by Nissa Leder
Yet, when she’d removed her hood and her eyes met his, he knew.
After she’d rescued them, they followed her halfway up the cliff to a cave. It went deep into the rock, and when they couldn’t see the opening anymore, a living area appeared.
Since Raith had announced the woman who saved them was his mother, no one had spoken, her included.
She slowly approached him. “Raith. My baby.” She reached out her hand.
Raith recoiled from her touch. “How are you here? Why?”
The joy he’d felt turned to confusion, then to anger. He’d grown up thinking she was dead. Clearly, that was false.
“Please, listen to my story. Then, if you hate me, I’ll leave you alone.”
He could never hate her. He didn’t know how to feel, but he wasn’t a four-year-old desperate for his mother’s embrace anymore. Or was he? He’d worked so hard simply to learn the truth about her. He’d never expected to actually find her.
“Like you, I have both Autumn and Summer blood. More Summer blood, actually, but when my magic developed, my body had chosen its Autumn nature. While my sister learned Summer energy, I manipulated trees and took energy from their leaves and branches.
“Then, I met your father. He didn’t care that I didn’t have Summer magic or that my lineage was…complicated. We fell in love and he took me back to the Summer Court and we married. I fell pregnant with you and I was happier than I could ever be.”
Her gaze dropped. She took a deep breath before continuing.
“Then, after you were born, I started having visions. After your father and I wed, I became royal, and some royal fae with multiple court lineage can utilize the power of both. My Summer gift was to see the future.
“My first vision was mundane. You would trip over a large rock and cut your head. Of course, as your mother, I tried everything to stop it, but it happened anyway. The first year the visions were sparse and simple. Then, on your third birthday, I saw you as a young adult, fighting your brother for the Right of Heir. He didn’t look like me. He reminded me of someone else—my sister.
“I convinced myself it was just a nightmare, not a real vision. Then, the next one came. This one felt different. Less certain. I learned that not all visions are set. Some are nothing more than possibility. I saw my sister poisoning me. I was about to go for a horseback ride and she offered me a bottle of wine for the trip. When I drank it in the middle of the forest, I collapsed.
“I didn’t want to believe my sister would do that. But when that day came, I knew it was true. Another vision showed a different path. You were grown and in a strange land with a woman, searching for a tree. For the Life Tree.
“But when you two tried to cross the Valley of the Dying, the creatures devoured you. Later, another vision came. This one included me; the first vision I’d had of my own future. I saved you and a larger group—one without the woman from before—from the creatures of death. I saw today.
“The vision showed me the way here to this place. Instead of drinking the wine my sister gave me, I fled. My only chance to save you was to make it here.” Her tear-filled eyes met his.
Raith wanted to call it all a lie. But, she’d saved them. And she was here in front of his face. He’d been searching for answers to explain her death and she’d never died.
“There are two more from our group that got separated from us.” He didn’t feel like going into the whole story. Not then.
“The woman from my first vision and another male. Yes, I’ve seen them in a vision, too.”
“Are they okay?”
“Yes, but you’re all in danger. I can’t say how I know, I’ve had no specific visions, but something is interfering with my gift which can only mean trouble.”
Raith’s mother reached out her hand again.
This time, he took it. As their hands met, any uncertainty he had that she was really his mother vanished.
She pulled away from Raith and looked to the rest of the group. “I’m Rowen. Nice to meet my son’s friends.” She approached Cade. “And my nephew.”
Cade met her eyes. “Hello.”
“You look like her, but you are not her.” Rowen touched his face. “I’ve seen no visions past the moment I saved you. We will need to be careful from here on out.”
Cade watched Rowen as she prepared food for them all. Her features were darker than his mother’s, but they shared the same facial expressions.
Could she be telling the truth? Had his mother tried to kill her own sister? The child in him shook his head sideways, screaming no. But the adult, who’d seen his mother’s ferocity and determination, wondered if those very qualities had led her to take something that wasn’t hers.
After their bellies were full, Rowen said, “If you follow the tunnel, it will lead you to a lake within the cave. The water is surprisingly warm for anyone who wants to rinse off.”
Wiping away the dirt Cade’s skin had accumulated the last few days sounded lovely and some space away couldn’t be better timed. “I’ll go.”
“I'm too stuffed to move.” Sage rubbed her belly.
“Maybe in a bit,” Raith said.
Poppy took her last bite of food. “I'll join you.”
Rowen grabbed a torch and lit it. “You'll want this. It's dark back there.”
Cade took it, then he and Poppy headed down the tunnel. Its walls started out as ordinary stone, but, as they walked further, an opal sheen appeared.
“Beautiful.” Poppy ran her fingers over the shiny stone.” “And slick.”
Cade switched the torch into his other hand and touched the wall. It was smooth and warm. Though they couldn’t use their magic in this realm, it seemed the realm itself possessed magic.
When they arrived at the lake, Cade stuck the torch into a stand at the edge of the still blue water. Above, the cavern opened to the sky, which was now a dark shade of pink.
“I'll go first,” Poppy said. “Turn around.”
“Huh?”
“My clothes are disgusting and I want to take them off before I get in the water. Once I'm in, I'll look away and you can do the same.”
Cade obliged, grinning as he waited. She could slice someone's throat without much thought, but nudity concerned her.
“Okay, I'm in,” she said.
Cade removed his shirt as he turned back toward her.
She covered her eyes. “No warning?”
“I don't think seeing me naked will blind you.” Cade chuckled.
As he continued removing clothes, nervousness tingled his stomach. He didn't think being nude in front of Poppy would bother him, but as he walked toward the water, he covered himself.
He dipped his toe in first, expecting the water to be cold. But it was pleasantly warm—the perfect temperature. What heated it?
He waded further into the water. The liquid against his skin felt marvelous. He'd never gone so long without cleaning himself. Life in the castle always promoted cleanliness, and the only time he'd ever spent more than a night away from it was when he visited another court where there were ample baths and showers.
“I'm adequately covered.” Cade sunk further into the water.
Poppy turned, only her head peeking out. She’d dipped her head under the water so her now wet hair clung to her body above the water. “So, you got to meet your aunt. How's that feel?”
“Bizarre. Until Raith told me our mothers were related, I didn't know I had an aunt. Then, even though I didn't completely believe him, I thought she was dead.”
Poppy held her breath and dipped her head under the water again. When she resurfaced, her hair was slicked backward.
Lit only by the single torch, the cave was dark. But the light of the fire was enough to highlight Poppy’s cleavage popping out of the water.
Poppy glanced at Cade then dipped lower. “My eyes are up here.”
“I've seen your eyes plenty of times,” Cade joked. “Other parts, not as often.”
Chivalry told him to stay
where he was. Poppy was his guard—maybe his only friend. But something else told him to wade closer to her.
The bond between them didn't exist here. Any choice they made or didn't make was free from the confusion of the tie.
Since becoming king, he had little time to think about being intimate with someone. The last woman he’d kissed was Scarlett. He’d resisted sleeping with her to better feed from her emotion as he had prepared for the Battle of Heirs. He couldn’t even remember the last woman he’d been with before her.
He couldn’t deny his attraction toward Poppy. She’d always been beautiful, but he hadn’t fully noticed her appeal until the Winter Solstice. But he’d ignored it then because she was the only one he trusted. He couldn’t risk losing her.
Poppy moved toward him, lifting her body slightly more out of the water. “And you like what you see?” Her big eyes watched him.
“I do.”
Cade ignored the voice in his head telling him to think this through. He closed the gap between them and leaned his face toward hers.
Before his lips found hers, he paused. He wanted her, but he wanted her to choose to cross the line they now straddled.
With her lips slightly parted, Poppy leaned in the last inch and crashed her mouth into his.
Cade’s hands twisted through her hair as their lips danced.
Poppy wrapped her arms around his back as their bodies pressed together.
“I'll come back,” Sage’s voice echoed through the cave.
Cade and Poppy separated, shifting their attention to her.
“We…” Poppy started.
“It's okay, I can keep a secret.” Sage turned, and before Cade or Poppy could reply, she was out of sight.
“That was…” Poppy touched her lip.
Great? A mistake?
What was going through Poppy’s head? Cade needed to know.
More importantly, what was going through his head?
Poppy had become his closest ally. His closest friend. Was whatever was about to happen worth jeopardizing that?
Chapter Twenty-Two
The next morning, Scarlett and Kaelem continued on the path around the valley.
The forest thinned out and they approached a field of grass.
Scarlett glanced over the ledge. The presence of the tree still buzzed inside her, stronger than before. Moving around the valley as they had been doing hadn't brought them any closer, but they’d moved past the forest of bare trees.
Ahead, a staircase began, zigzagging down to the bottom of the valley.
“I knew there had to be an easier way.” Kaelem continued to the staircase.
Scarlett hesitated. It couldn’t be that simple.
As Kaelem neared the path entrance, a figure appeared in front of him.
The hybrid creature had the lower half of a goat, furry with hooves, and the upper half of a man except for the ram horns curling back from his head.
“Not so fast there, fae.” It towered over Kaelem by at least a foot. “This path requires a toll, I’m afraid.”
Kaelem looked at Scarlett, who hadn’t been able to pry her eyes from the creature. It had appeared in a blink. That had to take some sort of magic.
“We don’t have any money,” Kaelem responded.
“I don’t want money.” The creature smirked.
“What do you want?” Kaelem’s voice was thick with annoyance.
Ironic since he usually loved games. Apparently, they were only enjoyable when he was the instigator. Although he didn’t seem to mind Scarlett’s game at the Seelie Court.
“Your mind.”
Kaelem stiffened. “I prefer not to give that up, I’m afraid.”
“And you?” The creature stared at Scarlett.
“No, thanks.”
Kaelem slowly reached for his sword.
“Now, now,” the creature said. “That won’t end well…for you, at least.”
Kaelem stopped.
The creature continued, “I don’t want to steal your mind, only test your mind power.”
Kaelem tilted his head. “We’re listening.”
“Answer me a riddle, and if you answer correctly, you can both pass.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Then I steal your mind.”
A pulse ricocheted through Scarlett. Similar to the tree energy, but different. She searched the area for anything out of the ordinary. Well, besides the goat man in front of her. She couldn’t see anything, but she knew something had changed.
“Yes, you felt them enter,” the creature said to Scarlett.
“Them?” Scarlett asked.
“That isn’t mine to share, I’m afraid.”
Could it be Nevina? Kassandra? The Seelie Queen and her advisor? If any of them got to the power first, Ashleigh would be in more danger.
“What will it be?” The creature lifted his shoulders. “There are other ways into the valley, all with their own risks.”
“We’ll do it.” Scarlett stepped to Kaelem.
From her side, he eyed her curiously. “I guess the lady has made up our minds.”
“Very well.” The creature smirked. “Though not alive, I can grow. Though I have no lungs, I need air. What am I?”
Scarlett’s fingers shook. Would he really take her mind if she guessed wrong? She exhaled her nerves. She’d already committed to the game. Though not alive, I can grow. Though I have no lungs, I need air. These types of riddles were always sly in their answers. What could grow but wasn’t alive? A bank account? Somehow Scarlett doubted this creature knew much about bank accounts and they didn’t need air.
Love? She glanced at Kaelem and felt a pang in her chest. She didn’t love him. God. And love didn’t need air either, not really.
“Two more minutes,” the creature said.
“Wait, what? You didn’t mention a time limit.”
“You didn’t ask.”
Scarlett huffed. He should have informed her of all the rules. She took a deep breath. She needed to focus.
“Thirty seconds…”
Air. The key was air. What was air? An element.
“Ten…”
Like earth and water and…
“Fire,” Scarlett blurted. “It’s fire.”
The creature tilted his head to the side, horns and all. “Is that your final answer?”
“Yes,” Scarlett said with as much authority as she could muster, as if confidence would somehow help.
The creature’s expression shifted.
Scarlett held her breath. If they were wrong, would she feel him take her mind from her? She prayed if she couldn’t make it home to protect her sister, Raith would.
“Correct,” the creature said then grinned. He stepped out of the way.
Scarlett jumped to Kaelem, who pulled her into a hug. She squeezed his waist, thankful to still possess her mind. He cupped her face in his hands and smooched her.
“Brilliant!” Kaelem said.
Scarlett pulled back and bit her lip. Why had she instinctively leaped to him like that? It was just excitement, she assured herself.
Slowly, Kaelem and Scarlett walked by as if he would change his mind and steal their minds just for fun.
The creature grabbed Scarlett’s arm. In her mind, she heard, Don’t trust anyone. Not even your companion.
Scarlett nonchalantly tilted her chin, acknowledging his words.
With each step, the tree’s power beat harder inside her, bird wings flapping in her heart.
Scarlett needed the magic inside of it.
She wouldn’t let anyone stand in her way.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sage laughed as she recalled the expressions Cade and Poppy wore when she’d walked in on whatever they were about to do. She almost felt bad having interrupted.
She meant what she’d said, she could keep a secret. She wouldn’t tell anyone what she saw, but she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened after she’d left. Especially when she went back to
the water to rinse off after they’d returned.
How clean was the water then? But she hadn’t bathed in days, so no matter what they’d done, a questionable bath was better than none.
Now, after a good night’s rest, they all followed Rowen. They’d climbed back up to the forest above the valley and followed the edge around to the left.
“There are four entrances to the valley below, not counting the long fall down for anyone who decides to jump to their death,” Rowen said as she trekked forward. “Body, mind, spirit, and blood are the sacrifices needed to reach the tree. The way you tried to go was the body entrance.”
“Where are we going now?” Raith asked, just a step behind his mother.
Sage still couldn’t believe they’d found her. After all his searching for information, she wasn’t even dead. A much better ending. She wondered how Raith was processing it all. They hadn’t had a chance to talk alone yet.
“Spirit.”
Everyone except for Rowen eyed each other.
The fae were not spiritual creatures. Unlike humans whose realm had an endless supply of religions and deities to follow, the fae world lacked a desire to connect with anything other than their born court.
One could say Autumn fae were divinely connected to nature, Winter to ice, Summer to their energy, and Spring to flowers and gemstones. But there were no gods worshiped in Faerie.
Sensing the confusion, Rowen added, “Don’t worry, it isn’t a religious test. From what I’ve heard, it’s more of a soul search of sorts.”
No one spoke. This wasn’t as relieving as Rowen implied it should be.
Sage thought of the pain she’d caused her family when she’d run away—a black mark on her heart. She’d needed to leave for herself, but that didn’t take away the selfishness of it. If this test required selflessness, she’d never pass.
They approached a small lake.
“Across this, a trail begins that will lead down to the valley,” Rowen said.
The purple water kept perfectly still. Not a single blemish marred its surface.
As Sage stared at the lake, a figure appeared in front of her, blocking her view.