24. Keira

Chapter 24

Keira

W ater trickles down Odiane’s heart-shaped face, between her large eyes and over her small lips. Her skin is milk-white, dotted with transparent, glittering scales with cheeks flushed blue.

This morning gills slit the sides of her throat, and large fins fan from her ears and shoulders like ornamentations. Her white hair is as short and shaggy as a human man’s, with a lock hanging between her eyebrows. She is utterly beautiful.

“You are leaving me this morning,” She practically sings, as she runs a hand down Caitlin’s face. “But you will come back to me on swift legs. Humans always do things in such a hurry. Your life spans are so short but bursting with adventure.”

“We will.” Caitlin’s shoulders are tight. There is moisture at the corner of her eyes that could not be from the waterfalls. We stand too far away.

“Oh to walk this realm and see the many things the high fae speak of!” A look of pure longing fills the Lake Maiden. “You will be fortunate indeed.”

“Soon you will have new daughters to sing to and they will tell you of the same sights.” I offer to her .

Odiane stands tall, stretching out both her arms and reaching a hand for each of us. The sleeves of her dress are made of thousands of tiny shells woven together, and water mists down from them to the ground, so it appears like the fabric of her sleeve is wide and gaping.

“Shall we make a bargain?” The Lake Maiden asks and my stomach twists with nervousness.

I was told to never make a bargain with a fae, and I am about to make my second. The first didn’t go so well for me. I take her hand anyway and those long fingers are ice cold as they interlock between mine. Caitlin grips her other hand, then reaches for my grasp, so our three bodies make a circle.

“I set a task upon you, Caitlin and Keira Appleshield, to take my seed-stones, and set them into bodies of water that are unoccupied by a Lake Maiden. Once each of my daughters are placed in their new homes, you may return to me in your own time and I shall give you two seed-stones. One for Keira to place in your homeland of the Appleshield Protectorate, in water where the magic is strongest. One for Caitlin, to place in her womb and create a human child with the blood and magic of the fae.”

“I accept the terms of this bargain,” I say as one with Caitlin.

A chill runs through my fingers, up my arm and into my center. It builds across my collarbone and chest, until blue light illuminates through the fabric at my neckline.

I turn to Caitlin, lips parted.

The shining brilliance fades, and the flowing strokes of runes are visible along her skin above her neckline, like a tattooed necklace in faint blue ink. Odiane releases my hand, and I quickly unlace the neckline of my dress with shaky fingers to reveal the same mark.

“I hope you like my touch upon your skin.” The Lake Maiden laughs. “Is it not beautiful, this caressing of the heart?”

The waterfall suddenly rushes out to meet Odiane, and a bundle materializes in her hands. It is a circular bubble of water, with a thick, calcified netting of segmented coral encasing it. Swishing around in the water are three seed-stones. They are the same shape and size as a chicken’s egg, but that is where the similarities end. These are completely transparent, bound within a soft membrane and have a navy center of dense matter encased in thick jelly.

“My daughters.” Odiane offers the bundle to us.

I take it, the coral netting rough beneath my fingers and the magical barrier on the water like a slick under my touch. Caitlin holds out a leather satchel and I place it within.

“How do we take a seed-stone out?” Caitlin asks.

“Place your hand inside with intent, and the magic will part for you. Do not leave the seed-stones out of water for too long, or they may dry.”

Great rivulets of water run from Odiane’s arms; their form lost in the escaping water. Her stomach is a twisting void and her hips and legs have diminished greatly in girth to make her appear skeletal. She must have used a lot of magic in the bargain.

Despite her fading body, her eyes glow with hope. “Farewell and travel safe. Deliver my offspring and return to me, lovely ones.”

I jump as the mass of her body loses its shape and the water crashes to the ground. I will never get used to it.

I turn to Caitlin. “I honestly thought getting here and holding the seed-stones of a fae would be an impossible feat.”

She gives me a thin-lipped smile. “Somehow, I wonder if we are just getting started.”

We pick our way across the rough surface of the rocky platform, avoiding the rockpools Odiane’s body created. I stop on the bottom step, still clutching the railing, and turn back to Caitlin.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how do you…when Odiane gives you the seed for your womb how…” My words trail off. There is no easy way to ask. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up, but curiosity burns within me.

A flush creeps across Caitlin’s face. “She said her seed-stones can be created in many forms. That I will need to insert it up… the usual place for a pregnancy. She wanted to do it, to lay with me, but it would be a betrayal to Gwyneth. I don’t want to be touched like that by anyone else.”

I place a hand on her shoulder. “I am glad you have a chance for a pregnancy on your terms. We will do everything in our power to make sure it happens. I promise you that.”

My eyes glaze with emotion.

It is the thing I have feared the most for her, as our heir, the potential of her having to take a man to conceive a baby. Or living her entire life without bearing the child she so desperately craves.

At the end of our journey in this realm, we will return to Odiane, collect our promised seed-stones, then leave through the same portal we entered from. It is only half a day’s leisurely walk from here.

“Are you offering me a bargain?” Caitlin smiles.

I laugh. “Gods no. I think I have done enough of those for a lifetime.”

We climb back up that staircase in a comfortable silence, each lost in our own thoughts. I jolt to a stop when I reach the top of the bridge. My heart crashes painfully at the sight of Aldrin leaning against the far rail.

A thousand emotions collide within me. Thrill at seeing him. Fear of how this man could easily betray and break me. Hope… for something I am not quite sure of. Something foolish no doubt.

The sun has just peaked above the horizon behind Aldrin and it illuminates him in a brilliant gold glow. His tanned skin shines with vibrancy and the flowing locks of his brown hair are gilded, as though some celestial power radiates from within him.

A slow smile creeps onto his face as his gaze meets mine, as I hungrily take in every glorious inch of his body. I find myself stunned and frozen to the spot. Caitlin almost crashes into my back.

I harden my heart, shoving down the turmoil he seems to induce in me. I will not give blind faith to another royal or be taken advantage of again. I grasp onto the boiling anger that began to simmer last night.

“Have you taken to spying on me, Aldrin?” My tone is short as I step out of Caitlin’s path. “Was forcing every last private detail of my life out of me not enough for you?”

His smile falters and his thick eyebrows pinch. “About that. I want to — ”

“I don’t need to witness this.” Caitlin maneuvers her way around me. “Let me get out of earshot before you start whatever this—”—” she waves a hand at the two of us “is going to be.”

Aldrin glances between us, clearly thrown off.

Part of me understands why he did it, the necessity of it, but by the gods it reminded me of who I was getting close to.

A fae king.

Of course he is going to manipulate a silly human girl to save his lands. If I were clever, I would stay well away from him but I need to know what his plans are for my people.

“You were going to say something, Aldrin?” I ask in a sickly sweet tone. I am so sick of men and their excuses.

“Yes. About last night—I’m sorry. You were vulnerable, and I took advantage of that. There is no justification for it.” Aldrin peers down into my eyes, his finger lightly tracing my jaw. “I put my own desires and realm first. I should have taken the time to earn your trust instead, and prove to you that any information about your people will always be safe with me. That it would benefit both our races.”

My smile drops. I wasn’t expecting a genuine apology. He makes it so damned hard to hate him. His finger brushes over my lower lip and I almost forget my anger.

“I’m going to become a queen, Aldrin. I better get used to being manipulated and used for the greater good of my people.” My laugh is bitter.

Aldrin tries to grab my hand, but I rip it away from him.

“No,” he says. “A queen should be respected and empowered, not used up as a commodity.”

He stands so close to me. Too close. Electricity seems to crackle between our bodies, as the warmth and scent of him wash over me. I want to reach out and touch his broad chest, to feel the hard planes of him against me in a lover’s embrace.

I shove him backward instead. “You need to focus your efforts on regaining your throne, Aldrin. Prince Finan will take my hand in marriage as soon as I return. It won’t be long before he becomes king, especially in fae years. Then, we can collaborate. This will be best for both our realms.”

A tightness constricts in my chest. My teeth grind and I shiver with restrained passion.

I don’t know what makes me angrier, the fact that Aldrin is so good at weaving a spell around me, of making me almost believe he cares, or that I have to return to Finan and put this beautiful, kind man in my past.

“I don’t want you to be someone else’s queen.”

My body freezes. “What happened between us, the way we touched and kissed, it can’t happen again, Aldrin. I can’t get embroiled with another man.”

My entire world condenses down to this moment, to this man, as his face drops and his eyebrows knit. Those haunted eyes focus on me intently. His hands reach for my face, to caress the lines of it, then fall as he realizes his mistake.

“Did you not like it?” He asks softly.

“You know I did.” Passion rises the pitch of my voice.

“Then what is the problem? He will never know?—”

“But I will know.” I toss my head away from him, but his gravity drags me. “It will be a thing I carry with me. I don’t think it could ever be casual for me. I can’t - I can’t get attached to you like that. Not when I have to go back to him. Please don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

Aldrin goes to open his mouth, to say something sultry and sexy, or maybe to tell me not to go back, but I cannot hear it. He may convince me.

“No, Aldrin. No more.” I place two fingers to his lips to stop him.

We stare at each other, and his shoulders deflate as though I took the very life out of him. Pain radiates from my chest, shooting through my limbs and I may combust from the heartache I hold in.

It is absolute insanity, the intensity of these emotions. I have known this man for little over a week, but more has blossomed between us than in the years I thought I loved Finan. I only liked the idea of my prince and what I wanted him to be, never the reality of the man.

What a foolish girl I am, to feel this way about a fae, a foreign king, our oldest enemy.

A crash echoes beneath us, and I glance to where Kai and the other kelpies are leaping from the lowest bridge into the frozen river beneath. Their bodies transform midair from pure horse, to an equine covered in blue scales glittering in the early sun and with a long, sleek tail.

They crash into the water below, creating huge rippling waves churning from the site of impact and shattering the thin sheets of ice that float like islands. Their whining calls and loud splashes echo across the morning as they leap through the water like dolphins.

From the corner of my eye, I notice Aldrin examining me, as though he is afraid if he turns away, he might never see me again.

“Where does this leave us?” He finally asks.

I shake my head. “I don’t know. That is something we need to work out. Allies? Friends? Traveling companions?”

“I would like you to join me on my journey back to the capital. We will visit much of the court to see how the lower fae are faring, there will be opportunities for you to find homes for the seed-stones.” Aldrin’s entire body is incredibly stiff as he awaits my answer.

“I would like that,” I reply and he lets out a breath.

He tips his head toward the kelpies. “If they find out you are carrying the seed-stones for the Lake Maiden, they will follow and guard you like you are on a divine quest. To them, Odiane is a queen and goddess. The kelpies are nomads, and when it is time for them to breed, they leave their eggs under the care of a Lake Maiden.”

Silvan approaches us from the far side of the bridge, his quick steps slowing to a pause as he notices the dynamic between us. Aldrin nods and he joins us.

“We have captured two corrupted baby spriggan to bring to the court as evidence,” Silvan reports.

“Good,” Aldrin says, utterly deflated. “Send them ahead to be held in the stables at Cyprien’s residence in the capital, so they will be ready when we arrive. Make sure you stress to the guards who transport them that utter discretion is required.”

Silvan gives a curt nod in response.

Aldrin looks to me, then to his man. “We will leave for the road immediately.”

Excitement curls within my stomach. It is everything I have ever wanted. Endless possibilities of discovery stretch out before me, but it is all tainted with the sick, oily feeling of the complete loss of what I could have had with Aldrin.