12. Tesoro

12

TESORO

W e’ve come through from the Twilight Realm to a place I know in the human world. A field on the outskirts of my parent’s land near Florence, it’s surrounded by enormous cork oak, chestnut, and flowering ash trees that glimmer silver in the night. We must have lost time as we came through Master Ilyov’s portal, or Bello’s; dawn is already rising, though it should be near midnight by my estimation.

As a pink and gold glow lights the margins of the human realm sky, I heave hard breaths, amazed we made it. I feel like I’ve been through a meat grinder from vaulting through that portal as it collapsed; as Lucca extends a hand, helping me up, I blink to realize I missed him standing. Quinn is shaky but on his feet, as well. I’m the one in the biggest daze right now, as Quinn pulls me close and Lucca moves in also, chuckling at our escape.

Brushing grass off my rear.

“Quinn! The risks you take…!” Devi is on us as her irate voice slices the dawn air. The statuesque Dark Scarlet Fae briskly examines Quinn, Lucca, and me for any damage after we vaulted through a collapsing portal like that, though I see the tiniest smile haunting her lips, knowing that everyone was saved tonight .

“The portal is no more.” Quinn is succinct but gentle as he brushes Devi’s fastidious hands away, nodding that he’s alright. “The structure Bello linked it to is burned. And all the Council’s vampires along with it.”

“Still.” Devi purses her lips to hold back her smile; as her dark chocolate eyes twinkle in the rising light, I see we have an audience.

We’ve emerged near an ancient barn on my parent’s property; a massive thing with a stone foundation and stout beams above, the white stucco and stone walls are collapsing into ruin. It’s not a place my parents ever allowed me to explore. They always told me it was dangerous, that some calamity of magic had destroyed it long ago, which lingered inside.

I never questioned their story; the barn was three miles from the house and generally too far for me to visit. Even when I was out on a country ride with my horse, my mare never liked the building, so I never pushed it. I lift my eyebrows now to see the weather-worn wooden doors thrown wide.

A very different space inside than I thought.

As I gaze into the barn, I’m shocked to see a brightly lit building full of Dark Fae moving around and getting medical attention. Though the place looks ruined on the outside, I recognize Fae magic upon it now as it shimmers in my vision with the rising light.

It’s only now I realize it’s had a serious glamour on it the entire time I was growing up—and I never saw it, probably due to my parent’s fastidiousness hiding it, and because my magic never fully opened until I met Quinn and Lucca. I note now that the inside of the barn is not a barn at all, however, but a sprawling, well-provisioned Italian manor-house.

Which I can see now, showing through the glamour of the ancient ruin.

“You knew about this the entire time.” I turn to Devi; shock devours me as my past and present collide. “You knew about my family, and my parents, and this place. And me.”

“Correction: I knew Adicus and Illyria had an infant daughter they needed to get out of the Twilight Realm, for unknown reasons, and that they came here to protect her as she grew up,” Devi says with defiance. “I didn’t know you were from one of the Royal Houses of the Summer Fae, Ariana. Nor who you were—your parents kept that secret to themselves. I only guessed you were probably Dark Fae, which is why they brought you here. They kept you away from the safe house and we glamoured the fuck out of it, so you wouldn’t be exposed to our operations and could grow up normally, as per your parent’s wishes.”

“Normal like a human, even though I was Dark Fae.” Something simmers inside me then, as I try to come to terms with the full magnitude of all my parent’s lies, and now Devi’s, Curio’s, and Alleno’s, as well. Only Quinn and Lucca told me the full, honest truth when they met me.

I glance at them both now—watching them simmer as much as me, that they’ve been lied to.

“We should head to the main house.” Alleno clears his throat now, as Quinn, Lucca, and I stew. “I’m sure Ariana would like to see her parents, as they’re not here at the safe house right now.”

“My mother’s probably in her herb garden, gathering herbs for the day’s preparations,” I say at once, as all my parent’s habits come rushing back. “My father likes to start his day with his pipe and a book in his library, as he enjoys his coffee and a biscotto. Before going out to work with the horses and hounds, taking different ones into the forest for training. Which… was him checking up on the Dark Fae at the safe house all this time, and I never knew it.”

I blink then, feeling like this is all too surreal. Quinn reaches out, taking my hand as Lucca steps to my back, smoothing his hands down my shoulders to steady me.

“Curio and I will stay here and help Arturos and Bello heal the wounded,” Devi says as Curio nods. Both of them glance at the open doors of the manor house where Arturos glimpses at us, before heading inside to heal someone.

“Besides, Bello will probably make his infamous breakfast pizzas, and I’m not missing that after everything we went through last night.” Curio chuckles, though even I can tell he’s exhausted now as he smiles at us.

“Are you all right to have Alleno escort you to the house, Quinn?” Devi asks, her alert gaze piercing Quinn, as if asking him a far deeper question than I know.

“We’ll be fine, Devi. Thank you.” Quinn nods, as he assuages whatever she’s concerned about.

As a morning wind blows, warming already, it shakes the trees at the edge of the field. Sunlight hits me, and it’s only then I realize Quinn, Lucca, and I are still wearing our sleek, warm furs and brocaded silks from Novakitsk.

As the late summer day rises, I’ve started to sweat from the swaddling elegance of the ice citadel’s fabrics. As Lucca clears his throat, he tugs the fur collar of his jerkin open at his neck, though none of it seems to bother Quinn. His temperature has ceased to spike and plummet as he stands with me now, his hand cool in mine.

Quinn is a lance of dark intent as he stews, however. I feel wariness inside him; hesitation almost as big as mine at seeing my parents this morning. I remember then that they were both major figures in the reign of his father, King Aurelio Incendari—whom Quinn did not get along with.

My father, Adicus Briarwick, was Tempest of the Darkwatch at that time; my mother, Illyria Amati, had been the First Spear of the old King’s army, his top general in the War of Rome.

I don’t know what relationship Quinn had with my parents back then. But as Lucca frowns also, his energy churning as much as Quinn’s, I know Lucca would have known my parents as well. Lucca had been in the Darkwatch when my father was Tempest, and both Quinn and Lucca fought in the War of Rome under my mother as their First Spear.

It’s an angle to this story I never considered, as I watch them both now and feel their unrest. As Alleno nods us towards four waiting horses, steeds from my parent’s farm, however, I feel Quinn and Lucca firm their intent to go see my family.

Only I’m left standing in indecision, as everyone steps to the horses and mounts up. Lucca brings my horse to me, handing me the reins of a tall bay gelding my family named Chiassoso . Gazing down intently at me, Quinn nearly dismounts to speak with me when I hold a hand up. He sits back in the saddle with a nod. He understands what I’m feeling as he watches me mount up.

A feeling of being out-of-place in my home—now that so many things have changed.

Our ride through the early morning forest is silent. Birds chirrup and call in the new day; the yip of fox pups echoes through the towering silver forest as they play around their burrow, silenced by a bark from their mother as we ride through. I know that fox-hole and that downed cherry laurel; I played as a child on that large white boulder in the copse of white poplar with the honeybee hive buzzing nearby.

As we near the actual farmstead rather than riding through the woodlands, I hear the whinny of horses. A casual farm, my father keeps hounds and horses that he breeds for sale, while my mother obsesses about her herbs and has made a business of being the local herbalist for the nearby villages.

Never in my life had I suspected my parents of having serious military and fighting careers for the Summer Fae; though looking back on it now, it should have been clear. With all the Fae sigildry and fighting-adjacent arts they taught me, I basically learned everything they knew about warfare, only in an artistic, highly codified form.

I’m lost in those memories now as we pass the large stone and stucco barn for the horses, and the smaller hound-house beside that. We’re on a white gravel path now, one I’ve walked thousands of times from the barn to the house. As we round a stand of cypress trees, the path opens up into the wide, circular gravel drive of the Summers household.

And the massive villa of my young life, where my parents still live .

I rein up now, staring at it as a thousand emotions cascade through me. I glow with good memories of childhood running wild and free here; I twist at hard memories of going to school with humans in the nearby village, and finding out I was different from them.

Even though I didn’t know then that I had magic, I’ve learned my parents lied to me about who they were, and who I am. It casts my memories in a strange light now as I stare at the sprawling Italian manor, done in traditional villa-style with stone and stucco walls, gables full of wrought-iron balconies and large picture windows, with a red, clay-tiled roof.

Herbs and flowers drip from pots all over the large stone front veranda and porch; more spill down from the balconies, blooming in a heady late-summer riot thanks to my mother’s care with plants. I wonder now how much of that riot was created with careful use of her magic, in a way that even I would never sense nor feel growing up. She always had the perfect healing salve for any injury and the best tincture for any malady.

Another use of magic, probably, that went under my radar all these years.

I see Fae wards on the house glimmer now in beams of early sunshine that lance through the trees, cascading across the sunny porch, walls, and balconies. My father’s design, I can read many of them now in the rising light, full of complex Summer Fae incantations for protection, invisibility to danger, and to repel any human or Fae authorities who might come sniffing around.

Complex wards are written around the property also, specifically mentioning the Summer Fae King, keeping this entire place invisible to him and his people. I watch Lucca frown now as he reads those sigils, illuminated by my magic pouring over them in a dark cascade of rainbows in the morning. Quinn’s onyx gaze just peruses them.

As if they surprise him not at all.

Just then, the front door of the manor is thrown open. As my mother Illyria Amati hustles out, wiping her busy hands on her dirty formulating apron, I see how her dark eyes widen in shock to see us. Quinn, Lucca, and Alleno dismount; my mother’s dark brown eyes rove them swiftly, wide as her bright red-copper hair is tousled by the wind in its messy bun.

She’s wearing her regular ankle boots and gardening jeans, plus a blousy shirt embroidered with flowers. Though she’s always been a kind cuddle and a good time in the garden for me, plus bubbling laughter in the kitchen, I see now how her dark eyes go flinty with war to see her ex-prince Valerio Incendari before her.

And her new one, Lucca Bellari, beside him.

Her gaze pins me next, however, and stays, as she finishes wiping her hands on her apron. I watch as a thousand emotions cascade through my mother—sorrow and hardship honing her lean body and high-cheeked face, though a loving smile lifts her lips. Ignoring her princes now, she strides to me, brisk. As she comes to my horse, taking the reins and gazing up at me, I pause in the saddle.

And then the deepest feeling of truth swamps me.

I slide fast from the saddle—embracing my mother in a wave of love.

We hold each other for a long moment. I breathe her in as we embrace; as scents of camphor and rosemary swamp me, along with lavender and sage, her wild, curly red hair tickling my face, I feel myself come home.

Her arms are like loving iron as they wrap around me; I know now that her lean, strong body was honed by centuries of war—which she gave up to save Dark Fae like me from certain death at the hands of her Summer Fae King, Archivolio Bellari.

My mother was a war general, and it makes me understand now why she was always so brisk, stern, and impeccable. She loved all things bright and good, too, though. It’s this side of her I’ve loved all my life, as I feel now how incredible her heart is.

And all the love she’s saved in the world—by saving Dark Fae like me.

“ Figlia mia! Mia carissima. ” My mother always speaks her native Italian when emotions overcome her; though English is the dominant language in both the Twilight Realm and the human world now, my mother comes from an older time in Fae culture .

It was a time when Italian was created for its musical beauty and later made its way into the human world. She pulls back now to cup my face in her hands, always soft thanks to her ointments, kissing me sweetly on the lips and cheeks. “Welcome home.”

“ Mamma ,” I say as joy fills me, despite everything, and I kiss her cheeks as well. “I missed you.”

“How I’ve missed you, too, Aria!” Illyria breaks into her dramatic nature now as her dark eyes fill with unshed tears. She kisses me again, shaking my face like a bad puppy for being gone from her. But I see now her deep worry for me while I was away; heartbreak and overpowering joy fill her as I feel her emotions cascade through her in a riot, thanks to my magic.

Her magic spills out of her now, in an inundating wave I’ve never felt before. My mother’s Summer Fae power scalds me as it pours through me, lighting up the air in rose and gold rainbows all around.

It blasts through the morning in a sudden wave of heat. I feel the blare of war horns in it, and the deep peace of the morning garden also, as it showers me in an intense radiance I’ve never felt from her. It’s fighting, and it’s harmony, and all things in-between as she hauls me into a hard hug again, holding on now like she’s never going to let me go. I feel my magic resonate with it, now that the charm to hide my Dark Fae energy is finally broken.

And realize I’ve felt my mother’s power in her strong, indomitable energy—all this time.

As she laughs in our embrace now, raspy like a war general and happy as the sun, I laugh, too. I grip her harder and hear her hitch a sob as I do, as well.

Never have I felt so complete as I do now, understanding my mother and who she’s been, who she’s had to be all these years. She did it for me, I know now. She gave up using her magic for nearly thirty years, all to keep me safe. And though not my birth mother, I know no one in all the universe could have raised me better as I feel in my heart that she’s my true mother, no matter who birthed me.

I finally understand, for the first time in my life, everything she’s done for me.

“ Ti amo , Mamma ,” I tell her now, because I don’t know the last time I said I love you .

“ Ti amo anch'io, tesoro, ” my mother says as she pulls back, kissing me once more on the cheeks, then beaming at me with loving mischief in her dark eyes. “And you brought two princes with you! Bonded to you, no less…”

Her gaze flicks to Quinn and Lucca now, standing nearby. Alleno’s handed the horses off to our family groom, Benvolio, who is on his way back to the barn. As I see a slight shimmer of rainbows cascade from Ben with my newfound power, I realize he’s Summer Fae. It colors everything about my world in a new light, as I wonder if everyone who’s helped at our house through the years has been Summer Fae or Dark Fae.

Likely, now that I think about it.

My mother is still watching both Lucca and Quinn with her indomitable gaze as she threads her arm through mine. I see both men through my mother’s eyes then; not only are they the current prince and ex-prince of the Summer Fae, they’re also two men who’ve bonded to me with their magics via the ancient ways.

It makes our bonds unbreakable; I see my mother’s gaze rove the air between us, as if seeing the ephemeral Fae-bonds between Lucca, Quinn, and me. I see her take in everything now, as a deep quiet devours her.

It’s a general’s evaluation, as she appraises my two mates.

And whether she approves of them, for me.