Alun seems to sag in relief, while Laelia just looks too fucking happy. “I don’t have to tell everyone my name is fucking Laelia, do I? It sounds like a virus of some kind.”
Poppy bursts into laughter with Torfinn, while Laelia looks like she wants to murder me. Fair enough, most people look at me that way. “No and yes. You can tell people your middle name is Daesyn and you prefer to be called it. When anyone questions it, you can comment on how mistakes in paperwork must have been made.”
“Thank fuck,” I mutter and pick up my fork. “Now I’m hungry, let’s eat.”
“Did someone say food?” Mossy asks from above me, and I look up as he swings off the light shade and lands on my shoulder. “Murder and food. This is an interesting fucking night.”
“Your monkey speaks mostly foul language,” Alun points out in disgust.
I proudly grin. “He gets it from me.”
Chapter 6
“Hey, I brought you an extra blanket. It gets cold in here,” Poppy utters, standing in the open doorway to my box room and looking very nervous as she bites on her bottom lip. I sit up in bed, looking over her from head to toe. Poppy’s round-shaped face and heart-shaped lips make her look like a doll, and her big brown eyes don’t help matters. Her black hair is naturally straighter than mine could ever get, and it stops just over her shoulders. She has a light yellow dress on with a sweetheart neckline. I don’t see much defined muscle, and she doesn’t hold herself in the way a trained fighter naturally does.
“Can you fight, or was what your dad said just pure bullshit?” I question. Her cheeks go red, and I know my answer.
“My magic is strong, and I’m a quick learner,” she defends herself as she steps into the room and places the folded pink blanket at the end of my bed. “I won’t let you down.”
She goes to walk out, and that tiny part of me that has a conscience wakes up. “I will try to keep you alive and teach you what I can. It won’t be easy, and you might hate me by the end.”
She turns back, her eyes widening, and what I think is joy shines in them. Just ugh. “Thank you! My dad said you were the best fighter he has seen in years. Almost as good as the Protector queen.”
“She did beat me though,” I add in, even though it pisses me off. It was that damn dress’s fault.
Poppy shrugs. “I still can’t wait for you to teach me. See you in the morning, Daesyn. You might want to sleep, it will be a long ride to the city.”
“Riding what?” I question.
“What do you think is in the stable?” she says with a small smile.
“No one said anything about horses!” I shout at her back, hearing her laugh as she shuts the door behind her. I collapse back on the bed, stretching my arms out and staring at the white ceiling.
“I think you made a friend,” Mossy says, pushing the window open and coming in. He jumps on the bed and lies his head on the pillow, pulling the blanket up to his shoulders. “Are we leaving that lot now or in the morning? I need a nap.”
“We are leaving for Royal Reaper Academy in the morning,” I answer his question. His bright eyes stare up at me.
“You can’t go. They don’t know what you are,” Mossy whispers but almost hisses.
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” I shrug. “It beats going back to the Protector city and being killed outright.”
“Demon shitface did say he would cook me if you failed,” Mossy agrees around a yawn. “I will help you keep Poppy alive and watch your back.”
“What would I do without you?” I question with a small smile as Mossy drifts off to sleep. I tuck the blanket in around him, brushing a finger down his small arm. Mossy is all I have that reminds me of home now. The necklace I had when I fell into this world was lost to the sea I fell into, and I was lucky to be washed up alive on the shore at all. I wish I had it with me; that small necklace was a connection to my mother. Pushing back the dire feeling of being lost, I climb onto the cabinet and out of the window onto the roof. The cold air blows my hair around me as I jump off the roof, making sure to call shadows to make steps to land on. I jump off two shadows before hitting the ground and sucking back in the power I let out.
“Impressive,” a male voice states. I freeze, turning around to face the fields behind the house and the guy standing in front of them.
Every inch of him looks like danger wrapped up in sexy packaging.
Thick black locks of hair cover his head and match his dark blue eyes. Even though we are a little distance away, the starlight shines down on his sharp jawline and high cheekbones. His face is picture-perfect, right down to the kissable lips that hold an amused smile. Standing at least six foot, he looks like a model and a reaper had a kid and it grew up to be him. Magic and a perfect body. Deadly combination.
“Who are you?” I question, taking a step forward towards the stranger.
He mimics my step forward. “A secret. Our secret.”
“Interesting name,” I tease the stranger. “But we are nothing to each other. We have never met before. Have we?”
“Have you heard of the song called ‘The Curse of the Fae’?” the guy asks, tilting his head to the side. “Did your mother sing you the song as a child?”
My heart pounds in my chest. Something about him makes me nervous and excited all at the same time. I don’t like it. “My mother sang many songs to me about the fae.”
“We will see each other soon, Daesyn,” he chuckles, turning away. “I have a feeling we are heading to the same place.”
“How did you know my mother sang me songs?” I call out to his back. He looks back, and his eyes glow an unnatural red.
“All fae sing to their young.”
I stumble back as he disappears into red smoke, leaving nothing of him at all, not a trace of magic that I can sense anyway. Snow starts to fall as I stare at the space the guy was in, a sinking feeling I’m going to have to stab him to find out what he knows. Oh well.
“Daesyn, why are you outside?” Alun asks, and I turn around to see him at the door, searching the space around me.
“It’s snowing. I wanted to see it once more before I went to sleep,” I explain, and he nods with suspicious eyes, leaving me to it.
I’m the suspicious assassin who loves snow and seductive, wild boys with dark secrets whispered from their lips.
Chapter 7
“What do we sing when the Evertree grows, Daesyn?” my mum asks, her soft voice making me feel sleepy as I lie down on the slightly damp grass. The Evertree is right above us, the only tree within the border of our land. The brown branches hang low, the wind moves them softly and gently, and the yellow leaves fall off in the wind. I used to get sad that all the leaves turn from a brilliant green to a faded yellow as they die, but now I know the leaves will always come back. Nothing dies forever in the Otherworld Forest.
“That the Otherworld is watching and waiting,” I reply around a yawn. My mum chuckles and runs her fingers through my hair.
“You are growing up so quickly, Daesyn. I feel like I have blinked and you have grown from a newborn to a child,” she tells me. I roll over to face her, looking at my mum’s big tanzanite eyes. They are the same as mine, and my uncle says we’d look like twins if it weren’t for my mum’s red hair.