Wings of Fate: (Kingdoms of Faerie Book 1)

by Skye Horn

  “He’ll be back soon. He’s gone to alert King Aragon of your arrival.”

  “King Aragon?”

  “Kieran will explain when he returns. I’m sure this is a lot to take in.”

  “Why did Ethel call me Claire?” Thea asked, feeling dissatisfied with the short answers she was receiving from Iris.

  “It’s your birth name.”

  Thea thought about this, and despite her argumentative nature prodding her to say that a pre-teen girl couldn’t possibly know anything about her birth name, she controlled her response.

  Thea craved an explanation, but Iris obviously didn’t plan to give it to her, so she would just have to wait for Kieran to return.

  She was beginning to question her sanity during this entire situation.

  “What happened to my clothes?” she asked, her voice rising an uncomfortable octave as she realized she was half-naked beneath the blanket. “Kieran didn’t…” She couldn’t even finish her sentence; her cheeks burned furiously.

  “No, no.” Iris laughed for the first time, and Thea’s mortification melted into relief. “Your clothes were coated in blood. Ethel and I undressed you, but unfortunately, the clothes weren’t recoverable.”

  “Oh, well, thanks.”

  Thea couldn’t help but frown. Those had been her favorite jeans, and they weren’t cheap.

  What was she even thinking right now? She’d just woken up in a stranger’s house after being attacked, but she was worried about her favorite pair of jeans?

  Insane. You’ve completely gone insane. That’s all.

  “We think those will fit you.” Iris nodded toward a pile of neatly folded clothing at the end of the bed.

  “Those look like dresses,” Thea said, her voice growing smaller. She tried and failed at not sounding ungrateful.

  “And?” Iris raised an eyebrow. It was a look much like the one her mother would have given her when she had no choice but to do something. She looked away from the aching reminder. The numbness had worn off during the adrenaline of nearly dying. She wanted nothing more than her mother or father’s embrace now to comfort her.

  But she reminded herself that she’d never experience that comfort again. She needed to grow up before she got herself killed waiting for someone else to protect her.

  “Nothing. I’ll try them on. Thank you,” she replied, her voice tight with gratitude. “Will Kieran be back soon?”

  “I hope so.” Iris headed for the door of the bedroom, glancing over her shoulder at Thea once more. “I’m sorry that I can’t answer your questions yet, but I promise that everything will make sense soon.”

  Without another word, Iris left the room, leaving Thea alone to dress.

  What am I doing here? she wondered with a growing panic. If everything she remembered about the night before was true, then shouldn’t she be running? And why had Kieran just left her with a bunch of strangers? Even if they didn’t seem dangerous, how could Thea know they weren’t just lying to her?

  She reached for the pile of dresses with a fresh sense of dread. Whatever awaited her outside of this bedroom couldn’t be confronted in her underwear, and since her own clothing was long gone, she had no choice but to make do with what they had given to her.

  Her stomach growled as she sorted through the array of garments, but she settled on the simplest dress she could find. It was black velvet and just brushed the floor when she pulled it over her head.

  She slipped on a pair of plain leather flats she found at the foot of the bed, hoping she would not trip over the bottom hem of the dress when she walked, and tugged on the sleeves a little to straighten the clingy material. The neckline of the dress dropped lower than Thea would have liked, scooping just across the top of her breasts, and to her horror, the midsection of the dress was a corset that needed to be laced up the back.

  After a few minutes, she managed to pull the strings tight on her own, nearly falling over in the process. She hated the feel of it, but it did give her a place to tuck one of Kieran’s daggers discreetly away—just in case.

  “Oh,” Ethel said when Thea finally found her way to the kitchen. She’d followed the smell of freshly baked bread down the hallway after finding the front door of the cottage. Thea intended to escape out that door, but she couldn’t do that until she had something in her stomach—not if she wanted to survive. “Princess Cl—I mean Thea, you look beautiful.”

  Iris nodded her head in agreement and handed Thea a bowl of stew with a torn-off piece of bread balanced on the side of it.

  Thea went to sit on a stool at the kitchen counter, but found herself twisting around uncomfortably because of her cinched waistline as she tried to eat.

  The kitchen wasn’t like anything she’d ever seen before. The hand-cut countertops were a beautiful marble with buffed edges; shelves full of ingredient jars, some of which Thea recognized and others that she didn’t, lined the walls; and a stone oven that brought warmth to the entire room had a large pot dangling over the fire, which Ethel scooped a ladleful of steaming stew out of for herself.

  Thea tried to wrap her mind around finding herself in a place that lacked so much modern technology. There was no refrigerator, nor sink, but a bucket of soapy water that appeared to be used for dirty dishes sat in the corner by a low stool and a pile of dishcloths.

  She tried to weave tales of logical explanation for everything she saw, but no matter what she told herself, none of this made any sense. Where was she? And how in the world was she going to get home?

  “You should eat,” Ethel said. Thea’s stomach growled again as she eyed the stew in front of her. Everything in it looked familiar. There were carrots and potatoes, as well as green beans and corn. Her mouth watered at the smell of the freshly baked bread, but Thea hesitated anyway. Should she really be eating food from strangers after someone had just tried to kill her? It seemed like a red flag, but nothing about the stew screamed “poison” or “danger.”

  Slowly, Thea took a bite off the corner of the soft bread. It seemed like the safest option. The taste of flour and salt exploded across her tongue as she chewed.

  Iris watched her as she dunked the bread into the stew, and Thea decided that if these people really wanted to hurt her they could have done so when she was unconscious. So, what exactly did they want from her?

  “Where am I?” Thea asked as she neared the bottom of her bowl of stew. Her stomach felt stretched from how quickly she’d scarfed the food down, but it thanked her regardless as the pains of hunger subsided. She licked her fingers and her spoon, realizing she really must have been out for days if she were this hungry, and then downed another glass of water. She needed whatever nutrients she could get if she meant to leave this place, but she also needed to know exactly where this place was.

  Surely they must still be in Ireland, perhaps in some Quaker-style village that existed without interference from the modern world. That was the only logical explanation her brain could conjure.

  “The Kingdom of Grimwalde,” Ethel said as she finished her own lunch and reached to pick up Thea’s empty bowl, still smiling.

  “Grimwalde?” Thea repeated the strange word. She’d never heard of it before, but she didn’t claim to be the most knowledgeable person on the topic of geography. There were probably many places she was unfamiliar with.

  “One of the four kingdoms,” Ethel continued, dropping her bowl into the bucket of soapy water. She seemed oblivious to the look of confusion on Thea’s face, but Iris saw it.

  “Ethel,” Iris warned, meeting the young girl’s gaze with warning.

  “What?” she asked, incredulous.

  “How far from Knockainey am I?” Thea asked. She desperately wanted to get out of this house. Nothing about anything that these two women were telling her made sense. Even if Ethel was only a child, that Amara girl hadn’t been much older, and she had most definitely been dangerous.

  Thea’s heart sped up in anticipation while the two women stared at her.

  “
I don’t know of a Knockainey,” Ethel said, her face full of honesty, but Iris’ eyes had darkened, so Thea focused her attention there.

  “How far?” she demanded of the older women.

  “You are no longer in Ireland, Thea.”

  Thea heard the words, but again, they made little sense. She just stared at Iris, her head shaking from side to side. That wasn’t possible. She had to be in Ireland because Kieran had been injured. The amount of blood she’d seen him lose was enough to convince her that there was absolutely no way he would have been able to take her far without medical attention. She wasn’t a doctor, but she knew that. Thea stood, trying to hide her trembling hands.

  “Wait—” Ethel took a step toward her but Thea had been ready for that. She snatched the dagger out of her corset, holding it up in the most threatening way possible toward the two women. She saw a look of hurt flash across Ethel’s face, but Iris’ emotions remained masked.

  “Clever girl,” Iris said with a nod of approval at the dagger.

  “T-thank you for the food, but I think I should be going now.” Thea backed away toward the kitchen door, her eyes darting between Iris and Ethel.

  She didn’t want to hurt either of them, but they clearly were not sane. Maybe she’d stumbled into a cult—yes, that was a possibility. This was some Irish cult that still existed, but they didn’t associate themselves with Ireland.

  You know there is more to it than that, the little voice in her head said, but she silenced it. She couldn’t handle feeling any more crazy than she already did.

  Once the kitchen door had closed, she ran for the front door, dagger still clutched in the sweating palm of her hand. She didn’t hear anyone following her, but she also didn’t look back. There was too much at stake. She needed to find a phone, call the police, and get home to Colorado.

  Coming to Ireland had been a mistake.

  Her heart pounded as she swung the front door open, but the sight that met her made her stumble to a halt.

  The ground was snow-covered, but that was impossible. Even if she’d been asleep for longer than three days, it had been summer when she arrived in Ireland. How in the world could there be snow on the ground here?

  She felt as if her eyes might bulge out of her head, but she slammed the door shut behind her, bracing herself for the frosty air. There was no choice. Even if it made little to no sense, she needed to get out of here.

  Thea took only a moment to examine her surroundings. She saw a few distinct paths that she could take. There was a path that led directly into the forest that surrounded the small cottage; a path that ended in gardens of dead flowerbeds; and a path to what looked like a large stable.

  The irrational part of her wanted to run as fast and as far away as possible, realizing she should have done that the night Kieran had shown up. However, it was unlikely she could survive this winter weather on foot without some sort of supplies. So, she sent a silent prayer to whatever power listened and sprinted down the third path, hoping it would increase the probability that she lived.

  Thea’s shivering subsided as she entered the warmth of the stables. Light slipped through the cracks in the roof, revealing about six stalls with curious eyes glowing inside each of them as she passed. She didn’t know why she wasn’t just taking the first horse she saw and getting out of there, but something called her deeper into the stable. It pulled her toward the last stall, but unlike the others, she found nothing peeking out of the darkness. It appeared, from the distance, to be empty.

  What are you doing? she asked herself even as she neared the stall door. She needed to leave, and yet, she couldn’t stop her fingertips from closing around the cool steel clasp that sealed the stall shut. Regardless of her desperate desire to run, something was forcing her in this direction, something she had no control over.

  It was then that the large shape inside the stall stirred. Her hand froze, warming the metal beneath her fingertips, as his amber-eyes opened to meet hers. Thea wasn’t sure how she knew the creature’s sex, but she did. He was larger than any horse she’d ever seen before, and as he stepped into the soft sunlight trickling through the cracks in his stall walls, she gasped.

  A silver horn protruded from the creature’s head, centered in the middle of his forehead between his eyes.

  Thea was staring at a Unicorn.

  Chapter 4

  The Unicorn’s gaze was fierce as he stared at her. He stomped his hoof into the hay, and Thea stumbled backwards as her shock morphed quickly into panic.

  “Easy, boy.” Thea held up both her hands, but realized that the stall door was now unlocked as the creature pushed it open and came toward her.

  She didn’t know what to do. If she ran, he could spear her through the back, but if she didn’t run, could he not just as easily spear her through the front? She frowned, keeping her hands raised as she lowered herself to the ground, hoping to show him she was not a threat.

  Her body trembled as she felt a waft of his fiery breath against her neck. Her heart raced as the hairs on his dampened nostrils tickled her skin, and then the fear disappeared as quickly as it had come—replaced by an unexplainable sense of calmness.

  I am Faylon. The new voice in her ever-chaotic mind was deep and melodic.

  “Faylon,” Thea repeated, her eyes snapping up to meet his once more. She didn’t know how she could hear him, but she didn’t feel as if she were going crazy anymore. This voice, unlike the female one in her head, had a body associated with it, and as crazy as it sounded to hear voices in her head, it felt no crazier than standing in the presence of a mythical creature.

  The Unicorn gave a soft snort of approval, and Thea could see a smile sparkling in his eyes. He no longer looked fierce, or dangerous, but something else lurked beneath the surface of his amber gaze—something magical.

  “B-but how?” she asked. “How can I hear you? How do you even exist?”

  Amusement replaced the smile. He nudged her with his warm nose as she pulled herself to her feet, staring at him. She had so many more questions rising, but she heard something then that stopped her.

  “Thea?” Ethel called out from beyond the stable door. Her voice trembled from the cold. “Are you in there?”

  Thea frowned. She felt some guilt for how she’d treated Ethel, despite the young girl’s kindness toward her.

  “Can you help me get out of here?” Thea pleaded to Faylon. Her guilt was not enough to keep her in this place. She wanted to go home. She needed to go home.

  The Unicorn lowered himself as if to say “Climb on” but Thea just stared at him warily. She’d ridden horses before, but something about riding this giant creature seemed far more dangerous.

  You can trust me, he told her, and despite her uncertainty over climbing up onto his back, she believed him. A sense of knowing had replaced her fear. It pulsed inside of her with an absolute trust she’d never experienced before. She’d recognized Kieran, and trusted him to an extent, but this was different. The bond between Faylon and her felt ancient, as if it had always existed.

  Her heart thumped against the drums of her ears as she tucked the dagger back into her corset and pulled herself up onto his back, twisting her fingers into his mane to keep her balance when he rose. Somehow, Thea knew that Faylon would protect her from whatever danger she faced. She didn’t know where the feeling came from, but she trusted it as much as she trusted him.

  Hold on, he said in a more gentle tone. They walked toward the stable door that Thea had failed to lock.

  Faylon pushed the door open and Thea had barely glimpsed Ethel’s surprised face outside when the Unicorn lurched forward. Ethel stumbled backward to avoid being trampled and fell to the ground.

  “Sorry!” Thea cried out, but her hands didn’t leave Faylon’s mane. She hung on for dear life while he broke into a gallop that left Ethel and the cottage far behind as the surrounding forest swallowed them whole.

  Riding a horse, Thea decided, was nothing like riding a bike. Her entire body felt
awkward as it bounced unevenly atop Faylon’s back. She clutched at him with her legs to keep from slipping right off his side and twisted her fingers so roughly into his mane that she thought she might actually begin pulling strands out.

  Apologetic gasps escaped her drying lips as she clutched at him, but he never complained. Instead, he just continued onward, moving deeper and deeper into the forest. Thea had no idea where he was taking her, but her body shivered from the intense cold as the heavy canopy of trees shaded them from the warmth of the sun.

  She was thankful for the long sleeves of the dress, but it did nothing to protect her face or hands from the icy wind that Faylon’s steady gallop forced her to endure. Her teeth chattered furiously, but there was no turning back now—not that she would have known how to get back anyway.

  “Where are we going?” she asked Faylon as she dodged yet another low-hanging branch. The grace of his gallop amazed Thea. His breathing had grown heavier the farther they went, but his hooves fell onto the snow-covered earth rhythmically. Eventually, Thea’s body adjusted to that rhythm, allowing for a more stabilized ride. She doubted she’d be walking properly for the next few days though.

  You’ll see, he replied cryptically, causing Thea’s eyebrow to lift.

  They continued until the trees thinned and warm sunlight touched her skin. The forest had felt like night, but all she saw past the end of the tree line was bright rays of vitamin D. A flood of relief washed over her at the sight, and Faylon slowed to a trot.

  “Wow,” Thea gasped as they left the forest for the snow-covered plains outstretched in front of them. The powdered white glittered under the sun’s rays, nearly blinding her with its brightness. Strands of Thea’s once-neatly braided hair whipped wildly around her face. Without the windshield of tree trunks around her, the wind stung, but even that couldn’t deter her from the blissful feelings of freedom.

  I’m really not in Ireland anymore, she thought and to her surprise, Faylon answered her thoughts.

  Welcome to the land of Faerie.

  Thea didn’t know what was harder to believe: the fact that she wasn’t in Ireland anymore or the fact that a Unicorn was telling her she’d stumbled into a land of magic. How could she keep denying it though? All the signs were there.