Page 18 of The Fae Lord

My god, he is beautiful like this. Was he always this beautiful? He tweaks a finger under my chin and I move as if I have felt him, even though I did not.

The water that binds our wrists continues to swirl.

Kayan turns around and leads me with him through the forest. “Water will give us both the power we need,” he says calmly.

I follow like a child being led by a grownup they trust. I trust him completely, even though my mind is telling me not to. My body trusts him. My body knows him. My soul knows that this is the friend I’ve known for so long.

“Alana...” When we reach the edge of the shield, Kayan points to the lake just beyond it. “We need the water.”

“I can’t let down the shield. I didn’t cast it.” I shake my head, tears pooling in my eyes because I don’t want him to leave and I feel like if we cannot reach that water, he will. He will go. And I’ll never see him again.

Somewhere behind me, blue and purple butterflies drift up from the forest floor. They glow too, like the fireflies. They drift towards the shield and float right through it.

Kayan raises his eyebrows at me. “You can do anything you desire, Alana. You are stronger than you know.”

I let go of his hand. The water disappears. I walk forward. The shield shimmers in front of me. I stretch out my fingers. I have seen the others do this, when they tested its strength. Every single one was met with a hardness. Like glass that they could not penetrate.

But my fingers slip right inside it, like they are sliding into a slab of melted butter. I move closer. And then I am through. On the other side, turning to look back at the part of the forest which was supposed to be protected.

If I can get through . . . can’t others?

Kayan is in front of me. I did not see him cross the threshold of the force field. But he is here. His wings continue to beat slowly, but still they do not move the air.

As he walks, I look down at the damp sand at the shore of the lake.

He leaves no footprints. When I follow him, only mine lead to the water’s edge.

But when Kayan does reach the water, it ripples. It remembers him and his power.

“I took your powers,” I whisper.

He nods slowly, staring out at the lake. “You did.”

“They’ve been inside me all this time.”

“They have.”

“And when you died . . .”

“Your emotions set you free.” He turns, smiling.

Without really thinking about it, I move closer and hold out my hand. A small ball of ice forms in my palm. I skim it across the lake the way we used to skim stones, and it sends sparks of blue magic up into the air.

Kayan grins. “I knew you’d get it,” he says.

I turn to him. “Is it really you?”

He nods slowly, his grin turning into a sad smile. “It is, but I am not...” He wrinkles his nose the way he used to when he was struggling to give me an answer about something. “I am not a living thing anymore, Alana. I am...”

“What? What are you?”

He fixes his gaze on the lake. “I’m not sure.”

SEVEN

Finn

It’s almost sunrise. The rest of the camp is sleeping. Except for Alana. She thinks I don’t know that she sneaks out before sunrise to walk alone. That she enjoys the hours when everything is quiet.

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