Queen of the Fae (Dragon's Gift The Dark Fae #3) - Linsey Hall Page 0,22

discreet corner of the castle where a statue of a stag rose tall and proud. I tucked myself back behind the statue and pulled her in with me.

Then I did something I rarely did, and never while we were standing close together. I used my power to appear inside her mind. It was one of my oldest magics. The walls could have ears.

Aeri. I need a favor.

She nodded, eyes wide.

I keep seeing that prophecy of me killing Tarron. It won’t go away like I hoped it would. Can you try to find out why his magic might stop hers? It must be something about them both being Fae royalty, I think.

“Yes. Of course I’ll work on that. I promise. And I’ll help find reinforcements for the Unseelie.”

I squeezed her hand tight. Thanks.

“I’m out of here.” She hugged me, then we parted ways.

I watched her walk down the hall, hope and worry tangling in my chest. We’d never failed at something we’d put our mind to.

I hoped now wouldn’t be the first time.

Tarron and I reconvened in the war room. Arrowen had left, and the room echoed hollowly.

“You’re hiding something,” he said.

“No.” Lies.

He frowned, and decided to ignore me.

“We need to get moving,” I said. “It could take a while to find the Guardians.”

He gave me a hard look, then nodded. “We’ll stop by the potions master and stock up. Then we’ll transport directly to Anatolia, near the Lycian tombs that Arrowen mentioned.”

I couldn’t argue with that plan.

He led me through the castle, down to a huge, airy room where the potions master worked. The Fae within was a slight figure, so pale she was nearly transparent. Her hair was so fine it appeared to float on the air, ethereal and pale. I browsed the supplies as Tarron collected what we needed. I was really quite impressed.

He returned to me. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

We left the room, and I called back a quick thanks over my shoulder. The Fae ignored me.

Outside, we each drank one of the potions, which actually tasted good. That was rare.

“Do you want to do the honors?” I asked.

“My transport powers don’t work like that,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“I can only transport to my home.”

“But you once said you could transport to me.”

“Like I said.”

He considered me home? “It’s part of the fated mate thing, isn’t it?”

“Apparently so.”

I’d think on that later. I reached out my hand. He took it. As soon as his stronger palm closed around my own, I called upon my transport magic. I envisioned the place I’d seen, imagining the region in southern Turkey where we would appear. I tried to use a bit of my seeker sense as well, hoping to zero in on the goddesses’ location.

The ether sucked us in and pulled us through space, spitting us out in the middle of a landscape of pale dirt and small trees. The sun burned high overhead, bright and fierce. It was headed toward the horizon and would eventually set behind an enormous plateau.

“I’m going to try to transport us directly there.” I reached for Tarron’s hand.

He gripped mine, and I tried to get us closer. The ether resisted.

I dropped his palm. “No surprise.”

He studied the landscape in front of us. From here, we couldn't see any of the ancient ruins I’d seen in my vision, but they’d be here, nestled amongst the trees.

Together, we set off, tension high. There would be protections between us and the Guardians. We’d just have to manage to survive them.

I kept my senses alert as we walked, trying to feel the magic before it struck. When we came upon the first set of ancient ruins, I hesitated.

“Around or through?” Tarron asked.

“Um…through. There might be information within.” My seeker sense felt a bit of a tug, and I didn’t want to miss any clues or tricks for how to reach the goddesses. You could never tell what you might learn.

We approached the broken-down stone building, and I admired the crumbling architecture. The white stone and columns made it look vaguely Roman or Greek. The ruins were quite well preserved given their age. Most of the places I’d visited or seen pictures of were lacking their roofs, but not here.

We entered the structure on silent feet, passing by strange rooms with pits in the middle.

“Roman baths,” Tarron said.

“Ah, of course.” I’d have liked to have seen it when it was operational.

All the same, it was almost as if I could feel the ghosts of the past here, and I hurried, wanting