Tangled secrets a why ch.., p.1
Tangled Secrets: A Why Choose Fantasy Romance (Fae Hearted Book 2), page 1
TANGLED SECRETS
FAE HEARTED
BOOK TWO
YVE VALE
Published by Entraverse Publishing
Sedona, AZ 86339, USA
YveVale.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, actual events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018-2024 Yve Vale.
Cover Art © 2023 Yve Vale.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
No part of this book may be used to create, feed, or refine artificial intelligence models, for any purpose.
CONTENTS
Author’s Note
1. Crossing
2. Cave
3. Caught
4. Mortals
5. Village
6. Travels
7. Princess
8. Healer's Touch
9. Secrets
10. Gardens
11. Ambassadors
12. Reunion
13. Confrontations
14. Freedoms
15. Treaty
16. Niece
17. A New Life
18. Decisions
19. Royal Pains
20. Mage
21. Love
22. Release
23. Acceptance
24. Farewell
25. Dance
26. Consequences
27. Losing
28. Chase
29. Caught
30. Reclaimed
31. Defense
32. Mine
33. Heartache
34. Changeling
35. Bonds
36. The Warning
37. Journey Home
38. Elfhame
39. Magnus
40. The Past
41. Contemplations
42. Futures
43. Proposals
44. Confessions
45. Pleasure
Thank you for reading!
Acknowledgements
Also by Yve Vale
Writing As Raven Vale
About the Author
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This is the SECOND book in the Fae Hearted series, a fantasy why choose romance with dark themes. It’s set in the same universe as Shadowcraft Academy and Bewitching Monsters series but happens several centuries in the past and is the origin story for the Shadowcraft Universe.
The female main character is a servant and second-class citizen in the fae realm and her personality will reflect this status. Don’t worry, she’s going to end up a badass. The prince is spoiled, but he will figure it out at some point.
If you love characters that have intense growth arcs, this series is for you.
The female main character will end up with more than one of the love interests. Group scenes are on the agenda.
This series also has a bit of MM romance within the group but the focus is on the female main character, and there’s no cheating.
If you believe love is love, and of course, some spicy times, then please charge forward!
PLEASE NOTE:
This series also contains several dark themes that some readers may be sensitive to:
abduction, very brief mentions of SA, violence, magic curses, and death.
For more information, visit: yvevale.com
1
CROSSING
OAKES
The sudden pang of terror almost knocks me to the floor. I steady myself and, with my empathic powers, register the origin of that fear.
Wynstelle.
Prince Eldrin looks at me, wondering why his diplomatic advisor nearly stumbled. Instantly, he knows I’m shaken. He glances around the crowded room filled with Elven dignitaries from all the Elven kingdoms. The prince whispers, “Oakes, what is it?”
“I’m not sure.” I attempt to shake off my dread. “Some heavy emotion hit me.”
“Is it one of these fools?” Eldrin sneers. “Perhaps the elf behind the ghoul’s attacking humans?”
“It could be connected.” I nod. I need to keep the prince focused on his duties while I check on Wyn—immediately. “I’m going to step out. There are too many telepathic signals in here to identify the source.”
“Alright.” Prince Eldrin narrows his eyes. “But don’t take long. I want to know what’s going on.”
I hurry away, though not so fast that I’ll draw attention. I hate leaving Eldrin behind at the delegates’ reception and keeping my fears about Wyn’s well-being from him. However, Eldrin might cause a diplomatic incident, and this might be nothing I can’t handle on my own.
Once I’m clear of on-lookers, I break out in a run to Eldrin’s wing of Ryven Castle. Time could be of the essence. I can’t feel Wyn’s fear anymore. I’m getting nothing from her now, which concerns me more than continuing to feel her fear. What if I take too long to reach her?
Her door is ajar as I approach. Not caring about etiquette or if she’ll be upset with me, I charge into Wyn’s suite.
As soon as I enter, I see my fellow advisor standing in the middle of her otherwise empty chambers. “Jaden? What’s going on?”
Jaden spins on his heel, his violet-colored eyes wide and flashing with fear. “Have you seen Wynstelle?”
“No. I sensed Wyn’s fear and, just now, yours.” I scan the room for traces of what might have caused Wyn’s fear. Her panic felt like a sword slicing into my chest. “I came as soon as I could pull away without causing a scene.”
“How long ago did you feel her?” Jaden asks.
I clench my fists at my side to ground myself, but it’s no use. My heart is sinking with her missing. “I was on the other side of the castle with Eldrin. So… no more than ten minutes ago?”
“Did you tell Eldrin what you felt?”
“I only confessed to an intuitive blast, not its source,” I grumble. “I didn’t need the prince running off when so much is at stake with the Royal Court.” I glance around the room. “I thought you were watching over her.”
Jaden rubs his chin, looking as if he’s losing his mind, his voice choked with worry. “I was with her the whole day.”
My psychic senses pick up that my friend and colleague is holding something back. He’s completely distraught, and it’s bigger than her possibly running off. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I offered to escort Wyn to the human realm—”
“What?” I interrupt. “Eldrin will be furious at you for doing that.” I run my fingers through my long hair and pace.
“He would have been. But if I hadn’t offered to escort her, Wyn planned to go by herself. It looks like she did, anyway. It doesn’t matter now. I didn’t get the chance to help her,” Jaden explains with a grimace. “I thought I had convinced her to allow me to accompany her. I went to retrieve my travel gear from my chambers. When I came back she was gone. I wasn’t gone but ten minutes.”
“There’s still something else you are keeping from me…” I prod.
Jaden turns away from my scrutinous gaze. “We had a slight disagreement, but she promised to wait for me. Before I went to fetch my things, I thought she understood…”
“Did you frighten her when you had this slight disagreement?”
“No.” Jaden shakes his head. “She was mad at me, not scared. She must have left on her own accord.”
“Don’t be foolish. Even if Wyn was upset with you, something else is going on. Something terrified her. I felt it.” Searching the room for clues, I find Wyn’s cloak is in still the wardrobe cabinet. “Besides, it’s too cold for her at night not to take her cloak.”
“You’re right. Wyn wouldn’t leave it behind, no matter how angry she was with me. She’s smarter than that.”
“Maybe someone scared her off? Maybe she’s hiding somewhere in the castle?” I suggest. “We know that the members of the royal court are growing tired of a human garnering the prince’s full attention.”
“That doesn’t feel right either. Wyn doesn’t frighten easily. Remember, she faced off with a bear and ghouls already.” Jaden frowns and paces. “However, I know she was ready to leave our realm.”
“Perhaps a threat was all she needed to run on her own?” I say, trying my best to make sense of this. “Even without her cloak.”
Jaden gestures to the door. “Maybe you’re right in the first guess. There wasn’t a guard at this post when I returned to her room.”
“No guard?” My eyes go wide. “Could the guard have taken her to another part of the castle?”
“Not one of our guards… not without Eldrin’s, yours, or my direct approval.” Jaden’s black hair falls into his eyes as he lowers his head, inhaling deeply to calm his frustration. “I was very clear about the protocol with her. Corwin was on duty when I left the room. He knows better to do something like that.”
I grab the edge of the table, feeling like I might break it in half. “Wyn won’t survive on her own, not with a target placed on humans right now.”
“Maybe she will have a better chance
“Do you smell an intruder?” I ask.
“Yes… Fuck!” Jaden shouts. “I was so out of my mind, my senses all but shut down… I scent an Elven male. Not one of my guards. And I can smell her fear that you sensed. And…” Jaden spots a tiny smear on the table. “What’s this?”
“Blood?” I touch the red liquid and run it over my fingers. My heart clenches with fear that she’s now dead, or soon will be. “Human blood.”
“Wyn’s blood,” Jaden confirms. “Still fresh. Look! There’s another smear by the door.”
Both of us run outside the room.
Jaden hurries along the hall, scanning for more. “It’s smeared along the wall.” He clenches his fists. “She was taken!”
I curse when my Elven gift senses that Eldrin is on his way to our location.
Prince Eldrin’s hurried footsteps echo down the hall, his white-blond hair flowing freely. When he comes to stand in front of us, he glances into Wyn’s empty room and then at Jaden. “Where’s Wynstelle? You were supposed to be watching her.”
“Go back to the delegation gathering.” I wave the prince away. “We can handle this.”
“I don’t take orders from you.” After reading our faces, Eldrin grabs Jaden’s collar. His stormy blue eyes seem to glow with anger. “What did you do?”
“Wynstelle is missing. We’re not sure what happened yet,” I say in a calm voice. Although I’m so desperate to find her, I want to rip the other two males apart to get on with the search. “She could have left on her own.”
Eldrin’s eyes catch sight of the blood smear on the wall behind Jaden, and he shoves Jaden aside. “Is that… hers?” He clutches his shirt over his heart in agony. “She’s hurt?”
I must contain the prince inside the castle, so he can focus on his royal duties and the arriving dignitaries. “We know nothing yet.”
“Don’t shield me from the truth!” Eldrin rages. “Did someone attack her? I have to find her!”
I grab the prince by the shoulders. “We will find her. Wyn might still be on the premises. She’s only been gone a short time. Let us covertly search for her, and you can study the delegates to see if any of them had anything to do with this.”
“Alcina,” Eldrin says with venom, more to himself than to us.
“Your betrothed would be one of my guesses. Or your father’s commander.” Jaden nods. “Although there are several leaders and members of your royal court who also disapprove of humans in Elfhame.”
“We are wasting time.” Eldrin throws his hands in the air. “Find her. If she isn’t on the grounds, send word to me.”
“Of course.” I sigh with relief. Finally, I’m free to find her. “I promise we’ll bring her back, safe and whole.”
“I’m going to have a chat with my betrothed. Maybe with my father and Commander Turgon too.” Eldrin growls and storms down the hallway back to the grand hall.
His confrontations will probably turn into a horrible disaster, but I honestly don’t give a fuck right now. Getting Wyn back is the only thing that matters. My heart screams it will die if something has happened to her and she’s gone forever.
Letting my worries fade to the background, I close my eyes and push out my emotional radar to pick up on Wyn. I confess to Jaden, “I don’t feel her at all. Either she isn’t nearby, or she’s—”
Jaden clenches his jaw and appears as if he’s going to smash my face in. “Don’t you dare say she’s dead.”
I wince at my friend’s fury. Jaden doesn’t hide his emotions as well as I do, but he’s beyond any rational thought. Even his magical senses aren’t functioning because of how terrified he is over losing Wyn.
“I was going to say unconscious,” I continue. “Can you pick up her scent?”
Swallowing down a bit of his fear, Jaden sniffs the air. “It’s faint. What I’m picking up is mostly from the blood. If she went outside, a strong breeze might throw me off. I’m not that good.” He jogs down the hall and the stairwell, occasionally sniffing for her scent.
“Do you recognize the male’s scent at all?”
“I don’t, but if the attack was premeditated, the perpetrators might have known my skill and employed someone unfamiliar to me to abduct Wyn.”
“Would you be able to identify him later?”
“Yes. I’ll never forget this bastard.” Jaden runs down the hall, then stops and curses when he meets a cross breeze from the castle’s ventilation shafts. “I’m losing the trail, and there are no more blood marks to confirm.”
We end up near the servants’ quarters. Jaden and I search the corridors and rooms. With no more trail to follow, we head outside from the servant’s entrance.
“The ground looks disrupted.” Jaden studies the marks in the fading light. “The prints are her size. It appears that she stumbled in the muddy grass.”
“And it looks like her tracks end here.” I point to the ground at our feet.
I spot a guard at the castle entrance and run over to him. “Did anyone enter or leave through here today?”
“No one I saw, but I only reported to duty a few moments ago,” the guard says to Jaden as the head of the prince’s security. “Strangely, no one was at this post to relieve.”
Jaden gives me a meaningful look and says to the guard, “Keep an eye out for anyone coming through this way. Pass the word on to those doing the rounds to be on high alert for any unusual behavior, especially our visiting dignitaries. We have a security breach.”
“What’s happened?” the guard asks.
Jaden sighs, looking to me for what to say.
We don’t want to bring more unwanted attention upon Wyn, but we need the guards to know in case she’s still near the castle and needs help.
“Someone has taken the human, Wynstelle,” I admit. “Please assist her if she’s spotted. Send word to the prince that Jaden and I are leaving the castle grounds to search.”
2
CAVE
OAKES
After we send the guard to deliver our message about Wyn, we resume our search of the castle grounds to pick up the trail of Wyn and her abductor.
One of the little faeries buzzes around my head. I swat at them. “Go away, pest.” I’m usually not so gruff with the little ones, but I’m absolutely not in the mood for their antics.
“Please!” she cries. “He took her.”
“Who?” I narrow my eyes onto the tiny being, suddenly very interested in what she has to say.
“An elf! He hurt her and carried her away!”
“Wynstelle?” Jaden asks. “Golden-brown hair? Just now?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” The winged creature zips around our heads, panicking.
Flower faeries typically have short attention spans, and I’m surprised the little one focused long enough to remember Wyn’s abduction.
“Can you take us to where she is?”
“Follow. Hurry!” The winged one flies off faster than Jaden and I can run.
To our surprise, there’s a chain of flower faeries along the way, each waiting to point us in the right direction.
“What did the mortal do to win your devoted favor?” I ask as we hurry after the faerie.
“She convinced the prince to give us freedom in the castle gardens.”
“That was her?” Jaden shakes his head in amazement. “I wondered why the little ones were allowed back in the gardens.”
We follow the faeries’ guidance. Jaden confirms the trail with Wyn’s scent and the occasional footmarks of a large elf.
“You still can’t sense Wyn?”
I press my lips flat. “No.”
“How can you feel her so clearly? You don’t even sense Eldrin with such intensity.” Jaden frowns.
“There is some kind of connection between us.” I shrug as I jog after the faerie. “I felt it developing when we were on the road to Ryven. Our link grows stronger every time I touch her, especially when I heal her.”
“Hmm. Perhaps the energy exchange enhances your connection.”
The faerie stops when Wyn’s trail leads to a clearing in the woods. “This is where we saw the elf take the human. Then she disappeared through the doorway.”
