Bite of Winter (Fae's Captive #3) - Lily Archer Page 0,12

Whenever she’s uneasy, she strokes her neck. I’ve assumed it was just a cute tick. Because there’s nothing there. Only her bare throat.

She looks down at her hand as if she’s holding something. “I’ve had this necklace for as long as I can remember.”

“Wait.” I stare at Taylor’s neck, the skin alabaster and bare. “You’ve had what necklace?”

Taylor turns to me. “What do you mean?”

“There’s no necklace.”

“Yes there is. Right here. I’ve had it on this whole time.” She pulls at air between her collarbones.

Gareth’s brow furrows. “Nothing there, my queen.”

As Gareth and I search Taylor’s bare throat, Delantis laughs, her mirth loud and full. “You fools have no clue what’s going on, do you?”

Perhaps I don’t like her so much after all.

6

Taylor

“You really can’t see this?” I hold out my pendant, the stone warm in my hand.

Leander kneels down and looks hard—almost comically so—at the stone. “No. I’ve never seen a necklace on you.”

“But you’ve looked at it when I touch it.”

“No, I’ve looked at you touching your throat. I’ve never—”

“What’d I miss?” Beth strolls into the main room, her eyes sleepy.

“Do you see this?” Taylor holds the supposed amulet toward her.

“See what?”

“This necklace.”

“What necklace?” Beth walks over and frowns. “You got jewelry from king feral over here?” She pushes my shoulder. “You are really trying to get that mating on, aren’t you? I respect that.”

“Changeling.” Gareth rubs his temples in frustration.

“What?” Beth sits on the arm of Taylor’s chair.

“What is the gem? Is it dangerous?” Leander eyes my fingers as if they might be holding an adder.

Delantis sits back and runs her finger along the large gem at her own throat. “It’s a shard of soulstone, and it can be dangerous if wielded by the wrong hands.”

“Take it off.” Leander wraps his arm around my shoulders. “Please, Taylor.”

I reach behind my neck to undo the clasp, pressing the mechanism beneath my fingernail, then bring my hands back around to the front.

The necklace is still on.

“Taylor?”

“I didn’t get it off somehow.” I try it one more time, but once again, come up emptyhanded.

Delantis nods. “You’ve never taken it off.”

“I …” I pin my lips between my teeth and think back, but my memories of the necklace are almost fuzzed over in my mind. “No. I mean, I can’t remember a time when I’ve taken it off, no. It’s weird, I guess, that I never have. But I don’t think about it. It’s sort of out of sight, out of mind.” A creepy crawly sensation skips up my throat, and I try one more time to remove the necklace. It doesn’t come off. “What do I do?” I attempt to push the rising freak-out back down, but it doesn’t stay away. I pull at the stone, trying to break the chain.

“Calm, Taylor.” Delantis reaches out and takes the stone in her hand and closes her eyes. “The one who bestowed it on you had powerful magic, so strong that the stone keeps itself hidden. A disguise within a disguise.” The wrinkled skin on her forehead scrunches up as she seems to concentrate on it, the stone glowing in her palm, light shooting out between her fingers. “But someone else will remove it.” She winces. “Someone from the dark.”

My ears begin to burn, and my back itches, and my lungs feel too small.

“I can’t—” I grip the sides of the chair as the light intensifies. “I can’t breathe.”

Beth gasps and scrambles away from me.

“What’s wrong?” Tears stream down my cheeks, and I can feel everything, the texture of the chair’s fabric, the humidity in the air, the heat of Leander pressing against my side. “Leander.”

“Release her,” he demands.

“Wait.” Delantis, concentrates harder, the glow from the stone spreading through her until her hair verges on neon white.

“Please.” Spots dance in my vision, and my lungs burn. “Lean—” I fall.

And I keep falling. Through stars and oceans and trees and veins and neurons and swirls of ember and night. When I land, it’s on a tuft of the greenest grass beneath a perfect azure sky. I reach for my necklace, but it’s gone.

Sitting up, I feel a cool breeze rushing down my skin and rustling the grass at my toes. My ears hurt, and my back is itching so badly I contemplate lying down in the grass and wriggling.

“Leander?” My voice seems to carry impossibly far and echoes back to me despite the wide open emerald field.

“Here you are.” A wisp of blue shoots up from the grass in front of me and