Read Online Odd Melody (Odd Series Book 2) by Virginia Nelson - Free Book Online

decided, as the denizens of fairy closed in to attack, that it would hardly matter as we were about to die.
    My mother pushed to the front of the crowd that had moved to surround us. She held her head high, and I noticed how very young she looked. I probably looked older than she did. Or, at least I had prior to coming to power.
    “Who are you?” She demanded an answer in a tone only a woman who had ruled supreme for a millennia could have used.
    “He’s Chance.”
    At the same time Chance answered, “Her soul mate.”
    My mother lifted her chin and looked down her nose at us, a considerable feat since she was shorter than I was, and far shorter than Chance.
    “Impossible.” Her voice rang out like wind chimes. “Janie is something that has never existed in the natural world. The principal of soul mates suggests that—”
    Chance interrupted her, after spinning and moving me behind him, “That principal suggests a mate for us all. I have waited longer than you have breathed, Queen of Goblin Kind, for her to come to me.”
    I stared at the strange assortment of creatures that had been facing off with Chance before he had spun us to switch positions. At the front of the pack stood a small long nosed elf and a hobgoblin with green skin and warts. They and other assorted creatures stared at me with almost as much surprise as I felt looking at them.
    When Chance’s speech registered, I spun to thump him on the back with one fist.
    He glared at me over one shoulder.
    “I have not come to you.” Lifting my brows at him, I dared him to argue.
    He gave me a look that reminded me that we were on the same side. It told, rather than asked, me to clam up.
    I shoved past him to glare at my mother. Avery stood behind her. He was almost as tall as my mother, as I said, height not being an attractive feature amongst their kind. His hair remained thick as I remembered and, as an immortal, he had not aged. His eyes had a glittering sheen to them and his very skin seemed to call me. Fucking fairies, I thought again. He tried to use glamour to diffuse the situation. Typical, just typical.
    I glared harder at my mother and told her the truth. “You cannot force me to marry anyone. I will fight you and any you send for me. You may manage to destroy me, but what you seek to accomplish will be destroyed as well. How you thought to force an arranged marriage on me, or even force me back into Fairie, is just—”
    My mother stepped closer with a glare. “I wouldn’t try to tell me what I can and cannot do if I were you, Janie.”
    Power began to gather around my mother like heat waves. I sucked in a breath and held it.
    Chance’s hands rested on my shoulders and the cord tugged at my middle. I tried to snap it off, to ignore him, but I felt vulnerable and he seemed so much stronger. I resisted leaning on him when I needed so much to lean. I couldn’t make the connection snap off clean. Lingering tendrils remained to lick at my soul, or so it felt. Almost as if he had merged to become a part of me. Like I could lie back, physically and emotionally, and he would catch me. I wasn’t sure I appreciated the sensation.
    A part of me wanted to rely on him. I wanted none of this to happen, but then again, none of that was exactly true because I wanted Vance too. To have Vance, I needed all of this craziness. Without it I would never be free of my mother’s control, could never choose who I would love or not. My mother continued gathering her power. Avery lurked behind her like a dark, shining shadow. I studied her glittering throng while Chance held my arms, solid if unbidden support.
    “You will at least try out the engagement, Janie, soul mate or no, for one week or I will bring my granddaughter here to stay. She would be safer in the Court than in the land of mortals.”
    I sucked in a breath and glared at her. A week. That wasn’t long. “One week?” A week I could do to protect my daughter.
    “If after one week you still do not