The Guardian and The Queen

By A.M. Yates

Olli Speare has been waiting and searching for someone to open a door to the parallel world of Horizon. Someone who can take her to Brend, her long lost love. And now, after two years, she’s found that someone—Aes. A former keeper from Horizon who’s been trapped in a magical prison for the last century.

But she’s not the only one who’s been waiting.

The former Queen of the Iron Gate has been biding her time, too. She also needs someone to open the door back to Horizon. Then she can join her husband on the path to becoming a god. When Aes and his friends arrive, she’s one step closer to achieving her goal and ultimate power.

Aes knows everyone is counting on him, but he doesn’t see himself as a hero. And he has no idea how to open the door to Horizon or if he even can without the former Guardian, Trea. She’s dead, or at least, he thinks she is. Even if he can open the door, he’s not convinced he should. Olli reassures him she can keep the Queen from crossing through the door back to Horizon, but Aes isn’t convinced. The last thing he wants is to help another sorcerer gain more power.

Save Brend. Stop the Queen. The wait is over.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.M. Yates
• Release date: Apr 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781943746194

A.M. Yates

a.m. yates collects pieces of souls. She meets with dead Russian writers in bamboo forests to discuss the color of the sunlight in the water. She seeks exceptions and similarities over generalities and differences. She feeds almost every stray the muse drops at her door and adopts out only the most demanding few. She suffers from two terrible addictions, both involving words. She has a life story, but it isn’t finished yet.

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Before

There are many worlds. Worlds of mortals, worlds of gods, worlds in between.

More than a century ago, in one of those in-between worlds known as Horizon, a trio of sorcerers sought to open the gates—doors that would lead them to other worlds. Worlds of greater magic and power.

Two of them succeeded.

Kobalt of the Third Gatedom.

And Keitan, called Ironblood, of Fifthhold.

The third, Keitan’s wife, Queen of Fifthhold, along with her family and all those loyal to them, were exiled to a mortal world.

For the last hundred years, she has waited for her chance to complete what they began all those years ago.

Shield and the Shadow

Two years ago.

Olli Speare and her younger brother, Nate, are shipped off to live with her estranged grandparents in a small Mississippi town, Horizon Creek.

There she meets the mysterious and wealthy Gates family.

Oldest brother, Booker, reclusive and struggling to parent his younger siblings during his parents’ inexplicable absence.

Youngest child, Farren, a sweet seven-year-old with a penchant for speaking the truth even when she’s not supposed to.

In the middle, twin teenage brothers. Roper, your typical devil-may-care playboy. And troubled Brend, able to reduce Olli to a girl-puddle with a single smoldering look.

And their grandmother, known as the Dowager, whom everyone talks about in tones of hushed awe and fearful respect.

Soon, Olli begins to experience things she cannot explain. Strange surges of magical power, glimpses of a shadow in the woods of the Gateses’ estate, and the eerie sounds of whispers. Then there’s a murder right outside the Gateses’ door.

Her cousin, Daniel, her grandparents, the entire town, in fact, try to keep Olli in the dark.

But with the help of the local boy-next-door, Locke, and a couple of unusual townsfolk who Olli later realizes are not human, Olli learns the truth.

Magic is real.

Almost everyone in town is descended from the refugees from another world.

And the boy she’s fallen in love with is destined to sacrifice himself as punishment for the crimes that the Dowager and her husband committed over a hundred years before—when they opened a gate to worlds beyond. When they did, they let through scores of shapeshifting monsters whose mere touch is deadly. And every time a door between worlds is opened, there’s a chance that another monster—a Whisperer—will come through. Which is exactly what happened when Booker, Farren, Roper, and Brend’s parents went back through a special door to the old world to pay for the crimes of their forebearers. One of whom lives still—the Dowager.

Olli defeats the Whisperer and eludes the Dowager’s attempts to make Olli her magically indentured servant—as she’s done to the rest of Olli’s family, including Olli’s brother, Nate.

But in the end Olli loses Brend. He slips off to take his father’s place as Keeper of the Iron Gate, leaving her behind despite his promise to let her come with him.

The Iron Gate will drain Brend’s life prematurely unless Olli can find someone capable of freeing him.

Locke and the Storm

A Year Ago.

Locke has done everything for Olli. Helped her learn to fight, taught her about magic and control, been her friend when she’s pushed everyone else away. The more time passes, the less likely it is that Brend Gates is still alive or that they’ll ever be able to open the door back to Horizon to save him. And the more time passes, the harder it is for Locke to pretend that he doesn’t have feelings for Olli. But she’s obsessed with the idea that she’ll somehow be able to save Brend.

When the Dowager offers him a rose that will make Olli forget about Brend, just for a night, Locke knows he shouldn’t take it. He knows he shouldn’t use it. But he does anyway.

And for one night, everything is perfect. Olli kisses him. They act like normal teenagers. There’s no talk of other worlds or sorcerers or Brend.

But when morning comes, Olli is furious. She Shield-bursts him into a wall and breaks his ribs. He knows she’s right to be angry, but he can’t help but feel that she’s missing one important detail. When she doesn’t remember that she loves Brend, she realizes that she has feelings for Locke, too.

Not that it matters. He’s ruined everything. And since his father died, he has no one left. So when Booker mentions that he might need an assistant in his quest to find the ones who can open the door back to Horizon—back to Brend—Locke volunteers. It’s the only way he can make amends for using magic on Olli. Despite the fact that she’s not talking to him anymore, he still loves her. And if Brend is what she wants, then he’ll do whatever it takes to help her get it. Even if it means giving up pieces of his soul, bit by bit, to gain more power.

Stoneheart and the Axe

Two months ago.

Nicia Silverthread lands on Horizon Island, Maine, with the intention of visiting her dying grandmother. She has no intention to be betrothed at seventeen or take over as the head of the Silverthread family, and she definitely does not intend to wake a talking magical axe and fight shapeshifting monsters—known as Terrors—on a mystical mountain not entirely in this world.

But she does.

Though she succeeds in saving the Island temporarily, the hole between worlds—the Breach—atop the mountain is doomed to open again and let through an even greater flood of Terrors if they can’t find someone able to close it.

Nicia sends her cousin, Kari, with a magical compass in hand, to locate the ones who can seal the Breach and save the world from an invasion of magical monsters.

Sparrow and the Dagger

A month ago.

Life in Horizon Banks, Nebraska could be worse. Sure, Aes’s mom is the town drunk. And he’s dirt poor. And the only healthy relationship he’s had in his life is with his best friend, Zale. But he’s got his good looks and an athletic prowess that promises to free him from his middle-of-nowhere town come graduation day—not that that day ever seems any closer.

In fact, Aes is starting to notice that there’s an unsettling repetition to his life in Horizon Banks.

When a couple of strangers, Booker, a rich guy in a wheelchair, and Locke, a teenager with almost as much bad attitude as Aes, arrive in town, Aes starts to notice all kinds of strange things about Horizon Banks. Like sometimes, when he blinks, it disappears entirely. And then there are the dreams.

When he closes his eyes, Aes dreams about another life. A life in a castle, in a world full of magic, where he has an older brother, Kobalt, and he falls in love with a otherworldly being, the Guardian of the Third Gate. He calls her Sparrow because of her wings. He loves her so deeply, he begins to visit her though he’s been forbidden to do so, and to, slowly but surely, transform her into a mortal.

Back in the real world of Horizon Banks, Aes can’t help but feel unnerved by the fact that the immortal Guardian he loves in his dreams looks a lot like the mayor’s shut-in daughter, Trea. And that the mayor bears an uncanny resemblance to his dream-brother Kobalt. Maybe it’s Aes’s bad reputation, but the mayor seems determined to keep Aes away from Trea at all costs.

Before he knows it, the lines between dream and reality are erased entirely.

Another stranger arrives in town, a girl with a longbow and crazy story about other worlds and a breach that only Aes and Trea can seal.

Aes isn’t really the hometown bad-boy quarterback, but a prisoner. Along with his mother, his best friend, Zale, and the girl who had once been an immortal Guardian, Trea. They’ve been trapped in a magical prison, created by his brother Kobalt, in this mortal world. For the last century, they’ve lived in a loop. Every seventeen years, Trea stabs Aes, mirroring the last few moments of their lives back in the world of Horizon, and the cycle begins again.

But this time, it’s different. Aided by Booker and Locke, sorcerers in their own rights, and Kari, they break the cycle and free themselves from the prison of Horizon Banks.

Except, Aes’s brother sends them off with a parting gift—a curse that assures that Aes and Trea will kill each other before they can interfere with his plans again.

Blood on the Blade

Two weeks ago.

Kari returns to Horizon Island, Maine with the ones she was sent to find, the ones who are supposed to close the Breach. Except Aes and Trea are cursed, trying to kill each other every chance they get. And keeping them apart is turning into a full-time job. She’s not sure how they’re going to seal the Breach when they can’t even be in the same room together. And she doesn’t like Locke or Booker, both sorcerers—mages who steal magic from others rather than rely on their own natural magic. But she has no choice but to bring them all along. The clock is ticking and the Breach is going to give away at any moment. When it does, this world will be lost to the Terrors. Kari is Clan and the only reason the Clan came to this world was to stop that from happening. Which is something that Bryn Bluestone, another Clan warrior and a blacksmith, is happy to remind them of every chance she gets.

But none of them are prepared for what’s waiting on the other side of the Breach. Not just Terrors, but two sorcerers, Kobalt and Keitan, Ironblood. To stop Aes and Trea from returning to the world of Horizon, they send through creatures unlike any that Kari, or anyone, has fought before.

Fortunately, a new girl shows up on the eve of battle looking for Locke and Booker. Olli Speare. Despite the fact that Booker’s gone missing and Olli and Locke clearly have bad blood between them, Olli’s incredible Shield magic proves invaluable as the group ascends the mountain to seal the Breach and battle a Terror sent by Kobalt to destroy them.

During the battle, Locke sacrifices himself to save Olli. Booker reappears as a raven. And Trea takes her wings back from Aes and flies through the Breach, defeating Kobalt’s Terror in the process, so that Aes can seal the Breach behind them.

But the battle isn’t over.

Olli believes Aes can open the door back to Horizon and help her save Brend Gates, who’s been magically bound to the Iron Gate for more than two years. But Aes isn’t so sure.

Now, he, Zale, Kari, Olli, and Bryn board a plane back to where the only door to Horizon, and the Dowager, await.

Chapter 1

Aes

"One, two, three, four, five." Bryn ticked the numbers off on her fingers.

Then she started over…again.

One, two, three, four, five.

Eyes burning from lack of sleep, Aes glared out the window. The private jet, provided by the Gates family, had broken free from the shroud of cloud cover. On the ground, shadows fled the golden lances of dawn. Fields and trees and houses passed in a blur, but he hardly saw them. He couldn’t focus on anything except Bryn. She’d been counting under her breath since first light.

One, two, three, four…

Aes slammed his water bottle down into the armrest cup holder.

Five, Bryn finished after a pointed pause.

Six, seven, eight, he snapped across the aisle at her.

Bryn’s steel-blue eyes cut over to him. The smudgy circles under them were as dark as the one’s under his own. But had she taken the opportunity to sleep during their three-hour flight?

Nah. Why would she want to give any of them a few moments of peace? After everything they’d been through? The battle. The deaths…

As intimidating as Bryn Bluestone was, especially considering the magical axe lying across her lap like a deadly pet, Aes didn’t make a habit of backing down. Even if it would’ve been better for everyone if he did.

You want to give it a rest? he growled. Some of us are trying to sleep.

A pregnant silence followed. Maybe her unblinking glare cowed normal people—people who hadn’t fought shape-shifting monsters, battled evil sorcerers, or spent the last hundred years in a magical prison.

Aes’s teeth clicked together.

Didn’t anyone on the Island ever teach you to count in your head? Silently? he asked.

Her gaze pounded against him for another two heartbeats. Then she flourished her wrist and pressed her thumb to her forefinger. One—

He punched the back of the seat in front of him and surged to his feet. Son of a—!

What? Huh? A drowsy voice snorted. Zale lifted his head from the seat where he’d been dozing and peered blearily up at Aes.

Bryn unbuckled and lurched out of her seat, an eager sneer on her sun-bronzed face.

Whoa! Kari threw herself into the aisle. Her lean, muscular archer’s arms stretched out to create a barrier between them. Everyone calm down.

Aes thrust his finger over Kari’s shoulder at Bryn, who lifted her chin in a come-and-get-me gesture. She hasn’t shut up for an hour.

At the front of the narrow, dim cabin, Olli stood, throwing a stony scowl back at them and worrying the ring threaded on her necklace.

I didn’t hear anything. That was Zale. The peacemaker—downplaying the fissure of tension that crackled like an impending lightning strike.

Aes shot him a look that conveyed how much he appreciated his oldest friend backing him up.

In response, Zale yawned widely and scrubbed his hand over his face in disinterest.

The pilot’s voice came over the speakers. Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our descent into Horizon Creek. Please turn off all portable electronic devices and stow them until we have arrived. In preparation for landing, be certain your seat back is straight up and your seat belt is fastened…

None of them sat.

Once the pilot had finished, Olli crossed her own well-toned arms over her chest like a disgruntled parent. We’ll be on the ground soon. Can’t this wait?

Kari’s hands pressed the air in front of Aes’s chest, careful not to make actual contact. We’re all tired, she offered in that lulling Island accent of hers, lyrical and soft. It’s been a rough couple of days.

The plane dipped. The group swayed.

Kari gripped the back of a nearby seat to steady herself. The plane is landing, she said. The pilot said we should—

Five days. Bryn cut in. Also from Horizon Island, Maine, her voice was utterly different than Kari’s soothing accent. Bryn’s was more like an axe hitting a wall. She lifted her hand over Kari’s shoulder to make it visible to Aes and flicked up each finger, starting with the middle. One, two, three, four, five.

Heat boiled into Aes’s throat. His spine steeled, every muscle of his body wrenching tight.

Five days since Trea and Booker went through the Breach, Bryn spat. Five days in the void!

Zale popped up to his feet, facing Bryn. We haven’t forgotten, he said to her evenly. We know—

But Bryn’s broad features grew blunt, her voice louder. Then what are we doing? She zeroed in on Aes again. "What are you doing?"

The dull throb in his head redoubled. Doing? he repeated. "There’s nothing to do."

Bryn crowded into the aisle, forcing Kari to step closer to Aes.

You’re supposed to find her, Bryn hissed. But you’re not even trying. We’re not even talking about it!

Beneath their feet, the landing gear thunked. The plane’s angle grew steeper. Aes sank into his knees, stepping back to keep his balance and his gaze level with Bryn’s, never looking away.

He could see she was serious, but he couldn’t quite believe it.

They’re gone, he told her flatly. They’re dead—

Shoving Kari out of the way, Bryn shot forward and seized Aes’s T-shirt.

He grabbed her wrist. His fist shot up, cocking back.

Heat seared every breath dragging between his teeth. He knew from previous experience Bryn would have no trouble kicking his butt. She’d spent her entire life training to destroy Terrors—the shape-shifting creatures that slipped into the mortal worlds from those magical spaces in between—the void. Besides that, she was a trained blacksmith. Her biceps put him to shame. But unlike the last time she’d had him in a chokehold, before they’d even been introduced, this time, he was prepared to fight back. Regardless of the fact that the axe at her hip was perfectly within her reach.

Zale shoved his shoulder hard against Bryn’s to force her back. Both stumbled as the plane continued to make its descent.

That’s enough! He darted a quelling look at Aes for good measure. We’re going to do everything we can to find Trea and Booker. As soon as we get to Mississippi. If they’re alive, we’ll—

Bryn’s eyes bulged. "They are alive!"

Aes snorted. Oh yeah?

They are!

It’s been five days—

Trea’s a Guardian! she raged. She’s immortal. Booker’s a sorcerer—

Trea’s not immortal! he cried.

The depth of sincere desperation in her voice made him sick to his stomach.

Once, he’d been that genuine, that pathetic. Not anymore. Not when it came to Trea.

Even when she was dead, he couldn’t escape her.

She’s not a Guardian, he stated. She hasn’t been for over a century.

Bryn yanked him forward, twisting his collar like she intended to throttle him with his own T-shirt. Because of you, she said through her teeth.

A wild surge bucked through him. His raised arm trembled. His knuckles ached. It was all he could do not to knock her out.

She had no right to talk about his past. She didn’t know anything about his life a century before, back in the world of Horizon. The betrayal by his brother, Kobalt. The sorcerer who’d made the immortal Guardian of the Copper Gate, Trea, flesh and then driven a knife into her heart. All so he could cross into the worlds beyond the gate in his quest to become a god. Aes and Trea had survived his brother’s treachery only to be sentenced to a magical prison in Nebraska for a hundred years. There, trapped in a twisted time-loop, Trea had been forced to kill him every seventeen years. After which, they played out the entire screwed up story again. And even after they’d freed themselves from that prison, they hadn’t been freed from Kobalt and his sick quest for power. Trea had had to sacrifice herself to seal the Breach, a rift between worlds that would’ve allowed Kobalt to send his shape-shifting monsters through to this world; monsters that would have destroyed everyone. Trea had made that choice, on her own. She hadn’t asked him. And she hadn’t told him to spend the rest of his life searching in vain for her, either. Because there was nothing to search for.

His voice quaked. She. Is. Gone.

No. She’s not, Bryn growled. And you’re going to find her.

You’re the one with the gift of sight, right? Here’s your scrying water. Sweeping a hand down, he snagged his water bottle from the armrest and flung the contents in her face. "You find her if you miss her so much."

Kari gasped. Zale flinched back.

Water dripped over Bryn’s cheeks, down her lips. He took a dark moment’s pleasure in seeing the self-righteous anger washed from her face. She blinked the droplets away rapidly.

Guardsdamn it, Olli swore.

No! Kari jumped up to intervene again but was bowled over by Bryn when she lunged forward.

Bryn’s hands slammed into Aes’s chest. He grunted, the breath knocked out of him. His fist swung, clipping Bryn’s jaw.

Shoulder down, she plowed him back into the side of the cabin. The plane shuddered.

Zale and Kari were both shouting for them to stop. Their pleas muffled beneath the thunder of Aes’s pulse and the buzzing rage in his ears.

Breaking Bryn’s hold, Aes kicked her in the gut. Hard. She bowed, heavy oof whooshing out of her.

In a blink, she was on him again.

They grappled, bashing each other between the seats.

The plane bounced as the wheels hit the tarmac. Hitting the ground with a thump and a whine as the engines slowed.

In a snarling tangle, they tumbled. Bryn’s knee jammed into his stomach. His forearm smashed against her throat. The heel of her hand bashed across his jaw.

Then someone’s arms were around his chest, heaving him up.

Bryn took the opening and kicked