AllFreeNovel
Share Us
King Kieran.
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. That couldn’t be right. Kieran had helped me last night and this morning.
Had he done it so he could watch someone I cared about die? The Winter fae did like pain and torture.
Shit, I had to save Stan, especially if he’d been brought here because of me.
But wait. Maeve had told me that the veil had closed a week ago and there was no way for me to leave for the next fifty complete season cycles. I trusted her, which meant one thing.
Stan couldn’t be here.
Damn, he looked so real … and he could fall at any second.
Realization slammed into me, knocking my breath out from me. That was why the Summer woman had lost it. She’d been trying to save someone. Someone who might not have been here … like Stan.
Maeve had mentioned that the fae could manipulate my room key by making a duplicate with magic. If that was possible, why wouldn’t they do it with a person?
This couldn’t be Stan.
I stared at him again, searching for something … anything … to validate my thoughts. A sound, a smell, something to prove he wasn’t my Stan.
The problem was he looked identical to Stan. Maybe Maeve had been wrong about the veil, or maybe someone had brought him here on the same night as me and kept him asleep until now.
Doubt wiggled into my mind, making my head spin.
His other hand slipped, his fingers blanching from his grip on the ice.
A grip that should have been impossible.
“Ivy! Help me!” Stan’s face turned red. “I’m going to die. You’ve got to save me.”
I shook my head. “I … I’m sorry.” My throat was raw, and my heart shattered into pieces. But I had to hang on to the belief that this wasn’t Stan. He wouldn’t beg me for help. That wasn’t like him. And he would never ask someone to risk their life for his. Though he appeared identical physically, his actions and words were playing to my fear.
My fear of letting someone else down … of not protecting them, especially someone I cared about, like him and Beth.
“What?” He scoffed, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. “You won’t even try after everything I’ve done for you?”
And Stan would never throw something like that in a person’s face. He gave without expecting anything in return.
Now, he was dangling from one hand, and a tear trailed down his cheek. “Ivy!” he bellowed … and his hand slipped.
“No!” I screamed, the sound ripping from my throat. I reached out, but my one arm and my legs remained tight around the stone.
He fell past me, legs kicking and arms flailing for something to hold on to. Then his body hit the dirt ground, and blood seeped from underneath him.
What if that was him?
Something wet dripped down my face, and I flinched. I swallowed vomit as I wiped the warm liquid from my cheeks. When I glanced at my fingertips, I saw it was clear liquid. I sniffed, noting my nose was stuffy. A sob racked my chest.
I was crying.
No.
I had to stop.
Shaking my head, I tried to put the horrific image behind me, but I couldn’t help but glance toward Stan once more.
His body flickered and disappeared as if it were a hologram.
