Page 1 of Courting the King of Cliffs

Chapter 1

Dove

I let out a long, slow breath, staring up at the castle in front of me. As far as castles went, it wasn’t large, or spectacular architecturally. But it was on top of a massive mountain that had grown as the earth fae’s city on the cliffs had grown, and that meant it had an absolutely incredible view from the large windows it boasted.

Said view didn’t make me any less reluctant to knock on the door, because I knew the castle’s owner would not be thrilled to see me.

Granite and I had an interesting past.

Or not-so-interesting, I suppose. We met when I was seven and he was thirteen. My adopted parents—my Uncle Storm and Aunt Harper, the king and queen of the wind fae—were friends with his adopted parents—Quake and Margo, who used to be the king and queen of the earth fae.

There had been a party. I couldn’t even remember what the party was about.

As soon as I got there, our magic sort of grated against each other, causing me pain.

He left immediately.

And that was the beginning of our nonexistent relationship.

I’d never tried to reach out, and he’d never gone to any family things I’d been at since then.

I knew he was close with his adoptive parents, though. Harper and Storm had talked about it a few times, growing up. He was close to Flood and Ayla too, and was incredible with kids, according to them.

But anyway, he and I didn’t interact.

Period.

Was I bitter about it?

Not really. With magic that incompatible, there was nothing we could do about it. It did frustrate me a little though, that all our family and friends couldn’t always get together because of us.

The large double doors of the castle in front of me remained closed, though I was absolutely certain that Granite was inside, awake, and could feel my feet on the stone out here. Since we’d never met, we had never figured out which of us had stronger magic, but according to Quake, we were pretty near equal.

Which meant that if I could feel him, he could feel me too.

I let out another slow breath.

Waiting longer wasn’t going to accomplish anything, except giving me more stress.

And I needed him to like me.

Or if not like me, at least let me in.

So I pushed the doors open and stepped inside.

Soft music played from one of the radio devices the water fae had begun building at some point.

I despised them, but then again, I despised most things that made noise for an extended period of time.

Except babies. They were too cute to despise.

But also too difficult for me to be around for more than a little while.

Which was exactly why I was in Granite’s castle.

I didn’t bother calling out to him. He communicated with sign language much of the time, because talking hurt his throat. I felt for him on that one, even though none of my own struggles produced physical pain—only intense discomfort and the occasional panic.

His magic had attacked both his spine and throat, so his problems were pretty much the opposite of mine, which all centered on my mind.

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