War of thrones, p.9
War of Thrones, page 9
part #5 of Half-Blood Huntress Chronicles Series
“I must protect my own.”
She sighed and handed me a second pouch. “This is to prevent the child from interfering in your witchcraft. She will have her own mind as to how to protect you both.”
“You say that like I should expect trouble.”
“I expect your child to be as much trouble to you as you were to your mother,” she replied in a syrupy voice. “In fact, you facing motherhood is the one battle I most look forward to,” she added. “I plan to spoil the girl rotten and make her love me best.
Her obvious delight startled a laugh out of me. “It’ll be the best battle we’ve ever fought against each other, Aunt. I look forward to seeing you drown my child in love... instead of what I endured.” But I was grateful that Portia had, after years of struggle, turned everything around... even though I knew it was mostly because she’d been left alone when Annabelle took my nieces and abandoned the light.
Don’t judge the change based on the motivator, just be grateful it is finally happening, and you got to live to see it.
“Let’s get through this first, niece. Then we can assure the baby’s safety.”
I leaned in so that my lips brushed against her hair. “I must go to the Darklands and somehow talk Tryst out of starting the war on his end. Until then, I am not pregnant. This child is my every concern, and I will do whatever it takes to make sure she never knows the same kind of childhood I had.”
Her fingers trembled as she gripped my arm. “I swear on the life of my sister, and on the Goddess, your children will never know anything but love in this world.”
She checked her watch and glanced around. “I do not trust that the coven is united against the warlocks. I must go back and ensure our safety, first.”
“I’ll let you know if we’ve averted war when I get back.”
She held up her tattooed wrist. “I’m sure I’ll know before then.”
I watched her walk away and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. Annabelle had given up her children to pursue her hate. I spread my hands across my lower belly and felt the warring powers within me, all of them trying to tell me the same thing…PROTECT.
Thirteen
It was three days since I’d learned I was pregnant and I still hadn’t made the journey to the Darklands. The sun came up behind us as Gray and I drove Penelope and Julius to Oakland to fly out to Montana, and the mood was somber and quiet.
"The rumors have already started to spread. I hear whispers that the wolves in Montana are worried we are behind the violence, given their past experience with us." Julius was, as always, careful in his word choice, but none of us blamed them for their concerns.
We’d met them as bounty hunters, showing up with guns blazing, and led them into a battle against the Fae they weren’t certain truly existed, let alone in their own backyard.
“I don’t want to stress you out, because if you show up scared, they’ll only think things are even worse, but while you’re gone we will focus on finding a way to get to Tryst.” I waited for an argument, but only silence came from behind me.
I turned and looked at Pen, who chewed her lip and nodded. “Sure. Just don’t get into trouble, okay?”
“We won’t. We’re taking all that’s left of our best since you won’t be there. I’ll even let them hold a fight to choose who that is.” I sighed and pushed back into my seat, reveling in the cool air that blew on me, easing the burn of my feverish skin.
“I think these herbs might kill me before the baby can,” I muttered. I’d been drinking the morning sickness tea of mint, catnip, and my aunt’s ‘secret blend’ before bed, and the one to prevent shifting in the morning. My nausea was gone and I’d only had one dizzy spell. But the fox inside me did not like the tea that repressed her, and the heat generated by the unspent power sometimes felt like it was cooking my skin.
Something icy cold pressed against my shoulder and I jumped and turned to see a bottle of tea, the condensation dripping down my arm. “You can drink it, or just stuff it down your shirt,” Penelope offered. “I bought it for the ride, but I’m not thirsty.”
I drained the bottle, pouring the frigid sweetness down my throat in one long pull. “Thanks. I feel better. Maybe I’ll start drinking the tincture over ice, too.” I rolled the damp bottle between my hands, the last droplets of water running down over my wrists without cooling me.
The airport was quiet so early in the morning, but we weren’t there to take advantage of the short TSA lines. Grayson pulled past the drop off and stopped just shy of where the road merged back towards town.
Seagulls, roused by the pale gray of the predawn morning, wheeled above us over the swampy land between the airstrip and the bay. At the end of the terminal, at the place where the water met the land, was a door.
The door was only visible if you knew what you were looking for. A human might have stared straight at it, and seen only a shimmer in the air, or a utility shack, or an electrical transformer. But only if you knew there was a portal to the Fae lands elsewhere, would you see a great carved wooden door depicting the wild hunt through the great speaking trees of Arcadia.
“Remember how this works?” I asked, nervous to put two of my people through without a Fae guide. The doors were ancient, and some said, sentient. Whether that was true or not I couldn’t say, but they had a habit of sending people to random places if they made the slightest error.
“Yes, we must both speak the place we’re going, and be thinking only of that place. I’ve done this almost a dozen times with you, Morgan, and I’m part Fae, remember? The doors don’t mess with me too much.” Pen grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep a good grip on Jules.”
Julius scoffed, but glanced nervously at the door. “Not going to lie, last time we went through, it tried to convince me I wanted to see the bottom of the ocean.”
I shuddered. Fae magic was unpredictable and frequently not kind. The doors weren’t malicious, merely doing their job to protect the Fae lands from danger. Julius was magical, strong, and his magic was foreign to the doors, which were attuned to the High Fae of the Seelie Court. Even the Huntresses couldn’t use them, and with good reason.
“Think of Pen, then. She’ll be the guide. You just stay with her.” We hugged and I activated the portal, pulling from my Fae magic to open the door, the stags in the carvings leaping through the trees and into the door frame as the door swung inward. “Speak to the Montana pack, and to Orson, if you can get to him. Things were tense when we spoke, but you know he won’t tell me anything unless he thinks I need to know.”
Penelope shook her head. “If he’s keeping stuff from you, it’s to keep you from rushing in with that demon-blade of yours in hand and lopping the heads off courtiers.”
“I never kill anyone who doesn’t deserve it,” I pouted, making Gray groan behind me. “And I usually don’t kill them even when they do.”
“But one day, they’ll be waiting for you, Mo.” Pen looked so worried I gave her another hug.
“Don’t worry, Pen. Today won’t be that day, and when it comes, I’ll be sure not to go in alone.” She turned away. “Remember. Think of the garden at my father’s palace and be prepared to get dumped out in the pond, the naiads have been on one lately.”
Julius took Penelope’s hand and gulped hard, then Pen led him into the soft glow beyond the open door.
“They’ll be okay, right?” I asked Gray as we pulled away from the curb, the sea birds taking to the sky as the door flashed out of sight again.
Gray scoffed. “None of the doors open to the Darklands, Honey. No matter where they emerge, they’re already doing better than we will be.”
My stomach clenched, and it had nothing to do with baby or power, just the knowledge that everything we were fighting for had come down to entering literal hell to save, and now we had more to lose than we’d ever actually imagined.
Fourteen
“They’re saying we can come, but only if we stick to the woods and avoid the towns and cities all together, at least in groups, then they’ll let us take shelter with them, temporarily.”
“Fuck.” I took the phone away from my ear. “Pen says they’re already hedging at having us there and are forbidding the pack from moving among the humans if we go.”
Grayson nodded, but didn’t answer. Not that he could’ve said anything.
“We’ve got to find the malefic witches and clear the pack name,” Niall fumed. “We don’t have time to deal with that emo Fae traitor right now.”
“So we delegate. The coven is served by bringing these witches to justice before they become the next target. My aunt will help. Who can we send to track them?”
Hands began to raise immediately.
“Me. I’ll track them. I can’t leave Geallta, and I’m not sure I could be diplomatic with Tryst or whatever he’s called now.”
“Oh, he’s still Tryst, King of lust or some nonsense,” Gray replied. “Rachelle, Bonnie, Jean, you’ll come with us.”
“I should add that we also need someone looking for housing, in case we can’t convince the city council that we were falsely accused,” I interjected. “After this, we reclaim all dark places for ourselves and those who ally with us.”
The last point brought a cheer, which Gray quieted down with a motion of his hands. “Pen and Jules are negotiating land for us in Montana if this goes south, but I know no one wants to leave home.”
“Wherever we go, we go together,” I added, “except the Unseelie Court…you’re welcome.”
Gray stood, ready to close out the meeting. “Niall, you and Geallta stay here and help with the witch hunt…no pun intended.”
“No. I must go with Morgan,” Geallta burst out. “I must ensure the safety of the baby.”
“How long have you known?” I hissed sideways at her.
She patted my hand and gave me one of her sweet smiles. “No one ever thinks it’s them until they see the rose turn from red to white. I did the test myself when you came to tea last week.”
“Or in this world, when they see the two blue lines,” Rachelle added with her trademark grin. “I’m glad I’m going. Fairy girl can oversee her pregnancy health, but somebody’s actually gotta watch her back.”
“Gee, you can’t go. You’re staying with me.” Niall reminded Geallta as she continued to pat my hand and stare into space.
“No, I must stay with the baby. Everyone has a job to do, Niall. I am the midwife. This is my job, it has been for a century or more.”
It had been her place to heal injured Fae and deliver babies, once upon a time, though far more than a century had passed since a child was delivered in Arcadia. Gray and I exchanged a look, and it was my turn to shrug.
“Geallta, you have no power in the Unseelie lands,” I reminded her when no one else spoke up.
She stopped staring into space and met my eyes with perfect clarity in her own. “Tryst is making a mistake. You and I are the only ones he listens to, when he bothers to even do that.”
Niall started to object, but Gray cut him off. “It’s fine by me, Gee. He’s your brother, and you’re right, most of the time you’re the only one who gets through to him.”
Geallta stopped patting my hand and looked at Niall. “I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
Niall scoffed and touched her shoulder. “I’m not disappointed, I’m going with you. Jean, you’ll head up the tracking here. You’re better than I am, anyway.”
One by one we gave everyone a job to do, and in the end, Rachelle and Bonnie, Geallta, Grayson and Niall became my super-hero backup, while everyone else was split up between house hunting and witch hunting.
Gray adjourned the last meeting we’d have before we found passage to the Unseelie lands and suddenly I wished we could put it off for another week, or nine months, if my pregnancy lasted as long as a human one.
Niall and Geallta exchanged a look and I couldn’t help but wonder how much I’d missed as I been focused on my new form and powers. I slugged Gray gently in the arm. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
He looked at me in askance, cocking an eyebrow at me. “I truly didn’t know, Sweetheart. I’m still not sure I believe it…we’re really going to be parents.”
“That wasn’t what I was talking about, but yeah, there’s some conversation to be had about that, eventually. I feel like we’re skirting it for everything else.”
“I think it’ll be easier to think about it when the rest is settled, and safer. I don’t really want to say the words aloud while I don’t know the shadows are ours.”
That was why I hadn’t told my father or Orson, either. We had time yet to share the news, to throw parties in the Fae court to celebrate the return of young ones to Arcadia, to worry about all the stuff that came with babies I knew I hadn’t even heard of yet.
I was still mastering my shifting, trying to calm the battle for magical supremacy within my own body, and nurturing a relationship with a narcissistic sword I’d been trying to get rid of for almost as long as we’d been bonded.
There was a learning curve to everything I did, and as I continued to be reminded, far reaching consequences for every action I took, no matter how innocent or honorable I thought my choices.
“I promised to meet Bonnie in the ring for some training, Fae-style,” I told Gray as the last of the guard cleared out, leaving us the room. “I don’t know what we’ll find in the Unseelie land, so I’ll just pull out the stops and throw everything I’ve got at her, make sure she’s prepared.”
“They’re your guard, but I hope she’s ready, that she’s strong enough for what lies ahead.” Silently, I agreed with him, but aloud, I reminded him that she’d won every challenge. “Besides, the more voices of reason we bring with us to balance Niall and I out, the better.”
He took my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing my knuckles. Neither of us spoke, too concerned about the next steps in ensuring our future to dare dream aloud about the miracle twisting my magic (and my stomach) into knots. “All this time, I thought I was sick because I was a hybrid.” I finally said. “I was terrified that I was dying, and that I’d proved all those old bigots right to keep us segregated. I thought… I thought you’d be so disappointed, like I promised something I couldn’t deliver.
His thumb rubbed across the back of my fingers like I was his worry stone. “I’ve never doubted you. I just wish it all could’ve been a little easier. It isn’t fair that you suffer so much loss, then pain, now this. How long before even the herbs don’t help?”
Unfortunately, the repression tea was already wearing off, and each time it did, the fox pushed harder to be released. But pregnant women couldn’t shift, the physical changes were too hard for an unborn infant to survive. It meant that only the strongest shifters could have babies, which meant stronger packs.
Darwin’s contemporaries had stated that creatures of wild magic, more than any other people, obeyed the laws of nature. So even though I wanted to end challenges and move my pack into the current century, I knew better than to challenge the traditions of the pack any more than I already had.
“I’m finally fast enough to hold my own when we hunt, and now I can’t go with you all. I’m going to get fat, and even slower, and…”
“And according to the most frequent complaints, humans are going to smell like shit, and you’ll crave things like wild hare and gazelle.”
“Do we have gazelles here?” I scoffed. “How can I crave something I’ve never eaten?”
“It’s the beast that craves, not the human.”
I arched my eyebrow at him. “Then I’ll crave ambrosia and moonflower, because Fae foxes aren’t meat eaters.” I thought for a moment. “Which explains why eating that hamburger at the party just about did me in.”
Puzzle pieces continued to fall into place, reassuring me. I’d thought all the very worst things, feared my ability to live a normal life. But as difficult as Gray and the pack and even my aunt were telling me it would be, they couldn’t know how terrifying my fears had made it.
“You’re going to be a daddy, Gray. One more conflict, and we can create a safe place to raise her. She might never see he in-fighting between the clans that were part of our core beliefs.”
“Not yours.” He kissed my hand again with a sigh. “I remember when I thought you had to be a killer, because you were a witch.”
“I am a killer.”
“No. You’re a protector. You don’t kill for personal gain. Not like your cousin. She’s the witch we all fear, the one who will harm human and non-human alike, and to what end?”
It was a good question, and one of the many I’d be sure to ask as soon as I had her, bound and helpless. “It’s always Tryst or the witches, isn’t it?” I mused as we pulled into the parking lot and he eased to a stop in one of the fleet parking stalls.
“Seems that way.”
“I sent Tryst to Fairy to remove him from our list of problems. Maybe I removed the wrong part of the equation.”
Fairy had bloomed again when I took shifters into the palace. I’d been laughed at, cursed, and chastised for trying to give my pack and all shifters a place among the Fae. Perhaps it was time to stop taking no for an answer, and Goddess help me, the daughter growing inside me could very well be the key to changing their minds.
Fifteen
Rachelle stood across the mat from me, a kendo stick in her hand. “I can fight in human form, you know.”
“What I remember is you shifting within the first thirty seconds of our match and trying to rip my throat out.”
“So you’re going to use your pregnancy to keep me from hurting you while you punish me?”
I laughed aloud and held my stomach. “No. I’m not really a challenge for you at the moment. But I don’t know if you’ll be able to shift in the heart of Unseelie territory.” The humor drained from me as I recalled the stories of the great wars. “I’ve got to be sure you can fight in human form against someone who has a strong advantage.”
