Page 85 of A House of Cloaks & Daggers

“What do you mean bystrange things?” I asked quietly. The whole of Faerie seemed strange to me, so it was hard to imagine what might have happened to unnerve the High Fae.

“Coloured lights dancing in the night sky,” Morgoya replied, gesturing upwards. “Huge balls of fire flying through the atmosphere. We believe it now to be the Aboveworld ending inthe wake of the Dragon War because the sky-dragons were their only source of transport and they had brutally hunted their only source of food to extinction. But the conspiracists believed it was the High Mother handing down her wrath after the slaves were freed.

“They thought the world was ending. They considered the High King’s actions and beliefs to be an insult because our history claims that the original-blessed was High Fae, and all of Faerie was built and created from their gifted power. They believed that we were made in the High Mother’s image, put in this world to rule and conquer, and he had used the power she granted him to enforce equality with beings they truly felt were supposed to be enslaved. Not everyone shares their opinions, but it doesn’t tend to take much, you know.”

I nodded.I know that very well indeed.

“So,” she concluded, “they committed an offence against the High Mother of their own, absolutely convinced that it was what she wanted them to do. They gave their magic back to her. And they became human.”

All colour quickly drained from my face.

Morgoya paused, letting it sink in, and then sighed.

“I’m sorry.” I shook my head, digging my fingers into the sand until I could feel it jammed underneath my nails. “What?”

“Humans came from High Fae.” Morgoya’s voice was gentle, barely a whisper of the wind. “You may choose not to believe this, but we once lived in the town you call Belgrave. It was built by the High Lord of the Court of Light, my predecessor.”

“So all humans are part-faerie?” I frowned.This is surely an important piece of information that I should have been given already.

She made a face. “Not really. They became something else when they gave up their gifts, lost their immortality, andreproduced a world full of mortal children. It’s not quite like the Malum,” she mused quietly. “They didn’t breed into another race of faeries. They simply became a version of us without our gifts.”

“But you said this happened three hundred years ago, so it can’t be true. My world dates back for much longer—”

“History sometimes rewrites itself in order to offer the easiest explanation to those who seek answers with fear in their hearts,” she told me softly. “When magic vanished from their veins, it eventually vanished from their memories, too. The High King was able to fill in the blanks when the war ended. Your world is much younger than you think it is, and many of the horrors you experience now are a consequence of the losses your people sustained.”

My throat felt tight. I worked it, wrestling down a gulp of saliva, before I spoke again. “Horrors…such as?”

“You’re trapped in one body. Some are forced to undergo expensive and lengthy and invasive procedures in order to feel like themselves.” The High Lady frowned as if she couldn’t quite imagine it. “Or you’re in love, but you can’t have a child together. You die if you become too old or too sick. Lose weight and muscle mass if you don’t eat—”

“I don’t understand,” I cut in. “You’re saying these things don’t exist here?”

Morgoya pursed her lips. “No,” she answered, sounding as if she was somewhere far away from where we sat together on the sand. “They don’t, not really. We’re fluid beings, submerged in power. If we do not feel suited to our current body, or our current body does not suit our long-term desires, we simply change it or summon what it requires. We don’t get sick, don’t require food—”

“Wait.” I held my hand up, fingers splayed in the air. “If a faerie is assigned male at birth, but they’re a girl, you just—what?Change your entire body with magic?”

The High Lady blinked at me. “Yes. Wearemagic, you know. We can do as we please. The price we pay for balance is an allergy to iron, but we implemented strategies to conquer that a very long time ago.”

Chewing on my lower lip, I asked, “Is there any way for you to give that to someone—a human?”

Morgoya arched one perfect brow. “Why? Is there something you need?”

“No.” I shook my head. “But Amelia has a younger sister. It would—it would mean the world to her. She’s Brynn’s best friend at school. Her only friend, actually.”

“Hmmm.” She scraped her nail along her lip, considering. “We’ll ask Lucais. I don’t tend to meddle in human affairs, and I doubt it’s been done before, but if there’s a way, he’ll find it for you.”

The way she saidfor yousent a ripple of excitement skittering across my skin, but I shook it off. I had to focus and retain all of that information if there was even the slightest chance it was true.

I stuck my bottom lip out and sighed through my nose. “Okay, you’re all fancy magical beings with insane power and privilege. Got it, maybe. But you still haven’t explained why there was a war. A bunch of High Fae gave up magic, and humans were made. Where did the conflict arise?”

“Well, they continued to live among us at first, but strange things kept happening, so then they tried to forceeveryoneto give back their magic.” The High Lady’s sweet, lilting voice turned dark and lethally quiet. “We didn’t want to. But we didn’t want to slaughter them, either. The battles were brutal and long. Mortal weapons against our gifts, which were kept on a tight leash to prevent bloodshed and were only intended to be used as a defence until they gave up. It sent some of the soldiers mad.”

“But they did give up?”

“No.” She shook her head, staring out at the horizon. “Eventually, the High King decided to divide the land. We lured them out to the borders we know now and fought the last battles—a final, desperate attempt to convince them to stop, to come back to us—and lost. The High King glamoured what was left of Faerie and created the gateways in case anyone wanted to change their minds.

“We lost so much that the survival of our race alone isn’t considered a victory by most. Every so often, we go back there to the land that used to be ours and the descendants of the people we used to know. They’ve forgotten us, and the land is barren, but call it a morbid curiosity. Some of us have obviously gotten involved,” she added, gesturing to me, “and produced what you refer to as part-faerie. More like half-faerie, I suppose. Though, we don’t know how it happens because usually one parent is absent before the birth, so it’s unclear if there is still a lingering trace of us in humans or if it’s something else.” She paused. “Well, actually, I suppose you prove that there is—with the mating bond.”

My mouth fell open. “Because I’m human—”

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