Free The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning Page A

heads down, trying to live normal lives. There were entries in the
Books of the Fae
that made vague reference to other bloodlines similarly cursed, claiming that once there had been many. Gabby wasn’t fool enough to think that only the O’Callaghan women had figured out how to survive. What if her betrayal caused them all to become persecuted anew? If even one other
Sidhe
-seer was ferreted out and captured because of her, she would bear the responsibility for their grim fate.
    What a mess she’d made of things!
    I give you my word,
it had said,
I will protect you.
But Gabby’d not been raised by Walt Disney, she’d been spoon-fed fairy tales of the darkest kind since birth. She was incapable of trusting it. And even if, by some bizarre chance it actually meant what it said, it couldn’t defend her against the queen. Aoibheal held the throne above all four Houses of Fae royalty, and wielded the greatest power of all. If Aoibheal wanted her, Aoibheal would get her. Period.
    She had no choice but to fight and resist until the bitter end.
    Bracing herself for its rage, for whatever awful thing it would do to her once she asserted her refusal, she tipped her head back, and back more, to meet its imperious gaze.
    “No. I’m not going to help you.” She sucked in a shallow breath and held it anxiously.
    It stared down at her an interminable moment, gaze inscrutable, saying nothing, doing nothing.
    And she waited, nerves strung like tiny wires being ruthlessly pulled by a puppeteer to near-breaking point.
    She braced herself to be hit. She fully expected it to hurt her, to attempt to coerce her with physical violence; perhaps even just short of death, and she prayed she would be strong enough to endure. It
was
a fairy after all. It had no conscience, no soul. She expected it to do whatever it had to do to get its way.
    She expected anything but what it did next.
    Inclined its head.
    Bent to her feet and untied them.
    Reached its powerful arms around her, its gold armbands cool against her skin, its silky hair brushing her cheek, its spicy scent enveloping her.
    And freed her hands.
    As she sat, too confused and afraid to move, it stepped back and rose to its full height, a faint smile playing at its firm, sensual lips.
    And vanished.

7
    Gabby went to work.
    Running on zero sleep and pure nerves, fueled by an icy shower, two Starbucks double-shot espressos, and a need for normalcy, any normalcy.
    Maybe her life was falling apart around her ears, but she could pretend it wasn’t.
    Besides, despite her exhaustion, she knew she’d never be able to sleep. She was too on edge, too afraid of what it was going to do next, for she had no doubt that it would do
something
. Had she remained at home by herself, she would have driven herself crazy, her overactive imagination conjuring an endless array of hideous fates for herself.
    Initially, when it had vanished, she’d considered resorting to her first plan: hopping in her car and running while the running was good. But somehow she just knew, deep in the marrow of her bones, that running wasn’t going to accomplish anything. She wasn’t sure she believed its claim that it had no other Fae powers but the ability to sift place. She certainly wasn’t fool enough to think that, considering she was the only one who could see it, it had truly gone away and intended to leave her alone.
    No, it would never have left her alone if it hadn’t been unequivocally certain of its ability to find her again. Which meant running would be a waste of time and energy best conserved for the battle to come. Besides, she’d reasoned, if she was going to stand and fight, she was better equipped to do it on familiar turf. Here at least, they were in her world, and she knew her way around.
    Why
hadn’t it hurt her? Why hadn’t it used its immensely superior strength to bully her, to bend her to its will? It could have so easily. She was stymied by its reaction, or rather, its lack of one. It could