Spirit of the Fae (Dragon's Gift The Dark Fae #4) - Linsey Hall
1
Mist swirled around my ankles, a cold reminder of my situation. Fear thundered through me. Tarron and I stood in the afterworld—dead.
Or partially dead, according to the Celtic goddess Brigid, who had just visited to deliver the dire news. She’d left almost immediately.
Totally unhelpful.
Now we were alone in some unknown afterworld with no idea how to get the hell out. I looked at the Seelie king, my fated mate and the man who drove me crazy—both for-real crazy and crazy with desire.
White mist surrounded him, twisting around his tall form. His strong body appeared partially transparent, though he was just as lethally sexy as ever. Green eyes blazed, and his black hair was swept back from his head.
I couldn’t believe he wasn’t dead. Five minutes ago, he’d died to save thousands of lives. I’d lost my shit over the idea of him dying. Sobbing, screaming—the works.
I shook away the thoughts. There was no time for feelings right now.
Because instead of killing just him, the magic had killed us both.
I raised my hand and tried to press it against his chest.
It drifted right through.
“Fates,” I murmured. “This is bad.”
His brows lowered, and a grim light entered his eyes. “Do you feel that?”
I shivered as I sensed the eyes watching us. It prickled across my skin. “Yeah. We might not be alone.”
“We need to get the hell out of here.”
The last thing I remembered was dying in the battle to save Tarron’s Seelie kingdom from my mother—the false queen of the Unseelie Fae. Apparently I was the real queen, which I’d just learned.
Unfortunately, my mother had survived, and if we didn’t get out of there fast, she’d wage war on our people again. “She’s going to keep fighting. No matter what.”
“Brigid said it was possible for us to find a way out,” he said.
I tried calling upon my transportation magic, knowing it couldn’t be that easy. But I had to try, right?
Of course it didn’t work.
Shit.
“Can your gift of sight help?” he asked.
“Fates, I hope so.”
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. The air going into my lungs was a comfort—it confirmed that I couldn’t be totally dead.
It took everything I had to call upon my magic. Here, in the half realm between life and death, it seemed harder to access. I couldn’t get my sense of premonition to work, but my seeker sense started to tug on me.
It was one of my weakest magics. The ability to find things was a difficult one, and it didn’t always work, even in the real world.
But it worked at that moment—just a bit. Just enough.
It pulled me toward answers, tugging around my middle.
I opened my eyes and pointed to the left. “That way.”
“Any clue what’s over there?” Tarron asked.
“Answers. About the false queen. About where we are. I don’t know exactly.”
“It’s our only clue, so we must follow it.” He shrugged.
Tarron and I both headed in that direction, cutting through the mist.
I stuck close by his side, not wanting to get separated in the eerie mist. After a few minutes, it began to fade slightly, revealing white trees with ivory leaves. Clusters of red berries hung from them—the only color in the whole place.
Rowan berries.
We were in some kind of forest.
“The trees look like the ones back home, but…dead?” I touched the white bark, and it felt normal.
“I’ve no idea,” Tarron said. “Never seen anything like this place.”
The white clouds that had filled the air had drifted toward the ground. They lay like a heavy mist, twisting around the raised roots of the trees. A faint wind whistled through the branches, rustling the white leaves. In the distance, a white stag appeared between two thick trunks, then kept on moving, as if something were chasing it.
Something dangerous sparked on the air.
I shivered. “I don’t like this place.”
“A threat lurks.” He called upon his sword from the ether, and I was grateful to see that power still worked.
He gripped the long blade in his big hand, his stance relaxed but his eyes wary.
I drew a dagger and looked around, searching for threats. I could feel it, too, prickling against my skin. Faerie lights glittered in the trees above, bright white. Cold.
We were in hostile territory.
Together, we moved quickly and silently through the white forest. I followed the tug of my seeker sense, letting it pull me along. I had no idea where it was taking us, but I prayed there would be answers on the other side.