AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One
The hushed whispers of urban legends circulated amongst the crowd as they pulled Lilian Quelling’s pale, lifeless body out of the Dolorem River. With her sopping brown hair covering half of her bloodied face, she was nearly unrecognizable as they laid her onto the shore.
Trembling, I brought my hand to my mouth.
I couldn’t move.
Couldn’t speak.
Shock wrapped around my rigid spine, squeezing the air from my lungs as I watched the doctor’s futile attempts to resuscitate her. It was too late.
Lilian was dead.
The hoard of onlookers grew larger by the second, shouldering past me to glimpse the fifth person who’d drowned this year.
“The fae are out of control!” a man shouted.
“When is this madness going to end?”
“Soon we won’t be safe in our own homes!” someone else cried.
I tuned their conversations out. They didn’t care that she was someone’s daughter. Someone’s friend. No one knew her name—they only cared to satiate their morbid curiosity.
She happened to be the only person I’d trusted in Wendover. The one person who hadn’t cared who my mother was.
My hand dropped at the realization she was none of those things anymore.
The crowd hovered over her body feigning their condolences in a covert attempt to gossip and spread fear. No one had seen a faerie in over five hundred years. The iron-laden river prevented them from crossing over. Yet, as I stood there, struggling to catch my breath and quell the tears from welling over, I couldn’t help but notice the twisted panic that festered in my chest. What if they were right? What if the iron levels were failing?
“Elowyn discovered her wedged between the rocks about an hour ago,” the watchman told the coroner. “It doesn’t appear to be an accident. I suspect foul play.”
Everyone fell silent as they spoke. Whispers of the fae evoked pursed lips and judgment.
They gaped at me openly: the illegitimate child of the disgraced lady-in-waiting, Deirdre Rosewood. Lovely. I didn’t need to hear their thoughts to know they’d run with that bit of information—gossiping about my mother and me was the vultures’ favorite form of entertainment. Nothing about our lives remained off-limits to them. Not even my mother’s illness.
I squeezed through the sea of bodies, thumbing the ring around my index finger. Closer and closer to Lilian’s mangled corpse. I hugged my arms across my middle to shield my skin from the crisp spring air and conceal the involuntary tremors that riddled me. My body didn’t feel like my own as I approached, each step too heavy. Too fast. Like I was in a dream and my mind was asleep.
The coroner shifted on her feet as I neared, trying but failing to conceal the wince on her face. She cleared her throat before turning to the watchman. “Would you mind informing Mrs. Quelling we’ve located her daughter and to come to the morgue right away?—”
Their conversation faded away.
My ring ceased all movement.
I stared at Lilian. Her once bright brown irises were now glazed over—wide with terror—as she stared off into some otherworldly place, her arms and legs bent in an unnatural position.
I pulled my gaze away from Lilian and looked at the coroner.
“It’s almost nightfall, and we need to get her back before curfew.” Concern pulled at the coroner’s thick eyebrows, yet something stern under the surface of her disposition put me on edge.
There my friend lay, her young life abruptly ended, and all they cared about was how to dispose of her as quickly as possible.
I rested my hands on my knees to stop the world from spinning. This couldn’t be happening. It’d almost be comical if it weren’t so tragic.
Stars forbid anyone be out past dusk in fear of a faerie coming to snatch them away.
The curfew King Edgar had implemented ten years ago did little to prevent these drownings and disappearances. In fact, it prevented nothing. Every year, the Dolorem River claimed countless lives. Dozens of children and adults, even household pets and cattle, still vanished without a trace. It was hard not to wonder if the fae were truly to blame or if they were a convenient scapegoat to maintain order without an uprising.
“Are you okay?” The coroner’s voice sounded far away as she turned her attention to me, the ground swaying under my feet.
