Page 14 of Faerie Fate (Fae Academy for Halflings #7)

Chapter Nine

J ulie gave me a moment to adjust to the world-shattering news. No. That wasn’t…

No .

The only way to kill Kendrick would be to kill myself? Or if someone miraculously got to him first…then my life was forfeit as well?

“Do you think he knew that?” I whispered. “When he forced the bond?” My heart cracked.

Julie’s eyes narrowed and her wings gave an agitated flutter behind her back. “Yes, Tavi. I think he knew exactly what he was doing. Now, are you able to stand? Are you okay?”

No. Yes. Would I ever be okay again? Would I ever be able to live a normal life outside of this curse or my…my mate ?

Julie sent another wave of magic through my neck wound and I gathered it, hoarded it, drew it into me until the chills subsided.

“I think I can stand,” I agreed reluctantly.

If one dies, then so does the other .

It didn’t matter if I made it out of this. Not really. And walking was the least of my worries.

Julie gently pried herself out of my death grip and stood, crouching to help me rise too. When I didn’t stumble or fall, she helped herd me toward the stairs. Every step took more effort and concentration than it would have normally.

But I was walking. I was upright. Small wins compared to the absolutely horrendous dizziness splitting me into pieces, churning my stomach and sending bile erupting upward.

Coral and Noren were waiting at the top of the stairs. “That Marsh woman took the kids off to Professor Ian, to get them medical attention,” she said straightaway, tapping her foot. “Everyone else is waiting in the southern parlor.”

“And by everyone you mean…” Julie pressed.

Coral stiffened. “Everyone who matters. Come on.”

Much to my surprise, my cousin stepped up beside me and helped shoulder part of my weight. She stared at me with her usual down the nose disdain.

“Maybe you’re the one who needs to be in the hospital right now,” she said.

“I’ll get there as soon as I’m able,” I replied.

I smiled at Noren, who had to slow down to my molasses pace and kept whining and trying to lick my hands.

“I’m going to be fine,” I lied to him. “Stop worrying about me.”

If direwolves could roll their eyes, then Noren would have, his lips peeling up from his muzzle.

“I swear, Tavi, I think that beast really understands what you’re saying. He’s practically a fae.” Coral sniffed, groaning when I missed my next step.

“The fact that you have an Unseelie direwolf as a pet is astounding,” Julie agreed.

“He’s not a pet,” I corrected, wincing. “More like a mother hen. He’s always worried.” I wrestled with the strong urge to wrap my arms around his neck and never let go.

We regrouped in the parlor, every face sharing an identical expression of concern. Mike. Melia. Bronwen. My cousin and my direwolf. The dynamics threw me off because it was strange to see them all together, and stranger yet to miss Livvy and Laina.

But we’d added Nurse Julie.

“This is too fucking freaky,” Coral muttered, her lips pursed.

My thoughts exactly.

She helped deposit me in a wingback chair and snapped her fingers to light a fire in the grate. The magic blanketed the space with warmth as much as comfort.

Melia lifted a hand and a bubble of silence fell down around us. “There. This way, we’ll be able to talk without anyone interrupting us.”

Or walk into a conversation they weren’t supposed to hear.

“We should put this off,” Mike insisted, leaning forward. He laced his fingers together. “Tavi needs to see a healer as soon as possible.”

“I’ll be fine.” I’d say it, downplay it, as many times as possible.

I leaned back heavily and crossed my legs underneath me. Coral dropped down on a crimson velvet pouf in front of the fire, and Noren crouched in front of me to lean the bulk of his weight to me. If the chair was large enough, I had a feeling he’d have crawled onto my lap.

Julie remained near the door as though she wasn’t sure if her presence was necessary or not, her wings continuing to flutter. She wrapped her arms over her chest.

“Please don’t go,” I called out before she had a chance to move. “Stay.”

If I had another attack or ended up passing out, I’d need her. Die, and Kendrick will die too . The thoughts from the abyss were especially loud and no amount of swallowing or rage or curled knuckles destroyed them. So I shook the thought loose and focused on the others.

Coral stared at Julie with her eyes squinted, taking the nurse’s measure. Melia was the only calm one. Her face gave nothing away. She sat on a loveseat beside Bronwen, composed and poised, her expression serene even if there was chaos in her head.

“What kind of zombie curse is it, Tavi? Do you know the details?” Julie asked.

“Some kind of blood poisoning. Magic can keep the poison at bay but it isn’t the cure. I need to get the antidote…” I trailed off with a tight smile, thinking back. What was it Barbara had said? “A flower that I need to mix with grave dirt from Madam Muerte’s grave, and then eat it.”

Now, with the mate bond causing such a vicious reaction, it bumped up the urgency to finding the cure.

“Tavi, we can’t do anything with you like this,” Melia insisted gently. “We need to find this flower. Do you remember the name?”

With my head spinning this way? I barely remembered my own name. “Barbara just said it was a certain type of flower I’d mix with dirt from the old broad’s grave .” My stomach bubbled at the thought.

Melia sighed, chewing the inside of her cheek, her lips twisting as she thought. “I wish she’d given you a name.”

Barbara and I had been trapped in the cell together for a long time. Before Cosmo and his team of goons decided to take us straight up to the chopping block.

I shook my head. “She did. It started with an M, I think. Mor— Morse… Shit, I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t even save my own life.

Melia rattled off the names of several different flowers before Julie let out a delighted cry and stepped between us. “Tavi, was it a morsana flower?” She bent down until we were eye to eye. “It’s a type of nightshade with purple and blue petals.”

“Maybe?” I shrugged but even the slight movement of my shoulders was too much. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

She patted my forearm and Noren rested his head on my leg, staring dolefully up at me until my stomach sank.

I couldn’t just die and leave him alone, not after I’d used my cognitive manipulation on him and forced a bond between us. It felt wrong.

“I’ve read in several of my old healing textbooks that there was a kind of plant in the nightshade family that had exceptional properties when it came to the blood. I never got a chance to do any further research,” Julie continued. “The drawings were phenomenally detailed, that I do remember.”

Melia had her cell phone out of her cloak and in hand in the next beat. “Leave it to me.”

“She’s the research queen,” I added with a swell of pride for my old mentor.

“What did you say it was? A morsana?” Melia clarified. “I should be able to find something.”

“Will the connection work with the silencing bubble? Or is it too much magical interference?” Coral was ready to argue with anyone and everyone. She had the bored look on her face I’d gotten used to seeing in class and a drollness in her tone I’d always found annoying.

Now, my cousin’s bratty nature was familiar. Friendly. It was just the way she communicated, even though she stared at her nails.

Melia didn’t look up from the screen. “It should be fine. I’m connected now. Mor-san-a .” She typed as she spoke through the syllables.

It was too soon to hope for a quick answer. Wasn’t it?

Her expression immediately dropped and Melia struggled to wipe it clear. She lifted her head and fixed me with a tense grin. “Well.”

She was trying to sound chipper and failed abysmally.

“Spit it out.” The quicker she gave me the news, the better.

“Apparently, the flower you need is extinct. Like, centuries ago. From overuse and habitat destruction. No, wait. Targeted fae interference . It seems the fae deliberately obliterated the flower. Crap.” Her knee began to bob.

“Um, we might be able to find a specimen somewhere. In the castle stores, maybe?”

“The Elder Council hasn’t exactly prioritized the storing of rare or endangered flora.” Mike sagged even lower, his head between his knees. “I mean, we might be able to find something but I doubt it. Fuck.”

Coral tossed her hair over her shoulder. “As far as you know. Right? There may be some here at the school.”

“Or Mike can go back in time and get it.” Bronwen said it in her normal tone, easygoing, like she spoke to herself and hadn’t just let a bomb explode. We all turned to glance at her. Her cheeks pinked from the attention. “What? Can’t he?”

Mike slowly straightened, his hair standing out at odd angles like he’d fallen asleep in the center of a tornado. “I could,” he agreed. Ruminating on the idea. “I’ve never tried to go back that far, but it’s theoretically doable. As long as my magic is at its peak.”

“Which it’s not now, is it?” Coral asked dryly. “No offense but you look ready to take a dirt nap, Michael.”

“If you go back, find a powerful witch in the realm. Someone who can at least get you stable for the moment. Surely there are a bunch who have witch magic,” Julie suggested. “They’ll be able to better assist you with dosage, too.”

“If there are any witches, they’d likely be hidden. My father has ruled for centuries. His tyrannical half-breed policies forced the witches to go underground. It might take forever just to find someone like that.”

Bronwen jolted to her feet, her jaw dropped to her clavicle.

“If Mike gets his powers to full blast, then you already know when and where the most famous witch in the history of Faerie will be. Oxana the Sightless, remember? She’s the one who predicted the Great Prophecy.

The one about the shifters? During the Age of the Red Dawn. ”

Mike gawked at Bronwen. “That’s over three hundred years ago!”

Melia clapped her hands together. “Bronwen saves the day!”