Love Talker's Daughter

Prologue

Prologue

Sunlight streamed through the newly budded leaves, bathing the wood in a greenish-golden glow. Birds tweeted, fluttering from tree to tree, their bright plumage flashing across the emerald canopy. Decaying leaves dotted the mossy ground, their translucent remains rustling in the light breeze. The scents of pine, damp earth, and the promise of rain bathed the air.

The faint notes of a pipe drifted through the air, twining with the birdsong and curling around Colin as he walked through the wood. The melody raced over his skin, like the touch of a lover, soothing and exciting him at the same time. He closed his eyes and savored each note.

A twig snapped, the sound interrupting the melodic chirps of the birds and obscuring the pipe. Colin turned to Fagan, ready to reprimand his friend, but the words died on his lips. Fagan stood, head tipped back, eyes closed, a look of utter peace and contentment on his face as he listened to the strange music.

Ahead, Liam moved past trees, steps as silent as the creatures who made this place their home, seemingly unaware of the enchanting tune. His brown hair fluttered in the breeze. The leather thong he usually bound it with doubtless left behind as a marker in the book he’d been reading when Colin found him in the library. He held a bow lose in his hand, a quiver of arrows slung across his back at the ready.

“Ye hear tha’?” Fagan turned, blue eyes wide with wonder. “Someone’s playing a dancin’ tune. Can only mean one thing.”

“Aye, means you’re daft.” Liam chuckled, glancing back and shaking his head. “And that ye scared off our prize. The Queen will no’ be pleased to see us return empty handed again, tale or no’.”­­

“I mean it. I hear a tune.” Fagan shoved Liam away. “Don’ ye hear it too, Colin?”

Colin closed his eyes and listened to the quiet trill of the pipe. “Aye, I hear it. But we haven’t time to find it and dance the hours away. Mother is awaiting our prize kill for the feast.”

Fagan cast a rakish grin that often got him the desire of his heart. “Ye an’ Liam go wit’out me. I’ll find the piper an’ bring him to the castle as my offering. The Queen ’twill be mighty pleased wit’ my catch. Which is more than I can say o’ yours.”

Colin shook his head. “Very well. Find the piper and bring him back with ye. Liam and I’ll catch a fine stag and take all the credit, eh, Liam?”

“Aye, tha’ we will. No finer stag will e’er fall to the hand of a Fae.”

Fagan snorted. “Aye, and I’ll find my true love jest o’er the rise.”

With a wave of his hand, Fagan disappeared into the trees. Colin paused, the hair on his neck prickling as the piper’s merry tune changed, the cheerful notes edged with an undercurrent of malevolence and evil. As quick as the feeling came, it vanished, but Colin couldn’t shake the thought that something had changed, and things would never be the same again.