Crown of Fire (The Forbidden Fae Book 1) Read online

  He didn’t even know me. He certainly didn’t care about me the way he cared about them. I thought I sensed the regret in his soul over what he had to do to me, but it wasn’t enough to stop him.

  How the hell was I going to convince him to spare my life over theirs?

  I wasn’t.

  I needed a plan, and I needed one fast.

  He made another call on his comms charm to report the frozen woman, then pulled me into his throne room, waving his free hand behind him so the doors slammed shut. The hearth was still dead and quiet, the room silent except for an array of food on a table that hadn’t been there earlier.

  He dropped my arm and gestured toward it. “Eat.”

  “No thanks. I don’t want to be stuck here.” Most Fae fruit could trap you in their realm. It was possible other food could as well.

  “It’s not that kind of fruit. The ceremony must take place just outside of our kingdom, so I wouldn’t give you that.”

  I eyed him suspiciously as my stomach grumbled.

  Damn it.

  I might as well check it out. I strode toward the food, unwillingly impressed by the massive array. The king didn’t join me.

  “You’re not eating?” I asked him as my mind raced, trying to come up with a plan.

  He shook his head, but he watched me closely as I inspected the food.

  That meant this was all for me. He’d given me such a selection. Tantalizing salads, bowls of gleaming fruit that didn’t reek of magic, meats, cheeses, and breads.

  My gaze snagged on the golden brown pastries shaped like halfmoons. Cornish pasties. My mouth watered. It wasn’t like he knew I loved them. They were literally from this region. It was just coincidence that my favorite food was here.

  I turned back and eyed him suspiciously. “This is better treatment than I expected.”

  “Just eat.”

  I scowled at him. But he was right. I should eat. I’d need my strength. I went straight for one of the pasties, hoping it was cheese and onion. When the familiar flavor exploded on my tongue, I had to stop myself from scarfing it down.

  As I ate, a servant delivered a cloak, which the king took. He approached and handed it to me.

  I watched him warily as I took it. “Why are you being nice to me?”

  “I’d hardly say I’m nice.”

  I swung the cloak on, grateful for the warmth against the chill in this freezing place. “No, I suppose you’re not. But something is up. Why the food and cloak? Surely I don’t need it to play my part.”

  His jaw tightened, and the word sounded torn from him. “You’re my mate.”

  Ah. Of course. He felt compelled to take care of me. To protect me. It was the nature of the bond. I could use that against him.

  It couldn’t be easy on him that fate had decreed he must sacrifice me to save his people. If he actually did the deed, it would kill him eventually. His soul, at least.

  I steeled myself against feeling sorry for him. It was my life on the line. And the lives of all the people in my court, since I was supposed to save them one day.

  It was all too much pressure—I had to die to save his people and live to save my own.

  I wanted to run away from it all. Instead, I’d run at it.

  A knock sounded at the door, and he commanded whoever it was to enter.

  A small woman ran in, tears streaming down her wrinkled face. Her cloak was a thick, pale blue and trimmed in fur. “My lord! My lord! Voramir has frozen!”

  Voramir was a male Fae name, which meant it was a second person in less than an hour.

  Pain flashed across the king’s face before he turned to the woman. “Take him to the infirmary. We will have a solution before he turns fully. I promise.”

  The intensity of his voice seemed to calm the woman, and she drew in a shuddering breath. “Thank you, my lord.”

  Shit.

  This was bad. “Turned fully” had to refer to Voramir becoming a monster. This was happening way too often. Way too fast.

  These people were really at the end of the line.

  I turned away from the food, my appetite totally gone.

  The woman left, and the king looked at me. “We can fix all of this. You can fix all of this.”

  That hardened me right up. “With my death.”

  Pain flashed in his eyes, bright and distinct. His hands formed fists, white at the knuckles. Then, the signs were gone, almost as soon as they appeared. His blue eyes were icy once more and his fists no longer clenched.

  But still, I’d seen it. “You hate this, but you’re doing it anyway.”

  “I have to do it.” His voice was hard. “I do not know you, but I know these people. They are my people, and it is my responsibility to save them.”

  “At the expense of my life.”

  “One death to save thousands.”

  “My death. And the deaths of my people, when I’m not around to save them as I’m fated to.”

  He gaze darkened and he turned away. I walked around the table to stare up at him, my mind racing for a plan. “I’m your mate. Killing me will kill you, eventually.”

  Somehow, his eyes turned even harder. But he couldn’t deny it. I was his mate—he’d feel the pain of my death like it was his own.

  “My life is not actually mine.” He stepped closer to me, raising a hand as if to reach for me. But he made a fist and dropped it. “What I want is of no consequence.”

  Frustration seethed within me.

  “You are Fae but don’t act like it,” he said, changing the subject.

  “I’m not Fae. Not really. Not anymore.” Not ever since I’d left my homeland.

  “You are, even without wings.”

  “You know I don’t have them?” Pain twisted inside me.

  He nodded sharply.

  “It’s your fault, you know. My Court removed them with magic to help me hide better. If I’d been able to stay on Dartmoor, I’d still have them. But I was forced to flee and hide. Because of you.” Anger rose in me. I felt a little bit bad for him, yes. And I definitely felt bad for his people. But still, the threat of him—the threat of this—had taken everything from me. “Because our seer foretold what you would do to me, my people forced me to leave. To hide from you. They knew you’d come for me on our land, so I had to leave everything I loved. All because of this prophecy.”

  This prophecy.

  An idea sparked to life.

  “It must be done,” he said.

  Anger sparked inside me. Fates, I hated him. No matter how tortured he was over this, he was still going to do it. “You stole my future from me. My home. My wings. And now you’ll kill me.”

  His jaw tightened, and pain flashed again.

  “You hate hearing it, don’t you?” I demanded.

  He stared stonily at me, not acknowledging my words.

  “Well, you have to hear it,” I said. “If you’re going to do it, you need to face it.” Gold glinted at his neck, peeping out from his shirt.

  I peered at it.

  A key.

  Ooh, interesting.

  “What’s that?”

  His face hardened even more. “A key to your brother’s cell.”

  Frustration surged inside me. This bastard and his damned key.

  “I will release him when this is over,” he said. “You have my word.”

  “Let him go now, and I’ll willingly help you.”

  “No.”

  “But you have me now.”

  “And if I lose you, you would return to save him.”

  He wasn’t wrong about that, and I couldn’t argue. I’d walked into the monster’s den for Connor, and he knew I’d do it again.

  “What if there was another way to save your kingdom that didn’t involve sacrificing me?”

  “There isn’t.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I’ve looked.” His entire face stayed stoic and cold, his posture perfectly stiff, but anger flashed in his eyes. And desperation.

>   “You don’t want to sacrifice me,” I said.

  His gaze riveted to mine, heat within them. But when he spoke, his words were cold. “It means nothing to me.”

  “Sacrificing your fated mate? You can’t want that.”

  “It doesn’t matter what I want.”

  Damn it, he was impossible. “I heard the guard say that this thing happens at the solstice. That’s two days away. Let me try to fix this in that time. Without my death. I know I can do it.”

  “How will you fix this if not by fulfilling the sacrifice?”

  “I don’t solve problems by following other people’s rules. I do it my way, with brains and muscle. And I have an idea. Your seer prophesied that this would happen. But your seer isn’t as powerful as the one on Dartmoor. The Rowan Seer is the strongest, wisest seer in the world.”

  “No one knows how to get to the Rowan Seer.”

  “Only people who have been there before.”

  His eyes widened slightly. “You.”

  I nodded, hoping that he didn’t remember that you also needed an invitation to visit the tree. Which I didn’t have. No way I was going to mention that, though.

  “My birth came with a prophecy that I had to visit the seer,” I said. “And so I did, when I was fifteen and old enough. I know how to get there. It’s not easy, but if we visit her, she may tell us another way to save your people.”

  “Wouldn’t the seer have told you if there was another way the first time you visited?”

  He had a point, but I was desperate. There was every chance that the seer wouldn’t even meet with us, much less know another way.

  But I didn’t actually need to find a solution to this problem. I could try to make him care for me enough that he wouldn’t kill me. But if I got an opportunity to take him out, I would. I just needed to get the king away from his kingdom and kill him, then steal the key and save Connor before the guard realized what was up.

  Surely one of those two things would work. I’d rather manipulate his emotions than murder him, but my skillset definitely trended toward the later.

  The plan made guilt twist inside me, but I had to put Connor first. I had to put my people first. The second part of the prophecy said that I needed to live to save them from the flame.

  The thought steeled my confidence and determination. My brother, my people.

  No matter what, I needed to get the king away from here so I could find a way to survive this. And maybe—just maybe—the Rowan Seer would have an answer for me that would save all of us.

  Fortunately, the king was nearly as desperate as I was, though he didn’t show it. I just needed to play on that.

  “Say you’re right,” I said. “And the Rowan Seer says that you must sacrifice me. Do you know how? Why?”

  His jaw tightened. “I do not.”

  “That’s because your seer was inferior. What if you get it wrong and it doesn’t work? There’s only one me. It’d be a shame for my life to go to waste.” It was weird as hell to use my death as a bargaining chip.

  But it worked. Indecision flickered on his face.

  I pushed harder. “Sacrifice is a tricky thing. It must be done correctly.”

  He frowned. “The seer is located on Dartmoor, near your Court. If I go with you, you’ll enlist their help and bring them down upon me.”

  I laughed bitterly. “I wish that were the case. And it is—partially. They would help me escape you, but my brother would be considered collateral damage. I’m the one meant to save my people from a terrible fate, not him. He’s expendable in their eyes.”

  “They wouldn’t try to rescue him?”

  “Maybe they would, I’m not sure. But I wouldn’t be allowed to help. My entire existence has been about hiding and protecting my own life so that I can one day save our Court. Anyway, I don’t think they’d forgive me for going right into danger to rescue Connor. Risking myself means risking all of them, and that’s unforgiveable.”

  “Even after you save them?”

  “Even after.” The thought chilled me, but I was certain it was correct. “We’ll sneak through Dartmoor using the old mining tunnels to avoid detection.”

  He frowned skeptically. “I have you in my grasp, situated within the protection of my Court.”

  “Are you a coward, Your Royal Highness?” I arched a brow.

  He cornered me against the table. I backed up until the wood was pressed against my butt. He loomed over me, so cold yet so hot. Conflict flashed across his face.

  “Aren’t you supposed to claim me as your mate?” I asked. “Make me love you?”

  He growled low in his throat, an animalistic sound that was so at odds with his smooth exterior.

  “Give me a chance.” My gaze searched his. “Don’t be a coward.”

  His hand came up to my throat as he growled, “I’m no coward.”

  His hand lightly gripped my throat. As soon as his skin touched mine, he gasped, his eyes widening with shock.

  His touch was so cold that it burned, and a shudder raced through me, lighting up a fire within my core.

  Holy fates, that felt good.

  His pupils widened and his full lips parted. His words escaped on a tortured breath, “So warm.”

  Desire swirled around me, unwelcome but impossible to fight. It clouded my mind and heated every inch of my body, making me sway toward him.

  I could use this against him. I should.

  But right now, all I could focus on was the feel of him. It was the first time we’d touched skin to skin, and it made desire race through me, prickling every inch of me.

  My eyes met his. Heat gleamed within the blue depths, and his breathing grew ragged.

  I got my wits about me enough to say, “You’ve never felt this before.”

  He ignored my words, and his other hand gripped my own. His jaw tightened, and desire flashed on his face.

  He was touching me wherever there was bare skin, just to see if I was hot all over.

  I was.

  And he was cold—but in a way that lit me up like a bonfire.

  I leaned up and whispered in his ear, “You want me.”

  He bent his head and drew in an uneven breath. At this moment, he gave the impression of a man who hadn’t felt pleasure in a thousand years and didn’t know how to process it.

  And I liked it.

  Despite all of the horrible stuff between us, that knowledge made my heart race and my blood heat.

  I wasn't above using my body to save myself and everything I loved—especially when it felt this good.

  “Help me find a way to live, and you can have more of this.” I pressed my body full against his.

  Right by my ear, a low sound tore from his throat. “Caera.”

  My name. My real name.

  He turned his head and pressed his lips to my neck, his motions desperate, as if he couldn’t help himself.

  Pleasure flared, racing down my neck and across my whole body, making me shudder.

  I loved this.

  The pleasure.

  The power.

  He felt so damned good.

  If I wasn’t careful, I’d lose control.

  Then I’d lose this battle before it started.

  His grip tightened on my hand, but I wiggled it free and pressed it against his chest, shoving him away.

  “You can’t resist this,” I said.

  “I could just take it.”

  I searched his face, wondering if he was the sort.

  He wasn’t.

  He was a bastard. He’d kill me to save his people. But… ”You won’t.”

  His jaw hardened.

  “Just give me two days. You and me, we’ll sneak through Dartmoor and find the Rowan Seer. The most powerful seer in the world. If there is another way, she’ll know it. Prophecies can change. The future isn’t fixed.”

  His jaw clenched, but he said nothing, clearly debating.

  I pressed my case. “Remember, you said that I have to love you. I can’
t if you don’t let me try.”

  Something flickered in his eyes, but we both knew that part of the prophecy would never come to pass. Something was seriously broken in his seer’s version of events, because I could never love someone who could take my life.

  I leaned toward him. “And you don’t really want to kill me, do you?”

  He drew in a shuddering breath. “Two days. That’s all.”

  7

  Twenty minutes later, after collecting an assortment of potions that might help us on our journey, the king transported us to the edge of Dartmoor.

  As soon as I arrived, my heart twisted.

  I sucked in a deep breath of the fresh, cold air, unable to believe I was finally back here. The sun was rising with the dawn, casting a golden glow over the gradual sloping hills that would grow ever higher as we approached the center of the moor.

  Streams cut through huge, shallow valleys that were dotted with ancient monuments, both human and Fae. The hills themselves peaked at rocky points called tors. The vast majority was open moorland, windswept and barren—but in a beautiful way. Long ago, legend held that there had been forests covering the entire moor. Then the Great Burning had come, clearing the landscape and killing many Fae. It was prophesied to come again—except this time, I would save us.

  My gaze snagged on movement on one of the slopes, and I caught sight of two dogs loping across the hills. Tears pricked my eyes at the familiar sight. The two collies were Fae dogs who roamed the moor, and I hadn’t seen them since I was a teenager.

  Home.

  “Where to?” The king’s voice tore me from my sentimentality, and I glared at him.

  “You took this from me.”

  He cut me a sharp look, and I bit my tongue. It was dumb to remind him of all the reasons I hated him. I didn’t need him suspicious of the attack that would eventually come.

  Quickly, I pointed to a small stone cabin near a copse of trees next to the stream. “We need to go there.”

  “Why?”

  “The mining tunnels are enormous. I explored parts of them as a child, but there are more I don’t know. If we’re going to make it quickly across the moor, we’ll need a map. There’s an old miner in that cabin who will have one.”