Memory's Wake Omnibus: The Complete Illustrated YA Fantasy Series (63 page)

“Bronmer… Bron… Shit. Eloryn, I think she’s a fae, Brand her!”

Eloryn cried, “BRONMARBH AIL-”

Hope was gone. Vanished in a flash, just the way a fairy would.

Memory breathed, liked it was the first time she had in weeks.

But the tower still roared like a crumbling stone dragon.

“The tower’s coming down,” Roen yelled over the sound.

“Can you try and hold it together?” Memory asked her sister.

Eloryn already spoke her words and nodded so as not to interrupt them with her reply. A sudden jolt shifted all of them a foot across the floor.

“Loreee?” Memory sang. “Whatcha doing? Can you hold this?”

Eloryn shrugged, shook her head, kept speaking words of magic anyway.

“Time to run, then.”

Everyone nodded. Clara remained still, terrified, and Memory grabbed her hand and they ran first down the stairs. Eloryn, Roen, and Will followed close behind.

The roof of the tower flattened the room they had been standing in just as they hit the stairs. Memory let go of Clara who kept running and paused to check everyone was out and okay. Roen and Eloryn passed her on the stairs.

Dust and shattered slate pelted them from the destroyed roof. Eloryn stumbled her steps, and stumbled her words. The tower lurched, tipping to the side. They all slid with it and hit the wall of the stairwell.

An explosion of noise cracked around them and the stairwell split. Eloryn and Roen looked back at Memory, and she looked down at them from across the chasm where the stairs had been.

Will grabbed her hand, a question on his face.

Memory nodded.

He scooped her up, and at a run he jumped the gap, running along the wall and hitting the landing at the bottom on his feet. Memory bounced in his strong arms and tucked herself tight into his body.

Sprinting down the last flights of stairs, they slid out into the adjoining corridor atop an avalanche of crumbled masonry. All that was left of the tower.

They all sat there coughing, checking over each other with silent looks.

It was Eloryn who spoke first.

“Mem, are you okay?”

Memory wafted dust from her face. “Yeah, in one piece.”

“I mean, really okay?”

Memory felt like laughing. She was full of relief and wanted to express it through that unstoppable sort of laughter that hurt your belly. But her sister stared at her so seriously, she worried her relief was misplaced. Maybe she had a metal pipe sticking through her chest and didn’t know it yet, like those dumb chicks in gore flicks.

“Why?”

“Because you’re going to need to be.” Eloryn bit her lip and tried to smile. “I’ve abdicated. You’re now the queen of Avall.”

Memory’s Wake

Hope’s Reign

Providence Unveiled

Full Table of Contents

The Memory’s Wake Trilogy, Volume III

BY SELINA FENECH

Books in this Series

Memory’s Wake

Hope’s Reign

Providence Unveiled

First Published by Fairies and Fantasy Pty Ltd January 2015

Ebook Edition ISBN: 978-0-9875635-7-6

Story, Illustrations, Design and Cover Art Copyright © 2015 Selina Fenech

All rights reserved.

www.selinafenech.com

Book Three of the Memory’s Wake Trilogy

http://www.memoryswake.com

Just when she is finding herself, Memory is about to lose everything. Home, friendship, family, goals, love… Memory will break all the rules to try and save what is important to her, but her actions are being manipulated by a dark force toward a dark end. Worlds will be broken, love will be stolen, and sacrifices will be made.

In this final novel of the Memory’s Wake trilogy, the truth will be unveiled.

Providence Unveiled contains over 40 illustrations by the author and artist.

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Length: Full-length novel of 85,000 words or 350 pages in paperback.

Content: Due to some adult themes of death and abuse, parental guidance is recommended for readers under the age of 14.

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Memory laughed a strong, high-pitched laugh that made her sides ache. The surrounding cloud of dust was chalky on her tongue and the last small pieces of falling tiles and roof shingles clattered onto the debris that surrounded her and her friends. Eloryn, Roen, and Clara sat sprawled where they had tumbled out of the tower that had collapsed around them. Will was right beside Memory, close enough for her to feel his warmth and hear him still panting from their wild escape. They were all powdered with dirt, but safe and mostly uninjured. Memory was sure one of her fingers was broken. Everything was such a blur, she wasn’t sure if it happened during the tower collapse, or earlier when she and Will hit the mattresses after their fall. But she was grateful for it. Grateful that was all they’d suffered, and that she was still alive. Will held her other hand.

Memory couldn’t stop laughing.

Eloryn sighed. “It’s not a joke. You are now the Queen of Avall.”

Memory paused long enough to take a breath. “That’s even funnier,” she wheezed, and started laughing again. “I thought I was the crazy, irresponsible one, and then you go and make me queen!”

Memory wiped tears from her bottom eyelids and tried to breathe between her giggling. It didn’t help. Trying to stop only made it worse and her whole body shook with uncontained laughter.

Roen grinned roguishly. “I have to admit, it is rather funny.”

A chuckle burst from Eloryn as though she had been holding it in and was no longer able to contain it.

Small at first, her laughter built until it matched Memory’s. She moved forward and wrapped her sister in a tight hug. Memory put one arm around her, the other hand still entwined with Will’s.

They laughed together there in each other’s arms, and Memory whispered, “What the hell happened? I’m really queen? What am I going to do?”

Eloryn whispered back, “You’ll manage. You’ll be great. I know you can do this.”

“I’ll try.”

“I’ll be there for you. Anything you need, anything I can do. You’re my sister, and I love you.”

Memory pressed her face into her twin’s shoulder. “Can you fix my busted finger?”

“Of course.” Eloryn tightened her hug. “I like your new hair color.”

“Want me to do yours? You’d rock a fading pink.”

Eloryn kissed Memory on the cheek. “Don’t ever leave me.”

They separated and stood up, smiling at each other. Will, Roen and Clara also stood by Memory, holding her hands and her shoulders, supporting her.

My family.

Memory still felt shaky and overwhelmed. In the last fifteen minutes of her life she’d tried to kill herself, had someone else try to kill her friends, then had everyone almost all die again from the fall of the destroyed tower. Her emotions were so high strung and confused she could barely think. She drew deep breaths, letting herself accept the support of her friends, accept that they were there for her now, and for whatever lay ahead.

I will manage. I will be great. For them.

Shocked servants and guards appeared at the end of the hall, gawking at the destruction. The entire north wing tower was now a pile of rubble, and the wall it had been attached to was all but gone, opening the corridor to the cold winds of night outside.

Memory felt guilty for having a part in knocking down one of the palace’s towers. Not a great move for her first day as queen.

Acknowledging the arriving servants, Clara said, “I’ll inform the staff to begin organizing the cleanup and bring help.”

“Thank you. I think we’re all okay though. Just make sure no one was injured outside,” Memory said.

Clara nodded and took a step away, then with a puppy dog expression, turned back and gave Memory a firm hug. Then she hurried down the hall to speak with the other staff.

Roen moved in next and held Memory.

Memory giggled at the tag team. “I’m okay, really. Only current risk is being cuddled to death.”

Roen let go and looked insulted. “Do I need a near death experience to embrace you now? Being queen is already going to your head.”

Memory laughed again, then stopped abruptly. “Hang on. I’m the queen. That means Hope got what she-”

Swirling winds and gray smoke filled the room, interrupting Memory. Sparks of gold swam within the Veil mist like fireflies as it opened up in a round portal. The sound of distant rain dripping on bells came with a flood of warmth, and a crowd stood before them.

A crowd of fae royalty. The Seelie Queen, Aine, and her human consort Lugh were flanked by a dozen fairy knights. Each guard wore armor of woven silver with embedded mother of pearl and held a fairy gold spear twice his or her height. Behind the unearthly beauty of the queen and her companion, stood a group of sprites, including Mina, and Yvainne, the princess of the sprites with whom Eloryn had once made a bargain. Standing all together, the sheer beauty of them made tears well up in Memory’s eyes. Pearlescent skin was contrasted with tangles of silky hair and the pretty tatters of their cobweb and feather dresses. Aine’s dress was more whole, full of draping translucent folds that teased at the shape of her body, leading a viewer’s eyes up to her face. Her long auburn hair that Memory had once seen trail on the ground behind her was bundled into a tall and intricately woven mass atop her head, stuck through with glass flowers and silver twigs. Her skin had a warm shimmer, like diamonds drenched in honey, but her expression was far from warm.

Aine’s gaze swept across the rubble and settled on Memory’s face. Her lips were stretched thin and eyebrows lowered. “So, the fickle humans have changed their ruler yet again.”

Memory looked to Eloryn, who gave her an encouraging nod in return.

Memory lifted her chin.
Time to start being queen
. She curtseyed to Aine. “I only just found out myself. News travels fast.”

“We have watchers for anything we consider important, or dangerous.”

Yvainne and Mina stood proudly behind their queen.
They’ve still been keeping tabs on me after all.
Memory wondered just how much she’d been watched, and what they might know. Mina stared Memory down with her usual glare. With the malicious creature Hope now confirmed as being a fae, standing in front of this group of them made Memory’s paranoia tie itself in anxious knots.
Hope could be Mina, or Yvainne, or Aine. Any of them.

Memory calmed the shiver chasing up her spine and curtseyed a second time for good measure, then pointed with her thumb at the ruined building around them. “Your Majesty, you can probably see that this isn’t the best time for a chat. Can we do the ruler meet and greet a bit later on if there’s no urgent issue?”

Aine’s eyes narrowed. “We take issue with you.”

Mist from the torn Veil spilled into the corridor again, and a second group emerged from it. A raspy male voice hissed, “As do we.”

The Unseelie King, Finvarra, and his daughter Nyneve became clear as the smoke faded, their own darkly armored guards following.

Memory noticed down the hallway a troop of palace guards led by Peirs rushing to the scene, and held up a hand to halt them. She turned back to the newly arrived fae royalty with what she hoped was a brave face.

Nyneve wore her usual shades of mourning, her hair even blacker, impossibly black, not a highlight showing in the nebulous masses swirling around her silver skin. Her father’s gnarled body was clothed in a maroon color darker than night. Between them they presented a front of imposing darkness. Nyneve stood a step behind her father, head bowed slightly, as the black eyed king growled at Aine like a feral dog. “Trying to slip in and make decisions without us? We must have our say as well.”

Memory cleared her throat. “Inside voices, please. I’d already noticed that the fae aren’t very keen on me. You guys have always known I’m full up on magic. What’s changed?”

Aine said, “Now you are monarch of the humans. We can’t allow such power to be in the hands of a ruler. There must be restrictions.”

Restrictions?
Memory shook her head. “You let Thayl go about his business.”

“You compare a candle to a forest fire,” Aine said.

Finvarra’s needle-like teeth ground against each other, scraping like chalk on a blackboard. “She’s unnatural, stealing away the life of the earth, hoarding it within her. Restrictions aren’t enough. She should not be allowed to be queen. She should not be allowed to exist.”

By her side, Will took a step forward, and Memory matched him, blocking his way. She said, “
She
is right here and doesn’t appreciate threats to her existence. I am queen and you should treat me with some respect.”

Nyneve raised a silver hand and put it on her father’s shoulder. It seemed to calm him and he muttered what might have been an apology.

“Whatever magic is inside me, it’s not there by my choice.” Memory knew it had been given to her by Providence, whom she was sure was a fae. But now didn’t seem the best time to be making wild accusations. There were still too many questions
. If I’m going to be queen, I need to be smarter, better. I need some answers first.
“There’s not much I can do about it. It’s in me now, part of me, for better or worse.”

Aine tilted her head in a supplicating motion, but the slight sneer on her lips made the motion a lie. “We ask that you give an oath never to use your stolen magic again. For the safety of our worlds.”

Eloryn spoke up. “Is that really necessary? Never before has a human ruler had such a restriction placed on them.”

Nyneve added her voice, deep and concerned. “It does seem a great imposition.”

“Never before has there been a human like her. We won’t accept her as queen without it,” Aine said. “Agreed, Winter King?”

Finvarra grumbled. Memory could see Nyneve’s hand squeeze his shoulder.

“Father, no,” she whispered.

Finvarra shook her hand from him. “No? It is barely enough as it is. It is agreed, this girl should use none of her stolen power.”

Never use magic again?
Memory wondered if that was even possible. One emotional slip up could change everything. She was more in control now but the risk was there. It would also mean she’d be stuck with purple hair for good, unless Eloryn could behest hair color as well. She whispered to Eloryn beside her, “Out of curiosity, what’s the penalty for breaking a fairy oath?”

Eloryn replied in hushed tones, “Tantamount to a violation of the Pact, punishable by Branding and death.”

“Serious like a pinky promise. Gotcha.”

Memory addressed Aine and Finvarra again. “What if I don’t agree? What if I think you should trust me to rule fairly despite the magic inside me?”

“Just as we trusted your double to rule?” Aine walked up to Eloryn and stared down at her from at least three feet taller. “Maellan girl, we requested that you be the human ruler. We wanted you, not your volatile sister. You made an oath to rule with the sprite princess, Yvainne. You may not have technically broken your oath, as you did rule - briefly, barely - but we will be less inclined to trust you or your twin to persevere in her promises now.”

Eloryn looked at her feet. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I did not intend to dishonor my oath.”

“And yet you did, the moment ruling became difficult for you.”

Something changed in Eloryn’s expression. “Had I not ended my rule then, you may have found a new human ruler that would please you far less than my sister.”

Aine turned her back and walked away, striding around the room. “You mortal creatures with your in-fighting displease us. We want stability for Avall, for all our peoples.”

Finvarra spat into the debris. “Don’t pretend you have a care for our kind. You prefer the human vermin over the unseelie fae, when we are your other halves, the dark to your light. We are your balance. You don’t care that they treat us as monsters. You would not care if we were hunted clean from the world, when it is those parasites that should be removed!” He clawed a hand through the air toward Memory and her friends.

Aine rolled her eyes at his dramatics and addressed Memory. “Agreeing to the oath offers us some stability. A show of faith to allow our peoples to work together. Denying it can only lead to chaos for all.”

Finvarra grinned and his all black eyes twinkled. “We welcome chaos. We are born of chaos.”