by Lola Gabriel
“She’s quite the little dictator, isn’t she? Your influence, I presume,” he said.
Again, Polly ignored his taunts. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver key. As he waved the key in the air, a padlock appeared on the cage door. Fabian put the key in it and opened the door, and then he stood back, gesturing for Polly to come out with a flourish. Polly stepped out of the cage, wondering if she could take Fabian by surprise and knock him out. With no weapon, she knew she had no chance of it.
“Mom, run,” Laila said, a tinge of panic lacing her voice.
Polly was torn. Without her magic, she was useless to Laila, and the last thing she wanted was for Laila to see Fabian kill her. But she couldn’t just run off and leave Laila here to face her fate alone.
“You’ll be leaving here quite soon, unfortunately, Laila. But in the meantime, I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun together. We have a lot of catching up to do,” Fabian smiled at Laila before Polly could make her decision on whether to stay or go.
Her eyes widened slightly as Laila began to change in front of her. She got taller, wider, and Polly realized what was happening a few seconds before Fabian did. Within five seconds, the transformation was complete, and it wasn’t Laila standing before them. It was Cedric. He had used his fae magic to disguise himself as Laila.
“Yeah, one problem with that,” Cedric said as he pulled a gun from his waistband. A gun that had been concealed as a purse in his disguise. “I’m not Laila.”
He pulled the trigger on the gun as Fabian started toward him with an angry roar. It went off with a loud bang and Fabian dropped to the ground.
“Cedric Waters,” Cedric smiled at Polly. “Let’s get out of here.”
“We’re not going to have long before he’s up again,” Polly said, wondering if they shouldn’t slit Fabian’s throat and finish the job.
“I beg to differ,” Cedric grinned. “The gun is loaded with Ure bullets.”
Polly smiled at that news. Ure was a rare metal that could kill any immortal, and she knew then that Fabian wouldn’t be getting up ever again. Polly and Cedric ran from the room and toward the door to the castle. Carl appeared in their path, blocking their exit. Cedric showed him the gun.
“This gun is loaded with Ure bullets and I won’t hesitate to use it on you. It’s your call. Move, or I’ll kill you,” Cedric said, his voice calm and cold.
Carl didn’t hesitate. He jumped to the side, letting Cedric and Polly pass. As they reached the front door, an alarm started to blare out.
“He’s warned Fabian’s men that we’re on the loose,” Polly said.
“It’s okay. Once they see Fabian is dead, most of them won’t care enough to come after us. And for the ones that do, my pack is waiting for us a little way down the mountain. They won’t get past them,” Cedric told her.
He reached out and took Polly’s hand, and together, they ran down the mountainside. Polly could hear feet behind them, but they weren’t even a quarter of the way down the mountain when a woman stepped out of the trees.
“Keep going. Get to Laila. We’ve got this,” she said.
“Thanks, Cassie,” Cedric said. “Remember, we’re not monsters. Anyone who is trying to flee, let them go. Only kill those who try to fight you.”
“Got it,” Cassie said with a smile. “Now go before I beat your ass and kick you down the mountain myself.”
Cedric laughed and he and Polly began to run again, a little less urgently now that they didn’t have Fabian’s men on their heels.
“Do all the members of your pack give you orders like that?” Polly asked as they moved, a little surprised Cedric hadn’t admonished the woman, even though the comment was clearly meant in a good-natured way.
“Only Cassie,” Cedric smiled. “She’s not just my beta, she’s my sister too, so I guess she has a few privileges. But I know I can always trust her completely to have my back.”
18
Laila jumped to her feet when the door burst open. She felt relief and joy flood her when Cedric and her mom entered the house. She ran to meet them and the three of them stood in a tight embrace for a moment.
“Thank you,” Laila said to Cedric when they separated. “You did it. You saved her.”
“Try not to sound so surprised,” Cedric grinned. “And just so you know, Fabian won’t be a problem anymore.”
“I take it Cedric has told you some of the story about who you are and what happened when you were a baby?” Polly said after they had had another couple of hugs and sat down.
Laila looked at Cedric nervously and then back at Polly.
“He did. But it all sounded so…” she trailed off, not wanting to say it in front of Cedric.
“Crazy? Insane? Bullshit?” Cedric finished for her with a grin. “Don’t worry, I know how it must have sounded.”
Laila gave him a grateful smile and then focused on Polly.
“So, what’s the story, Mom? How much of it is true?” she asked.
“All of it,” Polly said. “Your real mom was a prisoner of Fabian’s. She accepted her fate and he began to allow her a little bit more freedom. We met in the town and became friends. When she got pregnant, she was distraught at the idea of Fabian having children around him. She knew his plan—if you were a boy, you would have been killed at birth. If you were a girl, you would be raised to the age of eighteen and then sold to the highest bidder. She didn’t want that for her child. We came up with the plan that I would take you and raise you as my own.
“I’m sorry I lied to you about who you really are, and about your parents, but your mom made me swear that I would give you a normal human life and not risk Fabian ever finding you. I gave you a potion that suppressed your fae side, and I took some myself—I’m a witch—so you would never realize I wasn’t aging.”
“And then, like an idiot, I came here even when I knew you didn’t want me to. I never dreamed any of this would happen, though. I’m so sorry, Mom,” Laila said.
“So you believe the story is true now?” Cedric asked.
“Yes,” Laila said. “And not just because my mom has confirmed it. While you were gone, I realized that as crazy as it sounded, you weren’t crazy, and that meant it had to be true.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Laila,” Polly said. “I should have tried harder to stop you from coming here. I just thought it was likely Fabian had moved on, and I couldn’t think of any way to stop you from coming here without breaking my promise to your mom.”
Polly smiled at Laila and then Cedric.
“Besides, I think maybe coming here wasn’t the worst thing in the world, huh?”
“Mom,” Laila protested, blushing and giving her an admonishing look.
Polly laughed and held her hands up.
“Okay, okay, I won’t say anything else,” she said. “At least not after I say this. The potion that represses your fae side has an antidote. One you can take to become your true self.”
“I…” Laila said.
She stopped. She didn’t know if she wanted to take the potion or not and she didn’t want to have the debate about it in front of Cedric. Because immortal or not, none of this changed the fact that she couldn’t be with Cedric because she could never give him a real family.
“You don’t have to decide right now,” Polly said. “But if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and grab the potion and take some myself. Living in this aging body is getting a bit tiresome, to be honest.”
She stood up and left the room and Laila looked at Cedric.
“I need some time to think about whether or not to take the potion. I don’t know if it’s best to take it and be myself, or to move away from here and pretend none of this ever happened,” she admitted.
“Please don’t leave Greer,” Cedric said. “Laila, I love you. And I know you’re meant to be with me. If not today, then tomorrow, or next month, or next year. I don’t care if you take the potion or not—that’s your choice. Just promise you won’t
leave.”
“Cedric, it doesn’t matter whether I stay in Greer or not. Nothing has changed and…” Laila started, knowing she would have to once more tell him they could never be together.
“Everything has changed and you know it,” Cedric said, cutting her off mid-sentence. “Except for one thing. I’m still willing to wait as long as it takes for you to see that we’re meant to be together.”
Laila shook her head slightly. This was so hard. Here was this amazing man who loved her. And whom she loved in return. And yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell him why they couldn’t be together. Because if he insisted it didn’t matter to him, she thought she would find it too hard to not melt into his arms and let herself believe he would never come to resent her.
“I… I don’t know what to say, Cedric. Everything’s so upside down right now. I can’t promise I won’t leave the town, but I’ll meet you halfway. I promise I won’t leave without coming to say goodbye. That’s the best I can do and I hope it’s enough.”
Cedric moved to Laila and wrapped her in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and she let him hold her, clinging to him for dear life. God, why can’t this just be simple? she thought to herself.
“You’ll always be enough,” Cedric said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“That’s much better,” Polly said from behind Laila.
Laila and Cedric separated as Polly apologized for disturbing them. Laila turned around.
“It’s okay… holy shit, look at you!” she exclaimed.
Although she had begun to believe that everything Cedric had told her about immortality was true, seeing her mom standing there looking twenty years younger than she had been ten minutes ago was still a shock. Polly laughed.
“Quite the transformation, right?” she said.
“Right,” Laila agreed. “You look fantastic, Mom.”
Polly did a little twirl, laughing as she did, and Laila found herself laughing too. Maybe she should take the potion. It would sure be nice to stop aging before she hit thirty. It was a big choice, though, and for her, it meant that she would spend an eternity alone. She knew she couldn’t make the choice under Cedric’s longing look.
“Let’s go back to my place, Mom. I think we have some catching up to do,” Laila said. She laughed softly. “I guess I’d better not call you ‘Mom’ in public anymore. That would get some strange looks.”
Polly laughed as she headed out of the room, Laila following her. Cedric caught her wrist as she moved and turned her back to face him.
“I’ll wait as long as it takes, Laila,” he said.
Laila hugged him, holding him as tightly as she could for a moment, because she knew that whatever decision she made about her fae life, she was going to have the hardest conversation of her life soon. The one where she sat down the only man she had ever loved and told him to move on and find someone else.
Laila and Polly walked through Greer, heading for Laila’s place. Polly turned to Laila and looked at her thoughtfully for a second.
“What?” Laila asked.
“Why are you so determined that you and Cedric can’t be together, Lails? It’s so obvious that you are in love with each other,” Polly said.
“I want to be with him more than anything,” Laila replied. “But he doesn’t know I can’t have children, and I know if I tell him, he’ll say he’s cool with it. But what if he wakes up in a couple of years’ time and realizes he isn’t cool with it? Then he’ll hate me for stopping him from having a family and ruining his life. I…”
“Laila,” Polly interrupted her. “You can have children with Cedric.”
Laila’s heart skipped a beat. She was sure she must have misheard Polly, but at the same time, she knew she hadn’t.
“I can’t and you know it. I know you’re trying to make me feel better and giving me hope that maybe the doctors were wrong or whatever, but the chances of that are practically zero,” Laila said.
“No, you don’t understand,” Polly said, shaking her head. “You can’t carry human children because you’re a fae. You would just miscarry any human child you ever conceived and from a medical point of view, it would certainly appear that you couldn’t have children. But if you choose to take the antidote, you are perfectly able to carry fae babies.”
“I… what? You’re telling me Cedric and I could have children?” Laila asked, hardly daring to believe she had understood correctly.
“Yes. A hundred if you want to. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when I told you the rest. I…”
Laila dug into her pocket and thrust her keys at Polly.
“I forgive you,” she said, laughing even as tears poured down her cheeks. “That’s my house up there. The little one with the red door.”
She turned and began to run.
“Where are you going?” Polly shouted after her.
“To tell Cedric I’m an idiot and I love him!” she yelled.
19
Cedric had debated heading to bed for a couple of hours once Laila and Polly left his house. He had barely gotten any sleep so far that night and it was now just after four, still time for him to grab a few hours. He had had maybe an hour dozing in the chair while he waited for Laila to wake up from her drugged state, but despite the fact that his eyes felt scratchy and he kept yawning, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. His thoughts were too wrapped up in Laila.
He just didn’t know how to make her see that they were meant for each other. The worst thing about it was that he actually thought that on some level, Laila knew it. But something was holding her back from him and he just didn’t know what it was or how to fix it.
He stood up to go to his office. He figured he might as well at least try and get some work done, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Maybe not ever again. He was almost at his office door when a knock sounded on his front door. It was an urgent, frantic knock, one that made him turn on his heel and run to the door. Something had to be wrong for someone to knock on his door like that. He pulled the door open, surprised to see Laila standing there.
“Is everything…” he started.
He didn’t get to finish his sentence, because Laila threw herself into his arms and pressed her mouth over his. He had no idea why she had come back and kissed him, but he wasn’t about to question it. It felt so good to have her in his arms again, to hold her and kiss her again. In that moment, Laila’s kiss and her body pressed against his were all that mattered.
Finally, Laila pulled her mouth back from his. She smiled up at him sheepishly.
“I should have said this earlier, and I hope it’s not too late to say it now. Cedric, I love you. Hopelessly, desperately, and completely, and if you still want me, I’m yours,” she said.
“I’ll always want you,” Cedric said, before he leaned down and kissed Laila again, a deep, passionate kiss that made him forget he had ever been tired.
They broke apart from the kiss and Cedric stepped back from the door so that Laila could come in. He led her to the living room and they sat pressed together on the couch.
“I hope I don’t come to regret asking this, Laila, but I have to know. What changed your mind about us?” he asked her.
He really hoped his question didn’t make her think too deeply about her reasons and realize they still stood. He had to know, though. If he didn’t ask her, it would always eat away at him.
“When I was eighteen, I was told I couldn’t have children,” Laila said. “It broke me. Children have always been something I craved. I knew I couldn’t be with someone and deprive them of their chance to be a father. My mom asked me what was stopping me from being with you, and when I told her my reason, she said it was only a human baby I couldn’t have, and that if I take the antidote to the potion and let myself embrace being a fairy, I will be able to have children with you. Assuming you want that.”
“I do,” Cedric told her. “But if you couldn’t have had my child, that wouldn’t have stopped me from loving you, Laila.
I would have still wanted you.”
“You would have ended up resenting me,” Laila said.
“Never,” Cedric replied firmly.
Laila smiled at him happily.
“It doesn’t matter either way now, though, does it? Because we can be together and have a hundred babies,” she said.
“I think a hundred is rather a lot. I think we might have to stop at ninety-nine,” Cedric grinned.
Laila giggled and snuggled more tightly against him.
“I could live with that,” she said.
They were quiet for a moment, and then Cedric spoke again,
“When are you taking the potion, then? It’s just that I thought maybe we could get started on those babies,” he said with a wink.
“Tomorrow,” Laila said, smiling at Cedric. “But I don’t think there would be anything wrong with practicing making a baby now.”
20
Polly beamed when Cedric and Laila stepped into Laila’s house, hand in hand, as the sun began to rise over Greer.
“I’d like to take the antidote to the potion,” Laila said with a smile.
Polly returned her smile and poked around in her handbag for a moment. She pulled out a vial of sparkling yellow liquid.
“There you go,” she said.
Laila took it and looked at it nervously. Cedric nodded his head encouragingly at her and she seemed to relax. She opened the vial.
“All of it?” she asked.
Polly nodded and Laila tipped the vial up into her mouth, swallowing down the liquid.
“How do you feel?” Cedric asked after a few seconds.
Laila smiled, a wide, beaming smile.
“Amazing,” she said. “Like every part of me just came to life in a way I didn’t know it could.”
“Every day will be like that now,” Cedric told her. “Everything you feel, you’ll feel it more intensely. All of your senses will be heightened. And your instincts, once you learn to read them and to trust them, will never let you down.”
