Page 2 of The Lord of the Labyrinth

Perhaps I am not so different from these mortals. He chuckled at the ridiculous thought. He was the king of twilight, the lord of silver and night. What did he have in common with humans?

“I better go. She’d get upset if she knew I came into her room.” He offered the owl a secretive smile. “So take care of her for me, okay?”

Then the boy was gone. A few minutes later, Kate returned and sat on the floor at the foot of her bed with a small bowl of water and a parcel of brown paper.

“Here you go.” She set the bowl down. The owl that was not an owl bent forward so that his beak could dip into the water to drink. He had been thirsty, and the cool water was a balm to his injured body.

“Now, try this.” She opened the parcel and began tearing something into small chunks. “I bet you’ll think it’s tasty.” She offered him a small piece.

He humored her and tasted it. It was meat. Finally, a proper source of sustenance. He clicked his beak and moved closer so she could feed him several more bites. Once he felt satisfied, he moved away from her a little. She wrapped the meat back up in the parcel but left the bowl on the floor while she disappeared from the room again.

The food had not been the kind he was used to; it held no healing powers, yet he felt stronger. In a short while, he could return home.

“Feeling better?” Kate asked when she returned. He closed his eyes halfway and fluffed up his feathers in a show of contentment.

“I have to get to bed. It’s Christmas tomorrow, and I need to sleep if I have to deal with Sandra.” She reached out once more and trailed her fingertips over his uninjured wing. The caress was delightful, and he despised how much he enjoyed it. The woman thought him some common woodland creature and was treating him like a pet. But damned if he could lie and say that her touch didn’t stir dark, delicious things within him.

“You know, I think it was you who saved me tonight,” she whispered. “I don’t know where I would’ve ended up if you hadn’t crashed into my window. I might have kept driving in the dark and gotten lost. Or worse.”

Lost in the dark.It wasn’t a fate a creature full of light like this woman deserved.

He was forever lost in the shadows. It was his burden, his fate.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” she whispered to him. She then returned to her bed, this time climbing beneath the sheets. She let out a sigh of contentment that filled the room with new vibrations that called to him.

He watched.

He waited.

He wondered...

Once she was deep asleep, the moonlight burst into stardust above her head and her dreams played out before his eyes. Mortals always failed to shield their dreams, and now he had a glimpse into her world. He watched with rapt attention as the magic of her mind moved through countless images.

Figures made of glittering dust danced before him, playing out a private opera of whispered words and bittersweet music. But soon the sweet words changed, and her dreams were consumed by the phantoms of her nightmares.

“Selfish creature... never listens... have to do something about her... Send her away...”

The owl’s eyes slanted as he spread his wings, filled with rage. Kate stirred, her dark dreams disrupting her so violently that even in her sleep she began to weep.

The owl let out a hiss and took flight, landing on the woman’s bed. He hopped close to her and pressed his beak against her cheek, clicking softly. Her eyes opened, and she stared up at him in shock and wonder.

“How did you get up here? Did you fly?” she asked, wiping her eyes. He bobbed his head, his eyes tracking the sight of her tears, his dark heart pounding furiously. She sat up and carefully scooped him into her arms, burying her face in his feathers without fear.

“I wish I could leave, that you could fly me away from here... I wish I could forget everything.”

A wish...

She had spoken a wish he had the power to grant, one that would let him own her body and soul. The strength of her desire infused her wish with power, and his magic was strengthened by it. If there was something that mortals possessed that the Fae envied, it was the power of their wishes. Creatures like him did not make wishes.

Yes, little one, yes.

He could take her away. He possessed enough power now. And once he took her to his world, she would be his and he could study the strange effect she had on him for as long as his dark heart desired.

Releasing his hold on his wild shape, the barn owl transformed into his true Fae form. Now towering over the young woman, he wrapped his arms around her. She stiffened in his hold as her face tilted up and she saw him without his glamour.

Her lips parted in shock, but it was too late to change her mind.

“Your wish is granted, little one. You’re mine, now and forever. I shall steal you away by twilight.” He spoke the claiming words that would bind her to him forever. Patterns of moonlight and shadows whirled around them as he opened the space between worlds and carried her into the darkness with him.

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