changeling chronicles 03 - faerie realm

I made a promise to a faerie, and they’ve come to deliver. A powerful talisman has disappeared, and without it, the faeries in this realm are losing their magic. Getting involved wasn't on my plan, but if I refuse to help the faeries find the talisman, I’ll die.

To make things more complicated, shifters are being killed by a mysterious masked faerie, and all signs point to a connection with the missing talisman. To find the killer and help the half-faeries, I must unlock the full extent of the magic I once feared, even if it means leaving the Mage Lord determined to stand at my side. Even if it takes me to Faerie’s most dangerous path…

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CHAPTER ONE

I stood ankle-deep in a swamp, the Mage Lord at my side. A circle of iron surrounded us. Considering we were here to meet a faerie who’d tried to kill us once already, we had damn good reason to be prepared.

I tapped a foot. “She’s late to her own appointment.”

“Maybe it’s a trick.” Vance studied the oak tree in the clearing’s centre. “Can you see anything unusual?”

I tilted my head. “No.” Unlike me, Vance didn’t have the Sight—the ability to see faerie magic and glamours, amongst other things. I didn’t know any humans who did, aside from me. One of many side effects of carrying the magic of a Sidhe lord.

The Lady of the Tree didn’t know how I’d got my magic—at least, she hadn’t the last time we’d met. I owed her a favour because I’d come here asking for information on where to find two missing children. She’d screwed us over and given us misleading directions into an evil faerie’s trap. But because of the way promises and favours worked, the spell binding me to her was still in effect, and she could call upon me for her own favour whenever she wanted.

Naturally, she’d decided to call me when Vance and I were making out. You could always count on faeries to have the worst sense of timing.

“What manner of faerie is she?” he asked. “Not Sidhe?”

“A dryad,” I said. “But an ancient one. She must have a hell of a lot of power to be able to use the vow on me after being away from Faerie for so long. I’ve never heard of it happening here before.” In Faerie, words were power. The Sidhe—the highest class of Faerie, with egos to match—could literally command the world to rearrange itself on a whim.

“She came here in the invasion?”

“Must have. She said this realm’s killing her, but she managed to drag me over here.” I shrugged. “Unless I imagined the spell, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have run off of my own accord.”

He shot me a grin, then returned his attention to the giant sprawling oak tree. This area, now called Pleasance Park, was abandoned, forest having taken over the once carefully tamed woodland. The giant tree lay in the same place as last time, but no creepy face peered at us from the bark. The iron ring ought to protect us if she decided to stab me to death with a tree root again, but I’d learned the hard way never to underestimate faeries.

I’d forgotten all about the vow I’d made, because so much crap had happened since then. Not least the fact that I’d
died
twice, and nearly witnessed the end of the world as we knew it. Luckily, I’d killed the half-faerie Calder and sealed the magic he’d unleashed, and we’d lived to see another day. Just as I’d got my head together and recovered from my trip over to the wrong side of the veil, I’d been dragged out here to fulfil my end of a bargain I’d never wanted to make. Considering the reward I’d received, I didn’t expect the Lady of the Tree’s request to be any more pleasant.

I wanted a goddamn break from nearly dying. Some low-key jobs like catching runaway imps. Hell, maybe even a proper date with Vance. I stood as close to him as humanly possible considering the marshy ground. As per usual, his smart suit was covered in a dirt-repelling spell, while I had to balance on top of a raised part of ground to stop the water leaking into my boots. For twenty minutes and counting.

A rustling sounded. I tensed, one hand going to the sword strapped to my waist. Irene’s blade gleamed in the weak sunlight streaming through a gap in the grey cloud cover. The forest’s silence amplified any noise, setting my nerves on edge.

The nearest tree root began to stir, creeping along the ground. I glanced down to check the iron ring surrounding us remained unbroken. Then I looked back at the tree and damn near fell
out
of the ring. A face stared back at me. Not the broken old faerie woman I’d seen last time, but a complete stranger. This face was youthful, beautiful as any faerie queen, with high cheekbones and velvety green eyes. Her full lips curled in a smile. Curly brown hair framed her elegant features.

“Ivy Lane,” she crooned.

My mouth fell open. This was the Lady of the Tree—but not as I’d seen her before. A young and beautiful stranger, not an ageing crone who’d told me she was dying.

“You—what happened?” Shock had obliterated my filter. Not that I was usually polite to people who’d tried to kill me, but I couldn’t
not
comment.

“I have my immortality back.”

“How?” In the corner of my eye, I saw Vance shift on his feet as though preparing for an attack.

She smiled. “I made it back to Faerie when the veil opened.”

My jaw hung slack. “Uh… what?”

No way.
The path to Faerie had opened to the Grey Vale, not Summer or Winter. They were on another plane entirely to the dark forest where the Sidhe sent outcasts and exiles. The faerie who’d opened the veil—Calder, son of Avakis—hadn’t known the difference. Neither did most half-faeries. Probably for the best they didn’t. The Grey Vale was a life-sucking death trap, and I’d been lucky to escape it twice.

“I went to Faerie,” said the Lady of the Tree. “I regained my life, but something is wrong. The heart of one of the Great Oaks of Summer is missing.”

I frowned. “Okay… if that’s the case, why come to me? I’ve never been to Seelie territory. I physically can’t. I thought you couldn’t, either.”

“The layers between the worlds were thin when the veil opened,” said the Lady of the Tree. “I was greatly weakened from my time here when I returned, but I did… and my home is dying.” Her beautiful face crumpled, and tears streamed from her bright green eyes. Their brightness told me her magic was at its peak—or as powerful as it could be here in this realm, anyway.

“Why—why did you come back here?”

“The heart of a Great Oak Tree of Summer was stolen.” Her eyes locked onto mine. “And it was taken into this realm.”

I frowned, risking a look at Vance. He’d gone still, and I couldn’t see his expression. “This realm? How do you know?”

“I know.” Her voice rose on the words. “I am the Lady of the Great Oak, and I felt the heart when someone tore it from its tree. Someone stole it, and brought it here.”

“That’s—awful, if it’s true, but how am I supposed to find it? I’m human.”

“You have the magic of a Sidhe lord.”

Ice slid through my veins. “How d’you know?” I couldn’t deny it any longer considering so many people knew already, but I didn’t want my circle of enemies to grow any bigger.

“He told me,” she whispered. “You killed him.”

Calder.
My spine stiffened. “You talked to
Calder?
When he was alive?”

“The boy came to me for a favour. The poor thing. He was desperate to return home, but that was a gift I couldn’t give.”

“You helped him.” If not for the ring of iron protecting me, I’d have stormed off there and then. No freaking way was I doing anyone a favour who’d worked with Avakis’s dickhead of a son.

“I gave him one favour, as I did to you.”

“What, you sent him into a creepy factory and nearly got him killed?”

My hands clenched on the hilt of my sword. Fucking faeries and their absolute lack of morals.

“The words were for him alone,” said the Lady of the Tree. “As is our agreement.”

“How noble of you,” I spat. “Yeah, I’m not doing you a favour. You can forget it.”

“The promise is binding,” said the Lady of the Tree. “If you fail to bring me what I desire, you will die.”

Well, crap.

“Damn,” I said. “I have to go back to Faerie? I already booked a holiday.”

She gave me a blank look. Figures. Sarcasm rarely made sense to literal-minded faeries.

“How am I supposed to find this heart if I don’t know what it looks like?”

“You will know it when you find it,” she said.

“And what’s stopping
you
from finding it?” I looked her up and down. “You have your youth and magic back.”

“Not all my magic.” The ground trembled underfoot, and I unsheathed my sword, feet braced. “I am no longer in Faerie.”

“But you said you knew where the heart was when someone took it. I sure as hell don’t.” I didn’t have a built-in faerie magic equivalent of a metal detector. I kept one eye on the root snaking along the ground. “Sounds like you just want me to do your dirty work for you. There’s no reason why you can’t find it yourself.”

“As of today, the vow is in effect. You and I are bound, and you
will
bring me the talisman.”

Beside me, Vance snarled. The roots moved alongside his side of the circle, and alarm rang through me—the Lady of the Tree needed
me.
Not the Mage Lord.

I’ll kill your mage first,
Calder’s voice whispered in my ear.

“My words are not for him,” said the Lady of the Tree.

The ground burst open, sending me stumbling from my precarious balance. Vance, meanwhile, leaped out of the iron circle as two roots stabbed through the ground underneath where he’d stood.

“Hey!” I yelled. “That’s not playing fair.”

Vance jumped out of reach of the tree roots, his own gleaming blade pointed at the Lady of the Tree. Anger suffused his expression, manifesting in the form of black scales spreading from his weapon hand down to the hilt of the sword.

The weapon disappeared in a flash, cutting at the tree’s root, and a furious scream rent the air. I ran to join Vance and smacked into another tree root rising in front of me. My sword bit into it before it could grab me, but the sword didn’t cut all the way through. She was tougher than before.

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