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Chapter three

Brandon

I ’d trained for years to join the Fellowship of the Infinite Spring, but those studies had not prepared me for meeting real Fae and witches who performed spells that changed people’s appearances. The stunning beauty of the Fae princess Roisin stunned me the most. No matter the stories I’d heard from Grandfather or the books he’d read me in my childhood, and the way he’d instilled I’d be the next leader of the Fellowship after him. None of those things seemed to stay in my mind whenever I looked at Roisin.

Every time I looked at her, my heart missed a beat. It was like the sight of her made every cell in my body alive, but she’d barely acknowledged I existed in the short time we’d been studying in the library together. Every time I came close to her, she walked the other way. I’d seen her talking to Grandfather and other Fellowship members, but she avoided me at all costs. It was strange and intriguing .

The air shimmered with magic inside the walls of the enclosed garden around the Infinite Spring. To be human and experience magic was something else. Yet these beings had access to it every second of the day. They were strong while we were weak and at their mercy. I hated every second feeling at their mercy.

I wanted to be the one to cure Earth. Humans lived on Earth, and even though I’d read about the Fae once living in harmony here with us, my mind struggled with the concept of magic in our everyday lives. These powerful creatures who could annihilate us and then the entire planet, if they wanted, had been our friends and lovers.

My gaze skidded to Roisin. What would it be like to love a woman so powerful? To have her love me back?

She brushed her hands up and down her thighs over the long rainbow skirt of her dress as though trying to warm them or ease an ache which, from what I understood about Fae, was unlikely as they didn’t experience either.

“Well,” Lorcan said. “I guess all we can do is wait now.”

“Aye,” Roisin mumbled through her pretty pink lips.

Shit, now I was thinking about her lips. I needed to get out of here and get laid or something. It’d been months since I’d enjoyed being with a woman. With all the training and studying, I hadn’t the time to even contemplate sex, but looking at Roisin, sex was all I thought about.

Malachi smiled at me as though he’d read my thoughts. As though he, too, understood my lustful thoughts for Fae princesses. I shifted uncomfortably under his scrutiny. His form now looked like Sir Axis and the Water Sprite Master was a bizarre creature. Arrogant and conceited with an air of authority that rubbed my grandfather, Alister, the wrong way every time he spoke. Grandfather had said he couldn’t wait for him to leave, but I worried about a powerful being who had the magic to influence water and what that would mean for Earth. Imagine if he stopped all our water flowing. We’d die in no time at all.

Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted. Power vibrated through the air, up from the soil, and in every molecule around us. How I recognized the magic, I wasn’t sure, but Malachi’s body once again became his.

“She did it,” Roisin said. A huge smile spread her lips and made her cheeks rosy with her happiness.

“Aye,” Lorcan said, a smile lighting his face too.

“Take me to her,” Malachi said.

Perhaps there was more between Princess Ciara and Malachi than I’d first guessed. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d missed signs of the romantic nature. I didn’t believe in love after the way Father had vanished. Mother said he’d left a note saying he couldn’t handle his life. Grandfather wouldn’t talk about him. We were all angry he’d left without a trace and forsaken his family. If I was romantic, I’d imagine he’d died protecting Mother, but he’d left because this life was too hard. Signing over every part of ourselves to the Fellowship wasn’t for everyone. The thing that hurt the most was knowing I was part of the reason he’d left. I was part of his life. A baby at the time. What couldn’t he handle about a baby? The fact he had a son? What sort of man leaves his child?

After finishing the training, I understood the strains of life living in the Fellowship too well. There had been times I’d considered quitting, but there were more times I’d sensed deep inside me I was on the right path and heading to a destination that was meant for me and me alone.

Whatever that destination was.

Lorcan, Pepper, and Malachi disappeared through the shimmering magic of the Veil. Aislinn and Fallon embraced in a hug.

And Roisin…

She snuck down the stairs that led to the underground library of the Fellowship.

I wasted a minute waiting for Grandfather to leave my side before sneaking down the stairs after her.