Chapter 24 Fetus for a Fetus #2
“Blindsided!” My voice raised as much as my indignation while I sidestepped his jab about Endymion.
“Oh, poor Artton, did the primordial power not ask how high when you demanded it to jump and now you’re all out of sorts?
Gosh, I’m so sorry for the hardship of it all.
I can see how this has been a major inconvenience for you.
It’s almost like a week ago you were the one that found out your parents had been slaughtered by your lover.
No, wait”—I snapped my fingers—"surely, blindsided is when the Mother turned you into a godsdamned fae. "
I took a half-step forward, chin raised, all humor replaced with lethal, calculating ire as I bore into his soul.
“Don’t you dare blame me for blindsiding you about powers I never asked for, in a body that isn’t mine, in a land that is foreign, with fae I didn’t know.
Forty-eight hours ago, I found out Lumnara’s fate is tied to mine, and yesterday I sewed the flesh of a man to whom I owe my life to.
So don’t talk to me about being ambushed when I am one surprise from finding a way to carve this fucken power out of me and letting the lot of you fight over it. ”
His pupils dilated, nearly eating away the dark-blue irises.
“Uh, Uncle Artt—”
“Shut it,” Artton snapped.
“Okay,” the kid said, hands raised, “but don’t say I didn’t warn yo—”
“Don’t you ever speak that way again,” Artton seethed at me. “Do you hear me?” Rage like I hadn’t seen from him wafted off in waves, and damn was I ready for it.
“Or what?” I taunted. “You’ll do the job for me?”
“Uncle, no.”
In a flash, Artton’s hand wrapped around my wrist with a punishing grasp.
Bang!
White-hot power erupted from me, throwing Caius’ second into a pillar, the sharp crack echoing through the empty hallway. A heartbeat later, Caius and Sidrick spilled out of the suite, weapons in hand.
The High Lord looked between my new shadow, Artton, and me.
“What in Lumnara is happening out here?” Caius demanded.
“Fucken hell,” Artton groaned. “That bloody hurt.”
“I tried to warn you,” Kaelun said sheepishly as he offered his uncle a hand up.
“Well, do a better job next time.” He grunted as his nephew pulled him to his feet. Artton rubbed his neck, twisting it far to one side, then the other, before looking at me with an expression I couldn’t read—though it wasn’t anger. “Damn Nyleeria, that really fucken hurt. What did you do?”
All eyes turned to me.
I shrugged, feeling no small amount of satisfaction. “Nothing I haven’t done before.” It was the truth, but I knew damn well Endymion had shielded himself in time.
Artton looked around as if searching for something while he took a spot between Caius and Kaelun.
“No. Not the same thing judging by how the walls are still intact. This was at a much smaller scale than before.” He rubbed his chin in thought.
“Probably because you were tapped,” Artton said, as if to himself but looked to the kid as if searching for confirmation—which made no sense.
“Yeah, she was on empty. Well, that is until she cursed your name and stormed off to look for you.” He smirked at Artton, the look dripping with amusement, and I began to reassess him.
How could he have possibly known that? “And the more you kept talking, Uncle, the more it pooled until—” Boom, he mouthed, hands pulling away from each other as he mimed an explosion.
“That’s…” Caius faltered, “alarmingly fast.”
“Right?” the kid agreed, clearly excited. “It’s like she pulls in real-time. It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“What is happening?” I asked, utterly confused.
Ignoring me, Sidrick said, “Is she pulling right now?”
Kaelun nodded. “Yeah. Like, a lot.”
“Can someone please tell me what you’re talking about?” I didn’t enjoy them talking about me like I wasn’t there.
Artton stepped closer. Raising a hand, he offered his pointer finger as if inviting me to press mine against his. “Try to shock me again.”
Not moving, my brows pulled together as I looked between Kaelun, Artton, and his finger.
“Humor me,” he said with a challenging smirk.
“Fine,” I grumbled and raised my finger to his.
Nothing happened.
“Kaelun,” Artton said in a tone that was half-question, half-command.
“Umm. Right.” My eyes followed the kid as he circled around us, finger tapping his chin like he was trying to figure out some sort of puzzle none of us could see. “Ah”—he snapped his fingers—"there."
Before I could react, he tapped my sternum twice, pinched his fingers together, and pulled. I gasped, clutching my chest as he tugged at an invisible string that seemed tethered to me.
Artton shifted to give Kaelun enough space to take a few steps back still holding the tether, the string now so taut I feared it would be ripped from me. Then, in a fluid motion, he flicked the invisible tether and released it.
It snapped back to me like a bowstring releasing an arrow. I cried out, my body flooding with power in a way I’d never experienced before. Only it wasn’t just in me—I could sense it all around me like the infinite glowing threads I’d witnessed with Luca in the forest.
Looking proud of himself, the kid turned to Artton. “Try it now.”
I couldn’t help but feel like some sort of experiment as Artton re-assumed his position, index finger taunting me, but somehow as I lifted my finger to his, I knew this time would be different.