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

gazing upon the Seelie Court and kingdom—there was no mistaking the ornate architecture and beautiful inhabitants.

Terrible flames raced down the street, chasing people from their homes as they devoured the buildings. The fire flickered orange, blue, and green. Magic sparkled at the tips of the flame.

It would destroy the entire kingdom and everyone in it.

Come to me. Somehow, her voice echoed in my mind. Come to me, and all of this can be stopped.

There was no way. I was a Dragon Blood—capable of making any magic in the world. The equivalence of a nuclear bomb. If my mother got ahold of my mind like she had the last time, she could do far worse than destroy the Seelie kingdom.

She could destroy the whole world.

At the edges of the blaze, my mother’s dark smoke crept along the ground. It was the same magic that had possessed my mind and body when I’d seen her last. It was the magic that kept her in control in the Unseelie realm. It had to be. She could possess anyone she got close enough to.

And she was doing it to the Seelie.

The ones who weren’t burning were turning toward her side.

She was a madwoman.

I could feel it in the air—her desire to destroy and possess. It was like we had some kind of horrible connection. She had failed to turn the Seelie to her side with the crystal obelisk, so she was going to burn the place to the ground and capture the minds of anyone lucky enough to survive.

Though lucky wasn’t necessarily the word I’d use if they ended up under her spell.

I had to stop her.

But how?

My head ached as I called upon a vision of a future where I could stop her. A future where I could change all this.

Was it even possible?

The vision came easily—more easily than any vision I’d ever had.

And it sent me to my knees.

Again, I saw myself plunging a blade into Tarron’s chest.

I’d had this vision once before, so recently that it was still fresh in my mind. Me, weeping, while I killed Tarron.

I hadn’t told him.

I hadn’t wanted it to be true.

Yet here I was, seeing it again.

And this time, it was the solution to the horror that my mother planned for the entire Seelie kingdom. It was difficult to see the details, but there was no mistaking the blade that plunged into his flesh or the tears on my face. This was no trick of the light.

If I wanted to save the thousands of Seelie who were burning in front of my eyes, I would have to kill Tarron.

Their king. My fated mate.

2

“Mari! Wake up!” Aeri’s voice cut through the fog in my mind.

She shook me hard, rattling my brain as I sat up, blinking. My gaze moved to the dead Fae next to me. Someone had plunged a steel blade through the Unseelie’s chest. Black smoke curled up from the seeping wound.

Burn stood over the Fae, eying the bloody neck that he’d clearly just torn apart. Black blood dripped from his fangs, and his muzzle was pulled back in a growl.

The Fae’s hair smoked, charred to the skull. Wally, the fire-breathing hellcat who followed my sister around, had clearly done his own bit of damage. The little beast sat nearby, cleaning his inky black paws.

It was still dark out, and the cool night air blew my sweaty hair back from my forehead. Aeri sat over me, gripping my arms tight. Cass stood behind her, concern in her green eyes.

My gaze flashed up to Aeri. “Did you kill him?”

“No. He did it to himself when he saw us coming.” She gestured back to Cass. “Twisted the blade right in his own heart. Then Burn got excited and lunged. Wally followed.”

“Damn.” I’d wanted to keep interrogating him.

“Are you all right?” Cass asked. “I saw you fall from the sky while I was closing up my shop.”

“It was more of a dive, but yeah, I’m fine.” I drew a shaky hand across my forehead, unable to stop the trembling.

This wasn’t like me.

My arm.

The memory flashed in my mind. I looked down at the smear of red potion that stained my pale skin. Thin veins of black ran through the liquid.

“You saw a vision, didn’t you?” Aeri asked.

Shakily, I nodded. “How could you tell?”

“You kept muttering stuff like ‘no’ and ‘not true.’”

The horrible image flashed in front of my mind again, and I closed my eyes. “He hit me with one of the potion bombs. Just a little