by Sarina Dorie
Everyone began to argue all at once.
Khaba stalked closer to Elric. “Everyone on this estate, Clarissa included, is unsafe until you’ve replenished yourself by collecting all that people owe you.”
Thatch shouted to be heard, each word coming out with precision. “It’s only a matter of time before the Raven Queen attacks again. We must be ready for her.”
“It’s because you’re too generous,” Vega said. “It’s time you stopped thinking of everyone else and started thinking about me—and my safety.”
“There is no imbalance,” Elric snapped. His face flushed pink. “Everything is fine.”
It was rare to see him this angry. Khaba must have hit a tender wound.
Their voices became lost in a cacophony of chaos.
“What a freak show.” Josie sat on the bed beside me.
I was so tired. The noise hurt my ears. Their chaos and commotion agitated my nerves. It was the last thing I wanted to listen to at the moment. I just wanted to get away from all of them.
I pushed myself out of bed. My legs went limp underneath me, and I fell flat on my face. Pain blossomed in my cheek as I face-planted on the wood. The unpleasant sensation was sucked away by the hungry yearning in my core. Instead of fueling me, the energy in my belly churned into molten agony. The pain magnified by a hundred, and I curled in on myself.
I felt gentle hands on my shoulders, but it was too late.
I blacked out.
When I next opened my eyes, faces crowded around my bed, closer than I would have liked. Vega, Elric and Josie stood on one side. Khaba and Thatch stood on the other. I flinched back.
“Why is everyone in my room?” I drew the blankets over my nightgown.
Only this wasn’t my room. The walls glittered with crystals. Celtic knotwork decorated the wainscoting. A mixture of fabric and moss hung from the canopy bed. This was a Fae palace. I wasn’t at Womby’s, but I didn’t know why. I tried to think back, but my brain was foggy. I felt like I had dreamed of this room. A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me.
“We’re here because we love you,” Josie said, tears filling her eyes.
“No. It’s because we wanted to see if you were dead,” Vega turned to Elric. “She’s not. Crisis averted. Let’s get ready for dinner.” She attempted to tug Elric away.
He remained at my side. “How do you feel, love?”
I tried to recall what had happened, but my memories were fuzzy. I thought I remembered my wedding shower, Vega handing out jobs for my ceremony like homework assignments, and my mom’s wedding dress. Everything fragmented after that. I wanted to close my eyes again and fall asleep.
“What happened?” I asked.
I reached a hand out for Thatch. He stepped back, his expression gloomy as he turned away. He couldn’t have hurt me more if he’d slapped me. Had I done something wrong?
Elric took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “How about you let your lady friends help you freshen up? Then we’ll have a little sit-down and talk about what happened. Will that make you happy?”
“Um, yeah.” I watched as Thatch retreated without a word to me. Maybe I was mistaken, but he looked like he might have been limping.
Vega and Josie argued about what I should wear. It didn’t matter to me whether I stayed in a nightgown for a while longer. My limbs felt stiff, but I managed to make my way to a table by the window without either of them assisting and helped myself to a bowl of soup. Josie was dressed in a loose lavender lace that matched her witch hat. For once, Vega wasn’t wearing her usual flapper attire. Instead she wore a long muslin dress with a high waist that reminded me of something a Jane Austen character might wear. It was oddly unflattering to her lean figure, the empire waist puffing out just below her breasts. Maybe she was pregnant. If she was, she wasn’t very far along.
I set down my spoon. “Why aren’t I at Womby’s?”
“The school year is over.” Josie seated herself across from me.
“We thought you’d be more comfortable here instead of Thatch’s moldy dungeon.” Vega grabbed hold of Josie’s chair, tilting it to the side so that Josie slid and stumbled out. A satisfied smile on her face, Vega claimed the empty seat for herself. “Plus, Elric had to use magic to heal you. You’re welcome.” She leaned in closer. “Don’t even think about thanking him.”
“How can the school year be over? What month is it?” We’d been planning the wedding in May. I felt like more time had passed, but I wasn’t sure what had happened that I’d need healing. “Did the Raven Queen attack during our wedding?”
Vega’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t you remember?” Josie asked. “Derrick crashed the wedding with airship pirates, and the Raven Queen demolished the school grounds.”
I accidently knocked my spoon onto the floor. “What? Was anyone hurt?”
“How can you not remember after all that work I put into making your wedding unforgettable?” Vega demanded. “That was a month before you were even cursed. You’re just saying this to vex me, aren’t you?”
I ignored her.
Josie picked up my spoon and placed it on the table. “Don’t worry about what happened at the wedding. We’re all fine now. Well, most of us are fine.” She rubbed my back.
I didn’t miss that she said “most of us.”
Vega crossed her arms, anger in her eyes. I couldn’t tell whether that anger was directed at me or Josie.
“Who isn’t fine?” I asked. “When the Raven Queen attacked the wedding, did she curse me then? That’s why I’m here?” I felt like there was something I was missing.
Vega leaned in closer. “No. You’re here because you’re an impulsive idiot who never learns. Coupled with that, Thatch is even more of a fucktard than I thought he was if he let you talk him into going to the Raven Court. If you ever do anything that stupid again, I will kill you myself.”
My actions sounded rash and stupid the way Vega described them, but I wasn’t rash. Or stupid. Mostly. “Why would I go to the Raven Court?”
The two women exchanged uneasy glances.
“Elric wanted us to wait to discuss that. He thought you might recover more quickly if you ate and felt more yourself first,” Vega said.
I looked to Josie, knowing she couldn’t keep a secret. “Why did I willingly go to the Raven Court?”
Josie opened her mouth.
Vega held up a finger at Josie. “Josephine Kimura. Hold your tongue.”
The truth spilled from Josie. “It was because of your mom. The Raven Queen kidnapped her at your wedding. Thatch said you were gearing up to go rescue her. But right before finals week, you discovered the Raven Queen was going to do something bad to her, so you went in the middle of the night. But now she’s transformed into a tree. I’m so sorry Clarissa.”
“Ugh. No secret is safe from Miss Blabbermouth.” Vega grimaced.
I stared at them in horror. The Raven Queen had my mom? She had transformed her into a tree? How could I not remember this? I wasn’t sure I wanted to remember this.
Josie must have taken my silence as an invitation to go on. “Of course, that isn’t how you ended up here, is it? That was because the Raven Queen attacked you and Thatch when you went to rescue your mom. You must have been in pretty bad shape when Elric first brought you here. Elric and Professor Jerkface wouldn’t let anyone see you as you healed. I guess they tried to wake you up but couldn’t.”
“Elric did wake you up. Twice,” Vega corrected. “But it only lasted for a few minutes, so you probably don’t remember.”
She was right. I didn’t remember.
Josie gushed on, filling me in on who had gotten hurt or died. Tears blurred my vision. I was so in shock, I could barely breathe. It felt as though someone had laced a corset around my ribs. The more she told me, the more my core ached. A bottomless pit of grief opened inside me. Little spasms of pain jolted through my affinity and into my limbs. I didn’t feel right.<
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I stood, my legs unsteady under me. “I would like to speak with my husband.”
Vega rose. “You aren’t well.” She grabbed me by the arm, her fingers digging into me like talons.
A flash of memory—or a dream?—came to me. I saw another hand around by arm, long black nails digging into my flesh.
I tore away, panic flooding through me. The churning pain in my belly sent fire into my limbs. I made it as far as the door before my legs gave out underneath me. I collapsed into darkness.
I was ripped from the cozy embrace of sleep when a jolt of electricity tore through my body. Hot energy blazed through me, awakening my senses. White light blinded me. I felt like I was drinking from a fire hose, the magic so abundant I didn’t know how to control it. When the brightness passed, I found myself on a roof. For a moment I thought I was at Womby’s on the battlements, but I realized this roof was smaller.
My ears rang. Cold wind tore at me. Thunder rumbled in the sky, but it was muffled by the fog in my ears. A piece of metal was duct-taped to my hand. Vega stood above me, her hair frizzy and smoking.
“No, don’t do it!” a man’s voice yelled above the wind and rain. It sounded like Elric.
“Too late. I already did,” Vega said with a satisfied smile. “Being a Merlin-class Celestor, I succeeded where others failed.” She raised an eyebrow, eyeing me. “Feeling better?”
I tried to make myself heard over the roar of wind. “Better than what?”
Rain pelted me, chilling me to my core. I was absolutely miserable.
“What happened?” My voice was hoarse.
Vega offered me a hand and helped me to my feet. Wind whipped my hair into my face and rushed underneath my nightgown. I wanted to curl in on myself from the shock of sensations pummeling my body. With the way the wind blew against Vega’s dress and pressed against her belly, I saw what I had failed to notice right away. She was round with child. She must have been seven or eight months along.
Elric and Thatch ran to me, their expressions alarmed. Thatch asked me something, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Vega.
I’d thought she had miscarried, but the more I thought about it, I was less certain when that might have happened. Was I wrong? I was so surprised by the size of her belly, I couldn’t think about anything else.
“What were you thinking, Vega?” Elric asked.
Vega snorted. “I was thinking that I’m the only person in this shack with the balls to do what needs to be done.”
“You could have killed her!”
The wind whipped Thatch’s hair around in the storm. I doubted he could see any better than I could as he guided me away from Vega and Elric. I leaned my weight against him, but I was weak and exhausted. My legs felt like jelly, and my feet were numb from the bitter cold. I stubbed my bare toe against a rock ledge. Pain blazed up in my foot.
“What happened to me?” I tried not to focus on the throbbing in my toe. “Why did Vega just Frankenstein me back to life?”
“Vega did not resurrect you. She only restored your health.” Thatch held his hair out of his eyes. “I was the one who used CPR to ‘resurrect’ you. Elric used Fae magic to restore your body.”
I stared at him in horror. “So I died?” Just like in Baba Nata’s prophecy.
“Only for a moment. It was the coma afterward that was the true malady. We still haven’t figure out what triggered it.” He circled an arm around my waist, sheltering me from the bitterness of the wind as it lashed against me. “It has something to do with your affinity.”
The pain in my toe spread to my foot. I held on to the wall as we walked down the stairs. Each step grew more difficult than the last. Cold numbness spread up my legs. I caught Thatch’s sleeve as dizziness washed over me.
“Merlin’s balls,” Thatch said. “Not again.”
An immaculate orgasm was an unorthodox way to wake, but an effective alarm clock. I opened my eyes, finding myself in someone’s beautiful bedroom.
I had the sense I had been dreaming about a storm, though I couldn’t remember the dream. The fogginess of sleep clung to me, making my body feel heavy. I suspected something was wrong, but I couldn’t place my finger on what.
Something cold touched my fingers. I turned my head, vertigo washing over me. An almost-memory nudged my brain, telling me there should have been pain, but when I tried to pinpoint why I thought so, the past slipped out of my grasp like mist.
Felix Thatch held my hand, his own as cold as winter. His face was an expressionless mask. He brought my fingers to his lips and planted a kiss on the back of my hand. I smiled, seeing him there beside me. For once, he wasn’t skulking in the shadows. Golden light danced over his skin.
He reminded me of Snow White, his skin as fair as snow, and his shoulder-length hair as black as night. When he turned his face away from me, I noticed a streak of white laced a single lock of hair, incongruous with the rest of his familiar features. The more I looked at him, the more I noticed details that were off. He wore all-white flowing robes instead of his tweed suit. His hands trembled, an unusual trait for him.
My entire body felt weightless and light and simultaneously heavy and lethargic. I couldn’t feel my feet.
“Am I dead?” I asked.
He lifted his chin. “No.”
“Where am I?” I felt like I had asked this question before.
“Someplace safe.” He swallowed. “The only place I could take you where you could be healed.” The crisp precision of his British accent was weighted with misery.
A chill stole over me as a flicker of memory returned unbidden. I had been in the forest, and a group of shadowy Fae had crowded around me. In my memory, the Raven Queen smiled, but I couldn’t recall why. Did this have something to do with his frail condition? With mine?
Thatch’s fingers trembled against mine. “Will you ever forgive me?”
“For what?”
He wore melancholy on his face like a layer of paint, the emotion coloring each word he spoke. “For allowing Elric to wake you this way.”
“It’s fine.” I rolled my eyes. “You worry too much.”
“If we need to do this again, you’ll consent to allowing me to wake you with touch magic?” He clasped my hand, taking it in his own.
“What do you mean? If we need to do what again?”
“If we need to wake you through a magical means.” He didn’t meet my gaze.
“Why would you need to wake me through a magical means?”
He drew back from my bed, his shoulders hunching over. I couldn’t read what he was thinking.
“What happened?” I asked.
Thatch licked his lips. They were chapped. Purple ringed his eyes, and he was paler than usual. When I reached out with my awareness, I couldn’t feel any magic in him. I didn’t know whether that was because he was drained or I was. I couldn’t even tell if I was using my skill to see and feel outside myself.
Everything felt off.
“You look like crap,” I said. It wasn’t my most eloquent of moments.
He raised an eyebrow. “Glad to see you’re back to your usual snarky self.”
“Me? Snarky?” I laughed. It felt wrong, this laugh, the way it jostled my chest without moving my belly. I teased him, trying to banish the darkness that felt like it wanted to invade my soul. “You’re the crabby one, not me.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Says who?”
“Everyone says I’m the nice one.” I managed to smile, but the mood didn’t feel any lighter.
He brushed my hand against his cheek and closed his eyes. “Indeed. You are the nice one.”
He was agreeing with me? This wasn’t real. This had to be a dream.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked.
“I’m always nice to you.” He kissed my forehead.
He was only nice to me when I was hurt, dying, or . . . no, he was nice when it was just the two of us, and he did
n’t need to pretend he didn’t love me. He had courted me, proposed to me, and after that . . . I was certain there was more. I felt too exhausted to remember. My gaze flickered to the old-fashioned ring on my finger.
“Did we get married?”
“Indeed. You remember. Good.”
Only, I didn’t remember. I had guessed. I vaguely remembered Josie telling me, but I didn’t recall when she would have told me. There was something else she had told me. Something that had opened a world of hurt inside me.
Thatch’s gaze flickered past me, and I turned my head. Elric stood on the other side of the bed in his silver-and-white robes. I gasped in surprise at seeing him. He wore an elegant crown of crystals on his head. I hadn’t ever seen him wear his crown before.
I would have sat up, but I didn’t have the energy to do so. Now I understood where I was and why everything was so beautiful. I was in the Faerie Realm, probably in the castle of the Silver Court. I wasn’t sure this was any safer than the Raven Queen’s domain.
“Where am I? Why am I here? What happened?” I tried to sit up, but my body was too exhausted.
Elric smoothed a hand over my forehead. “Rest, love.”
“Do you remember anything?” Thatch asked.
I vaguely remembered dreams of lightning. I closed my eyes, seeing Vega’s devilish grin and her round belly.
An ominous feeling weighed down on me. “Did something bad happen? Is everyone all right?”
“Let’s take things slow,” Elric said. “Have a care not to do anything that will cause a shock to your body or mind right now. We don’t want to make your condition worse.”
My heart thumped against my rib cage. “Is everyone okay? Josie and Khaba? Vega? Did you get married?” The last I remembered, she had been pregnant. Had Vega miscarried? I had the sense she had, but I didn’t know when that would have happened. It felt like months ago. And I thought I remembered her being pregnant again, but perhaps that had been a dream. I felt so confused.
Elric’s frown faded as he gazed at me. “Pardon my bad manners. My family is quite well. Thank you for inquiring after them. Vega is, indeed, my wife. She wanted to wait until you woke so you could be her matron of honor, but ultimately we decided it was best not to delay too long.” A smile full of sunshine stretched across his perfect lips. He radiated beauty. Magic rolled off him in waves. “How do you feel, love? Did you get enough rest?”
