by Julia Crane
My mother let out a brief, bitter laugh. “My dear, do not be so naïve. You very well know you cannot judge a race by a single person or even a group of people. Emotions run high in times of distress and cause people to do things they would not normally do. However, some people are just bad to the core, and Michael’s father is one of them. You should have killed him when you had the chance.”
My mouth hung open. Did she really just say that? In front of Michael?
A quick glance at Michael showed me a clenched jaw, his body rigid. No one wanted to hear that someone they loved was evil and deserved to die even if it was the truth. Let alone about your own parent. What had gotten into my mother? She was usually much more diplomatic.
I turned back toward my mother with a ‘what in the world are you doing’ look.
She met my gaze, and I saw that her eyes held no remorse, even though she knew what was at risk if Michael changed his mind. There had to be more going on that I didn’t understand.
Wanting to change the subject, I continued to tell her exactly what happened. From the brother to meeting the rest of the tribe, including Michael trying to protect me from the men. I left out the part about me lending him my power, and finally I finished with his father’s attempt at a sexual attack on me.
Taking another deep breath I continued on, jutting my chin up just a bit. “Even though it didn’t go as planned, I still healed the water before we left. There were children and I couldn’t bring myself to leave them without some hope.”
“I’m not surprised, you’ve always had a soft heart,” she sighed, rubbing her brow. “Well, you’re both back safely, that’s what matters the most. Michael, does this mean you’ve changed your mind? You want to go ahead with the genetic splicing after all?”
Michael locked eyes with me before nodding. “I can’t say that I agree with you that my father should be killed, but I do see that we need to do something because we’re spiraling out of control, and before long I think we’ll be killing off our own kind. I’m not sure this plan of yours will work but we have to try. If nothing else, perhaps the rebuilding of the land and your powers to grow food will be enough for humans to have the will to live again.” He paused before speaking again. “I was thinking. Once we’re back on the path of recovery, will you take the hybrids back with you? I’ve come to understand that dark doesn’t necessarily mean evil, but still … I think it would be best for everyone if they were not left behind.”
My stomach dropped, and I snapped my head in his direction. Was he really that repulsed by our kind even after today? What about the moment we shared? Had it meant nothing to him? His question hurt more than I’d liked to admit.
Despite my shock, his words struck a chord deep within me. What would happen to the halflings once we were done repairing? Would we take them back with us? What if they felt at home here on Earth? Shouldn’t they have a choice? This was definitely something I had to talk over with my mother. Perhaps it would be best to bring them into our realm …
Leave it for now, my mother’s words echoed in my head. He’s had a rough day.
I gritted my teeth but gave a slight nod in understanding.
My mother took a step backwards, straightened herself, and once again regained her regal bearing. “You’re very wise, Michael. I’m sorry for my anger at your father, but you very well remember your father kept me captive for days. What you might not know is he came to my chambers while I was powerless and for that he will die by my hand.”
My skin went cold. Was she saying that Michael’s father forced himself on her? Why hadn’t she told me, and why was he still alive if that was the case? A mere mortal could not have possibly done such a thing to the strongest faery in the lands. Even with her power contained.
“I’m sorry, I did not know that, but I’m not surprised.” His voice was bitter and his face pale.
“Mother, how could you have left him living? Why haven’t you returned to destroy him?”
She forced a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I didn’t say he was able to go through with the advances. My hands might have been tied, leaving me unable to access my power, but I still had my will. That man is a disservice to humans everywhere. Thankfully, I was able to manipulate the energy around me with my mind. So his brain may have wanted to sexually attack me but his body would not have been able to perform if he had the chance. You have no idea how much this angered him.”
Her lips tilted up and I couldn’t help but return the smile. I am not at all surprised that my mother was able to find a way to protect herself. She’d always been very resourceful.
“Once Michael released me, I knew he was the one that would help us and I had to make sure he was on our side. That was more important than revenge.”
I tilted my head. “And if Michael had decided not to join us?”
Her shoulder lifted. “I would have made a visit to his father, and it wouldn’t have been a pleasant one.”
A shiver ran through me at my mother’s arctic words. She never spoke idly.
My mother turned toward Michael and placed her hand on his forearm. “Know this—your father is a dead man. It’s one thing to try to force himself on me, but my daughter … there is nothing that you can do to change my mind. Are you still willing to go through with the pairing knowing this? If not, this is your last chance to change your mind. After today there is no turning back.”
Michael swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and hung his head. “Do what you have to do. After what he tried to do to Tulupea, with my mother right there …” He paused. “He’s responsible for his own actions. I wish I were able to defend him, but the man has no honor to defend. I don’t wish to return to the tribe.”
“We have plenty of room here,” I blurted out.
My mother gave me a look but she didn’t argue with me. “For the time being you can stay here, at least until Henrek is finished. Speaking of, now that we are agreed to go through with the breeding, Tulupea, you need to go see Henrek for the next step. I’ll come with you but Michael you must stay up here.” It wasn’t a request.
I knew that the next step had to do with my eggs, so I was glad my mother insisted on him staying upstairs. I was more than a little worried about the process, and talk about awkward…
“Guards, show Michael to the quarters down the hall from my own. Make sure he has everything he needs.”
I saw Michael look down at his arm, and eyes widened. One of the guards must have grabbed him. Our eyes met, I shrugged and we exchanged a tense smile before he was lead down the hallway.
My stomach lurched as we made our way to the basement, our feet echoing on the cement flooring of the empty hallway. After this there would be no turning back.
I knew I wanted to go through with the process but now it was real. As in, it was going to happen very soon and I was beyond apprehensive. What if something went wrong? What if they couldn’t survive like the other projects Henrek had tried? What if the new species weren’t accepted by our kind or the humans?
“Stop overthinking it,” my mother said over her shoulder. “What will be, will be. But you know the Oracle is seldom wrong and she believes this will work. We must have trust that we are doing what is right.”
Her words put my mind somewhat at ease. Unfortunately, there was still the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something was going to go terrible wrong.
Chapter Fourteen
Henrek handed me what appeared to be a white table cloth. With a raised brow I stole a quick glance at my mother before I reached out and grabbed the fabric, a feeling of dread washing over me.
She patted the strange seat that leaned backwards. “Just pull your dress up, remove your underthings, and place the cloth over your waist. There’s no getting over the humiliation. I had to do it myself.”
“Henrek really needs to find a female assistant,” I grumbled under my breath, clearly uncomfortable as I pulled the rough cloth over my skin.
Next thing I knew I
was in an awkward position with stirrups and Henrek was seeing parts of me that no one else had ever seen before. My mother was right; it was humiliating.
I tried to concentrate on happy thoughts instead of how nervous I was about the whole process. I attempted to imagine our home realm, but my mind kept returning to Michael. Aiston, my ex-boyfriend, seemed like a lifetime ago. How could this strange human boy have gotten to me in a mere flash? What was so special about him that he so quickly made me forget the ones that had come before him? It made absolutely no sense at all. It was probably just because humans were so unique compared to the fae. Forbidden fruit and all that.
Thankfully, Henrek worked efficiently and with speed. Before I knew it, I was sitting up and my mother was helping me adjust my clothing. The eggs removal wasn’t as painful as I expected, but I’m sure that was mainly due to my mother’s soothing powers, which I was eternally grateful for.
“That’s it?” I wondered out loud, my nose wrinkled.
Of course, Henrek ignored me as usual and was already across the room looking into his microscope. I was starting to get used to his odd manner. Plus, it took away some of the discomfort knowing that he saw me as nothing more than an experiment when he looked at me.
The whole process still threw me for a loop. Could you really make babies by removing something from your body like that? The idea struck me as weird and unnatural. Although it seemed like the only option at this point. Unless I was willing to tie myself to Michael for real, a true pairing.
A flush spread to my face. There was no doubt I was attracted to him. And the idea of a true pairing caused my heart rate to speed up, but I had to think logically about it and not act purely on a physical attraction.
Truthfully, I wasn’t ready for any of that. I was still young and had the responsibility of being a future queen on my shoulders. That would always come first. It had to. If I paired with a human it would stain my reputation for all time, even if it was to save a planet. Pretty ridiculous when you really thought about it.
Plus, Michael was still wary of us, that much was clear from his earlier comment. I know we’d put him in a difficult position. Going against your family could not be an easy choice, no matter how jacked up they were. And if I was truly mated with Michael, my life in our home realm would be strained to say the least. Would the people even want me to be their queen afterwards? Inwardly, I shuddered at the thought.
No, I couldn’t risk that. I was the only surviving child of our bloodline. I had to thrive and reproduce true heirs to the throne. The realm would never recognize half-breeds.
“Are you okay, Tulupea?”
My mother startled me out of my thoughts. I blinked a couple of times and actually had to look around to remember where I was. I took in the white walls and clean lines. So foreign looking compared to all the colors of our realms. The room was cold, and sterile; this is where my babies would be born. I just couldn’t seem to wrap my mind around it.
“Tulupea?”
“I’m fine. So what do we do now?” I asked, running my hands down the front of my dress.
My mother put her arm around mine and led me out of the laboratory. “Now we wait.”
Great. Wait. Just what I didn’t want to hear. The fate of the planet was literally hanging on my genetic makeup. My chest tightened, when all at once the enormity of the situation began to sink in. I felt the terrible weight of that responsibility.
Truth be told I was filled with trepidation that I wasn’t going to be able to come through for the great Mother Earth. I immediately shoved that thought aside. Being negative would not be at all beneficial. Thoughts were just as easily as words turned into consciousness.
We would do our best in hopes that it was enough for the survival of the planet.
I tried to keep my voice from betraying my doubt and concern. “How long will it take? When will we know if it was successful?”
“I’m really not sure.” She shook her head in frustration. “My attempts never came into fruition, so I can’t give you a clear answer.”
I sighed as her words sunk in. “What if it doesn’t work with me either? Maybe we’re incompatible with humans.”
My mother shook her head with a wave of her hand, as if she couldn’t be bothered to consider such a possibility. “Let’s not think about that. It will work. It has to.”
Frowning, I rubbed a finger along the side of my temple, instantly easing the headache that was approaching. “And if it doesn’t?”
She let out a breath. “We will know we tried our best and Earth will be no more. The planet will self-implode. Eventually it will be recreated and they’ll try again. As it stands now, this is the third Earth that we know of. It was supposed to be the last, but as you can see things went terribly wrong along the way.”
Her answer wasn’t very reassuring. I could find no words so I remained silent, lost in my own thoughts.
As we made our way back upstairs my mind raced with the events that had taken place so far during my time on Earth. It felt like I’d been here a very long time, but in reality it had only been a couple of days.
So far very little had been done to ease the suffering of the earth. If there was nothing else for me to do as far as the genetic blending, then I would have to put my focus on where it belonged. The reason I was here to begin with.
I was anxious to make a difference. Internally I was making a list of all the things that needed to be done. The dreariness of the planet was bringing my energy down, and we needed to keep our supplies high in order to be of assistance. “Mother, I need to get to work before I crawl out of my skin.”
She gave me a knowing half-smile. “I was the same way when I first arrived here. Take Michael with you, and go wherever the energy takes you. There is so much to be done that any start is a good start.”
“Where is everyone else? Do you meet up with the other healers?” I’d found it very odd that so far I hadn’t run into any of the others.
My mother shook her head. “No, everyone is spread out, we each have our own areas to work on. You have no idea how vast Earth really is.”
Huh. To me it made more sense to have everyone working together to make a big difference in a short period of time. But Mother knew best.
“I know what you are thinking. But when we focused on one area we were attacked on a regular basis. So we are just doing our work in patches, and that way the humans will think it’s Earth rebuilding itself. We’re trying to make this as peaceful as possible, after so much destruction.”
“That’s ridiculous. We need to put a stop to this rebellion. Can’t they see they are only hurting themselves? If they’d stop attacking, we’d be able to work much quicker.”
My mother sighed. “It’s not that simple. And every time we get attacked, we end up killing more humans. Which is the opposite of what we came here to do.”
I wanted to argue, but I knew it would be useless. When my mother had her mind made up there was no changing it. I would just go and do as much work as I could on my own. Hopefully Mother would work in conjunction with me at times, because that’s when we could make the biggest difference.
“Don’t worry, once we have the halflings we’ll do massive work in short order.”
Sometimes I wondered if my mother read my mind. We’re not supposed to invade another’s thoughts without permission, so probably not. She was just very in-tune with my emotional body and the shift in my moods.
I had to admit I loved the idea of my children bringing peace to Earth. Vain? Perhaps.
As soon as we walked into the living room, I realized Michael was no longer in the house. I couldn’t feel his essence. Where in the world did he go?
My mother and I exchange a worried glance. “Guards, where is our guest?”
“He said he had to get a few things and he’d be back,” a voice boomed throughout the room.
“Mother, can’t they be visible inside the house? It’s annoying not knowing where they are.”
; She snapped her fingers and twenty plus guards appeared seemingly out of thin air. I hadn’t realized there were so many.
“Should I go after him?” I asked, keeping my voice calm and neutral.
My mother shook her head. “No, let him have his space. We already have enough of his DNA to get to work.”
Frowning, I turned slowly in her direction. My words were hardly more than a whisper. “You don’t think he’ll be back, do you?”
Her shoulder lifted. “I have no idea. That’s his choice to make.”
I knew she was right, but something deep inside of me told me something was terribly wrong. And I wasn’t one to avoid my intuition. “Okay, well I’m still going to go out and do some work. I’ll bring back some plants for the house. The air in my room is stifling.”
She nodded absently. “Don’t stay out too late, and don’t let your guard down. I’m going to go back down and see how Henrek is doing.” She snapped her fingers and once again the guards were gone. She didn’t want me to know how many were following me.
Quickly, I slipped from the room, and out the front door.
Of course, the first thing I did was make my way toward the cave system in hopes of spotting Michael. I tried to call him telepathically—unfortunately that did not work, seeing as he was human and all. That limitation was absurd as far as I was concerned. I wondered if the halflings would be able to hear me. I needed to make sure I told Henrek that was something I wanted. That way even when I returned to my realm I could easily keep in touch with them. In that moment I realized, as of yet I’d had no say in what gifts they would acquire. I wondered what list my mother had put together. She should have consulted me.
A sharp pang pierced my heart at the thought of leaving behind my family even though they hadn’t even been born. How strange was that? I drew a slow, deep breath, trying to ease the constricted sensation in my chest. It didn’t really help much. Instead of drowning in that thought process I shifted back to Michael. Where was he?