“It’s not a what, or where, but a when. I’ve been waiting for you.”
“For me?” I point to my chest, flicking my gaze around as the customers go about their purchases.
“You’re in danger, but there’s a fae clan that lies deep in the Cornwell Forest that can help you. Survival won’t be easy. As you stand, you’re not ready. But you are my only hope.”
Again, I point to my chest and lift my brows, questioning how she can assume so much from me when we’ve never met. “I’m your only hope? I’m eight months pregnant. Rumor has it I won’t survive this birth. I need to find a cure or somehow reverse the curse. Or we’ll both be very disappointed.”
“A curse? Yes. What you’ve done by creating a half-fae, half-vampire child tests the Piskey Queen’s law of the land. It was once her way to protect the fae from vampires entering and destroying this world.”
“But why? Fae blood cures turned vampires.” It’s the same misunderstanding time and time again, no matter how many ways I spell it out. I sigh.
She leans across the table. “It’s not the turned vampires who are the concern. It’s the ancients. Our blood makes them stronger, more powerful. You yourself can sense your mate growing in power. You sense his will to rule. When he comes to you, is he there to steal away your soul?”
I back away, telling myself not to trust her. Riley loves me. He loves this baby.
He’s Kane’s son…
I stand my ground. I won’t let a book win over me. “So the Piskey queen cursed the fae who bred with ancient vampires to never bear children?”
Her silence wakes my grandmother’s words, calling my child an abomination.
“I’m carrying an innocent child,” I defend.
“And there lies the twist. The Piskey queen cursed those like you to suffer. Your child may live, but you will not.” She pulls upright and begins to add new products to the table. Crystals, leather pouches, blank cards made from some kind of husk.
“Then I have to convince the Piskey queen I’m worth saving.”
She shakes her head. “Many before you have tried and failed.”
I once believed Riley died, but he returned to me. I once believed I buried Ella, my adoptive mom, but she survives in spirit form because of her blood ties to Salem witches. Camille gave birth to Salina, a child whose father was forced to take the cure but after changed his mind and rejoined Riley’s coven. In that brief period of his human form, somehow his seed held on to the will to survive. “I’ve seen much in my short life. Anything is possible. Vampires exist. The United States has just given human rights to Other Kind. Tell me what to do, how to find the queen of the pixies, how to survive this birth.”
She ponders, taking time to arrange her items in sets of three. “There may be a way, but the road is difficult. Especially in your condition. But I’ve heard good things about you. I want to help, especially in your condition. Except your window is closing. You must leave now.”
I search the skies, finding them gray and boiling with clouds. “Leave now? I can’t go alone. I have a team, fourteen men. All loyal. Tell me what I need to do, who I need to see, so I won’t die, so my baby, my family, my people won’t lose their lives.”
“A team of mixed fae and vampires.” She wrinkles her nose. “I can smell the Master on your skin.”
I stiffen, defending Riley with my posture. “My husband is an honorable man. He’s saved thousands of turned vampires and gave them back their human form, as well as their humanity. His coven is as well checked as his men are trustworthy.”
She tips her head, giving me a dissecting look. “He and his men can shadow you so far. The Piskey queen won’t allow anyone but you to enter her lands. There resides your last hope.”
I grip fists at her vague euphemism. There’s no way in hell Riley will allow me to make the journey on my own when I have no idea what “last hope” entails. But another thought enters my mind. Why is this woman so forthcoming? If there’s one thing I’ve learned by working with supernatural beings, there’s always an underlying angle. “What’s in it for you?”
“We all want the same thing: to be cut from the bindings of our captors.”
She has a point. One I clearly relate to. What I wouldn’t give to be released from this curse, and the connection to my grandmother. “Tell me what I need to do and what you expect from me.”
She wraps a two-inch bundle of herbs, a similar-sized bar of what looks like soap, and a vial of tonic. “Keep these items on your person. The yarrow stops bleeding, the soap contains witch hazel, thyme, calendula, and lavender, as a natural antiseptic with healing qualities. Lastly, aloe and tea tree oils have both antibacterial and analgesic properties to soothe those with serious cavity injuries.”
I don’t think she’s talking about teeth, but body. Will it be mine that needs healing when my baby is ripped from my belly? “You didn’t answer my question. What do you want from me in exchange for you help?”
“A queen is only as strong as her people, only as hailed as she is pure in heart.”
I don’t have time for her riddles, so I gather the items, noticing my shaking hands. How serious will my trip become? Am I already sentencing myself, and through me everyone else, to failure? What if I’m not pure?
She hurries around her table, taking up my arm as if having some flash change of heart. “There’s not much time. You must leave today, before the new moon cycle ends on the third day. Then, when the time comes, you’ll know how to use these items.”
I’m picturing a horror show in my future, snarling animals that attack us in our sleep, sneak attacks, fire, brimstone, and a great flood. Biblical shit. “How do you know so much? Who’s come here before me?”
“Soon you will know. But I must warn you, no one who’s entered Cornwall Forest has returned unscathed.” She flashes me a warning look.
What can I do? I won’t make next month’s new moon before my baby is born. I can feel the baby eager to make her way into the world with every squeezing Braxton Hicks contraction. I lean in, tapping on the symbol I saw on Salina’s thigh. “Can you tell me the significance of the Triskele?”
“Always in threes.” She stoops, pulling a stone from one of her boxes under the table. “Take this to Elgrim, the keeper of the forest. Tell him that his family resides inside this rock.”
I take the amethyst, rolling it between my fingers. The jewel is purple with sharp facets that catch the light. It’s beautiful. “Then what?”
“Tell him why you’ve come.”
Perplexed, I shake my head. “But I’m not sure what I’m looking for. How will I find my way with no leader? How do I stop dark forces from taking over?”
“The dark one is close, and the answer lies inside you.”
The portal squeezes in on me and a bright light flashes above. I pass through the void, feeling a presence that constricts my middle, a presence that wants my baby, and that wants me dead. A boding force that I’ve woken by my very existence inside that strange place, one intent on destroying me.
Both my grandmother and the woman hinted that the dark one is someone I know. Riley has done nothing to make me lose faith in him. Nothing. He is a fearless leader and my first and only love. Our bond is unbreakable. But still this curse temps to destroy us. This curse pushes unwelcomed thoughts into my mind. Is Riley holding me back? Does Riley plot to claim my ever-growing dark powers? Is he the one I have to protect myself from—myself and my child?