A Trace of Moonlight Read Online Free

emerald brilliance twirled and caressed the stone pillars in a dress of sparkling leaves and bulbous blue flowers as large as my head. They only bloomed in moonlight, their tiny stamens glowing with gentle bioluminescence.
    There were other flowers, of course—none of which I had names for—and elegant trees with slender branches and leaves of gold. It was not unusual for me to spend my hours here, lounging about in the perfect afternoons. No one would find it amiss if I was not heard from for a while.
    My heart beat a sharp staccato, chased by a wave of guilt.
    I needed answers.
    It seemed wrong to attempt to sneak up on someone I was supposed to love. My own distrust left a bitter taste in my mouth. And yet . . .
    “Secrets upon secrets,” I sighed. I knew Talivar kept council with Moira in a private wing of the castle, but sometimes they would stroll through the more manicured royal gardens together. With any luck I might catch them there, or perhaps overhear something via the servants’ tunnels.
    Wrapping my emerald cloak around my shoulders a little tighter, I escaped the far end of the garden through a side door and hastily made my way toward Moira’s wing. The few attendants I did see paid me no mind, and it was easy enough to slip into the royal wing proper. No sign of Talivar there, but a passing scullery maid informed me that, indeed, the pair had gone outto the nearby gardens. I thanked her and found another door that led to the hedge maze, keeping a low profile until I spotted them, the sibling elves pacing carefully along the outer edges of the garden, their heads bent low in heated discussion.
    “. . . and she remembers nothing?” The Faery princess’s brow wrinkled. She was clad in an elegant green dress, with jeweled ribbons twined through the chestnut waves of her hair, draping down her back to fasten at her waist. Even if I’d had hair that long, I would never be able to pull off something like that. She shook her head. “So where is he? This wasn’t part of the plan.”
    Talivar shrugged. “I do not know. It is possible the incubus ran into some trouble . . . or maybe Abby couldn’t pull him through because of her memory loss.” His hand fisted at his side. “Goddess help me but it kills me to see her this way. She’s like a shadow, drifting in and out of each day . . . and no closer to knowing herself than she was the day before. And don’t even get me started on the TouchStone thing. Do you have any idea how hard it’s been to keep her from accidentally touching anyone?”
    “What’s done is done,” Moira snapped. “We cannot change the past and you are wasting time trying to coddle her into remembrance. Whatever possessed you to convince her to wed you?”
    He turned away and for a moment I wondered if he’d seen me crouched beneath the hedgerow, but his gaze was distant. “I never asked her,” he said finally. “I had but to tell her that we were already lovers and she accepted that well enough.”
    My mouth dropped as I sank to my knees, confusionand pain shaking my limbs to the bone. Fool and idiot! I bit down hard on my fist, trying to keep my breakfast from making a reappearance. If everything I’d been told was a lie, then who the hell was I?
    The dream from the night before took on a more sinister tone in my memories. Just what was it that I was supposed to have done?
    “I’m surprised Mother even agreed to it,” Moira was saying, her fingers gesturing lightly in the breeze.
    “Mayhap she took pity on me . . . or Abby, for that matter, given how little time she has left. What is it now, a matter of weeks?” Abruptly he sat down. “I thought if I might get her pregnant, it would nullify the Tithe. After all, the contract stipulates a single soul . . . if there are two in the same vessel, surely that would change things?”
    “Perhaps. Perhaps, but delay it a bit,” Moira conceded thoughtfully, her gaze suddenly cold as she watched him. “But you