Zora's Dawn (Defender Book 1) by Sheryl Lee Read Free Book Online Page A

a
little foolish she began to walk back and only then did she realise how far she
had come in her panicked dash. Funny, she didn’t think she’d taken that many
steps but she was almost onto the beach path. Brow pleated in a puzzled frown
she measured the distance to the veranda. Wow, adrenalin sure did give you
wings.
    “That’s
not exactly it, little Zora.” Axel had come to the steps and was smiling at her,
easily reading the confusion on her face. “Since you may have to engage with a
supernatural being, you have enhanced physical abilities. You are stronger and
faster than you were, you will find yourself astonished by what you can do
quite often until you adjust.”
    Zora came
back up the stairs and accepted her coffee from Powers with hands that shook
only a little. After taking a big gulp she turned to Axel. “There’s one thing I
don’t understand about all of this. Why did you have to unlock my abilities?
Why haven’t I had them on tap all of my life?”
    Axel
smiled gently at her. “Untrained, your abilities could be dangerous. We the
fairies took steps to block them from you, although we have always intended
that you come into your heritage around about now. Even though there has been
no threat for two generations your line is strong and we would not like it to
end with you. We had however planned on doing it with and through Powers and we
thought we would have the luxury of training you properly.”
    Zora
thought it through, and turned to Powers. “Did you know this?”
    Powers met
her gaze levelly. “I knew you had no idea who you are or what you are capable
of, but I didn’t know your abilities had been blocked by the fairies. I thought
you had done that yourself. People are in general very good at denial. I
thought that you may have done one or two things that scared you a little and
you blocked them out.”
    It all sounded
very plausible, except for one thing. “Axel, your highness, whatever I should
call you, how exactly did the fairies block my abilities? I think I would have
remembered a visit from a stranger carrying a staff.”
    Axel
smiled that indulgent smile. “Very astute little Zora, and please, call me Axel.
In truth, I do not really need the staff, but it is useful and it does like to
feel important. Once we had made the decision it was very easy for one of us to
visit you in the guise of a child in the playground. You are tied to our family
through your bloodline, so my sister was sent and it was very easy for her to touch
you in the course of play and block your abilities.”
    Zora was
silent as she absorbed all of this. There was a lot of information to digest in
one short paragraph. The fairies could change their appearance at will it
seemed, Axel had a sister and she had met said sister, he did not need his
staff to perform magic and the staff seemed to have feelings so she assumed
that in some way it was self-aware. Since Axel seemed to be waiting for
something she asked the only questions she could think of. “What is your
sister’s name, and does she look like she did when I met her? And does your
staff have a name, should I have greeted it?”
    Her second
question surprised a snort from Powers and a full blown grin from Axel. My, he
was a very handsome man/fairy when he smiled like that. As though he knew her
reaction his smile widened before he replied with a thread of amusement making
his voice suddenly very seductive. “My sister simply used a younger version of
herself so you will probably recognise her when you see her, and her name is
Tianna. The staff does have a name but only I know it, and it would enjoy if
you greet it next time you see it.”
    Zora
frowned, she didn’t remember anyone called Tianna, but then she supposed if a
fairy was sent to block her abilities she would not exactly be calling
attention to herself. She filed that bit of information away and briefly gave
consideration to the idea a staff could be considered an entity, and that in
this