A Dark Faerie Tale Series Omnibus Edition (45 page)

“What? Sunlight? I don’t think I need it, but that would be nice. It’s been weeks. If I had my powers, I could heal much better. Don’t get me wrong, you heal me just fine, but I feel withered without my own magic, Corb.” Shade stumbled as they walked into the hallway and up a flight of stairs. Corb held on firmly, never letting her fall or stumble.

“Corb, can I ask you something?” Shade asked, still feeling dizzy on the steep, winding stairs.

“Yes.” Corb’s voice was soft and velvety, filling her with a soothing feeling. Shade smiled.

“Wow, you can change your voice to make people feel different, huh? Dylan can do that too,” Shade said, her face growing serious as she wondered if Dylan was feeling all her pain. It had to be affecting him. The blood bind would’ve made him feel her distress.
Oh, why doesn’t he come?

“Yes, I can. It is a rare but useful talent. We’re almost there. Watch your step.” He helped her up the last few steps, or rather dragged her up them. Her legs were failing, and she held onto Corb for dear life. The door at the top finally came into view, and he opened it easily while holding her up with one of his arms. She wondered why he was so determined to get her outside.

“Why do you help me? Did Aveta tell you to?” Shade gripped weakly at his embrace, awaiting his answers.

He put a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet.

Shade squeezed her eyes shut as bright sunlight poured onto her like fire. Her eyes cramped as they adjusted to the light. Corb pulled her out into what looked like a large sitting area. The stones under her bare feet felt cold, and the cool breeze sweeping across the tower sent shivers through her. Corb draped a large fur over her and pulled her to the edge of a wall where he pulled the fur around both of them, holding her close. He didn’t feel icy cold, like usual. She let the thought drift from her mind, enjoying the view around her.

She could see her breath in the morning sun, and there was ice clinging to the sides of the large stone castle which housed Aveta’s legions. Shade looked around, taking in the rock buildings which lined a massive mountain. The entire castle was built on a mountain. It was dug into the gut of the mountain itself. Ice clung to the stone crevices and trailed in cracks down the rock. It was amazing.

Shade suddenly realized how warm she felt. She wondered what it was about Corb that seemed different today. He still looked blank and remained quiet beside her, even with his arm around her waist to hold her up. Something was off about him. He’d never seemed so warm and careful when she’d been near him.

“Corb? Why do you feel so warm? You’re usually as cold as ice, but I just realized you’re as warm as a nice bonfire. I didn’t know you could do that.” Shade turned to look at him and her eyes widened. Corb’s eyes flashed steel-grey at her, making her gasp. Her eyes widened in a startling realization. This was not Corb.

“Who are you?” Her legs felt weak as the elixir which had given her enough energy to make it that far, wore off.

“
Shhh
, it’s okay, Shade. Trust me. We’re going for a ride.” He placed a finger to his lips to quiet her and then waved it over the deep gorge below. “Ready? We have to jump. Just hold on to me.”

“Wh–what? Oh, hell no. Corb, what the….” Shade felt her panic well up inside, and her heart pound weakly in her chest. She felt lightheaded and needed to lie down again.

“Shade, it’s gonna be okay.” His voice came out velvety smooth, making her instantly feel calmer. She still couldn’t shake the familiarity of it and took another look at Corb, staring hard at his face. The longer she stared, the more his face blurred into someone else, someone she knew far too well.

“Dylan?” Shade whispered, afraid to break the spell of the moment. Corb nodded, a smile played at the edges of his lips.

“Yes, Shade, it’s me. I’m here now.” Dylan let his own voice sound through this time, calm and familiar. Shade smiled weakly, feeling elated for the first time in weeks.

“I don’t think I can make it, Dylan. I’m pretty weak. You shouldn’t have come here.” She gulped back the lump in her throat, her eyes too dry for tears.

“I know, but don’t you worry about anything. I’ve got this.” He grinned and pulled her to the edge of the stone wall of the balcony. From there, he climbed up onto the edge, pulling her up with him as easily as if she weighed nothing. There he embraced her close and pushed their weight over the edge. The air rushed up around them as they fell, her scream stifled in the roar.

Some rescue. Now we fall to our deaths,
Shade thought.

The slam of cold air paused momentarily as the Raven Queen Aluse grabbed her and Dylan let her go. He landed atop a dark, oily-black flying unicorn. He brought it up toward Aluse and pulled Shade down onto the steed in front of him. He embraced her tightly against his chest with one arm while the other held onto the unicorn as firmly as he could. Soap sat on an identical unicorn, hovering next to them. He looked exhausted, making Shade realize he’d been using his glamour magic to cloak Dylan as Corb. He pulled the glamour off Dylan, drained from the effort. Soap smiled his toothy grin at Shade before directing his flying unicorn toward the sunset. From there, they all headed northwest, away from the cold Unseelie Kingdom. Swarms of Sluagh now poured onto the balcony behind them, arriving in just enough time to see them dart away into the morning sky.

Glancing back at the magnificent stone castle, Shade caught sight of the real Corb, standing where they had stood just a moment before. Watching him, she could’ve sworn he gave her a slight, malicious smile.

Epilogue

SHADE WOKE IN
the dim light and heard what sounded like waves crashing as they echoed off the moist rock of the small cave. She pulled herself up onto her arms and let her eyes adjust. She must be near the ocean from the smell of the salt spray and seaweed. Standing up slowly, she used the cave wall for support. Her legs felt weak and unsteady. Her bare feet shuffled, slipping slightly on the moss and moisture which seemed to stick to everything. She made her way slowly out of the cave and onto what looked like a rocky shore. She spotted Dylan standing near the water’s edge where the ocean sprayed up into a cloud of mist after crashing back into the rocks below.

Dylan turned and ran toward her as she nearly collapsed. The wall had run out and left her nothing to hang onto. Flutters of snowflakes fell all around them, melting on the wet rocks but sticking to her hair.

“Shade, you need to rest. What are you doing out here?”

He draped her arm over his shoulder and helped her up, practically dragging her back to the small cave to lay her down on the soft furs of the bed.

“I thought I could get up. Where are we, Dylan? Why did you leave for so long? I feel so weak and drained.” Shade breathed in deeply, trying to relax as her body protested in screeching pain.

She caught sight of Soap stoking the campfire on the beach near the entrance to the cave. He waved at her and gave her his familiar toothy grin. She relaxed at the sight of both of them. Her worry didn’t fade completely, though.

Why aren’t I healing? Are my powers still gone?

“Rest now. You’ve been through a lot. I’ll explain everything later, I promise,” Dylan assured her.

Shade nodded, closing her eyes as he tucked more blankets around her. She sighed in the warmth and let the bliss of sleep embrace her once more.

(A Dark Faerie Tale #3)

This story is dedicated to all those who were told they couldn’t, and yet, still persevered and said ‘Yes I can and I did’.

The Four Ancients of Faerie

Ancients of Faerie, great and vast.

Untouched by time, ever to last.

Unstoppable force, enchanted laced.

Sleep for now, forever waits.

The Great Divide,

Scorching Scren Hearth,

The Withering Palace,

The Blossoming Earth.

The Cursed in chains, forever bound.

Slumbering Spring, safe and sound.

Summer’s heat, a place unknown.

Winter’s wrath, free to roam.

Closer it comes, forgotten, it stands

Mountainous solace keeps magic & land

Ending time, wounds of stained.

Wards of power now regained.

Part I

A Vast Darkness

Chapter One

THE PLACES INSIDE
that never fade away—even in the face of adversity and loss—take the brunt of all insults. Once decimated, it left nothing to fall back on. Nothing kept the sadness and despair at bay, especially from Shade’s fragile heart. Even the tide that lapped at her feet, shocking with its icy-cold splashes and foamy water which tumbled about, was apathetic to her turmoil. It offered nothing but the numbness of frostbitten skin and a frigid wake. Blue, pale and lifeless. It did nothing to awaken her from the nightmares in her head. These were made of a stinging pierce of blades, the coppery taste of blood and the endless flashes of torment that should be erased from the vaults of anyone’s memory.

This was her nothing. She didn’t even know if she cared that it had ended this way. She was doomed, cursed or just unfortunate in so many ways. Her self-loathing compromised the fragments which were left of what she had once been.

“Shade, go dry off and put some shoes on.” Soap’s voice echoed in her head like a lost memory she should’ve recalled and relished. Even now, his kisses—which had once burned so hot, quick and intense—now felt like cold shadows of themselves. His magic burned bright, but in the self-imposed prison in her mind, it now felt like a dulled beacon in the distance.

“Shade?” he whispered as he stepped tentatively closer, failing to break her trance with the horizon as the sun’s last rays disappeared over the cold Pacific Ocean.

His voice was a sharp yank which pulled her mind out of the trance and back into the now. Soap stood touching her face, hoping to pull her from the spell she’d faded into. The dry cold sand of the beach caked her feet in soft grains.

“Why can’t you hear me? Let’s get inside; snowstorm is coming, and you’ll freeze your toes off if you keep venturing out here without shoes. Is that what you’re doing? Trying to catch your death?” His mention of the cold brought back the endless shiver she could not shake.

So now I’m still a child. Is that what I’ve become?

“No.” Her voice came out small and withered. She avoided his strained look as he waited for her to say something more. His warm fingers curled around her thin arms, pressing softly into her skin, firm but gently balancing her as he guided her into his arms. He pushed a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear and then pulled her closer. He smelled the sweet scent of flowers faintly clinging to her wind-blown strands as he nuzzled her hair. He kissed the top of her head, wishing to himself that he could will away the demons that lurked behind her frightened eyes. He would be there for her no matter what, even through the dark days ahead. Nothing would shake his love for Shade.
Nothing.
If only she would let him in.

He’d asked her time and time again what had happened at the Unseelie castle, but she had no answers. She would frown, creasing her brow as she buried her face into her knees, tightly hugging them to her chest. Dylan didn’t have any luck getting through to her either, though she seemed to lighten up ever so slightly when she saw the Teleen warrior approach. A twinge of sadness would then sweep through Soap’s chest at their exchange, but he wouldn’t let it affect him for too long. He pushed the pain away and continued to comfort Shade in any way that he could.

Shade would let him do so. It comforted him more than it ever could her. It was easier than fighting it. He was her boyfriend after all. In the end, she did love him back, but she had nothing to give him now. It had all been ripped out with every drop of blood shed from her fragile skin by Darren, Dylan’s malicious brother. He’d almost finished off what he had started the first time he’d attacked her in the Teleen caverns. If she ever saw him again, she’d make sure it would be his last moment on earth. Never again would he do what he had done to her.
Never
.

She glanced at Dylan, her other constant companion on this desolate beach. It was well hidden, near where Ursad’s old cabin had been located. It was protected by the strongest of wards that had been set by her mother, Jade, and Benton—one of her brothers—when they had come by for a visit. They were also fire elementals, like Shade, but her powers were gone and had not returned since her imprisonment at the Unseelie palace. Benton’s power had grown exponentially under their mother’s guidance and rigorous training. They’d been relieved to see Shade alive, filled with dread that they might not have ever seen her alive again after she’d been taken.

But she was here now, a shell of her former self, unable to pick up the pieces left shattered of her soul. Powerless. She was bound with the tightest restraints on her magic that no one, not even her mother, not Ilarial or Braelynn, could ever penetrate or undo. She was left naked, stripped and more human than she’d ever felt, even before she’d discovered she was a half-faerie changeling and half-fire elemental witch. Her healing ability was all but gone. The magic that helped her wield fire and water was gone. She couldn’t even make a light stone anymore.

Shade had been surprised to find that the ampule of memory, a swirling glittery red fluid that her Grandmother Lana had given her, had remained at her house, safe in her room. Jade had brought it to her when they’d visited. She touched the charm where it sat dangling gently around her throat. It felt warm and seeped out comfort that let Shade know her grandmother’s essence still swirled inside it. It would be futile to drink the powerful fluid from the ampule now; it would make no difference to her powers. It would be a placebo if she drank it before undoing the binds wrapped tightly around her powers. Nothing could get past them.

Powerless.

Powerless in the Land of Faerie.

This was the worst punishment Aveta and her minions had placed upon her, the worst of all the tortures she’d endured. It could be eternal, and nothing made it better, nothing made her feel remotely hopeful about it. Shade doubted that anything ever would again.