Fae war chronicles the c.., p.63
Fae War Chronicles: The Complete Series, page 63
It’s a near-match for mine.
My gut churns with unease. Something feels off, though that feeling is more than likely rooted in my concern for the woman beside me. She carries a dagger in one hand while flames surround her other.
There is no movement, no ancients awaiting our arrival.
And honestly, that’s troublesome.
We continue moving, faster now. I pump my arms and run beside Ember, keeping pace with her despite my longer strides. There’s no way in hell I’m letting her out of my sight. Not until this fight is over.
Ridley reaches the door first and pulls it open. We pour inside. The kitchen is empty save for rotting fruit on the counter and a dead fae in the corner—the stench is rancid, but it’s not something I haven’t smelled before.
Especially while I remained in Wynter’s employ for the past seven years. The ancients are certainly not known for cleaning up their messes. The fae’s hair is crusted with dried blood, his skin a shade of green that only occurs when the body has been drained of magic and left to rot.
Ember stifles a cry and forces her attention away, though I still move to her side in an attempt to block her view.
The reaper looks ready to tear someone apart.
We continue. Slipping into the hall and toward the grand entrance.
“Maybe we decimated them more than we thought,” someone whispers.
“Keep your mouths shut and your eyes forward,” Rainey scolds. The hunter looks damn near as nervous as I am. And that does not bode well given her hearing is far more advanced than mine.
“What do you hear?” Ridley questions.
She looks to him. “Nothing. There should be—”
The wall of the castle explodes. Stone and brick shoots toward us. I whirl, spinning my body to block as much of the blow as I can. It slams into my back, pain radiating through my body as I’m thrown forward.
My head cracks against the marble floor. Ears ringing, I can hear nothing but the deafening roar of my own blood. I roll over, my entire body burning in agony. Ember stands just before me, covered in soot and blood. She screams and slams her hands into the chest of an ancient.
He goes up in flames.
I try to push up, but my legs give out, and I fall back. Rainey comes into view, blood trickles from her temple, but she reaches down to try to help me up.
“It’s no use,” I try to tell her, but even I can’t hear what actually came out.
Elijah is on my other side, and he manages to lift me from the ground, both hunters flanking me as they pull me away from the rubble.
“Ember!” I try to call out to her, but my throat burns.
And then I see it.
As the smoke steadily clears, a creature with a scaled head slips through.
“Ember!” I try to scream again. Her back is to the thing. I pull, trying to yank out of their grasp.
“Stop moving, you load!” Rainey yells at me. It sounds like she’s underwater, but I can make out the sound.
“There!” I yell.
Elijah and Rainey both glance over their shoulders.
“Fuck!” She drops me, and Elijah does the same.
I push up to my feet, the pain insurmountable, but I know it’s only a fraction of what I will feel should Ember fall today. I’m steadier now, though I still brace myself against the wall. Pulling out my sword, I move over bodies of the dead and dying, paying no attention to the faces of those I marched in here with.
They don’t matter.
Only Ember does.
“Ember! Behind you!” Rainey yells.
Ember spins.
Sullivan rushes forward, covered in blood.
But he’s too late.
The creature slashes out and catches her with a clawed hand. Ember’s scream radiates through me like a million tiny shards of glass. She jumps backward, barely avoiding another, and collides with Sullivan. He breaks her fall, but her power reacts to her panic, the flames licking down her arms.
The creature stops and closes its eyes.
When it inhales, the flames are pulled from her body.
Sullivan shoves her to her feet.
No. No. No. “Ember! Run!” I bellow.
She turns to face me and starts to run, but Wynter appears beside her. How the fuck she managed to dematerialize, I don’t know. I try to materialize, to get to Ember, but my magic is blocked. What the fuck?
Sullivan rushes forward to try to block the queen, but she slams her hand against his chest and sends the reaper crashing to the ground—unmoving.
Ember lunges toward her, but Wynter cracks a hand over Ember’s cheek, sending her tumbling to the ground alongside the reaper. My mate tries to scramble to her feet, but Wynter is faster, she grips Ember’s arms and yanks them behind her back, shackling her with iron.
“Wynter!” I roar. “Stop this!”
She lifts her head and smiles then dematerializes, taking Ember with her.
I roar, a blood-curdling sound as all rational thought dissipates from my brain. I’m reduced to the monster within.
A monster who only has one goal.
“Rafferty! Duck!” A man yells from somewhere behind me.
But I don’t move fast enough. Something slams into me from behind, and I fall forward, my head hitting the marble with a crack.
Then everything goes black.
Pain.
It’s the first thing that registers as I open my eyes. Next, I feel warmth. Hands stroke my cheeks. My hearing returns next.
“Raffe? Please wake up.” Ember’s choked sobs are music to my ears because it means she’s here. Wynter didn’t get her.
“Ember?” I manage, my voice hoarse. Vision clearing, my first sight is of a bloody Ember. It smears her cheeks, her forehead.
Crimson mats her fiery hair. Her lip is split open, one eye blackened.
I sit up. “Who did that to you?” I demand, anger pushing the rest of my pained haze away. I demand it even as I know exactly who bruised my mate.
Ember sniffles and turns her attention to her right. I look in the same direction and lock gazes with a silver-eyed ancient smiling widely at the two of us. Wynter’s hands stroke the head of her creature lovingly.
She stands on a dirt path a few yards away from us. I look to the sky and see nothing but a thick band of fog above and to all sides of us, save for where she stands. The scenery can only mean one thing.
The self-appointed queen of Faerie has added us to her twisted zoo. Dread unfurls in my belly, a devastating storm rolling through my body. From my toes to my head, I feel it.
Fear.
Confinement.
“So nice of you to finally join us, Rafferty. Ember and I were positively terrified you’d never wake up.”
“What the fuck do you want?” I snarl, sitting up enough to put Ember behind me.
“Your siege on my throne failed. You may have decimated my numbers outside of Pixie Thicket, but all I had to do was pivot. Blowing out the heavily warded wall of the castle was part one. Then, I could materialize inside—but only in one small area. You fell directly into the path I chose for you. Emotions made you weak, Rafferty. The dark fae in you should have seen that coming from a mile away.”
It did. I recall the way I’d felt entering the castle. But as Wynter accuses, those emotions made me weak.
I ignored them because I believed it was Ember’s risk that caused me to feel that way. And here I am, trapped in an impenetrable cell because I cared more about protecting the woman beside me than winning the fight before me.
I failed.
We failed.
“Where is my father?” Ember pushes to her feet and looms over me.
Wynter grins. “Around. He has his own special place. A cage fit for a man like him.”
“He’s here,” she accuses.
“Yes. So close and yet so very far away.” Wynter’s silver gaze shifts to me. “You know what you are going to give me.”
“Never,” I growl.
Her smile spreads. “You’re mates. I highly doubt you’ll hold out too long. Besides, my patience only lasts for so long, Rafferty. Take too long, and I’ll start executing those you care for.” She snaps her fingers, and the fog fades.
In the cell to our right, Rainey and Elijah jump to their feet. Her eyes widen as she scans the area, gaze drifting to those around us.
Directly across from us is my brother. Covered in blood, he sits facing us, his hand pressed to a wound in his side.
To his left, Sullivan glares out from his own cell.
Falcon and three pixies zoom around the cage to our left, angry gazes piercing through the barrier straight at Wynter.
With a laugh, she snaps her fingers again, and the fog reappears. “Tick-tock, Rafferty. Tick-tock.”
Chapter 26
Ember
“What the fuck does she mean, tick-tock?” I demand, whirling on Rafferty. He draws his knees up and wraps both arms around them, hanging his head low.
Back exposed, I want to scream as I take in the wounds covering his muscled body. He took the brunt of the explosion, which is likely the only reason Rainey and I managed to survive it. He’d thrown his body in front of ours. Sacrificed his safety. How he managed to survive, I’m not sure, but I’m damn glad he did.
“Rafferty.” Kneeling in front of him, I place both hands on his knees.
“Wynter wants to breed you.”
He might as well have jammed a blade in my gut. I stand and step back. “Breed me? Like a fucking animal?”
“You’re a fire fae,” he replies. “The last of your kind.”
“Why does she want to breed me if I’m the thing that can kill her?”
Sighing, he stands. He sways, and I reach for him without thinking, but he brushes my hands away and stabilizes himself after a brief moment. When he takes a deep breath and meets my gaze, the gold band around his irises has shrunk. “She wants to use us to create an army of dark fire fae.”
My blood chills even as anger incinerates all other thoughts. Clenching my hands to fists at my sides, a low growl emits from my chest. “As in, she wants to weaponize any children we would have?”
“Exactly. An army of soulless fire fae to do her every bidding.”
Soulless. “You’re not soulless.”
“Are you blind, woman!” he roars, cheeks reddening. “If I had any soul at all, I would have turned my back on the throne and kept you out of danger!”
“That wasn’t possible. I told you this is a world I want to fight for.”
“I should have fucking locked you away.”
I move toward him, hating the defeated hunch of his shoulders. “Rafferty, we can make it through this.”
“How?” He throws out both hands and sways on his feet. “Tell me how we’re going to escape a cell designed to hold monsters far deadlier than either of us for all of eternity? I’m all ears.”
“There has to be a way. The ancients shouldn’t have been able to escape their prison, and yet, they managed to do that, didn’t they? Wynter will not win. She can’t win.”
“She already has,” he growls then plops back down onto the ground and hangs his head between his legs. Other than when Taranus locked me in the cell with Rafferty to punish me for refusing him, I’ve never seen the man before me look defeated.
So broken.
Before, it made me pity him. After all, how much pain has this man suffered to drop him so low? Now, though? Now it just pisses me the fuck off.
“Listen to me,” I snap, stomping over and stopping in front of him. “I have been kidnapped. Nearly raped—twice. Tortured. Had my tongue cut out. Pissed on. Beaten. Stabbed. Abused—mentally and physically. If anyone gets to give up, it’s me. So snap the hell out of this pity party, and help me find a way to save us.”
Slowly, Rafferty raises his head to look at me. “There is no way out, Ember. It is hardly a pity party to accept the facts.”
“Do you think Rainey and Elijah are simply sitting by and accepting that they’ll never get to go home? Do you think Ridley is okay with never seeing his mate again?” I reach down and shove him backward.
He falls back and glares up at me.
I stand and cross my arms. “Get up, Rafferty.”
Anger flashes across his expression. Eyes darkening, he clenches his teeth, but—he gets up. Slowly, he stands.
“You once told me you loved how I could face such horrible circumstances and still be hopeful. It’s that hope I’m clinging to now because I am not ready to say goodbye to our future.” Tears fill my eyes, and my throat constricts. “Wynter is not getting her way.”
“If we don’t give her what she wants, she’s going to start executing people you care about.”
“She’s not going to get that chance. You’ve been here before, right? You’re the one who freed her pet. How did you do it?”
“I walked through the ward because it wasn’t tied to my blood. You and I are not getting out that way. Honestly, if she didn’t need us to fuck, we would likely already be separated.”
Pursing my lips, I turn in a slow circle. There has to be a way out. Curious, I walk to the edge of the barrier. I can feel a pulsating beat coming from it, likely the magic holding me in place. And while I can see the path, the thick fog prevents me from seeing Ridley, who I know is in the cell across from me.
Not knowing how much time we have, though, that’s what has me afraid. How long do we have before Wynter starts killing our friends?
“Ember.”
I turn back to Rafferty. “We can’t just give up.”
“I don’t know what else we can do.”
“She’ll need to come in, right? To check and see if we’ve—”
“So your plan is to, what, fuck and wait for her to show up? Wynter’s not stupid. She’ll have figured out a way to protect herself. And who knows how much time will have passed? We’re in the Veil. Her ancients could be escaping from their prison as we speak.”
The Veil. I straighten. “We’re in the Veil.”
“Yes.”
I turn to look at the pathway then spin back to Rafferty. “I know how to save us.” Hope burns in my chest, a flickering flame I’m determined to keep stoking.
“How?”
“Kill me.” I rush forward.
Rafferty retreats, his face contorting to horror. “What? No!”
“Do it. We haven’t properly mated, so you’re safe, right? Kill me, and I’ll escape the prison.”
“You’ll be alone, Ember. And after the fight outside the Thicket, that place is crawling with the fuckers.”
“I will escape,” I repeat. “And I can come here to get you out.”
“How? The moment you step through that barrier, you’re trapped all over again. And that’s if the magic here doesn’t also trap your soul.”
That’s a chilling thought process, but I shove it aside. “It’s our only chance, Rafferty. Our only hope of saving everyone.”
“By sacrificing you.”
“It’s not sacrificing if I come back.” I cross the distance in three strides and reach out to take his hands. “Please, Rafferty.”
“And what about when she realizes what I’ve done? There’s no telling how much time will pass while you’re in the prison. What if she executes everyone here and waits for you?”
“It will work.” It has to. “Can’t you see that it’s our only shot? We sit here and wait, she kills our friends. We do what she asks, she keeps us all captive and steals our children.” A tear slips down my cheek. “What are our options?”
A muscle in his jaw flexes, but he drops his forehead to mine and breathes me in. “What if you don’t come back?”
I cup his cheeks. “I will come back. Let me do this. Trust me to save everyone.” Stroking my thumbs over his stubbled cheeks, I tilt his face so I can see his eyes. If what people say is true and eyes are windows to the souls, Rafferty’s have always reflected his internal battle. The darkness tries to push out the light, the light pushing out the darkness.
“I do trust you.” He brings my face closer and crushes his mouth to mine. He slips his tongue into my mouth, and I groan, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him deeply. I pour everything I am into this moment because I know it very well could be our last.
I can hope for the best.
But that doesn’t mean we won’t end up with the worst.
Rafferty pulls back and spins me so my back is to his chest. “You better come back to me, Ember. You’re the breath in my chest, the light in my soul, and I will not suffer eternity without you.”
One large hand reaches up and strokes my chin while the other covers my forehead.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you, too.” He yanks, twisting my neck. It cracks, like someone biting into an apple, but the blinding pain only lasts for an instant before everything is gone.
Chapter 27
Rafferty
The sickening crack of Ember’s neck snapping is deafening. My stomach heaves as I sink to the ground, her limp body in my arms. Throat constricting, I try to focus on her return. If her soul is not indeed trapped in here with us, her body will turn to dust.
Just as it did all those years ago on a bed in a dirty cabin.
Breathing is near impossible as I clutch her to my chest. All I can focus on is her returning to me. Her coming back and walking through an open ward. But grief strangles me even with that knowledge. Ember is my light, my source of good—of hope.
And with her gone, the shadows advance. I suck in a breath, trying like hell to not spiral as the darkness caves in on me. It cripples all rational thoughts as I aim to cling to the last remaining shred of my soul.
The shred Ember returned to me.
“What the hell did you do?”
Wynter’s roar has me whipping my head up at the same moment the weight of Ember’s body disappears from my lap. Relief surges through me, and I glance down at my now sand-covered lap.
