Fae's Fate: Fated Mates of the Fae Royals (Summer Court Book 7)

3. Malachi

Asteady pounding hammered inside my head. I tore my gaze away from the new Fae in the Summer Court. Erin. There was something about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I’d always lived inside the Summer Court, so I’d never met her before because from what I’d learned from Ciara about the newcomers, all of them had only lived on Earth.

The Veil shimmered around me. Magic pulsed against my skin. I’d never been inside the Veil. Never been taught how to access the magic of the Veil since the King had locked the curtain separating Earth and the Summer Court before I was born. Ciara’s fingers squeezed mine. The connection between us was always there. She was my best friend. When I lifted my gaze back to the swirling energy around us, the scene before my eyes was a new one.

Instead of the familiarity of the place I called home, a land of extensive green stretched far ahead of us. The guards stepped from the Veil, checking the surroundings before ushering us out. Aislinn and Fallon walked out of the Veil with a confidence I wished I had. Ciara’s fingers tightened on mine. At least she was nervous, too. We’d be nervous together. I squeezed her hand, too. She raised her chin and squared her shoulders. Trust Ciara to put on a brave face. She only ever let me see the other side of her. I was the luckiest man alive. I’d had her all to myself since the day I was born. But now everything was changing.

Now I’d have to share her with her fated mate.

If she was like her brothers and sisters, then I believed she’d find him on this trip to Earth. They’d all found theirs a short time ago on Earth. Why wouldn’t she find hers, too?

I wanted her to be happy, but I was selfish in wanting her to be happy with me. I loved her more than she understood. More than I’d ever told her. When her parents had requested she and her siblings choose a mate, I’d thought she’d choose me, but she hadn’t. I recognized deep down she longed for her fated mate. The one all Fae yearned for.

Except me. I’d give mine up in a heartbeat to be with Ciara.

I stepped through the shimmering magic of the Veil onto the spongy green grass of Ireland. A light drizzling rain fell onto my face like the wings of a butterfly tickling my skin. The Veil closed behind us, taking the magic of the Summer Court with it.

“How do we access the Veil?”

“You can’t. Only the royal family can unlock it enough for us to slip through,” Aislinn said.

“So, if I’m separated from you, then I’m stuck here?”

“As if you’d become separated from Ciara. You two have been joined at the hip since birth.” She rolled her eyes.

She had a point, but we didn’t comprehend what would happen on Earth. I sure didn’t since I’d never come here.

“Can Ciara work the Veil?”

Ciara shot me a glare. “Of course I can.”

“Since when?” Aislinn asked.

“Saoirse taught me. Lorcan too.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

The drizzling rain landed on her eyelashes, turning them into a magical, glowing image I’d keep in my head forever. My gaze dipped to her lips, glistening in the rain. Dia, I wanted to kiss her. So many times, I’d imagined what it’d be like. What we’d be like together as a couple instead of friends.

“Those two are sneaky,” Aislinn said.

I tore my gaze away from my best friend and focused on our surroundings. A forest stretched beside us. Tall, bright green moss-covered trunks made the path into the forest glow in the dim daylight. Gray clouds hung heavy in the air and drifted down the hill to the village in the distance. Colored buildings popped amongst the greenery of the place. On the other side of the village lay a stormy blue-gray ocean.

“The society is at the end of the village. We must walk through the village to get to it,” Fallon said. “Aislinn, did you get the coats and hats made in time?”

Aislinn nodded and motioned for the guard to drop the travel case in his hand. She opened the lid and hauled out two long coats, handed one to Ciara, and put the other one on herself.

“It’s cold here and humans look at people if they’re not wearing the right clothes for the weather,” Fallon said.

Aislinn tugged a woven hat onto her head and then laughed as she wriggled the other one onto Ciara’s head. Her pretty crown of flowers disappeared, but I knew that if the hat knocked a few flowers from her hair, they’d regrow in an instant. I’d stored one of her fallen flowers in a glass jar in a drawer in my bedchambers just to have a piece of her near me at night.

“People don’t have flower crowns either,” Fallon said.

“Makes sense to fit in.” I tugged on the bottom of my shirt. It was an off-white shade of Fae material lined with gold buttons. “What about us?”

“We’ll do.” Fallon nodded. “Once the guards stow their swords in the travel cases.”

“There’s no room in mine,” Ciara said.

“Yours weigh a ton,” Emer, one of Ciara’s guards, said.

“It’s full of books.” Ciara shrugged.

“We’re going to a library to look at books,” Aislinn said. “Why would you bring books with you?”

“To cross reference,” Ciara and I said at the same time.

We both laughed.

Aislinn shook her head.

“Here,” Fallon said, “stow the swords in this case. Now the coats are no longer in there.”

Aislinn’s guards, Brogan and Conlan, did so, as did Ciara’s guards, Emer and Ivo.

“Right, we’ll head there now. Remember, these humans are helping us,” Fallon said. “Which means no using your powers around them unless necessary.”

“Are everyone’s powers acting weird?” I asked.

“We’re not sure,” Aislinn said.

I hadn’t used mine, but Ciara’s were not right with the way her shadows had engulfed her at the tower.

“Lead the way, since you recognize where we’re going.”

Brogan and Conlan marched down the hill. Aislinn and Fallon followed. We followed behind them, and Emer and Ivo followed behind us. The trek down the hillside was as quiet as walking in the Summer Court. Birds flew across the sky in a flock, heading in the same direction as us. The rain eased and then stopped, leaving us with damp clothes, but Fae didn’t suffer from the cold, so it didn’t bother us.

We walked into the town and found humans everywhere. I’d never met one, neither had Ciara. They appeared the same as us, apart from their clothes. They wore thick coats, making their limbs appear twice the size. Most also wore boots, while we were barefoot. I supposed shoes would have helped us fit in better, but we hurried along the streets until we arrived at a wall at the end of the village.

Without warning, the wall shifted as a door opened and a man with a thick gray beard stepped through it.

“You’re back,” he said, nodding at Aislinn and Fallon. “And you’ve brought others.”

“This is my sister Ciara, who I mentioned is the scholar. Her friend Malachi is also likewise inclined. And her two guards, Emer and Ivo,” Aislinn said.

“Come in.” He stepped aside and waved at the entrance. “I’m Alister.”

We walked through the doorway and Alister closed the heavy wooden door behind us. I scanned the area, taking in the unkempt garden. Vines grew everywhere, strangling the plants struggling to flower under the thick masses of leaves. In the distance, the sound of trickling water gurgled, reminding me of the Spring of Life back home.

Alister stepped beside us. “Would you like to see the Infinite Spring?”

“I’d like to see the library,” Ciara said.

I couldn’t agree with her more. Seeing the corresponding spring here on Earth wouldn’t give us any answers. I derived answers from words. Books housed those words. Books were where we’d find the answers.