When Magic Dares (Darkly Fae Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

the effort to look up, to see how close to the curve they were. He could only pull on the horse’s reins and pray to Morgana that it was in time.
    They started into the curve. Arm muscles clenched, he held tight to the beast’s neck and braced for the inevitable.
    It never came.
    Behind him, the carriage groaned like an ancient bed. The horse beneath him quieted. Slowed. And, finally, stopped.
    His pulse thundered in his ears.
    As he found the strength to push up, to turn around, he saw the entirety of the Moraine forces racing to the carriage’s aid. He could only grin with relief as he called out, “It’s about time you lot showed up!”

Chapter 5
    It had been years since Arianne visited the Moraine palace. She couldn’t remember the last time—no, that was not true. She could. She remembered exactly what happened the last time she entered the imposing stone facade. She must have been no more than eight or nine. Her parents had been invited to a royal ball, and she and her sister were allowed to attend for the first time.
    Arianne had been too scared to venture into the ballroom. She had snuck outside to play in the gardens while her parents and sisters danced the night away. She got lost in the hedge maze. Her terror had been overwhelming.
    She couldn’t catch her breath. It was night and the lights of the ballroom did not reach this deeply into the gardens. She would be lost out there forever.
    Or at least until morning.
    Her parents would worry. Her sister would worry. She hated to make anyone worry over her.
    She needed to retrace her steps. If only she could remember which direction she had come from. But the entire maze looked just the same. One green hedge after another, all perfectly straight and much taller than she could see over.
    What if she was lost there forever? What if she never got out? What if there were monsters in the maze that wanted to—
    Her thoughts were just starting to spiral out of control when she heard the footsteps. She bit her lips, held her breath. Fearful.
    A boy—tall and lean, probably a few years older than her, with dark hair and pale eyes—emerged around the corner. Arianne almost cried with relief.
    “How did you find me?” she asked.
    “I watched you run into the maze,” he said.”When you didn’t come back out I was afraid you were lost.”
    She smiled gratefully. “I am.”
    “Not any more,” he said, holding out his arm for her to take like he was asking her to dance.
    She wrapped her small hand around his elbow. He led them confidently out of the maze, as if he had memorized the path and knew exactly how to get them out.
    In what felt like an instant later, they were walking out onto the lawn that stretched between the hedge maze and the patio outside the ballroom. He escorted her across the grass and up the steps. When the reached the doors to the ballroom, he stopped.
    “Aren’t you coming in?” she asked.
    He shook his head. “I have other duties.”
    Then he reached behind his neck, lifted a something up over his head, and then held it out to her. She took it and studied it. A tiny silver fox—the symbol of the clan Moraine—hung from a dark leather cord.
    He had no way of knowing the fox was her ainmhi .
    She smiled and quickly slipped the cord over her head. “Thank you.”
    He stepped closer, pressed a brief kiss to her cheek, and then disappeared into the night.
    Arianne still wore that pendant every day, though the leather cord had been long ago replaced by a thin silver one. A constant reminder that no matter how lost she felt, if she kept a level head and remained patient, she would find her way out. Even if she required a little help.
    Without thinking about it, she reached up and fingered the small pendant, hidden now beneath the bodice of her gown. She was going to need all the help the little fox could give her if she was going to convince the O Cuanas to go along with her plan.
    “This way, princess,” the tall, dark-haired guard told