Fire In The Darkness (Darkness Series #2)

by Stacey Marie Brown

  I nodded against him. “Why didn’t you tell me who Lars was?”

  “I can only tell you what her bonds allow. The Queen has exceedingly tight rein on me.”

  Something in his statement made me sad. His life was not his own; his freedom was not his own. He pushed and bent the rules as far as he could for me. There was a connection between us I could not deny and it scared me.

  “Why would you choose this life? You're almost a slave.”

  He exhaled. “It is an honor. My father was her father, the King's, First Knight.”

  My eyebrows hit my hairline.

  “No, Ember, it's not what you're thinking. That is something the Queen turned it into.” He looked away with guarded embarrassment. He was a sex slave. He had no control over his own body and how it was used. I shuddered. I had no doubt she probably brought her authority and sick need for dominance in the bedroom as well. “I was destined to be First Knight, but I worked hard at it for you.”

  “For me?” Surprised widened my eyes.

  “I knew being her knight would come with ‘consequences,’ but it also came with opportunities—the skill and ability to find you.” Words took the wrong way back down my throat. I was speechless. “I do not really want to discuss this topic with you.” He had moved away from me, more guarded.

  “Do you love her?”

  Torin stopped, his face becoming a stone fortress. He spun away, his back facing me. Many tense seconds passed. With a huff of air, he lowered his head and his voice. “I did. Once. A long time ago.”

  Jealousy gnawed at me. But then how dare I ask that? His answer was going to upset both of us in some way. Would I rather him be sleeping with someone he hated? Did I secretly hope he would be pining for me the entire time instead of living his life?

  “I’m sorry. It's none of my business.” I fidgeted with the end of my ponytail.

  “That was the past. Now I have found you, and you are my present.” He faced me again.

  Panic constricted my chest. Barely seconds ago I felt upset he hadn’t been yearning for me the whole time and now I wanted to bolt for the door.

  I was so messed up.

  “I need to know my friends and dad are all right.”

  “I promise I will watch over them and will not let anything happen.”

  Warmness grew in my chest. “Thank you.”

  He bowed his head in recognition.

  “I want so badly to see them. To see for myself they’re okay,” I said, twirling my hair tighter around my finger.

  “You can do that.” Torin stepped up to me, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “Your abilities go further than simply dreamscaping. Your mother had an extraordinary gift of being able to dreamwalk. I have no doubt you have the same gift.”

  “Dreamwalking?”

  “You can turn your dreamscape location to where they are. Dreamwalking is different from dreamscaping. It takes a great deal more energy since it happens in a real place and time. I came to be in poor health the first several times I did it.” He rubbed his stomach.

  “In poor health?” I asked, and then laughed when I realized what he meant. “You mean you threw up?”

  “Yes.” He rolled his eyes at me. “Now, let’s focus. Dreamwalking is also different since you cannot interact with anyone. You will be a ghost to them. They will not be able to see or hear you.”

  All the times I wished to see Mark, I could have? “Why didn’t you tell me I could do this before?”

  “My apologies. It wasn’t something that crossed my mind.”

  The Dark Dwellers had the same response. All of them had grown up in the Fae world with knowledge of this stuff. They didn’t understand what it was like to be me and not to know.

  “Can you do this, too?” I asked.

  “It was not a gift I was born with, but the Queen has bestowed some of her abilities on me. They allow me to bring her in so she can see what I am seeing without physically having to be there. Her Majesty finds this quite useful in her dealings.”

  “You mean she could be watching us right now?” I scrambled back from him.

  “No. I can feel when she is there. She has a heavy presence and I can always feel her when she is trying to get in. Do not worry. She is not aware of our meetings.”

  “O-kay.” I felt uneasy. “So how does this work?”

  “I will control this first dreamwalk, thus you can see how to do it. It can be a little disconcerting I warn you.” His hands came up to my face, brushing over my lids. “Close your eyes. Otherwise you will get dizzy.”

  “And throw up all over you?” I smiled. He only cocked his head in exasperation. I closed my eyes.

  “Now focus on their faces. You can choose any one of your friends since they are all together, or Mark.”

  Mark was my first stop. My thoughts zeroed in on him, remembering his smile and laugh, the way he had teased me in the morning or had called me Sunny D. A few seconds later a strange wooziness came over me, and it did take everything I had not to be sick.

  “Okay, you can open them,” Torin’s voice spoke gently in my ear. My lashes flew up.

  The sleek, dark wooden floors and stone walls glimmered under the floating fire-bulbs and flickering fireplace. The room was large, but void of furniture or anything personal besides a bed, table, and one chair. The chair was scooted close to the fireplace and occupied by a familiar form.

  “Mark,” I cried, rushing towards him. He did not look up or react.

  “Ember, he cannot see or hear you,” Torin responded.

  Right. My mouth clicked shut. No point in calling out to him again, but I couldn’t stop myself from going to him. With a relieved cry, I crouched in front of him, taking him in. He looked similar to when I had last seen him. Even though it had been a month and a half, there were still bruises and cuts healing on his face.

  “Has he been hit recently?” My fingers went to touch his face, disappearing as they touched him. Okay, creepy.

  “No. I promise you he has been treated well enough since he has been here. She will only hurt him when it benefits her. And, as you see, she has put him in one of the vacant castle rooms. He is not in the dungeon.”

  “If he hasn’t been touched, why is he covered with cuts and bruises?” I longed to be able to touch him, to feel his arms around me in a bear hug. He was dressed in the same clothes, dried blood coating his collar. My gaze skimmed over him from head to toe. His body looked healthy enough so at least he wasn’t being starved.

  “Those are the wounds he obtained on the mountain that night.” Torin remained along the wall, keeping to the shadows. “Remember time works differently here in the Otherworld. Not much time has passed compared to what you have experienced in the Earth realm.”

  The time thing was hard to really wrap my brain around. It had been almost two months for me and, to look at him, it seemed like it had only been two hours.

  “Oh, Mark.” My eyes started to water. “I am so sorry.”

  Mark stared at the fire; his eyes watched every lick and curl of the flames. Sorrow sunk deep in his eyes. He may have been physically healthy but not mentally. His agony tortured me.

  “I will not rest until I get you out of here. I promise. I love you.” Wiping the tears from my cheek I stood up, my resolve strengthened. “Let’s go. I want to see my friends, too.”

  Torin held onto me. Closing my eyes, I pictured my friends vividly in my head. Another whooshing, a feeling of extreme nausea, and we were in a room similar to Mark’s. My four friends were here, along with four beds, four chairs, and one table.

  “Why didn’t she tell us?” Josh exclaimed. He sat in the windowsill. Gaping metal bars lined the window, wide enough for someone to slip through. They were probably more for looks as the tips of the trees outside the window indicated they were several stories up.

  “What would she have told us? Would any of us have believed her anyway?” Kennedy sat on the bed, her legs folded under her.

  Jared sprawled
out on another bed, looking around the room. hasn't known for long. She found out less than two months ago, right before the ES. Not that she would have told you. Humans aren’t supposed to know about us. I shouldn’t even be telling you this stuff, but it seems a little pointless now.”

  “I don’t care. She’s supposed to be our best friend, Ken. She should have told us the truth. Didn’t she trust us?” Ryan piped up from the chair. “Ian’s dead because he was helping us hang flyers, to find our missing friend. If we had only known . . .” Ryan started sobbing, his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking.

  My guilt and anger began to suffocate me, spreading out to include Lorcan and the Queen. There was no forgiveness for what had happened to Ian. He shouldn’t have been there. He should have been involved in my world.

  Kennedy rose from the bed and knelt down in front of Ryan, pulling him into a hug. “I know you are hurting, but Ian’s death was not Ember’s fault.”

  Ryan continued to sob on her shoulder. “Really, Ken? Where was she for the last month? Where was she when we were so scared and worried over her disappearance? Then the ES hit. I thought she was dead—gone forever. But, no we find her with the Riders of Darkness, living this whole time with Eli Dragen.”

  “Hey, guys.” Jared sat up. “Ember wasn’t shacking up with us on some vacation. She was practically being held a prisoner there. After she caused the ES, she was on the run in Seattle, being hunted daily . . . so give her a break.” I had felt that Jared and I bonded over the days we spent together at the compound, and this only confirmed he had my back. He had grown into someone I really cared about. Like family.

  That warm fuzzy quickly got squashed. “She WHAT?” The entire room bellowed.

  “She was the one who caused the Electrical Storm? Are you serious?” Josh shot up, wide-eyed, from his relaxed position.

  Jared's flustered expression made me burst out laughing. Good luck with that one, I thought.

  “Oh yeah, right . . . you guys didn’t know.” He then gave them a quick rundown of what he knew. I kept interjecting with what “really happened” much to Torin's amusement. Knowing they couldn’t hear me didn’t stop my trying. They would have kept drilling Jared, but after a while he put up his hand. “Guys, that’s all I know. You’ll have to hound her later.”

  The bitter memory of that night rotted a hole in my soul. It was the turning point of my life—and thousands of others. With the help of a young fae boy, who was the equivalent of jumper cables, the Seelie Queen harnessed my powers and destroyed Seattle. All to pick a fight with the Unseelie King—Lars.

  “Damn . . . this is all so insane.” Josh shook his mop of blond hair. “The girl I was building garden frames with a month and a half ago can level cities. She’s like a walking superhero from a comic book.”

  Kennedy was kneeling in front of Ryan. He had stopped crying, but his face was carved with pain. “I wish she had trusted us enough to tell us,” Ryan muttered.

  Reaching up, Kennedy rubbed Ryan’s arm soothingly. “Would you have believed her if you hadn’t seen it first hand? I don’t blame her. For any of it. This is not something you can confess without people thinking you’re nuts. She was already fighting that.”

  And just wait, Kennedy. You will be joining me on the list of nuts. My eyes closed briefly in fear. Please don’t let the Queen find out what she really is, I chanted in my head.

  Ryan snorted, “Yeah, I guess. We always sensed something was different about her, but this . . .” Ryan rubbed his head. “I feel like I don’t know who she is anymore. Our friend is not human. Oh God, my brain hurts again.”

  “What is Em exactly?” Josh directed his question to Jared. Jared pressed his lips together. His natural reaction was to stay silent. “Come on, man. We know she can explode things and take down cities . . . what will it hurt to tell us?”

  Sitting up, Jared sighed. “Fine.” You could tell he didn’t want to talk. “She’s a Dae.”

  “A what?” Josh replied. “What the shit is that?”

  “She is half Fairy and half Demon.”

  Kennedy’s hand went silently to her mouth.

  “A Demon? Are you kidding? She’s seriously a Fairy and a Demon?” Josh exclaimed.

  “But it doesn't mean she’s bad.” Jared immediately turned defensive. “Demon’s aren’t always evil. Ember’s cool. But Daes are illegal in the Otherworld. Ember technically shouldn’t be alive and that’s why she was hiding with us. We were protecting her. Like I said, Ember wasn’t lounging on some beach. She stayed away from you guys on purpose. She didn’t want you to get involved because she knew it was dangerous.”

  Josh scoffed, “Too late for that.”

  The room went quiet.

  Josh stomped his feet onto the stone floor excitably. “Holy shit . . . this is insane. The Otherworld actually exists. What would all my counselors say now? They thought I was wasting my life with the videos, World of Warcraft, and now I am the one going ‘suck that bitches’. Wonder if I can actually kill some real trolls.”

  Kennedy, Ryan, Jared, and I stared at him with our mouths open. Josh was taking this way differently from how I imagined he would.

  “Ember, your Earth night is coming to an end. We have to go,” Torin said kindly.

  Nodding, I scanned my friends once again. I missed them so much it hurt. “I will get you guys out of here,” I vowed to them, and then turned, letting Torin lead me away.

  We were back in the forest where our first dreamscape took place. Without words, I went up to Torin and wrapped my arms around him. He gave me more than he could ever know, even though seeing and hearing them hurt more than I imagined. To know my family was all right meant everything to me. They were being treated better than I thought. The urge to rescue them was still strong, but it was clear to me it would be foolish to rush in. I would do this right, with a plan.

  Torin pulled me in tighter. “I am glad it helped.”

  I tilted my head back. “You have no idea. Thank you, Torin.”

  “You are welcome.” His eyes lowered, locking onto my mouth. Suddenly aware of how tight and close our bodies were, tension filled any sliver of space left between us. I couldn’t deny I was curious to know what it would feel like to have his lips on mine again. “I would do anything to protect you and keep you safe. It is my job.”

  The warm feeling vanished as my head lurched up. I stepped out of his hold. “Your job?”

  “Yes.” His eyes narrowed in confusion at my sudden mood alteration. “I told you, now that I have found you, you are my priority. Since the day you were born, it was my job to protect you. Now I can. You are mine, Ember. We are destined.”

  So many aspects of his words bothered me. His romantic, sweet words earlier seemed to sour in my stomach. “Why do you keep saying we’re destined? It’s freaking me out. No one controls my life. I decide. And, I am nobody’s to own, and I am not your job.” I crossed my arms.

  A pained expression creased his forehead. “It is something I want to do. I only want to keep you safe and protected.”

  “I can take care of myself. You cannot guard me from everything, nor do I want you to. I don’t need a protector; I need a partner.”

  “I cannot stop my desire to do what is right. To do my rightful duty.”

  “Rightful duty? Who says stuff like that anymore?” I shook my head, taking a deep breath.

  “We were intended for each other before you were even born. You are my betrothed.”

  “You're WHAT?” I sputtered in disbelief. “Did you say betrothed? Like in marriage—an arranged marriage?”

  “Ember, please, calm down.”

  “Calm down? I’ve had to process a lot of crap lately, but this one might push me over the edge. Did time actually stop in the Otherworld? Are you still using the ‘Beginning of Time’s Handbook’? Arranged marriages. Are you kidding me?” My voice rose higher.

  “It’s not like that. We are noble. The god and goddess brought us together. Most Fae can marry w
homever they want, but you aren’t most Fae. Your bloodli—” He stopped, dread filling his face. “She’s coming . . .”

  With that I was shoved back into blackness. When my eyes popped open, I was on the floor in my room at Lars’ compound. The bed, only feet away, was perfectly made. Sinnie had struck again.

  I had been betrothed to Torin? Was that before they realized I was the devil’s spawn? My mom had been extremely independent and raised me to be as well. Was it something beyond her control? If I wasn’t a Dae, would I be marrying Torin right now? I cared for Torin. It wasn’t him I had the problem with. It was the fact I had no choice in it.

  Huffing, I got up, climbing back into my crisp, clean sheets. What did Sinnie do, starch and iron them while I was unconscious on the floor? Plopping back into my pillows, I pulled the covers over my head.

  My life had been a constant revelation—in a continual state of change. I knew we would have to fight the Queen. I needed to be ready for what I knew was coming—both mentally and physically. But there was so much I couldn’t prepare for. After everything, why did I feel the worst was to come?

  NINETEEN

  The morning came faster than I wanted. Well, if you could call it morning—the moon, still suspended in the sky, told me it was not a time I should be up or functional. “Roosters would find this time of morning offensive,” I whined when Alki barged into my room, blinding me as he flicked on the lights. I preferred the night. I wasn’t surprised Demons were nighttime creatures. My hatred of mornings and night owl preference had established itself at a very early age. Unfortunately, training for a war did not follow my bedtime preferences. I needed to bring this up at the next Otherworld council meeting.

  “This is when training starts. Get up. Dress now. I will be waiting downstairs,” he barked at me before he left.

  Sleep had not come easily for me. I felt as if I had just fallen asleep when Alki came barreling into my room. Now I pulled a pillow over my head. I would not even last a week if this was the time I had to rise every morning. Wonder what would be the punishment for backing out of a Demon deal?

  Images of Mark and my friends invaded my head. You selfish bitch, get up. The disgust at myself for even teasing about quitting—just because I didn’t want to get up early—produced enough anger to get me out of bed, dressed, and downstairs within minutes.