of Summer, my favorite. Indra. She had caramel skin and long orange hair that fell to her back in waves. I bowed, aware that I looked like a freaking train wreck and this was soooo not protocol. “Thanks.”
The other elders walked out from their rooms and stood behind her. Trissa took a low and long bow, probably more proper than mine. “I’ve informed her she must be trained at once but—”
“I have some questions.” I tilted my chin high.
Indra nodded. “Please … sit. Your mother wanted to be the one to explain, but we will have to do.” She gestured to an open library type of room, where on the far wall there was another blue door…
“Is that?”
They nodded in unison. “There are many blue doors.”
What the hell? How come my mother never told me any of this?
I could barely focus, wading through my grief and being told I needed to pick up my mother’s work was unsettling. I sat down in a red velvet chair and looked up at the elders around me. They were so … normal. I mean, they were radiating power; their wings even glowed with magic, but they were … so approachable. The Winter Court elder, Aubin, was tall with pale white skin and black hair. I normally feared him when I saw him walking around town; he had a natural resting asshole face, but here, in this setting, he looked kind and full of compassion.
“But the enchanted shell… I thought…”
Indra nodded. “The enchanted shell is for the rest of the Fae to go and experience earth. The blue door is only for… special missions.”
Okay, I could get past that. But what I really want to know was burning a hole in my tongue.
“Tell me…” I hedged, “who are the Sons of Darkness? My mother spoke of them just now, before she…” I couldn’t say died, I just couldn’t. But I was a natural scholar, born with a book in my hand as my mother would say. If there was new information to learn, I would seek it out. Even in these dark circumstances, I had so many questions and needed answers to move forward.
Indra nodded, clearly taking the lead before the others. “The Sons of Darkness are a … rebel faction. They are a product of the Dark War, and near the end they tried to take over Faerie. They envied our way of life and power, and they struck when we were weakest.”
I shuddered; we did not speak much of the Dark War but for a week in Fae history class. My people were an advanced, loving, and levelheaded race. Many human rumors of Atlantis were actually stories of Faerie and my people. Talking about the times we fell into war, rape, and greed was something I’d rather not relive. The Dark War lasted a hundred years and was the reason the majority of our lands were eaten up by fire and ocean and disease. This small pocket, here under the shield of protection, was all that was left of Faerie. It was the only Faerie I’d ever known, but our aged Fae told us it was a sliver of what once was.
I simply nodded. “Where did they come from? What do they look like?” She’d called them a “product” of the Dark Times. What did that mean?
Indra squirmed, her wings flitting just a bit to let me know she was nervous about answering. “They go by many names. Beasts. Monsters. Demons. Dark Fae.”
Dark Fae? My heart picked up speed in my chest, knocking at my sternum so loudly I was sure the elders heard it. They… they were rumors. Right?
“Dark Fae? Are they… like us?”
Indra and Aubin shared a look before shaking their heads unanimously. “No dear. They are more like the creatures that lurk beyond the dome. Abominations.”
I shivered.
Aubin, the Winter Court elder stepped forward with a generous smile. “The Sons of Darkness are only male. For whatever reason, female babies do not survive their childbearing.”
Oh gods.
“How will I know if I see one?” I was beginning to get really scared that one of these … Sons … was going to be part of my mother’s life work. What if I had to seek them out and kill them? I’d never killed anyone before.
“Men that can transform to an animal with a simple thought.” Indra snapped her fingers and I jumped. “Creatures that need blood to sustain themselves.”
What the what?
Trissa shifted in her seat next to me.
“It’s the men with black