The Eclipsed Throne (Book 1 of Throne of Magic Series)

Aurelia leapt through space to the aid of her grandmother, sending a wave of fire towards the monsters that surrounded her.

“Aurelia,” Elowyn gasped, her magic faltering from shock. Her hair had escaped her bun, the long gray strands falling loosely down her back. Her hands were shaking from the effort, dark circles beneath her eyes. “How—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Aurelia interrupted as the three, majestic beasts crept towards them. Each creature was of the same blackness, their violet eyes focused on the pair of them. One resembled a lizard, another a wolf, and the third a cat, each a distorted, giant version of their humane counterpart. They bared their teeth, their large bodies towering over the two women.

In her hand Aurelia created a long spear of ice, throwing it towards the lizard. It slammed into its shoulder, a narrow miss but a distraction nonetheless. It wailed in pain, letting out a breath of fire in anger.

Elowyn focused on attacking the cat while Aurelia turned towards the wolf, a giant at twenty feet tall. She summoned the ice once more, focusing on his four paws as she froze them to the ground he stood upon. The creature growled, his eyes narrowing upon Aurelia.

Aurelia accepted the creature’s challenge, sending a blast of ice to pierce its body. The wolf was undeterred, easily deflecting their attacks as it prowled forward. The lizard followed suit, his black blood dripping down onto the rock below. The third creature, a cat-like creature from the darkness, prowled from the side, its long fangs peeking out of its mouth in evil delight.

Aurelia turned to Elowyn. “I need you to distract them,” She shouted, turning back to the creatures. “On my command.” Aurelia watched as they neared her, mere feet from her, from the city’s gates.

Twenty feet.

Ten feet.

“Now!” Aurelia yelled, and she teleported through space to appear on the lizard’s back at the same time that her grandmother unleashed her magic with a new ferocity.

At the same time, she slammed her golden dagger into its eye. The lizard wavered upon his feet before collapsing to the ground, his other eye shuttering closed as Aurelia pulled her dagger out, dripping black.

One down, two to go.

Elowyn had distracted the other two by growing enormous thorns up their legs, rooting them to the spot, black blood pooling from where the thorns dug into them. The creatures roared in anger, their fire splaying down upon Elowyn. She deflected easily, sending balls of fire to burn their black skin in response.

Aurelia moved to the cat-like creature next, teleporting onto its back and holding for dear life on its thick, black fur. It immediately tried to throw her off, hissing in anger, fighting off the thorns that held it still.

Aurelia held on tightly as the creature tried to grab her off of its back, its teeth snapping in menace. Too distracted by Aurelia’s presence, the creature didn’t realize Elowyn’s attack of fire until it slammed into its body, taking them both by surprise.

Aurelia used it as her only chance to pounce, ramming her golden dagger deeply into its skull, striking over and over again until the cat fell, its legs collapsing onto the floor.

Aurelia teleported to the ground, collapsing to her knees, her chest heaving. She turned to thank her grandmother—

Yet in front of her grandmother was the wolf, his teeth bared as he bent down to pierce his fangs into her body, undeterred by her desperate conjurations of magic.

“NO!” Aurelia screamed, and an enormous blast of ice exploded out of her, her power coming to her aide.

She watched as her ice entirely overtook the wolf, his figure a statue amidst the ruin, completely frozen from her magic. Elowyn stood there in disbelief, her eyes wide, her golden crown askew from battle.

They both stood in awe, their chests heaving from exertion. They turned to meet each other’s gaze and Aurelia ran to Elowyn, throwing herself into her arms.

“Nonna,” She gasped, her arms tightening around the familiar figure.

Her grandmother.

It was if all of her emotions toppled onto her at once at the sight of her grandmother standing in front of her, alive. It was what she had been dreaming of for weeks in the Damaris kingdom. The only hope that she had let herself keep.

Relief flooded Aurelia’s body and tears began to cascade down her cheeks unwillingly as her grandmother held her tightly in her arms. “Oh, Nonna,” She murmured into her shoulder. “I thought I’d be too late...”

Elowyn gently pulled back, staring warmly into her granddaughter’s eyes. “Oh, Aurelia.” She said tearfully, her face a mirror of Aurelia’s. “I was so worried about you. Of your destiny.” They both looked back at the wolf, frozen in time. “I never wanted such responsibility for you...” She murmured, pulling Aurelia in tightly once more. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”

Aurelia squeezed her tightly before pulling away, the pair of them turning to observe the massacre below. She felt whole, somehow, as if the thing she had been missing for so long had finally centered within her. Standing here, despite the death that stenched the air, she felt as if anything were possible with her grandmother standing next to her.

Despite almost dying, almost being forcefully wed to a stranger…she still found herself here, with the person she loved most in the world. But before they could continue their reunion, they had to save their kingdom. Aurelia was in Calathis, now. They would have all the time in the world together once this was finished.

“Shall we join the battle?” Aurelia said gently, her hand moving to the dagger at her hip.

“Not so fast,” A voice said behind them.

Aurelia and Elowyn froze as knives were held up to their throats, the pair of them suddenly surrounded by the purple-robed Fae.

Aurelia’s stomach dropped as they spun around to face the queen of the Fae herself.

“Queen Melantha.” Elowyn spit, and the dark-haired woman, dressed in elaborate purple fabric, smirked. They had appeared from nowhere, yet the daggers to the their throats told her that they had been waiting for this opportunity.

Waiting to win.

Aurelia’s eyes narrowed upon no one other than Ilaria holding a knife to her grandmother’s throat, a smile of victory upon her face. Uncontrolled anger surfaced in Aurelia at the sight of her, the woman who had kidnapped her against her will.

The battle raged below them, but nothing mattered but what happened here. What the next few moments would bring.

“Ilaria,” Aurelia growled. “You—“

“Oh come on, did you really think I would ever work for a man?” Ilaria tightened her grip on Elowyn with a sneer, a trickle of blood slipping down the queen of Calathis’ neck and into her bodice. “It was too easy, really.”

Aurelia’s gaze returned to Melantha, something clicking in the back of her mind.

It was Melantha who had met with Dorian in the pub all those days ago in the midst of the Damaris countryside. She had used some untapped Fae magic to control him, to force him to send his kingdom to war. Her mind trailed back to earlier in the day, where her magic had released Dorian out from under their magic.

Yet, she knew the queen of the Fae from somewhere else – but where?

“How could you do this?” Elowyn said angrily. “We had peace.”

Melantha let out a long, cold laugh. “Ask your granddaughter. She was what made it so easy.”

Aurelia felt all of the eyes turn to face her, Elowyn’s eyes wide.

“What are you talking about?” Aurelia snapped. She went over every memory in her mind, unable to think of what Melantha was referring to. Fear rose in her stomach, dreading the words that the she was about to speak.

“Who do you think gave you a key to our realm?” Melantha said snarkily, slipping into her velvet cloak’s pocket to open her palm to a key identical to the one that Aurelia had used all so long ago.

It felt as if it happened in another lifetime.

Aurelia felt as if she couldn’t breathe, as if the air around her was unable to reach her lungs. She was slowly suffocating, her mind whirling —

The key - the key that Aurelia had placed within her grandmother’s gravestone that had opened the portal to the universe.

“Did you really think that was how magic worked? That you could travel to another dimension without a price?” She smiled evilly. “There is always a price for magic.” The key disappeared from her hands as she regarded the Calathis princess before her. “Of course, this time, it’s your kingdom.”

It felt as if Aurelia’s blood turned to ice. Her mind spun – the woman in the hospital – that was Melantha, setting the war in motion by bringing Aurelia to the realm and pitting the kingdoms against each other. All so that she could take over the Continent for the Fae.

How had no one seen this coming?

Elowyn looked back and forth between Aurelia and Melantha. “What are you talking about?” She looked back to Aurelia. “The illness-”

“I was sick! Truly!” Aurelia gasped, her heart racing.

Melantha smiled sweetly. “It was too easy with her arrival, honestly, Elowyn. You were so excited about her...the attacks...the kidnapping..” Melantha feigned surprise before letting out another deep laugh.

“The beloved princess kidnapped by Damaris?” She snapped her fingers. “Boom. War. Everyone kills each other out...and the Fae take over.”

“No!” Aurelia said in disbelief. “The prophecy, I was meant to—“

“Oh, shut up, princess.” Ilaria interrupted with venom. “Wrong, again. You have no idea what you’re talking about with such matters. Leave prophecy-making to the rulers of the Continent.”

Elowyn struggled against the tight grasp Ilaria had on her. “Aurelia. Golden one. She is the one the prophecy foretold. She has the gift of both the sun and the moon. Not you.” A small smile appeared on her lips in defiance. “As much as you must wish to, Melantha, you can’t mess with fate.”

Melantha’s eyes darkened and she stepped in front of her, her voice like ice. “Wrong again, Elowyn. One’s destiny can be made. The Fae are meant to rule the Continent. And that’s exactly what we will do.”

She pulled a dagger out of her cloak and before Aurelia could utter a word in protest, Melantha walked over to Elowyn and Ilaria. A cruel smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she shoved the dagger deep within Elowyn’s chest. Elowyn’s mouth opened in surprise, gasping desperately for air.

No.

Aurelia struggled against her captor in desperation as she watched her grandmother bleed out before her eyes. Her heart dropped in her chest, breaking to pieces at the sight of her grandmother’s body collapsing to the ground, as if Melantha had crushed Aurelia’s soul in the same moment. She watched with horror as the life faded from Elowyn’s eyes, as her favorite human was taken from her.

No.

Melantha grinned. “And it’s just as good as I thought it would be.” She dropped the bloody knife and turned to Aurelia with a wicked grin, blood seeping out of Elowyn’s wound, unmoving on the ground.

Dead.

Aurelia could barely breathe, her blinding rage dulling the senses around her, watching as her beloved grandmother’s life faded. It was as if the last piece of light within Aurelia blinked out, a wave of darkness overtaking her, her magic taking on a mind of its own.

No.

“Dead,” Ilaria announced proudly, pulling back from Elowyn’s body.

Aurelia clenched her fists in anger, feeling her magic respond. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think as her grandmother laid unmoving in front of her.

Gone.

Within her, Aurelia’s magic snapped, her magic knowing no bounds, uncontrollable in her anger. With the slightest tug, she leapt through space, dodging the other Fae as she appeared right in front of the queen of the Fae.

She drew her dagger, her body radiating the darkness and anger that had overtaken her mind. In a second her magic had disarmed the Fae around her, throwing them to the ground as she stared into the eyes of her grandmother’s killer.

Aurelia waited for no one as she stabbed her golden dagger directly into Melantha’s chest, leaning forward to whisper in her ear in her last moments of life. “In this world and every other, you will lose, and I will enjoy destroying you. Fate is inescapable.”

Aurelia watched as Melantha’s body fell to the ground before she teleported in front of Ilaria, her mind still filled with madness, with lust for blood to be spilled.

Aurelia gave her a cruel grin before she drove her dagger directly into Ilaria’s heart. “I never liked you,” Aurelia said darkly. She watched as the light faded from Ilaria’s eyes, unremorseful. She could feel nothing but the anger that pulsated throughout her body, infecting her soul, her magic.

She felt as if she was going to burst with rage as she continued on, teleporting down the hill, stabbing every Fae that had come with the queen, that had participated in her grandmother’s death.

When she was finished, a circle of dead surrounded her, but she found none of the closure she had been desperate for. Her rage still radiated from her, her magic just beneath her fingertips as she knelt down in front of her grandmother, closing Elowyn’s eyes and crossing her arms peacefully over her chest. Aurelia leaned down to place a gentle kiss on Elowyn’s forehead before she forced herself to get up, to continue the war that her arrival had started.

She stood a different woman than she had been before. No longer remorseful, no longer a woman of hope. All that drove her was to make people hurt as she did, her heart bleeding irreparably. Bloodlust took over her mind, her soul, an unattainable quest for revenge.

Aurelia returned to the battlefield, her magic unstoppable as it trembled beneath her fingertips. Right away she was pulled back into the massacre, her energy renewed from the rage that swam in her soul. The swings of her sword were filled with magic, and she ran through the battlefield, sparring any Fae she could find, her magic suffocating anyone that dared try to defeat her.

On and on it went, unending as she sparred any Fae she could find, making up for the Calathian losses, searching endlessly for retribution that was nowhere to be found. For hours on end she wandered across the battlefield, continuing to fight through the sea of dead bodies when she stumbled upon one, her exhaustion catching up with her, her dress catching upon their sword.

The dark hair, the warm complexion, the crown emblem of Calathis upon her gown.

Brina.

Aurelia’s heart cracked at the sight of her friend’s body and she collapsed to the ground, wrapping her arms tightly around her, tears cascading down her cheeks.

“No. No,” She gasped, holding tightly to Brina. The sight of her lifeless eyes, so young, so hopeful, broke something in Aurelia that she knew could never be fixed.

It wasn’t just her grandmother, but so many that she had loved.

It was then, holding her best friend’s body, that Aurelia’s flame extinguished and she fell to the rage, to the darkness that beckoned her.

What had Ambrose done?