Icarus

Prologue

‘It is time.’

Queen Nelldalan’Shanien crisply spoke those words while studying the mirror that covered the entire southern wall of the throne room of the palace in Tar’Sha’liel, the most splendid of the cities of the Fey. At the moment, the mirror showed a black-haired woman searching for herbs along a forest path.

The man standing next to the Queen did not react to her words and instead stared at the young woman.

‘Such a frail creature,’ he said, ‘for a human, that is. It looks like they’ve finally managed to get rid of those more… bulky… physical features…’

‘Farfell’Indl, you’ll have plenty of time to look at her later,’ the Queen said. ‘Now hurry, we’re running on a tight schedule.’ Farfell’Indl sighed.

‘Are you sure she’s the one?’ he asked. ‘I’d hate to father a monster.’

Nelldalan sighed in exasperation, but Farell’Indl saw the smile that crept through her stern expression.

‘We have monitored her bloodline for centuries,’ she said. ‘I promise you she’ll be able to give birth to your child. But you have to go now, or the moment will be over and we have to wait for the gods know how long.’ Farfell’Indl nodded, brushing his hand through his hair and smoothing down some recalcitrant feathers on his sparkling white wings.

‘Well, here goes nothing,’ he said, and walked fluidly through the mirror. Queen Nelldalan seated herself in a comfortable chair, folding her copper-golden wings over the chair’s low back, and watched.

Melissa wasn’t quite sure when she had started to stray, or even when she had crossed the border into the Forest of Feys. She had been looking for herbs along the known and well trodden paths, but somehow she had wandered away from them and into the forbidden part of the forest. Now that she stood up straight and looked about, she could easily see this wasn’t a normal forest anymore. The trees around her seemed to be clothed in silk bark, the sunlight falling through the leaves above her seemed brighter, and the ground was a sound-absorbing, soft carpet or moss, grass and leaves. The air was sweet – not the sweet fresh scent of early spring, but rather the smell of ripening fruit, or perfume. And on top of all that, a gentle music wound its way through the trees to her ears, a haunting tune that made it difficult to think. Melissa clasped her basket, her mind incapable of deciding between rapture and fear, and tried to determine where she had come from.

‘Lost, sweetheart?’ Melissa gasped, startled by the sudden, silky, honeyed words. She turned around, trembling like a leaf, to the most perfect vision of a man. Streaks of sunlight caressed golden hair, a perfect face and emerald eyes. He smiled lightly, and a little bit crookedly – the perfect smile. Melissa stared at those lips, so beautiful, so sensual – and what that smile suggested sent shivers up her spine. The man took a step forward, and suddenly a ray of light illuminated two huge wings of the purest white. Melissa gasped and recoiled. She knew she was in terrible danger, that the people who went into the Forest of Feys never came back out again. But now that the living proof of all the myths and stories about the forest was standing right in front of her – a Fey! – she found she no longer cared. Frightened, anxious and quivering with nerve as she was – she didn’t care. Fear, and an overwhelming desire to move closer to this beautiful, perfect man, and be enveloped in those broad arms battled for the upper hand inside her head, and her desire seemed to be on the upper hand.

‘I can take you back home, if you want,’ the man said in a soft, lilting voice, and moved closer. This time, Melissa did not flinch. ‘Do you want me to?’

Melissa nodded, lost for words, and in the blink of an eye, the Fey stood right in front of her. Her mouth was wide open, but she could only take short, shallow breaths as she stared at the smooth, naked skin of his chest, covered only by a open, sleeveless jackect. She could almost touch him, feel the heat radiating from his body. A tiny part of her screamed she was all but doomed, if she didn’t turn and ran right now, but she ignored it. All that mattered right now, after all, was the man in front of her. Her eyelids felt heavy as she breathed in his powerful, musky scent – a scent that seemed to go from her nose straight to her head, and her loins.

‘I will help you,’ he continued, and it took her a second or two to remember what he was talking about. ‘But only if you help me.’ She almost nodded frantically. Anything, anything at all, if he would just touch her! And he almost did touch her, when he leaned forward, and his breath caressed her cheek as he whispered in her ear: ‘You’re quite possibly the most beautiful human girl I’ve ever seen.’ And he chuckled, a low, deep, seductive laugh that seemed to melt her spine. She almost had to fight for every breath, she felt thick beads of sweat run down her forehead and back, and she knew that if her hands weren’t clutching her basket so tightly, they’d be all over the gorgeous, sensual man’s broad chest, stroking the soft, firm skin…

And then he kissed her on the cheek. Her eyes flew wide open as the touch seemed to scorch her and ignited a fire within her as she had never known. Her legs gave out and she collapsed, but in an instant his arms were around her, supporting her, imprisoning her in his inhuman warmth. Trapped like this, the last of her defenses crumbled, and all she could do was revel in the sensations as he gently lowered her to the mossy floor of the forest and took off her clothes. The touch of his hands on her bare skin was almost too much to bear – simply to be touched by him was more intense, more delicious than anything any normal human could have ever done. She barely noticed when he moved away slightly to remove his own clothes, her mind still reveling in the unexpected ecstasy.

Melissa screamed when he entered her and started to move, hardly believing that all this, the desire, the burning heat, was real. Her eyes rolled back and she could see nothing but the stars that sparked every time he touched her, and for a fleeting second she feared she was losing her mind, but no longer caring the next moment.

She was losing her mind, though. Fey were such powerful beings that humans could hardly bear seeing one, let alone stay sane when being touched – or made love to. Somewhere along the line, Melissa’s spirit broke, her mind shattered by the overwhelming pleasure, and doomed to forever want more.

In the throne room, the Queen watched intently. After Farfell’Indl had left through the mirror, two other Fey males had joined her, and now one of them was busily making calculations, while the other flipped through a thick stack of parchment.

‘Well?’ Nelldalan asked. ‘Will her insanity hinder the child’s development?’

‘We… don’t expect it will, your majesty,’ one of the men said. His hair was as fair as Farfell’Indl’s, but his wings were dotted with black and grey. ‘As far as I can tell, the child is conceived and not in any present danger. The only risk is that she might neglect or abandon the child once it is born. Your majesty, I still think we should have used the breeding chambers…’

‘You have said so before, and you know as well as I that if we did so, the child would not be human enough, and no human would want to care for it,’ Nelldalan said. ‘It’s too bad the poor girl has lost her mind, but it only proves how inferior humans still are.’

‘I am sure, your majesty,’ the other Fey said, ‘that if given enough time, humans could rise to our level…’

‘You said that three thousand years ago,’ Nelladalan interrupted, her eyes flaming. ‘And considering the short lives of humans and the time gone by, you’d think they’d have made a good start by now. But no, they’re still the weak, inferior creatures they always were, barely able to even see a Fey without spontaneously combusting. It will be the end of time before they come even close to us, let alone be our equals.’ She stood briskly and approached the mirror. ‘And I do not wish to wait for that to happen. Their inferiority and those cursed giants’ magic, keep us from going back, but with this child, all that will change, and we’ll be the rightful masters of the real world once more. Farfell!’ Inside the mirror, the fair-haired Fey looked up, gently disentangled himself from the human girl’s grasp and stood. Carefully, he picked her up and carried her away, walking out of sight. Nelladalan’Shaniel did not bother to let the mirror follow him. He would leave the girl at the very border of their realm, and lure in another human to find her and take her back home.

With a flick of her wrist, she dismissed the two Fey, and could not help but chuckle triumphantly once they were gone. After being imprisoning in this beautiful, but unreal realm, for more than three thousand years, the time was coming to go back to the real world. She longed for the feeling of the wind on her face, in her hair, for the power her kind would hold over the rest of the world. And this time they would be prepared, this time they would not be surprised by the power of iron. And this time, there were no giants to save the humans’ skins. This time, no one would be able to defy her people.

Another flick of her hand doused the lights as she left the room. In the twilight gloom, the mirror shone gently.

Farfell’Indl waited until he was sure the Queen was gone and then moved through the mirror into the throne room. He had the mirror follow the girl for a while, simply to watch her. Her insanity was unfortunate, but not intolerable. He would have liked to have been able to keep her, though; she had been enjoyable, and all of his other slaves were starting to bore him. On the other hand, if the Queen’s plan worked, they would be back in the real world soon, and he could have any human girl he liked. He smiled, and decided he liked that prospect. If there were more girls out there as enjoyable as this one, he’d be content.

With a satisfied smile on his face, he directed the mirror to the northern section of Tar’Sha’Liel, and disappeared through it.