Chapter 3
A week later, I’m sitting across the table from Selena Rivera.
This is a woman on the rise. Quick-witted with a brilliant mind and powerful connections she’s not afraid to leverage.
It’s easy to see how she’s claimed so much influence across gifted covens despite her young age.
Gifted families had magic once and were witches in truth, as the coven moniker suggests.
Seeing her in person, it’d be easy to believe that magic isn’t as gone as we think. She has that kind of presence.
So, yeah, it’s only been a week since Matt told me about her and so much else.
A week since I crept into the study in my parents’ house, unlocked their computer, and found the screenshots the coven had sent over from some fae book about a potion said to not just heal recent wounds, as fae magic can do, but fully repair a human body as if it were made new.
A real possible cure that modern medicine has been unable to come up with.
And a week since I reached out directly to the coven headmistress about said potion and to volunteer to be the human to go into the Unseelie realm and entrap the king.
It’s not the first time my life has turned upside down and inside out in a matter of days.
That’s how it felt for a long time after Matt’s diagnosis, before we settled into what became our new normal.
Then, I fought against the idea. It couldn’t be real.
There was no way. Things would go back to how they had always been.
Now, I run toward the change.
Foolish. Wreckless. Stupid.
All those names and worse I’ve called myself over the past few days. It’s probably what my family will say once they find out, because of course they don’t know. They’d try to stop me, talk me out of it, and once I saw tears from my parents or Matt, they’d probably have been successful.
Part of me thought I’d never make it this far.
After all, what do I even know about the fae?
Precious little, I’ve discovered. But once the coven heard my reasoning, it sealed the deal.
My quest to find a cure for Matt is the alibi for being in Unseelie territory that they’ve been lacking, a hole in their plan that I neatly filled for them.
I have a reason to be there other than treachery.
Something the fae will believe. It’ll give me the edge to lure the Unseelie King into a trap.
Once he’s stopped, once I bring him back to the doorway to Faery that I’ll enter through, the Seelie will rescue me and keep me safe before returning me home.
It’s not that part I’m worried about. It’s finding the ingredients for the potion and getting it brewed before I’m supposed to betray the Unseelie.
That’s the tricky part. And well, not dying or getting assaulted or anything else unsavory, but I try not to think about that.
If I can finally save Matt, it’ll all be worth it. And even if this is a dead end too, I’ll know I tried, just like I’ve tried for years in school, at my job, and basically every waking moment.
The coven headmistress, Madeline Burke, rises from her seat at the head of the sleek conference table, adjusting her stoic black blazer as she does.
Her silver hair is pulled back in a tight bun, just as severe as the rest of her.
She’s been in the role a decade now, but everything about the woman screams she was born for it.
Without preamble, she and a few others who were in the meeting with us leave the room to speak privately.
But Selena hasn’t budged from her seat. Instead, she plants her elbows on the tabletop and leans forward. “So, does Matt know you’re doing this for him? Because I keep waiting for him to message me about it. But nope. Silence. And you leave tomorrow.”
Shit. Selena is fucking intimidating when she wants to be. Maybe even more than the headmistress whose very presence seemed to steal the air from the room. “I—”
“?Joder!” Her head falls into her open palms before she shakes it vigorously. A second later, and she’s glaring daggers at me, fingers curling like claws. “This will wreck him.”
As if I needed any help feeling bad about that.
My hands ball into fists in my lap. “I’m doing this for him. To help him.”
Unexpected emotion shines in her eyes despite the thin press of her lips. She cares about him. Truly.
I swallow against the tightness in my throat. With surprising calm, I ask, “He’s told you about his illness?”
“No. Not exactly.” Her gaze darts away, and she folds her arms in front of her chest.
Shit again.
Her gaze drifts back to mine. “I knew he had some health troubles. He’d told me that when he went silent on me a few times.
But I didn’t know—” She lifts one hand to circle it in the air.
“Not until I heard about your reasons for volunteering and asked around about him some more. I’d already connected you as his sister. ”
“Twin,” I correct. We’re more than siblings.
We came into this world together. And yet, somehow, he got the raw end of the deal.
“If I tell Matt about this, he’ll ask me not to do it.
Not just ask. He’ll beg. And I’ll agree because I can deny him nothing.
But I have to try. I love him too much not to take this chance. You understand that, right?”
She looks at me hard and finally gives one short nod. “I care about him too, you know. He’s smart. Kind. I can tell that from just his words, and that’s hard to find. I want him to get better. But I also know how strongly he feels about you and losing you? That could kill him on its own.”
It’s a fear I’m all too familiar with. “Then make sure he doesn’t find out.”
Selena leans back sharply in her chair. “What?”
“I’m asking you, as his friend, as someone who cares about him too”—go Matt for making an impression with this one—“to make sure he doesn’t find out.”
Her head tilts to the side, and I know I’ve intrigued her.
“You all were able to convince my job to give me a sudden sabbatical.” A shocking feat in and of itself because I didn’t even think my company did that, but it just shows the power gifted covens wield behind closed doors.
“Convince my family that I’ve been asked to work on a secret project for the coven.
Tell them I’m training the person picked for this mission, maybe, and I’m secluded while that’s happening.
It’ll be shocking but not as terrible as telling them I ran off to Faery on some ridiculous mission. ”
Her eyes narrow. “It’s not that ridiculous. In fact, it may work out quite well thanks to you.”
One can only hope.
She loosens her arms with a sigh. “But I like your point, and you’re right. It’s best if they don’t know and don’t panic. I’ll make sure we put procedures in place not to tell them anything distressing unless we have to.”
Right, like if I don’t make it back , I nearly mumble in return but hold my tongue.
Instead, I say, “Thank you. Especially for caring about Matt. It—it means a lot.” And because I care just as much about his happiness as his health, I decide to add, “You know, it might take his mind off things if you gave him a visit.”
“Oh?” She sits up a little straighter.
“Yeah, I think he’d like that.” A lot actually.
Selena smiles, a vulnerable joy showing through her otherwise sharp demeanor. A future headmistress in the making if there ever was one. “I’d like that.” Her brows knit. “Though, do you think he’d mind, given his situation?”
Maybe. But I have a feeling meeting the woman he admires so much, one who clearly appreciates him too, would soften the sting of any insecurities.
“I think he’d be excited by the chance to meet you,” I say, “and talk about all the work that you do with the covens. It’s the first thing he talked to me about when I saw him last.”
One corner of her mouth pulls higher. “Is that so?”
And I know, I just know, that Matt is going to love meeting her. As long as she doesn’t accidentally spill the beans about my mission.