Page 48 of A Touch Of Death

Even though I never got to meet her before she was pulled from my world, I've missed her. Missed the idea of her, longing for my mother to return. "I missed you too, Mama."

She pulls me into another tight embrace, one I'm all too happy to return and bask in, but it's over too soon. She pulls away, holding my shoulders while she looks me over once more. "Alright, honey. I can't keep you here for very long, so I'll tell you what I need to. You've been here too long as it is."

Panic spikes in my chest, and my heart hammers under my rib cage. I can't leave her yet. I just got to see her with my own eyes for the first time.

As though she can read my mind, she says, "I want to stay longer. I want to keep you a while longer, but this place wasn't made for you. The living plane needs you, honey. I can only keep you for as long as it takes me to explain, and then you need to wake up. Those men of yours are already worrying."

The mention of the guys has my heart hiccupping and a different sort of panic settling inside me. I don't want them to worry about me.

With a reluctant nod, I tell her, "Okay, I understand."

"I knew you would," she says, giving me a wink and sitting on the blackened floor, the mist fanning away from her as she does. I follow her, sitting cross-legged opposite her. "I won't waste time tiptoeing around anything. I'm just going to come out with it, alright?"

I nod again and hold my breath for whatever comes next.

"Alright. Twenty-three years ago, as I was in labour with you, the Keeper of Sacrifice brought me here to make a decision, as you saw. She asked me to sacrifice my life for yours because you are a prophesied saviour for theNaturals. There's a war coming, baby girl, and you're smack bang in the middle of it. Humans are turning against us, building armies to go against Naturals, creating armour and weaponry to defeat us. You're the only shot at survival the Naturals have. You were chosen by the Fates themselves.

"When I passed over, you were blessed with the power of spirits. You're a being quite literally made of life and death; fae and spirit. You've been gifted several abilities that no faehas ever possessed because you will need them. You'll need to rely on those abilities when the time comes. With that being said, when the Fates bestowed the prophecy onto you, you had to become stronger to be able to fight what's coming. There was only one way to do that..."

My palms are sweating, I have a growing headache that's pulsing just behind my eyes, and my heart is beating double time. I can't even process what she's telling me properly. The prophecy in the book is real? And I'm the one it's speaking of? This has to be some kind of fucked up cosmic joke, right? But wait, how did they make me stronger than I am? The spirit abilities have already made me stronger than the average fae.

Mom looks like she doesn't want to explain further, but she tilts her head as though someone is whispering to her, and her head snaps up to face me. She squares her shoulders, and guilt shines in her eyes before she continues. "In order to make you strong enough to endure the abilities of a spirit... your soul was fractured into several pieces. You hold the primary piece, but there are other pieces that have been linked to otherNaturals toensure you survived."

My... my soul was fractured. Into several pieces. Pieces that are linked to... My eyes widen because I'm ninety-nine point nine percent positive I know exactly who those pieces are tethered to. My heart thunders even faster, my breathing coming in fast with one revelation after another. Mom nods with a small sad smile.

"Four Naturalshold pieces of your soul, baby girl. The four that hold fragments of your soul are yours - your mates, to put it one way. It's a deeper bond even than that, but for this conversation we'll call them your mates. They're bonded to you just as you are them. You're tethered to the four with the deepest bond. Trust them and those bonds. Rely on them. You'll need them. You will need each other," Mom continues, urgency seeping into her words. She begins to look around, tilting her head every now and then as though that same person is speaking to her again.

She shakes her head, and a look of devastation crosses her features. I don't like that look, and I certainly don't like the heartbroken smile she sends me. But I know, deep in my belly, that our time has come.

"You need to go home now, baby girl. You've been here too long already, and if your heart slows much more in the living plane, you might not ever wake up. You need to wake up. Those fourNaturalssurround you right now, eager for you to open those pretty eyes of yours," she says with a warm smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes.

We both stand, and I stare at her, trying to memorise every angle of her face, every detail I can manage. My eyes dart back to her bright green ones, and I say, "I don't want you to leave me yet. I haven't had enough time with you."

"I know, honey. I want more time with you, I do. But you have to go home. I won't ever really leave you. I'm always watching over you. I'll always be here." She points at the place where my heart lies, and I feel it break a little in my chest. More urgency has filled her voice, though, and her words are coming quicker as though she's in a rush now. She pulls me towards her and wraps me in the tightest hug. I return the gesture, clutching my fists into the back of her shirt. With her head directly by mine, she whispers, "I love you with all the stars in the sky, Novia Sage. Never forget that. You're my baby girl, and I'll love you always."

"I love you too, Mom. So much," I whisper brokenly. I hug her tighter while the tears pour from my eyes.

In a quieter whisper, she says, "Be strong, honey. I believe in you. I love you."

Then she's pulling away, and, before my eyes, she begins to fade. “Oh, and Novia, there’s another…”

Her sentence is left hanging because her voice suddenly fades into nothing. She sends me another sad smile, mouthingI love youone more time before she disappears entirely until I'm left alone in the nothingness.

I fall back to the floor, landing hard, but the pain in my heart is greater. As I'm sitting on the floor, arms wrapped around my middle, the darkness begins to brighten. Through my tears, I watch the pitch black void grow lighter until it's almost blinding. When the brightness grows too much, my eyes close.

As soon as my eyes shut, I grow lightheaded and disoriented. I feel myself falling backwards, but there's nothing there to catch me. I fall, and fall, and fall...

Until my eyes snap open, and I'm sucking in lungfuls of air. My eyes meet Zayn's as soon as I realise that I'm home. I'm in my room, and my mother is gone again. Zayn looks at me with heartbreak in his eyes, and I know he's seen all he needs to. With that knowledge, I break down again, suffering the loss of my mother a second time, only this feels ten times worse.

I fall forward, and Zayn is there to catch me, wrapping his arms snugly around me while I cry heart wrenching sobs. I feel another set of arms wrap around me from behind, and I know from the warmth that it's Nix holding me. Someone wraps a hand around my right hand where it's clutching Zayn's shirt, the arm attached to the hand resting against the length of my own. A forehead drops to my right shoulder, and the brush of material against my neck tells me it's Spencer with his hat. A different hand drops to my left thigh, rubbing soothing motions up and down the side of my leg, and I know without lifting my head to check that it's Ezra.

Surrounded by the guys, I break once again.

Time passes, but I'm unsure as to how long I sit there crying over the mother I lost a second time. It's as though losing her again has dredged up the grief of losing my dad, my sister, and my entire race all over again.

I cry until my eyes sting and the headache that was growing before worsens. I cry until I feel like I have no tears left to shed. I cry until all I'm capable of doing is sniffling and inhaling hiccuped breaths. All four men stay by my side through it all, offering solace through soft touches and whispered words of support.

As soon as I quiet down, Zayn pulls back to look at me. "Are you alright, littlefae?"

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