"Hello Wife." His voice was pure sin. It sent a shiver down Bailey's spine and the sudden urge to lick his dark skin overcame her. She swayed toward the lethal man, her body firmly in charge as her mind tried to catch up. "Arawn, darling!" Danu clapped her hands, breaking the spell on Bailey. "How was your nap?"He didn't turn his dark gaze from Bailey. "Nap, Mother?" He blinked slowly, his lips hiking in a sardonic grin. "I would hardly call sleeping for the last six and a half centuries a nap." "A necessary evil." Danu's voice was full of warmth and Bailey had to keep her Magick in check. She wanted to throttle the Goddess. "Come, Titania, we must be away to Annwn." Arawn reached for her imperiously. Bailey shrank back, keeping her eyes on his. She couldn't look away if she tried. They were so dark she couldn't find his pupil. Most fae had tri-colored eyes. Arawn's were pure obsidian. He frowned, a line slashing between his brows, when Bailey didn't jump into his arms. She fel
Bailey wrapped her fingers tight around the ceramic cup in her hand. She inhaled the scent of the fresh, hot coffee, closed her eyes and dropped her head to the glass pane in front of her. She pulled her knees tight into her body, curling into the corner of the window seat. The icy glass against her forehead forced a deeper sense of melancholy into her bones. She hated being home. Where he was.Jonas Fee, the ever-present, ever-constant, all-consuming patriarch of the clan Fee. The man that, in a fit of pique, had thrown a knife at her. A hand slipped unconsciously from her cup, fingers finding the now familiar threaded scar on her shoulder. Four years she carried this scar, barely two inches wide, ropy and tight. She could still see his face, eyes wild, mouth contorted and spewing furious vitriol. All because Bailey Fee wanted to pursue a career in Veterinary Science, instead of taking her place in the “family business“. Jonas never did take kindly to someone defying his will.She sno
Jayce stared at the expanse of forest in front of him. Without the columns marking the area, one would never know there was a portal to a whole other dimension. Nearly invisible to the naked eye, the portals had to be marked accordingly. The only tell-tale sign was a slight waver to the air, like the sun baking off the hot sands in the Summer Court.A faint shimmer here in the verdant forest, the barest reflection and refraction of light. More than one unsuspecting Fae had stumbled through the portal before some unnamed Sidhe had suggested marking the areas.Now, one required a permit to move freely through these portals. Jayce had never understood the draw to Earth. But his father had made a very long and complicated contract with the governments of the world on the other side of this portal.By nature, Fae were a curious people. Long lives and even longer memories settled a sense of ennui into the people as a whole, and humanity brought some pleasant reprieve for the most bored among
All three princes stared at each other. It had been nearly a century since Jayce had visited the Fee clan, when Jonas had made his transition. It was uncommon to attend a transition in only a century. The other clans hadn’t had a transition of power in at least two centuries by human standards.Halflings usually lived nearly as long as the Fae did. One of the many boons granted by their heritage. It wasn’t unheard of for Halflings to die. Their line of business wasn’t conducive to long life. At least there would be a formal changing of power this time. Jonas had been thrust into it when his father had been torn literally in half by an enraged redcap. Nasty business, that particular witnessing.Jayce took a deep breath and climbed the four short steps to the portal mouth. Without a backwards glance at his compatriots, he strode through the flickering air.For a split second, his skin was flayed from his body, all the breath sucked out of his lungs, and it was possible that his heart sto
The men at the guard shack stared at the three Fae princes with a wariness that Jayce felt was unwarranted. Tobin passed through the warding with barely a hint of struggle, Beckett joining him on the other side without blinking. Jayce could feel the wards buzzing against his skin as he approached. They were heavy.Steeling himself, he stepped through, the wards coating him in an invisible ichor. He knew both Tobin and Beckett would be feeling the effect as well. After a moment, the buzzing ceased as the warding recognized and blended in with his magick. A mark, maybe? A way to keep tabs on the Fae that crossed through.He noticed one of the guards holding a notebook…no, that wasn’t right. It was a flat black rectangle. The guard made a swiping motion with one finger, and then stood and moved toward the princes.“I’m going to need your signature, my Lords.” The man held the rectangle out to Jayce expectantly. Jayce turned to the other two princes, who just shrugged in return. Jayce took
There was an obscene amount of blood. Bailey couldn’t focus on anything else. It was pooled in the floor, someone had smeared it on the countertop near the kitchen sink, and there were streaks across the front of the large stainless steel fridge. Her grandfather had not been moved, still laying facedown in the floor like a discarded doll. He was smaller than she remembered. Shrunken, aged, different. Jonas Fee had been larger than life. Proud, loud, and equal parts beloved and hated. He was a driven taskmaster, a military genius, and the kindest man Bailey had ever known.This shrunken corpse decorating her floor was not Jonas Fee, for all that it might wear his face. The ethereal bit that had inhabited this fleshy mound had long gone.“How long?” Her question was aimed at Silas. She wasn’t asking about the length of time he’d been lying on the unforgiving floor, pouring out his life essence. She wanted to know how long the only man who had ever loved her in any true sense of the word
Silas scrubbed his hands over his face, his shoulders slumped. He had never attended a transition before, being too young when Jonas took the mantle nearly a century previous. However, this did not seem to be an ordinary occasion. Even the most senior clan members were deeply disturbed. Why had the magick attacked? That was the million dollar question. Was it due to the oath Bailey had made earlier, or in reaction to her statement on the dais during the ritual?Bailey had yet to wake, and it’d been over an hour. He was tempted to shake her until her teeth rattled, but obviously her body needed to recover. He had snatched her away from the panicked crowd as fast as he could, and hopefully he was the only one that had witnessed the myriad of bruising that blossomed over her body, or the welting and burns. As far as he was aware, the magick had never attacked its own Inherent before.Maybe it was the jump in the line of succession, suicide was not a common thing among the Halfling clans.
“B…a Spark?!” Silas laughed outright. “Yeah right.” He waved his hand at Beckett. “Go on with that mess, no one has time for your comedy routine.”“I would watch my words, Halfling.” Beckett narrowed his eyes. “We are swift to offense, and I wouldn’t want to have Gemma need to cry at your funeral.”Silas leapt from the couch. “Don’t be too sure I’d be on the losing end of that, Prince. All of you full bloods underestimate us. We‘re the best of both you and humanity.” He flipped his hand in a vulgar gesture. “And you’d best remember that. You’re on my turf.”“Ah yes, your ’turf’.” Beckett curled his lip. “It wouldn’t matter whose turf you happen to be on, child. I’ve had centuries of nothing but pure boredom.” He stalked forward, stopping just close enough to tower over Silas. “I know more than just ten ways to kill someone, and they would not be able to detect that it was anything other than natural causes. I would suggest you do not underestimate me.”It wasn’t supposed to happen, Sil