Arcane Rising: The Darkland Druids - Book One, R Nicole [suggested reading TXT] 📗

I forced a smile onto my lips and took his hands in mine. “I only need one thing from you, Owen, and I will give you your precious portal.”

“Anything.” His grip tightened around mine and he pulled our joined hands against his chest. “Name it.”

“I won’t go without proof,” I said with a shake of my head. “You’ve lied to me before. I don’t trust that you won’t do it again. I need your total and complete honesty.”

“Proof?” he asked. “You blood is proof enough. You can go places no one else can.”

My blood?

“Oh, Elspeth,” he murmured, his cool gaze studying my confused expression. “You have such power. When you learn how to control your family’s gift, you will never fear again. You will control the hearts of men and Fae alike. I promise you this.”

The prophecy came to mind, summoned by Owen’s emphasis on the world control. I was a Spirit Walker…and the Fae equivalent. I’d phased through the walls of the Warren like they were nothing, just like I’d stepped into the spirit world. I was the master of death and I would call upon the black sun to rise…

I understood now. It was as clear to me as the hate I felt oozing into me through Owen’s hands. The Chimera were evil, and the only thing that awaited me in the court of the Dark Fae was terror.

I felt Darkness rise within me, but I wasn’t afraid. All I had to do was focus my intent, just like Rory had taught me.

“Don’t worry, Owen,” I whispered, pressing my body against his. “I understand perfectly. Thank you for your honesty.”

Time slowed and I became essence, swirling around our bodies like a screaming tornado. I saw myself from afar—black eyes bleeding like a devil—and I struck like a snake, venom dripping from my proverbial fangs as I attacked.

My hand curled around Owen’s neck and I snarled as the flesh of my hand began to flake and turn black. The flakes floated into the air like charred ash and I phased.

Owen gasped, his eyes widening with fear as my spirit invaded his, twisting and choking the life from him. I was a demon possessing his Chimera soul, and I dragged the truth from him, one scrap at a time.

The images in his mind came to me all at once. A ruined land, a castle carved into a mountain capped with snow, fire and brimstone, black-armoured creatures, a woman with green hair fleeing across a frozen lake, armies clashing on a field of red, an enormous snarled tree rising out of an ancient forest…

It took me a moment to get it all into order, but when I did, the truth was too terrifying to comprehend.

The Chimera wanted to take over the Fae world, then sweep into Earth, destroying the Witches for barring their way home, enslave the Druids, and when they had the power they desired, they would turn on humanity. The Chimera wanted to rule with a dynasty of terror that stretched across multiple worlds. They wanted to become all-powerful.

They wanted to be gods.

And my mother? I drove the truth from him, driving into his sprit like a hammer. The woman fleeing across the icy lake was her, but Owen didn’t know her face, just the story of her escape.

He was telling the truth about her being destined for the king of the Dark Fae, but it wasn’t consensual. They intended to steal her away and turn her to evil, just like they were trying to do to me… They are trying to turn me to Darkness. They wanted me to destroy the world—both of them.

This was the truth as Owen knew it.

“You figured it out,” he rasped, as colour leeched from his body.

“I told you I wasn’t the same woman you tried to kidnap on Calton Hill. You should have listened.”

I wasn’t sure how to feel about the horror I’d found in his mind. All I wanted to do was kill him for his duplicitous lies—and get some kind of revenge for my father. The Warren, and the Druids who huddled inside it, seemed to be so far away.

“Power corrupts, Owen,” I drawled. “Your heart is black and your king… He will never have what he desires. I will not enslave innocents on any world.”

“At least my heart isn’t as black as yours. I can see the sun turning dark already.”

“If the black sun rises, it will dawn on the Chimera,” I snarled.

Cracks appeared on his cheeks, splintering into ragged shapes that reminded me of the surface of a dry lake.

“And so the wheels of destiny turn,” he whispered as his spirit began to crumble. “You have no idea what you’ve set in motion.”

“Too bad you won’t be around to see it.”

Owen opened his mouth to reply, but it was too little, too late. He fell in on himself, crumbling into a pile of ash. It was a horrific sight, knowing a Fae had once stood there, but how could I feel sympathy for someone whose sole purpose was to twist me into something evil? If anything, all the emotion that beat through my heart was pity.

Dark shadows flitted between the headstones and I raised my head. Owen hadn’t come alone.

Chimera emerged from the surrounding cemetery, prowling around me like pack of hungry lions. They hadn’t bothered to hide their faces and as they approached, I was treated to their full grey-skinned, pointy teeth, gremlin glory.

I was in big trouble, but I had one saving grace—the pile of ash at my feet.

The millions dollar question was, could I do it again? I guess I was about to find out.

“Okay, guys,” I said, sounding much more confident than I felt, “I guess we’re doing this.”

19

“Any last words?” I asked, counting the Chimera circling through the cemetery.

Six.

One of the Fae stepped towards me, his sword glinting in the glow of the orange street light.

“You killed our master,” he said. His pointed