Saving the Fae (Daughter of Light Book 3) Read online

  She nodded. “I’ll be in my office, waiting.”

  With that, I walked out into town and into a future I wasn’t sure I was ready for.

  The ceremony was weird but quick. Everyone bowed as I walked by and cheered when Trissa placed an honest to gods crown on my head. A crown that belonged to the Queen, which I wore for two minutes as I accepted my oath and duty to lead Faerie before I quickly took it off. Now it was back with Kira and the sleeping Queen while I, along with my pathetic fae army of seven, was squeezed into Mara’s office.

  Trissa, Elle, Jasper, myself, and three others. Three. That’s how many people I trusted to be trained enough not to get killed. Anyone else decent I left behind to protect Faerie.

  “We have arrived in New York!” Mara trilled as the three new fae looked around her office with wonder.

  “You guys stay here. We’ll be right back,” I told the three. One was a baker with broad shoulders and strong arms. The other two were farmers. A dude and his sister. Both quiet but calculating. None of them really spoke much, for which I was grateful.

  With that, Trissa, Elle, Jasper, and I headed out into New York.

  “I hate this gods-forsaken city.” Jasper gave each passerby the stink eye as we passed, causing Elle to smirk.

  “Why?” Elle asked.

  “It smells like dog pee when it rains, and the normies are…. everywhere. You can’t escape them.” A woman got too close to him, and he shrank away as if she had cooties.

  “Elitist,” Trissa snarled.

  Jasper nodded as if the comment made him proud. I liked the city. It was thriving and alive.

  I ignored their banter as we wound through the city streets and into Central Park. “It’s just up he—”

  My words died in my throat at the sight of the yellow caution tape blocking off the Shakespeare Garden. A police officer stood at the entrance, arms crossed over his chest. Our group slowed as the cop’s gaze tracked us, and Trissa and Jasper splintered off on their own as Elle and I stopped. “Hey… what happened? This is my favorite spot,” I asked the cop whose eyes were still on Jasper and his snake tattoo.

  “Sorry, kid. Some thugs trashed the place. It’s closed until it can be restored.” His voice was gruff, and I stood on my tiptoes to peer behind him at the stone. My stomach sank as I gazed upon the Seeker Stone… or what was once the Seeker Stone. Now it was cracked in half, two sides of the metal plaque broken on the grassy floor.

  Fuck.

  “Alright… thanks,” I muttered.

  Elle and I turned around and walked back to the entrance of the park where Trissa and Jasper were waiting. My mind was racing a mile a minute. Liam wouldn’t destroy the stone, would he? No.

  It was the Winter King. Probably before he came and took all the crystals. Dammit!

  “What’s with the Po-Po?” Jasper glared in the direction of the cop.

  “The Seeker Stone is broken,” I growled.

  “Winter King?” Jasper questioned.

  “Probably.”

  “We will have to go about it the old-fashioned way then. Come on.” Trissa gave us a curt nod and spun on her boots, heading back to the apartment.

  “What’s the old fashioned way?” I asked.

  “We go city to city, country to country, until you get a feeling,” she declared.

  Oh, gods. That could take a lifetime.

  Coeur D’Alene, Seattle, Portland, they all came up with nothing. In each city, we did a two-hour sweep, first with my feet buried in the earth calling on my seeker power and then blindly driving around and searching for a pull, anything to let me know the crystals were near.

  “Maybe we should take a break?” Mara suggested, eyeing Trissa and Elle, who looked dead on their feet.

  I shook my head. “No. Let’s sweep the entire country from the West Coast inward. Phoenix next, please.” I clipped into my seat in her office, preparing for the pull of the room as Mara traveled us through space and into another state.

  Trissa and Elle strapped in too. We’d long lost the two farmers and the baker. They were resting inside Mara’s house with Bashur. Too much of a day for them.

  “I wish I had a spell to find the crystals, but they are magically protected from prying eyes. Only a seeker can feel or find them,” Jasper called from his place perched on the edge of Mara’s desk.

  The keeper of the portals glared at him, and I was surprised they had kept it so cordial up to this point. “Strap in, or prepare to be thrown across the room,” Mara growled.

  I noticed Mara never needed to strap in, something which fascinated me.

  Jasper’s bottom lip stuck out. “You used to be fun.”

  She raised her wrists, showcasing the cuffs there. “Yeah, well, lifelong imprisonment will do that.”

  Lifelong imprisonment.

  Oh, my gods, I was so fucking selfish. I’d just been crowned Queen, and in my first five minutes, I should have ordered Indra to free Mara. What was wrong with me?

  “Mara, shit. I forgot.” I rubbed my temples. “When we get back, I’ll order Indra to free you.”

  She gave me a sad smile. “The cuffs are life bound. They only come off in the event of my death.”

  What the fuck?

  Indra made cuffs that powerful? And I merely kicked her out of the Tree of Life home but let her continue to waltz around Faerie? Some Queen I was turning out to be. That was seriously messed up. And she’d made two more pairs for Liam and me!

  Okay, new plan. Find the crystals and then lock Indra up with a pair of her own cuffs. She was clearly more dangerous than I thought.

  The second Jasper clicked into a seat, the room spun.

  “Phoenix,” Mara called out when we stopped.

  I jumped up as Elle groaned. “I’m hungry.”

  I looked back at my bestie. “Go to Mara’s and make dinner. I’ll be fine.”

  Mara snorted. “Dinner? It’s breakfast time.”

  Shit, it was? We’d left with Liam to get the Sword of Night, and then the crystals were taken, and I hadn’t stopped moving since. Time was hazy. I was so damned tired but determined.

  “Why don’t you make us some food? I’ll go with Lily,” Trissa told Elle, who had become our group’s unofficial cook.

  Elle looked wearily at me, but I nodded. “Go.”

  As she opened the door to Mara’s house, we stepped out into the desert of Arizona.

  Jasper scowled at the barren patch of land. “I hate the desert.”

  “You hate everything.” I waved him off.

  After placing my feet on the dirt and getting nothing, I felt desperation claw at my chest.

  Where the hell were they?!

  “New Mexico,” I barked to Mara when we got back into her office. But there was nothing there either.

  I clipped back into the seat and mumbled, “Utah,” as my eyes closed involuntarily before snapping awake.

  Mara and Trissa shared a look. “Lily, I think it’s best if we sleep a few hours—”

  “No!” Tears pricked at my vision. “He has them. We have to get them back.” The tears rolled onto my cheeks, and my chest tightened with emotion. Everyone was counting on me, I had to find them. I had to wake the Queen.

  “I don’t do crying,” Jasper announced and left the room, disappearing into Mara’s house.

  Trissa kneeled before me. “I’ve seen your mom in the same shape. She was no good exhausted and hungry. Eat some food; get some rest, and we will hit the ground running tomorrow.”

  I sighed.

  Maybe she was right. Did sleep affect my seeker power? Maybe it did or it could.

  “Okay,” I mumbled, wiping my eyes.

  Mara brought us back to Faerie, and I stumbled out the blue door, relieved when I saw that I was in my childhood home.

  “Thanks, Mara,” I told her.

  She just nodded.

  I shoved a handful of dried fruit and nuts into my mouth and started to walk up the stairs.

  “Wake me in a few hours,”
I said to Trissa.

  As I kicked off my boots, my gaze fell to the rumpled covers of my unmade bed, and a sob stilled in my throat.

  Liam.

  The bed was unmade from our lovemaking, and it made me sick to my stomach as grief tightened in my chest.

  “I’m so sorry, Mom,” I whispered, falling into the bed. I’d promised to avenge her, and I ended up falling for her killer. What an awful feeling to carry for the rest of my life. I worried that my mental anguish would keep me awake, but I easily slipped into sleep, only to toss and turn all night, having nightmares of Liam killing my mother in a hundred different ways.

  ***

  “Lily.” Someone shook me awake, and my eyelids snapped open. I was drenched in sweat and staring into Trissa’s wide eyes. “You were whimpering in your sleep,” she said.

  My gaze fell to the window and the light that came from it. “How long did I sleep?” I sat up.

  Trissa rubbed her eyes like she was barely awake herself. “About six hours. I fell asleep too. Elle just woke me.”

  Six hours! That was six hours that the Winter King was getting farther and farther away with Faerie’s crystals!

  “We need to go.” I searched the room for my boots, but Trissa stopped me.

  “Wait. There’s something you should know…” She held out a hand, placing it on my chest and pushed me back down onto the bed.

  Oh, gods… That look. “What is it?”

  My heart pounded in my chest.

  Trissa chewed her lip. “Liam came while you were sleeping… He… returned a crystal.”

  Shock ripped through me. “What?”

  Trissa nodded. “He banged on one of the blue doors until Mara showed up. She took him to Faerie, and he walked in, laid the crystal at the base of the tree, and left.”

  Confusion washed over me. Why would he do that? Unless he got all eleven crystals and decided to give me one as a pity parting gift. A ‘sorry for killing your mom.’

  “Okay, whatever. Great.” I crossed my arms.

  Trissa reached into her pocket. “He gave Mara this to give to you. Said you would know what it was for.”

  With that, she pulled a plastic baggie from her jacket and handed it to me. “I’ll be outside when you’re ready to go.”

  I took the baggie, completely mystified as to why Liam would give it to me until I saw the thin piece of hair lying inside.

  His hair.

  It hit me then.

  The memory spell.

  Liam was giving me the curse of seeing him kill my mother.

  That sick fucker.

  I knew, on some level, he would think it would explain his point of view, but unless my mom fell onto one of his icicles accidentally, he was a fucking murderer, and I would never forgive him.

  I shoved the baggie under my pillow in anger and stood.

  There was no time to sort through my emotions and find understanding. I needed those crystals back now.

  Chapter 3

  “Morning,” Mara called out from behind her desk. Her red hair was braided over one shoulder, and she looked refreshed after a good night’s sleep. My gaze fell to her cuffs.

  “Shit! I forgot to ask Indra about the cuffs again.” I was really fucking up this temp Queen thing.

  Mara waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. Like I said, I was told the spell can’t be broken while I’m still living, and a few more days won’t hurt.”

  I just couldn’t believe that. “Well, when things settle, I’ll find out for sure.”

  She nodded, but her eyes were blank like she didn’t believe I’d find any answers.

  Jasper, Trissa, and Elle filed in behind me. I decided to leave the others until I actually found something. I had a plan. It went outside my comfort zone, but it was a solid plan.

  “Where to, love?” Mara started to tinker with the dials on her desk.

  “Anywhere,” I stated.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Okay… How about Colorado? I think that was next in our sweep.”

  I sank into the seat and clipped into the wire harness. “Sure.”

  Didn’t matter for my plan. Anywhere would work.

  We traveled to Colorado, and I stepped out into a beautifully treed garden.

  “I would love a real estate portfolio like this,” Jasper observed.

  I looked up at my small group of friends and pulled out my knife, pricking the tip of my finger.

  “Lily!” Elle gasped.

  Blood magic.

  It was the only way to do this. I’d seen Liam do it before, and I was sick of playing by the rules. We needed those crystals back now.

  “I have to,” was all I said.

  The red droplet welled on my fingertip, and Jasper laid his greedy gaze upon it. “I could reverse a woman’s age back fifty years with that single drop.”

  Trissa pulled her sword and glared at him.

  The warlock rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying.” He put up his hands in defense.

  “Lily, are you sure you want to do this?” Trissa asked me.

  Blood magic was dark. My mother always warned against it, but then she used it for her journal. That told me that in desperate times, it was okay to use.

  I nodded.

  Letting the drop fall to the earth, I sucked in a breath. “Show me where the crystals are.”

  Then, I plunged my finger into the dirt, and my mind was suddenly squeezed like a vise. Pressure built on my brain, and I hissed. A strong gust of wind slammed into my back and nearly knocked me over.

  “Lily!” Elle shrieked.

  “I’m okay,” I mumbled.

  The pressure built, and I closed my eyes, imagining the crystal. The shape of it, the weight in my hand, the light blue coloring. The wind ripped through the space, but I held my footing.

  Then, like an intrusive flash into my mind, the Welcome to North Carolina sign flashed into my mind’s eye followed by the cabin where Liam and I first made love. My heart panged at the memory for a split second before I sobered. The pressure left just as quickly as it began, taking the wind with it, and it was almost like it never happened.

  “Got it.” I grinned. “North Carolina.”

  “Hate that place,” Jasper said, and we collectively eye-rolled.

  It wasn’t lost on me that North Carolina was where Liam had Mara drop him and his brothers off. Maybe he did have all the crystals and had given me one out of pity…

  The second we stepped into Mara’s, I gave her a huge smile. “It’s in North Carolina. Can you take us to that cabin in Asheville again?”

  She nodded. “Should we get the others from Faerie first?”

  I thought about it. Three semi-useless fae might just slow us down. “No, let’s just go before we lose track of it.”

  Five minutes later, I was stepping into the cabin where I had amazing ceiling sex with my soulmate. Something that brought anger and grief crashing into me with equal measure. I didn’t dare let my eyes gaze at the couch and fireplace where we’d made love. Instead, I headed straight for the front door, head down.

  “Someone’s been here recently,” Elle spoke behind me, and I froze.

  Looking up, I noticed she was in the kitchen. Bags of chips and soda were strewn across the counter, dishes piled in the sink.

  Liam.

  That mother fucker. He was using our safe houses.

  “Let’s go!” I snapped. If Liam was here, I swear I might have killed him at first sight.

  I opened myself to my seeker power and yanked the front door wide open.

  There. A knock in my gut told me we weren’t far away.

  “I feel it!” I shouted with joy.

  Pulling the pen from my messenger bag, I quickly transformed it into the VW, and we all hopped in.

  With a rev of the engine, I took off down the road, letting the pull in my gut take us to the main road. A bunch of cute houses dotted the landscape, all surrounded by thick trees.

  “I feel it!” I said again excitedly. With ev
ery inch I drove closer, the pull became stronger. I wanted to weep with relief that I had found at least one of them. We didn’t have twenty more years to restore Faerie. Finally, I was guided to the left, down to a creek.

  “It’s strong. It’s right here!” I yelled as my eyes scanned the creek bed. There was a green chipped gazebo to the right and a shitty white trailer with blown-out windows to the left. I careened the car to the right to check out the gazebo but then got a knock in my gut to go left. Cranking the steering wheel to the left, I raced the VW down onto the rocky driveway. We all jumped out of the car, which I kept running just in case. The place looked deserted with no bikes or cars, not even a human.

  “You sure this is right?” Trissa asked, sword pulled out at her side.

  The knock in my gut was so strong. It was here, I could feel it. “Yes.”

  The door to the trailer was blown off its hinges, so I stepped into the space.

  “Oh, gods,” Elle called from behind me. “Looks like they’ve already been here.”

  The trailer was ransacked, the dining table broken, windows shattered. Even a hole in the wall that looked like a person was thrown through it. A long sharp icicle lay on the floor, still cold and formed.

  Either Liam or the Winter King had just been here.

  Or both.

  “It smells like death,” Jasper said, covering his nose.

  “Let’s go.” Elle backed up. “Maybe we can chase them.”

  That kick between my ribcage hit again, and I was truly mystified. “No. It’s still here! I feel it.”

  “Hmm,” Jasper wondered aloud.

  I started to pull back a cushion when Jasper threw a little vial of powder onto the floor.

  “Reveal yourself,” he called out, and a gruesome scene appeared before us as if an illusion had just dropped.

  Dead bodies… everywhere. One of them I recognized as one of Liam’s men, and another I recognized as a man working for the Winter King.

  “Cam!” Elle ran forward, and my eyes snapped in that direction.

  Cam was lying on his side, trapped under an overturned sofa, breathing heavily. My gaze flicked across from him and landed on the burning blue eyes of Liam.