“What is it? What’s wrong?” The immediate panic in her voice soothed something inside me. I came from a close family myself, and knew that Seph and Matt didn’t. I was pleased for Gabriella’s sake that it seemed like she had a similar background as my own.
“That’s just it. We don’t know,” I admitted, then, putting the phone on speaker, I explained, “Your daughter passed the exam to become a warrior—”
“Gabriella? A warrior?” her mother scoffed. “She was an arts major. What does she know about fighting?”
“Well, that’s just it. Nothing. Trust us, we’ve seen her with a sword,” Matthew interrupted dryly. “Allow us to introduce ourselves? I’m Matthew.”
“Joseph.”
“And I’m Daniel. She’s a part of our troupe.”
“Troupe?” she squeaked. “Gabriella is in a troupe?”
“Yes. She isn’t doing well—”
“I could have told you that. She tripped over her feet until she was fifteen.”
I blinked at the imagery, then cleared my throat. “We have your number because something happened yesterday.”
“What happened?” she asked warily.
“She grew angry, Matthew reached for her, and when she touched him, she…” I hesitated over the phrasing.
“A kind of pink glow escaped her and spread down my arm.”
“She manifested?” she shrieked.
Manifested?
“What does that mean?” Seph queried.
“It means that her power took on a tangible force. It doesn’t happen often, and only in very strong witches. Even then, it usually occurs at the equinox. But…” She hummed. “That isn’t for another month or so. She never manifested before. She was never all that interested in her powers. Used them mostly to be lazy.”
Her disapproval was evident.
“Well, she did yesterday,” Matthew grumbled.
“Did she hurt you?”
“No.” He winced. “The opposite. It felt kind of nice.”
“Cristo,” she rasped. “It felt good? It should have injured you. Severely. For powers to manifest, there is usually a strong emotion behind it—were you about to sleep together?”
“No!” Matt half yelled, his ears turning pink.
A scoffing sound escaped her. “You Fae.” Another huff. “Always so prudish.”
We knew witches were a lot more open with sex, but speaking about it to her mom? Yeah, that wasn’t fun for anyone. Surely?
Seph, his voice gruff with embarrassment, steered the conversation back on track. “We were training for the first trials.”
“What kind of trials?” she demanded, her voice sharp.
“Not like the Salem kind,” I instantly tried to soothe, knowing the path her mind had traversed. “It’s the first phase of a troupe being sent out on service. We can’t go into the real world until we pass two trials.”
“But Gabriella can’t fight,” she muttered. “Ostrás, it’s impossible. This has to be a lie—”
“No. It isn’t,” Matthew urged, his tone strained. “Look, this is important. I touched her, but when I let go, it hurt her. Then, Daniel grabbed her to keep her upright, and the glow touched him. It was like it glued them together. We had to pry them apart, and the glow touched us as well.”
“And it hurt none of you?” she asked, her doubt clear.
“No. If anything, it felt… promising.” I knew that was a weird way to describe it, yet it was the only way I could. It hadn’t felt negative or positive, just right. Like I was born to feel that odd connection with her.
A shaky breath escaped her. “Well, I can hazard a guess what this means, but why isn’t Gabriella talking to me about this?”
“Because, after I let go the first time and she stumbled, she’s been unconscious ever since. This was about fourteen hours ago.”
“Has she stirred?” she queried sharply.
“Only when Daniel touched her.”
“And he touched her the longest, didn’t he?”
Sol, this apparently wasn’t coming as a surprise to her.
“Yes,” I admitted. “When I tried to prop her upright.”
She was silent for a second. “You’re her Virgo.” A wheezy breath escaped her. “Joder, first, she’s got wings, and now she has three Fae mates? Madre de Dios, que hiciste para merecer todo—”
My eyes narrowed. “You didn’t do anything to deserve this. It isn’t happening to you.”
“¿Habla usted español?” she queried.
“Yes. I do,” I retorted.
“Speaking a foreign language fluently is a mandatory requirement for all Fae joining the Academy,” Matthew explained gruffly.
“So I understand that you might think this is about you, but it isn’t,” I snapped, furious on Gabriella’s behalf and not even understanding why.
She released a breath. “Quizás, no,” she mumbled. “What’s she doing now?”
“Just sleeping. She didn’t move until I touched her calf.” That sounded skeevier now that I said it aloud. “I mean, I just wanted to connect—”
“I know what you meant,” she muttered. “Virgo need to connect frequently and often. It’s a part of the bond. To be without one another can cause great pain to the witch.”
Seph cleared his throat—and I didn’t doubt he was thinking about Gabriella’s grandmother who his father had denied. “So, what? We need to climb into bed with her?”
“It would do no harm. If she’s sleeping still, then I think it’s a bit like a power surge. Her body has shut down to protect itself from the manifestation of her powers.” She hummed under her breath. “I can’t tell you why she manifested. Gabi never presented as a particularly powerful witch—”
“If she hid her wings from you, could she have been hiding that from you too?” I inquired, my tone wary. I didn’t want to piss her off, but we needed answers.
Though she hissed as she sucked in a breath, when she answered, she at least sounded reasonable. “Yes, she could have. But it’s more likely that her hiding her wings is why she never presented as powerful. To maintain such a constant show would be incredibly draining.” She whistled under her breath. “And I called her lazy…”
Her tone became laced with guilt, but we didn’t have time for that. “Now that she’s allowing her wings free rein, is it possible she’s having a kind of backlash?”
It’d be a backlash that was eight months in the making, but who the Sol knew what witch born Fae went through? It wasn’t like we even knew that much about the human born, so witch born? Gabriella was unique, and that meant we had no idea what in Gaia’s name was going on with her.
Seemed like we were on the same track because she stated, “Possibly. I can’t say. You and I both know there are no witch born Fae… she is unique.” Her voice turned husky. “When she wakes, get her to call me, sí? I have to go. My break is almost over.”
“Okay, I will,” I told her softly. “But she will awaken, won’t she?”
Maybe she heard the panic in my voice, because there was a new gentleness about her as she replied, “Yes, she will. You are her Virgo, if she is with you, then she will get better soon. I will speak with you later…” She hesitated before tacking on, “Mates of my daughter.”
When she cut the call, I shot Seph and Matthew a look. Seph broke the silence to say, “I wonder if my father knew how badly it would hurt her grandmother to deny her.”
Matt heaved a breath. “Noa isn’t exactly renowned for his friendly countenance, is he?”
“No. But maybe that’s why. She said it hurt the witch to deny the bond, but it must hurt the Fae too,” I reasoned, reaching up to rub my chest. “I feel weird.”
“Weird like you want to faint or…?” Seph queried warily.
“No. Just off.” I blew out a shaky sigh and, reaching for my sandwich again, I climbed onto the bed beside her. When she immediately gravitated toward me, rolling onto her side and pressing into me, I blinked in surprise. Her arm moved
around my waist, and she cuddled into me.
Gabriella, until this moment, had made a hedgehog look soft and snuggly. Prickly wasn’t the fucking word.
“Let’s see what happens when you climb in beside her,” I directed the others.
Seph, cricking his neck, grumbled, “This is weird.”
“We’re the ones who wanted the next gen Fae,” Matthew replied heavily. “Guess that was always going to come with a price.”
❖
Gabriella
I awoke to the sensation of warmth.
I knew warmth. I was Miami born and bred, and a transplant to L.A.. The place could get sticky as hell itself. So, heat was my bag, but this kind of warmth was soul deep.
I felt it in my veins. Was surrounded by it. Penetrated with it.
My skin felt flushed from good sleep, and I knew my face was clammy with sweat. Unlike a lot of women who ‘glowed,’ I didn’t, I just sweated. Still, I didn’t mind. I was comfortable and, for the first time in a long while, happy.
Why?
I also felt safe, and that was strange enough to have my eyes popping open, because I hadn’t felt safe since I’d received the induction letter to Eight Wings. Around a yawn, I looked ahead and saw I was staring into a set of strong shoulders. The nubs where the wings were tucked away were stubby—the Fae only ever hid their wings for sleep. That I was sleeping with a Fae had me rearing back in surprise, but when I felt a face brush against my own wings—I hadn’t tucked mine away before I fell asleep?— I wondered what the Sol was even happening.
I was tucked between two Fae.
Two.
Fae.
Now, I wasn’t averse to a bit of group hanky-panky. Gaia, witches did a lot of that shit. We weren’t prudes, and it wasn’t uncommon for us to have several partners, some on a casual basis, others on a more ‘hookup’ style. But the Fae? They were prudes.
Sure, they had lovers, even within wedlock, but it was all very Victorian. I bet the males even called their female partners ‘mistresses.’
Rolling my eyes at the thought, I twisted around so I could see who was at my back, whose arm was around my waist pulling me tightly into him as he committed what was, to the Fae, an atrocity—they didn’t share. Ever.
So, when I saw Joseph cuddled into me? I almost choked.
Joseph vil der Luir?
Hugging me in his sleep?
What the actual fuck?
“You passed out.”
My gaze cut to Matthew who was watching me. He had his phone in his hands, and from the tiny, tinny sounds, I knew he was playing a game. His back was to the head rest, and his long legs were splayed out in front of him. He looked relaxed even if he was sitting beside Joseph’s sleeping form.
As I peered at his screen, he tilted it away from me and cocked a brow at me. “Nosy.”
“I’m a witch.” There was no point in denying that after yesterday. That pink glow? There was no way they’d failed to spot that. And whether he thought he knew I was a witch or not, I didn’t have to confess to it. “We’re born nosy.”
His eyes narrowed at me. “I thought you’d lie.”
“Perhaps I would have if I hadn’t grabbed a hold of you,” I mumbled. Reaching up, I rubbed my sweaty brow on my forearm. “I don’t know what this is about though. Thought the Fae were against—”
“Sleeping? In a troupe?” He quirked his brow at me. “You know that’s not true. Perhaps it isn’t common, but it does happen during a battle.”
“For protection…” My own brows furrowed. “To protect the weakest.” Grunting, I ceded, “And I’m the weakest.”
Was it weird that I was disappointed this wasn’t sexual?
Sheesh, talk about projecting. I mean, I kind of hated them for the way they’d dragged me into their troupe, but eight months of drooling and getting wet at the sight of them all sweaty during a battle took its toll on the female form.
He shrugged. “Depends. You could be the strongest.”
“You picked me because you knew I was a witch,” I rasped. I wasn’t hurt. We weren’t close enough for him to hurt me with his actions, but I was pissed.
“Yes,” he admitted, surprising me with his candor. “However, you’re under the mistaken belief that if you hadn’t been selected, you’d have been able to return home. Your life is with the Fae now, Gabriella. Whether or not you were selected this year doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be slotted into a troupe that’s missing a member, or wouldn’t have to wait to be shoved into next year’s troupes.”
My throat grew tight. “I knew that was a possibility, but nobody would want me. Nobody—”
“Except someone who knew what you could do. And by the looks of it, you weren’t going to be able to keep it contained for much longer. Twice now you’ve lost your temper, and each time, that glow has manifested.”
I shrugged. “I have anger management issues.” He didn’t have to know that my magic’s manifestation was tied to him being my Virgo. It figured that made sense. Since I’d arrived here, I’d been having issues with my magic. I’d thought it was due to my temper, or down to my depressed moods, but it wasn’t.
It was because they were here.
I’d met them. Spoken with them. Shared breathing room with them, and my magic had been getting pissed off at my failure to recognize what they were to me.
“You don’t have to tell us that,” Daniel interjected with a snort of laughter as he wriggled beside me. He sounded sleepy, and I figured only Matthew hadn’t been napping.
I huffed. “Wouldn’t you have an attitude problem in my situation? The longer I’m here, the more in danger I am—”
“You’ve been in danger since your wings made an appearance,” Daniel told me, his tone careful now as he twisted around so he could face me. As he moved, his wings popped out. Bright white with creamy specks. They were less patchy than they’d been at the beginning of the year, more white than cream, but I still wanted to stroke them. Feel the softness against my fingers.
Shame I didn’t have a right to do that. Yet. Or, if ever.
“I know. I haven’t slept well since I was eighteen,” I whispered, my eyes closing of their own volition.
“Have you always known?” Matthew questioned. “Before the wings?”
“I knew something was different about me. Just like you have basics you learn, we do too.” I licked my lips and lifted my forearm once more, except, instead of rubbing my brow, I used it to cover my eyes. “There are small tasks you should be able to achieve with your eyes closed. Lighting a candle, snuffing it out. Sending a cleansing wind through your house on Fridays, being able to fill a bucket with water.
“Simple things… but they were always harder for me. My line is very powerful. Only my grandmother was patient with me.”
Joseph cleared his throat. “My father was your grandmother’s Virgo.”
Stunned, I shot upright at that, and twisting to face him, I demanded, “What? How could you know that?”
“When I told him your name—”
“He knew it. I was named for her,” I breathed as I tried to process that impossible, uncanny truth. “He hurt her. Badly.”
“I can believe it,” Seph rasped. “And, I doubt it’s any consolation, but he’s miserable as fuck. He’s one of the meanest, cruelest bastards in our society, and he only gets away with it because he’s powerful.”
“No, that doesn’t make me feel better,” I snapped, then I winced. “It’s not your fault. Sorry for getting mad.” I had to be nice. If I wasn’t, then they’d reject me just as my grandmother had been rejected, and while a set of Virgo had never been in my life plan, I didn’t want to fuck things up by being a bitch.
Not when I’d been a real pain in the ass since I’d been assigned to their troupe.
This was a probationary period all round. They just didn’t know it yet.
“No. It isn’t. But I understand,” he replied, his tone wooden.
Reaching over, I pressed my hand to his kn
ee, and murmured, “Sorry. I’m sorry I’ve been rude and mean to all of you. But I just—”
“Don’t want to be here. We know,” was Daniel’s dry response.
I shot him a look, then heaved a sigh. “Yeah. That.” Biting my lip, I mumbled, “The night before last, my grandmother visited me.”
Joseph scowled. “Father said she passed away nine years ago.”
My eyes flared wide. “He knew that?”
“He must have kept a trace on her.”
Shaking my head, I murmured, “Why do that if you didn’t care enough not to reject her?”
“He said he had to marry for power. Our family estate is renowned—”
“He’s right,” Daniel chimed in. “Everyone knows Landgow. It’s like not knowing what Buckingham Palace is.”
Joseph nodded. “It was derelict before he married my mother. He had to marry to restore it.”
Because I was a witch first, I didn’t understand how anyone could make such a coldhearted decision. But the human in me got it. As much as I loathed the reasoning, I saw how that would be important to a race as power hungry and superficial as the Fae.
“She did die nine years ago,” I confirmed, “but I had a vision of her. She was waiting on me to meet my…”
“Virgo,” Matthew inserted when I fell silent.
I shot him a look. “Yes.”
“We spoke with your mother, Gabriella,” Daniel told me. “We had to. You’d been asleep overnight and only moved when I put my hand on your leg. We were concerned, and we didn’t want to take you to the medic—”
My heart raced at the thought. “Thank Gaia you didn’t.”
Daniel nodded, apparently relieved I understood. “She wants to talk to you.”
Jaw tense, I tipped my chin up. “She’s been ignoring my calls all this time.”
“Well, she wants to speak with you now,” Matthew said bluntly. “But first, we need to discuss this—Daniel said he had a vision when you held on to him.”
I cut him a surprised look. “What did you see?”
“Us,” he mumbled, clearing his throat, “acting as your Virgo.”
From his bright pink cheeks, I could easily gather what he’d truly seen. “Oh,” I murmured, trying and undoubtedly failing to hide my amusement.
The Ascended: The Eight Wings Collection Page 12