Page 24 of How To Please A Princely Fae

If there was a looming contest, the orc warrior would win it, hands down.

"Then where are they?" Ga’Rek growls. His eyes glitter. None of the good humor I've begun to associate with the orc remains.

Violet quails under his menacing perusal.

"They sent a spirit guide," she says, her voice uncertain. “It said they just wanted to talk. They don’t understand why we’re upset.”

Piper puts a delicate hand on Ga'Rek's wrist and he audibly swallows, nodding nearly imperceptibly.

"Forgive me, Violet,” he says in his deep voice.

“Continue,” Piper tells her.

I stare openly at the pair of them with pure admiration. Amazing how quickly they’ve become in tune with each other. I’ve always admired Piper’s quiet way of leading, her way of knowing exactly how to anticipate what people want and need and then help them get it.

The two of them are a force already.

"I don't understand what else it’s saying exactly.” Violet wrings her hands. “I don't know what else they’re trying to tell us. I’m sorry. I wish I did.”

I don't know what's happened to this fragile new witch, but from the way she seems afraid of everything, I can only imagine what she's been through on her way to us.

"Do your best to explain," Nerissa tells her, not unkindly. The black-haired witch, our spell maker, steps forward andbraces her hands on Violet's elbows. "We all had to start from somewhere," Nerissa tells her. "We understand this is new to you. We all know new things can be just as scary as they are exciting, sometimes even more so."

I tried to bring myself to remember what it was like to live a life without magic before my powers fully set the summer I turned thirteen. I can’t.

There was never a time in my life when I didn't have magic, when I didn't find all plants to be full of magic.

"It says what happens now happened before… I guess a long time ago. It doesn’t understand time like we do… and that the elementals manifested then, here, just like they are now…but they've never demanded a bride tribute."

Her words tumble over themselves, her eyes far away, as if she's translating something that's being said to her and trying to keep up as best she can.

"The spirit says the balance has never been so…" She shakes her head. "I don't understand what it's saying, something about a wheel spinning out of control, or maybe a scale?"

She looks to Nerissa for help. Even Nerissa can’t speak to spirits.

Nerissa squeezes her elbows encouragingly and Violet closes her eyes.

"There's a balance of magic, of power, dark and light, I think," Violet says slowly. Magic shifts around us, nothing like the kind I wield, and it tickles over my skin. "There is a wild magic in the Elder Forest, or beyond it? I don’t know. A wild magic that's been caged? Or contained? By previous covens. The elementals can balance the chaos, but they need the help of a bound witch… or three.”

“A counterweight.” Nerissa runs a hand through her hair. “That… makes sense.”

I have no idea what she means by that. From the consternated expression on Wren’s face, I get the feeling she has no idea, either.

Great. A coven full of plant and kitchen and jewelry witches up against pure chaos power.

And Nerissa, whose spell making capabilities are great, sure, but she’s more prone to drama than exerting true power.

A flurry of voices eclipses Nerissa’s mutterings.

We've drawn a crowd around us. Magic hangs heavy in the air around Violet and Nerissa.

The new witch’s eyes are wide, unseeing. An invisible force whips her hair around her head.

It’s like nothing I've ever seen before.

Fear worms inside my heart, and we have much bigger problems than Kieran’s lost memories.

Like he senses I’m thinking of him, Kieran's breath warms the shell of my ear. Goosebumps rise along my skin that have nothing to do with the threat to our way of life and everything to do with his body nestled into mine.

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