Page 16 of Fae Trials

“Come forward,” said the type of arrogant, male voice that could only belong to a faerie.

“Sis?” I stopped and blinked, but everything was still white.

When the light cleared, my gaze fell on a circle of knee-high mushrooms that glowed silver in the moonlight. In the middle stood five masculine figures with black leather armor clinging to their muscular frames. Each sported membranous wings like a bat’s.

One of them turned around, swirling his long, midnight hair and flashing eyes as bright as a blue moon. The power radiating from him made my heart jolt with renewed terror.

His handsome features twisted into a snarl that revealed teeth sharpened into points. “Who dares to interrupt our circle?”

A breath caught in the back of my throat. Not at his fearsome appearance, but at the sight of my sister standing among him and four other leather-clad faeries. Her eyes were glazed as though she was caught in their unearthly beauty.

“Sicily—” All the moisture in my throat dried, leaving their membranes feeling like tree bark. Whether it was due to panic or the creature’s unearthly magic, I couldn’t tell, but my feet moved of their own volition toward the circle of mushrooms.

The faerie beckoned me closer, and my gaze wandered to his black nails, which also ended in points. Something about these males reminded me of the princes. How could dark creatures as powerful as these not be in prison with the rest of their kind?

Gunshots filled the air, and a tight fist of panic seized my heart, breaking me out of my semi-trance. Why of all times had the peacekeepers decided to interfere?

“Outsiders.” The faerie snarled.

“Sis,” I squeaked.

Sicily turned toward me, her gaze alert. Anguish flashed across her features. Whatever she had planned to do, she’d clearly changed her mind. Sicily lurched toward the low wall of mushrooms, her mouth open in a silent scream.

One of the other dark faeries grabbed onto her arm. “We haven’t finished with you.”

“Hey!” I rushed forward. “Let go of her.”

The first faerie raised a hand, his gaze darting to a point over my shoulder and then back to me. Forks of lightning crackled from his fingertips and filled the clearing with the scent of ozone.

He growled, “You would dare bring the outsiders to our sacred circle?”

“What?” I cringed under the force of his unearthly glare. “No.”

A second gunshot ran through the air, making my heart explode with panic. I fell to my knees, and warm liquid splattered over my face.

My stomach lurched. This had to be blood, but whose?

Sicily screamed.

“Stop,” I shouted at the approaching peacekeepers. “My sister’s in there. She’s an innocent human.”

The shooting continued, and a wave of magic flared out of the circle of mushrooms, bleaching everything white. The sensation of the world turning inside out had me splayed face-down on the forest floor like an out-of-place starfish. My ears rang, muffling the sounds of footsteps.

What the bloody hell had just happened? If this was a magical attack, the peacekeepers would have dropped to the ground. I tried to get up, but some invisible force kept me pinned.

Eventually, the light faded along with the pressure on my back. I raised myself onto my hands and knees and stared over the trampled mushrooms and into the circle.

Sicily was gone, as were four of the dark faeries. The fifth lay face-up, gasping for air. The jacket of his leather armor gaped open in several places, presumably from the gunshots, with dark blood oozing out from his wounds onto the parched earth.

“You,” he whispered.

All the anxiety I’d kept in a tight ball since reading her letter escaped my lungs in a loud sob. My gaze darted around the clearing to the trees that bordered the mushroom circle and beyond. There was no sign of anyone but the peacekeepers standing in front of the kissing trees.

I turned back to the winged creature spluttering on the ground and hardened my heart. Now wasn’t the time to feel sympathy for someone who routinely condemned humans to decades of slavery. Sicily was missing, and I needed answers.

I crawled over to the injured faerie and grabbed his lapels. “Where’s my sister?”

“This is your doing.” His black eyes seared through my soul with its hatred, and dark blood oozed from the corners of his mouth.