Page 20 of City of Promise and Light (Mates of Gods and Fae #1)

Samian

The results are ready—come as soon as possible.

-A.

R estless, I rushed down the steps of the library.

The urgency of her note, the sense of secrecy, the phoenix drawing at the bottom—it all worried me—and I knew that whatever she found wasn’t good.

We created the drawing years ago in case there was something important—and secret—we needed to discuss.

Sybil’s blood work was just supposed to tell us how much of her was fae and how potentially strong she could be.

Ambrose assumed that her ability to use her magic while still mostly human meant that she could be incredibly powerful.

Part of me feared just how right he was.

Leaving the library, I checked the hallway, making sure it was empty before summoning up my magic, transferring me to the doors of the medical wing. As I opened those doors, I was greeted by one of the healers, just as Aster turned the corner.

“Ah, right on time,” Aster said, looking at a folder filled with documents. “I was beginning to think you were going to miss your appointment, Samian.” The sharpness of her voice was enough to send the healer running into another room.

I laughed softly, tracking the healer's movement. “My apologies, Aster. I lost track of the time.”

Aster walked past me, huffing as she led us to a room down the furthest hallway.

She opened the room wide enough for me to enter before closing it softly behind her.

Peering through the small window on the door, she quickly locked it and moved a tall cabinet to block the window.

Raising an eyebrow, my jaw clenched tightly as I studied the tightness in her features.

“Aster,” I breathed, taking a step toward her.

She put her hands in front of her, stopping me from getting closer.

Taking a step back, she leaned against the shelf; her face was pale and worn.

“I don’t know what you’ve gotten me into this time, Samian, but whatever it is, you have to promise me that Ambrose will never find out what I’m about to tell you.

” Aster took a shaky breath, swallowing hard.

“He will kill me if he finds out that I’ve kept something like this from him. ”

“Aster, I don’t understand,” I murmured, my chest tightening with alarm at the shadows flickering in her eyes.

“Promise me, Samian,” Aster demanded out.

“Fine, I promise. Aster, what’s going on?”

Grabbing my arm, Aster pulled me to a table with a microscope, throwing Sybil’s folder on the desk. “Look into the microscope and tell me what you see.” Her voice was tight, trembling slightly.

My brows furrowed, but I leaned over, carefully peering into the microscope, finding Sybil’s blood on the plate.

I could see the mix of blood cells, both fae and human.

Taking a closer look, a human cell slowly morphed into a cell that looked remarkably identical to that of a fae.

Whipping my head to Aster, she pointed to a computer on the table behind us, showing a more detailed view of Sybil’s DNA.

“What is this?” I asked, my voice hard while my heart started to race.

“I had assumed Sybil’s fae blood was on the lower end.

I thought that she probably had a distant relative that was fae or mixed.

But there are three abnormalities that I noticed when I studied her blood closely.

” Pausing, Aster took a deep breath as we watched another blood cell change.

“The first and most concerning is that she’s not exactly fae. She belongs to the Seelie Court.”

Watching another cell morph, my stomach dropped. She was a part of the Seelie Court, the court of the gods, the children of the first faeries and elves who created our realm. Ambrose would kill her if he knew. He would kill anyone who knew. “What are the other two?”

“Her human blood is changing rapidly. Those cells look similar enough to fae cells that anyone untrained wouldn’t know the difference. However, they’re morphing into seelie cells.”

Shaking my head, I tried to piece together what Aster was saying, but I couldn’t understand. I could see them changing, but this… this was unheard of.

Aster exhaled sharply at my ineptitude and pulled a closer image of Sybil’s blood work. “You bound her when she was a child, correct?” she asked, annoyance coloring her words.

“I did, but I don’t see what that has to do with her blood changing,” I confessed, slightly cringing when Aster’s frown deepened .

“Because she was bound, her seelie blood was put to sleep, so to speak. However, when the bind was broken, her newly awakened magic kick-started her seelie blood.” Cutting her gaze to me, Aster leaned forward, whispering so softly that I could hardly understand her words.

“She’s turning less human with every second, Samian.

It seems like it has slowed down for the time being, but at the moment, she’s around twenty-five percent seelie. "

I blinked. “What?” My stomach twisted further as unease gathered in the pit of my stomach.

“That can’t be. Her father mentioned that this has existed in her family for centuries.

His own blood work showed less than half a percent.

I can understand how her percentage could be higher than that, but not to that degree. ”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Samian,” Aster shrugged. “The results are showing twenty-five percent and growing. You saw it yourself. Her human blood is changing.”

Frowning, I looked back to the screen, my throat tightening as another cell changed. “You said there was a third abnormality.”

Aster exhaled through her nose, pulling up another image of a cluster of seelie blood cells. “Do you see that cell?” she said, pointing to a cell on the right.

I leaned in closer, focusing on the cell when it suddenly pulsed before returning to normal. “What was that?” I asked quietly, unable to look away from the screen.

Aster hesitated, rolling her hand into a tight fist. “I don’t know.”

We continued watching as the cell pulse again, others joining it. The thick silence stretched between us.

“Have you seen that before?”

Shaking her head, Aster stood, turned to me, and leaned against the desk, crossing her arms. She eyed the microscope, her finger tapping against her arm.

Her lips thinned as she bit the inside of her cheek.

Shaking her head again, she exhaled sharply, picked up the folder, and shoved it against my chest. Taking the folder, I opened it, running my eyes over Sybil’s results.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before, but my gut is telling me that this,” Aster said, pointing to the computer screen, “is something that Ambrose shouldn’t know about.

” I opened my mouth, ready to ask a question, but she put her hand up, silencing me before I could even speak.

“I can’t explain why. However, my intuition is warning me against it.

I-I changed the numbers on the results I sent to Ambrose to show that she’s ten percent fae and left out the abnormalities.

Those,” she said, pointing to the folder in my hands, “are the results that show the correct numbers. I suggest you either keep this to yourself or keep this within our group. I would even suggest not telling Sybil until you know if she can be trusted with this information.”

“Shit,” I breathed, trying to calm my racing thoughts. “I’ll do some research to see if anything similar has happened before.”

Eyeing the folder, I opened it, skimming through the results again.

The Seelie Court.

Sybil belonged to that dangerous group. I fought against the shudder that threatened to surge through me.

Taking out the papers, I released a quick breath while I folded them, placing them in the hidden pocket of my vest. Glancing over to Aster, her eyes were hard as they stared at the floor.

I studied the rigidness of her stance, the fear that had been in her eyes from the moment I entered the medical wing, and my heart clenched at the sight of it .

Without thinking, I moved, closing the distance between us.

Putting my hands on either side of her, I leaned in, giving her a soft kiss on her cheek, lingering for a short moment before I straightened.

Aster swallowed thickly, looking away, but my smile grew when I noticed how she was holding her breath.

Chuckling, I put my finger under her chin, pulling her head back to me.

The pink in her cheeks grew, her eyes narrowing at me, giving me a steely glare.

Of all the years I’d known her, she was reclusive, always preferring the quiet over the presence of people. She could be cold and hard to those around her, but for anyone she allowed close, she cared for them deeply. It was a wonder people couldn’t see that.

“Thank you,” I said softly, and meant it.

Aster just rolled her eyes, and I knew she was fighting the urge to elbow me in the gut. Reaching for the end of her rich brown hair, I gave it a slight tug. “Goodbye, Aster,” I said, moving the shelf and leaving the room, her quiet tsk following me out the door.

Before leaving the medical ward, I sent a note to Sybil, letting her know that the rest of today’s lesson was canceled and for her to start reading the books I had given her earlier.

I made my way back to the library, finding the section for biology, pulling any book I could find in hopes of uncovering any answers about the pulsing cells or to her blood changing.

After gathering a good selection of books, I let my magic free, transferring myself to my quarters and making my way to the hidden room, grabbing John’s journal along the way.

I needed to do this research away from the eyes of Ambrose’s spies.

The last thing I needed was for Ambrose to get suspicious.

Three hours passed, and I still hadn’t found a single thing about Sybil’s abnormalities.

Looking through John’s journal didn’t provide much help either.

His thoughts were scattered and erratic, like a man slowly losing his grip on reality.

I couldn’t make sense of most of what was written.

However, there was one section that caught my attention.

John and The Harbingers had noticed the abnormal pulsing cells in his blood.

According to their research, it was further proof of John’s lineage coming from a demon, but their explanations were too short-sighted, limited to only believing in angels and demons.

They had no idea of the hidden creatures that roamed Mide and beyond.

However, this did tell me that it wasn’t an anomaly that started with Sybil, nor did it seem like some odd mutation.

This was proof that Sybil’s lineage came not only from the Seelie Court.

There was something else hidden in her bloodline, something that I needed to find before Ambrose learned of this.

Leaning back in my chair, I closed my tired, blood-shot eyes, letting them rest. I still hadn’t decided whether I should tell Sybil about the results of her bloodwork. She was still too unaware of the danger Ambrose posed to her, still too naive of his character.

Exhaling, I opened my eyes, scanning through her results.

We were able to confirm during her lesson that her magic is the element of light.

The glow that surrounded her was bright and warm when she settled into herself, and the power that radiated from her was strong.

She could be powerful if trained well. She could be the weapon the rebels had been searching for if she would stop letting the fear of her magic consume her.

Setting the results aside, I flipped to the next page in an ancient journal I had stumbled on. Oddly enough, though the tome was in the biology section, it turned out to be a journaled medical log for those of the royal bloodline.

Scanning the page, my heart stopped before thumping hard against my chest. I straightened in my chair, feeling blindsided by what the page showed.

A lump rose in my throat and I quickly read the rest of the long-forgotten passage of a high fae named Lux.

Slamming the book shut, I called my magic to me, preparing to transfer myself.

I stood, letting the world tilt around me until I stepped in front of a quiet cell.

The dungeon was dark, wet, and cold. The musty smell of fear and piss filled the air.

However, the cell before me was clean and warm.

There was a small window close to the ceiling, allowing the room a small amount of light, while lamps illuminated the room decorated in velvet furniture.

Silk curtains hung along the stone walls, a small warm bed with fur pelts lay on top, and plush rugs covered the floor, giving the cell a surprisingly cozy feel to it, considering the circumstances.

I grabbed the bars, the icy cold biting at my hands. My heart thrashed in my chest. Formality long forgotten by a burning need for answers, my eyes narrowed on the female inside. “She’s your descendant,” I breathed, a sickening shock rolling through me.

Releasing a sharp breath, Queen Cassia closed her book with a thud before slowly making her way to the iron bars that had kept her imprisoned for over fifty years.