Page 52

J ar’s lips thinned and then grunted. “Yes, she has brothers. Very few have memories of them, their existence erased from most fae after the blood wars by the Goddess herself.”

“How is it you have remembered, father?” Quinn asked, concern etched on his face.

Jarquinn regarded his son thoughtfully. “As a healer, my body continually heals itself with my manifested power. My memories cannot be altered, when they are…my power just heals itself and the memory comes back.” He sighed deeply.

“It is a curse as much as a blessing. There are many things I’d like to forget but cannot.

” Then he smiled at Quinn, the love for his son shining bright in his eyes.

“But then again, there are many memories that I am blessed to remember so vividly.”

I narrowed my eyes on the master healer.

My father had told me once, after one of many philosophical lessons from Jarquinn, to not listen to the words the ancient had to say…

but the words he di d not. That was where the real truth was.

“What risk does this put you in, telling us this, if it’s something we should not know, Jar? ”

He grinned at me. Pride shining in his eyes. “None that I cannot handle, my clever cub. Do not fret, Sheol will not come for me this day.”

I growled low. “Be that it will not come ever. We need you Jar.”

His slanted blue eyes held mine. “Even you cannot make such a promise, my king.”

Snarling, I looked around the room. My need to protect the ancient fae like he was my own father thundered in my blood. “None of this information leaves this room. Vow it now or leave before any more truths are to be told. I will not hold it against you.”

“I’m too comfortable to leave at this point.” Tyr emphasized his comfort by nestling more into his chair.

Penina wiggled her feet. “Same. I’m in ‘til the end of the end.”

Jar gave her a thoughtful look and my gaze darted between them. Penina held most of her own secrets close to her heart but every once in a while it was as if she left us clues to find them.

Quinn nodded dutifully but his face was lined with worry. “Of course I am with you my king. I vow it.”

“I vow to never share the tale you are about to tell. We love you Jar.” Eshe gave the healer a loving smile.

Everyone turned to the stoic shadow fae at my side who was watching Penina intimately just like I had been. She looked up with surprise when the silence was too obvious and her eyes darted around the table.

“Me? You’re asking me? Of course I vow it. I’ve had a damned target on my back since the day of my birth. There is no other way to live for me.”

Jarquinn’s sky blue eyes gazed at her with the same love he held for all of us.

“So be it.” He waved his hands around the room, spinning his tale.

“In the beginning the Goddess Faerie did not create this world alone. She had help, the help of her two brothers. Shea her older brother, the god of death, and Ichor her youngest brother, the god of blood. While Shea had a realm of his own to rule we often refer to as Sheol, Ichor did not.” He chuckled at the surprised looks around the room before he continued.

“As an act of gratitude for assisting her in creating Faerie, she granted her two brothers the ability to create two species of their own in their like image, a species she called the fae. Shea’s creations were creatures of the night and he bestowed upon them powers to manipulate darkness.

He named them the Shadow Fae.” The master healer gave Remnant a pointed look before continuing.

“The blood fae were Ichor’s creation, created in his own image and he gifted them a small fraction of his power we call the Sanguine.

Faerie then created the rest of the courts…

the shifters, the elementals, and the water fae.

And so the era of the fae began. The God Shea returned to his own realm, leaving the shadow fae to live under his sister’s rule but the younger brother remained having no realm of his own, he wanted to watch over his creations along with his sister.

Faerie indulged him, for she loved her brothers, especially her youngest… even if he always craved for more.”

Jarquinn's eyes became distant and Tyr shifted uncomfortably in his seat, wary of the ancient healer lost in forgotten memories.

“When the wars reached their peak,” he began again, still distant, “we realized it wasn’t just the hunger that drove the blood fae but also the encouraging whisperings of the God Ichor.

For he craved the entire world for himself, a world of his own to rule.

By the time his sister noticed Ichor’s influence had spread, the damage was already done.

Their feud clashed in a brutal force of power that even to this day, I hope to never witness again. ”

Quinn stood abruptly and rushed to his fathers side. Placing his own healing hand on Jar’s shoulder. “Father?”

Jar shook his head, murmuring words that even my shifter hearing could not make out.

The rest of us stayed deathly silent. It was foolish to provoke an ancient unless it was life or death and since the time I could remember I had always been respectful of the power Jar held at bay.

There was a reason he chose the art of healing instead of death.

Blinking back the haunted memories, Jar’s hand shook as he placed it over his son’s supportive hold.

“We were all pawns in the games of war for the gods and Ichor had many years to plan his conquest. Faerie's grip on her brother began to slip.” He gave us all a pointed look.

“You all must understand that much of her power is utilized to sustain the world she loves, fighting her brother and keeping the lands stable weakened her greatly. So she sent one fae deep into the depths of Sheol to recover her absentee older brother, in hopes that he would agree to turn the tide of the war in her favor.”

“Shea.” Remnant murmured, her brow furrowed as she listened.

Jarquinn’s eyes twinkled. “Yes. Shea, the god of death, initially wanted nothing to do with the battle, seeing it merely a squabbling feud between his two siblings. He had his own realm to rule and it was currently flourishing from the influx of souls the blood war created.”

“What convinced him then?” Penina interrupted.

“Not what…but who.” Jarquinn’s eyes leveled on Remnant and the whole room turned to gawk at her.

She snorted and let out a small laugh. “Really? I hadn’t even come into my powers yet and was doing my training in The Under during that time.

” Remnant cocked her head. “You have an art for story telling, Master Healer, so I’ll ask what everyone wants to know.

Who was it that Faerie sent?” Remnant inquired.

Jarquinn smiled. “ She was a stubbornly fierce, intelligent, and beautiful shadow fae named Eve—”

Remnant froze next to me and her shadows sprung upwards, cloaking my soulmate in darkness. “My mother? My mother was the one Faerie sent to Sheol.” She whispered, shocked from the information.

I frowned. Either Eve never shared this information with Remnant or rather could not. As Jar had said, all of our minds had been erased of such knowledge.

Jarquinn nodded sadly. “Yes, your mother Eve saved us all really. She convinced the God Shea to join his sister Faerie for the good of our world. Together, God and Goddess defeated the blood fae but at a great cost. As a god of death, Shea was bound by a set of rules, one of them being that he was never to interact with our world. If he did, a price had to be paid.”

“Our memories.” Eshe whispered.

“Indeed. But I do believe that he suffered a worse punishment for his partaking. We will never know for sure.”

I cleared my throat. “What of this brother god, Ichor?”

Jar sighed. “Not having the heart to kill her own brother, Faerie allowed him to flee after she killed the last of his creations but not before bitter Ichor delivered a final crushing blow. In his wake he left a terrible, awful curse. One meant to cruelly torture his sister in the most festering of ways.”

My brows arched and I growled. “He made us sterile. ”

Jar nodded. “Yes, your majesty. Blood is life, as much as Faerie has the power to nourish life and Shea has the power to take it, Ichor has the power to gift it.”

I snarled. “He took life from us in the only way he could without the blood fae to manipulate.”

“Yes and there has not been a faeling conceived since that day. Those born after the blood wars were already in the womb of their mothers. Until now.” He added.

Eshe spoke with a shaky voice. “The faeling. What does it mean then? Has the curse been lifted?” The fragile hope in her eyes was almost painful to see. Like most of us, Eshe longed for a child of her own.

“The faeling is…unique. She was warded with the power of the Sanguine…it was literally altering her life essence…turning her into something she was not born to be.”

I growled. “What the fuck does that mean? If she is not water fae then what is she?”

Jarquinn shook his head. “I have no way of knowing yet. Her healing sleep will reveal much but not until she wakes, which won't be for some time now. What I do know is that with the wards lifted, she will become what she was meant to be at birth.”

“It doesn’t matter what she is. What does matter is that those blood wraiths wanted her in The Under and I will kill anyone who attempts to take her from me.

” Remnant snarled and the hairs on my arms stood up at the lethal tone of her voice while the mate in me purred with admiration of her protective nature.

I leveled Jar with a stern look. “If the wraiths were after her in The Under then that means she is vital to Deirdre’s plans.

” He nodded and I shifted my gaze to Tyr.

“The faeling is under full protection of the crown and this city. We must be even more heavily prepared for any attacks that may come.”

“Acknowledged, sire. ” Tyr growled, then tilted to Remnant snarling. “I will make sure not a fucking thing gets near her, beauty.”

Penina tossed the apple she had finished an hour ago onto the table and Eshe sent her a disgusted look.

“To sum this fucking mess up. Our memories were erased about a war between gods that caused us to be cursed with infertility.

In the meantime, Faerie is still missing, our lands are dying, blood wraiths are extending past the deadlands, and Deirdre is alive and well—likely to appear in just a few weeks from a gateway that's been closed for one hundred years, and this faeling is the key to unlocking our future.” She rolled her tongue along her teeth, a strange light lit in her eyes. “Did I miss anything?”

I watched the expressions on my family's faces and knew it would stay ingrained in my memory forever.

Penina's held conviction, Tyr’s eyes glittered with the prospect of battle, Jarquinn looked on solemnly at his son who gave him a reassuring nod, Eshe’s lips thinned with stubborn resolve, and a shadow storm was brewing around Remnant—the darkness shifting in her emerald eyes along with the shadows cloaking her.

“Fuck.” I snarled.