Page 33 of The Soulless Witch

She was older than my mother, but she was more beautiful than anyone I’d ever seen before. Eyes the color of the forest stared at me with annoyance, red lips dripping with my people’s blood opening to speak, “Stand down, child. This is not your fight.”

I started kicking and flailing my fists, and she winced.

“You witch! You monster! You killed them! It’s all your fault! I hate you! I’ll kill you!” I screamed with the last of my breath while tears burned my cheeks. Through them, I saw my mother watch with horror, the rest of our warriors shifting into wolves.

“You’ll have to wait in a long line for that, boy,” the witch said, turning her face away from me as if realizing she was about to be attacked again. “How ungrateful are the ignorant! Hate me all you want, but live. I doubt you would have had I not come.”

I opened my mouth to call her a liar, but I was out of air and my head was spinning. Just as I thought she’d drop me to the ground where I could rejoin the fight, she tossed me aside with such force that I flew across the square and into the trees surrounding our village. The world swirled, and pain exploded everywhere as I slammed against the rough bark of a tree. Thick shrubbery and several piles of firewood blocked my view of the scene, but even as I tried to get up, the world tilted again.

Whimpering in pain, I tried to rise one more time, but my limbs gave out. Dark shadows crept into the corners of my vision while I listened to my mother screaming my name and begging me to run, right before she was silenced forever.

“Isaac?”

Jumping as the memory faded to the back of my mind, I blinked at the sight of the empty street. Someone cleared their throat, and I turned to find Allison watching me with a concerned look on her face.

“I’m fine,” I muttered before she could even ask. “What is it?”

“Um…there’s someone here to see you,” she replied, glancing back toward the main street where a tall figure stood awkwardly, staring at the people passing by. Wearing a long green overcoat over a pair of white pants and a shirt, he stood out even with the glamor on his face.

“Malakai?” My eyebrows rose almost to my hair as I looked at him, trying to make sure I was seeing properly. The Fae prince turned, a wide smile blossoming on his face like we were some great friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long time. His long blond hair was falling in gentle waves around his face, making him look like he was stepping out of a shampoo commercial. His Fae ears appeared small and very human, with the sharp lines of his face softened by the deep brown eyes he now wore instead of his usual violet ones. “What are you doing here?” I asked, looking up and down the street to make sure there weren’t too many people watching us closely. “Do you know something about this?”

He looked at the alley as I waved toward it, but his cheery expression betrayed nothing.

“I’m not familiar with that street,” he said apologetically. “Or this part of the city in general. No greenery, you see.” I opened my mouth to say that wasn’t what I meant, but he was already moving on from the topic. “There is something urgent I must discuss with you.”

“Then you should have called,” I said sharply, and he threw his hands in the air with a wince.

“I’m not very good with technology. I would have sent you a bird, but you might have hurt the poor animal. Or ate it. I…” He kept on rambling until I lost my patience.

“What do you want, Malakai? I’m in the middle of an investigation. Unless someone is kidnapped or dead, I don’t have the time!”

I watched the smile fade from his face, dread filling my stomach as he sighed.

“What was that saying humans like to use? ‘Funny you should say that’,” he laughed humorlessly, his brown eyes turning uncharacteristically serious. “Now come. We don’t have much time.”

Chapter 18

Isaac

“Ifthisisatrap, I’ll kill you.” I warned as I paused at the border of the Fae territory, looking at its prince, who was smiling like we were out in the park for a leisurely stroll.

“You have my permission to enter, so as long as you don’t attack anyone—or eat or drink—you will be safe,” Malakai replied, looking at me like I’d be stupid enough to do that. “I’d prefer to avoid violence done in my name or in my presence. Please, come along.”

Without waiting for my reply, Malakai strode toward what looked like a creepy dead tree with long, twisted branches surrounded by dry earth and overgrown weeds. Before he reached it, he vanished, the air rippling with Fae glamor. The familiar smell of flowers, grass, and something undeniably sweet filled my nostrils, leaving a strange sensation in my mouth as if I had just drank a cup of honeyed nectar.

Puffing in annoyance, I followed him, shuddering at the touch of Fae magic on my skin.

It wasn’t that it felt bad, on the contrary—moving through the glamor was like feeling the wind on your skin after a hot summer day. But it was still magic, even if it could only be wielded by the Fae. And I hated magic with every fiber of my body.

“Do you need a minute?” Malakai asked as he waited a few steps away. The old dead tree was gone, replaced by a kaleidoscope of colors that made my head spin.

The grass was almost luminescent, fresh, and untouched by human or Fae hands. Vibrant flowers with intoxicating smells swayed under the gentle breeze, their scent beckoning me to touch, taste, lie down, and forget the world. Afraid I might do one of those things, I switched to breathing through my mouth.

Trees heavy with odd-shaped leaves, or unnaturally bright fruits, surrounded me from all sides. Bugs, rodents, and who knows what moved in the underbrush, sending nervous shivers down my spine when I couldn’t pinpoint their exact location.

The Fae world…it was too much of everything. The sounds, the smells, the beauty, they confused my senses. Anyone who looked at this place and thought it to be a serene heaven was clearly an idiot. There were more deadly plants and creatures here than in the human world, and if one wasn’t careful…

One of the vines hanging from the trees above me swayed, and a low hissing sound made my sense of danger tingle. Malakai caught the vine—no, the snake—between his long, delicate fingers before I even moved. He looked at the creature lovingly, shaking his head before tossing it into the tall grass. When he looked back at me, he just gave me a shrug.

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