The Changeling Soldier (3 page)

The fairy had promised him anything he wanted in exchange for his soul.

Ella laughed, and he looked up. She caught his gaze and for a moment her eyes weren’t golden hazel; they were yellow, and her face became even more enchanting. He wanted to taste her lips just once.

In that heartbeat he realized the real Ella had yellow eyes, not brown. He was seeing through the fairy illusion she was casting. He should be afraid. But it wasn’t fear that made his heart beat faster and his blood pump harder. It was desire. Before he could catch hold of that feeling and work out what to do next, the white of the lounge room fell away as he slid into a premonition.

He was in that place again, the clearing surrounded by trees. The crisp scent of cold numbed his nose and lips as it burned his lungs. Snow was falling all around, carpeting the ground. Through the snow he saw a castle. While he couldn’t make out the details, he swore it was made of trees. Today the clearing was different. There were no bodies and no blue blood. There were no armies lined up to fight and he had no sword.

This was new.

And he wasn’t alone.

Ella was next to him.

“Give me your soul, and I’ll keep it safe while you are in Annwyn,” Ella said as she placed her hand on his chest. Snow caught on her dark eyelashes. Her eyes were the palest of gold.

Logic screamed that he’d be dead without a soul, but all he could do was nod in agreement.

Isaac gasped, his heart giving a hard beat as though it had forgotten what to do while he was…not daydreaming, but not here either. Ella smiled and glanced away. The whole thing had happened in a split second even though it seemed like longer to him. He knew what she was.
Fairy.

To most people the more realistic explanation was that he was delusional and had some kind of mental disorder that he’d masked since he was a child and that the army had somehow missed.

The vision replayed in his mind. Her lips moved. Isaac realized that he’d heard her crystal clear. While that was unusual, the words she’d spoken were more concerning.

More troubling, why had he agreed? He glanced down at the unread page of his book, his pulse thudding in his ears as the adrenaline slowly faded, even if the vision didn’t.

That hadn’t been an idle fantasy. An idle fantasy with Ella would’ve involved somewhere warm and with less clothing. Not the surrendering of his soul to a woman he didn’t know, and to a fairy no less. He glanced up again. This time he saw clearly through her illusion without trying, but there was no ugly fairy behind a mask of beauty. She was hiding her beauty behind a mask of ordinary.

He touched his chest where Ella had placed her hand in the vision. How long did he have? Seconds? Minutes? He never got enough warning and he could never change the future. Ella was going to take his soul, and he was going to let her—no, he was going to enjoy it. He’d been happy in his vision, not troubled or afraid. Even now fear didn’t rise up. There was no panic. Cold fingers of certainty wrapped around his heart.

Ella held up colors to Mel’s face, and his sister smiled, loving being the center of attention. However, his attention was still on Ella. The way she moved, talked and laughed. He was almost sure she had no idea what was going to happen.

He took a deep breath. He needed to work out what was going on. The loss of his soul hadn’t happened here. They’d been in the snow. In Annwyn. She’d given the place a name. In his heart it rang true, even though he’d spend years trying not to name it and pretend the battle was all in his imagination. Perhaps it was…perhaps one day he’d fall asleep, never wake up and be trapped there.

He’d read about Annwyn when he’d tried to learn everything about fairies he could. Just because he’d stopped talking about them didn’t mean he’d stopped seeing them or that the premonitions had stopped. He’d wanted them to go away. He’d wanted to be normal so badly. But no matter how hard he pretended he was, he wasn’t and he was never going to be. He’d always an outsider. He should be used to it, not craving something else…he didn’t know what, though. Only that the restlessness was getting worse.

Maybe he needed a long holiday, backpacking around the world. Melody would have a tantrum, just like she did when he’d joined the Army. Melody had wept when he’d left, and it had broken his heart. She liked having him around again. They’d looked out for each other as kids. They were the only real family they had—family who gave a damn anyway—and yet lately Melody had been more driven and desperate for her big break. There was a distance between them he couldn’t bridge.

She got her cards read once a week in the hope of divining her next step to stardom. He wanted her to slow down, and she wanted to speed up. She was a car crash about to happen and he didn’t know how stop it. He didn’t need any visions to know his sister was going to self-destruct. Yet he didn’t know how to help her either.

Melody had wanted him to meet Ella to see if he got any impressions. His sister was hoping wearing an Ella Aaron design would give her the good luck that so many other actresses had gained. Maybe if she worked harder and spent less time looking for shortcuts, she’d get there. Hard work was the only way to success that Isaac knew.

Still, he was here because he couldn’t say no to his little sister. They were still a team, and if turning up at her things made her happy and helped her, he’d do it. One of them should be happy.

He glanced at Ella again but felt no fear, only a relief that things were about to shift. He should be running from her; instead he wanted to run to her. She was no threat to Melody. It was his soul she would take. He didn’t know why or how she was tangled up in his dream of snow and blood, but he needed to find out.

Curiosity had gotten him into to trouble more than once and he was certain this time would be no different. He’d already seen the future.

Chapter Three

Ella listened to Melody chatter away, but she was aware of Isaac watching even though he was pretending to read. Every so often their gazes would meet and for a moment it was as if the world fell away as desire held them trapped. Then one of them would blink or glance away and the moment would be gone. But the heat of his gaze lingered on her skin and slid into her blood. She’d already let herself be distracted several times and she was sure Melody was going to catch on any moment.

Part of her didn’t care. She was far more interested in Isaac than Melody. Did Isaac and Melody have the same mother or father? Who was Isaac’s fairy parent? It was always useful to know a changeling’s lineage.

“I want to look ethereal, like a fairy.” Melody tossed her hair.

Ella flinched and snapped her attention back to Melody instead of wondering what Isaac would look like without clothes on. “Ethereal?”

That was a word humans used to describe fairies because they didn’t know the truth. Cunning, cruel and devious were words Ella would use, and the spreading winter in Annwyn would only amplify those traits. But fairies could also be kind, fun-loving gamblers who’d risk everything for one more chance at power. Love, not so much. Fairies never let their hearts do their thinking, at least not at Court. Her heart was as empty as any Court fairy’s. It had to be; caring about mortals only ended in broken hearts.

Even though Isaac was a changeling he had a human soul and was therefore mortal. A good time didn’t require a long time though. She’d learned that one early while living in the mortal world.

“You know, delicate, glamorous, extravagant.” Melody watched her closely, a little too closely. Her gaze sharpened with every passing heartbeat.

Ella glanced away to flick through her fabric samples. There was something amiss here. Did Melody know she was talking to a fairy and her brother was a changeling? Did Isaac know and just hide it well? Desire fizzled out and her heart beat a little faster as the adrenaline rush stole the cold that had been creeping through her sluggish blood.

At least those descriptions were more accurate. Fairies loved parties. She’d just missed the mid-summer celebration in Annwyn. She’d almost returned, determined to make a grand entrance and hold her head high. Then she’d changed her mind. Her mistake, as apparently that celebration had been amazing as well as disastrous for the King, Queen and Hunter. Like many fairies, she was hoping Prince Felan would get his act together. All the fairies she knew in the mortal world had gone home, if they could. Those who were in exile were preparing for death. Unless she planned to join them, which she didn’t, she needed to cross the veil and go home.

Perhaps once back in Annwyn she could again find favor as a dress designer and maker. In the past, her father’s high status had granted her many favors, but this time she’d be trading on her own merits with the past hanging over her head like a sword waiting to fall. What if she wasn’t good enough for Annwyn and had to return to the mortal world and spend the rest of her long life dressing the rich, if not royal? She swallowed.

Then she’d better leave the doors open and do this one right.

She gave Melody a small smile as if warming to the idea. “Wings?”

Melody laughed. “Don’t be silly. Fairies don’t have wings.”

No, they didn’t. That had been a human fabrication, along with reducing fairies to tiny, harmless flutterbys.

“So can you do it?” Melody leaned forward, thumbing through the sketches with fabrics pinned to them.

“Of course I can.” Ella smiled as if nothing were amiss. She didn’t like people knowing what she was. It was unnerving and hadn’t happened in at least fifty years—and it was usually followed by trouble, as people had some serious misconceptions about fairies.

Melody picked up a sketch, her hand bumping Ella’s. The pin jabbed into the back of her hand. “I’m so sorry. Let me…” Melody’s gaze dropped to the blood welling on the back of Ella’s hand.

A second too late, Ella cast a glamour over the blood so it appeared to be mortal red.

Melody blinked as though confused.

“It’s nothing, just a scratch.” Ella licked her thumb and swiped the blood away. “Occupational hazard, really I’m all right.” Yet she was sure that Melody had stabbed her deliberately.

“Of course. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes.” No. It took several breaths before she was sure her hands weren’t shaking.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have taken this job. Or perhaps she was just being paranoid. Was that another symptom of winter in Annwyn?

From the corner of her eye she could see Isaac. His face was carefully neutral and yet he was watching everything. There was definitely something going on, but she wasn’t sure what or if he was part of it or not. Perhaps brother and sister were well versed in fairy lore…but what did they want? Usually people who knew about fairies treated them very well and with respect. However, that wasn’t the case here. Perhaps it was Isaac who wanted to know more about what he was—now that was something she’d gladly assist with. But Melody, there was something not right about the girl.

She was too…too conniving Ella realized. She acted like a fairy setting up an elaborate scheme to trick and trap an opponent. Had she really spent so long away from Court that a mortal could almost best her?

The smart thing to do was quickly give Melody exactly what she wanted—a dress that would be talked about and remembered—sometimes playing along and letting her opponent think she was ahead was the best way to act. “You need to wear green.”

“Green?” The girl looked aghast. While she wasn’t really a girl, in Ella’s mind she was and despite her hunger she had no patience or will.

“Not dark emerald or anything so bold.” Those colors would wash her out.

“But I want to stand out. Why not red or bright pink like that TV lawyer wore?” Melody almost sounded like she was pleading.

The pink had been beautiful, but her dresses were one of a kind. She liked that the other women who’d worn her dresses had gone on to good things. A little bit of magic in her sewing went a long way. Some of them had become repeat customers. If they were kind, she gave them another touch of magic. Gracing their lives, even though they didn’t realize where their luck came from. She hoped the good she did would offset the times when she’d taken souls and made deals that had ended badly for the mortal.

Making a deal with a fairy was a double-edged sword; one that a mortal couldn’t hope to hold without getting cut. They got what they asked for, but not in the way they wanted. Their enjoyment would be fleeting and followed by death, depression or bankruptcy. Fairy magic didn’t last in the mortal world, and like any fairy gem, it would turn to coal after a time.

In the mortal world, she’d gambled in the finest royal courts, made and broken fortunes of courtiers and had taken more lovers than a mortal could imagine. Sometime over the last century she’d realized mortals were not elaborate dolls for fairies to trifle with. She’d grown a conscience and wasn’t entirely comfortable with its prickly presence.

“There are other ways to stand out.” And not all of them good. “Pick a color that makes you shine, a cut that draws the eye so it lingers.” Ella moved a few of the sketches and fabrics around until she found something that pleased her. Then she held the swatch up to Melody’s face. She was wearing too much makeup, hiding the natural color of her skin. “I think this one. Some scattered beading across the front?”

Ella could visualize it easily. While mortals marveled at her designs and the delicate work, in Annwyn she’d be nothing special. Not anymore. No one would want a favor from her. Her whole life in Annwyn had been built around who her father was, not who she was. In the mortal world, her life had been of her own making. She was going to miss it in Annwyn. The same way she missed Annwyn while here. Being immortal among mortals was lonely.

Melody fingered the fabric. “Really? I’ll look enchanting in this?”

“You will attract
everything
you want.” Ella smiled. Sometimes playing fairy godmother to the unsuspecting mortal was fun. This time she wasn’t so sure the mortal was unsuspecting.