Page 15 of The White Stag
The Seelie and Unseelie might have different opinions about literally everything, but that tea he used was illegal in both realms, and they would turn on him if they found out he’d used it on a child.
She said he tried to brainwash her into cooperating long enough to marry him. I’m not sure what his long-term plan was after that. She wouldn’t have been able to enter the Seelie realm while that poison was in her blood, just like she couldn’t go home. He couldn’t wean her off the poison without keeping her Fae side suppressed.
Alastair’s Fae side was a peacock. He could manipulate time, and if he tapped into it, he could see several things simultaneously. Reagan was an unknown. Even untrained, she could be more powerful than he was. And I was guessing when her Fae sidedidcome in after being suppressed that long, it was probably going to be pretty explosive, given she was a fire sign.
I hated not knowing what we were dealing with. We learned a lot, but Alastair was deranged and unpredictable. For now, I just wanted to enjoy Reagan. We didn’t take pleasure in anything while she was missing because we didn’t know what was happening to her. I was an Earth sign and even being in our garden didn’t make me happy.
This?This made me happy. I wasn’t even thinking about Estrella. Reagan didn’t have it easy in the mortal realm. Every time she ended up in a decent foster home, some meddling neighbor would ruin it. It wasn’t just the biker couple. This truly lovely lesbian couple nearly adopted her, but that entire neighborhood would have rather her sent back into the system than be raised in a loving home with two mothers.
She was frog-marched out of that house on Christmas Eve. A large Yule tree was overflowing with presents underneath it for her, and they wouldn’t let her take any. They wouldn’t even let her take all the nice clothes they had bought her. So she had to grab what necessities would fit in a black trash bag, and that was it.
Reagan never expected much from life, and little things had always made her happy. Playing outside or being allowed to go swimming were always the big ones. We could do this whenever she wanted, but we really needed to get her a bathing suit that fit. It was the only way to get Cyrus to let his hair down and get in here to play with us.
As it was, he stomped off to get towels and wasn’t even looking in our direction. The water here was crystal clear, but she wasn’t showing off her body, and we weren’t going out of our way to peek. Cyrus’s grumpy ass could have joined us, but he was being Cyrus.
Reagan cried out and slipped under the water. Finnan and I were both close enough to dip under the water and pull her up. She clutched my neck and coughed water.
“What happened,Asthore?” I asked, carrying her to shore.
“I guess the body cramping part of not taking those pills has started. I forgot how much they hurt.”
Damn. If we could spare her this, we would. There were potions and tonics we could brew to make it easier, but she was still going to have a shit go of things while it worked its way out of her system.
“Hurry up and get her out of there!” Cyrus growled.
Okay, he didn’t bring a towel. He brought a whole blanket he was holding to wrap her up in. I knew why he did it, but he wasn’t wrong. Once the cramping started, the body chills were next. We’d need to keep her warm.
Finnan was out before I was. He headed straight home and didn’t wait for us. We would have to start on those potions sooner than we thought. For some reason, Reagan burned through that tea sooner than any Fae before her, and she should have had more time before she started getting sick. Something inside Reagan was fighting off all attempts to control her mind and take away the part of her that was Fae. I was pretty sure that was important.
I set her on the shore, and Cyrus wrapped her up like a Fae burrito. I would have carried her back to the cabin, but Cyrus bared his teeth at me and scooped her up. I wasn’t going to fight him. We were on the same team, and the only important thing was getting her home. Her teeth started chattering. The chills had started. Maybe we shouldn’t have taken her out here until this was over. Cyrus was thinking the same thing, and Reagan knew it too.
“This was the best day I’ve had in a very long time. I needed it to deal with what was happening. You were here to save me, like you always are.”
Cyrus and I didn’t say a damned thing. We walked through the forest in silence because if we hadalwaysbeen there to save her,noneof this would be happening right now, because Alastair would never have gotten his filthy hands on her.
Reagan
Iforgot how bad this felt because it had been so long. I was angry enough about getting tricked into taking these pills and the mind fuck that went into keeping me on them that I was going to deal with it until it was over. Yeah, maybe it was stupid to go cold turkey out of spite, but they told me when this was over, I’d have magic. Hopefully strong enough magic to defend myself if Alastair ever got me alone again.
Cyrus wrapped me in a blanket and gently placed me on my bed. He seemed the most offended that I’d gone skinny dipping, and he hadn’t joined us. I guess after being held captive by Alastair and knowing how he felt about women, I just wanted to throw caution to the wind and swim naked. I’d done nothing like that before, and it felt amazing.
I didn’t feel amazing right now. I was still naked until this blanket, and I was still a little wet. Cyrus threw another blanket over me as I shivered. Oisin put the back of his hand on my forehead.
“You’re burning up.”
“I’m so cold.”
“Finnan is making soup that will make you feel better,” Cyrus said.
I felt my stomach roll in on itself. It felt like it was about to fall out of my butt. My stomach let out this huge gurgle, but it wasn’t hunger. I might vomit.
“I don’t think I can eat anything,” I moaned.
This was happening much quicker than last time, from what I remembered. This medication had a long half-life, so when I’d run out before, I’d had time before this happened again. This time was different.
“It’s not just a soup. It’s a tonic that helps with fever. It’ll help,” Cyrus cooed.
“He already cooked a batch last night while you were sleeping. It’s in the freezer. He just needs to defrost it,” Oisin said.
