Kingdom of Fire by Ana Calin

Author:Ana Calin [Calin, Ana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fae romance, fantasy romance, Fire king
Publisher: Ana Calin
Published: 2020-07-24T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER IV

Cerys

NO, JUST NO! EVERYBODY is staring at us. My limbs tremble under the heavy armor from holding the shield too high for too long in order to cover Nazarean. Luckily, he jumped off my shoulder the moment I dropped the shield, and slid under it.

Xerxes steps in front of me, blocking me from the others’ sight, but it doesn’t do as much as he’d hoped to dodge attention. We heard the guards talk about our tracks in the snow, so they already know the castle’s defenses have been breached, but they’re not making the info public because of the feast. They have orders from ‘the Throne Hall’ to keep it quiet as not to cause panic among the guests.

But I’m pretty freaking sure that our cover will blow in a matter of seconds. Xerxes has already started raising his weapons, expecting soldiers to approach us, or the courts to start asking questions. But an impressive-looking retinue of what looks like royals appears on the grand stairs in the middle of the hall. Grand stairs made of ice, adorned with magical runes and symbols carved in icicles.

Trumpets fill the air, and then more instruments join in with music that carries magic. The kind of magic designed to delight the senses, sucking all attention away from us. It reaches me on deep levels as well. My mouth opens, and I can’t stop staring, even though I’m aware I should use the moment to pick up my shield, hide Nazarean, and make my way with Xerxes through the crowd away from here.

But Xerxes fixes his eyes on the people on the stairs as well. His irises have turned into molten fire behind the visor in his helmet.

“Honored guests, thank you for joining us on this special occasion,” a man declares, opening his arms. He seems to be the leader of the group, and he looks familiar, but I can’t make out his face clearly enough to recognize him. What I know is that he isn’t Lysander. In fact he can’t be a Winter Fae, not with his dark hair and his bronze skin. By his strong frame he’s a warrior, even though he’s wearing a prince’s clothes. He continues with his speech, the crowd hanging on his words, but only when he refers to Lysander as his ‘brother, the King’, the memory hits me.

This is Sandros, Lysander’s half-brother, who is half fire fae. I look to Xerxes, gauging his expression. I don’t think he’s under the spell of the music, especially now that it’s stopped—it was only meant to introduce the group of men, a group of winter fae with gold and silver hair, icy-bluish skin and blue and golden eyes circling Sandros, a half fire fae that Xerxes regards with animosity.

He turns and glides through the awe-stricken crowd. No one dares speak louder than a whisper, so we can hear Sandros’ entire speech, but when it becomes clear what they’re celebrating, Xerxes comes to an abrupt halt. Even under the armor, I can tell that all his muscles tightened.

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