire to kiss him overwhelmed me. I needed him like I needed air. He was the one I was addicted too.
The wistfulness disappeared, and he became serious.
It would be so much easier if I knew how she felt about me.
Swallowing, I struggled with the truth. “I don’t . . . I don’t love Devin.” Our eyes met, and I saw the hope rising in them.
“Really? I thought—” He shook his head. “The brothel, that night. I walked in . . . I saw—”
“A misunderstanding. We thought it was one of Esme’s guards, and we pretended to be in the throes of passion.”
Liam’s shoulders dropped, and he let out a long sigh of relief.
It still wasn’t the whole truth. I quickly added, “It started as a charade . . . and then suddenly it wasn’t. The kiss became real.” Heat rose to my cheeks, and I dropped my head in embarrassment. “That’s the truth.”
“Oh, Aura.” He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine, his warm breath washing over me. I really want to kiss her, but I’m scared that it will push her away again.
“No
, it won’t.” I inhaled and waited.
He leaned back and blinked in confusion. “What?”
“I’m giving you permission,” I said impatiently.
He grinned. “Really?”
“You’re losing your moment,” I teased.
He pressed his lips to mine, his hand cupping my face. Unlike before, this one wasn’t demanding, but sweet.
An explosion of color like fireworks lit up my mind.
I internally grinned at his response, and using his own cues, kissed him back. He broke the kiss and pulled away, but then quickly leaned in for a few more gentle pecks.
How can anyone so perfect ever love someone like me?
“I’m not perfect,” I said.
He gazed at me with his eyes full of love. “You are to me. What do you see?” he asked. “Read me.”
“The truth,” I whispered.
He smiled. “Then believe it, and believe that I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll protect you.”
I looked away, out into the darkness, and shivered. Liam tucked me into his side, letting me lean into his chest. He put his cloak around the two of us and rested his chin on my head.
I drifted off just as I caught his final thought.
Please let me be near her for just one more night. Followed by a flash of fear. He quickly shielded his thoughts from me, but he wasn’t fast enough.
“Don’t you dare,” I said, catching his plan. As soon as I fell asleep, Liam was going to sneak away and take on the firethorns alone.
“Aura, you don’t understand, I only want to protect you.”
“Then you will understand when I only want to do the same.” With a heavy heart, I reached up and placed my finger in the middle of Liam’s forehead, cutting him off.
Somnus.
His head fell forward, and he slumped into a deep sleep.
“Forgive me. If one of us is going to go battle a vengeful sorcerer, it’s me.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“I must be completely out of my mind,” I muttered, facing off against the deadly looking thorns. Sneaking away from the camp, putting Liam under a sleeping spell, and attempting to take on a crazed sorcerer by myself. He had already lost so many soldiers and friends in trying to beat this blight, I didn’t want him to have to go through that again.
