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I sure as hell hoped so. I did not like it.
My hearing had also improved. Their words sounded sharper and clearer.
Something shifted behind me and I realized there was now weight on my back and spine. Glancing behind me, I blinked. “I have wings and a tail.”
Sure enough, large, bat-like wings grew from my back, and a long silver-and-black-scaled tail lazily swished behind me on its own.I’ll have to figure out how to control that, or it could be a problem.
“You also have horns,” Bjarke said.
I reached above my head, and sure enough, I had sharp protrusions growing from my head. Sensation sparked down my spine when I touched them.Okay, note to self, they have nerves.
Mom kept smiling at me. “Artura would be having a fit right now if she saw you like this. She always hated it when our children took these in-between forms, insisting it wasn’t dignified.”
“Do you hate them?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Not at all. I understood it as a way for our children to find a middle ground between their heritages. And hearing the way Bjarke explained things to you, I better understand that.”
“Do you and Artura not get along?” I asked. “Any time she comes up in a conversation we’ve had, you haven’t had much in the way of nice things to say.”
Mom sighed. “My siblings and I used to be close. But over time, we grew and changed in different ways. Artura and I stopped seeing eye-to-eye on most things a long time ago.”
I grabbed her hands and squeezed. She must have been so lonely these past two decades. It really showed how much of a sacrifice she was willing to make for Dad and me.
Mom turned to Bjarke and smiled. “I want to thank you. I had been selfish in wanting this to be something between my son and me. I was too arrogant, thinking I could do this with my kind of experience.”
Bjarke shrugged. “You’re his mom. I wouldn’t have intervened if Astrid hadn’t asked. If she was asking, I figured she knew a nudge was needed.”
He wasn’t wrong. Today hadn’t been the first day of my attempts at this. Just the only successful one. It gave me a greater appreciation for what Astrid had been going through on her own journey.
I tipped my head when I heard something come from the house. “I think everyone is back.”
Mom nodded. “Sounds like it. Let’s get you in control of your body, and then we’ll stop for the day.”
Fifteen minutes later, I was mostly back to how I was used to looking. My horns and arm scales were being a bit stubborn, but I could deal with those being out. If Carrie and Raeni came home before I sorted it out, I’d just play it off as costuming for something.
Just as I stood, my vision flashed on me. Images and sounds, quick and confusing. A wolf snarling. A closeup of a woman with deep red lips in shadow smiling maliciously. Someone screaming. Gunshots. A woman cackling.
I gasped when my vision returned to normal. My mother placed her hand on my shoulder, her brow creased with her concern.
“What did you see, Treasure?”
I shook my head. “I’m… not sure. It was just flashes of things. They felt related, but I can’t fathom how.”
She nodded and brushed some hair away from my eyes. “That’s normal. Our visions aren’t always clear. You might gain another to give more clarity, you might not.”
I nodded. Of all the things I’d have to get used to, visions were not the ones I wanted. But, we didn’t get to decide what powers creation gave us.
When we entered the house, the kitchen held a comical sight. Astrid’s short, sexy ass stood barefoot on the counter, rummaging through the cupboards. Ùna was below her, scolding her about putting “dirty feet” on the counters she just finished washing, even though the fae usually used magic now to clean things in an instant. Darius, Aya, and Tyr were in the great room, cleaning guns and affixing equipment to some hand-drawn bows and crossbows, while watching Fen as he said, “Just give it up, Astrid. You don’t need your smelly, dirty leaf-water.”
Oh boy.These two were at it again, it seemed. They really did have an entertaining family bond.
“It’s wonderful that we can compromise, and I can have my tea, and you’ll try it, because otherwise you’ll be sipping it through a straw up your butthole.”
Bjarke and I choked on a laugh. Mom stared in shock. Proper and refined people we were not, which was something she was still getting used to.
Fen snorted. “Like you could disarm me like that.”
Astrid smirked.And here we go.She grabbed a fistful of tea bags and suddenly disappeared from the counter. She reappeared in the air behind Fen and dropped down on him, wrapping her arms and legs around him. She shoved the pungent tea bags into his face.
