Chapter 2 Carwynn #2
“He’s just being overprotective. I get it—I’m semi-new to the Ferie Realm and haven’t exactly learned all the creatures, places, risks, blah, blah, blah .
. .” I gave her a flat look. “He can’t baby me forever.
I have to experience things for myself. Especially when it comes to controlling my Soulsayer ability.
Working for Lochlainn—I get to practice talking to the dead and get something out of it. ” I shrugged.
David was always paranoid about my safety.
We met the day my Soulsayer ability appeared when I was thirteen.
Apparently, my power shot off like a flare gun, sending a ripple across the Ferie Realm.
Alerting the Hallow Land king—the Skell King—of my existence.
When the Cherubs, David’s most trusted friends and guardians of Loveland, confirmed the Skell King thought I was dead, he decided it was safest for me to remain hidden among humans.
To live an ordinary life, as he put it. So that’s where I’d been the majority of my life.
Forced to endure puberty, college, and grad school like a totally normal human, who most definitely didn’t hear voices of the dead whispering in her mind. Ugh.
It took me a while to come back from the horrors of that night as a kid.
The dark serpent that dwelled within the depths of my soul—the Soulsayer in me—had awoken.
Whether by maturity or by mere need, it stirred, and somehow, that awakening called to him.
The Skell King felt it, knew my power emerged, and because of that, his men hunted me down that day.
Would hunt me down again, if they ever found out I was still alive.
In the teenage years that followed my attempted murder, I was a shell of a human. Ironic, since I wasn’t human at all. And that was the exact problem—I had no idea who I was. In the most basic, innate way, didn’t know what I was.
But David had remained my rock through it all.
He’d moved to the Human Realm to raise me through those years, never leaving my side.
Whenever he sensed me getting pulled by the riptide of the depths of my mind, he’d find a way to swim me back to shore.
His go-to was keeping me busy, figuring the less time I had to think, the less likely I’d find myself mentally wandering into that dark abyss.
So my teenage years were made up of movie-binging weekends, road trips to every town and city, baking competitions, and my absolute favorite, driving David nuts when the Cherubs visited.
I even got along with his boyfriend, Wyatt. He’d occasionally visit from the Ferie Realm, bringing me fancy chocolates and teaching me self-defense for fun, despite David’s protests. Wyatt would argue, “Every young lady should know the art of kicking ass!” That won me over.
Overall, David and I were two peas in a pod for a long while, but things gradually changed as adolescence blurred into adulthood. With each passing year came questions that I demanded answers to. David offered less and less.
It was in my final semester of grad school when the first crack in our relationship appeared.
My hands froze, glued to the delicate paper that laid between my fingers. It felt so light, yet, had the heaviness of a thousand cracking hearts.
My mother.
Hot tears trailed down my face.
I was told she’d died during childbirth from complications she knew were a risk, that her lover—my suspected father—had also passed.
Before she died, she’d arranged for me to be hidden as a precaution, knowing how cruel the Ferie Realm, specifically Hallow Land, could be to orphans.
Told that I was hunted down and nearly executed by the Skell King’s men because it was forbidden for Ferie kind to live among humans.
That’s what they’d told me—what David had said.
Lies. It was all lies.
I clutched the paper to my chest, knees cracking as I collapsed to the floor.
It was breaking—my heart was breaking.
The next sob nearly shattered the windows. The panes started to rattle. Lights flickered.
Then, David burst through the door, heaving. His eyes were storming, sword sparking as he searched the room for the source of my pain, for the enemy who had me in a chokehold. He didn’t realize that the source was him.
I rocked, back and forth, holding up the damning letter.
“How.” I gasped for air. “Could.” More tears poured. “You.”
The paleness of death swept over his features.
“Carwynn,” his voice broke, like the fractured organ in my chest. “I—I’m—”
He cautiously walked over, dropping down to his knees beside me, eyes teary. He reached out a hand.
“Don’t!” I—the darkness inside spat. “Don’t touch me!”
A hand covered his mouth as he held back his own sob. But it didn’t halt the tears that fell.
My skin prickled with ice and my breathing slowed, steadying.
“She was—” I drew in a shaky breath. “She was the Hallow Land Queen—the Skell Queen.”
I gazed out the window, trying to remember what light looked like. But the room had dimmed and my soul was withering.
“He murdered her,” I whispered, throat thickening.
“Yes.” He used the back of his hand to wipe his eyes. “Quietus tea. An incurable poison. She loved you so much, Carwynn.” His voice wavered. “The Skell King is pure evil. Cruel. So she sent you away to the Human Realm—to protect you. But he killed her for it.”
A truth.
It took breaking me to finally hear a truth.
I had felt the darkness in me since I was a child. The whispers, the anger. Was that from him? From a monster?
“The Skell King had me hunted. Tried to kill me.” My fists clenched in my lap. “Is he—is he my father?”
David’s face pulled tight and hardened.
“No.”
There was an unwavering strength in his tone.
“You are nothing like him. Will never be anything like him. Your mother made sure of that.” David’s eyes darted away. “She took lovers. The Skell King demanded an heir, so your mother did everything in her power to make sure you wouldn’t be his.”
How would I know if this was another lie? How could he be so sure that the darkness within me wasn’t the cruel King’s blood?
“I only wanted to protect you,” David said softly, his eyes silently pleading.
My entire life I’d felt like an outsider, living in a world where I had to wear a mask.
Not anymore, the stirring darkness within me spoke. A voice unfamiliar to my own.
“After graduation—” My words were serrated. “I’m moving to the Ferie Realm. I’m going home.”
Wiping my swollen face, I stood.
Then I walked out the door.
My wandering mind pulled back from the memory as Breena nodded thoughtfully.
“True. I can’t disagree with you on that. Ya need to come into your own. But—you do need to be careful with Lochlainn. He may be titled royal nephew to the Lord of Luckland, but he’s Kingpin to everyone else. Keep ya wits about you. And preferably your panties too.”
She threw me a devious wink.
I couldn’t help but laugh, dragging a hand down my face
“For fuck’s sake. It was one time—one major lapse in judgment. Let’s just say his lucky charms got to me and the free drinks.” I sighed. “And maybe I was lonely. But he’s a total womanizer. I have zero interest!” I confidently stated, more to myself than Breena.
“Fair enough!” Breena grinned. “I fully support ya finding someone warm and rugged to comfort you when loneliness strikes. But make sure to be back for coffee in the mornin’ so I know you’re alive, all right?”
I pulled out another pair of earrings and put them on as I nodded.
It was almost officially a full year since having moved to Luckland. From day one, Breena had been the most welcoming, bubbly, and overall sweetest companion. Her and Aine were my roommates, and more than that, my closest friends.
They were both fairies, specifically Aos Si fairies. Eess like geese/shee like banshee, I reminded myself. They didn’t seem to mind having me around. Other than the gold freckles and slightly elongated ears, they’d pass as gorgeous human-ish women.
We all teach at Luckland Institute together. Though technically, I was a part-time student taking classes to help me acclimate to the new realm, obviously having quite the catching up to do.
Breena currently teaches Horticulture which was a big passion of hers—as evident by our flourishing flower gardens out front and various oddball plants she tends to.
Between that and her fairy-like Si abilities, she was always busy concocting medicinal potions and spells.
I once accidentally poisoned myself with some wild-picked mushrooms—I’m an idiot, I know—but lucky for me, Breena has fancy potions for practically every ailment.
She originally taught the Human Studies course at the Institute but was ecstatic to pass it off to me when I arrived.
Breena was the glass-is-half-full kind of person that everyone should have in their life.
She never looked at me like I was a disease or something unnatural—only with genuine curiosity in my human upbringing.
Aine, on the other hand, was very standoffish when I first arrived.
I thought she downright hated me. But as time went on, she warmed.
I realized she was one of those women who had resting bitch face.
Underneath that serious exterior, was a loyal friend with the heart of a lion.
We grew on each other like fungi. At the Institute, she teaches Creature Studies.
Knowing the myths and mysteries of all clawed beasts in this realm was kind of her thing.
“So what do you have to do tonight? Ya getting paid for it?” Breena asked curiously.
“No idea—and no, not for money. This time, I want his connections.”
I balanced on one foot and pulled my boot on, then the other.
“While back when I was at the pub, I heard someone mention how he’s a collector of rare relics. Figured it may be worth a shot to see his collection—get access to some of the archives.”
Breena nodded thoughtfully.
“Hmm . . . ” She tapped a finger to her chin. “You said that ancient box—thing—had gold marks on it, right? Knowing Luckmen, his library is probably drowning in gilded items. So that’s actually not a bad idea!”
I nodded in agreement.
A pink egg-shaped stone and a pitch-black box with gold carvings—the two objects that had haunted my dreams since I was a kid.
Deep in my gut, I knew they meant something.
Maybe about my mother, or maybe about me.
I really had no idea. But my soul seemed to stutter, to gasp, whenever I’d see the relics in my dreams. It felt as if an invisible thread bound me to them.
Or maybe I was losing my goddamn mind. God knew I was too stubborn to give up, though.
In the Human Realm, I’d occasionally look through museum catalogs, hoping to find a promising lead, but it was always a dead end. Since arriving to Luckland, I’d picked up where I’d left off on my search, but so far, no luck.
The Ferie Realm had countless libraries and archives across its six lands, albeit many guarded with restricted access, so I’d be busy searching for the next decade or so. At least. Ugh.
I pulled on my forest-green coat, cinching it in at the waist with a tie.
“We’ll see how this goes tonight.” I took one last look in the dresser mirror. “Wish me luck!”
Breena toyed with a strand of her hair, wrapping it around a finger.
“Ya don’t need luck.” She winked, leaning against the door frame. “Don’t take any shite from anyone!”
“I’ll try not to.” I strode past her, heading down the hallway.
“Oh! And if ya run into that cute, blonde puppy-eyed guy who follows you home—see if his tongue can help you feel less lonely later tonight.” She burst into a giddy laugh that echoed down the hall.
I let out an exasperated grunt.
“I hate you.” My smile ticked up. “Byieeee.”