“We don’t know him, Pops,” I whisper back.
“I know, but sometimes you have to trust your gut feeling on someone,” she replies. “Like how you trust me and I trust you.”
I sigh, knowing she is right, and walk to the desk. I lie down and pull up my shirt to just under my bra, and Toth comes over.
He frowns, which I don’t take as a good thing. “This is a magical wound, one that will never close.”
“Never?” I whisper.
“Well, there are cures for such with Unseelie magic. The weapon that did this is made by Unseelie and can be undone by them. I am surprised you are alive,” he replies. “The weapon I suspect that did this has never left anyone alive.”
“I can’t die, but I also can’t fight well or sort anything out with a never-closing wound on my stomach,” I reply, slowly sitting up. “I think the Unseelie rebels knew this and knew I would have to come to them for help.”
“Going there is dangerous,” Poppy points out.
“But for Daesyn and her Uncle Arthur, we need help. He is sick, and I need much more advanced medicines and magic than I have here,” Toth explains to us. “I am afraid your uncle might not make it another day without healing, and I am Seelie fae; healing is not a gift of mine.”
“But I can do it,” I reply. “I’m half Unseelie fae.” It feels strange admitting that without fear of being hated for it. “Enough to save him. I usually need earth to heal, but I can use the water.”
“You are not strong enough,” Poppy tells me as I slide off the desk.
“He is my uncle. End of discussion, Pops,” I counter, walking over to my uncle. I kneel down and place my hands on his chest, feeling his slow heartbeat under my palms. “Don’t move, anyone, I’m not well practised at this.”
I close my eyes, feeling the rush of my magic wash over me before I tap into my fae side. The Unseelie magic is strong and allows me to feel all of the elements nearby. I can sense the water of the sea, the barrels of clean water below deck, and boxes of food. I sense every living person on this ship, down to the snails attached to the base. Then, I sense my uncle and how close he is to passing away. Toth wasn’t wrong. Using the sea, I pull it to me as fast as I can. Water pours into the room in streams, through every crack and hole it can find. Hundreds of streams of water pour through me and into my uncle, covering all of his body except for his mouth and nose.
Instantly I feel my uncle healing under the water and my own body struggling to hold the magic in my condition. Seconds tick on, and my uncle’s heartbeat slowly starts to feel better, just as I feel myself drifting off into sleep.
And this time, my fae magic catches me in an embrace filled with water before letting me crash to the floor and darkness take over.
Chapter 6
“The plant is doing its magic, Prince Sebastian. You need not worry.”
Voices drift all around me, weaving in and out of my consciousness as I struggle to wake myself up. I’m wrapped up in warmth, surrounded by it, and it settles into my bones even as I dream of nothing. My mum doesn’t turn up in a memory, or my uncle for that matter. There is just peaceful silence. I stretch my fingers down my bare stomach, feeling something sticky covering the dagger wound, but it feels like it’s healing. I’ve been changed into black tight trousers and a boob tube black top that hides very little, but I’m clean. There isn’t a bit of dirt or blood on me, and I reach for my hair, feeling that someone has washed it and brushed it.
“Hey, kid,” my uncle’s voice fills the room. I crack open my eyes, seeing glowing green vines completely surrounding me. “I know you’re still sleeping in there and recovering, but I half want to tell you off for healing me and half glad you did. I want to know everything that happened to you since you left the Otherworld. I’m aware I can’t fix any of it, and it wouldn’t have been easy, but I want to help fix what is going on now. I’m not going anywhere, kid.”
Tears fill my eyes as I stare up at the vines, knowing his words were exactly what I’ve longed for.
A big part of me just needed one of my family around, someone on my side, no questions asked.
“Uncle Arthur?” I ask, pushing at the vines. I hear a chair scraping across the floor, and then the vines are ripped apart, the glow instantly disappearing, and I feel warm straight away. The smell of my uncle mixes with the odd dried orange smell that fills the room as he reaches in and helps me sit up. I’m on a strange bed that is covered with those vines all the way to the floor where they have grown through. The vines are slowly disappearing back into the gaps in the floor as I watch them before slowly climbing out of the bed.
“How are you feeling?” he asks me as he carefully helps me down. The room is quaint with wooden walls and deck flooring and a few lights on the walls. There are no windows in here but one door, which is propped open, and light pours in from the other side, as does the sound of people moving around out there.
Doing a quick check, I’m surprised at my honest answer. “Better. I feel tired but not drained or anything anymore. What the heck did you do? Where are we?”
“I did nothing but bring you here with that prince. To the Unseelie rebels,” he explains to me. “Well, Prince Sebastian technically bought us here, and they saved you after you saved me.”
“Where are Seb and Poppy?” I ask next.
“We take it in turns sitting with you so someone is always resting or eating. I think Seb is sleeping as he was awake all night and all the previous day steering the ship. Poppy is at the lunch hall,” he tells me and waves at the now-empty bed. The vines are all gone. “Let’s sit down and talk.”
“We do have a lot to talk about,” I reply, watching him sit on the bed. I cross my arms and stand. “Like, for instance, everything that happened with my mother and the cursed rune. Tell me everything. And right now. No more secrets.”
“Our family, my brothers, my parents, my sister and their partners were all murdered by the reaper queen in a fit of jealousy. I remember the day so vividly like it was just moments ago. Kriffin was a good man and a brilliant reaper. Your father, I mean. Strong, bold and overall, the best of us. I was the brother who ran from responsibility and only came home for Christmas if the family was lucky. I was selfish and thought only of myself.”
“How did it happen?” I ask. A hitch in my throat is the only sign I give him of how desperate I am to learn the truth about the past.
“I met your mother at Christmas when she was already pregnant with you. I will be honest and tell you I loved her from the second we spoke. She was enchanting, kind and brave. I’d never met a woman like her.” He pauses. “Ingrid loved your father with all of her heart.”
For a second, I feel sorry for him. Loving someone you can’t have is the worst torture of all. I felt it with Seth, and it hurt every damn day when I had to accept he wasn’t going to be in my life. That he didn’t feel the same way.
I’ve still not processed the truth on that subject. On Seth’s real feelings.
“Ingrid was four months pregnant when Kriffin turned up with her on my doorstep and begged me to take Ingrid to the Otherworld and protect you both.”