Read Online Fairest 02 - The Frog Prince by Adrianne Brooks - Free Book Online

Zaran go out of his way for her? He’d already repaid his debt to her for releasing him from Danielle.
    “Yeah it sucks,” Christopher said, “But ever since the fairies died off it’s become a moot point. Fairy dust is so rare these days it’s like spotting a…” He was obviously struggling for the right words and Rachel felt a smidgen of amusement worm its way beneath the worry. “A…beetle…no a mosquito…I mean a virgin…in a place they wouldn’t normally be found,” he finished lamely.
    “You really reached for that one, didn’t you?”
    “I think I swung too hard,” he admitted, shamefaced. “I don’t get out much, so I don’t have a good metaphor prepared that doesn’t involve bugs or movies from the 1980’s.”
    She laughed. Despite his failed attempt to make a point through verbal exaggeration, her mind brought her right back to the point at hand. 
    “The fairies are dead,” Rachel’s voice was flat and Chris nodded before looking at her curiously.
    “Yeah. They were killed off a while ago.” His eyes narrowed. “Why are we playing twenty questions, again?”
    Rachel shrugged and went back to paddling with renewed vigor.
    “Just making conversation,” she hedged. For some reason she didn’t want to confess to Chris about the fairy dust. There was a certain amount of disgust in his voice when he’d mentioned the type of creatures who would use death magic that made her hesitate. True, she hadn’t been the one to kill Tinkerbell, but her history with Zaran was complicated. Something she didn’t want to have to explain. And she would have to explain, especially since she had no intention of getting rid of the fairy dust. It was wrong, and likely evil given its history, but that wasn’t enough to convince Rachel to let it go. It was keeping her awake, and she would keep it until she could find an alternative.
    A wave lapped over the edge of their leafy raft and Rachel glanced about, curious as to what could have caused the disturbance. It had been smooth sailing so far and she expected to see a koi fish leaping back into the water, or maybe a giant mosquito bearing down on them both. But what she saw was more alarming than that. Her jaw dropped and she jerked her hand out of the water. Reaching blindly for Chris, she punched him squarely in the forearm.
    “What the hell-?”
    She shushed him by pointing at what had caught her eye.
    He turned, and she was satisfied to note that his jaw did its own share of dropping.
    There was a woman swimming in their wake. Her pale skin morphed to a bright, true green around the edges of her hair and along her arms and sides. Her hair was the same sea green and she had it slicked back in a French braid to keep it out of her slanted, cat-like eyes. Eyes that were as black as anything Rachel had ever seen, the pupils about the size of silver dollars. Fish scales decorated her shoulders and collarbone. Her fingers were webbed, and fanning lazily through the water behind her was a tail that would have made any one of Ariel’s sisters weep in envy.
    “Is that-?”
    “Holy crap,” Christopher laughed incredulously. “It’s a mermaid.”
    The girl chirruped, a note of curiosity morphing her too sharp features.
    “Hello there, beautiful,” Chris said, looking dazed and enthralled all at once. He got on his knees and began to crawl towards the edge of their lily pad with his hand outstretched.
    “Come here,” he crooned. “I won’t hurt you.”
    “Are you insane?” Rachel gasped, gripping the back of his shirt and struggling to pull him back to safety when the giant leaf titled dangerously beneath the uneven distribution of weight.
    “I just want to touch her,” Chris explained, ignoring her attempts to pull him back and stretching even further out over the water as if he could will the mermaid closer. He looked at Rachel and for an instant seemed heartbroken by her interference. “Why can’t I touch her?”
    Rachel saw it then.
    It had