The Born in Flames Trilogy
Born in Flames (Born in Flames Trilogy, #1)
Embracing the Flames (Born in Flames Trilogy, #2)
From the Embers (Born in Flames Trilogy, #3)
The Night Watchmen Series
The Gramm Curse (Night Watchmen, #0.5)
Everlasting (Night Watchmen, #1)
Evernight (Night Watchmen, #2)
Everlost (Night Watchmen, #3)
Everdeep (Night Watchmen, #4)
Evermore (Night Watchmen, #5)
A Game of Hearts Series
by Candace Knoebel & Sonya Loveday
Love Always
Runaway Heart
When Two Hearts Collide… coming soon
This book is a work of fiction. Any reference to historical events, real people-living or dead, real locales is entirely coincidental and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Evermore. Copyright © 2017 by Candace Knoebel
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes. If you are reading this book and you have not purchased it or won it in an author/publisher contest, this book has been pirated. Please delete and support the author by purchasing the ebook from one of its many distributors.
Cover design by Ravven.
Interior book design by Candace Knoebel.
The text for this book features Jellyka Castle Queen.
Edited by Cynthia Shepp.
First Edition
Published by Candace Knoebel
Prologue
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
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Epilogue
For all my readers… thank you for sticking around.
This series would be nothing but words on a page without you.
— MICHAEL KORDA
THIS MOMENT HAS BEEN TWENTY-ONE years in the making.
The moment I stopped asking why and started facing what’s always been in front of me—my destiny. I didn’t want to face it because I was terrified of failing. Petrified of all I’d lose in the process.
But not anymore.
Death does that to you. Giving in to the darkness for a greater purpose… it rearranges your priorities. Snuffs out all fears, because nothing is worse than death. Now I know. I’m ready to accept it.
My destiny is simple—he was born to start this war, and I was born to end it.
PAIN.
We can’t live with it, but we also can’t exist without it. It is our first and last memory, cradling us throughout our lives, reminding us that we are living. Making us work for every inch, every breath, and every second of air we are gifted.
Because, without it, we are nothing.
That is how I emerge back into this world—in pain. My lungs and skin and mind is on fire as reality shreds around me like layers of paint chipped from a wall. As every nerve, every cell in my body is consumed in heat, leaving nothing but ashes in its wake.
I am a phoenix reborn.
“Wake up.”
Her whisper is delicate in my ear, voice rich and full of promise, as if what’s on the other side of those two words is heaven. It can’t possibly be anything but happiness, because that voice wouldn’t tell a lie. The voice of a Divine.
The voice of Alesteria.
I know I should listen to her, but her words don’t belong. They don’t fit in amongst the photos I’ve pinned to the walls of my room or with my mother singing to herself, the soft trill of her voice dancing up the stairs to circle me in warmth. This is where I’m meant to be. This is where I’ve been trying to get back to.
“Wake up.” The voice comes again, more urgent this time, the command in her tone like a deep pinch to the sensitive sides of my flesh.
Reality is the plug being pulled from the drain.
Life swells inside my veins as my room swirls away and my mother’s voice vanishes. I am molting. Shedding. Removing every part of who I was so the better version of me can emerge. Everything hurts as if my legs and arms have been nailed to the bed. It feels like my heart has been dipped in molasses and asked to beat again. I’m trying to make sense of where I am, but my mind flips back to the excruciating moment Bael turned the machine on and took away what was left of my life.
The moment I chose to give in.
The sharp, hot pain coursing through my blood from the machine feels like a distant memory, like the echoes of smoke rising from a burned field. A field that can grow again… only stronger this time.
“Please come back to me.”
Another voice has taken over for Alesteria. The deep, honeyed tone hums against my ear as a hand smoothes across my cheek. I can smell him… the electric musk of his skin stirring my insides, clearing the fog in my brain. He’s warmth and light. The force behind my beating heart.
Jaxen.
My eyes launch open. Blinding light slashes against my vision in unbalanced patterns, like the sun rocking against the waves on a windy day. Searing pain pulses against the back of my eyelids. Every blink requires more energy than I have, but then Jaxen’s face appears in my line of vision, his smile brightening the entire room. Immediately, I latch onto the hope sprouting in the deep green of his eyes like a new bud in spring. I don’t want to look away from him. I don’t want to fall back into the darkness ever again.
His mouth moves as he rubs my face, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. Hammers have taken to my eardrums, pounding and thrumming. I only hear Weldon in the back of my mind, cursing me for pushing him to wake up.
I blink harder and try with all my might to move, using every ounce of strength I have to push myself up, but there’s… there’s something in my mouth—a tube. I can’t speak. Panic flaps its wings inside my chest as my heart leaps into my throat.
Get it out! Get it out! Get it out, is all I can think as a stampede of alarm takes over my rationality.
Everything is happening so fast. I can’t process anything. Frantic jerks and tugs. Jaxen’s hands trying to help. Pain. So much pain. Bright lights. The metallic scent of blood clashing against the antiseptic scent of the room.
And then a steady, “One, two, three.”
The tube drags against my esophagus. I squeeze whatever I can grab to fight through the pain, wishing it was over. Begging him with pleading eyes to get it out. The tape rips from my cheeks, and then I gag as the last of it exits.
“Whoa, there,” he says, trying to ease me back down, but I don’t want to lay down. I don’t want to waste another second in this bed if I don’t have to.
I’m coughing as he rubs my
back, trying to take a solid breath as I twist my fingers in the sheets. Blood splatters on my hands. Fire is in my throat. The sterile smell to the room makes my stomach lurch as my toes twist in. I see the needle in my arm, hooked to an IV, and grind my teeth together as I lift the tape and gently pull it out.
I don’t want to be tethered down like a puppet. Not for a minute longer.
“Faye, I don’t think you should—”
I turn to him as heat rushes to my face, thoughts racing past me. “Mourdyn…” My voice is not my own. It’s gritty, like it has been scraped across sandpaper and left to dry in the sun. I pause, trying to swallow through the cotton balls in my throat, but there’s nothing in my mouth to go down.
“Here.” He hands me a small cup of water, helping me bring it to my lips.
I take a hesitant sip, savoring the coolness until it hits my hollow stomach. Ravenous need reaches up like a claw from the depth of my belly. With trembling hands, I grab onto the cup. Pulling it closer to my lips, I gulp down as much as I can, uncaring of the water that escapes past my lips and trails down the sides of my face. The need is all-consuming, overtaking my senses like a dark fog.
“Hey,” Jaxen says, trying to pull the cup away from me. “Easy. You’ll make yourself sick.”
I hear him, but I don’t care. Not even when my stomach begins to turn on itself. I just want more. More of the coolness rushing down my fiery throat, squelching out the flames. More of the empty pit in my stomach being filled.
After a short second of tug-of-war, he realizes I’m going to finish what’s in the cup and lets go, eyes pressed with concern.
“More,” I manage as I hold the cup out to him. The word is a plea as I beg with my eyes.
He hesitates, but then adds just a few sips more, watching me in worry as my shaking hands try to bring the cup back to my lips without spilling its precious contents.
“Faye, you’ve just come back from death. You shouldn’t… you should take it easy, okay?” he pleads, resting his hand on my leg.
I can’t hear him. I’m too busy listening to the growls of hunger echoing throughout my body. After a few minutes of sipping, I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and find some semblance of my voice. One buried beneath weeks of lying dormant.
“He’s… he’s awake. We have… to… stop him.” I try to blink through the dizzy spell swooping in on me. I know if I can just get up and get moving, then the fog in my head would clear. Maybe my strength would have its stretch and come back full force.
Jaxen chuckles, the sound throwing me off. “And we will. But how about we get through this one moment at a time? Mack and the doctors are on their way now that you’re awake. The Divine will want to speak with you, I’m sure. It took all my charm just to allow them to let me sit in here with you until you woke up. Thankfully, your father was okay with it.”
I stop and look around the room. We’re in the hospital wing in Ethryeal City. My room is barren except for my bed, the machine hooked up to me, the stark white on the walls, and Jaxen in his chair. I glance down at my arms, at their bleached paleness, and ask, “How long have I been out?”
Shadows shade the green in his eyes like clouds passing in front of the sun. “Almost a month.” He takes a deep pause and adds, “You died, Faye. You died and you were brought back. No one is expecting anything from you but to rest.”
My face pinches together, and I shake my head. “There’s no… no way. I couldn’t… I was only in the Dwelling for a few minutes.”
His head tilts to the side. “The Dwelling?”
“Yeah. I saw my mom and thought that was it for me. And I was okay with it. I was at peace, but then Alesteria, she came to me and told me it wasn’t over and I needed to come back. So, I did.”
His hand cups my cheek. “I’ll have to remember to thank her.”
His admittance is like a soothing balm to my burning desire to get moving. I breathe in his words. Let them calm me as I lean forward and kiss him. His lips are soft and giving. Still gentle and coaxing.
He rests his forehead against mine. “This has been the longest month of my life. Weldon’s been out too. The doctors said it was probably because of the link between you.”
I instinctually reach out for Weldon.
Leave it to you to pull me from my beauty sleep, he says in my mind. He’s trying to sound annoyed, but his words are curbed with humor.
No amount of beauty sleep could fix that face of yours, I joke.
He scoffs. I’m wounded, mouse. That cut deep.
You still need to wake up, I say.
Yeah, well, at least my nurse is hot.
“Are you speaking to him?” Jaxen asks, searching my face. There’s a slight note of bitterness in his tone, but he covers it with a smile.
“Yeah,” I say, missing our connection. “He’s okay. Just stubborn.”
He cracks a small grin. “Mack told me through the intercom that Weldon woke up at the same time you did, so the linked theory must be true.”
I swallow, and then immediately wince when the searing pain slaps back at me. It takes a second to find my voice again, but then I say, “I guess it’s a good thing I broke our bond then.”
He doesn’t say anything at first, and I think he might still be angry with me. But then he lets out a long, tired sigh and says, “Yeah. Had I dropped when Weldon did during the fight, I wouldn’t have been able to grab him in time.” His voice is hoarse when he says this.
I reach for his hand, the rough warmth reminding me of home. “What do you mean?”
A shadow crosses over Jaxen’s expression as his mouth tilts south. “After we were taken, I pressed my ring. Mack already gave orders to the armies to be on alert, so they weren’t far from where we were taken. It was a cluster. The demons shadow walked us to the Darkyn leaders where they also had Damien, Toby, and Bianca.”
I sit straighter. “They’re alive?” I ask, glad they aren’t names I’ll have to add to the list I tattooed on my arm.
He nods. “Barely, but yeah, they were being tortured for information before we got there. Within minutes of trying to torture us for information, our army infiltrated the bunker, and then we were able to guide them in your direction.
“Once the bombs Mack had planted started going off, everything happened so fast.” His eyes darken as they land on me. “There you were, in that machine, your head hanging to your chin. You were already gone. I felt it to my core. Weldon shadow walked his way behind Bael, and then they got into it while Jezi and I rushed to get you out of the machine. The cave was crumbling down around us. The machine was malfunctioning. There was a cold draft coming from somewhere behind the machine as our men fought to keep the demons off so we could get you out.”
“Mourdyn,” I say, remembering his presence latching on to the back of my mind like a leech sucking the life from me. My stomach begins to cramp, the water sloshing like rocky waves with my every movement.
He looks down to his hands, which are intertwined with mine. “Weldon had Bael by the throat when I pulled you out, and then he just dropped, lifeless, and I knew something went wrong. That you weren’t coming back. That’s when we heard his voice, Mourdyn’s, calling to the men around us. Everything quieted, and I thought for a moment that maybe Mack’s spells didn’t work, but then men started disappearing left and right. First was Jezi with you in her arms. Then Claire and Meredith, and so many other soldiers. I had no idea what was happening, so I grabbed Weldon’s arm, trying to get him away from Bael, and then this sort of calming light picked us up and dropped us in the courtyard in Ethryeal City near the statues of the Divine. Only, the statues had crumbled.” He looks up from my hand. “The Divine pulled us from the Underground before we could tell if the spell had worked.”
“Did it?”
He nods again. “The little I’ve overheard people saying in here is that the men who had been corrected underwent reverse therapy on their minds with the Divine Garrick’s help. I guess he knew how to unravel wha
t was done to them.” He rubs at his ear. “But that’s about all I know. I haven’t left this room since you were admitted. The only thing I know for sure is that the hospital food still sucks.”
A short giggle loosens past my lips, and then quickly dissolves under a flood of pain. My lungs feel like two large bruises, and the only way I can dull it is by thinking of something else. I replay everything that happened. Meeting Meredith and facing the firelings, demons grabbing our friends, and Jaxen meeting his…
“Oh my Goddess. Your father. He’s—”
Jaxen stiffens. The lights in his eyes click off. “He’s being held in the correctional facility under Sterling’s advisement.” The haunted tone in his voice makes my chest ache.
I reach for his hand. “How are you?” It’s the only thing I can think to ask, because I know this can’t be easy for him.
He shrugs and looks to the floor, but he doesn’t say anything.
My heart constricts. “At least you know he’s alive,” I say, searching his face for some response.
He looks up at me, anger marring his eyebrows. “Yeah, and she knew the whole time.”
I know without asking that he’s talking about Evangeline. “I’m sure she had reasons.”
He looks to the ground again. “I just…” His shoulders hang, and it’s then I notice how different he looks, so thin his shirt practically hangs on him. Fatigue and worry has dulled the light that once shone behind his skin. “I just don’t know what to think or feel. There’s been so much that happened in such a short amount of time. I’ve been on autopilot just to get through it all. First Cassie, and then you. Finding out about him, and then knowing the Divine are waiting.”
“What does Gavin say?”
Jaxen brings his thumb up to his mouth, nail disappearing between his teeth for a moment before he says, “I don’t know. He hasn’t come by to see me, and I haven’t been able to reach him since we returned. In the scheme of things, I know just as much as you do.”
The door to my room slides open, and we both look up. Mack steps in with a doctor on either side of him. He looks dead at me, already stalking through the room with a purpose to his step. “Ah, good. You’re awake.”