Page 51 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen (The Heartless and the Wicked #4)
TWENTY-SIX – KOLFINNA
When they found the arched black doorway, relief and anticipation filled Kolfinna’s chest. She prayed that they would be sent back to reality with this door, but a secret part of her wished to see more of Aesileif and Vidar’s past. She wanted to unravel more of her own history.
And a conflicted part of her wondered if there was something they could learn to use against the fae.
The instant they stepped through the door, chaos exploded all around them.
A scream caught in her throat at the sights before them.
They weren’t in the castle anymore. Instead, they were outside in a city, where the winter chill numbed her skin and the smell of burning flesh and charcoal pervaded the dense, ash-filled air.
Women screamed, clutching their children and running as fast as they could; the elderly struggled to keep up.
Fear struck the civilian’s faces. Soldiers took up every corner of the street, struggling as they fought against humans wielding the elements. Fae corpses filled the cobbled streets.
Kolfinna swayed on her feet, panic rising within her as fire arced through the sky, blazing as it exploded on one of the roofs.
Fae women flew in the sky holding children in each arm, their skirts covered in blood and ash, but they were struck down with air blasts and fire.
Civilian fae men tried fighting back with swords, but they were no match against the trained soldiers.
The fae soldiers tried fighting, but their nature magic was nowhere to be found in the dead of winter. Only stone magic prevailed, but even then … it was clear they weren’t as proficient with it. The humans had the advantage.
Kolfinna clutched Blár’s arm, her body tensing as waves of nausea rolled over her. She couldn’t rip her eyes away from the horror. The children … She couldn’t bear to see their mutilated, small bodies.
She vomited on the side of the road, arms shaking, head spinning.
Blár held onto her, his own face bloodless.
She had thought she had seen war before, but this … this was something completely different. They weren’t fighting monsters, but people .
She watched as a fae woman tripped over a corpse; she screamed as one of the humans grabbed her by the ankles and yanked her toward a dilapidated building.
He grinned evilly, and Kolfinna’s stomach dropped.
She rushed over to help the woman, to fight off the cruel man, but her hands slid right through them both.
Another scream sounded from behind her, mixing with the cacophony of terror surrounding them. A man clutched the lifeless body of a woman. A woman screamed at her child’s remains. Another group cried and shouted as they were frozen with ice magic.
The scenes of horror continued endlessly.
Blár tugged on Kolfinna’s arm and led her through the streets. She could barely move, could barely speak, her body trembling.
“We need to find the queen,” Blár shouted above the yelling and booms of battle. “Kolfinna!”
A volley of arrows erupted in the sky, pinning down any fae who tried to run. The bodies slammed to the ground grotesquely; one narrowly missed Kolfinna and crashed beside her in a twisted position.
“Kolfinna!” Blár framed her face with his large, calloused hands. He stared at her until all she could see was the arctic blue of his eyes. “We need to find the queen. Remember, we’re only in a vision. This isn’t … this isn’t real.”
“But it was real.” Her stomach twisted again and she squeezed her eyes shut.
Breathing through her nose, she tried to rid herself of the smell of death, blood, and destruction.
The sounds of people dying, the guttural screams, the gurgling of blood.
And the sights remained, too. The children.
The women. The elderly. “This happened, Blár … All of this …”
And it had continued to happen for centuries under the humans’ rule.
“It’s not easy, I understand that, but Kolfinna, we need to move forward.
” She could see the conflict flashing over his face, even as he tried to shutter his expression.
Deep down, she knew they had to keep moving forward and find Aesileif, but another part of her couldn’t leave these people behind.
She wanted to help, she wanted to scream for them, she wanted to … to do something .
She had read about it before, how the humans had fought the fae and defeated them in winter, since that was when their power was the weakest. Seeing it now made the horror even worse.
Some fae were able to use their nature power in winter; she had been able to do it, too, with great difficulty. Most of the fae couldn’t use their powers like that, and it was killing them. Especially the civilians.
Her eyes were wet while Blár dragged her through the streets; she couldn’t stop staring, even as the images tore through her chest. She could feel the blood drain from her face, leaving her feeling utterly cold and lifeless.
A sick, twisted part of her couldn’t look away; these were her people.
These were quite literally her mother’s subjects. And they were being brutally murdered.
This was war, but … this was much, much worse than anything she could have imagined.
Only those with evil hearts could wreak havoc on innocents like this.
A blast of cold air filtered through the streets, nearly shoving them both to the side.
Kolfinna twisted in time to see many of the buildings in the distance becoming blanketed in frost; people ran, but the ice touched their bodies and froze them, their faces forever carved in horror.
A human soldier slashed at the frozen bodies, and they shattered into a thousand pieces.
“It’s Harald!” one of the fae soldiers shouted over his shoulder, fear and panic tightening the corners of his eyes and mouth.
King Harald.
The human monarch who took over the Fae Empire of Drivhus, renamed it to Rosain, and who was at the helm of the Great Purge, eliminating as many fae as he could.
And he was an ice elemental. Just like Blár.
“There!” Blár pointed in the sky. “That’s the half-elf.”
Vidar was flying in the distance, shadows ripping from his being and engulfing humans.
Rods of light shone in his hands and he shot them with precision.
He looked devastatingly powerful, even amidst the chaos.
Humans tried taking him down from the sky, but their powers were blanketed by his shadow magic; fires were smothered, ice was diminished, air attacks were put out, and water blasts crashed into the shadowy barrier and rained down below.
He was impenetrable, but he was only a single man.
They followed him until eventually, he swooped down and sprinted through the streets, bolts of light magic smashing into anyone who drew too close.
At one point, a flash of electricity hit his head, and his helmet flew off, but he only turned to the attacker and incinerated her with his light magic.
Kolfinna’s breath fogged behind her as she tried to keep up with him.
He turned a corner where more fae and humans were fighting.
At the center, Aesileif fought with a sword; she was dressed in dark leggings and a silver-trimmed black tunic, and her pale gold hair was braided behind her head tightly, accentuating the sharp angles of her beautiful face.
When she saw Vidar, relief washed over her expression, but it was only momentarily, because she slashed down a human who came close.
Kolfinna heaved in air, watching as Vidar picked off the remaining humans fighting close to Aesileif.
His magic blasted around him, taking out more soldiers.
He grabbed Aesileif’s arm, leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers in a quick kiss, and then grabbed her face, scanning her for any injuries.
“You must go,” he said quickly. “Harald is here.”
She hesitated, but then nodded. Holding her hand, they both ran, the fae soldiers flocking around them in a semi-circle, fending off the human soldiers.
Kolfinna and Blár trailed behind them; eventually, the group fled the city until they were in a forested area. Vidar pulled Aesileif to the side, both of them struggling to catch their breaths. A pained look flashed over Aesileif as she touched the scarred side of Vidar’s face.
“I can’t leave you,” she whispered thickly. “I can’t?—”
“It will only be temporary.” He rested his hand on top of hers. “You know that we have to do this.”
“But what if—what if you’re not able to defeat Harald? And I wake up alone, with nobody to fight with me, and … and you know I can’t live without you.” Her voice cracked, and tears shone in her eyes. “I can’t raise Kolfinna on my own.”
Something broke within Kolfinna’s chest to hear those words and she stumbled back; Blár grasped her shoulders while she trembled, watching the heartbroken expression on both of her parents’ faces.
“I won’t let that happen,” he whispered. “But you know that you must seal yourself away. I will defeat Harald and his people, and then … and then we can be happy again.”
“But I … I can’t abandon you. Or our people?—”
“You’re sick, Aesileif.” He breathed out shakily. “If you die, and the power of the crown is passed to Kolfinna, you know her little body won’t be able to handle it.”
The power of the crown?
Aesileif bit her lower lip, inhaling sharply.
“I know, but it doesn’t make it easier to know that I have to leave you behind to handle all of this.
I’m terrified, Vidar, of what will happen to our people.
What … what Harald will do. He shouldn’t be able to control the weather like this.
It is unnatural. It is going to slaughter our people. ”
Vidar nodded grimly. “I will handle it.”
She studied his face; determination warred with grief in her eyes, and she bobbed her head. Rising to her toes, she kissed him. They embraced for a moment longer, and Kolfinna had to tear her attention away.