Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“To be honest, I didn’t have time to notice much of anything except that you’re all unnaturally gorgeous,” I said candidly. “Oh—and the fact that everyone I’ve seen has pointed ears and glowing eyes.”
“Those are the marks of our people—the Dark Elves or Dark Fae,” Krynn said. “But there are ways to tell when someone is a half-breed. Hair color…skin color…”
“A pure-blooded Dark Fae should have platinum skin and hair the color of moonlight.” Seldarin sounded like he was reciting something that he’d heard many times. He pointed to his own skin—the platinum tinged with olive green and then his hair, which was thick and black.
“Oh, okay,” I said. “So you’re…”
“Part Orc,” he said flatly. “My grandsire lusted for a Fae maiden he saw bathing in a stream in the moonlight. So he stole her away and raped her.”
Krynn winced.
“That’s an ugly word, my friend.”
“An ugly word for an ugly deed,” Seldarin growled. “My grandmother killed herself—but not before she bore my sire. The Orc blood wasn’t so obvious in him,” he added. “So he was able to blend with the other Dark Fae and find a wife—my mother. He never told her about his own parents. So imagine her surprise when I came out looking like this.” He gestured at himself again.
“So what if you have black hair instead of white and your skin is kind of green?” I demanded. “You’re still gorgeous.”
Which is definitely something I never would have said if I hadn’t sipped so much wine. I told myself I needed to slow down again…and then took another sip.
“Actually, Sel is considered quite ugly in the Midnight Court,” Krynn said, not unkindly.
“Ugly?” I frowned, looking at the big Fae’s square features. Seldarin stared back, his bronze eyes unflinching. “Well, I mean he’s not as pretty as you,” I said to Krynn after a moment. “But he’s still quite handsome.”
“Maybe by human standards. Fae have a different set of rules regarding appearance,” Seldarin said stoically. “I was such an ugly baby my own mother could barely stand to look at me. She used to make me wear a mask when I was younger—it’s one of my earliest memories.”
“What a horrible thing to do!” I exclaimed indignantly. “What mother would treat her own child like that?”
“One who was desperately ashamed of having Orc blood in her family lineage,” Seldarin said. “She left my father because of it eventually—as soon as I was old enough to fend for myself.”
“How awful. I’m so sorry, Seldarin.” Reaching out, I put a hand on his arm and squeezed gently. “No mother should treat her child like that.”
He shrugged stoically.
“It is what it is. And you can’t change the past—or the ways of the Court.”
“Appearance is very important to the Dark Fae,” Krynn explained. “Almost as important as pure bloodlines.”
“Well what about you?” I asked, turning to him. “You don’t look that much different from the other Fae I saw in the clearing.”
“I have these…” He pointed to the blond streaks in his long, silvery-white hair. “And I have…other differences. I’m half Fairy,” he added.
“Which is why he’s so fucking pretty,” Seldarin growled, but a teasing smile was tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Krynn really was gorgeous—even considering the Fae standard of beauty, I thought, studying his perfect face. Only the squareness of his jaw kept him from being as beautiful as a woman.
“I still don’t see how being extra pretty and having some blond in your hair makes you an outcast,” I remarked.
“Well it didn’t help that I first came to Court as a servant—a pageboy to Lady Elgiana. Also…” Krynn hesitated and I could see all kinds of emotions crossing his lovely features.
“You might as well show her, Krynn,” Seldarin said. “She’s going to see them sooner or later.”
“All right.” Krynn tugged at the long robe he was wearing and shrugged his shoulders. The front of it fell down to his waist, revealing broad shoulders and a muscular chest, though he clearly wasn’t as built as Seldarin. But the back of the robe seemed to snag on something. Krynn reached back, but Seldarin was already there.
“Here—be careful, I know they’re sensitive,” he said. With surprising gentleness, he pulled down his friend’s robe and let it fall all the way to Krynn’s waist.
When I saw what had been caught in the robe, I gave a little gasp. There, sprouting from the Fae’s shoulder blades were two small, withered growths. At first I couldn’t tell exactly what they were, but then Krynn flexed his back and rolled his shoulders and they began to unfurl and grow larger until each of them was almost as big as my whole body.
“Wings!” I breathed as they flapped delicately, stirring the air in the cavern. They weren’t bird’s wings—more like butterfly wings, I thought. They were blue with swirling golden patterns and a gorgeous iridescent sheen. They threw rainbows on the walls when he moved them.