Seeking the Fae (Daughter of Light Book 1)

by Leia Stone

  I thought about it. Temporarily. Might as well fucking cut my heart out. I gulped, and I knew in that moment that this guy was going to break me. He was going to leave me so miserably heartbroken one day, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.

  “What did you have in mind?” I asked him, walking over to the kitchen and sitting down at the table. I sort of imagined waking up in his arms and having round two. Guess not.

  “You need a crystal. I need a crystal. My psychotic dad, as you call him, is changing the crystals so they can’t be used by your people, but I have a guy in Seattle who might be able to help us with that.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “A guy?”

  He nodded. “A warlock named Jasper. He’ll know about the dark crystal and how you can … fix it … so you can save your tree or whatever you’re doing.”

  I frowned at his flippant comment. “I’m saving my entire world. The tree is linked to the land, and if it falls, so does all of Faerie and all of our people.”

  He grew quiet. “Oh.”

  It’s like nothing had changed since we slept together; it was back to business. I stood. “I’m going to get ready. Then we can see your guy, hunt down two crystals, and part ways.”

  I slammed the chair into the table harder than I meant to and he flinched.

  “Lily!” he called after me, but I kept moving fast to the bathroom.

  I brushed my teeth so hard I thought my gums would bleed. How could we go from having that magical night together to this? It infuriated me and then made me desperately sad. I should never have trusted him. I was so stupid. This was a one-night, fun fling to him. He didn’t even know what soulmates were in our culture. He probably thought I was being dramatic when I spoke to the elders.

  I tied my long pink hair up into a top knot and used some of the makeup that was in the drawer. Hot pink lipstick on my lips and some on my cheeks, which I blended for blush. The mascara was all crusted, but the eyeliner worked, so I did thick black wings. Might as well let this guy know what he was going to miss now. Hell hath no fury like a Fae scorned. After doing that, I took my baggy pink tank-top and tied it at the back so that it hugged my skin and showed a peek of my belly button, letting the baggy jeans hang off my hips.

  Take that, you asshole.

  There were two kinds of girls who liked pink, the Barbie cheerleader chick or the punk rock chick who would throat punch you. I was the latter.

  I stepped out into the living room and he was waiting for me, eyes glowing amber as they raked over my body.

  “I made you breakfa—”

  “Let’s go. We don’t have much time,” I barked and reached for the blue door. When it opened, Mara’s hallway came into view.

  “Mara!” I called out, stepping inside, not caring to look over my shoulder to see if Liam followed.

  “In the kitchen!” she called back.

  I followed the smell of bacon and something sweet and found her making French toast.

  “Hungry?” she asked as Liam stepped up behind me.

  “Starved.” I grabbed a piece of French toast and started to munch on it.

  “You?” Mara went to hand Liam some bacon.

  He just shook his head. “I already ate.”

  A pang of regret sliced through me but then it was gone. He’d said his piece. He thought I grew up privileged and now we were business partners. Nothing more.

  Mara gave me a knowing look and then started to walk to her office. “Where to?”

  “Seattle,” we said in unison.

  She nodded. “I’ll stop and get Elle first.”

  Liam shook his head at me.

  “Actually, I’m going to leave Elle back for this one. We can grab her before we get the next crystal,” I told Mara.

  The keeper of the blue door raised an eyebrow. “Not going to Seattle to get a crystal?”

  Liam cleared his throat. “You ask a lot of questions.”

  Mara pinned him with a glare. “And you don’t answer many.”

  I stepped between them and held my hands up. “We’re going to speak to someone who knows things about crystals. Take us to Seattle … please?”

  She stared Liam down for a full twenty seconds before opening her office door and we slipped inside.

  Five minutes later we were in Seattle, throwing Mara’s back door wide open and stepping out into the gloomy light. Liam stepped outside and stretched his wings while Mara pulled on my arm, keeping me back.

  “What?” I looked at her with concern.

  She looked at Liam, who stood just out of earshot. “I know how enchanting they can be, but you need to be careful with this one. He’s lying about something. I can smell it.”

  I frowned, unsure if she was being literal or not. “Mara … I know he’s not full of rainbows and sunshine but he’s—”

  Her jaw clenched. “He’s the enemy. He’s after the crystals for himself. Never forget that.”

  My lips turned into a frown. “But you took us to that cabin last night … all but gave me your blessing.”

  Mara nodded. “I did what had to be done to get that soul light from revealing what you two are every time you get close. I knew what you would do.” She paused and my cheeks reddened. “Now it’s done and you can both move on.”

  What the hell? Did Mara send me to that cabin to sleep with Liam and … get it over with? The shock must have been evident on my face, because hers softened.

  “Look, I promised your mother that if anything ever happened to you, I would take care of you. That’s what I’m doing.”

  Hadn’t my mother told me that Mara was the one person I could trust? Maybe I needed to do that now. I nodded.

  “Fine. I’ll see this guy about the crystal and then be back in an hour,” I told her as sadness crept into my heart. It seemed both Liam and Mara had seen last night as a one-time thing. I guess it was time I saw it as the same.

  She nodded. “Be safe. I’m sending Bashur with you.”

  The giant dog came out of nowhere and licked my hand, before trotting outside to stand beside Liam, who was looking at me with an annoyed and impatient glare.

  Right. Send a furry babysitter.

  I turned to leave, and Mara reached out for me one last time. “Wait. I made you something.”

  In her hand was a black ballpoint pen.

  My brow furrowed. “Cool … put it in my room.”

  She grinned. “No. It’s like the rolling pin. Go and give it a try.” She gestured to the yard.

  Ohh. The motorcycle?

  I thanked her, turning to step out into the yard.

  “We good to go?” Liam asked, and I couldn’t help but let my eyes roam over his chiseled form. I’d never really thought that I had a type … but I did and it was Liam. Shaking my head, I reached out and clicked the pen, noticing a small crystal embedded into the end where I’d touched it with my thumb.

  The pen suddenly vibrated and started to take the shape of a hunk of teal metal. I stepped back as it bulked and grew, glancing up to see Liam watching with wide eyes. Bashur barked and when all was said and done, I was staring at a convertible Volkswagen Beetle with the top down.

  “That’s wicked,” Liam observed.

  “Not bad for my people,” I jabbed, stepping into the driver side. Liam got into the passenger side, but not before Bashur growled until he let him into the back.

  “The drool monster is coming?” Liam observed.

  I nodded. “Mara doesn’t trust you.”

  He looked at my lips and swallowed hard. “Do you?”

  It was like all the air was sucked from the car. “You told me not to,” I reminded him.

  He nodded. “I did.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. In some ways he seemed insecure, like he needed to hear me say I trusted him, and in another I thought he might just be fucking with me. Before my mind could wrap itself around what to do, Liam pointed to the road.

  “Head left out here.” His hand was near my face, and for the first time I
saw that his knuckles were scarred. Tiny X scar cuts were visible on the tops of his hands. There must have been fifty of them, so fine I hadn’t noticed them before. When he caught me looking, he set his hands down and covered them.

  Unable to really process that, I just gunned the gas and headed out onto the street.

  Either I had Liam all wrong, or everyone else did. Either way … this wouldn’t end pretty.

  We reached the home of the warlock. I parked out front while Liam grilled me from his seat.

  “Don’t stare at him for too long, and don’t touch anything in his office,” Liam warned.

  I swallowed hard.

  “And don’t under any circumstance eat or drink anything while we are there. Don’t use his bathroom or take your hair down.” He pointed to my top knot.

  I gulped. “Anything else?”

  He nodded. “Don’t tell him more than you need to. I like this guy, but he’s powerful and I don’t trust him.”

  Okay, this was getting scary.

  “Last thing…” Liam reached for my messenger bag. “We need something to barter. Gold, cash, magical potions, he’ll take anything, but it’s gotta be good.”

  I yanked my bag back. “Let me look.”

  He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

  I rummaged through, pulling out a handful of small items.

  “What’s this?” Liam plucked a folded map from my hand.

  I yanked it back out of his grasp and placed it back in the bag. “Nothing.”

  Mara had given me a map of all the blue doors in America. I’m sure it wouldn’t be the greatest idea if Liam had it. I pulled out my last two vials of pricklewart juice. “Here. Pricklewart juice makes you invisible for a few minutes.”

  Liam’s eyes bulged. “Is that how you got in the houses?”

  I nodded.

  He snatched the two vials. “This is good. He’ll take it.” Then he stepped out, letting Bashur follow.

  I slipped my dagger into my waistband and Liam shook his head. “No weapons. Are you kidding me?” He face-palmed and I wanted to throat punch him.

  How had we just had the best floating ceiling sex of my life last night? And now this?

  I threw my dagger onto the floor of the car and stepped out, slamming the car door in anger.

  Liam frowned. “Are you pissed at me or something?”

  I crossed my arms. “I’m fine.”

  Liam chuckled. “I don’t know about Fae chicks, but when a human woman says she’s fine—”

  “Should I transform and bring the car?” I cut him off, trying to keep it business as usual.

  Fae chick? This guy was infuriating. Call me a Fae chick one more time, bud. Was he seriously clueless about last night and why I was mad?

  He looked around at the fancy neighborhood and waved his hand. “Nah. Leave it here.”

  With that, I spun on my heel and started up the steps. Liam sidled right up next to me, taking them two at a time. We were halfway up the steep row of steps when the door opened.

  I jumped a little, not expecting that.

  My gaze fell on the man who was at least seven feet tall standing in the doorway. He pointed at Bashur with a long, crooked finger. “The Urisk must stay in the car.”

  Urisk? My eyes widened as I looked at the giant dog. Bashur froze and growled low in his throat but I clapped my hands to stop him and pointed to the car. “Go Bash.”

  A Urisk? Surely Mara wouldn’t be sharing her home with that kind of demonic Fae creature…

  She was a master at illusion though, I watched Bashur walk away and wondered if that was his true form. A Urisk?

  “Well, well, if it isn’t the prince of darkness,” the man called, his sharp nose hanging far off his face. I could tell from his long pointy ears that he was Fae, full-blooded, and utterly hideous. There was a sect of Fae that hailed from the Dark Forest that we called warlocks, but what they really were was dark magic users. Rumored all dead … except for this dude apparently.

  “Jasper, buddy, I just love when you call me that,” Liam growled as he reached the top step.

  Prince of darkness. Very cute. Not.

  I slowed my pace, growing nervous about this warlock.

  “And what do we have here?” He turned to fully face me and I almost gasped at his completely bald head. There was a tattoo of a green snake going in a spiral around the entire thing and ending at his forehead. Remembering Liam’s advice not to stare, I looked at the ground.

  “This is my new seeker friend,” Liam stated. “We have a common goal and need your advice.”

  Seeker friend? Common goal? I could strangle him. More like seeker friend with benefits.

  “Hey.” I waved stupidly, not offering my name because Liam didn’t.

  The man, Jasper, raised one eyebrow. “Getting desperate, boy? Aligning with them is a bold move.”

  The way he said “them,” you’d have thought he’d just smelled crap. His lip curled and he looked disgusted.

  Liam shrugged. “Like I said, common goals.”

  Yeah, that’s all we had … common goals. I was going to plot Liam’s murder in my sleep tonight.

  “What do you have to trade me for such help?” the man asked.

  Liam pulled the vials I’d given him from his pocket. “Pricklewart from Faerie.”

  The man’s eyes widened. “Now that is very useful. I’ll take it, and one strand of her hair.”

  My eyes widened and Liam snatched his hand back. “No deal.”

  The warlock sneered before rolling his eyes. “Fine. Come inside and let’s have tea.”

  Liam met my eyes and gave the tiniest shake of his head.

  “We’ve just had breakfast, thanks,” I said sweetly.

  Jasper looked over at me and grinned. “He’s taught you well.”

  I gulped, stepping into a large entryway that showcased a massive set of stairs. The Fae padded along the hardwood floors and turned right into an open, double-doored office. The second I stepped in, I felt an energy shift. It was heavy and dark, making me feel like I couldn’t breathe.

  “Interesting, you’re the third Fae from Faerie to visit me this week.” The man rubbed his finger over a crystal ball at his desk and I frowned.

  Third Fae? What?

  I took the bait. “Who were the other two?”

  He shrugged. “That kind of information will cost you.”

  Liam groaned. “He’s a warlock bard. Anything you want him to tell you will cost something.”

  I nodded. I’d heard of bards; they wouldn’t let you pass the Dark Forest without payment, and in kind they would tell you a story. I needed to find out who from my world would visit him this week. I had an inkling, but I needed to know for sure. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out one of my healing crystals Kira had given me. I could just ask her for another one.

  His eyes tracked it greedily as I set it on the desk. “It’s a hea—”

  “I know what it is.” His hand snatched out and he took it, before opening a drawer and locking it inside.

  “The two other Fae that I’ve seen this week are the Faerie elder of Winter and the Faerie elder of Summer.”

  My heart dropped. That’s what I’d thought. “What did they want?”

  Jasper shrugged his shoulders, holding out his hands. Fucker wanted more payment! I glanced at Liam, who shook his head no.

  Reaching into my bag I pulled out another healing stone, leaving me only one left. My arm was sore. I should have taken it this morning.

  “Tell me everything about the visit with the elders,” I told him, making sure he couldn’t turn this into another bargain.

  He swiped the second healing stone and placed it inside his desk.

  “They wanted to know how to change a Tree of Life crystal that had been tainted back to its original form.”

  Liam and I shared a look and the guy grinned. “And I’m guessing that’s why you’re here.”

  Liam nodded. “And what did you tell them?�
�

  He laughed and it was a cold, biting sound. “That I knew nothing of the matter. Fuck Faerie. They left us out to dry.”

  My heart jumped into my throat and Liam tensed. “But you do know how, don’t you? Help an old friend out.” Liam slid the two vials across the desk.

  The Fae’s gaze flicked to me and sharpened. “And why should I help her? She’s one of them.”

  I frowned, realizing the divide between us living in Faerie and those living on Earth was far greater than I imagined.

  “Because I’m not like the elders. I didn’t live through the dark times, and only recently was I made aware of this war. I grew up my entire life shielded from all of this, which makes me different.”

  I realized now that my mother had given me a gift.

  His brows raised. “Different how?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t have a bias to either side.” I met Liam’s gaze and his cheeks reddened. “I’m learning as I go, and trust me when I say that I want to seek a solution that benefits both of us.”

  We needed all the crystals in Faerie, but they needed them too, and I needed to figure out what that meant.

  The Fae seemed to mull that over. “If you take all of the crystals from Earth, I die, he dies—every magical creature here will perish.”

  This was not as cut and dry as the elders had made it seem.

  “Then I won’t,” I breathed. “Not until I’m sure I can create a place where we can all live in harmony.”

  His laugh was dry and full of disdain, forehead wrinkling as he glared at me. “Oh, little spring Faerie who smells of roses, how naive you are! We cannot all live in that small little village of what’s left of Faerie. We’d kill each other.”

  I slammed my fist on his desk, pain slicing from my knuckles up to my arm. “Then I’ll make it bigger! I’ll restore Faerie and you can have your own side and everyone can come home.”

  My outburst shocked him. He reeled back an inch and his mouth opened. “There is no one alive with the power to restore Faerie. Even with all twelve crystals, it would take the queen herself to do such a thing.”

  I had to play my cards right here. I couldn’t let him know the queen, AKA my aunt, was alive.

  I crossed my arms and pinned him with my best alpha look. “I know of a way.”