Page 55 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

Reaching for her magic, she pulled flames to her fingertips, small fires burning as she tried to look more closely at where she was within the castle and figure out how she could escape.

Continuing to take rhythmic, measured breaths, Lea tried to calm her mind. She was standing in a hallway that looked nearly identical to the one Gray had occupied at the castle, and yet, it was different. Rich golden tapestries hung on the walls, displaying proud Fae warriors battling demons, standing between humans and monsters as if their one purpose was to protect them. Others showed extravagant celebrations and feasts with both human and Fae alike, dancing and dining together. One picture, an oil painting framed in a thick, gold frame engraved with suns and moons, showed a human woman, undressed and staring longingly at the Fae male kneeling between her legs.

The painting was beautiful, with delicate brush strokes and incredible attention to detail. It was so entrancing that Lea almost forgot that she was standing in the Black King’s castle, for he would never allow a painting like this to adorn his walls. A Fae, in love with a human? He would have Alaric burn such a thing to ashes. And yet, thiswasthe same castle she’d spent the last few months in. There was no mistaking it. She had dusted these very windows.

The door to the end of the hallway opened, and Lea was pulled from her thoughts. Holding her breath, she quickly ducked behind one of the tapestries.Hide!Her subconscious demanded as a figure shrouded in a black cloak and hood closed the door firmly behind her and walked toward the end of the hallway toward where Lea stood.

Lea tried to make herself smaller, and the figure slowed its cadence, only slightly. Their eyes raked over where Lea had stood moments before, and yet that was the only indication that the person suspected anything was amiss as they continued down the hallway.

Lea waited a beat, then scurried behind the cloaked Fae—a woman, she thought, based on her size and graceful movements. She exited the hallway only to go down a set of stairs that led to the main floor, allowing her outside into a garden that looked so very similar to the one she'd admired from the princess’s balcony and Gray’s quarters. A sense of déjà vu crashed through Lea’s body, and she held her breath in anticipation.

The woman walked directly to a large garden bed in the very middle of the courtyard, and Lea gasped when she saw a statue matching the one she had touched just before being thrown into this dream. Or was it a vision?

The woman lowered her hood and Lea felt a sense of familiarity as she looked at her back. Now that the hood had been removed, her long blonde hair flowed in the wind. Her limbs were thin, and yet remarkably defined with muscle. She moved purposefully, quickly, occasionally looking over her shoulder before returning to whatever she was tending to in the garden.

Lea shivered as fat drops of rain pelted against her shoulders, dampening her hair and causing it to stick to her forehead. The patter of water hitting the ground drowned out the murmurings of the Fae woman as she knelt down in the wet soil, dirtying the knees of the white nightgown she wore beneath the black outer layer. Instinctually, Lea realized what had called this woman into the night. Recognized the sense of familiar anticipation that Lea herself had felt so many times over the past year.

She was waiting for moonflowers to grow.

The woman’s hands looked so familiar as they hovered in the air, waiting and ready to pluck the delicate petals once they bloomed. It was a ritual Lea had performed a thousand times before, a well-timed dance that always seemed to end in disaster.

The silence stretched on as they both sat waiting, watching. The stranger’s hands shook from the cold, her fingers flexing in frustration as she began chanting. The cadence of it resembled a prayer, one memorized and spoken so often the words rolled off your tongue without any thought, but the language was not one Lea recognized.

The rattle of a door closing caused the woman’s head to snap up, but it was the silence that followed, the lack of someone announcing themselves, that made the Fae’s eyes turn wary. The woman glanced in Lea’s direction.Does she know I’m here?

She returned the woman’s stare, looking straight into familiar blue eyes that matched her own.Queen Emmaline,Lea realized with a gasp. She had to be dreaming. The murdered dead queen had lived hundreds of years ago. It was impossible that she was standing in front of her now. Except, it felt too real to be a dream. She could feel the wind, hear the frogs and smell the mixture of rain and the sweet scent of the flowers that surrounded her. She was all too aware of the shiver of warning that ran down her spine, the way her hair stood on end.

Queen Emmaline looked away and pushed her hands into the dirt, focusing on the moonflowers in front of her, a sudden sense of urgency in her movements. Lea searched the garden but couldn’t see the threat that was causing her to act so afraid.

Lowering her head and squeezing her eyes shut, Emmaline funneled all her power into the flowers. The rain continued to fall, and her gaze darted about as she urged the vines to grow more quickly. She closed her eyes, and Lea could tell that her entire attention was now on the moonflowers. The queen needed them for something.

Nothing else could explain her sense of urgency, or why she remained kneeling in the dirt in the rain when she was so clearly afraid. Except, the Lonely Death hadn’t been created yet. Not if she was hundreds of years in the past, as she suspected. But hadn’t her mother said the petals could cure death itself? Maybe a friend was ill, or she knew death was coming. Maybe she was preparing for something unknown.

Lea watched in awe as the flowers started to bloom, beautiful white buds emerging, and her internal clock began to tick.You have to pick them!It made Lea nauseous to watch the queen wait. Did she not know there wasn’t time? She had to use them before they turned to ash.

But Emmalinedidn’timmediately pick them. Rather, she gave them several minutes to bloom fully, to completely unfurl as the moon's rays peeked through the clouds. Lea’s own hands began to shake in anticipation, her heart pounding furiously, making her chest ache. The queen was wasting time!"Pick them!"Lea shouted, but her voice was lost to the wind and the rain.

Emmaline’s eyes crinkled in relief as the flowers stopped unfurling, and she plucked the first petal, pulled out a small velvet bag, and began to fill it. She grabbed the flowers by the handful, holding them tight in her fists as she pulled all the buds from the length of the closest vine. It was impossible, and so, so beautiful.

The flowers remained white—pristine and perfect. Emmaline’s smile was radiant as she placed the petals within the pouch, and Lea was once again struck by a feeling of familiarity. It was her own smile she was looking at, one she’d seen in her reflection her entire life.

Tears filled her eyes as a sense of belonging flooded through her, weaving itself into her marrow along with the certainty that somehow, this woman was related to her.

She was only able to enjoy that smile for a moment, her joy turning to terror as she watched the woman’s pretty lips drip red, staining her teeth crimson as she crumpled to the ground in a puddle of blood.

Chapter 37

Lea

Thequeen'sbodytwistedas she fell, allowing her a glimpse of the man who had attacked her, the coward who’d slashed a dagger through the flesh of her throat from behind and stolen away her life. Lea attempted to step forward to help, to stop what was happening, but her feet remained rooted to the earth. She tried to look away, but it was as if her muscles obeyed someone else’s command. She had no control as she was forced to watch a cold-blooded murder.

I was meant to see this, Lea thought. She could feel it in her bones.Thesewere the answers she searched for, part of the puzzle that had become her life. Focusing, Lea tried to take in every detail as the pristine white petals drifted toward the ground, dropping into the deep red blood along with the queen.

Lea watched in horror, her heart in her throat, as the flowers turned black before her eyes, dissolving into nothing as the blood flowed and bubbled around them. They were gone in an instant, as if the blood had been acid, or like the petals had never existed at all. It physically hurt her to watch the precious flowers die again, agony wedging between her ribs and making it difficult to breathe. Despite the pain, Lea forced her eyes away from the blood-stained earth, her heart thundering as she focused on identifying the queen’s attacker.

He was cloaked in black, but was clearly Fae by his imposing stature and muscular build. The man towered above the queen, looking down upon her for several moments before slowly pulling his hood back. Lea's heart pounded in her chest and her eyes widened in surprise, but that surprise was quickly replaced by a feeling of foolishness. She should have known who the murderer was. Erik had told her months ago what had happened to Queen Emmaline.

It was the king, hundreds of years younger and looking far more kingly than when she'd last seen him. Though, if Lea was remembering correctly from Erik’s history lesson, before the queen had been murdered, he was not a king, but an advisor and friend to Queen Emmaline’s mate. Brennus Nestruir looked down at the blood now coating his boots, a disgusted grimace crossing his face, and Lea’s stomach twisted into furious knots.

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