The Faceless Woman by Emma Hamm (i love reading .txt) 📕

“What, about the Raven King?”

She wasn’t afraid of the truth. Aisling had spent her entire life under one curse or another. This was just another mountain in her path, and she would climb it.

“You’re the consort to a very powerful creature. The Raven King isn’t even a faerie anymore. He’s something else, something darker, and you cannot run from him.”

“So you say. I’ve been running my whole life from every person I’ve ever met.”

“Illumina, he deserves to know.”

“I gave up that name a long time ago.” Aisling swallowed hard, tucking her shaking hands into her skirts. “And what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“If you’re afraid of hurting him, then are you really loving him?”

“Love?” She shook her head. “Neither of us are capable of that. Besides, he’ll find out eventually. Maybe that will be our next adventure. Break the binding curse, then break the consort curse.”

“It’s not possible. It’s not just a curse—it’s a vow. Magic has no control over what you were born to be.”

Once again, Aisling shook her head. She refused to believe any of the words Elva was saying. There was always a way out. There was always a possibility to release herself from the chains of her past. She just had to find them.

“I hope to see you again, sister,” Aisling choked out.

“I’ll ask you one more time. Please stay.”

Her heart was breaking. This was her first family member who would even speak to her. Elva had admitted to missing her, to not wanting her to leave, and every fiber of Aisling’s being said to stay. To see what would happen if she entertained the idea of family.

But she couldn’t. Not yet.

She shook her head, but didn’t trust her voice not to waver with emotion.

Elva sighed. “It’s a shame. I don’t want to see you walk the same path I did.”

“Why?” Aisling managed.

“Because I’ve hardly recovered from it.”

“Then I shall have to be stronger than you.”

Keeping her head high, Aisling walked away from her sister and back down the Munro. She told herself not to cry. There was no reason to cry.

Elva’s life might not have been the one she wanted, but that did not mean Aisling would repeat Elva’s mistakes. She couldn’t explain what she felt for Bran. It wasn’t love, or infatuation, or even the rose-glow beginnings of either. She felt in him a kindred spirit, someone else who had been afraid their entire life of what others thought of them.

Every second with him was refreshing. He knew how to speak, how to act, how to be the kind of person who set her at ease. She could be a witch, and he would never build a pyre upon which to burn her thoughts, desires, and dreams.

That was the difference between what Elva knew and what Aisling had experienced. Through all the lies and deceit, she would make sure that Bran remained in her life.

The grass rustled beside her, parting to reveal a black fluffy body with hair tufted in all directions.

“Lorcan!” she cried out. Aisling stooped and opened her arms for him, only breathing easy when he launched himself at her.

With his furry body clasped to her chest, she felt invincible.

“I was so worried about you,” she muttered into his neck. “Where were you?”

“They don’t like men here.”

“I’m not sure that extends to cats.” She laughed, hooked her hands under his armpits, and lifted him away from her. The grumpy expression on his face made her laugh even harder. “Where have you been?”

“Trying to stay away from these women! They knew who I was immediately.” His fur bristled. “I tried to tell them I was nothing more than a cat, but that apparently wasn’t the right thing to say.”

“My guess is saying nothing would have worked best.”

“Probably. But they wanted to know where I came from, and I refuse to be thought of as a ship cat. They eat rats, you know.”

“Your tastes are far more refined.” She stood with him in her arms, letting him drape himself over her shoulders like he had when she was a child. “What gave you away? The talking or your size?”

“Are you suggesting I’m gaining weight?”

“You’re heavier than I remember.”

His paw stretched, flexing until the claws glistened in the afternoon sun. “Careful, witch. I’m right next to your throat.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

As they bantered back and forth down the hill, she felt her heart lift. Perhaps her old family wasn’t in her life, but was that really the end of the world? She had created a new family for herself. Two men who loved her, who had taken care of her, even risked their lives to make certain she was happy. So few could say that.

Family wasn’t flesh and blood; it was the people who set her soul at ease and filled her lungs with air.

Lorcan pressed his cold, wet nose against her cheek and asked, “We’re really going with him?”

“Where else would we go?”

“Anywhere. We’re in our world for now, even though it is the Isle of Skye. We could take the boat, flee across the ocean and find a portal, find the rest of your family. Make our own family. The possibilities are endless.”

“I’ll still be cursed.”

“You smell different.” Worry tainted his voice with bitter tones. “Not like yourself.”

“I traded one curse for another.”

“Breakable?”

She shrugged a shoulder, jostling him. “Doesn’t seem likely, but I won’t just give up. The Raven King’s consort seems like a title for a lady, not for a witch.”

“Well, if you can’t get out of it, he’s got another thing coming for him.” Lorcan paused, then leaned back enough to pat her with a paw. “Don’t worry. I don’t think Bran is the type to give up either.”

“No, I don’t think he is.”

They stepped off mossy green grass and onto the sandy shore at the base of the mountain. The air was cleaner here. Crisp, it burned her lungs every time she inhaled. Aisling savored the pain as she made her way toward the