A Fey Harvest Read Online Free Page B

away were suddenly brought back to him, they gasped, horrified.
    “After all those terrible things you thought would happen to him when he opened the box,” I laughed, “you think aging is the worst?”
    “ It'ssss terrible,” Taog shuddered. “Thisss amussssed you when you were little? You truly are a terrifying Queen. We are honored to have you lead usssss.”
    I shook my head and smiled. I'd have to be more careful in choosing books for them in the future. The fears of men and fey are very different.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    “ Vervain, where have you been?” Arach caught up with me as I was heading back from the cavern with Neala and her children.
    “ Reading to the children,” I held up the book.
    “ My King,” Neala nodded and quickly led the pups away.
    “ Neala,” he nodded back and then returned his attention to me. “I've been looking everywhere for you.”
    “ What is it?”
    “ King Cian has received word of the missing fey. The Earth Kingdom has reported signs of a struggle and there are fey unaccounted for.”
    “ How many?” I thought back to the bodies I'd seen.
    “ Four missing, one site of conflict,” he said grimly. “It doesn't look good. All of the royals are gathering to review the evidence. We're expected to join them as soon as possible.”
    “ Okay,” I nodded and waved my hand outward, “lead the way.”
    He grabbed my hand and hurried us out of the castle, his long legs striding easily as I hurried to keep up, my book still gripped tightly to my chest. He helped me into the royal coach and nodded to the waiting contingent of red caps, who I assumed were going along as our guards. Then he sat back next to me on the padded velvet seats and I felt the coach lurch forward, the sound of a large amount of big feet pounding along behind us.
    It took awhile to get to the Earth Kingdom. We traveled along the Road of Neutrality, which encircled the Forgetful Forest, at the center of which was the Castle of Eight, home of the High King and High Queen. It was a large forest but the kingdoms were much larger, four immense wedges spanning out from the round rim of the road, and although the Earth Kingdom was right next to Fire, it was a bit of a journey to get there. Not only did we have to travel a ways down the road, passing the massive tree that marked the only tracing point in all of Faerie(and also happened to mark the border between Earth and Fire), but we had to go deep into the Earth Kingdom to find the site of the possible abduction.
    I stared out the window in fascination. I'd expected the Earth Kingdom to be one large forest, similar, if not exactly the same to, the Forgetful Forest. Well, it was and it wasn't.
    Oh, it began as a forest, with some trees even bigger than the mammoths in the Forgetful, but it slowly morphed into more. The super sized trees had the look of guardians to me and I had the feeling that had we not been invited to enter the kingdom, those trees would have held some nasty surprises for us. They seemed to shiver as we passed, a rustling of leaves before they settled into stillness.
    After the Guardians, the forest thinned out and started looking more normal, well normal for Faerie. It was full of life, fey creatures running and flying amok through the breathing trees whose trunks expanded with each breath. Sun shone through the leaves, creating patches of gold along the trail we followed and every now and then something small and curious would fly up to the coach to investigate.
    One little creature with dappled pink and purple wings actually perched on the window for a bit. It had sleek violet fur and arms like a squirrel with legs that ended in tiny talons. A hairless tail swished behind it as it cocked its head horizontally and surveyed us with round blue eyes that took up almost half his face. I started to reach a hand out to touch it but Arach stopped me, pulling my hand back and leaning in