Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear Page A

the sky, talking softly.
    “You miss her.” Quinn’s voice remained neutral.
    “I know, she’s a bad influence and I shouldn’t form attachments to mortals.” He blew a lock of hair out of his face. If they knew about her Spark they’d use her, especially now with the magic in such a flux. Something needed to be done soon or the effects might become irreversible.
    He also didn’t want anyone to know he could sense the Spark in mortals. If the high queen’s huntsman failed, she’d annex every one of their people who could see the Spark and send them to hunt.
    Personally, he’d rather die than trick an innocent mortal girl into becoming the sacrifice.
    “Truly, what you and Noli did is hardly comparable to the scrapes you and James used to get into.” Quinn grinned at the memories.
    The hairs on the back of Steven’s neck stood as the magic shifted, making fear knot in his belly. A potential sacrifice had been found. Not bound, which would settle the magic somewhat, though only her blood would reverse the starvation effects. But one had been fully identified, perhaps even taken to the Otherworld.
    Calming himself, he took a deep breath of the pleasant evening air. He prayed to the Bright Lady that the huntsman hadn’t found Noli.
    Was using her Spark to save an entire people better than beating it out of her?
    That was a question of ethics to ponder. It depended on whether or not she was willing. The biggest problem he had with the way the queen handled the sacrifice was that Kevighn Silver-Tongue tricked those girls.
    If they were informed and willing that was another matter all together. Some argued a mortal would never willingly give her life to them. Not anymore. He’d beg to differ. Not that anyone cared to ask him.
    But not Noli.
    Never Noli.
    For the millionth time he wished things were different.
    “You felt that, too.” Quinn’s eyes grew searching as if trying to see inside his head.
    “I think I’ll stay outside for awhile,” he replied. That wasn’t an unusual statement. Because of his affinity, he always wanted to be outside.
    Quinn nodded. “I’ll check on James and your father.”
    As soon as Quinn went back into the house, he slipped through the board he kept loose in the new fence and scaled Noli’s tree. He climbed as high as he could, avoiding the tree house. Getting comfortable, he sat with his back against a branch, feeling the tree’s life, its energy. The green stone in his sigil reflected the moonlight as he played with it. Maybe Kevighn wouldn’t take her because she wore the mark of someone’s house.
    Of course, it belonged to a house in exile.
    No. It wasn’t her. Besides, plenty of other girls possessed the Spark
    The golden moon sat full and high. Raising his face to the dark sky, he drank in the night, listening to the hum of the city, the creatures of the night, and wishing he wasn’t alone.
    “Happy solstice, Noli.”

    A strange sensation, one both hot and minty, filled Noli as she sat in the faerie tree. Just as she thought she caught movement out of the corner of her eye everything began to spin round and round like she was on the carousel at the pier back in Los Angeles. It made her feel odd, even odder then the time she’d gotten drunk on wine leftover from a party at V’s house.
    The air shimmered with colors—pinks, blues, and golds. Little lights danced around her and she gripped onto the branch with all her might, afraid she’d fall off.
    Perhaps she was reacting to the drugs.
    Or going mad.
    Yes, that was it. The isolation and everything she’d
endured had made her mad.
    Holding tight, she sat back, enjoying the colors and sparkles.
    Suddenly, they stopped, jolting her back to reality. She looked around. She still sat in the tree—the same tree. But she no longer sat in the faery garden in the back of Findlay House.
    Yes, she’d most definitely gone mad. How could she not be in the garden?
    This was a garden, a wilder one, the colors more