by ERIN BEDFORD
My feet kept going toward the tree, never stopping to wonder what they were doing. When I stopped before the tree I heard a voice in my head. It was deep and warm. The sound of it resonated through me pushing away the chill of the rain.
“What do you wish?” It asked.
Wish? My brow crinkled, not sure if it was some kind of trick or not.
“Your heart aches.”
“Yes,” I said aloud even though the words had been in my head.
“Do you want it to stop?”
I swallowed thickly and thought back to what I had just seen. Dorian had told me nothing was going on between him and the human woman, but he had lied. Even after all the signs had pointed to it I had believed him because I loved him. But clearly, he did not love me.
If I wished I could turn back time. Then I would never fall in love with the dark prince. I wouldn’t know what it felt like to have my heart ripped from my chest.
Decision made, I stepped closer to the tree and answered, “Yes.”
“Then take our fruit and you shall get your wish.”
My eyes looked to the fruit above me. They were about the size of a peach but with a glow that came from deep inside. The thought of peaches made the fist around my heart clench once more.
Not being able to stand it any longer, I grabbed the nearest fruit from the tree and held it in my hand. Warm to the touch it tingled throughout my palm. I slowly brought it up to my mouth and then with my wish in mind, I took a bite.
The juices filled my mouth instantly and then my world was spinning. Everything I had ever known or felt rewound. It was like I was a spectator to my own life, except it was in reverse. I saw Dorian and Ms. Liddell embracing and then yesterday when I had been with Dorian myself. He looked at me with such love, and I wanted to stay in that moment forever, but the fruits magic pushed forward faster and faster until I couldn’t make out the scenes in front of me.
Until finally, there was nothing.
CHAPTER 18
Dorian
THE MORNING BEFORE MY wedding I had gone to my office like always to get some work done before the day began. When I arrived there was a note on my desk from Lynne asking me to meet her at our usual spot.
I almost didn’t go. It was bad luck to see the bride before the wedding and Fae were anything if not superstitious. I wished I had listened to that warning in my head but being the lovesick fool I was I hurried out of my office and headed to the orchard.
At just after dawn, the orchard was quiet, no workers or anyone else in sight. I thought nothing of it and made the usual trek up the hill to my tree. When I arrived I was happy to find Lynne already waiting for me.
She was dressed in a pale blue dress that clung to her curves. She took my breath away. I couldn’t get enough of her. Soon she’d be my bride and then we wouldn’t have to worry about sneaking around to be together.
“Hello, my prince.” She smiled at me from beneath her lashes. She had a shyness to her that was unusual for our relationship. I’d had her every way I could have her, how could she still be shy around me?
Shaking off her strange behavior, I took her in my arms. “Hello, my peach,” I purred sliding my hands down her back and cupping her backside.
She made a small squeaking noise but didn’t pull away. I gave her a confused look. “What’s wrong? You act like I’ve never touched you before.”
“Nothing, nothing. Just wasn’t expecting such a warm welcome is all.” She gave me a shaky smile that made me frown harder.
“Well, we are getting married tomorrow, I would hope that all of my welcomes are like this.” I stroked my thumb across her face searching for the difference that I just couldn’t put my finger on.
“I’m sure they will be.” Lynne ducked her head down, a blush coloring her cheeks.
“You are not having doubts now, are you?” I pulled back slightly, concern on my face. I thought we were doing great. Wonderful even. “If there is something I have done please tell me and I will remedy it right now.”
“No, no.” She shook her head and then chewed her bottom lip like I had seen her do a million times. The nervous habit was so familiar that it calmed some of my fears.
“Then what is it?”
She gave me a soft smile. “I just wanted to see you is all. I missed you.”
Rain began to fall between the leaves of the tree sprinkling us with water. I frowned up at the sky. It shouldn’t be raining today.
Pushing away the thought, I turned my attention back to Lynne and cupped her face with my hand. “I have missed you as well.” Intent on stilling whatever it was that was bothering her, I swooped down and claimed her lips with my own.
Right away I knew something was off. The lips I kissed were Lynne’s. They felt like Lynne’s and even the body was Lynne’s, but the taste. It was all off.
A gasp from behind me had me ripping my mouth away from Lynne’s. The sight before me made my heart stop and my blood run cold.
The unmistakable form of Lynne ran from me and down the hill. I turned from the other Lynne to the one standing before me determined to find out what was going on. But I didn’t need to ask because it wasn’t Lynne before me at all. Alice Liddell stood in Lynne’s place, a nervous grin on her face.
“What have you done?” I hissed grabbing her shoulders.
“Just a bit of fun is all.” She shrugged and tried to laugh it off.
How she had been able to transform into Lynne well enough to fool even me was a mystery. One that I didn’t have time to solve, but I would as soon as I found my, no doubt, heartbroken princess.
“I will deal with you later,” I snarled before running down the hill and after where Lynne had gone.
The rain was coming down harder now. As if the UnSeelie Court knew what was happening. Reaper forgive me for not listening to my gut when I got the message this morning.
I raced through the orchard and called out Lynne’s name when her form appeared in the distance. My voice only seemed to make her flee because the next thing I knew she was gone. Not from running the other way but she disappeared altogether.
When I finally got to where she had disappeared I searched everywhere. But there was no sign of where she could have gone. Until the rain suddenly stopped.
The ground shook beneath my feet, and I had to lean against the stone wall of the orchard to keep my balance. A sick feeling filled me and I knew where she had gone.
Not bothering to let the bush let me through, I called upon my magic until it was a physical blue ball of light crackling in my hands. Blasting the ball at the bushes, I darted through them the moment there was an opening.
As I went through the hole that I had created, the bushes automatically began to grow back behind me. I shoved through the hole trying to get through before they caught up to me. The place I was going was a forbidden place. A place meant for only the direst of times. For it to let my princess through now of all times was something else entirely.
Were the gods playing with us? Could this be part of their plan? If so, I wanted no part in it. I just wanted my princess back.
I finally forced my way out of the hole and into the sanctuary of what we called the Tree of Life. The heart of the Underground, it was kept hidden from all that may try to take its fruit.
As I came into the clearing, I saw two different fruits on the ground before the tree. Both with a single bite in it. One was near the entrance and the other was next to the roots of the tree where one of them had come up like an arch to shield a form beneath it.
“Lynne!” I raced toward her body but before I could get to her, the ground took her into itself and the root of the tree settled on top of her.
“Give her back!” I screamed at the tree. I pulled my magic into my hands and blasted the tree but it didn’t even move an inch. Since the tree wasn’t going to budge for me, I focused my powers on the ground beneath the root trying with all my might to get the ground to give her back.
I poured magic into the
earth until there was nothing left. The blockade in my energy kept me from going any further and using my own life force. I screamed in agony as the last of my magic faded away.
Yelling and cursing at the tree, I attacked it with my fists. I didn’t care that it was sacred. I didn’t care that I could kill everyone in the Underground. All that mattered was getting Lynne back.
“Your highness?”
The small bell-like voice called out to me ceasing my attack. Turning my back on the tree, my eyes landed on Alice. I stalked toward her, not even bothered that my hands were bleeding. It was time to get to the bottom of this.
CHAPTER 19
Dorian
ALICE LIDDELL SAT BEFORE me, tears glistening in her eyes but they did not move me. “I was only trying to help. The shadows said I could be one of you and I am. Look.” She tried to extend a hand out to me, but I was too blinded by my rage to give her a second glance.
The area was dim and surrounded by a stone wall, closed off to everything else except a door-shaped hole where two guards stood awaiting my command. No one came here anymore. The tree before me was sacred, and it was forbidden for anyone to touch its fruit. Not just one person but two had tasted the sweet juices from the tree.
One being the human now turned Fae before me, and the other…my eyes trailed over to the tree. My peach. How could you? Sadness filled me for a moment before my rage returned.
“I’m quite aware of your new found abilities, Alice,” I cursed causing the young girl to cringe, “did you think for a moment that the shadows could have lied? That they would tell you anything you wanted to hear? Just so you would do what they wanted?”
“But why would the shadows want to keep you apart? Surely they couldn't care less about your message?” She stuttered as she tried to rationalize her actions.
“You couldn’t be more wrong.” My laugh was bitter and heavy. “They have as much invested in my marriage as I do, except I had more to lose.”
And I lost it all. My heart clenched like a troll had its hand wrapped around it and was tightly squeezing it with each breath. How could I have been so foolish? I should have realized what was happening. How was I so weak not to know the difference between real and fantasy?
“Why? What do they gain from breaking you two up?” Alice cocked her head like a child trying to understand grown-up things.
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” I hissed. I knew very well what the shadows wanted from us.
The Seelie Queen thought she was fooling everyone, but I knew what she had done. At least part of it. My mother did not keep many secrets from me and this was one that was too important to keep.
The Faes cast out by the Seelie Queen were not happy with their sentence. They wanted to come back. To be as they once were. But they had stayed in the Shadow Realm too long. There was no going back.
I knew that my marriage to Lynne was supposed to help us fight against them when they time arose but had I known the shadows were so close I would have been more careful. Made Lynne more aware of the danger.
But it was too late now.
“And you will have plenty of time to think about the answer. Guards!” My voice rose as my anger spiked. “Everything that happens from here on out is on your shoulders.”
My words caused Alice to crumble into a heap of blue on the ground. Her cries racked her body and only grew louder when the guards wrapped their hands around her arms and dragged her away. I watched as they took her out of the area and then turned my back on her.
There was nothing left for me now. The one person I had ever truly loved was gone and the ones who had caused it was still out there. I couldn’t let myself become weak again. The Underground couldn’t afford for me to.
As I walked back to the palace, I came across the white roses I had been waiting to show Lynne. They had finally bloomed, and it was the perfect time to show them to her. Except she wasn’t here to show.
I marched over to them intent on destroying the beautiful flowers when I saw that they weren’t white at all. The edges of the petals had begun to turn red as if painted. The longer I stared at them, the more the white changed until eventually, all that was left were red roses.
The color made bile rise in my throat. Blood. They were they color of blood. Like the blood that was now on my hands. The hands that would have to tell the Seelie Queen what had happened. I could only hope that the next blood that would be spilled was my own.
* * *
MY FACE BURNED. I’D imagine that this was what it felt like to have hot pokers shoved into my face. Not that there was any physical injury.
There was no blood. Not cuts. But the swirling glyphs that now marred the left side of my face were foreign to me. As was the conversation being had while I lay on the hard marble floor of the Seelie palace.
“What are we going to do now?” the Seelie Queen hissed at my mother.
“Do not ask me. I was against this from the beginning,” my mother snapped back.
“Well, it is your son’s fault that all of our planning has been ruined in one day.” The high-pitched screech that had become the Seelie Queen’s voice caused me to wince.
I didn’t know what they were discussing. I honestly didn’t care. My heart ached almost as much as my face, and I could feel something nagging in the back of my mind trying to force its way to the forefront.
“And the human child is not to blame? You did not have to curse him. I would have made sure he was amply punished.” My mother’s eyes glanced to me with sadness. Why was she sad? This was my fault. I did this. I should be punished. If it weren’t for me my peach, my love, wouldn’t be gone.
“She’s human no longer, my cousin. A poor imitation but Fae, nonetheless. No doubt the reward for her deceit.” The Seelie Queen sniffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I have punished her as well.”
“Taking her head is far less of a punishment than what you have done to my son!” my mother’s voice finally rose to echo off the walls of the throne room. “She may suffer, but he will suffer more and not even be able to do anything about it. Hardly fair for a royal Fae.”
“I cannot show leniency. Especially now,” the Seelie Queen tried to soothe my mother, “I understand how you feel. You are losing your son but at least he is not dead.” The weight she put on the word permeated the room.
“Yes, I suppose not.” This time my mother’s voice was small and almost fragile. Usually, I would want to go to her. My own heart aching to comfort her in her sadness, but for some reason, I couldn’t feel my usual empathy. In fact, my heart did not ache at all.
My eyes darted to the mirror the Seelie Queen had set up so I could see her work. The dark blue of my eyes had faded to a pale blue. The same exact shade as Lynne’s. A sharp pang sent pain throughout my body, and the symbols on my face flared to life in a glare of light so bright I was blinded briefly.
“What have you done?” I could hear my mother screaming out beside me. Her hand touched my shoulder rolling me over to face her. Tears rolled down her face but instead of wanting to comfort her my lips curled up in a smile.
“As I said before, he will suffer for his grievances against the Seelie Court until we can find a replacement.” The Seelie Queen smirked, clearly happy with her choice of punishment.
“But what does that mean?” my mother asked for me. I wished to know as well but the bubbling laughter filling my chest kept me from asking.
“Your dear prince will not be able to mourn his lost love. It’s a blessing, really. He should thank me.” The cruel smile on her face did nothing to stop the laughter from falling out of me.
I jerked away from my mother’s hand and clutched my stomach. I tried to force the laughter back, to remember that I should be upset, but the more I tried to reign in the feeling the more my face burned.
“You are an evil witch,” my mother’s voice snarled as she stared down at me in disbelief.
“We all do what we have to for those we love,” was the Seelie Que
en’s response. She turned from my mother and snapped her fingers at a guard. “You, call for the Cheshire and Poppy. It is their turn to serve their kingdoms.”
“Of course, your highness.”
The laughter finally dissipated, and I lay on the cold floor catching my breath. The words of the arguing royals faded away and while my face still burned from the spell, I could feel something new in my heart. An inkling that had not been there before.
This was only the beginning.
THE END
* * *
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Dorian and Lynne’s story is not over. It is just the beginning. Check out the first chapter of the full series on the next page!
CHASING RABBITS
Alice was wrong – Wonderland wasn’t so wonderful after all.
Kat never expected to be back in her hometown, but when house sitting turns into a mad rabbit chase, Kat finds herself with a whole new set of problems.
A two-headed bird with a Game of Thrones obsession, a party full of tea addicts, and a Cheshire Cat who could seduce the pants off her grandma? And if the citizens weren’t bad enough their prince was off his rocker.
This wasn’t your run of the mill Wonderland. This was the Fae world, where rules are rules, and some things are exactly as they seem.
CHAPTER 1
The Chase
BRANDI BRIDGERS WAS A bitch in high school, and as I watched her sitting behind her desk with her ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude and her stylishly bobbed blonde hair, she gave me little hope she had changed. I rolled my eyes as she adjusted her neck-high white blouse. Her lips pressed together in a thin line as she scanned over my credentials. My resume dangled in her hand like it was something she found at the bottom of her drain.