AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As Leo, Rhiannon, and Peyton filed out—the first looking ready to revolt—I shut the door and turned to Chatter. “You need to have my back. I have to release the demon but keep it contained within him. The only way I can do that is to struggle with it and break the fetish against his heart once it fully wakes. The shaman gave me its name, and with that I can control the creature, but it will try to attack me.”
“I thought it was already part of him,” Chatter said.
“So did I, but apparently what happened was that as it merged with his DNA and died, it left behind a hatchling. And it’s ready to hatch.”
“Ah.” Chatter nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something else.
“What is it? And don’t say ‘nothing.’ You’re upset about Grieve.”
“You should not count on him. I love him perhaps more than you—he’s like a brother to me, but I’m practical. Grieve belongs to Myst, and Myst won’t take lightly to anybody tampering with her toys.”
I let out a short sigh. “No offense, but I don’t give a fuck what you—or Leo—or Rhiannon thinks. You know that Grieve and I’ve been together before, in another life. I was part of the Indigo Court, he was Cambyra Fae. We were in love and we were hunted down and we bound our souls together before we killed ourselves. We’re here to even the score, we’re here to find each other. I will not lose him again, do you understand?”
Chatter’s eyes flashed and he leaned in—the closest to angry I’d ever seen him. “Of course, I know perfectly well that you were together before. I was there. I am as much a part of this whole mess as you are.”
I didn’t want to look at him. I knew what he was talking about but hadn’t yet admitted it to myself. I didn’t want to think about the truth—it was too raw; it made me too angry. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“One of us has to say it—and you have to accept it. You were Myst’s daughter and both you and I know that she’s out to destroy you for betraying her! Grieve is her bait—she doesn’t want him, she wants you. If you go charging in, she’s just going to capture you. That’s why she’s keeping him. You can’t really think she loves him. She loves no one.” He leaned back, arms crossed.
I stared at him as his words ricocheted through the room. “No, no—I was part of the Indigo Court but I was never her daughter! You lie!” But my protest was weak. He was telling the truth. I’d known since my first flashback a week or so ago, but I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself. “I can’t face being Myst’s daughter. She isn’t my mother. Krystal is . . . was . . .”
He was on the floor by my side in the blink of an eye, gathering me into his arms. I leaned against his body, closing my eyes as he murmured an apology.
“Oh, Cicely, of course you aren’t—not this time around. But before, when you were with Grieve, you were Myst’s daughter, destined to take the throne in the future when she died. You defied her . . . you ran . . . you dared to love one of the enemy. You have to accept that part of yourself if you hope to beat her this time.”
“You were there. Which side were you on?”
“I was Shy’s brother. Don’t you remember?” His words hit like a sledgehammer, and I started to cry.
“No, no . . .” But the room started to fall away, and I went spiraling into the past.
Grieve and I were standing there, only he was Shy and I was Cherish, and now I could see myself for who I was—Myst’s daughter. We were poised, waiting as the first front of those hunting for us came up the slope. Shy turned to me and blinked, his long lashes dusted with a lazy skiff of pollen from the deep grass in which we’d been lying. We were in Summer’s land, and the Queen was hunting for us. Or rather, her servants were.
“Stop!” A man who looked very much like Shy stepped to the forefront. He carried a long, razor-edged silverplated dagger and was wearing the armor of the knights of Summer. “In the name of Lainule, I command you to stop. Shy, return to us now, for punishment. The girl may go if she departs our lands and never returns.”
Shy glanced at me, and I could tell he was nervous. “You have a chance to survive. If they take me home, I’ll be punished for treason. But you—my Cherish, my love, you can escape.”
I stared at him, my heart racing. “Surely you jest. Leave you to them? Leave you to death? Never. We fight together and if necessary, we die together.”
“But love, they’ll crucify you if you fight and falter.” His eyes were wet, and he looked so forlorn that I wished once again we’d never met. It had been instant attraction, a deep and abiding need to be together that burned its way through my heart. Through his, too.
“Then let them do their worst. I will not leave you.” I paused, resisting the urge to just go barreling into the fray with teeth sharp and jaws unhinged. I could mow down a good five or six of them before they had a chance to blink. But I was trying to resist instinct, trying to use reason.
There was one other factor to think about. “He’s your brother,” I said slowly. “Can you resist him? Do you want to? If you truly wish me to go, I will.”
Shy bit his lip, glancing from his brother back to me, then back to his brother again. He pressed his lips shut, pulling me to him. “I cannot give you up. Not now. Not ever. We belong together, and if they can’t see that . . .”
We turned, facing his brother, who was leading the band of warriors, and steeled ourselves for the attack. Shy’s brother caught my gaze. I readied myself. And when they charged, he fell first under my attack . . . and the bloodlust raged, and soon, the field was soaked in their life force as Shy and I stood triumphant, with tears falling, unwilling victors against a force that would destroy our love.
“No . . . Chatter—I would never hurt you—”
“Sshh . . . but you did, Cicely. Or rather, Cherish did. And Shy was not innocent in the act.” He gently stroked my forehead, then my face, searching my eyes with a terrified look. “Please don’t hate me for forcing you to remember. But you have to know the truth—you have to have all of the information you can in order to make clear decisions.”
I blankly shook my head. “I don’t hate you. How could I hate you, Chatter? But . . . she knows, she really does know that I was her daughter. That’s why Myst is out to destroy me as much as she’s out to destroy Geoffrey, isn’t she?”
“She’ll hurt you in any way she can. And she knows Grieve was your lover back then—how best to hurt you except to steal him away and turn him into the monster you were supposed to become?” He tightened his embrace. “Grieve did his best to deflect her from you, and I think even now he tries. But the more you and he connect, the more arsenal she has.”
I gazed up into his face. He was so like Grieve and yet so unlike him. “What are you, Chatter? I know you’re Cambyra like Grieve . . . like . . . me . . . so what are you? What kind of shifter?”
