Free Not All Who Wander are Lost by Shannon Cahill Page B

twins, Jared and Illiana were her constant companions. They never looked down on her for being a servant’s child. Instead, they included her in all their games and adventures. Illiana was her best friend, and Jared was her hero.
     
    Kate’s family worried for her. They did not want her to live their lives of servitude. They wanted something better for her. When she grew into her pelt, they sent her to family in the Human world to seek her fortune. Although she was devastated to leave her childhood home, Illiana and Jared swore to always be her friends. They told her that she could always come to them. Resigned to her fate, Kate had gone. She grew to love the Human world, and even though she missed her friends, she made a home for herself there.
     
    Centuries passed as Kate explored the Human world, settling down for awhile to live a Human life span here and there. But she missed her home. She missed her family, she missed Illiana. But most of all, she missed Jared. In all of her wanderings, she had never met a man who she could love. She had realized, too late, that Jared was the only man she would ever want. She knew that even if she had stayed, he never would have been hers. He was a wealthy Elf, destined to be a great Guardian and inherit his family’s fortune. She was just a common Selkie, child of servants, but it didn’t stop her from loving him. So when she got the desperate message from Illiana to come home, she didn’t think twice.
     
    Illiana had married and gone to live in Black thorn forest. Her father was dying. When she came to be at his bedside, she found her father and brother much changed. A young, beautiful Draakki girl named Amiee had first wormed her way into her father’s affections, but dropped him for Jared when he became ill. Jared was thoroughly entwined in her spell. Nothing else seemed to matter to him. He barely noticed his father’s illness, sending for Illiana only after their father begged for his daughter’s presence. As Amiee ingratiated herself into the family, Jared did little else but give into her every whim. The family was close to ruin, their father lay dying, and Illiana didn’t know where to turn.
     
    Their father succumbed to his illness, and Jared married the Draakki girl. Nothing Illiana did could break Amiee’s spell on her brother, he grew more and more withdrawn, thinking only of his bride, indulging her every desire. When she gave birth to a baby girl, Jared almost seemed to snap out of it. He loved his daughter with his very being. Only with the child, was he himself again. Illiana started to hope things would get better. When Jared started showing signs of the same illness that had killed their father, Illiana grew frightened. The family fortune was gone. Jared was dying, and Amiee had started to disappear for days at a time.
     
    Illiana sent word to Kate. She needed someone to find out who the mysterious Draakki girl was and how to stop her before it was too late. Kate used all of her contacts and skills to find out about the girl’s past. She discovered that Amiee had been disowned by her family after she had conspired with a hag. She had bought a spell to give her power and had stolen her sister’s husband. Her sister killed herself, and the man died of a mysterious illness after losing his entire fortune. Amiee was exiled, but she had the spell. She had used it several times to the same effect.
     
    Kate knew she could never allow her beloved to suffer such a horrible fate. She tracked down the hag, and with the help of several Guardians, was able to obtain the counter spell, but she was too late. When she arrived at Jared’s bedside, Amiee was long gone. The spell worked, he was able to see what she had done to him, but he was too far gone.  With his dying breath, he told Kate that he should have never let her go. He had loved her all along. He bade her to take his father’s swords and use them to keep his daughter safe and hidden.
     
    Kate spirited