wyrd & fae 03 - fever mist
Page 5
I breathed in the bloom’s fragrance while his lips and tongue explored my body, teasing and tasting every secret, sacred place.
I didn’t awake until twilight the next day—or was it the next… or the next after that? It didn’t matter. My silver knight was gone, off to fight for his god against other warriors fighting for theirs. I would never see him again, but it didn’t matter. I hadn’t loved him. I hadn’t even asked his name.
I blame the entire encounter on the fever mist.
Over the following months, I watched the silver knight in the glimmer glass. By all appearances he forgot me, and easily. He slept with many women on his road to glory. He showered two or three with flowers, but never so tenderly as he had done to me. When every spec of Kaelyn’s charm had shaken out from his tunic, I was no longer able find him in the glass.
After nine months, the high gods gave me a sweet consolation—you, the daughter Kaelyn had seen.
And I finally knew what real love was.
In the garden one day when you were a month old, you lay in your basket as I ground glamour dust beneath the yew tree. The crows were active that morning. “Glimmer Cottage! Glimmer Cottage! A child! A child! A child!”
“Stop, crows,” I begged them. “Stop saying that.”
“Elyse! Elyse! A child!”
The entire murder called out the accusation, then flew away.
With sinking dread, I knew. I could never keep you safe, not here. As long as you were with me, you were in danger. Either the hungry souls in the Oracle’s ring would overwhelm you or you’d be discovered by Idris and switched out for a changeling.
More than that, my darling girl, I didn’t want to keep you here. For what? My own selfish love? I was and am sorrow’s prisoner, but I would not impose such a prison on you.
In my heart, to this day, I still believe in Kaelyn. She made me feel much the way my mother had—safe, cared for, as if she believed I belong and am welcome in the world. Any life with Kaelyn would be better than one at Glimmer Cottage.
I took a leap of faith: that Kaelyn would welcome you and keep you… perhaps love you.
I dressed you in a silk gown and swaddled you in a blanket of flax linen, with soft booties to warm your tiny feet and mittens on your miraculous little hands. I left you in the Small Wood in the very spot where I’d met Kaelyn the day of the fever mist.
I then clothed you in an outer garment, the strongest of obscuration boundaries, impenetrable by animal, human, or fae. Kaelyn had the sight; I had to trust she would see you. I laid you between the roots of an ancient yew, suspecting she’d known all along that I would.
Before sealing the boundary, for the last time I kissed your sweet forehead and cheeks, breathed in your fresh new smell, and wiped away my tear that fell on your perfect skin between your furry baby eyebrows. I promised you and myself: When you’re grown and the world has settled down and I know you’re truly safe, we’ll meet again.
With a sob, I tucked a note inside your blanket, next to your softly beating infant’s heart:
Her name is Igraine.
I named you for a woman so loved, so desired, her lover ignored the laws of men and gods to be with her. It was the only blessing I knew to give you: Don’t be lonely, Igraine.
And as I’ve watched you grow up in the glimmer glass, I’ve known I did the right thing. You’ve had a real life. You’ve roasted hazelnuts in the Small Wood and learned spells from Kaelyn, chased geese on the island, and have been chased. You’ve learned to fly, transmogrified into a falcon, and soared in ecstasy in Velyn’s bed. You have had a life.
And that has made mine matter.
WYRD AND FAE
Fever Mist
l.k. rigel
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Also by LK Rigel
Speculative Romance
My Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre Retold)
Fantasy Romance
Wyrd and Fae Series
Give Me
Bride of Fae
Fever Mist
A Glimmering Girl (coming next)
Goblin Ball (coming soon)
Science Fiction Romance
Apocalypto Series
Space Junque
Spiderwork
Firebird
WYRD AND FAE BOOK THREE
Fever Mist
l.k. rigel
Table of Contents
Sorrow’s Prisoner
Kaelyn
A Goblin’s Heart
Merlyn
Desire is the Fire
Mistcutter
Goblin’s Curse
Fever Mist
Sorrow’s Prisoner
Kaelyn
A Goblin’s Heart
Merlyn
Desire is the Fire
Mistcutter
Goblin’s Curse
Fever Mist