Chapter
One
No one ever noticed a wren.
I could have become a snake or a rat or even a tiny gnat, but those were all scary, annoying things people noticed right away. But a pretty bird with a stunning song? Even if they noticed, no one batted an eye, chalking the presence up to a random blessing or a spot of good fortune.
It helped that I was shadowed underneath a lush canopy of leaves and branches, perched in an abandoned nest. If anyone questioned the presence of a wren at night, the nest made it all make sense.
As long as they weren’t an ornithologist, but since we were spying on one of the Lords, I thought we could skip that fear. For now.
Caelan was somewhere close, crouched low to the ground, ears pricked in anticipation of this going to absolute shit.
To be fair, when I was involved, the odds of something going to shit were approximately 80 percent in favor of the shitshow.
One of the Lords had encroached on the territory I’d claimed after our battle with Donovan. I wasn’t all that mad about it because what was I going to do with pieces of several states when I had enough shit keeping me busy here?
Caelan was not of the same opinion. Thus, why we were here spying when I would rather be snuggled up against my Lord. His take was we kept the territory until we got a good read on the other Lords. Then, if I was ready to give it up, we could pass it to the one least likely to use it against us.
My argument was that I only liked Rowan so far. Soren was up in the air, but Moira was still pissed off at him, and it was friend code that I had to be pissed off too.
I’d only give the territory to Rowan, but he was entirely uninterested.
Caelan and I had gone back and forth over this until we agreed to see for ourselves what was happening.
Technically, no Lord could “steal” the land I’d claimed. It wasn’t mine in a legal ownership way, but every time I claimed land for my own, it boosted my power. I was pretty darn powerful on my own, but when I was on land soaked with my magic, I had the advantage over most opponents who challenged me.
Caelan had tracked the encroacher to this massive mansion on a large plot of land in Montana. It was cold as fuck out here, and if I had teeth, they’d be chattering.
There weren’t that many trees on the property, making it difficult to disguise ourselves, though it was easier for me than Caelan. A big ass wolf was a little harder to hide than a tiny bird, and we were on the eastern side of the state, where wolf sightings weren’t as common as in the west.
And since this Lord was being shady, he’d no doubt be on the lookout for the other Lords, especially Caelan. I could sneak in much easier than he could since I had the ability to shift into pretty much anything.
But I also didn’t want to tangle with another Lord. To be honest, I was sick of the Council and sick of every Lord exceptRowan and Caelan. Stealing the land was par for the course with these asshats, and I had to agree with Caelan on one point.
Encroaching on claimed land was the Lord thumbing his nose at me and my power.
I’d questioned Caelan about how a Lord would know about my claim, and he told me they could feel my magic. Every time he stepped on my land, he knew the ground belonged to me.
Odd, but I believed him, which meant one of these assholes was playing a dangerous game. Had they learned nothing from the last time? We weren’t sure which one of the Lords, if any, had betrayed me, or if the fae had done all that on their own. I suspected Ethan because he was a massive dick, but Caelan told me that was too easy.
What did I know? Someone lured me to the Hall of Fae, attacked me and my father, and while we were distracted by that, they tore down my property wards and had the Lords square off against Caelan, Rowan, and Ben, while another forced a spelled crown on my head that damn near killed me.
Smelled like collusion to me.
We’d been trying to find the culprits since and kept hitting a dead end around every corner. But Caelan and I kept trying, the Lord maybe a little more than me. Watching me die had broken something inside him, and he was out for blood.
I still mostly wanted to be left alone, but I’d come to the conclusion that wasn’t in the cards for me. Not since Cernunnos had claimed me as his heir and I’d destroyed a sacred fae tree.
Okay.Thesacred fae tree.
Cernunnos was the only fae that I knew of who could travel to all the realms. Everyone else relied on the tree’s power like a magical elevator. Even when the tree died, it left a seed behind with someone worthy who would then plant it. Rinse and repeat.
Tree dies. Seed grows. Yay, another tree.
Except it didn’t count on one Evie Quinn (meeeee) swallowing the seed, which pissed off ancient powers and ancient fae, and said seed decided to come out in an untimely manner and way, leading me to give birth to a tree on Caelan’s property.
Then someone or something decided the best way to kill me was to force me into the tree where my powers could slowly be drained over eternity. Except…they didn’t know about the Chimera part of me or expect my sheer will to survive. Not only had I come out of the tree furious, I’d burned the thing to the ground, not giving it time to produce a seed.
