Fair Deception

Chp. 9

I looked at the group before me with freshly sharpened eyes, and was pleased to see that I'd been right about the physical similarities between Kalen and Caydran - both were watching me with inhumanly bright blue irises, extended claws and, even at this distance, I could see the fangs reaching just blow their upper lips. My gaze shifted to Gabriel and, while his skin was still a dark, rich, mahogany, his completely white eyes made for an unsettling contrast. Miranda, however, was even more stunning than usual; her freckles had transformed into scatterings of pure, white starbursts along her skin, which emanated a warm glow in the darkening twilight. Broch cleared his throat and my attention slipped from Miranda, past Broch's whitened hair and onto his pale green face.

"Are you okay, Anastasia?" Broch asked.

I nodded and then had to refocus my attention on the unseelie who had begun to twist underneath me. Digging my claws deeper into his wrist, I felt his blood starting to trickle over my fingers, and pressed my knee harder into his back.

Gabriel and Kalen hurried to help but neither wanted to look me in the eye. After Gabriel grabbed the unseelie's wrist and Kalen transferred his weight close to my knee, I stood up. I turned away from the others and cautiously stretched my side, pressing against the area where I had been punched with tentative fingers. That was sore.

"Can you return him please Gabriel?" I heard Broch say. Turning back around, I saw Gabriel nod and then Kalen yanked the unseelie to his feet, holding both of his hands behind his back. Gabriel stood in front of the captured fae and firmly held both sides of his face with his smooth, dark hands. The unseelie struggled to begin with, but soon he was silently staring into Gabriel's alabaster eyes, with an odd, distant expression on his face. As I watched, I felt myself becoming calmer.

"Anastasia," Broch called, and the world snapped back into focus. Confused, I looked at Broch and he motioned me over. Miranda had gone back inside the house and Caydran was watching me intently. I noticed, for the first time, a glint of metal beneath the folds of Caydran's leather coat and examined it closely. The silver glint was definitely a weapon and through these eyes I could see it's strange, blue glow against the black of Caydran's jeans. He noticed my gaze and wrapped his coat closed over the sword.

"Gabriel can perform a very powerful mesmer," Broch began to explain, "a type of magic that controls the mind. If you watched his eyes for much longer, you might have felt the effect even if you weren't the intended victim."

I turned my attention to the unseelie fae and noticed that Kalen had let go of his arms but he was stood, unmoving, in the same position; with arms locked behind his back. The unseelie nodded wordlessly at Gabriel and then followed the jet fae down the path and out of the garden through the gate.

Kalen came back over to us and touched my hand, gently lifting it up near his face and examining the translucent claws, still covered in blood, at the end of my fingers. As he turned my hand in front of his eyes, I noticed that his claws were no longer extended. He glanced at his father, who was looking at my hands almost as closely at Kalen.

"Have you got fangs?" Kalen asked me softly.

Lifting the corner of my top lip with a free finger, I pushed against my canine, hearing Caydran's intake of breath as the fangs drew blood. I looked him in the eye and saw uncomfortably familiar, feline pupils staring back at me. My expression turned cold, "Am I a reliable witness now?"

I pulled my hand out of Kalen's and went to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear, pausing when I felt a rounded point at the end. I gasped and turned to Broch, "My ears are like yours." I lifted my hair to show Broch my ears but didn't miss the odd expression that passed over Kalen's face at my words. After a pause, Kalen pushed back a few strands of his hair to show me his own pointed ears. "They're more like mine," Kalen said quietly.