A Curse of Flames Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Copyright © 2018 by Sophia Shade

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Edited by: Cynthia Sheep

  Cover Design by: Lori Grundy

  ISBN: 978-1948446266

  Contents

  Untitled

  Praise for Sophia Shade

  Untitled

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Also by Sophia Shade

  About the Author

  Praise for Sophia Shade

  “Fans of Bella Forrest’s ‘A Shade of Vampire’ and JK Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ are going to lose their minds with excitement when they read this series. Sophia Shade brilliantly creates a magical new world that I fell in love with from page one.” ~ Once Upon An Alpha

  “A Curse of Fire has everything I look for in a fantasy romance. A smart heroine, a couple of hot guys to choose from, a mystery to solve and a fascinating setting to explore. I loved all the students of Callador and can't wait for more.” ~ New York Times bestselling author, Lexi Blake

  “If you like ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘The Vampire Academy,’ but love Fae books, this is for you.” - Voracious Readers Only

  D.D. Miers. Look at everything we’ve accomplished in such a short time. Here’s to the next milestones!

  Chapter 1

  A bright light nearly blinds me, and I hear screaming. There’s blood, and I see someone’s arm on the ground, but my vision is too zoomed in to see whose arm it is. A charm bracelet lays slack against the wrist. Thunder booms, and a strong wind knocks me off my feet. I fall to the ground.

  I wake with a gasp. Every night, it’s the same. The vision I saw as I passed through the Shadow Veil. The day I left Aos Sí, the Fae realm, and returned to the human one. The vision returns in my dreams. Hell, I see it when I’m awake, too. It’s all I think about. Ever since I returned, all I’ve wanted to do was go back to Fae. Find out if my vision has come true yet or if it’s a warning of things to come. Today, that wish is coming true. I can’t wait to return…and I’m terrified at the same time. Nervous about going home.

  For eighteen years, Mom and I lived on the run. I didn’t know it at the time, but she kept us moving my entire life in the hopes of outrunning the Fae, to keep them from taking me to their realm.

  But her plan failed.

  When the Fae finally found us, they didn’t have to kidnap me or force me to go with them, though I’ve since learned they aren’t above such things. No, I’d gone because I wanted to. I was ready to know who I was and my place in the world.

  Little did I know my place wasn’t in the world I knew, but in realm beyond the Shadow Veil…in Aos Sí.

  In Fae, I finally found my home. Made friends. Discovered a place with people like me, who accepted and understood me. With a bed I could sleep in every night without worrying I’d be jerked out of it to run again.

  I even have a boyfriend waiting for me.

  Despite the problems I encountered there, the idea of going back mostly brought me peace. Or at least, it would have if I wasn’t so worried about what I might find upon my return.

  I’ve spent the last three months in the human world with Mom. She thinks this is my home and my life in Fae is temporary. I don’t have the heart to tell her the human realm will never be my home.

  I go downstairs, my nose following the scent of orange cinnamon rolls. My mouth waters, and I practically have to wipe the drool away. When I get to the kitchen, I see not only cinnamon rolls, but also cheesy scrambled eggs, biscuits with jam, fried potatoes, a bowl of fruit, and glasses of juice and milk.

  “What’s all this?” I ask, taking a seat at the table.

  “I wanted to make your last morning home before you go back to school special,” Mom says. She puts a plate in front of me before kissing the top of my head.

  “You didn’t have to go to so much trouble.”

  “It’s no trouble.” She sits across from me. “I won’t get to cook breakfast for you for the next three months. Think of it as twelve weeks’ worth of breakfast at once.”

  Geeze, Mom, thanks for laying on the guilt.

  I don’t mention she hardly ever cooked breakfast for me in the last eighteen years. We moved so much—literally every two to three months—so she never had much of a chance to build a well-stocked kitchen or pantry. But I keep it to myself. She’s trying now. That’s something, right?

  Time passes differently in Aos Sí. To me, it had felt like I was gone for nine months, but for Mom, it had only been three. I’ve been here with her for three months, but back in Fae, only one month will have passed. It’s confusing, but I think I’m getting used to it.

  I take a bite of cinnamon roll, staring out the large sliding glass doors over the patio that looks out on the beach. It’s January, but the sun is shining. People are walking along the shore or horseback riding. It’s a bit chilly, but a few brave souls are going for a swim. That’s winter in SoCal.

  “Are you nervous about going back?” Mom asks. She was there when I came through the Shadow Veil and had my vision. She’s been worried about me ever since. Of course, she hates the Fae and doesn’t trust them. My dad was a Fae asshole who got my mom pregnant and then bailed. That’s why she tried to keep them from taking me away. She thought she would never see me again if they did.

  But the Fae are just like humans—some are assholes, but most are just normal people with all their beautiful complexities.

  “I guess,” I say. “I mean, I’m excited to go back, but I’m scared what my vision might mean. What if something terrible happened while I was gone?”

  “You don’t have to go back,” she says, reaching across the table and taking my hand
. “You could stay here. Where it’s safe.”

  I pull away. “Don’t start that again, please. I want to go back. I know it isn’t what you want to hear, but I do. I belong there.”

  “You belong with me,” she says. “I’m your mother.”

  “I’m not going to discuss this with you.” I put my fork down. “I am going back today. That’s the end of it.”

  Sighing, she nods. She still doesn’t accept it. I don’t know that she ever will. Even though the few months I spent in Aos Sí were the happiest I’ve ever been, I missed my mom. If she could come to Fae with me, my life would be complete. But I don’t think it will ever happen. I don’t know if a human would be allowed, and if they were, I doubt Mom would go. She hates the Fae too much. Besides, she’s not one of them—one of us. It wouldn’t be home to her. She doesn’t belong there any more than I belong here.

  I worry that one day this divide will become a cavern too big for either of us to cross.

  But that’s a concern for the future. I have enough to worry about right now.

  “Imogen,” she says after we eat in tense silence for a few minutes. “There is something I need to tell you.”

  The food in my mouth turns to ash, and I have trouble swallowing it down. What could she possibly have to tell me now? Hadn’t she already come clean when she told me I was half-faerie to begin with?

  I don’t reply, but just stare at her.

  “Your vision,” she says. “I think you should keep it secret.”

  Huh? “Why would you say that?”

  “Ever since you told me about it, I have been wracking my brain to remember something your father once told me about visions,” she says. “Some of the things I tried to block out, because it was so shocking. But other things were indelibly seared into my brain for eternity.”

  She puts her hands to her mouth and shakes her head, like she’s trying to sort through her memories.

  “And?” I don’t have the patience for this. I’m tired of the secrets and the lies. She did it for the first eighteen years of my life, and I’d really hoped we were past that now. “You aren’t supposed to be keeping things from me anymore.”

  “I know,” she says. “I just…couldn’t remember. And I didn’t want to worry you unnecessarily.”

  “But you remember now?” I ask, my annoyance showing through. “On the day I’m supposed to go back?”

  “Imogen, please,” she says. “This is hard for me, too. I knew you would be upset when I told you, and that made telling you even harder. But with you leaving today, it’s now or never.”

  I sigh, counting to five in my head to calm down. At least she is telling me now, I try to remind myself. Giving her my attention, I calmly tell her to go ahead.

  “Prophecy, visions, these kinds of things are not regular gifts the Fae have,” she says. “From what I remember, anyway. It’s not like some control fire, some control water, and some have visions. Having visions is very, very rare. It’s only a power possessed by people they call the Dark Blessed.”

  “The Dark Blessed?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

  “I don’t know,” she says as I shovel a couple more bites of egg into my mouth, my eye on her. “But I remember the Fae fear them. They are often locked up or something. Kept captive.”

  “What are you talking about?” I skeptically ask. “How do you know this? How did it ever come up between you and Dad?”

  “I don’t know,” she says. “I can’t remember the details. Maybe when you get back to Fae, you can look them up. But don’t tell them it is because you had visions. They can never know. If they find out, they will fear you, Imogen. You could be in danger. You can’t even trust the people you think are your friends.”

  Or my own mother? I wonder. She spent eighteen years lying to me. And even though we have sort of worked through that, I can’t help but wonder just how much I can trust her.

  The only things I know for sure is she hates the Fae and wants me to stay in the human realm with her. Would those things collide in a way that would make her lie to keep me here? Keep me with her?

  These are terrible thoughts for me to have about my own mother. But I can’t help it. It’s hard to get over years of lies in a few months.

  But I bite my tongue and tamp down my feelings.

  “Thank you for telling me,” I say. “I’ll be careful. I promise.”

  She nods and goes back to eating. I pick at my food a bit, but I’ve lost my appetite.

  “I need to finish packing,” I say. I rush out of the room before she can reply and tell me to eat more. It was just an excuse, though. I’m already packed. I barely unpacked.

  My phone pings. It’s my best friend in the human world, Cassie.

  Cassie: Hey. Ready for the big day?

  Cassie and I have never met in person, but we have been friends online for years. Before I went to Fae, she was the one constant in my life. I haven’t been able to tell her about being Fae just yet, but she knows I’m going to a secretive school with no phone reception and I won’t be able to contact her for a few months.

  Me: So ready. Mom is driving me nuts trying to get me to stay.

  Cassie: Hey, don’t cry to me about it. I’m on her side LOL. It’s killer not having you around for months at a time.

  Me: I know. I’ll tell you more about it eventually. I promise. I’m just under this gag order for now.

  Cassie: Yeah. I get it. Just wanted to let you know I’m here if you need me.

  Me: You’re the best. *hugs*

  I toss my phone in my bag. It won’t work in Fae, but it’s just habit to keep it around. After I grab a jacket and my bag, I head downstairs.

  “I’m ready,” I say.

  Mom gives me a tight smile as she takes the dishes to the sink.

  We don’t talk the whole way to the nearest faerie door. This wasn’t how either of us imagined our last morning together for a while would go, but she has only herself to blame.

  When we get there, I take one last snipe at her even though I shouldn’t. It’s petty and cruel. I’m realize I’m not going to see her for almost a year, from my point of view, but I can’t help it. I’m so sick of the lies.

  “Maybe while I’m gone, you can write down everything about Dad and the Fae that you remember and tell me about it when I get back.” I try to at least keep my tone from sounding bratty, and mostly succeed.

  “Sure, sweetie,” she says, brushing my hair back over my shoulder. “I’ll give that a try. Maybe it will be good for me, too. Get it all out of my head.”

  I give her a hug. It’s not a tight embrace, but it’s all I have in me now.

  She walks over to the small copse of trees that are bent over, the branches tangling together to form an arch. When she waves her hands over the branches, a door forms.

  “You can start by writing down how you do that,” I say.

  “No need to write that down,” she says. “I’m not the one doing it. You are.” She must read the confusion on my face, because she continues. “It only works when you’re around because of you being Fae. Your desire to go back is what opens the move. Any movement in front of the door when you’re near and wanting to go back will do the same thing.”

  She sounds a little sad when she says this, and I decide to give her one more hug. A bigger one. “Love you, Mom,” I whisper. “You’ll be okay while I’m gone.”

  “I know,” she whispers. Then she turns me to face the open portal. “Have fun. And…be careful, Imogen. Please.”

  “I will.”

  And with that, I turn the doorknob and step through.

  The light is so bright. I close my eyes, breathing in the fresh air. It feels like the first time I have taken a full refreshing breath in months. Instant calmness and warmth washes over me.

  I’m home.

  “What are you doing, you weirdo?” a familiar voice asks.

  I open my eyes to see Damon, my supposed mentor.

  “Good to see you, t
oo,” I say. Turning back, I see the faerie door has already dissolved.

  “Ready?” he asks. He turns to head toward Callador, the Fae school I attend here in Aos Sí.

  I trot up behind him. I’m worried my vision has come true already, so I don’t waste any time getting to it. “Have I missed anything?”

  “Summers are always pretty quiet around here,” he says. “Everyone just goes home.”

  “So…no more deaths?” I ask. After everything that happened last year, I’m not sure how the full-blooded Fae are handling things. The Fae, as immortal beings, don’t handle death well.

  “No,” he says shortly.

  He was always a man of few words when it comes to me for some reason. He’s the house mentor for the fire Fae students, but he hasn’t mentored me at all. I had to get help from a fellow student, Erick, to keep from failing Elemental Application and risk being banned from Fae forever.

  Erick.

  Why is he the first person I think about when I come back? I should be excited and anxious to see my boyfriend Caleb, the Unseelie prince. I can’t wait to see him, really, but for some reason, he always seems like an afterthought. Erick comes to my mind far too readily. He’s not good for me, and I’m not good for him. He’s too bossy, and I’m too strong-willed. We just butt heads when we get too close.

  So why can’t I stop thinking about him?

  “Well, there is one thing that’s new,” Damon says after a minute.

  My ears perk up, and my heart starts racing, afraid of what he’s about to say.