Yaga’s voice came back to us from a distance, and my hackles began to lower a bit. She had walked far enough away that I was comfortable letting Adaela get dressed.
“Come on, dearies. I’ve been waiting for you. Hurry up and get dressed. The Hut is expecting us,” Baba Yaga shouted loud enough for us to hear her, but far enough away that she could no longer see us.
I laughed hysterically as we focused on getting Adaela redressed. It seemed as if we were unable tonotget caught at this point. Adaela wanted to keep us a secret for a little while longer, but we were the biggest open secret thePaxhad in years, if I had to guess. Not to mention, Baba Yaga was the one who told me that she would be my fated.
I helped Adaela put her jeans back on, softly kissing her thighs, her mound, and her belly before buttoning her up and standing. I laid soft kisses against her neck, whispering in her ear how she was such a good girl for me, coming as quick and hard as she did. Even with Baba Yaga’s interruptions, we were still able to find some intimacy between the two of us.
Adaela was still a little disorientated. I whispered sweet nothings to her, waiting for her to come back down from her high so we could meet up with Baba Yaga. My heart was full, watching her eyes come back to reality. The devotion she normally didn’t show me was plastered across her face, and I knew in that moment that whatever was blossoming between us was going to last, even if she wasn’t sure yet.
I laid one last sweet kiss on her lips, lingering for a moment with my forehead against hers, trying to convince her without words that this was real, and my feelings for her were only growing.
I patted her on the ass playfully, breaking the intimacy of the moment, and began walking toward Baba Yaga. Adaela grabbed my hand, and we walked in comfortable silence, listening to the leaves and twigs underneath our feet snap and squelch from recent rain. Adaela was connecting with Underhill in a way she hadn’t in a long time. She began to glow—an ethereal light beneath her skin that seemed to remove her shadows from where they lay dormant. The swirls between light and dark were fascinating, and instead of watching where I was going, I was watching her.
I stumbled over a low branch. Adaela was quick to grab me and keep me from falling, pulling me back against her body as she laughed at me. She moved around with the preternatural grace only the Fae and Elves had, as if the Dark Wood moved to make way for her, but it was more likely that she was just that familiar with these woods. I turned in her arms and nipped at the tip of her ear playfully, and she gasped, then legitimately giggled. It was the cutest fucking sound I’d ever heard, and a huge smile graced my lips as we came into a clearing with Yaga’s hut standing in the center.
“Are you ready, sweet girl?” I asked her, stilling until I could get a clear answer.
She breathed in deep, letting it out slowly. She shook her limbs a little, then cracked her neck. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I presume.”
Walking up one of the house’s chicken legs, we made our way to the door on the side of the house and knocked. It opened without anyone behind it, and we glanced at each other for a second, shrugging before I stepped inside first.
The house was old, but resembled a log cabin inside. It had an open concept with the kitchen on the left of the doorway, pots and pans hanging above a large kitchen island with wood slats as the bottom, and a cork countertop. Behind the island was a large countertop that spanned the length of the back wall of the house. There was a large wooden stove to the right where Baba Yaga appeared to be filling a few cups of tea for the three of us.
We made our way over to the island, sitting down on the rickety barstools. Still holding hands, I nuzzled my head into the side of Adaela’s neck, not ready to let go of the quiet intimacy we’d found in these woods. I’d never forget it. Something about being here had made the two of us closer. Maybe it was the idea that I put myself in trouble without any thought, butBaba Yaga must’ve noticed it, too. She left us for a few minutes while she got tea and scones ready, then sat on the other side of the island, smiling at us. Baba Yaga wasn’t kind, but it was kind of her to give us some space. I squeezed Adaela’s hand, then spoke.
“How good of you to grace us with tea and your presence today, Yaga. I presume you know why we’re here?” I said, careful not to thank her.
“Yes, but I have a few questions first,” she started. “I have heard through the grapevine that the Moirai have gifted you both with a prophecy?”
“They have, though with everything going on, we haven’t had the chance to decipher it. I don’t believe the prophecy is about the two of us, though,” Adaela replied, and Yaga’s eyes darted to her, rebuke written across her face.
“Come on, girl. Don’t be so daft. You of all people should know that the prophecies can only be foretold to the people who are meant to hear them,” she retorted. “Tell me what you know.”
“Yaga, you of all people know my past. It could’ve been about fucking anybody at this point. I had my fated. She died while breaking my heart and destroying any trust I’d ever held. I’m still not convinced that this is about me,” Adaela practically shouted in frustration.
I didn’t think she realized what a gift she’d just offered to me. She had her reservations, and I knew they stemmed from Sabine’s betrayal, but I hadn’t realized just how deep that betrayal had gone. She’d been harboring this deep-seated resentment for too long, and it was destroying her. I'd have to prove to her otherwise to get past that barrier, but I wasn’t sure how just yet.
“Do you have the recording, sweet girl?” I asked Adaela as she was pulling out her phone. I’d let it go for now.
“Yes, just a second. I’m unsure what the magic of the Dark Forest will do to the recording. If I can’t pull it here, I’ll have my shadows recite it,” Adaela admitted.
She fiddled with her phone, opening up the text message that Michael sent to her. The phone’s screen was flickering on and off. She sighed, then instead of pulling on her shadow magic, she pulled on her glamour magic, turning the room into Poe’s living room.
The Moirai sisters recited the prophecy once again.
“When love prevails and all is lost
The driven must now pay the cost
The lovers lost to ruin and fate
A dream desired, that cannot take
‘Til one and one make three again
The world is lost to hate and sin
The worlds collide on a direct path
