A kingdom of shadows and.., p.1
A Kingdom of Shadows and Blood: Silver Fae Games, page 1
Kingdom of Shadows and Blood
Silver Fae Games
KB Anne
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
About the Author
Also by KB Anne
Wide Awake: The Goddess Chronicles Book One
The Prophecy
Glitter-Farting Unicorns
Chapter One
Starr
* * *
Dead. Christian can’t be dead. And I wasn’t the one that killed him.
I wasn’t.
Just because you think something doesn’t make it true, J’Tia, the Pixie Oracle, said in my head.
I couldn’t argue with her logic, though I really wanted to.
I dropped to my knees beside his still frame. He hadn’t moved since he fell. Why hadn’t he moved?
Because he’s dead, and you killed him, my conscience said to me this time.
Treadwell, the Game Master, had all but congratulated me on killing Christian, my Destined Mate, my everything.
“Envy and Wrath are difficult Deadly Sins to overcome,” he had said. “Even our most brilliant stars can fall victim to them.”
His words were an attack at my preferred name, Starr Bishop. As if to suggest that even she, the darling of the Games, fell to the horrors of the final two Deadly Sins. After all, what else should the people expect of a princess? A Silverlain, no less.
But I wasn’t just a Silverlain, was I?
My chest rose as power fueled my core. I was a Silverwood, the rightful ruler of the Faerie Realm. It was the reason Nagel followed me. It was the surname J’Tia told me before Sir Kenneth flew me to the Summer Solstice portal. I still didn’t know what being a Silverwood meant, but I felt its truth, its power, buzzing in my veins.
Magick pulsed through my fingers. I pressed my palms together and rubbed them back and forth. Heat erupted within them and continued to grow. My hands drifted apart as the energy expanded into a ball. A life giving ball.
“What are you doing?” Sir Kenneth whispered. “You don’t possess the power to return life to the dead. No one does.”
I ignored his words. There was no room for doubt. Only room for possibility existed within me. I could do it. I believed it with all my being.
Energy swirled around my hands.
Sir Kenneth cursed. The corner of my mouth curled. Even without talking, I could provoke the Captain of the Shadow Knights. I felt the tingle of his magick as he cast a spell, seeking to hide us from the Queen and King, along with the rest of the viewers. For while they sat safe at home watching us complete the Third Level of the Summer Solstice Games, our team suffered cruel fates.
The Queen’s quest for the Final Artifact provided no time for rest and recovery between the levels. We had four more to complete before the Summer Solstice Games ended at Lughnasadh. Four more levels to test our resolve, our abilities, our life force. Four more levels until we got the Final Artifact.
My grandmother didn’t realize I was nothing without Christian. Together we were Awen, The Chosen, who would unite the realms or tear them apart. I once believed we’d do the latter, but now, I knew (at least I hoped) we’d succeed in uniting them, but I couldn’t do it alone. Not without Christian. Not without my Destined Mate.
I pulled my palms apart. The energy stuck to them as it expanded. I pictured my next steps and what would happen as a result. It will be so, so it will be.
I glanced down at Christian’s still frame. Impossibility would not daunt me. Nothing was impossible when it came to love.
I dropped my hands to his chest. The energy ball hovered above him, waiting for me to give the command. I closed my eyes and focused on what would happen. I believed it with all my being.
“Live,” I told him and pressed my hands against his chest.
Life-giving energy sunk into his still frame, but it wasn’t enough. I’d give him all I had and all that the Elements provided me. I called on Water, Air, Fire, Earth, and Spirit to give Christian life.
I envisioned the Elements entering his body, working their way through his veins and into his muscles, through his blood and into his heart. The shadows of Envy and Wrath leaked out of him and into the ground. I closed my eyes, thanking Earth for accepting the poison of my Deadly Sins, unsure why I fell victim to the darkness once again.
The Greater Demon is powerful, J’Tia whispered.
Confidence bloomed within me.
But I am more powerful. I am a Silverwood.
Yes, you are.
I envisioned life entering Christian’s soul and spreading out into his heart and his limbs. He was nearly there, but he needed a little push.
“Breathe,” I commanded him.
His body shuddered as he gasped for breath.
Chapter Two
Christian
* * *
“Breathe,” Starr’s voice commanded me, filling me with life-giving energy.
A cough shook through me as my lungs expanded with oxygen.
“Thank the Goddess,” she sighed.
“It’s not the Goddess I need to thank. It’s you,” I whispered.
Her blue eyes filled with tears. “Except for the fact that I killed you. AGAIN.”
“We can’t all be perfect.”
She winced. “You are. You saved my life more times than I can count, and I’ve killed you three times.”
“As we learned earlier, three times really is the charm.”
Her shoulders drooped. “I’m a menace. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. White no longer possesses me, but that void inside of me fills with darkness all the same, and it doesn’t matter if you’re my Destined Mate or not. My brain blanks and all I want to do is kill you.”
A lesser man would be alarmed by her confession. But I knew the truth—Starr and I were stronger to gather than we were apart. We were Awen, The Chosen, but as Di told us, each of us possessed light and dark within us. Some just needed to learn balance.
“Occupational hazard, that’s all.”
Her blue eyes pierced into mine. “You make excuses for me. I killed you, end of story.”
“But you brought me back to life.”
“But you’re not a cat. Nine lives are nowhere near enough when I’m around.”
“I’m a wolf through and through. Nothing catlike about me.” I scrunched my nose, pretending to dislike the comparison.
She grabbed the tip of it and wiggled it back and forth. “I don’t know. Cats have cute noses.”
The ground crunched, signaling another’s approach. I peeked over and spotted the faded yellow stitching of Di’s Docs. “As much as we love to watch the two of you engage in light banter rather than address the giant white elephant in the room, it is neither the time nor the place for it.”
I pushed up on my elbows and took in our surroundings. We were still at the base of the giant tree where Starr struck me down, overtaken with Envy and Wrath after I took the Third Artifact without her.
The piece mirrored the Second Artifact in size, shape, and metal alloy. I wanted to compare the two and note any differences, but given I only recently returned from the dead again, it was probably best that we waited, and… I glanced over at my Destined Mate. It was probably best if Di and I looked at them in private. No reason to tempt the darkness in Starr until she learned to control it. I didn’t understand why the darkness took Starr, but my guess was she resisted embracing that side of her. In fact, she feared it, and as a wise Yoda once said in Star Wars, The Phantom Menace, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
I suffered from her fear, but I accepted that responsibility without hesitation, for in the end Starr would become the most powerful being in all the Universe, and I would be the one who helped get her there. Pride filled me at the thought, further strengthening me.
Di squatted down next to us. “Starr, what happened?”
Starr dropped her head to her chest, defeated. “I don’t know. Everyone tried distracting me from Christian’s pursuit of the Artifact, and then Treadwell broke my concentration by yelling out, ‘Prin-cess.’ Then everything blurred and I couldn’t see or think straight. All I saw was red and black, and I wanted to kill Christian for what he’d done.”
Di pulled her lips into her mouth and nodded. “But you know Christian was only acting in your best interest, right?”
Starr lifted her shoulders, then dropped them. “I guess.”
I reached over and touched her hand. Electricity shot between us as if reminding each of us what we meant to the other. “You guess? Starr, I will always act in your best interest. I don’t want fame or glory. I don’t want to lead anyone. I want you, period.”
Her lips lifted into a tight smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“You don’t believe me.”
She sighed. “I thought we were going to get all the Artifacts together.”
Di’s hazel eyes slid to mine before returning to Starr. “But at the Second Level during our human toboggan, you told me to get it. You didn’t even hesitate.”
“True. I guess because we’re all on the same team.”
I sat up taller. “But I’m on your team, too.”
She pursed her lips. Her nostrils flared as she breathed out of them. “It’s different. We’re Awen, The Chosen, together. You acting alone just highlights that I’m not up to the challenge.”
I reached for her hands and cradled them as the treasures they were. “That’s not it at all. You are up to it. It’s just that…”
Her eyes met mine. “I was possessed by a Greater Demon and there’s still darkness inside of me?”
“That, and…”
“The idiotic Love Spell my grandmother cast over me and Jude.” My inner wolf bristled at the mention of his name. Her eyes watered. “But he’s gone. The ogre killed him.”
I breathed in and out of my nose.
Di clamped her hands together and rubbed them. The noise drew our attention away from each other and toward our very own Oracle. “Actually, we don’t know that for sure.”
Starr stood and helped me to stand. “We do know that. We all saw him get punched by the Ogre and fly across the room.”
Di rose with us. “Right, punched. Not killed.”
Starr let go of my hand and stood toe to toe with Di, not in an aggressive stance like she’d done during our training sessions, but she was concerned. Very concerned. “Did you see him get up? Did he move? Was he breathing?”
Di raised her hands, palms out to stop her. “I was too busy trying not to die to notice one giant Jerkface.”
Starr frowned. “Jerkface?”
Di winked. “That was my nickname for him.”
The corner of Starr’s mouth lifted. “I called him Rat Bastard.”
“Fitting.”
“I thought so.”
“I hate to break up this conversation,” Frank said, walking over, “but Di,” he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “was supposed to get the two of you moving along.”
She play-punched his bicep. “I got distracted.”
He wrapped his arm around her. “We tend to do that when we’re all together, but I’m guessing this conversation, or at least the visual of the three of you talking, is broadcasted for the Queen, King, and audience. I’d wager they’re awfully curious about what you’re talking about.”
Starr blinked as if remembering everything that occurred from when we entered the valley. “Do you think they saw everything?”
Frank patted her shoulder. “As in you killing Christian, then bringing him back to life and regrowing your own wings in the process?”
She glanced behind her, took in her newly grown wings, then turned back to him and nodded.
“Yes, I think so. Depends on how long Sir Kenneth’s cloaking spell held.”
She dropped her head in her hands. “What they must think of me.”
I pulled her into my chest. It wasn’t a secret that we were a couple. Few knew about our Destined Mates status, but Starr’s people loved us all the same. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I did. She breathed in and out, lifted her head, and turned her body away from mine, but stood close beside me. She touched her pinky to her thumb and lifted her hand in the air in a three-finger salute.
Intense appreciation pulsed through me. I knew Starr felt it too because she gave me a tight-lipped smile before sliding her arm behind my back.
“It’ll be okay,” she murmured out of the corner of her mouth.
“I know it will be.”
“Wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Coda said, strolling over with the rest of the team.
“Why not?”
“Sir Kenneth, do you want to remind them, or should I?”
Ben frowned. “Remind us about what?”
Sir Kenneth stepped into the middle of the circle we always formed without even being aware of it. “The Queen punched open the Dimension of Darkness during the Fourth Level and released—”
Starr stiffened. “White.”
“White, the Greater Demon.”
Jovie clapped her hands together, her eyes sparkling with excitement. The more we spent together, the more alike we were all becoming.
“Well, what are we waiting for? I’m ready to kick some demon ass. ”
Chapter Three
Di
* * *
Starr was worried Jude wasn’t dead. I didn’t blame her either. The Love Triangle Spell her grandmother cast was powerful stuff. She loved Christian with all her being, but the spell trumped the Destined Mate card. Not that she loved Christian any less, but she loved Jude, too, or at least believed she did. With Jude’s absence, the spell wasn’t an issue, but I wouldn’t lie to her and tell her Jude was dead. The truth was after the ogre punched Jude, I didn't see him breathe or get up. I was in the fight for my life with the rest of my friends and couldn’t be bothered to check on asshole Jerkfaces.
I glanced around at my friends as we walked past the giant tree that once held the Third Artifact. The second one thrummed in my back pocket, almost like it was calling for the other two in Christian’s possession. Would that vibration continue to grow as we gathered more artifacts, and what type of object were we building? There weren’t enough pieces to make an educated guess, especially with several levels left to go. The Fourth Level seemed to serve as the end game for past Games.
“Is that a volcano?” Rebecca whispered as we walked. I lifted my head and squinted. I wasn’t ready to answer Rebecca’s question because what loomed before us was far too reminiscent of Mount Vesuvius from Lord of the Rings, and I’d grown rather fond of my ten fingers, as I was sure the rest of my friends were. I wasn’t too keen on losing any of them.
Thankfully, Smeagol wasn’t following us.
Are you sure about that? J’Tia asked.
“J.J.,” I hissed.
Starr stopped. “What did you say?”
I knew she heard me. I mean, geez, she was walking right next to me, and with her enhanced hearing, she could hear a pin drop. A dismissive, decisive answer on my part might divert her. The keyword being ‘might’ because she was as tenacious as she was stubborn, but still, I had to at least try to throw her off the scent. “Nothing.”
“You said J.J., didn’t you?”
“No.”
“You’re lying,” she growled.
“Hey,” Frank said, stepping between us. “If Di said nothing, then she means nothing. Let it drop.”
Starr scowled at him. If she was a wolf, her hackles would be up. “I remember a time when you would have gone along with anything I said.”
His lips quirked to the side. “I will follow you anywhere, Starr, but you are not the boss of me or Di.”
Her blue Silver Fae eyes slid over to mine. I lifted my chin and held her gaze. She puckered her lips, breaking the connection. “No, I suppose I’m not.”
Christian dropped a long string of masterful curses before switching to coherent words. “It is a volcano.”
“What are we supposed to do? We don’t have a ring to burn, and I am not carrying Ben. No matter what happens to him,” Coda muttered.
Starr snagged Christian’s hand. “Let’s just keep walking, and then we can figure out what is expected of us for this challenge.”
Sir Kenneth partnered up with Nagel and followed behind Starr and Christian. He tilted his head toward the dragon shapeshifter as if engaged in conversation, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I tapped Frank’s arm and pointed at the two. “What are they talking about?”
