Read Online I Do Believe in Faeries (The Cotton Candy Quintet Book 3) by Erin Hayes - Free Book Online
Authors: Erin Hayes
Ads: Link
cheek as we walked. Rather than risk having my empty stomach make another embarrassing noise, I decided to fill the silence. “So, what court are you a part of, then?”
“My own,” Robin said darkly.
“Your own?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I don’t like being told what to do.”
After meeting Titania and seeing how she did things, I was hoping that the Summer Court would be more welcoming. Not only that, but if Alaina’s baby wasn’t in the Summer Court, then we’d have to go to the Autumn and Winter Courts, where Robin had said things were even worse. I didn’t know if I’d be able to survive that, especially with the long walks between places.
If I did survive all of these different courts and I still couldn’t find the baby, I…
Well, I had no idea what I’d do.
As if Robin could read my thoughts on my face, he said, “Hey, we’ll figure this out.”
I blinked, feeling tears stream down my face. I hadn’t even noticed them there until I blinked. I wiped at them furiously.
I wished Jordyn was here. She’d know what to do, and she’d know how to deal with faerie queens like Titania. She knew how to deal with heavy stuff like this, because she’d done it before. I shook my head. No, Jordyn had messed up badly before and fixed it. This was my mess to fix. It had to be me.
Even though I could fail.
“Mortals cry far more than faeries do,” Robin observed curiously. To my utter surprise, he reached out and brushed another tear off my cheek. His touch sent shivers down my spine, and I watched, amazed, as the droplet hung on Robin’s finger as he inspected it like it was some new species of beetle.
“What good does crying do?” he asked quietly.
“Nothing,” I whispered. “But sometimes I can’t stop it.”
“Hey, Tinkerbell,” he started. His eyes flicked to me and then his expression immediately changed. “Aw hell,” he muttered, wiping the hand that held my tear on his pants.
“What—?” I started to ask, but a loud rumbling from above cut me off.
“WHY, IF IT ISN’T ROBIN GOODFELLOW.”
I looked up and screamed.
So far, I’d met pixies, faeries like Mustardseed and others that I’ve nearly stepped on, Queen Titania and even Robin surprised me by popping out of nowhere. But none of them, not even the troll at the gates to the castle of the Spring Court had been as tall as a building.
This faerie was, if he actually was a faerie. I didn’t know if there was a difference between faeries and giants, but this being fell squarely into the “giant” category regardless.
He was terrifying.
His head and face towered above the treetops overhead, so I luckily couldn’t see his face, but that did nothing for the lower half. He was gnarled with leathery skin that resembled an elephant’s, and he was the same gray color too. His feet, which smelled like rotting flesh, were wrapped in different animal hides with a thick cord holding them in place. Chains cuffed his ankles and wrapped around his legs. He held a club that was the size of my car at the end. One hit with that and I was a goner.
But that wasn’t the worst part. He wore heads around his waist, like they were some sort of chain mail that he had hoped to cover up his nether regions with. The heads ranged from humanoid to purely animals, and wereall sorts of different sizes, from the size of my thumb to the size of the troll’s head from earlier. And they were all just hanging together, dead.
“Hey! Tinkerbell!” Robin hissed. “Hush, or you’re going to get yourself killed.”
I clamped my hand to my mouth and staggered backward. Robin stepped in front of me to address the giant. Should I hide? Maybe it hadn’t seen me. Maybe—
“Hey, Jack!” he shouted up at the giant. “What brings you outside of the Winter Court?”
“IT GOT BORING THERE,” the giant rumbled back. “EVERYONE KNOWS ME IN THE WINTER COURT.”
So this was one of the faeries that really hated humans. Great. If this was a sample of
“My own,” Robin said darkly.
“Your own?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I don’t like being told what to do.”
After meeting Titania and seeing how she did things, I was hoping that the Summer Court would be more welcoming. Not only that, but if Alaina’s baby wasn’t in the Summer Court, then we’d have to go to the Autumn and Winter Courts, where Robin had said things were even worse. I didn’t know if I’d be able to survive that, especially with the long walks between places.
If I did survive all of these different courts and I still couldn’t find the baby, I…
Well, I had no idea what I’d do.
As if Robin could read my thoughts on my face, he said, “Hey, we’ll figure this out.”
I blinked, feeling tears stream down my face. I hadn’t even noticed them there until I blinked. I wiped at them furiously.
I wished Jordyn was here. She’d know what to do, and she’d know how to deal with faerie queens like Titania. She knew how to deal with heavy stuff like this, because she’d done it before. I shook my head. No, Jordyn had messed up badly before and fixed it. This was my mess to fix. It had to be me.
Even though I could fail.
“Mortals cry far more than faeries do,” Robin observed curiously. To my utter surprise, he reached out and brushed another tear off my cheek. His touch sent shivers down my spine, and I watched, amazed, as the droplet hung on Robin’s finger as he inspected it like it was some new species of beetle.
“What good does crying do?” he asked quietly.
“Nothing,” I whispered. “But sometimes I can’t stop it.”
“Hey, Tinkerbell,” he started. His eyes flicked to me and then his expression immediately changed. “Aw hell,” he muttered, wiping the hand that held my tear on his pants.
“What—?” I started to ask, but a loud rumbling from above cut me off.
“WHY, IF IT ISN’T ROBIN GOODFELLOW.”
I looked up and screamed.
So far, I’d met pixies, faeries like Mustardseed and others that I’ve nearly stepped on, Queen Titania and even Robin surprised me by popping out of nowhere. But none of them, not even the troll at the gates to the castle of the Spring Court had been as tall as a building.
This faerie was, if he actually was a faerie. I didn’t know if there was a difference between faeries and giants, but this being fell squarely into the “giant” category regardless.
He was terrifying.
His head and face towered above the treetops overhead, so I luckily couldn’t see his face, but that did nothing for the lower half. He was gnarled with leathery skin that resembled an elephant’s, and he was the same gray color too. His feet, which smelled like rotting flesh, were wrapped in different animal hides with a thick cord holding them in place. Chains cuffed his ankles and wrapped around his legs. He held a club that was the size of my car at the end. One hit with that and I was a goner.
But that wasn’t the worst part. He wore heads around his waist, like they were some sort of chain mail that he had hoped to cover up his nether regions with. The heads ranged from humanoid to purely animals, and wereall sorts of different sizes, from the size of my thumb to the size of the troll’s head from earlier. And they were all just hanging together, dead.
“Hey! Tinkerbell!” Robin hissed. “Hush, or you’re going to get yourself killed.”
I clamped my hand to my mouth and staggered backward. Robin stepped in front of me to address the giant. Should I hide? Maybe it hadn’t seen me. Maybe—
“Hey, Jack!” he shouted up at the giant. “What brings you outside of the Winter Court?”
“IT GOT BORING THERE,” the giant rumbled back. “EVERYONE KNOWS ME IN THE WINTER COURT.”
So this was one of the faeries that really hated humans. Great. If this was a sample of
Similar Books
