When Oscar pulled back, he quickly wiped the fresh tears from his eyes. “Brilliant. I’m a complete mess now,” he said.
Lora laughed and handed him a tissue from the counter. “How about we watch some trash reality TV to take our minds off this for a bit?”
“Sure. Maybe Mum will join us.” A faint smile appeared on his face. Lora realised she hadn’t seen it in a while. She promised herself to make sure it would show up more often, even if things went the way she expected. The real possibility of losing her mum was too much to accept at this moment. She wasn’t in denial, but she was incapable of fully thinking the thought. Lora couldn’t picture a future without her. She prayed against her instincts that they never had to.
“I’ll go check on her and ask if she’s feeling up to it,” Lora said, trying to banish her negative thoughts.
Oscar nodded and the smile grew, revealing the gap in his teeth.
Lora felt a little lighter after their conversation, but she had to admit that he was partly right. Her master’s degree had kept her busy at the start of the year and she hadn’t spent as much time home until she’d moved back a couple of months ago.
But she would be here now. She would make sure no one felt alone in this nightmare.
Chapter2
Lora
Raised voices pulled Lora from her restless sleep. She reached for her phone on the antique, taupe nightstand that was covered in history books, notebooks, and one too many highlighters. Lora sat up as she unlocked her screen. It was only midnight. She must have unintentionally dozed off a little while ago. She was considering trying to go back to sleep when the events of the day hit her again, fear taking her breath away.
Her father hadn’t been back when she’d gone to her room to rest, but she could make out his voice now, which meant he must have the results. Deep down, Lora knew it was futile, but she couldn’t help but hope. Part of her wanted to imagine that today had never happened, that she’d find her parents and they wouldn’t even know why she’d been so worried.
Her feet hit the ground fast and she took the steps two at a time as she headed to her parent’s bedroom. She raised her arm to knock on their door when she heard her father’s raised voice.
“I don’t either! Do you really think I would even bring it up if I thought there was any other way?”
Lora lowered her fist and considered leaving them to hash it out, but her curiosity got the better of her. She stayed to listen.
“You don’t know for sure what will happen in the next weeks,” her mum answered.
“I know that you’re going to die in three weeksor less.That’s a fact. You’re delusional if you think there’s any other outcome.” Lora flinched at the conviction in her father’s voice. So much for hope. Thiswasreal. “Think about Oscar. He could be next. There’s no progress on a cure—none. I hate to bring this up, but the only miracle we can hope for is fae magic.”
“So what?” Her mother’s voice sounded strained, she must have been crying. “You want to send our daughter on a suicide mission? If one of us is going to die, I chooseme.”
Lora almost gasped out loud. She didn’t know what to make of this. Her heartbeat quickened, any leftover sleep was replaced by shock. Her sweaty hand clasped her pendant so tightly that the heart pricked her palm.
“This isn’t about choosing. I would never even consider it. I didn’t mean I’d send her off to walk around Liraen by herself, she just needs to talk to Marcel’s fae trader, convince them to help, and come right back,” Isaac said.
Her mum’s answering dark, hysteric laugh rattled Lora’s bones. It drove straight to her heart, stealing her breath and leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. “Now who’s delusional? We don’t know for sure that half-fae can survive crossing. And Liraen is the opposite of safe no matter how far into it you go. What if someone discovered her secret? Did you think about that at all?”
There was a heavy silence. Lora considered making her presence known when she heard her father’s voice again, this time quiet and crushed. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. We can’t risk it. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to Lora.” He sounded defeated, as if he had been putting his last hope in Lora and somehow she had failed him before she was even asked to try.
Lora didn’t know what she was getting herself into. The only thing she was sure of was that if there was even a tiny chance she could save her mother, she needed to know more.
She swung open the door.
Her mum looked at her in pure shock. She nervously glanced at her husband, clearly at a loss for words, before refocusing on Lora.
“What do you mean half-fae can cross?” Lora asked. Of all the research she’d done, this fact had never come up. Not once.
Her mother gave Isaac a warning look but it wasn’t enough to keep him quiet.
“Your mum overhead your...well, your biological father talk to someone about a half-fae boy who crossed the border and came back unharmed. He assumed half-fae must be some kind of loophole. Apparently, the border spell doesn’t apply to them.”
Lora met her mum’s questioning, panicked eyes. All of this was more than overwhelming. She didn’t know what to focus on first. She had never heard her step-father mention her fae father aloud. They didn’t discuss it. And although she’d had conversations with her mum about her hidden fae side, she had kept this secret from her. Had her mum ever actually been afraid Lora could get hurt if she got too close to the border or was she scared she would feel compelled to walk through it? And who was this other half-fae? They’d always assumed Lora was the only one and for good reason.
If Lora had known this last year, it wouldn’t have mattered. She wouldn’t have felt the need to cross the border. She’d never felt any kind of pull—quite the opposite, actually. She wanted to understand the history between humans and fae, not take part in it. But now she had a reason, a motivation. And she was looking right at her.
“But that was almost 25 years ago,” her mum said. “There’s no way of knowing if he was correct in his assumptions. It’s too risky, Lora.”
