Marvels and Misfits (Trixie Towers #1) - Scarlett Dawn Page 0,4

showed him I was the heir to the throne.

He shoved back that he was the king.

I almost faltered and dipped my head in submission.

But I held strong. I was right.

My resolve never faltered.

A golden light began to waver near my grandmother’s body, hovering just over her elven corpse. Both our gazes snapped to the odd phenomenon, abruptly ending our confrontation. Crashing waves of golden light slithered up and down her body. It pulled and dragged at her corpse, clutching her form so fiercely her too-thin frame bowed off the ground in the growing glow.

Father jumped to his feet in one fluid movement, and then he was quickly shoving me behind him and holding me there with both his hands on my hips in a grip tight enough to leave bruises. I attempted to peek around his right shoulder, my hands grasping his tunic in clenched fists against his back, but he put one foot back and then another, cautiously backing us away from the unknown.

“W-what is that?” I stuttered.

“Shh. Be quiet,” Father whispered sharply.

Step by slow step, we and Penelope and Javon traveled farther away from the golden light currently seeping into my grandmother’s body, her corpse contorting in unnatural angles a foot off the ground, floating in the air and shimmering unnaturally.

I kept one eye looking past his shoulder to keep watch, although my father was observing plenty for us, his hold on me absolute.

Then the unbelievable happened.

The golden light exploded in a dazzling burst.

My grandmother’s corpse dropped to the ground.

Right above her body, a facsimile of my grandmother stood, slightly transparent, her form faintly swaying in the small breeze, various parts of her moving at frightening angles.

Father stopped cold, halting our progress. His clenching grasp on my hips released and his hands hung limply by his sides. The king mumbled in awe, “Oh my Fae.”

My blink was slow. “I don’t understand.”

Grandmother’s lips curved up at the edges, and her gaze moved from my father to me. “Do not fear me, my dearheart. My shell may be dead, but my Fae-spark is very much alive.”

I released the hold I had on my father’s tunic and tentatively stepped out from behind my father since he wasn’t afraid of whatever this was before us. My mouth bobbed up and down until I could finally gasp. “But how?”

Father waved his right hand to hush me, his shocked attention unyielding on his mother. “This has happened before in history. It’s extremely rare, but it has happened. Maybe three times since the Fae created us.”

I moved an inch closer to my father, our sides brushing, as I eyed the spirit warily. “Grandmother never taught me anything of the sort.”

The spirit patted the air with her translucent hands. “Calm down, Trixie. Your father is right, although, it had previously only been two times in history, not three. I will not harm you.”

My emerald eyes narrowed on her. The tears of her death were still wet on my face. Father may understand this, but I did not.

“I promise,” she soothed, her silver eyes holding only honesty. “It’s why I didn’t say goodbye to you. I knew I would be back. And just as I would never harm my two sons, I would never hurt you. My appearance may have changed, but not my heart.”

I pressed harder against my father’s side and whispered under my breath, “What the Fae fuck is she?”

Father snorted a quiet laugh and turned his stunned gaze toward me. “She is your grandmother, just as she said.”

My lips thinned into a straight line. “Are you positive, Father?”

“I am.” The shock began to wear off his features and quickly started to morph to one of fury. His regard swung back to his mother. “Who killed you?”

One side of her mouth curled up into a malicious grin. “Follow the drums, my king. They won’t lead you astray. There you will find my murderers, arranged to be slain.”

As alarming as this unnatural marvel before me may be, my back snapped up straight. If this spirit didn’t lead us to death, I would trust my father and her word that she was indeed my grandmother. But I would be there to protect my father if this was a morbid spell from the Caster Kingdom.

I growled, “I’m going, too.”

Silver eyes pierced mine. “Happy hunting, my dearheart.”

* * *

Pink, blue, green, and yellow flower petals scattered the king’s foyer as my mother stormed up the grand curving staircase.

Minnie paused halfway up and glared back at my father. “I cannot