Page 3 of The Unseelie Wish

The lead soldier was standing over her. He pulled a golden sword from his sheath. “Now, you die.”

“I—wait—please!” She tried to scramble away, but she was surrounded.

She was going to die.

She was going to die.

She was going to die.

The soldier swung his sword at her, meaning to cleave off her head.

She gestured with her hand as if to push him away.

And in that moment, the soldiers…changed. Instead of soldiers, there was an explosion of vines, flowers, and grass that covered the ground and trees. It was as though they had turned into a wave of flora that cascaded out from them in the direction of her gesture. Instead of gore, splattering all over the trees and the ground, was life.

She was shaking.

But she was alone.

Alone in the underbrush that was now covered in wildflowers that had once been people. The birds were chirping overhead, and a butterfly went to settle on a flower, entirely ignorant in its beauty to the reality of what had just happened.

She had just killed six people.

Kind of.

She had turned them into plants.

She had heard their music and changed it to something else.

Her head was spinning. She felt faint. Backing up, she pressed herself against a tree and slid to the ground, now no longer caring who found her or what they were going to do. Because all she could do was stare at the six patches of green that had no business being there.

What have I done?

Valroy knew the moment something had gone awry. The moment someone crossed from his world of moonlight into that of the sun. He grimaced. No Unseelie had been taken prisoner by their damnable and insignificant “counterparts” in all his years. They were smarter than that—better than that.

It left only one option.

That bastard duke was to blame. The human witch he had caught in his coils was the key to unlocking the cage that kept Valroy and his kind at bay. With her simple wish, to end the treaty that kept them from ruling Tir n’Aill and destroying Earth, all would be set right.

But if Izael had gone and done something foolish…if he had frightened the girl away? All that would be lost.

Now, Valroy was left with two questions.

One. How did the human girl escape Izael to begin with? The duke was not precisely uncovetous of his things.

And two.

How much would it cost Valroy to bargain with his wife for the girl’s return?

Sighing, he pulled his wings around him like a cape and braced himself for the manner of negotiation one could only have with one’s wife.

One he was likely to lose.

Alex had no clue how long she sat there, staring at the patches of growing flowers and greenery that had, only a short time prior, been Seelie fae soldiers trying to do their jobs. She didn’t have a problem with them. They were just following the rules.

And now they were gone.

Her ability to hear the music of life was one thing. The fact that she could change it at will had been wonderful at first. But now, she was staring down the dark side of her gifts. Six people. Six fae soldiers. Gone.