Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
He drew me into the house to get a better look at me and shook his head again.
“It’s certainly not good. From the reaction you had to such a small amount, I’d say you’re Sidhe at the very least – maybe even High Sidhe.”
“Sidhe?” I look at him in bewilderment. What was he talking about?
“You know – from the Summer Court,” he said as if I was supposed to know what that meant. “Also known as the Seelie Court.”
“You mean as in one of the Fae?” I asked, aghast.
“Well, yeah.” He shrugged. “What else would I mean?”
“But I’m not a fairy,” I protested. “I mean, I can’t be!”
“You wouldn’t be having this reaction if you didn’t have at least some Fae blood in your veins,” Bran said, frowning. He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Maybe you’re a changeling.”
“A what?” I demanded.
He shook his head.
“Never mind. It’s…complicated.”
“I don’t care how complicated it is,” I snapped. “Just tell me you can change me back because I can’t go to school like this.”
“Why not?” he said sounding amused. “I do.”
A suspicion began to bloom in the back of my mind. All those half-glimpses I seemed to catch when I looked at him from the corner of my eye. The way he seemed taller sometimes, the way his voice didn’t match his body…
“So… You don’t really look like this?” I asked.
“No more than you do,” he said. “Look, maybe it would be easier to show you my true form.”
“Okay, sure, whatever,” I said. As long as it involved turning me back to my normal self, I didn’t care what he showed me. I just needed to get my hands on the antidote to the Suva stuff I had eaten.
Bran led me through the entryway of his house, which was already dark and quiet, to the door of his bedroom. It didn’t look how I expected it would at all.
The bed was neatly made up and there were no posters on the wall. No video games in the corner—no TV or even a laptop, for that matter. There were a number of large dusty books lying in piles on various surfaces in the room. The stack on the night table beside his bed was so high it looked like it would be difficult to reach around it to turn on the lamp.
Bran seated me on the bed and went to a small wooden box on top of the dresser. He took a tiny gold key from a chain around his neck and unlocked it. As I watched eagerly, he pulled out what looked like a stoppered test tube of pale blue liquid.
“I’m not really supposed to be doing this,” he told me. “We’re supposed to remain disguised at all times. But in this case I think you need to see.”
“Yes, I definitely need to see,” I agreed. Because I was hoping that the pale blue liquid he was holding would turn me back to normal.
But instead of giving the liquid to me to drink, he carefully uncorked the small test tube and took a tiny sip himself.
“Hey!” I protested sitting forward on the bed. “What about me? Why did you…”
But I didn’t finish my sentence. Because what I saw when he turned around was so shocking I almost couldn’t breathe.
Bran was changing right before my eyes.
As I watched, he grew two feet taller. Then his shoulders widened to become at least twice as broad as mine. His terrible skin disappeared to be replaced by a smooth, even tan and his features sharpened and became handsome and aristocratic. His light brown hair grew out past his shoulders and turned thick and dark gold. And I don’t just mean blonde – I mean actually gold, as in it shone like a golden coin under the dim light of his lamp. His eyes were the blazing blue I had glimpsed only briefly during those strange snatches of clarity I’d had when I sometimes looked at him.
Bran O’Connor was… gorgeous.
25
“Oh my God,” I say unsteadily. “You… You're…”
But I couldn’t think of anything else to say. There was no way to describe or put into words what had just happened. He was blowing my mind standing there looking like a Greek God.
All I could do was stare at him and shake my head.
“Yes, it is a bit of a shock if you’re not expecting it,” Bran said dryly.
“A bit of a shock?” I said. “Is your whole family like this? I mean – are they all secretly gorgeous and amazing?”
“So you think I’m gorgeous and amazing?” he asked quietly.
I bit my lip.
“I… I mean you must know you are. But if you really look like this, then why do you go around looking like – I mean like you usually look all the time?”
“We are in hiding here, my family and I,” he explained. “Well, mostly my father, but we all agreed to come with him. It would be very bad if people figured out who he really is and where we really come from.”