Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) by Gwen Rivers (free ebooks romance novels .TXT) 📗

are far too many now. The spirits can buy us some time, but will eventually be overwhelmed.”

“We can make it,” Freda turns and faces me. Her golden helmet is tucked under one arm. “The cave is but an hour’s ride. Have the ghosts clear a path and ride through.”

“Past thousands of Draugar?” Bard cracks his three knuckled fingers.

An hour will be too long. Pharaildis won’t hesitate to gut Aiden on the floor. I doubt she can kill a full god with only one fey royal heart in her grasp, but Aiden hasn’t been a god since those bastards in Asgard turned on him. If Loki is freed there will be no stopping Ragnarök.

My gaze falls on the two thrones. One wreathed in shadows. The other idle. Waiting.

“If we can’t get to her,” Jasmine follows my line of sight.

I get to my feet. “We make her come to us.”

“It could kill you.” Nahini, covered with weeks’ worth of filth, still looks as beautiful and ethereal as ever. “Nic, you don’t have fire magic. You don’t have any magic. Underhill stripped it from you.”

“I’ve wielded it before.” I stare at the chair. “It’s the only way to stop her. Only a queen can set Loki free.”

“You’re the only one who can kill her.” Freda strides forward to block my path. “The only one with the ability to end this. If you die, we are all lost.”

“I can do it.” A small voice speaks up.

We turn to look at the child, Brigit’s last living daughter. Rowena.

She holds out her hand and a golden flame burst forth. “I was groomed for it. Father wouldn’t let me.”

Because even then, Rodrick had been in cahoots with Underhill? Or perhaps to do what any decent parent would do, to protect his child. “No, if it’s too dangerous for me, then I’m not about to let you do it.”

“It’s what I was born for,” she says. “What I’m meant to do.”

“Nic,” Freda puts a hand on my arm. “Nic, please don’t. You’ll die.”

I suck in a deep breath. Pharaildis had numerous chances to kill me but she didn’t. I remember my dream about her giving birth, hoping her babe would be an end to her loneliness. She wouldn’t hesitate to kill Rowena but me….

I hand Seelenverkäufer to Freda. “It has to be me. I’m the only one who can lure her back here. Away from Aiden.”

And have faith that my mate can free himself when I do.

Slowly, I approach the dais. The Shadow Throne sits quietly. No feeling of power comes from it. Is that because Gretchen is across the Veil? The Fire Throne hums as though it is eager for this encounter.

I reach for the fire I’ve only wielded once. The connection to Aiden, to Addison, must be somewhere inside me still. Carrying our daughter changed me. If I am to survive, it will be because of them.

“Any last-minute advice?” I ask Soladin and Taj.

“Don’t forget who you are. Why you are doing this,” Taj says. “Love is what got me through it.”

The king shares a tender look with his consort.

I swallow and then nod. I can do this. I was born in shadows but my heart…my heart burns with anger, with love, with the fierce need to protect those around me.

“If I don’t make it,” I say to Harmony.

She shakes her head. “You will.”

My lips turn up. “Did you have a vision?”

“No. You’re too stubborn to die.”

I smile, then sober. “Take care of him. And of her.”

There is a silver sheen in her eyes. “Always.”

Don’t waste it.

Those had been Addy’s last words to me. An order to do whatever it is I need to do. And right now, I must take the Fire Throne back from Underhill. To lure her to me. To end this.

“Nic,” Bard shouts from his position by the window. “The dead are coming. A lot of them.”

No time. No time to think or to feel anything other than hope. Aiden taught me about hope and love. Addison personifies it. I can do this.

I don’t ease into it, don’t reach my hand forward and trail it over the charred wood that glistens as though it has been shellacked. I pivot on the dais and sit.

And wait for the Fire Throne’s judgment.

At first, there is only silence. A great and terrible stillness that portends the calm before the storm.

And then I start to burn, from the inside out. All the oxygen is stolen from my lungs. The fire robs me of breath, eating away at everything that I am. The inferno rears hotter, higher until I am engulfed in a pillar of flame.

Someone shouts my name. I’m dying, I know it. No one can live through this.

Too late.

The Face in the Mirror

Through the Man’s Eyes

Pharaildis pauses with the dagger held high over her head. Her dark brows pull together.

Nic. Aiden falls to his knees. He can feel her pain, the agony she’s in. His mate is dying.

The wolf rips free, seizing control faster than ever. He sees his mother cringe back, though she doesn’t leave Loki’s side.

“No,” Underhill had been inches from carving out his heart. She staggers back. Then vanishes.

“My lady?” Rodrick’s confusion is clear on his face.

The wolf doesn’t waste time. Still bound in Gleipnir, he slams into the distracted fey general with all the force of a linebacker. They sprawl in the dirt. The fey’s head hits the stone floor with a dull thud. Blue-black blood spreads out from beneath him. His eyes stare sightlessly up at the cavern’s ceiling.

If he had been in wolf form, he would have ripped the bastard’s throat out.

I need to speak. Aiden tells the beast.

Hurry. The wolf recedes.

Aiden scrambles to his feet.

“Help me,” he gasps to his mother. “Remove the chain.”

“The wolf,” she whimpers. “He’ll kill us.”

“I’m trying to save you, Mom. Save all of us.”

Her lips tremble.

“Do it for your daughter,” he snarls. “The baby you handed over to Freya because you chose to stay with his sorry ass.”

Loki stares at