The woman motions with a hand for me to enter the house and steps aside in the doorway. Her aura swims in kindness. There's not a mean bone in her body, and I know now why Relle selected this house for my babe.
Up until now, I haven't cried, as I was too busy trying to not be caught, but now I can't seem to stop. My arms cling to Guendolyn like somehow I can keep her. The idea of staying here with her plays with me, teases me, but it’s useless. My family will find me—they know my aura, and it'll lead them directly to me. But not my girl. I made sure no one would ever find her. As long as she stays here, the curse put on her should never come to pass. The glint of my magic, which will keep her concealed, still sparks in her. On Earth, she can just be a normal human and live a simple life rather than be hunted down.
"Is everything alright, ma'am?"
Startled by the woman’s words, I lift my head and blink. I don't think as I hand my baby to her. "Please, will you hold her for a moment for me while I pull myself together?"
"Of course." She’s a beautiful soul and scoops up Guendolyn, already cooing her a lullaby, rocking her in her arms.
My chin trembles, vision blurs with too many damn tears. Empty and barren is how I feel, my arms growing heavy from the loss.
When she's busy looking at the child, I slip away with the speed of the wind and pray I've done the right thing to keep Guendolyn safe.
When I’m across the road in the shadows of trees, I look back. I can't stop myself. The woman is in the doorway holding her, searching, calling for me. Then I turn and run.
I love you, my little fairy.
Chapter 1
Guendolyn
"The King of Shadow Court is dead! He’s been murdered!” Ahren’s advisor, Mael, declares from the doorway, his face pale and stricken with grief.
Silence falls over the bedroom. This has to be a mistake. So this... god no, please no, this has to be a mistake.
"What are you talking about?" Deimos asks, his voice still croaky from having just recovered from a Bloodcursed’s bite.
Ahren suddenly bolts out of the room, Luther on his heels, their thumping footfalls fading somewhere in the corridors.
Just like that, in the span of a few seconds, our world crumbles, and my stomach drops right through me.
The King of Shadow Court is dead.
My real father.
I finally found him, and he’s been swept away. I can barely make sense of it.
Deimos stumbles from the bed, but the reality of what I heard from Mael collides into me. It crashes over me like powerful waves.
My whole life I've longed to know who my parents are, and when I find one, he's been murdered.
What the hell, universe? You hate me that much?
I had cured Deimos from the Bloodcursed’s bite. Coupled with my memories from my past coming back to me, this should be a time to celebrate.
Instead, my knees wobble out from under me and they hit the floor, my stomach churning like I'm going to be sick. I can't even cry, because what stirs inside me isn't heavy grief but shock, sorrow and heartache of what’s been ripped away from me. It’s like I looked away for a few seconds and someone went into my room and stole everything I owned.
To have him ripped away breaks me. I spent one night with him, drinking and listening to his tales about fairies and fae, but it isn’t enough.
Did he know who I was, or was he as oblivious as me?
Deimos is kneeling next to me, his arm around my lower back, drawing me toward him. I should be the one helping him, seeing as he was on death's door just a few minutes ago. Instead, I'm falling apart against his side and tucking my cheek to his chest. The moment he embraces me, the tears fall. He takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. His touch is overwhelmingly warm from being in bed so long, and he smells of perspiration, but I don't care.
Each breath comes hard. I never asked to be abandoned. Never asked to be born, either. And I hate those old feelings rising through me again. I worked for so many years with counsellors to learn to love myself and accept myself as I am, to convince myself that I’m not ‘less than’ because my parents left me alone in the world. Now, the familiar sensation of being abandoned forever claws through me, unravelling it all.
"It's going to be alright," Deimos whispers.
I look up at him, at this perfect man who barged into my blissfully unaware life on Earth and brought me back here to remember how royally screwed my life is. But when I meet his gaze, my heart melts like ice under the summer's sun.
"What's going on? I didn’t realize the king meant that much to you?" he asks softly.
"I don't know what to do. Tell me what I should be doing, Deimos." Confusion and agony rip through me again and again until I can't breathe.
He cups my face, his thumbs rubbing away my tears. "I don't understand, Guendolyn. What do you mean?"
I can't stop the growing ache in my chest, the one where I miss a man whom I barely knew and who I've searched for my whole life. But I shake my head. "Go see your father." I pull back, desperately wanting to drown in my loneliness, to let myself grieve and fall into the sorrow hacking at my chest. To be left alone as I come to terms with so much that I don't know where to start or end.
Deimos doesn't know that the king was my biological father. And this
