Chapter 17 Vada #2
We finished up at Cornucopia, and I was about to invite Adaela over to my place when she grabbed my hand and dragged me out to the park across the street from the brewery.
The park was dark, and I saw folks hanging out underneath various trees as if it were light outside.
One sniff told me they were likely Vampires, ghouls, and various other nocturnal creatures.
Adaela was right at home here. Across the way, there were multiple fields where folks were playing modified human sports like baseball and kickball.
It was April, so I was sure people wanted to be outside, since the weather was finally starting to warm up.
It was still in the low fifties, though.
To the things that go bump in the night, the weather didn’t affect them as it did humans.
After all, Vampires were technically dead.
“This is one of my favorite parts of the entire city,” Adaela said, watching the Vampire at bat hit a home run.
I pulled her into my body as we slowly roamed our way through the park. “I can certainly see why. It seems like it’s a popular spot.”
“Forest Park is more popular, and for good reason. It’s also a great park, but this park just feels more community-centered to me. It’s one of the few places we didn’t change when we formally declared this Pax property,” she said as she leaned her head into my arm.
“So, I’m curious, is this city still technically part of Missouri, or even part of the United States? In all the studying I’ve done, I can’t really tell if it’s now its own sovereign nation or not,” I asked.
“Technically, nothing has changed about the city except its governing body. The entire city and county voted to secede from the US and form our own sovereign nation. We gifted land back to the native people from this part of the world and still were able to make space for folks who wanted to be here. The US and the rest of the world didn’t fight us on it.
Honestly, I was surprised, because of US policies.
I think they realized that not even nukes could get rid of all of us.
They realized we wanted peace, but we were prepared to go to war if need be.
We may be outnumbered in terms of how many humans live on Earth in comparison to the amount of supernaturals, but we have magic on our side, and the Gods and Goddesses they worship also believe in what we’re doing here.
I think that played a large role,” she replied.
“That makes sense to me. I know St. Louis no longer uses money, but I would guess that the city still trades with the rest of the world, right?” I was fascinated with how her mind worked, and I wanted to know everything.
“While we do not require money to sustain our people, we do still have production here where we sell goods and services. Our coffers are vast.” Adaela stopped at one of the pavilions to sit at the table and watch the game.
“So what made you decide to start gathering supernaturals together to begin the Pax?” I asked, sitting down next to her. I straddled the bench and pulled her into me, resting my chin on her shoulder.
It was quiet here, and I sensed that Adaela was gathering her thoughts to open up to me. I snuggled her more closely, laying my head against the top of hers, and waited.
“I don’t know how much you know about my history.
I’m assuming, since you’re well-read, that you know the epic stories of my life.
Many of them are true, especially the ones about who I was on the battlefield.
What the stories never wrote was the brutality of my father and his cronies.
I was always to be the princess who was dolled up, made to endure the politics of the Unseelie court, and the person least expected to have dangerous magic.
I trained daily, often passing out from exhaustion, on my father’s orders.
If I didn’t do exactly as he asked, he took it out on my loved ones.
” She went quiet, and I wrapped my arms around her in comfort.
I heard her sniffle. My strong, sweet girl.
“You really don’t have to tell me your story now if you’re not ready. You don’t even ever have to tell me if you don’t want to,” I breathed.
“No, I need you to know, because this is why I am who I am. If this is to ever work, I need you to understand this, as it’s largely why the Pax exists today,” she replied just as quietly.
“Sweet girl, if this is to work, it’s because you and I decide that we’re compatible.
That we’ve chosen each other as much as the Fates have chosen us.
Your past matters, yes, but only because of who it’s made you now.
I will listen if you want to tell me, but I will never force you.
” I nipped at the tip of her ear before nuzzling my nose into her neck.
She smiled sadly at me. “That means a lot, thank you, but I need to tell you something.”
I gave her a quick kiss, then adjusted her back underneath my chin. “I’m listening.”
Adaela began to tell a horrific story of abuse, neglect, and the life of growing up as an heir.
She told me of friends who were tortured and killed by her father at Adaela’s refusal to act as his sword.
Her story was a history of deception and cruelty that she often got swept away in because her magic demanded it.
She was slipping away day by day, and by the time she was several hundred years old, she no longer remembered who she was.
Her last straw had been an ex, named Sabine.
Sabine was not royalty, nor was she a noble.
She was a maid in the castle. Sabine, this wild, eccentric woman who was forced to dim her light because of her status in the Unseelie court.
Sabine was a brownie. They were similar to the lore that many humans had in their fairytales.
They had large eyes and ears, and they were almost compelled to clean messes.
However, brownies were not small creatures.
They were the same size as humans and often were as beautiful as the Sidhe royals were.
Sabine and Adaela were together for several hundred years without the knowledge of Adaela’s father.
Sabine would go to war with Adaela as her lady’s maid.
They shared quarters, and no one was any wiser.
In public, the two of them would act as if they were only close because of their long-term history as servant and royal.
Adaela believed that because she was subjected to be her father’s sword, she would be granted access to Sabine.
They were able to keep this secret for centuries—that was, until her father eventually found out.
The betrayal happened because Adaela’s father decided to marry her off to a prince from another realm.
Sabine became distant, and Adaela became suspicious.
Her instincts were right, though. Sabine was having an affair with the prince on the king’s orders, and he played both of them against one another.
Her trust was shattered. Her father, in a false outrage that a prince would have an affair with a lowborn, forced Adaela to go to war again.
Her father had known about Sabine the entire time.
She was a plant. In her grief, Adaela lost herself entirely.
She lost control of her death magic, and she murdered several hundred Fae from her court, including Sabine.
In her grief and anger about the collateral damage, she realized she could no longer be who her father demanded, and the safest thing for her would be to leave the Unseelie realm and begin anew.
“So, with that, I took everything I could from the world, all the treasures and belongings my father had been searching for to amass more power, and I left. He never even knew that the items were right under his nose,” she sobbed. I held her tighter.
“What sort of treasure?” I asked, rubbing her back lightly.
“I cannot speak of it in public, but I do want to tell you. What I can say right now is that I have not been in a serious relationship in almost 100 years. I learned who I was outside of Underhill, and I learned how to be alone. I don’t trust easily, Vada, but you’ve gotten behind my defenses in such a short period of time,” she replied.
“As I’ve told you before, sweet girl, I’m not going anywhere.
Do you want to go back to my place and watch a movie?
I can make us a cup of coffee, and we can chill for the rest of the night if you’d like.
You’re in no state to go home right now, and I’d like to hold you longer if you’ll let me,” I said.
She smiled through her tears, then placed a soft kiss on my lips. “I’d like that.”