SampleEver Shade (A Dark Faerie Tale #1)Sample

Ever Shade

A Dark Faerie Tale #1

Alexia Purdy

Ever Shade

A Dark Faerie Tale #1

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Published by

Lyrical Lit. Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

Cover Design by Alexia Purdy

Photography used with permission and licenses

Acknowledgements

I want to thank first and foremost, my husband Joshua Purdy, whom without your love and strength; this could not have come to be. To my family, who are always by my side through all things. Thank you to all my co-workers who read my stories and believed in me no matter what. I want to thank Scott Prussing for all your help. My writing family Linna Drehmel, Jenna Kay, Kyani Swanigan and Madison Daniel - you guys are amazing and some of the most talented people I have ever met. You keep me in awe.

With all of you, I’ve been able to make the dream a reality.

This book is dedicated to my grandmother Edisa Salas. I love and miss you everyday. ~Alexia

EverShade

A Dark Faerie Tale Book 1

Prologue

ONE LONG PAUSE and the man pondered the choice he had just made. He watched the woman and her new husband as they laughed and chatted away inside their house. Her long honey brown hair shone in shimmering waves down her back and swung around her, as her husband twirled her around the kitchen, dancing to the music from the radio that sat on the windowsill. He did not acknowledge the pangs of jealously that swirled in his stomach; he had made the decision and had to let it play out now. She would be safer this way.

The child would grow without knowing him, without knowing her powerful potential. He would not be there to teach her the ways of their magic and life. This was the way it was to be, and he could not change it, no matter how much he longed to. For the safety of the child and the love of his life, he had erased the woman’s memory of him forever. He watched the man as the happiness spread across his face. He had handpicked him for the woman. He had made sure this man would be a great father, love the child like his own, and love the woman more than life itself.

The Faery closed his eyes, feeling the breezes of the cool winds graze his face. He never wished to leave her like this. He longed to hold her and be the one to swing her around in a flowing dance. His heart ached and his breath arrested in his throat. As he glanced toward her one more time, he turned away and ran with the wind toward the forest.

Chapter One

“YOU DIDN’T REALLY mean that, did you?” Shade said as she observed her friend Brisa, whose face was reddened with frustration.

“Rachel had it coming; she was the one who started it!”

Shade looked at her friend’s ruined shirt, streaked with red strawberry smoothie remains. The substance was sticking to her, and it felt cold. Her top was no longer the color yellow it once was.

“She’s a dumb idiot anyway,” Brisa muttered. “She shouldn’t be calling you those names. I only stated that she was a ‘dumb as a wall, self-diluted bitch’ in self-defense. I said it for you. Besides, it’s only the truth.”

Brisa frowned and gave up rubbing the stain with a washcloth and soap. She pulled the shirt over her head and let it slip to the ground. Glaring at her locker, she realized her only other shirt left was her gym T-shirt. Figures, there is nothing else to wear. She sighed. “She shouldn’t have thrown her smoothie at me. The next time I see her she is gonna pay badly.” Brisa hissed and looked at Shade. “You’re not a freak, so don’t ever believe anything she says. She’s wrong!”