24. Kiaran
Kiaran
T here really was no good time to tell the love of your life that you had to sacrifice her.
She was dead on the money about me being an idiot because I went up to the rooftop tonight upset with her and she left it ten times more upset with me. For good reason too.
We were fated, that much was clear. I felt it. We had the bond of mind, body, and soul. Ethel confirmed it. It was all I needed to know to understand that the High Priestess planned this long ago.
The curse was only to be broken by giving up something that would cause as much pain as my mistake caused.
Though losing a fated mate would be exponentially more painful.
It was your strongest tether to Earth. I’d seen people die mere hours after their mate passed because the pain was so unbearable.
But she didn’t give me a chance to tell her that I had no plans of following through with the sacrifice, and that the reason I hadn’t told her about the curse locking in was because my heart would fail to beat by the time the sun rose on Solstice.
If I tampered with the laws of the curse, it would be my life that was taken.
Knowing Amelie, she’d try to interfere somehow and get us both killed.
A life for a life.
But Amelie’s would not be that life. I only hoped that since she was not a true Witch that the pain wouldn’t kill her like it would me.
Morgenstern women lived by their own set of laws since their magic was tied to the elements.
The were limitless. The rest of Avonya’s was a blood magic.
We only had as much of it as we did crimson blood in our bodies.
Limited. If she died, if I was forced to give her up, there would be no more purpose for me.
The four months we spent together would be the only time in my long life that felt meaningful.
No, I wouldn’t live without her but she didn’t fucking wait for me to tell her that.
Amelie was getting stronger though, more powerful.
When she was desperately trying to run from our conversation earlier, she vanished into thin air.
I was sure she didn’t know how to do that, nor did she mean to because I heard her panicked heaves down on the porch before I saw her skirt swish over the river and into the thick brush.
I immediately panicked.
My first thought was that if Adan came back, she’d probably go willingly this time.
Plead to my mother to save her life. If she would’ve just let me fucking speak before freaking out, I could’ve assured her one million times over that she had nothing to worry about.
I would never jeopardize her life. Even if it meant giving up mine.
The second thought was that she was running back to that evil place she called home prior to finding sanctuary at the cottage. If she did that, there was a good chance I’d never see her again.
Before I could fully descend into a pit of despair, I heard chirpy voices carried by the light breeze. When I peered out the window I saw two sets of glowing wings, the Dwarven woman I’d grown fond of, and the love of my life all approaching the cottage.
I busied myself in the kitchen, which was really stupid because there was nothing in this kitchen unless Fern, or Orla, put it there.
Amelie walked in first, not sparing me even a pity glance, before heading straight to the sitting room and plopping down on the floor.
Ethel said hello and gave me a tight smile, surely already aware of what happened tonight.
The blonde Fae, Poppy, giggled as she zipped past, but her black haired friend, Naida, if I remembered correctly, lingered for a moment.
She looked so familiar, but in a way only my soul knew. Not my memory. She didn’t say anything though, and as soon as she realized she’d been staring, she anxiously buzzed off to rejoin the others.
I took the hint from my girl that she didn’t want me there so I went to the attic, pleading to Amelie to talk with me.
We didn’t have much time left together and I wasn’t going to spend it not by her side, whether she liked it or not.
I’d waited two hundred years for her, she couldn’t get rid of me now.
So I tried to enter the den of laughing women with a false cloak of confidence and Ethel was my saving grace for asking me to join.
I wasn’t bothered in the slightest that Poppy was mocking me.
Seeing Amelie’s shy Fae friend completely lose it every time Poppy said ‘ladies’ in that casanova voice she must’ve thought I had, Naida would fall to the table laughing.
It reminded me of Mia and her friends. One word and the group would lose their breath from giggling so hard.
The familiar memory shook a laugh so deep out of me I started snorting right along Naida.
Amelie’s cheeks flushed bright pink as she desperately tried to swallow the laugh I knew was festering in her.
Though she was still upset with me, I gave her a wink anyway and let my eyes linger on hers for a moment .
I couldn’t stand that she thought for even a moment that I would consider letting her go.
I told the girls after their giggle fest died down that they could stay in the attic.
The bed could accommodate them all and it gave me the freedom to go for the book Amelie tried to hide from me earlier.
It was a book of spells, elemental magic that were all endorsed by a Morgenstern woman.
Orla’s signature was written all over it, it seemed she spent most of her time here trying to veil the magic and release the tether her mother was bound by.
The last page detailed a spell of sentience.
She journaled her plans to bind herself to her home and continue working in her own version of purgatory on the solution.
Orla was afraid the Witches would come for her, she felt something coming.
The date was only a day before I arrived here.
Her life’s work was in this book. She hoped one day her family would come back to her. And they had.
I had a creeping suspicion after our dinner party that Orla was really Fern, but I hadn’t told Amelie and I figured the Lost Souls already knew. It was their reason for wanting to visit in the first place. The way Niklaus endeared the structure told me as much.
Why was this book such a secret to Amelie?
What answers was Amelie seeking that I couldn’t give her? The laws of which a curse can and cannot be broken were clear. The High Priestess wanted the Morgenstern women to be rid from the past, present, and future. She fated the last one to be mine, then to be sacrificed.
Witches were as wicked as they were efficient.
I fell asleep on the couch with the bible of Morgenstern magic resting on my chest.
I was sure the girls weren’t awake yet. Amelie’s soft snores were still adding dissonance to the bird’s morning chirps outside. So I asked Orla to help me prepare breakfast for them. Before my eyes, four spreads on serving trays appeared on the table.
High stacks of pancakes, a personal serving of fruits and cheeses–complete with a steaming cup of tea for each of them.
I carried the trays up to the attic, taking every step carefully so I wouldn’t creak the floorboards.
Orla placed a square table by the window, she set it with a deep blue table runner and pale blue place mats.
There were vines wrapped and twisted together in the middle, leaving a perfect amount of space for the food.
“I see we are not above brown nosing in this house.”
I jumped at the sudden company.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, Ethel. You scared the shit out of me.” My hand braced against my chest, my heart rate trying to find a steady rhythm again.
“Would you accompany me home? Edgar will be lost with his morning tea.”
Ethel was already heading toward the stairs. I looked back to the table and noticed there were only three settings now. Orla had already taken Ethel’s away.
“I can’t leave the cottage without Amelie’s veil…” I whisper-yelled, following behind the dwarf. For such a small woman, she moves fucking fast.
Ethel didn’t respond and instead walked through the already open front door, then looked back to the cottage lovingly. She flicked her wrist toward herself, motioning for me to follow.
My free will was stolen from me as I stood a good three feet from the threshold. My feet started walking straight toward the portal to broken-bones land and the anticipation had my heart thrashing against my chest.
“Fuck,” I sputtered, spit flying through my clenched teeth as the cool morning air whooshed around my body.
I braced on the door frame trying to hold myself upright but Orla was too fucking strong. I toppled over onto the porch as the breeze swept my legs out from under me. I waited for the agony of hundreds of breaking bones to set it but it never did.
I looked up to Ethel, she wore a content smile on her face as she endeared the spirit of her old friend.
A relieved breath escaped me as I got to my feet.
“See? You’re fine.” She turned to walk over the bridge and I spun toward the cottage.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I called to Orla, wherever she was.
No magic. No veils. No broken bones.
I felt utterly betrayed that she, in fact, did have the ability to veil the curse and I could’ve been free this entire fucking time.
Amelie also didn’t need to be veiling, traitor.
Orla’s soft morning candlelight dimmed and brightened.
I took it as her apology for aiding in my imprisonment.
I’m still pissed, but I didn’t have time to hold grudges.
I had to pick up a light jog to catch up to the quick, tiny strides Ethel was taking.
“We have a few things to discuss, so listen up,” Ethel began. I took her words as an order and kept my mouth shut.
“First, I’m not sure what all transpired last night, but when Amelie showed up at my door, she was a wreck. You’ll fix that at once. Neither of you have time to spend upset at the other. Got it?”
Another order. I nodded.
“Second, she awakened her Bloch… magic …” She cringed to herself, like she was afraid of it.
Which was interesting because as far as I knew, her Morgenstern side was the lethal on e.
“Amelie is a perceptive girl, but you seem to jumble that brain of hers. I’m not sure she realized she did it.
But when she dreams, or hopes, she can change reality. ”
Like wanting so badly to get away from me last night that she cast herself for the first time and executed it perfectly. A pang struck my heart at the thought.
“What does it mean?” I asked Ethel, doing what she told me not to do.
“Bloch’s are Originators.”
“Originators of what?” I’d never heard of such a thing.
She shrugged, as if it was simple. “Of everything. They are the original Angels from their God. I’m not entirely keen on the whole story, but they have more power in their pinky nails,” she wiggled her stubby fifth finger, “than you or I could hone in a thousand years.”
“So Amelie has the most powerful magic known to the Witches and a magic that dates back to the beginning of time?” A chill spread through my body as goosebumps erupted and I felt a dizziness spiral around my brain.
Ethel only nodded in confirmation.
“Fuck.”
“Yes, that,” she replied waving her hand as if to swat away my expletive. “She said that she is your cursebreaker.”
“She is. I learned it just before you arrived for the dinner party. When I kissed her…” I trailed off, reliving the moment I knew I would lose her. “But I won’t sacrifice her. I refuse.”
Ethel held her hand up to my increasingly anxious tone. “No need to panic. I know you fear that High Priestess of yours, but she likely does not know how deep Amelie’s blood runs.”
The High Priestess knew everything. Each celestial thing gets a star long before they’re born and I was sure that Amelie’s star showed she was the most powerful creature that would someday come into existence. I was also sure that it was exactly why she was fated to be mine .
Efficient. Take out any power that might rival the High Priestess. It made perfect, horrible, wicked sense.
“I can’t interfere with the curse, Ethel.”
“You won’t have to. You just need to trust our girl.”
We stepped into a clearing that was a bit smaller than the one at the cottage, but just as charming.
Ethel clearly took pride in her home and the Forest that surrounded it.
She even had a garden I knew Amelie probably loves.
It bathed in the sunlight and had all the colors of the Morgenstern eyes in them.
“Amelie has the entire Forest behind her. She’s incredibly stubborn, and as mad as she is at you right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t tell you what she’s up to.
But that girl had fury coursing through those golden rivers last night when she spoke of your High Priestess.
Do not mistake her anger as anything but pure love for you.
The prophecy will prevail, whether that vapid leader of yours likes it or not. ”