Queen of the Fae (Dragon's Gift The Dark Fae #3) - Linsey Hall Page 0,19

was my mother, but now that Tarron knew, I had no reason to keep it a secret. I was used to people whispering about me, and I needed to try to be as honest as I could.

“Precisely.” I met Luna’s eyes, my own gaze hard. “And I want to stop her as much as you do.”

“Then we should invade their realm,” said the pale guard. “With more of our warriors. Bring the fight to them.”

“It would kill too many,” I said. “Seelie and Unseelie both. The Unseelie aren’t all evil. Their magic is dark, but that doesn’t make them explicitly evil.” I wasn’t evil.

“Who cares about the Unseelie?” Disdain sounded in his voice.

I opened my mouth to retort, but Tarron beat me to it.

“Enough.” He slashed his hand through the air, his voice cracking like a whip. “We will attempt to stop the queen without invading her realm. It’s not worth the loss of life. On both sides.”

I warmed slightly. He’d spared the young Unseelie’s life in our most recent fight, so he clearly was seeing the same thing I was.

“Why is she coming here?” Luna asked. “Her first invasion seemed designed to sway us to her side. But this… It’s wholesale destruction. Murder.”

“She was initially after this realm to expand her empire.” My voice was cold. “She’s accepted we’ll stop her no matter what. Now, she wants to destroy this place.”

A low grumbling sounded from the Seelie who stood away from the table. I could hear whispers of her mother.

Tarron’s cold voice struck. “Enough. Or I will evict you from the court forever.”

The ruthlessness in his tone made me shiver.

I’d forgotten that side of him. Almost. The cold and ruthless king. I’d seen it initially, before we’d gotten to know each other.

But it was part of him.

Tarron wrapped up the rest of the planning meeting quickly. Finally, the Court Guard departed, moving swiftly to the door to continue their work. Only Arrowen stayed.

“As for the next part of our plan,” Tarron said. “We must seek the Eternal Flame.”

I looked at Arrowen. “Do you know anything about it?”

It was a myth I was vaguely familiar with, but I’d never had reason to know it before.

“The Eternal Flame is as ancient as magic itself,” Arrowen said. The old seer leaned forward, her face alight with power and her dress a glittering silver.

Her tone was hushed with awe when she continued. “It has been guarded by the goddesses of fire since time immemorial.”

“Where is it located?” I asked.

“No one knows,” Arrowen said.

“Seriously? No one?” I frowned.

“Only the Guardians of the Eternal Flame know where the flame is located,” Arrowen said. “They live in an ever-changing place, nearly impossible to find.”

“Just our luck.” I frowned. “So they guard the fire. If we find them, we find the flame.”

“Not quite,” Arrowen said. “The flame will be relatively close to them, but they don’t guard it personally. It’s too unpleasant. Hot as hell and the magic that guards it is vicious. The goddesses control that magic and decide where the flame will live, but they do not stay with the flame itself.”

“The flame itself moves?” Tarron asked.

“Indeed. There are many locations that have been the home of the Eternal Flame, all of them deadly. You must find the Guardians and ask where the flame is located.”

“Why couldn’t we just try to find the flame?” Aeri said.

“Only the goddesses can give you permission to access it, and even then, it will be a deadly journey. Without them, you will search forever, fruitlessly.”

“Which means that my mother must go to them first.”

Arrowen inclined her head. “Most likely.”

“We need to beat her there, then lay in wait.” Tarron turned his gaze to me. “You don’t know when this attack will happen, do you?”

“No. I couldn’t see that. But it felt very soon.” It might have been my fear of his death that made it feel that way, but I swore it was breathing down my neck.

Tarron turned to Arrowen. “Can you see when? Or where it will happen?”

“I’ll try.”

I stood, breath held, as Arrowen closed her eyes and her magic flared on the air.

Tension tightened the air in the room as we all waited.

Finally, she opened her eyes. Before she even spoke, I knew the answer.

“I could not see when or where.”

“Damn it.” If she was unable to see the location of the goddess of the Eternal Flame, we had no leads.

“Who are they?” Tarron asked. “Which goddesses?”

“Hestia, Vesta, Brigid, and Arinitti.” Arrowen frowned. “Though they may change