She was right. One day she would fade. To him, it didn’t matter to him what she looked like when she did it. She could be gray and wrinkled, and he would still love her with every ounce of his heart. Eventually, she would leave him for the Eternal Isles, and he couldn’t follow her there. He would find a solution. He had to, but there wasn’t anything he could learn from the dark fae court. It was time he went home and got help there.
As Tyler thought about whether or not to say goodbye, the decision was made for him. Jessica, in all of her resplendent glory, found him as he was approaching his rooms.
“You know, she’s still got a mission to complete. I don’t know if she is going to be able to get it done if you’re here.” Although the fae queen spoke with the same haughty tone she had always used, Tyler knew that she was going to miss him.
They had become friends while Mykah was gone. Holding onto each other because there was no one else who knew what they were going through. Tyler had helped her, offering the same advice he would have for Zander. He showed her the importance of delegating as well as some of the issues that had come up in Mykah’s absence.
Caught up in his memories, it took a second before he responded. “I know.” He did know, but the decision hadn’t come easily to leave so that the princess could do what she needed to.
“You also know,” Jessica continued “my sister is going to need you when this is all said and done. She might not think she does, but she will.” She looked away, and when she glanced back, Tyler could see tears in her light blue eyes. “I don’t know why it has to be you, but it does. I can feel it.”
“Christopher has been here a lot,” he said to change the subject. “Has he been making any progress with his goals?”
The wistful and miserable look on her face told Tyler that Jessica had a lot on her mind. “He wants what he wants, which is different than what I want. I can’t blame him for his determination.”
“But your answer is still no.” Tyler dared her to deny it, but they both knew that Jessica didn’t want to share her power with anyone.
She nodded, and a small smile broke through her icy demeanor. “Exactly.”
“I’m going home.” But he knew that she knew it was coming. Hell, she had pretty much told him to leave not even five minutes earlier.
Her smile disappeared. “I think that’s the best decision. If anything happens, I’ll send word.”
Leaving wasn’t what he wanted, but it was what they both needed. “Watch out for her?” Tyler knew that Jessica would protect her with everything he couldn’t.
She slowly nodded, “Always.” But there wasn’t a smile on her face. “Are you going to say goodbye?” The hesitancy in her voice told him she was just as conflicted as he was.
If he went to say goodbye, he wouldn’t have the strength to leave. “No, she doesn’t need that.”
“You’re not giving up, are you?” She reached out and gently touched his arm, and he was surprised that he didn’t recoil from the feeling of her skin on his.
“Never.” Before he could stop himself, his hand reached up and patted hers, offering the little bit of support that he was able to.
“Good.” This time she did smile at him, and he saw the beauty that had captivated other men. “I know you’re going to try and find a solution, a way for the two of you to be together. I just want you to think about one thing. It is possible to love someone for all the time you have together, and to let her go at the end.” Tyler knew that, but he didn’t ever want to have to let her go.
Because he couldn’t let it go at that, he said the first thing that came to mind. “Hey, Jessica?” He couldn’t leave without giving her a little bit of advice.
“What’s up, vampire?” She let go of his arm and moved down the hall, motioning for him to follow.
“I just wanted to tell you…Christopher isn’t going away for a reason.” He had to tell her because he’d want to know if Mykah had felt that way about him. “If it were just about power, he’d consolidate it some other way by now. He’s here because he cares. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have spent the last six months following you like a puppy.”
“I don’t know what to say to that, Tyler.” Although they were walking side by side, he could feel the tension in her body.
“There’s nothing to say,” he answered her honestly. “At some point, you’re going to have to let him down. Bluntly, and honestly. He won’t stop coming around until you do. I’ll warn you though. Once you do, he won’t come back. Breaking a man’s heart is one thing, but wounding his pride is an entirely different beast.” Letting those parting words be his goodbye, Tyler turned and went the opposite direction.
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Mykah was talking to herself more than anything, but seeing the light fae king in her sister’s throne room perturbed her for some reason. “Christopher,” she said, “I am fine. You don’t have to be here.”
“I’m not here for you, princess. Jessica and I have unfinished business.” He openly glared at her sister, and Mykah went on the defense.
He was dressed immaculately, as always. A charcoal gray shirt was stretched across his chest and tucked into a pair of black slacks, and somehow he looked both relaxed and untouchable. His silver eyes shone with his annoyance, and his platinum hair looked as though he had run his hands through it in frustration.
“Don’t you dare do anything to hurt my sister.” She bared her teeth at him, “I don’t care how powerful you are, oh great fae king, I’ll take you down.” The snarl at the end might have been a bit much, but the momentary look of terror that crossed his face gave Mykah a considerable amount of pleasure.
“Mykah, what’s up?” Jessica addressed her for from the throne, where she was sitting in a pair of bright pink fuzzy pajamas.
“Um, I’m just looking for Tyler. Have you seen him?” She hadn’t really, but she didn’t want to have a private conversation in front of the fae king.
“He left,” Christopher said with a smug look on his face. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you upset that he pulled a you and just disappeared?” He ducked and missed the potted plant that she had picked up and thrown at his head.
Watching it shatter behind him wasn’t nearly as satisfying as it would have been if it had hit his ridiculously beautiful face. “Shut up.” Looking at her sister, Mykah raised an eyebrow in question.
“What?” Jessica asked the question with a smile on her face, “Christopher has a point. You pulled a vanishing act on the vampire, and now he’s done it to you. It is a little bit amusing.”
“Jessica, come on. Where did he go?” She refused to acknowledge what they were saying, how they were teasing her.
“He left, like Christopher said.” But with the look that Mykah shot her sister, she kept talking. “He’s going home, Mykah. Back to the Blood Court. Tyler knows you have to be here, you can’t be conflicted.”
“He’s a big chicken marshmallow. That’s what he is.” She muttered, unable to come to terms with the fact that he had left her.
She hadn’t wanted him to leave. Well she had, but just so that she could take care of a few things and have a few minutes of privacy. She didn’t want him to go back to the vampire court. However, if he were gone, then she would be able to concentrate on resurrecting the elder grove.
After making her way to the dungeons where her father had studied before her, Mykah unlocked the training rooms using the spell he had shown her. She didn’t need anything from the room, just wanted to feel connected to her father. It looked exactly as he described. Books lined an entire wall, and she could feel her fingers itching to pick up one of them and start reading. Instead, she turned away and took in the rest of the room. The walls and floor were discolored in certain spots, and even though she knew that it was because of her ancestors practicing the use of blood magic, she felt a chill in the air.
“What is this place?” Mykah jumped at the voice, turning and falling while she tried to see who it was.
�
��Christ, Jess. What the hell?” Jessica was standing in the doorway, stuffing a cookie in her face.
“Wha?” She kept eating the cookie and waved her free hand around the room.
“This is where Dad used to train, I guess. I just wanted to see it before I head to the grove.” She smiled bleakly at her sister. “I’m scared.”
Finishing her snack, Jessica moved into the room and pulled Mykah into a hug. “I’ll be there by your side. You don’t have to do this alone.”
She didn’t know what to say to her sister, the woman who had stood by her through everything. Mykah felt terrible that she was constantly dragging Jess into one problem after another. She was ruling the dark fae realm. The last thing she needed was to be helping her sister clean up this mess. Standing there, in her sister’s arms, Mykah swore to herself that if she survived resurrecting the elder grove, she would leave her sister to live in peace.
“Come on,” she sniffled. “I need to get this done before something bad happens.” Taking her sister’s hand, she left the dungeons and made her way through the castle in silence.
The vines growing from the wall were a comforting sight, and as they reached for her hands, Mykah felt a sense of calm that she’d been missing in the Eternal Isles. She still found it hard to believe that she was gone for six months. Time really did move differently. At least if everything went wrong, she would be back there with her parents.
Mykah didn’t tell her sister that she met their mother. She didn’t want to hurt Jessica, but neither did she want to share her memories. She knew it was selfish, but she couldn’t help but want something that was special and just for herself. As they continued through the halls, she knew that everything was about to change. She just hoped that it was going to get better instead of worse.
Stepping into the sunlight, she took a deep breath of the fresh air and smiled at how sweet it was.
Tyler hadn’t even made it a dozen feet before he was descended upon. Sarah flung herself into his arms, squeezing him in a hug that was as ferocious as she was.
“Don’t you ever do that again. You haven’t even come to visit. You stupid man.” Letting go of him, she wiped tears from her eyes and then walked away.
Knowing she missed him brought a smile to his face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to leave on the chance she would come back.” He hadn’t meant to hurt her.
Looking around, he noticed that yet again, everyone was sitting around doing nothing. He knew better than to say anything about their laziness when they had nothing to do. There was something to be said about the efficiency in which they ran the entire court of vampires.
Winter was looking at him, and it seemed like the witch was staring right through him. “She’s back, then?”
He had to answer her, or she’d just pull the answer out of his head. “Yes,” but he didn’t have to give her any details.
With a smile, she turned to Jonathon and then back to Tyler. “Well then. She’ll be restoring what she destroyed soon. Why are you here? Why aren’t you by her side?”
“Because. Mykah has to do this on her own.” He didn’t know what else to tell them. He didn’t think there was anything else that he could say. He just had to let it happen.
“You had that vision, though. Of the children.” Jonathon spoke across the room, and everyone stopped what they were doing to pay attention. Every other mini–conversation came to a halt. “You had it for a reason. Leaving, when the princess could be in danger, wasn’t smart. You should be there.”
“She doesn’t want me there. There’s nothing to say that the vision is even going to come to pass. With how much meddling the mother of all has done. It could have just been a warning.”
“Winter,” Sarah said. “You have to tell him.” He followed the conversation and looked at the witch again to see something akin to fear in her eyes.
“Tyler,” she started. “You need to be there. If you’ve had a vision given to you by the court, by any court, you need to take it at its face value. Go. Before something happens that you could have stopped.” She made a shooing motion with her hands.
“What? Now I’m not welcome in my own home?” He couldn’t help but get pissed. Here he was doing the right thing by letting her go, knowing that she was going to fade while all he wanted was to find a solution to it. Now they were telling him to leave. “Fine. I’ll go.”
Zander stepped into his path before he could go. “Hey. No, we’re not telling you that you have to leave. I just don’t want to see you make a mistake when you could have helped.” Grasping Tyler’s shoulder, he squeezed it in a comforting way. Tyler didn't feel like he needed comfort, though. He was pissed.
He couldn’t argue with them. Not when he couldn’t even come up with a good reason why he had come home. Sure, he could try to feed them the same bullshit he had said to himself, that he was trying to come up with a way for them to be together. The truth was, it didn’t matter if she aged a thousand years, he would still love her. He would love her until she took her last breath and faded. He would love her after that, even. He would spend all of his existence loving that woman. Running away from it wasn’t in his nature.
Turning so that none of them could see his face, he muttered to himself. “Damn it. What the hell am I going to do now.” He didn’t have to lower his voice, though. He knew that everyone in the room could hear exactly what he was saying.
“Shit. I’ve got to go back.”
“Yeah, you do.” Winter was at his side, touching his back softly. “But we need to talk before you do.” She had pushed her way into his head.
“What the hell, Winter?” He hadn’t spoken out loud, but he could hear his voice ringing out. “Why did you have to do that? Why not say it in front of everyone else.”
“Shut up and listen, vampire. I have to tell you something. Just you. I don’t need Jonathon or Zander nosing in right now.” He couldn’t see her, but he could feel her taking over. Everything was freezing, and if he could see himself, he’d know he was shivering.
When she was sure that he wasn’t going to interrupt, she went on with what she had to say, “Did you know, when Jonathon first asked me to be his queen, I said no because I didn’t want to lose my power. I was so afraid of what would happen to me without my magic, I didn’t consider how it was hurting him. By the time I was ready, I had lost him. If I could go back and do it the first time, I would. It took me time. Time to come to terms with the fact that love is more important to me than power. Don’t give up on her yet.”
Tyler didn’t know how to answer that, and luckily he didn’t have to. Just as quickly as she had taken over his mind, Winter released him. Without a word, she turned away and left him on his own. Knowing he wouldn’t get anywhere with his family, he left. Not to the fae realm, but to his rooms so that he could at least get a shower and a meal before he had to go back. They were right, after all. If she was going to put everything to rights, there were a million things that could go wrong. He would fight for her if it came to that.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The grove looked just like it had that night. Mykah was standing on the same hill that she and Jessica had, staring at the charred remains of earth that had once held the center of all fae magic in their realm. Nothing had grown there in the time since she had used blood magic and destroyed everything. The air still smelled like a fire burned along the edges of the wood, and she could feel the anger from the earth seeping through the air.
The trees along the border, over a thousand feet from the last piece of singed earth, were blooming in perfect health. It was as though a small blast had hit the center of the grove and then been wiped out immediately before anything else could be damaged. If it were possible to hurt any more than she currently did, Mykah was sure that she would cry. She could already feel a hollow ping in her stomach, telling her that what she had done was wrong.
It made her sick, knowing that she had devastated their world because of a simple misunderstanding. Now she had the chance t
o make it right, she could do something about it. Summoning a blade wasn’t tricky, and the silver dagger sat heavily in her palm. Using her magic, even if it drained her entirely, would be a small sacrifice in the long term, especially if it meant that she could prevent any of her people from dying.
The vision from before, the one she had while stuck in the mists. It haunted her even now. The sight of everyone she loved closing their eyes for an eternal slumber and lying on the ground in death almost brought her to her knees. In her mind’s eye, she could still see what had happened, what was meant to happen if she did not do this. Although she had never known fear like that which was currently running through her veins, she knew what she would have to do. She was ready.
Jessica was silent at her side, Nothing else should need to be said between the two of them. They both knew the danger that lay ahead. The possibility that this would be the last time they would see one another in the living realm. It had to be done. Mykah squeezed her sister’s hand and prepared herself for goodbye. Letting go of Jessica, she switched the blade to her right hand and moved to walk away.
“Mykah, stop.” She looked at her sister and saw the silver swirling through them with the fae queen’s inability to control her emotions.
Smiling, and trying to hide her terror she said, “Jess. This has to happen.”
“I know. I just don’t want to let you go. Not now, and not ever. I’m supposed to protect you. I swore I would. Now you’re walking into something that we don’t know if you’ll survive.”
“Nan told me something. It made me mad at the time because I was so busy fighting for a life that I didn’t really appreciate. When I found her in the Lost Realm. She told me that I am not more important than a world full of people. She told me that sacrifices have to be made.” Although Mykah didn’t want to go, she needed to be strong. “If this is my time, you’ll remember me. You all will.”
Door in the Garden of Shadows Page 23
