The Cherished One Read Online Free PDF Page B

me, then that’s it.  I’m not about to go begging him to come back to me.  I just have to get over him.”
    Her mom squeezed her hand, and Fawna almost dissolved into tears again.  “We’d better let Dain have his council.  He’s probably wearing a hole in the carpet in the hall waiting for us emotional women to finally get over it.”
    Lilli chuckled, knowing the truth her daughter spoke.  Her stepson was not the most patient of men.  He took directly after Reed, his father, and her much-mourned husband.  Only Dain hadn’t yet found the right woman, and it showed in his temper.  Or rather his distemper, for which his half sister was always suggesting he needed a vet appointment.
    They adjourned to the council room, which more closely resembled a jungle, to assemble on what constituted their thrones.  Their family came from a long line of royalty, of kings and queens who ruled over the sprites and spirits of the forest and the animals.  Their roles – which were generally known as faeries - had changed quite considerably over the years, and Dain now presided over them in his father’s place.
    Usually, a king would have had a very large family, and Dain would have had multiple brothers and sisters amongst whom he could have divided the work.  As it was, he only had his stepmother, who was wholly human, and his stepsister, who was only half-faerie, and, as far as he was concerned, not much good, regardless.
    Why he wanted to have a meeting now, Fawna would never know, but she was sure Dain wouldn’t hesitate to tell them.
    “Considering what happened recently, we need to make sure that we’re safe from attack by vampires.”  He stared directly at his sister.  “I’m surprised Max brought you here.  Where’s Dag?”
    Her mother nearly fell out of her chair.  “Maximilian brought you here?  Why on Earth would you allow him to do that?  Are you all right?”  She hurried over to her daughter, checking her over as if she thought she might drop dead in front of her, despite the fact she’d been fine five minutes ago while they were talking.
    “I’m fine, I’m fine.”  Fawna turned to her brother.  “Dag has removed himself from the picture.  He’s no longer in my life.”
    It wasn’t easy to stun Dain.  He’d seen it all, or at least he liked to think he had.  He remained quiet for a while, then surprised Fawna by coming over to her and hugging her tightly.  “I’m sorry.  I don’t know what to say.  I wouldn’t have thought he’d’ve left you in a million years.”
    Fawna was unsuccessfully trying to battle back tears.  “Neither would I.”  She turned to her mother.  “I was downtown, at one of his—” She really didn’t want to say that she’d been at one of the places where she knew he kept a coffin, nor did she want them to know exactly where that location was.  Both of them would have conniption fits if they knew she’d gone to that part of town, near dark, alone.  “One of the places where I knew he would go to sleep if he got caught too close to dawn.  But he wasn’t there.  He’s just...gone.  No note, no nothing.”
    Dain sighed.  He had been hoping to enlist Dag’s help in keeping his sister safe from the very vampire that had darkened their doorway not a half an hour ago.  She was in grave danger, and didn’t seem to comprehend that fact.  Maximilian wasn’t someone to be toyed with, and they had been very lucky, several nights ago, to have escaped with their lives, most especially Fawna.
    Female faeries were particularly susceptible to vampires.  That was why Fawna had had such a hard time getting support for her relationship from her brother and her mother when she had fallen in love with Dag.  Now, Dag had been what was, for a vampire, an upstanding citizen.  He no longer drank human blood, and hadn’t for years, and was well known for that fact.  He had integrated into human society as much as possible while managing not to reveal