Seeking the Fae (Daughter of Light #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,21

mean, I guess I knew the answer. Because I was all wrapped up in it now.

Indra turned to me, her orange hair glowing in the moonlight. “Because the Winter King now leads the Sons of Darkness. We think he’s still out there, gathering up all the crystals on Earth.”

My heart hammered in my chest. The Winter King was alive? I assumed he escaped with his human lover and child and … died or something.

I gasped. “The crystals … keep him alive.”

She nodded. “And your mother found something out before she died … something … unpleasant.”

I wasn’t sure how much more information I could take.

“What is it?” I gulped.

Indra reached out and clasped my hand in hers. “I don’t know. She didn’t have time to tell us. Did she tell you?”

Tell me? I shook my head. “No. She just told me how much she loved me.” I tried to replay that night in the bathtub, but didn’t want to for fear of having a breakdown.

Indra nodded, patting my hand.

“If he got all the crystals from Faerie … then our village would fall and we would all die. That would mean the Winter King and his Sons of Darkness could … live on Earth forever?”

Indra simply nodded. “He’s powerful enough.”

Holy mother of Faerie, this was so much worse than I thought. Anger rose up in my chest, making it hard to breathe. “You should have told me sooner. I haven’t been trained properly for this. We need more warriors, more seekers. I can’t—”

Indra cut me off: “I know. But you’ll have to do. The entire fate of our world and race rests in your hands.”

Well … fuck. Thanks a lot, Mom.

I slept that night in Faerie. Time was beginning to blur together. Earth time and Faerie time were different. In the morning, I stood at the blue door, Elle at my side. She was full battle ready, wearing her chainmail top and leather corset. It looked kind of punk rock, but I knew it was lifesaving armor.

Trissa walked up to my left and I nodded. Finally, we were ready to go. I was antsy to get back to Earth and get that crystal from Liam. Especially now that I knew how important they were to our small village and all of Faerie.

When I saw that Trissa was not properly dressed, I frowned.

She sighed, not meeting my eyes. “The elders have ordered that I stay back and train a squadron of warriors for you.”

Oh.

I looked at Elle, who nodded, fiercely. She would be my only protector.

“I think it’s overdue,” Trissa added, “but … I’m nervous to leave you and Elle on your own.”

Elle scoffed. “You think that little of me?”

Trissa looked over at her protégé, compassion all over her face. “No, I care for you so much that I want to protect you both.”

Elle and I both moved in at the same time and wrapped Triss in a hug. “We got this. Don’t worry,” I told my mother’s loyal guard.

“Yeah, you know me. I’ll remove a man of his balls if he even looks at us wrong,” Elle said, and that caused us all to laugh.

When we pulled back, Trissa’s eyes were misty but were replaced quickly with her icy expression. “It could take weeks for you to find the next crystal. I should use that time training more warriors.” She seemed to be saying this to herself, as if she needed to convince herself that letting us go alone was a good idea.

I looked around at the village of happy Fae. “How will you make warriors of gardeners and bakers?” I wondered aloud. All of the Fae bred for war were dead. Except her.

She sighed. “We’re about to find out.”

With a final round of hugs, I turned to open the door. “Oh, I almost forgot.” Trissa pulled something from her satchel. The rolling pin, AKA motorcycle.

“You’ll need this. Have Mara give you lessons.” I took the rolling pin, slipping it into my bag.

Without another word, for fear of crying or getting too freaked out, I opened the blue door and walked inside.

I never knew what I was walking into with the blue door. Would it be the New York apartment where my mother died? A random library, or a part of Mara’s house?

I’d walked right into Mara’s office and she was waiting for us. The second we walked in, she looked up. Her eyes were red and puffy like she’d been crying.

“Ready to go hunting?” she asked in a peppy voice, wiping