by Shéa MacLeod
“I want Inigo.” It didn’t come out quite as strong and convincing as I wanted it to.
“Of course you do. But that doesn’t mean you don’t want Jack, too.”
“Oh, gods, I’m fucked up.”
“My darling girl,” she sounded amused. “You know very well that I don’t view life as most of our ‘morally upright’ citizens do.” If her tone was anything to go by, she didn’t hold morally upright citizens in very high regard. “I believe that love is far too big a concept for most peoples’ tiny little brains to handle.”
“Um, what?”
“Stop worrying about things you can’t control. When the time is right, you’ll know what to do.” And with that cryptic and entirely unhelpful bit of wisdom ringing in my ears, Cordelia hung up.
***
“Morgan. Two times in one week. What a surprise.” Her words were innocent enough, but my mother’s tone was layered in snarky. I came by it honestly. “Come. I was just making a cup of coffee. How about some? I’ve got croissants.”
My mother knew I couldn’t resist croissants. Inigo and I followed her into the kitchen. I was hoping Inigo’s presence would keep her from going totally ballistic. Yeah, I’m a wuss. I’m not proud of it.
“Listen, Mom, I need to ask you something,” I said while she poured out cups of coffee and handed the croissants around.
“About?”
“Is the name Tommy Waheneka familiar?”
She frowned as she mulled it over. “No. It doesn’t ring any bells. Why?”
“He’s a shaman over at Warm Springs. He says he knew Dad.”
If I didn’t know her as well as I did, I might not have noticed the subtle shift in her expression, the tension that suddenly gripped her body. “Oh?” Her voice was light, deliberately uninterested.
“Mom, I need the truth. About Dad. What really happened?”
She adjusted the pearls around her neck before taking a careful sip of coffee. A sure sign she was nervous. “I don’t know what you mean.”
I leaned forward, elbows on the kitchen table. She didn’t even comment on my bad table manners. Another sure sign she was hiding something. “Mom. I know Dad didn’t die when I was a baby.”
She swallowed and toyed with her pearls some more. I tried to catch her eye, but she wouldn’t look at me.
“Mom,” I kept my voice gentle. “It’s time to stop the … ” I started to say “lies,” but Inigo squeezed my thigh under the table. “It’s time to tell the truth. What really happened to Dad?”
She was silent for so long I thought she wouldn’t answer. “He left me,” she finally spoke, her voice so small and sad. Ashamed. Not like my mother at all. “He left us. I knew that story about him dying in a car accident was a lie.” Her hands trembled as she picked up her coffee cup. “He just couldn’t handle being a father. Or maybe … ” her voice trailed off.
Suddenly I felt like shit. I knew exactly what my mother was thinking. That he hadn’t loved her enough. That she hadn’t been enough for him. She was the love of his life, and she didn’t even know it.
“Mom.” I reached out and grabbed her hands in mine. “Mom, that’s not true.”
“Yes, Morgan. Yes it is. He didn’t love us enough to stay.”
This was going to be awful. “Did you know he had another family?”
She blinked at me and I could see the tears she was struggling to hold back. After all this time, even believing what she did about him, she still loved my father. “What?” her voice was a mere whisper.
“When he met you, he was already married. He had a son. He never told you?”
She shook her head, shock written clearly across her face. Inigo squeezed my thigh again, warning me to tread carefully.
“I met him, Mom, Dad’s son. My half-brother. His name is Trevor. He told me why Dad left.”
My mother just stared at me. I had no idea what was going through her mind, so I pushed on. “Trevor told me that you were the love of Dad’s life. That he was going to leave Trevor’s mother for you.” I still couldn’t read the expression on my mother’s face. “He didn’t want to leave us, but … well, some bad people were after him and he was afraid if they found you, they’d hurt you to get to him. That was why he faked his death. You didn’t know any of this?”
My mother seemed to shrink into her chair. “No.”
“That’s the real reason he left. But Trevor said he never stopped loving you. Before he died, he made Trevor promise to look out for us.” A small lie, but a necessary one. Our father had only made Trevor promise to look after me.
A tear rolled down my mother’s cheek. I felt as though my heart would break, so I got up from the table and gathered her into my arms. I’d never realized before how fragile she was. “Mom, please don’t cry.” I stroked her back like one might stroke a child’s. “You didn’t know about this?”
She shook her head against my shoulder. “He was a travelling salesman. He never did anything wrong. Why would anyone want to hurt him?”
“I don’t know, Mom. But I’m going to find out.”
She leaned back, her face completely serious. “I swear, Morgan, I knew none of this. I thought he’d left us and I couldn’t bear for you to know that. So,” she shrugged, “I told you he died. Just like Alister told me.”
My breath froze in my lungs. My eyes met Inigo’s. Shock was written all over his face. “Alister, Mom?”
“Yes, dear. Alister Jones. Your father’s best friend.”
Chapter Twenty-one
I stared at her as shock coursed through my veins. My mind was whirling like crazy trying to make sense of it all. How on earth had my mother known the former head of MI8? I knew my father had met Alister. I had a picture of the two of them together. “What do you mean, Mom? How did Dad know Alister Jones?” Maybe I could finally get some answers.
“They worked together, dear.” She started clearing away the now empty coffee cups. “They were both salesmen for the same company.” She paused. “Or at least that’s what they told me.”
“And you actually met Alister?”
She gave me a funny look. “Yes. He came to dinner a few times. Why?”
“Did he …” I hesitated. “Did he know you were pregnant with me?”
“Of course,” she said as she put the last mug in the dishwasher. “I told you, he’s the one that told me your Dad died in that accident. I didn’t believe him, of course.” She shrugged. “It was obvious he was lying about the accident. I figured your father ran out on us and he was just covering up for his friend by making up the accident story. Alister never liked me much.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“No idea. Maybe he was friends with the other wife.” Her expression made it clear the very thought of my father’s other family didn’t sit well with her. “My guess is he wanted me out of Alex’s life, and Alex freaking out over the baby was a good way to get it done. I wouldn’t put it past Alister to have come up with the whole story and then convinced Alex to go along with it, just so he could get away from us.”
“Except,” I said softly, “he didn’t freak out. He wanted me. He wanted us.”
Mom shook her head. “If that were true, he would have stayed.”
I bit my lip debating how much to tell her. It was clear she knew nothing of our true nature. Nothing about our Atlantean bloodline or my father’s true line of work. “Maybe he couldn’t. Remember, there were people after him. He didn’t want them hurting us.”
“Morgan, I’ve made my peace with the past. Please let it lie.” Her voice was firm. Final.
Though it was clear she’d never fallen for Alister’s car accident story, it was also clear she wanted to believe that my father had left us high and dry. It was almost as if she found that more comforting than the truth: That Alexander Morgan hadn’t had a choice.
I heaved a small sigh and glanced over at Inigo who gave me a shrug. “Okay, Mom.” I squeezed her hand There are some wounds that never heal.
/> ***
Outside I drew in a lung-full of ice cold air. “That sucked.”
“Yeah.” Inigo wrapped an arm around me and pulled me up against him. “You handled it well.” There was a note of pride in his voice.
“Excuse me?” I was seconds away from biting his head off.
“You know your mother winds you up. You knew this day was always going to be tough. Yet you handled it, and her, with calm and sensitivity. Even when she wasn’t being … rational.”
I had to admit he had a point. I was never good with my mother. She had the most amazing way of getting under my skin. Much as I loved her, she drove me nuts. But today I’d felt less like I was someone she was fighting, and more like … her daughter.
“I just don’t understand why my Dad would be friends with Alister Jones. The man is a psychopath.”
“Maybe he wasn’t always. I mean, your mom said the two of them worked together,” Inigo pointed out. “Maybe Alister was one of the good guys back then. Or maybe your dad just didn’t realize what kind of person he was.”
I frowned. “Trevor didn’t know Alister Jones other than as an MI8 agent. Surely, if he and my dad had worked together at the SRA, Trevor would have known about it.”
“Not necessarily. The SRA was in its infancy back then,” Inigo said. “It’s possible that MI8 was helping out by sending their agents here to train Americans. A lot of things that went on back then weren’t exactly documented.”
Before I could say anything else, a familiar heat burned my chest. I yanked the amulet out from under my clothes. “It’s doing it again. The damn thing is burning hot.”
The sapphire was glowing like a beacon. If it had been night, I’d have looked like one of those damn lights at a Blue Light Special. Fortunately it was broad daylight on a residential side street, so no one noticed.
“There’s sidhe magic nearby.” Inigo kept his voice low.
I scanned the street, but I couldn’t see anything that looked like one of the fae. “Where is that thing? Why doesn’t it show itself?”
Inigo tugged me to the car, a look of strain crossing his face. “Come on, Morgan, we need to go.”
“Inigo … ”
“Now, Morgan. We need to go now.”
I was more than a little surprised at his insistence, but I let him drag me to the car. “You sense something?”
“Nothing good. We need to get in the car.”
Before he could reach for the door handle, a blast of bluish light hit him and he crumpled to the ground. He was still awake, staring up at me, but it was obvious he couldn’t move.
“Shit! Inigo … ” I knelt beside him, my eyes searching the street for any sign of his attacker. I couldn’t see anything. There was no one around. I couldn’t sense anything either, though my Spidy senses only worked on vamps, so that was no surprise.
Inigo’s pulse was strong, which was a good sign. I didn’t know what to do. So, I yanked the back car door open and tried to get him into the seat. Before I could, something grabbed me by the hair and yanked me away from the car.
I went flying across the sidewalk and crashed into the cyclone fence around my mother’s yard, hitting the ground with a very audible thud. I still couldn’t see my attacker.
I winced as I staggered to my feet. My ribs were definitely bruised, if not broken. Shit. The amulet was glowing like crazy. I could feel the heat clear through my heavy winter coat.
I started back to Inigo, but something grabbed me again, a large hand wrapping around my throat. This time, I grabbed back. My hand closed around what felt like a forearm. Human. Or human-like. Good. I wrapped my legs around the invisible thing’s waist so it couldn’t throw me.
There was only one creature it could be, though I’d never heard of the sidhe going invisible. “Listen, you freaking fairy,” I snarled at my still invisible foe. “You do not know who you are messing with.”
“Oh, I know exactly who I’m dealing with, Hunter.” The voice was surprisingly musical. Lilting and bright. The sound wrapped its way around my senses, threatening to pull me under its spell as he tightened his grip around my throat.
“Ain’t … going to work, fairy boy,” I snapped, my voice coming out a little strangled. “As you say, I’m … Hunter. Your tricks don’t work with me.” I decided it was time to play my trump card. “If you hurt me, you’ll answer to the Fairy Queen.”
My words certainly had an effect, though I wasn’t sure it was the effect I was looking for. Without warning, the sidhe snapped into visibility. His face shifted incarnations so fast it made me dizzy.
“I do not give one fuck what the so-called Queen has to say,” he snarled. His fingers around my throated tightened even more until dark spots danced in front of my eyes. He leaned his face close to mine, breath hot against my cheek. “If she loves you so much,” he taunted, “maybe she should save you.”
As I struggled for breath, something clicked.
This will save your life.
The key. The Queen of the Fairies had given me a key. A key she’d said would save my life.
I could feel my consciousness slipping from me. Struggling against the sidhe’s powerful grip was useless. Even my Hunter strength was no match for his, and with my energy slipping away, so too was my ability to call my powers to me. Now was as good a time as any.
I slipped my free hand into my pocket until my fingers touched the small gold key. I had no idea how it worked. So, I did the only thing my fading brain could think to do. I whispered a name … a name no mortal should know. “Morgana.”
***
“Now that is a name I have not heard in awhile.”
The surface under my palms wasn’t concrete like I expected. It was highly polished black marble, smooth and cold to the touch. I glanced up at the speaker. She was quite possibly the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life.
Of course, that was to be expected from the Fairy Queen.
“Uh, hey, your Majesty.” I had no idea how a person was supposed to address the Queen of the Fae, so I went with whatever spilled out of my mouth. Not my most brilliant move. “I guess your key worked.”
Boy, had it. One minute I was being strangled to death by a psycho sidhe. The next I was face-down in fairy land.
I glanced around me. “Where’s Inigo? Is he okay?”
The Queen gave me an amused look. “Dragons are not allowed in the Other World. They are of Fire. We are of Earth. But do not worry. Your lover will be safe. Alberich isn’t interested in the boy and besides, he would not risk angering the dragons”
Right. Okay.
Hearing a four-hundred-year-old dragon referred to as a “boy” was kind of funny, but I checked my laughter. “I have Fire. Why am I allowed in the Other World?”
“Because I bid it to be so. And I am Queen.”
Right. Okay. Made about as much sense as everything else did.
“So, the guy who just tried to kill me. That’s your twin?”
“My, you do get around.” She moved toward me, her delicate feet scarcely brushing the marble floor. Her sheer, green gown spilled out behind her slender frame, wafting slightly in a wind I couldn’t feel. Unlike most sidhe, her face did not change. It remained still in a single permutation of breathtaking beauty. She reminded me a little of Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania, complete with pale blond ringlets spilling down her back.
She held out her hand to me. “Come.”
I took her hand, so dainty compared to mine. Like I could crush her bones with my Hunter strength. Of course, her appearance was totally deceptive. She was, without doubt, one of the most powerful beings in existence.
“Walk with me,” she said in that beautifully lyrical voice that sounded so much like her brother’s. Minus the hate and the nasty, of course.
I gazed around the room. Every surface from the fluted columns to the intricately carved ceiling was made of the same black marble. We were the only spot of color. In fact, the only light in the room came from the Fairy Qu
een herself.
“Why did you bring me here?”
“To save your life, of course,” she laughed.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Get a grip. I may be a lower life form to you, but I am no idiot.”
Her face tightened, hardened, revealing the true Queen underneath the facade. And she was an ice-cold bitch.
“Very well. I knew that when Alberich’s plan failed, as it was bound to, he would come after you next. He would not be able to help himself. His thirst for revenge would be too strong.”
“So you decided to help me, out of the goodness of your heart?” As if.
She laughed at that. “Oh, no. You see, Morgan Bailey, I have saved your life. And now you owe me a favor. A favor that I will one day collect.”
Now that, I believed. “Why me, in particular?”
Her expression didn’t change. “It was not about you in particular. I simply saw an opportunity, and I took it.”
It was a lie. I could almost smell it. Technically the fae could not lie, but somehow she was getting around the rules. Or maybe there was some grain of truth wrapped in the lie, but in those seconds when Alberich was squeezing the life out of me, she’d given me her name. Not something the sidhe took lightly. But accusing the Fairy Queen of lying would be so not good for my health. “Fine. What about Alberich. You said he had a plan. What was his plan?”
Her face serene, she turned to me. “He wants to start a war.”
Chapter Twenty-two
“Yeah, I already figured that out,” I told the Queen. “What I want to know is why? You know, other than the fact that he’s bat-shit crazy.”
She threw me an amused look. “He wants to rule the Other World, of course. We are twins, you know.”
“I picked that up, yes.”
“He was born first, and so he should have been King.” She shrugged. “But as you say, he is bat-shit crazy. Our parents deemed him unfit to rule. So did our people. And so when the time came, I took the throne. I should have killed him then, but I was weak.” The ice bitch peeked through again. “I banished him instead, with the understanding the rest of our people would believe him dead.”