Prologue
Madden
I stalked across the mesa, nothing but rock dotted with the occasional green tree or spindly bush for miles in each direction.
The sun shone high in the sky, beating down, sweat cresting my brow.
A dragon soared overhead, no doubt flying toward its mountain home.
I shaded my eyes and stared at the mighty creature as it flew past. Fire streamed from the dragon’s mouth, and I ducked, heart pounding hard.
Screams erupted in my mind; the smell of burnt flesh made my stomach churn. No. No, not here. I shook away the memories and straightened. I wouldn’t think about all the ways I’d screwed up my life. Not right now.
I swiped an arm across my brow. Fuck, it was hot. Then again, it was always hot here.
Stones stacked on top of each other, creating arches, pillars, columns, all scattered throughout the desert plateau I currently walked on.
I reached for the sword strapped across my back, my gaze sweeping the area for her.
I’d been searching for hours and still was no closer to finding her than when I’d stepped foot in this fireforsaken land.
A squeak escaped from a pile of stone to my left that looked like it might’ve once been a window frame.
This used to be a castle, evident by the crumbled throne to my right.
I tried to imagine what the castle might’ve looked like, a mighty structure built right into the side of the mountain, all stone and strength.
Dragons flying high around it. A moat, perhaps, circling the bottom.
It would’ve been glorious. I wished I could’ve seen it, but it had been destroyed long ago, and I doubted I’d ever see the likes of something so grand again.
Not in Gilraeth, not when evil lurked in every corner of this place.
The squeaking grew louder, and a mouse darted out from underneath the shade of the rock, but it didn’t get far. A snake followed it, snatching up the little creature in its mouth before slithering off.
I let my gaze roam. Where could this princess be? I’d heard the rumors, like everyone else. That she was cursed, trapped somewhere here by the sorceress. That dozens had attempted to rescue her. And I needed to find her. It was the only way.
A cluster of caves lay up ahead, so I surged forward, hoping she’d be there. If she wasn’t, then this entire thing would’ve been a waste of time.
I approached the caves slowly, muscles tensed, body ready for any threat that might lurk within.
I chose the middle one, the biggest opening that might have room to house a sleeping princess.
Spirits below, maybe the rumors had been false, and the sorceress had killed her.
Then I would truly be out of options. I thought of the deal I’d made and grimaced as I inched deeper into the cave.
Heat seared against my back before I saw anything.
“Don’t move,” a voice said from behind.
A smile came to my face, and I cracked my neck, ready for a fight.
I pulled at the invisible strings inside my body, the ones that roped through my veins, my blood, my bones.
I imagined those strings alighting with fire, and warmth filled me as flames appeared in my hand. Fire magic roared to life within me.
“Don’t even think about it,” a second voice said, and on the edges of my vision, I caught flickering flames, wings.
“We’re kind of immune to that,” another voice said.
I sighed and let my fire dim, eyes now adjusting to the threat that surrounded me: fire faeries.
Rare creatures that dwelled in caves like these.
They flitted around me, flapping their wings of fire, looking almost identical, save for their flashing eyes, all different colors: sapphire blue, dusty pink, and lavender.
Embers flickered from their tiny bodies, flames making up their legs, torsos, everything.
It was said they had the ability to steal one’s fire magic, to reach out and take it from you until you no longer could wield your own flame.
Let them take my magic. Maybe that would solve all my problems. I gritted my teeth. But no. I had a plan. This princess would be my salvation, whether she wanted to be or not, and I wasn’t going to let some faeries stand in my way.
“What do you want?” I asked.
One of them, the one with the blue eyes, surged forward. “What do you want?”
“Elexa,” the pink-eyed one hissed. “Don’t be so aggressive. He seems nice.”
“He looks like a miscreant,” Elexa responded.
“He could be working with her,” the purple-eyed one said.
They must mean the sorceress. But why did they fear her? Surely she was no threat to these ancient creatures.
My instinct was to fight, to draw my sword and slash my way through this. It was the only thing I knew how to do well. But another voice, a quiet one, whispered that was not the way.
I raised my hands in the air. “My name is Madden, and I’m not working with the sorceress.” When the faeries just hung there, eyeing me suspiciously, I continued, “Your name is Elexa?” I asked the one with blue eyes.
Her wings fluttered, embers rising from them, and she gave a curt nod.
My attention moved to the other two. “And you are?”
“Shira,” the pink-eyed one said.
“Ephira,” the last one said with a hesitant smile.
Now I needed to find out exactly what they knew and if they could help my cause—or hurt it.
“I know why I hate the sorceress.” I spread out my arms. “Why everyone in Gilraeth hates her.”
She’d only cursed their princess and taken over the fire court, bending the dragons to her will, using her dark, foreign magic to bend everyone to her will. She was dangerous, and no one had been able to overthrow her, not that there hadn’t been attempts.
I stepped forward and the three faeries flittered back. “But why are you afraid of her? You dwell in these caves, you don’t live by the same laws of magic that humans do.”
“That doesn’t mean we don’t care about humans, about the princess!” Shira burst out.
Elexa elbowed her. “Quiet, Shira.”
Ah, so that was what this was about. They protected the princess. So she was in this cave, and she had her own personal guard.
I crossed my arms. “Princess Seraphina, you mean?”
“No!” Elexa said at the same time as Shira mumbled, “Yes.”
“Oh blood and fire.” Elexa threw her hands up in the air, the flames flaring from them as if irritated.
“Let’s give him a chance,” Ephira said. “If he doesn’t give us satisfactory answers, then we steal his flame and burn him alive.” She smiled, her black teeth sharp and pointy. Though they were tiny, I had a feeling these fire faeries would put up a fight. I needed to get on their good sides.
“I’m here to rescue the princess,” I said.
“You,” scoffed Elexa, and once again, Shira elbowed her.
“Don't be rude,” the pink-eyed faery whispered.
“He looks like a delinquent,” Elexa said through gritted teeth.
She wasn't wrong.
Ephira held out her hands. “Will both of you stop with your constant quibbling?” She set her gaze on me, and I had a feeling Ephira was the leader of this little ragtag bunch. “Why do you want to rescue her?”
I smiled and hoped it looked friendly and not threatening. “Because I want to restore the fire court to its former glory. I want the true queen to rule.”
Elexa crossed her arms. “And let me guess, you want to rule by her side as king?”
“I’m no king,” I said, voice gruffer than I meant. The first truthful thing I’d said that day.
The faeries looked at each other as if having a silent conversation.
“Okay,” Ephira said finally.
Then they turned and flew through the dark cave.
They hadn’t burned me alive, so I assumed I was supposed to follow.
I walked after them, the only sound my boots slapping against the rocky ground.
Darkness swallowed me, the faeries emitting a soft glow ahead that I trailed.
I walked for what felt like hours, though it couldn’t have been that long.
Finally, we came to an open cavern, and my heart stopped beating for a minute.
A woman lay in a coffin made of dragon scales and what looked like human bone.
Skulls, femurs, ribs, all layered together, tied by twine and thick rope to create a sort of bed with straw laying atop it all. Not a comfortable bed, at that.
I approached slowly, noting her blonde hair that fell in waves, almost reaching her waist. Her pale skin had a dewy glow, not of someone who was dead. Her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. Not dead, then. Sleeping. She truly was cursed.
I’d seen her once before. When she visited my tiny village with her mother and father, the king and queen of the fire court. I’d been just as awed by her beauty back then as I was now. She would be perfect for what I needed. As long as my plan worked. It had to work.
I realized someone lay next to her in the coffin. A man with blonde hair, a square-cut jaw. I snorted at his attire: soft black trousers, a silk tunic, shiny leather boots. A nobleman of the fire court, most likely.
The faeries gathered around him, their eyes somber as they gazed upon the princess. It was clear they cared for her.
“After the sorceress killed Seraphina’s parents, we took her into hiding, trained her, raised her,” Shira said softly. “But the sorceress found her eventually.”
“Why not kill her too?” I asked. “Why this curse?”
“We don’t know,” Elexa said, voice sharp. “And it doesn’t matter. She’s as good as dead.”
“Don’t say that!” Shira’s eyes shined with tears.
I didn’t have time for this. “What, exactly, is the curse?” I asked.
“From what we can gather, she’s stuck in her own mind, nightmares ravaging her,” Shira said and fluttered forward, resting a hand on Seraphina’s pale cheek. She caressed it softly.
“And what’s he doing here?” I gestured to the man.
Elexa snorted and Shira shushed her.
“He might break the curse,” Shira said.
“Look at him.” Elexa pointed. “He’s not going to last an hour with her.”
Ephira just shook her head. “Seraphina, she’s, well she was always headstrong, but we think that maybe the curse has . . . changed her.”
My patience was growing thin. What were they getting at? I was about to tell them to just come out and say it, but suddenly the man gasped and sat up straight, eyes wild as he looked around. He jumped off the coffin and pointed at the faeries.
“She’s mad,” he said. “She’s completely mad. No one is ever going to rescue her. Who would want to? She can’t lead the fire court.” He looked at me. “Good luck,” he muttered as he pushed past me and stalked away.
That answered that question. Still, I’d come this far, and I was out of other options.
Shira bit her lip. “We think Seraphina has lost sight of who she is, has lost her memories. Someone has to show her the way back.”
“That’s the key to breaking this curse,” Ephira said.
Spirits below. This was going to be more work than I had expected.
“So what, I help her remember who she is and, boom, she wakes up?”
The faeries exchanged looks. “We don’t really know exactly how it all works, but that surely has to be the first step.”
I groaned. Hopefully time worked differently in the princess’s curse. Blood and fire, this was the stupidest thing I’d ever done. But it was my last chance, my only chance to fix everything, to get my life back.
“How do I enter her curse, then?” I stepped up to the princess, and the faeries’ relief was palpable as their shoulders relaxed.
Ephira flew to Seraphina and lifted the spindle that hung around her neck on a simple piece of twine. “Prick your finger, and you’ll enter her mind.” She patted the coffin, the empty spot next to Seraphina. “Just lay here. It’ll be painless.”
I pushed past them. I wasn’t afraid of pain. My big body almost didn’t fit next to her, and I had to curl up on my side, press myself to her to even be able to lay there. I looked at the faeries, such hope on their faces, then I glanced back at Seraphina.
Here went nothing. After all, how bad could this princess be?