True of Blood (Witch Fairy Series) (26 page)

I turn to face him fully.  “Wow, you have no faith in me whatsoever, do you?  Just because you’re
three hundred and fifty
years older than me, you think you know everything, don’t you?”  He’s close enough now that I can poke him hard in the chest.  “You promised me that you wouldn’t underestimate me anymore.”

He’s searching my face now and I have no idea what he’s looking for.  Finally, he asks, “Are you feeling alright?  You are not sounding or acting like yourself.”

“Well, no,” I say because he’s an idiot for not figuring that out sooner.  “Those two,” I say pointing a blaming finger at both Maurelle and Olwyn, “they got me drunk!  Can you believe that?”

Kallen looks really confused.  “What do you mean they got you drunk?”

“They shot me with those little darty things and now I’m all discombobulated.”  I giggle.  “Isn’t that a funny world?”

Ignoring my question, he asks, “How many of the darty things did they shoot at you?”

I hold up four fingers so I have to push one down with my other hand so there’s only three.  “This many,” I say proudly since I got the whole finger thing right.

“Xandra, I think we should go back into the cabin so you can lie down.  I can handle these two from here,” he says slowly as if I’m not going to understand him if he speaks any faster.

I shake my head even though lying down sounds really good now because things are starting to spin around me a little bit.  “I can’t yet.  I have to send them home.  They’re too dangerous to have here.”

“Xandra, please, please don’t do this,” Kallen pleads.  Do I really want a boyfriend who doesn’t believe in my magic?  I’m going to have to really think about that after I take a nap.

I remember a trick that he used when he didn’t like what I was saying.  I pull on his shirt until he bends down far enough so I can kiss him which takes him completely by surprise like it had when he did it to me.  “Now, you have to be quiet so I can concentrate,” I say and my magic flows towards him and he’s trying to say something but he can’t make any sounds come out of his throat.  I’m really going to like that perk of my magic.  I’ll win all of our arguments now.

Turning again towards Maurelle, I say, “I want you to tell my father that he should do his own dirty work.  If he wants to try to force me to open up the Fae realm then he should at least have enough respect for me to come himself instead of sending weak little Cowan Fairies after me.  Okay?”  She nods her head yes and the confidence seems to be returning to her eyes as she figures out that I really am going to send her home.  Silly Fairy, it’s only going to be a one way trip.

Closing my eyes, I imagine the sky splitting open like it’s been torn.  Peeling back the sides of it, I imagine my father.  I know he has black hair and green eyes like mine.  I imagine him at home in the Fae realm waiting for Maurelle and Olwyn to bring me back so he can spill my blood on the passageway between realms to take revenge on this realm because a Witch king who is long dead embarrassed him.  I imagine this man who I hate all the way down to the marrow of my bones and when I open my eyes, there he is staring at me through the hole I have just ripped through the realms.

He stares at me with his mouth agape.  I don’t know where he is, maybe his banquet room or something because he’s at a huge table full of food and the furnishings are gold and tacky and everything I would have expected from an egomaniac.  When he finds he is able to speak again he says in a voice that sounds like liquid velvet which helps me understand how he tricked my mother, “You did it.  You’ve set us free.”

As I stare at this man who rises from his chair, this man who has made my mother’s life hell and in turn mine, the only thing I can think to say is, “I thought you’d be taller.”

Confusion washes over his face as he walks towards me.  “How is this possible?  It is supposed to be your blood that opens the realm.”  When he’s close enough to the tear, he reaches out his hand to touch it.  It shimmers like water and his hand blisters as soon as he makes contact with it and he snatches it back.  “What have you done?” he asks with accusation, anger and disappointment all rolled up nicely in that smooth voice of his.

Everything about him makes me laugh which I do.  He looks so betrayed that I wasn’t willing to die for him.  Seriously, I have this man’s DNA inside of me?  “What’s the matter, Dad?  Not happy with the way I opened up your realm?  Oh well, you’ve been a real disappointment to me, too, and I just found out about you a few days ago.  But I have something for you.”  Without closing my eyes, I lift Maurelle and Olwyn from the ground with my magic and I shove them through the tear.  Maurelle screams as she feels the burn of the passage but Olwyn is still asleep so he doesn’t feel a thing.  He’ll probably be pretty sore when he wakes up again. 

The world is starting to spin around me and I know my strength is failing but I have one more thing to say to my biological father who’s face is contorted in anger and I’m pretty sure some fear, too.  “If you push me, if you send more after me, if you do anything I don’t like, I will become the prophecy.  I will rip your realm apart and this one too if that’s what it takes to stop you.  You don’t get to decide if I live or die but I get to decide if you do.”  Turning to Kallen, I say, “This is your chance to go home if that’s what you want.  My biological father won’t hurt you and I can protect you from the pain of passing through the torn realms if that’s what you choose to do.”

He looks at me for a long moment.  “Is there another option?” he asks.

“Yes, you can stay here with me.”

With the happiest smile I’ve ever seen on his face, he says, “I choose to stay.”

“Okay, then.”  With that, I slam the folds back in place and the tear becomes nothing but sky again.  That’s the last thing I remember before everything goes black.

 
Chapter 21

“Xandra, please wake up,” a voice is saying in my ear.  I remember that voice, I wanted to wrap myself up in it before.  I like that voice a lot.  “Please, you have to wake up.”

It’s a struggle to open my eyes and even more of a struggle to focus them but eventually, Kallen’s face becomes clear.  “You didn’t go home,” is the first thing I think to say.  I’m in the cabin again lying on the cot and he’s kneeling next to me.  He must have carried me in here after I passed out.

He smiles.  “No, I did not.  I chose to stay.”

“But you could have gone home and lived with the other Fairies.  My father wouldn’t have dared to hurt you.”

“No, after your little conversation with him, he probably would not have.”

“Then why didn’t you go?”

“Why would I go back to the Fae realm when the Witch Fairy I want to be with is in this one?”

“What about your grandmother?”

Kallen smiles again but maybe a little sadder this time.  “Somehow, I suspect my grandmother knew I wouldn’t want to go back.  I think she may have changed some of the details of her divination to get me to come here knowing what I would actually find.  I believe she knew why you opened the realm and that it was only one way.  I feel foolish for ever suspecting you would do it any other way.  And I’m sorry I did not trust your judgment earlier.”

“Huh.  The people who raised us kept a lot of secrets from us, didn’t they?  Did you really stay here for me?” I ask and I try to sit up but a jackhammer starts up in my brain and I have to lie back down.  “Wow, my head hurts.”

“Yes, I really did.  And I believe your headache can be attributed to a hang over.”

“A hangover?”  No way.  “But I didn’t drink anything.”

He chuckles.  “No, but you absorbed an awful lot of Fairy poison into your bloodstream which you seem to metabolize as others would alcohol.  I should have suspected that you were not affected by things the same way as others of the Fae because you were able to wear your amulet without harm.”

I groan.  “I can’t believe I lost Mom’s amulet.  And her grimoire.  Do you think you remember where that cave was so we can go back there in the summer and look for them?”

“Of course,” he says and there’s something in his eyes.  Hesitancy, maybe?  I can’t quite figure it out.

“What are you thinking?” I ask knowing that it’s the question that guys hate to be asked the most.

“Nothing that can’t wait,” he says.

I glower at him as much as my headache will allow.  “After everything we’ve been through you’re really going to give me that crap of an answer?”

He looks like he’s not going to say anything but then he starts talking without quite meeting my eyes.  “I made the decision to stay based on my desires but I have no knowledge of how you feel about it.”

I roll my eyes.  “Kallen, if I wanted you to leave I would have shoved you back to your realm like I did Maurelle and Olwyn.  Though, it may be a shock to Mom and Dad when I ask them if my boyfriend can stay with us because he just gave up his entire realm and everything he knows to be with me.”

His face pales a little.  “I had not thought everything through as you have apparently.  Do you honestly believe your parents will accept me into your home?  I did not make the greatest impression when I was there last.”

It’s my turn to laugh.  “No, you didn’t.  But you did teach me how to use my magic and helped me get rid of the Fairies who wanted to kill me.  I’m pretty sure they’ll overlook your rude behavior.  But you’ll have to stay in the guestroom because we’re not getting hand-fasted any time soon.”

He laughs again.  “As I would expect.  You know, you were a sight to behold earlier.  How did you figure out you could do the things you did?”

I think about it before answering.  “I think the Fairy poison had a lot to do with it.”

He looks surprised.  “How so?”

“Because before I was thinking too hard about everything so I couldn’t accomplish anything.  When the Fairy poison entered my system, my thoughts became scattered and I didn’t think about any one thing for any amount of time, my thoughts were all over the place.”

I can see his lips curling upwards as he says, “Such as when you asked Maurelle about my history with Fairy women?”

Color rushes to my cheeks as I remember all the things I said while under the influence of the Fairy poison.  I thought he had been unconscious at the time.  “Are you going to keep interrupting?  And don’t think I don’t know you’re laughing at me.”

“I would never do such a thing,” he says and he makes the same gesture of keeping his lips sealed as I had when I kept interrupting him.

Choosing to ignore him, I continue.  “And because I wasn’t so afraid of my magic, I was more in tune with it.  I knew what I had to do and it’s almost as if I knew instinctively how to do it.  Does that make sense?”

He inclines his head and nods.  “I believe so.  Apparently, if I had thought to infect you with poison sooner we would not have had to spend so many nights in the cold together.”

I make a face at him.  “Kallen.”

“Yes?”

“Shut up and kiss me.”

“Gladly,” he says and his lips graze mine in a gentle kiss which my head appreciates because anything more would make it start pounding again. 

“Can we go home now?” I murmur against his lips.

He sits back and pushes a stray strand of hair from my cheek.  “It’s very late.  It would be better if we got a good night’s sleep first.”

“Okay, then come lay with me because I’m really tired.”

He doesn’t need any more encouragement.  He lies down with me after I scoot over to make more room and he wraps his arms around me pulling me close.  I’m getting really used to sleeping with him.  I’m going to miss that because I know for certain that Mom and Dad would have serious issues with me continuing to sleep with him at home but I’m so glad he stayed.