Dark Fae Read Online Free Page A

should go, Quinn. I know what I am . I am one of the dark fae ; there is no question.”
    I shook my head, “No, that’s not true. I know you.” Even as the words slipped past my lips, the truth of them hit me. I knew him as if I’d known him my whole life. He was no dark fae, no matte r that we were at times on opposite sides . Even if the bugger did Charm me.
    Reaching out, I touched his hand, tentatively at first. “This is something I have to do. It is not on your shoulders . I t isn’t your fault that Luke is hurt so badly.”
    “ If I go first, and fail, you still have a chance. You are the one ta prophecy speaks o f, and if it’s right, you are ta only one who can save us from Chaos. ” He brushed his fingers along my jaw, his eyes softening. “I’m doing this for you, Quinn. I’m sorry , ” h e said as his hand dropped . I didn’t understand what he was about, not until it was already happening. He grabbed m y hand , and then spun me around. Pushing me, he sent me into the deeper water, and I tripped over a submerged log, my body getting sucked under by the swamp. Fighting to reach the surface, I pushed off the mushy bottom.
    “Bres!” I screamed, as I broke the water’s surface, already knowing that I was too late. A flash of light and the dark gateway swallowed him whole. Damn him and his heroics!
    I struggled forward, tangling once more in unseen roots under the mud slurry of water. Fianna stepped in front of me. “Give him a chance to be your hero, Quinn. It’s what all men want.”
    She c ame to my side and helped me to my feet. The water and muck clung to me as if it were a second skin. “I’ve yet to decide if you are twice blessed or twice cursed , ” s he said.
    Wiping my face, flicking the mud off my fingers I shivered. “What do you mean?”
    “To be loved by not one, but t w o men of strength and heart. It is a blessing to have one, but two? I’m not so sure I’d want that even for myself.” She stared at me, then cocked her head to one side, so like her little sister it gave me a chill.
    “He doesn’t love me. He Charmed me ,” I said . The words sounded hollow even to my own ears.
    Fianna laughed. “Bres is many things : warrior, guide, teacher , Fomorii and Tuatha . But even I know he is not a Charmer. It is the one thing that wasn’t passed on to him by his father. Bres can’t Charm I t isn’t one of his abilities.”
    I tried to tell you.
    The water dripped off the tip of my nose and chin; I was too stunned to even try to wipe it away. My brain couldn’t handle this new information. No , I wasn’t being honest. It was my heart that was struggling with it, not my mind.
    “Come, let us stand on higher ground while we wait .” Fianna led the way to a tree that was downed in some long ago windstorm, but it was not submerged as so many of the others were . Climbing up, I stood with one hand braced on a branch that jutted up to the sky.
    “The Cauldron will test him, to see if he is worthy to bring it back to the realm of the humans. It has not ventured o ut for many, many years ,” she said.
    I glanced over at her, the white dress dry and unmarked as if we hadn’t just sloshed through miles of swamp. “You say that like it ’ s alive.”
    Fianna didn’t look over at me, but continued to stare at the two gateways. “It is. Like all objects of power, it lives and has a will of its own. Even Excalibur carried with it consciousness. It is how Arthur did so well in battle . ” She said this as if everyone knew what she was talking about.
    “How will we know if Bres . . .” I wanted to say live d or died, but I couldn’t. I had a hard enough time thinking about Luke dying . I wasn’t sure I could handle the thought of losing them both.
    “One hour. If at the end of that time he has not emerged, it will then be your choice. I would ask you for the sake of our world to not go through with this.” Now she did look at me, her brown eyes wide with her pleading.