Seeking the Fae (Daughter of Light Book 1)

by Leia Stone

  Restore Faerie? I leapt up and shook myself. “No. This is fucked up. Way too much pressure.” I backed up until I hit the wall. First, I had to save Faerie, and now my undead, half aunt’s life was on the line?

  Hard fucking pass. I would majorly screw this up.

  Indra looked alarmed, like she expected a twenty-year-old whose mother died a few days ago and was tasked with not only saving the world but also saving the sleeping queen to act differently.

  I laughed, I couldn’t help it, I was losing my grip on reality. “You just thought I would take this news great? That my only living relative is a fucking queen and she’s dying? You expect me to march out there and get all the crystals for you? This is crazy! My mother should have told me sooner! I. Can’t. Do. It. Alone!” I shouted, feeling the stress of the past few days weigh on my mind.

  I was in shock; I was finally losing it. Indra’s face became angry, crumpling into a mass of dark wrinkles. Reaching behind my head, she grabbed the back of my neck and dragged me forward.

  “Ow!” I shouted as she pulled me by the back of the neck over to the bed. “Did you hear a word I just told you?” She shoved my face closer to the woman and tears sprang into my eyes. She was the spitting image of my mother: dark pink hair, long lashes, high cheek bones. She smelled like lavender and just being near her made some of my madness ease. My heart ached to be with my mother again.

  “Your mother’s sister is alive. You have family. You are not alone. This woman, our queen, needs you. The people of Faerie need you. You cannot give up because you are one person, or you are too young, or you are scared. If your mother had done that, we would all be dead.”

  I sighed and she released my neck, straightening her blouse. She was right. I reached out and touched the woman’s cheek. It was soft but cold.

  “Does that make my mom … royalty?” My mind spun with what this all meant.

  Indra frowned. “No. The mother they shared was a garden tender Fae. Dahlia’s father was the Spring prince with royal blood, but your mother’s father was a warrior Fae tasked with guarding the Spring prince. It was a big scandal.”

  Damn.

  “Why is she sick now?” I remembered the tree branch—the black ashy branches.

  Indra shook her head. “Your mother’s energy was helping her, helping the tree, now without it … I don’t think she can hold on for much longer. We need the crystals.”

  The queen was alive … this was so huge. “The people don’t know?”

  Indra shook her head fiercely. “I love our people, but they cannot be trusted with this. Not while she’s in this state and cannot protect herself. We have no warriors. She could be too easily assassinated and then Faerie would surely fall.”

  I hated that what she’d said was right. You just couldn’t trust everyone, and many blamed the royal court for not acting swiftly enough to mitigate the damage to Faerie. Their followers were few and far between in the end.

  I stood, brushing my sweaty palms off on my pants. “I’ll find the next crystal and bring it back, no matter what.”

  But if she told me one more deep dark secret, I was going to lose my mind.

  Indra nodded. “I’m sorry you had to find everything out in this way. Your mother wanted what was best for you … I think she assumed she had time to let you grow into a woman before throwing this at your feet.”

  I was sick of hearing that excuse, even though I understood it. I just nodded and walked out of the room, away from the dying tree and back to the blue door.

  The biggest thing on my mind right now? Where the fuck was Liam?

  When I reached the door, Elle was there, fully suited up. “What’s with the earthquakes?”

  I shook my head. I knew I could trust her with anything, but now wasn’t the time to delve into the freaking queen being alive and me being related to her.

  “The Tree of Life is dying. We need to get that seventh crystal, stat.”

  I reached for the handle and threw the door open. Mara was sitting on her desk, looking right at me.

  “Oh good, it’s just you. I thought it might be another Son of Darkness!” she snapped.

  I winced as I shoved Elle in the door and slammed it closed. “He came through here?”

  She nodded. “Kindly asked me how he could get back to Seattle.”

  Elle looked like she was going to have a heart attack. “Holy fuck, he opened the door?”

  Exactly my thoughts. “How?”

  Mara shook her head. “Isn’t it obvious? It makes so much sense now. Something your mother never could quite figure out. How do they always know where the crystals are, even when they have moved, or we take one?”

  A stone sank in my stomach. “No way.”

  Mara nodded. “He’s a seeker.”

  My soulmate. A fellow seeker and a Dark Fae. The gods must be sitting on their thrones laughing at me. How was this possible?

  “Take me to Seattle,” I ordered Mara, clipping into the seat.

  If Liam was a seeker, then I was in deeper shit than I previously thought. He would be on to the next crystal and I was way behind.

  My only question was: who was he taking them from? Was there another enemy I needed to worry about? His father … who was he exactly?

  Elle and I got to Seattle and I wrenched open the door. It was pouring rain.

  “Be safe!” Mara yelled out the door as I ran onto the lawn and transformed the motorcycle. Elle jumped on and then we were off. I put out my feelers, remembering what it had felt like to hold the crystal in Liam’s house. The weight of it. The color.

  Nothing.

  Fuck.

  I gunned the bike harder as we tore down the road. I came upon the old farmhouse, and instead of waiting and hiding in the bushes, I drove right up to the door. Elle and I were drenched with rain, but I didn’t care; anger drove me forward.

  “Liam!” I shouted, kicking the front door in. I was fuming. He’d kissed me like I was the last Fae on Earth—and left a fucking note! He never told me he was a seeker. Anger rushed through me and I realized it was messing with my seeking ability.

  “Lily, what’s going on?” Elle stepped into the house behind me. The bodies were gone. Only bloodstains remained. I was dripping wet, which did well to hide the tears that lined my eyes.

  “I don’t want to like him but…” My chin quivered.

  Elle nodded, her wings drooping as she stepped closer to me. “But you do.”

  I bobbed my head up and down. “I’m such an idiot! He could have stolen the other crystals. I never should have let him into Faerie.”

  Elle shrugged. “But he didn’t. He apparently left quietly and asked Mara for a ride back without threatening her or anything.”

  Yeah … which was unnerving. Was he good or bad? I didn’t like gray areas.

  “Elle … I can’t sense the crystal.” I was spiraling. The fucking queen needed me. My half aunt, I guess. It was all too much. My best friend stepped up and grabbed the sides of my face. “Remember when your mom hid that tiny pearl in the sand?”

  I grinned at the memory.

  “You found it! Lil, there is nothing you can’t seek. You just need to focus. Remember nature wants to help you.”

  Of course, how could I forget my most basic training? With grim determination, I gave her a nod.

  Slipping out the front door, I pulled off my boots and socks. Sitting on the wild grass, I let my toes sink into the Earth, relishing the energy I felt coming off of her. The Earth was a powerful land full of energy. Less powerful now that humans had drilled her and sucked her dry and polluted her beyond recognition … but still powerful nonetheless.

  “Help me, Gaia,” I whispered, pulling up the image in my mind of the crystal, of holding the bluish glowing crystal shard in my mind. A warm tingle vibrated along my toes and worked its way up my ankles. Suddenly, the image in my mind of the crystal was replaced with a picture of a sign that read Portland, Oregon.

  My eyes snapped open. “Thank you.” I
placed my palms on the Earth and sent her love. Popping up to my feet, I slipped my boots back on. “It’s in Oregon.”

  “You’re sure?” Elle asked.

  I nodded. “Come on, let’s tell Mara.”

  An hour later, Elle and I stood at the open gates of a huge mansion in Portland, Oregon. Bentleys, Rolls-Royces, Mercedes, all the nice cars drove in. As people got out, I noticed they were dressed in ball gowns and tuxedos. This was clearly a high-profile black-tie event. Men with horns, who had human females on their arms, walked confidently to the front door. There were also guys with black wings like Liam’s, though fewer of them. This was a Sons of Darkness party. But I could feel it: the crystal was here, pulsing and strong.

  Elle and I shared a look, and without saying a word she jumped right back on my bike. We didn’t dare speak so near to the home. Some Fae had a talent for far hearing, and what we needed to talk about would raise the suspicions of any guards.

  The second we reached the blue door at apartment #402, I wrenched it open.

  “That was fast.” Mara looked at my empty hands.

  I shook my head. “It’s a black-tie event. Tons of Sons there, but human females also.”

  Mara chewed at her lip, her intricate gold cuffs clanking with her other jewelry as she rubbed her chin in deep thought. “How do you want to play this?”

  “Can you hide our wings from Fae seeing them? I want Elle and I to go in as humans.”

  It was risky as hell, but we needed that crystal now more than ever.

  Mara seemed to chew on the idea for a moment, staring at the bright blue kitchen cupboards in her home. “I think I could manage an illusion that would work for about an hour.”

  I nodded. “That should do.”

  Elle and I raided Mara’s closet, producing two ball gowns. Mine was all black sequins with a lace-up corset back that managed to fit decently. Elle slipped into a red number and Mara magicked our ears shorter.

  Elle was finishing her makeup as I watched Mara make an illusion spell at the table. She was weaving thread after thread of purple magic into a ball. It was incredible to watch.

  “What kind of Fae are you?” I couldn’t help but wonder. She was so powerful; I’d never heard of a Fae who had as much magic as she did.

  She looked at the open bathroom door where Elle was doing her makeup. “A powerful one.” She winked and rolled the magical ball in her hands.

  Okay, she didn’t want to tell me. That was fine. My mom said Mara was a woman with a complicated past she wasn’t proud of. I didn’t want to pry.

  “Alright, kiddo, your first big mission.” Mara smoothed the hem of my dress. “Just remember: nothing is more important than your life. Get out of there if things go sideways.”

  I frowned, wondering if she knew the queen was still alive and needed the crystals to awaken again.

  “Some things are,” I said. “Sometimes the sacrifice of one, for the good of many, is needed.”

  A frown pulled at her lips. “Your mom thought the same thing and look where that got her.”

  Dread crept into my stomach. What was Mara saying? Don’t get the crystal at all costs? I was so confused.

  “Just be safe,” Mara urged, walking me to the doorway, where Elle was waiting. “Your mother would want me to look out for you.”

  Maybe that’s why she was saying that stuff. Elle and I gave her both our backs and she laid the illusion spell over our shoulder blades. A warm tingle ran the length of my back and I looked over my shoulders to see my wings were gone.

  Cool.

  We bade her goodbye and opened the door to our Oregon apartment. We had blue doors in every state and in every country, Mara had said. It was a complicated network of Fae portals that I was just beginning to understand, and only Mara was powerful enough to work it all.

  Elle and I jumped onto my bike, which was parked in the seedy parking lot of the grim complex, and I chastised myself for not thinking of getting a car or something. We were going to look all disheveled when we arrived. Luckily, the rain had let up.

  “So you heal the guy, kiss him, and the next morning he bails and leaves a note?” Elle whispered from behind me where she sat on the bike.

  “I don’t want to talk about him,” I snapped, harsher than I meant to.

  She shrugged. “I’m just preparing you. He’s a seeker too, you know. Clearly you guys are after the same thing.”

  She was right. There was a very real possibility Liam would be here tonight too. With that in mind, I pulled my ball gown up and settled over the bike.

  Now that my mother was gone, I wanted more than anything to have family. The queen was my aunt and my only family left. I wasn’t going to let her or the people of Faerie down.

  “Good evening, ladies.” The gentlemen at the door bowed to us. After stashing the bike in the woods down the road, we’d grabbed a taxi and fixed our hair inside of it. Now, with Mara’s wing illusion spell wearing off in about forty minutes, we were led inside of the massive mansion without male dates or an invitation. The dresses alone were enough it seemed.

  We passed dozens of Dark Fae. Sons of Darkness was just another name for what they truly were. Cruel horns twisted from their heads. One of them had hooved feet, another displayed the same black Fae wings like Liam. So many of them were here that I started to panic about our plan.

  “Hello there,” a deep voice called out beside me and I froze. Turning halfway, I came face to face with a guy in his twenties. His eyes were deep orange, but they glowed like tiny flames danced inside of them. He was exceedingly handsome, with a full beard and tall stature, but something about him raised the hairs on my neck. “Care to dance?”

  I gave him a big fat, hopefully genuine grin, “Sure thing. I just gotta use the ladies’ room, then I’ll find you?”

  He reached out and trailed a finger along my arm. “I’ll be at the bar.” His voice was gruff and made my stomach churn. I nodded and bee-lined it to the back of the room with Elle hot on my tail.

  Just as I was about to start sending out my feelers and looking for the crystal, everyone started clapping.

  Looking up, I followed the direction of their stares and my blood ran cold.

  A tall, black-haired Fae in his early forties stood at the top of a balcony overlooking the guests. His eyes were cold and dark, and his black wings flitted behind his back, tendrils of smoke curling off of them. But even so, I could see the resemblance to Liam from here: the chiseled jaw, the full pout. It was Liam’s father, and worse yet, he wore the crown of Aubin. He was the Winter King.

  The fucking Winter King killed my mother.

  I’d seen pictures of the crown; we had a book on all of them. The Winter King’s crown had a large ruby crystal in the center that amplified his power.

  “Greetings, my Sons.” His voice reached out towards us, bringing with it a rush of frigid cold air. The men in the room all clapped as the human women looked up adoringly at the king. Elle froze next to me and I wondered if she recognized who the hell he was.

  “Tonight, we celebrate the Sons of Darkness … the union of human and Fae, which will bring forth a new race into my new world.”

  What the what?

  My blood ran cold as everyone clapped excitedly and women started to pair up with men, walking over to couches, or mattresses on the floor, and disappearing behind curtains. The women started to undress, and it hit me then that this was a fucking breeding orgy party.

  Bile rose in my throat. Was he deliberately trying to grow the Dark Fae race?

  “Be fruitful and multiply,” the king said, before walking away from the balcony and into the arms of a woman with long red hair who had been standing behind him.

  “Holy fuck,” I whisper-screamed. He was purposely creating more Sons … and these humans seemed all too happy to oblige. Our most cherished rule was to keep our people a secret to the humans, but he’d clearly outed us to select few who were willing to…

  I felt sick.

  “Where
is the you know what?” Elle whispered, eyes widening with urgency.

  The crystal. I’d nearly forgotten why we were here. Shaking my head, I took a deep breath and pulled on my power, feeling a tug down the hallway, where there was a staircase leading down. A guard stood in front of it, barring our way.

  “There.” I nodded to the guard.

  Elle nodded. “I’ll distract him. You get it and we meet at the bike.”

  I nodded, nerves flushing through me.

  Elle walked over to the guy while I stayed back. He wore a trim black suit, but underneath his coat I saw the glint of a dagger. He looked my bestie up and down in a seductive way as she approached him. I wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do. Use an illusion? Knock him out?

  Nope. She walked right up and started making out with him!

  Oh gods!

  I bolted down the hall and slipped right past them while she kept him occupied. “Oh baby, I’d love to but I gotta work,” I could hear him telling her as I took the stairs two at a time.

  She had balls of steel. What if he’d led her to a mattress? I didn’t even want to think about it!

  When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I let my wings carry me across the hall so I didn’t make a sound. Even though the wings were invisible, they still worked. When I reached an open room, I peered inside to find that it was actually a huge open space, and when I looked up it spanned three floors. I was in some kind of walkout basement with a circular castle type of vibe. The entire wall in front of me was made of glass, which led out to a beautiful back yard and in-ground swimming pool. To the right was a set of wooden double doors. The pull at my navel told me that was the way to go. The crystal was behind the door, I knew it.

  Reaching for the lock on the door, I froze when I heard rustling wings behind me.

  “I knew you would be here.” Liam’s voice should have startled me, but instead it just made my whole body buzz. He was standing behind me dressed in all black, with his angelic blond hair gelled to one side. I had somehow memorized every inch of his face when I’d stared at him in those hours of his healing on my couch. My gaze ran over his blue eyes, somehow looking like they were lit with embers of gold.