Page 78 of Shifting Winds
“It’s true. I play hard to get.”
“So hard it’s like trying to drill through an adamantine wall.”
“Funny boy,” I murmured to Caelan.
We both smiled at my mother who stared at us like we were a strange-looking bug.
“What do you want?” Caelan asked when Mom stayed silent.
“I need access to the tree.”
A fine tension racked the Lord’s frame. I stepped closer and looped our arms together. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
I hadn’t seen Mom since I’d traveled to her lands, and we’d left things weird between us. So weird I’d been thinking about it almost every day. For once she’d seemed almost human—or at least like a woman who’d made terrible parenting choices and regretted them.
Glad to know I was wrong. Cliona seemed just as frosty and impenetrable as she always was.
“You are on the edge of my property trying to break my wards,” Caelan finally said. “Why should I grant you access when you haven’t stepped foot on my land and have already proven yourself a terrible guest?”
Mom’s gaze turned cold. “The tree is fae property. You are not authorized to keep us from it.”
I shook my head. “I know you can access your lands without the tree. Why are you being weird about it now?”
“Who said I was going to my lands?” Mom responded. “The tree allows fae to travel to multiple lands. It is the only way we can access some of those places.” She returned her attention to Caelan. “I have already given you the courtesy of not tearing down your wards. If you do not open access, you will feel the might of the fae.”
“Big words,” Caelan mused. “Would you risk starting a war with our kind? You might have magic, but we have teeth and claws and vast numbers.”
My fingers tightened around Caelan’s arm. We could not get involved in a war, especially not since this situation was my fault. I wouldn’t bring that down on the shifters.
Mom’s eyes flicked to me. “You still carry remnants of the seed’s power.”
Was she just going to ignore Caelan’s tense threat? “Maybe it will wear off now that I don’t have the seed anymore.”
Mom’s faint smile said fat chance.
“You could probably still act as an anchor.” Mom’s eyes narrowed as she focused on my healed abdomen. Something flickered over her face before she schooled herself into stillness once more. “If you don’t wish me to enter your property, allow my daughter to come to me. She can help me cross.”
Caelan liked that idea even less than letting my mother onto Keep property.
“I’ll go to her,” I whispered.
“But Lord,” my mother said, “I suggest you figure out a way to allow fae to cross here. For most, Evie won’t be an option.”
Say one thing about Cliona, she’d never sold me out when it really mattered. Try to kill me? Yep. Although she denies it. But she’d never sold my secrets to the highest bidder.
“Noted,” Caelan said, a snarl in his words.
I stepped away. “Once I help Mom, I’m heading home.”
His jaw tightened. “I’ll come with you.”
Mom bristled. “Evangeline is my daughter. She is perfectly safe with me.”
Caelan laughed. “Just like she was a few months ago when you tried to kill her?”
“How little you know, wolf,” she snapped. “Come.” Mom crooked her hand. “It will only take a moment. I will escort you home beforehand and you can send me on from your property.”
Caelan opened his mouth to argue, but I shook my head once. “I’ll let you know when I’m home.”
