The Changeling Soldier Read Online Free

snow. In Annwyn. She’d given the place a name. In his heart it rang true, even though he’d spend years trying not to name it and pretend the battle was all in his imagination. Perhaps it was…perhaps one day he’d fall asleep, never wake up and be trapped there.
    He’d read about Annwyn when he’d tried to learn everything about fairies he could. Just because he’d stopped talking about them didn’t mean he’d stopped seeing them or that the premonitions had stopped. He’d wanted them to go away. He’d wanted to be normal so badly. But no matter how hard he pretended he was, he wasn’t and he was never going to be. He’d always an outsider. He should be used to it, not craving something else…he didn’t know what, though. Only that the restlessness was getting worse.
    Maybe he needed a long holiday, backpacking around the world. Melody would have a tantrum, just like she did when he’d joined the Army. Melody had wept when he’d left, and it had broken his heart. She liked having him around again. They’d looked out for each other as kids. They were the only real family they had—family who gave a damn anyway—and yet lately Melody had been more driven and desperate for her big break. There was a distance between them he couldn’t bridge.
    She got her cards read once a week in the hope of divining her next step to stardom. He wanted her to slow down, and she wanted to speed up. She was a car crash about to happen and he didn’t know how stop it. He didn’t need any visions to know his sister was going to self-destruct. Yet he didn’t know how to help her either.
    Melody had wanted him to meet Ella to see if he got any impressions. His sister was hoping wearing an Ella Aaron design would give her the good luck that so many other actresses had gained. Maybe if she worked harder and spent less time looking for shortcuts, she’d get there. Hard work was the only way to success that Isaac knew.
    Still, he was here because he couldn’t say no to his little sister. They were still a team, and if turning up at her things made her happy and helped her, he’d do it. One of them should be happy.
    He glanced at Ella again but felt no fear, only a relief that things were about to shift. He should be running from her; instead he wanted to run to her. She was no threat to Melody. It was his soul she would take. He didn’t know why or how she was tangled up in his dream of snow and blood, but he needed to find out.
    Curiosity had gotten him into to trouble more than once and he was certain this time would be no different. He’d already seen the future.
     

Chapter Three
     
    Ella listened to Melody chatter away, but she was aware of Isaac watching even though he was pretending to read. Every so often their gazes would meet and for a moment it was as if the world fell away as desire held them trapped. Then one of them would blink or glance away and the moment would be gone. But the heat of his gaze lingered on her skin and slid into her blood. She’d already let herself be distracted several times and she was sure Melody was going to catch on any moment.
    Part of her didn’t care. She was far more interested in Isaac than Melody. Did Isaac and Melody have the same mother or father? Who was Isaac’s fairy parent? It was always useful to know a changeling’s lineage.
    “I want to look ethereal, like a fairy.” Melody tossed her hair.
    Ella flinched and snapped her attention back to Melody instead of wondering what Isaac would look like without clothes on. “Ethereal?”
    That was a word humans used to describe fairies because they didn’t know the truth. Cunning, cruel and devious were words Ella would use, and the spreading winter in Annwyn would only amplify those traits. But fairies could also be kind, fun-loving gamblers who’d risk everything for one more chance at power. Love, not so much. Fairies never let their hearts do their thinking, at least not at Court. Her heart was as empty as any Court