Fae's Deception (Queens of the Fae Book 1) Read online
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Fae’s Defiance: Chapter One
Fae’s Defiance: Chapter Two
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Acknowledgments
About Melissa
Also by Melissa
About M. Lynn
Also by M. Lynn
Fae’s Deception © 2020 M. Lynn and Melissa A. Craven
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Edited by Cindy Ray Hale
Proofread by Caitlin Haines
Cover by Maria Spada
For our advanced readers.
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Prologue
Alona Cahill
“Your Highness, please, you must allow me to do my job.” Rowena rushed to help Alona with her hair.
“Rowena, in less than a year, I’ll be serving as Lady Driscoll’s maid way out in Sandur. How does anyone expect me to dress and style a great lady if I can’t even manage my own hair?”
Rowena leaned down behind her until Alona could see her maid’s reflection in her hand mirror. “My Lady, before you leave for Sandur, I will teach you everything you need to know. Until then, I intend to treat you as the princess you are.” She ran a brush through Alona’s blond mane. “Whatever traditional nonsense dictates, you were born a princess of this kingdom, and it makes no sense you should ever have to be anything less than what you are.”
“I am not above the law, no matter who my mother is.”
“She will get you out of this. I have faith. You will rule as your mother’s heir one day.”
“I was born without magic, just like you. I’m almost eighteen now, soon I’ll join the serving class. There’s no use pretending it isn’t so. Now, show me how you do my hair in that twisty thing.”
“Very well, my Lady.” Rowena guided Alona through the steps to secure her hair in a neat updo, perfect for traveling. “You seem nervous.”
“I’m more than just nervous. I’m petrified. What if Lady Driscoll asks me to serve her tea or something else I don’t know how to do yet?”
“She wouldn’t dare. Not a minute before your eighteenth birthday and probably not even after.”
“What do you mean, not even after?” Alona secured her traveling cloak in place with a jeweled broach her mother gave her last year.
“My Lady, I can’t imagine anyone will actually make you serve.”
“Then what am I to do with my life?” Alona’s eyes widened in alarm. For seventeen years she’d prepared herself for a future as a lady’s maid. She’d even had days when she couldn’t wait to get started in her new life. But if she wasn’t allowed to serve as her mother’s heir, nor allowed to serve as a maid in more than just name only, then how would she fill her days?
“Don’t trouble yourself, my Lady, I believe you will become more of a companion to Lady Driscoll than an actual servant. After all, you may be destined for the serving class, but you are still the queen’s daughter. That will never change.”
Alona couldn’t imagine a more boring task than to entertain an old lady waiting around to die. Lady Driscoll was a widow friend of her mother’s. She’d always believed the Lady would treat her well, and she knew her mother and Lady Driscoll had schemes to marry her into the merchant class after she’d served a few years as a maid. But Alona wanted to embrace her new life and the freedoms it brought. One of those freedoms was the right to make her own choices in a way she’d never been able to as a princess.
“Are you quite certain you don’t want me to go with you, your Majesty?”
“I can manage without you for a few weeks,” Alona insisted.
If the whole point of this trip was to meet her future employer, then she didn’t think it made sense to travel with an entourage befitting a princess. She’d had to argue her point with her mothers, but even they saw the sense in her request eventually. She still had to travel with the queen’s guard—the head of the guard no less. But Alona looked forward to spending time with Eamon Donovan, the captain of the palace guard and a man who’d been like a father to Alona. He would escort her safely north to Sandur, an exotic city along the coast of Eldur’s wasteland. She’d never traveled to the northern half of their kingdom before and was looking forward to the trip.
“Are you all set, sweetheart?” The queen consort peeked into her daughter’s rooms with a forced smile on her face.
“Yes, Mama, you two can come in now. I know you’ve been lurking in the halls for the last half hour. And I know you both have better things to do with your time.”
“We have nothing so pressing that we can’t wish our daughter a safe trip.” The queen crossed the room, taking a moment to adjust the broach at Alona’s throat. Both Queen Faolan and Queen Consort Tierney were her mothers in every sense of the word, but Faolan gave birth to her, hoping for a strong heir—something that was not in the cards for their little family.
“Lady Driscoll will take good care of you, my dear.” Faolan squeezed her hands.
“I think it’s supposed to be the other way around, Mother.” Alona smiled.
“Not yet.”
Her last year as a princess of Eldur would be filled with many ‘not yets.’ Her mothers wanted her to enjoy her last year at court, but Alona wanted to get it over with.
“I’ll be back before you know it, Mother.” She hugged the queens, leaving them behind to comfort each other.
For the first day and a half of her journey, Alona did as she should and rode in the carriage as befitting her current station. But on the afternoon of the second day, she chose to ride with Eamon and his men on horseback. She wanted to catch the first glimpse of Sol Loch’s crystal clear waters and the hot springs there. The air already smelled of sulfur, and the heat of the day caused Alona to travel with a cotton veil over her head and face to shield her from the sand and the heat. Had she been born with the power of the Eldur Fae, the sun would have strengthened her the way it did for all Eldurians. They were the strongest of the Fae, yet they were limited to using their magic only during the day. At night, Alona stood among equals.
“Just a little farther, Alona, and we’ll break for the evening at the hot springs,” Eamon said. “Maybe we can even find one of the mud springs where you and Finn used to have good old fashioned mud fights when
you thought I wasn’t paying attention.” His grin was infectious, and so like his son’s. She’d grown up with Finn Donovan among the other children in residence at the palace.
Finn was just two years older than Alona, but most of the time he acted like he was seven—and probably still would when he was seventy.
“If we find a mud spring, I’ll be taking a mud bath. I believe I’ve outgrown mud fights.”
“You know, Lona, pigs take mud baths.” Eamon flashed a mischievous smile at her.
“Oh, you know very well the Ladies of the Eldur court pay good money for that mud.”
“You’re all nutters. Every last one of you refined sort.”
“Well, in a year I won’t be quite so refined.”
“You will always be a refined lady, my Lona.” Eamon’s handsome smile routinely melted the hearts of most of those ‘refined ladies’ at court. “Even covered in mud like a pig.”
“Oh, you just hush now.” She laughed.
“Morgan and O’Mally, ride ahead and find the lady a mud spring. And while you’re at it, put up her tent so she can rest before dinner."
“Yes, sir!” The two youngest soldiers of Eamon’s unit took off ahead, eager to do their commander’s bidding.
“Thank you, Eamon. I shouldn’t allow such luxuries, but I am tired, and I haven’t enjoyed the hot springs in ages.”
“We will get our first glimpse of Sol Loch just over the next rise. The waters there will be soothing this time of year. Hot, but not too hot.”
“Sounds wonderful.” Alona leaned forward in her saddle, eager to set her eyes on the crowning jewel of Eldur for the first time in years. She’d grown up at the palace in the capital city, Raudur, that lay along the rocky cliffs of the Dalur River. It was cooler there and beautiful in its own way. But Sol Loch was breathtaking in its wildness. She would love to spend her days here among the many lakes and hot springs, but it was far too close to Eldfal, the massive volcano in the northern wastelands. The stability of the land here was always in question.
“I would live here in a heartbeat if the land was fruitful.” Eamon gazed across the rolling sandy hills to the oasis that was Loch Sol in the distance.
“And if the water was drinkable,” Alona added. “We could have a little cottage near the springs and live out our days free of palace gossip and Eldur hierarchy.”
“We can dream.” Eamon winked. “If we ride ahead of the carriage, we’ll be there in half an hour.”
“Race you.” Alona dug her heels into her mount’s sides and flew down the hillside, laughing the whole way.
“Alona Cahill, I didn’t help raise a cheater!” Eamon called behind her.
“Finn taught me!” She galloped over the desolate hills and valleys, but Eamon quickly pulled ahead of her. His men surrounded her, keeping pace with her mount until they reached the rolling green hills of Loch Sol.
“Winner, winner, doesn’t have to cook dinner,” Eamon taunted.
“If you expect me to cook dinner, we are in for a sorry night indeed. I can’t draw my own bath, much less cook a stew over a campfire.” Alona felt so useless in these moments. She hated that she needed servants to take care of her.
“It’s all right, Princess. You are far too intelligent to waste your talents cooking for a bunch of raggedy soldiers.”
“Talents?” She laughed.
“Sir, my Lady,” Morgan interrupted their playful banter. “We’ve set up camp just along the trail ahead. We’ve found hot springs as well as a mud spring for the princess.”
“Thank you, Morgan. I appreciate your fine scouting skills.” Alona nodded to the soldier.
“Thank you, my Lady.” Morgan’s ears turned pink at her praise.
“My men will set up camp, Lona. I will take you to the mud spring and keep watch while you enjoy the rest of the afternoon. I know you must be weary from traveling all day.” Donovan slid off his horse and tossed the reins to Morgan.
Alona dismounted from her horse, feeling every aching muscle in her body cry out for the soothing balm of Sol Loch’s healing waters. The unforgiving Eldur sun seemed to have sapped all her strength. The mud would ease the aches and pains and leave her skin silky smooth. When she finished bathing in the hot springs, she would feel a thousand times better.
Alona stripped down to her shift and sank up to her knees in the sun-warmed mud bath. Sitting down, she made herself comfortable for a nice long soak. The magical properties of the natural spring eased the aches and pains of traveling across the unforgiving desert.
A rustling noise brought Alona out of her sleepy stupor brought on by the steam.
“It can’t be time to go already.” Eamon would die before he would let any of his men near the springs where she bathed, but she wasn’t certain they still wouldn’t try.
Alona was about to turn when a dirty hand clamped over her mouth. A blinding pain ripped through her head, and her mind went dark.
Chapter One
2 Months Earlier
Brea Robinson was a lie.
Okay, not in the truest sense of the word. Brea was really her name, and Amanda and Jack Robinson were her parents. Parents who would never understand her.
This life was what felt like a lie. She’d never fit in this world of high school hallways and concrete jungles. That was what her school was. A jungle. A wild place, unsafe for anyone who didn’t fit.
“I can’t believe I’m back here.” She sighed as she hiked her backpack higher on her shoulder.
Myles, best friend extraordinaire, sported a giant grin, one she couldn’t match.
“Why are you so happy today?”
He lifted his hands to the blue sky above. “It’s a beautiful day, Brea.” He never said her name with only one syllable like everyone else. Since they were kids, he’d called her Bree-ya.
“It’s…” She lifted her eyes to the building they’d tried improving with brick columns and colorful banners flapping in the breeze touting the Southern Ohio school’s many accomplishments. “A day. A freezing day.”
“Don’t be so glum, chum.” He draped an arm over her shoulders and squeezed. “I’m just glad you’re back.”
Back. Because she’d been gone. How could she forget? Mentally unstable Brea Robinson missed the first month back from winter break because she was at the Clarkson Institution for Troubled Teens. It was where they put you when you had a freak out on Christmas morning.
Her ever-eloquent mother named the episodes freak outs. Brea wasn’t really sure what they were. All her life, she saw… things—for lack of a better word. Sometimes when she looked at a person, she saw features that weren’t there. Pointy ears, flashing eyes, bright colors.
Sometimes they were the stuff of nightmares.
The psych-dude she saw when she was young claimed she was having night terrors, but during the day.
It wasn’t just seeing things though. When she got angry or sad or even happy, it was like she lost control of the emotion, and it expanded within her, overcoming every thought and even manifesting as this weird energy beneath her skin.
An energy begging for release that sometimes got her into trouble.
“Do they all know?” She climbed the front steps, walking under a banner proclaiming the school as the football state champs.
Myles hesitated before he spoke. “I mean… there were rumors.” He pulled open the glass door and waited for her to enter.
But how was she supposed to do this? Face them? It wasn’t the first time she’d been two-sleeves short of a straight-jacket.
If her mom had any say, they’d have lost the key to her room.
Sucking in a deep breath, she repeated her personal mantra. “I’m not crazy. I’m not crazy.”
Myles reached for her hand, threading their fingers together. “No one thinks that.”
He overestimated the kids in their nowhere town. The people of Grafton, Ohio loved gossip. It entertained their small minds.
He squeezed her hand tighter as if sensing s
he didn’t believe him. She looked down at their joined hands. “You know, this is why everyone has thought we’re a thing since like the fifth grade.”
“And since when do we care what they think?” He never had, but as she walked down that hall, Brea couldn’t think of anything else.
Maybe her mom was right. She did belong at Clarkson permanently, somewhere that could help her rid herself of the hallucinations and surges of anger and fear she couldn’t control.
“If you didn’t spend all your time with me, maybe you’d have more friends.” She pulled her hand free, pretending to adjust the strap of her backpack.
“Why do I need other friends?” He stopped at her locker and leaned against the pale metal. “Who else is going to dissect every scene of The Witcher with me? Have you finished season one yet? I’m dying to tell you all the parts you missed by not reading the books.”
“Myles.” She shook her head in exasperation as she turned the rusted dial. It stuck on the last number—like it always did—and Myles hammered it with his fist until it popped open. She slid her coat off and shoved it in. Opening her bag, she stuffed the books for her first classes inside. “We’ve been over this. I’m not a reader.” But she was a watcher. She watched every single fantasy movie and television show multiple times and discussed them with Myles. “I don’t need to read when I have my very own walking-talking Encyclopedia of fantasy to tell me all the parts that didn’t show up in the movies.”
“You’re missing out.” Myles shook his head.