Rogue Fae, A Starseed Universe Novella

And if you liked Rogue Fae, here's a teaser for Prophecy of Three!

The knots in Hypatia's back wound tighter as memories of black smoke and lost knowledge flooded her mind.

The library was burning. Thousands of treasures flying toward the heavens reincarnated as ash and ember. Original works of Sophocles, Homer, and Euripides gone, and yet, Hypatia cared for only one. The one passed down through the centuries from woman to woman, witch to witch. She'd read it hundreds of times, recited every word and enunciated every syllable with care, should a disaster such as this ever occur. The one entrusted to her for safekeeping. The true secret of secrets and future of man.

She hardly felt the hot stones beneath her feet as she sprinted toward the volume secreted away in the quietest wing of the royal library. She was halfway there when the smoke began to lay siege to her body. Her muscles, strong from hours of dueling with her sisters for sport, strained beneath her will. Her skin screamed in protest with each brush against a flaming scroll or hot stone. A mere fifty paces away, Hypatia closed her burning eyes and began to navigate the long hallway and staircase blind. Her breath came like a reluctant lover, teasing her lungs before wrenching itself from her body. Years seemed to pass as she pulled herself up the steep stairs, and then suddenly, the floor flattened beneath her palms. She'd made it.

I must be quick, Hypatia thought, opening her eyes. Her heart dropped from its cage. The tower was not aflame, as she had feared. The fire was dying, having eaten its fill and moved on. Only layers of ash and gray ghosts remained in the inferno's wake. But how, when paces below the tower a fire devoured its prey with greed and glee?

The answer hit her: This place, the library's most isolated, least loved wing, had been the fire's birthing room. Her left eye twitched.

Someone knew of the treasure hidden here. They knew they would never find it. Not with a flock of dedicated librarians puttering about day after day. The enemy cared not for the sanctity of humanity's treasures. In their desire to destroy her ward, they had set aflame thousands of other works. Worse yet, they were still on the loose, shrouded in anonymity. But she had revealed herself.

How foolish! Based on the fire's point of origin, it was likely they had already suspected Hypatia as the keeper of the ancient text. Now she had eliminated any suspicions. What else could be so important that one would rush into flames? Only a matter of life or death.

Her heart chipped into smaller and smaller pieces as she examined the destruction further. Surviving scraps of parchment waved up at her like old friends from the wreckage. Half burnt symbols and illustrations, thoughts, entire worlds gone.

Hypatia's knees buckled beneath her, hitting stone. Her body and spirit cried out for mercy as she curled in on herself, relinquishing her weight to the floor, a sole mourner for the dead.

* * *

She woke in an unfamiliar room, cleaned and bandaged by familiar people.

Two days had passed since the fire. Hypatia's sisters-in-truth had ensured she survived the marks of smoke and flame by sitting at her side day and night. They whispered of conspiracy, arson, and murders in their coven. Each knew the secret Hypatia guarded, though none as well as she. None had ever bothered to commit even a single passage to memory, let alone the entire text, as Hypatia had done. There had never been the need, though there was now. They hatched a plan, knowing for all its flaws, it was their only option. Hypatia would rewrite the book as best she could from memory and place it under an enchantment only those long awaited could break. Hide it in space, guard it with time, and couple enchantment with prophecy. All before the ones responsible for the fire and deaths plaguing them came for Hypatia, as they were sure to do. Hypatia's sisters promised to provide protection while she worked. Lie for her, die for her if it came to it, but she must hurry.