Page 163 of Bitten By the Fae

And I had firsthand experience battling at the entrance in soul form. Sort of. In a weird metaphorical way.

This isn’t real, I promised myself, closing my eyes.This isn’t happening.

And then I heard a whisper against my ear that had me spinning on my heels. Just my name, but it sounded unmistakably like my father.

Impossible.

“…forest,” he whispered, the words before it lost to a subtle breeze scented of pine and lavender. “My sweet, beautiful flower. I’ve missed you. Meet me, my darling. Meet me soon. Join us. Come home.”

I whirled in a circle, searching for the source of those words, my heart in my throat. “Dad?” I shook my head. No. It couldn’t be him. This was all a game. A trick. A mind illusion, one I needed to break. But I couldn’t. Not without my wand.

Then I recalled Zeph’s earlier training. Conduits were used to focus control and weren’t the source of magic. That came from within.

I searched inside, fighting to untangle the spell Emelyn had woven through my aura. All around me, trees wept, her newest attack an illusion of killing the element I held dear—my precious earth.

Flowers wilted.

Branches burned.

Leaves fell like tears against the ground.

And all the while, my father’s spirit hovered nearby, murmuring words I didn’t understand. A warning, maybe. But no. This was all tied to Emelyn’s cruelty, her wicked intent to destroy me in the harshest manner possible by attackingeverything I cherished, including my memories of parents I barely had the chance to know.

She’d taken the mean-girl act too far, had made this personal and shown her vicious nature.

Vindictive.

Evil.

Bully.

I crossed my arms and pretended to cower on the floor, then fought the binds she held on my mind, unweaving them one at a time while carefully keeping my magic hidden. I didn’t want her to feel my approach, preferring to take her by surprise.

“Meet me,” my father whispered once more.

His voice was a shock to my system, causing tears to well behind my eyes.

I focused on that link next, ripping the anchor out of my heart, unable to take another second of his torment.He’s not real. Not real. Not real. Not real!

Power blasted out of me, the focal point on Emelyn. I threw her vision into the death fields of the Spirit Kingdom, forcing her to see and feel every spirit’s pain of being trapped there. She thought to use it against me, not realizing I knew more about that realm than most Elemental Fae. I’d been taken there by a horrendous abomination who tried to plague my entire kind. I’d stood at the gates, blocking their entry in spirit form while I fought to dismantle her powerful hold and thwart her attempts at accessing the earth source.

I knew pain.

I knew death.

I knew torture.

And I allowed Emelyn to feel every ounce of it now, my anger singeing the air around me.

She deserved this. How dare she try to hurt me. To make me believe for even a second that my father might still be alive. It was wrong. Unacceptable. She?—

“Aflora!” A wave of defensive magic accompanied my name, the source coming from beside me and knocking me off my feet.

I blinked, unsure of when I’d stood up to begin with, or even how I’d managed it. And at some point, I’d returned to the reality of the gymnasium-style classroom, but now I gaped up at a seriously pissed-off fae prince.

“That was fucking hot,” Shade praised as he stepped into my line of sight. Kols glowered at him, which only made Shade smirk. “What? Powerful females don’t turn you on?”

The fae prince didn’t appear at all amused. “I’ll handle it,” he said, the words confusing me.