I must let down my walls because Riley sits beside me.
“Tricia, the book, the items...I don’t want to put too much trust in them. Elgrim didn’t even flinch when he saw them. I don’t know what I expected, but at least some kind of response other than to demand we leave.”
I tumble the rock over once and then again, running my fingers along the buttery surfaces. “I’m feeling the same way. What if this woman from the market is just a figment of my imagination? What if I’m still sleeping and I’ll wake in the morning and none of this was real?”
Riley hands me the remainder of his water, which I take and drink.
“Some would believe that nothing of Faery is real. That monsters don’t exist. But you and I both know better. If we can imagine it, it’s practically a truism here.”
He must feel satisfied with his explanation because he heads toward Nathan, who’s carrying a hefty stack of timber.
Left to myself, there’s restlessness in the motionless forests where it shouldn’t exist but it does, drawing my attention. Drawing everyone’s. Even Riley pauses to focus on the stillness, as if expecting the trees to suddenly spring to life and swallow up the entire crew if they get close enough.
“Hope everyone’s hungry.” Peter holds a string of rabbits as if he’s emptied a box filled to bursting with bunnies.
Magus shoulders what looks like some kind of a boar—black skin, spikes of coarse hair, and tusks that curl and look ready to gore the ground looking for truffles.
You shouldn’t be here.
It’s dangerous.
You may be queen, but you don’t know this land.
The words seem to float on the breeze that picks up and rattles me. I do belong here. These are my people and my land. If I can survive this curse.
As the fire burns hot, it isn’t long before the skewered meat is cooked, the edges charred a bit more than I’m craving. And the presence that rides the breeze? I keep a wary watch out of the corner of my eye.
Riley hands me a plate, chunks of white meat aside the well-done red.
My stomach turns, but I take what he offers. “I’m not really hungry.”
“Eat anyway. You have to keep up your strength and our baby’s.”
I pick at the white bits, pushing one layer into my mouth. It’s sweet and tender, but then I spot the pulse pumping blood through Riley’s vein at his neck. I fed from him the first time, thinking I was becoming like him, a vampire in some way through our bond. Maybe I am, or it’s our daughter’s way of keeping me and Riley tethered. I feed from him, he feeds from me. We feed her. One body, one soul, one family. Triskele.
The meat is tender, delicious, juicer than expected, but I’m so hyper focused on meeting with Titania that I set my plate down, hoping I won’t regret not finishing the meal when we’re deep in the forest tomorrow.
The men sweep the surrounding area, every now and then checking in with Riley and getting instructions. Even my fae men seem to lean on him rather than me. See, already I’m feeling expendable. I reach out to Riley. “Are the vampire men okay? Are they hungry while we sit here with full bellies?”
“They’re fine for today,” Riley stamps out.
But what if they’re not fine? What if their hunger drives them to madness? I feel an edginess to the air, and I’m not sure the darkness resides only in the forest. “I don’t think they like me, or the fact that I’ve brought them here.”
“What gave you that idea?” Riley pauses from what he’s doing.
I decide to keep Gavin’s outburst to myself. “I don’t know.”
“They follow me and my orders as my guards. They’ve pledged to serve and protect the fine balance between the vampires and fae, the treaty that keeps world peace.” Riley flicks his gaze at me, pushing a grin on his face that doesn’t reach his eyes.
I grin back at him mockingly. “Maybe normally, but not today. Not here. They can’t just decide to leave when doing so is impossible without my men or my powers over the portals.”
“True. But soon this time will pass. We can get back to what we were planning...”
He lets his sentence fall, but I hear his mind. Planning our wedding, celebrating the birth of our baby.
I lean against Riley when he sits beside me, showing him with my touch that I still choose him. I still choose us. But as the fire heats, as the food quenches my hunger, as my eyes slide closed, the call of the forest steals me away, and I hope she delivers me back from the darkness.
Chapter 11
Tricia
The dreamy forest leads me on a floaty tour. Glass leaves ting as they flutter, each one capturing the neon glow rising off my skin. This dream is different from others I’ve had, more real. There’s a silky softness to the air, and the heavy lily-like scent of rhododendrons and sharp scent of pine fill my lungs with every breath. The many shades of the forest pop against the dusky background. Shades of green from magnolias, sycamore, Darley oak, ginkgo’s yellow, the sparse green-gray leaves of a King Byerd apple, hanging with ripe green-red fruit. Below, the forest lay thick with lush ferns, delicate mosses, liverwort and lichen that cling to granite outcroppings, and purple cone-flowering lupine. It’s much the same here as it is in the forest we’re traipsing to find a cure. Lush, luring, and deadly as the underbrush is filled with leaf mold, hiding the uneven ground below.
But unlike other dreams, there is a presence I’m sensing, as if this isn’t a dream at all but another portal that’s captured me once again. “Is anyone there? Come out. Show yourself.”
I search the depths, entering the off-trail clearing that narrows with each step. Unlike the market, there’s a peculiar calm to the surroundings that robs me of my fear, dampens the rising glow of my skin, and coaxes me deeper.
Mist ribbons around my feet, creating shadows that seem to breathe with the gentle wafting I stir with my steps. I up my pace, telling myself that this isn’t real. That I won’t stay trapped here. That I’ll find some information that will lead me to a cure.
A shadow moves to my left.
I yip, and my breath catches. But that surprise also heightens my mission. I break into a run, my boots landing silently on the grainy soil below. “Wait. I want to talk to you. How do I get inside the Cornwall Forest? I need to speak with the Piskey queen.”
The shadow is child-sized, quick as a spring finch…
She briefly appears, as if teasing me before disappearing in the cover of the flora.
Her tricks pull a scream of frustration from me and I clench my fists.
“Wait up. I have questions. I’m lost…” The words roll out past my lips before I can reel them back in. I have a fleeing thought. Am I lost or am I home?
Darkness hugs me, comforting me to the point I take a chance, testing its realness. “Mom? Ella? Is that you?”
She doesn’t answer, but then she wouldn’t.
I stumble over something thick and solid at my feet, catching myself with a thumping step.
Here, I’m on my own. Here, I’m fed by the thrum of the blooms and the sway of trees, and little things that scurry underfoot. Pixies that test my agility.
My arms glow, not from fear but from a union that isn’t so unlike mine and Riley’s. Maybe I’m comforted because here, I can only fail myself. It registers deep inside, and my power ignites. I will not fail.