✓ | Curse Breaker ⋆ Julian Blackthorn [1]

viii. RETURN OF THE LOST

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CHAPTER EIGHT: RETURN OF THE LOST

❛there is nothing ordinary about them.❜

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Los Angeles Institute's Sanctuary was where Zoya and Emma met the faeries.

The girls' hands were joined as they entered through the copper metal door that separated the Sanctuary from the rest of their home. They were green, a result of the touch of time. Various black runes decorated them, offering the Shadowhunters protection from those who meant them harm.

The room was built to resemble a crescent moon, its windows offering a marvelous view of the nearby mountains of silver-green. Although the sun barely passed through the barriers of the outside world, the Sanctuary was washed in warm light from the large candelabras.

In the middle of the room stood the fair folk. Two of their three visitors faced the parabatai pair; one dressed in white and one in black. The third companion was missing.

Large hoods were pulled over their heads, hiding their faces from recognition.

An odd wave of ancient power hit Zoya, making all air leave her lungs. Before she could turn her head to glance at Emma, she felt the girl squeezing at her hand.

The blonde nodded swiftly in the faeries' way, wordlessly urging Zoya to do the same.

The faerie in black chuckled as he drew his hood down. His skin was dark green, his hands clawed and eyes a striking yellow. It was the same faerie Zoya and Emma had encountered only nights ago at the Sepulchre bar.

"We meet again, fair and dark one," his mouth curved sickly as he spoke. "I am Iarlath of the Unseelie Court. My companion in white is Kieran of the Hunt." Iarlath paused briefly, his eyes never leaving the girls' frames. "Kieran, lower your hood."

The faerie's hands began moving, pale and slender, pulling the edges down up until the material of the hood effortlessly rested against his shoulders.

Zoya heard Emma take a sharp breath in.

Although people foolishly tended not to associate the term beautiful with boys, Zoya couldn't find another adjective that best described the faerie in front of her.

He was unlike any other person the girl had ever met. With dark hair speckled with occasional strands of blue which outlined his sharp-edged face, the boy appeared to be around their age. He was dressed in a pale white tunic and a pair of trousers. Although there wasn't a doubt in Zoya's mind that the clothes looked impeccable once upon a time, now it was short on the boy. And as if the beautiful face and slender body weren't enough, the faerie named Kieran possessed breathtaking eyes; one black like the deepest of abuses and one pure silver.