The Faceless Woman Emma Hamm (ebook reader screen TXT) 📖

in this woman. The duchess was a dangerous creature, living in a crumbling kingdom of forgotten creatures. Her husband tore away bits and pieces of their subjects to attach to himself, and the duchess reigned over the remains.

She fought. She conquered. She devoured. Through all the hardships of life, she rose victorious.

Aisling’s stomach clenched. “My story, Duchess. I promised it with the request that you tell no one.”

“And I will not. A faerie vow is one not easy to break.”

She hadn’t ever told anyone her story. Only Badb and her true family knew where she came from, who she was, and what had happened. Now she found the words stuck in her throat when she tried to speak them.

Finally, Aisling coughed and began. “I was born into a high Seelie family, the youngest daughter of Lord Illuma and his lady wife. They knew I was different from the moment I came out of the womb. Of all their golden children, I was the first to be born with hair as dark as night and skin white as snow. They knew my story would not be one to follow in their footsteps.

“It is social suicide to keep a child who erred toward the Unseelie. And try as they might, the more I grew, the more I became Unseelie. My choices never followed the rules. I wanted to run in the wilds, climb trees, tear fabric, and rub dirt on my skin.

“They tried for years to shackle my natural instincts. They beat honor into my back, poured truth down my throat, and carved duty into my arms.” Aisling rubbed her biceps, the memories sending gooseflesh dancing across her skin. “Nothing worked.”

The duchess shifted on the carpet, a ripple running through her like a wave. “They tried to force you to be Seelie?”

“Yes.”

“Then they tried to unravel the fabric of your soul and make it anew.” Anger laced her words with red.

“They were trying to save their child.”

The duchess shook her head. “They were trying to save themselves.”

“Perhaps that is correct, but I have long since stopped judging them. They did what they could for their family.”

“What did they do to you?”

The fire crackled, a spark flying out of the hearth and onto the nearest rug. Aisling crushed the coal under her heel. “They left me in the forest and waited for a family to claim me. A young witch did, a man who goes by the name of Lorcan, although it is not his true name. In return, they took his youngest sister who was a sickly creature. She would have died if the faeries didn’t take her away.

“They didn’t keep the human changeling as a replacement for me. She now resides with a faerie maid who never conceived children. As far as I know, she lives a charmed life and has flourished quite well. She’s turning into the perfect example of a lady’s maid.”

Another coal popped. This time, the duchess lashed out a hand and snatched it from the air. The ember burned bright red in her palm. Aisling watched as the faerie pressed it against the cavity of her chest and the green glass heart absorbed the heat. The glow brightened, sending strings of green light wriggling underneath her skin.

“And the markings on your skin?” the duchess asked.

Aisling held her hands up to the light. The eyes blinked, their gaze kind and quiet. “A gift from my grandmother. My parents are well known Seelie Fae, and though they gave me up, they do not wish me ill. If anyone should know who I am, they could use it against them. My identity must be kept secret from everyone.”

“Until you can protect yourself.”

“Which I can.” She closed her fingers into fists, digging into the eyes. “But the curse remains.”

The Duchess leaned back on her hands, staring into fire, lost in thought. “If you could remove this curse, would you?”

“I have spent my entire life trying to find a way to break my chains. But a binding curse is forever.” At least she had thought until now. If the Unseelie prince could prove this spell worked, then perhaps she could find a way to break the curse on herself as well.

“What if breaking the curse would do more harm than good?” the Duchess asked. “You don’t know what it holds at bay.”

“All it does is hide my face.” She held out her hands. “The eyes channel my magic. The black tips conceal my face. It’s a rather simple spell woven into dark magic.”

“May I?”

At Aisling’s nod, the duchess took her hands and pulled them forward. She stared into the eyes, and Aisling felt their magic tangling together.

The duchess’s magic was like white lightning. Cold and ancient, it threaded through her veins like the kiss of night on an icy lake. She saw a field of snow in her mind’s eye. Cloudless skies that spread over a lake so vast it seemed to have no end. Crystal-clear ice covered its surface, and a pair of dark eyes stared from beneath the cold plains, blinking in the moonlight.

The duchess’s magic was seemingly unending.

Aisling swallowed, and her hands shook. The cold seeped underneath her fingernails, pricking her skin and pulling at her own magic. It tasted her in one cold lick before the duchess released her.

“You’ve been searching for a long time,” the duchess quietly said. “But you haven’t been searching in the right places.”

“What?”

“It’s not a binding curse. You have been chained by a protection spell, not a binding curse. That magic was created entirely out of love. A binding curse cannot be born from such an emotion.”

Tears burned Aisling’s eyes. “A protection spell?”

She had wasted so much time. There were many counter-spells for such a creation, regardless of whether it was an original piece of magic.

The duchess lifted a hand, flourishing a quick movement that revealed a small piece of paper in her hand.

“All your questions can be answered with just this bit of magic.” She held it back when Aisling tried to