Chapter Three

Yin and Yang. Dark and light.

Before Kade could stop me, I dipped under his arm, popped up in front of him, and snatched the small book up. The sound of him cursing was lost as energy slammed into me and my knees buckled. I dropped down, my eyes locked on the black tome clutched between my hands.

“Ari!” Kade and Violet both yelled my name.

With a lot of effort, I lifted my head and said, “I’m okay, it just took me by surprise.” Large hands fitted under my arms and lifted me back to my semi-steady feet. “This energy is weird,” I said breathlessly. “Like familiar … but also like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

I noticed Baladar had remained in his spot across the room, his expression creased in concerned lines. He was peering at the book, but didn’t seem to want to get closer.

“Do you know something about this?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on him.

He sighed. “Tell me about the symbol on the front cover.”

I wasn’t even surprised that he knew there was a symbol on the cover, despite the fact he had not stepped foot near me or the book. I let my eyes run across it, but didn’t move my hands to trace it as I would normally. This was mostly because my hands were molded around the sides of the book, seemingly held there by my fae and mecca energy — which was smashing inside of me like crazy.

The symbol was etched into the cover, which was not made of any material I had ever seen before. It was thick and smooth, like leather, but with a consistency that felt hard like a metal. It was definitely organic … an animal skin maybe. It actually kind of reminded me of the ercho that tried to kill me in Central Park.

Baladar let out an impatient sound, so I quickly focused on the symbol. “It’s carved into the cover, and it looks like an inverted tree, gnarled and dead, roots sticking up from the top, and the branches burrowing into the ground. There is a stone in the center, the heart of the tree.”

The ancient magic born staggered forward. His face was frozen, mouth open, eyes wide. I found myself mimicking his panicked pose, part of me wanting to thrust the book away, but still being unable to remove my hands.

He spoke, barely above a whisper: “Is the stone black?”

I nodded, and in a flash he surged forward, his body shrinking into a half-crouched position. He began chanting and waving his arms wildly in the air. I looked to Violet, who was watching him with a look that was part shock and part intrigue. I knew, though, that just like me, she had no idea what he was doing.

As I turned back to Baladar, he thrust his hands at me and Kade, and suddenly a gale force wind slammed into us, knocking us both back into the wall, and in that moment the darkness that had been leaking from the book was gone.

As I straightened myself off the wall, low growls were rocking my chest. My wolf didn’t like being thrown around like that. And judging by Kade’s scowl, he wasn’t much happier about it. Baladar spoke quickly, throwing in a bow for extra measure. “Forgive me, Your Highnesses, I had to act quickly.”

Ignoring the magic born for a moment, Kade turned to me. His face was still etched with dark lines of anger, but this faded slightly as his thumb traced across my cheek. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said. Which was mostly the truth. The right side of Kade’s body had slammed into mine; my shoulder and elbow were aching, but that would heal soon enough.

Kade draped an arm around me, his fingers softly stroking my shoulder. He could feel my pain and he wasn’t happy about it. Together we faced Baladar.

“What did you do to the book? How dangerous is it?” I asked, knowing he would have only acted that way if we were dealing with something serious.

The book felt lighter in my hands now, as if Baladar had chased away the darkness completely.

He stepped closer now and peered down, shaking his head. “What you hold in your hand is the origin of dark magic … the birth of evil … the opposite of all that is good in this world. If the mecca is Yin, then this is the Yang. The great balance requires both dark and light. Welcome to the dark.”

I opened my fingers and let the book crash to the floor.

Kade growled lightly, his arm tightening for a brief squeeze, before he started rubbing my arm again. “You said it was okay to approach.”

Baladar bent and picked the book up, careful not to touch the crystal. “I never expected this could be inside the wall. How the Red Queen got her hands on something like this is far beyond me. But it’s harmless now, as long as nothing reawakens it.”

A wave of tingles worked down my spine, goosebumps crossing my skin. “Reawakens it? It’s alive?” No wonder the material felt like skin of some kind. Violet had better run me one of those salt good-juju baths later, because I was feeling energetically icky.

Baladar didn’t answer me. I was pretty sure he wasn’t even listening to me. His eyes were locked on the book, and no doubt the wheels were turning in his head. That incredible intelligent brain would be running through all of the possibilities.

“This explains a lot about the changes in the Red Queen,” he blurted, as though he couldn’t keep the thoughts contained any longer. “She would have had no idea what this was. Nor Sabina or the council. No one is old enough. But she would have felt its power. That’s why she stupidly kept it close. It must have infected her … sleeping so close to the darkness, night after night.”

My breathing slowed. I had heard rumors that the Red Queen hadn’t always been so … cold. She had always been strong and merciless in war, but there apparently was a time in the beginning of her reign when she was kinder … more genial. Calista and I discussed it a few times, both of us blaming her multiple miscarriages and wars for her hard, cold exterior — the burden of being queen had hardened her. But maybe it was this.

Kade let me go, stepping closer to the book. “What’s inside?”

Baladar shook his head. “No one left alive has that knowledge, but history tells us that this book should never be opened. The information inside would turn the purest of magic borns into the devil himself. Besides, it’s not what’s on the inside that matters, it’s what’s on the outside.”

Violet stepped forward. “The crystal,” she whispered, hovering her hand over it. Nikoli was watching silently from afar. His eyes were not on the book though, but on Violet.

Baladar nodded. “There is one story, told only by word of mouth, that has been passed down to me from my ancestors. To be quite honest, I didn’t completely believe it. As a young magic born I thought it was more metaphorical, and as an adult I never saw any evidence to prove it, but … not now. This confirms it.”

Violet, who had her eyes still locked on the dark stone, lifted her head to Baladar. I didn’t like the spark of excitement I could see in her light eyes. She was intrigued. Which wasn’t a problem in itself, but darkness was not something she needed to be close to again.

Baladar set the book down on the edge of the bed and motioned for us to join him in the living room of the queen’s quarters. It was like he didn’t want to tell the story in front of the book. We all followed him out, taking seats on the sofas. Finn curled up at my feet.

Baladar was the only one standing. “In the beginning of time, the four great gods created the Earth. They argued over which races they should create, who should have what powers, and what would govern them all. In the end, they created the humans, witches, and fae. After this, they each took a piece of their soul and infused it into the Earth as a power source for their creations. This became the mecca.”

Kade said what we all were thinking: “This is not the story we are told of creation.”

Baladar gave him a sad smile. “Creation stories get changed as the next generation sees fit. Everyone wants to put their spin on it. This is one which was lost over time, and it was one I have never believed.” When no one said any more, he added, “Shall I continue?”

Kade nodded, and through our bond I could sense that like me, he wasn’t shocked by this revelation. We had been lied to about wolves and bears being bonded mates and meant to rule together, so it wasn’t a crazy jump to expect we’d been lied to about other things as well. Still … the mecca was a piece of the gods’ souls … that terrified and excited me. No wonder the power felt limitless.

I leaned forward as he started speaking again, not wanting to miss one word.

“One of the gods was obsessed with fairness. He argued that there must always be balance in this newly-created world … that nothing should be too good or too evil. In the end, the gods agreed and the mecca crystals were fashioned. They would give extra powers to the rulers so that justice could be served when needed.” Baladar put up a finger. “Then the God who was a little obsessed with fairness decided that the mecca crystals weren’t neutral in power. He argued that they felt a little too light in energy, which meant there would be an imbalance. The other gods disagreed with him, and as an act of control, or revenge, the God of fairness decided to create a dark mecca crystal. He split it in two, wrote an accompanying book, and hid each crystal book pair in each world, believing it would balance out the purple stones.”

I shuddered again. I had almost touched that black crystal on the book. What would have happened if Baladar didn’t neutralize it?

Violet stood and crossed her arms. “That’s not balance. That’s manipulative and psychotic.” I was glad to see some of her desire for darkness waning from her face. She now looked queasy.

Baladar shrugged. “Hence why I always thought it was more metaphorical. ‘Keep the balance.’ But gods aren’t known for being rational. They do as they see fit and they move on.”

“So that thing on top of the book is the dark crystal created by that god?” I wanted to confirm that this was the only one we needed to worry about.

Kade stood. “Let’s destroy it.”

Baladar stepped forward, both hands held in front of him. “That is not the crystal. It is a tiny sliver of it. The original piece was broken in two, and they are out in the world, no doubt making someone very, very powerful and evil.”

I sucked in my breath. “The Dark Fae Lord.”

Baladar nodded. “It is rumored he has one piece and that the Earth-side one is missing.”

Violet growled. “How big are these pieces?”

Baladar lowered his arms, hands clenched tightly at his side. I’d never seen the powerful magic born so out of sorts. “I’ve told you all I know. The God of fairness left the dark crystals, and the accompanying books, and then disappeared.”

“I still think we should destroy the book.” Kade’s hand was on the hilt of the sword he always carried.

Violet put her hands out. “Easy there. If we can connect with the small shard on the book, we might be able to do a spell and find the stone.”

Nikoli nodded, finally jumping into the conversation. “It would take a few days but it could be done.”

Baladar watched the two young magic born, his posture and drawn features screaming out his weariness. “To do that, you would have to reawaken the book and the darkness inside.”

I shared my thoughts: “Assuming the Dark Fae Lord has one of these dark mecca stones, and we use this book to find the other one, is there something we can do with it? Can we interrupt the power the stone is feeding him? Disable his armies?”

I locked eyes with Baladar, struggling to read his expression. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “Let’s see if we can even activate a spell to trace the stone. Then we can work out how to neutralize them.”

We sat there as a group, letting his words weigh into our minds. It was a risk, but it could turn this war in our favor. If we could dismantle the Fae Lord and his power, we had a chance.

Ultimately, the decision rested with Kade and me. We were the rulers. The thoughts of erchos, harpies, and other unthinkable creatures flooding into Manhattan had my decision made. Through our bond, my mate’s thoughts were tumultuous, torn about what to do. But he seemed happy to go along with whatever I decided.

“Do the spell. Find the stone,” I said with force.

Baladar nodded. “Just be aware that any or all of us could be corrupted by the dark mecca. It’s a huge risk.”

I already knew that, and I hated that my family was in this position, but…

“What choice do we have?”

Part of me was hoping someone would come up with another option, but no one spoke. It might not be the right decision, but we had to try. Especially, if it would help our people get the upper hand in this impending war.

If only I could just ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach that made me think we might be messing with something that could destroy us all, even more so than the fae.

We spent the rest of the night searching through the queen’s stuff, but after the dark mecca crystal discovery, everything else was mundane and boring. The Red Queen apparently had a secret love of romance novels, and crocheting. Which definitely brought a smile to my face. But I would have preferred something more we could use in this fight.

By the time we all called it a night — technically it was early morning — we had gathered quite a bit of new information to study, which at least felt like a step in the right direction.

I watched as Baladar wrapped the dark book in a thick, spelled material he had worked on for most of the night. “I’ll keep this book with me,” he said. “I’ve placed securities on it which I have mimicked off the safe. Minus all of the darkness.”

“Are you sure you will be okay with it?” I had to ask. The last thing we needed was a crazy, evil, powerful magic born on the loose.

He threw me a withering look. “I’ll be fine. My spell will keep it contained for a long time. Plus, even if it did awaken again, it would take years to fully corrupt me.”

That shouldn’t be a problem. I was pretty sure we only had days, or maybe a few weeks, until the fae attacked.

“How long will it take for you guys to set this spell up, to track the dark crystal?” This question I directed to the three-magic born in the room.

Violet and Nikoli exchanged a glance, both turning to Baladar, who let out a bark of laughter. “This wasn’t my idea, young ones.” As their faces fell, he let out a deep breath. “But I also won’t leave you to try and navigate this dark book alone. I will need a day to cleanse an area, set up special spells of protection, and to let light into my soul. We will all need to do this. Otherwise, the darkness could claim us.”

Violet blanched, her already white skin turning an almost sickly gray shade. I hurried to her side, grabbing her as she swayed. “What’s wrong?” I gripped her arm tighter, ignoring the swirls of energy zapping us both.

She recovered with a few rapid shakes of her head, her eyes focused on me as she gently pulled her arm free. “Letting light into my soul means I have to face the darkness in there. If I cannot be cleansed of it, I cannot be part of this spell.”

She might have pulled herself together, but I could see by the shimmer of emotions on her face that she was terrified.

“I don’t think I can face the darkness,” she whispered.

Oh, Violet. What happened in the Winter Court? What did you sacrifice so that you could keep my fae essence safe?

From the dreams she’d shared with me, I had a reasonable idea of what she had gone through. I saw some of the marks on her, felt the pain in her soul. But I had no doubt she hid much from me. Which I hated. I’d been waiting for her to come to me, to tell me everything, which would be cleansing for her, but so far she’d remained mute. I didn’t want to push her, but something had to change soon. It was slowly killing her.

Before I could think of how to console my best friend, Nikoli was there placing both hands on either side of her face, capturing her full attention. “You can face anything. You are far stronger than even you know. The Tuatha did not break you, Violet, they reformed you into something unbreakable, like steel tempered over fire.” His voice lowered, I could barely hear the last few words. “We will do it together.”

My friend’s entire energy changed then; she relaxed and almost fell into him. The anguish that had been sliding across her body like a second skin was dissipating. She leaned into Nikoli as if he was her only strength. This was much more than a fling. This was serious. I was torn between overwhelming joy for them both and that continued worry that I wasn’t doing enough— that this war was distracting me to the point where I neglected the ones I loved. Ultimately, I was trying to save them, but there were smaller battles each was waging, battles I could not be there for.

At least she wasn’t alone, she had Nikoli, and she would tell me everything when she was ready.

Kade slipped his hand into mine. “Let’s all get some sleep. We can deal with the rest in the morning.” His voice was gruff, and at the mere mention of sleep I felt like a hundred-pound weight had settled into my body. We had been weeks, months even, without decent rest. It was catching up to us, but we would soldier on.

“Take whatever guest rooms you like,” I told them, assuming no one wanted to travel all the way back to Staten Island tonight.

Nikoli, who was still holding Violet’s hand, chuckled. “Never thought I would be sleeping in the Red Queen’s house.”

Violet just grinned and then walked down the hall, Nikoli following behind her like a lost puppy.

“Don’t forget the run in the morning,” I called after them. “It’s mandatory. Last run, bonding exercise, you know the drill.”

I got some waves and mumbled agreements, and then they were gone.

With a yawn, I let out a muffled goodnight to everyone else, stumbling into the hall with Kade. The others branched off to different areas, and I led my mate down the long corridor to my wing of the mansion. As we approached my door, two of my guards stood outside.

“Good evening, Your Majesty. We did a sweep. It’s safe.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How did you know I was sleeping here tonight?”

“Calista,” Michael said. He was a short and stocky shifter with dirty-blond hair. One I didn’t know very well, but Blaine had vouched for him.

Blaine and Calista were worth their weight in gold. It might seem like a queen ruled her people alone, especially in the dictatorship style rule of the shifters, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It took a village of people to lead properly.

After entering, Finn curled up on the couch, and we made our way to my room. We both kicked off our shoes and slipped out of our clothes. Kade sat in his boxers on his side of the bed, appearing lost in thought. I knew my bear, he was bothered by that dark stone. By what we had discovered.

I inched along the duvet until I rested close to his back, then I rose up to my knees and dropped my hands onto his shoulders. It took all of my strength as I started working out the kinks; his muscles were hard, the tension he carried making it even more so.

He let out a low groan, tilting his head around to flash a sexy grin at me. My body, despite its exhaustion, perked up at that look on his face.

His face, which was far, far too gorgeous, was distracting. I forgot everything in my head when he looked at me like that.

I paused my massage, leaning in to kiss him gently. He let out a rumble of bear-like annoyance when I pulled back, and I resumed kneading his hard muscles, letting my hands trail around the front of his pecs and along his hard, chiseled abs.

As my hands trailed lower, Kade growled again, and then in a single move that should have been impossible, lifted me up and over his shoulder, dropping me down into his lap. By instinct, I wrapped my legs around him, molding our bodies together as my inner wolf growled with pleasure.

His molten copper eyes raked over my black bra as he said, “How tired are you?”

I grinned. “I’m wide awake actually.”