Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
“You think you’re so clever, daughter,” she said.
To be fair, I wasn’t the clever one at all. Ari took that honor. But the fae stepped up beside me. “Wasn’t hard to see what you were hiding behind those wards, witch.”
Mom’s lips twisted. “Still pissed about your weapon, fae?” She snapped her fingers. A shimmer of smoky magic rose in the air, a glimmering ten-pointed star floating above it.
The Star of Scathach.
“I’ll make you a trade.”
Ari snorted. “Let me guess. My soul for the weapon?” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder toward the glowing corpse. “I’m sure you can see how I might refuse after the last person who took that deal.”
Mom tsked. “I didn’t ask her for anything. I took her.” She lifted a pale, slender shoulder. “She wanted power so much I could taste it. Wasn’t difficult to convince her this was how she’d get it.”
“Just not in the way she thought,” I said.
“She can speak!” Mom laughed. “But hold a moment, daughter. I’m conversing with your fae friend.”
The star spun, magic glittering from the sharp points. “Open those wards and give me my daughter. Then you’ll have your weapon back.”
I went still. Ari would be a fool to do what my mother wanted. Not because Mom wouldn’t honor the agreement. She probably would.
If she even tried, Ari would die. Evie, the fae queen and my best friend, stood behind me.
Cliona, a goddess, stood beside her. And Rowan, a Lord, stood off to the side, watching everything happening with glowing eyes.
Not to mention all the shifters watching from their apartment windows, some beginning to pour out of their homes in case their Lord and Lady needed their help.
But Ari was one of only two fae weapons makers, powerful artisans responsible for creating the deadly weapons capable of mass destruction if placed into the wrong hands.
Right now, one of those weapons was definitely in the wrong hands. Cernunnos almost died after going after my mother. If this were a chance to get that weapon back without violence, Ari might be tempted to take it, no matter our budding friendship.
Ari looked over her shoulder. Our eyes met. Hers glowed molten silver. My power was calm and settled for once, even though my stomach churned with nerves. Her face was serious.
I wouldn’t convince her not to take the deal. As much as I didn’t want this, Mom’s offer was a good test for the future.
Ari winked and turned back around. “How do I know you’ll keep up with your end of the bargain?”
Evie stepped forward. I put my hands behind my back and flicked my fingers, telling her to stay back.
Mom’s bright green eyes lit up. “My daughter might have said some negative things about me, but I do have some honor. If I make a bargain, I keep my word.”
“There’s a black magic spell brewing behind me,” Ari said. “You’ll have to do better than that.”
Mom sighed. “Fine.” She snapped her fingers. “You missing something else, too?”
Ari swore. “How long have you had that?”
An ice blue dagger twirled in the air. “Two for one sale at the thrift store,” Mom smirked. “Give me Moira, and I’ll give you both.”
“Do you know who I am, witch?” Ari’s hair turned from ebony to silver, her skin taking on a glittering shine. Iridescent wings sprang from Ari’s back.
I sucked in a shocked gasp. Ari was already stunningly beautiful.
Now she looked otherworldly.
“If you break your word, witch, I will call down the wrath of the fae people around your head.” Ari’s voice had deepened, magic booming from each word she said.
“Uhhh,” Evie said.
“Worry about it later,” Cliona hissed.
Mom snorted. “I know who your father is. My word is my bond.”
“Fine,” Ari snarled. She spun, her silver hair flowing like water.
Trust me, she mouthed as she grabbed me.
“Ari,” Evie said, her tone brimming with warning.
Trust me, she mouthed again.
Evie’s lips tightened. The ground beneath us rumbled.
“Careful,” Mom said with a chuckle. “You might be the fae queen, but Ari is something more.”
Evie could have killed Mom in a dozen ways by now, but she stayed her hand for me. I hoped I wouldn’t regret asking her to stay back. Ari tugged me forward.
“You bitch!” I said, yanking my arm away.
Ari blinked, then realized what I was doing. She had me secured with a snap of silvery magic, looping her power around my wrists like handcuffs.
She shoved me in the back toward my mother.
When we stopped a couple of feet from the wards, Mom smiled. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
She flicked her hand toward the wards. “You’ll need to bring those down so we can do the tradeoff.”
I looked over my shoulder toward Evie. She watched me and Ari with a carefully blank face, but just as I was about to turn around, her eyes widened.
I turned to see Cernunnos right behind my mother. Evie swore and dropped the wards just as her father sent a wave of power at the weapons, sending them both flying toward us.
Ari shoved me backward and leapt through the air, silver power opening a small blue portal. Both weapons tumbled through a second before the portal closed. Evie’s power rumbled, sending the wards up once more.
Mom let out a shriek of rage and disappeared just as four veins of power roared toward her. Cliona, Evie, Ari, and Cernunnos’s magic collided and exploded, sending us all ass over teakettle.
When the literal dust settled, Evie let out a shriek of rage and stomped toward us. “Where is that bitch?”
I started laughing, getting a mouthful of dirt in the process.
Evie’s cool fingers touched my back. “Are you alright?”
I rolled over and let my arms flop out to my sides. “I’m fine. We still have the body?”
“Yep. And we have the weapons.” Evie plopped down beside me. “Your mom is a real piece of work.”
“Don’t I know it.”
Ari rolled over and propped her chin on her hands. “Did you notice anything off?”
Evie frowned. “Off about the crazy woman willing to trade her daughter for weapons? Or off about the carved up rotting body sitting on a stainless steel table in my yard like the world’s most fucked up barbecue?”
A cackle escaped me. “I’d like to just kill her. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? A sharp dagger right through the heart, maybe a good twist to really sell it?”
Evie nodded. “Yeah. I’ll help. You can stab her in the heart, and I’ll put one through the kidney.”
“I get the liver!” Ari called. “You can’t live without one of those.”
“Knowing my mother, she has two of the most important ones. Just because she really doesn’t want to die.”
“Or maybe she’s got one of those fucked up mirror bodies where everything is on the opposite sides,” Ari mused. “Wouldn’t that be some shit if you were sure you landed a mortal blow only to nick her appendix or something?”
Cernunnos stepped through the wards and nodded to Ari. “I’m glad you called.”
“Ha,” I said. “She was too cocky not to have something up her sleeve.”
Cernunnos smiled and sat down beside me. “Evie had perfect timing. I can’t handle those weapons. Sending them sailing through the wards was the only thing I could do.”
I frowned up at him. “You can’t touch them?”
He snorted. “Ari made sure people like me can’t handle her weapons.”
I let out a wolf whistle.
“Not those weapons,” Cernunnos said dryly.
“He’s right,” Ari said. “Certain beings cannot handle the weapons my father and I create. Cernunnos is one of them.”
Evie gasped. “Oh, my gods. Am I included in that?”
Ari flicked a hand, opening that strange blue portal once more. She withdrew the Star and handed it to Evie.
My friend stared at the weapon for a moment. “Is this going to burn me?”
“Every fae has a different reaction,” Ari said.
“But I’m not going to die or anything,” Evie confirmed.
Ari laughed. “No. Your father literally can’t handle them. If he tries to pick one up, they either move or disappear.” She grinned. “Honestly, it’s pretty comical.”
“Ari,” Cernunnos said, a warning note in his tone.
“Don’t be jealous,” Ari teased.
Evie reached out and plucked the weapon from Ari’s outstretched hand.
Absolutely nothing happened.
She held the star in her palm and bounced it up and down. “Huh. It’s heavier than I expected.”
Cernunnos squawked in outrage. “She’s my daughter. Why is she allowed to hold that?”
“I know the answer,” Evie said quietly.
Ari nodded to the fae queen.
“I don’t seek power.” She looked up at her father, a disappointed look in her bright eyes. “The weapons are sentient.” Evie stroked a finger over one of the star’s sharp tips. “Are all your weapons like this, Ari?”
The fae nodded. “Yes.” She sighed, and magic shimmered around her.
Ari’s hair darkened back to her normal, or maybe not so normal, black, and her skin lost its iridescence.
“My magic cannot lie dormant. It calls to be used, but weapons are for war. Jewelry was the second-best choice. Earrings, necklaces, and other pieces serve a purpose, so it works for my magic.”
“Yeah, but can you use one of those earrings to stab someone?”
Ari gave me an exasperated look. “I mean, I guess you can, but most people aren’t thinking about their jewelry when they’re being attacked.”
“Unless they’re being robbed,” Evie said.
Cliona came up. “I feel like you are heading off on a tangent when we should be discussing what to do with the body rotting a few feet away.”
“Technically, she’s not rotting,” Ari interjected.
“The smell tells a different story,” Rowan said, walking up behind Cliona.
“Your mother’s spell took a while to take effect, and she didn’t think to use a fridge to preserve the body.” Ari waved her hand. “Once the spell activated, the body’s normal decomposition process stopped.”
She grimaced. “Of course, it was too late to reverse the process. Though if it’s any consolation, the longer the spell stays in effect, the less the body will start to smell.”
I glanced at Cernunnos. “Can’t do a thing,” he said, reading my mind. “I can sense how volatile that spell is all the way from here. My advice is to stay far away from the body and only break the spell when you’re ready to respond.”
“You mean when I’m ready to kill my mother.”