Who knew falling in love would be so arduous for a faerie. For Amelinda, falling in love has deadly consequences that she must prepare for if she falls in love with a human.
Being a faerie from the Forest of Cein means protecting the humans who are given to you to serve, but above all, means never falling in love with a human and telling them you are. If a faerie does tell a human they are in love with them that faerie will become faerie dust.
Amelinda has always been a very assuaged and articulated faerie when it comes to her master and friend, Michael. Michael is a human and also the prince, and soon to be king, of Doveinia. Ever since Amelinda can remember, Michael has always been there for her and she has always been there for him.
Soon after the death of his mother when Michael was six, Amelinda is called back to the Forest or Cein. When she arrives, Alura, the leader of the Cein fairies, tells her that she has arranged a ceremony for her and a male faerie named Dain. The ceremony is typically an eternal partnership between two fairies, bonding for life.
But when Amelinda refuses and tells Alura that she can choose her own partner, Alura interrupts her and tells her “I am the authoritarian, so it shall be my choice who you do the ceremony with and I have chosen Dain.” With that being said, Amelinda flees from the Forest of Cein, back to Doveinia, trying to avoid the eternal partnership with the faerie she does not know.
It has been twelve short years since that day, and now she is letting Michael be alone for the moment so he can be with the princess, Lilith, alone. Amelinda is on her way to her little room in Michael’s castle when she sees a little white light coming from the trees. She had become curious and flew over to the tree to find nothing there. Her curiosity had augmented. She searched around the tree and saw a male faerie sitting on a branch near her. Amelinda decided to hide behind the stump and watch the faerie to see what he would do.
After a few minutes, the male faerie stood, but did not turn around.
“I know you are there. Show yourself,” he said in an austere voice.
Amelinda slowly came out from behind the trunk of the tree and flew to a branch closer to him and came out into the light. The male faerie was like any other, tall, broad shouldered, bare-chested, and masculine. He wore black pants that hugged his legs, but were a little loose around his waist. He had black, shaggy hair that hung close to his eyes. But the most curious thing about him were his eyes. Instead of being blue, green, or brown, his eyes were a dark purple, almost as if they were looking into your soul, but if you looked closely you could see a bit of blue outlining his pupil.
Amelinda faced him. And he gave her a look that was almost comforting.
“Why are you here in Doveinia? And where are you from,” she said in a stern voice.
“I am here searching for a certain faerie and where I am from is none of your concern.”
Amelinda put her hands on her hips. “It is my concern. My human is the prince of this kingdom so this area around this castle is my territory.”
The male faerie looked her straight in the eyes. “What is your name?”
“Amelinda. Amelinda of Cein.”
He looked confused then relived. “Amelinda.” He said it almost to himself. “You are the faerie I have been searching for.” He started to walk toward her.
Confused and a bit scared, Amelinda slowly backed away from the male faerie as he came toward her. When she had no more room between her and the tree trunk, she backed herself into it, waiting for the worst to happen. Just when she thought he was going to kill her, he stopped about two feet away from her.
“Who are you,” Amelinda asked in a raspy voice.
The male faerie slowly closed the space between them and Amelinda tilted her head down, trying to avoid his eyes. Once he closed the space between them, the male faerie took his hand and lifted Amelinda’s chin to look at him.
“I am Dain, my dear,” he said, whispering in her ear. “And I have been searching for you for a long time.”
Amelinda’s eyes went wide, but before she could say a word, Dain’s lips were pressed against hers.