Queen of the Fae (Dragon's Gift The Dark Fae #3) - Linsey Hall Page 0,46

head. “What do you have to tell us, Orin?”

I stepped up alongside Tarron, waiting with my breath held.

“Well, ah. You see… There’s a royal blade.”

“That will be used to kill me?”

“To kill any Fae royal, really.” He blinked, his eyes almost owlish despite the fact that he wasn’t even wearing glasses. “The woman here”—he gestured to Aeri—“asked me how your death might be able to extinguish the blaze that could devour our kingdom.”

“And?” Tarron prodded.

“Well, once she described that you could be stabbed—I knew. There is a special blade. It starts as a normal dagger, but it must be one owned by Fae Royalty.”

“Any of my daggers, then,” Tarron said.

“Yes. Or any of the Unseelie Queen’s. If one were to anoint this dagger in the flames of the Eternal Fire, it would undergo a transformation that would imbue it with the magic to channel a royal’s power.”

“In what way?” I asked.

“If you were to kill him—or the queen—with a dagger such as this, it would release all of their magic in a blast great enough to blow out the Eternal Fire.”

“Just blow it out?” Aeri asked.

“It would be an extremely concussive force. Any person standing in the vicinity would be knocked unconscious, surely.”

“But not killed?” Tarron asked.

“No, a normal Fae would not be killed,” the historian said. “However, the other Fae royal would also die. The Unseelie and Seelie are two halves of a coin, you see. If the Seelie King is killed with this blade, the true Unseelie ruler will die as well. Two deaths, magically connected.”

Oh boy, that was a lot to absorb. But I’d stop all of this before I had to use the dagger on Tarron, so it was a moot point. I just had to believe that.

I met the historian’s gaze. “Thank you for the information.”

He inclined his head. “I’m off, then.” His gaze moved to Tarron. “My lord?”

“You may go. Thank you, Orin.”

The Fae disappeared, and I turned to Tarron and Aeri. “We need to get to Mount Chimaera.”

Tarron nodded sharply. “I have a transport charm.”

“Good.” Even with Connor’s semi-antidote, I didn’t want to risk entering the ether with my own power. I looked at Aeri. “Ready?”

She frowned. “As I’ll ever be.”

I felt her on that one. What I’d really like was a trip home to shower, nap, and change my clothes. But that wasn’t going to happen. It’d only been about six hours since I’d woken in the cavern, but if felt like a lifetime.

Connor stepped outside with a paper bag. He stuck it out toward us. “You have to eat. For strength. And there’s a pep-up potion in there for each of you if you haven’t been downing them like champs already.”

I smiled and took the bag from him. “You’re truly the best. Thank you.”

He nodded, then ducked back into the shop.

I dug into the bag and handed out the pasties—extra large—and bottles of water. We ate quickly, and I was grateful for the hearty beef and potato. I swigged down the water bottle and followed it up with a small vial of sweet-tasting potion. We’d only had one of these so far, so another would be fine.

Tarron and Aeri took theirs. After the food and magical caffeine, both looked more alert. I certainly felt better.

“Ready?” Tarron dug into his pocket.

“Ready,” Aeri and I said.

Tarron threw the transport charm to the ground and stepped inside. He reached for my hand and gripped it tight. Aeri followed, and the ether sucked the three of us in, spinning us through space.

The ether spit us out a few seconds later, and I stumbled on the dirt. The sun was approaching the horizon here, and a small town sat a couple hundred yards in the distance.

“That has to be it,” Tarron said.

“Could you explain exactly what we’re doing?” Aeri asked.

I realized that we hadn’t updated her on that yet. We’d spent all our time talking about other things. Other justifiably important things.

“The goddesses who guard the location of the Eternal Flame gave us tips on how to reach our goal.” We found a road and walked toward it. As we made our way through the brush, I explained everything that had happened with the goddesses in great detail.

“Thank fates you made it to them,” Aeri said.

“Not in time, though.” The memory still made me angry.

“I’m not so sure about that. Sounds like they’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”

“Maybe.” I wasn’t sure that even my mother could kill a goddess, much less four of them.