SWNOVELS King of Always: Chapter 26
Raff
of your plan?” I ask, breathing slowly to settle my chaotic pulse. The poison has retreated, and I am filled with light and calm for the first time since the curse entered my blood, damning me, enslaving me. Until Isla.
“It definitely wasn’t. But I really like the way events unfolded.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” I pat the grass to find Isla’s gown, then hand it to her. “Let us dress quickly. I cannot wait to return to my chambers and begin planning our wedding. You will move your personal items to my rooms tomorrow.” I kiss her hand, interrupting her efforts to dress. “You’ll have no need of them tonight.”
She gives me a sweet smile as I stroke locks of gold from her face. “I can hardly believe my luck, Isla. Here you are, my future Queen of Fire and, finally, you are mine.”
“Yeah… About that queen business.”
My hand stills at her temple, a frown creasing my brow. “What do you mean? Surely, you agree we must marry as soon as possible?”
“I want to—I do, but…”
A moment of panic makes the flames around us sputter, sparks igniting the cobalt sky. “For us, there can be no doubts. After what we have just experienced together, no month-long revel, no wild hunt, no magic or mischief could ever compare. Do you not feel it too, Isla?”
“Of course I do. It’s just—”
I draw her onto my lap. My thumbs pressing into her cheekbones, I try to explain how I feel, what I have taken far too long to realize she means to me. “Every being, fae or human, longs to find another who will hold the mirror that reveals our best selves, the one who will show us who we can be if only we believe in ourselves. You are my perfect mirror, Isla. In your eyes, I see reflected the man I want to be. The man I am determined to become if he will bring you happiness.”
Her smile is brighter and brings more joy than a Beltane fire.
“I feel the same, but if you love me, you have to…” She takes a shuddering breath. “You have to let me go.”
Fear coils around my heart, a deadly serpent squeezing and tightening until I can’t breathe. I shake my head. This cannot be. The taste of her still melting on my tongue, there is no way in the seven realms I will let her leave me. Why would she want to go?
“No, Raff, it’s okay. I promise. Just tell me one thing, do you trust me?”
“Yes. Of course I do.”
“Then forget about weddings and curses and saving your kingdom for now. Before all that, you have to let me burn.”
“What?” I flick my hand over my shoulder, extinguishing the flames completely. Darkness falls, gilded by moonlight. “No, Isla. Absolutely, not. I will not do what you ask.” I move her off my lap, fasten my breeches, then my boots, the weight of her gaze tingling over my skin as I do so.
She grips my wrist as, still seated on the ground, I shrug into my shirt. “You told me before, anything I asked, you’d give it to me. Did you lie?”
Raking my hands through my hair, I groan in frustration. “You know I cannot.”
“Then trust me. Please. If you want your fire queen, this is the way you’ll get her.”
I watch her stand, moonlight shining on her naked skin. She’s beautiful. She is my chosen one. I trust her; I do.
“Alright. I do not like this, but alright,” I say, staring up into her smiling face. My goddess of fire. My love.
She offers her outstretched palms. I take them and stand, my breaths labored as I scan her face, memorizing each sweet slope and curve. “This isn’t goodbye. I won’t let it be the end.”
“No, Raff. It’s the beginning. Bring the flames again.”
I close my eyes and stretch my arms on either side of my body, slowly raising my palms. Heat kindles. Magic shudders through me. Flames leap from my skin, and I throw them to the ground, north, south, east, and west. Spinning on my heels I picture them joining, the four directions merging into a circle.
She claps her hands, giggling like a water sprite. “Beautiful! Now you have to move out of the circle.”
“Isla—”
“Do it.”
With a sigh, I do as she commands.
Standing in the middle of my circular wall of magic, she brings her palms to her chest and pushes them out, scoops the air and draws it backward. To my astonishment, the flames follow, tumbling and roaring to become a gigantic fire, a pyre with no wood, no fuel, only Isla at the center.
She closes her eyes and flames lick around her feet, climbing quickly upward to swallow her whole. She is the golden-haired girl of my tortured dreams, standing in the middle of an inferno, her soft skin charring slightly. Just like in my visions, instead of fear, ecstasy emanates from her.
Her hair is richest buttermilk, her eyes a blistering blue, and her smile—her smile is the brightest flame—fierce and taunting. For she is not the slightest bit afraid as the flames leap higher and take her over, crumble her to her knees, drag her under and consume her.
There are no screams, no cries for help. No sounds but the sizzle and crackle of magic.
I clench my fists, every muscle tight.
I am not afraid.
Isla is a Princess of Fire. When my mother abdicates—she’ll become my Queen of Five.
Knuckles cracking, my feet braced wide, I stand statue-still until the sky above glows like the End of Days. It burns orange, red, then finally the deepest black, blocking out the stars.
Time passes—days, a lifetime.
When the air is thick with smoke and I can see no hint of Isla, my heart beating slowly, soul braced for the worst, I step toward the flames.
Embers fall like snow. Do I quell the fire now? Is it time? A sudden wind rages up the valley, crackling through branches and leaves, extinguishing the fire before I make a decision.
“Isla?”
She’s huddled on the ground, head resting on her raised knees, her arms wrapped tightly around them. Her skin is perfect, unmarred, no burns, no scars. Golden hair tumbles over her body, as silky as it has ever been.
Slowly, her head lifts. Tears paint her face, but she is smiling. She is smiling. “Raff.”
I drop to my knees in front of her, searching for marks, for signs of injury. “Are you alright?”
Her joy-filled smile is worth my worry, the doubt, the fear, the fall of seven kingdoms.
“Yes. Unbelievably, never better. But I must say I’m really hungry. I might have to start on those cookies if the field mice and goblins haven’t run off with them.”
I laugh as I help her to stand. “Here, wear my shirt. Hurry. In my chambers, I’ll have the grandest snack imaginable brought to you.”
She shrugs into my shirt, the hem covering her smooth thighs. “That sounds great. But I’d rather not wake the cooks. How about you and I go hang out in the kitchen instead, and I’ll whip something up for us?”
“Of course, if you wish it. But first, you must tell my why you made me watch you burn? What did it prove?”
“I wanted to see if you could, if you trusted me enough. And look at this…” She steps out of my embrace, thrusting her palm out. A bright arc of flames shoots across the field setting alight a line of shrubs in the distance. A flick of her hand and the fire disappears.
“That is amazing! Your magic has increased a thousandfold.”
“And that was the second point of the fire exercise.” With a proud smile, she drops a curtsy. “Now I’m fully equipped to be this kickass Queen of Fire you’re always bragging about.”
Drawing her into my arms, I kiss her until she pushes against my chest.
“Wait… Raff, I have to tell you something, and this will be an even more difficult test of your faith in me. When I was with the Merits, I learned something, something horribly important that, in the future, will come to affect all of us. But I can’t tell you everything I know. If I did, it would cost me your life, not mine, yours. And I’m not prepared to risk it.”
“Isla, I trust you to tell me what you can. You ask nothing difficult of me because this is the way of the fae. Life is a complicated riddle. We do our best to accept what befalls us and attempt to bend the situation to our will when what arises does not please us. I trust you to bear this knowledge you speak of for both our sakes. Tell me only what allows you to keep your peace.”
“Okay. Thank you, Raff.” She closes her eyes, breathes slowly, then traps me in her ocean-blue gaze. “I vowed to Salamander that I would keep the details secret, but what I can tell you, and it’s the most important part, is that all will be well—for you, for Ever and Lara, all the future heirs of Talamh Cúig, before long, you will all be free.”
Relief flows warm through my veins. “I believe this because I trust you with my life and my soul, from the depths of my poisoned heart. Forever.”
“It won’t be poisoned for much longer. When we marry, you’ll be free of the curse. If you die, our oldest male child will inherit the poisoned blood. But we don’t need to worry about that anymore, Raff. There is a cure for the curse. In our lifetime, your line will be free of the evil Aer inflicted on your kingdom.”
“I dare not believe I will live to see its end.”
“You will see it. I promise you. Riven has seen the cure. Aer gave it to the Merit druids, and after El Fannon murdered them all, Riven has been protecting their secrets. Aer always hinted that there was a cure hidden away somewhere. Guess she supposed the last place Elementals would look for it was in the land of your enemies. All you need to do is have faith that it will end and try to be happy while you wait. Can you do that?”
My chest swells with equal parts gratitude, joy, and love. “Yes, I can.”
“One more thing.”
“Anything.”
“Kiss me again?”
“With pleasure. But I warn you, once I start, I may never stop.”
“Promises. Promises.”
I cannot lie. I will not lie. I dip my head, soft lips brushing, and begin the endless count—a lifetime, an eternity of magical kisses.