“Maybe you should just continue your story, before I start making plans to jab something sharp and pointy into your eyeball.”
Channeling Jude? Yeah. Apparently that’s my new stress response.
If only I could channel him for real. Call him up with a bit of spellwork, bring him right here with the other guys. Blow this cathedral wide open, along with everyone in it.
Clearing his throat, Brian finally continues the tale. “Not far into her pregnancy, your mom began to suspect you were far more than just a fae-witch baby. She dreamed of you wearing a crown in a kingdom of ice, and always Verrick was there, taunting her, threatening. Whispers of a prophecy were growing louder among the covens—it was said that a fae king made a bargain with a high-ranking demon centuries earlier, and the demon was finally looking to collect the promised prize—a child born of both light and darkness. But more than that, she just… she justknewWestlyn. Deep inside, she knew how special you were.”
“Special. Right.” I close my eyes as the words from the prophecy scroll through my mind, straight out of the Codex.
A child conceived ’neath moon so bright
Born of the union of darkness and light
Blessed is the babe who inherits the crown
Blessed is the blood that brings the world down
If I had even aslimchance of denying the prophecy was about me, Brian just obliterated it. I was conceived beneath a full Faerie moon, a union of my light-witch mother and dark-fae father. Verrick already told me I’m to inherit his crown—my so-called “legacy.”
The only thing that hasn’t yet come to fruition is the part about bringing the world down, but something tells me the king is already cooking up a plan for that.
“What sort of bargain?” I ask, hoping to find some clue that will allow me to unravel the whole damn thing. “Whatexactlydid the fae king get in exchange for handing off his oh-so-special unborn daughter centuries after the fact?”
“No one ever knew the specifics, but most believe the demon granted the fae king use of hell’s magic for some sort of dark curse against the enemies who’d taken up arms against his kingdom. In exchange, the fae king agreed to one day, when the timing felt auspicious, conceive a child with a powerful light witch. A child that would later be bound to hell, intended to reunite the demons and dark fae bloodlines of old and lead—”
“Lead the newly joined forces to everlasting glory on the human realm,” I recite, recalling what Rook shared about Tatiana’s research. “Yeah, I’ve seen this show before.”
And Iknowthe so-called “enemies who’d taken up arms.” Know themintimately.
After all our research, our work on the Codex, our speculation, all the pieces are finally sliding into place. Sharp and broken, each one cutting deeper than the last.
No wonder the gargoyles and I always felt such a strong connection. The threads of our fates were woven together the moment Verrick and my mother locked eyes across that ballroom. My conception—my very life—was the promised payment for the demonic magic Verrick used to bind the gargoyles’ brutal curse.
My life in exchange for their endless torment.
My life in exchange for their very souls.
The room spins, and I have to close my eyes and suck in deep gulps of air to keep from passing out again. Maybe it’s the sudden rush of blood to my veins, or a flood of adrenaline, but somehow—with a will I didn’t know I possessed—I finally manage to draw my knees up to my chest, and I rest my forehead against them, trying to convince my heart not to pound right out of my chest.
Just when I think this story can’t get any worse, that no more enemies can rise up from the darkness to torment us, the hits just keep on coming.
“Your mom and I spent the long months of her pregnancy searching for everything we could find about the prophecy,” Brian continues. “We’d hoped to find a loophole, something that would allow us to sever your connection to Wintermoon or to craft a spell of protection that would keep you out of his clutches. But there was very little written information available, and we couldn’t cast too wide a net among occult scholars for fear that anyone with knowledge of the prophecy could already be in the king’s service.”
“Eloise,” I say, lifting my heavy head. My arms are tingling, the feeling slowly returning to them. “She’s connected to the Archmage and to Zorakkov, obviously. But you… you married that evil shrew. How did that even happen?”
“Eloise… She had her claws in our family since Verrick’s people lured your mother to Faerie.” Brian shakes his head, as if he’s still admonishing himself for that particular life choice. With a heavy sigh, he says, “She’s half demon, West. From a lesser demon family eager to win favor with the royals. And somehow, she decided the best way to impressthemwas to destroyus.”
“Wait. Eloise is half demon? Are youkiddingme?” I nearly laugh. Because ofcoursethe evil stepmother from hell wouldliterallybe from hell.
“She doesn’t have much power,” Brian continues. “The lesser demons rarely do, and her human witch lineage is fairly watered down as well. Her entire life has been an endless quest for magic and status, for some sort of acknowledgment that the whole of her parts is better than her individually weak bloodlines.”
“How did you know she was involved with Zorakkov and the Forsythes?”
“The moment I saw her in the delivery room with your mom, I knew what she was—a shadow magic society witch with demonic blood. I’d never seen her before, but I could sense something dark and cruel through her painted smile. Maddie was still having contractions when her doctor was called away for an emergency consult, and Eloise came to sit with us. Said she was passing by and sensed we could use some company, but everything about her felt wrong. There was a whisper in the back of my mind—she’s here to hurt the baby.
“I vowed to stay close, but then your mother went into labor and the doctor was nowhere to be found. Two other nurses rushed in with a doctor I’d never seen before, and they dragged me out—called security to keep me away. It all happened so fast… By the time I fought my way back through security and barged into the room, Eloise was holding a screaming baby, and Maddie… she… she was silent, and I… It never occurred to me that they’d hurt your mother. I was so focused on you—on your mother’s visions about the danger you were in. I was sure they’d try to steal you, to claim you were stillborn and take you right out of that room. And maybe they would have if I hadn’t arrived at that precise moment, but I did. And your mother… She never even got to see you, or…” He closes his eyes, emotion choking off his words.
I feel it too. The loss of the mother who loved and wanted me but never got to hold me. The loss of that first hug, that warmth, that tiny grip around a finger, that tender brush of lips on a downy-soft head. The loss of love and guidance over the years, and all the things we could have made together as a family—magic and laughter. A life. Happiness.
