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A joyless huff presses out of me as I realise my putrid cousin Gerald will be ecstatic. After Theo, he is next in line to our parents’ estates. Combined with his own monstrous family fortune, his wealth would be unimaginable. That ourpassing would benefit such a disgusting person adds another layer of guilt and pain to our inevitable demise.
I try not to think of Caelan. It hurts too much to think of his face, but I cannot help myself, that tugging in my chest, that connection to him pulling almost violently. I can almost feel the ghost of his touch on my skin. The way his laugh used to light up places inside of me I never knew existed. And now he is doomed too, and I can’t even warn him.
Fresh tears track over my face, pooling on the scratchy, ragged blanket beneath me. I wonder how many fae have lain here, contemplating their fates over the centuries? My heart aches for them too. For their pain, their loss, their crushing finality.
A creaking above me gives pause to my morose musings, dragging my thoughts into a dull consciousness. There had never been creaking before. Another creak. Crash. Is that yelling? I sit up on my cot, swiping at my eyes with the back of my hand, sniffing back snot and tears.
There are more sounds now. Violence. The booming blast of magic rattles the house and I duck instinctively as more booms rattle the foundations, raining dust from the ceiling. What the fuck is going on?
Anticipation beads along the base of my neck, and I rise to standing, feeling my wings pushing at my filthy layers, itching to get free, hands raised at the ready for whatever I can hear thundering down the steps towards my door.
I hear the door next to mine, Theo’s door, slam open. Cursing. There is yelling on the other side of my door. It rattles, as if a battering ram is slamming against it. Are they calling my name? The voice sounds familiar. So familiar. That tug in my chest pools again, heat flooding the core of my being as it all clicks at once, and my door slams open.
Caelan.
Caelan
The plan is loose,drawn into the dirt between the edge of the treeline and the grassy field surrounding the damned cottage. Honestly, calling it a plan is an overstatement, really.
We’d huddled together as I had told them every detail I remembered of the garden maze leading to the back of the cottage, while Edith had shared everything she knew about the large vegetable and herb garden on the other side. I made sure I warned the others about that unnatural black cat that had watched Tor and me, undoubtedly her familiar.
In the end, we’d gone with Edith’s plan. Storm the place and hope for the best. There wasn’t really anything more that wecoulddo.
We are as ready as we are ever going to be. Everyone is unnaturally calm while we prepare to make our way into the cottage, accepting whatever fate lies ahead of us. Edith shines Monty with her skirts while Roan stretches out his impressive muscles, removing his leather harness and securing his hair in a knot at the base of his skull.
I am the only one with the decency not to peek as Seff kicks off his shoes and drops each layer of clothing to the ground, finally placing his cap on the pile and shifting into his wolf form. The air shimmers around him and my too-human eyes fail to understand the transformation that occurs as his body bends and twists into a new form, hair retreating, fur growing.
Seff swore it didn’t hurt, not really. When I’d asked him a long time ago, he swore it felt almost orgasmic.
I’ve never been sure if I believe him, but for the first time in many, many years, a pang of envy hits me as I watch him stretch and prance in his furry form. Ihad accepted my mixed being status, and was grateful for the extra strength and health it had given me, but the extra being power would be a boon right now.
I flex my hands a few times at my sides, trying to summon that power and magic gifted to me by my connection to Tor, but it just balls in a soft pale green light and putters away with the breeze. It would be stupid to deny that I am nervous about what we are about to do. The swirling in my guts wouldn’t have let me, anyway.
All too soon, it’s time to get moving. We had decided not to split up this time, Edith insisting that between her and Roan’s magic and our collective brute strength, we are better as one team. A “force to be reckoned with” she’d insisted. The rest of us had had our doubts.
Our goal once we get inside is for me to get Tor out while she and the others raise some mayhem. Like I said, the “plan” is loose at best. She makes certain Seff and I have our amulet pouches around our necks, Seff’s hidden in the mottled gold and grey fur around his neck. Roan whispers words of protection to himself, the air rippling as his magic weaves around him like armour. As he draws upon his berserker powers, he grows further in size, not just taller, but his muscles thickening, multiplying into hard ropes across his body. Thick raised veins criss-cross his skin, adding to his furious visage. For the first time since I’ve known him, he looks genuinely terrifying.
We are silent as we make our way across the grass and through the maze. For the first time since I’ve known her, Edith keeps her pilfering hands to herself, barely acknowledging the myriad of flowers and plants lining the path, her hands clenching tightly on the hilt of her sword. Her solemnity is almost as unnerving as the thick energy in the air.
The anxiety is tangible, like you could snatch it up and mould it in your hands, even to someone as unremarkable as myself. My fingers brush Seff’s fur as he skulks alongside me, hackles raised as he scents the air, a useless task considering the cloying smell of rot and flowers overpowering us. Roan is at our rear keeping careful watch.
After what already feels like an eternity, my legs are trembling with adrenaline. We finally make it to the courtyard and face our first hurdle.
The black demon beast cat is back, waiting in the courtyard, no doubt ready to inform its monstrous master as soon as it becomes aware of our presence. Edith gasps, far too loudly in shock, and holds up a fist, warning us to halt when she spots the creature.
If I hadn’t been aware that the thing is entirely unnatural from the way its eyes appeared to hold all the secrets in the universe from our first encounter, that it is currently standing in the middle of the courtyard would have been my first clue: upright on its hind legs, front paws at rest, head tipped dangerously far back so its eyes are facing the sky. The cat is perfectly still, frozen, except for the gentle continuous purr I can now hear rumbling from its body.
“What in the ever-loving fuck is that?” Roan whispers behind me, completely unnerved by the strange sight.
It is enough to disturb the cat’s trance, its black eyes snapping to us. The monster’s mouth opens, disturbingly wide and cavernous, the purring getting rapidly louder, deafening. I am frozen in fear, completely paralysed under the hypnotising gaze of the cat. And its mouth just keeps gettingbigger.
“Fuck this cat,” Edith mutters under her breath. I feel the back blow of the spell she throws at the cat washing over me like a sound wave. The magic surrounds the horrifying, furry beast and it freezes like a stone, toppling to its side almost comically with a dull thud. Its mouth is still gaping, too large and round, like a hollow portal to the ether.
Edith whips around to face us, gripping my wrist with a strength I didn’t know her bony fingers possessed.
“Caelan, you need to remember your connection to Tor.You are not powerless in there.”She quickly looks at both Roan and Seff, then nods again. “We need to movenow.”
My palms tingle with apprehension at the idea of using Tor’s power and I clench my fists to relieve some of the tension, sending a frisson of awareness up my arms. I feel unprepared, ill-equipped for what we are about to do.
