Page 87 of Faerie Fate
My eyes went round. “You’re pregnant.”
She couldn’t fight.
She flashed sharp little teeth at me. How had I never noticed that pixies had differently shaped teeth? “I’m still a warrior.”
I didn’t blame her for being miffed. I just wished I wasn’t the one to piss her off.
“So really, it’s best for you to get as far away from pixie lands as possible,” she continued, “or your lives will be in danger.”
Bronwen drummed her fingers on her knees, the movement erratic. Mike stared at the ceiling and the delicate corbels at all four corners of the room.
Poppy spoke for all of us. “We’d like a word in private, if you don’t mind, my old friend. Can you excuse us?”
Elfhame dipped her head in acknowledgment. “I’ll leave you.”
She headed out the door, disappearing in a blink and leaving a shower of sparks behind her.
Alone in the dollhouse living room, my tongue tied itself into knots. What was there to say? We’d come this far, and our options were to march into battle on the hope the fields at EverRose survived…or go back to our time with my blood curse intact.
Rock, meet hard place. I’d spent enough time there to know exactly how it felt to be crushed by either.
“We’re not going to EverRose.” Mike was adamant. He surged to his feet. “I know the palace. I know about the Great Battle of EverRose. There were mass casualties on both sides.”
For a second, he reminded me so much of his mother I wanted to cry. Yet there, superimposed, was the stern resolve of his father. Mike carried Tywin in the way he clenched his jaw, the hard gleam in his eyes, the reddening of his neck.
“Do you think we have a choice?” Bronwen offered the question neutrally. “We have to go.”
“I know we can choose not to go anywhere near there. It’s absolutely not safe for us.”
“But if we don’t get the morsana flower, then I’m going to die.”
What was left but making peace with our situation? What was left besides coming to terms with the fact that my death was the only inevitability.
“I’ll send us back farther. A few weeks before the fae bombed the morsana field here,” Mike insisted. “We’ll grab the flower and go.”
We’d still need to have a witch unlock my powers. I glanced at Poppy, who coughed, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Young man, you’re spent. You don’t have the juice to go backwards. Or forwards, for that matter. You need rest or else you’re stuck here.”
“You can help. You can give me something to help replenish my magic,” Mike argued. “Like with Tavi.”
“Don’t look at me,” she warned. “You’re asking for more trouble if you try to go backwards again.”
Mike slanted her a murderous look. “We’re asking for trouble if we go toEverRose. I know the morsana fields burned here butthat doesn’t mean EverRose is the only crop left. There has to be more. Another village, another field.”
“And if there aren’t?” Bronwen asked. “What then? At least we know we’d be safe traveling with Elfhame and their village. Besides, the great battle doesn’t start for another month according to history books. We’d be in and out before the fae attack.”
“I either die in some great war or I die because a zombie bit me. You don’t have to come along but there’s a choice,” I replied. “I think going to EverRose is our best option. How far is it from here?”
“A few days’ journey. Nothing more,” Poppy replied.
I stared at Mike. “It’s worth it to me.”
His cheeks flushed and abruptly he stormed out the door. He could be mad at me all he wanted. Those were the terms, simple, in black and white. We needed the flower. And he couldn’t take us back any farther.
Mike’s departure stalled our discussion. There was no point in reaching a decision without him and to be honest, with his power still out, we were stuck.
Poppy made a good point. I didn’t know if there was a way to replenish what he’d used without time and rest. If she did, she kept it to herself. But at the end of the day, he could make the choice to come with us or not.
