by L. C. Mawson
“Oh. So, you’re staying here tonight?”
Freya shrugged, a little sheepishly. “Yeah. I... I don’t think things are going to work out with Damon.”
“That’s a shame.”
Freya nodded, tucking her soaking hair behind her ear.
“Yeah, well, I’m really tired, so I’m gonna stick on my pyjamas and get to bed.”
“Alright then,” Margaret agreed with a nod. “Are you busy tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so. Why?”
“Nothing much. Just, you know, it would be good if you could be around.”
Freya nodded, though her stomach clenched as Margaret left. She doubted that was going to be anything good.
Freya removed her glamour and went about the awkward and painful act of first-aid on herself. She would be mostly healed by the next day, but there was one particularly deep cut across her back, joining the intricate mosaic of scars that already existed there.
Once she was done, she pulled on her pyjamas and made her way back to her room.
Amber was waiting there for her.
“How come you’re back here?” Amber asked.
“I’m still mad at you,” Freya said as she collapsed down onto her bed, her words muffled by being spoken into her duvet.
“You don’t sound mad.”
Freya sighed against the fabric beneath her before finally gathering enough energy to move under the covers properly.
“I’m tired,” she eventually said as explanation, and as an answer to her question, but she knew that Amber was right. She had been mad, and she had liked being mad. It was better than the hollow feeling in her chest and sting in her eyes that she had now.
“Is that the only reason you’re back here? That you’re tired?”
Freya looked away at that. “Yeah, well... Look, I probably should have listened to your warning about dating Damon. I mean, I was mad at you, and still am, but maybe if you’d been around, then maybe I would have listened to your warning about my magic going mental when I... You know...”
Amber frowned. “And that was a problem?”
“Of course it was a problem! He’s Human. He has no defence against my magic, and I don’t have the control to not hurt him. I have no idea how he’s not dead...”
Amber stared at her blankly for a few moments before letting out a surprised laugh.
“Oh, that idiot!” she exclaimed, shaking her head.
“Umm... Explain.”
Amber shook her head. “Nothing, just... It reminded me of something. Never mind.”
“Ohhh-kay. Well, whatever it is isn’t helping me with the fact that I almost fried my boyfriend!”
Freya pulled the duvet up tight around her chest so that she could barely move anymore. Like a cuddly burrito.
“You know, you don’t have to have sex,” Amber pointed out.
Freya pulled a face in response. “Yeah, I know. But even kissing had clothing singed!”
“You’re just young. And you’re used to shutting down your strong emotions in order to maintain control. You can’t do that here, but you’ll learn.”
“Yeah, but how long will it take me?”
“Admittedly, I’m not sure.”
Freya let out another long groan before asking, “I have to break up with him, don’t I?”
“I’m sorry, Freya, but it’s probably for the best.”
Freya sighed, curling up even tighter. “Is there a way to conjure Ben and Jerry’s, or do I have to shift to ASDA?”
“Perhaps you just need sleep. I’ll leave. I know that you don’t want to see me right now, I just wanted to check up on you.”
Freya gave a hum of acknowledgement, but spoke up just before her guardian could leave.
“Amber?”
“Yes?”
“I... Is being related to me really so terrible? Am I really that much of a disappointment as the last of your line?”
“Creator, Freya, no.” Amber moved closer, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to her. “Is that why you thought I’d hidden the truth from you?”
Freya shrugged, but the movement was stopped by the blankets. “I mean, I know that you don’t like talking about what happened with Hope, so I figured that was a part of it, but would it have really killed you to mention who she was?”
Amber sighed. “I kept it from you because my legacy should have died with Hope. I don’t mean that you or your mother should never have been born, and I don’t mean that I don’t want to be related to either of you. I mean that... That pressure is too much for someone. For anyone.
“Hope’s mother tried to keep her out of the magical world, but her father wanted to be a part of her life, and he couldn’t hide his magic. Hope then tried to do the same for Lily. Not even her husband knew that she had magic.”
“She really managed to keep it secret, despite how powerful she was?”
“For a time. But it took its toll. I’ve told you about how Hope caused the ceasefire, haven’t I?”
“During the War, she cast a spell that stopped Humans and magical beings from being able to hurt each other.”
“There were two exceptions to the spell: the caster and the anchor.”
“Hope and my mother?”
“Yes. Hope got into an argument with her husband, as couples do, and she lost control of her magic. She killed him.”
“Is that why she killed herself?”
“Partly. She became convinced that having power like hers was a curse, and sought to make sure that no one else would ever bear it. She scarred the Earth deliberately. She knew that her blood would do it, if she sacrificed all of it.”
Freya curled the duvet tightly around herself once more, very aware that Amber had mentioned her mother being exempt from the ceasefire for a reason.
“And my mother?” she eventually managed. “Did she ever hurt a Human?”
“Yes. It was why she was sent to the Shadow Realm. She was young and afraid and she had been given a legacy that no one should ever have to shoulder. You weren’t much older than her when you broke through, and I was so terrified that you would have the same struggles. So, I kept the past from you. I hoped that, without it looming over your shoulder, you would be able to learn to control your power in peace.”
Freya sighed. She understood why Amber had done what she had, but she wasn’t ready to forgive her just yet.
“Freya, make no mistake,” Amber continued. “I love you, and couldn’t be prouder of you. I hid this because you shouldn’t have to shoulder the responsibility of being my blood, not the other way around.”
“Okay,” Freya said, hoping that the single word could adequately portray the fact that she would think on what Amber had said, and try to work towards trusting her again.
“Is there anything else that’s been bothering you?” Amber asked. There was something off about her tone, but Freya was too tired to pinpoint it. “Your father, for example. I know that you’ve never been happy about me staying silent on the topic.”
“It’s because he’s a Demon, isn’t it?” Freya asked. “I’m not that oblivious, Amber. I know that my affinity for Dark Energy doesn’t just come from your mother-in-law.”
Amber sighed before eventually nodding. “Yes. I’m sorry, I don’t know more than that.”
“That’s okay. I hunt rogue Demons for a living and I’m an Angel. I doubt any Demon would want anything to do with me...”
“I’m sorry,” Amber said once more before disappearing, leaving Freya to try and sleep.
Chapter Sixteen
“Did you honestly think that I wouldn’t realise that you were gone?”
Damon’s voice drew Freya’s attention from saddling her horse.
“I’m bad with goodbyes,” she said by way of explanation.
His heart-broken expression worked to crack her carefully-crafted facade of apathy.
“What is it?” he asked. “What happened?”
“She didn’t do it,” Freya managed, her vo
ice husky as it struggled through her closing throat. “She gave up her chance to find her father. She gave up you.”
“She what?”
“She gave up everything! And that means that we won’t win... Not like this...”
Damon nodded in understanding. “You’re going after Juni and Ku, aren’t you?”
“Yeah... I am...”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
“No, Damon, you can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because this is my mistake. I was so angry at Juni and Ku for not telling me about my parents... I drove them away, thinking that I could win this war without them. I was wrong, Damon.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“The same thing your aunt was doing before. Stop the kingdom from collapsing in on itself.”
“With you gone, my father will most likely sweep in.”
“Do your best to stop him and, if you can’t... Hopefully Ku and Juni will be enough to allow me to take the kingdom back from him.”
“This is a long shot.”
“Maybe. But staying is suicide.”
He didn’t have a verbal response to that, so he simply stepped towards her, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face to tuck it behind her ear.
Her breath caught at the gesture as her chest tightened. She didn’t want to leave.
He closed the last few inches between them, softly pressing his lips to hers. His kiss was gentle and wanting, making her crave more. But she stepped away once he was done, refusing to let the tears in her eyes fall.
“Stay safe, my love,” he told her.
“You too.”
FREYA AWOKE TO A TEXT from Damon, asking her to meet him. She groaned, knowing that she should agree. They should meet and she should end things.
Instead of replying, she spent two hours reading Firefly fanfiction on her phone, refusing to get up.
Her phone buzzed with another text, this time from Jamie, which filled her with an inexplicable sense of dread. She wondered if it had anything to do with what she had forgotten, before promptly deciding to ignore it until she regained the capacity to cope.
Her procrastination was interrupted by a knock at her door.
“Freya?” came Margaret’s voice from beyond. “I made some fresh coffee if you want some.”
“I’ll be right down,” Freya answered, groggily sitting up in her bed.
She quickly examined her injuries before deciding that they were healed enough to go without a glamour. She reluctantly looked at her phone before typing a quick reply to Damon, promising to see him later.
There was no point in putting it off longer.
She got up and out of bed, quickly running a brush through her mess of hair before heading downstairs for coffee.
She stopped dead in the doorway, however, as she saw Margaret and Ryan sitting at the dining table, seemingly waiting for her, with three mugs and a pot of coffee, along with some scary-looking paperwork.
None of that was a good sign. They never used the dining room table. They certainly never all sat down to drink coffee together in the morning.
“What’s up?” Freya asked, a little surprised that her voice was loud enough to be heard.
“Freya! You should sit down,” Margaret told her.
Freya did as she was told as Ryan poured her a cup of coffee. She took a sip immediately, to give her something to do with her hands, and she recognised the M&S decaf blend even through the vanilla syrup.
“We, um...” Margaret started, seeming a little flustered. “I’m pregnant.”
Freya did her best to look happy for them, putting all of her effort into smiling properly. She truly was happy, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it meant that she would have to leave town.
Maybe that would be a good thing, given what I’m going to have to do to Damon today, Freya figured.
“That’s awesome! Congratulations!”
Margaret grinned back before reaching for the pile of paper on the table.
“Thanks, Freya. And, um, we were thinking, well, if you wanted... I know that you’re almost an adult, but I was wondering if you wanted to officially be a big sister.”
Freya was sure that her eyes were lying to her as she got a better look at the pile of paper.
The adoption papers.
“You... You want to adopt me?”
“If you want us to.”
“I... Yes. Of course...”
FREYA WAS STILL KIND of dazed when she left the house to meet Damon.
Margaret and Ryan were going to adopt her.
They wanted her enough to make her permanently part of their family.
How the hell had that happened?
Unfortunately, her distracted thoughts made the walk to the park, where she had agreed to meet Damon, feel like it took less than a minute.
And then Damon was standing in front of her, looking as heart-breakingly handsome as ever.
He was hers and she was going to give him up because she lacked the self-control to kiss him without setting him alight.
She rarely hated her magic, but this was definitely one of those times.
“Hey,” she greeted, deliberately not getting close. If he kissed her, it would be a toss up between her setting fire to his jacket, or forgetting about breaking up with him altogether.
“Hey,” he replied, his usual smile muted.
“I, um... Damon, I’ve been... I’ve been thinking...”
“Yeah?”
“I... Maybe we shouldn’t do this. Date each other, I mean. It just... It seems like it’s a bad idea. I mean, we’re such good friends, I don’t want to put that in jeopardy.”
Damon nodded quickly. “Right, yeah, no. I was actually thinking the same thing.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t been expecting that. She had thought it would take some convincing or... something.
She didn’t know if she should be thankful or insulted.
Was this becoming a pattern with her relationships? Magic got in the way and she decided to call it off, only to discover that they wanted to end it anyway?
That’s it, she decided. I’m remaining celibate forever.
“So, just friends?” Damon asked.
Freya nodded. “Yeah... Just friends.”
FREYA NEEDED COFFEE, she decided.
Well, no. She needed booze. But it was only three in the afternoon, so she would settle for coffee.
She left her local coffee shop with an extravagant drink, filled with flavoured syrup and chocolate and topped with whipped cream and marshmallows.
“You’re going to give yourself diabetes.”
Freya spun around at the sound of her sister’s voice to see Alice approaching her. She was dressed in a fancy black dress and a fashionable white trench coat, with a belt around the middle.
“Alice? When did you get back in town?”
“Last night. I’m sorry, I couldn’t be around while the excess was in effect.”
Freya sighed into her drink. “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me why that is?”
“I... I wasn’t supposed to see you.”
“Why not?”
Alice shrugged. “It wasn’t time. The thing is, it wouldn’t have been that long of a wait. Just another year or so. But I was impatient and... I thought that if I rearranged a few things, I could meet you now. I didn’t realise that messing with things like that would mess with the balance of the city.”
“The excess? That was you?”
Alice nodded. “I didn’t mean to, but it was my fault. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen like that.”
Freya shrugged. “No harm done.”
“Just because you don’t remember it doesn’t mean that harm wasn’t done.”
“Yeah, it kind of does.”
Alice sighed. “I... I can’t tell you what happened. It would mess things up too much. But... Freya, why would you start dating Damon?”
“What do you mean?”
&nb
sp; “I mean, you were adamant that you couldn’t just a few days ago.”
“And I was right. It was a nightmare. Humans and magical beings are not a good mix.”
“Right! That’s my point. You knew that. So why did you start dating Damon?”
Freya frowned. “Wait, are you saying that the excess made me date him?”
Alice sighed. “Okay, Freya, I literally can’t spell it out for you more clearly than that. Yes, it did. But why?”
She shrugged. “Because Damon wanted it and accidentally tapped into the excess, I guess. But then, he didn’t seem all too broken up about me ending things. So, did someone else wish for it? Why would they?”
“I can’t answer that.”
Freya made a frustrated growling noise into her coffee. “How come no one can ever just give me answers? First Amber, now you... Even Mel gets tired at answering my questions because the big stuff is still as alien to me as the little stuff.”
“I know, Freya. Trust me, I would give you answers if I could. But I’m bound by something more powerful than either of us.”
“Really? Because apparently I’m a freaking Angel, so...”
Alice just nodded.
“Wait. That would mean... The Big Three. You’re bound to one of the Big Three?”
She nodded again.
“It’s Fate, right? Amber was right, you can see parts of her plan.”
“Amber is particularly paranoid, but that doesn’t mean that she’s not sometimes right.”
“So she was right to distrust you?”
“It depends on your point of view. Though I find it fascinating that you would doubt me over her. Especially when you spoke to Hope so recently. Doesn’t she have a thing against dear old grandma?”
Freya frowned in concentration, trying to remember her conversation with Hope. She gave up after a few moments of frustration, her hands clasping and unclasping rhythmically to help her calm down.
“I don’t actually think she mentioned Amber,” Freya eventually managed. “Not that she could have much to say. I know what Amber was keeping from me now.”
“Really? You truly believe that she has told you everything?”
Freya shrugged. “Close enough.”
“This is the same woman who thought that having her legacy was worse than thinking that you had no blood relations who cared.”