instead of using its lips to scoop up the carrot, it licked my hand like a dog.
A quick check below confirmed my suspicions that I was facing a mare. She was slobbering like crazy and losing bits of carrot.
She—like all the other horses had when they first met me—pressed her muzzle to my forehead, leaving a smear of spit, then backed up a few steps.
I felt that elusive brush of magic play with my senses—I’d fast figured out the source was the horses, but it didn’t seem malevolent so I was probably okay.
But this time was different.
The magic felt the same, but the impression of magic lasted longer, and I swear I felt cool night air fill my lungs, heard an owl hoot, and felt wet grass on my skin. There were stars in my eyes and moonlight on my skin, and then abruptly the feelings faded and I could see straight.
“That was weird.” I studied the new mare carefully as I felt for my inherent animal magic—which oozed around me just fine.
I’d been intending to back up a step, but Bagel chose to ram into me at that moment, smacking me into the new mare’s shoulder.
Mercifully, despite whatever abuse she’d endured, the mare didn’t seem to mind being touched. She shivered, and her muscles jumped, but she didn’t move or otherwise react.
I awkwardly patted her shoulder. “You’ll need a name, like the others.” I looked from her pale yellow eyes to her black coat—which had faint blushes of blood red hairs. “How about Nebula?”
The newly named Nebula flicked her ears, turned around, and walked off.
“It seems fine?” I asked Eclipse.
Eclipse was staring out at the open pastures, totally not listening to me. She pinned her ears, then coughed out the hoarse bark the fae horses used occasionally.
I’d come to learn this was an expression they used almost exclusively as a warning. Immediately I took a big step away from her, then jumped when there was an odd thrumming noise and something passed over my head. Something crackled and crunched, and a startled yelp escaped me.
The fae horses meandered around me without much concern, but I twisted around, trying to figure out what the noise was.
My jaw dropped when I saw the wooden fence just behind us. One of the boards of the top rail had a large hole in it. Whatever hit it had singed the wood, blackening it, and shredding it to splinters.
I felt a wispy sensation of fae magic brush my senses as I stared at the broken fence. “What the—”
This time I screamed when the thrumming noise passed over my head and I saw a magic bullet punch through the fence, showering the area with splinters.
Someone…someone is shooting at me!
Chapter Four
Leila
I bolted for the barn. “Bagel, Solstice, Eclipse, Comet, Twilight, Nebula, Blue Moon—come on!” I zigzagged through the pasture, trying to make myself a harder target as I tried to yank my phone and my magic artifact—a charm bracelet—from my pocket.
What’s the emergency phone number for the Curia Cloisters? Why didn’t I put it in my contacts list?!
I made it to the part of the pasture that was hidden behind the stable and slipped in a mud puddle. I flung my arms out to catch my balance, but dropped my phone in the process.
Fae grace and elegance my—
Something leaped from the barn roof and landed next to me—on the dry ground of course.
I toppled backwards, falling in my surprise. I started to scurry backwards, but when I looked up at my attacker, I found I couldn’t move.
Black eyes of death stared at me from a face so handsome it could take your breath away. Even partially hidden behind a gray scarf that encased the lower half of his face, his long nose gave him an aristocratic look, and combined with his skin—a tawny copper color—and his hair—cropped stylishly short but a very eye catching silvery white color—it made him almost otherworldly.
He was a fae—the magic radiating from him was so strong I could feel it resonate in my teeth. But his clothes—leather arm bracers, black boots, fitted black pants, a sweeping dark gray jacket split up the back with a high collar—were also a dead giveaway of fae workmanship.
If I hadn’t known any better, I might have thought he was one of the long dead elven warriors come back to life, but he had the whispery kiss of fae magic, and his ears were only slightly tapered like the fae.
But it didn’t matter; his black eyes