Chapter 22

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Rose

By the time I woke from my cozy slumber in strong, warm arms we were pulling through the gates of what looked like a historic estate on the Eastern coast of Scotland. The shoreline in this area was absolutely stunning with steep massive cliffs and countless rugged rocks below. And the surrounding landscape of trees looked every bit as untamed and dangerous as my fellow travelers. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect place for their family to settle.

"Wow. This is gorgeous."

"Thanks," Isaac replied as he drove into the carriage house adjacent to the main residence and came to a halt. We all climbed out, and I groaned at how stiff my legs were from sleeping in one position for so long.

"How are you feeling?" Magnus asked, his hand grabbing mine as he walked slowly out of the carriage house to give my legs a moment to stretch and warm up.

"Not bad. I have a headache and I'm hungry, but other than that I seem fine. I guess the sleep helped."

"Good," Kitra said, looking over her shoulder. "Let's get inside and settled before that changes.

I didn't say anything else as the three of them led me into the main house. It wasn't giant by many historic estate standards, but it was far bigger than anywhere I'd ever lived. Far bigger.

I stood transfixed just inside the door and drank in all the details. I loved old extravagant houses like these with their intricate woodwork, complicated layouts, and luxurious details. While everyone else in the modern world had fallen in love with giant walls of glass and wide-open spaces, I much preferred the intricacies of buildings created long ago.

I could already picture myself spending hours in this one trying to discover all its hidden nooks and crannies.

"This is beautiful. The woodwork alone is stunning." I ran my hand along the gleaming dark wood of the posts that delineated the foyer from the formal sitting room. "I feel like I've stepped back in time."

"It was a grand time in history when it was built, full of formality and chaos that nothing else can rival. At least until the curse."

My curiosity piqued, as did my nerves. "A curse?"

"It's a long story, but the nuts and bolts of it was that when my father settled in this realm, witches and dragons immediately became mortal enemies. They fought over land and magic and pretty much every other natural resource.

“To their credit, both sides tried to compromise and find a way to co-exist, but eventually the witches gave up, and instead cursed the dragons."

"Those bastards tricked us. Used a woman as a trojan horse, and we didn't see it coming," Isaac grumbled.

"What did the curse do?" This story sounded straight out of one of the many fairytales I'd read as a child.

"Banished us. Although I don't think it worked quite like they'd expected as we ended up here instead of the fae realm we'd originally come from. But we were still good and stuck. We couldn't move more than fifty or so miles from here, or contact anyone. And it was not for lack of trying. Every time we sent any kind of word, the messengers disappeared, never to be seen again, or their memories of us completely disappeared. It was a fucking nightmare. And for one hundred years, our kind were magically trapped until the curse was finally broken. Although the timing of that didn't quite end up the same for all of us." Isaac sounded sad and I didn't know whether to ask the million questions I had or let it go for now.

"How did the curse get broken?" This kind of thing I wasn't completely in the dark about. My mother loved this kind of history and in all her practices she read everything she could about curses and other types of spells that could banish or hide. In hindsight now I could see why.

"That would be all thanks to my mate." He kissed Kitra on her cheek. "She is the most powerful witch of any realm."

My eyes widened at that little golden nugget of knowledge. She seemed so...young.

"I didn't do it on my own. Without your help, I wouldn't have the power of my mother and her ancestors."

My head was starting to really pound now. I needed to sit down. I was beginning to wonder if there was a limit to the amount of information I could take in in such a short time.

"Magnus. Get some water. She's starting to look a little green."

"I'm—" Before I could finish that statement I swayed on my feet.

"Mating heat again?"

Kitra shook her head. "I don't think so." She came over to me and laid both of her hands on my heated cheeks. "She's burning up." She didn't let go and everyone stood with bated breath waiting for her to say something else. Her eyes turned almost black, and I had to force myself to stand still. Her power scared me. Finally, she dropped her arms and turned to face the men.

"It's the spell. It's unraveling quick and bleeding magic into her system. I don't think she's going to last much longer."

"Excuse me?"

Magnus stepped forward and wrapped me into his arms. "There was more than one reason why we came here."

I pushed myself free of his arms. They were too strong and comfortable and making it all too hard to think straight.

"And what exactly does that mean? You tricked me?"

He shook his head. "No trick. But the more information we doled out, the more upset you got and the more upset you got, the less chance we had of making it here in time."

"In time for what?" I was not liking the way this sounded, even if on some level their reasoning was sound, even logical. Something I could appreciate.

"Before this spell unravels and your real self breaks free, you have to make a choice," Kitra said, stepping up to Magnus's side.

"A choice? Godsdammit, I knew I wasn't going to like this."

"If that spell breaks free while you are in this realm, it would spell disaster for all the humans here. Like your parents said, it would serve as a beacon for the fae. Normally, no one is getting through that portal without the amulet of Vostuzan and the magic it contained. But since that amulet no longer exists and all its magic is now mine, that portal is locked up unless I open it, or someone finds another way in.”

My eyes widened. That sounded like an incredible amount of power for one person and for one so young in particular.

"I know. It sounds crazy. But that's the burden I took on to help Isaac return home and break the curse on the dragons. All dragons may not be innocent in how they've dealt with the witches of this realm,"—she gave Isaac a pointed look—"but neither do they all deserve to have their freedom taken away."

On that I could agree. When people decided to blame a whole race of people because of the infractions of a small segment, that is where the world went to crap. Every. Single. Time.

"But what does this have to do with me? If the portal is locked, how are the fae kings going to come here?"

She strode over to me and grabbed my left arm, flipping it over. "Because of this." she pointed to the small crescent moon shaped birthmark with three tiny stars inside it I'd had since birth. "You are the marked one."

"No." I yanked my arm from her grasp. "I don't know what you think this is but if you are about to tell me I am marked as some kind of savior to the fae and human realm or any other realm, I am going to call bullshit. I. Am. A. Scientist. Not a fighter. Not a princess. And certainly not some damned fairytale champion."

Kitra grimaced, and Magnus took several steps until he was firmly planted at my side. "Be careful, Kitra. You are the mate of my blood, and because of that I promised to never hurt you. But if you come at Rose in a way that offends my dragon, I cannot be held responsible for what happens."

"Oh yes, you will," Isaac said, coming to stand slightly in front of Kitra in a way that blocked her from Magnus, but not me. "I'll accept no excuses or any untoward moves, asshole."

Kitra looked at me and we both rolled our eyes. This posturing between brothers was officially old.

"Stand down, Magnus," I said to him with what little patience I could muster. "I don't think she's trying to harm me. And I'm just pissed off, okay? It happens. Probably more than you're going to like. I don't need you or your dragon trying to take over my business every time it happens. Got it?"

"The portal between our realms is closed, but not exactly," she finally answered. "I'd call it more hidden than actually locked. One of the fae kings could technically open it, but first he'd have to find it and that's the hard part."

"So I'm about to become a beacon with an engraved invitation to these kings."

"Your biological father in particular. If he’s alive.”

“Not likely,” Magnus mumbled, which Kitra ignored.

“You are of his blood and magic. But for now, and I guess about twenty-five years, you've been locked away from him. The knowledge of which has likely driven him mad. Although I couldn't really say. I never heard much about him other than he was born of dark magic and that he served as the counterpart to the light king.

"Your uncle?" I asked, looking at Magnus.

He barked a loud laugh. "Gods no. As evil as my uncle is, it's hard to believe he wasn't born of dark magic. But technically he is born of both. There are four kings of our realm. One of dark, one of light, two from both. They each rule their own quadrant as they see fit, while maintaining the rules of magic amongst the four. And technically, my uncle was not born as ruler of his quadrant. He tricked our father with ancient laws and a devil's bargain into giving it to him. Hence how so many dragons ended up here."

"Our father chose love over kingdom," Isaac said quietly. "Something no king had ever done. Or has done since."

"It's a good thing I thrive and thirst for knowledge. I would never remember all of this. So what exactly happens if the bastard king finds the portal and comes through?"

Magnus fell silent, a troubled look crossing his face. "A slaughter the likes of which this world has never seen." Magnus didn't look happy to tell me any of this. And I had to admit it all made the nausea worse. I wasn't naive or unaware how any kind of power could corrupt men and women. But the unequal footing between humans and fae made it all very difficult to swallow.

"I wouldn't count out humans that quickly. They won't go down without a fight."

"That's true," Isaac said. "And there is a decent number of fae born on this side to help them. Not to mention they have technology on their side. At least until the fae disable it."

I swallowed thickly. "Fae don't use technology?" I couldn't imagine a world so vastly different from this one.

Kitra shook her head. "A lot of it interferes with magic. And they have no need for it. When you have magic what do you need technology for?"

"That makes sense I guess. So getting back to my choice... What do I have to decide."

"That spell is going to break, one way or another. The unraveling has begun. So, we can either shore up the portal with magic when it does, and hope no king makes it through?—"

"Or?"

"Or we let it break on the other side."