After a long and refreshing bath, Freya finally felt human again. Being here now was reminding her of the reason she even came to Faerie in the first place, the reason why she held out for so long even when her trials nearly took her life. She was even more determined now to see it done. For the most part, Faerie had not been a gracious host to her, she had seen horrors here and been stuck in Vienna’s body for years. She couldn’t let all of that be in vain, she didn’t want to. Now more than ever, she wanted to finish what she started and she couldn’t wait to say goodbye to the damn realm. She went below stairs to find Zeldaurus but was met with guards that told her he was in an important meeting and had ordered not to be disturbed. “Snap their necks.” A voice said in her head, sounding nearly mad. She shook her head to clear it of the weird whispers and turned away. “Well I’m sure you can pass a message across to him then. Tell him to find me.”Their shocked faces said that obviou
Zeldaurus was below with their host, getting ready for their departure and Freya headed for the roof. She took in Faerie around her, a realm so terribly beautiful and perfect. Magic was definitely in perfect sync here. It was mind boggling that the same realm had birthed the terrible barren landscape that she had been stuck in for so long. Footsteps behind her came closer until their host came to stand beside her. “I heard you were in there for years.” Syrelia said.“Yes.” She replied and Syrelia shook her head. “The time contrast still amazes me till date. Prince Zeldaurus wanted to come to you immediately but there was a delay before the portaler could get here. I nearly had to restrain him from coming for you because if he had tried you both would have missed each other.”She scoffed. “Well I’m here now and he’s doing a pretty good job of ignoring me.““The truth is... I’ve known Prince Zeldaurus for a while now and I’ve not seen him interact with any female the way he interacts
The touch of his lips to hers rocked her like an explosion at her feet. Her hands fisted in his lapels and she pulled him closer. He was still for a moment and then as if she had opened a dam, he flipped their positions and pressed her into the mirror. He kissed her the same way he approached life, thoroughly, profusely, meticulously. She felt it all the way to her toes which curled and she felt her hands shift into claws which gripped him tighter.She wasn’t the only one that felt this, of that she was sure as he finally slowed down and released her. Her chest was rising and falling fast and her lips tingled from his kiss and she thought the perhaps she might finally find peace after this but it was like pouring fuel onto a burning fuse. Her body craved his touch back on her skin, his lips back on hers and she took an instinctive step forward. She finally got the sense knocked back into her when he took a corresponding step backward. She watched as his eyes shuttered entirely but not
“I did.” Zeldaurus replied. “While in the town, I found a female who seems to have lost her way. She is not registered; belonging to neither the Winter or the Summer court. I have brought her to you so you may chose her court.” He replied. “The woman?” The queen glanced at her again and she felt the heat of being under her withering stare. “Come closer so I may see you.” She ordered. Freya walked up the flight of stairs until she was at the foot of the dais. “On your knees.” Zeldaurus unexpected voice in her mind startled her and she obeyed. How did he do that? Amongst everything else, she had forgotten to ask about that. “Come closer, female. I want to look at you.” She cooed and Freya attempted to stand. “On your knees.” She added sharply and before she could stop herself, she raised her face with a dark glare. “Lower your eyes!” Zeldaurus commanded in her head and she did, but not before she saw the surprise and interest in the queen’s eyes at the action. Biting her tongue
For a second, even Freya was afraid of her power and what it would do. She just knew that she wanted this torture to end and so her power exploded from her fist to do her bidding. There was a flash and when it cleared, the Queen had a shield of ice up, pushing back against her thick tentacles of darkness. The two warriors behind shouted and ran for her and the whipper faltered, gaping with shock. Zeldaurus was up before she could blink, his bloody tattered body lunging between her and the other warriors. “Get out of the way, Zeldaurus.” One of them gritted out, his body shaking with the effort of restraining himself from ripping into her. “No.” Zeldaurus gritted out. In front of her, she saw his huge body ripple and shudder and she knew he was also fighting the urge to snap her neck. “She is not a threat to the queen.” He snarled. “Think! What can a clueless untrained female do to the Winter Queen?”They paused, looking between them and oh, Zeldaurus had never been more wrong. Her
Freya had tried everything she could think of to break out of her room. The door didn’t give way no matter how much she pounded on it. Her claws left no dent on the surface and her claws didn’t graze the walls either. She stared into the white roof, looked at the white walls, the white floors and she thought that the colour white had the power to drive someone mad.When the door opened once again, she leaped into a sitting position but her excitement died down when she found that it was just the Princess. “Were you expecting someone else?” Princess Kastilla asked, a smirk on her lips. “Where is Zeldaurus? He is not still being punished is he?” She asked. “Perhaps, perhaps not.”Freya growled and Princess Kastilla raised her hands. “Easy, Wolfie.”“I never told you I’m a werewolf.” She replied and Princess Kastilla laughed. “Do you have to tell me it’s day?” She countered. “About your questions, the Queen has a soft spot for him. She will let him off the hook soon if she has not
It wasn’t until after they had portaled into the Summer court that Freya could finally draw a breath and admit that they had finally escaped the wicked witch of the north afterall. The Summer court was just as beautiful as the winter court and she thought, maybe even more so. There was none of the harsh beauty of the winter court, everything here was natural and sublime. The sun cast a rosy glow on the horizon and butterflies flitted from flower to flower. It was a lot like where Adrian’s portal had taken her before but this close to the castle, the air was different. The castle stood huge and grand, ornately designed as if it had stood strong through several centuries. Flowers draped the sides of the castle aesthetically and all the Fae were dressed in brilliant and dazzling dresses, looking as light and carefree as the breeze that swayed their dresses. “Come.” Zeldaurus offered his hand she slipped her hand into his, unable to contain her smile. She liked this side of him. This fa
“Your mother was the most beautiful female I ever came across, both inside and out. When I heard she died, I was thrown off balance for a while and my court suffered for it. She didn’t deserve to leave so soon.”“No, she didn’t.” Freya agreed. “Prince Zeldaurus mentioned in your letter that you don’t wish to stay in Faerie, probably because he knew I would try to convince you to stay in the Summer court.” He said and she scoffed. “If I wanted to stay anywhere at all, this would be the place. Believe it or not, I don’t exactly have a great relationship with my aunt.” She said and he laughed.“Who does? The Winter Queen is a perfectly complicated creature but she is not without her charms.”“What was their relationship like?” She asked and the king hummed.“It was an interesting dynamics. Your mother and the queen used to be close, much like ying and yang.”“No way...” She said and his eyes crinkled with laughter. “They were. Tiana adored her and worshipped the ground she walked on w
“Shinay, what have they done to you?” Geoffriane asked when she stopped in front of him. “You are not yourself.”“No.” She replied. “I wasn’t myself for the longest time. I just found myself again.”The rest of the Wild Hunt rode to stand behind him and he shook his head. “No, we had a vision. It was meant to be.” Said Geoffriane. “We waited for you for a hundred thousand years. You are the only one that can save us.”“I still believe in the vision.” She said as she stepped forward and tentatively touched the Ghost Rider’s cold face. “You have suffered for too long, thanks to merciless gods that use us only for their amusement.”“So let’s kill everybody. It’s the only way we can get eternal rest.” Geoffriane pleaded. “There’s another way.” She pointed out. “I would never leave you to continue suffering eternally. If the world won’t die for you, then you die for the world. It is time for the Wild Hunt to end.”He reared back and away from her, drawing in a shocked breath. “What you
The force of Shinay’s dark magic shoved all three of them back, but she tensed, unable to finish the last step of ending their lives completely. “Freya, remember yourself.” Adrian said, stepping forward despite the heatwaves of Shadow magic that she was exuding. She shook her head and pushed him back harder and he groaned with pain as her magic started to sear his skin right off his bones.“I’m not Freya!” She snarled. “Yes you are.” Zeldaurus replied, pushing forward. He also tried to step forward but he couldn’t take up to two steps before her magic forced him to a stop.“We are not your enemies.” Zeldaurus said. “”We are here to help you.”Tears streamed down her eyes and she kept her hands up, her magic up. “No, you are my enemies.”She had no idea what they had done to her brain, why it felt like someone had broken her head open and was scooping out the contents with a scalding hot spoon. Only her enemies would curse her to feel this pain, to see the painful memories that u
The Wild Hunt opened the door to the next realm and Shinay lead them into it. Everywhere they went, screams started then blood started to flow. Death was no longer inevitable, it was here. She was drunk on the dense trail of Death they carved. Death was the beginning of the world and it was the end. She didn’t remember who she was before, what she was before, and she didn’t want to. Whoever she was before was weak, now she was exactly as she was meant to be. The screams had started afresh and she smiled coldly as she raised her face to the sky and sent thunderbolts down into the realm. The realm inhabitants were magic wielders and they tried to defend themselves with it. But how could you kill what was already dead? Behind her, the army of the Dead rode, screaming their rage as they rode to avenge their misfortune. Her eyes turned a solid black as she prepared the dark storm that would destroy every living entity in the realm. Her eyes caught a sudden shimmering in the air, a por
The She-wolf glanced up when Riordan shattered the door and she paled quickly. "Who the fuck are you?" The male that was inside her snarled and she hissed. "Shut up."'She said and climbed down from him. Riordan folded his arms and watched as she took her time covering herself with a robe, before grabbing a glass of wine and pressing it to her lips."Leave us." She told the man. "Leave the building." He advised him and the man sent him a dark look before shutting the door behind him. "I wasn't informed you were in town." Said Aria. "If I were, I wound have made some preparations in advance.""I like to be discreet." Riordan replied, watching as she sashayed to her bedside and perched on her bed, crossing her leg. "I appreciate a discreet man, especially when they are so caring as to check up on a lonely She-wolf.""You sent the Council dogs after her." He growled and she forced a smile to her lips. "You should really engage in the act of small talk, it can be quite engaging and
For the umpteenth time, Adrian found himself pacing.“You’re going to wear a path in my rugs.” Rooke growled. “One more word and I’ll torch the damn rug.” He growled in reply but he did sit his ass down. M“I’m not good at this, sitting on my hands.”“There’s nothing more you can do.” Rooke said patiently. “You already tried going after her but you cannot penetrate Faerie’s security.”“But how was it possible that she made it in and I didn’t?” He pondered aloud and Rooke shrugged. “Perhaps she has Fae blood in her ancestry. Regardless, there’s nothing more you can do but wait now.” Rooke said calmly, trying to appeal to his rational mind but Adrian’s mind was spinning a thousand terrible scenarios, all preventing him from relaxing even a little. “What if my portal went rogue and threw her into another realm?” “Adrian!” Rooke snarled, standing. His childhood friend looked like he was on the verge of strangling him. “You said yourself that you felt your portal open into Faerie. Yo
Faerie was first. The sky darkened suddenly, and all of the Fae glanced up at the ominous sign. Fariee weather never changed, and never before had they seen the sky darken with heavy clouds and the clouds roil with lightning and thunder. They all looked to the sky as the Wild Hunt emerged."Take back your power." Geoffraine urged and Shinay cast a perusing glance at the realm spread out before her. There, something called to her from deep inside the Winter court. She rode her horse for the piece of her that called to her."Ah. There she is." The female remained unconscious and inside her was the source of her ailment. Shinay thought she looked familiar but she didn't care to know why. Her power was a roiling ball of darkness in the female's chest, sucking up all of the female's energy and leaving her comatose. That was what Shinay wanted. "Come." Shinay crooked a finger and that ball eagerly lifted. It was never meant to be inside the female, there was no one alive that could cont
“What are you doing?” She growled. “Release me now or I will make sure I kill every one of you!”The Ghost Rider paused. “But you gave all of your powers away.” He replied and then the others streamed forward, circling around her and taking off their hats. Rather than looking as dead and skeletal as their horses, they were all flesh and bones, all with straight black hair that fell into their eyes and a rigid severe look about their face. She was surrounded. “Why have you brought me here?” She asked, unease raving down her spine as she eyed the single large bed in the room. The others spoke, but their words sounded like thunderbolts, she didn’t understand a single thing they were saying. “You will be ours, as soon as we break you in.” Said their conmander. Break her in? Like how humans broke a horse in? She didn’t wait to hear more. She lunged up and crashed her way through two of the otherworldly creatures, racing for the door and yanking it open- but it was firmly locked. A cry
At first, nothing happened. It was one last moment of silence right before the magic of the blood oath hit her like a ram. She sucked in a breath as the magic sunk into her blood, into her bones and when it pulled back out, it took everything from her. It felt like she died, she was almost sure it took her life away, her soul migrated out of her body, her very essence flowing out through her bloody hand and into the queen. The Queen gasped, staggering back but she kept the contact on her hand. Her magic migrated out of her body, through her hand and into the queen. It streamed out in dark waves, and she could hear Zeldaurus's silent yells but not really. Her world narrowed down into those waves, streaming out faster now. It hurt. She gritted her teeth against the pain, worse than anything she ever felt “; it was in her blood, in her bones. Somebody was screaming, it might have been her, or it might have been the queen, or maybe it was both of them. Her vision jumped as her magic
Immediately she stepped out of the portal, she knew there was trouble. Her hand shot up and and magic fizzled at her fingertips but it sputtered out as some foreign magic settled on her skin, snuffing out her power. She gasped with shock as the invisible net tightened and forced her to her knees. She glared at the slender figure that glided forward in a pearly white gown, the face of the queen which was fast becoming the most irritating face she ever saw. Beside her, Zeldaurus was frozen on his feet as he glared at the Queen, as if he had been immobilised on the spot. The four other warriors fanned out beside the queen, their shrewd gases monitoring every little breath she took. “What is the meaning of this?” Freya hissed, trying to get on her feet but the queen clamped her fist and the invisible net forced her back to her knees.“You can quit your struggling, there is no getting out of that unless I will it.” Said The Queen.Freya’s eyes practically spit fire as she glared at the