Page 35 of The Calling of Caellaias
I could feel my eyes double in size. “What king? The king of where? Why would he want me? Is my mom royalty of some sort?” My mind ran a million miles a second.
She placed her hand on my face and brought my eyes back to hers. “Your mom, Cordilaen, is a faerie princess who has been missing for decades, and your dad, Roarc, is the shifter lord's second son. We all come from another realm that is interconnected with this one called Caellaias.”
As soon as she mentioned Caellaias, I gasped and shoved at her. “No. No. No. That's not true. That can't be true. Caellaias is just a place my mom made up to entertain my sister and me.”
Her voice was soft as she took my hand. “I assure you that Caellaias is real. It's not something your mom just made up. I'm not sure why your parents didn't tell you about who they are. No one ever knew where Cordilaen went or who she went with, but everyone knew she had glamour magic, making the efforts to locate her that much more difficult. Roarc disappeared around the same time that Cordilaen did, but his disappearance wasn't as concerning because he wasn't as important to the king. I'm sure no one thought they'd left together.”
While I sat there, trying to process everything, Maeyve got up and began pacing. Suddenly, she stopped in front of me and said, “That explains why therewasa ward around your cabin. There's a portal to Caellaias in these woods. Your parents likely wanted to protect you, but why the hell wouldn't they tell you about Caellaias with you being so close?”
“There was a what? A ward? What is that?”
“A ward is a type of spell that protects an area, acting like a barrier between your home and the rest of the world. As long as you were inside, no magical being could cross it until they were invited. Could you not sense it? Did you even realize when it was destroyed?”
“No, I had no clue anything was out there; until a few minutes ago, I didn't even think Caellaias was real. When was it destroyed?”
“It happened the night before I came pounding on your door frantically. Do you remember anything about that night?”
“I watched movies with Eiri until really late, then she went home, and I went upstairs to bed.”
“Was anything odd to you that night?”
“Well, I was really tired, like more so than normal. But it was the first day I hadn't done much, so I attributed it to that.”
“Hmmm. That's weird,” she said, then started pacing again. Coming to another stop, she met my gaze. “I wonder why I still can't sense your magic. There's no way you're powerless withyour parents' lineages.”
“You said my mom has glamour magic, right? Could she have covered things up with that? I have no clue how all of this works.”
“That's definitely how she hid you all for so long, but that wouldn't be the reason I can't sense it now. I wonder if she's been giving you a suppressant?”
“How would I know? This is just so much to process.”
Maeyve came to kneel before me. Grabbing my hand, she said, “You likely wouldn't know. As long as I'm around, I won't let anything happen to you. I'm sorry you haven't been told about the world your parents come from.”
“I know more than you think. My mom used to tell my sister and me stories about Caellaias and all of the beings from there. Maybe she knew she couldn't protect me forever. My dad always told me that Caellaias and everything my mom told me wasn't real. Why? Why not prepare Eiri and me? Why get mad at my mom when she was just trying to educate us? Did he think he could protect us forever? I'm sorry. I have so many questions.”
Maeyve sighed as she looked at our hands. “I know this is a lot. I wish I could answer every question you have, but I don't know what their intentions were for keeping things from you girls. That's a question for them.”
Gasping, I remembered one of my mom's stories. “Oh my God. My mom was Princess Laeney—Laeney is short for Cordilaen. My dad is the shifter lord's son. I know why they ran away! My grandfather tried to force my mom to marry a wealthy faerie, and she didn't want to. She never told us how they ran away. Shit. Then that means the king is my grandfather. But why did he send a vampire to bring me back to him? Why does he want me at all? Is he trying to lure my mother home? Or does he have ulterior motives?”
When Maeyve looked up at me, I didn't meet her gaze. We sat there in silence for several minutes until she whispered, “Anevae?”
Sliding my hand from hers, I finally looked at her again. “This can'tbe real. I have to be dreaming. I'm just an ordinary, boring woman; there's no such thing as Caellaias; my mom isn't a faerie, and my dad isn't a shifter; I'm not royalty. This is just a dream.” Then I began shaking as other realizations hit me. “My lover isn't also a fox… shifter? And a vampire isn't trying to capture me to take me to my grandfather…” Burying my face in my hands, I began hyperventilating.
Maeyve climbed up on the couch next to me and pulled me onto her lap, encasing me in her arms. I hadn't had a panic attack in many years, but this was all too much information at once. My mind kept swirling as I tried to wrap my head around everything. Tears welled in my eyes, and I tried to wipe them away without success.
After a few moments, I unraveled myself from her arms, wiped my tears, took a few deep breaths, and looked at her. “I know why you got concerned when I mentioned the black fox now. It was you. Were you watching me before we met?” I asked, concern lacing my voice.
She dropped her eyes to the floor and nodded. “Yes, the fox you've been seeing is my fox form. I was curious about you and the ward surrounding your house. My intrigue intensified when you visited my house, and I checked on you more often. I haven't wanted to take my eyes off you since then.”
“If it'll help me come to terms with all of this, will you do something for me?” I lifted my gaze to Maeyve, who stood silently, waiting. “Will you…show me? Your transformation, I mean?”
After taking a deep breath, she said, “If that's what you need, I'll happily do it.”
She took a few steps back and then began stripping off her clothes. As she removed each layer, my eyes skimmed over her body, drinking her in. When she started to transform into her fox form, I was awestruck. Fur began sprouting all over her body, black and orange, just like her hair. The shape of her face changed, and the bones in her extremities broke, repositioning themselves; it looked painful. But just as fast as it had started, the transformation was complete. In front of me was the black fox I'd seen numerous times over the last few days.
Once she was fully shifted, she looked up at me with her beautiful orange eyes. I stood to approach her without thinking, but her ears flattened, and she whimpered.
“I'm sorry. I just want to get a closer look at you. This is all new to me, and I want to know everything. If you don't want me to get close, I will stay right here, but I won't hurt you,” I said as I knelt on the floor.
