A Court Beyond The Mists: A Fae Fantasy Romance by LJ Swallow

Author:LJ Swallow [Swallow, LJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emu House Publishing
Published: 2022-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

33

Am I to be happy or disappointed that the man who kissed me and spoke such mind-spinning words presses lips to my forehead and tells me goodnight as I stand in the guest bedroom doorway? He no longer wants to touch me? I crave that touch and kiss, more so now he’s backed away. Jaren pauses for a few moments as if waiting for me to tell him what I’m thinking. Perhaps he’s waiting for me to make clear the signals, leaving decisions to me again?

“We shall start the trust tonight,” he says eventually. “Sleep well.”

My fear that climbing into a bed with Jaren would lead me further into another world I want to explore—the one I stepped into at the Dusk pools—drifts away. As I lie in the low bed, considering what to do, I rub my lips together, imagining I can still taste his kiss and then sigh to myself as I lie and turn on my side. However much I try, I can’t still the desire for the man in the room opposite, wanting him to hold me in his arms. I’m so rarely touched or hugged, and affection would be welcome in my confused, frightened life.

Instead, the only thing I’m wrapped in is the silken white sheet, and the tunic and pants as I sink into sleep.

The carriage from my dreams returns. The Dusk sitting with Horatio while one of his riders drags me inside. I’m terrified and huddled in a corner as they whisper, the carriage bumping through the night pulled by the skeletal horses.

The carriage halts and I’m dragged into a dark tunnel, Horatio’s laughter echoing further and further behind. Dozens of tiny lights surround me until I notice they’re not lights. These are eyes and as I move closer see a crowd of Dusk, white hair, and luminescent skin, watching as I’m paraded forwards into a cavern. The onyx stone glints with silver specks that match the cavern I fell into with Jaren, and I’m shepherded forwards.

The whole space smells of Dusk—musty and acrid, the cold from their bodies spreading around until my hands are numb.

A human girl sits in a cage barely large enough to fit her body, hunched up and surrounded by black bars. I recognize the frightened green eyes and the blonde hair now tangled around her head; skin as pale as the Dusk around her.

“Free yourself.” I startle, the Dusk’s rasping voice close to my ear, and the milky white eyes send a tremor of fear through. Every Dusk in the cavern stares but not in curiosity or disgust; none raise a hand to me. They look in awe.

One steps forward, the Dusk’s unnaturally tall and slender figure scaring me as he unlocks the cage with bony fingers. But the girl inside, wearing rags that was once a dress, doesn’t shrink back. She crawls out and looks up at me. Recognition flickers across her face.

Another figure moves from the shadows, as tall as the Dusk standing over the girl but muscular not skinny.

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