It’s Effy from theIn-Between. The Fairy who tried to rip my heart out of my chest, who demanded to know who I was. Because how could I, someone so simple, break her curse that ravaged an entire family?
I lift my chin and smile. It’s the first smile I’ve had in days.
“My father is Baris, the High Priest ofSeti,” I whisper, voice raw. “My mother was Thea, the High Priestess ofEnyo, Matriarch of the Blut Coven.”
The light dims in her eyes.
“You sent Griffin to kill me when I was a child, thinking I wouldn’t ever be able to break the curse. How did you know it was me?”
Eyes wide, the queen steps back, shocked. She starts to peer at me carefully, taking in my face, the curve of my eyebrows, the end of mynose, the shape of my lips. She inhales, hand to her chest, and clears her throat.
Her pale skin turns green.
“To be fair,” she says, words jumbled, “it wasn’t personal.”
“Everything you’ve done is personal!” The Hadeon growls in warning. “Tell me how you knew.” How did she know about me, if Neith’s curse erased all magic?
“I never forgot,” she whispers, tapping her skull. “Fairies are unique, as I’m sure you know. A simple Witch curse wasn’t going to affect me, but it did everyone else. I changed tactics, used the Humans to destroy and conquer for greed instead of magic.”
She places her hands on her hips. “It was frustrating, knowing what I did and no one else. I sent the Humans out to cause havoc, and to find a blood summoner, the child of life and death.”
“You knew of the prophecy, how?”
“A little goddess told me.” She shrugs and my mind thinks of Layla. She must have known from her mother. “And to my surprise, not only was I looking for a blood summoner, but my brother’s child. Do you know we spent centuries apart when I first laid the curse on Kyrin?” She scoffs. “He was so mad. He disowned me.” Aoife points a finger at me, an unhinged smile gracing her horrible face. “It’s fitting that it’s his daughter that was destined to end the curse when he couldn’t stop it the first time. And it’s fitting I’ll kill you when he left me in this world alone.”
“Fenrir could,” I argue. I refuse to acknowledge the death part.
She laughs. “You think Fenrir is mine by blood?” She shakes her head, chuckling. “Fenrir was a baby I found after convincing the king I was pregnant. I wouldn’t be stupid enough to produce a child that would end my curse on the Moorgate family.”
“Until me.”
She stops, face expressionless. “And of course, Gods’ Will interferes and binds you to Kaden. The Gods have conspired against me.”
The daggers are heavy in my palms. “All this because one Fae didn’t love you back?”
The rage swirls in her eyes. “He would’ve loved me if not for thatdamn claiming,” she snarls. “If he had just loved me, none of this would’ve happened.”
“You destroyed the world over nothing,” I say quietly. “Nothing that matters.”
“Says the blood summoner who is here, fighting for her mate. Tell me,” she drawls, “why are you here?”
She doesn’t let me answer. “Love. I told you it is worthless in the end. It brought you here, unprotected, where you’ll die for a Fae that doesn’t want you.”
“He does,” I insist. “You’ve corrupted him.”
She laughs, twirling slightly in her skirts. “I’ll let you in on a secret,” she whispers. “You corrupted him. That potion you drank before kissing him?” Her grin grows, malice shinning in her eyes. “It was the binding drug. I know I’d never get it into him. I needed your help. Once he ingested it, it made him susceptible to the next phase. So, really, you have no one to blame but yourself.”
Despair wells inside my chest. Baris was right. Aoife cannot be trusted.
I thought I was doing everything right. I thought the potion was to save him. But I administered the first dose and gave Aoife a chance to steal him away.
I’m sick as I glare at her. “It was all a lie?”
She shrugs. “You just needed to give him your blood in the most sacred of place and truly love him. Everything else was for me.”
Pressing a hand to my stomach, I breathe through my mouth. “You’ve been waiting to do this since you first saw him.”
She clasps her hands to her chest, biting her lip. “I always made a point to meet the next firstborn. The curse fuels my magic. As long as they live, I am invincible. But then, I saw him. He was a spitting image of Kyrin.”
