Queen of the Fae (Dragon's Gift The Dark Fae #3) - Linsey Hall Page 0,5

him perfect for the gig.

He sighed and turned to us. “She’ll be the death of me.”

“Whatever, bro.” Claire grinned at us, then frowned. “You okay? Looking paler than normal, Mordaca.”

“Yeah. I’m good. Fantastic, really.”

“Liar. Let me know if you need anything.” She disappeared through the door, back into the kitchen.

I thanked fates for my amazing friends. We weren’t very close—not all mushy or anything; that wasn’t my style—but we did understand each other. All of us had secrets so none of us pried. But when we needed help—body cleanup, demon disposal—we could count on each other.

Aeri and I approached the counter, and Connor’s gaze went from my bare feet to the shoes and torn sleeve in my hand. “Busy night?”

“You could say that.” I held up the shoes so the material dangled higher in the air. “I was hit by a potion bomb that soaked into my sleeve. Could you identify it?”

He nodded. “Sure.”

I raised my arm, indicating the red stain of potion. “And mind if I use your bathroom?”

He gestured to the corner where the door was located. “Help yourself. I’ll tell Claire to get you something to eat.”

“Thanks.” I handed over the sleeve, and he disappeared into the back. His potions workshop was located past the kitchen.

I straightened, pulling away from Aeri and walking under my own steam to the bathroom. I might have been shell-shocked by the vision, but weakness wasn’t my style. And if there was one thing I had, it was style.

I stepped into the tiny bathroom, grimacing at the feel of the cold tile on my bare feet. Though I dealt with gross things like demon blood on a daily basis, walking into a public restroom without shoes was so not my idea of a good time.

“Just add it to the list of shitty things in a shitty day,” I muttered.

At least Connor kept the place clean.

Quickly, I scrubbed off the red potion that stained my arm. Besides the weird vision, I felt mostly normal. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean anything as far as potions were concerned. They could be slow-acting. Or subtle.

One minute you’d be walking around; the next, you could be dead.

Also not my idea of a good time.

Cleaned up, I consulted my reflection.

Ragged.

Ew.

This would not do.

I waved a hand in front of my face, using a glamour to fix the appearance of my hair and dress. I was still technically a mess, but no one could tell. I couldn’t do anything about my broken shoes, but I made sure that the illusion of my black dress went all the way to the floor. Finally looking like myself again, I returned to the coffee shop and joined Aeri in the comfy chairs in the corner.

We sat, and Aeri leaned close. “What did you see in the vision?”

I drew in a deep breath and described the burning town, along with my mother’s black magic infecting the minds of the Seelie. And finally, the image of me killing Tarron.

“What?” Shock dropped Aeri’s jaw.

“Exactly. She’s enraged—she failed to capture the Seelie kingdom before, so now she wants to destroy it.”

“You’re sure it’s true?”

“Definitely. The only question is, can I change it?”

“You’ve got to ask Aethelred.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” The old seer was one of my few close friends.

Except, that wasn’t quite true, was it? I seemed to have a lot of friends these days. But Aethelred was one of the oldest. When things weren’t completely crazy, we met every Friday for a morning walk along the beach so we could gossip. He had to bribe me with bacon sandwiches to get up that early, but for him, I did it. Though we made a weird pair, I loved him.

“Why did your mother send you the vision? Couldn’t it give you enough time to stop her?”

“It could. I don’t think she realized that I could read her intentions in the premonition. It was like we were connected. Nothing will stop her, not even if I go to her. But she showed me the vision to threaten me into coming to her, promising to stop it if I did.”

“Ha.” Aeri gave a bitter laugh. “She can dream right on with that.”

“Right?” Many supernaturals would think it was great to be able to create any magic with a few drops of blood—or more blood, if you wanted the power to be permanent. But the truth was, I lived my life in fear of being used as a weapon.

It had happened before, to both me and Aeri. Not only