Free The Gossamer Gate by Wendy L. Callahan Page A

aware of his attractiveness. Khiara made a “get-on with it” motion and he nodded. “Right. So, the whole point of being stuck in the Otherworld is to face the challenges of the realm, isn’t it? But you won’t make any progress toward home if you wander around, untested, through the forest. That would hardly be a quest worthy of a potential faery princess.”
    “So you’re saying I didn’t cover all those miles for nothing?” Khiara confirmed, suddenly feeling giddy with relief.
    “Correct. You chose the right direction. That direction may look all sweetness and light, but don’t kid yourself. Things only get trickier from here on out. You would probably be safer with someone to accompany you.”
    “Oh? Such as whom?” she asked , putting her hand on her hip and looking him up and down. “Someone like you, I suppose?”
    “Well, I’m not one to brag, but I do know my way around the Otherworld,” Liam said, brushing his fingernails across his tunic. “And you’ve already fallen for one of the classic passive-aggressive faerie tactics by wondering whether or not you had chosen the right road.”
    Khiara nodded and tightened her grip on the strap of her messenger bag. “So that first day was really just to give me a chance to doubt myself?”
    “More or less,” Liam said. “And even though you didn’t exactly face any trials or ordeals, the first day totally counts toward your nine. Everything counts here, after all. So you are down by one.”
    “Great.” Khiara could not bite back the sarcasm. “I t sounds like if I want out of here, I have to keep going until I can’t go anymore.”
    “Ah, but there’s also that tricky clause about you not being able to leave without your true love coming to find you.”
    She glared at Liam. “I d on’t remember saying ‘true love’.”
    “Well, that’s generally what the whole idea of someone who loves you coming to your rescue means. All that faery tale nonsense you mortals eat up.” He opened and closed his fingers like a mouth, “Once upon a time, blah blah blah, happily ever after.”
    “Don’t get all bardic on me.” Khiara smacked his hand, then turned and walked down the lighter, greener path, into the warm sunshine.
    “Hey, I didn’t make the rules. I’m just telling you about them.” Liam fell into step next to her. He tossed the apple aside and said, “The person who comes for you has to be more than a good friend or blood relation. It has to be a soul mate.”
    “A what?” Khiara slanted a narrow-eyed glare at him.
    “A soul mate. You know. That term used by mortals to over-romanticize the relationship they have with their partners?”
    She turned away and shook her head.
    “What?”
    “I only know one person that I think of in that way, and I know for a fact he doesn’t feel the s ame way about me,” she muttered, as she continued to walk.
    “Maybe he does feel the same way about you, but he doesn’t realize it. Have you tried telling him about your feelings?”
    With that reminder of the perfect mess she had created between herself and Sean, Khiara felt her annoyance hit its breaking point. “Are all bards as annoying as you?” she snapped.
    “What’s so annoying about me?” Liam’s tone of voice rose with disbelief and he looked at her with wide eyes.
    “This talk about soul mate s and love bullshit, for one thing.”
    “Ouch.” Liam pressed his hands to his chest. “You don’t believe in it?”
    “I believe in it about as much as I believe I’ll ever let Ronan have what he wants.” Khiara kept walking, her focus on the path. “And I believe you’re just doing this to tick me the hell off.”
    “A lack of faith in love hardly makes for a fulfilling life.”
    “Oh, really? Who are you to judge?” Khiara whirled to glower at him. “You’re a faerie and you deceive people into being attracted to you. Meanwhile, your kind don’t have the leisure to think about love, because you’re race is dying. Instead,