Highland Dragon (The Treasure of Paragon #6) - Genevieve Jack Page 0,46

supplies the brownie had provided. He poured them both a healthy dose and sat down across from her. She opened the book and began reading a painstakingly detailed account of the first fairy sightings in Scotland. She sipped her whisky.

“Are we ever going to talk about the fact you saw me naked, or are we going to pretend it didn’t happen?” she asked, not looking up from the text.

“Which da ye prefer?”

“How much did you see?” When he didn’t answer right away, her eyes flicked up to his.

He sipped his whisky and flashed that crooked smile again. “Enough I’m lucky not to ’ave gone blind from the glory of it.”

Chapter Sixteen

Everfield

It had been six days since Aborella had been rescued from a hole in the ground, and she was feeling more herself than she had in months. Her skin had regained its deep purple hue, and her limbs had grown back enough that she could walk around the cottage, albeit with a limp. Both her wings were healed as well, and they fluttered often as she inspected every corner of the cottage at every opportunity.

She’d been careful to use her regained magic to hide her identity. To others, her skin appeared a deep rose color and her normally silver eyes sparkled green as new spring leaves. Perhaps the only thing that remained truly hers was her platinum hair. That at least occurred frequently enough in the regular fairy population to not give away her identity.

“Will you take part in the waning ceremony?” Dianthe mixed another batch of cookies in a giant bowl on the counter. The woman’s oven was always on as far as Aborella could tell. She was a baking machine, a goddess of home and hearth. “You seem well.”

“I think so.” Aborella hadn’t left the cottage since arriving here and was looking forward to a change of scenery. Plus she hoped the opportunity would arise for Dianthe to introduce her to additional Defenders of the Goddess.

“We haven’t talked much about what happens next, but I’m assuming you’ll want to make a fresh start. I’ve talked with Briar Blackcliff at the mill, and he said he has a job for you if you’re not opposed to working on the line. It’s not hard work collecting pollen, but it is repetitive. If you go tonight, I can introduce you.”

Although her initial reaction was to sneer at the idea—the High Sorceress of Paragon reduced to collecting pollen for fairy food production?—an unexpected longing filled her. The idea that she might start anew, leading a simple life like this one, a life where she might grow to have relationships based on basic kindnesses, gave her an unwelcome warm feeling behind her ribs. She cast it aside and focused on the task at hand.

“Will other members of the Defenders of the Goddess be there? Everything you’ve told me about the DOGs has convinced me it’s where I need to be. I’d love to become more involved.”

“Now that Sylas is back, he’s reconnecting with the leaders from the other five kingdoms. We need to be careful right now. He’s a fugitive. One wrong move could land him back in the dungeons of Paragon. It will be some time before we meet with other DOGs again.” Dianthe rested her spoon against the side of the bowl and lowered her eyes as if she were reciting a silent prayer.

They’d been here before. Dianthe had spent hours explaining the rebellion to Aborella, but without any real details the fairy sorceress could act upon. In short, each of the five kingdoms had a network of DOG sympathizers, but members never used their real identities. Instead, they each went by a code that was constantly changing and had to do with their rank in the organization rather than their specific person. Sylas was currently Everfield, red zone, number one. ERO for short. For the two years he was imprisoned, someone else had served as the ERO.

This was why the kingdom of Paragon could not squash the rebellion. It was like a hydra—cut one head off and another would take its place. And the more Aborella learned about the movement, the more she was convinced that the five kingdoms were crawling with rebels.

The saddest part was she had to acknowledge the DOGs had a point. She’d learned from Dianthe that more than half of what Everfield produced was collected by Paragon as a tax. The remaining half had to feed, clothe, and shelter the population. Many shop owners attempted to