Page 99 of Faerie Fate
I held my palms open. “A lot of mistakes. I’m used to screwing up, but turning myself into the gun, losing pieces of my soul… And then with the eagle form. I almost killed the crown prince of the Seelie court. And I couldn’t change back.”
Poppy grabbed up a stray piece of tinder—who knew where she’d gotten it, or if she carried such things in her bag—and took the edge of her blade to it. A few quick swipes peeled off curls of bark.
“You didn’t,” she replied. “Kill him. He’s alive and well. My grandson.” Her lips rounded in surprise. “And as for the rest, well, shit happens.”
“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s all you have to say? Shit happens?I messed up.” I enunciated each word clearly.
“Everyone messes up.” Poppy stared at me before shrugging. “Okay, fine, soyoumess up a lot. Things don’t come easily for you. It’s part of your path, I suppose.”
“I’m less than useless with my powers, no matter how you try to hype me up.” My stomach knotted under her keen eye.
“And I’m not super great at being a hype woman,” Poppy admitted. She bumped me with her knuckles. “There.”
“There what?”
She shot me a sideways look. “That’s what I would have gotten from my mother. Nothing but a bump. A reminder to maintain a stiff upper lip, a small pat on the shoulder. I still hear her voice in my head. Telling me to buck up. It was alwaysbuck up. She never had the time to listen.”
“Your daughter is much better with the whole sympathy bit.” I sagged forward with a sigh. “She always knows exactly what to say.”
“Can you tell me about her? I know what I see when I look at Michael, but I know nothing about my daughter.” Poppy’s voice took on a pleading note I’d never heard before.
I understood why she’d want to pry into the future. I’d already caused enough chaos, though. If I told her about Laina?—
“I’m sorry. I can’t tell you anything,” I replied regretfully. “I’m not sure what it would do if you knew.”
Poppy’s lips tweaked. “I understand.”
“She’s great, though.”Greatseemed harmless enough. “A really good person.”
Poppy paused, then nodded.
We were just two people trapped in anomalous circumstances. She handled it with much more aplomb than I did. Maybe Poppy was made of sterner stuff, and whether she knew it or not, that grit and determination passed down to Mike.
He had his emotional swells—didn’t we all?—but he dealt with them. He was still here with me through it all.
“Let me tell you this.” Poppy shuffled closer. “For my childhood, my parents were as tough as nails. They believed in what they saw right in front of them and knew life was hard. They taught me to be hard as well. They taught me to constantly watch out for my own safety. I’m not sure where I went wrong, either. Like I said. Shit happens.”
Whether she meant for it to happen or not, the small glimpse into Poppy’s childhood did the trick: It showed me that she trusted me.
I caught a glimpse of the silver bangles on her wrist before she shifted, a slight adjustment in her posture, and her dress sleeves covered them again.
“What about the man who enslaved you? How did it happen?” I pitched my voice lower in case any of the others were caught between sleep and wakefulness.
Poppy cleared her throat and resumed her carving. “Ah, well. Rebellion can really get you into trouble. I was so dead set to prove my mother wrong that I trusted the wrong person. Out of spite. Out of ego. Kit is Faerie scum. Hell, I wish I could say he put a spell on me and fae magic had something to do with the choices I made. But no, I have to take the blame.”
I slicked my tongue over my lips, parched despite my nearly drowning. “It helps a little. Knowing I’m not the only fuck-up.”
“Girl, no. You aren’t the only fuck-up by a long shot. We all have our fair share of mistakes in our past. It just seems like yours affect more people,” Poppy replied.
Yeah, the story of my life. I spent the majority of my years up until eighteen keeping a low profile without knowing it. Now life made up for that with constant adventure and the wrong kind of surprises.
Finally, Poppy stopped her carving and rolled over against the side of the boat. I felt a little better after our talk. Well enough to shut my eyes and float off into some kind of half asleep, half awake state. It was better than nothing.
The doze eventually took me under and when my heavy eyes opened again, the air was thick with smoke and fog. Struggling rays of light cut through the dim early morning but the sun hid behind heavy cloud cover.
Between the clouds and the heavy fog, my senses reeled. My head spun and the sickly sweet stench of smoke scalded my nostrils.
“The palace is less than a mile downriver,” Elfhame said.
