Brimstone (Fae & Alchemy, #2)

by Callie Hart

holding out her right hand so that he could see the back of it. The simple interlocking rune she traced with her left index finger didn’t glow, but Belikon’s face turned the color of ash when he saw it. “A rune for undoing. For breaking.” She cut him with a bloodletting smile. “Did you really think I would be stupid enough to speak my mate’s true name in front of you without protecting him first? You’re out of your addled fucking mind. I couldn’t command the oath he spoke to you and render it moot. But with this, I could undo it. And after I’d spoken his name and told him to be free, what do you think I did then, Belikon?” “His name. You—you—” She nodded. “Yes. I undid the magic that binds it. No one can use it against him now. No one will ever control him again.”

Onyx let out an agonized yelp, dropping to the ground, and Orious let out a victorious whoop. The fox had darted in front of the blade, ruining his opportunity to end Saeris, but from the gleeful grin on his face, the seneschal didn’t care. He wobbled, staggering sideways, mad laughter boiling out of him. “At last!” he hissed. “I got youulllcchh—” Saeris’s response was instant and ruthless. She buried her face in the seneschal’s neck, and she ripped out his fucking throat.

Onyx had taken one last stuttering breath while she’d been crying. He’d shivered and let out a trembling sigh, and then he’d gone.

I brought Nimerelle up, sweeping the sword around my head, and then flattened the blade, swinging it around with all my might. She cut clean through Belikon De Barra’s neck and severed his head from his body in one fell swoop.

He wasn’t dead. Whatever dark magic ran through his veins would save him from this end. I knew that, but being beheaded would sure as hell make it harder for him to call on his men and come chasing after us.

Five hundred leagues. That’s how far we could travel without Belikon sensing Fisher’s magic and following

“We believe that animals are too pure for this life. They are all ascended beings who live in the after. Everything is perfect there. No pain or misfortune or heartbreak. But sometimes, they peer beyond the veil between this life and the next, and they see us here in the depths of our suffering, and they choose someone. One soul they want to help over any other. They come to us as… dear friends”—he

“Belikon and Madra were afraid of the Alchemists. They were afraid, because the people who came before me were capable of things they would never be able to do. The Alchemists sought perfect knowledge, and they possessed remarkable control over elemental magic. But they also chased immortality. I don’t want to make anyone immortal. But if I’m capable of healing myself from awful burns and a hole in my chest, then I can heal a tiny fox.”

“Such a thing is impossible,” the Hazrax said. “The Alchemists tried and failed for centuries to bring their Fae loved ones back from the dead.”

The fact that your hands are healed now, after the damage I just witnessed, implies that you also have regenerative magic. Physical magic. Power over the body. At some point, you might be able to heal others with your abilities…

the Hazrax ordered. “All magic has its limits. If you proceed any further, you will shatter the rune I gave you. You will not be able to use it to save anyone else. You will not be able to use it to free your other friends from their oaths, as you freed your mate.”

I reached beyond my magic. Beyond my runes. Beyond the bond there, connecting me to my mate. I reached, fighting millimeter by millimeter, until I finally found what I was looking for. I didn’t know the words.

I acted quickly, plucking up a small kernel of the energy I had discovered, and I pushed it up, past my bond with Fisher, past the empty reserve where my magic should have been, into my body, into the raw Alchimeran shield that was smoking on the back of my hand… and then into the little white fox. The world trembled in response, a shock wave rocking the snowy slope, and out of nowhere a grim white dawn broke over the sawtoothed mountain range of Ajun, casting back the dark.

I heard a chittering squeal and a small white fox was leaping into my arms. He was alive. Alive!

“You accomplished something that’s never been done before.” “And will never be done again,” I added, glancing down at my shield. The Hazrax’s rune hadn’t just faded. It was gone.

Renfis nodded. “My oath mark. I was being called to serve. I didn’t have any choice but to go.”

“As soon as we were done laying Merelle to rest, Renfis felt a burning pain in his chest,

But the Ajun Fae told us that, as soon as your blood was one with the mountain, you belonged to it in a way. That, because Ren had buried his blood relative here, and she was his twin, no less, he was now a member of the Ajun Fae.”

“And only the Ajun can be called to join the knighthood who guard its gate,” Ren said quietly. “So… you were called back here to watch the gate?” “Not the gate that protects the city, Osha. The other gate.”

A thrill of panic and adrenaline chased up my spine at that. Lorreth had told me of the other gate in the square at Inishtar. I’d promised that I wouldn’t go off on some harebrained mission to secure the brimstone we needed to stop the rot without F...

“Yes. In many ways, the same. But in others not. The original Alchemists could never control it. Not even the strongest of them. It sent most of them mad. The gate would open by itself, and it wouldn’t close. Foul creatures used it as a doorway into this realm. They caused chaos and terror throughout Yvelia. Since no one could close the portal, the Knights of Orrithian were created. They were imbued with an old line of magic. Powerful. Six of them stand watch over the gate at all times, channeling their magic into wards that prevent all manner of evil from spilling into this world. They take it in shifts to protect not just Ajun but all of Yvelia.”

“When the quicksilver was stilled here, cutting us off from the other realms,” Renfis said, joining in the explanation despite himself, “the gate at Ajun remained open. Belikon declared it was a sign. He said that because it was the only gate left open, it would lead us to riches and glory. He brought a Faeling here to Ajun, to visit the gate. He was barely more than a boy. Belikon put a sword in his hand and declared that he should be the first to go through the gate and behold the paradise that waited for us on the other side.” “Since this pool was different from all the other pools, he said I wouldn’t need the relic my mother gave me,” Fisher whispered.

He ordered me to give him the relic, and then he ordered me into the pool.”

This was where Kingfisher had entered the quicksilver. This was where it had infected him from the inside out and almost driven him mad.

the pool erupted and spat the Faeling out. His eyes were rimmed silver like the stars.” “I didn’t know myself,” Fisher whispered. “It took me a long time to come back… mentally.

“Inexplicably, the Ajun pool closed that day,” he said. “It’s opened and closed three times since, without warning. The knights always remained to guard it, just in case. No one’s been called to replace any of them in centuries. Until now.”

“It did. And the beast that crawled through it killed all six knights on watch and dragged their bodies back through with it when it left. I was summoned as a result. Since then, it’s opened every day, for a period of three hours each time. We’ve been recording the timings. We’ve been waiting.” “Waiting?” I already wished I hadn’t asked. “For the wards to break once and for all,” Ren said, looking down at his boots. “For the monsters of old to return and wreak havoc anew on Yvelia. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Wait. We’re going now? Fisher, what are we doing?”

We need you to seal that brimstone rune. And brimstone only has one source.”

Kingfisher bowed his head. But… no. Even as I watched him, something shifted in my mind. He wasn’t Kingfisher anymore. He was Khydan.

He could only ever be Khydan to me now. And he was ready to face whatever awaited us on the other side of this door.

“What’s the realm called?”

The troubled look on my mate’s face didn’t inspire confidence as he admitted, “It’s never been given an official name here. The pantheon of undergods and the dragons they breed there call it Diaxis. But personally… I’ve always called it hell.”

“You’ll need to pass through the gate at Ajun,” Lorreth had said. “You’ll need to bargain with the creatures there for access to their brimstone.”

“Styx. Lord of the charred aerie. King of dragons. He is your master. He is the one you must obey.”

The brimstone. My body was reacting to it. It drew me to it, but I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t reach it. And even if I’d been able to, I wouldn’t have known what to do with it once I had.

“You’ve spared us so that I can be brought before your master for judgment.” “And your criiiiime?”

“The murder of my offspring!” The dragon roared.

Githrand let out a stiff, disbelieving laugh. “I doubt you can imagine the kind of torment you’re about to suffer. If you wanted to survive this place, you should have guarded your mind a little better. Arissan saw what you did to her child. ’Shacry was her only surviving offspring. You desecrated his body and let your king carry off his head. For that alone, your penance will be death. But you killed our father’s emissary, too. You severed his only thread of power in Yvelia. You weakened him—” What emissary? What was he talking about? Khydan didn’t kill an emissary. He— Oh. Oh, no. He couldn’t mean— “Ereth was a traitor to his people,” Khy said. “His own actions against Yvelia signed his death warrant. But he tried to attack my mate. Of course I killed him. No one will ever harm her while I still draw breath.”

Ereth. The Lord of Midnight who had attacked me at the coronation. He’d been a religious leader of sorts. He had told Khydan that

he worshipped different gods. Undergods… “Petulant fool,”...

Khydan rolled his shoulders and shook his arms out, casually shrugging off the magic that still pinned me to the floor. How? How was he doing that?

Sorry, Osha. Arissan has always guarded Diaxis. I’ve spent centuries practicing at hiding information behind locked doors in my head. She saw what I wanted her to see. But you? I knew she’d look into your mind. You wouldn’t have been able to hide it from her. There just wasn’t time to prepare you. Khydan’s words were laced with regret.

The pressure pinning me to the floor vanished in an instant. I toppled forward but caught myself, preventing myself from falling onto my face. Khydan was there immediately, helping me to my feet.

“I love you, Saeris Fane.” He kissed me hard, and so many unspoken things passed between us as he did. Promises and hope. Oaths and regrets. He tore away from me and was gone. In four long strides, he was towering over the one called Crave, grabbing him by the front of his armor and pulling him up from the ground. “Who… are you?” Crave choked. “Only… half-gods may wield shadows.” Khydan drew in a deep breath, ignoring the male’s question. “I’ve come for a dragon, as is my right. Summon our father. Tell him I’ve come to make a trade.”