By the Magic of Starlight (The Forbidden Realm) Read Online Free Page A

an elegant sheen of age and experience—frowned, but looked right through her. Another fairy appeared in the doorway behind him.
    “I could have sworn I heard someone out here,” the gray fairy said.
    “I don’t see anyone,” his companion replied. “Come in. Kyne’s already requested his advocate and she ought to serve the purpose. She’ll hold us to the letter of the law, insisting the council hear the charges right away. We can’t hold him in there for long.”
    “Patience, Wain. If we move prematurely all could be ruined. My contact will act. You’ll see.”
    The one called Wain didn’t seem fully convinced, but he stepped back into the building. The gray fairy followed. Raea saw her chance and took it.
    Leaping forward as softly as she could, she caught the door with one finger just before it fell completely shut behind them. Excellent. It didn’t latch. She waited, expecting at any moment that it might be pulled closed.
    Nothing happened. She leaned in, listening at the door and hearing two voices fading away, moving deeper into the hall. Carefully, quietly, she inched her fingers around the door until she could pull it open, just a crack. She peeped in. No one there.
    She slipped inside, wincing slightly as her wings got snagged by the door. She managed to stay silent, though, and tiptoed to the end of the narrow hallway. Beyond was the main corridor that ran through the building. Fairy architecture was not complex—her kind preferred to spend their time out of doors more often than in. Since they were primarily impervious to weather, buildings were useful, but not necessary. Besides, the fewer evidences of their existence, the better. The buildings they did have needed to be well hidden behind the Veil.
    Scanning the way before her, she moved into the dark, empty corridor. A series of doors flanked her on either side and she worried it might be more difficult to locate Kyne than she expected. A sound behind her, however, solved that problem.
    She turned to see a door opening inward, way down at the other end of the corridor. She held her breath and pressed against the wall, but her Invisibility Wish held firm and she was still just as transparent as air. A figure appeared, coming out through the open door.
    Swift. Yes, that was him. He was speaking to someone still in the room. Kyne, obviously. And perhaps Pimma, as well. An unfamiliar ire rose up inside her at the thought of that trim little blue fairy holed up in that room, alone there with Kyne. Why should she suddenly be so eager to burst in and separate them? Did she think the advocate would harm Kyne in any way? No, far from it. All she could picture was Pimma prancing around Kyne as she questioned or advised him, brushing his tight flesh with her wispy wings or leaning in overly close while she offered breathy legal advice. What else might she offer him?
    Raea scolded herself. What on earth was wrong with her? She shouldn’t be thinking this way. What were these strange feelings that invaded her?
    She was concerned for Kyne, of course, but why on earth should she feel such unfounded dislike for Pimma? She had no reason to form any opinion of the advocate one way or another, yet she detected a distinct hesitation to admit that. She didn’t like Pimma and didn’t want her with Kyne. Raea only wished she had a rational explanation for this.
    By the Skies, could she be wrestling with a ridiculous
human
emotion? If she didn’t know better, she might say her feeling was
jealousy
. How odd. Of course it was common among her kind to feel some mild envy from time to time. She’d seen others receive honors of some sort and wished to share similar reward, and she’d noticed the elegance of another fairy’s spectacular wingspan and wished her own were so grand, but she’d never felt this stabbing heat of fury directed at another of her kind simply over something so petty. Could she truly be
jealous
that Pimma might be getting attention from Kyne while