The Lionheart (The Harbinger Book 4) Read online

  Were these two even capable of erasing memories? What if—she had a terrible thought—what if her memories were gone forever? What if she never got them back? Faith had no idea what her life was like before, but she knew knowing was better than not knowing.

  “We did not alter your memories,” Foresh spoke, studying her. He leaned in, and she caught the scent of woods. Like a forest, wild nature rolled up into a Fae man. “I do sense powerful magic on you, but it’s too strong for me. The only one who could break it is Hart, I think.”

  “Best get to him soon, then,” Faith said. “Which way to him? How far is he? Maybe we should get me real clothes, first…” Her words came out in a hurried jumble, and she felt anxious. She didn’t know why she felt anxious, only that she did.

  What an awful feeling.

  Swift grinned at her. “One thing at a time. I promise, Lioness, we will get there eventually.”

  Faith didn’t know what to say. The two Fae before her were her only option, seeing as how she had no idea who she was and no clue where she was. She had to stick with them and hope for the best. They were handsome enough fellows, but by God, if either of them tried anything with her, they’d get a fast kick to the balls. She wasn’t about to play around.

  Plus, strangely enough, it felt like her heart was already full of love for someone she couldn’t remember.

  Chapter Four

  Sellyn was not happy. Actually, to say she wasn’t happy would be an understatement. The way her yellow eyebrows creased, how the corners of her mouth tilted downwards, her cheeks growing rosy; she was furious. She and Light were only ones in Nilda’s tent, for some semblance of privacy—awkward, considering the piles of clothes from Faith and Finn that still lay untouched.

  Jag and Nilda were outside, watching Dracyrus, who had followed them. A whole horde of Malus had slowly ventured out, and Light didn’t doubt that when he left the tent, he would see the entire camp all huddled together, trying to get a clear view of the Dracon from everyone’s nightmares.

  Nilda thought the Dread King told the truth—but how was that possible when he and the Harbinger were enemies? Rivals of the utmost kind? Light knew it didn’t make sense, he knew there was a piece of the puzzle he was missing, but he didn’t have the chance to sit down and talk about it, mostly because his mother was currently raging across from him.

  “That thing is not Camden,” Sellyn spoke. “Camden is dead. That thing is an Ulen.”

  “That thing,” he echoed his mother, hating how snobby she sounded, “is Cam. He’s still in there—he might be wilder, but he’s still Cam.”

  Sellyn shook her head. “Ulen are in the Cove for a reason. They are not civilized. They are monsters. They feed on the blood of others and they crave the destruction they bring! He might look like Camden, but he is not—and I cannot believe you would bring him here, around all of these Malus, knowing what he is. He is just as dangerous as that Dracon outside!”

  “He is your son, just like me.”

  “No, my eldest son is dead, just like my mate is.” Sellyn took a step toward him, gripping him by the shoulders. She was not an overly touchy person; she avoided touching entirely anytime she could. It was not the kind, gentle touch a mother should give her son. It was rough, stern, and he wanted to pull away, but he didn’t. “You are the only one I have. Do not make a mistake by trusting that Ulen.”

  She asked too much. Light pulled away from her, frowning. “Do not make me promise that, mother. He may be Ulen, but he is Cam. He is my brother, whether you believe him to be or not.”

  “How did he even wind up here, with you?” Her nostrils flared. “Were you writing to him all of these years? Writing to him and not me?” A different kind of hurt flashed upon her face, but it was swallowed up by anger momentarily. “You put your mate, the Harbinger, in the worst kind of danger you possibly could have.”

  “Cam would never hurt her. He cares for her, like we all do.” Light winced, knowing it was the wrong thing to say, but it was too late. The words were already out. Sharing Faith with Jag was one thing, but with his brother? He couldn’t imagine what his mother thought of him now.

  But then, he didn’t truly care. He just wanted his love back.

  Sellyn’s face twisted. She could not have looked more disgusted if she tried. “You…you let an Ulen bed your mate? I raised you better than this, Weylon. I raised you to be smart. An Ulen is never to be trusted, no matter what face they wear!” She made a big show of looking all around the tent. “Where is your precious brother now? Where is your lover? Where is the Human male? You know as well as I know that a single Ulen could easily take on twenty Elves. They are a race of beasts.”

  He did not appreciate what his mother was insinuating. “Cam didn’t take Faith.” As for Finn taking her, Light wouldn’t rule that one completely out, regardless of what Dracyrus claimed, but Cam? No. He wouldn’t. No matter what his mother said, he trusted his brother, and he would trust his brother until the day he died. Cam’s Elven life might’ve ended, but it did not make him a beast.

  Cam wouldn’t have taken her.

  “He is your son,” Light said. “As am I. He did what he had to do.”

  “Then find him,” Sellyn said, crossing her arms, challenging him. “Tell him to come in here, then. Tell him to prove me wrong. Tell him to bring your other missing friends while he’s at it.”

  The look Sellyn gave him stopped him from saying anything. Whatever Dracyrus had meant, Sellyn obviously didn’t care. She wanted him to find Cam? Fine. Light would march around the outskirts of camp shouting for his brother, all the while hoping with a desperate heart Faith would miraculously be with him, no Fae tricksters involved.

  Finn? They could lose Finn somewhere and Light wouldn’t blink at the loss.

  Straightening his back, Light met his mother’s stare as he said, “I will be back momentarily.” He stormed out of the tent, instantly greeted by Jag and Nilda. Dracyrus stood to the side, near another tent, his scaled arms hanging at his side. The Dracon was doing his best to ignore the stares of the children who inched closer to him.

  “She didn’t sound happy,” Jag remarked dryly.

  “I have to bring Cam to her, show her that he’s not some evil Ulen—”

  Dracyrus smirked. “Ulen are Ulen. Your Ulen is no Elf anymore. That other Elf is undoubtedly correct in this matter.”

  Jag shot him a look. “Thanks. That’s so helpful.” When he glanced back to Light, he muttered, “That one’s a bucket of sunshine, ain’t he? Why aren’t we trying to kill him again? He’s the big bad we’re trying to beat.”

  The Dracon scoffed. “As if any of you pathetic idiots could raise a hand against me. I would slice you in two before your puny brain comes up with your next comeback.”

  Nilda hid a chuckle, while Jag started to respond, but he settled for muttering to Light, “I don’t like him. Should I stay and watch him or help you find Cam?”

  Light shrugged. At this point, he had no idea what was happening. He didn’t know what to say or what to do. They needed to find Cam and Faith, and they needed to do it soon. “It’s up to you.”

  Dracyrus hissed at one of the Malus children who’d gotten too close to him. A wide-eyed girl with long brown hair and orange and black markings. She squealed and ran for her mother. “If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead. Do whatever you have to so we can leave. If you continue to waste time, I will find the Harbinger myself, and I’ll keep her to myself, too.”

  What…

  Light wasn’t certain what that meant, but he didn’t want to, as the Dracon said, continue to waste time, so he simply walked off after grabbing his bow. The bow made him feel complete, not so naked. The only thing he was missing right now was Faith and his brother.

  Bounding beside him, Jag glanced back, at Nilda and Dracyrus. The elder had started up a conversation with the Dracon, who did not look amused. “What is up with that, huh? He’s acting like a reformed villain. Not going to lie, it would make it easier
for us to beat him, because what was our chance of doing it before? Think we can take him now?”

  Light honestly wasn’t sure. “I don’t know, but right now, we do need to find Faith. And Cam.” The words his mother had said lingered in his head, and try as he might, he could not get them out of his head.

  He trusted his brother. He did.

  “And what was that bit about finding Faith and keeping her to himself?” Jag went on, oblivious to Light’s inner turmoil. “They hate each other. They’re fated enemies. He couldn’t…he couldn’t want her as a mate, could he?”

  He nearly tripped on his own feet. Leave it to Jag to startle Light, the pinnacle of poise. Light sent him a glare. “What are you talking about? The Dread King doesn’t…” He thought back to what the Dracon had said, the expression on his scaled face as he said it. Didn’t leave much room for interpretation.

  Jag grumbled, “He did say they were connected in ways we lowly people couldn’t understand. Either way, doesn’t matter, because Faith would never. He’s the bad guy! There’s no way. No. Way.”

  Light wasn’t certain if Jag went on so much because he thought it was true or because he was trying to convince himself of it. They met eyes for a while, and they were both silent for a minute. He said “No” the same time Jag muttered again “No way.” They continued walking to the edge of camp. Whatever was the truth, they’d get to it when they got to it.

  From what Dracyrus said, though, Faith wasn’t nearby.

  Together, Light and Jag trailed the outer rim of the Malus camp, hiking around the field of tents, calling out for Cam and Faith. They made a full circle, and had nothing to show for it. Nothing but the wind at their backs and the breeze blowing through their hair.

  Light couldn’t believe it. Cam wasn’t here. He would’ve come to him if he’d heard Light and Jag calling him. And Faith…was she truly gone? He didn’t want to believe it. Things had just gotten ten times more complicated. He wasn’t prepared for this, not for working alongside the Dread King to get her back.

  He was the enemy, for goodness sakes. He was the one they were supposed to fight against, and yet when he’d brought Faith up, he didn’t sound like he hated her. Not anymore. Had Nilda been right? Had Faith discovered something while she was on the maleek? While Light and Jag were passed out in the tent?

  Even so, it said nothing about what happened to Cam and Finn…

  Light nearly jumped out of his skin when Jag slapped him on the back. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll find them. All of them. Both of them, I guess. Just not Finn.”

  Light was not the only one who hated the Human male, and it made Light smile. The smile quickly fell off his face when he recalled his mother, her vehemence against Cam and his Ulen side. It was as if she hated him more than the Dread King—and Dracyrus had been the root of the collapse of the seven kingdoms. Now there were only four. The Dwarves, the Orcs, and the Fae had all lost so much for the Harbinger and the Dread King’s war.

  Within ten minutes, Jag was back with Nilda and Light was in the tent with his mother. Sellyn did not appear surprised that he came alone. “You couldn’t find him, couldn’t find your Harbinger.” She’d turned into quite the cold, harsh woman, hadn’t she?

  “Dracyrus said she was taken by two Fae,” Light said. “That does not mean Cam was involved.”

  “Dracyrus is a strategist. He will do whatever it takes to find Faith, and that includes pretending to be friendly with you. I hope you’re not truly believing his act,” Sellyn spoke in a whisper. Her blue eyes flicked to the tent flap. “No, mark my words: your Human mate is with your Ulen brother. You’ll never see either of them again.”

  Light didn’t appreciate the fact that she called Cam a monster in no uncertain terms. He also wasn’t sure why Sellyn thought Dracyrus was lying—but then, those had been his first words to them, and Light hadn’t believed him, either. What did that say about him?

  “No,” he replied, shaking his head. “We’ll find Faith, and we’ll find Cam, and we’ll do it without your help. You can stay here and play with the Malus. It’s clear you don’t care about anyone other than yourself anymore.” Light took a step back, letting his anger do the talking, “You’re not the mother I used to know.” And, just maybe, a part of it was his fault. What she’d said before was true—he hadn’t written to her. Not really. He wrote more to Cam, and it was near impossible to get a bird to fly to the Cove and back.

  She didn’t miss a beat. “And you’re not the son I raised.”

  Right. Because she’d raised him to be a snobby, entitled Elf who hated Humanity and its quirks. She’d trained him from birth to be just like Dracyrus, who hated Humanity for whatever twisted reason their timeless war began for.

  Light said nothing more, spinning to storm out of the tent, leave his mother and this place for good. With his bow on his back, he had all he needed. What he really needed was Faith, but she was missing. He would find her, and then he’d never let her leave his side again, maleek or not. No wandering off while he slept, even if he had to tie her to his body with a string of some kind.

  “Good luck,” Sellyn called after him. “You’re going to need it.”

  He didn’t give her the light of day, didn’t stop to reply. Light simply walked out.

  Dracyrus was now surrounded by Malus, both children and adults who wanted to get a closer look at the Dracon. It was the first time any of them had seen a Dracon in person, so Light couldn’t blame them, even if the bastard was dangerous. Dracon were very different from the rest of the races.

  Light pushed through the crowd around Dracyrus, meeting his strange, almost pupil-less stare. “Any idea where they took her?” The crowd hushed, eagerly awaiting whatever it was Dracyrus would say.

  “I would assume the lands of the Aetherium, but I’m not certain,” Dracyrus said, scowling at a nearby child who reached for his sword. The child stopped dead in his tracks, backing up to put more distance between them.

  “How do you know two Fae took her? You didn’t see her with anyone else?” Namely Cam, but Light wasn’t going to bring him up, especially since he heard Sellyn exit the tent behind him.

  “I saw them take her,” Dracyrus hissed out, baring his teeth in a display of annoyance. “She wasn’t with anyone else. She was with me. She was unconscious—”

  Jag was at Light’s side the next moment, about to tackle the Dread King for what he said. “You son of a—”

  “Raise a hand to me and I’ll cut it off,” the Dracon growled, his wide chest booming like thunder. “There is a lot you don’t know. Perhaps if there was less of a crowd, I would tell you.” His black eyes fell on Nilda, who was enraptured in his appearance.

  It took the clan chief a while to say, “He’s right. All of you, go! Get out of here. Let the men have some privacy while they discuss how to get their mate back!” Nilda just announced to everyone that Faith was their mate. Faith would be mortified.

  But then again, Nilda had also included Dracyrus in that number, and over Light’s dead body would their enemy ever join them quite like that. Finn was bad enough, but Dracyrus? No. In Jag’s words, no way.

  In ten minutes, they sat around a fire, and although some Malus lingered in the background, they were pretty much alone. Sellyn had gone off, much to Light’s relief. He didn’t want his mother around right now. The only thing he wanted to do was get to the bottom of Faith’s disappearance, because he knew she’d never leave them on her own. She wasn’t that stupid.

  Well, she made stupid decisions sometimes, but she wasn’t stupid on purpose. Usually.

  Dracyrus’s wide shoulders were hunched, his sword resting on his lap. His hair, long and silver, hung over his back, glimmering like metal in the sun. He looked, for lack of a better word, tired. Light supposed it could be because he’d been reborn time and time again; something like that had to weigh heavily on a person, especially someone so inclined to wage war for whatever asinine reason he had.

  Nilda sat next to him,
working on some leather case, humming to herself. Jag was beside Light, sitting across from Dracyrus, watching him over the fire, through its orange and yellow flickering flames.

  Dracyrus explained what had happened. A castle-like structure that had appeared in the fields not too far from here, how it had reeked of aether. Of magic. What he’d seen inside it, and how he assumed Faith had seen something similar, only pertaining to her, to him and their endless war.

  “The truth,” Dracyrus muttered, his eyes clouded over, his mind reliving it. “She saw the truth, and she…she gave up.”

  Giving up did not sound like Faith. Not at all. Light bit the inside of his cheek, holding back from saying something he might regret. He had to remember that while the Dracon beside Nilda acted docile, he was anything but. He was likely to snap and murder them all simply because he could.

  Jag held no qualms about it however, for he said, “She wouldn’t give up. She’d never give up. You’re lying, you…you liar.” His insults had seen better days.

  Light spoke up, “And what’s the truth?”

  “It’s been so long, so many Harbingers, so many wars I had nearly forgotten myself,” Dracyrus muttered, his gaze on his sword. “This thing we are caught in, it is not a prophecy, even if that’s what you fools today think it is. The animosity between the Harbinger and me is nothing more than a curse, created by a vindictive, vengeful Fae woman who I refused to court, in spite of her many attempts at luring me in.”

  This was the first he’d heard about that, and Light had a hard time putting it together. “You mean to say you’re fated to fight the Harbinger, no matter who the Harbinger is, because a Fae cursed you both?”

  “Me,” Dracyrus hissed. “I am the one who is cursed. I am the one who spurned Yulena. The Harbinger’s identity matters not in this. This fight, these wars, are because I would not court the Fae woman after the first Human had crossed worlds.”