Trial by Fae (Dragon's Gift The Dark Fae #1) - Linsey Hall Page 0,50
held me tight.
“What the hell is going on?” I demanded, calling upon a magic that would freeze the blood in their veins. I’d never created that kind of magic before—wasn’t even sure if it was possible—but damned if I didn’t want to try.
“Sorry, can’t tell you.” Luna crossed her arms over her chest.
Tarron kept his grip on me, making no move to take the prize from Luna.
Understanding dawned. “You two have been in on it together all along.” Luna must have lied about her origin to throw me off the scent. “But why? What’s going on?”
There was silence. I could feel Tarron debating what to do with me. It could go either direction.
Right now, he was clearly deciding if he was going to take me out of the picture.
There was no one watching down here, just his minion. Luna had seemed like a bubble-headed Fae with some reasonable magic. She was far more, apparently.
But he was hesitating. He didn't want to.
And there was no reason to hide my cards anymore. He knew who I was, what I was. That I had ulterior motives, though he didn’t quite understand them yet. I had nothing left to lose, so I might as well ask. I’d wanted to play it sneaky and win and figure out what was going on that way, but the shit had hit the fan on that plan.
“What’s going on in the King’s Grove?” I demanded. “This has to do with the demonic energy there, doesn’t it?” There was no way two such huge events weren’t connected.
Tarron stiffened. Luna frowned.
“You can tell me.” I struggled harder in Tarron’s grip. “I’ve been there. I’ve seen it.”
“Not demonic energy,” Tarron said.
I stopped struggling. “What?”
“Unseelie Fae.”
Oh, shit. I hadn’t seen that coming. Though they were the dark version of the Seelie Fae—perhaps their energy could read as demonic.
“You’ve gotten in the middle of something you don’t understand,” Luna said.
“I understand enough.” I finally landed a blow on Tarron’s foot, and he let me go, though I had a feeling he was actually kind of ready to.
He stepped around to join Luna, both of them squaring off against me. My gaze went to the stone ball in Luna’s hands, but this had become way more complicated than me just grabbing the thing and wishing for the demonic energy to go away.
“What do you think you understand?” Tarron’s voice was cold, but intrigued.
“There’s dark energy coming from that crystal obelisk in the King’s Grove. I thought it was demonic, but apparently it’s Unseelie Fae.”
Luna spit when I said their name. She must really hate them.
And my mother might be one of them. Was she really connected to this, or was it just coincidence? Though my mind went immediately there, I didn’t have time to focus on that now. “I think it has something to do with all of the deaths that happened a couple months ago. I was sent here to stop it before it causes any more.”
Tarron nodded, understanding dawning. “You’re from the Council of Demon Slayers.”
“Yes. You denied to their faces that there was a problem. Are you in league with them?”
“No. I denied that there was demon energy infiltrating my realm.”
“You denied our help. So are you in league with them?” I repeated.
“No. I am not. And what good are demon hunters against an invasion of the Unseelie Fae? You know nothing about them. Nothing about the problem. We didn’t want your help or need it.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t help.”
“And that’s why you entered the competition?” Luna asked. “To help?”
“To spy on him.” I pointed to Tarron. “And figure out what he’s doing with the magic in the King’s Grove. And how to stop it.”
“He is trying to stop it,” Luna said.
“Then why don’t more Fae know it’s a problem? You’re keeping it a secret.”
“It’s complicated.” Tarron gritted out the words.
“We don’t need people to panic,” Luna said. “If people panic, our realm is weakened.”
“They really just don’t notice it?” I asked. “It makes your realm reek of dark magic. I can even see it.”
“They’ve been enchanted not to notice it,” Tarron said. “Most of them. There is a team of Fae who know what’s going on, and we’re fixing it.”
“We have a plan, and so far, it’s going perfectly,” Luna said.
“What kind of plan?”
“We can’t just wish the energy away, if that’s what you’re suggesting,” Tarron said.
“But you’ll use that orb to fix things?”
“You’re asking too many questions,” Tarron said, irritation in his voice.