Read One Thousand Kisses for Free Online

against Realm law to disregard free will.” Ani backed toward the door. “Your brother needs a healer. I think it’s best if I go.”
    Ophelia gestured sharply. A wall of air formed between Ani and the exit. As the wall thickened and encircled her, her hair and skirts fluttered. Tali had great skill in Loki’s domain, but she’d never been able to weave air into a trap.
    How did Warran and Ophelia think they could get away with this? They couldn’t prevent her from reporting them unless they killed her, and surely they wouldn’t do that. But if she were alive, they couldn’t make her forget what they’d done.
    Unless they could.
    When Ani had been whisked away five years ago to help locate Tali and Embor, missing in humanspace, the retrieval unit had employed spirit magic, prohibited as long as any fairy could remember, to erase human memories and conceal the fairies’ presence in humanspace as per the Policy of Discretion.
    Elder Skythia had given the order.
    What other dark magic did the Court employ? What else could be altered in her thoughts or her soul?
    She didn’t want to know.
    Ophelia’s web of air whipped around Ani like a cocoon. Would the Torval spider drain her of resistance?
    Help me, help me, help me. Ani opened her mind completely, hoping against hope Tali was close enough to hear the call through their bond. But chances were, Tali and Jake had returned to humanspace already.
    Ani forced herself to speak, raising her voice over the rush of air. “Please lower the wall.”
    Ophelia’s posture was confident, her expression full of arrogance. Had she mastered spirit magic? Did she have globes like the ones Skythia had used in humanspace? “Shut up and take the test.”
    What could Ani do? She could heal, create light, globe, grow plants, divine for water and ores, influence the weather, perform cleansings, purify poisons, breathe underwater…but she couldn’t fight air.
    The funnel of wind buffeted her. “I’ll report this. I swear it.” Casting spells to harm another fairy in anything but self-defense was punishable by sevendusting. Complete loss of magic.
    Ophelia smiled, her lips thin and cruel. “You can try.”
    An older man Ani recognized as Warran’s personal assistant hastened to Warran’s side carrying spell globes on a tray. Without acknowledging Ani, he began to heal Warran’s blistering wounds.
    “Ophelia, this has gone far enough.” Warran winced as the other man cracked a spell globe over his palm like an egg. The tang of healing magic scattered through the room. “Anisette needs to think things over, and we have other matters to see to.”
    Think things over? Hardly. She didn’t want to set eyes on either of the Torvals ever again. The only question was, who could she trust with her report? The Torvals were thick with the Elder Court, possibly thicker than…
    Embor. She’d tell Embor.
    “I’m sure she’ll keep this misstep between the three of us,” Warran added. “Anisette, my apologies for my sib. She so wants to be an auntie.”
    Ani was going straight to Embor, no matter where he was or what he was doing. She’d tell him about the assassination threats, the air prison, everything she’d gleaned about their political strategies, the fact they’d tried to force her to mate with Warran—all of it.
    Ophelia’s face reddened. Bits of dirt and food began to fly around the room, followed by a tureen. “The assessments are close and the other avenue isn’t working like we hoped. She’s essential. We never should have trusted that hairy little bastard.”
    “So we have him move to phase two. This would have upset the watchdogs anyway.”
    “I don’t care about the watchdogs and their gutless restrictions. You know this will work.” Paler than usual, Ophelia snatched Ani through the wall. Thin, clawlike fingers dug into Ani’s cold flesh. “We need bondmates if we’re to—”
    “I said, let her go!” Warran roared.
    The temperature in the room dropped