Smolder (Crown of Fae #3) - Sharon Ashwood Page 0,16

digging her fingers into the thick, soft cloth, breathing in the faint scent of home.

The old woolen square carried burdens and gave comfort. Every Kelthian woman had one, using it as a baby sling, a market basket, or a shroud. The golden wool had come from the family herds, spun, dyed, and woven in a pattern common to her tribe. Just like the fate of her family, it was stained and threadbare.

She’d heard rumors that the fae—all fae, not just her people—were losing to the Shades. The high king’s throne sat empty on the Wheel, the tall mountain at the heart of Faery. The great dragons were diminished. The king of the ocean deeps had lost his undersea palace and gone into hiding. The city called Pomandine had fallen into the sea.

But what mattered most to Leena was closer to home. Fionn was slipping away, and she had no idea how to save him. Worse, he was about to follow the enemy to a city far, far away.

Leena closed her eyes again. They were sandy with fatigue, but there was no chance of sleep. Not until she had some idea how to proceed.

A scrabbling sound on the window ledge made her jerk to attention. A black shape bounced through the opening before landing with a thump.

“I have news,” Kifi said as she crawled into Leena’s lap, pushing her whiskered nose close. “General Juradoc sent a messenger to the temple.”

Leena sat up, wide awake now. “What for?”

“The general demanded that Elodie accompany the army to Tymeera.”

Leena pushed the cat from her lap, then got to her feet. “Elodie is ill.”

“Exactly. She is too weak to fight him. Perhaps that is why he chose her and not you.”

Leena paced the small room, swearing under her breath.

“The Mother sent the messenger away,” Kifi said with some satisfaction. “She did not harm him—not in blood and flesh—but I do not think he will return.”

Leena heard the Mother’s voice in Kifi’s words. As keepers of memory, the temple cats made excellent messengers—and reference books. “What do you know about Morran?”

“He is the Phoenix Prince.”

“Which you neglected to tell me when he arrived at Lord Dorth’s banquet.”

Kifi gave a toothy yawn. “I didn’t want to give you stage fright.”

“Fine,” Leena said with disgust. “What does the reference to the phoenix signify?”

“Ah,” Kifi said, curling her tail around her paws. “His father was Prince Karth.”

Even Leena had heard of him. “Karth threw himself off the palace roof. That was how Morran got the throne.”

“Correct.”

“And?” Leena prompted.

“Karth’s difficulties were caused by what happened to his familiar.”

“A phoenix? I thought they were a legend.”

“Only rare. The Shades stole the bird to enslave it to fight the dragons.” The cat licked a paw thoroughly before carrying on. “The enemy had never possessed a weapon against aerial attack, but a giant flaming raptor immune to dragon breath worked remarkably well.”

“What happened to it?”

“A young dragon princess set it free. The bird flew off, never to return.”

Leena was growing impatient. “So why is this relevant?”

“When the phoenix escaped, it did not go home. That’s when Karth took his own life,” Kifi replied. “It’s not widely known, but the Phoenix Prince is not a shifter. He is two creatures in one—the lord and his familiar. Karth had been split in half, and the connection that made him one being was irreparably broken. He went mad as a result.”

Leena stared out her window, seeing and not seeing the silent, early morning street. There was an odd parallel between her longing for the home she’d lost and the old prince mourning his missing soul. “And Morran?”

“He bonded at birth with his own familiar. One, it seems, no one has seen for an awfully long time.”

Leena turned to face Kifi. “You think they’ve done the same thing to Morran.”

“It’s a theory much discussed among the cats,” Kifi said with a flip of her tail. “The phoenix is said to grant the prince untold magic, which would explain his earlier victories.”

“Where is the bird now?”

“Who knows?”

“And the Shades are on their way to the Great Temple and Tymeera.”

“The Queen of Cats is there,” Kifi said gravely. “So is the source of the Flame. Morran’s madness puts them all at risk.”

Leena crossed to her bed and sat, putting her head in her hands. “If that’s their end game, why bother asking Elodie and me to dance?”

Kifi jumped up beside her, a warm, soft presence. “The cats have one or two memories of Shades attempting to feed on fae