Of Dreams and Sorcery (Royal Fae Guardians Book 1)

  Of Dreams and Sorcery

  Royal Fae Guardians, Book One

  Heather Renee

  Of Dreams and Sorcery © Copyright 2020 by Heather Renee

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.

  For more information on reproducing sections of this book or sales of this book, email heatherreneeauthor@yahoo.com.

  ISBN: 979-8636353225

  Editing: Jamie from Holmes Edits

  Cover: Parker Premades

  Contents

  Foreword

  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

  Stay in Touch

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Heather Renee

  About the Author

  Foreword

  I just wanted to take a minute to explain why some of this world might seem familiar. If you’ve never read The Falls Trilogy that I released in 2017, then continue on to the first chapter. If you have, I just wanted to explain a few things…

  The Falls Trilogy was the first series I’d ever written. I loved Kali’s story, but it wasn’t the best version for her. I made the decision last year to pull that series from Amazon and rewrite her story. Some names have changed, some have stayed the same. The world is very similar, but also very different. Don’t try to compare the two, it will only confuse you, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.

  I hope you enjoy her new story as much as I did writing it, and I look forward to hearing what you think!

  Dedication

  To my daughter Haley…

  May you always follow your dreams and believe in yourself as much as I believe in you!

  Chapter One

  Watching a talking owl fly through a lavender-colored sky while he mumbled about how stubborn I was under his breath was the highlight of my evening. Mostly because it was still hard to believe what I was seeing was real, but also because it was a distraction from the anxiety that flowed through me.

  It was my last night visiting with Stryx in the secret realm the owl had magically dragged my conscience to nearly every night for the last year.

  He swooped down and landed on my outstretched hand. “Let’s take a walk.”

  “Uh, oh. You have your serious voice on. What’s wrong?” I asked, knowing the humor I had toward my unique situation drove him nuts, but that was what he got for keeping so many secrets.

  His beady eyes narrowed at me, and his white silky feathers bristled. “Don’t be smart with me when you’re just upset this is the last night of your true human existence. It’s your own fault if you feel like you failed to make the most out of your time left on Earth. It’s not like I didn’t give you enough warning.”

  I scoffed. “My fault? First, stay out of my head. Second, how about you overworked me with your never-ending to-do lists?” Not only was Stryx able to speak out loud, but my feathered friend could also read my thoughts. Annoying, but true.

  Though, our banter was endless, and I loved it. It was what kept me from losing my composure as I acknowledged there were things that I couldn’t know yet but needed to be prepared for anyway. I wasn’t big on surprises, so it had been a hard pill to swallow, but I’d managed it over time.

  “I’d like to show you something if you’re done being difficult,” Stryx hooted, then flew from my hand back toward the clear skies.

  “Oh, really? Are you going to break some more rules, my little friend? I thought I wasn’t allowed to be anywhere but these hills.” Inside the realm Stryx brought me to each night was a replica of another world I would soon be visiting called Arvayta. The problem was that I wasn’t supposed to know anything about the place until my magic was released, so Stryx never let me leave the grassy knolls to see the world my family was from.

  His wise eyes, black with flecks of silver, peered down at me. They were never judging but usually encouraging me to be better and stronger than I was the day before. “Just follow me.”

  Even though he was a talking animal, I finally accepted that I wasn’t hallucinating after a few weeks of knowing him and took a leap of crazy faith to trust the creature who had since become one of the most important people in my life.

  Yes, I knew he wasn’t an actual person, but other than having feathers and no hands, he pretty much acted like one. Sarcasm and all.

  His beak snapped at me, bringing my attention back to him when I hadn’t immediately followed, and I began to walk as he spoke, flying only a few feet above me. “With your birthday tomorrow, you’re going to know a lot of this anyway, so I don’t count it as rule breaking, per se. Just a bit of information to ease you into what comes next.”

  My hand stroked his wing as I realized there was an important question I’d yet to ask, mostly because I was afraid of the answer, but I needed to know before there wasn’t time to find out. “Will you still be around after tonight?”

  “Things will be different, but yes, I will meet you in Arvayta after you’ve settled in with your parents and Jordan. They’ll all be going with you, so it’s not like you’ll be alone.”

  That wasn’t the answer I was hoping for, but it was better than never seeing him again. As I pressed my sweaty palms against my shirt, I calmed my beating heart, reminding myself that everything would be okay. Whatever came next, I’d figure out a way to get through all of the craziness.

  “So, what is this information you have?” I asked, trying to get back on track since my mind was a hot mess at the thought of my impending nineteenth birthday.

  “Well, you know how I’ve mentioned your family originated from the fae, but after centuries, the magic of the originals was changed into something else, something less fae and more hybrid which resulted in most of the Arvaytan population that’s alive today?”

  My head nodded, unsure of what he was getting at.

  “Well, there’s something I need to prepare you for since you’re not exactly like the others who live in Arvayta.”

  He was lucky he was flying just out of reach from me, because I really wanted to yank him closer and shake him. “What do you mean?”

  “You have more fae in you than any Arvaytan born since before your parents. Your grandmother Taliah on your mother’s side and your grandfather Cello on your father’s side came from a long history of royals. Their fae side was much stronger, because blood lines had remained purer than most due to their standing as royalty.”

  “Are these people still alive? Will I be meeting them and need to remember to curtsy or something?” I asked when he failed to get to the point.

  “Unfortunately, no. They’re not still alive, but what is important to know is that they diluted the fae line when they found love with those descended not dir
ectly from their kind. And it would have kept diluting the powers in each generation if your parents hadn’t met each other.”

  “Stryx, I don’t understand genealogy. You need to be more direct before I lose my mind over here.” I hated having conversations that didn’t get right to the point.

  When I stopped walking, he swooped around to face me and snapped his beak at me like he so often did when I frustrated him. “What I’m saying is that your grandparents on both sides had enough fae magic in them to carry on their powers for many generations to come, so long as the fae line remained predominant between future unions, but they’d each taken bonds with those not of pure blood. That made your parents half-fae, still powerful in their own right, but nothing completely out of the ordinary. When you were born, you became the first being conceived from two royal families in hundreds of years.”

  My eyes pinched closed as an irritation settled over me. I still felt confused, probably more overwhelmed actually, but I was beginning to wrap my mind around it all.

  Stryx landed on a rock near me and continued, “Most Otherworld beings are only a one-third or less fae. When your parents found love with each other, nobody knew what would happen when they decided to have a child until it was too late.”

  “Too late for what?”

  “You carry a significant amount of magic within you that was thought to be lost long ago. When your parents realized this, they had that power suppressed and brought you to Earth in hopes of keeping you hidden for as long as possible. But, sometime tomorrow night, your magic will be set free and there will be no hiding what you truly are.”

  Part of me knew I shouldn’t ask, knew that I didn’t really want to know, but it didn’t stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth. “What am I?”

  “That’s something I can’t answer for you yet. I wish I could, but there are bigger things at play and I just need you to trust me. What I can tell you is that you’re the first royal who has a chance of restoring the balance lost in the Dark War many centuries ago and stopping the prophecy that was given when you were conceived.”

  A deep laugh escaped me, and once it started, I couldn’t stop it. If I understood what he was saying correctly, I was the reason for the doom and gloom he spoke of, yet I was also their only hope of stopping it.

  “Kaliah, this is not a laughing matter. I’m only telling you this because your transition will not be easy. You will go through more pain than your human body can handle, and you will die before being reborn into your new fae form.”

  That’s when the laughing stopped, but my hands still shook, and I was finding it hard to breathe normally. Stryx was more serious than I’d ever seen him, and he’d just told me I was going to die. What in the actual hell was happening? Out of all the crazy things he’d said in the time I’d known him, that was by far the worst.

  “Is there a way to stop it?” I asked, doing my best not to scream out my frustrations.

  It had taken me months to cope with the fact that I was going to be something other than human on my nineteenth birthday. Now, I was suddenly supposed to be okay with dying as well? Fat chance of that happening.

  “Just breathe. I promise it will be alright. It’s what I have been training you for since your last birthday. I won’t lie and tell you that it’s not going to be agonizing, but you can handle it. You’re stronger than you know, and I hope one day you will see yourself the way I do.”

  Heat rushed to my cheeks at his compliment as I began to calm down. Stryx didn’t often praise me, no matter how many obstacles I conquered that he set before me during training. So, when he did have something positive to say, I actually believed him, even if it was hard.

  Stryx spread his wings out and shook his feathers before taking off back into the sky. “Come on. There is still something I want to show you, and it might help ease your nerves. Not everything about coming to Arvayta will be bad.”

  Deciding things couldn’t get much worse than being told I was going to die the next day, I continued walking and followed the angelic creature as he soared in the air just above me.

  We moved in tranquil silence as I took in Arvayta the way it was in my conscience for the final night. Above us, the sky was a pale lavender color and cloudless with a beaming yellow sun, which Stryx said was the usual daytime atmosphere. Plants thrived all around me in various sizes and colors; pastel, neon, and every palate in between could be found in the foliage on the outskirts of town. The main area was blocked off by trees more superior and wider in size than any I’d seen before.

  About ten minutes passed before Stryx landed on a boulder, and I heard the rushing water before I saw it. Goosebumps pricked at my skin as anticipation raced through me at what I was about to see.

  When I rounded the corner, my neck craned up to find the most massive waterfall I’d ever laid eyes on. The width of it had to be over one-hundred feet, and the height? No close guesses on that, but probably nearing one-thousand feet.

  A purple hue radiated from the fog that rolled off the water, and a pulsing sensation began deep within me as my body involuntarily moved toward the pool before me that was more like a pond, half a football field in size. Something within it called to me, and there was nothing I wanted more than to submerge myself in the swirling waters until all my worries faded away.

  Stryx clicked his beak at me again. “Don’t touch that water unless you want to start the transition earlier than planned, which I don’t advise, given Jordan isn’t exactly equipped to handle it on her own.”

  Jordan was not only my best friend, but she was also my roommate and probably wouldn’t enjoy waking up to what I assumed would be my screams.

  “You mean she isn’t equipped to handle my imminent death?” I retorted with a roll of my eyes as I forcibly took a few steps away from the waterfall.

  “Precisely.”

  I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but it was time to go back to reality and find out.

  I had a date with death and probably shouldn’t be late for it.

  Chapter Two

  Pain rocketed through my body as an elbow dropped onto my gut and a body pressed on top of me, giving me a wake up I definitely could have done without. Though, my attacker didn’t keep the advantage for long once awareness seeped in.

  Flipping her over, I ended up on top and grinned. “Not today, Satan.”

  “Happy birthday, Chuck,” Jordan said with a sideways grin on her oval face. She was my best friend and had been calling me some version of Chuck Norris ever since I started taking Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes last year and kicking her ass like the Texas Ranger.

  In return, I often called her Satan due to the smirk she constantly wore as she pushed any boundaries set before her. Along with the secrets she kept that she thought I knew nothing about, but in reality, I knew just enough.

  “Thanks for the warm awakening,” I grumbled as I rolled off her and toward my bathroom.

  We lived in a two-bedroom, two-bath house on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. While our house was simple, my life was anything but. Then again, neither was Jordan’s. Instead of going to college, I was training my butt off for this day. My nineteenth birthday.

  The craziest part was all the secrets we were keeping from each other. She thought I didn’t already know what was in store for me today—and I had to keep up the charade that I was clueless.

  It was my last day as a human. The day I would become something more than I ever thought possible. Something I didn’t believe even existed until the snarky owl started demanding all the things from me on my previous birthday.

  From my view in the mirror, I could see she was nervous about something. I knew it probably had to do with whatever she and my parents planned to tell me when we met up later that day, but I didn’t feel bad enough to consider letting her off the hook.

  “So, I know this is a big day for you. Last birthday of your teens and all, and I don’t want to be a Debby downer, but I wanted to mention something before we go s
ee your parents this afternoon,” she said sheepishly, pushing her blonde hair behind her ear.

  “Oh, yeah? What’s that?” I asked calmly while staring in the mirror at the mess I called hair. My russet locks were wavy, but not quite curly, making it hard to ever know what to do with them.

  Jordan’s emerald eyes met my icy-blue ones in the reflection. “I was just thinking about how mad you were at me last year after your birthday, and you wouldn’t really tell me why. I’m pretty sure you’re over it now, but if I upset you again, please don’t shut me out. I’d rather you kung fu my ass into the depths of hell than be given the silent treatment again.”

  Ahh, she was smart. She knew I would be pissed when I found out what I really was today and that she’d known the entire time, but luckily for her, she already suffered those consequences without ever knowing it.

  After Stryx had come to visit me the first time and told me I wasn’t exactly human, I also learned Jordan was from the same world my parents came from and knew about all of us. Yet, she’d never told me.

  To say I’d been pissed was an understatement, but Stryx talked me out of completely writing her out of my life, and I finally forgave her without ever telling her why I’d been angry in the first place.

  “You’ve been my closest friend for eight years, Jordan. I hope that’s not going to change anytime soon,” I said with a forced smile, because even though Stryx had assured me that Jordan was a true friend, I still had niggling doubts that once she knew I was aware of the truth, and we went to Arvayta, she wouldn’t feel obligated to stick around any longer than required.