Test of Fae: Nothing comes for free, especially magic. (These Hallowed Hills Book 2) by S. L. Mason

Author:S. L. Mason [Mason, S. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quick Quill Publishing, LLC
Published: 2019-10-21T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

Deston’s chamber has all the same boring browns and greens—typical Fae. The hum is different here. I hadn’t noticed the singing before. Last time I hadn’t listened. I didn’t know how. Sound wakes roll off everything, not just the ivy on the walls or the honeysuckle’s around the doorways, but from the hyacinths, hollyhocks, morning glory—they all wake to me. Even the spiky leaves of daffodils do as well with their tongues’ lolling out. In Fae, I expect there are flowers and leaves curling everywhere. Most plants are completely innocuous, normal everyday flowers. There’s always poison among all that pretty; that’s how Fae works. It isn’t all going to be pretty. There has to be something to hurt you; something you wouldn’t notice. The pretty blinds you right up to the moment it strikes and kills you. Fae draw people in with their pretty faces. You’ll get just a little too close, and once they have you where they want you, they strike.

My trailing eyes linger over the individual wakes, but taken as a whole, the reason I don’t like this room compared to the rest of the castle reveals itself. It’s a prison, meant to draw you in to bring you closer to your own demise before it locks itself on you. The tips of fanged thorns hidden by green leaves wait to suck you dry of every last drop of your life’s blood. I can almost feel the walls closing in on me. The flowers scream at me to be wary. The deeper we go into Deston’s private domain, the heavier my feet grow. The magic wakes press me to leave. I want to escape the oppressive waking of the wall’s magic; it batters at me. I glance at Janice, but he never wavers.

What if everything he told me about fairies is wrong? What if he’d been trying to deceive me the entire time to get me here to this room? Cold fear runs up my back. My heart beats frantically. This is a mistake. My instinct for fight-or-flight kicks in, and I’m inclined to try to run away. I might dive out the window and float down. Maybe call something to me or force a plant to grow. I’m not sure, anything. I swallow dried spittle. I run my tongue along my lips, hoping to calm myself. Both of Janice’s friends are bowing to Deston with crossed fingers. As Deston lounges in his chair, it resembles a throne in front of the fireplace.

Everything here is made of wood. I can’t understand why you’d have a fireplace. What if it burns the building to the ground? His fingers snap, and green fire leaps in the hearth. The temperature in Fae is comfortable. Why would you want a fire? I can’t imagine. Janice lowers his head, crossing his fingers. He bends over in an honest to god bow. I’d never seen anyone in real life ease into a position of supplication with such grace.

“I see you have returned,

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