A Council of Betrayal by Kim Schubert Page A

gave the door another tug. Slowly, we
turned back around, watching the cloud of gray smoke swirling
behind the self-proclaimed leader of the idiots.
    “At least they got out,” I whispered to
Garrick.
    “Right, now what about us?” he responded.
    I swallowed hard. The Fae were the one race
that could enslave me again as Selena had. I had every right to be
mortally terrified of them. But terror would dull my senses, not
hone them. Exhaling a trapped breath, I pushed my mind away from
that nightmare.
    The gray smoke grew to an eight-foot shade.
Ice blonde hair swirled, purple eyes snapping open.
    “It's toying with us,” Garrick muttered,
shifting his fighting stance.
    “Doing a fucking fantastic job, I'd say,” I
answered, finding myself inching toward the door.
    Celino smiled smugly as the smoke behind him
bellowed a sound that had the guards moving away from us.
    With the speed of a fan, the smoke was sucked
from the room, and all eyes were transfixed on the Fae straight out
of the movies, complete with ice blonde hair and pale skin.
    “I think he’s a Tolkien fan,” I muttered to
Garrick, trying to ease the fear in my chest.
    “You don't think that's its natural form?”
Garrick whispered back.
    “Nope, not a chance,” I answered. I squared
my shoulders. The Fae were the original shape shifters and they
were gods at it.
    “You have summoned me,” the Fae began,
flipping his long hair over a shoulder. I couldn’t help the laugh
that broke free.
    That caught his attention as I shifted
awkwardly from foot to foot.
    “You have trapped them here,” the Fae
observed.
    “They are difficult to control, at best. They
sent their entourages out the door when we told them of our plans,”
Celino stated.
    Purple eyes met my own gaze and I exhaled
forcefully, not averting my gaze, not letting the terror-fueled
scream in my chest have a voice.
    “I cannot include the unwilling,” mused the
Fae. I didn’t believe him for a moment.
    Celino waved a hand, dismissing our refusal,
“They don't understand, simpletons at best. You see the kind of
idiots you have asked me to work with,” he demanded,
exasperated.
    “It was your job to make them understand,”
the Fae informed Celino coldly.
    “We have to get out of here,” Garrick
whispered to me.
    “Agreed,” I whispered, turning back to the
magically sealed doors.
    Months before, I had managed to suck magic
inside of me, freeing Logan and Darren’s grandfather from the
clutches of the puppet master. Maybe it was just that easy again.
For our sake, I hoped so.
    Garrick pulled uselessly on the doors as I
tuned out the yelling behind me, placing my palms against the
polished wood.
    It burned fucking badly. Sealing my eyes
closed, I examined the magic, it roved unlike anything I had yet
encountered. A deep purple intertwined with golden sparks danced in
my vision. Focusing on the gold, I drew it to me.
    If I thought my hands hurt, it was nothing
compared to the pain slicing through my veins, but it was
enough.
    I sagged to the ground against the door,
weakened from my pull. The strength of the magic blazed within,
draining me of energy. I reached up a flopping arm, latching onto
the handle, pulling the latch with everything I had. A powerful
tide of purple tried to still my hand. I hung on, panting heavily
as I turned the handle, forcing my legs to stand.
    I pulled, knowing my hands might be forever
ruined by the pain, the fire slicing deep welts as I pulled
backward.
    Garrick picked this moment to start helping,
pushing open the door, wrapping an arm around my waist and hauling
me out.
    Just as the shield Steven created at the
docks had exploded, so did this one, launching us forward. We
crashed into the opposite wall, our heads knocking hard against it.
Garrick was quicker to respond. My mind felt muddy, murky, unable
to focus as he dragged me away from the open door.
    “Jerry, get me to Jerry,” I whispered as we
escaped at vamp speed.
    Blackness stole my vision