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Here…I didn’t think it would work the same.
I didn’t have the right preparations. The seed of arcana had been in place last time. Right now, I needed to plant one.
As I shoved deeper with my arcana, I felt a twinge of…something else. It was familiar. The foreign arcana brushed against mine the way a mother might brush a child’s hair back. It was so longing and tender. I could help but feel like there were ghosts here, greeting me for the first time since I’d left.
“Where’s your pet boyfriend? Can’t turn your beast back into a prince?” Beryl teased.
Her words should have stung, but I was too stunned by the arcana brushing against my own to react to Beryl’s barbs.
A door, long locked, in the back of my mind finally swung open. I inhaled sharply as a memory came rushing back to me. I’d been small, looking up at my mother—not my shifter Mom. My biological mother smiled down at me as she cupped my hand in her own. My sniffles filled the air, and pain stung my hand.
Blood beaded in the palm of my hand as I cried. Mom tipped my hand and poured the bead of blood onto the ground. A wave of green growth spread in all directions from that single drop of blood. Tiny buttercups sprang up and bowed their little heads towards me.
“We do not have blood,” Mom said softly. “We are fae. That which runs through our veins is the source of all life itself. We are sunshine and spring. We are the possibility of all things. So, when you find yourself hurting, see it as an opportunity to create.”
My pain isn’t an opportunity, I wanted to say. My suffering wasn’t anyone’sopportunity. But I knew what she meant. If my blood was spilt, then I needed to turn that into my advantage.
I let out the breath I’d been holding and met Beryl’s gaze. “I’m still working on severing Faust’s contract without making the beast null and void. I could craft a potion that would make Faust’s deal invalid, but if I’m going to kick him in the balls, I want it to hurt.”
Beryl huffed. Her nose wrinkled. I watched her tense, like she wanted to lean forward, but she managed to keep herself seated. This display of false ease and confidence was shattering, and I knew that there would be consequences.
I had to hurry. If I didn’t have the proper seed of arcana in place before she struck, we would all be screwed.
I’m sorry I’m over here poking a cornered animal, Rhoan. If I die today, please know I loved you.
Was I really going to allow myself to die here when I still needed to save him? My death wasn’t going to reverse the curse keeping him a beast. There was still much work to do, and only I could do it.
So, I lifted my chin and pushed my arcana deeper into the underground court. My gaze flicked from face to face to see if any of the fae present could tell what I was doing. Beryl, it seemed, was too annoyed to pay attention. As long as I could keep her in that state, she wouldn’t realize what I’d done.
Beneath me, the threads of arcana began to pull together. They rolled into one another like a ball of yarn that would later become a tapestry telling the story of how I stole this nasty little hovel from Beryl.
At least, that’s what I hoped.
“Just give me the Pack members that you stole.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You’re in direct violation of your agreement with the Pack, which could result in another war on your hands. Are you sure that you want to take on both at once?”
Beryl’s brows flattened for a heartbeat. Then her face smoothed into an impassive mask. She raised a wine glass to Ness behind me.
“The Barghest doesn’t have the power to stop me from doing anything right now. That is why she came to you. Do you really think that the Barghest would have sought out help if she didn’t need it?”
The words slammed into my core. I fought to keep from looking at Ness. What had happened while I was gone? She should have told me. We would have been able to figure something out.
I managed to keep a straight face while staring Beryl down. She wanted to play mind games, so I had to take everything she said with a grain of salt. Sowing discord was her greatest power. It was how she tore apart my parents’ court, how she turned Taliesin to her side, and how she kept everyone too afraid to challenge her.
Beryl lifted her hand and snapped her too-long fingers. A wave of arcana rippled through the air and a familiar face stumbled out of an in-between portal. Janessa dropped to her knees and caught herself, palms flat against the dusty packed earth floor. Her shoulders trembled when she slowly lifted her head to peer at Beryl.
Already, I could hear Janessa’s soft whimpers. She shook like a leaf in the wind. Terror was etched in every inch of her body as she looked from fae to fae. Her gaze lingered on the spider fae still lingering near me. Janessa yelped and slapped both dirty hands over her mouth.
“I propose a deal,” Beryl began.
“Help me!” Janessa cried. “Ness, Cerri, help me. I want to go home. I don’t want to die here. I want to go home.”
My heart twisted. I found myself moving towards her. It took everything I had to stop myself. Ness didn’t have the same strength. She stormed past me. I had to catch her before she crossed an invisible line and started a fight.
Did I constantly have to remind Ness that she was pregnant? I understood shifter emotions and how they could run on the hotter side, but she had to remember that this could take a very ugly turn if we weren’t careful.
Janessa’s whines tugged at my own heartstrings. I could barely handle it myself. Knowing Ness’s tangled past with Janessa and how the girl was used as a hostage the same way I’d been, I could tell that Ness wanted this over as soon as possible.
This was only one of the people that Beryl took, though. My mouth went dry as I thought of my human mother. She wasn’t a shifter. She didn’t have the ability to heal like Janessa did. There was no beast inside my Mom that could protect her from the fae. I wasn’t going to leave with just one hostage.
