by Leia Stone
Normally, the other side of the river was completely black, but not now. A good five-foot stretch of the other side was covered in green grass and wildflowers, and the river…the entire river was clear.
Binding my soul to the tree had done something to the land. I just prayed it wasn’t temporary and that it would last. The creatures that had once lurked were gone, too. For now.
We’d need to do damage control and figure out what to do about the broken shield, but first, I wanted to find Liam.
I approached the encampment looking for him. “Hey, have you seen Liam?” I asked one of the guys. I was worried about his mental state after how mad he’d been with me at the Tree of Life and with having the sword so close to him. The second I found him, I was ripping that sword off of him and taking it for a while.
“He went into one of the huts.” The guy pointed to a straw hut, and I approached it, peeking my head inside.
Liam was standing alone, facing the wall and mumbling to himself. “If I tell her, she’ll leave me,” he was saying.
Oh, gods. He’d fully lost it.
“Liam?” I called out, approaching him.
His head jerked to the right. “I can’t. I can’t tell her.”
“Babe.” I tried a pet name, although it felt weird on my tongue, and we’d never used them. “It’s me.”
I laid a hand on his shoulder, but I recoiled when I felt a darkness enter my mind.
Liam spun, tears filling his eyes. The whites of his eyes were dark black, no color left, and it chilled me to the bone.
“Liam. Love.” I kept my voice low. “Take off the sword and lay it on the ground.”
He shook his head, tears spilling onto his cheeks. “You won’t love me if you know. I can’t tell you.”
I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but I wanted the spell that thing held over him broken.
“Liam.” I reached out and started to unbuckle his sword belt. “There is nothing about you that you could tell me that would make me not love you.”
He shook his head, more silent tears falling down his cheeks, as I slowly slipped the sword off. Dark thoughts raced through my mind as I grasped the hilt for two seconds before chucking it across the room. It hit the wall and slid to the ground with a clatter.
Once it was away from him, the color seemed to come back into his eyes, and I, for one, felt a whole hell of a lot better.
“See? You’re okay now.” I sighed in relief and moved to hug him, but he backed up to the wall, then grabbed the sides of his face.
“No. I’m unlovable.” The tears were gone, and now a vacant look was plastered on his face. He was lost somewhere, and I needed to bring him back.
“Stop it!” I shouted, taking his hand and holding the scars up to his eyes. “Is it about this? I don’t care! I don’t care what you’ve done. I fucking love you, Liam, and that’s that!”
His chest rose and fell as he gnawed at his bottom lip. “Lily…I have to tell you. We can’t have a relationship until you know…”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
The blue was back in his eyes. It seemed that the darkness had retreated, but it still left him in distress.
His breath came out in a shaky rasp. “I killed your mother.”
My soul jumped out of my body, then—I fully left that moment and went numb. I yanked my hand from his and stumbled away until I hit the far wall. “Stop it! Why would you say that? You’re possessed by that thing.”
Liam looked at the floor, unable to meet my eyes. “It wasn’t my father…it was me. I lied to you because even then, I knew you were going to be someone special to me.”
“No.” A sob ripped from me as bile crept up my throat. “You’re lying.”
Grief tore through me in that moment. On some level, I knew that what he was saying was true.
Liam shook his head, and a single tear fell down his cheek. “I wouldn’t lie about this. Your mom kept coming after the crystal that I had, and I needed it for my brothers, and I told her—”
I shrieked, screaming bloody murder as rage and pain smashed into my body. My soulmate, my first love—he had killed my mother?
This isn’t happening.
“She was bringing the crystals back to Faerie where they belong!” I cried, and my hands glowed with the force of my rage. I stepped closer to Liam. “Look at me.”
His eyes had been at my feet the entire time, but now, he finally looked up at me. I saw no darkness, just tired, saddened blue eyes.
“She was everything to me. You took everything from me!”
My voice went weak. I felt sick. I had slept with this man. I’d fucked my mother’s murderer. And he hadn’t told me. He had lied to me.
His lip quivered. “I’m sorry. My dad was there, too, and I—she had a knife, and I tried to—”
“And so you shoved an icicle so far into her abdomen that she looked like a gutted fish!” I screamed. “I saw her, Liam! I held her as she bled out in a bathtub!” I reached out and slapped him hard across the face, sunlight bursting from my palms.
He clutched his jaw, looking at me with a darkened gaze. “I told you. I warned you not to love me.”
“You’re right.” My hands shook with rage. “I could never love someone like you. Get the fuck out of Faerie! I can’t even look at you.”
He actually seemed shocked, as though he thought I could get past the fact that he’d killed my mother. He just stood there for a minute, looking at me. “Is that what you want?”
I nodded, tipping my head high and crossing my arms. “Your brothers and the others can stay, but you need to leave.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “You’re not even letting me explain…”
Anger rose up so sharp and hot that I thought I would seriously murder him. “GO.”
I didn’t want him to explain how he’d killed my mother. I wanted to forget he’d ever existed.
With one last look at me, he walked to the other side of the room, picked up the sword, and left.
As I heard him tell his guys to pack up, my knees went weak. So he was taking the army? Of course he was. I fell to the floor, sobbing as desperation filled me.
My mother had warned me. Her dying words had been to beware the Sons of Darkness, and I’d gone and fallen in love with one. Well, I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
I was going to get every last one of those crystals, then close Faerie to the outside world forever.
* Pssst: I wrote a secret scene between Cam and Elle. Wanna read it? You just need to sign up for my newsletter. I only send 1-2 times per month and you can leave anytime. No spam. Just book goodies. Sign up here to get the free scene. https://smarturl.it/ElleAndCam
*Book three is on presale here! I plan to bring that date in by many months, but in light of current events, I want to plan for anything. <3 Saving the Fae: Daughter of Light Book Three. https://smarturl.it/SavingTheFae
Acknowledgments
It takes a village they say, and that is certainty true with most things. Thank you to my village. My readers, ARC team, indie author friends, cover designer, editor, marketing manager, and assistant. It truly takes a village to have a successful book launch and I am forever grateful to all of you. <3
Leia
Also by Leia Stone:
Matefinder Series
Matefinder- Book 1
Devi - Book 2
Balance - Book 3
Matefinder Next Generation Series
Keeper - Book 1
Walker - Book 2
USA TODAY bestselling Hive Series
Ash - Book 1
Anarchy - Book 2
Annihilate - Book 3
NYC Mecca Series
Queen Heir - Book 1
Queen Alpha - Book 2
Queen Fae - Book 3
Queen Mecca - Book 3
Dark War Saga
Protector - Book 1
Defender - Book 2
Redeemer - Book 3
&
nbsp; Dragons and Druids Series
Skyborn
Earthbound
Magic Torn
Fallen Academy Series
Year One
Year Two
Year Three
Year Three and a Half
Year Four
Supernatural Bounty Hunter Series
Magic Bite
Might Sight
Magic Touch
Wrecked (Standalone dark contemporary)
Dream Wars Trilogy
Rising
Domination
Obliteration
The Titan's Saga
Releasing the Gods
Wrath of the Gods
Revenge of the Gods (September 2020)
