The League of Illusion: Destiny Read Online Free Page A

house.”
    “It’s not really.” He eyed her. She was squirming in her seat. She wasn’t a very skilled liar.
    Her eyelashes fluttered as she avoided looking at him. “Well, I was checking on Claude. He’d old and not always so bright. I was worried he didn’t get out of the smithy in time.”
    “You know what I think?”
    “I certainly don’t.”
    “I think you bashed me over the head with something.”
    She gasped, a hand fluttered to her chest as if outraged by his accusations. “That’s preposterous. Why would I ever do that?”
    “I don’t know, you tell me.”
    “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response. I never thought you’d be so rude.” She harrumphed. “You haven’t spoken more than five words to me, and here you are voicing all kinds of disrespectful accusations about my character.”
    He almost smiled at that. Instead he remembered his manners, all the things his mother had ingrained in him. “I apologize, I meant no offense.”
    They rode in silence for a bit as the road led into the woods. They were named the Black Woods for a reason. The trees were plentiful and tall with thick foliage that blocked most of the sun’s rays. Although it was high noon, inside the woods it was an eerie twilight. He always found the woods to be a place of mysticism. There was always a lot of energy within the grand trees. It was an ancient place full of secrets.
    “For curiosity’s sake,” Drea said, breaking the silence, “what makes you think I hit you over the head?”
    “I recognize your feet.”
    Her eyes widened. “My feet?”
    “Yes, I remember seeing a dainty pair of pretty feet before I passed out.”
    She smiled at him, a blush staining her cheeks. “You think my feet are pretty?”
    He imagined she was wriggling her toes inside her shoes, the way he’d seen her do it earlier. Her smile was so infectious that he was about to match it when something caught his attention.
    He grabbed her hands, which were holding the reins. “Stop.”
    Without hesitation or question, she tugged on them and the horse came to a halt. “What’s wrong?”
    It wasn’t as if he’d heard something. It wasn’t a sound that bothered him but a feeling. The prickling tingly sensation of magic. Something he hadn’t felt in five years since being here. Could Rhys have come through a portal? Was his brother nearby in the thick copse of trees?
    “Wait here,” he said as he climbed down from the cart.
    “What? Why?” There was panic in her voice.
    “It’s all right, Drea. Just stay here, I’ll be right back.”
    He stepped off the road and into the thicket. Brambles tugged at his jerkin and pants as he brushed past them. After going about twenty feet, he glanced over his shoulder. He could still see Drea sitting in the cart, turned toward him. He pressed forward.
    The tingly feeling of magic intensified the farther he went into the woods. After walking another five minutes, he looked back. Thick branched and lush growth obscured his view of the road. But he had to keep going. The chance to reunite with his brother and the opportunity to go home was too great.
    He stepped over a fallen tree then stopped. He spied movement just beyond the next line of trees. And he heard voices.
    Sebastian crouched behind the nearest thick tree trunk and waited. None of the three voices did he recognize. But one of them, maybe all, had magic or was one of the magical races.
    A snap of a branch from behind jerked him around. Drea stood there wide-eyed staring down at him.
    “I told you to wait,” he whispered.
    “I was afraid. I heard horses coming down the road.”
    He pulled her down beside him and put a finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet. She nodded, and he turned toward the voice and peered through the foliage. At first he didn’t see anything but then a form stepped into view.
    Sebastian gasped. It wasn’t that he recognized the person, but he did know the type. Shimmery skin, long silky black hair,