by Lola Gabriel
She stood up and left the room and Laila looked at Cedric.
“I need some time to think about whether or not to take the potion. I don’t know if it’s best to take it and be myself, or to move away from here and pretend none of this ever happened,” she admitted.
“Please don’t leave Greer,” Cedric said. “Laila, I love you. And I know you’re meant to be with me. If not today, then tomorrow, or next month, or next year. I don’t care if you take the potion or not—that’s your choice. Just promise you won’t leave.”
“Cedric, it doesn’t matter whether I stay in Greer or not. Nothing has changed and…” Laila started, knowing she would have to once more tell him they could never be together.
“Everything has changed and you know it,” Cedric said, cutting her off mid-sentence. “Except for one thing. I’m still willing to wait as long as it takes for you to see that we’re meant to be together.”
Laila shook her head slightly. This was so hard. Here was this amazing man who loved her. And whom she loved in return. And yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell him why they couldn’t be together. Because if he insisted it didn’t matter to him, she thought she would find it too hard to not melt into his arms and let herself believe he would never come to resent her.
“I… I don’t know what to say, Cedric. Everything’s so upside down right now. I can’t promise I won’t leave the town, but I’ll meet you halfway. I promise I won’t leave without coming to say goodbye. That’s the best I can do and I hope it’s enough.”
Cedric moved to Laila and wrapped her in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and she let him hold her, clinging to him for dear life. God, why can’t this just be simple? she thought to herself.
“You’ll always be enough,” Cedric said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“That’s much better,” Polly said from behind Laila.
Laila and Cedric separated as Polly apologized for disturbing them. Laila turned around.
“It’s okay… holy shit, look at you!” she exclaimed.
Although she had begun to believe that everything Cedric had told her about immortality was true, seeing her mom standing there looking twenty years younger than she had been ten minutes ago was still a shock. Polly laughed.
“Quite the transformation, right?” she said.
“Right,” Laila agreed. “You look fantastic, Mom.”
Polly did a little twirl, laughing as she did, and Laila found herself laughing too. Maybe she should take the potion. It would sure be nice to stop aging before she hit thirty. It was a big choice, though, and for her, it meant that she would spend an eternity alone. She knew she couldn’t make the choice under Cedric’s longing look.
“Let’s go back to my place, Mom. I think we have some catching up to do,” Laila said. She laughed softly. “I guess I’d better not call you ‘Mom’ in public anymore. That would get some strange looks.”
Polly laughed as she headed out of the room, Laila following her. Cedric caught her wrist as she moved and turned her back to face him.
“I’ll wait as long as it takes, Laila,” he said.
Laila hugged him, holding him as tightly as she could for a moment, because she knew that whatever decision she made about her fae life, she was going to have the hardest conversation of her life soon. The one where she sat down the only man she had ever loved and told him to move on and find someone else.
Laila and Polly walked through Greer, heading for Laila’s place. Polly turned to Laila and looked at her thoughtfully for a second.
“What?” Laila asked.
“Why are you so determined that you and Cedric can’t be together, Lails? It’s so obvious that you are in love with each other,” Polly said.
“I want to be with him more than anything,” Laila replied. “But he doesn’t know I can’t have children, and I know if I tell him, he’ll say he’s cool with it. But what if he wakes up in a couple of years’ time and realizes he isn’t cool with it? Then he’ll hate me for stopping him from having a family and ruining his life. I…”
“Laila,” Polly interrupted her. “You can have children with Cedric.”
Laila’s heart skipped a beat. She was sure she must have misheard Polly, but at the same time, she knew she hadn’t.
“I can’t and you know it. I know you’re trying to make me feel better and giving me hope that maybe the doctors were wrong or whatever, but the chances of that are practically zero,” Laila said.
“No, you don’t understand,” Polly said, shaking her head. “You can’t carry human children because you’re a fae. You would just miscarry any human child you ever conceived and from a medical point of view, it would certainly appear that you couldn’t have children. But if you choose to take the antidote, you are perfectly able to carry fae babies.”
“I… what? You’re telling me Cedric and I could have children?” Laila asked, hardly daring to believe she had understood correctly.
“Yes. A hundred if you want to. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when I told you the rest. I…”
Laila dug into her pocket and thrust her keys at Polly.
“I forgive you,” she said, laughing even as tears poured down her cheeks. “That’s my house up there. The little one with the red door.”
She turned and began to run.
“Where are you going?” Polly shouted after her.
“To tell Cedric I’m an idiot and I love him!” she yelled.
19
Cedric had debated heading to bed for a couple of hours once Laila and Polly left his house. He had barely gotten any sleep so far that night and it was now just after four, still time for him to grab a few hours. He had had maybe an hour dozing in the chair while he waited for Laila to wake up from her drugged state, but despite the fact that his eyes felt scratchy and he kept yawning, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. His thoughts were too wrapped up in Laila.
He just didn’t know how to make her see that they were meant for each other. The worst thing about it was that he actually thought that on some level, Laila knew it. But something was holding her back from him and he just didn’t know what it was or how to fix it.
He stood up to go to his office. He figured he might as well at least try and get some work done, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Maybe not ever again. He was almost at his office door when a knock sounded on his front door. It was an urgent, frantic knock, one that made him turn on his heel and run to the door. Something had to be wrong for someone to knock on his door like that. He pulled the door open, surprised to see Laila standing there.
“Is everything…” he started.
He didn’t get to finish his sentence, because Laila threw herself into his arms and pressed her mouth over his. He had no idea why she had come back and kissed him, but he wasn’t about to question it. It felt so good to have her in his arms again, to hold her and kiss her again. In that moment, Laila’s kiss and her body pressed against his were all that mattered.
Finally, Laila pulled her mouth back from his. She smiled up at him sheepishly.
“I should have said this earlier, and I hope it’s not too late to say it now. Cedric, I love you. Hopelessly, desperately, and completely, and if you still want me, I’m yours,” she said.
“I’ll always want you,” Cedric said, before he leaned down and kissed Laila again, a deep, passionate kiss that made him forget he had ever been tired.
They broke apart from the kiss and Cedric stepped back from the door so that Laila could come in. He led her to the living room and they sat pressed together on the couch.
“I hope I don’t come to regret asking this, Laila, but I have to know. What changed your mind about us?” he asked her.
He really hoped his question didn’t make her think too deeply about her reasons and realize they still stood. He had to know, though. If he didn’t ask her, it would always eat away at him.
“When I was eighteen, I was told I couldn’t have children,” Laila said. �
�It broke me. Children have always been something I craved. I knew I couldn’t be with someone and deprive them of their chance to be a father. My mom asked me what was stopping me from being with you, and when I told her my reason, she said it was only a human baby I couldn’t have, and that if I take the antidote to the potion and let myself embrace being a fairy, I will be able to have children with you. Assuming you want that.”
“I do,” Cedric told her. “But if you couldn’t have had my child, that wouldn’t have stopped me from loving you, Laila. I would have still wanted you.”
“You would have ended up resenting me,” Laila said.
“Never,” Cedric replied firmly.
Laila smiled at him happily.
“It doesn’t matter either way now, though, does it? Because we can be together and have a hundred babies,” she said.
“I think a hundred is rather a lot. I think we might have to stop at ninety-nine,” Cedric grinned.
Laila giggled and snuggled more tightly against him.
“I could live with that,” she said.
They were quiet for a moment, and then Cedric spoke again,
“When are you taking the potion, then? It’s just that I thought maybe we could get started on those babies,” he said with a wink.
“Tomorrow,” Laila said, smiling at Cedric. “But I don’t think there would be anything wrong with practicing making a baby now.”
20
Polly beamed when Cedric and Laila stepped into Laila’s house, hand in hand, as the sun began to rise over Greer.
“I’d like to take the antidote to the potion,” Laila said with a smile.
Polly returned her smile and poked around in her handbag for a moment. She pulled out a vial of sparkling yellow liquid.
“There you go,” she said.
Laila took it and looked at it nervously. Cedric nodded his head encouragingly at her and she seemed to relax. She opened the vial.
“All of it?” she asked.
Polly nodded and Laila tipped the vial up into her mouth, swallowing down the liquid.
“How do you feel?” Cedric asked after a few seconds.
Laila smiled, a wide, beaming smile.
“Amazing,” she said. “Like every part of me just came to life in a way I didn’t know it could.”
“Every day will be like that now,” Cedric told her. “Everything you feel, you’ll feel it more intensely. All of your senses will be heightened. And your instincts, once you learn to read them and to trust them, will never let you down.”
“I think maybe my instincts were always pretty good,” Laila smiled. “The day I came to Greer, I had a moment where I felt such intense fear. Of course, I dismissed it, but it was there. And the moment I saw you, I knew you were the one.”
“I wish you’d listened to that instinct a bit sooner,” Cedric smiled. The smile faded and his face turned serious. “But while we’re on that subject, Laila, I want to ask you officially. Will you be my mate for all eternity?”
“Yes,” Laila said without hesitation.
They kissed, a much more chaste kiss than Cedric would have liked, but he was conscious of Polly there and he didn’t want her to think he was some sort of animal that couldn’t control himself. When he released Laila, Polly hugged her and then she hugged him.
“Welcome to the family, Cedric. I couldn’t be happier for the two of you,” she said.
“God, look at the time,” Laila exclaimed. “I have to go and get ready for work.” She turned to Cedric. “Will I see you later?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Why don’t you both come over for dinner tonight? In the meantime, I have something to do myself.”
“Dinner sounds good,” Laila said after glancing at Polly and getting a nod. “Now what do you have to do? Because whatever it is, you made it sound rather ominous.”
“I was just thinking now that Fabian is gone, chances are his men will float away of their own accord. Most have them have likely gone already. But that castle is always going to be a blight on the town, and I don’t want to risk any of Fabian’s men coming back in the years to come, and taking over where Fabian left off with the Matchmaking. I’m going to go up there and burn the thing to the ground,” Cedric said.
“Then I’d better call Cassie and tell her I won’t be in today, because I’m coming with you,” Laila said.
“Me too,” Polly added.
Cedric shook his head quickly.
“No, this is something I need to do alone. You have work, Laila, and I’m sure you have better things to do too, Polly. You don’t need to worry. It’s not dangerous, it’s just an empty building.”
After a few minutes of gentle persuasion, Cedric managed to talk Laila and Polly out of their plan to join him. He didn’t really think it was a big risk. Fabian’s men wouldn’t be stupid enough to return to the castle so quickly, but he wasn’t about to take a chance on Laila or Polly’s lives.
* * *
Cedric walked around the perimeter of the castle, spreading out a trail of gasoline as he went. He hadn’t seen any of Fabian’s men hanging around and he even found himself whistling as he poured out the flammable liquid. For once, Fabian’s protection charm on the castle would work in Cedric’s favor. No one in the town would call the fire department. His pack would know what was happening and leave him to it, because he had informed Cassie of his plan and asked her to spread the word, and the humans in the town wouldn’t be able to see the fire.
Cedric finished spreading the gasoline and stood back to take one last look at the castle before he put the match to it. It was then that he spotted movement in one of the upstairs windows. It was a brief, fleeting movement, but it had lasted just long enough for Cedric to see that the face that had peered out of the window was a woman’s face.
He felt his stomach turn. Fabian had a prisoner in there and he had almost burned her alive. Cedric ran into the castle and started to make his way up the wide, sweeping staircase that ran up the center of the castle. He knew he had to save the woman before he torched the place.
He reached the top floor and began to count the doors down the hallway until he found the one that matched the woman’s window. He tried the door, already knowing it would be locked. He stood back and kicked the door and it flew open then.
The woman cowered in the corner. Her hair was so long it curled around her, hiding her body from Cedric. It was a mass of knots and it was filthy. The woman’s face was so dirty, Cedric could barely make out any of her features. She wore a dress that he thought had maybe once been white, but now it was an aged yellow-brown color. It hung off her in rags.
“Please don’t hurt me,” the woman begged.
She sounded so broken, so afraid, that Cedric almost felt her fear on the air.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you,” he said in a gentle voice. “I’m here to help you. Fabian is dead. You’re safe now. We have to get you out of here and then I’m going to burn this place to the ground and finish what I started.”
The woman looked at him with eyes that barely focused. He thought she was frowning, and a strange noise escaped her. Cedric thought she was crying at first, but then he realized she was laughing.
“Fabian is really dead?” she asked.
“Really,” Cedric assured her.
He held his hand out to the woman, and slowly, like a dog expecting to be kicked, she reached out and took his hand. Her hand was all skin and bone and he helped her to her feet. She seemed a little shaky, but she held firm on her feet and when Cedric started to walk, she followed him with no resistance. He checked around the building in case there were any more prisoners, but he found none. He led her out of the castle and to a safe distance away from it.
“Wait here,” he said.
He ran back to the castle, struck a match, and threw it into the gasoline. The flames caught immediately, and by the time Cedric had jogged back to the woman, the flames were sky high. The castle was old and it didn’t take much to get it to
burn. Cedric smiled with satisfaction. It was finally over. Greer was finally free of Fabian’s influence, and the dark fae who lived in the mountains and stole women from the town was finally going to be what the humans of Greer had always thought he was. A legend.
“I’m Cedric, by the way,” Cedric said to the woman as he led her down the mountainside, moving slowly so she could keep up with him.
“Catherine,” the woman replied.
“How long have you been in the castle?” he asked.
It didn’t seem like the woman had only been there a couple of weeks while Fabian arranged her sale. She was so dirty and thin, and the tangles in her hair were even worse than Cedric had first thought. She smelled like she hadn’t had a bath or a shower in years.
“I don’t know. I stopped counting the days after the first five years. A long time, though,” Catherine said.
Cedric winced. He could only imagine what that must have been like. They walked down the mountainside in silence. Cedric was impressed by Catherine, at not only her resilience in the face of being Fabian’s prisoner for so long, but also the way she was so nimble on her feet when it was clear she hadn’t seen anything outside of that room for years. When they reached the town, Cedric turned to Catherine.
“Where do you want to go?” he asked her. “I can take you anywhere.”
“I… I don’t know,” Catherine said.
She looked like she was on the verge of tears and Cedric didn’t want her to feel like she had nowhere to go.
“Come to my place,” he said. “No funny business, I swear. You can take a shower and I’ll ask my girlfriend to bring you some clothes and then we can all have lunch.”
“Really?” Catherine said.
Cedric nodded and smiled at her. He could see the tears of gratitude shining in her eyes and it made him feel like crying himself. It must have been so long since Catherine had experienced even the most basic kindness.
He took her to his house and showed her to the bathroom, giving her some clean towels and a robe and telling her to use whatever she wanted. Once he had shown her where everything was, he went downstairs and called Laila.