Page 15 of Faerie Fate (Fae Academy for Halflings #7)
We all knew about the famous witch. And I’d heard the Faerie Prophecy from Orelle, the castle oracle. “Great, where did she live?” I asked.
“We know she died during the Great Pixie War.” Mike worked his jaw and inhaled sharply. “I guess if we already have to go back through time to get the flower, then we can try to find them both at the same time. Did the flower exist during the Great Pixie War?”
He directed his question to Melia, her nose glued to her screen.
“Yeah, of course it did. Its numbers were already starting to decline then. Apparently it was being used to enchant weapons for the pixies, so the fae targeted the flower fields during the Great Pixie War. Only a few specimens survived some kind of massive fire, and the last flower disappeared over a century ago.”
I frowned. “Weapons? How would that work?”
I glanced at Julie, who was used to being put on the spot.
The blue-skinned fae barely batted an eye before saying, “Many of the plants in fae lore can be used for healing or for destruction. It depends on the spells combined with the plant, as well as the alchemical reaction when it’s combined with different substances.
A small change can take even the greatest healing properties and warp them. ”
My classes felt like ages ago. And with the crackling of the flames, I knew the others were thinking the same. Even Coral’s gaze had gone distant, her mind somewhere else.
The world had changed around me and I didn’t have a second to spare to think about whether I’d changed with it or not.
I caught Mike’s gaze before he hurriedly looked away from me again, the tips of his pointed ears going red.
“Apparently, Oxana was known for hiding away, untraceable until she had something to say. Like when she came out with the Faerie Prophecy,” Melia said as she scrolled. “She’s regarded as one of the greatest seers of her time.”
Bronwen sniffed. “What made her so great?”
“The last prophecy she gave was the largest one, but apparently everything she said before it came true. According to history, she was sought out by lords from other realms but no one knew how to track her until she showed herself.” Melia’s lips rounded. “This is crazy stuff,” she finished.
“Which means it won’t be easy for you to find her,” Coral told Mike.
Melia puffed out her chest. “Not necessarily. Oxana’s last known whereabouts were here, in Eahsea, during the time frame prior to the Great Pixie War. She disappeared again before the fighting started but this specifically states she was in this area of the realm.”
“It’s worth the risk,” Julie continued at whatever expression she witnessed on my face.
I shot her a grateful grin, my fingers twitching. The hooks of dizziness tugged at me, spinning my brain, turning my stomach, even though I sat still.
“You’re right,” I agreed. “If Mike is okay with it.”
“I’m fine,” he bit out, abruptly rising. “Let’s get it over with.”
Then he’d be done with me. My heart dropped, stuck somewhere between my solar plexus and my groin.
Coral leaned back closer to the fire and her hair took on the glow of the embers themselves. “Look at someone over there, so eager.”
“He’s trying to save her life.” Melia glared at Coral. “You could use a little empathy.”
Coral rolled her eyes but said nothing, like she’d somehow forgotten that Mike was the crown prince and deserved respect.
Melia, on the other hand, refused to forget how irritating my cousin could be before you got to know her.
And I wasn't strong enough to get them to stop bickering with each other.
In fact, there was something comforting about the familiarity of it.
Noren pressed against me hard enough to bruise my shin bones.
“I’d advise you, Michael, to tread carefully once you’re in the past. You do not want to go anywhere near the fighting. The Great Pixie War devastated Faerie,” Julie reminded him. “It tore the world in two.”
Something tickled the corners of my brain. Someone I knew, involved with the war?—
A dull splintering ache took the line of thought away before I grabbed hold of it and I gritted my teeth. The sooner we got this finished, the better.
“I’ll be able to handle it,” Mike insisted. He drew the edges of his cloak around him as he stood. “With luck I’ll be able to navigate to a time before the war starts, and keep us out of danger. We should be able to jump back and heal Tavi in a matter of minutes.”
He made it sound simple, as if a snap of a finger would fix what we’d been outrunning for months.
I wanted his resolve to be mine. I wanted to feel normal, like we were back on the same page, even though I knew there would be no more normal between us. Not with this unnatural mate bond.
Even if we managed to find a witch, and this damn plant, and clear this bloodborne disease…there was still Kendrick to deal with.
“Hey, if you actually do find the most powerful witch of all time, you should ask her to help unlock Tavi’s powers while you’re at it,” Bronwen said.
Noren gave a whine of approval and I slid my hand through his ruff. “Bronwen, you’re full of great ideas today.” I beamed at her. My version of a beam.
Bronwen wasn’t the type to preen but I thought I caught a distinct ruffling about her, like a crow fluffing her feathers. Which was her chosen form when she changed, despite being a wolf shifter herself.
“I just figured if you were fully locked and loaded, you might be powerful enough to drop the boundary for us. Then we can get the rest of the students and Livvy out of the Academy,” Bronwen continued.
Me? Be that powerful? Not in my wildest dreams. I didn’t care what kind of prophecy there was about me, or what the goddess of Faerie had to say about it. And with my stomach attempting to turn itself inside out at the moment, I was too sick to correct her.
“Let’s get going then. Tavi?” Mike crossed the room and held out his hand for me to take again. “You sure you’re ready for this?”
I stared at the lines across his palms and the strain echoed with the lines around his eyes. “Of course.”
Lies .
Bronwen immediately stood as well. “You’re not going alone.”
“That was the general plan, yeah.” Mike continued to wait for me to take his hand and I did so, his skin hot where mine felt cold and clammy.
“Oh hell no.” Melia immediately threw herself into the fray. “There’s no way I’m letting you go alone. Tavi, you might not have a mirror, girl, but you’re about to collapse. Mike can take you back but he can’t project you?—”
Mike bristled. “I’ll protect her with my life.”
“By all means,” Coral added with a yawn, “duke this out among yourselves. I’ll be here watching it.”
“Look, we can’t all go. Too many people will mean too many ways we can change history or cause something terrible to happen,” Mike hissed through his teeth. “We have to go in like ghosts and leave without even being noticed.”
“Sending the two of you off together will be suicidal in Tavi’s current condition.” Melia didn’t need to stand to make her point. She sat there with her magic rippling around her, her face set into the no-nonsense expression she’d always used when she was my mentor.
“We have it handled. The only people who need to go back are me and Tavi,” Mike argued.
He stared at Bronwen, who made a point of holding his stare. Her round, moon-shaped face lifted up to his and her eyes glowed gold. Her wolf prowled close to the surface.
“You’ll need back up. A shifter might come in handy. No one will be expecting me and I’m not powerless,” she insisted. “I’m coming with you.”
Noren rose slowly, his hackles lifted, his teeth peeled back in a snarl.
“Oh, and the direwolf.” Bronwen pointed to him. “The four of us. That’s it.”
“It’s two too many,” Mike insisted hotly.
Bronwen’s fists curled. “Well, tough titties. I’m not staying behind.”
“Coral, Julie, and I will stay to work with the palace and get the students home or somewhere safe,” Melia cut in. She crossed one leg over the other. “Mike, Tavi, Bronwen, and Noren will go back in time.”
“Oh, like it’s somehow been decided now that you’ve said it out loud?” Coral yawned again, the motion exaggerated.
Melia bobbed her head. “Precisely.”
Coral snickered. “I’ve always assumed you were a Type A, Mel, but hearing about it and seeing it in action are two different things.”
Mike tugged me to his side, Noren providing much-needed support for my failing body. “Time to say goodbye, Tavi.”
I barely knew where I was. Barely had the mental wherewithal to form the words let alone understand the moment the way the tiny voice in my head urged me to. This might be the last time I saw my friends. Or if we were somehow miraculously successful, this was only a temporary goodbye.
Julie hugged me, followed by a bone-crushing embrace from Melia. My cousin and I locked eyes but we weren’t the touchy-feely type. I understood, though. As did she. Coral didn’t like to get emotional, and right now I couldn’t ask for more.
“Good luck,” Melia added. Her eyes watery. “Come back to us whole, okay?”
“I’ll try,” I managed to get out.
Mike tucked me underneath his arm and held out his opposite hand for Bronwen. Noren wound his massive body between us, around us, linking us all together.
As Mike’s magic bloomed, I really fucking hoped this wasn’t the last time I’d ever see my friends again.