A Faerie Tale Paige Burns, Jodi Lynn Copeland, Rae Monet, Tiffany Aaron (c) 2005 ISBN 1-59578-155-2 A Faerie Tale Paige Burns, Jodi Lynn Copeland, Rae Monet, Tiffany Aaron Published 2005 ISBN 1-59578-155-2 Published by Liquid Silver Books, imprint of Atlantic Bridge Publishing, 10509 Sedgegrass Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana 46235. Copyright © 2005, Paige Burns, Jodi Lynn Copeland, Rae Monet, Tiffany Aaron. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Manufactured in the United States of America Liquid Silver Books http://LSbooks.com Email: raven@LSbooks.com Editor Terri Schaefer Cover Artist April Martinez This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental. The Faerie Book Of The Symmetry Chapter 27 The Birth Of Four “And when Hadrea was cast aside by the Faerie King Lucraxious VII and he entered into holy union with her fair sister Amara, Hadrea sought reprisal. Lucraxious, having learned of Hadrea’s plan for vengeance, put to death the dark beauty Hadrea and ordered her remains be sent to the four corners of the governed world below, Earthatopia. Before Hadrea could be abolished, she sold her faerie essence to the Ogre King Eskimond in barter for her rebirth two faerie decades or twenty-eight years from the time of her demise. Eskimond soon prophesied of Hadrea’s second coming and with it the imbalance of the governed world and, in turn, the end of Earthatopia and all that inhabit the planet. “And so, having heard this, the Faerie King vowed to protect his people and the symmetry of the governed world below, and Lucraxious too bartered with the ogre king. But Eskimond would only accept an exchange from Lucraxious of the most precious kind—that of his soon-born girl child’s hand in marriage on the day of her twenty-eighth birthday. Aware he had no alternatives were he to continue to reside over and keep in balance the world below, Lucraxious agreed to these terms. But then his fair wife Amara gave birth to not one, but four lovely daughters and the king grew to love them all at first sighting. Lucraxious could not give away even one of the adored princesses to the ogre king and so he entered into a new agreement with Eskimond. “At the time the double suns of Faeridae reach their highest point on the twenty-seventh birthday of the faerie princesses, each will be cast to one of the four corners of Earthatopia and will have one year to join in holy union with an Earthatopian male, who must love and believe in her faerie essence. If, when the double suns of Faeridae reach their highest point on the twenty-eighth birthday of the faerie princesses all four have not entered into holy union, each daughter will be given to the Ogre King Eskimond and Queen Amara will be extricated to fulfill Hadrea’s demise while Hadrea becomes the new queen and Earthatopia and all its inhabitants are annihilated forever.” RING OF FIRE Paige Burns Dedication In memory of my mother, Arless Anne Ehmke. Thanks Mom for teaching me to chase my dreams. Special thanks to JLC, for your friendship and encouragement. Sue, Tracey and the ladies of RTR for bringing me into the fold. Linda, for taking a chance on me. My sister Tesha, for reading things you wouldn’t normally give a second look. And most important, my family, for their patience, encouragement, and undying love. Chapter One Damia’s idea of a good time included a pint or two of popka, the preferred alcohol of the fae, and a naked male body or two combined for a good eight hours of kinky faerie sex. Actually, it had only been six hours this last time—they’d gotten a late start. A good time did not include her father storming in and waking her up from her sex-induced sleep, yelling about responsibility then locking her in her room. She knew she was in deep cac for two reasons. One, she was seriously locked in her room. Sure, her parents had tried in the past to lock her door, but this time, they obviously meant it. No amount of magic could unlock the door, or the window for that matter. And, two, her father had demanded she change into something “proper” within the hour or there would be “dire consequences.” His words, not hers. “Illuminate,” she said to the mirror. Nothing. She’d been trying to get her magic to work in the Earthatopia language but so far, no go. “Well, cac. Soilsigh,” she commanded again. The mirror was suddenly backlit with a green glow. She looked at herself in the reflection and pouted. She didn’t know what was wrong with her outfit. She’d had to bribe Felix the Spider to get genuine Earth leather. It hadn’t been much of a bribe, though. One hand job was all it took and she’d had a yard of the black, supple material to design her latest fashion creation. Damia ran her hands down the length of her body, following the long, slender strips of leather that clung to her from shoulder to hip, barely covering her nipples as they passed over her breasts. Sterling silver chain connected each strip, wrapping around her back to front to and meeting just under her breasts at a large ruby pendant. Another chain dangled from the ruby and attached to the leather thong that barely covered her labia. She spun around, giving a critical eye to the back of the outfit. The back of the thong was made of more silver chain. Felix had complained about how much silver she’d used, but she loved the feel of it gliding over her body. And the thong, well, she’d had lots of fun with the silver attached to the thong. Her iridescent wings flashed green rainbows in the candlelight. She was the first in many generations of fae to have single-color wings that matched her skin. That was the other reason for the black and silver attire, both colors showed off her pale green luminance to perfection. “Proper, hmmph!” Damia stalked to the chest that held her ceremonial robes. “Albin and Aleron didn’t complain about my outfit last night.” The twin faeries had, in fact, shown her a new thing or two to use the chain for. “Princess Damia?” a voice called from the door. She didn’t recognize who it was, so it was probably one of her father’s lackeys. She didn’t respond. “Princess? I’m to tell you your father expects you in five minutes.” “Thanks,” Damia replied. She wasn’t normally so polite, but she was still sleepy from being up all night with the twins and, she had to admit, a little worried about the meeting with her father. She’d never been called to a meeting before, never. If only she hadn’t walked by her father’s office yesterday on her way to meet the twins. All she had heard was something about the balance between the worlds coming to an end before her father realized his office door was open and ordered his secretary to shut it. She hoped the session today with her father wasn’t about what she’d overheard. As quickly as she could, Damia untangled herself from the leather and chain outfit, unlaced her thigh-high boots, and slipped on her pale lavender gossamer robe. It certainly wasn’t to her taste—it actually covered everything—but it was form fitting so tolerable. Another knock sounded at the door. “Damia?” It was her mother. “Come, daughter, father is waiting.” Damia took one last look around her room before she walked to the door her mother had opened. She had a sinking feeling this was going to be the last time she saw her room for a long time. * * * * “No … please, no.” They weren’t listening to her. The circle of goblins was closing in on her. Their stench made her nauseous. One of them snaked a long, hairy finger around her ankle, another grabbed her hair and pulled. Damia screamed into the night. Fear overwhelmed her until the starry night sky faded to black. Damia woke with a start. Panic skittered through her when she realized she couldn’t move. Her leg was caught in something and she couldn’t lift her head more than a few inches. Willing her racing heart to slow, she closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. It wasn’t the first time she’d woken up in a strange place, but it was the first time she felt trapped. She took a moment to listen to her surroundings. Wind rustled and she could hear birds in the distance. She was outside, but not on Faeridae. There was a different current flowing through the ground and her surroundings. Damia opened her eyes, letting them slowly adjust to the breaking light of dawn, but the trees were so thick, the light was dim. Her arms were free and she began to feel around, trying to discover why her head wouldn’t move. Her hair was tangled in vines. That was probably what had her foot, as well. Damia sighed in relief, plants were her forte. What kind of plants was the question. Was she on Dundroc, the ogre kingdom? She wondered for a moment if the nightmare of the goblins attacking her had really been a dream. She concentrated on her life essence. Other than feeling a little stiff and still immobile, she was fine. If she had really been with the goblins … well, she’d be lucky to be alive. Even though she knew there was more at stake here than being given over to the goblins, it was still something she didn’t want, for her or her sisters. So, not on Faeridae, not on Dundroc, then she must be on Earth. She laughed at that. Her powers were heightened on Earth, so getting out of these vines and finding out where she was would be simple. “Saor.” The vines slowly retreated, almost caressing her scalp and legs as they relea...
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