Dragons Against Them (Kingdoms of Fire and Ice Book 2) (20 page)

“
A
nd what do
you think of this illusion, my dear?”

Rosalind stepped through the next door after Queen Giselle and scanned yet another set of new surroundings. Gone were the castle and grassy knoll, replaced by what appeared to be an endless sea of wildflowers. The blooms were awash in moonlight, swaying in gentle waves from a soft breeze. She turned and turned again, looking for a point of reference—a castle, a forest, a rock wall—but found none.

“I know not how you create such images, my queen, but the beauty in this place seems beyond what our world could possess.”

“Thank you, child,” said Giselle. “Jaxon, does this view please you as well?”

He bent to press a kiss to his mother’s cheek. “Aye. ’Tis your most beautiful illusion yet.”

The three of them started forward, their pace unhurried amid the calming scene.

“Do all your illusions reflect the time of day as these have this night?” Rosalind asked as she ran her hand over the waist-high blooms.

“No…would you rather it appear to be daytime?”

The queen’s voice lost its confident edge, and Rosalind wanted to kick herself. After all Giselle had done, the last thing she wished to do was insult her.

“Forgive me, Your Majesty,” she said. “This place is perfect just as it appears. I cannot wait to return here in the morning, to see how vibrant the blooms are when bathed in sunlight.”

“Nor can I.” Giselle drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. A smile ghosted across her face, and Rosalind found herself curious to know more of the queen’s story. Where was her husband? Had he been killed fighting King Jarin’s decree of exile? If dead, why had she not married another?

The queen’s eyes suddenly reopened, and her gaze flashed to the door. “Come, let us adjourn to the parlor where we shall finalize our battle plans.”

“Must we go?” Rosalind stepped farther from the others, reluctant to leave just yet. “It is so very peaceful here. And quiet.”

Something amid the blossoms caught her eye. A scrap of parchment, perhaps? As she drew closer, its freed edge flapped upon the breeze. Indeed, it appeared to be parchment-like, but the color was all wrong—a brilliant gold even in the moonlight. And the odd script upon it was not in black but red. And purple?

Rosalind plucked it free from the flower’s stem and traced her fingers over its smooth yet crinkled surface. “Cadbury milk chocolate bar?” she read aloud, then held it up for the others to see. “Have you ever seen anything so unusual?”

The queen and her son exchanged the briefest of glances before Giselle stepped forward with her hand extended.

“Leave it, child. ’Tis but a part of the illusion.”

Shouts erupted behind her, and Rosalind spun to see a stream of people burst through the doorway. Jaxon moved to shield her and the queen from the oncoming mayhem, but not before she spied several familiar faces: Prince Zayne. Her wretched half sister.

And Quinn.

* * *

A
ddie held
tight to Zayne’s hand as he stalked forward, with Brom following close behind. The trio had to hustle to keep up with Quinn, who, once they’d busted through the manor doors, had charged ahead like a man on a mission. In one smooth motion, he’d swiped a lit sconce from the inner hall and then angled for an open door ahead. Several more sconces were confiscated as Queen Helena, the wizards, and their band from Edana surged after him, helping to light the scene before them now. Unease washed over her as they stepped into the room, and Addie wished Quinn had approached with more caution.

What if he was leading them into a trap? What if his “I’m not such a bad guy after all” talk yesterday had been an act?

Or maybe, thought her more sympathetic side, Quinn was simply eager to see his mother after all these years, or to retrieve Rosalind, or both. Though as he drew to an abrupt halt ahead of them and Addie and Zayne came to a stop beside him, she saw with surprise that neither of the other women looked at all pleased he had come. Nor did the beast of a man who stepped before Rosalind and a woman Addie knew with a single glance was Giselle.

The dark-haired, older version of Queen Helena glared at them, face flushed with anger and dark eyes throwing daggers their way. The man in a protective stance before her, though much broader with colorings more auburn than dark chocolate, shared some of the same facial features as the witch queen. The shape of his brow. The high cheekbones. And while the stranger was intimidating as hell in the flickering light of the sconces held high around them, Addie sensed something oddly familiar about him…

“Who dares enter this place without my permission?” roared Giselle.

“We mean you no harm,” said Quinn.

Rosalind stepped to her guard’s side. “Then why have you come?”

Really? She has to even ask?
Addie fought the urge to march over and club her.

“To rescue you, my lady.” Quinn’s eyes glowed scarlet in the moonlight as they shifted from her to Giselle. “Release Princess Rosalind to us, and we shall leave without further harm to your men.”

“Release her?” Giselle tipped her head back and laughed. “Why, she was the one who sought me.”

Addie stepped closer to Zayne. Did Quinn’s own mother not recognize him?

“A convenient tale.” Queen Helena stepped forward, and a small group of Edana’s warriors quickly flanked her. “But a lie just the same. Enough, sister. Let the girl go.”

“I speak only the truth,
dear
Helena.” Giselle snapped her fingers, and puffs of smoke sprang up from the ground all around her, Rosalind, and their muscle-bound escort. In a blink, the three were flanked by at least a dozen armed warriors. “Far more than you this night, I imagine. How else did you escape from your lovely castle and playing the role of ever-obedient servant to your king?”

“Home is indeed where I would be, had you not used your trickery on Berinon the night prior.”

A wicked grin lit upon Giselle’s lips. “Jealous, are we?”

Zayne’s mother hissed in response to her sister’s prodding, and Addie suddenly realized the queen’s earlier reference to last night’s trickery went further than mere words. Much further. Did that kind of thing happen around here often, Addie wondered as she cast a quick glance at her fiancé. A violent shiver shook her.

God, I hope not.

“Rosalind, please,” said Quinn. “You must break free of their spell. This place…’tis not real.”

“Oh, I assure you, warrior, this is quite real. Is that not correct, eldest daughter of Jarin?” Giselle took something from Rosalind’s hand and held it out before her. “You of all people should know that.”

Addie squinted across the twenty or so yards of space separating them. And though on the fringe of lighting from their sconces, there was no mistaking the shiny, crinkled object in the witch’s hand:

An empty Cadbury candy bar wrapper.

“It…can’t be.”

She looked beyond the scowling trio, out across the endless view of wildflowers. Her gaze soon settled on the faint outline of an electrical tower far off in the distance. But weren’t wizards supposed to be the only ones who could open a portal between their worlds?

Overhead, a star in motion caught her attention. It moved slow and steady across the night sky, its light flickering as it went. Not a star, she now realized, but an airplane.

They were in her world, all of them. Was this it, then? Was this the last leg of her “thrice” journey?

“Adelaide?” said Zayne, unease pulsating around them.

Addie wrapped both arms around his waist and held tight, fearful they might become separated. She wouldn’t lose him, not again.

“Enough with your tricks, witch,” Haelan called from behind them. He stepped forward but quickly had his path blocked by Quinn, a look of warning upon his face. A look Haelan ignored as he continued to speak. “You play with magic beyond your control.”

“Beyond my control?” Giselle spread her arms wide. “Do you not see the view around you?”

“The prophecy was not yours to meddle with,” he hissed.

“Nor was it yours!” Giselle cried. The night’s mild breeze transformed into a biting wind, snapping wildflower stems around them in the growing gale. The witch’s hair whipped around her head like the snakes of Medusa. “You come into my home this night casting blame when it was
your kind
who set this whole affair into motion.
Wizards
who lay in wait all these years, hoping for its fulfillment.
Wizards
who sought to harness the foretold endless powers.”

Members of both groups were exchanging glances among themselves as though trying to make sense of Giselle’s words. But the wizards remained stoically in place, unfazed by her outburst. Haelan lifted a hand, and the wind died to nothing more than a gentle breeze once more.

“More lies,” he said, boredom dripping from each word.

“Oh?” Giselle shifted her gaze to Berinon with lifted brow. “Then tell us, great wizard of Edana, where were you the night Jarin’s eldest daughter was first cast from our realm?”

Berinon frowned. “I know not—”

Giselle raised a hand and clenched her fingers as though gripping a large invisible cup. Beside them, Helena gasped. Addie turned and watched in horror as the queen clawed at her throat, no longer able to draw in breath.

“Mother!”

Zayne slid from Addie’s grasp and rushed to his mother’s side. With a growl, Berinon raised a hand to counter Giselle’s spell.

“Try it, wizard, and I shall crush her throat,” said Giselle, her voice deadly calm. “Answer the question, and I shall let my sister go.”

He remained silent a moment more, his eyes narrowing to slits. “I was there.”

“Yet you did nothing to protect the child,” said Giselle. “Why?”

Berinon looked from the witch to Helena, whose face was now purple from lack of oxygen, and back. “She had to be sent away,” he ground out between gritted teeth. “For the prophecy to be fulfilled.”

A look of immense satisfaction washed over Giselle’s face. She spread her clenched fingers wide, and Helena dropped to the ground, coughing and dragging in large gulps of air. Zayne crouched beside his mother, offering her quaking shoulders support.

Addie found herself frozen in place, rage slowly consuming her as Berinon’s words sank in. He had been there. Had willingly stood by and watched as she was cast from their kingdom—alone, and only a few hours old. That was why he’d spied on her all these years. Not out of concern or remorse. Not for Helena or Zayne or anyone else but for him. And all because of some stupid prophecy.

A growl began deep in her throat and a fierce urge to lash out welled within her. “You were
in on it
? How could you do that to me? I could have died!”

In a flash, both Zayne and Brom were there, restraining her. She squirmed and cursed, trying to break free from their grasp.

“Damn it, let me go. I’ll kill him for what he’s done.
Kill him!
”

“It’s the dragon’s blood, Addie,” Zayne whispered, his grasp unwavering. “You must learn to control it.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. No one had said anything about this kind of side effect to their partial bonding. But as she met his fiery gaze, she knew he was telling the truth. With clenched fists, she ceased her struggles and returned her attention to Giselle, who was stepping forward with hands clasped behind her back.

“So you let your mentor cast her out and maintained, even after his death, the lie that it was the witches who were to blame for the girl’s disappearance. That my people wanted her dead. True, is it not?”

“’Twas a believable story,” interjected Haelan, “after what happened that night with Queen Vanora. A pity the king’s true midwife had been called away at the last moment for a
family emergency
.”

A sinister smile curled the wizard’s lips, and gasps rang out amid both crowds. Addie’s stomach turned. Had her mother died in vain, her death a smoke screen to set all this in motion? Had Addie’s own birth been her mother’s death sentence?

“Cursed wizards!” roared Giselle. Lightning streaked the sky behind them, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. “You cast blame like a plague upon us, twisting Jarin’s thoughts and heart. We lost everything but the clothes upon our backs.
Everything!
”

“And yet,” said Berinon, his voice ever calm, “you lived.”

“Aye, that we did. For you see, we too knew of the prophecy. Two kingdoms kept behind the veil, possess a magic for all to hale…” The evil smirk returned to Giselle’s lips as she moved to slip a motherly arm around a confused Rosalind. “But in your arrogance, wizards, you failed to consider the possibility that your presumed children of fire and ice might not be the only pair.”

Haelan snorted. “How many could there be? There remains but one child of fire.”

“Or so you believed.” Giselle returned to where Rosalind and their bulky companion stood, and stroked a hand down his cheek. “For you see, Berinon is not the only man I have fooled with my sorcery. A king’s seed I also sought.”

A strangled cry rang out beside them. Addie looked to Helena, still seated upon the ground. Wide-eyed, the queen raised a shaking hand to her mouth. Beside her stood Berinon, glaring at Giselle and looking mad enough to spit fire.