FRIEND ME ON FACEBOOK FOR FRONT ROW SEATS TO
DELICIOUS TEASERS, BREAKING RELEASE NEWS,
AND INCREDIBLE CONTESTS AND GIVEAWAYS!
http://www.facebook.com/killoughwalden
I LOVE MY READERS!
Heather Killough-Walden Reading List
The Lost Angels series:
Always Angel (eBook-only introductory novella)
Avenger's Angel
Messenger's Angel
Death's Angel
Warrior's Angel (Fall, 2014)
Samael (release date TBA)
The October Trilogy:
Sam I Am
Secretly Sam
Suddenly Sam
Neverland Trilogy:
Forever Neverland
Beyond Neverland
The Big Bad Wolf series:
The Heat (no longer available separately - purchase in the Big Bad Wolf Romance Compilation)
The Strip (no longer available separately - purchase in the Big Bad Wolf Romance Compilation)
The Spell
The Hunt
The Big Bad Wolf Romance Compilation (all four books together, in proper chronological order)
The Kings - A Big Bad Wolf spinoff series:
The Vampire King
The Phantom King
The Warlock King
The Goblin King
The Seelie King
(future The Kings books TBA; at least 13 total)
The Chosen Soul Trilogy:
The Chosen Soul
Drake of Tanith
Queen of Abaddon (release date TBA)
Redeemer (stand-alone)
Hell Bent (stand-alone)
Vampire, Vampire (stand-alone)
A Sinister Game (stand-alone)
The Third Kiss series:
Dorian's Dream
Aleksei's Dream (Spring, 2015)
(future The Third Kiss books TBA; open-ended series)
Note: The Lost Angels series (not including Always Angel) is available in print and eBook format. All other HKW books are currently eBook-only.
The Seelie King
By Heather Killough-Walden
Sequel to The Vampire King,
The Phantom King,
The Warlock King,
and The Goblin King
Book five in the BBW spinoff series, The Kings
Visit Heather’s Facebook pages at:
http://www.facebook.com/killoughwalden
and
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heather-Killough-Walden/204947809542189
for paranormal romance news, teasers, updates, contests, and giveaways!
Also follow Heather on Twitter at:
@killoughwalden
Visit Heather’s website and sign up for her newsletter to receive all the latest at: www.killough-walden.com
In honor of –
Every thought,
Every wish,
Every dream
That keeps us sane
In the madness of this reality
That makes us seek
The other,
The different,
The better –
the magic….
So we don’t lose our ever-loving minds.
“Chess is a fairytale….”
– Savielly Tartakower
Prologue
Roughly five years ago….
The campfire sent sparks of flickering light floating high above the campground to disappear into the blue-black of the night sky. It was peaceful up there, devoid of clashing colors and loud noises. The stars moved only so much, at least to earthly perception. They twinkled, their bright pin-points bouncing slightly bigger and then slightly smaller over and over again. The moon was waxing, blue-gray and quiet. This, and its eternal solitude that was the salvation of dreamers and astronomers alike, was above. The sky was always at peace.
But down below, at the center of the campground from which embers floated up and away, it was a different story.
“Damn, girl, you’re making me fall off! Move the hell over!”
A twenty-something girl with thick, layered brown hair bumped her skinny hips against her equally young and slim companion where they both sat atop an overturned log beside the campfire. As she did, beer sloshed out from the plastic cup she was holding and disappeared in the damp earth below.
“Alissa, watch it! This stuff has to last us all night, you know,” the girl beside her complained, nodding toward the spilling drink in her friend’s hand. She tossed a long lock of blonde hair over her shoulder and shook her head with mild irritation.
“I wouldn’t worry, Chelsea” said a third girl from across the camp, who was emerging from one of two large tents. “You brought enough for a small army. What exactly did you think we were going to find out here?”
The female speaking was inherently attractive, possessing of that fortunate bone structure that lent a woman an intriguing air regardless of a few extra pounds, sloppy clothing, or miss-colored makeup. She was curvy, had short cropped red hair that curled under in a razored bob, blue eyes that bordered on indigo, and despite her lack of any need for makeup, she wore perhaps a bit too much eyeliner.
The blonde, Chelsea, on the fallen log smiled mischievously. “You never know,” she said with a small shrug. “We could meet ‘Edward’ out here or something.”
The red-head rolled her eyes. “I still can’t believe you’re reading those books.”
“Don’t judge, Meredith. It doesn’t suit you. It isn’t Shakespeare, but it isn’t all bad.”
The girl beside her, Alissa, laughed. “Not at all.”
The two looked at each other side-long and shared a secret smile.
“Besides,” Chelsea continued, “I thought you loved vampires.”
“Vampires, yes,” said Meredith, as she rooted around in the ice chest, found a Diet Dr. Pepper, and sat down on a log near the campfire. “Moody, psychopathic fairies, not so much.”
*****
In the shadows, figures looked on….
She doesn’t like fairies. She just said so.
She just hasn’t met the right one yet.
What makes you think you’re the right one?
I just know.
You should go after one of the others. I can tell they’d be open to anything.
I want the one with nighttime eyes. Her soul matches mine.
You’ve always been so damned picky.
I just know what I want.
*****
Now it was Chelsea and Alissa’s turn to roll their eyes.
“To each her own, Mer,” said Alissa. “Isn’t that what your therapist tells you?” she asked as she switched her beer cup into her other hand and then wiggled her fingers to get the liquid off them.
“Yep,” said Meredith before she cracked open her soda and took a long pull. When she was done, she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and licked her lips, which turned a natural, bright red. “But you’re not my therapist. You’re an obnoxious twit I allow to think is my best friend so you’ll feel better about yourself.” She smiled a bright white grin that out-did both of theirs put together, and grabbed a stick to poke the fire.
Alissa shook her head. “And you’re lucky I do,” she said. “Or you wouldn’t be borrowing all my tenting supplies to come out here and write your story on the New Mexico Spadefoot Toad.”
Chelsea made a face. “What is it with you and frogs, anyway? Why can’t you like normal shit, like puppies and flopsy-eared bunnies or something?”
“It’s floppy-eared bunnies. And toads, not frogs,” Meredith corrected easily. “And I like them because they’re nocturnal and secretive.
And they smell like peanuts.”
“They what?”
“They smell like peanuts,” Meredith repeated.
“Only when handled improperly,” came a fourth voice from the darkness beyond the light of the campfire.
All three girls jumped to their feet, Alissa’s beer went splashing to the ground, and Meredith dove for the pile of belongings she’d kept near the flap of her nearby tent. It took her precious seconds to extract the .357 Magnum she’d kept hidden and fully loaded beneath her folded-up pajamas.
She spun, holding the gun out at arms-length, and aimed it with shaking hands at the newcomer.
Or Newcomers. Plural.
There were three of them, all male, all young, all tall, all three extraordinarily good looking by human female standards. So much so, that rather than scream and run – or even shoot on sight – the girls remained where they were.
“Holy hotness,” Alissa whispered, clearly not aware that she’d spoken aloud.
“Mer, don’t shoot!” Chelsea cried, her eyes wide, her face pale. “God, don’t shoot!” Perhaps this request came due to the boys’ appearance, or perhaps Chelsea was intelligent enough to recognize the gravity of the situation: three girls alone in the woods, three men coming upon them, one of the six with a loaded deadly weapon.
Meredith’s indigo gaze narrowed. “Who the hell are you?” she demanded.
The young men held up their hands in absolute surrender, and it was fair to say that their eyes were even wider than the girls’. All three of them were looking at Meredith. “We don’t mean you any harm, we promise!” one of them insisted. He had black hair shot through with honest-to-goodness rainbow stripes, and his eyes glittered with impossible mixtures of amber and green.
“He’s right,” said one of his companions quickly. “We’re just in a camp not far from here and we went for a walk! We didn’t know you were here until we heard you talking!”
The girls didn’t say anything, but Meredith appeared to be considering the boys very carefully, not only their words, but their stances, their expressions – their auras perhaps.
“Just camping nearby and going for a walk, huh?” she asked softly.
“Swear to the Tuath gods,” said the third boy. “In fact, we’ll just leave.”
The other boys looked at him, and the rainbow-haired one’s brow rose. He appeared a little irritated.
“You seem to know an awful lot about toads,” said Meredith. Her hands around her gun had calmed down a bit, and were not shaking as much as they had a few moments earlier.
“I like nature,” said rainbow-hair, returning his attention to her. “That’s why we were walking.”
The girls regarded them a few moments more, and finally Meredith lowered her gun. “Well you don’t seem drunk, anyway.”
“No,” said rainbow-hair. “We’re definitely not drunk.”
“But we’re open to it,” said one of the other boys with a broad, suggestive smile. It was a disarming smile, and suddenly Chelsea and Allison didn’t look so frightened. In fact, one of them exhaled with what sounded like relief.
“We’ve got plenty to go around,” said Allison. She glanced side-long and Chelsea, who turned a little red.
Then both girls looked at Meredith, as if she were the one who would decide. And with a gun in her hands, maybe she was.
Meredith considered them, considered the boys, and then sighed. “Have a seat. The drinks are in the cooler.”
Roughly an hour and a half later, the campground was quite a bit louder than it had been before, and two couples were dancing to music that poured from the speakers in a Jeep Wrangler parked nearby. If there were any Spadefoot toads in the area, they were sure to be well hidden beneath an insulating amount of dirt by now.
“Tael is an interesting name,” said Meredith from where she now sat beside the rainbow-haired boy. They both drank from sodas rather than beers, and Meredith was finding she very much liked the newcomer’s mild manners and intelligent mind.
“It’s not so rare among my people.”
Meredith’s eyebrow shot up. “Your people? What, are you from some tribe somewhere or something?” She glanced up at his hair, which she admittedly liked a lot. “Is that the deal with the hair? All this time, I thought it was a dye job. But you’re gonna tell me you were born with it, aren’t you?”
Tael grinned broadly, and his strikingly colored eyes twinkled. Meredith felt herself growing warm. But it may just have been the fire.
“So why Spadefoot toads?” he asked, steering clear of her question altogether.
Meredith shrugged. The music from the jeep hit a high crescendo, drowning out so much sound that she was forced to wait to answer his question. When she did, she spoke loudly. “I like nature! I like animals! Better than most people, actually!”
This seemed to interest him, and he turned more fully toward her. When he did, the others appeared to slow down in their dancing, and the volume of the music actually seemed to lessen.
“You aren’t a fan of humanity?”
Meredith was having a good time, and getting comfortable. So she was well beyond caring about holding her true opinions back, especially when it came to strangers whom she would probably never see again after this night.
“Nope,” she said. “In fact, if I had my way I wouldn’t be one. Human, that is.”
“Oh?” The volume of the music lessened even more. And now the couples had stopped dancing. The girls seemed confused. But the boys were watching Tael and Meredith. Not that Meredith seemed to notice.
“If I had my choice, I’d be reborn as a cat maybe.” She nodded, thinking to herself. “I like cats. I also like lizards. Geckos are adorable.” She took a long swig of her soda, crushed the can, and tossed it into a bag she’d brought along for recycling.
Tael glanced over his shoulder, making eye contact with his companions. Who nodded.
He turned back around. “So you’re saying that if someone came along right now and offered you a way out of the human world for good, you’d take them up on it?”
“Holy shit, you’re vampires aren’t you?” Alissa asked softly – but obviously great expectancy. This earned her a glance from both of the boys standing near her, but Tael said nothing.
Meredith watched him carefully for a long, long moment. Her gaze again narrowed in suspicion. “What are you asking me, Tael?”
He gazed at her for an equally long moment, and the forest around them grew quiet. The music stopped altogether, the wind died down, and the fire’s crackling all but ceased. The world seemed to wait for what he was going to say.
“What I’m asking you, Meredith, is whether you will come with me to a place where you won’t have to deal with other humans. Ever again.”
Meredith Kaye MacNamore was a strong girl. She had been strong her entire life, through her parents’ divorce, through her aunt’s death, through the long days and nights that dragged after her life-long companion, her dog Amelia, had been hit by a truck and killed. She was strong.
But few humans are stronger than the fae. And most definitely not as strong as a fae charm.
“Yes,” she whispered. And all the worlds heard. “I will go with you.”
*****
Tael and his male companions stopped dancing and turned toward the portal that opened up on the other end of the Korred Dancing Grounds.
“I don’t believe it. He’s found us,” someone muttered in a voice filled with trepidation.
No one was supposed to know the location of any Korred Dancing Ground. They were well hidden, secreted away from any non-Korred, and changed every night. Their locations were not known until the very moment of the ground’s creation, upon which a field once filled with flowers or hay or saplings would suddenly be cleared through fae magic, and illuminated by the light of a constant blue moon. The ground would swirl with mists, and an eternal, hypnotic beat would ring out from the very air. No one could escape the lull of that beat. Its swaying, swooning rhythm hammered
out in time with every dancer’s beating heart, pulsing its magic through unsuspecting blood streams, taking over every dancer’s soul.
The Korred fae, whose appearance much resembled the “elves” that mortals were so fond of writing about and casting in Hollywood films, but were generally taller and more muscular, would revert to their natural forms and pair up with the mortals they’d brought back with them.
However, now every Korred fae in the clearing came to a stop as the newly formed portal broadened and brightened. They froze in sudden fear under the drastic wave of power that came rolling out of the portal and over the land. It was a warning, coming too late.
A wind kicked up across the field, sending the mists into swirling eddies and running its fingers through the hair of everyone there. It was scented like fire and its heat coursed over them, issuing its dread a split-second before the Seelie King himself stepped like a god through the swirling doorway.
The king didn’t have to travel by portal. He could simply snap his fingers and be anywhere within the fae realms that he wished to be. But portals were more dramatic, and provided for an entrance, which was beneficial if you were trying to make a point. Tael had no doubts at all whatsoever that the king was going to do exactly that.
The humans in the clearing were for the most part oblivious to this terrifying significance. All but one of them continued to dance, their movements suddenly jarring and unnatural without the on-going magical guidance of their fae partners. They couldn’t help but keep dancing. A Korred dance was never-ending, at least for mortals. The humans in the field would dance until they did one of two things – accepted their places as servants of the Korred fae… or died.
Tael knew good and well what was coming, and wondered briefly why he’d thought even for a second that he could have slipped this past his sovereign.
There was nothing for it but to kneel.
And this is what every fae in the clearing did. As the mists swirled away and the music’s beat halted and the world filled with ominous quiet, the Korred got down on their knees one by one and bowed their heads.
The_Seelie_King_Kindle_Nook_Edition Page 1
