Page 42 of What did you do?

I had depleted myself of both Aurelius’s stored power and the insignificant power I had. Being so far away from the Seelie sun like this was foolish, and I began to lose my size as well as my dignity, shrinking into the small, helpless fairies the humans were so used to finding and writing stories about.

It was already too dangerous for me here now—I needed to return to Seelie as soon as possible.

I took off toward the girls. They were of no use to me with Thanes dead. Let them at least serve by being shields.

I had already shrunk to the size of a toad. Any longer in this horrible realm, and my wings wouldn’t be able to get me back to the portal.

I made it to a mushroom, just in front of the older girl. Quickly, I looked back toward the front of the house. If the human or Tenebris caught me now, I was as good as dead.

A crow cawed above the mushroom I hid under.

Fuck!

Tenebris’s shadows replicated a crow, concealing her now-tiny body from the humans.

She hadn’t needed to shrink; she had done so, so she could kill me with a clear conscience.

Queen Tenebris unleashed her full powers on me. The black smoke penetrated my skin painfully, crawling down my throat when I began to scream.

This was it. I would die with nothing. No power, no love, nothing.

Suddenly the older girl, the one with the big eyes, flung her bouquet of meadow flowers and mushrooms to the ground to hurl herself over me, taking the wrath of Tenebris.

I was stunned. The girl’s chest heaved even after a few minutes.

She had taken the dark queen’s full onslaught and remained alive. This was unheard of, even for an Artemi—especially a supposedly powerless Artemi child.

A few moments later, the girl dropped to the ground, passing out while still covering me. Her sister had brought out the mother and what looked like half the neighbors, who were suddenly running in our direction.

A sharp flicker of pain shot through my wings.

Tenebris took off as the humans were approaching, flapping away just as a crow formed of smoke would. She had lost a lot of power, but nothing that should have…

It was her—this one was the Artemi child, I could feel it.

My suns, her powers had to be strong. She had begun to draw the Smoke Slayer’s powers. I could feel her strength trying to take hold of every part of my body. If she was this strong and didn’t even have her full powers yet…

I smiled, and my tearstained cheeks lifted with a wild tremor.

I doubted the Unseelie queen had even realized the child wasn’t human. Artemi were forgotten, extinct—aside from the ascended Ancients—as far as anyone else knew.

This was fate.

I would take my revenge on Mendax and Tenebris for everythingthey had ruined, and this Artemi child was going to help me.

12

PRESENT DAY

Caly

My eyes refused to cooperate, remaining tightly closed behind the layer of fluffy, lemon-scented pillows I had pressed against my face. Between the excitement of finally being here and the anxiety I felt when Queen Saracen demanded I marry into the family, it was no wonder I had just had the most vivid dream of my life.

The warm and toasty smell of wood burning mixed with something delicious and spicy caught my attention, and I smiled. The smell seemed to be everywhere I was—the comforting scent that reminded me so much of Mendax. I had even gotten myself to believe it belonged to Mendax last night in my dream.

A great honk of a snort left my nose with a short laugh that was thankfully muffled by the pillow that remained on my face.

They used wood-burning fires to cook. That’s why I smelled it last night at dinner and again now for breakfast.

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