Hidden Kingdoms (Hidden Kingdoms of Avelin #1)

Prologue

KAIUS

The magik that flooded my veins crackled with uncertainty as we found ourselves facing a grove of olive trees, their roots so ancient that they twisted over one another, pushing from the ground as though at any moment they would break free of the earth completely. Tangled limbs contoured together until they formed thick ropes of intertwined branches that crawled along every surface.

If it was in a lovers’ embrace or a bitter fight for dominance I couldn’t tell and sat nestled in the centre of them; Nova’s humble abode.

Xol’s rays were unrelenting, beating down on us with a heat so different from home, heating the black fabric of my clothes as sweat beaded on my brow. It was a suffocating thing. A deterrent. This wasn’t somewhere you wanted to stay for long.

The canvas of leaves ahead provided the only offer of shade and with a nod to each other we started forward, apprehension prickling the back of my neck with every step deeper.

Or maybe that was eyes.

Whatever it was, the sun wasn’t the only reason I wasn’t keen on hanging around.

Tentatively, I pressed my magik forward, brushing its touch along the boughs, a gentle call. An attempt to connect with the imposing tangle of nature we were heading towards. A sudden sting raced up my arm ensuring I hastily retracted my power, confusion niggling at me at the rejection.

That was new. And wholly fucking unsettling.

Slashes of faded ribbon were tied around every branch, their frayed edges mixing with the leaves that wove a canopy above our heads keeping off the glare of the sun. The dry floor crunched under our boots, spots of light dotting the ground as they breached the leafy roof. Along with the small dark fruits of olives which peppered the trees, strings of bells hung between the sun-bleached fabric, a wind that somehow never touched our overheated skin knocking against them as we passed through, alerting our presence. The ringing now the sound of our fated destination.

It didn’t really matter about the bells; Nova knew we were here the moment we stepped foot over her boundary.

She was the one who called us here.

Not in the conventional way of ‘let's pick up the phone and see how the guys are’.

No, that was too easy for Nova. She prefers cryptic messages and damning omens that resulted in me having to now triple check every pair of boots I put on in case she’s somehow magiked another dead sparrow inside them. A simple text would have been enough but that just wasn’t her style.

We weren’t exactly friends, though that was no reason to pollute my footwear with avian corpses, other than the sick satisfaction she got from imagining my unknowing foot descending on that poor bird's broken body. She probably watched somehow and then got off on my screams, her cackle bouncing happily through this thicket of trees while she danced naked under the moon or whatever the fuck sort of rituals it was she did in this place.

Magik felt thick in the air we moved through, its touch grating along my nerves. My lungs burned slightly with every inhale and though that could be the aftereffects of travelling, I was more certain it was the ancient magik that this place was steeped in, attempting to infiltrate my body. The darkness within me stirred at the idea. It liked to add to its well of power, but I was smart enough to know this wasn’t the sort of magik to mess around with.

Deep gouges had been carved into the trunks of the trees, the symbols unfamiliar—runes weren’t my forte—thick sap leaking from each one like a festering wound. I felt Bas roll his shoulders next to me, attempting to throw off the heavy presence of power pressing down on us. The heat and magik combined to a cloying pressure that under different circumstances would have turned us away; today we had no choice but to press forward.

Birds called softly from within the trees, flitting from branch to branch and I wondered if they knew about the owner of this establishment’s proclivity to bird murder.

Did they wonder where their friend was? If they were next?

Boughs creaked in an ominous sigh as we picked our way towards what could be seen of the crumbling stone house. It was probably a good thing that the trees grew so closely, cradling the structure almost lovingly, keeping it from falling to pieces. Though I imagined the magik that permeated this place was helping, too.

I swiped my hand across my damp face, side eyeing my travelling partner who looked all too perfectly put together for my liking. Sure, he ran much hotter than me naturally, which was largely down to his magik, but still, this place was like being in a fucking oven.

The old, warped door swung inwards as we approached, just another example of how this place knew of our presence.

“After you,” I mumbled with feigned respect. He could step first into the unknown. I had his back. He rolled his eyes at me but stepped over the threshold and into the shadowed house. I followed, eyes taking a moment to adjust from the brightness outside and found myself facing the being who had summoned us here.

There was no telling how old Nova was; her face was young and old at the same time. The smoothness of youth and the lines of age shifted between one blink and the other, so fast you could convince yourself it never happened.

Thick black hair hung in a straight curtain down her back, ropes of the midnight strands threaded in beads that rattled slightly every time she moved. Her eyes were large, dark. From here they looked black, no distinction between pupil and iris. I imagined if I was to move closer there would be a subtle difference. Maybe they were a dark navy or a deep brown.

I had no intention of getting closer.

I was content in the knowledge of not knowing. Her lithe, pale frame was draped in a simple dress cut low to show the tops of her breasts, her neck wrapped in strings of coloured beads and what looked suspiciously like tiny bones. Nova’s hands rested flat on the table in front of her, long bony thumbs touching. Her short nails caked in dirt like she had been digging around in the mud. The rest of her was spotless.

This wasn’t the first time I had encountered Nova, but it was the first time I had been here, to her home. Apparently, that was a big deal, an honour.

The room was bare, and I wondered how she could live like this. One chair—that she occupied—sat in the centre of the single room, an empty table in front of her. The trees had claimed the space inside as I had suspected, their branches invading through any crack they could find. There was no glass left in the few windows and gauzy, white curtains hung across them, blowing in that undetectable wind.

A fire blazed high under a stone mantel—kind of unnecessary when you lived in a place so favoured by Xol—and that was it. There was nothing else.

If she lives here, how is she so pale?

Nova’s black eyes blinked slowly, full lips pulling into a wide, eerie smile as we stopped close enough for our legs to brush the table, towering over her.

“You came.” Her voice broke the silence.

“Did we have a choice?” Bas’ low voice replied.

“No.” Her smile stretched bigger. “No, you didn’t.”

Quiet hung between us again as we stood, waiting. Nova’s head tipped slightly as she looked up at us, the power she was radiating as uncomfortable as the stifling heat. It tasted like charred bones on my tongue.

Now what? There had been no instructions with her blood-stained summons.

“Do you have your listening ears on, boys?” Her black eyes sparkled as her hands flew wider on the table, fingers spread wide. I had a mere second to track the movement before we were both thrown off balance as she threw herself forward, grabbing each of our hands and slamming them down on the table under her own with unnatural strength. Giving us little choice but to hunch over the worn surface.

Her filthy nails dug bloody crescents into our skin, and I found myself incapable of pulling away as a heavy pressure kept me in place.

The world around us descended into a forced silence, the rhythm of Nova’s breaths the only sound to reach my ears. Until she opened her mouth and out poured a voice most definitely not the one she had been taunting us with only a moment ago. It was a breathy whisper that filled every space within the decrepit stone room we were in. A thousand voices speaking as one as blood welled across our skin at the sharp slice of her nails.

“Darkness calls and the seven fall

if the one cannot be found, consumed.

The heir will join with wind and earth

while flames stand stoic, incinerate.

Hidden, hidden but bright as the stars

a rightful place, taken.

Power to part the obscure

when all are found, connected.”

Each word held a weight as they left her mouth and I felt as they branded themselves into my skull, rendering me unable to forget, my magik allowing hers to intrude for just a moment. Yet, whatever meaning they held was lost on me right now.

She lifted her hands from ours and we both lurched backwards as the sounds of the world rushed to us once again. The birds continued their song, and the fire roared once more. Wiping the crimson streaks and smudges of dirt from my skin across my trousers, this time grateful for the black fabric. The gouges looked back at me like a collection of tiny sinister grins and this once, I wasn’t a fan of the pain.

“And that’s supposed to mean?” A deep voice rang out and I refocused, feeling the words she had spoken settle within me. He could never indulge in a good mystery, needing the answer before the question had ever been asked but he was out of sorts here. The relaxed charm he liked to front to the world scraped away.

“I do not question the Goddess. I merely follow as her humble servant.” Nova’s hand twisted over her chest as she spoke and for a second, I was sure I saw symbols carved into her skin, red and raised. She finished the gesture and whatever I had seen was gone, replaced by the smooth flesh that had enticed me all those moons ago when we had first met.

“What I do have, is a little something to help you on your way.”

Her hand—now stained red along with the dirt caked onto it—snaked down to her lap before she dropped something heavy onto the table; leaning closer I found myself looking at a large, muddy rock.

Talk about anticlimactic.

Without warning, she closed her fist around the stone and whipped it towards his head. It was only years of training that ensured Bas caught it before it smacked into him, which at any other time, would have been highly hilarious. It looked a lot smaller in his big hands and its pass through the air had dislodged a chunk of mud that must have been filling the hole now present in the centre.

Heat flared from his body, fierce and hot before he took control of his emotions.

“What is this?”

“I did not take you for an idiot, prince of fire. Can you not see it is a rock?”

“Yes, I can see it is a rock,” he ground out, his tight hold on himself threatening to unravel the longer we were here.

“Well done,” she condescended, eyes sparkling with glee at the tick of his jaw. “That rock will help you find your answer. Though you must imbue it with power. Charge it up if you will.”

“I can do that.” I nod at her, reaching for the rock clutched in his hand, glad to finally have some direction.

“No.” Her voice rings out sharp, firm and final. “Him.” She pointed a dirty finger and I dropped my hand.

Softer she added, “Your time will come, pretty one.”

I decided not to push for more on that ominous forecast, instead focusing on the dirty stone he was slowly turning over as if the answers would be written on it.

“What does it do?”

“I’m sure two big boys such as yourselves can figure it out.”

Standing from her seat she wandered close to the fire, the knees of her dress covered in mud. Leaning down, she shoved her hand into a small pot that had definitely not been there a moment ago. Removing her clenched fist, a black sand-like substance fell through her fingers. Before I could comprehend her intentions, she flicked her hand at the fire, sending the grit into the flames. They roared at its presence, pulsing into the room in an explosion of heat. Lurching away from them I banged hard into the jagged walls.

But Bas didn’t move; the flames held no fear for him. I saw the twist of his hand at his side and then I saw the hard edge to his features as the fire failed to abide his magik, continuing to lick at the exposed walls.

Nova’s cackle rang through the space, a harsh sound that carried a delight at his failure. The taste of her magik sucked from the room as the flames dropped to nothing but smouldering ashes, and we were left standing in this empty room with nothing but a rock and a prophecy etched into our minds.