Trial by Fae by Linsey Hall

Author:Linsey Hall [Hall, Linsey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781942085874
Publisher: Bonnie Doon Press
Published: 2019-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

9

Slowly, I crept toward the gate. My slippers crunched on leaves, and a single sliver of moonlight shined through the canopy of leaves high above. The beam of light highlighted the big metal lock.

I stopped in front of it, dark magic crawling across my skin. In addition to the smell that was so similar to my mother’s, it felt like huge spiders and tasted like rotten eggs. I shuddered from the strength of it.

Shit. Oh, double shit.

I’d expected to find something tonight.

But maybe not this.

Whatever was beyond this gate…it was bad.

I raised a hand to the gate and touched the lock, a shiver racing up my arm. Magic sparked from the lock, a protective charm that would be hard to break.

For anyone but me.

I drew in a steady breath and sliced my thumb with my nail. Pain flared and blood welled.

Time to make some magic.

I called upon my Dragon Blood power, envisioning the gift of spell breaking. It was a rare and difficult magic, and it took a lot of energy to create. By the time I felt the power tingling at my fingertips, my breath was coming short and my muscles were weak.

I funneled more magic into the power, crafting it from nothing. This would be a valuable skill to have if I were willing to create it permanently.

But I wasn’t. I couldn’t risk it. Too much magic and my signature would change forever. Each new skill made it grow, and if I had too many skills, it’d be obvious to anyone what I was.

Not worth it.

Once I felt the power of the spell breaker flowing through my veins, I fed it into the lock. Black mist swirled around the complex metal structure, until finally, the sparking pain of the protective charm faded away. There was a pop in the air, and it was done.

Now that the repelling charm was gone, I could get to work on the lock. I drew two pins from my hair and knelt, sticking the little pieces of metal into the hole. It took a few minutes—the king had spared no expense on this sucker—but the lock finally clicked open.

I shoved the pins back into my hair and slipped through the gate, entering a forest that was so full of dark magic I nearly stumbled.

The walls had done a lot to contain it, which meant they were probably imbued with another spell.

I raised my skirt to my mouth and nose, breathing shallowly through the cloth to avoid the stink. Dread chilled my skin as I started through the forest. I drew my dagger from the ether and crept on silent feet, muscles tensed for whatever was ahead.

Oh fates, what would I find?

No way my mother would just be sitting in these woods, if she was even involved with this, but perhaps a clue?

When I stumbled on the clearing, I blinked in confusion.

A massive crystal obelisk jutted from the earth. The rock was roughly rectangular, but extremely thin and very tall. Around it, the ground was cracked and blackened.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.