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Chapter 17
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Fairy-Struck Chapter 18
"I do not appreciate being manipulated," Tiernan's terse voice woke me.I felt strange; my skin vibrated with energy, my fingertips tingled, and my heart beat wildly. There was something in the air; a gentle swaying heat. A pulsing like laughter on my lips. I breathed it in and it rushed through me; seeming to light up all the dark places within. It was amazing; leaving me more refreshed than I'd ever felt. Power zipped through my veins as if it were alive, as if it knew where it needed to go. I felt alive; a feeling which had me wondering if I'd ever truly lived."You were not supposed to hunt me," I heard the end of Aideen's answer. "We believe that to be the work of King Uisdean, as was the Sluagh.""He wants her dead," Tiernan's grim reply came from somewhere above me."Yes, I'm afraid so," Aideen said. "Which is why we needed her to come home at last.""Well, it explains my strange attraction to her." Tiernan sighed, and I felt movement against my cheek. I was lying on his lap; my
Fairy-Struck Chapter 19
"Okay." Tiernan held up his hands as he and Aideen backed away from me. "Then why did that just happen? Why did your body react to the magic when you crossed into Fairy? Why did magic overtake you right at twilight and then transform you into this?""I don't know," I whispered."Those unseelie fairies who came after you," he began again. "My soldiers. We believe the Unseelie King ordered them to kill you. They, as well as the Sluagh, took you high into the air so you couldn't levitate. I'm guessing that your gifts are stronger when you do so. Am I right?""I..." I thought about it. "Yes, I guess my psychic abilities seem stronger when I levitate.""Because you're touching Fairy when you tread the in-between; connecting to the source of your magic," Tiernan explained. "The path from the Human Realm to Fairy is a very powerful in-between place. Your dormant fey blood was awakened when you passed through it. Then, with the arrival of twilight, you transformed fully.""I'm not a fairy," I
Fairy-Struck Chapter 20
"Come with me." Tiernan held a hand out to me."Where are we going?" I glanced over at Aideen where she stood in the kitchen; packing us some food for our trip to the Twilight Court.She just smiled and nodded."I have something I want you to see." He motioned me upstairs. "Come on, I promise you'll enjoy it."I took his hand, and he led me to the stairs. I had spent the night on the third floor; in one of Aideen's guest bedrooms. She had slept in another guest bedroom on the second floor while Tiernan had taken her usual bed on the first floor; just in case someone made it through the enchanted trunk. It was an odd feeling to have someone protecting me, and I bristled a bit to be put in the position of damsel in distress, but Tiernan wouldn't budge. My safety had become their priority and my ability to defend myself was only to be used as a last resort. Well, we'd see about that.I let go of my irritation and focused on the tree house. Aideen's home was amazing although I'd been
Fairy-Struck Chapter 21
"It's not what you think," he said softly. "This isn't about me hating humans. I don't hate them. Although, as I've told you before, I have little tolerance for them and even less interest on a personal level.""Then what is it about?" I felt my face ease into blank confusion."It's the magic," he said and shrugged. "It guides us; like a very strong instinct. Fairy magic can be wild and erratic but there's calculation even in its capriciousness. It wants to flourish, as all things do, and the best way for it to thrive is to magnify itself by bringing two powerful fairies together.""So, how did I come to exist?" I lifted a brow and looked over at him. "If its goal is to bring two powerful fairies together, why did it allow my birth?"We were both sitting with our legs drawn up, our bodies pressed together at shoulder and thigh, and our entwined hands in my lap. It felt comfortable but also strange. As if we shouldn't be at this point yet, but there we were, and I didn't want to mov
Fairy-Struck Chapter 22
"How many fairies want me dead?" I asked as we made our way through the forest to the Twilight Court. A thick vine snaked out from the underbrush and curled around my ankle just tight enough to make me stumble. "Damn it!" I growled and glowered at the vine as it slithered back into the brush. "I'm bigger than you, plant! I can uproot you!""Um, no you're not, and no you can't." Tiernan nodded his head toward the shadows of the forest, and I caught sight of a giant, tear-shaped plant with fronds curling up into the tree branches above.Vines as thick as my thighs fanned out from its base in all directions and the skeletons of dead animals littered the ground around it. The large leaves parted like the petals of a flower and a humanoid creature slithered out. She was entirely pale green—her skin slick like the inside of an aloe leaf—and completely hairless. Her arms ended in rubbery vines and so did her legs, but where her arms hung free, her legs were attached to the plant... which wa
Fairy-Struck Chapter 23
I looked down at my dirty combat gear and then out at the assemblage of elegant fairies. I'd never felt so inadequate in all my life. They were dressed in shining silk and velvet; long hair done up in elaborate hairdos to highlight beautiful faces which needed no make-up for enhancement. Mingling among these elite sidhe were lesser fey but even they made me feel out of place with their strangely beautiful attributes. Cat eyes peered at me from human faces, hooves poked out of the hem of pant legs, horns crowned haughty heads, and fluffy tails flicked beneath full skirts. There were leathery wings, scaled skin, and multi-colored fur; bodies ranging from very small to massive, and fairies who looked more like beasts than humans.Then the crowd parted and a fairy man stepped through. He was tall with an athlete's build and skin as pale as my Irish complexion. He wore a simple blue tunic over black pants. A sword belt was strapped around his waist and the silver sword hanging from it shon
Fairy-Struck Chapter 24
Keir barely took his eyes off me as he led me through a winding corridor filled with extraordinary fairy art. Sculptures of strange creatures writhed under the serene gazes of regal sidhe portraits which hung next to intricate tapestries portraying scenes of astounding beauty. Everything was perfect and shiny; not a hint of dust or a single scratch to be found. I felt like a stain that needed to be scrubbed away."Your mother's death was the most painful thing I've ever experienced," Keir said as he opened a door and led me into a magnificent room."For me as well," I murmured as I peered around me.It was a circular room so I assumed he'd brought me into one of the towers. As large as my entire house back in the Human Realm, it had polished wood floors with luxurious silk carpets laid precisely across them. The carpets were woven with intricate designs of cream and silver. A rather poor color choice for something meant to be walked on. They looked as if they'd never seen the sole o
Fairy-Struck Chapter 25
"Yes, we rule the between of all things. There are even places considered to be in-between which lie on both Seelie and Unseelie land. Little spots where we might find sanctuary if we were to need it," he said. "It really spits off the other kingdoms.""Spits off?" I frowned and then chuckled as I caught his meaning. "You mean it pisses them off?""Ah, yes." Keir laughed with me. "Human speech can be tricky, but your mother tried to teach me general expressions so that you might feel comfortable around me." He sighed dismally. "I guess I'm not so good at it.""I think it will be more fun this way. Just keep trying, and I'll keep laughing." I tried to imagine my mother teaching this fairy king human colloquialisms and just couldn't do it. Not my serious extinguisher mother. Had she been a different person entirely with him? And why had she never been so with me?"It's a deal," he said. "Was that one correct?""Yes, that was right." I grinned encouragingly. "So, you were saying that
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