Page 133 of Fate and Flame
“Who are you?” Fen asked again.
“Desim,” he spat.
“Why are you in the Flame Court?”
“The one true king has sent us to find something for him.”
“Find what?”Fen examined his hands, refusing eye contact with the male.
He tried to press his lips together, but Greeve punched him in the stomach and he squawked. “The chalice.”
“What chalice?” Fen’s tone was smooth, neutral. He’d get his answers one way or another and his relaxed demeanor was a show. A deadly façade.
“I don’t know. We were told to walk through the dunes until we found old buildings or caves. Supposedly, there would be a chalice the king requires.”
“Do you know how many caves there are in the dunes?” The corners of his mouth twisted up.
“No idea.”
“Did your king tell you how to find the chalice?”
“No.”
“What does the chalice look like?” I asked, stepping forward.
His eyes narrowed on me. “I don’t know,” he gritted out.
I double checked my shields, but they were fully intact. I hadn’t felt any intrusion or prodding from the fae.“What happened to the servants in the king’s castle? Why is it empty?”
“We had a very large bonfire.” He grinned. “It was cold, we needed to warm our army.”
I stumbled backward. The dark smile grew across his face as he witnessed how his words affected me. Gutted me.“How many?” I whispered.
“Thousands. Lessers burn up pretty quickly. We had to keep piling them on.”
I stumbled backward as if I had been shoved. Temir cracked him across the face before I could respond. My mind reeled. Thousands.I have to go. The pressure is building.
I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, as I shuffled out of the room and down the castle hallways. Thousands he had said. Gone. Their lives, meaningless. My magic pressed in. I slid my back down the cool wall just outside the room and pressed my palms into the side of my head. A tapestry hung across from me depicted a hunting party; though hung with innocent intentions, my stomach turned. Oh gods. I forced the air into my lungs. I needed Gaea. I needed to get out. I needed to get away from people.
I stood, stumbling. My chest swelled as the magic, locked behind the dam, shoved against me. Begging me to end it all. To end the entire world. All the problems, all the hatred, all of it. Let the world become reborn.Let the fae rise from the ashes of hatred and damnation.
Ara, breathe.Fen placed his hands on my arms.Look at me. You are in control. Look at me.
I shook my head. I couldn’t. I couldn’t pull a full breath. I started to panic. The deadly magic right there.So beguiling, yet so much tension.
“Use the bond as an anchor, Ara. Just like I did. It’s there. Grab it, pull yourself back to me. Don’t lose yourself. You’re in control.”
I tried so fucking hard to hear the words he said, but I couldn’t. The ringing in my ears overwhelmed me.
Thousands.It was the only word that came to my lips. The world was going dark. I was dangerous. I was lethal. Suddenly, I was gone, standing in the middle of Autus’ empty castle. I saw them. The thousands who worked here, the lesser fae who might have cooked meals and cleaned rooms. They were here, and then they weren’t.
“Blow this bitch sky high,” Gaea muttered, refusing to judge or look away from me. “You need to take something out on the world? Do it here, where it hurts him.”
“Go,” I rasped as the magic began to crest.
But she didn’t. She didn’t let go as the pressure finally burst and the magic ripped from me. She squeezed my hand as all the nerves and worry that had been building for days roared through me. As the castle walls came down and the world faded away. As my magic threatened to destroy me, just as thoroughly has it had a good portion of the Wind Court.She never let go.
I felt arms below me, the summer sun and then nothing at all. And then I knew, without a shadow of doubt, that this was how it would end. I would shatter the world into a million pieces and take every person I loved with me. I’d kill myself in the process. That’s what I was created for. Not to save the world, but to destroy it.
