AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He tilts his head as he calculates. “At least twenty-five thousand years or so.”
“Twenty-five thousand?” I practically shout at him.
“Possibly thirty, if we’re lucky. Once you turn fae, you’ll be damn near invincible.”
“Once I turn fae?”
“Yes. After so much time here, your body will adapt, just as mine would’ve if I’d stayed in the human realm. As long as you don’t get speared in the heart with iron or decapitated, you’ll have a very long life. We don’t have natural illness. We don’t even need to breathe to live. Considering you’re afraid of death, this should make you happy.”
It’s not the length of time we’ll live or the thought of isolation that’s upsetting me.
He’s right—I don’t want to die, especially now that I feel like I’ve already been there and done that. I keep picturing my corpse. I can’t stop seeing my colorless skin, my exaggerated cheekbones, or the dried blood on my neck.
But he’s talking like we’re staying here. Forever. If that’s the case, I’ll never see my parents or the farm again.
“You’re not taking me back home,” I conclude with dread.
“We’ll make our own home.”
“I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my mom and dad. You have to let me go back, even if it’s just for a short visit.”
“I can’t.”
I refuse to accept that. “Can’t or won’t?”
“Either. Both,” Ellister clarifies firmly. “You’ll get sick when the dark fae reemerge from the Lost Land.”
“But that doesn’t happen until September, right? We have two months until then.”
“I won’t risk your health, Hannah.” His voice is stern and uncompromising. “I don’t want to go anywhere near that timeframe, because once the illness takes hold, it doesn’t let go.”
“But I can’t just go missing. I have to explain what’s going on. My parents will never stop looking—”
“They won’t think you’re missing.” Brief shame makes the shadows on his face deepen as he casts his gaze to the floor. “The powder I used on you is very disorienting. You probably don’t remember, but I made sure to set up a scenario where there won’t be a question of your whereabouts.”
More flashes of my corpse are flitting through my head.
Ellister dressed my dead body. He posed me.
So they could find me like that.
My eyes go wide. “You want them to think I’m dead?”
“It’s the only way. Of course, the circumstances of your death will be very mysterious with the deteriorated shape you were in. There will be many questions. Still, Bobby and Catrina will have closure.”
“No.” I shake my head violently. “We can’t let it end that way for them.”
“It’s the only way.”
Astrid clears her throat. “Excuse me, but this is extremely boring. I’m not interested in being witness to a lover’s quarrel. I’ve done my duty. Now take me back to my time before I get angry.”
Torn, Ellister glances at me as he stands and moves away. “I promise to be back soon, darling.”
“But we’re not done—”
He digs out his flask from his pocket, takes a few swigs, and within seconds, he and the little woman are flying backward into a dark abyss. Wind sweeps through the cave, then stops once they disappear.
“—discussing this.”
