Secrets and Alchemy

by Linsey Hall

  She turned and walked toward Farrow, staying far from the flame as she approached him and stood pressed against the wall. I gave her one last look, then strode to the other side of the room where a pedestal waited.

  A massive stone bowl sat on top of it, filled to the brim with a glittering blue liquid. A ladle hung on a silver hook, and I removed it, then dipped the spoon in to the liquid. It gleamed blue and bright as I raised it to my lips and drank.

  Ice flowed through my veins, and I shivered hard as I returned the ladle. I wouldn’t have long, and it wouldn’t keep me from feeling all of the fire’s burn, but it should keep me alive and uninjured.

  In theory.

  Chilled to the bone, I turned and strode to the fire, not looking at Sora. I didn’t want to see her wide eyes and pale face. Given the choice, I’d rather make her happy than scared.

  But first, I had to live. And that required getting the tools of the Rising One.

  The fire blazed in front of me, bright and fierce. The heat was impossible, making my eyes water and every inch of me burn. I sucked in a deep breath and strode into it, nearly going to my knees from the agony. The flames licked at my skin, and the pain was enough to make my mind go blank. For the briefest second, I had no idea why I was there. Every inch of me felt like it was melting, and in the distance, I heard Sora scream.

  It jerked me back to the present, and I kept going, staggering to the middle of the fire. As I walked, images flashed in my mind.

  The unknown village. It was a simple place, full of Fae living in a valley. I didn’t know them beyond the visions I’d had for years.

  Drought had leeched the life from their land, turning the earth barren and beige. Fire raged in the distance, creeping toward their town.

  Somehow, it was real.

  Except I had no idea who they were or when it happened. The fear for them—the helplessness—stole my breath.

  I shook the thoughts away, focusing on the task at hand. I wouldn’t be driven away by weakness and fear.

  Storm Bringer.

  The flame seemed to whisper to me.

  That was twice now that I’d heard the title. Before this, I hadn’t heard it in years, not since a spirit had whispered it to me when I’d been a boy changing into a man.

  When I reached the middle of the fire, I knelt. There, sitting on the ground in the middle of the flame, were the tools of the Rising One: a small cauldron, knife, and set of measuring spoons.

  So simple, yet so powerful.

  I could barely see them through the flickering flames.

  No one knew how old they were. Centuries, at least. They’d been imbued with the power of many ancient alchemists, these flames keeping that magic alive. They were the most powerful potion-making tools in the world, and they were necessary for what was to come.

  I picked them up, my strength flagging, and staggered onward. I just needed to get out of the fire…

  Every step seemed to take the last of my strength. I wasn’t melting or burning alive, but it was sapping my power.

  Finally, I reached the edge. When I exited, the air was immediately cooler. I sucked in a deep breath and focused my dry eyes.

  Sora stood in front of me, face pale and eyes dark. “Are you okay?” Her gaze searched me, and she swallowed hard.

  “Fine.” My voice was dry. The tools of the Rising One were still clutched in my hands, and I looked down. I needed to put them away.

  I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts back in line as I pulled an empty bag from the ether and added the tools. They clinked against the tiny vials of ingredients that were already measured out, ready for me to create the potion that would heal me. Quickly, I closed the bag, then stored it carefully away again.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Sora sounded skeptical. She ran her hands down my arms, seeming like she was checking to see if I was still in one piece.

  I looked down at myself, still feeling the burn of the flames. I looked fine. Clothes and skin unburned. I still felt a bit woozy, but that was all right. “I’m fine. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Those are the best words I’ve heard all day.” Her gaze flicked to the flame behind me. “You alchemists are crazy.”

  I grinned, then grabbed her hand, and we joined Farrow by the door.

  He was silent as he led us out of the room and up the stairs. I was ready to get the hell out of the armory.

  We reached the top of the stairs that had led down to the Flame of the Rising One. Farrow stopped. “This is where I leave you. Good luck with your journey.”

  “Thank you.” I nodded to him, then turned.

  Sora and I walked quickly through the wide corridors, and I felt like my heels were on fire. We reached the exterior doors and the guards opened them, and I took the main stairs two at a time. Sora kept up easily, and when we were on the main path, she leaned up and spoke against my ear. “You don’t like that place.”

  “Not much, no. But being a member provides me with access to tools that I wouldn’t have otherwise.”

  “No kidding.”

  The train waited at the station, steam billowing from the stack. Ryan opened the gate to the platform, then hurried ahead and opened the door to one of the train cars.

  We climbed into the dining car, and I found a seat. Sora sat across from me, slumping in her chair.

  “Hungry?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Ravenous.”

  Ryan hovered near the entrance to the dining car, his gaze alert on mine. I nodded to him, and he hurried off to the kitchen.

  Sora raised her brows. “Fancy.”

  “It’s the only part of my life that’s fancy.” Frankly, it made me itch. “It’s one of the reasons I avoid this place as much as possible. Too much formality. I prefer my bar.”

  “It suits you better, Storm Bringer.” She arched a brow.

  “You heard that, huh?”

  “Hard to miss.”

  I nodded and leaned back in my chair as the train rumbled away from the station. “When I was a teenager, I learned that I would grow into a magic I hadn’t been born with. But then we learned my sister’s prophecy.”

  She nodded encouragingly, and I told her more about the story of my sister. Of our flight from our Court and the years in hiding. At one point, Ryan brought food and drink, and Sora ate while I spoke.

  When I finally finished the tale, she scrunched up her forehead. “So you have all this power you’ve never embraced.”

  “Essentially.”

  “I thought it was just more power like what you already have, but it’s something different, isn’t it?”

  “Storms. Lighting, rain, the whole lot. Though I’ve never used it much. I gave it up right after I got it, pretty much.”

  “I can’t imagine.”

  I shrugged. “It was easy. I had to protect my sister, so I couldn’t become something that would draw attention. The Fae who hunted her is one of the most powerful Fae to ever live. Back then, if I’d I become the Storm Bringer, I’d have been equal to him. That gives me a fifty-fifty chance of defeating him. And if I didn’t…”

  “You wouldn’t be around to protect your sister.”

  “And he would have found her. I would have led him to her.” I took a sip of the beer that Ryan had brought me. “It was an easy decision.”

  “But now you can have it back.”

  “Now, I can. If I get there in time, and if I’m strong enough.” I thought of the village that burned.

  It was just a vision, wasn’t it?

  But why had that vision always accompanied the feeling of becoming the Storm Bringer again?

  “Strong enough? I thought that ghostly lady said you were?”

  “That was just to see if I was strong enough to retrieve the tools of the Rising One. We’re going to Dartmoor to try to reach the Sacred Sea. It’s heavily protected, and it’ll be dangerous.” Worry turned my stomach, and I reached for her hand. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  She scoffed
. “You cannot be asking me that. Of course I do.”

  I frowned, then dug into my pocket for a transport stone. I pressed it into her hand. “If it gets too dangerous and I say to leave, you need to leave.”

  She hesitated.

  “Vow it or I’m dropping you off at the nearest real train station to take you back to London.”

  She scowled. “Fine. I vow it.”

  Ryan appeared. “We’ve received permission to take you straight to the Dartmoor station. We’ll be there in an hour.”

  “Thank you, Ryan.”

  He disappeared, and I stared at Sora. “So, you got any more secrets? You know all of mine.”

  “Fresh out, I’m afraid.”

  I grinned, then felt a stab of pain through my entire body. It took all I had not to double over at the table.

  Sora frowned. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine.” My voice was rough as I dug into my pocket for a restorative draught. My vision blurred, and chills raced over my whole body. I should have had another hour before the weakness hit me.

  I was running out of time faster than I’d expected.

  My hands shook as I uncorked it, and I barely managed to drink it down before I collapsed. Immediately, strength rushed through my body, and I gasped. My vision cleared, and I found Sora kneeling by my chair.

  “I can’t believe you did this to yourself for me,” she said.

  “You didn’t see what I saw.” The memory of her falling was enough to chill my skin again. “And it’s fate.”

  Just like she was my fated mate. Lucretia had sensed it. I knew it, too.

  I just couldn’t tell Sora yet. She wasn’t Fae. And when you hadn’t been raised with the concept of fated mates, it was kinda weird. Even creepy.

  The idea that some unknown force in the universe had chosen a woman for me was weird as hell.

  Except, now that I’d met her…

  Fate had damned good taste.

  “Come here. Don’t sit on the ground.” I helped her off the floor, pulling her onto the bench seat next to me. She cuddled against my side, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Contentment filled me, a comfortable warmth that I hadn’t expected.

  “This is like a date,” she said.

  “I want a better one. Not that this isn’t great, but I want a real one.”

  “Deal.” She grinned, and the sight made something in my soul clutch.

  We sat like that, resting and regaining our strength, and it was the best I’d felt in ages.

  “We’re nearly there.” Ryan’s voice shook me out of my stupor, and I looked up at him.

  “Thanks, Ryan.”

  The kid nodded and turned to go. The train slowed as it neared the station. It was nearly dawn, but the moon was still out and bright enough to see by. The land outside began to look more alive—grass and gorse covering the hills of the moor.

  “We’ve reached Dartmoor. The Fae live on another plane here, but their magic protects the place.”

  The train pulled to a stop at a tiny platform, and Sora and I went to the door. Ryan opened it, and we stepped out into the cool air. Claire would say it smelled like home, but it just smelled like nature to me. Potions & Pastilles was my home now.

  A familiar figure waited for us at the other end of the platform, and I frowned. “Claire? How’d you know we’d arrive now?”

  “Orion sensed you coming.”

  “Of course he did.” I’d spent so much time with Orion as a kid that he had all but raised me, and I loved the old man like a father. Thanks to the sprites that considered him one of their own, he knew everything that happened on the moor.

  Worry creased my sister’s brow as she approached, her brown hair blowing in the wind. She was dressed in her usual black leather fighting attire. “He says it’s going to be dangerous, getting to the Sacred Sea.”

  “That’s the point. Otherwise, the waters wouldn’t be so valuable.” I grinned at her, trying to reassure her.

  She scowled at me. “I’m going to come with you and—”

  The comms charm at my wrist buzzed, and the voice of my part-time staffer, Bridgette, echoed out. “Connor? I’m at P&P, working. There are some guys outside. Looking real creepy. Bald heads covered with tattoos, leather jackets. They came in and gave me a hard time. I got them to leave, but I think they’re coming back.”

  Beside me, Sora stiffened. “They’re there for me.”

  Claire’s gaze moved to Sora. “Really?”

  “What should I do?” Bridgette asked.

  “My sister is coming,” I said.

  “Okay. Hurry.”

  I cut the connection on the comms charm and looked at Claire. “Will you go deal with them?”

  She scowled at me. “Yes. But I want to help you with this if you need it, so call me.”

  “I promise.”

  She gave me a tight hug, then stepped back and drew a transport stone out of her pocket. “I’ll see you soon.”

  She chucked the stone to the ground and disappeared.

  Sora looked up at me, eyes worried. “Your sister can handle them?”

  I chuckled. “Yeah. Without problem.” Claire was insanely powerful.

  Sora nodded, still looking concerned.

  “Seriously, try not to worry.” I dug into my pocket. “Normally, I wouldn’t use a transport charm for such a short journey, but we’re in a hurry.”

  Sora nodded and reached for my hand.

  I gripped hers and threw the transport charm to the ground. A cloud of smoke burst up, glittering and bright. We stepped into it, and I imagined the portal in the human world that would lead to the Fire Fae realm. It was located near the middle of the moor.

  The ether sucked us in and spun us through space, spitting us out in the middle of the wide-open landscape. Hills swept up in the distance around us, and we stood at the bank of a swiftly moving river. A clapper bridge stretched across it, the ancient stone slabs laid down thousands of years ago. There were many clapper bridges on the moor, but only this one provided access to the Fae realm. On the other side, a tiny forest of twisted oaks formed the portal that would lead us through.

  “Ready?” I asked Sora.

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  12

  Sora

  Dartmoor was beautiful. For all the years that I’d lived in London, I’d never had a reason to come out here.

  I should have.

  There was a stark, barren beauty to this place of soaring hills and sweeping valleys. Massive stone pillars sat on top of each of the hills, looking like building blocks left behind by a forgetful god.

  I pointed to them. “What are those?”

  “Tors. They’re made of granite and sit atop each of the hills.” He pointed to another one, which was far bigger and located close, just on the other side of the river. “The Fire Fae palace is built onto that one. You’ll see it when we cross over to their realm.”

  “And the humans have no idea the Fae are here.” I shook my head, marveling. “Just like Guild City, but in the countryside.”

  “The humans know nothing, but I think the sheep are onto us.”

  I laughed. “Which way?”

  “We need to cross the bridge and enter the forest. From there, we’ll be taken to the Fire Fae realm.”

  “Let’s get to it, then.” Worry tugged at me. There was no time to delay.

  Connor led me over the bridge. On either side, crystal clear water rushed by. Dark stones were scattered on the bottom.

  “Have you ever ridden rafts down this river? Fun ones, I mean. In a swimming costume. Maybe with a beer?” I asked.

  Connor looked at me like I was insane, then laughed. “That’s a good idea. That can be our first date.”

  “Pick a sunny day, and I’m there.”

  I had a feeling that it was probably pretty insane to ride rafts down a river through the Fire Fae kingdom, but I was glad that Connor went along with it. He didn’t take himself too seriously, which I liked.
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br />   We reached the forest of tiny twisted oaks, and their magic swelled toward me, making me shiver. Each one was hardly taller than Connor, but they were thick with ancient growth, their limbs twisted and gnarled.

  “These look like something out of a fairytale,” I said.

  “They’re the oldest trees on Dartmoor. They grew small to withstand the wind.”

  He led me into the middle of the grove, and a heavy feeling of magic settled around me.

  “Stand still and imagine your intentions toward the Fire Fae Court,” he said.

  “I have no intentions besides helping you.”

  “Then we’ll have no trouble getting in.”

  We stood in silence as the trees reached their limbs out toward us. I had to resist a giggle as their branches tickled lightly against my skin. Magic flowed through me, and the ether sucked me in, dragging me through space. My head spun, and my vision blackened.

  When my feet hit solid ground and I opened my eyes, almost everything looked entirely different. Oh, the landscape was the same, with the hills and valleys and tors. But now, there was a massive fiery castle sitting on top of the hill, built against the granite. It looked like it was made of glass that had been imbued with flame, and it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. A long road led all the way up to the castle, and the village was built around it. Dozens of small houses lined the road, each made of the same material as the castle. They were gorgeous and ornate, and I was dying to get inside one and explore.

  “To the castle?” I asked.

  “No. Thank fates.”

  “You don’t like the king and queen?”

  “Loathe them.”

  It was the worst thing he’d ever said about anyone, actually. And I had a feeling he meant it. They’d evicted his sister from her home, after all.

  “They’re not outright evil,” he said. “So don’t worry about that. They mean the best for the kingdom. But they’re myopic and don’t always make the best decisions.”

  “Where are we headed, then?”

  “There’s an old Fae who helped me a lot when I was a kid. Our parents died early, and it was just us for the longest time. But Orion was like a father to me. He’ll give us an update on the situation and help us get to the Sacred Sea more quickly.”