Page 3 of A Kiss from the Fae (Mistress of Magic #2)

‘I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but thank you.’ He gave her a rueful smile. ‘I’ll do my best to…err, you know. Ride horses and…fight stuff for you? Now that I’m saying it, I don’t really know what knights do.’ He tapped his finger on his chin.

‘Hmmm. Save princesses? Wear uncomfortable armour?’ Faye laughed. ‘Those metal face-grilles on the helmets do look quite difficult. You know, for daily wear.’

‘I’ve heard they’re being re-engineered for today’s knight on the go. Mesh face-grilles. Breathable fabrics,’ Rav replied, poker-faced.

‘Kind of sounds like a balaclava if I’m being honest.’ Faye giggled. ‘Are you planning to rob a bank?’

‘I might have to if this continues.’ He gestured to the gold arches that supported the Renaissance-style friezed ceiling in the room set aside for afternoon tea, the pianist sitting at the white piano in the corner launching into ‘Moonlight Sonata’ . ‘I’m joking, I’m joking. It’s fine.’

‘We have been…I mean, we’ve been to some very expensive places since we’ve been in London.

’ Faye felt the champagne warm her. ‘Are you sure it’s okay?

’ Faye opened her eyes to her reflection in the mirrors opposite.

Some had the silvered appearance of old mirrors that had, perhaps, once hung in decadent ballrooms or the powder rooms of grand houses.

For a sudden moment, eyes that weren’t hers stared back at her, and she blinked; a shadow passed over the silvered glass, and a faint voice called her name. Faye Morgan, sidhe-leth. Faye, Faye .

It was nothing. A trick of the light , she told herself. Your imagination.

But when she looked into the mirror again, Finn Beatha’s face was staring back at her.

She jumped, startled. It had been months since she had seen Finn’s fine-featured, high-cheekboned face, though she had seen it constantly in her dreams. There had been other dreams, not only of Finn.

Nightmares in which faeries dandled a baby she knew was hers in front of her, refusing her clutching hands.

Faye. I need you. I miss you , Finn’s voice sounded in her mind.

Faye closed her eyes and murmured a protection spell. She slipped her hand into her pocket and rubbed the small mirror which she’d inscribed with a banishing sigil. Be gone, be gone , she thought fiercely. No. I don’t want you. Please, leave me alone.

It seemed horribly unfair of Finn to appear after she and Rav had gone through such a terrible ordeal together.

Coming to London had helped; it was good to get away from Abercolme.

But it had still been hard for them to relax.

Rav was still traumatised from his experience in Murias where he had been tortured, terrified and abused.

Faye. You must listen. The war is going badly for us. We need you , Finn continued. His voice was like honey.

You banished me from ever returning to your kingdom. You took my friend. You took so many people from Abercolme , she replied, her heart hammering fiercely. Return them, and I will talk to you.

She didn’t want the faeries here; she wanted nothing more to do with them. She’d left her shop, Mistress of Magic, and come to London to get away from the memories.

Faye. Do not ask what I cannot give. Be true to your fae self and come to Murias. Your destiny awaits you , Finn said, his eyes glowing.

I will not come unless you release everyone you took. Including my friend, Aisha, Faye said. You are evil. I want nothing to do with you.

I know you want me, sidhe-leth , the faerie king replied. The fire in your blood cannot be denied.

I do not want you , she retorted. I never want to…do what we did, ever again.

The faerie king laughed.

I know that is a lie , he said in a low voice. I know what you dream.

Faye blushed.

And I know that you will return to me and fulfil the prophecy.

You will rule the Crystal Castle of the Moon with me at your side, Finn said.

Return to your human man. Pretend that you are satisfied with the commonplace if it pleases you.

It matters not; your life is cursed until you return to me.

You will only find fulfilment in the fae worlds now.

That’s not true. Everything you say is a lie. Be gone!

Faye reached into her bag and gripped the hag stone – a small stone with a hole through the middle – which she always kept with her.

It was a stone from a protection charm that her grandmother had made and hung up in their shop, and Faye had threaded it on a black ribbon and brought it with her to London.

The legend was that if you held a hag stone to your eye to look through the hole, you would be able to see faerie magic and avoid being cursed.

She held it up in front of her. Be gone, Fintaneon, King of Murias , she thought fiercely. Leave me alone. She knew that if she commanded the faerie king with his full name, he had to obey her. It was not a trick that had seemed to work on the faerie queen Levantiana, however.

As you wish, sidhe-leth . Finn Beatha chuckled, and his face started to disappear. But you will come to me sooner than you think.

‘Faye. Are you all right?’ Rav was leaning towards her, looking concerned. Realising that she was holding the hag stone up in her fist, looking like she was about to throw it, Faye lowered her hand.

‘I’m fine. Sorry. I just…had a bit of a strange moment for a second.’ She swallowed hard and returned the hag stone to her bag.

Faye shook her head and cleared her throat.

‘What happened? You just went completely blank.’ Rav regarded her cautiously. ‘Then you waved that stone at the mirror. What was that?’

She could have told him. Rav had met Finn Beatha; he knew how dangerous the faerie realms could be. But for that reason, Faye said nothing.

They had come to London to escape faeries. She didn’t want to worry Rav. He was just starting to heal.

‘It was nothing,’ she assured him, and picked up her champagne glass. ‘To us. To London.’ She clinked his glass with hers.

Rav watched her warily, but nodded. ‘To us,’ he repeated, his face a mask.

Later, the dream came again. She was back in Abercolme on Black Sands Beach, and the faerie queen of Murias, Levantiana, was asking her something over and over again.

In one hand, the faerie queen held decapitated human heads by their hair.

With the other, she reached out for Faye’s belly.

Faye was pregnant, and the beach behind her was on fire.

Faye understood that the faerie queen was demanding a bargain.

Life for life, a child to save many human lives.

In the dream, Faye knew that this had already happened; she’d already pledged a child to Levantiana, the High Queen of Murias, in a bargain to save Rav from being imprisoned in there.

She had also agreed to help Levantiana fight her father, Lyr of Falias, the elemental realm of earth, in return for Levantiana teaching her faerie magic.

She was in deep, but she’d had no choice.

Faye hoped that somehow, the faerie queen wouldn’t come to claim what had been agreed.

Still dreaming, Faye fell to her knees at the edge of the tide. Please, please don’t take my baby , she begged, but Levantiana picked up Faye’s palm, forced the fingers open and handed Faye the bloodied, twisted hair of the dead.

Now, I will have what is mine , she cried, and Faye woke, crying.