The Book of Faeyore (5 page)

Authors: Kailin Gow

BOOK: The Book of Faeyore

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We were dancing to the music, our bodies echoing the sounds we heard – or perhaps the sounds were echoing us. We were learning the Equinox Dance. It was the dance that we would dance on our wedding day.

It was a custom in this fairy kingdom that royal children would learn this dance – the most complicated and mysterious of all dances – for their wedding days. And so we all practiced, day after day (night after dream-rich night), for the day that we would come of age, and dance the dance truly, our feet moving in smooth unison, echoing the commingling of our souls.

My father was the fairy king of the Summer Kingdom – a place where everything tasted like honey and felt like the morning sun on your forehead. Kian's mother was the Winter Queen of the Winter Kingdom, a place beyond the mountains where cool breezes turned into arctic chill, where a castle made of amethyst stood upon a rocky peak, and evergreens dotted the horizon. And it was only fitting that our two kingdoms should meet, should join together; we were the chosen ones.

“You will be my Queen,” the boy whispered to me. His voice was confident, strong.

The dance was still difficult for us. I got tangled in my waves of lavender satin, tripping over his silver shoes. He in turn kept fumbling with his hands, trying to spin me around the waist and instead, elbowing me in the side – but somehow it didn't hurt.

“Silly,” cried the other girl watching us. She, like Kian, was stunning – her hair was as long and lustrous as a starless night; her eyes were silver, like the pelt of a wolf. She was called Shasta, I knew. “Silly – that's not how you dance.” She giggled, and her eyes glittered with her laugh.

And then everything changed and became chaos – my home was suddenly ripped apart and replaced by a new scene. Something –
something
– was attacking, something with teeth and horns and claws that ripped, something that made a great and bellowing sound I could hear even when I pressed my hands tightly to my ears.
The Minotaur.

The screaming came from all directions; everybody was running – me and Shasta and Kian – and the adults, all of them – away from the Minotaur, into each other. Everyone had gone mad. And then someone – someone – was fighting it, a cavalcade of fairy knights each shining in his golden armor – and some knights from the Winter Kingdom too, in their silver.

The Summer King and Queen were there, and the Winter Queen was there too. She looked like Shasta, but older – and her face was different. There was something hard and glinting in her eyes that I could not see in Shasta's, like the shiny specks in stone. I was afraid.

“This is your fault!” a voice snapped – I could not tell to whom it belonged.

“No – it's yours!” Another voice – equally angry, equally cold.

“If it hadn't been for your kingdom...”

“Don't give me those excuses – the Minotaur is a device of your court!”

The voices grew higher and stranger, angrier, louder, quicker and quicker in their retorts until I felt like I was surrounded in a cacophony of rage, bellowing over and over again until at last all I heard was:

“
It's all because of that girl!
”

And for a moment, they were all silent, and all of them were staring at me.

I could not understand, but it did not matter. Before I could think, could understand what was going on, what was happening to me, the scene had changed again.

I felt his arms around me. That was the first thing; I felt it before I could see anything, see him. I felt his arms encircle my shoulders, feel him brushing my shoulder blades lightly with his fingertips. I shivered. His hands took mine. I could see him. It was Kian, but he was older, now, and so was I – both a young man and a young woman – staring at each other. Age had only made us more beautiful; his hair was longer, now, and his eyes sharper, with greater depth. I could see my reflection in his eyes; my hair was longer too: a deep, warm brown with flecks of gold studded throughout. And I could see my expression – full of fear, full of joy – as he bent down closer to me, as his lips came ever closer to mine.

“Oh, Breena,” he said to me. “My Breena.”

His blue eyes took on a look of sharp determination; he stared at me with such intensity that I felt that his eyes had penetrated into the truest part of my true soul, a part hidden even to the rest of this strange and wonderful land.

“I will kill you, Breena. It is what I have to do. It is decreed.” He cupped my face with his hands, and I could feel his cool breath whispering upon my cheek. “We are mortal enemies.”

Always, every night, that same dream – that same fear, that same joy. When I woke up each morning, I felt a profound sense of loss, a yearning that stretched so deeply it crossed the bounds of reality itself. The alarm clock would ring, and everything would change. I was a nearly-sixteen-year-old girl, with suede boots, with T-shirts bearing sayings I believe in.” I had an IPod, a cell phone, my laptop (with pages full of html code for my brainchild, teensforgreatergood.com). I spoke in rushed slang about the latest films and television shows, played video games with Logan, teased him when he won, teased him when he lost. I wore little to no makeup and complained about homework during G-Format. The idea of dating – of fumbling high school boys trying to score in between stolen keg stands, of Facebook relationship statuses and hastily-texted endearments – repulsed me.

But for a few hours each night, I was somebody else. I was a princess in a castle, with a dress made of lavender and besides me there is a prince with arctic-blue eyes, and arms wrapped closely around me, and lips coming nightly ever closer to mine...

I was home
.

EXCERPT From

The Wolf Fey

Feyland

T
he twilight ebbed like a purple and gold velvet cloak studded by tiny brilliant diamonds. I sat staring at the strange crescent moon, the colors of butterscotch and berries. The other moon, the colors of silver and cream hung to the East, showering moonlight over the Winter Kingdom. After many years of traveling back and forth across the Crystal River from the mortal world of Gregory, Oregon into the mythical world of Feyland, I should have been used to the sight of the two moons brilliant against the clear night.

But I wasn’t. It was stunning how beautiful Feyland can be, like the paintings of the most fantastic landscape, coupled with a light that gave off colors that pierced gently through stained glass. As the fragrant wind rustled through the meadow grass and the silvery leaves of glimmering trees, I heard the faint sounds of twinkling chimes, violin strings, and flute play out a melody into the endless night.

That was Feyland.

I had made this trek numerous times before, going back and forth, back and forth at times with my father, but most times alone. This time, it was with trepidation. I sniffed the air and smelled the scent of death and destruction, far bitter than the blackest bile. With it came the taste of change, which was bittersweet as bark root and honey. We had all tasted this change at the tip of our tongues – my father, my grandfather, and the brave men and women of the clan. For thousands of years, we have remained neutral, minded our own ways and lived a simple and peaceful life in Feyland. But with the tides of change, Grandfather would soon have to make a decision…

This decision would affect me in the most profound way for it will either take me away from Feyland or take me away from her. Her, the reason why I travel back to Gregory. Her. The pretty girl with the lavender eyes, creamy skin, and a bright smile. Breena.

************

Breena

I have never known a time when I did not loved her.

I loved her the moment I saw her running scared into the woods at the back of the school near her home in Gregory, Oregon. We were both around five or six at the time. She had been chased by a group of girls, led by a dark-haired girl named Clariss who teased her endlessly for her lavender eyes and thin willowy frame.

“Treena!” They taunted. “Come out and play with us.” Then they laughed. “Or you like playing with trees instead? Weirdo.” They laughed again before leaving.

I watched from afar behind the silvery trees, timid and nervous at first because I had just shifted back into a boy and was crossing the woods to get home. Timid at first because of her beauty. From the beginning, I sensed she was no ordinary girl. She had an otherworldly beauty unlike the other girls in school. She was human, no doubt, and smelled human, but those lavender blue eyes and creamy white skin and long silky honey brown hair glimmering with copper sunlight, made me think of Feyland. As I stepped out from behind the trees, and she fastened her steady gaze at me with both fear and curiosity, my heart skipped a beat, and I knew I could never stay away from her.

Bitter Frost and The Wolf Fey

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Other Series by Kailin Gow

DESIRE

“a literary genius” –Kindle Obsessed

A Dystopian world where everyone’s future is planned out for them at age 18…whether it is what a person desires or not. Kama is about to turn 18 and she thinks her Life’s Plan will turn out like her boyfriend’s and friend’s – as they desired. But when she glimpse a young man who can communicate with her with his thoughts and knows her name…a young man with burning blue eyes and raven hair, who is dressed like no other in her world, she is left to question her Life’s Plan and her destiny.

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PLAYLIST for The Frost Series

War is Over (Kelly Clarkson)
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The Wolf (Fever Ray)
http://amzn.to/uFRey9

The Sound of Winter
http://amzn.to/rDe5hX

Winter Song (Sara Bareilles)
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Killing Pixies (Caelum Bliss)
http://amzn.to/tRuTV6

Frost Giant Battle (Patrick Doyle)
http://amzn.to/tm8gd8

Frost (Enslaved)
http://amzn.to/u7hP3k

Frozen (Within Temptation)
http://amzn.to/tn6t0e

Love You Forever
http://amzn.to/uXZdUM

My Hero (Foo Fighters)
http://amzn.to/vyeosP