“Before we begin, I wanted to thank you for your diligence…”
The queen’s voice pulled my eyes away from the stranger, and I forced myself to pay attention to her.
“Without the two of you, we wouldn’t know about the curse reigniting after all these years.”
“Is there a way to stop it?” Aedan asked before I could. Although our queen’s praise was something every student dreamed of, there was far too much at stake to focus on that.
“Yes. We have already established a perimeter around the kingdom, and a potent spell has been applied to it by our enchanters, which slowed it almost to a stop.” The woman who answered needed no introduction, the chest armor she wore, and her long lemon-colored hair said it all.
Noreena Lynch, General of the Queen’s Army, and the mother of my archenemy.
Her gaze swept over me briefly with familiar disdain, and she focused on the queen.
“Not only did you warn us of the threat early enough for us to do something about it, but you saved a valuable life, and for that, I am truly grateful.”
Aedan and I exchanged a confused glance at our queen’s choice of words. All life was valuable. What made the stranger’s more so than anyone else’s?
“Valuable?” I was helpless but to ask.
Mr. Kavanagh and Queen Daetha also glanced at each other, and she nodded to the stranger, silently calling him to the front so he could explain.
Cyan stopped a few feet away from the desk, keeping a respectful distance from the queen, and faced us all. “I was on the run when I got here. Lost, exhausted, not truly knowing where I was going, only that I needed to keep running or my captors would find me again.”
“Captors?” Aedan questioned, once again stealing the word from my lips.
Cyan nodded. “I was born and raised in a prison. My parents were kept there for centuries on end, tortured for holding answers they didn’t really know.” He paused, eradicating the emotion that grated in his voice. “When they died, I knew I needed to get out of there or I would be tortured to death too.”
“I’m truly sorry you had to go through that,” I offered sincerely.
“Yeah, I can’t even imagine growing up like that,” Aedan echoed.
The tense nod Cyan offered, and the way the muscles constricted around his perfectly chiseled jaw expressed far more about his distress than his words could.
“Who kept you prisoner?” Silence greeted my inquiry at first, so my gaze shifted between the headmaster and our queen. “Was it the Dark King?”
Everyone knew the King of the Winter Court was mad with power and greed, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it were him torturing people for pleasure.
“It was the ˈlēTHəl.” Cyan’s confession might have as well been a bomb.
Shock slammed into my being with the impact his words carried, and my head whipped toward him. “What?! How did you even survive being taken by them?” I all but shrieked, my pulse racing with the revelation.
“We didn’t survive,” Cyan asserted in a grave tone. “They chose not to kill us. My parents were taken during the attack—after the barrier created by the queen to protect Aērelis rose behind them, cutting them off from salvation and the only home they ever knew. The city was saved, but they were left outside it.”
It was barely visible, in fact, I doubted anyone else noticed, but Queen Daetha tensed, a shadow of guilt dimming her expression if only briefly.
I wanted to tell her it wasn’t her fault. That she had made an impossible decision. Choosing to forsake those before her so she could save the kingdom who stood behind her, was a choice no one should be forced to make. Yet, if it weren’t for that, none of us would be here now.
When my attention returned to the guy, I noticed his fists dangerously clenched with each heartbeat, making the corded muscles along his forearms and neck tighten and become deliciously defined. The memory of his warmth against my chest returned, and my fingers itched to follow the trails his muscles formed to his strong shoulders, his neck, under the tight shirt and along his broad chest, down his probably perfectly squared abs, and even lower—
Daingead, Célest, get a freaking hold of yourself! This is not the time for you to be drooling over the stranger.
My mind reminded and I blinked, getting my shit together as everyone looked at Cyan. I felt absolutely horrible for getting roused by him so easily and at the worst possible moment. Seriously, what the hell was wrong with me?
“After my parents died, the evil Elves began to torture me in their place, desperate to uncover a secret they needed more than anything.”
“What secret?” my bestie questioned, captured by Cyan’s story.
“A way back into Aērelis.”
“Wait, why would they think you knew how to get past the Red Guard—” A chill ran down my spine instantly, freezing my lips. I swallowed as I realized he had done just that. Cyan had crossed over to our side… without dying.
Aedan and I briefly glanced at each other, both experiencing the same dread, shock, and alarm. A thousand more questions filled me before our stunned gazes went to Queen Daetha and his grandfather. They didn’t seem surprised by any of this, which meant they had already met with Cyan after he was healed and learned the truth.
“Perhaps you should take this time to introduce yourself,” the headmaster suggested. “Help them understand why you and your parents were so valuable to the ˈlēTHəl, and why you are to us.”
My mouth opened to say, ‘we already met’, but a sudden silver gleam in the stranger’s eyes stopped me.
“My name is Cyan Collins, House of Iarann, Wielder of Metal and Iron.” With the words, the silver gleam in his eyes intensified and it abruptly began to… spread?
The skin on his face gradually hardened, going from flesh colored to silver. Smoothly and fluently, the metal rushed over his entire form until a man of solid iron stood before us.
A loud gasp erupted from my lips as both Aedan and I stepped back, stunned speechless, struggling to grasp what our eyes had witnessed. Cyan was not only from the lost House of Iarann, but he still had his goddess-given powers. He could wield without the help of Solara magic.
He was a true Elemental Faery.
So fucking hot.
Astonishment. Disbelief. Hesitancy. Intrigue. So many emotions rushed through my being as I watched the iron hottie turn back into a fully fleshed man.
For years I wondered about their powers, but after being lost for so long, no one really had the answers. I also wondered why they had been called Wielders of Metal and Iron. After all, iron was a metal too, but now I understood. They not only had full control over the minerals, they could become iron.
Goddess! I suddenly understood so much.
“That’s how you did it,” I breathed. “That is how you entered Aērelis. You became iron.”
“With his power, the ˈlēTHəl could have finally come back in and finish what they started…” Aedan murmured, evidently assimilating a part of this I was still too stunned to consider.
“Somehow, they believe that our powers can be transferred to them,” Cyan explained. “They killed my grandmother by drinking her powers—like they did from the others during the attack—thinking that would allow them to use the elements as their own.”
“Drinking her powers?” Aedan asked, but the headmaster discretely shook his head at us.
His actions clearly exclaimed, “you don’t want to know.”
“It didn’t work,” Cyan continued. “They began torturing my parents because they thought they knew how to transfer their abilities, but the torture never ceased…”
“I’m sorry,” I offered once more, because what else could I possibly say? “How did you know to use your iron side to enter?”
“I didn’t.” He forked his fingers through his hair, tussling the dark strands until a rebel one fell upon his forehead and my hand twitched a bit, wanting to brush it back for him. “When one of them came to my cell that night to begin his torture, I changed and attacked before he could react. After killing him, I found a way out of the cave and ran as fast as my feet would take me. I only knew that if they wanted my family’s element so badly, then it might help me find sanctuary here.”
My gut tightened with his story, but something else intrigued me. “Why didn’t your parent’s fight like you did to kill their captors and escape?”
The headmaster glared at me, and by the looks of it, neither him nor the general approved of my interrogation, but I needed to know.
“They were not warriors, like you, but humble farmers. They didn’t know how to fight. After I was born, the evil Elves used me to ensure my parents would remain compliant, if they hadn’t, it would have ended in my death. I was all they had.”
“Their only blessing in the darkness…” I whispered.
Pain glazed his eyes and his muscles tightened all over again. “I guess you could say that.”
“Who taught you how to use your powers?” I pressed, not entirely sure why I was so anxious to know.
“Most of it came naturally,” he admitted. “Yet, the change was taught to me by my parents in the rare occasions we were allowed to be together. The ˈlēTHəl tended to leave us alone when they were attacking other places.”
“You mentioned escaping a cave. Where exactly is it located?”
“Miss Bloom!” Mr. Kavanagh’s voice boomed through the office, in a tone we all knew not to take for granted.
“That is crown business, and you’ll do well to stay out of it,” General Lynch barked at the same time, her hand gripping the hilt of her sword tightly.
The queen’s violet eyes, however, gleamed with intrigue, intelligence, and wonder as she assessed me. Her hand gently lifted, silencing them both and the lights from the chandeliers above danced over her long, silver-gray hair as it fell all the way to her legs with each step. She paused in the middle of the space, standing between the stranger and me.
“You shall answer,” she ordered in a soft yet commanding voice, and Cyan nodded.
“I’m afraid I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to. I’m not familiar with these lands because all I’ve known since I was born are the caves.”
Made sense, but still… I crossed both arms over my chest. “A bit convenient, don’t you think?”
“Are you calling me a liar?” His thick brows rose, fists clenching, clearly insulted by my distrust.
“I couldn’t even if I wanted to, because I don’t know you,” I pointedly replied.
“Like I said,” he seethed. “I got out of the cave and ran in the first direction I saw.”
I took a challenging step closer. “If you don’t know the lands, how did you miraculously get here?”
“I don’t believe in miracles. Goddess Danu forgot about us long ago…” he growled, taking a step closer too. “I just ran and ran, and when I came across the red force protecting this kingdom, I realized where my escape had taken me. My father told me how he, his mother, and my mom were locked out of their home by the same spell that protected you.”
Resentment captured his words when he mentioned his family being left behind by the queen, making his voice dark and gruff, and fucking delicious. My treacherous skin prickled, the little hairs standing on end along my arms.
“But you must have noticed which direction you took to get here,” I growled too, dropping my arms and taking the final step between us. My neck stretched to its max as I lifted my head, straining to look up at him and keep his gaze locked in mine.
“I don’t know. Left!” he snarled through clenched teeth, his breath fanning my lips as our chests pressed together in challenge.
My pulse began to race as we scowled at each other, the challenge between us taking a life of its own and changing into something else entirely. The heat I’d experienced with him earlier returned, flushing my skin in what to others must have looked like anger or indignation, but it was something else entirely.
A new light entered his eyes as he watched me, his hand closing around my wrist and tightening to prevent my retreat, but he had another thing coming if he thought I would back down first. Tingles spread over my body and judging by the way Cyan’s jaw tensed at the same time his scorching gaze fell to my lips he was feeling it too.
Molten desire made my stomach dip, and my eyes sought his mouth too, the need pooling between my legs while the need to press my entire body against him, not a stitch of clothing between us, threatened to overwhelm everything else.
“Do you not trust him?” Queen Daetha asked, seeming fascinated by my cross-examination and yanking me back to reality. Harshly.
Thankfully, what had felt like several minutes while I was caught in his maddening but entrancing stare was only a few seconds for the others.
“I don’t trust anyone I just met,” I replied, still holding his gaze. “I wouldn’t be a good warrior if I believed everything a stranger told me.”
“Step back,” Aedan ordered Cyan, suddenly standing beside us, thoroughly confused with our behavior.
Whatever had captured us ruptured when Cyan dragged his gaze away from me and he glanced at Aedan. Letting go of my wrist, he took a lengthy step back, reclaiming his place and his sanity with a deep breath.
Clearing my throat, I stepped back too and glanced at the queen, because the others might have not noticed, but I was certain there was no hiding my strange reaction to Cyan from Aedan.
Approval captured the queen’s expression when I glanced at her. “So where do you think he came from?” She held her hands before her, waiting for my brilliant answer.
Daingead.
“Well, if he truly turned left coming out of the caves and ran here, that would give us two options… I think.” My attention went to Aedan, who nodded, deducing the same thing I had before my eyes captured Cyan’s again. “Were you underground or deep in the mountain?”
Cyan seemed to consider his answer. “I think, underground. The run felt straining, like I was going against some force until I came out of the cave and turned left.”
“Like you were running up.” It wasn’t a question, but he nodded anyway.
“Thornvally Cliff,” General Lynch, Aedan, and I all answered in unison.
The knowledge sent a chill down my spine, erasing any remnants of the arousal Cyan had provoked in me.
“Thornvally Cliff is believed to hold a series of tunnels that travel the length of the realm,” Cara’s mother explained. “If the ˈlēTHəl have been there all this time, it would explain how they can attack different kingdoms without being seen until it’s too late.”
“Unfortunately, it matters little that we know the location of their den,” Mr. Kavanagh admitted. “We don’t have the forces or powers to take the fight to them and end them once and for all.”
“But it does help us reinforce our army in that direction, in case…” The general didn’t finish the statement, but we didn’t need it.
‘In case they attack again.’
“They have no way of going through your barrier,” Cyan assured. “Even with my powers, it hurt me to cross it. You saw that firsthand.”
His gaze bore into mine, and the unnerving tingling he had caused twice already returned. Goosebumps rose over my skin instantly, eager to give him the response he wanted. To please him.
The queen turned to face Aedan and me fully. “I have decided. Cyan shall be integrated into the academy, trained as a warrior, and taught to fully wield his powers.” She spoke to the headmaster, but her assessing gaze never left us.
“It shall be done,” Mr. Kavanagh pledged.
“Yet, no one must know he has elemental abilities,” she warned, sending a careful glance to Mr. Kavanagh. “Only those in this room, and perhaps a professor who might be able to help him?”
Scratching his chin, the headmaster nodded. “As you know, Mr. McGrath’s wife was House of Iarann before perishing during the attack. If anyone can help this young man with his powers, it’s him.”
Recognition entered the queen’s expression. “Ahh, yeah. Mr. McGrath. Can we trust him?”
“You can,” I answered, even though the question had been for Mr. Kavanagh. “He’s the custodian of the library, and the sweetest old man you will ever meet.”
Of all the elders here, he was the only one who actually looked like a grandfather, which probably meant he was the oldest Faery left in Aērelis.
“Good.” Queen Daetha offered me, grateful before her attention shifted to Cyan, and she offered him a kind smile. “You could use a trustworthy mentor.”
With a single nod he accepted her offering, though a uncertain gleam crossed his gaze.
“After seeing you in action, I must confess, I’m very impressed by the two of you.” Our queen’s praise made Aedan and I straighten.
“Thank you so much, my queen,” my friend bowed.
I, however, smirked. “Then this can be the year you break tradition,” I suggested. “Next month, after graduation, you can select two warriors instead of one to join your guard.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her, giving her my most dazzling smile.
Humor dashed over the queen’s expression. “Is that so?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Aedan doubled down. “We are the two best warriors of our class, and it would be a grave mistake to choose only one of us.”
“Because you are certain I will end up choosing one of you either way?” she questioned, humoring us.
“Absolutely,” Aedan and I answered in unison, making her chuckle as she exchanged an amused glance with Mr. Kavanagh.
“You weren’t lying when you said she was… high spirited.”
He laughed. “You have no idea.”
“And Aedan has tenacity.”
“It runs in the family,” the headmaster answered with pride.
“Your Highness, my daughter is in their class too. A Pure One, and she has won two battle trials.”
Queen Daetha’s gaze instantly hardened, all humor gone, and she glanced at the general. “That term has no place in my kingdom. You’ll do well to remember that, or I’ll begin to question your place in it too.”
General Lynch tensed, bowing her head deeply. “My most sincere apologies, your highness.”
When the general’s head lifted, her deathly gaze settled on me, a hand poised on her sword. She was probably in our queen’s head every day, talking her daughter up so she would be the chosen one, but I wasn’t going down so easily, and you better believe when I was chosen, Aedan would be with me.
“Not to brag, but we have won the other nine battles.” Taking my bestie’s hand, I lifted both of our wrists for Queen Daetha to see our victory ribbons. “Only one more to go, and then the tournament, which I’m sure one of us will win too.”
“Or we might take the win together and make it easier for you, my queen.” Aedan grinned.
“Exactly. If you want the best of the best for your guard, then you definitely have to choose Aedan and I.”
“Humble, aren’t they, Oran?” The queen chuckled and snickers followed from everyone, except General Lynch, who was fuming.
Cyan, however, honed intrigue-filled eyes on us, silently assessing us.
“Then it is decided.” The queen nodded, seeming pleased.
Goddess Danu! Was she going to choose us here? Now?
I started to hyperventilate.
“The two of you will help Cyan blend in and integrate into the academy.”
“What?!” I shrieked at the queen.
“You heard me.” Her grey brow lifted challengingly. “He can be your cousin, House of Mar.” She gestured to Aedan, who recovered faster than I did.
“Of course, my queen. It will be our honor.”
“Wait. What?” I repeated, glancing at a very entertained Cyan, his lips twitching into a stupid—and sensual—smirk at my reaction.
“I want you both with him at every moment. Training with him, teaching him everything you know, and making sure he has anything he needs. Make him one of you. How well you do, will determine my decision on the additions to my guard this year. Are we clear?”
Fuck my life. “I’m not a babysit—!”
Aedan yanked my arm, making me bend at the waist like he had, in a full bow.
“Of course, my queen. It will be our honor,” he repeated, his vow a bit harsher now that he glared at me.
I glared right back, cursing him out with my eyes while thankful my hair covered my face so the others couldn’t see us.
Pulling us up again, my friend released me, and I glanced at the queen to see her walking to Cyan, leaving everything else to Mr. Kavanagh to arrange.
Placing a hand on Cyan’s shoulder, she offered him a deeply remorseful glance, the weight of his past on her shoulders. “I am truly sorry about what happened to your family that terrible day, Cyan. I know there is nothing I could ever do to erase what you have been through, but please know that you are safe now. I will do everything in my power to help you.”