Page 34 of Faerie Fate
“If you go back, find a powerful witch in the realm. Someone who can at least get you stable for the moment. Surely there area bunch who have witch magic,” Julie suggested. “They’ll be able to better assist you with dosage, too.”
“If there are any witches, they’d likely be hidden. My father has ruled for centuries. His tyrannical half-breed policies forced the witches to go underground. It might take forever just to find someone like that.”
Bronwen jolted to her feet, her jaw dropped to her clavicle. “If Mike gets his powers to full blast, then you already know when and where the most famous witch in the history of Faerie will be. Oxana the Sightless, remember? She’s the one who predicted the Great Prophecy. The one about the shifters? During the Age of the Red Dawn.”
Mike gawked at Bronwen. “That’s over three hundred years ago!”
Melia clapped her hands together. “Bronwen saves the day!”
We all knew about the famous witch. And I’d heard the Faerie Prophecy from Orelle, the castle oracle. “Great, where did she live?” I asked.
“We know she died during the Great Pixie War.” Mike worked his jaw and inhaled sharply. “I guess if we already have to go back through time to get the flower, then we can try to find them both at the same time. Did the flower exist during the Great Pixie War?”
He directed his question to Melia, her nose glued to her screen.
“Yeah, of course it did. Its numbers were already starting to decline then. Apparently it was being used to enchant weapons for the pixies, so the fae targeted the flower fields during the Great Pixie War. Only a few specimens survived some kind of massive fire, and the last flower disappeared over a century ago.”
I frowned. “Weapons? How would that work?”
I glanced at Julie, who was used to being put on the spot. The blue-skinned fae barely batted an eye before saying, “Many ofthe plants in fae lore can be used for healing or for destruction. It depends on the spells combined with the plant, as well as the alchemical reaction when it’s combined with different substances. A small change can take even the greatest healing properties and warp them.”
My classes felt like ages ago. And with the crackling of the flames, I knew the others were thinking the same. Even Coral’s gaze had gone distant, her mind somewhere else.
The world had changed around me and I didn’t have a second to spare to think about whether I’d changed with it or not.
I caught Mike’s gaze before he hurriedly looked away from me again, the tips of his pointed ears going red.
“Apparently, Oxana was known for hiding away, untraceable until she had something to say. Like when she came out with the Faerie Prophecy,” Melia said as she scrolled. “She’s regarded as one of the greatest seers of her time.”
Bronwen sniffed. “What made her so great?”
“The last prophecy she gave was the largest one, but apparently everything she said before it came true. According to history, she was sought out by lords from other realms but no one knew how to track her until she showed herself.” Melia’s lips rounded. “This is crazy stuff,” she finished.
“Which means it won’t be easy foryouto find her,” Coral told Mike.
Melia puffed out her chest. “Not necessarily. Oxana’s last known whereabouts were here, in Eahsea, during the time frame prior to the Great Pixie War. She disappeared again before the fighting started but this specifically states she was in this area of the realm.”
“It’s worth the risk,” Julie continued at whatever expression she witnessed on my face.
I shot her a grateful grin, my fingers twitching. The hooks of dizziness tugged at me, spinning my brain, turning my stomach, even though I sat still.
“You’re right,” I agreed. “If Mike is okay with it.”
“I’m fine,” he bit out, abruptly rising. “Let’s get it over with.”
Then he’d be done with me. My heart dropped, stuck somewhere between my solar plexus and my groin.
Coral leaned back closer to the fire and her hair took on the glow of the embers themselves. “Look at someone over there, so eager.”
“He’s trying to save her life.” Melia glared at Coral. “You could use a little empathy.”
Coral rolled her eyes but said nothing, like she’d somehow forgotten that Mike was the crown prince and deserved respect. Melia, on the other hand, refused to forget how irritating my cousin could be before you got to know her. And I wasn't strong enough to get them to stop bickering with each other. In fact, there was something comforting about the familiarity of it.
Noren pressed against me hard enough to bruise my shin bones.
“I’d advise you, Michael, to tread carefully once you’re in the past. You do not want to go anywhere near the fighting. The Great Pixie War devastated Faerie,” Julie reminded him. “It tore the world in two.”
Something tickled the corners of my brain. Someone I knew, involved with the war?—
