Page 30 of A Dance with the Fae (Mistress of Magic #1)

Faye woke up in her own bed to the sound of birdsong. She rolled over groggily, patting the quilt for her phone. Locating it by her feet, she pressed the display and looked at the time. Six a.m.

She swung her feet out of bed and placed them on the wooden floor, then frowned and pulled up her right foot, resting it on her knee. The skin between her toes was sore. She rubbed her foot gently, then took her hand away and felt the sand on her palm.

She stared at the tiny granules of dark sand for a minute or more, feeling unease unfurl in her like a stray ribbon.

Faye stood up and caught her reflection in the mirror.

She was naked, and a pile of clothes – jumper, dress, thermals – lay on the floor by the end of the bed as if she had stepped out of them there, but she had no memory of doing so.

She knew she had got dressed – when? Last night?

A week ago? A month ago? – and gone to the beach, but then… then, it had felt like a dream.

She went to the bathroom and leaned over to run a bath. As she reached out her hand, she saw the ring on her thumb.

It was a large round opal set in rose gold.

Faye gasped and stood up in shock, looking at her hand, which suddenly seemed completely alien.

This wasn’t any ring of hers; usually she wore a silver pentagram ring that had been Moddie’s on her right index finger and a vintage tiger’s eye on her left for protection.

It wasn’t a ring from the shop that she’d slipped on by mistake, either, as she definitely hadn’t seen it before.

She held it up to the light. The opal sparkled with unusual gold, pink and orange accents that swirled lazily, as if magic dwelled within it. She stared at it as the bath filled up slowly.

‘What on earth?’ she opened a jar of her own handmade Full Moon bath salts and shook them into the water. The smell of lavender filled the bathroom. She tried to remove the ring from her thumb, but she couldn’t: it wasn’t uncomfortable, but it fit tightly and wouldn’t come off.

She got in the bath, breathing in the fragranced steam, and let it cover her.

She closed her eyes and held the ring to her forehead.

It was an instinctive gesture, but as soon as she did so, she saw Finn Beatha in her mind’s eye, as if he was with her, in the bathroom.

She opened her eyes with a start, but she was alone.

Cautiously, she held the ring to her third eye chakra in the middle of her forehead again and closed her eyes. And then she remembered.

They had just made love – fierce and hot and out of any normal frame of reference – that was something she knew, deep within herself, although she didn’t understand it.

And, sometime in the night, she had half awoken, twined in his silk bedsheets.

He had kissed her awake and, when she roused, sat up in his huge bed, he had placed this ring on her thumb.

‘A gift,’ he had whispered. ‘Wear it and think of me.’

Wear it and think of me. She stared at the ring. How was it possible? Any of it? And Moddie . She had seen Moddie there, in Murias. What did that mean?

Finn Beatha wanted her. Wanted her to be his consort, his lover. Finn believed in the prophecy that said Faye Morgan was the heir to the Crystal Castle of the Moon, that sat at the centre of the four faerie kingdoms. He believed that they would both rule it.

It seemed that what Faye wanted was hardly a consideration.

At the thought of him, she felt a rush of desire.

Even though he had treated her badly, even though he had been peevish and threatening, Faye still wanted him.

The nights and days they had spent together had consumed her.

That was the only way to describe it. When she was with Finn, she had felt more alive than at any other time in her life.

He had said that she was coming into her faerie power by being in Murias, by eating the food and drinking the wine, and by being with him. That faerie power was lustful and erotic, and that it was her true nature to be that way.

Instinctively, Faye stroked her own body, thinking of him: his tall, rangy, well-muscled body; his arms, covered in the tribal tattoos; and his lips.

His pouty, ever-so-slightly scornful mouth that begged to be kissed, and even bitten.

She closed her eyes and turned the hot tap back on with her toe.

The warm water covered her fully, and the pleasant heat of the water felt like a kiss on her skin.

Faye wondered about Finn. Now she was back in ordinary reality, she pondered what he had said about his realm being heartbroken about the lack of – how had he put it?

– a balance with humans. What he had said about the choice between enslaving humans and killing them all hardly made her think well of him.

The arousal that she held felt, thinking about Finn, dissipated.

It wasn’t exactly sexy, thinking about the annihilation of the human race.

She got out of the bath and padded down to the kitchen behind the shop and made breakfast. She was suddenly powerfully hungry.

Probably a good idea to ground , she thought; the easiest way to ground yourself, to come back to earth after doing magic of any kind – never mind visiting an alternative dimension, or whatever the realm of faerie was – was to eat and drink.

She gulped down a mug of strong tea and made some toast under the grill.

Now that she was out of the bath, she suddenly felt shivery and fluey, as if she had a cold coming on. But she knew it was the withdrawal from faerie that was making her feel bad.

When she had finished eating, Faye lit two charcoal discs and placed them inside a large abalone shell, then dropped resinous lumps of dammar gum and frankincense on top of them and rested the incense in its shell on the edge of the shop counter.

The fragranced smoke made the shop smell and feel like a temple, and Faye was grateful for its familiar sweet and sharp tang, which gave her a sense of power as surely as the flagstones under her feet.

Remembering how the vision of the shop and her ancestors had grounded her, even just for a little while when she was in Murias with Finn, Faye opened a sealed display cabinet, reached in and carefully took out a magic wand.

The wand – unlike the rose crystal one she had used in the love spell – was made of wood, with a black glass handle.

It was a fine, long and thin wand, the size of a thick knitting needle, and it had words inscribed on it.

On one side it read A rèir an tròcair mhòir, Glòir agus cumhachd do Rìgh agus do Bhanrigh Mhurias, mar a bha e aig an toiseach, agus a-nis, agus gu bràth.

Faye had always liked the wand. The black glass handle was smooth to touch, and when she held it, the wand always seemed to thrum with magical energy in her hand.

She had used it now and again in ritual, to focus energy, to draw the circle.

Most of all, she had found that if she held it, she would feel great power coursing through her, like electricity.

Faye spent a few moments holding some of her other favourite curiosities, possessions belonging to other Morgans, from Grandmother and back into the past. There was an ancient, dried lemon stuck all over with pins, which was a protective talisman; Faye thought Moddie had probably made it, but it was as hard as a rock now, a dark brown, and looked vaguely threatening because of the pins which had dried into it.

Yet, the idea was a simple one: lemons were known to absorb bad smells, and so it followed that a lemon might also absorb bad energy in a house, with the silver pins stuck in as a way to prick the skin, let air enter the fruit, and provide a spiky outside to the fruit that gave it a threatening, protective vibe.

There was an embroidered garter, which she had never really known the purpose of, and there was also an inscribed copper disc that Moddie had said kept away demons.

However, probably Faye’s favourite item was the Morgan family’s crystal ball.

Not like the acrylic ones she sold in the shop – this was an ancient sphere made of pure quartz.

It had one very fine fissure through its middle, like a dim lightning bolt, but otherwise the crystal was without any flaw, which made it incredibly rare and valuable.

The ball was used for scrying – seeing into the future, or seeing visions.

It could also be used in healing, as it had a strong, zingy positive energy when you touched it.

Children visiting the shop were always drawn to it, inside its glass cabinet; many times, Faye had found a child staring up at the ball, eyes wide.

It had been a long time since Faye had scried with the crystal ball.

Today, she wanted the weight of it in her hands, to be reassured she really was back in the ordinary world.

Yet, as she turned it over carefully, she thought of all the Morgans who had used it.

Isn’t that my power as much as anything?

My heritage, the blood of all the other witches that flows in my veins?

Bringing the ball over to the shop counter, Faye sat down and stared into it, setting it on a circular holder under a piece of black velvet. The velvet meant that no extraneous reflections from the counter would appear when she looked into the crystal; the circular cushion held it in place.

Faye emptied her mind, concentrated on her breathing and entered a meditative state. She unfocused her eyes and stared deep into the crystal, allowing her brain to make patterns and pictures without trying to analyse them.

What she saw surprised her, nonetheless: Grainne Morgan’s face appeared in the crystal, and her voice began speaking in Faye’s mind.

Remember the rules of faerie, Faye Morgan , Grainne said. You are unpractised in the ways of the Good Folk. Your grandmother should have made sure that you were properly trained.

‘What must I do?’ Faye asked her ancestor. Grainne’s face wavered, then became clear again.

Seek the grimoire. Learn from it. Take great care in the realms of faerie. Use the protections against the fae, and do not be deceived. It is our job to work alongside them. Not to be seduced.

Then, Grainne’s face disappeared from the crystal.

Faye sat for a moment, stunned, then replaced the crystal ball in its case and locked it.

What was that? Grainne had never appeared to her before, but ever since Faye had made contact with Finn Beatha, it seemed that Grainne was showing up for Faye.

Maybe she wants to protect me , Faye thought.

The idea of being protected by her ancestors was a welcome warm thought when she was struggling with the side effects of her time in Murias.

At ten, she opened the shop door and looked out onto the street. She saw Annie a few doors away, coming in to start her shift. Faye waved, and the opal ring on her thumb caught the morning sun.

‘Hey! Morning, ma sweet darlin’.’ Annie grinned as she walked in past Faye, and instinctively, Faye put her left hand down by her side in the fold of the dress she’d pulled on today.

‘Dunno what you’ve been doing last night, but ye look beautiful,’ Annie called out, hanging up her coat in the back room.

She returned, sipping a glass of water. ‘Ye saw Rav, eh? Out of the bad books, is he?’

Faye twisted the opal on her thumb; she wanted to tell Annie everything that had happened to her. The words lined up on her tongue, but instead of being able to say them, a tightness seized her throat and she coughed.

‘Ye all right, pet?’ Annie banged her on the back. Faye nodded, and tried again, but the same dry, airless sensation assailed her, and Finn’s voice spoke in her mind.

The gift is for you, Faye Morgan. But I am your secret. Tell no one what has passed here tonight, or you may not be permitted back into my realm.

She knew she wasn’t supposed to talk about being with Finn, but she hadn’t expected his prohibition to be so literal. Annie offered her the glass of water, and Faye took a gulp.

‘All right?’ Annie looked concerned.

‘I’m okay.’ Faye nodded, a shiver of unease rippling through her body.

She didn’t like lying to Annie, but it seemed Finn’s enchantment lingered here, in her world.

How was it possible that he could completely take her over?

No one controls me , she thought angrily.

I am a Morgan. How dare he? ‘Phew.’ Annie smiled, then looked at her phone and frowned.

‘Ah. Slight change o’ plan, lassie. All right if I hop off early later?

Got an audition. Nice ring, by the way.’

‘Sure. Fine. Thanks, it’s…new.’ The less Faye had to be around Annie today, the better. She didn’t want to lie to her any more than she had to. ‘Take the day off, if you want? It’s going to be quiet, I’m sure.’ She dropped her hand by her side to avoid any further comment on the ring.

‘Thanks, sweetheart.’ Annie grinned. ‘I’ll stay and have a gossip for a bit, though, aye? I tell ye what, Aisha’s been acting odd recently. Have ye noticed?’

Annie was running on about something – about Aisha not turning up for work, about seeing her walking on the beach alone, but Faye wasn’t listening.

She was twisting the ring on her thumb. She tried several times to take it off but found that she could not.

The realisation that the ring was a link from her to Finn, and that he had somehow magicked it to stay on her hand and not be removed, caused a coil of dread to unfurl slowly in her stomach.

She had refused to stay in Murias and become Finn Beatha’s whore. And yet he still sought to remind her of him. Why?