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I sniffed the contents of my glass before taking a sip. It was sweet and sour and divine.
“An island twist on the standard lemonade, made with fruit and sugar and a bit of magic,” Andra said with a wink.
I hesitated. Was she serious? I decided she wasn’t and took another sip. Whether there was magic in the cold drink or not, it was so good, I couldn’t stop drinking it.
“You’ve been gone a long time, Andra,” Colter said.
Andra sighed. “It was necessary to go into hiding. My blood has the most of any left on earth.”
There were more?
“Thank you for seeing us.”
Andra nodded and glanced at me.
“Acantha was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. You have her eyes, her delicate bone structure, but your father’s strength of will. I can sense it.”
“How did you know my parents?” I asked.
“Oh, Daniel was one of us.”
“Fae?” Colter asked, incredulous.
Andra nodded. “He fell in love with Acantha the moment he laid eyes on her. He got the sweating disease when he was just a man, and he was going to die. The fae all did spells to pull him through, but nothing worked. Acantha had looked down from the Overworld, and she must have heard our cries for help, seen our spells fail again and again. She came down in person to save him, no matter the risk. She healed him, and they fell in love.”
I listened to the story, completely absorbed.
“When she fell pregnant with you, they were both terrified of what would happen. Angels are hunted for their blood. The fae banded together and casts spells of protection, spells to hide them, to hide you, but it didn’t work. The fae can only do so much when there’s more than one kind of magic fighting against them.”
“Acantha.” I said my mother’s name. “Did she… love me?”
“Oh, my dear, she loved you more than life itself.”
A lump rose in my throat, and my eyes stung with tears. I’d thought no one had wanted me. I’d thought I’d been forgotten.
“Do you know where she is?” I asked.
Andra’s face became riddled with sorrow.
“She died trying to save you.”
Tears rolled over my cheeks. So, she was gone.
“My dad, too?”
Andra nodded sadly.
“Word got out about your blood, somehow. The people they held close couldn’t all be trusted, and when the first attacks happened, they weren’t ready. Daniel died saving you and your mother in that first wave. Acantha fled with you, and for a while, she hid with us. It was the one place they didn’t think to look right away.”
Colter and I both listened in stunned silence as Andra talked.
“Eventually, they found you. We weren’t strong enough to protect the two of you—everyone was looking for you. From the Underworld to the darkest beings on Earth, they craved your blood and wanted you. We moved a lot—as is our nature—but they found you, anyway.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to keep my emotions under control. Andra reached for me and squeezed my hand and pulsed light into me. It only eased the pain a little.
“She gave you to me to protect and fought them off. You should have seen her, a sight to behold with her light magic, her wings strong and powerful. She struck down so many of them, but it wasn’t enough. They killed her, and I had you. I managed to get you away. Norden was the one who left with you in a bag, buried under rags and blankets, so that he could slip away, and he left you with human parents who were happy to take you in.”
I glanced at the small blond man where he stood in the corner, hands clasped behind his back. He watched me with eyes that told a whole story, and I nodded my thanks to him.
