dark faerie 04.5 - without armor (6 page)
Read dark faerie 04.5 - without armor Online
Authors: alexia purdy
Unseelie weren’t too bright sometimes.
Frack ran up to us and peered down at Isolde. “Is she dead? Should we follow them?”
I shook my head. “She’s still alive, somehow. I’ll catch up to the two cowards later. It’s over.”
“Why isn’t she waking up?” Ciaran’s puzzled look made me wonder if there was something I should’ve known about the draught.
“I have no idea.” I held up the bottle to the light, watching the translucence through the metallic color. It looked like ordinary faery draught to me. It was the same exact bottle I’d taken a sip out of earlier…
It felt...off somehow.
“Wait a minute…” I placed both hands curled around the opaque blue glass and closed my eyes. In my memory, I remembered reading a scroll about deception magic. It didn’t take much to unveil it…if you knew it was there. Most of it depended on the victim being caught unawares that the curse had been laid.
“Ostendas…” I whispered the antidote spell for a deception curse. The moment the word left my mouth, the bottle vibrated and spun out of my hands, smashing to the ground. Now, instead of silver mercury liquid, a shimmery white fluid sprayed the ground where the bottle had shattered to bits. It wasn’t the right potion. It was something other than faery healing draught and I didn’t like the look of it whatsoever.
This had a dark magic to it, and I’d been fooled.
“Who did this?” I demanded. My fury tumbled forth like a rushing tsunami. I was an Elemental warlock, capable of feeling out the magics of others like a sixth sense. How could one potion get past me? The culprit would’ve had to have been extremely close to me to get it in my pack in the first place. Whoever had tricked me, wasn’t Unseelie at all.
It was someone close to Isolde who’d gotten too close to me too.
The last revelation turned my stomach. I knew who’d tricked me, but I couldn’t let them escape just yet. Not until I knew why and how to undo this mess.
“What’s happened to her?” Analie had appeared and kneeled next to Isolde. The glow continued, casting her in an angelic way. If no one were the wiser, she could pass for a sleeping angel.
“She’s been revealed,” I whispered under my breath.
Analie’s large yellow eyes flicked up toward mine, innocent and worried.
“What do you mean by revealed? Revealed as what?”
“She’s not part elven. She’s something else. She might not even be a faery. I’ve never seen or heard of a reaction like this to a reveal curse. Nothing is making sense.”
“Which means she’s not who she said she was,” Ciaran added. His face observed Isolde’s with a strange mixture of awe and curiosity. Not the kind of awe which made one scared, fearing the worst. This kind of spark was led by pure malicious intent done purposely.
“Why would someone want her to reveal her true nature?” I asked, hoping to trip Ciaran up. If he was behind this, what would he gain? I never knew him as Isolde’s friend in high school, but she hadn’t said much about their relationship, had she? And if Ciaran was right about her being different, had Isolde been aware of it? Had he?
The questions didn’t leave me feeling much better. I’d have to grab Ciaran any minute now. Best to keep that I was on to him to a minimum. He knew more than he was putting forth. Everything about him was wrong.
“The Unseelie have their ways,” Ciaran offered though his eyes were hooded, lost in his own daydream. About what, I was pretty sure it was about Isolde’s true nature.
“I have to get her to a healer. Come on.” I stepped forward, but Ciaran’s arm flew up slamming into my chest to stop my momentum.
“She’s not going anywhere with you. You gave her that potion. This is all your fault.”
“What? You can’t be serious.” I laughed and shook my head. “You changed the draught in my bag this morning. You bumped into me dropped the duplicate bottle into my bag after you saw me drink from it the night prior. You planted it there, didn't you? Why? Isolde’s your friend. Why would you do that to her?”
A unified gasp rang through the group as others returned to see the commotion after securing the outside of the warehouse. For a scraggly group, they were well organized. I gave all the credit to Isolde and not her conniving second in command.
“Since you came here, the Unseelie have tried to kill us. It’s you who’s been nothing but a taint on our existence. I don’t see what she saw in you.”
I watched his face turn facets of red, pale and then purple as he threatened me. I didn’t care. I could see right through him.
“Why’d you do it, Ciaran?”
The others watched on, afraid to move. Afraid to do anything.
“Go to hell, human.”
“You failed to answer my question.”
“I don’t answer to your kind.”
“So that’s how it is then?”
Ciaran glared at me, fire burning in his wide eyes. Without warning, he shoved at me, sending me stepping back to catch my balance. He reached over touching one hand to Isolde’s and held out a small sphere in the other.
I’d seen those before. I only knew of one person who used them, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more out there.
No!
Before I could stop him, a sudden rush of wind and light smacked into the rest of us, sending us tumbling backwards.
Ciaran had a teleportation orb and knew how to use it. My ability to detect magic was waning, and I thought I knew why. After everything, I’d been played the entire time I’d been with Isolde’s group by none other than Ciaran. He had shielded his real magic from me with a shield I couldn’t compromise and lost Isolde to him for payment. But why?
The reasons remained unanswered and would stay that way for a long time.
Chapter Eleven
I visited the small group of outcast faeries often. I still didn’t know or hear anything about Isolde and Ciaran months after the attack. Not one day passed that I didn’t think of Isolde. She’d been my first love, and I’d always love her, no matter what hardships laid between us, miles apart. I knew she thought of me when I’d left her without a trace to fight the faery war.
That was cold comfort now.
She’d be laughing about payback. I was sure of it.
If only she could laugh, or speak for that matter.
Something told me she was as silent as the day she was petrified and turned into a sleeping beauty. If there was something to be said about Isolde, it was that no one got the best of her without a steep price. Whatever she was, whatever she was hiding, this particular magical being would remain silent and sleeping until the spell was broken and she awoke from eternal slumber one day. I wished I knew what the antidote to the sleeping spell that she placed upon herself just in case a person successfully got to her with a revealing curse.
Isolde was one tough woman to crack and Ciaran was probably screaming in a rage that he had failed to break through her armor and discover who she really was. Whoever she was, she had to be important. No one would go through so much trouble living as a common faery amongst those with little to no magic if it weren't for a darn good reason.
She’d gotten through my own thick laden armor and into my heart once. I wouldn’t let that go without reward. I’d find her one day and make sure Ciaran paid for his treachery if it were the only thing I had to live for.
I hoped wherever she was that she knew I would find her and work to break the spell first just to see her shining eyes once more. I’d let her sweet, soft lips kiss me again and again until the past disappeared and we were back at that creek, soaked to the bone. Just like old times.
Until then. I’d wait. I’d keep my senses on overdrive to catch the scent of her trail again. After all, those days—with her—were the best days of my life.
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A Dark Faerie Tale Series
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Book 0.1: The Withering Palace
Book 0.5: Evangeline
Book 1: Ever Shade
Book 2: Ever Fire
Book 3: Ever Winter
Book 3.5: The Cursed
Book 4: Ever Wrath
Book 5: History of Fire
Book 6: Ever Dead
About the Author
Alexia Purdy
Alexia currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada–Sin City! She loves to spend every free moment writing or playing with her four rambunctious kids. Writing has always been her dream, and she has been writing ever since she can remember. She loves writing paranormal fantasy and poetry and devours books daily. Alexia also enjoys watching movies, dancing, singing loudly in the car and eating Italian food.
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Also by Alexia Purdy:
Reign of Blood Series
Reign of Blood
Disarming (Reign of Blood #2)
Elijah (The Miel Chronicles):
A Reign of Blood Companion Story
Amplified (Reign of Blood #3)
A Dark Faerie Tale Series
The Withering Palace (A Dark Faerie Tale #0.1)
Evangeline (A Dark Faerie Tale #0.5)
Ever Shade (A Dark Faerie Tale #1)
Ever Fire (A Dark Faerie Tale #2)
Ever Winter (A Dark Faerie Tale #3)
The Cursed (A Dark Faerie Tale #3.5)
Ever Wrath (A Dark Faerie Tale #4)
History of Fire (A Dark Faerie Tale #5)
Ever Dead (A Dark Faerie Tale #6)
Other Stories
The Fall of Sky
Keep Breathing
Breathe Me
Short Stories
The Faery Hunt
Never Say Such Things
Spinning Scars
Poetic Collections
Whispers of Dreams
Five Fathoms
Anthologies
Beyond the Never
Soul Games
Faery Worlds
Faery Realms
Faery Tales
Lacing Shadows
The XOXO Collection
Destiny’s Dark Fantasy
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