Chasing Faete (Beyond the Veil Book 1) by Sarah Marsh, Elena Kincaid, Maia Dylan Read Free Book Online Page A

she watched the light drain from her father’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced by anger when she watched one of the guards, his arm wrapped around her mother’s neck, lift a knife with a curved blade, and hold it against the soft skin of her throat.
    “Your time is up, Your Highness ,” the man spat the final two words. It was clear he felt nothing for her mother but contempt. “Alefric demands your answer. Now!”
    Tears slid down Raelyn’s cheeks as she stared at her husband, no doubt looking for any signs of life. “You’ve killed him, my Haydrian,” she cried.
    The guard closest to her father’s body barked a laugh.  “Yes, we did. You were warned about what would happen if you weren’t willing to do what Alefric wanted. Did you think he was just going to let it go?”
    Erica watched as her mother seemed to stand taller, the tears ceasing altogether and her face filling with disgust. “No, I never thought that Alefric would let it go. But I believed he had the intelligence to know that what he was asking for would never be willingly given. The right to rule this realm is through bloodlines. Alefric’s bloodline is evil and toxic and will never be worthy of our throne.”
    “That’s why he wanted you to marry him, you stupid bitch,” the man behind her snarled. “All you had to do was agree to marry a male with the strength to make the Fae a force to be reckoned with, the way we all know we should be! You and that spineless bastard you married wanted alliances and treaties with animals. Shifters should have only one role in life and that is to serve the Fae.”
    “Serve the Fae?” her mother said incredulously. “Why would they agree to that? Shifters are a strong, loyal, and a proud race. Whatever gives you the idea that they would simply fall into lives of servitude to anyone, let alone a race they know very little about?”
    “Because that is as it should be!”
    Erica turned toward the voice that echoed through the broken doorway. She gulped at the look on the face of the Fae male who walked through the door. He wore the blazer of a high ranked member of her parents’ military. His long black hair fell down his back, braided at his temples. His dark green eyes and his face were filled with rage. “The Fae should be the most revered and feared race on either side of the Veil, and yet you want to disgrace our heritage and live alongside these animals in harmony? You are a fool, Raelyn! We will no longer sit idly by and allow you to disgrace us as you have been.
    “Now, I am tired of waiting for you to do the right thing, so as you can see, we are taking matters into our own hands. I am taking my rightful place as the King of this realm, and you can either take your place at my side or die by his.” Alefric sneered as he motioned to her beloved husband’s now still body. “The choice is simple.”
    Erica’s heart began to pound when her mother turned to look at her, her eyes filled with pain and grief, but also begging her for forgiveness. She knew in that moment that her mother had already made her decision. If she hadn’t known her mother as well as she did, Erica might have missed the small throwing knife that slipped from her mother’s sleeve and into her hand.
    “Over a future with you?” Raelyn sneered as she turned to glare at Alefric. “I most certainly choose death. And it is my will that I take you with me, you murdering bastard!” And with a scream of defiance, her mother let the knife fly. From where Erica sat still pinned to her chair, the trajectory of the knife looked true, but there was a reason Alefric had risen so high and so quickly within their army’s ranks. He turned at the very last moment to take the knife in his shoulder.
    Alefric groaned and hunched forward, the knife still embedded in his flesh. “Kill that bitch,” he roared, and then things moved in what seemed to be slow motion for Erica. Corrine screamed and launched herself from the floor and in her