Page 117 of Fae Farewells

“Is winter a vibrant season?” my fae countered.

“No.”

He leaned in to whisper, “I am winter. The shimmer of morning frost in the sunlight, the freezing chill licking your cheeks in the shadows of the nights, the subtle ice that—”

“If you say the ice that makes me fall, I swear I will stab you, Vaughn.”

I shivered, my spine tingling as he chuckled coldly. Because his hidden darkness made my body betray me. Every. Fucking. Time.

“You really wouldn’t complain, would you?” I asked, a little surprised. But only a little.

“Gods, Vaughn,” Freya snapped. “Stop it.”

“They’re cute,” Tilly defended.

“If you’re into sex and gore,” Ruby added.

Reagan turned his head, grinning at Vex. “He got that silver tongue from me.”

She scoffed. “You haven’t spoken poetically a day in your life.”

“I used to read poetry with my sister,” he remarked.

“Lashul is your sister, isn’t she?” I asked, swatting at Vaughn’s hand.

The Winter king blinked in surprise, his cheeks rounding before he could stop them. “Did she tell you?”

“No. I guessed. Your reaction is enough to answer my question.” I shrugged, admitting, “I was told she’d been missing for a long time. But she wasn’t missing, was she? I suspect you knew where she was all along. You and your father.”

“Lashul didn’t want to rule a kingdom,” Valano answered, love for his daughter spilling into his words. “Being a seer is tough enough as it is. We felt her mental health was more important than splitting the winter and spring kingdoms.”

“She wanted to be a regular person,” Reagan confessed, then smiled fondly. “But she came back to the fae realm to help when we had Vaughn. And she stayed to watch over them.”

My fae whipped his head around to face me. “Your story?”

“About the seasons?” I nodded. “I thought it was just another of Lilith’s fairytales when she told it to me. It had taken me a few years to realize none of her stories were fantasies; she’d seen them all happening. Lashul is just as she described, too. Then you mentioned she was a spring fae, and it all clicked together.”

“Alania would have ruled over the autumn fae,” Vex explained. “But she wanted to live a life on Earth with her mate. Once Reagan and I knew we were mates, it made more sense to unite the kingdoms. Then Alania came back and wanted more than we could offer.”

“I’m guessing that was right around the time of the prophecy?” I acknowledged. “Alric decided it was his to fulfill it, so they split up. She came home with nothing, and didn’t have a kingdom to rule, either. Then she became bitter.”

Vex sighed, piecing more of the story together for us. “And that’s when she asked Alric for the favor he owed her. He got his freedom from their bond. She wanted power to replace the hole left inside her.”

“She would go on to kill you and assume your identity,” Reagan added.

I titled my head, fighting the urge to shrug again. “Not only did the two of you hold the power she wanted, but your children were the first sibling set to become the children of the season in thousands of years.”

“Four thousand years, to be exact,” Valano said. “My grandfather was the winter king, and his brothers led the other kingdoms until they were overthrown by stronger families.”

“So, who led the war of the seasons?” I inquired, turning my attention to the old king. “We talked about it last week when we had Pete–Pelitore—at the Giant’s Causeway. Alania was sure Tír na nÓg was a myth, but she wasn’t nearly your age.”

He chuckled, sounding exactly like his son and grandson. “That would have been my father. Partly. The summer queen refused to let her subjects leave the kingdom. Many species originated here, but the realm was overpopulated. The druid king wanted to take his people elsewhere. He felt like they were captives, so he went to war with her. My father came to his aim.”

“What do you know of the pedmars?” It was a long shot, but maybe he could help us lift Pete’s curse.

“Enough to tell you they originated in the Underworld and came here to escape the monsters during times of strife. The Underworld wasn’t always peaceful; demons and monsters fought, and they killed anyone who stood between them. When Lilith and Lucifer created their realm, the pedmars were safe here.”

I knew monster was a term used too loosely these day, but I needed to know we were talking about the same group of refugees. “The dragons?”