We were in the spirit realm.
Narrowing my eyes, I leaned back in my chair crossing my arms. I was powerless here but so was she.
Watching my sudden mood shift, her red lips pursed with displeasure as she slowly lowered the fine porcelain, her long dark lashes fluttering with concern. "Remi? Darling are you alright?"
"I should have expected you would resort to this. Are you really that desperate?" I snorted back at her. "Really, De, out of all the possibilities you could have dreamed up in the spirit realm this is what you chose?" I waved my hand across the tea setting, watching it pass through my body.
The former queen's smile widened and her innocent astonishment shifted into one of cruel delight, the blood goddess was here to play now. "What gave it away?"
"Besides the fact that I never once dreamed of you?" I tapped my fingers on my crossed arms, stilling the sudden urge they had to rip her cowardly arrogant head from her shoulders—an attempt that would be fruitless in the spirit world. I waved my hand at the beautiful city before us, every ounce of it flawless but I knew better. I knew that the City of Light festered underneath its perceived glory. "You seek perfection in an imperfect world."
She laughed, the sound cold as it escaped her blood red lips. I wondered if it had always been that way? I had been so blinded by her beauty and power that I never saw the monster lingering beneath…too consumed by my own fear.
"It is unfortunate you will not bend to my will even here Remi darling, spirit is so beautiful when properly controlled. Just like your shadows." Snapping her fingers, deep burgundy shadows cloaked her in its smokey tendrils. "How do you like my newest accessory?" she purred, stroking them over her shoulder.
I forced my face to remain neutral even though my heart and soul called out to my faithful companions. "I think you look desperate and ever more the fake fool you have become. Stealing power, murdering your own, draining the life from Faerie, aligning yourself with the Sanguine—the very power that killed your own family." Leaning forward, I stared hard into her blood red eyes, gone was the turquoise that ran so deep. "I think you look pathetic."
Snarling, her face morphed into something so hideous it was all I could do but not rear back from the monster revealing itself. Red shadows sprung from her shoulders, wrapping around my neck and squeezing.
Arching a brow, I gave the monster a quizzical look of amusement. "What do you expect to achieve from this? You know as well as I that you cannot hurt me here…only influence me and your power to do so ended way before our relationship ever did."
Slowly Deirdre's face transformed back into her beautiful illusion and she flicked the shadows back into her hand. "You are such a bore." I ignored the way she caressed the shadows and the revulsion churning my stomach. "I have something you want and you have something I want. I propose a trade…the faeling for the shadows that have been lovingly devoted to you your entire life." Her hand snuffed them out as if she strangled them. "I know how much they mean to you, how much they are part of you…at one point I even believed I was jealous of them." She laughed, shaking her head, her silver hair falling around her. "How ridiculous of me. If only I knew my true calling back then."
Standing calmly and holding in my rage, I stared deep into her traitorous eyes. "No."
Red eyes burned brighter, pouring over the edges as if her eyes bled with her seething. "Is that your final answer?"
"After all these years," I said softly…deadly, "how little you know me." I turned my back on her, walking away from the illusion she had created, seeing it fade. Her control over spirits apparently not as strong as her control of the elements or the Sanguine for that matter.
"Oh I know you," she hissed at my back. "Do you honestly think you can be her mother? You who does nothing but destroy everyone and everything around you? You are death and you'll never be more than that, don’t you remember?” She snapped her fingers as the rest of the illusion fell away and we stood upon the rubble of the City of Light.
I paused, staring out at the endless sea of crumbled marble and fake glory…no longer feeling the guilt like I once did not so long ago.
"This is your legacy," Deirdre whispered into my ear, having moved closer in my distraction. "It will always be your legacy. You will never be able to give either of them what they need. You are a relic, the past, and you belong in this rubble. They will have no future with you because you will destroy whatever is left of it…you already have."
I raised my chin, not bothering to spare her a glance as I walked away, latching onto my soulmate bond like it was a lifeline beforeI allowed the sudden doubt in my heart to show upon my face. "You are wrong."
She laughed softly, a condescending sound that felt like ice running through my veins. "Then why do you run, Remi Darling?"
Chapter 4
"Whenismymothergoing to wake?"
I heard my daughter’s worried whisper as I struggled against the remaining effects of Deirdre's spirit hold, panic accelerating my heartbeat, while I attempted to open my eyes. It felt as if the weight of the world would keep them shut forever and perhaps that would be for the better…but I fought it just the same.
I owed it to my daughter.
"Knowing your mother, it won’t be much longer."
I scowled inwardly at the sound of my brother's low tone. He hadstoodby, hewatched, heknewShea’s plan and helet it happen.And in doing so…he made my familyvulnerable,he made me vulnerable. A condition Deirdre wasted no time in taking advantage of, pulling me into the spirit realm to spin her tales of deceitand half truths.
My voice wheezed through dry lips. “Away. Riella—get away from him.”
I could feel rather than see my brother’s frown and Riella’s shift to my side, crying out and falling into my chest. “Mother!”
Mother, the sound whispered inside me—my new title, the sweetest, softest, most treasured kiss upon my soul. She had only used it a few times since waking and despite Emon and I discussing with her that we did not want her to feel the pressure of using such an honored title, she still bestowed it upon us anyway.
"You know, I would never harm a child, sister, let alone yours. She is safe."
