My mother smiled sadly. “I wish there was another way. But this is all we could come up with to speed up the process.”
I gave a shrug. I wasn’t about to argue with my mother. If there was one thing I knew, it was my mother did nothing idly. As a queen I knew she’d given every available option the same weight and came up with the best course of action. I knew she would never do anything to put her only daughter in jeopardy unless there was no other way.
“I trust you mother.” I drank the rest of my tea and set the cup back on the tray.
Suddenly I could barely keep my eyes open.
My mother sensed this and stood up. “Crossing dimensions is exhausting. Get some rest and we’ll get to work tomorrow morning.”
I gave her a hug before sliding under the covers. When I slept, my dreams were filled of shadows and darkness. I woke up in the morning with my heart pounding as if I’d been chased. Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself up to sitting and waited till my eyes adjusted to the dark room.
Hopefully, my dream was not a sign of what was to come.
Chapter 4
Still feeling a bit groggy, I flung my legs over the bed, stretched my wings, and stood up rubbing my eyes. Something had been bothering me all night but I was too surprised yesterday to allow it to register in my thoughts. I needed to speak to my mother right away.
I hurried down the hallway in search of her. The building was large and I had no idea where I was going. After a few wrong turns I closed my eyes and spoke telepathically to her. Mother, we need to talk.
Where are you? I was just in your room looking for you.
Wandering around lost. I sighed stopping in my tracks.
Okay, stay where you are and I’ll come to you.
Just moments later I felt her energy approaching before I heard her footsteps. “I should have given you a tour last night. I was just so happy to see you it slipped my mind.”
Tilting my head to the side. I asked, “Why are we really hiding away here? The real reason.”
She let out a breath. “You always were too smart for your own good.”
“Like mother like daughter,” I said wryly.
Lacing her arm through mine she led me down the hall. “There are people that do not want us here. A rebellion of sorts is taking place amongst the thirteen percent of the population left. Not all of them, but there is a small sect that does not want our help and they have been killing off magical creatures in great numbers. So it’s best if we do not bring attention to our status. I refuse to hide who I am. We will not glamour ourselves. But we should also not flaunt our station.”
Inwardly I groaned. What she said made sense but I didn’t like that we had to hide who we were, royalty. Yeah, maybe that made me stuck up, but it was something I’d been raised to be proud of my whole life. It seemed wrong to downplay ourselves. “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right to me.”
My mother shook her head. “I’ve had many attempts on my life since arriving. I assure you, if word got out that you are the next in line for Queen, you might as well put a big red target on your back. I will not allow you to be put at risk like that. You are the last of our bloodline.”
Speechless, I stood staring at my mom, my mouth agape. “You never told me.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “I didn’t want to worry you. This is the best option I’ve been able to come up with.”
Unconvinced, I glanced around. I couldn’t believe how vulnerable we were to an attack. “Where are your guards?”
“They are around, they are just hidden.”
“Cloaked?” I asked, surprised. Cloaking so many people would put a large strain on her energy storages. It’s no wonder she was starting to age quicker.
She nodded her head.
Even though it was weird to think we were surrounded by guards that I could not see, it did make me feel slightly better knowing they were around if needed. I just wished it wasn’t necessary.
Obviously, my mother had made up her mind. And over the years I’d come to learn when she was set on something, she was unmovable. I resigned myself to go along with her plans, at least for now. Hopefully I could figure out a way to accelerate the healing process. My mother and I were both incomparably strong in our powers, but healing was my strong suit. I could bring life as quickly as I could take it.
“So what do we do first?” I was eager to get started.
“First we eat, and then I want to take you to the laboratory so we can get to work on the experiments.”
She wasn’t wasting any time was she?
“Mother, I’d like to meet this boy before I agree to go forward with the splicing or whatever it is you called it. I need to know whose genetics I’ll be sharing. Even though you make it sound abstract, this will still be our DNA being joined. They will be my children.”
My mother stopped in her tracks. “No, you cannot think of it in such a way. You must think of it in the same way as if you were to give your energy to heal a tree. Nothing more. These beings will not be your children. They will be your energy helping earth. Nothing more.”
I wrapped my arms around my body, suddenly feeling cold. This was so unlike my mother. She had to realize that if we created life forces, we should be responsible for them. Even if they didn’t have a long life like we did. And I really wanted to meet Michael. What if he was a creep? If I didn’t approve of him, would my mother let me search for another potential mate?
“What made you so sure of this human boy? You’ve been looking for a match for quite a while now. Why him?”
We continued walking down the hallway into an open kitchen, which was surprisingly clean and welcoming. It was a stark difference from what I’d seen of the rest of the building. Obviously, some work was put into making it enjoyable. If there was one thing faeries liked to do almost as much as dancing, it was to eat.
I watched in awe as my mother made her way around the kitchen with ease as if she’d always taken care of herself. It might sound strange, but we were royalty, and the thought of fixing our own food is unheard of. We’d always had countless chefs and assistants taking care of our home. What really surprised me was how happy my mother looked while cutting the fruit and tossing eggs into the frying pan. Even in this crumbling planet, she’d managed to find peace. I’d always envied that about her.
“You’ll have to teach me how to cook,” I said reluctantly. I didn’t think I would enjoy it like my mother clearly did.
“It’s relaxing,” she replied with a gentle smile.
“Don’t you miss our world?” I asked, with interest. The thought of being stuck here filled me with unease.
She glanced away before nodding. “Very much. But what we must do here is our highest calling. Eventually we will be able to return home. Just not anytime soon, I’m afraid.”
I leaned forward. “Don’t you worry about us both not being there to rule the lands? What if there is an uprising?”
A musical laugh escaped her full lips. “Not at all. I check in often, and the council is doing a wonderful job in my absence. If anything were to happen that they could not take care of on their own, I would return. No one will try to dethrone me. They wouldn’t dare.”
A shudder ran though me at the thought of being left here alone. I really hoped that didn’t happen. I couldn’t imagine being stuck here without my mother.
Once she set the food down before me, I realized she’d never answered my earlier question. She’d always been very good at evading issues she’d rather not talk about. “You never told me why you picked this boy?”
Without meeting my eyes, she said. “He’s got great genetic markers. Athletic and intelligent. Honestly, he’s the best we could find.”
Great. Sounds promising. I plopped a large grape into my mouth. The taste was slightly off but still delicious.
We finished our meal, mostly chatting about our realm. Mother was curious but also distracted. I could tell her heart wasn’t into the conversation. When I told h
er how I’d left things with Aiston, she barely glanced up. “He was never to be anyway. I knew he was just a passing fancy.”
Well it sure didn’t feel like a passing fancy to me, but I kept my thoughts to myself. Just thinking about the breakup hurt my heart and my ego.
Chapter 5
My mother whisked me off down a very long staircase into the basement. After walking down a long, dark corridor, a door was pushed open in front of us. It took me a second to realize it must have been one of her guards.
Slowly, I cast an appraising glance around the large open area. The laboratory sparkled and shined with bright white and stainless steel. I’d never seen a place so clinical in my life. There was something almost enchanting about the clean lines. Where I came from, medicine was practiced in nature. This was something completely foreign to me.
Everything was spotless, untouched. The only thing that was in disarray was the scientist standing behind the microscope. His hair was a wild mess of dark curls, his skin was a deep mocha and his glasses only had one lens. His jacket was crumbled and he had papers sticking out of his pockets. He’d barely glanced up when we walked in.
My mother cleared her throat. She wasn’t accustomed to being ignored, let alone by someone from the opposite sex. “Henrek, this is my daughter. The one we talked about.”
It took a couple of minutes before his eyes finally darted up, focused on us and just as quickly they went back down into the microscope, as if we weren’t important enough to deserve his time.
“The queen is talking,” I said in a sharp tone. His demeanor was making me angry.
If he heard me, he didn’t acknowledge.
Gently my mother pulled me aside. “Henrek is unique. We have to have great patience with him. I assure you his beautiful mind is worth the inconvenience. I know it may seem as if he’s being rude, but it’s just his nature. We must honor that in him. Plus, I told you not to mention our station while here.” In my annoyance I’d completely forgotten my mother’s talk on blending in.
I gave her a skeptical look. This sort of behavior would never have been accepted back home, but we were not home, I had to remind myself. “Does he know you are queen?”
“Yes, he knows. It’s why he agreed to work with me on the project. He wants what we want, a world in harmony.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “So what, we just stand here until he’s ready to talk to us?”
She shrugged, a half-smile spread lighting up her face.
Antsy, I walked around the room. There was a large calendar on the wall with big red marks through the days. The year was 2133, Thursday, June 24th. I’d always found it strange how different our calendars were in different dimensions. The wars between magick and humanity had been going on for over one hundred years. To us it was a blink of an eye, but to the people of earth it was generations. Their lives were so fragile. I couldn’t imagine living in such a way.
I walked closer to Henrek, my hand trailing on the cold steel. “What do you think the life span will be for the offspring you want to create?”
Finally, I’d caught the man’s attention. He looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. “That, my dear, is a very good question and one I’m not sure of the answer. I would like to believe we are going to create super humans so their lifespans will be anywhere from three to ten times the normal lifetime.” He gave a shrug. “But who knows, I could be completely wrong.”
Well that didn’t sound very reassuring at all. I also didn’t like that he called them super-humans. Would they be more human than fey? “Are you even sure this plan of yours will work?”
He grabbed a clip board, flipped through some pages before dropping it back down with a clang. Once again he was lost in his own world, oblivious to my mother and me. Frustrated, my voice rose. “I asked, how do you know this will work?”
His glasses were driving me crazy. How could he stand wearing only one lens?
My mother came over and stood beside me. “He knows it will work because humans have long been doing experiments on DNA splicing. This is not something new to them.”
The man ran his fingers over one of his bushy eyebrows. “Yes, yes that’s quite true, but those were disasters. None of the species lasted very long. However, this, this is something different. Your regeneration powers are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s nothing short of miraculous.”
“What if this fails?” I looked over at my mother with a raised brow. It was becoming increasingly clear that this was all hypothetical at best.
“Then we’ll try something else,” she said wearily. Obviously she wasn’t as convinced as she’d pretended to be.
Something crossed my mind. I was surprised I hadn’t thought of it earlier. “Mother, why haven’t you tried with your own DNA? Why do you need mine?”
She gave me a sad smile. ”You know I’m past my prime. I can no longer create life.”
“But you said it wasn’t true mating. If it’s just your DNA then it shouldn’t matter. Should it?”
“We need your eggs. We’ve already tried with just the DNA and it was unsuccessful. I would have tried with a random fairy, but as you know our bloodline is the purest and strongest in our lands. The oracle told me it had to be royal blood in order to be successful. Believe me, I tried. I really did not want to involve you but I have no other choice.”
My eggs? And yet she wanted me to believe that the offspring’s would not truly be mine? She couldn’t really believe that. Could she?
“I’d feel better if I could meet the boy.” I could practically hear the whine in my voice. My mother shot me a disapproving look.
“The boy?” Henrek pushed his glasses back on his nose. “He’s right here.” He waved me over.
Confused I eased around the table to his side. He pushed the microscope toward me. I gave my mother a quizzical look before I dipped my head. I could see many tiny lines of movement but I had no idea what it meant.
My head shot up. “Mother, I sincerely hope this is not all there is to this boy that you wished me to reproduce with?”
A beautiful laugh escaped her lips. “No my dear. He is a real living human. But to Henrek we are nothing more than what you can see beneath a microscope.”
Relieved I let out a breath. If this wasn’t weird enough already. Could you imagine just using something under a slide to make babies? Creepy. The thought made me shiver to my toes.
There was a part of me that was deeply saddened by the whole idea of this plan. I’d always dreamt of someday becoming a mother. The thought of reproducing just for the sake of saving a population and not out of love caused me great unease. I wanted to birth a princess or a prince. Not some freaky experiment.
“If it’s that important to you, I will arrange a meeting. But for now you must give your blood to Henrek. To get the process started.”
“Thank you.” I gave her a grateful smile. My mother didn’t usually give in so easily. She must not be too worried about her choice, which set my mind somewhat at ease.
Henrek took off his glasses and set them down on the counter. “Over here. I just need to make sure your blood has the same properties as your mother before we get started.”
I followed him across the room to a small chair. When he brought out a sharp, pointed needle I flinched. What in the world was this man going to do to me?
“It’s fine, Tulupea. It’s barely a pinch.”
Before I had a chance to reply the man had grabbed my finger, squeezed it tightly and jabbed a needle into the tip. “Ouch,” I cried out.
A couple of seconds later he dropped my hand. I stared down at the trickle of green blood running down my finger. My mother was right, it didn’t hurt much but a little notice would have been nice. Immediately the small dot healed and my blood evaporated.
With a subtle smile my mother reached out her hand for me. I grabbed it and rose to stand beside her. “Henrek, we’ll leave you to your work. Please let me know when you need anything else from me or m
y daughter.”
Already lost in his own world, he didn’t even bother to look up or respond. He really was a strange one.
It was hard to believe and a little scary that this unusual man was going to be in control of saving a planet. Hopefully, he was as smart as my mother thought he was.
“Mother you should really make him some new glasses. He probably has a headache from the one lens.”
She laughed. “I fixed the eye without the lens, he wouldn’t let me fix both of them. He said he only needed clear sight in the eye he used for the microscope. He’s an interesting man.”
“I guess that’s one way to put it,” I mumbled under my breath while brushing an errant curl away from my face.
“Will it hurt when they take the eggs?”
My mother lifted her shoulder. “I’m not sure. But we can counteract the pain, of course, if there is any. I can assure you, it should be easier than giving birth.”
That was probably true. I’d been on hand for more than one birth and it didn’t look like much fun, even with the help of magick.
Chapter 6
The idea of meeting Michael filled me with nervous anticipation, which was not a feeling I was accustomed to when dealing with guys, but this was different. Together we were going to bring life into this world. Real little beings. If I were honest with myself, I’d admit I was terrified of the idea. I know my mother said I would not be their mother, but I could think of it in no other terms no matter what she said. I would just have to keep that to myself. She might change her mind if she was worried I’d form an attachment. But how could I not?
What was I going to wear?
I’d made a mistake by not bringing any of my belongings with me to this realm. I debated returning quickly and coming back but my mother said we shouldn’t overuse the portals for frivolous things. No one knew for sure if there was a limit to the amount of times the portals would open.
Thank goodness for our powers. I could pretty much wish anything I wanted into fruition. Closing my eyes, I willed a new outfit and voila I was now wearing a long flowing purple dress that matched my hair and wings perfectly.
Faery Tales: Six Novellas of Magic and Adventure (Faery Worlds Book 3) Page 33