What to Expect When You Have a Fae Baby (The Immortality Curse Book 2)

by Peter Glenn

  I watched as she readied a bolt of blue flames to finish him off, but I put out my hand to stop her. “Wait!”

  LaLuna scowled at me. “He stole Grace from us and tried to kill her! Why are you stopping me?”

  I pulled on my face and groaned. Standing was getting harder by the minute, but there were obviously a lot of unanswered questions on all sides, and I was determined to get to the bottom of it all before any more bodies piled up.

  “Yeah, you’re right on the first part, but I’m not so sure you’re right on the second part anymore,” I told her.

  Her eyes narrowed, and she glared at me. “What do you mean?” She turned to face Elden. “Speak! Before I kill you right here and now.”

  Elden coughed again several times, clutching his side all the while. I could only imagine how much that must have hurt in his condition. He put up a hand in defense. “One moment. Let me... gather my... thoughts.”

  He let out another loud cough that made his whole body shake, then he looked up at LaLuna. “I’m sorry, it appears there’s been some sort of grand... misunderstanding.”

  “Pfft. You can say that again,” I muttered.

  Elden pushed himself into a kneeling position and started to try to stand. I put out a hand to stop him, but he waved me off.

  “It’s okay. I can do this. I am a fae guardian. It’s going to take more than a simple fireball to kill me.”

  I huffed a bit. I’d seen the attack on him. It had been far more than a simple fireball. Had I been the one that had been attacked, I wouldn’t be alive, let alone standing. It made me regard him in a slightly greater light. Even if he was still a kidnapper.

  But at least he seemed to stop short of child murder.

  “Explain yourself,” LaLuna demanded. Her eyes started to glow, and I saw blue fire arc between the fingers of her free hand. “I’m waiting.”

  “Yes,” Elden said, “I was getting to that.” He coughed again, but it didn’t seem as bad this time. “Baby Grace is a fae princess, and I am, or rather was, one of her guardians.”

  A collective gasp escaped both LaLuna’s and my lips.

  “You’re what now?” I scrunched my nose. “But then why was LaLuna tasked with keeping her alive?”

  Elden shook his head. “I’m not completely sure. Things went downhill fast after Grace went missing, and I’m not really sure how or why everything went down the way it did. All I know is what I’ve seen and what I’ve been told.”

  LaLuna’s face still looked grim. “And what is that, exactly?”

  “That Grace’s life is in grave danger.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Pfft. That much is obvious.”

  “Hmm, well yes, but it’s a little more complicated than you all know.” Elden let out a long, slow breath, barely suppressing another cough. “Where should I start.”

  “The beginning works for me,” I offered. I glanced at LaLuna, who still had the makings of a blue fireball in her hands. “And maybe give the fast version.”

  Elden let out a half a chuckle and ended up coughing again. A little blood spilled out of his mouth but he seemed to take it in stride. “The short version, eh? I can handle that.” He ran a hand through what was left of his hair. “How much do the two of you know about the Unseelie Court?”

  I shrugged. “A little. We were there recently.”

  A glimmer of shock appeared in Elden’s eyes. “And did anything seem out of the ordinary to you?”

  “Yes,” LaLuna said. “Magus and Titania were absent. There was a man there, Melisande, who claimed the two were indisposed and refused to let us see them.”

  “Well, it’d be kinda hard to do that, I suppose,” Elden replied, “seeing as they’re both dead.”

  LaLuna and I both gasped again.

  “Dead?” LaLuna asked once she could find her voice.

  Elden nodded. “Dead as the fae all around us.” He moved his arms in a sweeping motion. “And their lives ended in a similar manner, too. Let’s just say it was... not a peaceful transition of power.”

  “When is it?” I mused.

  “Indeed,” Elden replied. “They were murdered while they slept, and they still managed to put up quite a fight. I’m surprised the Seelie fae didn’t notice anything, actually. It was quite the battle.”

  Another coughing fit overtook Elden for a moment, and he almost fell back down to the ground. “But that’s not all. After they were murdered, their castle was completely trashed. Combed through like someone was looking for something. Or rather someone.”

  Elden’s eyes trailed over to the bundle in LaLuna’s arms.

  “Grace?” LaLuna said in a squeaky voice.

  Elden nodded. “Indeed. But she was nowhere to be found. The going theory is that someone had tipped Magus and Titania off on the attack, and they’d sent her far away so she wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire. A wise move, if I do say so.” He let out a short laugh, which turned into another cough. “Of course, I had no idea just how far away they’d sent her.”

  “To the Seelie fae,” LaLuna said, the truth of it all finally dawning on her. “To my mother.”

  Another nod from Elden. “Yes, although I didn’t actually find that bit out until much later. I just knew that someone on the side of the Seelie had her in their grasp. Not who.”

  LaLuna’s expression soured. “But if you wanted Grace alive, why did you send people to kill her and her protectors? To kill my mother.” Her voice hardened on the last word, and I saw the fire in her hand spark a few more times.

  Tension filled the air, and I got ready to jump in the way of another attack if necessary, but nothing happened.

  “I didn’t,” Elden told us. “That wasn’t me.”

  “Pfft. Easy enough to say, harder to prove,” I said. I looked over at LaLuna again, expecting a similar reaction, but her face had actually softened quite a bit, and the flames in her hand had died back down.

  “Wait, you don’t actually believe this clown, do you?” I said incredulously.

  “I do,” she said calmly. “Fae cannot lie, remember?”

  I’d forgotten, but now that she’d said it, it jarred that memory. “True,” I countered, “but they can tell half-truths. You might not have sent them, but someone in your employ did.”

  Elden nodded again and LaLuna’s expression hardened once more. “He’s right.” He put a hand out in defense. “But before you kill me, know that I had nothing to do with the order, and I disagreed with it. I never would have put out an order to kill a child.”

  I spent a moment trying to find the loophole in that statement, but I couldn’t. It seemed pretty rock solid. “Very well. So you didn’t have any part in trying to kill her. But you knew who did.”

  “Indeed,” Elden nodded. “It was none other than Regin.”

  “Regin?” LaLuna’s eyes went wide. “But why?”

  Elden shrugged. “He was behind the attacks on Magus and Titania, too. He was behind all of it. It was a ploy to wrest the throne of the Unseelie Court out from underneath them. If all of the royal family were dead, power would naturally flow to the next of kin. And that next of kin is...”

  “Regin,” LaLuna repeated.

  “Yes, exactly. But his plan failed. Grace escaped execution and still lives, even if no one knows where she is, save the three of us. So, a regent council rules in her stead until such time as Grace can be found or her body identified.

  “So, in a way, we all owe you two a massive favor,” Elden concluded. “Had it not been for your taking Grace out of the fae realm and stopping her killers a few moments ago, Regin would have taken charge easily. And that...” he shuddered. “That is not a prospect that I would welcome in the slightest.”

  I clicked my tongue. “That bad, huh?”

  “Regin doesn’t believe there should be two councils. He aims to take over both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts and rule all the fae as one. Thousands of fae would die in the ensuing struggle for power.”

  “Okay, so it is that ba
d, then.” I gave him a wry grin, and he scowled at me, so I winced and threw my hands up. “Not one for jokes, got it.”

  “No.”

  “Sorry.” I gave him my best sheepish look.

  Elden waved a hand dismissively. “It’s nothing.” He sighed, and another cough came out. “Look, I’ve done my best to protect baby Grace, but obviously I failed, since Regin’s forces found me anyway. I’ll for sure have to be more careful in the future.”

  He looked both of us in the eye. “But the two of you, on the other hand, maybe you’ll have better luck than I. They won’t be looking for a human or agents of the Seelie Court. At least not right away, now that Alyta and her brood are all dead. Maybe you’ll have better luck guarding the girl than I would.”

  LaLuna’s eyes narrowed, and she glared at him. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying you two should take baby Grace. Guard her well. Raise her so that she knows of her fate, and that of the fae realm. And when the time comes...” Elden paused for a long moment. “When the time comes, help her take the throne.”

  “You’re asking an awful lot of people that were about to murder you a minute ago, you know,” I told him.

  “True,” Elden said. “But you’ll do it, won’t you? Or at least LaLuna will.”

  LaLuna inclined her head. “Indeed,” she said coolly, clutching baby Grace a little tighter. “I will guard the child with my life.”

  “Just whatever you do, watch out. You may have stopped Regin’s plan for now, but I’m sure he’ll be back in force later.”

  “Got it,” I said. “Be careful.”

  “And when he does come, I won’t be there to help. I think it’s best if we never meet again, don’t you?”

  I nodded at that. I still couldn’t completely trust him, so keeping him far away was a win in my book.

  Elden eyed both of us again for a moment, then looked down at the sleeping bundle that was Grace. The wrappings over her head had come undone at some point, and he could see her resting peacefully, blissfully unaware of all the people that wanted her for their own nefarious goals.

  “Well, I’m off,” Elden said, coughing again. “I’m not sure where I’m headed yet, but I’ll figure it out.” He offered his hand to me, and I took it. “Farewell, Damian.”

  “Farewell.”

  Moments later, he disappeared in a green haze, and I finally gave in and let myself fall to my knees, exhausted.

  ABOUT A WEEK LATER, LaLuna and I made our way back to Mei’s bar. I was wearing a band t-shirt, of course, and a fresh pair of jeans. My shirt had The Cars on it. I was still trying to find another Duran Duran shirt online. I’d seen one for a hundred, but passed on it. Hopefully, I’d find a more reasonably priced one soon. Thankfully, all my wounds had healed by this point, so I was walking quite upright, though there’d been a couple tense days in a motel where I’d been in a lot of pain.

  LaLuna was wearing a blue knit sweater and black leggings, having eschewed her guardian wear for something a little more nondescript. And there was little that was more nondescript in fall in Seattle than a sweater and leggings.

  She was holding a sleeping baby Grace in her arms. I’d found a nice, warm pair of fleece pajamas with rainbows on them at a store in Yakima, and she was sporting them at the moment, looking like a million bucks.

  Grace gave off a big yawn right about when we made it to the door to Mei’s and settled back down on LaLuna’s arm. It was perhaps the cutest thing I’d ever seen in my entire life.

  I pushed open the door to Mei’s and made the way down the stairs, LaLuna walking next to me.

  “Hey, it’s Damian!” a voice from within the bar said a moment later. It was Hank’s gruff voice. “And he brought LaLuna and the baby!”

  “Oui oui, glad to see you in one piece,” Sevin added.

  “Three cheers for Damian and LaLuna!” Mei said, holding the glass she was polishing aloft.

  “Hear, hear!” the denizens of the bar shouted, clashing their glasses together. “To Damian and LaLuna!”

  “Thanks, all,” I said. “It’s good to be back, too.” I smiled at everyone in turn. “And thank you, Yuri, for your earlier help with Grace.”

  Yuri gave me a weak grin, a hint of a tear in his eye. “I wish I could have done more for baby. Kept her from all harm.”

  I walked over to him and put my hand on his big shoulder. “You did all that you could,” I told him, squeezing his arm gently. “You did amazing.”

  “How is baby?” he asked, peeking his head over toward LaLuna.

  “She’s great,” LaLuna said. She walked over and gently showed Grace off to Yuri. “Happy as a baby lamb, now that she’s safe and sound.”

  “That makes Yuri happy.” He puffed up his chest a little. Gingerly, he reached out and stroked her forehead with one of his fingers.

  “It makes me happy, too,” Mei said, looking at both of us. “Come over here and sit for a bit. First round’s on me tonight.”

  “Really?” That was enough to convince me. I dragged LaLuna over to a pair of stools in front of the counter and sat down, motioning for her to do the same.

  “So, learn anything of note all the way out there in Selah?” Mei asked.

  I gave her a sideways glance. “How did you know where we were?”

  Mei had an amused expression on her face. “I have a lot of friends, Damian. I know everything.”

  “Everything?” I gulped down a knot of fear. That was a dangerous statement.

  She shrugged. “Close enough. So spill, what happened?”

  I took a deep breath and started spinning the tale of the last two weeks, filling both Mei and the rest of the bar in on all the sordid details. I left no detail untold.

  Well, except for the kiss. I kept that part to myself. Gentlemen never kiss and tell and all that. Though I had the distinct impression Mei probably knew about that somehow, too. At any rate, I went over the rest of the important parts.

  “That’s quite the tale,” Mei said when I was finished.

  “Indeed.” I nodded. Somewhere along the way, I’d picked up that turn of phrase from LaLuna. I decided I liked it.

  “So, what’s next for baby Grace, then?” Mei asked.

  LaLuna shrugged. “We’ll take her back to the fae realm, I suppose. Find someone who can care for her properly.”

  “What?!” Mei practically exploded. I’d never seen her so angry as she’d been in that moment. “Please don’t tell me you’re serious!”

  LaLuna laid her hands bare. “What choice do I have? I am but a guardian in training. I cannot properly care for and protect a fae princess by myself.”

  “And who said anything about being alone?” I asked in a huff.

  LaLuna glanced at me and blushed. “I appreciate the offer, Sir Damian, but your part in this is done, and I cannot ask more of you. I must bear this burden on my own until I can find someone more suitable to the task.”

  “But!” I protested.

  “No buts, Damian.”

  I frowned and was about to say something further, but Mei broke in again. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, LaLuna.”

  “What do you mean?” There was a hint of fear in LaLuna’s voice, and she clutched Grace tighter to her chest.

  “I can’t let you take the baby back to the fae realm,” Mei said. “There’s too much danger for her there, and with your mother out of the picture, there’s no one left in the fae realm I can trust.”

  Her statement left me wondering just how many people she knew in the fae realm. Weren’t the dragons at odds with the fae? There was so much about Mei that I simply didn’t know and didn’t make sense, but I wasn’t about to ask her about it. At best, I’d get a non-answer. At worst, I’d get banished from the bar for a week.

  Now there was a punishment worse than death.

  “There was another,” LaLuna said. Her eyes looked distant. “A man I saw once. My mother was talking to him at a party I wasn’t supposed to be at. Surely he would
be able to guard Grace well.”

  Mei shook her head. “I don’t know anything about this man of yours, and even if I did, I still wouldn’t trust him. Most fae are notoriously unreliable.”

  She had that right. The past two weeks had taught me that.

  “But... who then? Who would watch over and protect baby Grace while she grows?” LaLuna asked.

  “You will,” Mei told her matter of factly.

  LaLuna was taken aback. “Me? But I’m not a full guardian.”

  “I will help with that.” Mei’s gaze softened, and she gave LaLuna a warm smile. “I know a place where you can go. A place where you and baby Grace will be safe from the rest of the fae while she grows up. It’s somewhat magically protected, and it’s been in my family for years now, so none of the fae would know where to find it. I can house you two there, and I can even help you continue your training. You’ve got this.”

  “That is a very kind offer, Mistress Mei.” LaLuna lowered her head and sighed. “But I cannot accept. I would be too indebted to you.”

  “Please, LaLuna,” I pleaded. “Just think about it. I... I could come and see you there, spend time with you, if you took her up on it.”

  She looked at me, stunned. “You... would do such a thing?”

  I grinned at her. “Indeed.”

  LaLuna bit her lip. “I... I do not know. It’s such a big thing, and I have no way to repay the kindness. I... I want to, but...”

  “Well, if it helps, I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” Mei told her finally.

  “I don’t?”

  Mei shook her head and wagged a finger at her. “No, you don’t.” She paused for a second. “Remember when you first came in here and asked for sanctuary?”

  LaLuna nodded.

  “That offer extended to you and the baby. I promised to keep both of you safe. And this is the only way that I can see to keep that promise.” She let out a deep sigh. “The fae realm is far too dangerous. For either of you, let alone both of you together. At least this way, I can keep an eye on you from time to time and help both of you prepare for the tough times ahead.”

  LaLuna blushed. “I... I don’t know what to say.”