Dark Fae. Romance. Evil Plots. High school. Our heroines could be in for the greatest adventure ever.
The Wild Hunt is coming
Over road, river, and rail
The dark Fae sluagh have your blood-scent, sleeper-princess
And there is no escape
For either of us
- Euphoria, “The Wild Hunt”
I plunge out of the busy club and into the night, onto the rain-soaked streets of Prague’s Old City. With a shrug, I hitch my violin case higher on my shoulder, the club’s neon sign flashing on my face, advertising Euphoria. Advertising me. A pang of wistfulness strikes me.
How I wish I could escape into my Euphoria stage persona forever.
But the show’s over, and it’s time to leave Euphoria behind and become who I really am.
Rouen Rivoche. Dark Fae. Sluagh, outcast.
I am a Huntress, and it’s time for the Hunt.
Even now, I feel the Huntsman’s command burning in my blood, compelling my obedience. I turn the corner into the cobblestone alley, and there he is.
The Huntsman. He’s waiting for me.
“Hello, Rouen.” He leans against the wall, every line of his leather-clad, muscular body brooding and coiled as if to strike. He looks up through a curtain of stark-white hair, his eyes as soulless as a shark’s, though I know he postures for my benefit.
In the hopes I might find him attractive.
Gross.
“Agravaine.” I try to keep it short and sweet. Just the facts, Roue. “I’ve fulfilled your Command. I made first contact with our prey.”
Agravaine’s eyes dilate darker, and I smell the hunger on him—the need for the Hunt, the chase, the capture, the fear of our prey—noxious as burning rubber. “And she swallowed the bait?”
“Yes.” She was down in the pit, at the front of the stage, the power of my music drawing her in, lulling her into thinking I am harmless, alluring, available. Lulling her into thinking I am the prey and she the huntress.
“She’ll follow you?” His doubt is as fake as the rest of his emotions.
Dark Fae magic is born of winter—cold and brutal, relentless, strong. I am one of the strongest.
I hate this part, but once the Hunt is engaged, I have no control over it. I shrug one shoulder like it’s nothing to me. “They always do.”
His smile is sharp as knives as he laces his voice with power. “Then reel her in, dear Rouen.”
His Command slams into me, stealing my free will. Strong as I am, I’m a puppet made to dance on strings. His strings, Agravaine, the Huntsman who enslaves me.
For now.
I nod stiffly and pull up my hood. Glad to leave him behind, I head deeper into the Old City, looking for the best place to lay my trap.
Some nights are born to nightmare and dream, dark yet achingly beautiful. Tonight, Prague is awash in ethereal fog and the light from a misty moon. Sounds muffle on the cobblestone streets, and people move like ghosts in a mythical place—Avalon, from the time of King Arthur, or the Irish Otherworld, TÃr-na-n-Óg.
Nightmare and dream, so beautiful it can cut you.
Crap. I’m going all emo again.
Pulling my hood down tighter, I prowl the hazy, wet streets of the Old City, my battered, sticker-laden violin case bumping gently against my shoulder. The end-of-summer rain is passing, and fog curls in sheets on the riverside. It rolls in, filling the labyrinth of alleyways with mist and misdirection. It’s what the Fae, both fair and dark, call a “tule fog,” thick and good for cloaking mischief.
I know because I have called it. A breath of winter turned into rain and fog from the western sky, enough to mask my passage through the mortal realm.
It’s a thousand-percent emo to say so, but tonight feels made of nightmare and dream. A glimmering moment stamped on the fabric of time. That night on the train tracks was like that.
The night I saw her. The true sleeper-princess.
I saw her and I let her get away.
Moribund
Circuit Fae #1
Genevieve Iseult Eldredge
Publication Date: September 12, 2017
Genres: YA LGBTQ+, Urban Fantasy
If only they could decide whether to kill or kiss each other.
High school sophomore Syl Skye is an ordinary girl. At least, she’s trying to be. School photographer and all-around geek, she introverts hard and keeps her crush on sexy-hot glam-Goth alt-rock star Euphoria on the down-low. But when a freak accident Awakens her slumbering power, Syl is forced to accept a destiny she never wanted—as the last sleeper-princess of the fair Fae.
Suddenly hunted by the dark Fae, Syl’s pretty sure things can’t get any worse. Until she discovers her secret crush, Euphoria, is really a dark Circuit Fae able to harness the killing magic in technology. Even worse, she’s been sent to destroy Syl.
With mean girls and magic and dark Fae trying to kill her, it’ll take more than just “clap if you believe in fairies” to save Syl’s bacon—not to mention, her heart.
About the Author
Raised by witches and dragons in the northern wilds, GIE writes angsty urban fantasy YA romance--where girls who are mortal enemies kick butt, take names, and fall in love against all odds.
She enjoys long hikes in the woods (where better to find the fair folk?), believing in fairies (in fact, she's clapping right now), dancing with dark elves (always wear your best shoes), being a self-rescuing princess (hello, black belt!), and writing diverse books about teenage girls finding love, romance, and their own inner power.
She might be planning high tea at the Fae Court right now.
GIE is multi-published, and in her role as an editor has helped hundreds of authors make their dream of being published a reality.
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