Banished: Eila’s Exile Book 1

One mistake has cost her everything, banished to the human world is at least better than being sentenced to death.

Banished.

Eila Snowshadow’s pointed ears twitched as she struggled to understand the word that echoed around the frozen hall.

Banished…

Banished…

“Banished?” Eila repeated, aiming her glare at the impressive woman upon the crystalline throne. She was standing alone in the center of the blue crystal throne room.

Dressed in a shimmering blue gown covered with white crystals, Queen Amara Glacialis, the ruler of the Winter Court, was an imposing woman. Her arms rested upon the edges of the throne as quiet grace exuded from every inch of her pale blue skin.

Flanking the queen were seven silent faeries, their fingers reverently interlocked across their chests. Their wings were tight to their backs, and their sumptuous clothing honored the Winter Court. They stared at Eila, faces blank.

“Banished?” Eila repeated.

“You have been convicted,” the queen crooned, her voice as soft and steady as falling snow. “Of betrayal of the crown, aiding and abetting an enemy, endangering the realm, and violation of court decrees. We cannot let those crimes pass, so you are sentenced to exile in the mortal realm.”

Eila’s blood froze. “Your Majesty, if I could just defend myself—”

“Silence!” A male voice boomed, causing the icicles that decorated the ceiling to vibrate gently.

Eila leered at the faerie who had taken one step from the ranks of the seven. He was tall and slender, with hollow cheeks. His long platinum hair was plastered back on his skull, and he wore a tall collar of white fur. Eila’s teeth clenched as Lord Silas Cryophilus smirked in her direction, hands clasped behind his back. “You will speak when spoken to in the throne room of the Winter Court. Do you understand?”

Eila formulated a thousand responses and curses to throw at Lord Silas, but she understood her boundaries.

“You would do well to heed your own advice,” Queen Amara offered, turning her head to gaze at Lord Silas. “Do you think I cannot speak for myself?”

Eila tried to hide a grin as the color drained from Lord Silas’ face. He bowed his head and took a step back to join the others. “My apologies, Your Highness.”

Queen Amara redirected her glare at the prisoner. Eila wondered how many faeries and humans had withered under her glacial gaze over the years. “Eila Snowshadow, your banishment is effective immediately. Return to your chamber and gather your things. One of my guards will come to you shortly to guide you to the appropriate exit.”

Eila’s brow creased, and her heart beat faster in her chest. Had she known this would be the result of her deed, she might have reconsidered before she went to the dungeons in the dead of night. Then Lyrian’s green eyes and gentle smile and relieved stare flashed in her mind.

Now, she had to leave. The palace she had called home for more than a century suddenly seemed small and hostile. Eila wondered where she was going.

“Your Majesty?” Eila asked.

Lord Silas flinched and wrinkled his nose. The queen gave a small nod.

Queen Amara rose, dismissing the question as she prepared to leave the room. Eila took a small step toward her. The seven coiled, their backs straightening, ready and willing to die for their queen. The queen gathered up the folds of her gown. “One question, Snowshadow.”

Eila racked her mind for the correct question to ask, but only one sprang to her lips. “May I say goodbye to my father before I go?”

“You may have five minutes.”

Before Eila could say anything else, Queen Amara glided out of the room, leaving the seven faeries staring at the prisoner.

“Go gather your things.” Lord Silas sneered. “Take only what is necessary.”

Eila furrowed her brow, blood boiling at the pleasure that filled Lord Silas’ eyes. She pictured what it would be like to leap at him and slap that smug grin off his face but thought better of it.

With heavy steps, she headed through the large glass doors and out into the hall, each footstep like a thunderclap as she made her way through the palace toward her chamber.

***

The guards arrived before Eila’s father did. She was standing in the center of her chamber when they knocked on the door. On the bed was a small white backpack with very little inside. What was she supposed to pack to spend the rest of her life in the human world? She had only ever heard stories about and seen pictures of the place. How could she know the best items to bring to navigate the world beyond the faerie realm?

She had considered a number of items, from iced glass earrings to a thick, floor-length winter coat and toyed with bringing perfumes and colognes with magical properties to lure in and enchant those who smelled them. She’d thought about bringing several volumes of human classic literature that she had accumulated over the years, which were her only guides to the human realm.

However, those items, while beneficial, would weigh Eila down. Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe would only be an extra weight, and wouldn’t she be able to pick up copies in the human world? Her thick winter coat, while warm and fashionable in the Winter Court, would draw attention to her, and who knew what climate she would land in. Surely the human world was warmer than Faerie.

A thought struck her. Perhaps she could reconnect with Fergo, or maybe Erika or Sophia, friends from this realm who lived where she was going. How big could the human realm be?

After much deliberation, Eila settled on a handful of clothes and several pieces of her mother’s jewelry she couldn’t bear to part with. She clipped the teardrop pendant around her neck and slid the chain beneath the collar of her white shirt. A soft smile touched her lips at the memory of her mother, whom Eila hadn’t seen in decades. She wondered what her mother would have made of her recent escapades and the punishment she was now to bear.

Knock, knock.

Angrily, Eila rolled her eyes and spun, hands out before her as shards of ice materialized at her fingertips. They shot through the gap beneath the door and prevented the guards from entering.

“Snowshadow,” someone called through the door. “By order of the queen, you must allow us inside.”

“What if I’m naked?” Eila spat. “Can’t a girl have a moment to set herself straight before she’s hurled into an unfamiliar realm? Or are you so desperate for a glimpse of flesh that you’d deny me my rights before you expel me?”

The two guards whispered, then, “You have two minutes.”

Eila sighed and took a look around her room, the ghosts of her past flitting through it. In this place, her mother had nursed her and her father had danced with her before bedtime. It was here that she had tested her wings, flying around the room one misty morning, giggling until her lungs were sore. She had crashed into the dresser and nightstand, but her mother had repaired them.

Though she was apprehensive about leaving, she couldn’t help but be excited too. Friends from the court had traveled to other realms, but Eila’s father had restricted her to the land of permafrost. She had heard tales of the cities, valleys, beaches, and mountains in the human realm. After Eila’s mother disappeared, her father grew even more protective and taught Eila about the political games and strategies at the Winter Court.

What else was a baroness to do but play the games?

Knock, knock.

“Just. A. Second!” Elia yelled, pushing her luck.

Calen Snowshadow called, “Eila, it’s me.”

Eila waved a hand at the ice shards that kept the door from opening, and they vanished. She opened the door, and her father walked into the room with a straight back. He nodded at the guards, then closed the door.

He glanced at Eila, eyes glazed with tears. They stared at each other in silence for a moment.

“Father, I…” Eila started.

Calen wrapped his arms around her and pressed her head to his shoulder. He breathed deeply, and Eila wondered if he was suppressing his tears for her benefit. Then she remembered that the only other time she’d seen him cry was the day the announcement was made that her mother was presumed dead.

Calen released Eila and held her at arm’s length. There were a thousand words he wanted to say in his eyes, but in true winter fae fashion, he asked, “Do you have all that you need?”

“Yes, Father,” Eila replied.

Calen shook his head, his lips in a thin line. He glanced at the door, then at Eila. “What in the world propelled you to do it?”

Eila shrugged.

“Were you glamoured?” Calen wondered.

“No, Father.”

“Did you take misty herbs?” Calen pressed.

Eila chuckled. She had experimented with misty herbs one summer in a frosted glade with her best friend Aria, but she did not enjoy the plants’ hallucinogenic properties. “No, Father.”

“Then what compelled you to do it?” Calen roared. “I cannot fathom your reasoning.”

Eila had asked the same question many times since it had happened. What had led her feet to the frozen corridors and down the stairs to the palace’s depths? The feelings that had coursed through her body were unfamiliar and though going to the dungeon was stupid, she couldn’t help herself. Something inside her defied her cold and frosty nature and took her to his jail cell. She could feel his kiss, a warmth that betrayed the winter season. She could hear his footsteps as he raced out into the night.

Eila’s eyes misted and her lip wobbled. She shouldn’t be showing emotion in front of her father since winter faeries were unemotional and self-sufficient, yet her tears threatened to spill. She told the truth, cursed by the compulsion of her people.

“Love,” Eila returned, silencing the anger on his face. She held her father’s hand. “Would you not have done the same for Mother? Would you not have granted her freedom in exchange for your servitude?”

Calen swallowed, then his lips moved, but no sound came out. Finally, he raised a finger to Eila’s eye and caught a tear. “Careful. You know better than most the risks of showing your true feelings here. Put your armor back on until you are safely on the other side.” He cupped her cheek with his hand, looking worried. “I hope the mortal world is kind to you, Eila. I really do.”

Eila stiffened her upper lip. “You could come and visit.” She smiled hopefully. “Nothing says you can’t come to the mortal world to see me. The door is one way for me, but it goes both ways for you.”

Calen nodded, though Eila saw that he was conflicted. The last time Calen had visited the mortal world was during the Great Cataclysm, and it had changed greatly since those dark days.

Knock! Knock!

A guard barked, “Time to go!”

Eila met her father’s eyes and offered a soft smile. “Fare thee well, Father.”

“Fare thee well, Eila.” He stepped back to allow her to make her way to the door.

She opened it and saw that the guards carried enchanted glass polearms. “Not necessary unless you’ve both got a back condition or a broken leg. Then maybe it’s worth keeping your walking sticks.”

The guards were expressionless as she accompanied them through the frozen hallways.

Eila let out a long breath. “Well, this is going to be a fun trip.”

***

Their wings beat hard as they fought the frozen wind. Four guards escorted Eila, one on each side, one above, and one below. After they left the palace grounds, necks craned as citizens followed the procession.

The countryside over which they flew held scattered villages and towns. The snow-covered farmland was planted with the hardiest crops any world had ever known—bracken with dark fruits. The fields were bounded by pines and firs and stretched as far as the eye could see. Frozen blue lakes offered glimpses of the dark beasts and fish swimming beneath the ice.

Eila had never come so far in this direction. The land gradually rose, and eventually, they reached the summit of a large and ancient mountain range. As they flew over a crater so deep they couldn’t see the bottom, Eila thought she heard some invisible creature roar.

“As tour guides, you lack a certain something,” Eila yelled above the wind, knowing the guards wouldn’t reply. “You could at least have made this interesting. Shared a bit of history before you chucked me through the Nether.”

At last, they landed in a clearing on a mountaintop covered with debris and ancient structures. A crumbling statue of a dragon was missing its head, which had rolled a short distance down the hill.

Eila was surprised to see steps peeking out of the snow. The guards directed her up them to a quiet area in which the trees blocked the wind and snow and large rocks formed an uneven circle. In the center was a crude stone arch, and the top rock was threatening to fall.

Eila muttered, “A literal doorway to the human realm. Nice.”

One of the guards who had escorted Eila from her room took her arm and led her to it. He muttered words from the ancient faerie tongue, and white and blue runes glowed on the stones. A portal appeared within the arch, whirling and shimmering.

The reality of her banishment engulfed her, and she spun to try to recapture the only life she had ever known—frost and snow and one festival near Summer Court.

She shot a longing glance at the mountain’s peak, caked with snow and covered with jagged pines. The guard shifted and stretched his arms out as though to push her through the portal.

“Easy, tiger,” Eila admonished. “No need for brute force. I’m going, okay? I get it. I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

She took a long breath and turned to the portal. With one long stride, Eila passed through.

At least it seems like Eila is able to see the bright side of banishment. Maybe a new life in the human world is just what she needed. Find out on November 15th when Eila’s Exile Book 1: Banished is released. Until then head over to Amazon and pre-order today.