Page 94 of Fate and Flame
“Have you been enchanted?” Temir asked.
“No.” He smiled. “I’ve faithfully supported King Autus and I have done his bidding for years.”
“Why?”
“Because you were always the favored ones. Both of you.” He looked between Temir and Gaea. “You lived in his castle and ate at his table and he promised me I could have the same things. That I could be like you.” He spat at the floor in front of Temir.
“What have you told Autus?” Fen asked.
“Everything.”
“Be more specific,” Rhogan demanded from the corner.
“He knows you’re mated to that,” he said, as if I were not a fae at all. Just an object.
I felt the fury building. My magic called me to end him. To end it all.
“He knows Tolero is dead and the sea queen. He knows your mate killed her. He knows she has a lot of power and he’s coming for her.”
“What else is he planning?” Fen asked, holding my hand as if he could save me from the words.
“He has asked me to help him release them and I have.” His psychotic laugh filled the room.
“Release who?”
He shook his head and suddenly blood poured from his mouth. He choked on his own blood.
Temir leaped for him, pried his mouth open and turned to Fen.“He bit his own tongue off.”
“Can you heal him?”
“Yes,” Temir answered. “But it’s going to hurt like hell.”
“Good.”
He reached forward and placed his hand on his forehead. His brows furrowed and we waited until he shook his head. The traitor was turning a deep shade of blue as he continued to choke.
“Oh my gods, the bracelets.” I rushed forward. “They’re charmed.”I began yanking them down his arms and off one by one, but I wasn’t fast enough. He went limp before I could remove them all.
“Fuck,” Fen yelled.
“I don’t understand. How did the serum work if your magic didn’t?” Gaea asked.
“The serum isn’t magic. There’s magic in the making, but the serum itself isn’t.”
“I should have seen it sooner. I knew they looked familiar.”
“How so?” Temir asked.
“I lost it so I can’t show you, but my mother’s necklace. Originally, it was used as a promise. To my mother from another, but the stones were the same. Then Aibell did something to activate it before I left her cottage. It protected me from a different type of magic. Morwena’s trackers.”
“I’ve seen that stone before,” Gaea said, picking up a bracelet. “I think I know where your necklace is.”She was gone and back before I could even register it. She held my mother’s necklace out to me.
I couldn’t explain why, but tears filled my eyes as I reached for the last thing my mother had given me.“Where was it?”
“We found it when we were searching Lichen’s rooms.”
“I wish I could kill that asshole again.” I clasped the charm around my neck and swayed with the memory of my mother’s hands in mine. Her final moments. Her rushing me out the door and to my destiny. To Fen. Though I hadn’t known it at the time. It seemed a lifetime ago.
