Where Magic Meets
Holiday Romance Read Along Chapter 3
Happy Sunday, Book Monsters!
Here’s a quick little shot of Where Magic Meets to add to your weekend reading. I’m trying to get all of this story that I have so far out before Christmas, so I may be invading your inbox with more frequent chapters coming up. If you missed them, you can find chapters one and two here: https://amandavshane.substack.com/p/mountain-escape and here: https://amandavshane.substack.com/p/where-magic-meets
Enjoy!
Rhian bolted upright with a gasp. She found herself still encompassed by the dark of night, saving a thin trickle of moonlight that spilled over her lap from somewhere. Looking down, she found herself in a bed, her legs covered by a heavy blanket. She blinked, trying to see something, anything to clue her in to where she’d ended up. The last thing she remembered were the faces of the ones who’d hunted her through the forest right before an unseen force had yanked her away.
Throwing back the covers, she stood, hissing when her bare feet hit an ice cold floor. On wooden limbs, she stumbled toward that little bit of moonlight illuminating the darkness. It pulled her toward it, a drawing sensation that grabbed at her middle and chest.
“Emania.”
She breathed the word.
Solstice was here. Moon Land magic called her, but she couldn’t figure out how to get to it. She wasn’t where she needed to be… in the fae realm. Whipping her head around, all her eyes found were shadows.
“Where am I?”
And how had she gotten here… what had brought her? The pull in her chest strengthened, pulling her out of the room, making her frantic to get out of this place.
“Goddess,” she called. “Arianrhod... help me!”
If only she could summon the goddess to bring her back through the veil…
She needed to be outside of these walls, in the open, where the moon’s light could touch her. Forcing her sluggish legs to move with determination, she turned to her left then bolted through the darkness. Her shin knocked into something hard, but she ignored the blaze of pain from it and kept going. She burst through the first door she came to, freezing night air blasting her in the face the moment she did.
Somewhere in the distance something howled. The eerier sound filled the air, rolling up her spine, rattling her bones. That same fearsome power from before tore through the night. Terror gripped her at the same time the call of solstice and the fae wrenched her insides. Blind in the dark, she ran even harder, pine needles scratching her face, pulling her hair. Her feet were too numb from the cold to feel, but she knew she damaged them on the rocks and icy ground. That was the last thought she spared her extremities before she broke through the thick wall of pawing branches. Light from the moon washed over her, silver-bright, as she skidded past the vicious evergreens. She only had a split second to register the sheer drop off she hurtled toward before her feet slipped over the frozen ground and then into open space.
“Aaa—!!”
Her scream cut off, the sound of it swallowed once more by all pervasive shadow as that frightening, powerful wind wrapped around her all over again. This time she stayed aware, eyes open wide as the force whooshed her through the dark night at incredible speed. Something strong held her close. A solid body covered her entirely, shielding her from the cold. In fact, she felt warm for just an instant before she was abruptly dropped back onto the bed she’d stumbled out of mere moments ago. Her head snapped up as she fought to get a glimpse of whatever had grabbed her for the second time. That’s when a brush of heat grazed her cheek, like skin on skin.
“Stay.” Something… someone whispered, or growled rather, the sound so soft and low she couldn’t be certain she’d heard it at all.
Rhian jerked, blinked her eyes hard. A twin flash of gold starlight blazed in her direction for the briefest second, or maybe she imagined that too. Her hair blew back from her face as the shadow wind rushed out of the room and the door slammed shut.
Thanks for reading!