Page 62 of Lightning Strikes

“So you think the disturbance was probably a demon in Prescott?”

He hums. “Maybe. I wasn’t able to find anything.”

“And how did you find me when you did in New York.”

He clears his throat and looks away. “Ah… My contact called me and told me an alpha in New York had called him to look you up… There was nothing. Not your name, birth date, parents… Where you were from. Species… Nothing. So I snuck away to the Earth realm and followed you around a bit. Noticed you were pregnant, happy… Starting a new life.” He shrugs and rubs his thumb along his bottom lip. “I was actually going to cut loose and head home for good until I saw that crazy woman attack you in the bathroom… I rushed in as fast as I could, but by the time she left you on the ground to be either killed or taken, I took you first.”

I lick my lips and huff. “So you don’t know anything about Mac, my guards… Mac’s parents? The alpha? I… Some shit has been going down in both cities. In Prescott… Mac was attacked and taken to a strange cabin. In New York, some sort of cult is starting to control the schools and children… Would that be the work of… demons?”

He shakes his head. “No. I only grabbed you and opened a portal to Fern. When we got you into the bed and he tried healing you… your magic sort of… Mixed with his and knocked him out. That’s when we learned you’re a healer. He didn’t do much, just added some sedation while your body healed itself… He did a ton of scans on the baby and made sure the poison didn’t have any ill effects.”

“Poison?”

He nods. “Yeah… That was a lethal dose of wolfsbane, bleach, and a fuck ton of other herbs to slowly and very painfully kill you. If you weren’t a healer, you would have died… Well, probably not since you’re a high fae. Now that you’re in Faerie and in contact with our magic… You’ll thrive. And probably fix everything… We can talk about everything else you mentioned soon. With the king and queen, the guards… the advisors. It might be time to get you connected to Faerie as soon as possible so we can open back up the portals and protect the Earth once again.” He rolls his eyes and stands. “Anyway… My mother should be in here momentarily. I need to go check on Fern before he breaks something.”

I watch him leave the room, and now I’m alone with a few guards. I assume the king left to go look after his wife… will they resent me now for being here? They seem so honest and helpful…

This is just too much.

How did Cal’s family take over the realm? Was it a coup? Are they all lying?

I lean back and close my eyes once again. What a fucking nightmare… Mac must be going insane. My guards must be beating themselves up…

The queen returns and following her are several females carrying trays of food and drinks. It’s all set up on the table before me and the queen waves them off. “You must be famished… I apologize about how you were received here in our realm… We thought you tricked our boy and used magic to get pregnant…. Our DNA is very different from low fae, we can’t procreate with them, and not for lack of trying.” She giggles and pops some berries into her mouth. “Well, eat up. We will announce your return to Faerie and will hold your coronation within the week. We need to get you fitted into a gown, then you can deal with the royal advisors and decorators, and we’ll move back into our family home.”

She beams at me and I slowly chew my food and feel like my eyes are crossing. “What do you mean?”

She frowns at me and sips her wine. “You’re the true heir… The queen. There’s no way you can go back to Earth until everything is taken care of here. We’ve been having problems with our magic since your mother… disappeared.” I nod and she presses a linen napkin against her lips, sighing. “You’re the only one that can heal our realm. You need to return Faerie to her glory, open the portals, and help our kin. Our personal portals can only move one person at a time, and with our own realm basically attacking us, we never got around to bringing them all back one by one… We gave advanced notice anyway.”

I blink at her and turn my head back to the food. “Not from what I’ve heard. Obviously most of the… fae I’ve met are a lot younger, around my age. We’ve been told that the fae just closed the portals and left us all stranded with no magic or protection.”

She sighs and sets down her empty glass, picking at a platter of other strange fruits. “The advisors and librarians will help catch you up. In the meantime… Enjoy your meal. Research in the libraries, stroll around the palace and the grounds. You’re safe here, I promise. All of the guards have been updated on your arrival, and I’ll make a formal announcement tomorrow morning to the rest of the realm. You need to be coronated and tied to Faerie as soon as possible.” She stands, nods at me, and leaves me alone with the guards. So much for her being sweet and caring. Seems she’sexcitedabout stepping down now.

As soon as I figure out how to open a damn portal, I’m going to either grab Mac and bring him here… Or do what my parents supposedly did… Hide somewhere on Earth. I’m not going to be trapped here by the king and queen, which is what they were probably planning on doing before they knew who I was… I saw the worry on Cal’s friend’s face since we drove to the palace.

No. I will never be controlled or tied down. I have a baby to think about now.

Time to figure out how to get the fuck out of here so I can get back home. This realm apparently has made their bed and seem to be doing just fine… while the ‘low fae’ are dying, disappearing, and being attacked. Is it the demons? Other fae? I don’t believe that the high fae here are ‘too good’ to do something so evil.

I have my magic now; they can try to stop me…

I walk through the halls until I find an empty room, and lock myself in.

I stare down at my hands and close my eyes, my nails digging into my palms. “I want to go home…” I murmur, whispering it over and over. I don’t want to fucking be here.

A loud clap echoes around the room and I blink my eyes at the rainbow rippling in front of me. I wave my hand through it and it disappears. Ah. A portal.

I smile as I step through, finding lightning streaking the sky and I close my eyes as I tilt my head back, letting the rain wash me clean.

…TO BE CONTINUED…