Ascent

by Bethany Adams

  “Really, Shayan,” Angela snapped. “How could you just greet her like that?”

  Anna finally forced her mouth to actually function. “You have the wrong idea.”

  The other woman hurried around the counter. “I saw you holding hands before you walked in. Don’t bother lying.”

  Damn. She hadn’t thought about the glass storefront.

  “No one is cheating on anyone,” Fen said, settling his hand gently on Anna’s shoulder. “Maddy knows all about it. She has even agreed—”

  “To have her fiancée hanging all over some guy? I doubt it.”

  Anna needed to explain. She really did. But first, she had to get over the shock of Angela’s behavior. The lady had been encouraging Maddy to ditch Anna for a man for as long as they’d been dating, and they’d all assumed it was because she couldn’t handle her daughter being bi. What in the world was going on?

  Shayan gestured wildly with his hands. “Angela, stop. The man is telling the truth. They’re all…soulmates, I guess you would say. They’re deciding if they want to form a triad.”

  A line formed between Angela’s brows. “What?”

  “Polyam,” Fen supplied. Not-so-helpfully, judging by the color draining from the woman’s face. “You know, polyamorous? A relationship with multiple partners? We can’t get married legally, but we might end up mating the way my people do.”

  “The way your people…” Angela rubbed her fingers against her temples. “I can’t believe this.”

  Anna sighed. “I’m sorry. I know you dislike me, but—”

  “I have nothing against you specifically,” the other woman said. “But more what your kind might do.”

  Even Shayan looked taken aback by that. “Her kind?” he asked.

  “She’s one of those feckless water fairies.”

  Anna’s mouth dropped open. Even if Maddy had told her about that recently, it wouldn’t explain why the woman had hated her all along. Angela must have known before Anna and Maddy did. Before the wall holding back Earth’s energy had shattered. How would she be familiar with such a thing? As far as anyone knew, Angela was human.

  Shayan hurried to his wife’s side. “What are you saying, beloved? Are you ill?”

  “No.” Angela glared at her husband. “But I’m tired of pretending, and I’m tired of people thinking I’m awful. I might not be from a magical family, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t had dealings with the fae before. My grandparents were from Wales. I was raised on stories of the Gwragedd Annwn. I’ve always thought Anna had the look of them.”

  Anna had to remind herself to close her mouth. Good God. Maddy was never going to believe this. “What…what is so bad about the Gwragedd Annwn?”

  “They leave,” Angela snapped, pulling away from the comforting hand Shayan extended. “They take the best years of their lover’s life and then abandon them. One of those bitches destroyed my uncle, leaving him to raise their little boy alone. He spent hours each day walking beside the lake where she’d disappeared. I watched my cousin almost drown trying to swim to his mother. Now here you are with some other man after hooking my Maddy, and I just can’t believe this crap about being poly.”

  “Angela…” Shayan began.

  “You deal with them,” the woman said, spinning on her heel and marching toward the door behind the counter. “I’ll come back out once they’re gone.”

  A bewildered Shayan stared after his wife before shaking his head and hurrying to the door. He flipped the sign to closed and wedged an Out to Lunch sign in the corner of the door despite the fact that it was nearing dinner, but Anna didn’t comment on the hour. It was dangerous to discuss fae business around humans, so it was best to discourage new customers while they spoke.

  Even the Sidhe man’s light had dimmed a little as he returned to their side. “I assume you needed something beyond a simple visit?” Shayan asked quietly.

  If Fen was bothered by Angela’s outburst, he showed no sign of it as he retrieved a small pouch from his backpack. “I’m an earth mage. I have several high-quality stones I’ve extracted and refined myself, and I’m seeking a fair price for them.”

  “Very well,” Shayan said, his tone more subdued than Anna had ever heard it. “Come over to the counter, and I will examine them.”

  Anna didn’t bother to go with them. Her heart hurt for Shayan, Maddy, and even Angela. All this time, none of them had known that Angela had previous experience with the fae. She’d been married to Shayan for decades and had accepted that he was Sidhe from the beginning, but it was clear that she hadn’t told her husband about her history. Why would she have hidden it? Out of all the people in the world, Shayan would have understood. He was one of the few she could have told before Earth’s magic had started to return.

  What would Maddy say when she learned this new truth? It was one revelation Anna didn’t want to deliver.

  Chapter 16

  With no word from Anthony and no Fen to direct him, Vek had no choice but to return to the outpost without completing his task. As he formed the gate, frustration, fear, and a hint of anger clawed at his belly, and not all of the latter was directed toward Fen. What had Ara been thinking? She couldn’t have screwed that up worse had it been her goal, but her nature had always been to command first and question later. Such tenacity worked well for a princess of the Unseelie court—not so much for the absent mother of a child who was just like her.

  Not that either of them would admit to the similarity.

  Vek stepped through the gate and into the outpost, barely pausing long enough to dispel the magic before connecting mentally with Dria. “We have a problem.”

  “I’ll be right down.”

  Down? Vek scanned the cavern for his mate’s presence, just in case she’d used the wrong word. But no. He discovered her energy on the surface above, near the secret entrance that guarded the way into the cave. He also detected Kezari, Delbin, and Inona on the outside. Either Kezari was scanning for a hint of dragon magic or helping with shielding. Each could cause a long delay with his mate’s arrival.

  He exited the portal chamber and strode through the massive entry room with its natural stone columns. Vek wasn’t certain why the dragon had designed this space when she’d originally carved out the cave system for Moranaian use, but it was one of the few rooms that Dria hadn’t ordered furnished. She would have been within her rights as the leader of the outpost to set up a formal receiving room instead of using Vek’s old bedroom for meetings, but that wasn’t his mate’s style. She preferred to use the space for its own kind of natural shielding—if anyone broke past the protections on the entrance, they would find nothing unusual in this room.

  By the time Vek made it to the other end, Dria was there to meet him. She didn’t have to ask about his mental state. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around his waist. Sighing against her hair, Vek gathered her close and finally let himself process all that had happened. All that he’d messed up.

  Once again, he’d failed to understand his nephew, and it might have ruined their relationship.

  “Are you going to tell me the problem?” Dria asked. “I’m perfectly willing to annihilate someone if I have to.”

  Vek smiled slightly at her words. She would do it, too. “Not the best course of action, ahmeeren. It’s Fen. I think I’ve driven him away for good. Or at least a long damned time.”

  Dria jerked back until she could meet his eyes. “What?”

  “Ara showed up at the house and demanded that Fen return with her to keep him safe from Meren,” Vek explained. “I was debating the merits of the plan with Ara, and Fen rightfully called me on it. He might be learning from me, but he isn’t a child. I’m afraid I’ve unintentionally been treating him like one. Hell, he thinks we don’t trust him.”

  “I haven’t…” Dria wrinkled her nose. “Clechtan. I suppose I have acted overprotective at times. Maybe that’s why he was angry with me before he left. What was it he said? ‘We might seem like children to you a
t your age, but on this world, we are adults.’”

  “Sounds like the sentiment he so forcefully shared with us before he left with Anna to go get his own place.”

  Vek’s worry echoed in Dria’s gaze. “Oh, no.”

  “I hope he’ll talk to me,” Vek said. “I have yet to hear from Anthony about the woman who is ill, and Fen didn’t give me the man’s address. I’m afraid I forgot while we were discussing Meren.”

  Dria nibbled on her lower lip. “You’d better try contacting Fen. He might be angry, but I suspect he’ll answer. If he hasn’t given up on you after all that happened when he was younger, I doubt he will start now.”

  Vek certainly hoped he wouldn’t. They’d come to terms with Fen’s accidental abandonment as a child, those years when Vek had been distracted by endless missions from the king. When he had finally located Fen as a teen, Vek had been appalled by the change from kind child to bitter, angry young man, and he’d only been able to mitigate his nephew’s poor choices, not stop them. Now, he was supposed to be guiding him.

  A fine failure Vek turned out to be at that. It was just as well that Dria wanted to wait a few centuries to have children—he would need that long to figure out how to raise one without it becoming a disaster.

  Vek sighed. Time to start learning.

  Maddy strolled along the twisting garden path and tried not to think about her failure of a lesson. Oh, she’d learned more about her gift, but who knew how long it would be before she could conquer it? With a sigh, she paused beside a carved stone column that cradled a mage light at the top. During the day, the piece probably looked like a decoration, much like the others she’d seen along the way—all in varying shapes and styles. The last had been created from metal, a vine curling upward like part of the greenery surrounding it; this one matched the bark of the trees directly behind it.

  She’d been told that it was difficult to get lost so long as the estate was in sight. If nothing else, the tall, crystalline observation tower a short walk from the back of the main house was a beacon that was hard to miss, though that might not have been the case if the trees weren’t losing their leaves. Everything about Moranaia was lush. Magical. Yet there was a sense of familiarity, too, in the forested mountains.

  Her father had taught her that the Moranaians were among the first to leave Earth when the planet’s natural magic had lessened. The Sidhe had departed later after making a poor treaty with the humans who invaded their ancestral home, Ireland, but they had ended up in a closely connected dimension beneath the surface of Earth. The Moranaians, though—they had traveled through the Veil to find another planet. She wasn’t certain if they’d found others along the way, but she could understand why they’d chosen to stop on this one. There were enough almost-Earth things to provide a great deal of comfort.

  Maybe a little unease, too. Maddy gathered her borrowed cloak closer to ward off the chill and slipped between a pair of trees, coming to an abrupt halt at the edge of a thin stream. She’d been warned to turn back if she reached the water. Though there were still guards stationed in the trees above, carefully camouflaged, their surveillance thinned beyond the river. She could get lost for certain in the less cultivated forest beyond.

  Maddy spun around—and almost fell backwards into the water at the sight of the little girl illuminated by the mage globe at the edge of the path. Catching her footing just in time, Maddy paused to gather her composure. She’d been introduced to young Eri at dinner, but the child hadn’t said much. What was she doing out here at night?

  From what Maddy understood, the little girl had come to Moranaia from Earth not long ago herself. Prince Ralan had lived on Earth for centuries to avoid his evil brother Kien, but Ralan had returned with half-human Eri when the poison afflicting Earth’s energy had made the child sick. Maybe Eri had wandered out and gotten lost in the darkened gardens.

  Concerned, Maddy hurried over to the child. “Do you need help?”

  The girl giggled. “Not as much as you do.”

  Despite the child’s laugh, something in Eri’s tone made Maddy uneasy, much as she had been before dinner. “I think I can find my way back.”

  “In another day and a half, right?” Eri announced.

  “Huh?” The kid couldn’t intend for her to wander the garden that long, surely. “I don’t think I underst—”

  “To your home, silly.” The ambient light gleamed oddly in Eri’s eyes, causing Maddy to huddle deeper into her cloak. “I don’t expect for you to stay here.”

  There was nothing overtly wrong about the child’s words, and yet… Maddy shivered as the child smiled up at her in the darkness. If it wouldn’t have been completely cowardly, Maddy would have dashed down the nearest path. What was wrong with her? Eri was just a little kid.

  “Erinalia!”

  At the barked word, Maddy honest-to-God yelped. Only afterward did she see Ralan striding up the path toward his daughter. Maddy pressed her hands against her sternum to calm her racing heartbeat, and the cloak she gripped lifted enough with the motion to allow the cold air to dance around her ankles. A welcome distraction at this point.

  Eri blinked up at her father. “Yes, Onaial?”

  “I am your onaial, and you should remember it.” Ralan scooped the little girl into his arms, his expression fierce despite her innocent smile. “If I have to confine you to your room, I will. Terrifying a guest is not okay.”

  The little girl lifted her chin. “I didn’t say anything scary.”

  “There are kinder ways to deliver a prophecy than standing mysteriously in the middle of the gardens at night,” the prince said, settling his daughter against his hip.

  “Nuh uh, I was very good,” Eri insisted. “I didn’t give a single prophecy. Everyone knows she is only here for a short visit this time. I only wanted a chat before she leaves in a couple of mornings.”

  “And I will be taking you home now.” Ralan met Maddy’s gaze. “I’m sorry if my daughter disturbed you.”

  Maddy shook her head. “She didn’t. I’m just jumpy being out here in the dark. No harm done.”

  All technically true, even if Maddy was downplaying how freaked out she was. The little girl was crafty. Despite the unusual delivery, Eri hadn’t said anything new—until talking to her own father. Maddy and Lial hadn’t decided on her departure time yet, only that it would be sometime in the next couple of days. The child oh-so-cleverly suggested it would be in two mornings. Though come to think of it, she’d been borderline specific with her “day and a half” comment, too.

  “Ah, good,” Ralan said, not appearing to notice Maddy’s lingering discomfort. “Would you like to walk a bit of the way with us?”

  Honestly, Maddy would rather return alone, but she couldn’t think of a polite way to refuse. “Sure.”

  Ralan kept the conversation light as Maddy strolled beside him and his daughter, and Eri didn’t say anything else creepy. But even after Maddy had bid them farewell and started down the path to the healer’s tower, her unease remained. Was there a reason the child had hinted at a departure time, or was she making too much out of a simple conversation? She supposed only time would solve the mystery of that.

  Fortunately, hiring a fae realtor meant that Fen didn’t have to explain why he had so much ready cash. The lady was accustomed to clients who couldn’t prove where their sudden wealth had come from, since many fae found ways to transfer their gold or jewels into human money instead of working years at a job. A human realtor would have far more questions, the first being whether or not he was a criminal. Not that there weren’t ways around that, too. Fen had seen far too many shifty dealings to believe otherwise.

  “This place is for rent at the moment, but I believe the owner intends to sell in the next year or two. A good opportunity if you’d like to try and then buy.”

  There weren’t many places he could get on short notice, but Fen had almost refused to see this one. Sure, it was fairly close to downtown and Maddy’s shop, and the drive to Anna’s
work wouldn’t be bad. But it also happened to overlook the river. Maybe he was wasting his time worrying about it, considering Anna and Maddy had their own place, but if they came over here, Anna might struggle.

  “What do you think?” the realtor asked. “I know three bedrooms might be too many, but the other two I could get you into this close to the center are small studio apartments. If we go out farther, we might have more luck. You don’t have your uncle’s budget, so I’m a little more limited.”

  One side of Fen’s mouth quirked up at that. Only the gods and a handful of ancient fae had his uncle’s budget. “Let me look around one last time.”

  It was an interesting building situated on a fairly small lot in one of the neighborhoods that had popped up alongside the river. The bottom floor only held a garage and storage room, a good buffer between the ground and the upper rooms if it flooded. The living room where he currently stood had three broad windows overlooking the water, and the kitchen at the front of the building was large enough that three people could—that he would have plenty of room to cook for himself or guests. A nice space.

  Fen’s boots thudded softly against the hardwood floors as he bypassed the small downstairs bathroom and started up to the bedrooms. From a hallway at the top, there were four doors to choose from—two bedrooms on the right, a bathroom in the center, and the master bedroom to the left.

  He turned left. Beside one of the tall windows overlooking the water, Anna stood, her gaze fixed on the river. But she spun to face him when he entered, and there was no sign of turmoil on her face. She smiled and held out her hand. Hesitantly, he took it, and his breath hitched when she twined her fingers with his.