“You can open your eyes now,” Abigail said.
I cracked one eye open. Abigail bent over where I laid on my back on a hard ground. She peered into my face, scowling.
My shoulders dropped down from their place near my ears, and I opened both my eyes to take in my surroundings.
We were in a rain forest, with an earthy fresh smell around us. Flowers permeated the air, dotted amongst the trees, and I could feel the magic humming in the surroundings.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“We’re in the Fae Realm,” she said, gesturing around. “I’ve brought you to my home, for your safety.”
I looked at her in front of me, and despite everything I’d gone through, and how it should have taught me not to trust anyone, I found myself launching forward and hugging her.
“Thank you,” I said, breathless. “Thank you so much.”
Abigail was stiff in my arms but patted my back.
I pulled away, wiping my tears off my cheek.
“What a horrible and ridiculous few days.” I said, forcing a chuckle to cover my embarrassment. I took a few calming breaths. “So, what do we do now?”
“We need a plan to keep you safe while we work out a way around your illegitimacy.”
I glanced at her. “Oh, so you believe me about Matlock being my father?”
Abigail rolled her eyes. “Of course, I do. It was obvious from the first moment I saw you with Matlock. You have a similar aura. Your magic has a similar signature also. I should not be surprised. Not to mention his protective stance towards you. I was suspicious from the first moment I saw you two together.”
“Protective?” I scoffed. “He was the instrument of my destruction! He practically threw me to the wolves.”
I shivered with excess adrenaline.
“Walk with me. My home isn’t far from here,” Abigail said, and together we started through the forest.
There wasn’t a person to be seen anywhere, though the animals were plentiful. Birds hopped along the branches, and rabbits scurried in the bushes on either side.
“You know, Ava, your father could be found of treason himself if it’s found out he deliberately conceived you.”
I glanced at her. “You’re kidding?”
“No. That’s what they were trying to get him to admit at the court. But Tavlor and him had a plan, and unfortunately it meant...”
“Throwing me under the bus,” I finished for her.
“Well, yes. The Council has been looking for a way to get your father out of the High Warlock position for many years, and without an heir, they believe they have the right to.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Think about it,” she said. “There’s no reason for your father to comply with them. There’s no child for them to hold over his head. Until you, that is.”
Anger boiled in my gut. “What a crock of shit! Just because his stupid wife couldn’t give him a child, doesn’t mean it’s my father’s fault. In fact, it’s theirs! They’re the ones that shackled him to a barren wife.”
And what a bitch she was too.
I shuddered. The feeling of standing anywhere near her was akin to having ice pressed into my skin, through to my core.
“She’s a horrible woman.”
“Yes, you’re correct, in everything you say,” Abigail said. “Your father was born into a world, into a position of privilege, where he’s been forced to marry a woman he didn’t love, go childless through his life, and be the puppet beneath the Council’s strings.”