Ever Winter

Ever Winter

A Dark Faerie Tale #3

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.

Copyright ©
March 2013 Alexia Purdy

All rights reserved

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
© March 2013 by Alexia Purdy

Photography
© Wisky | Dreamstime.com

Edited by Jasmin Petricola

Ever Winter

A Dark Faerie Tale #3

The Four Ancients of Faerie

Ancients of Faerie, great and vast.

Untouched by time, ever to last.

Unstoppable force, enchanted laced.

Sleep for now, forever waits.

The Great Divide
,

Scorching
Scren Hearth,

The Withering Palace
,

The Blossoming Earth
.

The Cursed in chains,
forever bound.

Slumbering Spring,
safe and sound.

Summer’s heat,
a place unknown.

Winter’s wrath,
free to roam.

Closer it comes, forgotten, it
stands

Mountainous solace
keeps magic & land

Ending time, wounds of stained.

Wards of power now regained.

Part I

A Vast Darkness

Chapter One

THE PLACES INSIDE
that never fade away-even in the face of adversity and loss−take the brunt of all insults. Once decimated, it left nothing to fall back on. Nothing kept the sadness and despair at bay, especially from Shade’s fragile heart. Even the tide that lapped at her feet, shocking with its icy-cold splashes and foamy water which tumbled about, was apathetic to her turmoil. It offered nothing but the numbness of frostbitten skin and a frigid wake. Blue, pale, and lifeless. It did nothing to awaken her from the nightmares in her head. These were made of a stinging pierce of blades, the coppery taste of blood and the endless flashes of torment that should be erased from anyone’s memory vaults.

This was her nothing. She didn’t even know if she cared that it had ended this way. She was doomed, cursed or just unfortunate in so many ways. Her self-loathing compromised the fragments which were left of what she had once been.

“Shade, go dry off and put some shoes on,” Soap’s voice echoed in her head like a lost memory she should’ve recalled and relished. Even now, his kisses−which had once burned so hot, quick and intense−now felt like cold shadows of themselves. His magic burned bright, but in the self-imposed prison in her mind, it now felt like a dulled beacon in the distance.

“Shade?” he whispered as he walked tentatively closer, failing to break her trance with the horizon as the sun’s last rays disappeared over the cold Pacific Ocean.

His voice was a sharp yank which pulled her mind out of the trance and back into the now. Soap stood touching her face, hoping to pull her from the spell she’d faded into. The dry cold sand of the beach caked her feet in soft grains.

“Why can’t you hear me? Let’s get inside; snowstorm is coming, and you’ll freeze your toes off if you keep venturing out here without shoes. Is that what you’re doing? Trying to catch your death?” His mention of the cold brought back the endless shiver she could not shake.

So now I’m still a child. Is that what I’ve become?

“No,” her voice came out small and withered. She avoided his strained look as he waited for her to say something more. His warm fingers curled around her thin arms, pres
sing softly into her skin, firm but gently balancing her as he guided her into his arms. He pushed a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear, and then pulled her closer. He smelled the sweet scent of flowers faintly clung to her wind-blown strands as he nuzzled her hair. He kissed the top of her head, wishing to himself that he could will away the demons that lurked behind her frightened eyes. He would be there for her no matter what, even through the dark days ahead. Nothing would waiver his love for Shade.
Nothing.
If only she would let him in.