Chapter 34
How Times Change
“That’s impossible,” I said, standing up and looking at the lot of them like they’d gone mad.
“It’s true,” Tarrin’s voice rumbled from his doorway, our attention snapping to him in surprise.
“My boy,” Fiora said. “You shouldn’t be up and about just yet.” As she stood, she sent a look to her lord, a silent conversation passing between them before Myron rose and joined her to check on Tarrin, whose color was starting to come back.
On our way to the suite, Sidrick had explained that now Tarrin was awake, his body was healed enough for both Fiora and Myron to mend him and that it would be hours—a day tops—until Tarrin was back to himself.
There was nothing they could do about the muscle mass he’d lost which meant he’d have to take up a sword and train again to regain what he lost. His stamina would also take time.
Fortunately, the process of getting back to his full strength was less like recovering from a near-death experience and more like a man who’d stopped training for a prolonged period of time—or as Kaelun had chimed in, it’s not about healing, it’s about building strength.
I noted his true size difference as the spring pair helped Tarrin into the seat across the knee-height table where Kaelun had displayed his blades.
Once everyone resettled, Caius turned his focus to me, and my heart constricted. I knew whatever he had to say was not something I wanted to hear. “Nyleeria,” he said, the soft word pressing on my chest like a vise. “Artton valenned to the human realm to confirm it. Tarrin is telling the truth.”
The room began to spin. No. I shook my head. No, this couldn’t be right. It wasn’t even possible.
Sight unfocused, I forced myself to continue to breathe. “Tell me again,” I said.
“The human realm—”
“No,” I cut Caius off. “I want to hear it from you.” I lifted my gaze and pinned Tarrin with it.
Tarrin took me in, then glanced to the others as if they could save him from having to tell me—they didn’t.
Squaring himself, his eyes darkened as he began.
“Ny,” he said, the caution in his tone putting me on edge, “we searched for you day and night. Between Thaddeus, Nevander, our army, and myself, there wasn’t a stone we didn’t leave unturned.
Thaddeus tried every spell he could think of.
Hells, eventually he even threatened Wymond to give us access to search the Autumn Court, accusing him of taking you.
It’s all he focused on every hour of every day… for six months.”
For six months. The words repeated in my head again and again.
I gripped the armrests, the wood groaning beneath my grasp.
This couldn’t be happening. It had been weeks—a month—at most since I’d mounted Luca, the human palace at our backs as we fled to Leighmullan.
I’d held Mrs. E in my arms and wept with her weeks ago. Not half a year.
I looked to Caius, the pity in his eyes had me forcing back bile before I could speak. “I don’t understand,” I whispered.
His look turned grave. “I’m sorry, Nyleeria. We hadn’t realized it was this bad.”
I breathed in through my nose and out my mouth slowly, trying to calm myself to no avail.
The walls of the large living room began to close in on me.
I stood on wobbly legs and excused myself to the veranda for some fresh air.
The second the hot sun hit my face, I stepped toward one of the flowerpots and emptied the meager bites of food I’d had earlier.
“You okay, Spark?”
Wiping my mouth with the back of my arm, I slowly righted myself.
“You look like shit,” Artton said, taking me in. “Here, take a seat.”
My body obeyed his orders, taking one of the seats in the shade, while Artton swung the twinned chair so he could face me when he sat.
“How is this even possible?” I asked.
Artton held my gaze. “We discussed it at length while you were with Kaelun and Sidrick. There are many theories, but only two seem plausible. Caius explained the weather instability to you, yes?”
“You mean how it snowed in the Summer Court when I was born?” I asked.
He nodded. “Our first theory is that your physical presence in a realm is more important than we ever considered.”
“You think that because I’m physically in the fae realm instead of back home that, what, time shifted instead of the seasons?”
“We do. Alternatively, now that you’re fae, you’ve been able to wield arcane magic, which could be throwing off the balance of things.”
“Or a combination of the two,” I added.
“Or that.”
“Do we know if time in the human realm is faster, or if it’s slower here?” I asked.
“Does it really matter?” Artton countered.
I thought about it for the moment, then shook my head. “No, I suppose not.”
“Nyleeria,” Caius said at the threshold, “I think it’s important for you to hear the rest of what Tarrin told us.”
“Of course there’s more,” I muttered under my breath.
Artton chuckled. “Just another Tuesday for you, eh, Spark?”
That got a smile out of Caius, and me. Looking to the High Lord, I said, “I’ve got a limited-time offer for the two of you, but the second we leave the veranda, it expires.” The false gravity of my tone had them both look at me with questioning concern.
“Go on,” Caius said, indicating for me to continue.
“Well, I’m offering you the spark for the low, low price of nothing.
Which is a steal if you ask me.” They both looked at me like I’d gone mad as I continued.
“Think of it—all the power in Lumnara in your capable hands. Sure, there are some… minor complications that come with it. You know, the fact that your family and friends are at risk of being kidnapped, maimed, or murdered—which, I mean, isn’t the best, but everything comes with a cost, right? Then there’s the little—”
“You might want to interrupt her,” Tarrin said to Caius, “she’ll drone on forever if you don’t.”
“Hey!” I said, stopping my rant long enough to cut Tarrin an accusatory look.
“What?” he clipped back, the summer fae looking between the two of us as we bantered. “We both know your dark sense of humor has a way of stealing the show when you’re overwhelmed.”
Crossing my arms, I said, “That’s not true.”
“Actually,” Kaelun interjected, standing between Tarrin and Caius at the threshold, “he’s kinda right. Remember when you guys were at the beach—”
“Gaaaaaah,” I groaned. “It’s not fair when you use my own memories against me. New rule, you can’t do that anymore.”
The mood lightened, and they all joined me outside, Sidrick finding his seat last.
“Myron and Fiora?” I asked Summer’s third as he sat.
“They decided to go home for a few hours. They’ll be back later to check on you and hopefully administer the last healing session,” he said to Tarrin, who dipped his chin in acknowledgment.
“Ny," Tarrin said from my right, sitting opposite of Artton, “I know it’s a lot, but you need to hear everything, and no matter what”—he looked around the intimate seating we’d all found ourselves at—"we’re all here for you."
His fae counterparts offered me encouraging looks in response.
“Okay.” I sighed. “Hit me.”
“Do you want me to soften it, or just tell it straight up?”
I couldn’t help but glance at Artton, who’d asked me the same thing not so long ago. Turning my focus back to Tarrin, I said, “Let’s just get this over with.”
He gave me a curt nod, they forged on. “Even though Thaddeus stopped the official search for you after six months, the three of us kept looking. With you gone, and Wymond sick of Thaddeus continually snapping at him for taking you, the High Lord released the twins back to our custody as a show of good faith.”
“They’re in the human realm?” I breathed, snapping my attention to Caius, then back as hope bloomed in my chest. Freeing them from Thaddeus’ grasp was surely easier than Wymond’s.
“Please,” Tarrin said, “let me finish.”
I knew he’d never quell my excitement unless his story would ultimately lead me to disappointment. Deflating a fraction, and my mind still reeling, I nodded for him to go on.
“You have to understand, Ny, Thaddeus was wracked with grief. He—”
“Don’t,” I warned. “Don’t you fucken dare, Tarrin. You don’t get to manipulate me into feeling bad for him before telling me something we both know is going to hurt me. So just get to the point already.”
His eyes widened a fraction before he looked at me, assessing, as if he’d never seen me before; and I supposed in a way, he hadn’t.
The truth was, the second I’d settled into Luca’s saddle and pushed forward, I was no longer the same naive girl that had stumbled into their lives.
I wasn’t sure if I was a better version of myself, but I was a stronger one, to be sure.
“All right,” he said, palms up in surrender, “I’ll stick to the facts.
Three months after Thaddeus took possession of the twins, he decided to take them out of stasis.
” He didn’t give me time to process before continuing on.
“A few weeks later, he learned how time was warping. And yes, before any of you ask,” he said, addressing the group at large, “he and Wymond came to the same conclusion about the variance, which led them to believe that you’re still alive.
” Tarrin’s attention shifted to me, and I ignored the others bristling at the implication.
“That’s when we relocated to the Autumn Court. ”
I froze, and judging by how the others reacted, this was new information—and it wasn’t good.
“The Autumn Court?” Artton parroted.
Tarrin nodded, staring down Summer’s second as if daring him to challenge his words.
“That’s why Luca and I found you in autumn,” I said, piecing it together.
“Yes,” he said, shifting his focus back to me.
I faced Caius. “If I understand correctly, given how much time passed before Thaddeus had called of the official search, nearly a year has passed in the human realm in the span of a month here—maybe a little more.” No one contradicted my assessment, so I continued. “How does this change our plan?”
“What plan?” Tarrin chimed in, eyes alert.
The High Lord shared a long look with his commanders, ignoring the question.
After a moment of silence, Sidrick asked, “Did Wymond implement any safety precautions at all, like, say, limiting outside contact?”
I straightened, my eyes darting between the two as I held my breath for the answer.
Tarrin narrowed his eyes a fraction before answering. “That’s oddly specific, but yes. Why?”
Caius’ gaze locked with mine the instant I turned to him, as if waiting for me to ask the silent question that had been weighing on my heart: Endymion?
His chin dipped ever so slightly, indicating that it’s exactly why they were asking—and also why he hadn’t been able to get word to us after once he was deep into the Autumn Court.
I needed to know the answer to my next question, but Caius gave me a warning look that reminded me that we had to tread lightly when discussing Endymion with others.
It also told me just how much trust Tarrin held in this group.
“Why did it take so long for Wymond to enforce the border lockdown?” Caius asked, and I had to admire the subtlety he went about mining for the information he sought.
“From what I overheard, he needed his commander on autumn soil beforehand, but he was here helping you while his magic…” Tarrin trailed off, looking from me to Caius and back.
It was as if I could physically see him putting the pieces together, his mouth slack as he stared, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he knew.
“You can’t tell anyone,” I pleaded.
“Nyleeria,” Caius chided.
Tarrin cut him a hard look. “I might be human, but I’m not an idiot.”
“There’s no evidence of that,” Artton mocked.
It was my turn to cut a warning look. The summer fae’s jaw ticked, but he stayed quiet.
“It makes so much sense,” Tarrin said, rubbing his hands across his face. One moment he was calm, the next his eyes bore into mine, anger radiating off of him. “Is that who changed you into this?” he spat, indicating all of me.
I flinched, not from the accusation, but from the vitriol and disgust he had toward me being fae.
“You’ll mind who you’re speaking to, Lord Tarrin,” Kaelun said with a firmness that shocked me.
“Whether you hold our customs by showing Lady Nyleeria the reverence she deserves by being the spark, or not, you’d do well to remember the atrocities you put her through as a human.
And while you swallow that truth, I’d recommend you sweeten the bitterness on your tongue with gratitude for her and the High Lord who brought you back from Father Death’s clutches, unless you’d prefer to be returned to them. ”
I blinked at Kaelun, wondering who’d taken over his body and spoken with such eloquence.
“I apologize,” Tarrin gritted out.
“I’m not the one who requires an apology, Lord Tarrin, though that would’ve hardly sufficed if I was.” Kaelun’s warning was loud and clear.
Something shifted as I focused on Tarrin and he on me. Only it wasn’t between the two of us. It wasn’t me versus Tarrin—it was us versus him, like I’d stopped being an outlander.
“I’m sorry, Ny.”
I accepted his apology with a nod, my mind already shifting to the future. Looking to my far left, I asked, “How does this change what you promised me, Caius?”
True to his nature, the High Lord leaned back in his chair, ankle on knee, finger steepled below his chin.
After a moment he looked to Artton, who gave him a silent nod, then Sidrick, who did the same.
Lowering his hands, Caius said, “It won’t be without its challenges, and we’ll have to take our time to formulate a new plan that takes everything Tarrin knows into account, but the only thing it changes is when, Because I think it’s high time you got your family back. ”