Feel My Power: The Iron Fae book 2 Page 14

  Knowledge was power.

  “Shadows like the Umbra?”

  “Yes. The Umbra are mine. Well, they were mine before the Tuatha took them, but I get ahead of myself. I reigned alone until the Tuatha came to this world. In exchange for refuge, they offered me power in the form of a Tuatha bride. While bonded to her, I had access to new abilities. Abilities I could use to protect humanity. Hena was beautiful and fierce, and I fell in love with her. We had a good life together, but Tuatha aren’t immortal, not like me, and she eventually passed on. But the gift of power came with a sword. One that would draw my bride’s soul back to me. My bride was reborn again and found me. She was drawn to the sword, able to wield it, and communicate with it, and we were together once again. Over and over, she returned to me. A different body each time, but the soul… The soul was the same.”

  The sword? “My sword?”

  His expression hardened. “Not your sword. It belongs to Hena, my wife. But yes, the fact you could wield it and speak to it made me believe you were Hena reborn. I believed you were my soulmate. But the truth is much different.” He smiled wryly. “But I’m rushing ahead. Let me go back.”

  “Centuries passed, and the Tuatha settled into our world. They built a city under a mountain, and there was peace. Hena passed away and was gone for so long I began to doubt the sword’s ability. But she came back. She found me. Except this time, her memories of her previous lives were gone. It tainted our bond and affected the transfer of power.” He began to pace. “I was so focused on trying to help her regain her memories that when the sickness came over the Tuatha, I was late to respond, and human lives were lost. The Tuatha had become cruel and monstrous, unfeeling creatures who wanted only to cause harm. I had no choice but to fight them. There was war, and the casualties were many. Humans were caught in the crossfire. I realized that if we continued in this vein, my vow to protect humanity would be broken, and so I offered a truce. My immortality in exchange for their kind leaving Earth. They agreed. I left with them, trapped in a box, feeding their ancients with my immortality.”

  Oh fuck. He was the one who’d kept the ancients alive for so long, and I’d set him free, but… But Minira had been aging for a decade which meant his power was weakening. It had to be.

  Did he know?

  “When the Tuatha returned to Earth,” he continued, “I was drawn to you. Your pain pulled me from the box in my shadow form, and after that, I was able to find you wherever you were. I didn’t understand why, but when I saw you with the sword in the Regency Games, I believed you to be Hena, and thought…” He shook his head as if to clear it. “But Hena has explained it to me.”

  Bitterness stung the back of my throat. “Yeah? Well, how about you explain it to me?”

  “Hena kept the Night Court running in my absence. She cheated death, keeping her mortal body alive using seer magic, but when the Tuatha returned, she fought them, trying to get me back. She lost many Umbra to the Tuatha. The unfeeling monsters came prepared with new enchantments of their own to manipulate the minds of my warriors. The Umbra fought hard, but the enchantments were too strong, and many fell under the Tuatha spell. The Tuatha also sent out a Danaan army sporting special collars that attracted Umbra and forced them to bind with the Danaan on some cosmic cellular level. The Tuatha had hoped to control them that way too, but it backfired, and the Bleak were born.”

  The Bleak were Umbra and Danaan melded. What I’d seen on the road to Summer made sense. But why had I been able to understand them? His story was posing more questions.

  “Hena was weakened,” Killion continued. “She was forced to leave her body and exist outside of it to keep it alive and keep her soul tethered to this plane. The Tuatha had taken the sword, and without it, she couldn’t risk letting go as she may not find her way back to me. Her physical body began to age. Hena knew she was running out of time, so she had a body crafted to hold her soul. A child was woven into existence by her seers.” He was looking at me with pity again, and my pulse beat faster because I knew what was coming. “That child was you.”

  A chill skated up my spine. “No.”

  “Yes, Danika. The body she created needed a soul to drive it until it was of age to house Hena, and so the seers pulled a soul into it from the ether. They cast an enchantment on the body to draw me to it and keep it safe, then she made sure it was found by humans who would raise it in Middale, close enough for me to be called to it.”

  He’d found me, been drawn to me because of that enchantment. I’d survived because of an enchantment. My feelings for him…everything… Had that been because of the enchantment too?

  But there was one thing that made no sense. “The sword speaks to me.”

  “It was confused by the enchantment. That’s all,” Killion said. “I’ll retrieve it soon, once…” He trailed off and looked away again.

  My blood filled with ice. “Once what?”

  “Once Hena has the body she crafted.”

  The body? He meant my body. Blood thundered in my head. “You can’t do this to me.”

  How could he stand there and act so cool? As if everything we’d been through mean nothing. As if the comradery, the friendship, had all been a lie?

  The anger flared back to life, gripping my throat, so my words came out raspy with the rage of betrayal. “I may not be your soulmate, but we were friends. How can you do this to me, to your friend?”

  He closed his eyes as if in pain. “It’s not a decision I’ve come to lightly, Danika. I’ve grown to care for you, and yes, our friendship was real. But I exist to serve the interests of humanity, and I can’t protect them against the Tuatha without my full power. For that, I need Hena. I must solidify my bond with her, and to do that, she needs to be in your body. The body she crafted for her soul. Once she has it, we will perform the ritual to transfer power. She’s confident that it will work this time.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  He opened his mouth to speak but then snapped it closed.

  I answered for him. “If it doesn’t, you’ll have killed your friend for nothing. You’ll have killed me for nothing!”

  His expression hardened. “It will work. The seers have had time to alter the ritual to account for Hena’s memory loss. Hena’s soul deserves a new home.”

  “And what about my soul, hmmm?” I didn’t even bother to keep the bitterness and disgust from my tone. “What happens to me?”

  His expression shut down. “I’m sorry. It will be quick and painless.”

  He made to walk away.

  This was it. He was done. Decision made. I was trapped. At his mercy. My mind whirred.

  There had to be a way out of this, something I could use… “Wait! You don’t need to do this. There’s another way to save humanity.”

  He stopped but didn’t turn to look at me. But he was listening, and that was enough.

  “Let me go. I can work with Aspen to take the throne and bring peace. There doesn’t need to be war. Once Aspen is in power, everything will change. Humans will be protected.”

  He did turn to look at me now, and when I saw the derision on his face, I wished he hadn’t. “You misunderstand my intention, Danika. I don’t wish to work with the Tuatha. I wish to wipe them out.”

  My pulse stuttered. “What?”

  “They don’t belong here, and it was a mistake for me to allow them to stay all those centuries ago. They must be annihilated.”

  A few days ago, I may have felt the same, but now I knew about the feelers, things were different. I couldn’t allow him to wipe them out.

  “No.” I surged forward and gripped the bars to my cell. “The ancients deserve to pay, but there are so many Tuatha who feel. Tuatha who are innocent. Tuatha and Danaan who want to be free of the cold ones. You can’t kill them.” I clenched my jaw. “I won’t let you.”

  His blue eyes were cold, alien, and dispassionate. “That isn’t your decision to make. Goodbye, Danika.”

  He wavered into shadow and was gon
e.

  * * *

  I couldn’t stay here. I couldn’t let this happen. Oh god. This was crazy. It was insane. Every second in this cell was a second closer to death.

  My body was mine.

  Mine. Not a vessel for a ghost.

  I tugged at the bars looking for a weakness. I scanned the cell, looking for a weapon. There was nothing. No way out. I was trapped.

  Killion was going to give me to Hena, and my soul… Would I burn out like Nina? Then what? Killion would kill all the Tuatha?

  How?

  He had a plan, but he needed my body to achieve it.

  A scream of impotent rage bubbled up my throat because I’d been used.

  He’d used me, and Hena had used me, and I was so fucking done being a pawn.

  A small figure darted out of the shadows. A child with huge brown eyes that spoke of ancient secrets. Her dress was crisp and clean, a pale blue with a red sash at her waist to match the bow in her hair, but her feet were bare and dirty.

  “Hello, Danika,” she said.

  “Who are you?”

  “The child,” she said. “But don’t be deceived by my youth.” She smirked, showcasing yellowing jagged teeth. “I’m more than I seem.”

  Oh gross. “What do you want?”

  “To help you be free.”

  I looked down at her hands, searching for a key but found nothing but dirty fingernails that were way too long. But there was a pocket on her dress. Maybe the key was in there?

  “It’s time for you to go now,” she said, as if it was obvious.

  “Yeah? Why don’t you let me out then?”

  “Oh, I don’t have a key, silly,” she said.

  My heart sank. “Then how the f—heck, do you expect me to leave?” I had no idea why I cut off the curse. This creature might have looked like a child, but I wasn’t fool enough to believe she was one. “No key means no escape.”

  She stepped closer, mouth curving in a conspiratorial smile. “You don’t need a key to be free, silly. You can use the power she gave you.”

  “She?”

  “I can sense it inside you. The queen blessed you. This cell cannot hold you if you wish to leave. All you need do is want to be free. All you need to do is will it.”

  Hope bloomed in my chest.

  She was right. Mab had given me something. I’d used it to save Slade, and maybe I could use it now to get out of the cell. But… “How do you know this? Why are you helping me?”

  “Because you’re the only one that can end the lies. The only one that can show the Night King the truth.”

  Her words brought a wave of déjà vu. Those words…I’d heard them before. The old lady, but the memory of our conversation was fuzzy. In fact, it had begun to fade soon after the trial.

  Remember me…

  She’d said that. But why?

  “You are more than a random soul,” the child said, eyes growing round as if she was about to impart a huge secret. “You are—” She broke off and glanced behind her. “Go. Now. Go the same way you came.”

  The same way.

  Killion had brought me here.

  He’d shifted here.

  Could I do that? A conviction unfurled inside me.

  I could.

  I could do this.

  She shoved something through the bars. An amulet that winked dull and black like a beetle. “Keep this on you, and he will not be able to take you by force again.”

  I gripped the chain, stepped back, and visualized my room in the Keep. I wanted to be there, not here. I wanted out.

  The child looked over her shoulder once more. “Go. Now!”

  A strange force rippled over my body and tightened around my torso before the world fractured.

  * * *

  I was back in my chambers, and the world outside was gray with predawn light. I looked down at the amulet in my hand, waiting for my blood to stop rushing in my ears and my pulse to slow, before I slipped it over my head and tucked it under my clothes.

  My heart ached with loss.

  My mentor, my protector, was gone.

  Killion was gone. He belonged to Hena, and he’d been willing to sacrifice me to have her back.

  He’d come not for me, but for my body. The amulet would keep him at bay. I’d keep him at bay, because there was a power simmering inside me now, finding its place and settling into my cells. I didn’t understand why Mab had given me this gift, but I’d use it to protect the innocent, be they human, Tuatha, or Danaan, because Killion was wrong. They didn’t all deserve to die.

  I knew Killion enough to be sure that if he couldn’t get to me, he’d find another way to achieve his goal.

  I needed to be ready.

  Danika? Oh, thank goodness. I lost touch with you for a moment, I was so worried.

  The sword? Where was it?

  In the wardrobe.

  I flung the door to the armoire open and pushed clothes out of the way to find it propped against the back. Rose must have put him away.

  Where did you go?

  I picked it up. Not mine. Hers.

  What are you talking about?

  “I’m not her.” I sat on the bed. “I’m not who you think I am.” I filled him in on what Killion had told me. “I’m a body crafted for someone else. For your real mistress.”

  The sword was silent for the longest time.

  I feel you, Danika. I know you, and I don’t see how that can be achieved by an enchantment, but then what do I know? I’m simply a sword with memory issues.

  “Killion wants to kill all the Tuatha.”

  Then we stop him.

  “What if I can’t?”

  You can’t. Not alone. But you’re not alone, are you?

  As the sun crested the horizon and bathed my room in golden light, hope and determination bloomed in my chest.

  The Danika of yesterday, the one who’d hung on every word her mentor uttered, was dead. Today’s Danika was enlightened and filled with power.

  I stood and grabbed my sword holster.

  Ooo, are we going somewhere?

  I strapped the holster on and slid the sword into it. “Yeah. We’re going to Autumn. We’re going to get Slade back.”

  To be continued…

  Danika’s adventure continues in Hear My Roar - The Iron Fae book 3

  Out Fall 2021

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  Other books by Debbie Cassidy

  The Gatekeeper Chronicles

  Marked by Sin

  Hunted by Sin

  Claimed by Sin

  The Witch Blood Chronicles

  (Spin-off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)

  Binding Magick

  Defying Magick

  Embracing Magick

  Unleashing Magick

  The Fearless Destiny Series

  Beyond Everlight

  Into Evernight

  Under Twilight

  The Chronicles of Midnight

  Protector of Midnight

  Champion of Midnight

  Secrets of Midnight

  Shades of Midnight

  Savior of Midnight

  Chronicles of Arcana

  City of Demons

  City of the Lost

  City of Everdark

  City of War

  For the Blood

  For the Blood

  For the Power

  For the Reign

  For the Hunt (novella)

  Heart of Darkness

  Captive of Darkness

  Bane of Winter

  Fate’s Destiny

  Deadworld

  Deadworld

  Dead City

  Dead Sea

  Dead End

  The Nightwatch Academy

  Shadow Caster

  Shadow Weaver

  Shadow Warrior

  Shadow Master

 
The Nightwatch Series

  Ghost of a Chance

  Give up the Ghost

  Ghost at the Feast

  Lay the Ghost

  Deadside Reapers Series

  Reaper Unexpected

  Reaper Uninvited

  Reaper Untamed

  Reaper Unveiled

  Reaper Undone

  Reaper Unhinged

  Reaper Unleashed

  The Thirteenth Sign

  Witch Unexpected

  The Iron Fae Series

  Taste My Wrath

  Feel My Power

  Dragon Guard Series

  Dragon Trial

  Dragon Rising

  Dragon Ashes

  Survivor’s Heart (Planet Athion World)

  Novellas

  Rogue

  Rebel

  Survivor

  Standalone Novellas

  Blood Blade

  About the Author

  Debbie Cassidy lives in Bedfordshire, England, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head – in a totally non-psychotic way, of course. She writes High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Space Fantasy, and Reverse Harem. Connect with Debbie via her website at debbiecassidyauthor.com or twitter @authordcassidy. Or sign up to her newsletter to stay in the know.