Page 75 of Storm

“Mama, I want to hear.” He bats at my hands.

This time, it’s the pink fae who speaks. “He is half and half. His power has been diminished, living in Halo for so long. It may take him some years within our lands to heal.”

“And what of my husband? Will he return to normal?”

“We only know of mates going crazed like this when they are separated, or they suspect their partner is in danger. It has happened a few times to the fae who have been taken by Halo when their mates have stayed within our borders.” She looks over at Melek. “Your mate.” That word again. I’m guessing it means the same word as husband. “He’s different. His powers should be suppressed after living within Halo, yet because of losing you, he went feral, and that looks to have, in turn, pushed his powers to the forefront. It is something we’ve not seen in centuries. A power unbound by the goddesses.”

“What power?” I ask. Sunny and I are both held in place by the tone of her alluring voice.

“Diviner magic. An ability so strong it can take and give life with a touch. If Ren and the others hadn’t used what little magic they could on your mate, he would have killed you.”

“No.” I pull Sunny impossibly closer.

“Mama, too tight,” he mumbles. I release him.

Melek wouldn’t kill me, and he wouldn’t hurt his child. It had to be an accident.

“Once we return to the Willow, and Melek sees we are no threat to you, he’ll be back to normal, and his powers will most likely recede,” Ren adds.

“Back to normal.” There’s no normal anymore. Not when I’ve found out my husband has enough magic to kill with a touch, and that our children might follow in his fate.

“There’s really no need to worry your pretty little grey eyes about it. Things will be well in the Willow. We protect our own and humans wishing to seek refuge.” Pink-tipped fingers come to push a strand of white hair away from my face.

“My hair is white?! And you said grey eyes? What is going on?” Alarm bells ring. My heart beating out of rhythm, I screech at the woman before me.

“Oh, really, nothing to fret about. It’s just a stripe of white hair. I couldn’t get it to go black again like the rest. See? Look.” She holds chunks of hair from both the left and right sides out for me to see, black and white, as she’d described, all the tint gone from a particular strip at the front. “And unlike your hair, I was only able to save a sliver of blue in your iris, so now your eyes match Sunny’s. A fine shade of grey.” I can tell she’s trying to hype this up for the kid sitting on my numb legs because I know my face is ten shades of mortified. “Like I said, nothing to worry about. The Diviner magic just stripped some pigment, and I replaced what I could.”

She doesn’t realise the depth of her words. How they change everything I once thought of myself.

Grey. The one thing that made me different from them is gone.

Who am I now, but a dirty hollow murderer, like the rest?

Sunny takes his small hands and places them on either side of my cheeks, watching me intentionally. “I like them, Mama. We match.”

Soulful, warm grey irises stare back at me, and it reminds me that not only the hollow wear this colour. My child does as well. The one person in this world who has my whole heart.

“You’re right, baby. Now, we are the same.” Hugging him that much closer, I let my grief turn into happiness for my sun.

CHAPTER 23

HOW TO TAME A MATE

“My name is Seraphina, but everyone calls me Sera.” The pink fae with the golden hair introduces herself to me as we make a move to get up off the ground, her hand outstretched, so I have some leverage to get up. Her clothes, made of silk the same sharp green as her eyes, waterfall over her tall, lithe body. “I would’ve introduced myself sooner, but names seemed superfluous in the face of an irate mate.”

“Thanks for bringing me back to life.” With the inflection at the end, it almost sounds like a question. Sera’s tinkling laughter chimes in. “I’m Storm.”

“Oh, I love it!” Sera claps her hands. “Storm, Stormy, Stormcloud.” She muses aloud as Ren shakes his head.

“Before you start befriending the human, how about you give me what I need first?” He leans down into Sera’s face.

“Always so demanding. You’re fortunate I like you, cousin.” In the same breath, she calls him her cousin, Seraphina has her lips on Rens, tongues tangling, both fae pulling each other close together so they are a tapestry of what I imagine flowers in bloom look like in the Fairy Lands.

I shove Sunny behind me as their display continues, unable to look away at the beauty and utter disbelief. Didn’t she call him her cousin? Cousin means related in my world. Does it mean the same for fae? Fuck, I hope it doesn’t mean the same for fae.

Pulling back from Ren, Seraphina wipes some solence off of his lip—a lip that is no longer split. “There. All better. Anything else I can help with, Renfir?” Her voice is breathy. Goose bumps trail over my skin.

“That’s it, Sera. I’d say to try to work your magic on the beast over there, but we both know how that’ll turn out.”