by Anna Santos
Luke clenched his jaw. “So be it.”
Huffing, Marlena fixed her corset, pulled her hair back, and walked to the door that led to the stairs. “We are wasting time.”
“Luke, secure the palace,” Dorian ordered his first-in-command. Luke disappeared in a flash. “I’ll protect the witch and the fairy,” he said to me. “Stay with Drake and Belle.”
I nodded. “I’ll take care of Drake. He seems hurt.”
“Don’t tell my wife,” Drake muttered, his face contorted with pain. “I don’t want to worry her.”
“She’ll see the bruises,” I said, walking to him and crouching beside him.
“I’m a werewolf, I heal fast.”
My hand shook when I reached for his. “Alpha, did he kill the people in the village? You said he couldn’t kill you because you used your blood. Did he hurt everybody else?”
“Cindy showed up before he could do more damage. He seemed to only be after the mirror.”
“Cindy? Belle’s friend?”
“The new Fairy Queen,” Drake replied.
“I thought she was a werewolf.”
Drake shook his head. “It’s a complicated and long story, but Cindy was never a werewolf. She lived in the village because we were protecting her before she matured into her powers and discovered who she was.”
“But she has pointy ears. Wasn’t she a human?”
“Half fairy like you.”
“How do you know?”
“Once you told Dorian, you confessed to Belle, and she told me.”
“Oh.”
He clenched his jaw and held his stomach. “Cindy is our only hope to protect us against the Dark King now that the Great Fairy is dead.”
“Not the only hope. Marlena knows where the fairy princess is hidden.”
Drake raised an eyebrow. “The Cursed Forest? We know about it. There’s a reason why the Great Fairy couldn’t free her daughter’s spirit from the mirror. She didn’t have the princess’s body. It’s in the Cursed Forest, and only the princess’s destined lover is able to cross it and pull out the cursed dagger that is keeping her in a deep sleep.”
“A cursed dagger? Marlena mentioned a dagger. Why didn’t the Great Fairy send the princess’s lover then?”
“How would we know who was her destined lover? We had no way to find out. She hadn’t met him yet. Only the destined ones can recognize themselves. Year after year, some foolish warrior tried his luck in the Cursed Forest only to die and never return. After a few decades, people left it alone, and few wanted to venture there. The few that escape talk about indescribable horrors.”
“I guess it’s hopeless,” I said with a defeated sigh.
“We need to send missives to the other kingdoms and ask for help from the elves. They might know how to stop the Dark King,” Drake said.
Outside, lightning crackled, and rain fell shortly after.
I looked at the rain soaking the balcony. “Am I a fool for feeling relieved that we’ve kept Marlena alive?”
“No. Not killing her was the right decision. She’ll help us if it keeps her alive.”
Drake got up, and I climbed to my feet. “I just don’t want to drop my guard and trust her.”
“I’ll ask Cindy to seal her powers once they reinforce the wards around the palace.” Drake held his hand against my shoulder. “Now, can you help me scale the stairs and find me a clean shirt, so I can check on my wife?”
“Of course,” I replied. “Dorian has plenty of shirts in our room. Have you noticed how fancy all their clothes are? Even their armor is elegant and shiny.”
Drake chuckled, shuffling by my side. “Like fae, vampires like shiny things. They are normally rather arrogant and think they’re superior because of their high education and advanced technology.”
“Not Dorian. He’s always nice to everybody.”
“Your husband is an exception. I’m rather fond of him.”
“That’s good because your wife and I are going to be best friends. You need to get along, too.”
“As you wish, Princess,” Drake said with a slight bow of his head and an amused glint in his eyes.
“It seems that we are doomed to face another enemy,” I shared as I helped him up the stairs.
“Everything will be all right,” Drake said.
I forced a smile to chase away the anxiety. “As long as we are all together, I trust that everything will be fine and that you’ll be able to see your child being born in a better world.”
“It’s up to Cindy and Marlena to protect us.”
“And Dorian.”
“Once I change my clothes and kiss my wife, I’ll help Luke outside. We’ll hold off the Evil King as long as we can.” Drake stopped abruptly. “Princess, you need to stay safe and take my wife away from here if everything goes terribly wrong,” he requested with pleading eyes. “She and my child are all that matters to me. The veil is restored, and you can hide with her in my village. Do you understand, Princess?”
“I do.”
The alpha clenched his teeth and swallowed a painful moan. After sucking a breath, he added, “Remind Belle of how much I love her, and how I need her to carry on to raise and protect our child if something bad happens to me.”
“Don’t think about that now.”
He halted and grabbed my arm. “Promise me.”
“I will.”
With that promise, he released his hold, and we continued our way up the stairs. I didn’t want to think about the worst that could happen. My heart ached with the notion that I might not see Dorian again. I had to be hopeful and trust that Cindy and Marlena could protect us and deter the Evil King from killing us and destroying my kingdom.
TO BE CONTINUED in the next installment of this series Crystal Mask.
Characters’ Artwork: Dorian and Snow
More About The Author
Anna Santos is a Paranormal and Fantasy author. She likes to write about werewolves, vampires, angels, fae, and occasionally humans. She’s known for her bestselling series Immortal Love, being Soul-Mate the first book.
When she’s not writing, she’s probably reading or spending too much time on Facebook. She occasionally cleans her house and makes pancakes in the morning to eat with her coffee. Other times, she hopes her extrovert husband will bring her breakfast in bed because she slept late while writing, reading, or watching K-dramas.
She’s known for leaving the house from time to time and having her family throw a party because they haven’t seen her for days. Then they ask her how many books she wrote while gone, assuming that writing must be super easy. Anna guarantees that it’s not, but she never wanted to be anything else. Unless there’s a possibility of being a powerful supernatural being in an awesome world where unicorns and fairies are real. Then, she would probably go there and never come back.
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