by Linsey Hall
I dove down through the sky, hurtling toward the false queen.
She looked up, shock flashing across her face. I grabbed her with my talons, which I only now noticed were a sparkling black. I gripped her around the waist with long talons and darted toward the sky, getting her as far away from Aeri as possible.
Tarron stumbled toward Aeri, and I knew he’d use his healing gift to fix her.
The false queen shrieked, sending a blast of powerful magic exploding through me. My talons slackened, and I dropped her.
She plunged toward the ground, her wings flaring behind her back as she fell.
In the distance, I spotted our army charging through the dark forest. It was Seelie and Unseelie alike, the false queen’s dark curse having been broken. On the ground, Tarron knelt over Aeri, feeding his healing light into her. Declan hurtled toward them, his black wings carrying him fast toward his love.
I turned my attention toward the false queen, who had righted herself and was now charging me, her hand outstretched to throw some of her horrible golden magic at me. It shot from her palm, fast and terrifying.
I dodged, my wings carrying me swiftly out of the way.
A sense of triumph surged through me.
I was strong enough. I’d just had to embrace what made me me.
I shot toward her, gathering my flames inside my chest. When I was close enough to see the whites of her eyes, I blasted her. The flame that shot from my mouth was brilliant green. It enveloped her. A shriek rent the air.
When the flame faded, she was still flying. Not burned—not in the traditional sense. But her magic was dampened.
My flame could destroy her power!
It was connected to the gift that I’d gotten from the Dragon Bloods—the same one that had driven her curse from Tarron’s soul. I could feel the link inside me.
She flung out her hand, throwing another blast of golden magic at me. It was even slower this time, and I darted to the side, avoiding it easily. I hit her again, blasting her with the green flame.
She howled, trying to fly away, but I was too quick.
When the green flame faded, her magic gleamed even dimmer around her.
It was the strangest sort of fire I’d ever seen. Like soul fire.
On the ground below, the hordes of Unseelie Fae had broken through the false queen’s maze. They’d trampled the bushes in their haste, destroying the magic that encapsulated this place and had made Fae flying impossible.
Dozens of them launched themselves into the air, flying toward me and the false queen. Screams of rage echoed from the group, and it was clear what they wanted…
Vengeance on the queen who had done so much wrong.
They should have it.
I called upon my soul fire one last time, blasting her with it. I drove her into their waiting hands, killing my flame as she neared them.
They grabbed her, and she shrieked. Her magic was neutralized now, my green flame having done its work. She disappeared inside the horde of angry Fae, and I felt it when she died. It was like a little pop on the air, and a sense of freedom.
I spun, flying back toward Aeri and Tarron. I landed hard, still unused to my new form. I looked down briefly, spotting huge black scaled feet and ebony claws. To the left and right were two enormous black and green wings. They sparkled like gems in the light.
I turned my attention toward Aeri. Her eyes were opening, and the wounds had closed. Declan had taken over the healing for Tarron, and he didn't look nearly so afraid now.
Tarron rose, striding toward me.
I imagined myself as human, trying to direct my magic toward transforming me once more. Power sparked over me, and I began to shrink. My eye level approached Tarron's, then became a bit shorter. My feet returned to normal, as did my hands.
He ran for me and swept me up in his arms. “You did it.”
“I did.” Elation spread through me. “Thank you for saving my sister.”
He pulled back and nodded. “Of course.”
I pressed a kiss to his lips, savoring the moment, then hurried to Aeri and knelt by her side.
She lunged up and hugged me. “Good job, sis. I knew you could do it.”
“Right in the nick of time.” I pulled back. “Are you all right?”
She nodded, then climbed slowly to her feet. I helped her, with Declan hovering by.
“How’d you do it?” Aeri asked.
“I remembered who I was.” It was both as simple as that and as terribly complicated, since it’d taken me so long to figure it out.
I turned toward the army that walked toward us, searching for my friends.
Cass, Nix, and Del walked alongside Connor and Claire. All looked like hell—burned and cut, with tired eyes and pale skin. Brielle staggered along next to them, alive but wounded.
“I’m going to go help them,” Tarron said. “I imagine that Brielle sent the other healers to her troops.”
He loped off toward them, and I followed. Aeri and I leaned against each other as we walked, falling naturally into sync.
“Did we really do it?” Aeri asked.
I looked toward the jubilant—and still angry—crowd of Unseelie Fae in the sky. The false queen was definitely gone.
“We really did it.”
The coronation of the Unseelie Queen was nothing like I’d expected. For one, it was far less formal. Yet somehow even more beautiful.
Once the Unseelie Kingdom had healed its wounded and recovered from the battle, they’d set about arranging the coronation immediately. Even though they’d agreed to a democracy, I would still be queen in name and status.
A bit like the British. All the glamour without so many important decisions.
It was perfect for me. I had a life to be living, after all, and learning bureaucracy was not high on my to-do list.
Which led to me standing there, in the middle of the forest with faerie lights glittering overhead. Birds sang in the trees, and hundreds of Unseelie gathered around as the crown was placed on my head.
Tarron stood to the right, along with Aeri, Declan, and the FireSouls. Claire and Connor stood next to them. Even Aethelred had come. Everyone shot me a grin, and it was all I could do to maintain a serious face.
Despite my levity and the joy that surged through me, this was a serious occasion. The monarchy and its magic were still immensely important to the Unseelie Fae. The hundreds of people who’d turned up for this ceremony were proof of that.
I drew in a deep breath and met Brielle’s gaze. I’d chosen her to bear the crown, and she walked across the clearing, her gaze on mine. A gown of sage green trailed behind her, and she looked amazing when she was dressed up in the ornate Fae style.
She stopped in front of me, a gorgeous silver and gold crown in her hands.
She bowed low, handing me the crown. “To the true ruler of the Unseelie Fae. Our liberator and queen.”
My heart tightened as I accepted the crown and placed it upon my head. I’d had to redo my bouffant a bit for this, but the crown fit.
The entire crowd roared, cheers sending the birds toward the sky. We’d lost a record few people in the battle—both Seelie and Unseelie—and everyone was joyous.
The ceremony turned quickly into a party, with drinks and music flowing freely and loudly.
I hugged Brielle, who finally broke into a real, genuine smile. I was pretty sure she was going to end up the true democratic ruler of the Unseelie.
I pulled back and smiled at her. “I’m glad it was you.”
“I’m glad it was you.” Her expression turned serious. “Without you—and the dragon that lives within you—we never would have been free.”
I pressed my lips together, my eyes pricking with tears. “Thank you.”
Brielle squeezed my arms. “Your friends are converging on you.”
I hugged her one last time, then turned to the crowd. The FireSouls were the first to hug me, and I gave each one a long look. “We’ve known each other a long tim
e. I can’t say that I saw this coming. But it did. And thanks—from the bottom of my heart—for the help. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
The three of them nodded.
“You make an amazing queen,” Cass said.
“The crown is badass,” Del added.
“We should get drinks sometime.” Nix grinned. “I don’t know many queens.”
I grinned at her. “Potions & Pastilles?”
She nodded. “Potions & Pastilles.”
Claire and Connor hugged me next.
“Definitely badass.” Claire nodded toward my crown.
“You always had it in you,” Connor said.
“I could get used to this kind of praise.”
“Don’t,” Aeri said. “Because when you come home, it’s life as normal.”
I hugged her tight. “I wouldn’t wish for anything else.”
I pulled back from Aeri, and Tarron tugged me toward him. “Well, you’re coming with me, first.”
I shot my friends a look, raising my brows, then turned to Tarron. “I’d be delighted.”
We left my friends, and I waved as we went. Tarron pulled me into a dark copse of trees, and I went willingly—very willingly—into his arms.
“You were amazing,” he said.
“Thank you.” I grinned at him. “You know, you’ve said this every day since the battle.” It had actually been a few days—everyone had needed time to recover.
“Have you gotten sick of it?”
“Hmmmm. No.” I grinned at him. “You can keep going.”
“I’d be happy to keep going for the rest of our lives.”
Warmth suffused me. “Really?”
“Really.” He pulled me toward him. “I love you, Mari.”
“I love you, Tarron.”
I kissed him, and life was perfect.
THANK YOU FOR READING!
I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Reviews are so helpful to authors. I really appreciate all reviews, both positive and negative. If you want to leave one, you can do so at Amazon or GoodReads.
Author’s Note
Hey there! I hope you enjoyed Rise of the Fae. This was one of my favorite books yet, partially due to the fact that many of the locations were scouted on my last research trip with fellow writers, C.N. Crawford and Jenna Wolfhart (check out their books, they are great!). It helps so much to visit the places that I write about, and I hope it helps bring it to life for you too.
First, Riveaux Abbey is an amazing place located in the North York Moors in Northern England. It is a fantastic skeleton of an ancient abbey that was originally constructed in the 12th century AD. It was placed in a remote location that would allow the monks to live their ideal of an ascetic life cut off from the outside world. As with many monasteries and holy places in England, it was destroyed by Henry VIII in the 16th century when he was dissolving the monasteries to replace them with the Anglican Church. Since then, it has lain in ruin.
I took some liberties with how I described the monks and their garments and duties. And while it is true that Christianity adopted some pagan rituals to help convert pagan locals, I invented the things about Riveaux Abbey’s altar. There is an extremely impressive altar-like structure in the main part of the church, but I made up everything else about it.
I can thank C.N. Crawford for mentioning the cells found within the walls of York. She explored them on a day while I went to North York Moor for inspiration. The Guy Fawkes Inn is a real place (and also supposedly the birthplace of Guy Fawkes). We stayed there, and it was a really unique property. When it came time to write this book, it was perfect. The layout is as I described, including it’s close location to the massive York Minster Cathedral.
While there are crypts under the cathedral, I invented much of what you read about to suit the story.
Clifford’s Tower, the round tower castle where Mari and friends appeared upon arrival in York, is located within the city walls. It is a motte and bailey style castle, meaning that a simple round tower is constructed upon a man-made hill. Generally these castles start out as wooden structures in the 11th century AD and are sometimes replaced with stone keeps later on. There’s been a castle on the site since 1068, but the stone keep wasn’t built until the 13th century. The genocide that I mention in the book occurred in 1190, when 150 local Jews were killed in a pogrom where the local population trapped them in the tower. Most of the Jews died by suicide to avoid falling into the hands of the mob. It’s a incredibly tragic story.
In 1684, Clifford’s tower suffered an explosion that damaged the castle’s military defenses to the point that they became uninhabitable. After this point, the tower was turned into a jail and prison that stayed in use until 1929.
Finally, I mention The Shambles briefly in the book. This is the area of York, England with narrow winding streets and overhanging timber-framed buildings. It is the most Medieval looking street I’ve ever seen, and is one of the most popular parts of York. Many of the buildings date to 1350-1475, but the street was mentioned in 1086 in the Domesday Book, so it is far older. It was originally called The Great Flesh Shambles because so many butchers worked along the street. The name The Shambles likely comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Fleshammels, which translates to ‘flesh-shelves’. The tradition continued for centuries. In 1872, there were twenty-five butcher shops located along the street. They’ve now been replaced with lovely shops and restaurants, though there are some meat hooks still hanging from the exteriors of the buildings.
Finally, the underground bar in Glasgow was based upon one that isn’t full of supernaturals, but it was very cool and underground. The islands where the dragons live are based upon the Slate Islands, part of the Inner Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. They are truly amazing islands made of black slate that were quarried from AD 1630 until the beginning of the 20th century. Millions of tons of slate came from these smalls islands and roofed buildings all over the world. It is an incredible windswept place, perfect for Dragons.
Thank you for going on Mari’s adventure with her. While her series is now complete, there will be more to come from the rest of the Magic’s Bend gang.
Happy reading!
Acknowledgments
Thank you, Ben, for everything. There would be no books without you.
Thank you to Jena O’Connor and Lindsey Loucks for your excellent editing. The book is immensely better because of you! Thank you to Aisha Panjwaneey for your helpful comments about typos.
Thank you to Orina Kafe for the beautiful cover art.
About Linsey
Before becoming a writer, Linsey Hall was a nautical archaeologist who studied shipwrecks from Hawaii and the Yukon to the UK and the Mediterranean. She credits fantasy and historical romances with her love of history and her career as an archaeologist. After a decade of tromping around the globe in search of old bits of stuff that people left lying about, she settled down and started penning her own romance novels. Her Dragon’s Gift series draws upon her love of history and the paranormal elements that she can't help but include.
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All reference to events, persons, and locale are used fictitiously, except where documented in historical record. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright 2019 by Linsey Hall
Published by Bonnie Doon Press LLC
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form, except in instances of quotation used in critical articles or book review. Where such permission is sufficient, the author grants the right to strip any DRM which may be applied to this work.
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