Chapter 5
MAIZE
I couldn’t tell you how long I stared out the window between Harland and Lyric’s beds, my thoughts tumbling over one another until they all blurred together.
Long enough for the conversation in the other room to shift from frantic and worried to clipped and strategic.
Long enough for my magic to stir restlessly, enough to make Harland blink awake and sit up, his tiny brow furrowed in concern that shouldn’t exist on someone so young.
Then again, the kid was war incarnate. I doubted dreams of blood and battle made for peaceful sleep. Brielle hadn’t been exaggerating about his power increase—even half-awake, the air around him thrummed.
“You’re okay,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. His huge blue gaze—half his face, honestly—locked on me as he clutched his stuffed hellhound to his chest. “But there was so much blood and anger outside. I could feel it.”
Maker.
I offered him a small, hopefully comforting, smile. “The guys handled everyone outside, and extra wards are being placed around the house to keep us safe. And yes, I’m fine. I just needed a long nap.”
“Cannon said you were stuck with a god.” Lyric said from across the room as he padded over, wrapped in an oversized robe and pajamas. “Like Mom and Dad?”
“Not exactly,” I admitted. The thoughtful gleam in his eyes was unmistakable—the kid lived to know why. With the stack of books around his bed forming a makeshift wall, I knew that if I didn’t explain, he’d dig until he found the answer himself.
I still didn’t quite understand how famine fit into his magic, but it was hard to imagine any of these boys as the world-ending beings they were destined to become.
“Then who?” he asked, sitting on the floor across from me.
“Oberon.”
The name made the air ripple with power and recognition.
Cairo and Relic stirred, both blinking sleepily before joining us.
Cairo slouched against the wall, expression unreadable, his silence turning assessing.
Relic, on the other hand, darted to my side and wrapped both arms around one of mine, his small face pinched with worry.
Cairo being death itself made sense—his stillness carried the kind of weight that would one day silence a battlefield. But Relic, pestilence? That one didn’t sit right.
In mere days, I’d become extremely protective over them, unable to see them as dangerous and powerful creatures destined for a future they couldn’t control. Maybe Cethlenn had been right to send them here.
“The fae god?” Cairo asked finally.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “The fae god. But I won’t let him hurt any of you. I promised your mom I’d keep you safe—”
“Our mom,” Relic corrected. “We’re your brothers. She’s your mom too.”
My breath caught. The way he said it—so simple, so certain—left me reeling. I exhaled slowly, staring at him. They didn’t have the answers I needed, but one thing was clear: I was going to need a talk with Cethlenn, and soon. The elephant in the room had turned into something much, much larger.
“Where are the others?” Harland asked, rubbing his eyes. “The girls who were playing with us—they were nice. They told us stories before bed.”
“They went home,” I said gently. “And the guys are in the kitchen.” I hesitated, then added, “We might have some visitors in the morning, though.”
No doubt Queen Gray and Vegas would both want to stop by. After this last incident with David, this wasn’t something we could handle alone anymore.
“What about Zariyah?” Relic’s small voice piped up, filled with honest worry. “Did the bad guys hurt her too?”
I drew in a breath before shaking my head. “No, buddy. No one hurt her. They aren’t after Vegas or her daughter, I promise.” I paused, choosing my words carefully. “But—”
The rest caught in my throat. These boys were woven into a prophecy older than most gods, one that named the heredis auguratricis—the daughter of the sorceress—as the one destined to die to save our entire world.
And my brothers believed that individual was Zariyah.
I didn’t understand why Cethlenn had handed them such a heavy burden at such a young age. It was truly unfair when they were so small, still finding their footing in a world that expected them to become something terrible and divine all at once.
“I think it’s best we don’t…” I trailed off once more, unsure how to finish that sentence.
What was I supposed to say? That they couldn’t ever see her?
Couldn’t ever talk to her? They were children—just babies, really.
We didn’t need to drag them into world-ending prophecies yet. This was fucking insane.
“We don’t what?” Cairo asked.
“Nothing, never mind,” I said finally, forcing a smile. “Let’s just focus on keeping ourselves safe for now, okay?”
Harland nodded, clutching his hellhound toy tighter, as Cairo offered me a confused expression. Lyric leaned against Relic’s shoulder.
And as the room fell quiet, I promised myself again that I’d keep them safe, no matter the cost.
“Is everything okay in here?” Philip asked, poking his head around the door, his smirk softening when he saw the kids clustered around me.
“Yeah, just talking.” I offered him a small smile, though I knew he could see right through it. The concern still lingered in my features, no matter how hard I tried to hide it.
He tilted his head, reading me easily. “Right. Well, we just finished making pasta and pizza, and—”
He didn’t get to finish. All four boys bolted for the hallway at the word pizza, the soft thump of their bare feet echoing down the corridor.
I couldn’t help the small surprised laugh that escaped me. “Guess that answers whether they’re awake enough to eat.”
“I have a feeling we’ll need to buy double the groceries with them under our roof, maybe triple,” Philip teased. His voice dropped as he looked over me with concern. “And you? How are you doing, little rose?”
I sighed and crossed the space between us, sliding my arms around his neck. He folded me into his chest without hesitation and for a few quiet moments, we just stood there. The chaos of it all felt a little smaller with his heartbeat against my ear.
Finally, I leaned back and whispered, “I don’t even know what time it is right now, let alone what to do about this Oberon shit.”
“It’s late,” Philip said, brushing a hand along my jaw before kissing my forehead. “Come on. Let’s eat—I know you haven’t eaten all day.”
He was right, if only because I’d been trapped in my own brain and then unconscious. And I was absolutely starving now that the scent of food was floating around the house.
Together we wandered back toward the kitchen. The boys were already at the table, sauce smeared across Harland’s cheek, Lyric earnestly explaining to Relic that cheese was technically magic, and Cairo pretending to agree just to keep him quiet. The sight made my chest ache in the best possible way.
When I followed Philip into the adjoining living room, I dropped onto the couch beside Valerio and stretched my legs across Cannon’s lap. He immediately began smoothing a hand over my calf, as Philip tended the fireplace.
“We need to find him,” I said. “Before he can break free.”
Valerio tensed. “That’s walking straight into his damn trap, Maize.”
Cannon exhaled, leaning forward. “She’s right, though. Sitting still gives him time to break out. We should reach out to Raziel again, see if there’s anything else we can learn from him and his brothers and if they’ve managed to get a sense of where Oberon could be.”
Raziel. The ancient fae who lived in the Nightmare Forest. Wonderful.
“I agree,” I murmured, thinking of Raziel’s mate I’d heard my mates mention in passing after their last visit. “And maybe this Kendahl he lives with will know something too. If nothing else, we could just ask Oberon, but I would much rather he be taken off guard by our arrival.”
Cannon nodded in quiet approval. “Then we send word to him tonight, and tomorrow while we wait we’ll go to the castle archives to research where he could be.”
Charm brought me over a plate of pizza seconds later, and the conversation and mood of the house settled into a more comfortable, relaxed patter. When the laughter from the boys started to fade and they walked off to their room, I found myself growing tired.
That was when a sharp knock at the door came. Valerio strode to the door as I felt a familiar surge of power.
Cirdan stood in the cold, his hood tugged up as he offered both of us a long look. “Maize, you’re needed. Valerio, I would have only one or maybe two of you come with us. Queen Gray is requesting her.” Something in his tone made my stomach tighten uncomfortably.
I guess we weren’t waiting until morning for a visit.
I rose without a word, exchanging a quick look with Valerio.
His calm mask slipped into place as he placed a coat around my shoulders and turned to tell the others our plan.
I tugged on my boots and stepped out the door, the warmth of the living room instantly vanishing into the night.
The air was biting, icy, and as my gaze tracked through our front yard I could see splatters of blood.
The bodies had been removed though, so that was good.
“Are we going to the castle?” Valerio asked, closing the front door before taking my hand.
“No—further into the forest. David was questioned down at the academy’s interrogation center, and now Queen Gray wants Maize to see him before the final decision is made about his fate.”
“You didn’t get a chance to kill him,” I said in soft realization.
It didn’t take much to understand that David had been one of the larger factors in Brielle’s abuse—he had known and never done anything to stop it.
If anything, he seemed to encourage it. I could see Cirdan’s fury at the mere mention of the situation, and Valerio squeezed my hand in a warning that I partly ignored.
“No. We were not allowed to kill him.”