Page 45 of Light Fae's Love

Her words echo a way I’ve often described Quinn and Lucca to myself after seeing that strange Raphael Vision of a Knight painting Quinn donated to the Pitti Palace’s auction in the human world, that fateful day weeks ago. The Wanderer’s words make Arturos frown, however, as if her spell on him is broken since she just outed his desire for me in front of Quinn. She said love, though, I realize, as I look over at Arturos.

And see him give a wry smile, his deep blue eyes barren.

“I know you don’t love me, Ariana,” Arturos says, his voice quiet as he watches me. “It was just a dream I had, nothing more. You and Quinn are good together, bonded as you are. With Lucca.”

I’m surprised he’s mentioned our trio’s bond in front of she who created him. The Wanderer only smiles her pleasant, beaming smile, however, neither perturbed nor caring that Arturos just outed Quinn’s and my secret before her. I get the sense she doesn’t actually care.

That the movements of planets and stars and millennia are what she cares about, rather than the petty lives and loves of people.

“But the stars shake with alignment at the bonds you form,” the Wanderer says now, pinning me again with her fathomless dark eyes. “He of the Golden Orbs has chosen you for his experiment. You and your two bound Fates.”

“Gold Eyes!” Quinn says, as I feel shock rush through him that the Wanderer has mentioned the mysterious Revenant who plagues us. “What do you know of Gold Eyes and why he’s watching us? What do you mean, experiment?”

“The Golden Orbs has been with us a long while.” The Wanderer is cryptic as she sighs and picks another flower. “For he was once an angel, most beautiful and compelling of the Thirteenth Vir, Ascended and wise. Ambition is ever stronger than wisdom, however; for he runs a grand experiment on this land and the creatures in it, one that plays with the hearts and minds of Fae and Vampire alike. We do not approve of his experiments. So, we warn you now… that you may change the fate he has written for you. And do something else with it.”

“He’s written our fate? Me, Quinn, and Lucca?” I ask now. “How?”

“For he is like the spider, ever-weaving his web.” The Wanderer gestures to a spiderweb glistening with dew in the grass. “Even we do not know the goal of this experiment, but he pulls the threads of fate, drawing you three together. He places my progeny in harm’s way, which I also do not approve of.”

At this, her dark eyes flick to Arturos, who sits rigid beneath her unfathomable stare. I assume she means that associating with Quinn and me puts Arturos in danger from the Revenant Gold Eyes; he’s already helped save our bacon a few times when Gold Eyes pulled some vicious shenanigans to mess with my power, and Quinn’s.

Arturos and the Wanderer hold their intense stare a moment longer.

He draws a deep breath then. “I will stay my course, Master. Unless you bid me not to.”

“No.” Her smile is sad now. “You shall do as you will, my progeny. For you were ever headstrong and willful of heart, and I would have you no other way. You are lonely; I feel it, deep within my soul. If casting this bargain with your fate gets you what you want… so be it.”

I see Quinn frown now as I do the same, not knowing what the hell Arturos’ Sire is talking about. Arturos seems to, however, as he gives her a deep, almost crestfallen nod. It’s stalwart, and I sense he’s not about to change his mind about something.

Some decision that pierces him and puts him in harm’s way concerning Gold Eyes.

I assume again that it’s his decision to support Quinn through thick and thin, and me as well. As Arturos’ deep blue eyes swing to me, however, they’re so barren they raze my very soul.

Before he takes a deep breath, looking back to his Sire.

“Have you anything more to tell us, Mistress?”

“No. That is all.” She shrugs noncommittally now. That secretive smile graces her lips again as she glances at Quinn. “Beware. For you are not the creature you think you are.”

“Excuse me?” Quinn scowls now, watching her. “And what sort of creature am I?”

“The two-edged kind.” Her laugh is soft, her dark eyes beaming with humor. “But you shall discover how to wield the true blade of your nature, eventually. It is not your fate that I reveal such things to you. I think the time is coming soon. The Golden Orbs will do everything he can to hasten it, however. Beware. Come to your maturation in your own good time… and with your own good ideals in mind. For he does not. His ideals are ever dark, and his mind is ever churning.”

With that, the Wanderer rises from the meadow. As flowering vines blossom all around her, she moves gracefully back towards the spot in the trees where her portal was. She waves her hand, opening the portal-way right back into the hedge maze where we left.

As we all follow her, crossing through back into the Twilight Realm from wherever we were, I see the white-blue nimbus light the rim of the nighttime sky once more. It’s late now; I shiver as we return to the deepest part of the night and smell dawn on the horizon.

But as we return and the Wanderer closes the portal with a wave of her hand, a figure swiftly lunges from the shadows of the hedge. I don’t even see the knife, the shadow moves so fast—until Quinn is before me, blocking that assassin from getting me.

And that knife is buried deep in his chest.

Breath is hammered from Quinn as he jolts; with a roar, Arturos slams the assassin back with a tremendous sea-wave, but the damage has been done. Quinn goes down, falling into my arms as I carry him to the earth. Arturos is shouting; I’m not even sure what, as I see the blade stuck to the hilt in Quinn’s chest.

Black with terrible red runes, writ in a cruel hand, the stiletto knife is twisted and bent as it protrudes from Quinn’s chest. I see why now; it isn’t made of metal but some sort of tree branch. As Quinn touches it, crimson blood seeping from his chest onto his hand in the moonlight, he looks up at me.

“Devilswood!” he says.

And I understand someone has just staked Quinn in the heart—with a devilswood blade.