Fae of the South (Court of Crown and Compass Book 3) by E. Hall (libby ebook reader .txt) 📕

tried to kidnap me and take the necklaces.” The memory floods back. “I was asleep. Icy hands gripped me. She showed me a roomful of toys, candy, and all the things a little girl could desire. She tried to trick me into going with her. Then it all turned to rot. She was little more than a hideous beast with empty eyes, gnarled teeth, claws as long as daggers.”

“Sounds like Nathina’s work,” Val says. “She’s cunning when it comes to grim magic.”

Cunning and horrifying.

“Interesting that you broke through her glamour. Your will must be especially strong.” Val bites her lip. “Mine too.”

It’s then that I realize that deep down I know they’re not lying. There’s no way. We all look too much alike. We have the snowflake necklace. Aina once told me that I’d meet my family again after I told her my mother left me when I was little. She even wrote me a poem. I memorized it.

Tears pierce my shadow.

Your strength comes not from what you do but who you are.

Your beauty comes not from how you look but how you act.

Your intelligence comes not from what you know but how you use it.

The best of you is all we see, truly, deeply, lovely you.

I never thought there was anything beautiful or lovely about me. The truth that I believed was that I was rough, unworthy, an outcast, but now I see things differently. I’m overwhelmed with the desire not to let our mother or them down.

Kiki releases a long exhale. “And I was deathly afraid of vampires, but our father was one.” She shivers.

Val cocks an eyebrow. “Know what you are, who you are. Own it.”

“That’s the problem. What are we?” Kiki asks.

Soren, as big and intimidating as a Viking, enters the room. “You’re the raven queen.”

She curls against him in a hug.

“Where’s Tyrren?” I ask.

“As content as a king,” Soren replies.

“What do you want with us?” I repeat.

“We’re on a mission to break a curse.” Val gives Kiki a nod and passes me a crumpled note.

I read it at a whisper. “Demons shadow thieve, while the fae court grieve. Four sisters to find. One compass to bind. Four crowns to take. One curse to break. Before twelve moons turn, else the realm will burn.” I lift my gaze and meet Val’s then Kiki’s.

She says, “The day of our eighteenth birthday, a demon gave me that note. I didn’t think anything of it. That night, I went home to find Aina frozen. The same demon returned. I slayed it. Then when I took her hand, I was transported to a place called the Sea of Dreams.” Kiki goes on to tell me about a silver rope called a skyn and how Aina spoke to her there, confirming the mission to find her sisters and break the curse.

I read the note again. “What is the curse?”

“That’s what we’ve been trying to piece together these last few weeks with Aina’s diary, what we’ve learned from mages like Vespertine and Timolian along with the false kings,” Kiki answers.

“Don’t forget Glandias,” Val says.

“I still say we go to the Library of Memories.” Kiki starts to pace again.

Val shakes her head like it’s a hopeless option.

“And how do I fit into this exactly?” I ask.

“Four sisters to find. You’re number three. But we also have to find the false king’s stone and put it here.” Kiki produces a golden disk and opens it to reveal a compass. Two stones sit in the North and West directions. “Once we find sister number four along with the two remaining stones, this compass should lead us to Count Vlad, the vampire who made the curse.”

I tilt my head from side to side.

“And we have to destroy him,” Val says.

“That’s easy. Vampires can die with cold steel to the heart or fire,” I say.

Kiki shakes her head. “This guy is the big bad. It won’t be that easy.”

“The big bad Vlad,” Callen says, appearing from the other room.

Soren laughs.

Val’s lips quirk.

Kiki rolls her eyes. “This is what we know. Count Vlad is creating a shadow army of fae. Presumably, to finish what Count Bortimal started—he was the ruler of the Southlands long ago.”

“I’ve heard of him.” I probably should’ve paid more attention at RIP Jr.

“He wants to annihilate the fae by rending their shadows and with them create an undefeatable army.”

“Sounds like Glandias’s plan too,” I say. “But I think she wants to overthrow the count who started this whole thing.”

Kiki plants a hand on her hip. Val’s is already there.

“Which begs the question. How’d you become a shadow fae?” Kiki asks.

My hand lifts to my hip in response. “It was my choice.”

 

Chapter 24

Tyrren

 

I wake from what feels like a dream. A very cold dream. But I’m a vampire. I don’t sleep. Therefore, I don’t dream. However, everything about the last hours have felt like a dream, starting with the bloody rain and massage. My throat burns.

I’m magically bound, but I’m strong and hungry and smell blood nearby.

It was my choice. The words echo in my mind.

“My main objective was to survive. Glandias was going to rend my shadow so I let her. Yes, I had a choice.” Lea’s smoky voice floats to my ears. “I chose to become a shadow fae.”

There’s thunder inside of me. Longing. Desire. I can hardly discern if it’s hunger or something else.

Someone clicks her tongue. “Yeah, I get that. I was sent to an arena for Bloodsport to fight demons, a manticore, and my future husband to the death. There was no way I’d make it. The odds were against me. So I made the choice to go down a champion. If I