Page 36 of A Kiss from the Fae (Mistress of Magic #2)

The moon outside the castle windows hung heavy. Faye sat up in the palatial bed strewn with unconscious fae creatures and reached for the emerald-green faerie wine that heightened her senses and energised her when she reached exhaustion. Drinking deeply, she looked around.

She didn’t know how many days she’d been here.

There were no clearly recognisable days or nights as the light in Murias was always a kind of moonlit dusk or dawn.

She slept at no particular time, and was roused by the onset of Finn’s – or another’s – touch.

She’d barely left Finn’s rooms as a parade of strange and eerie fae visitors paid their respects to the king and his most revered mistress at all hours.

Before she’d passed out, she and Finn had been entertaining a trio of river sprites; slender, delicate faerie women who inhabited rivers and helped or hindered humans that came their way, depending on their inclination.

Their bodies were long and malleable, cold and slightly blue-skinned; their algae-green hair retained its wetness even out of the water, and Faye recalled its cold kiss on her skin along with their brackish lips.

Now, they slept, sprawled on the velvety blue covers of the bed, their flowing limbs contorted like disjointed dolls.

While she enjoyed the pleasure that was offered her, she waited for an opportunity to elude Finn. Now that she knew Aisha was in the lower dungeon, she just had to find a way of getting there, and getting Aisha back to the human world.

Lyr had told her that Aisha would survive only a few months in Murias before it killed her. How long had she been here? Faye counted the months since Midsummer: in the human world, it had been five months. It was too long.

She got up carefully and slipped on a blue robe and soft leather boots that lay at the end of the bed; the servant fae had laid out clothes for her. As silently as she could, she slipped out of the heavy door and tiptoed into the corridor outside.

Faye knew that there were dungeons in the castle at Murias, but she had no idea where they were, apart from downwards.

Finn had said the dungeon was at the foot of the black stairs, wherever they were.

She took the first stairway she could find and followed it, and then when that one came to an end, she walked to the other end of the hallway it had taken her to and went down the next stairs, and the next.

The walls seemed to close in, and the air grew less clear and more and more dank, but as far down as she went, there was no sign of anything apart from empty rooms.

Dizziness overtook her and she sat down on the stone floor for a moment to regain her senses.

She had no idea of how long she’d been intoxicated.

The faerie wine, the faerie food, and Finn’s lulling, dreamy influence on her had taken its toll, and she felt nausea overcome her.

There was magic here in the castle; Finn’s prisoners would be closely guarded.

But she could make that magic work for her.

She felt the gorge rise in her throat, and her head spun.

Faye rested her head on the stone wall behind her, taking a moment.

She wasn’t sure why she felt ill; it was probably the fact that she had been here too long, and eaten and drunk the food and drink.

No matter , she thought. I have to find Aisha, and I am strong.

She hadn’t forgotten the horrors she’d seen here before – the piles of human bones under the feet of the faeries as they danced, and worse, the emaciated bodies of the men and women who were still alive, being slowly trampled to death.

She had not forgotten any of it, but now, she was a different person.

She took out the obsidian wand she had secretly stuffed in her bra.

Could she call on the powers of Falias, so deep in the bowels of the castle of Murias?

Lyr had said that if she drew the earth sigil with it, it would transport her to his kingdom.

She didn’t want that, but maybe she could ask it to take her to Aisha.

It was worth a try.

‘Take me to Aisha!’ she cried aloud, holding the wand up and tracing the earth sigil with it in the space in front of her.

The air shimmered gold and green as it had before. Faye closed her eyes, concentrating on her friend’s face. Take me to her , she commanded the energy. I am a daughter of Falias, and I command you to do my bidding.

Yet, when she opened her eyes, she found the High Queen, Levantiana, standing in front of her.

‘Faye Morgan. I had heard that you had returned, but thought that surely it couldn’t be true. You would not return without what you promised me.’

The faerie queen was beautiful in the same way that Finn was: they were of the same blood, or whatever else coursed in their veins – brackish river water, or the clear tide that gathered in rockpools perhaps.

Her hair was the same dark gold as his, and her face as finely featured.

Yet, her eyes were a darker blue, and she had no tattoos on her flawless skin.

Levantiana’s tone was icy as she towered over Faye.

‘Answer me. We made a bargain, and you have not come to me to deliver what was agreed,’ the faerie queen hissed.

Up close, Faye noticed that the material of her diaphanous robe seemed to be made of fish scales, gleaming in the dim lamplight; it was transparent, and underneath it, Levantiana was naked.

‘And, please do not bother with your ridiculously childish magic. The magic of the earth realm will not work between these walls.’

‘I…there hasn’t been enough time to get pregnant,’ Faye lied. She had absolutely no intention of either getting pregnant or of giving that baby to the faerie queen.

‘My assistance can be withdrawn as it was given.’ Levantiana regarded Faye’s face, tracing one fingertip over her pale, sweaty forehead.

‘Though you are unwell, it seems.’ Her expression became watchful, and without warning, the faerie queen grasped at Faye’s stomach through the silky dress, holding her hand on Faye’s abdomen.

‘Aha. Perhaps you have not betrayed my trust, after all, sidhe-leth .’ Levantiana smiled wolfishly, and Faye’s hand went instinctively to her belly in protection.

‘What?’

Levantiana smiled even wider. ‘I believe that, with your kind, being with child gives you the nausea you currently find yourself with.’ She arched an imperious eyebrow. ‘Indeed, I doubted your fealty, sidhe-leth . It would seem that I had no need to question it.’

‘But I’m not…’ Faye began, and trailed off, not knowing what to say.

She wasn’t pregnant, was she? Surely this was the same faerie hangover as she’d had before.

She would know, surely…Her mind raced. If Levantiana wanted to believe that she was pregnant, she wouldn’t disagree.

In fact, it could work to her advantage if the faerie queen thought she was with child.

‘What has brought you to this part of the castle? Did you seek me? To tell me about the child?’ Levantiana held out a hand and pulled Faye upright. Her head spun, and she felt the sickness rise again, but swallowed and took a deep breath to steady herself.

‘Y-yes, my queen. Though I also sought another. A friend that Finn holds prisoner in the dungeons here.’ Faye thought quickly.

The bargain of a child, her child, was a considerable one; if Levantiana believed that she truly would get what she’d asked Faye for, then she’d probably be willing to help her again.

Yet, Levantiana was watching her closely, and Faye knew that she was trying to tell if she was lying. She couldn’t slip up.

‘A friend?’

‘A woman, Aisha. Finn took her with the others from the concert at Abercolme. I’ve seen her in dreams, and I know she’s dying here.

’ Faye allowed the emotion to flood her voice and reached for Levantiana’s hand.

‘Please, dear queen. Please help me once more. I have acted on my part of the bargain.’ She made herself lie and hoped she was doing it convincingly.

‘I have already fulfilled my side of the bargain.’ Levantiana pulled her hand away.

‘You are the one who is in my debt and not the other way around. Go back to my brother for as long as you desire to be his whore, Faye Morgan, but never think that you can ask anything else from me.’ Her voice was cold like the sea at Abercolme in winter where a couple of minutes of swimming would induce hypothermia.

Faye shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

‘Please, Levantiana. For the child.’ Faye appealed to the faerie queen, but Levantiana’s mouth stayed pursed in a line.

‘I do not owe you anything,’ she repeated, and turned away, opening a door opposite.

‘Look after the child for me, Faye Morgan. When it is time, I will help you in your labours. That, I will do for you,’ she sneered, and opened the door wider.

‘I have paid the price for interfering in my brother’s affairs of the heart and have promised him I will do so no more.

For you see, I have my own human lover, and I would not want my brother to take this one away from me. ’

The heavy wooden door swung back on its hinges as Faye stumbled forward to look inside what she realised must be Levantiana’s personal chamber.

She saw inside for just a moment before Levantiana slammed the door in her face, but it was enough time for horror to soak Faye’s heart with its dark dread.

Inside, chained to the opposite wall, hung the unconscious, naked body of Gabriel Black.