The moment I said his mother was human, her gaze sharpened. “Halfling…”
Liam stayed quiet, most likely still in shock about meeting a legit mermaid.
“Yeah…so, his mom has cancer, and we thought if we brought her a glass of water and had her drink some—”
“Drink some?” The mermaid gasped from where she sat on her rock, her long purple tail glistening with water. “Do you want to kill her?”
“The water won’t help her?” The crushing disappointment in Liam’s voice made my heart sink into my stomach.
The mermaid reached up and pulled her hair over one shoulder. “I didn’t say that, but drinking a whole glass of it would kill her.”
Her words gave me hope. “So, a little could help her?” I refrained from adding, Come on, lady, we don’t have all day.
The High Priestess sighed. “I have known of a couple humans who were healed with a specific measured dose of healing water.”
Liam grinned. “That’s great. What’s the dose?”
The mermaid looked at me. “Did you know my healing pool used to be ten times the size it is now?”
I didn’t like that she wasn’t answering him right away. I shook my head.
She nodded, starting to braid her hair. “Then the Winter King got greedy and took all of the crystals, and the darkness came. I had sixty mermaids in my coven. Now, I am all that is left. The pool has shrunk, I’ve been driven underground, and all because of his father.” She pointed at Liam and snarled.
Fuck.
“How did you know?” I asked.
Tilting her head high, she tossed her braid over her shoulder. “I’m a High Priestess. I see.”
I see. That was enough to give me chills, but I wasn’t leaving this place without explicit instructions on how to heal Liam’s mom.
“Then you see that he’s my soulmate.” I felt a lump rise in my throat. “You see that I won’t leave here without knowing how to heal his mother.” I stepped closer to her, tears building in my eyes. “You see that his pain is my pain. Please help us.” I felt desperate. I had been unable to save my mother, but I wouldn’t let Liam go through what I’d endured.
The mermaid frowned, and a vulnerable look washed over her. “Oh, child, I see more than that.”
I frowned, unsure what that meant.
She looked me right in the eye. “If you ask it of me, I cannot refuse you, and I will give you the dose that may help her.”
For fuck’s sake, I thought I’d been asking this whole time—but fae were tricky with words.
“High Priestess of the healing water, what is the dose that may save Liam’s human mother?”
She nodded. “Because she has carried a Halfling successfully, it means her body will be somewhat attuned to fae magic.”
Liam leaned forward, closer to us both.
“Day one, you place one drop on the palm of her hand. Only one drop,” she warned.
I gulped.
“If by day two she is better and has not worsened, you do two drops.”
Two drops—that was it? Here, I was going to have the woman drink an entire jar.
“On the third day, if she has not worsened, you do three drops on the palm and no more. Repeat a month later if needed, but give her body that month to purge the disease.”
“Thank you.” Liam’s voice cracked.
She nodded. “If after the first drop she worsens, say your final goodbyes, because she will meet death quickly.”
Not exactly the parting words I’d wanted…but okay. “Thank you so much.”
“One last thing.” She held up a finger. “You must tell her what you are doing and get her consent. Healing magic only works that way.”
“We will,” I promised.
She bowed her head to me. “Come back and see me when you’ve helped restore Faerie.”
I gulped. Word sure got around about that promise, huh?
“Will do,” I vowed, and before I could say another word, I was sucked up into a cyclone of water and spit back out into the healing pool with Liam beside me.
Swimming over, Liam wrapped his arms around me, hauling me flush against his body. I opened my legs to straddle him while we floated.
He looked into my eyes and frowned. “I’ve never had anyone fight for me like that.” He sounded mystified. “Lily…I’m not sure that I deserve you.”
Liam clearly had some self-worth issues—he’d said things like this before. It made me wonder just how dark his past was, not that it would change anything. Everyone was worth a second chance.
“We deserve each other.” I leaned in and pressed my lips to his.
“Okay, let’s wrap this up!” Elle shouted, and we broke away to see her and Cam stalking the outer woods with their eyes on the trees.
Right.
Paddling to the edge of the pond, Liam climbed out first, then pulled me up. “You okay?”
I was extremely okay. More okay than I’d been in a long time. Popping up out of the water, we both quickly filled our jars and secured the lids before putting them in my backpack. I was just lacing up my boots when Elle gasped. “What the hell is that?”
I followed her gaze, and my stomach dropped. A winged creature was flying high above the tree line but coming right for us. She had the head of a human woman but the body of a vulture, although she had human arms protruding from her chest.
“Demonic harpy!” I shouted, remembering them from the history of the Dark War. We weren’t taught about the Halflings and the real reason for the fall of Faerie, but we were taught about the Winter King and the untold evils he’d unleashed in an effort to control people near the end.
“Run!” Liam shouted, and hoisted the backpack over one shoulder, pulling me up with his free hand.
With one foot still bare, I took off after Liam as Cam and Elle ran right alongside us. When we entered the thick wood, I turned over
