by Hannah West
‘It’s our turn,’ he says. ‘Help me unify our people, Primrose.’
I look at my right palm, a ball of dark light forming. Zephyr smiles, before lifting his arm and I do the same. Our orbs circle each other on the way to the sky and I lean into Zephyr’s side, watching them ascend.
‘It’s beautiful,’ I murmur.
I glance to the gathering, as flashes of neon light the valley. The Dark Fae teleport away, while the Light turn back in the direction they came. A few minutes pass before I find myself alone with Zephyr.
‘I didn’t think I’d ever see this day,’ he murmurs. ‘It’s difficult to believe it’s real.’
‘Bringing peace to the fae is kind of awesome,’ I agree.
‘No,’ he answers looking down at me. ‘I lost hope of ever finding you, Primrose.’ He cups my cheek. ‘You’ve saved me from a life of loneliness.’
Tears blur my vision and I hide my face against his shoulder. ‘You’re doing a good job of making me like you,’ I mutter.
‘Perhaps one day I’ll entice you to love me,’ he whispers.
My gaze snaps to his and I see vulnerability there. It’s not a side he lets many see, but he’s showing me, and I think I love him a little more for it.
‘I’ve never believed it possible to fall in love in a short amount of time, Zephyr,’ I say and watch the hope die in his eyes. ‘But, despite the fact you kidnapped me and tried to force me to mate you, I find myself in love with your arrogant, entitled backside.’
‘You – What?’
I huff a breath and smile. ‘I love you.’
He gazes down at me, like he can’t decipher the words I’m speaking. I suck in a breath when his lips meet mine, Zephyr moving so fast I don’t see it coming. His hands are in my hair, fingers weaving through the strands. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back. The love I feel is new and fragile, but has the potential to grow into something wonderful.
Light shines behind my eyelids, turning them pink. I open them to find Zephyr’s teleported us to my room in the Dark Realm. He picks me up without breaking the kiss and carries me to the bed.
‘My Anya,’ he murmurs.
‘You’ve called me that before, but I don’t know what it means,’ I say.
‘It’s old Fae, meaning ‘most treasured star,’ he answers.
‘You thought I knew what it meant when you met me.’
He nods. ‘And then you ran.’
A sliver of pain echoes through his words and I pull him in for another kiss. Something cracks wide open inside at his tenderness. The warmth of his love fills me, drenching my body in heat. The wild entity in my centre flows free, reaching for Zephyr, and he groans. The kiss becomes urgent and my clothes feel restrictive. I claw at his clothes in response.
‘Get naked, Zephyr.’
Zephyr’s laughter rumbles through our kiss, before his clothes blink away. I press my fingers to his mouth, putting a barrier between us while I concentrate on the task at hand. Tingles skitter over my body, before the heat of Zephyr’s skin meets mine.
‘You’ve learnt something important,’ he mumbles against my hand, eyes sparkling with amusement.
‘I learned how to fly, too,’ I tell him, moving my hand from his mouth then frown. ‘Well, just the basics.’
‘Your father taught you?’ he guesses. ‘I can teach you the rest.’
‘Actually, Darrack taught me,’ I answer, brain veering to something very important I should be doing, like finding Darrack before he has chance to hurt somebody else.
Zephyr growls. ‘Darrack touched you?’
I push against him ‘Let me up, we need to find him.’ He ignores my attempts to push him off, so I huff and meet his glare. ‘Zephyr, Aric admitted Darrack is a monster and our mating was supposed to result in his death. Now get the hell off me so we can stop him.
‘Your father used you?’ The disgust in Zephyr’s tone makes me smile. He’s on my side, even in this. ‘It’s no smiling matter, Primrose.’
‘I know, I’m just happy you’re here,’ I admit.
He smiles and tucks a length of hair behind my ear. ‘I’ll always be here for you.’
I sigh. ‘You make me feel so stupid.’
His smile fades. ‘Why?’
‘Because I could’ve had this sooner and saved so much heartache. If I hadn’t run-’
‘I should’ve stayed with you after I marked you,’ he cuts in. ‘I would’ve seen you change from human to fae and known you had no knowledge of the fae.’ He strokes my face with a fingertip. ‘I would’ve stayed with you during your change, Primrose.’
‘There was nothing you could’ve done.’
‘I could’ve held your hand, so you would’ve known someone was with you,’ he argues.
‘I’ll forgive you for leaving me, if you forgive me for running from you,’ I say.
‘It’s a good place to start,’ he answers then presses another kiss to my lips.
Zephyr pulls away before I turn to liquid and melt through the bed. His clothes are back as he pushes from me and groans eyes raking my nakedness. I smirk and concentrate on materialising myself something to wear. I glance down at the jeans and top as I stand, making sure everything is covered, before taking Zephyr’s hand. His fingers curl around mine and it feels like home.
CHAPTER 21
‘What do you mean you can’t find him?’ I demand, eyes bleeding to black.
Denlyr doesn’t flinch at my loss of temper, for which I give him brownie points. Everybody else does and because I have a short temper, it’s getting old. The male challenged me before he knew I was heir to the throne, but I don’t doubt his loyalty to the crown. I feel it, even now in the face of my upset.
Zephyr’s amusement tickles my back, from where he sits behind me on one of the ridiculous thrones. The big, ornate chairs are the most uncomfortable things, but Zephyr’s lounging on one like it’s made of nimbus cloud. I’ve come to realise he’s the calm to my storm. Things that make me want to suffer a rage blackout make him laugh, but then he’s had millennia to work through his anger issues. He finds my outbursts amusing, which sometimes helps calm me and at others makes me want to strangle him.
‘He was last seen before the battle,’ Denylr answers. ‘His domicile is empty and the mirrors have been destroyed, seemingly in a fit of rage.’
‘Explain,’ Zephyr says sitting up.
Denlyr’s gaze shifts to Zephyr. ‘The mirrors are in splinters on the floor. Perhaps because the seals were still intact, rendering them useless.’
‘Have you checked the light pool?’ Zephyr asks. ‘After all, it’s how I breached this realm when the portals were sealed.’
Denlyr’s eyebrow ticks and I hide a smile. That ticking eyebrow only happens when he’s hiding the fury I feel building inside him. It’s not aimed at Zephyr, but at Denlyr himself. He hates the fact Zephyr got past his security measures, and it’s taken Zephyr’s explanation to figure out how.
‘I’ll go there myself,’ Denlyr grits out then disappears in a flash of orange light. He’s back less than thirty seconds later. ‘Darrack’s light signature is present in the chamber housing the light pool,’ he growls.
‘So he’s gone,’ I sigh beyond frustrated.
‘We’ll find him,’ Denlyr promises.
I study his furious gaze, soaking in the tsunami of emotion pulsing from him. ‘You want the right to kill him,’ I murmur.
Denlyr’s eyes blaze bright orange. ‘One of his crimes involved my sister,’ he answers rage drenching his tone.
Midnight creeps over my skin in response, darkness swelling inside in reaction to my outrage. The wild being in my centre is baying for blood.
‘If you find him, you have my permission to kill him,’ I say.
The words feel thick on my tongue. I’m condemning someone to death, and Denlyr stares at me like I’ve gifted him the moon.
‘Thank you,’ he breathes then flashes from the room.
I turn back to Zeph
yr feeling a hundred years old. I’ve been queen a matter of days and already sentenced one of my subjects to death. But I’ve seen the list of crimes Aric compiled against Darrack. Aric had no evidence to prove Darrack guilty, until the day of our supposed mating and immediately sentenced him to death. It would’ve happened, if I hadn’t disappeared into thin air and ruined the plan. It’s my fault Darrack got away, and I’ll never forgive myself if he hurts another female.
‘Come on,’ I tell Zephyr and hold out my hand.
He pushes from the throne. ‘Where are we going?’
‘I’ve got something to show you,’ I say, pulling him into the room behind the thrones.
Malak, who is like my shadow since becoming queen, closes the doors behind us and I take Zephyr to the mirrored wall. I press my palm to the glass and open a doorway to the Light Realm. Zephyr follows without question then stumbles when he sees Alissa across the room. He opens his mouth then closes it again, as if he doesn’t know what to say.
‘Hello, Zephyr,’ Alissa murmurs.
Zephyr drops my hand and stalks over to his mum. He gazes down at her, his confusion misting the room. Then he pulls her into a fierce hug and wonder laces his confusion.
‘I don’t understand,’ he says then looks back to me. ‘You knew she was alive?’
‘Not until the Dark Realm portals opened earlier and Harlan stopped by,’ I answer.
‘Harlan?’
‘My mate,’ Alissa says.
Zephyr’s gaze snaps back to her. ‘Your mate?’
Alissa sighs at his incredulous tone. ‘Oric faded without me, Zephyr. What does that tell you about the state of our bond?’
Zephyr’s expression softens. ‘You finally escaped him,’ he whispers then shakes his head. ‘But who in the runes is Harlan?’
‘I am,’ Harlan says, materialising beside Alissa in a cloud of green glitter.
He takes Alissa’s hand and offers her a tender smile. Anyone with eyes can see they’re in love.
‘I don’t understand,’ Zephyr scoffs.
Alissa steps forward. ‘Harlan and I were in love when your father mated me, Zephyr. Harlan came to find me when he discovered Oric faded before me.’
‘Then why mate my father?’ Zephyr asks, though I feel he already knows the answer.
‘I didn’t…you’re father didn’t like the word ‘no’, Zephyr,’ she says in a quiet voice, her pain a heavy fog around us.
My eyes go wide at the sensation. It’s the first time I’ve felt emotion from Alissa and it’s disorientating.
‘I want to hear you say it,’ Zephyr growls.
‘Zephyr-’
‘Goddess be damned!’ Zephyr barks. ‘Do you think I never knew the reason you went everywhere with an entourage of human females?’
I realise for the first time Alissa is without her entourage. I glance around the room to make sure they’re not huddled in a corner, but they’re nowhere to be seen. I always assumed the frightened women were her prisoners, but I get the feeling the reason for their being here is worse.
‘Someone had to protect them from him,’ she snaps back.
‘From my father,’ Zephyr growls.
Bile creeps up my throat when I realise what they’re saying. There were more than forty females in Alissa’s entourage and it fills my stomach with ice. Humans don’t live as long as fae, so how many did Oric abuse over the years? The fear on their faces plays like a sick video through my mind. Those women stuck close to Alissa for protection from Oric. I remember being curt with them, playing on their fear to get an outfit to hide my wing markings, and shame blasts through me.
‘He only forced me once, on the night of our mating,’ Alissa murmurs drawing my focus back to her. ‘Then my light was bound to his and I was strong enough to resist him.’ She swallows hard, guilt pulsing from her. ‘But Oric found other ways of sating his appetites.’
‘Caligo and I weren’t conceived the night you bonded,’ Zephyr argues.
‘You think the realm would be happy without an heir?’ Alissa asks. ‘I did that for my people, not Oric. I mated a monster, and when you kidnapped Primrose I thought-’ Alissa’s gaze slides to me and her eyes brim with tears. ‘You’ll never know the relief I feel that you gave her the choice, Zephyr.’
‘I promised I’d never force her,’ Zephyr breathes and goes to Alissa, pulling her from Harlan’s hold to wrap her in a hug. ‘No matter if we missed the equinox, I’m not my father. I’m not like the monster you mated, Mother.’
Alissa sniffs and returns his hug. ‘I know.’
‘Where are they now?’ I ask. ‘The human women,’ I clarify when three sets of eyes swing my way.
‘The youngest have returned to their home realms,’ Alissa answers. ‘But time passes differently within different realm spaces, and it’s too late for many of the older women. The lives they were stolen from no longer exist; the people and family they knew dead.’ Alissa sighs. ‘I’ve provided them with homes in the Light Realm and taken time to make sure they’re settled.’
‘I’d like to visit with them, if that’s okay?’
Alissa smiles. ‘I think they’d like that, though you’re queen and can do as you wish.’
I scratch the back of my neck. I’d been delighted when Harlan turned up, telling me Alissa was still alive. I was happy for them, and assumed it meant I wouldn’t have to help rule the Light Realm because he and Alissa would do it. How wrong I’d been. Alissa had already passed the crown to Zephyr and he couldn’t give it back, even if he wanted to.
Yay for me.
‘Right,’ I mutter. ‘Queen.’
Alissa chuckles and pulls away from Zephyr. She shocks the hell out of me when she pulls me into a fierce hug. I’m not a hugger, and I certainly never pegged her as one. It takes a few seconds to release the tenseness from my muscles and hug her back. Warmth washes through me and I close my eyes, soaking in the sensation.
‘You’ll make a wonderful queen, Primrose,’ Alissa says.
I feel the honesty of her statement and hug her a little harder. The more I learn about her, the more I realise she’s not the cold, merciless female I assumed she was. I meet Zephyr’s gaze over Alissa’s shoulder and he smiles at me. He’s standing with Harlan, the tension from earlier gone from his shoulders.
‘Mother!’ Caligo squeals from the doorway.
I let Alissa go, just as Caligo teleports beside us and pulls her into a crushing hug. They cling to each other, like they can’t quite believe they’re getting the chance, and tears sting my eyes. Caligo asks identical questions to Zephyr, her eyes spilling tears as Alissa gives the answers.
‘I’m glad he’s dead,’ Caligo states when Alissa is done.
‘How is your mate?’ Alissa asks deftly changing the subject.
Caligo’s face lightens. ‘He’s adjusting,’ she answers then grins like whatever ‘adjusting’ he’s doing pleases the hell out of her.
‘You’re mated?’ I ask. ‘When did that happen?’
‘During the equinox, silly,’ she answers like it’s a stupid question.
Relief floods me. Caligo has found her Balance, meaning she won’t start draining the life of those around her.
‘I didn’t know you were here, or I would’ve brought him,’ she adds. ‘Wait here.’
She pops from the room and a few minutes pass, where Zephyr and Harlan become acquainted.
‘Thank you for sending Harlan to me, Primrose,’ Alissa says. ‘You don’t know what it means to me.’
‘I only told him what you told me.’ I shrug. ‘It’s strange how everything is happening the way it is. Harlan wouldn’t have known to come if I hadn’t been kidnapped by Aric. Caligo’s found a mate to balance her, just as her balance with Zephyr was taken by me. A lot of coincidences seem to be happening.’
‘It’s the way the universe works,’ Alissa agrees. ‘There are many layers woven together, and we’re the threads that bind it.’
Okay then.
I’m not even g
oing to pretend to understand what she’s talking about. I’m trying my best not to worry about the convenience of it all. Usually when something works out this well, something happens to even the odds. The fact Darrack escaped isn’t convenient and, in a weird way, settles something inside me. Caligo pops back into the room before I can dwell on it. There’s a blond male with her, and my mouth drops open when they turn our way.
‘Drew?’ I’m running before it registers I’m moving. ‘Drew!’
My body slams into his and my arms wrap tightly around his middle. I’m almost crushing him but don’t care. Tears soak his tunic as he awkwardly pats my back. I feel his confusion, as the tense lines of his body register in my brain. I pull away enough to look up at his face then grow as tense as he is. A second passes then I push away. He could be Drew’s twin, but he’s definitely not Drew.
‘I’m sorry,’ I sniff and wipe tears from my eyes.
Caligo is snarling, amethyst eyes ablaze as she glares at me. Zephyr’s holding her wrist, and there’s an essence orb gripped tight in her right hand.
‘Mine,’ she hisses, baring dainty fangs at me.
‘You almost committed treason,’ Zephyr growls in her ear.
She glances between the orb and me, as if just realising it’s there. Her fingers release and the orb fizzles away. She looks at me like I’m about to rain fire on her from above and I sigh.
‘My Queen,’ she whispers.
I think back to when Denlyr threatened my life and Aric said it gave me the right to take his. My shoulders slump at the fact she thinks I’d do that to her. Then I remember Caligo doesn’t know me yet, and she was raised around a bunch of fae. They might look refined as a people but they’ve all got a savage living in their middle. I can attest to that, being that I have one of my own.
‘Oh, relax,’ I growl in frustration. ‘I’m not going to kill you for getting pissed that I hugged your mate, Caligo. For the record, I thought he was someone else, so you can rein in the fury against me.’
Caligo’s fear turns to disbelief, irking me a little more, and I see Zephyr grinning from the corner of my eye. At least he knows me enough to know I wouldn’t kill her or be interested in her mate. Zephyr’s amused gaze tracks to Caligo’s mate, and his eyes widen.
