by KB Anne
A Court of Silver Fae
Silver Fae Book Four
KB Anne
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictiously.
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Published December 2020
Copyright © 2020 by K.B. ANNE
All rights reserved.
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No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
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Published by Gripping Tales, LLC, Pennsylvania.
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Cover Design by Christian Willmans, Taurus Colosseum
Created with Vellum
Contents
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
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
About the Author
Also by KB Anne
Wide Awake: The Goddess Chronicles Book One
The Prophecy
Glitter-Farting Unicorns
Chapter One
Starr
* * *
Last night’s realization broke me. After spending a lifetime priding myself on the belief that if a guy hurt me I’d dump his ass, I still loved Christian. There might be other fish in the sea. Heck, there were other wolves in the forest, but none of them were Christian. He was the one who provoked me into action even when we pretended to hate each other. The one who wound his way into my every thought to the point of obsessiveness. The one who tamed the independent heart of a girl who believed with every fiber of her being that boys were complications she could do without. Those pictures of him with Sami and Jovie might suggest he was over me, but a single thought needled at my brain. It kept repeating “lie” over and over.
For some reason, I believed it.
Last night was also the first time I didn’t have a nightmare since I was kidnapped by General Treadwell. I mean sure, my neck and back were killing me because I fell asleep on the window seat with my body contorted into an awkward question mark, but not one nightmare shuddered me out of my sleep. In fact, I had the most lovely dream about meeting a white wolf in the woods, and we ran away together.
A girl can dream, right?
I stretched my arms and neck as I stared out the window. The woods across the street soothed me. Was it the haunting beauty of the pine, oak, and yew trees? Or the perceived stillness of the forest in stark contrast to the chaos of my mind? Or the way it held a promise of freedom, and above all else, that was something I needed.
Soon I’d make my own freedom.
“Jessalyn, your grandparents want you to join them for breakfast,” General Clone, aka Thomas said.
My stomach growled at the mention of food, but I’d never let such a weakness of hunger rule me at least in the present company anyway. “I’m not in the mood for breakfast.”
Besides, I had a stocked mini-fridge in my closet. I was all set.
Jude appeared by my side as if lurking in a dark, far off corner just waiting for an opportunity to talk to me. I hated when he did that almost as much as I hated him. He hasn’t admitted it, and there’s no way for me to prove he played a part in Christian’s betrayal but make no mistake, he’s as guilty as Sami and Jovie, if not more so because I trusted him.
“If you don’t start following protocol and fitting in, the General has promised to train you.”
I whirled around to face him. I refused to even hint at weakness in front of my guards, aka Team Asshole. Any one of them would exploit it to gain position within the Organization.
“And what training goals is he looking to carry out?”
Jude stood too close for comfort, but I stood rooted to the spot.
“Methods of control. He wants to teach you how to listen and obey. He wants you to stop taking charge. You’re too much of a freethinker for your own good.”
“Control?” My fingertips pricked with the desire for my claws to protrude out of them and slash his cheek. “Do you see where I am?” I flung my arms out to emphasize my childhood room with the queen-sized canopy bed, the four cots surrounding the perimeter of it, as well as the three other guards of Team Asshole, including Thomas and my two former best friends, Sami and Jovie. “I don’t have control over anything.”
Jude’s jaw set in a firm line. “You have control over your own actions, and the General isn’t pleased with them.”
My nostrils flared in and out as I fumed. “Big surprise. Is the General ever pleased?”
He glanced over at Thomas, who was well within listening range, especially with his Fae/Demon/whatever he was heightened hearing. “That’s not the point. You’re getting off topic. You need to go to breakfast now.”
My stomach grumbled, reminding me that contrary to what I said, I was in fact starving. “Or what?”
He stood with his arms folded and gave me a cold, hard stare.
“Fine. I’ll go, but it’s not to make them happy or you, especially you,” I snarled, my voice dripping with loathing, “I’m hungry.”
I marched past him and Thomas, ignored Jovie and Sami, and headed out the door.
“Where are you going?” Jovie yelled after me.
I rolled my eyes and continued walking. “You know exactly where I’m going.”
“You can’t go to breakfast like that,” she said.
Fashion advice before food was never a good idea. Unwanted fashion advice from Jovie at any time was a bad idea. “I did yesterday, today, and I will tomorrow too.”
“It’s not proper. You should be dressed whenever you leave the room, but it’s not your clothing that concerns me. It’s your hair.”
The way she said hair made me stop and turn around.
“Or lack of.” She pointed at my bald head.
I ran my fingers over the top of it. The fuzz took some getting used to. I’d worn a wig since my arrival, not because I was being obedient and wanted to fit in but because other life changes had distracted me. Last night something inside me snapped. I ripped off the wig in a fit of itch and anger. “And why not?”
“Your grandparents will be furious. Your hairstyle is definitely not proper.”
Proper. I hated that word. Whenever my grandmother caught me running in the halls, she’d say, “A proper lady doesn’t run” or when she’d catch me with my hand in the candy jar, “A proper lady doesn’t eat handfuls of candy, leave the wrappers on the floor, or walk around with a chocolate mustache”—I still disagreed with the second one.
I couldn’t snap at my grandmother for using “proper,” but Jovie was fair game. “You know what? I’m going exactly as I am�
�� pajamas, bald head, and foul mood—thanks for that by the way.”
I spun on my bare heel and stormed off.
“Jessalyn, wait,” she yelled.
The high level of concern in her voice made me all the more determined to get to breakfast. There might be an iron cross attached to my shoulder blades to suppress my Fae nature, but I was still fast. Supernaturally fast.
Thomas and Jude were fast too and quickly caught up to me. They both tried to get my attention without alerting my grandparents that something was amiss. They could try all they wanted. I wasn’t stopping. Actually, the only member of Team Asshole who didn’t try to stop me was Sami. Why was I not surprised?
As we entered the long hall that led to the breakfast room, Jude hissed beside me, “Your grandparents will be displeased.”
As much as I wanted him to be a demon, he had to be Fae. Of course he was. I knew nothing about the Silver Fae or Shadow Fae, but I knew Treadwell. He required blood purity for his elite recruits. But just because Jude was Fae didn’t mean I needed to bow to him or heed his advice. I was a Silver Fae princess, and there was no time like the present to smash it in his face.
“I’m displeased I’m here. They ought to get used to it.”
“Starr, think about this.” He tried to grab me. I jerked away.
“You touch me. I scream.”
His nostrils flared, and his eyes brightened. He twitched like he was having a seizure as he fought to contain his Fae nature. When he finally suppressed it, he spoke, “Don’t you remember what the General threatened yesterday? You remember what he did to Christian.”
My chest flared at Jude’s mention of him. It was one thing if my mind slipped to Christian, but it was quite another when someone, especially Jude, said his name aloud.
“Treadwell wouldn’t dare do those things to me. He might think he pulls the strings, but my grandparents have more money and power than he ever will.” I stormed off.
“It’s your funeral,” he whispered as we reached the Breakfast room.
“It was my funeral the day you sold me out,” I hissed before opening the door.
Chapter Two
Starr
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Raw, horrific screaming filled the room. I found these screams very satisfying, especially because I was the cause of it.
“What happened to your hair?” Grandfather demanded as Grandmother clutched her chest, recovering from hair shock. Er, lack of hair shock.
I pulled out my chair to sit. “I shaved it off at the ranch.” I glanced over at my grandmother. I thoroughly enjoyed her absolute mortification as she stared at my bald head. “I told you my hair wasn’t mine.”
“What would possess you to do such a thing?” Grandfather asked.
I glared at them. “I told you I wouldn’t be paraded around like a show pony. I told Treadwell the same.”
Grandfather’s blue eyes iced at the mention of Treadwell’s name. The general managed to elicit a level of anger in my grandfather I could use to my advantage if and when the opportunity presented itself. Based on their tumultuous relationship there would definitely be a “when.” “There are standards this family follows.”
My Fae nature flickered inside me, but with the iron cross on my back, it couldn’t light. “Well, I’m not part of this family. My family isn’t here. My parents didn’t want this life for me.” How far could I push my grandfather before he exploded? Let’s see just how hard I have to push. “Treadwell ripped me from any semblance of family I had left and brought me here.”
Grandfather’s glamour flickered as he fought off the surge of intense emotion. His ears grew into points. His canines elongated. His nostrils flared in and out until he calmed himself enough to speak. “Your father was wrong, and so are you. You are a part of this family whether or not you like it. You cannot deny your bloodline.”
“My parents didn’t want this life for me.”
Grandmother held her hand to her heart as if trying to keep it inside her body. “Why? Your father enjoyed his youth. What happened? When did we become so evil? We’re Silver Fae royalty, for gods’ sake.”
I didn’t have an answer. The only hint that something was amiss with my grandparents was the night following my dad’s funeral when they barged into our house and demanded I move in with them. That was the night my mom packed up our things, and we disappeared from the Silver Fae radar.
My mom kept my Fae nature hidden from me. I don’t know how she did it, but I guessed it had to be with magic. I wondered, and not for the first time, if my mom was Fae too, but none of that mattered. My mom knew something I didn’t, and I trusted her. I stabbed a piece of an egg with my fork. “I just know.”
“That’s not an answer,” Grandfather growled.
I glared at him. “They didn’t want me to live like this.”
His blue eyes pierced into mine. “Like what? Having anything your heart desires? Living the life of a princess? Heir to all that we will possess?”
Will possess? That was an odd word choice and disturbing. No matter, at least part of the answer came to me. A whisper billowed through my brain… Freedom.
“I don’t have freedom, and that’s more important than fancy clothing, jewelry, and time at Court.”
He gripped his fork. His face pinched as his claws began protruding into his palm. “That’s it. I didn’t want to take General Treadwell up on his offer, but you’ve left me no choice. You will learn to appreciate what’s given to you. You will learn to listen and obey.”
Grandfather’s threat shook the last traces of shock over my bald head from my grandmother. “But Horace, what about her date with Jerry Jr.?”
Grandfather and I rolled our eyes. My dating prospects versus freedom. Was this conversation actually happening?
“Treadwell lead me to believe the training wouldn’t take long. She should be back by her date.” His lips turned down from either the mention of Treadwell or my date. Probably both.
They both made me sick.
“Perhaps Jerry could visit her at the Island,” Grandmother said.
Island? What island? Trevnor or was there a new place of hellish torture Treadwell couldn’t wait to subject me too?
“Perhaps,” Grandfather said, but he wasn’t convincing. He didn’t care about my date or my freedom. He wanted my obedience and would resort to using his nemesis to achieve it. “I will call Treadwell at once. Jessalyn, go to your room.”
Grandmother set her hand on the table. The crackle of energy forced my hands off the tablecloth. “Horace, there must be a compromise. Let’s find out what would make her happy. Perhaps we could meet halfway in a suitable compromise?”
He crossed his arms and glared at me. “Compromise? I don’t compromise.”
I saw him for the king he was. Unyielding. Power hungry. And bitter as lesser beings tried to usurp his power and at times, succeeded.
“Horace,” Grandmother said. “We lost our son. We can’t lose our granddaughter for a third time. Our life has become interesting again with her in it.”
My ears tingled when she spoke. I didn’t know much about magic, but if felt like she was spelling us with her words. It didn’t seem to work on me beyond an awareness what she was doing, but Grandfather’s bright blue eyes turned cloudy.
The use of magical word spells intrigued me, (and given my gift of persuasion, would explain a lot), but her word choice annoyed me. She said their life was more interesting with me in it. Interesting, really? We must have very different definitions of what the word meant. I haven’t had one conversation with her aside from afternoon tea yesterday with the Whites, and then I was too busy trying not to vomit then to engage in meaningful conversation with Lady Silverlain.
“Very well. We can try.” Grandfather shook his head as if to clear it, and the haze lifted from his eyes. “But if it doesn’t work, she’s going with Treadwell. We will discuss in my study after breakfast once Jessalyn gets dressed.”
“Did you hear that, Jessalyn?�
�� Grandmother said to me. “If you follow the rules, you may stay. Otherwise, there will be consequences.”
Her sharp blue eyes froze my blood. Her threat was obvious: “Follow my rules, or we will clip your wings.”
Didn’t she realize my wings were already clipped?
Chapter Three
Starr
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My grandparents left after their small country worth of threats, and I was able to finish my stuffed French toast in peace. As much as I loved the maple syrup with crushed walnut topping and the cinnamon sugar cream cheese filling (and man I loved them), my brain wouldn’t shut off. I couldn’t fully enjoy the delicious breakfast treat the kitchen staff had prepared for me. Apparently, there were servants who remembered my favorite childhood dishes—I needed to thank them later, but right now, I had other things on my mind.
I poked at the remains of a walnut. Like my grandfather, I didn’t like compromise. I also didn’t like to play games, which ought to be evident given my participation in solitary sports and my general dislike of board games, but given my present circumstances, I had to use the cards dealt me.
Grandmother mentioned Treadwell would take me to the Island. Presumably, the only chance of escape would be by water. I was a gifted swimmer, capable of traveling long distances, but even I had limitations. I hated being a prisoner, but drowning was not on my “To Do” list.
