The Light Unleashed Read online

  The Light Unleashed

  book three of the portals of ayden

  Kim Stokely

  Copyright © 2019 by Kim Stokely

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  Kim Stokely/Kindle Direct Publishing

  www.kimstokely.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Book Layout © 2015 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Cover Design: Scarlett Rugers Design

  Map by Michael Weir: www.twitter.com/levilagann

  The Light Unleashed/ Kim Stokely. -- 1st ed.

  ISBN 9781695867536

  For all the strong women of faith who have gifted me with their

  friendship.

  And for Baby Iris,

  you came into the world a year ago,

  small but fierce,

  and taught me what it truly means to be a fighter.

  CONTENTS

  A Frozen Heart

  The Ice Melts

  Hope Found . . . and Lost Again

  Foster Fortitude

  A Question of Marriage

  Mom . . . Meet Kyran

  A Stolen Meal

  Goodbyes

  A Mystic’s Ballad

  The Wedding

  Broken Laws

  After the Ball

  The Truth Hurts

  A Tense Dinner

  Secret Meeting

  Demon

  Not Like This

  Face the Music

  Healing

  When I Sleep, I Dream

  I Have to Go

  Betrayals

  Confession

  The Tie That Binds

  A Pain Too Deep

  Old Friends

  A Sign

  Fire and Water

  Apologies

  Declarations

  Gone

  The Deal

  Do You Believe?

  Plain of Reckoning

  EPILOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  A Frozen Heart

  I sit on a cold marble bench and read over the words I’ve written. The true story of my life, though it reads like a fantasy. I’m sixteen, originally from a small town in Connecticut called Guilford. I loved the beach. I loved pizza. My favorite subjects in school were choir and English. My name then was Ally Foster.

  Now I am Queen Alystrine, newly crowned ruler of Ayden. This place had once been paradise, Eden, but is now a country at war. With my decision to declare that war, I ended the first journals Kennis, my aunt and adoptive mother, gave to me. She thought writing out the events of the previous two months would help me to heal.

  It hasn’t.

  A chilling breeze tugs at the folds of the cloak I wear. I don’t bother to pull it tighter. What had been a gentle flurry of snow thickens into a steady cascade of icy flakes. I close the journal and clutch it to my chest, gasping as my grief crashes down on me.

  Tegan is gone and I’m certain I’ll never see him again.

  He was the first boy I ever loved. But my father and the Joint Assembly that guide my rule would never have allowed us to be together, even if I hadn’t been blackmailed into marrying someone else. I force myself to swallow back the emptiness I feel.

  Another blow punches my gut. This one even harder.

  My best friend is dead.

  Josh McNeill, giver of the best hugs, my protector and confidant since kindergarten, is dead.

  Slaughtered.

  I brush off the thin layer of snow collecting on the bench. My fingers trace the blood stain engrained in the marble where his heart was torn from his body.

  Kennis ordered the bench removed. She thought my constant vigil to the site of his murder would only worsen my grief.

  I countermanded her order. The bench remains.

  Josh’s blood remains.

  My heart still beats, even though I feel as dead as he is. I am stranded in this world. Lost without a friend. Only my mother . . . aunt . . . Kennis . . . remembers who I was before Ayden. Back when I knew who I was.

  Now I trust no one. Everyone wants something from me. Will manipulate me in order to get it.

  This world isn't like Narnia, where kids become kings and queens and instantly reign over everything. There are rules I have to learn and follow. People I have to please. And by people, I mean my father and the Elder Council. I may be queen, but their voices ring in my head throughout the night. Until I know more about Ayden, I must listen and do what they advise.

  With feet of lead, I make my way out of the hedges. Toward the gray stone palace. My father and other counselors have convinced me it’s not safe to leave its walls. It has become my prison.

  A maid, Tamra, comes up beside me. She is my age and, like me, part Elder—descended from the Nephilim, children of angels and humans. She brushes an unruly lock of blonde hair from her eyes. What did she leave behind in order to serve me? A mother and father who cried when she said goodbye? Brothers and sisters? Maybe a boy she loved and hoped to one day marry?

  The castle door shuts behind us with a loud thunk and the harsh squeal of metal hinges. The temperature inside isn’t much warmer than the frigid air outside, but at least there’s no wind. Once we get to my room, she takes the journal and my cloak.

  I sit in front of the fireplace and hold my hands to the warmth. Another maid brings in a breakfast tray. Reesa has the darker skin of a pure-blood Elder. Tall and slender with a long, black braid that hangs to the middle of her back. Her brown eyes watch me as she sets down the tray. I know my mother will grill her once she leaves my room. Did the queen eat anything today? Drink anything? When did she wake? Interrogating the servants is the only way Kennis has to learn the truth.

  I stare at the tray, wishing I could crawl back in bed. Knowing that anything I try to eat will turn to mud in my mouth. The flavor of grief. I force myself to eat a piece of dark wheat bread already slathered with butter.

  My grandmother, Maris, arrives unexpectedly. The wrinkles near her piercing blue eyes are deeper than usual, probably because of the frown she’s wearing

  I swallow. “What’s wrong?”

  “I received word this morning.” She settles her tall frame down into a chair. “Kyran has left the Fey.”

  I grab a pewter mug of tea to help wash down the wad of bread now lodged in my throat. With everything that’s happened the past two weeks, I’d forgotten about Kyran. The outlaw who saved my life. Multiple times. The man who, unbeknownst to him, I’d signed a contract to marry.

  Reesa hovers at my shoulder. “Are you finished, my lady?”

  I nod and push the food away.

  My grandmother waits until the girl leaves with the tray. “I sent word to your father.” A brief smile flickers across her face. “I told my messenger to walk slowly. I wanted time to speak with you alone.”

  “Thanks.” I turn on the couch, pulling my knees up to my chin. I stare at the deep blue wool of my dress and pick off a piece of lint, struggling to find words for my thoughts. “Geran wants to find a way out of the betrothal.”

  “Since he is the other party named on the contract, only Kyran can nullify it.”

  “He doesn’t even know we’re betrothed!” I hug my knees tighter. Two short months ago I was only worried about passing Sociology. Now, not only am I expected to lead a war, but I could be married within the year. All before my seventeenth birthday. The weight this betrot
hal . . . the war . . . my grief threatens to crush me. I force myself to breathe. In . . . out . . . in . . . out.

  “It will take Kyran several days to reach us.” Maris’ voice is matter-of-fact in tone. “The storm is worse in the South.”

  My grandmother continues, “Most of the Joint Assembly members stayed near to the palace after your coronation. Your father will use the passages to retrieve those of the Order who returned to the Sanctuary, and those in the Elder Lands.”

  “Convenient.” Geran’s abilities as a Portal means he can teleport throughout Ayden and not worry about the storm. “Why doesn’t he get Kyran?”

  She lets out a scoffing laugh. “He’s hoping your betrothed freezes in the snow before he gets here.”

  “You’re joking, right?”

  “Only slightly.” She shrugs. “Geran does not believe Kyran would trust him to carry him through a passage unharmed.”

  I rest my cheek on my knee. “He’s probably right.” It was my father who had Kyran thrown out of the Sanctuary when he claimed his Elder blood and wanted their protection. Kyran had been my age then. Just sixteen. He’d wanted a life free from the Mystics. Free from the rule of his father, Lord Donagh and from his sadistic brother, Lord Braedon. It would be useless for me to offer to get Kyran. Although I have the power, I’ve been warned not to use any passages into the Common Lands as they are unprotected from the Mystics. Braedon’s portals might sense my presence and take me captive. Not a fate I want to experience again.

  My grandmother leans across the space between us. “We’ve not had time to discuss this possible marriage on a more . . . personal level.”

  My throat constricts. “Grandmother—”

  “Don’t ‘grandmother’ me. As the highest ranking member of the Elder Council, it is my duty to discuss such things with those entering into a commitment with a partner.”

  I press my back into the couch, not wanting to have this conversation.

  “It is easy to see you’re uncomfortable with the arrangement. What frightens you?”

  “I’m not scared.”

  “You are the queen, Alystrine. I understand that as a girl you may have some fears, but as the queen you must face them.”

  “I’m not scared.” My voice comes out harsher than I’d planned. My grandmother arches her eyebrow. “Sorry. I’m more . . . concerned.”

  “What concerns you?”

  “I don’t think Kyran will agree to the betrothal.”

  Maris’s brows come together. “Why wouldn’t he want to be your husband?”

  I think back to Kyran’s confession to me the first night we met. “He holds no love for the Mystics or the Elders. He feels betrayed by them both. Why would he risk his life to fight a war between them?”

  “Men will do much if it gives them power,” my grandmother explained. “Kyran may agree for the purely selfish reason that he would be in a position to punish those who hurt him in the past.”

  I can sympathize. “If Kyran cancels the contract will the Assembly give me time to pick a new husband?”

  “They will want you to choose someone before the war truly begins. Another man might commit more soldiers or money to our side.”

  I shiver.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You make me sound like a prized pig waiting to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.”

  Her blue eyes are glued to me. Observing. “A queen must make sacrifices for the good of her people.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I’ve already had this conversation with my father and my Uncle Devnet. More than once. I went through the torture of meeting the men they and the Joint Assembly wanted me to marry. One man, Lord Cedric, is old enough to be my grandfather. The thought of sleeping with him makes my skin crawl. The fact that Kyran’s handsome, and at least closer to my age than Lord Cedric, helps make our potential marriage a little more palatable. A little. But it’s still weird. Terrifying, actually.

  “You must understand, Alystrine. Our abilities, as Elders, have diminished with each new generation. Braedon stole the last of our Portals, except for your father. They took the Elderstones with them, leaving us virtually defenseless.”

  “What about the Chrysaline?”

  My grandmother’s eyes seem to look inside at a distant memory. “We have carried it before us in every battle. With it, we believe we have Ruahk’s blessing and his power, but we have no one to summon all the power within it. And now that the Mystics have the Elderstones . . . and the Black Guards with their demonic powers . . . we will need the help of the Commoners and their armies if we are to prevail.”

  The guard announces the arrival of my father. Geran storms into the room like a bull. “Alystrine, I am glad you’re up and dressed early. There is much to do before Kyran arrives.” He pauses to nod toward Maris. “Mother.”

  She returns his nod. “Geran.”

  “It is a strenuous task. . . ” He paces around the room, “but I believe we shall manage to bring the rest of the Joint Assembly here by tomorrow evening.”

  “Why the rush?”

  “That will leave us a few days to go over Kyran’s role, should he accept it, and your vows.”

  “Vows?” I jump up, no longer able to hide my nerves. “But we’re not getting married right away.” I grab onto the back of my chair to keep my balance. “Are we?”

  “No, dear.” Maris walks to my side. “But there are still a list of promises traditionally voiced at the betrothal.”

  There’d been no such formality when I’d signed the contract.

  Geran faces me. His gray hair has darkened since we came to Ayden. The ancient power here appears to be a fountain of youth for my father. “You need to decide what authority Kyran will have.”

  “He means what role Kyran will have within your reign.” Maris pats my hand. “Your father is making his plans out loud. Ignore him for the moment. I can explain things later.”

  Geran scowls. “There’s much to be done.”

  Maris smiles placidly. “Yes, dear. Why not start doing it?”

  A messenger proclaims my advisors have gathered and wait for me in the large conference room.

  “We all have our tasks.” My father reaches out to touch my arm as Maris and I pass him. “Alystrine, may I speak with you for a moment?”

  My grandmother shoots him a warning look.

  “I would like to say farewell to my daughter, nothing more.”

  She narrows her eyes. “Behave.”

  That my father still takes orders from her is a testament to her formidable presence. “I will, Mother.”

  Maris exits, leaving a void in the room and me wondering if I will ever command that kind of respect. My father clears his throat. It makes me sad to see how uneasy we are with each other, but we really are strangers.

  “So.” I rock on my heels. “You’ll be back tomorrow, right?”

  Geran nods. “If it pleases Ruahk.”

  I shiver at the mention of the god of Ayden.

  “There is something I need to say.”

  My skin prickles. I can tell he’s going to pull the parent card about something.

  “For the good of Ayden, you must let go of your grief and focus on the tasks ahead.”

  I blink at his unexpected concern, then feel my bitterness bubble up from my stomach. “You wallow for sixteen years over the death of your wife and you won’t give me more than a couple of weeks to mourn my best friend?”

  “I did not wallow. I kept myself in stasis to protect you.”

  “You can tell yourself that all you want, but I don’t believe it. You didn’t want to face life without Etain until you could use me to get revenge on the man who murdered her.” I cross to the opposite end of the room. “Is that all you wanted to tell me? To stop grieving? Because if that’s all, you can go now.”

  He draws his hands down his face in a gesture of exasperation. “Why must we fight?” His voice cracks. “Can you not see I want to help you?”

  I’m surpri
sed by his sudden vulnerability. A thread of guilt seeps into my thoughts. I try to yank it out. “You can’t bring Josh back.”

  “No.” He lowers his hands to his side. “But neither can you, by your refusal to live.”

  His words catch me off guard. I hide how much truth there is in them. “I live. I breathe.” My arms slice through the air. “I sign your contracts and your laws. Whatever you’ve told me to do, I’ve done it. I thought that would make you happy.”

  “I thought it would, too.” His eyes don’t leave mine.

  “What more do you want?”

  “I miss the spark, the fire that used to light your eyes. Even now, when your anger stares out at me, it is not an anger that stirs action, but one that sinks into despair.”

  “Declaring war isn’t action enough for you?”

  “Not when I think your true desire is not to win, but to die in it.”

  I start to deny it, but the words catch in my throat. I’d been full of the desire to avenge Josh’s death when I’d first declared war but in the days since, I find it harder and harder to care about anything. I sit down on the couch. “I miss him. So much.”

  “If he loved you, as you loved him, then he would want you to be strong. To live your life. I promise you, the pain will fade.”

  “I can’t feel anything anymore.”

  “You will again.” He sits next to me. “I need you to know this.” He pauses to take a deep breath. “I love you, Alystrine. You may consider me bull-headed and stubborn, even cruel, but remember always, I do what I do because I not only love Ayden, but I love you.”

  I know he wants me to say the words back, but I can’t. I only discovered Geran is my father a few months ago. Parental love has always been something between me and Kennis. To let this almost stranger into our bond seems a betrayal to her.

  His eyes reveal the pain of my silence. “I am here for you always. Whenever, and for whatever, you may need.”

  “Thank you.”

  He stands. “I will see you tomorrow night.”

  We walk toward the door together. He waits for me to leave first. I turn around in the threshold.