“I am Nicholas. Someone you’ve known for a very,verylong time. When I came across you that day in the woods, I’d only
recently discovered my powers. I couldn’t remove the shadows very well. You weren’t able to see my face back then. But after
your uncle—I stuck by you. We became close friends.”
He held his hands up in defence and I wanted to ram one of my hair pins in his eye. Perhaps even in whatever fleshy part I
could find. But I stopped, counting to five in my head to try and calm myself. I had wanted to hear his name. Now I wanted to
know his story, and if I made him bleed out, I wouldn’t get it.
“Why did you leave me as Lord Cole then? Did you know my father was going to give you my hand.”
“Yes. I did know. But things are complicated,” he said softly.
I huffed, rolling my eyes at him and resuming my pacing. A weight pressed down on my shoulders with each word he
spoke.
“You left me. After promising me you would save me,” I told him, irritation in my tone.
“I am here now. And I will do everything I can to help you, you only have to ask it of me.”
“Norok,” I said, stopping in front of Cole again. “He doesn’t deserve what’s happened to him. I know my brother—he’d
rather have died than live the life he’s now stuck living,” I uttered, choking up as the words spouted from my mouth.
Steadying myself, I asked,“Can you fix him? I know you have powers. I’ve seen them.” I desperately wondered if my
brother would ever be right again. “I will do anything.”
His eyes darkened and a devilish smile ran across his face. I wondered what he was planning. Did I say the right words? I
had a feeling I was walking into something else.
“I will fix him, on the deal that if you are to come with me, to my lands. You are to marry me.”
It felt as if the world swallowed me right there on the balcony as a rush of cold ran over me. If I were to accept, I would be
walking out of one marriage and into another when all I really craved was freedom.
A life of my own, to do with what I wished. To follow orders from no one. . Even if originally I had wanted to say yes and
marry Lord Cole, this Fae wasn’t him. I didn’t really know who this was. The confusion of it all made my head hurt.
However, if I said yes, he would fix Norok. He would wake up healed and I would no longer be needed as heir. I would go
back to being the spare. Unimportant and unnoticed.
“If I say yes, where are your lands?”
“Not far. But far enough for you to feel that escape I know you have been craving since the day you were born.”
I stood there for another moment, taking it all in, wondering if I could really leave my entire family behind. My sister? My
brother? Could I go with someone I barely knew? I’d always craved adventure and here it was—staring me right in the face. A
Fae dipped in shadows and mystery.