LONG Author's note (15/09/2019) will be deleted around (29/09/2019):

Hey guys, as promised, below are the things I have edited in the first 8 Chapters of Fair Deception - so you don't have to go back and re-read them (unless you want to read that particular info as it now appears in the book).

1. Naida is no more 

I have edited Naidia out of the book completely, as I realised she was a crappily written plot device rather than a proper character. I have, instead, combined Miranda and Naida's characters so Miranda is now Kalen's girlfriend and blonde, and a much more well-rounded character.
If you want to see how I have worked this into the book, re-read Chps. 1 & 2 - as these were the only chapters in the entire book where Naida was going to appear! Told you she was an accidentally crappy plot device.

2. Anastasia starts off as more of a pacifist

Towards the beginning of the book, Anastasia tries to use talking or non-violent methods to get herself out of sticky situations, rather than resorting to violence.
You can now see this during the fight in the club with Zeph (Chp. 2, II), when she fights the Unseelie in the woods (Chp. 4, II)  and briefly inside her kitchen(Chp. 6, I). However, in Chp. 8 she attacks the Unseelie in the back garden without trying to reason with it - that has not changed from the original.
The reason given for this pacifism is that Anastasia's parents raised her that way - to use intelligence, rather than violence to try and settle issues. It also links to the type of people they were.

3. Anastasia's family

I'm still drip-feeding information about Anastasia's parents into the book. However, the two edits I have put in are mainly about their belief that using intelligence rather than violence is the way forwards, but staying safe is the most important thing of all. 

In Chp. 3, II Jenna basically says that Anastasia's mum would have been proud of her for not fighting in the club and getting to safety instead.

In Chp. 4, II, Anastasia thinks the following, before she has to fight the Unseelie in Wepre Woods -  My dad would always say that, 'an intelligent mind can reason its way out of anything'.

Also, I've edited a few passages (especially in Chp. 6) to make it  clearer that Aunt Jenna is gay as I feel that it's important to mention it, but I'm trying to do it in a way that it doesn't become WHO she is as a character.  She was originally going to be Bi, but as I've gone back and re-edited the book I realise this is what I want for her character. I'm hoping that I'm walking an okay line here.

Okay, now, without further ado, here is Chapter 9...

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Gabriel and Miranda stepped out of the back door and joined the others staring at me.

"I'm getting really fed up with Zeph's crappy minions," I said, as a way of explanation.

I looked at the group before me with freshly sharpened eyes, and was pleased to see that I'd been right about the physical similarities between Kalen and Caydran - both were watching me with inhumanly bright blue irises, extended claws and, even at this distance, I could see the fangs reaching just blow their upper lips. My gaze shifted to Gabriel and, while his skin was still a dark, rich, mahogany, his completely white eyes made for an unsettling contrast. Miranda, however, was even more stunning than usual; her freckles had transformed into scatterings of pure, white starbursts along her skin, which emanated a warm glow in the darkening twilight. Broch cleared his throat and my attention slipped from Miranda, past Broch's whitened hair and onto his pale green face.

"Are you okay, Anastasia?" Broch asked.

I nodded and then had to refocus my attention on the unseelie who had begun to twist underneath me. Digging my claws deeper into his wrist, I felt his blood starting to trickle over my fingers, and pressed my knee harder into his back.

Gabriel and Kalen hurried to help but neither wanted to look me in the eye. After Gabriel grabbed the unseelie's wrist and Kalen transferred his weight close to my knee, I stood up. I turned away from the others and cautiously stretched my side, pressing against the area where I had been punched with tentative fingers. That was sore.

"Can you return him please Gabriel?" I heard Broch say. Turning back around, I saw Gabriel nod and then Kalen yanked the unseelie to his feet, holding both of his hands behind his back. Gabriel stood in front of the captured fae and firmly held both sides of his face with his smooth, dark hands. The unseelie struggled to begin with, but soon he was silently staring into Gabriel's alabaster eyes, with an odd, distant expression on his face. As I watched, I felt myself becoming calmer.

"Anastasia," Broch called, and the world snapped back into focus. Confused, I looked at Broch and he motioned me over. Miranda had gone back inside the house and Caydran was watching me intently. I noticed, for the first time, a glint of metal beneath the folds of Caydran's leather coat and examined it closely. The silver glint was definitely a weapon and through these eyes I could see it's strange, blue glow against the black of Caydran's jeans. He noticed my gaze and wrapped his coat closed over the sword.

"Gabriel can perform a very powerful mesmer," Broch began to explain, "a type of magic that controls the mind. If you watched his eyes for much longer, you might have felt the effect even if you weren't the intended victim."

I turned my attention to the unseelie fae and noticed that Kalen had let go of his arms but he was stood, unmoving, in the same position; with arms locked behind his back. The unseelie nodded wordlessly at Gabriel and then followed the jet fae down the path and out of the garden through the gate.

Kalen came back over to us and touched my hand, gently lifting it up near his face and examining the translucent claws, still covered in blood, at the end of my fingers. As he turned my hand in front of his eyes, I noticed that his claws were no longer extended. He glanced at his father, who was looking at my hands almost as closely at Kalen.

"Have you got fangs?" Kalen asked me softly.

Lifting the corner of my top lip with a free finger, I pushed against my canine, hearing Caydran's intake of breath as the fangs drew blood. I looked him in the eye and saw uncomfortably familiar, feline pupils staring back at me. My expression turned cold, "Am I a reliable witness now?"

I pulled my hand out of Kalen's and went to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear, pausing when I felt a rounded point at the end. I gasped and turned to Broch, "My ears are like yours." I lifted my hair to show Broch my ears but didn't miss the odd expression that passed over Kalen's face at my words. After a pause, Kalen pushed back a few strands of his hair to show me his own pointed ears. "They're more like mine," Kalen said quietly.

Unlike Broch's ears, which rose into long, thinning points, Kalen's ears were a similar shape to human ears. However, at the tip, they reached a little further up than average and ended in a rounded point, similar to that of a big cat. I felt the ends of my own ears and realised he was right; even my ears were mirroring his and not Broch's. A breeze brought goosebumps to the surface of my skin and, with a slight shiver of cold, I felt my eyes slip back to their usual levels of clarity. When I looked back at Kalen, his features had returned to normal and I knew mine had too.

"I didn't expect this, Brochfael," Caydran finally said. "I've never heard or seen something like this happen before."

"Never?" Kalen said in surprise.

"No."

I could feel Caydran examining me closely, but the breeze picked up again causing goosebumps to raise on my exposed legs.

"I'm going in. I'm cold," I said and started to head inside. Broch, Kalen and Caydran moved further down the path as I went indoors, but before I stepped inside I paused. "Be careful of the bench. I think one of Zeph's minions must have poured acid on it."

"Acid?" Kalen asked.

"Yeah; when I sat on it earlier, it burnt my leg," I replied, pointing to the back of my thigh before I stepped inside and left them in the moonlit garden.

Miranda was washing up plates at the sink. I smiled tiredly at her, "Do unseelie always try to attack humans who know about them?"

"Not usually."

"Okay, just me then." I sighed. "Look, I'm going for a hot bath and to change into something warmer. You're welcome to hang around here if you want to. Put whatever you like on the TV," I told her and then headed upstairs.

I grabbed a fresh towel from the airing cupboard and went to my room, closing the door behind me a little harder than necessary - I did not want to be disturbed. Going into my bathroom, I began to run the bath, slipped off my clothes and then wrapped myself up in my gigantic, fluffy, unicorn dressing gown. A few sharp taps echoed through my bedroom door. Recognising Kalen's knock, I stomped over to it and pulled it open sharply.

Broch stared at my dressing gown in surprise while Kalen just smiled. I felt the flush spread through all of the skin on my face as I realised I was stood in front of Broch with only a dressing gown hiding my nakedness. "Can I help you?" I asked in a pleasingly, to me, steady voice.

"I have to leave with Caydran. He thinks he has a theory about what's happening to you but, first, there are a few fae we need to speak to," Broch told me.

"Okay, thank you for letting me know." I turned to Kalen, "Why are you here?"

"I just wondered if you wanted me to stay and keep an eye on things? Miranda has said she's also okay with staying the night too. It's just in case any unseelie come back."

"Yeah sure," I paused and felt a little embarrassed, "that'd be good thank you."

He gave me a cheeky grin, "Aww, you blushing now, Ana?"

"Sod off both of you, I want a bath," I said in response and shut the door. I didn't do the 'slide down the back of the door' thing, but the emotions bubbling round my body felt that it would be the right thing to do if I was in a teen movie. However, on reflection my life through the last 24 hours was more like a horror show. So instead, I gathered some clothes, went into the bathroom, put my hair into a bun and sank into the bath with a little gasp as the water was too hot.

I ached all over but could feel the water melting the strain away from my confused body, so I didn't run any cold. My muscles had worked harder today than ever before; the fight in wepre, the one in the kitchen and then the one in the garden - I'd moved faster, hit stronger and fought harder. As I checked my body for signs of the fights I, unsettlingly, realised they'd healed away. The only sign that the fights had happened at all were the shiny, pale pink scars on the back of my calf. There wasn't even a mark from the punch I'd received less than an hour ago.

So much had changed since last night and I had little to show for it. This time yesterday, I had been applying makeup for my first night out with my human friends, I had a crush on a guy who had been lying to me since we met and I was excited to go dancing. Today I was washing blood off my fingers after fighting a creature I couldn't name. I'd shouted at Kalen and kicked him out for the first time in my life, and our friendship had irrevocably changed. And then there was Broch. I didn't even know what that was, but he made the heat rise in my cheeks that was for sure - I wanted to see more of him.

Gabbing an exfoliation sponge, I applied a generous dollop of my bath gel to it before scrubbing whatever traces might be left of the day from my limbs. My arms and legs were a healthy shade of pink by the time I got out of the bath.

Once dressed, I went back downstairs to find Miranda and Kalen sat on the sofa watching TV. I didn't want to make things awkward, so I just sat down and joined them and the rest of the evening passed in relative comfort. At about eleven, I made up the spare bed for Miranda to sleep in and brought a duvet and pillows downstairs so the Kalen could sleep on the sofa. I had said they were welcome to share the bed, as long as there was no funny business, but Kalen wanted to be downstairs near the door. The thought of him needing to guard the door made me giggle because I felt that the gaping hole in my kitchen wall might be a bigger issue, but Kalen didn't see the funny side when I pointed this out.

I thought that it would take me a long time to get to sleep when I got into bed, but within moments of my head hitting the pillow I collapsed into a thick sleep.

*      *      *      *      *

It was disorientating when I woke to Kalen's voice calling my name from the edge of my bed. When my eyes had slowly pulled into focus, I glanced at the clock on my bedside table and then shot Kalen a murderous look. "It's 4:30," I said, knowing that my gaze would have made him punch himself in the face, if only I'd got some of Gabrielle's powers instead of Kalen's.

"Broch and my father are back."

"They can crash on the sofas too," I mumbled and rolled away from him.

"Ana, they want you to go somewhere with them," Kalen said, trying to get me up.

"Can't it wait?"

I heard a knock at the door and before I could answer Kalen invited them in. "Is she ready?" I heard Caydran ask.

"Both of you get out of my room," I ordered and flashed Caydran the same deadly look I'd given his son only moments before. They both left and I hauled my carcass out from underneath my beautiful, soft, warm, lonely duvet. I pulled on some pastel green leggins, a vest top and a hoodie, brushed my teeth and then put a flick of mascara onto my lashes. I was about to head downstairs when I noticed the dark circles under my eyes so patted on a little concealer to be on the safe side. Where on earth did they want me to even go?

Miranda was making tea when I got into the kitchen. "So they woke you up too?" I asked her with a sigh.

"Yep," she said, seeming as pleased about the situation as I was, "They're in the front room now but I'm just making tea, want one?"

"No thanks, it's too early for me."

I walked into the front room and immediately realised I'd broken up a rather heated debate going on between Broch, Caydran and Kalen. It seemed as if Broch and Kalen were on the losing side.

"Anastasia," Broch said with a small, deflated smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "Apologies for waking you so early, it was unavoidable." I smiled gently at him.

"Why am I up at 5am and where do you want me to go?" I asked, directing my question at Caydran.

"We need to take you to The Court," Caydran replied confusingly.

"The court?" I repeated like a parrot.

"The Seelie Court - it's where the fae meet, well, the Seelie fae," Broch said, immediately answering my question.

"Ah, I think I remember reading something about that on Google. It's where your royalty and nobility meet, right?"

"You Googled us?" Caydran asked with incredulity.

Before I could answer Broch chipped in, "Yes, Anastasia, that's right. However, it's completely up to you if you want to go, we can't force you."

"Will The Court be able to help figure out what's happening to me?"

"That's what my father believes, but it's not without risk. The Court has its own set of rules and some of the older fae can be a little... rude towards humans," Kalen replied, concern twisting his expression.

I snorted, "I'll go. What do I need to know?"

"Don't eat or drink anything you're given," Kalen said immediately, "even if you are offered a thousand times, do not eat or drink anything."

"And be polite," Broch interjected and then looked sheepish at my shrewd glance. "Some fae can take offense to even the smallest amount of discourtesy, so it's best to try and let us do most of the talking."

"Even if that might be difficult!" Kalen chipped in with a grin he couldn't seem to help.

I let out a humourless laugh, despite everything. "So no talking, drinking or eating and mind my manners?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Kalen replied with a glimmer of mischief in his eyes.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" I asked and watched as both Kalen and Caydran shot Broch the briefest of looks.

"No, just remember those things and you should get back home safely after, hopefully with a few answers," Broch said.

"Okay, if I'm going to a fancy fairy court though, I'm going to get changed," I said, looking down at my pastel green leggings and sighing. It was far too early for proper clothes. Ignoring Caydran's arguments, I went back to my room and picked out a pair of smarter black leggings (unable to commit to proper trousers with buttons before 6am), a pretty flowery blouse and a light blue jersey blazer. I got to the top of the stairs and found Caydran, Kalen and Broch waiting for me in the hall. As I came down the stairs, Broch came to the bottom step.

"Are you sure you want to do this Anastasia?"

"Yes."

Guessing that the temperature outside wouldn't be that great this early in the morning, I shrugged on my coat and black timberlands.

I turned to the men all waiting in my hallway, "Ready?"