Queen of Dark and Light (Whims of Fae Book 6)

by Nissa Leder

  Scarlett glanced down at her chest, exposed by the deep slit in her nightgown. “You better be more careful. Startling me like that might not end well for you.”

  “Aw, darling. You would never hurt me. My face is too pretty.” He evanesced from the chair to the edge of her bed.

  Scarlett had mastered evanescing long distances now, but she hadn’t been able to do it into a sitting position yet. “Terrifying me is not the way to earn your way into my bed.”

  A flash of thrill crossed Kaelem’s eyes. “No? Do tell me how I can find my way back under your covers then. You seemed to enjoy it the last time I was there.”

  The memory of his body pressed against hers sent a quiver through Scarlett’s most sensitive places. She couldn’t deny the intensity of their night together. After all the time they’d spent in each other’s company, and all the flirtation they’d shared, they’d only slept together once.

  He was beautiful, with silver eyes that inhaled her with their intensity. She could scoot closer. She should…and unbutton his shirt one button at a time, relishing in every inch of his being. His pink lips were so delectable. They were meant to be kissed…

  No.

  Scarlett closed her eyes and shook away the thoughts that had been filling her head.

  Kaelem chuckled. “It’s been a while since my gancanagh nature got the best of you. And since you’ve dropped your mental shields. My lips are delectable, are they?”

  Heat flushed Scarlett’s cheeks. Not from the embarrassment of letting him into her mind, but from the lust coursing through her. Their games were fun, each of them controlling one end of the rope of desire. She’d teased him as much as he teased her, but now, her body grew impatient.

  She wanted him. But she needed to stay focused. Giving in to her lust would have to wait.

  “I’m guessing you didn’t come here simply to seduce me,” Scarlett said. Though, truthfully, she wouldn’t put it past him.

  Kaelem puckered his lower lip. “I’m afraid not.” The rising sunrays shined through the window, illuminating the room and brightening the steel blue speckles in his eyes. Half of his head was still shaved, and he’d shortened the other half, the strands around his face now resting just above his chin. “Would you like the good news or bad news first?”

  Scarlett sighed. She didn’t want any more bad news at all. “The good.” Normally, people picked the bad to get it over with, but her optimism ran so low these days, it needed bolstering before it could take another hit.

  “Laik visited my court yesterday, and the Seelie Court army is prepared to formally join our group of allies.”

  A trickle of relief spread through Scarlett. He’d told her as much the last time she saw him, but a promise made in the moment of grief after losing his mother wasn’t guaranteed to be upheld. With both the Unseelie and Seelie armies joining the Otherworld soldiers, the odds had to be close to even. Morta now controlled all four of the seasonal courts, but even with their full power reinstated, the mortal realm courts were stronger.

  But even if the armies were equal, she needed to be able to defeat Morta, which felt impossible. Morta had been alive for centuries, and Scarlett had only had magic for less than a year. Maybe they’d stand a better chance if they still had the dagger that could kill her, but Morta had taken it with her after killing Ankou, making Scarlett more vulnerable than ever.

  “And the bad?” she asked even though she didn’t want to.

  “Sage got word that her old tribe leader has been killed. One of her tribe mates came to the Unseelie Court and took her back to the Autumn Wood. I’m not sure what Sage plans to do, but she won’t be back to train you for a while.“

  Scarlett had known she’d gone to the Unseelie Court to visit her family, but she had no idea she’d gotten such devastating news while there. Poor Sage. She’d told Scarlett the story of how she fell in love with the Woodland Queen, and how that love compelled her to leave the tribe to protect her queen. “I’ll get Vida to work with me.”

  “Or…” Kaelem tilted his head to the side with a smirk. “Let me.”

  “You? Don’t you need to get back to your own court?”

  “Aria and Lola are fully capable of handling things for a while. Plus, I have another suggestion.”

  “Do tell.” Scarlett pursed her lips.

  “You should throw a ball here at the Otherworld Castle. Getting the allies together for morale will help strengthen us. Fae courts aren’t used to working together, especially the Unseelie and Seelie Courts. Our soldiers will be fighting side-by-side soon enough. Anything that can strengthen the bond between the courts will work in all of our favors.”

  Scarlett lifted an eyebrow. “A ball? You think dancing is a priority right now?”

  “All of the soldiers are already well-trained, but they aren’t used to fighting together. If the ranking soldiers were invited to an event where they are able to interact with each other without their swords, it might help later on.”

  On the surface, a ball seemed silly. But Kaelem was right. Soldiers were about to sacrifice their lives, and the stronger the bond between the courts, the better they would work as one. “You’re sure you don’t just want an excuse to see me in a snug dress and heels?”

  “I’d rather see you in no clothes at all,” he said.

  Scarlett lifted the blanket off of her legs and stepped out from beneath their warmth. As she faced Kaelem, their eyes locked. She raised the back of her nightgown then pulled off her panties.

  With her mind shield purposefully lowered, she thought, I could do so many things if I slipped off this nightgown...like put on my fighting leathers and go outside to kick your ass. She grinned as Kaelem’s parted lips shut.

  “Well played.” He laughed. “I guess I’ll let you change, unless you’d rather I stayed.”

  “I’ll see you outside,” Scarlett said.

  After he evanesced away, she almost regretted it.

  Chapter Four

  Kaelem considered evanescing right back to Scarlett’s room, knowing full well she would be naked by now, but he pressed back the temptation.

  She was stronger than he’d expected, and almost as good at the game as he was. Lately, her mind barrier had been so strong, he’d rarely been able to sneak inside and hear her thoughts. Gaining such strength so quickly was impressive, but he missed teasing her the way he used to.

  But she wasn’t impervious to his gancanagh nature. Not yet. And it was one of the surest ways to allow a crack to appear in the mind to slip right into.

  He liked that he still affected her. The flush in her cheeks had sent a spark through him, making him quite happy. If he returned to her now, he could share that happiness with her.

  And if it was just about the game they played, he might have. But a war hovered on the horizon. It wasn’t time for games. It was time to train. They both ruled courts that depended on them, people whose lives counted on their ability to defeat Morta and the army she’d created.

  A rope of light wrapped around Kaelem’s waist from behind and pulled him. He spun in three circles before stopping a few feet in front of Scarlett, a big grin curved across her mouth.

  “Gotchya,” she said.

  The translucent material of her nightgown had been sexy, allowing him to see the outline of her breasts. But the fighting leathers hugging her curves now were somehow even more alluring. They cradled her shape like a second skin, their dark color elongating her limbs. She looked lethal, a black widow luring him in with her seductive beauty and catching him in her web to devour whenever she saw fit.

  He regretted not returning to her when he had the chance, and a part of him wanted to take her there in the bright Otherworld sunshine, with no care to who saw.

  Scarlett’s grin faded. Her lips parted as she stared at him, and though her mental wall was holding strong, he saw the desire quivering in her stare.

  “I…” she started then paused. “Are you ready to train?”

  Kaelem took a deep brea
th, exhaling the lust building inside. “If you think you can handle it.”

  “I’m not the same girl you met at the Summer Court then tricked into joining you at the Unseelie Palace.” She created an orb of light in one hand and tossed it back and forth.

  Kaelem remembered the glaze in her eyes when he’d first met her, so much of her vibrancy sucked dry from Cade’s feeding. He’d known she had Unseelie blood in her then, but that wasn’t what drew him to her. It was something else, something about the way, despite her cloudy state, a spark lingered beneath her surface.

  He wasn’t sure she’d use the pill he’d given her before the Battle of Heirs, but when she had, the connection to her grew stronger. She was the sea and he was the sand, two seemingly opposites that met with force and, for the smallest area, became one only to be pulled apart once again.

  Kaelem reached out his mind and was met with the hard resistance of her mental wall. She might drop it again, but not without provocation.

  He turned his palms toward the deep blue sky. A tendril of shadow grew from each hand. With a flick, he flung them at Scarlett, one aimed at her arms, the other her feet.

  She created a shield of light and blocked them both with ease as a loud bang echoed in the space around them as the two forces collided. He tried again, aiming as he had before, but this time expecting failure.

  As she blocked them, he threw a third aimed at her knees. This attack hit, the tendril wrapping itself around her knees and pulling her legs out from underneath her body.

  Scarlett fell backward and landed with a thud.

  “Are you…” Kaelem started, but before he could finish his sentence, she was back on her feet with a glare in her eyes.

  Feisty. He liked seeing this side of her.

  She created a rope of light and threw it toward him.

  Kaelem blocked it easily enough. It was too obvious of an attack. She needed to come up with something better.

  She tried again and again, but his shadow tendrils defended every strike.

  Her determination was cute, but not threatening. Maybe at a different time he would laugh it off, but with war coming, he knew how important her ability, or lack-there-of, was.

  Scarlett retracted her ropes of light and created an orb in her hands. As she cupped her palms, the orb grew spikes. “You didn’t think that’s all I had, did you?”

  He didn’t answer, thankful he didn’t voice his concern aloud. At least not yet.

  Scarlet tossed the orb from one hand to the other, never letting it actually touch her skin. With each toss, the orb grew bigger until it was nearly the size of her head. Then, mid-toss, it froze, floating in mid-air. She wiggled her fingers and the spiky orb split into ten smaller ones.

  Kaelem, fascinated, nearly reacted too late when she threw all ten at him, their paths aimed for different parts of his body. Just in time, he threw up a shadow shield blocking nine of the orbs. But he’d been a little too slow, and the last one hit him directly in his shoulder, searing through his shirt and burning into his flesh.

  Instinctively, he reached to the wound. His skin wasn’t healing as fast as it usually did, probably a reaction to the strength of Scarlett’s magic.

  She gaped at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think I’d actually hit you.”

  “I must say, I’m impressed, darling.” Kaelem smoothed out his sleeves. He wasn’t one to let a little burn in his clothing stop him from looking good. “But can you do it again?”

  The apology in her expression shifted into determination as she lowered her gaze.

  Kaelem hadn’t been prepared before. Her magic wielding had improved a lot since the last time they sparred, leaving him caught off guard. But now he knew what to expect, and would be sure to bring the necessary magic to not have another hole burned into his clothing.

  This time, he’d take the offensive.

  With a deep inhale, he pulled the shadow from within. It poured from his palms and swirled in the air above before forming into two daggers. Their hilts took shape first, sharp daggers growing from them into points on the ends. Kaelem gripped their handles and, within a blink, evanesced himself closer.

  As soon as his body formed in front of Scarlett, he struck at her neck.

  Before, he’d have gone easy on her, knowing she hadn’t yet become a competent fighter. And even if she had, the fae could be killed in battle, and he wouldn’t have wanted to risk accidentally striking a fatal blow.

  But now, his magic couldn’t hurt her like it once could. Now, the only weapon that could kill her was with Morta.

  Kaelem’s daggers could bring her pain, but not death.

  Scarlett created a small light shield, glowing from her hand, and blocked his attack.

  As his shadow dagger contacted the light, its end was seared, leaving him with a worthless, blunt tip instead. He let that dagger disappear, its shadow fizzling into nothing, and used the other dagger to aim for her chest.

  She saw the attack coming a little too late and had to use her arm to block it. This kept him from piercing her chest, but it sliced through the leather of her top and the flesh of her arm, sending a stream of blood pouring to the ground.

  As Scarlett hovered her right hand over the wound to heal it, Kaelem moved to part B of his plan.

  He used his mind gift to peer inside her head, and as he had hoped, a small crack had appeared.

  As he was about to send a burst of darkness inside her mind, he hesitated. She couldn’t be killed, but could she go insane? He needed to be careful. The last thing they needed in this war was for Scarlett to lose her mind. With the amount of power she had, that wouldn’t end well for anyone.

  Still, this was a lesson she needed to learn. As long as he made sure not to apply too much pressure, she would be fine. Slowly, he pushed his darkness into her mind. As it trickled in, her mind subconsciously fought back. Little by little, he increased the strength of his attack.

  As he pushed it slightly harder, her eyes widened. The purple hue in her irises faded into a steel gray before darkening to black. The pressure Kaelem had been applying was met with force and pushed back into his own mind. But it didn’t stop. The darkness in Scarlett’s mind drove further.

  The prick of a thousand needles poked into Kaelem’s mind barrier. “Ow, stop.” He grabbed for his ears as he dropped to his knees. His mind shield wouldn’t last much longer. Whatever she was doing was stronger than he could defend. “Scarlett, you need to stop.”

  He used every ounce of strength he had to keep her out, but it wasn’t working. A crack appeared, and the harder she pushed, the more it spread. Darkness filled his mind, a black cloud blocking all the sunshine. “Please,” was all he could get out before his mind grew blank.

  “Kaelem.” Scarlett’s voice was a distant echo.

  He wanted to respond, but when he searched for his voice, it was nowhere to be found.

  Her face appeared in his mind. Her violet eyes and long lashes. Her pale pink lips. The way she smiled with every inch of her face.

  “Wake up,” she said, this time closer. “Please.” The desperation in her voice pierced him.

  Why was he asleep? And why couldn’t he wake?

  The last thing he remembered was practice battling with her. She’d struck the first blow, but he’d retaliated. Then he’d entered her mind. That was right.

  And then…

  Her mind power had been stronger than anything he’d ever felt. She’d pushed him out of her mind and barged her way right into his until everything disappeared.

  Now he must be stuck.

  But if he could hear her voice, he couldn’t be in too deep.

  He reached outside of himself and felt the vibration of someone else. It must be Scarlett. He let the pulse of her mind reel him in.

  “Oh, god,” she said as he neared the surface of his mind. “What have I done?”

  He was almost there. Just one last push.

  “Now, now, don’t feel too bad,” Kaelem said as he exited the fold
s of his mind. “You only almost killed me.”

  “Kaelem.” Scarlett’s voice was thick with relief. She was kneeling next to him, her hands resting on his chest. She bent over and wrapped her arms around him. “I thought you were gone.”

  Her warmth pressed into him and he felt himself sink into her light. He was thankful he wasn’t dead, but something else lingered in their embrace.

  She pulled back. “Are you all right?”

  He pushed himself up, his body still a bit numb. “Yeah, I think I’m okay. You stopped before you completely shattered my mind.” Kaelem meant for it to be a joke, but the frown on her face let him know she didn’t see the humor. “Really, I’m going to be fine.”

  And he was. His senses had already returned and the tingling in his limbs was almost gone.

  But she had almost killed him. If she hadn’t have pulled back when she had, he wouldn’t have awoken.

  Maybe he should be encouraged. Scarlett had more power than anyone realized. But if she was this capable after the ritual in the mortal realm, then how strong was Morta?

  Chapter Five

  Cade read the invitation in his hand. Apparently, the next day, Scarlett would be hosting a ball for all those allying against the Fates.

  He wanted to laugh at the idea. A ball? Now? But right now he’d take anything that might distract him from the anger boiling inside him.

  The Summer Court was his. Who did Morta think she was going and giving it away to his mother?

  And how could Kassandra do that to him? For as long as Cade could remember, she’d been preparing him to rule the Summer Court. And he’d done everything she’d expected of him. He’d isolated himself from other fae his age to focus on all that needed to happen so that he would earn the crown. He’d challenged Raith as soon as he could just as she’d instructed him to do. And he even thought he’d killed his brother.

  Had she expected he couldn’t handle being king and would need her to act in his place? Or had she sensed that he would no longer give in to her every whim? Whatever the reason, it wasn’t fair. Not only did the crown rightfully belong to him, but he didn’t trust her decisions were best for the people.