Chapter 21 #2
“No! Brexley, stop!” A shout tore through the night. Dressed in a heavy wool nightgown, gloves, and bunny slippers, Esmeralda came running for us. But it wasn’t Esmeralda who spoke. I could feel Tad, hear him, his spirit taking over the tiny woman.
“Don’t do it!” Tad’s eyes looked out from her face at me, head wagging fervently.
“I have to,” I barked. “I won’t let her die!”
“She human! You will char her from the inside out. Her system can’t handle that level of magic going into it like that.”
“I did it with Andris. I saved him.”
“No, you went through your shadow via a connection with Scorpion.” Tad placed his hand on mine, stopping me from touching the nectar.
“You didn’t use it directly on him; otherwise he would have died from the abundance of your magic in his system.
As a human, she’s too weak to handle it.
Also, you have grown in power, my girl. You will fry her. ”
Tad was right. I had been miles away when I saved Andris, and it took all my energy to push my magic through my shade to him. My shadow was a buffer, filtering my power.
My gaze met Esmeralda’s in a gutted panic. Tad looked back with sorrow. “I am sorry.”
I could hear Killian yelling at me, freaking out as Rosie took her last breaths.
“Feed it to her!” Killian’s words finally penetrated my mind.
“What?” My neck snapped to him.
“It’s why it was stolen from me! Why Croygen wanted it!” Killian’s desperation was frantic. “To give it to this human girl.”
I blinked in shock.
“The nectar was said to be a lot like fae food.” The memory of Andris came bubbling back, hope exploding through my body.
Fae food turned humans “fae-like,” though you could never leave the Otherworld again after you ate it.
When the barrier between the worlds dropped, the fae food was lost. People had been searching for something like it.
The nectar still held the magic of the Otherworld, probably the only substance left in the world that did.
Holy shit.
“Give it to her!” he pleaded. “Save her!”
“Oh my gods . . .” I reached out, touching the gloves covering Esmeralda’s bony hands. My bare hands couldn’t touch it without it wanting to fill me with magic. I was too afraid to chance it right now.
“Feed a tiny bit to her.” I shoved the box at the seer.
“What?” Ash jerked to me in shock, but I stayed locked on Tad. His eyes grew wider, hope filling them, his head bobbing as if he came to the same conclusion I did.
“No!” Ash wagged his head.
“It’s like fae food,” I explained to him. “It will heal her.”
“Just know she won’t be human anymore,” Tad warned.
I didn’t know Rosie’s stance on fae or human if she had the choice. I didn’t give a fuck. No one did. Her life was the only thing that mattered.
“Do it!” Killian roared next to me.
Esmeralda’s hand shook, touching the nectar. A small flare colored the shell brighter but didn’t react much as her covered fingers tore a pea-size bite from it.
Rosie’s breath stopped.
“Now!” I ordered Esmeralda. Killian tipped Rosie’s head back, opening her jaw right when I hit the seer’s hand, dropping the small morsel in her mouth and down her throat.
Everyone held their breaths, the world pausing as we waited for something to happen, to feel her soul tether to her body again.
Nothing happened.
Silence screamed like a banshee, grief creeping up on everyone as we realized we were too late.
“No.” I shook my head. It was supposed to work, right? Rosie couldn’t die.
“Rosie . . .” Killian’s chest rose and fell, his fingers curling around her face, his eyes wild, like he was ready to set fire to the world and happily watch it burn. “Wake. Up.” He shook her limp body. “Now!” he demanded. “You are not fucking leaving me.” He shook harder. “That’s an order!”
“Killian . . .” Lukas tried to pull him back, but he thrashed against him, shoving Lukas back, moving closer to Rosie. “Wake up. Do it to piss me off, fight me, annoy me, I don’t care . . . but you cannot leave me, Nina.”
Hearing him say her real name broke something in me, sorrow surging from me like a tsunami. Once again, I failed . . . another loss . . . another body to bury and add to the tally.
“Noooo!” Killian boomed, leaning over her, his lips touching her forehead.
A gasp tore through the air. Rosie’s eyes burst open, her body jackknifing up, knocking Killian back on his ass.
Rosie wheezed, her lungs sucking in oxygen, her eyes darting around. She was scared and confused, but the moment she locked eyes with the fae lord, she took a real breath.
“Holy fuck” Kek uttered, pulling Rosie’s gaze from Killian back to the group.
“What’s going on?” Her brows furrowed. “Who are you?” She stopped on Esmeralda, then curved her head to me. “Brexley?” She scrambled to me, hugging me. “You’re okay.”
“Are you?” I leaned back, searching her face. She was Rosie, no zombie version of her or faux-fae syndrome. Just Rosie. Though I could feel magic coming from her, sense she was different.
Holy fuck, it . . . worked.
“Yeah. I feel great, actually.”
“You don’t remember being shot?” Wesley inched closer to her.
She swiveled around, peering up at him. “No . . . Wait. Yes.” She nodded. Her blue eyes widened, her gaze snapping down to where she had been shot, tugging up her top. Blood crusted around it, but the wound appeared to be at least a week old, not hours.
A tiny noise came from her. She pinched an object off the ground, holding it up—the bullet that had been buried in her gut. Her gaze went to Killian, who sat there like he was made of stone. His expression went blank.
“I don’t understand.”
I let out a crazed, happy laugh. “We have a lot to discuss.”
“That we do.” A man’s voice turned the entire group behind us. Many drew their guns, ready to shoot.
Jethro stepped from the shadows, his gaze drifting over everyone, giving nothing away, no reaction to the weapons on him.
“Jethro.” I stood up, placing myself between him and my friends. The ruckus we made probably woke up the entire troupe.
“You’re past has tracked you down, I see,” he observed, his body still almost one with the shadows.
“Sort of, but . . . They aren’t the bad past.”
“Let me guess, they need a place to stay tonight?”
I wondered if he regretted picking me up off the embankment, wished he just rolled on without me. His troupe, their lives, had been in constant threat because of me.
“I wouldn’t dare ask you.”
“But you hope I offer,” he replied, his voice smooth, with a touch of danger. “Like I told you, I have a weakness for the outcasts. We have a couple of wagons some can shelter in. The rest I can offer blankets and a place by the fire.”
“Thank you.” I bowed my head. I owed this man so much.
He dipped his head in return and slipped back into the darkness.
“What the hell is that thing?” A screech jumped me to Esmeralda. Tad was gone. The woman stared down at the imp sitting on her knee, flipping her off.
Chirp! Bitzy sang, wiggling her middle finger at Esmeralda in a hello. A nice one. Bitzy had to be high.
“Get this thing away from me.”
Chirp! Did the imp actually grin at the bitter old lady?
“That’s Bitzy. I’m Opie.” Opie appeared on her other knee, making Esmeralda scramble back, getting to her feet.
“Well, that was rude,” Opie huffed.
Esmeralda peered around like she finally realized where she was.
“Who the fuck are all of you?”
The metal of the rusting Ferris wheel squealed in protest as a breeze gusted off the river, fog creeping over the ground, circling around me, dampening the already chilly air. Still a few hours from dawn, the night was at its most bewitching.
It took a while to get everyone settled, promising we would catch up in the morning. Rosie accepted the fact she was now fae with relative ease, though I wondered how long that would last until the shock wore off and the reality of what happened to her set in.
Lukas, Ash, and Birdie hugged me, but I still sensed a bubbling resentment toward me under the surface, a quiet anger waiting to lash out from each of them.
Caden, Scorpion, and Killian were standoffish, making me feel a greater divide between me and the eleven who had arrived.
They all shared a bond, life and death situations, and struggles.
I did not. I didn’t blame them. I had run away.
Abandoned them. Killed people they knew and loved.
There would be no forgiveness for that, but I hoped in time they would come to understand why I had to leave.
My journey was meant to bring me here. To this troupe, to Esmeralda.
Without her, I wouldn’t have Tad. I wouldn’t have learned so much about separating my powers from the nectar, finding myself.
Though I still had so much more work to do.
Everything still seemed so fragile, as if one tiny crack could destroy all I worked for.
Leaning over into the icy river, I washed Rosie’s blood from my hands, distant murmurs coming from the bonfire in camp.
I needed a moment. The adrenaline rollercoaster from almost losing Rosie rattled me.
Sucking in a deep breath, the cold air filled my lungs, and I tried to clear out the nerves bouncing around.
My body froze.
Prickles danced up the back of my neck, wrapping around my throat.
My lids squeezed together briefly as every cell in me came alive, aware of each molecule in the air and how he took up so many of them.
Warwick Farkas.
I hadn’t expected seeing him to almost bowl me over. The buzz of joy, fear, happiness, and guilt.
We had yet to speak, to acknowledge each other. The moment had arrived, and I wasn’t sure I was ready.
Violence, anger, and vengeance incinerated my skin, drilling into my spine like a hammer.
Our link was dampened, but I could feel him engulf me in his presence. His wrath.
Rising, I kept my chin high. Warwick had stayed in the darkness as we settled into camp, though there was never a second I didn’t feel his penetrating gaze.
Stalking me.
Lying in wait.
Hunting openly.