Crown of Fire (The Forbidden Fae Book 1)

by Linsey Hall

  “You were raised on the knowledge that you were being hunted. By me. You’d be stupid not to be scared.”

  “As a child, maybe. Now I’m a mercenary. I can run at a demon without blinking an eye. Yet I run from my past. From my power. From what I am. I was hiding, yes. But also running.” I reached for his hand and squeezed it. In the back of my mind, I knew we were in a strange place in our relationship. It was like the circumstances made us drunk, and the result was that I was capable of holding his hand. When this was all over, I didn’t think I would be.

  “And now?” he asked.

  “Now, I’m glad that you found me. The idea of your people dying was always distant to me. Not real. Now that I’ve met them—seen what’s happening—I have to fulfill my part in this. I have to do what I can. Fate always decreed that this was my role to play. Not you, not the Sea Fae. I can’t ignore it if I can help, and by finding me, you showed me that.”

  “But you could be living in blissful ignorance. Alive and safe.”

  “But I don’t want to live that way.” I flicked a glance at him. “So you could leave right now—go to Paris, to the beach, anywhere—but I would keep moving forward with this. I have to see it out.”

  Respect glinted in his eyes. Admiration.

  I’d be a liar if I didn’t say it warmed me. Maybe it was the love potion I’d given him—it was probably was. But I still liked it.

  “You’re more than I ever thought you could be,” he said.

  Yeah, the love potion was definitely working on him. “Thanks.”

  The sun had reached the horizon, and the chamber was beginning to glow orange with its light. There was more we could talk about probably. But not enough time. And as weirdly comforting as it was to sit there, it was not the place.

  I let go of his hand and stood. “It’s time.”

  He joined me. “What happens now?”

  I turned to the back wall of the Dolmen, which was beginning to glow orange as the light of the setting sun hit it. I pressed my back against the stone so I didn’t block the sun’s rays. “Join me.”

  Iain did as I asked, and the sun shined brighter against the stone. It began to spark with magic, swirls of lights that zipped over the surface of the stone. The magic vibrated toward us, making my bones hum.

  The stone wall began to shimmer, turning transparent. In the shadowy gloom of the other side, a massive tor rose tall, perched on top of a steep hill.

  The Tor of the Ancients.

  I stepped away from the wall, my gaze on the realm beyond this one. “We walk through.”

  Iain reached for my hand, and together, we stepped through the portal to the other side.

  I felt my body fall away, and looked back to see it collapse into the dirt. Iain’s lay next to mine, his cloak covering my form, as if he could protect me even in death.

  Ironic, given how he’d come into my life.

  On the other side, my hand stayed gripped in Iain’s. Our souls could touch. He was slightly transparent now, but no less powerful-looking.

  I looked ahead, gazing through the hazy dusk up at the fortified tor ahead. A Fae-made wall surrounded the natural granite towers that rose into the stormy night sky. The wall around the Tor of the Ancients had been built many thousands of years ago.

  “We have to reach the towers,” I said.

  Lightning flashed in the sky, followed by a harsh boom of thunder. The glow illuminated the place, making a shiver run over my skin. I let go of Iain’s hand and started upward, climbing as fast as I could. Despite the fact I didn’t have a body, my lungs and muscles still burned.

  The message was clear—I could die here. I was still alive, somehow. My soul was, at least. But if it perished, then my body would turn to dust on the other side.

  Together, we climbed. The wind whipped past me, tearing at my clothes and hair. My eyes watered, and I blinked to clear my vision.

  In the distance, I spotted figures flying through the sky.

  “They’re coming for us,” Iain shouted over the wind.

  I could barely see through the wind-induced tears, but they looked like incorporeal beings. Some were red and some blue. When they got closer, I realized the red ones were made of flickering flame. They weren’t quite human-shaped, though they might have once been. Now the flame flowed behind them like ragged cloaks. The blue ones appeared icy, with cold fog emitting from what looked like it could be a head.

  The Ancient Ones.

  “Don’t fly!” I shouted past the wind. “If they can get you in the air, they’ll tear you apart!”

  They shot for us, hurtling close. I drew my shield from the ether, positioning it between me and the spirit that was charging toward me.

  The creature slammed into me, driving me to my knees. Icy pain exploded all over my body, and I screamed.

  “Get up!” Iain shouted. “Before the claws get you!”

  His words snapped me to attention. Icy claws reached out of the ground and grabbed for me, pulling me toward them. I scrambled upright, blasting them back with my flame.

  The fire spirits attacked Iain, slamming into him and driving him to the ground. Claws made of fire reached for him, grasping for his legs and cloak. He fired blasts of ice at them, driving them back into the ground.

  Two of the hands gripped my ankle, impossibly strong and icy cold. I struggled to free myself, but I was slowed so much that the spirits were able to launch an attack, three of them crashing into me and driving me to the ground.

  I blasted the hands at my feet with my fire, then turned it toward the spirits who dive-bombed me. I drove them off long enough to scramble up and run for it, but I didn’t make it far before they caught me again.

  The spirits attacked from all sides, waiting until the unearthly hands got ahold of us and held us still for their attack. Every inch of me ached as I fought my way forward, shooting my flame at the spirits who collided with me.

  I couldn’t kill them, but I could drive them back. So could Iain.

  Except the tor was still so far away…

  And we had yet to climb the wall that separated us from the SoulStone.

  Fear pounded in my chest, and I fought my way upward. The spirits screamed and shrieked as lightning crashed. The moor I’d loved so much had turned into a hellscape, and we were barely managing to fight our way through.

  “Keep going!” Iain shouted, his tone determined. Encouraging.

  I gasped and kept fighting, envisioning what I was fighting for. Who I was fighting for.

  The spirits seemed to direct their attacks at me, as if I were the one they were most determined to keep away. Pain flared every time they landed a blow or a hand managed to grip me, and I felt my strength flagging.

  We were too slow.

  The wall was still hundreds of yards away. I’d never have the strength to make it.

  A tiny white blur appeared in front of me, darting across the hill.

  Puka!

  The little fox had appeared, its eyes blazing with dark ice. It snapped at the hands that reached from the ground, driving them back so I could run. Puka cleared a path for us, and we were able to move faster without the hands grabbing us and holding us still for the spirits to attack.

  We fought our way past the spirits who dived and shrieked. Pain sang through me from their repeated blows, but I ignored it, running as fast as I could up the hill.

  Puka reached the base of the huge granite wall and met my gaze. Good luck.

  “Thanks, pal. I owe you.”

  He didn’t so much as nod. Just turned quickly and ran off, disappearing down through hell.

  I looked up at the towering wall. It had to be thirty feet high, with the ice and flame spirits darting around it. Iain joined me, and I searched for the best handholds.

  “There!” I pointed to a section with particularly deep divots, then strapped my shield to my back to provide some protection.

  Quickly, I began to climb, hand over hand. The spirits slammed into my back, weake
ning me with every blow.

  I could feel them grabbing at me, trying to tear my limbs away from the wall, but I clung tightly, kicking out at them when I could.

  Can’t let them get me.

  If they got me off the wall and carried me into the sky, they’d tear me apart.

  I nearly lost my grip twice, but managed to catch myself at the very last moment. The stone bit into my fingertips as I climbed.

  “You’ve got it!” Iain shouted from below. He was right behind me, but the whipping wind made him sound miles away.

  Thunder and lightning boomed as I reached the top of the wall. It was wide and flat, and I flopped onto my stomach, curling into a ball so the spirits couldn’t hit my flesh.

  I gave myself five seconds to recover, then scrambled upright just as Iain joined me. The huge circular wall surrounded the top of the tor, which looked like an ancient city made of great granite pillars. In the middle of the pillars, I spotted the kistvaen.

  I pointed to the huge stone box set into the ground. “There it is!”

  The kistvaen—an ancient type of stone monument—was made of five slabs of granite, one on each of the four sides with the last one creating the bottom. It was set into the ground, forming a square pit. A red stone glowed within.

  Without waiting for a response, I scrambled down the other side of the wall and sprinted through the towers of granite, climbing over the smaller piles and stumbling toward the kistvaen.

  Iain kept up with me, but I had eyes only for the SoulStone now. I could see it gleaming within, shining with a red light that looked like fire.

  The Soul of my people.

  I fell to my knees beside the large square pit that was lined with huge stones. The stone called to me, burning brightly.

  Ice began to form around my legs, trapping me to the ground. Such a cold place to be the home of the Fire Fae.

  I shoved the thought away as instinct drove me, making my motions quick. I grabbed the stone, and the heat began to warm my hands.

  I raised the stone to my chest, a vision flashing in my mind’s eye.

  I was no longer at the Tor of the Ancients. Instead, I was out on the open moorland. I walked across a small patch of heather and gorse, but an ancient oak forest surrounded me, stretching as far as the eye could see.

  The moor looked nothing like it did normally.

  Instead of open heathland, it was forest. Great oaks spearing toward the sky, an ancient forest that I’d never seen before.

  I’m in the past.

  Somehow, I knew it as well as I knew my own name. In the distance, I spotted a woman who looked just like me. Her simple green dress was adorned with a twisted golden pin that held her cloak at her shoulders. A golden necklace twisted around her neck, and her hair was red as flame.

  In fact, her hair was flame. Fire rolled out from her feet, burning the oaks, destroying the forests. It devoured the moor before my eyes, wiping out the trees.

  She was changing the entire landscape.

  The Great Burning.

  This was how it happened.

  I did it.

  Or a past version of myself did. Because this was definitely the past. And somehow, I was responsible.

  Horror opened up a hole inside of me.

  Would this happen again if I took the SoulStone? It contained the soul of our people—the fire that made us the Fire Fae.

  Could I control it?

  Maybe I should just leave it there.

  But no. If I did that, all Sea Fae would freeze. Or I would die to save them. And then the Fire Fae would die.

  No matter what, there was death at the end of this if I didn’t take the SoulStone.

  I was strong enough to control it. I had to be.

  “Caera!” Iain’s strong arms gripped my shoulders, shaking me out of the vision.

  I was back at the Tor of the Ancients again, the lightning blasting bright and white around me. The ice was rising up my legs, trapping me to the ground. In my hands, the SoulStone glowed warmly, as if it hadn’t just shown me a horrible vision of what I’d once done to this place.

  “I can’t melt the ice!” Desperation sounded in Iain’s voice. “My magic won’t work. And I can’t break it away.”

  Fear sliced me.

  Was this how I died?

  How my bones ended up trapped in the Portal Dolmen forever?

  I didn’t have nearly as much fire as the woman I’d just seen in the vision. My past self.

  And even if I could use it, should I?

  I’d caused so much damage with it in the past.

  No.

  I wouldn’t die here. I couldn’t. There was too much at stake. Too many lives relying on me.

  I called upon the flame within me, sending it blasting out toward the ice that trapped my legs. It shattered, and I stumbled free. Iain jerked me upright, and I met his gaze. “Let’s go.”

  We sprinted away from the kistvaen. I kept the stone clutched tightly in my hands, then shoved it into my interior jacket pocket so we could climb the walls to escape. The spirits renewed their attack, clawing and tearing. I managed to kick them away from me, keeping them off me, and Iain joined in.

  We reached the top and scrambled across, then made our way quickly to the ground below. Together, we sprinted down the hill, leaping over the grasping hands and dodging the spirits that lunged at us. It was easier going down—or faster, at least, with gravity at our side. We outran the attacks, but by the time we reached the Portal Dolmen, I was panting, my lungs and muscles burning.

  The spirits screeched as I ran into the dolmen, praying that it would take us back to our bodies.

  15

  Iain and I stumbled into the darkened stone chamber, gravity pulling us hard to our knees. My vision went black briefly, and energy fizzled over my body.

  When I blinked my eyes open, I was lying on the ground next to Iain. The rock was cold and hard beneath me. I gasped and sat upright, clutching at my chest.

  The SoulStone was there. And I had a body again. Visions of the Great Burning flashed in my mind—I did that—but I shoved them aside.

  I had one job now, and I had to finish it.

  “Do you have the SoulStone?” Iain asked.

  “I do.”

  He stood and helped me to my feet. It was pitch black in the chamber. Night had fallen fully, though I had no idea what time it was.

  “We need to go. Dawn is only a few hours away.”

  The Solstice was almost here.

  I shivered.

  As a Fae, it was normally a time I liked.

  Now?

  Not so much.

  “We can transport from outside of here. Come on.” Iain strode from the Dolmen, and I followed.

  Despite the fact that it was mid-summer, it was chilly on the moor, with the wind whipping coldly across the hills. I reached for Iain’s hand. He gripped mine tightly and called upon his magic. It flared briefly, the sound of the sea joining the howl of the wind. The ether sucked us in and dragged us back to his kingdom.

  We arrived outside of the healer’s chambers, and I gave him a grateful glance.

  He nodded stiffly. “I thought you’d like to see your brother again.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Hurry. We don’t have long. We’ll have to leave for the ceremony location soon.”

  I clutched the stone and hurried into the healer’s chambers. Every head turned to look at me, and the tension in the air was unbearable.

  Time was nearly up, and it was on everyone’s minds. I avoided looking at the bodies in the beds. It seemed like an invasion of privacy, and honestly, I couldn’t handle the pressure. I already knew that I was going to do whatever it took to save them. But the sight of all the people who were relying on me was more than I could bear.

  I went straight for Connor’s bedside and gripped his cold hand. His skin was still an unnerving shade of blue.

  “I’ve got the SoulStone,” I said. “I promise I’ll get you out of this.”
<
br />   I wanted him to open his eyes and tell me that he believed in me. All my life, he’d been the only one constantly there, always at my back. Always on my side.

  He lay cold and nearly dead.

  My throat tightened and I stepped back. I turned to the door, noticing that Iain hadn’t come in. Perhaps the pressure was getting to him to. He’d never crack, but he’d born the burden for so long that it had to be unbearable, especially now that it was almost over.

  Quickly, I scanned the room. There was no one else around besides those who were frozen. All the healers had gone to a small room off of this one. I could see their cloaks through the doorway, but they were far enough away that if I whispered, they wouldn’t hear me.

  I stepped toward the massive curtains that hung at the top of Connor’s bed, tucking myself against them. It wasn’t the best hiding spot, but it would take a moment to spot me if a person were looking. I yanked my phone from my pocket and turned it on, grateful to see that the battery still worked. I’d chosen a waterproof phone, thank fates.

  There were three missed calls—all from Cass. I dialed quickly, and she picked up immediately.

  “We’re in position,” she said at once. “Hopefully in the right spot.”

  “You can find anything,” I whispered. She was a FireSoul like Del and Nix. The three of them could use their Dragon Souls to find anything of value—and since the location of the ceremony might possibly equal my life, it was definitely of value to my friends. “Of course you’re in the right spot.”

  “What’s the plan? We pull you out as soon as you arrive?”

  “No. I have to finish the ceremony. These people are relying on me. But” —I drew an unsteady breath—“I don’t know what shape I’ll be in when this is over. And I don’t know what the king is going to want to do with me. I’m still his fated mate.”

  “So we grab you as soon as the ceremony is over.”

  “Once the ice starts to melt, yes.” I flicked a glance to Connor. “Actually, once Connor is awake.”

  “How will we know that?”

  My mind raced. “I’ll make sure he’s brought to the ceremony. You’ll see him.”