Page 54 of A Dance with the Fae (Mistress of Magic #1)

Faye could hear Finn’s voice over the PA system as she panted her way through the gates and showed her ticket. He was singing in that strange, otherworldly way he had, and a chill ran up her spine.

‘Bit late, miss.’ The older man on the gate nodded her through. ‘They’re almost finished for the night. You’d better hurry.’

‘I will,’ she gasped, and ran through the field where a number of food and drink stalls were packing up. Some people were chatting at the makeshift bar, and the occasional person too worse for wear was strewn on the grass. But almost everyone was watching Dal Riada.

She was right at the back of the crowd, but there were large screens either side of the stage showing the action on stage.

As she looked over the shoulders of thousands of people in front of her, both screens focused in on Finn’s face as he held the last note for a long moment.

It was jarring to look at him; at the face she knew so well, at the high cheekbones she’d kissed, at the full lips she had bitten gently, had tasted so often.

She felt a wave of fear; it was terrifying, how he had been able to seduce her.

At the same moment, he opened his eyes and smiled into the camera that fed the screens, and right at her.

It was just a moment, one second, but she knew she had been seen. There was a flicker of displeasure in his eyes.

‘Thank you, Abercolme!’ he shouted, and bowed at the waist. The rest of the band came to the front of the stage amidst deafening cheering and clapping. The crowd were beside themselves, in the same kind of hypnotised delirium she’d been in that first time, at the bar in Edinburgh.

She looked at the faces of the people standing around her, lit by the fluorescent plastic bangles and necklaces they wore.

Some of their faces were painted with rainbows and flowers, some wore glittery faerie wings that picked up the firelight from six tall iron cages that were packed with burning hay.

The strange half-light gave them all a wild look she recognised all too well from the faerie ball.

They were enchanted, and Finn Beatha had them right where he wanted them.

The band filed off the stage, but the stage lights stayed down, and the crowd started to cheer for an encore. Faye started to push through the crowd. She had to get to the stage and stop Finn.

‘More! More!’ the crowd were screaming at the stage.

The gap Faye was following closed in front of her just like the labyrinth had, and she was hemmed in by a group of drunk girls – or, at least, they seemed drunk – who wouldn’t let her through.

‘Eh, stop pushing!’ One pushed her back, and her friend shot her an evil, possessive look. ‘Get back. We were here first.’

Faye looked around, but she couldn’t see a way through.

She was starting to panic when she saw Aisha walk onto the stage.

Aisha was here! Yes. Of course, she had been so excited about the concert – Rav must have given her a backstage pass.

If she could get her friend’s attention, Aisha would help her.

But Aisha was on stage, and Faye was still rows away from being able to make herself heard over the chaos.

Faye made her way to the side of the crowd and gestured to a St John Ambulance man, who frowned at her but came over, anyway.

‘What is it? Concert’s nearly over. If you want the ladies’ room, I can’t let you through this way.’

‘No, I…It’s not that. I need to talk to my friend. On stage. It’s urgent,’ Faye replied as politely as she could, but her heart was pounding with urgency.

‘Sorry, love. No can do.’ He smiled at her.

‘Please. It’s that girl I want to speak to. With the dark hair, up there?’ Faye pointed to the stage. ‘Please, it’s urgent. She knows me.’

‘Can’t it wait, sweetheart? There’s still the encore – ten minutes and they’ll be finished, this lot. Not that it’s my cup of tea.’

‘No, really. I need to speak with her now.’ Faye gripped the hagstone charm in her pocket.

‘Please. It’s a matter of life and death.

’ It wasn’t necessarily a lie, she told herself, although she felt like she was being overly dramatic.

Still, her instinct was shouting that something terrible was about to happen, and she had to stop it.

The man sighed. ‘Ah, all right. But don’t tell your friends or they’ll all want to get through.’ He unhooked the security rope and let her through. ‘I’ve got to search ye, I’m afraid.’

‘Fine.’ Faye opened her coat and turned out her pockets; the man took the sage bundle from her and sniffed it, then gave it back. ‘Going to make some stuffing later, are ye?’ He grinned, then frowned at the hagstone charm. ‘What’s this?’

‘Oh, it’s…a necklace,’ Faye lied.

The man scratched his beard and held up the stones on their ribbon to his eyes. ‘It isn’t a necklace, sweetheart. These are hagstones.’ He met her eyes and stared into them for a long moment, then handed the charm back to her.

‘I can go?’ she asked, her eyes darting to the stage. The band were coming back on stage; she could hear the guitarist adjusting the tuning on his guitar before they started playing again.

‘Aye. Right you are.’ He pointed along a walkway that was delineated by traffic cones along the grass. ‘That way should take you to the cabins, and the side of the stage.’

‘Oh. Thank you!’ Faye tried not to show her surprise, but the man nodded.

‘I didn’t recognise ye at first. You’re Modron Morgan’s daughter, aye?’

‘That’s right.’ Faye didn’t think she knew the man, but he smiled at her again.

‘Fine woman, she was. I know better than to disrespect Moddie’s kin. Not least anyone who carries those.’ He pointed at the hagstones, which Faye returned to her pocket.

‘Thank you.’ She smiled this time, and pressed his hand. He blushed.

‘Get away with ye. Urgent business, ye said.’

She nodded and ran up the walkway. There wasn’t time for pleasantries.

Aisha had come off the stage and was standing in the wings watching the band do their encore when Faye found her.

‘Faye! Where have you been? Where’s Rav?’ Aisha turned her eyes away from Finn reluctantly as Faye grabbed her shoulder; Faye could see that whatever spell Finn had cast on the audience, Aisha was caught in it, too.

‘There’s no time. Rav’s safe.’

‘ Safe ? I just thought the pressure got to him or something. When he didn’t turn up for the concert?—’

‘No. He was…’ Faye shook her head. ‘I’ll tell you later, okay?

But we have to end the gig. Now. Before Finn can…

’ She broke off, because Aisha had turned away from her and was staring raptly at the stage.

‘Aish! Please. We have to stop it. Put the curtain down. Put the lights up. Whatever we have to do to get the people to leave…I…’ Faye exhaled in frustration. ‘It’s dangerous.’

‘What? Why?’ Aisha’s brow furrowed. ‘It’s all run fine so far.’

‘Aisha. Listen to me. He’s dangerous.’

‘Faye. Please. It’s the last song. Stop being a drama queen,’ Aisha hissed.

Finn was playing the flute, and the quick trills of notes, up and down, had grown faster and faster. The drummer was playing so fast that the individual beats were hardly discernible.

‘But he’s not what he seems. Finn Beatha.

He’s…Look, I know you won’t believe me.

But he’s enchanting this whole crowd. He’s a faerie king, Aisha.

I know, I’ve been to the faerie realm. I’ve seen it.

Please. I think he wants to take…a woman, maybe more than one, back to his kingdom.

Maybe all of them, I don’t know. To be trapped there forever.

’ Faye pulled at her friend’s arm to make her turn away from the stage and, as she did so, her hand slid down to Aisha’s wrist, and she noticed the rose gold and opal ring on Aisha’s index finger: the same as the one that Finn had given her.

‘Where did you get that?’ she asked, but she knew the answer. Aisha pulled her hand away.

‘So, what if I have it? So, what if I have him?’ Aisha scowled at her. ‘God, you’ve always got to be in control, haven’t you? Got to be the top dog. Can’t stand it that I have Finn Beatha now. He’s mine, Faye.’

On the stage, Finn was opening his arms wide as the rest of the band piped and drummed.

‘You…and Finn?’ Faye’s heart felt like it stopped beating as she stared at her friend.

She was dimly aware that the crowd had formed a huge circle and was dancing, running around it in exactly the same way as the dancers at the faerie ball in Murias.

She stared out at their contorted faces and a dawning horror made her mute.

‘Yes. Me and Finn.’ Aisha turned her wide brown eyes to Finn, metres away, and he held his hand out to her.

Below him, the crowd were no longer dancing; now, it had turned into something else, something darker and more savage.

They reeled and trampled each other; there was screaming, but Aisha couldn’t hear it, Faye could tell: her face was beatific as she caught and returned Finn’s gaze.

‘It was the spell, Faye. It brought him to me,’ she sighed and then, without warning, ran on to the stage towards the faerie king’s open arms.

‘Aisha! No!’ Faye grabbed for her friend’s hand, but Aisha’s fingers slipped through hers. Faye ran after her, but it was too late. Finn Beatha picked Aisha up, and glared victoriously at Faye.

‘You didn’t want me, sidhe-leth . Don’t blame me if someone else did.’ His voice cut through the music as if there was a direct channel between them.

‘You can’t take her!’ Faye shouted, but Finn cradled Aisha in one arm and thrust his other palm out towards her. Faye felt an invisible barrier rise in the space between them.