It would be a lot easier to get away from Kellan Delaney if he couldn’t read my mind.
Minutes ago, right after leaving my final class of the day—Herbal Studies—I felt the tingling sensation around my ears that let me know someone sensing my thoughts. As a human, I was able to tell when a faerie was invading my mind. And if someone was able to break through the mind barriers my father put on me, they were a lot stronger than most of the students here.
I turned around, and there he was—Kellan Delaney, The Institution’s most popular and, I admit, hottest student. If he went to the human world, he would have about seventy-two modeling agents after him in an hour. I felt drab in comparison to my unearthly classmates, with my straight, dark hair and midnight blue eyes.
If Kellan didn’t want me dead, I would be elated at the fact that he was interested enough to read my mind.
The thing is, right before I was sent to live in Fae, my faerie father overthrew Kellan’s—after Minister Delaney tried to reinstate the practice of taking children from the human world— and is now High Minister. I would probably hate me too if I was Kellan.
When I finally reached the main entrance to the wing of The Institution that hosted my Herbal Studies class, I kicked the door open and started swiftly towards the girls’ dorm.
“Inara! Inara, stop!” I heard Kellan’s deep, soothing voice calling to me, and I actually did hesitate for a moment, but only for that one moment. Once I regained my composure, I picked up my pace in an effort to evade Kellan, heart running rampant in my chest.
And then I wasn’t doing… anything.
My body hung in midair, not six centimeters from the ground. It had to be faerie magic that was doing this, but I couldn’t think of anyone in Fae—besides my father—who would care enough to stop me from wiping out.
“Inara,” I heard the rumble of Kellan’s voice, and immediately tried to bolt for the dorms again, but I couldn’t budge. No. It was Kellan who had saved me from falling. But of course, he most likely did it so I wouldn’t be able to fight him off when he ended my life.
It never seemed fair to me, the prejudice the people of Fae had against me. They said it was because I was not truly faerie. They were right of course, my mother was human and I had no magic to speak of. But when your father is High Minister of Fae, you would think people would be more hospitable.
“I’m so glad I finally stopped you, Inara,” it was Kellan again, and after the words left his lips, I realized that I was no longer floating centimeters from the ground, but instead resting in his arms. “Oh, and you’re welcome.”
“Let go of me!” I screamed, while kicking and doing anything I could to free myself from his muscular arms. Arms which I could admire, if they did not belong to the faerie who loathed me most. Other students were staring at us, but didn’t move to help.
I had a flashback of the first time I met Kellan, when I first got to the palace after being thrown out by my mother after I came home from a party smelling a wee bit like vodka—and taken in by my father within minutes. Kellan took one look at me and told me that my father and I would be sorry. That was the only hint I needed to know that we would not get along.
To my surprise, Kellan actually released me from his grasp. When I stood on my own, and glanced back at him before gearing up to zoom away once more, I noticed that he looked almost… embarrassed.
I didn’t know if it was just one of his little games, or if he actually felt remorse for being such an ass, but I wasn’t going to wait around to find out.
I took off again, and didn’t look back until I had reached the building my dorm room was in. Once I got there, I wiped sweat from my forehead, and plopped down onto my king-sized bed—one of the many perks of being the High Minister’s daughter—surrounded by purple drapes. Everything in my room was either purple or gold, the colors of Fae Royalty.
I don’t know what faerie magic made beds so soft and comfortable in Fae, but whatever it was, I was thankful for it. I was asleep in minutes, but to my utter dismay I dreamed of Kellan.
I was once again in his arms, but this time I was enjoying it. He was holding me close to his chest, and I breathed in his scent, which was a combination of ice and fire, excitement and serenity.
“Inara,” he whispered, “you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do this.” And before I knew what was happening, his lips were on mine. The kiss was soft and tender, but soon turned into an embrace 0f pure passion, and then all of my reprehensions were abated. Who knew when I would be able to kiss Kellan like this again?
Kellan pulled back and looked at me earnestly. “Kellan, I lo—” I awoke, and was immediately greeted by the tingling sensation around my ears. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Who the hell was reading my mind, and how much did they see?
“Dreaming of me?” Crap. Of all the people to have seen that dream, it just had to be Kellan Delaney. In fact, he had probably used his crazy-ass powers to trigger the dream in the first place, just to be able to rub it in later.
“Get out of my room!” Before I said it, I hadn’t even realized where we were. There wasn’t time to figure out how Kellan had gotten past the guards (guards that my father had insisted be placed all around the school once I arrived) at the dorm entrance, for I was too occupied trying to come up with an escape plan. Oh why couldn’t I have been born with my father’s faerie powers?
“Not so fast, fireball,” Kellan was confident now that we were alone. “We need to have a talk.”
I was of course scared, but I tried not to let it show. “So talk,” I managed to keep my voice level, but the smirk that formed on Kellan’s near-perfect face showed that he knew I was terrified.
“It’s about your father,” he said, and was silent for a moment, probably waiting for me to ask him for more information. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“What about him?” I asked.
“Well, the thing is, as my father is Vice Minister, your father thinks it wise for us to be…close. We will need to work together someday, when we take over for our fathers.” Kellan pushed a few locks of his wavy, chestnut hair from his eyes.
“Hopefully not.”
“Yeah, you’ll probably end up getting yourself killed first,” he was back to his ass-hat self. “Anyway, it looks like you and I will be spending a lot time together.” He didn’t really seem thrilled by the idea.
“The hell we will be,” I liked standing up to him. He may have magical faerie powers, but I could tell it like it is.
“Yes. We will be. Your father has told mine that I am to,” he paused, and it looked as if whatever he was about to say would cause immense pain. “I am now legally your… sentry.”
I looked right into Kellan’s forest-green eyes, but didn’t know what to say. If my father had pronounced Kellan as my sentry, there didn’t seem to be many options. A sentry is the equivalent to a body guard in the human world. Except sentries took an oath that they could not break unless they wanted to lose all of their faerie magic. Forever. My father had six.
“I’m just as disappointed by the news as you are, Ara,” Kellan said, seeming to look through me as he spoke. “But one can’t just up and defy the High Minister of Fae.”
“First of all, don’t call me that. Second, maybe you can’t,” I said, “but that’s because he’s not your dad.” He shook his head, and was about to object, but I cut him off. “Come with me, sentry, we’re going to get this taken care of.”
So what did you think? Leave a comment with your thoughts, please! I'd like to take this time to thank @rwbofficial @readingvacation and @darthdeatheater for reading ENTANGLED early and letting me know it wasn't horrible, and to @bookaliciouspam for letting me know which parts were.
