Read Online Not Your Ordinary Faerie Tale by Christine Warren - Free Book Online

nor willing to acknowledge that what they think of as the supernatural—as magic—exists.”
    Corinne had heard of the Council from Reggie, whose husband, Dmitri, once headed it; now, apparently, Rafe had that pleasure. “Yeah, I know. Because you think we’re primitive morons.”
    Luc nodded. “Compared with most other species, you are. Primitive, not morons,” he hurried to add when she turned to glare at him. “Look at it from the Others’ point of view. Werefolk were around for millennia before humans evolved much past the Cro-Magnon stage on Ithir , and even though vampires were once human, they have a much deeper connection to magic than their human cousins ever did. And Fae…well, we left Ithir about the same time humans started realizing that round things made nifty accessories for the bottoms of their sleds. In relative terms, humans are like infants to us.”
    Corinne couldn’t decide if she should be confused or just insulted. Or maybe both. “Right. We’re the cosmic equivalent of amoebae. Great. But that doesn’t explain why it’s so important to interrupt this Seoc guy’s tour of Ithir .”
    “Actually, it does,” Rafe said. “One of the primary reasons for the regulation of travel from Faerie into Ithir is to keep the Others’ secret safe. You’ve seen what happens when someone comes through the door with the wrong intentions, or with no intentions at all. If people in this city are catching sight of Seoc, the chances of his identity being discovered increase by the minute, and once people know who and what he is, the veil of secrecy that protects us from discovery gets that much thinner. Break the barrier of disbelief in supernatural beings by once acknowledging there’s a race of non-humans out there and people become much more likely to believe in all the races out there. In other words, it’s a short step from a Fae visitor to a resident pack of werewolves.”
    “You’re right,” she acknowledged, pursing her lips. She might have to say it, but she didn’t have to like it. As a reporter, she had a core-deep antipathy toward secrets. “But you said there was another reason.”
    “I’ll admit the second reason might sound a bit self-serving,” Luc said, and shifted uncomfortably. “By controlling the door into and out of Faerie, we can control who knows about our existence and who can find their way into our realm. Faerie can be a dangerous place for those who aren’t Fae, partly because it’s home to very powerful magic, but that magic can also be a powerful lure for those who think they can use it for themselves. The Fae left Ithir because humans either feared our magic or wanted it for themselves. Rather than hide in plain sight, like the Others, we removed ourselves from this world and closed the doors after us. But what do you think would happen if someone found the doors and showed everyone where they were?”
    Put like that, the idea made Corinne pause. She could imagine what would happen—the same thing that would happen if the truth about the Others came out, only in this case human beings would take the show on the road. People would be either frightened or fascinated. The frightened ones would try to destroy what they didn’t understand, and the fascinated ones would trample it in their eagerness to experience it for themselves. They’d pour through the doors like shoppers at a one-day sale.
    “A person can learn to cope with a shift in his reality,” Rafe said gently, “but people, as a group, are a different story. If Seoc keeps this up, he’s going to open those doors. Then Ithir and Faerie will both suffer.”
    Luc agreed. “Faerie would be overrun by humans. Some of them would be honestly curious, but some of them would be afraid or greedy or malicious and would destroy the world we’ve spent centuries building for ourselves.”
    Yeah, she could see where that would suck. As much as she wanted to defend her fellow humans, people did tend to be a hell of