Heir of Wings and Shadows Read online

  Heir of Wings and Shadow

  Silver Fae Book 3

  KB Anne

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictiously.

  Published June 2020

  Copyright © 2020 by K.B. ANNE

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Gripping Tales, LLC, Pennsylvania.

  Cover Design by Christian Willmans, Taurus Colosseum

  Created with Vellum

  To K’s Koven,

  Y’all Kick Butt!

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Epilogue

  Bibliography

  Also by KB Anne

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  STARR

  Frank took a bullet for me. For me. Thank the gods that he didn’t die.

  My ex-best friend, Sami, the one I thought was dead, the one I mourned for, vowed revenge for tried to kill me. She said, “I’d like to pretend I’m sorry about this, but I would be lying,” then she raised the gun and pulled the trigger. No hesitation. No regret. Just pulled the trigger.

  Frank knocked me out of the way, saving my life by almost giving his.

  And now, he’s lying in a hospital bed with IVs and heart monitors machines attached to him, clinging to life, while I’m stuck in headquarters trying to figure out how my life fell so completely off the rails in such a short time. One Saturday morning, I’m taking what I thought was a leadership exam for a summer internship to a prestigious university, but instead, it turned out to be the final steps to determine if I possessed the aptitude to become an assassin for General Treadwell and ultimately become a member of the Shadow Fae Court. Talk about gross misunderstanding.

  Rather than becoming an assassin, I went on the run from the Organization and wound up getting kidnapped by grandparents, Lord and Lady Silverlain. I managed to get away, but I needed to remain in hiding because I was not only the Organization’s top recruit but the Silverlain’s long lost granddaughter destined to sit on a Silver Throne and take her place as Princess of the Silver Fae Court.

  I will get my revenge though. I will right all their wrongs and avenge my father’s death. It will be swift, just, and exacting.

  I slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Christian. I couldn’t sleep without talking to Jude about what happened the night of Frank’s shooting. His words constantly played over and over again in my mind. I needed to confront him without an audience and find out for myself if he was someone we could trust. I clung to the hope that my Fae nature could sense if he was telling me the truth or not, but honestly, I didn’t know anything about what it meant to be a Fae or what I was capable of. It wasn’t like there was an instruction manual or there was anyone I could ask who didn’t want to imprison me. It sorta put a damper on the whole, “How do I stop my fangs from elongating in public because it tends to scare people?” I was on my own with discovering and controlling my Fae nature.

  One major perk? Decent night vision. On my way through the kitchen, I glanced at the clock—5:30 a.m. Ben and Coda probably weren’t back from work yet. With any luck, Christian would sleep for several more hours, and Jude and I could have a serious discussion as to where his loyalties were.

  Just as I reached the sofa Jude slept on, the floor creaked. His eyes shot open. In the darkness of the room, his green eyes flashed brightly, too bright to just be human. He knew nothing of my Fae nature, but he was a recruit for the Organization, as well. There was a good chance he was Fae or some other supernatural being. After Christian showed me what he was, I knew others existed.

  “Starr?” Jude’s voice carried through the sleepy apartment. I stiffened. I wasn’t doing anything wrong by coming out to talk to him, but it still felt suspicious. He dropped his voice. “Is everything alright?”

  My fingers danced in and out of themselves. “Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine. I just needed to talk to you.”

  “Sure, sit,” he said, patting the sofa next to him. I considered the spot he was so enthusiastically caressing. It was awfully close to him. I glanced over at the other sofa. It was too far away for a private conversation. I shifted from foot to foot. I hadn’t considered the logistics of our conversation—the intimacy of me sitting on the same sofa as Jude in a dark apartment. “Come on, sit down.”

  I crouched into the farthest corner of it. It was still warm from him. I tried not to think of Jude and his boyness and the lack of other people around or the fact that we were sitting less than two feet away from each other in the dark.

  “Any word on Frank?” he asked, careful to keep his voice low as if he knew that I didn’t want us to be disturbed. I shook my head. I wish there was. Di hadn’t called since yesterday morning. The anticipation was killing me. I hated that I couldn’t go see Frank and find out for myself how he was doing. The last I saw him, blood was spilling out on the floor from where Sami shot him, and our parting words included him declaring his love for me and me being unable to say them back.

  I picked at the base of his blanket. “I wanted to talk to you about what happened with Sami and Jovie.”

  “You said they were dead.” His statement an accusation.

  “I thought they were dead. Treadwell told me as much.”

  “So you had no proof?”

  Again with the accusation.

  My back stiffened. “No, I had no proof. I took Treadwell at his word. I didn’t have time for investigations. I was too busy trying to escape.”

  The direction of our conversation was heading in a direction I hadn’t intended. My Fae nature swelled within me. It was getting more and more difficult to keep it hidden especially when I felt threatened or my emotions were heightened. Jude managed to elicit both.

  I didn’t come here to answer questions.

  I came here for answers.

  I am in control.

  “When you were talking to Sami, you sounded like you were still working for the Organization.”

  Without missing a beat, without a pause, without even a second to gather his thoughts, he said, “I’m sure it did. That was intentional.” An answer so perfectly timed, so perfectly executed that I didn’t believe him. I let go of the blanket. My eyes now adjusted to the dark, zoomed in on his spoken and unspoken answers.

  “Starr, I know that look. We were taught to study our witnesses. Look for the sheen of sweat. Search the eyes for dilation. Watch body repositioning, but what I’m telling you is accurate. From the moment, we stepped
into the room, I knew what Sami intended to do.”

  “You knew she was going to shoot me?”

  “For two years, I studied criminology. I knew she planned to harm you in some way. She was cold and calculating. Her animosity consumed her. She refused to be derailed, but she was proud of the ‘Program,’” he said with air quotes. “I worked the General Treadwell angle. It was a diversion tactic. Nothing more.”

  His green eyes flickered in the gray light. I pulled my lips in. I wanted to believe him. I really did, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. There wasn’t enough history between us. My gut told me something was off. I needed to start paying more attention to what my instincts told me. If I learned anything from the incident with Sami and Jovie, shared history disguised barely veiled truth.

  He swallowed. His shoulders relaxed as he tilted his head. He was trying to engage me. Soften my reaction. “I never met anyone like Sami. Her passion for killing you never truly subsided. In fact, she became more driven to accomplish her goal.” He shook his head. “And at her age? She was downright scary.”

  Sami had always been a force of nature. Her own Class Five Sami-cane. I never thought her capable of murder, but I’d always known that when she set her mind to something, she did it. “You have no idea.”

  “I’m thankful Frank pushed you out of the way.”

  I pulled away from him. “Thankful? Frank’s in the hospital with a gunshot wound.”

  “I am thankful,” he said adamantly. “Frank took a bullet to his lower abdomen. Sami was aiming for your heart. If she shot you, you would be dead.”

  The two feet of sofa space felt much too close for the turn of our conversation. I wanted to stay as far from intimate as possible. “Are you working for the Organization?”

  “Starr, I’m dedicated to your protection. You have to believe me.”

  “You need to be honest with me. There’s too much at stake. It’s not too late for any of us to walk away right now if we need to.”

  We were planning to leave behind headquarters and Jude today and head back to the Qualla Boundary. With Frank in the hospital, that was no longer an option. At least not yet anyway.

  He reached for my hand that had found its way back to the edge of the blanket. I pulled it away from him. He sighed. “Starr, I am working for you. I am dedicated to you. I would never put you in harm’s way. I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner. Once I saw the gun, I knew exactly what she wanted to do, but I was afraid to come to you. I didn’t want to enrage Sami more than what she already was. To think I could have lost you…,” he trailed off. He reached for my knee. “Starr, you mean so much to me. I’ve never met anyone like you.”

  I leaned away from him. I didn’t want to have this conversation while sharing the same sofa and in the dark. I didn’t want to have this conversation with him period. I scooted over the sofa arm. “Jude, you don’t even know me.”

  “I…,” he said.

  “What’s going on out here?” Christian said, appearing out of nowhere.

  I jumped back in surprise. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

  “Christian, there’s something you need to—,” Jude said.

  My pocket rang. Well more accurately, my phone in my pocket. I glanced at the number. “Starts with an 828, that’s gotta be Di. Hello?”

  Chapter Two

  DI

  I slipped my pack on and cinched the straps snug. “You going to manage without me until tomorrow?”

  Frank sighed. It was a peaceful, restful sound that confirmed that he was going to be okay. In stark contrast to our trip to the hospital, when I feared he wasn’t going to make it. “I guess, but you have a lot of nerve leaving me. How will I survive without my Florence Nightingale?”

  “You’ve got a nurses’ station full of Florence Nightingales to hit on when I’m not here.”

  His eyes sparkled with mischief. “True, but none of them are you. I only have eyes for you now, Beautiful.”

  I pinched his foot through the blanket. “Does any girl actually buy your bullshit?”

  He grinned at me. Fireworks exploded in my stomach—that’s what I get for not eating.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, they do, but I’m not giving you bullshit. You are beautiful and sexy. You should look in the mirror,” he said with a look that said he meant every word, or he was high as a kite. With his loopy talk, I had no doubt he was flying right now.

  I jumped away from him. “God no. I’d be in the bed next to you. It’s been days since I showered. You’re just doped up.”

  He shrugged. “Think what you want, but you’re sexy. I’m talking seriously hot. If you leave me all by myself, what am I going to do all day?”

  “You’re going to sleep like the doctor told you to. If you improve enough in the next twenty-four hours, you’ll get to leave two days ahead of schedule. Leave it to you to get shot in the abdomen without hitting any vital organs. Godsdamn luckiest guy I know.” I punched his arm.

  We all decided that if we kept a close eye on Jude, we could stay at headquarters a few more days—long enough to give Frank some time to recover before we returned to the Qualla Boundary.

  “I will promise to rest if you promise me that I’ll have your undivided attention when we get back to headquarters.”

  “Frank, you won’t need me to take care of you.” Inside, a part of me shriveled up and died. I liked being here with him when his sole focus was on me. As soon as Starr was around, he’d forget all about me.

  He crossed his arms. “Promise or you’re not leaving.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Ben and I will come to get you tomorrow.” I glanced up at the clock. “I gotta go. Ben will be waiting for me.”

  “Fine,” he snapped, “but I need a goodbye kiss.”

  “You’re really full of yourself today, aren’t you?” I bent down and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Any more and I’d feel things I shouldn’t feel. Things I couldn’t feel. But I wouldn’t say “no” to his one small request. I mean he was shot and all.

  I ducked out of Frank’s room and kept my head down. The elevator was twenty feet away and if destiny worked in my favor, I would step into the elevator and slip out of the hospital without a cop trailing me. I’d been through three rounds of questioning, and I kept giving them the same answer. “I’m sorry but I don’t know why the young ladies were unconscious when you got there. I walked into the room moments before the ambulance arrived.” I also dropped more hints than a Sunday collection plate that OneTruth was responsible for Frank’s shooting, but the officers weren’t buying it. Stubborn bastards.

  Thankfully, my parents covered for me. They told the cops I was down south for spring break. I owed them a bottle of Grey Goose when I get home. Frank’s mom covered for him too, but it was only a matter of time before the authorities connected the dots and figured out we were down here with Christian. Starr’s identity was secure—at least for the moment anyway. For all official governmental purposes, she was dead and buried.

  A white van rolled to a stop in front of the bench. The window creaked down slowly. “Hey there little girl, want a ride?”

  “I don’t typically accept rides from strange men, but I’ll make an exception for a Cherokee, as long as Coda’s not riding shotgun.”

  Ben laughed low and deep. He made you want to smile just to because you could—My gods, I couldn’t believe such crap came out of my head. I was hanging around with Starr too freaking much. She was making me nice and caring. What was next? Random acts of compassion? I shuddered at the notion.

  “He stayed back to help keep an eye on everyone.”

  I hopped into the passenger seat. “Any excitement over the past few days?”

  He pulled onto the street. The hospital wasn’t far from the apartment, especially if there wasn’t traffic. “Well, from what we can gather, Jude professed his undying love and dedication to Starr this morning, and let’s just say, Christian overheard and he’s not too happy about it.”

  “Shit, sorr
y I missed that.”

  “Coda and I walked in just as Christian was about to unleash on Jude. Starr defused them before things got too heated by putting her hands on both their chests. I don’t know if it was a Fae thing or a Starr thing, but it was impressive.”

  Starr came out to Coda and Ben a few days after Jude arrived. She snuck down to the garage with them, and voilá, we were all in the Fae know. Well, except Jude. No one was telling him anything.

  But pre-Fae Starr was also able to handle most situations with her calm, rational mind.

  “I would have liked to see that.”

  “Since Jude will be with us for at least a few more days, I’m sure you will get to see it in action yourself. Frank coming home tomorrow?”

  “That’s the plan. Do you think headquarters is safe or should we just ditch the half-wit and return to the Qualla Boundary?”

  “Coda would never let us leave him,” he said. “I’d like to stay in Asheville for a few more days in case Frank needs any immediate assistance. Asheville General ranks in the top ten in the country for wound care. If we keep an eye on Jude, everything should work out.”

  As we waited for the garage door to open, he turned to me, “And a warning to you, be ready to reveal every bit of medical information about Frank’s condition to Starr including every meal, bowel movement, and doctor visit. She’s going a bit stir crazy.”