Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“My house?”
The female strode around him. “You look much like him. Though I do not know how many generations it has been since King Grenard sat on his throne.”
Fordham’s eyes rounded. “Thousands of years, my lady. That was my great-great-great-grandfather.”
“Then, you still bear the weight of Grenard’s failure.”
“I do not understand.”
“Grenard was my lover for a time,” the female admitted. “I frequented your realm more regularly then. Children still fascinated me. They hadn’t yet wrecked the world.”
Kerrigan tried to hide her shock at the words spilling from her lips. This female had to be over five thousand years old. Perhaps older.
“I charged him to take better care of his tribe. I saw the divisions forming between his people, between the houses, between the humans who had always worshipped me, and I told him to stop.” She came to a halt before Fordham. “I told him that if he did not, then he would see those he loved perish and receive the enmity of his children.”
Fordham was shaking now. Hearing this old tale for the first time clearly. Something that the generations had hidden from him.
“He did not stop, and it went to his firstborn and then his firstborn and then his.” She gestured to him. “And to you.”
“There must be a way to stop it,” Fordham gasped, suddenly desperate.
“Only you can stop it, child of the night,” she said. She placed a hand on his cheek. “Renounce the old ways and find peace with your subjects and the humans. Bring Charbonnet back into the light.”
“I must … reclaim my throne,” he choked out. Fordham looked as if he had been punched in the gut.
All this time, he had suffered under the weight of such an old curse. He had been certain he could break it, only to find out that the way to do so was to head back on the path he had given up. That humans and half-Fae were to live in peace with the Fae of the House of Shadows. That as king, he could enact these very measures. It was all so much.
“Wish fulfilled,” the woman said.
Then, she turned her gaze away from Fordham, who was still processing this information.
“And you. It has been even longer since I have seen one of your kind.”
Kerrigan bristled at that word. She had just said that she appreciated the humans who worshipped her. And now, she was going to insult her.
“What is your wish, child?”
A million questions came to mind. With the kind of power this female possessed, Kerrigan could get anything she wanted. Yet she couldn’t escape those words—your kind.
She needed nothing from someone who would say that. Kerrigan had been doing just fine. She wasn’t here for a wish. She hadn’t even been in search of the witch. In fact, she’d believed that Arbor’s story was all a fallacy until she was told about it by the Erewa. This wasn’t her journey, and she would accept nothing.
“I don’t need a wish,” she told her. “I was here for Fordham.”
The female smiled, and Kerrigan felt her knees go weak. She had to lock them to keep from falling down in supplication.
“Then, you have passed the final test.”
Kerrigan blinked. “I did what?”
“The proof of a pure heart is a selfless act for another.”
The room felt dizzy at the confession on the female’s tongue. She hadn’t known there was a final test. She had thought they had already passed all the tests.
“For that, I will give you a boon.”
Kerrigan opened her mouth to object, but nothing came out.
“My name is Titania.”
Kerrigan gasped at the same time Fordham fell to his knees. Tears came to Kerrigan’s eyes, unbidden.
“The mother of the Fae,” she whispered.
Titania inclined her head. “That is one of my many titles. As you have proven, titles do not tell the whole story.”
“But … you were one of the first Fae,” Fordham said, awestruck.
“Yes. I was in the garden with my husband and sisters. I have seen the age of Fae thrive. I have seen my children flood the earth with offspring. I have seen it all wane.” Titania put a hand to Kerrigan’s cheek. “You are of my daughter Brigid. You have her touch of prophecy.”
She lifted Fordham’s chin to look into his roiling gray eyes. “You are descended of my nephew Samil from my sister’s line. Mab would approve of you, I think.”
Fordham looked thunderstruck. No words passed his lips.
Kerrigan couldn’t believe she was in the presence of one of the first Fae. Their names were more legend than reality. She had never dreamed that any of them lived. Let alone still in Alandria.
Titania tilted her head slightly as she gazed upon Kerrigan. “You wear something from one of my children.”
She took Kerrigan’s hand and plucked the metal ring from her finger. Kerrigan had completely forgotten she had Dozan’s ring on. Little good it had done. Titania’s magic had still worked its way through her with or without a ring.