by Anya Byrne
"Not to worry," V replied. Perhaps she had guessed Remy's dilemma, because she added, "I contacted her shortly after our little magical mishap, but unfortunately, it would have been too risky for her to travel at that time. She probably won't be long now."
In that, V turned out to be completely correct. The unknown guest arrived that same evening. Baqir and Remy had retreated to Baqir's quarters, and had spent a couple of hours talking about what this development meant for them. Remy had agreed to do whatever it took to protect the child, even if it meant him backing out on his original idea to involve himself more in the investigation. Baqir had tried and failed to hide the extent of his relief, which in turn, had made Remy huff and kiss him.
They were still kissing when Baqir sensed the approaching presence. He pulled away from Remy and left him in bed, his shoulders tense, as if he was already preparing himself for a potential confrontation.
At some level, both of them knew that they were safe here, but Remy's pregnancy had stirred Baqir's protective instincts. Remy would have been taken aback, but he couldn't really begrudge Baqir for it, not when he realized all too well how close he'd come to disaster. Baqir didn't seem inclined to allow anyone he didn't know or trust to come close to Remy, not without him present, at least, and Remy decided to go along with it too—at least to some extent. He didn't want to be crippled by fear either.
A knock sounded at their door, and Baqir went to open it. Remy followed, since he saw no actual need to cower behind his mate. Outside, they found V, together with another woman, someone Remy did not recognize. She was beautiful, in a way that was both timeless and humbling. Her face was clear of any lines, but her eyes spoke of a wisdom that could only be acquired through a long life.
V quickly made the introductions and thus shattered any doubts Remy might have had regarding the new arrival's identity. "Queen Maeven, these are my guests, Baqir and his mate, Remy Fitzroy. Baqir, Remy, meet Her Royal Majesty, Queen Maeven of the Sidhe."
Remy had no idea what he'd expected, but it definitely wasn't this. Blanchefleur had never explained the details of how exactly she'd come to know V, but Remy's impression of V told him their mysterious host was not the kind of person to socialize with Sidhe royalty. Still, he had no doubt that V was telling the truth—the Sidhe's posture, demeanor and quiet strength made that clear. Even Baqir seemed to trust her instinctively, as he bowed lowly and said, "It is an honor."
"Thank you, but you don't need to bow to me," the Sidhe sovereign replied. "I am not your queen. Besides, I heard you are quite the leader yourself."
"I was," Baqir corrected her, and somehow, his voice didn't hold any bite even if the topic was a sore one for Baqir. "The organizational structure of the silencer world has all but collapsed right now."
For his part, Remy was a little blown away to be in the presence of such a famous person. For centuries, the shape-shifter community had stayed away from the Sidhe, but even then, Remy had been secretly fascinated by them. As of late, things had started to change, but Remy had not dared to hope he would actually meet their queen.
Sadly, this meant he was ridiculously tongue-tied, which was more than a little mortifying given the protocol that needed to be followed. Thankfully, Maeven took over the conversation. "I hear you're quite a remarkable young man, Mr. Fitzroy. Resisting a succubus circle... It's not something just anyone can do."
At that, Remy remembered his manners and answered, "I'm not sure how remarkable I am. I didn't even know there was anything special about the seal until we realized it reacted differently to every person who touched it."
As Remy spoke, he and Baqir stepped aside, wordlessly inviting the two women in. The queen almost seemed to float as she walked, whereas V sort of... glided, for lack of a better word. It made for an interesting contrast, especially since the two seemed so comfortable in each other's presence. And what an odd thought to have, now of all times...
V gave him a knowing look, and Remy suppressed the urge to fidget. The queen must have spotted their silent exchange, because she hummed thoughtfully. "Oh, yes, definitely remarkable. Come here, child. Give me your hand."
Remy ended up seated on the couch, with Queen Maeven next to him. Magic poured from her fingertips as she checked him over, starting from his still-flat belly to his chest and his head. She lingered slightly over his heart, and her breath caught, which in turn made Remy tense.
The reaction didn't go unnoticed by Baqir, but somehow, the other werewolf managed to hold his tongue. Perhaps he realized that answers would come in time, and it was best to respect the process.
Their patience was rewarded when at last, Maeven pulled away. "I have good news and bad news." She did not prolong the conversation by asking them which part they wanted to hear first. "To begin with, I must reassure you that the babe is completely unharmed. The pregnancy is progressing normally, and the child has not been in any way affected by the accident you were involved in. You as well, young Baqir. Your current condition is likely temporary. I can look into it further if you so desire, but I do not think it will be necessary."
Remy let out a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding in. "Thank the moon. What's the bad news then?"
Maeven hesitated. "That is somewhat more complicated to explain."
Baqir smiled tightly. "Please, Your Majesty, try."
Oddly, it was not the queen who replied. Instead, she tossed V a look, one that held both questions and countless emotions. Remy's mind provided an answer to his previous dilemma. The two women were lovers.
The conclusion was startling in that he didn't know V and Maeven well enough to make that judgment. He swallowed around the sudden knot in his throat and said, "Please. Tell me."
V released a heavy sigh that made it sound like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. "I suppose we should just start at the beginning—with the culprit behind these killings. She is, unfortunately, well known to us, and to me in specific. Like me, she is a succubus, and she is my sister. She has killed many before, just to draw my eye. "
"Because of the relationship between V and me, my family was among those targeted." The queen's voice sounded distant, almost like she wasn't speaking to them anymore. "I lost... so much to her."
V's fingers twitched, as if she wanted to reach for the Sidhe queen. She didn't. Instead, she put more distance between them and started to speak.
****
Centuries before
"Victoria... My daughter is dead."
Victoria looked at Maeven, hoping she'd heard wrong. She already knew that was not the case. It was Maeven's grief that had brought her here to begin with. Despite the distance between them, she'd been able to sense the surge of emotion inside Maeven, and it had nearly choked her.
Even if she and Maeven had agreed to keep their relationship under wraps, she'd traveled through the secret paths to Maeven's home. She supposed that she had known what had happened from the first moment she'd decided to come here.
"It was D, wasn't it?"
Maeven didn't look up from the book she was studying. "Possibly. I'm not certain." She laughed, a sound that held no mirth whatsoever. "You know these things are impossible to read."
Yes, Victoria did know. Hers was an insidious power, one that could be used in dark and dangerous ways. She was very careful with it—her sister, not so much.
"What happened, Maeven?" she asked, wanting nothing more than to approach her lover, but knowing any attempt to provide comfort would not be welcome.
"They were taken by surprise. For some reason, a good number of my people decided my grandson was a disgrace and wanted to execute him."
Victoria winced. The fact that Maeven's daughter had not only mated a werewolf but proceeded to have a child with him—one with a form unlike anything most Sidhe had seen before—had been a sore subject among the Folk for quite some time. Maeven had managed to do some damage control and give her daughter a chance for a normal life, but it seemed that dream had been shatte
red.
It would have been very easy for Dayana to manipulate already existing emotions and make them escalate, pushing the Sidhe into violent behavior they wouldn't have otherwise considered.
"Were the culprits caught?" Victoria asked. If they found the people guilty of the attack, they would be able to figure out if Dayana had been behind it or not. She wanted to ask more, to ask if the child had at least survived, but she didn't have the courage to do so.
Maeven finally looked up from her book, which Victoria now realized was an album of immortalized portraits. "Mathias is fine," she said, as if having guessed Victoria's latter thought. "He is very shaken, of course. Both his parents are gone, so a part of him will probably never recover, but he is for the most part unhurt. Although... I don't even know what to tell him, how to explain this. As for the culprits... Many of them have been found, already dead, mostly by their own hand or causes that cannot be determined."
Victoria winced. Clearly Dayana's work then. Once she saw no further need for her tools, she always discarded them, more often than not in very painful ways.
It was already clear what course of action Victoria had to take. "Maeven, we can't do this anymore. This is my fault."
Maeven set aside the album and got up. "Victoria—"
"You would have never been targeted if it wasn't for me," Victoria interrupted her lover before the other woman could finish her phrase.
Maeven opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to deny it, but in the end, she said nothing. Her own guilt was smothering her, keeping her from speaking, from following up on her original impulse.
And Victoria knew Maeven wanted to ask her to stay. He knew that having Victoria leave too would be a blow Maeven did not need right now. She could sense it—and she probably would have been able to even without her succubus powers.
But as much as Victoria wished she could follow her heart, she also realized all too well that she could not. Their relationship had already been destroyed by the death of Maeven's child. Maeven might not truly blame Victoria for it, but neither could she bring herself to pursue a love that had led to such a loss.
If Victoria stayed, if she tried to make things work, Maeven would just end up hating her, and that was something she could not risk.
"I will find her," she promised. "I will find D, and I will bind her, no matter what it takes."
"If only it were that easy..." Maeven shook her head adamantly. "The two of you are one."
Victoria realized that all too well, and she understood the sacrifice she'd have to make. It was likely that an attempt to banish her sister to their realm would take away most of her magic. Nevertheless, she needed to try.
"I will do it," she said again. "She has done many things to cause a reaction in the past, but she has finally crossed the line. This has to end."
Maeven's eyes widened, as she obviously realized Victoria would not be swayed. She made a grab for Victoria's arm, but Victoria was already stepping back, pulling away. If Maeven touched her now, her determination would falter, and she could not afford that.
"Stay here," she told her mate. "Don't leave the palace, no matter what. You will know the result of my quest."
Maeven tried to make her reconsider, to at least offer reinforcements. Victoria refused all Sidhe help—additional people would only hinder her—and she left the palace without looking back.
There were many words she would have liked to say. I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.
She swallowed them all, turned them into anger and fed it into her desire to find her errant twin. Yes, this had to stop, and Victoria would guarantee it, no matter what price she had to pay.
****
"So what happened? Did you not succeed?"
V grimaced at Remy's less than tactful inquiry. "Oh, I succeeded, up to a point at least. You see... We succubi... We are not of this world, not really. We are creatures of spirit, not flesh. We can have a physical form, but we are not limited to it. We live in the astral realm."
Remy didn't point out the fact that V seemed to have a very physical shape. Instead, he waited, suspecting she would answer his questions without him having to ask them.
By his side, Baqir fidgeted, obviously unsettled by the fact that V had not yet addressed the bad news the queen had mentioned. Remy took his hand, silently willing his mate to wait. He suspected that once they did learn the truth, they would need all of this background information to understand it.
"Normally, succubi do not involve themselves in worldly affairs. For the most part, we resume ourselves to wandering through the dreams of mortals and causing mischief. But D and I... We were different.
"I was born with a special pull toward the mortal world, which I later realized was because of Maeven. I had... I can't really explain it, but my mind and emotions don't work the same way as for a normal succubus. But in the astral realm, everything is about balance, so in turn, my twin was different."
"An evil twin, to balance you out," Baqir said, his tone completely unreadable. "And she decided to kill people just to spite you."
Maeven tensed, but V set her hand on the Sidhe's shoulder, as if telling her to stand down. "Like I said, I realize I am largely responsible for her actions, which was I intervened. To banish her to the astral realm, I had to sacrifice a good part of myself. It was a price I was willing to pay for the safety of this world, but I never realized how deeply she had her claws into it. She must have anchored herself to countless silencers before she even attacked Maeven's daughter." V sighed heavily. "I am more flesh than spirit now, and my powers are limited because of it."
"In other words, you can't do it again," Remy concluded with no small amount of dread. "Where does that leave us?"
"It leaves us to the answer of your previous question, and your bad news," Maeven answered. "As I said, your child is fine, but you... There is a sort of link between you and... D."
"A link?" Remy repeated with no small amount of horror. "Surely not... I would have noticed it by now."
"Not necessarily. If I am correct, the link was formed through your ownership of the seal, but it was only when your emotions went through a significant upheaval that it was truly awakened." Again, V gave him that knowing look that Remy hated. "You must have sensed something once or twice. Maybe in the past, you had a deeper feeling of how people thought and felt, something you could attribute to simple empathy. I know you've noticed it now, since you could tell things about Maeven and I that we are very good at hiding."
Remy stared at his hands, suddenly feeling lost, shaken and adrift. He was relieved when Baqir sat down by his side and pulled him in his arms. "That still isn't an answer to our problem, and to handling your sister."
"No, it is not." The queen's voice held so much regret that Remy couldn't help but look at her. "I'm afraid, young ones, that it is your turn to make a sacrifice. If you are to have a future, you must sacrifice all hope for it."
Chapter Nine
The next day
Baqir stirred awake into absolute darkness. His head was pounding, and he shook it in an attempt to clear his senses.
What had happened? He couldn't remember. They had left France to search for allies to deal with the killings and then, he and Remy had...
Remy! Baqir shot to his feet, the dull ache becoming irrelevant as his entire sense of self focused on something far more important. He could feel Remy nearby, his instincts guiding him where his eyesight could not.
Normally, shape-shifters could see quite well in the dark, but for werewolves like Baqir, those powers had their limits. Underground, there was no light to catch, not even through their sensitive eyes. There was only the oppressive darkness, so deep it felt almost palpable, scratching over Baqir's skin, cutting his breath.
There was nothing Baqir would have liked more than to find his way out of this moon-forsaken place, but instead, he went deeper. It didn't take long before he heard Remy call out his name from the dark. "Baqir?"
"I'm here," Baqir r
eplied, moving quickly through the rocky terrain. "I'm with you."
In no time at all, he was at Remy's side. They couldn't see each other, so Baqir peppered his mate's face with kisses. In turn, Remy touched him everywhere he could reach, clearly reassuring himself that Baqir was truly there.
It was when they finally broke apart that Baqir realized the reason why he'd been able to move with reasonable comfort through the darkness. "I know this place..." he whispered to himself. "But... How?"
"Baqir? Qiri? What, what is it?"
His mate's voice anchored him to the present and he let out a breath, focusing on the sound of Remy's heartbeat to steady his own. "My... My mother, Erdi and I lived here for a time, when Erdi was very young, before we became silencers."
In fact, it was the last place they'd lived in, before his mother had been killed and Baqir had been forced to take up a role he'd never wanted so that his brother would survive. He'd sacrificed so much to finally have his revenge, and in the end, he hadn't managed to keep Erdi from the life he himself loathed.
"What are we doing here?" he asked. "What sort of trickery is this?"
They were more rhetorical questions that anything else, but Remy still answered him—albeit with an inquiry of his own. "What do you remember?"
"Not much," Baqir admitted. "My assumption is that something went wrong after we left Paris."
Blanchefleur and Dread weren't here. Had they betrayed him and Remy, or were they simply trapped elsewhere? Nothing made sense. He was so tired of being confused, and now, he felt like he was failing his mate on top of everything else.
Well, there was no point in staying here and dwelling on his doubts. "Come on," he told his lover. "We're getting out of here."
"Wait..." Remy whispered. "I think... There's something I have to tell you."
Baqir wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. He wished he could see Remy's face so that he could read his mate's expression. "Something? What?"
