Page 60 of A Fate of Wings

Earth

Cillian ran through theforest. I chased after him, delighting in his squeals of happiness as we ducked and weaved through the tall, black-trunked trees. He slipped on the moss covering the ground. I caught him up in the air, swinging him around while he giggled and squirmed in my arms. My back ached as though my wings wanted to burst free, but they didn’t emerge. Ireland was a land of forests and woods. So many delights abounded inside them, including the glow worms that had flickered. Cillian squirmed in my arms.

“You’ll never catch one,” I chided, but placed his feet on the ground.

“One day I will, Mother,” he said in a too wise a tone for a five-year-old boy.

He raced for the glowing bugs, but as he reached them, they zoomed in every direction as though they’d scattered just to tease him. I settled on a fallen moss-covered branch, soaking in the joy on his precious little face. His round cheeks flushed pink with the exertion, but knowing Cillian, he wouldn’t give up until I dragged him away. His stubborn determination came from me, Cara said, but I often wondered if his father possessed those traits too.

The wind rustled through the leaves, the usual cool sea breeze changing into a fresh wind. More of a swirl. The change in the air was electrifying. It pulsed along the skin on my arms, making the hairs rise and goosebumps form. I turned my head from the antics of my son chasing glowworms through the forest to the unusual swirl of turquoise forming between two trees a short distance away.

“Cillian,” I called, standing in a rush, and almost slipping over on the moss.

He lifted his head like the good boy he was.

“Momma?”

I almost couldn’t say it, but I did. “Run home now. Don’t look back. Don’t come back to this spot ever again.”

“But?” his little voice wobbled.

“Now, Cillian,” I firmed my voice instead of giving in to the pain clenching my chest at the thought of never seeing my son again. If this strange sensation in the forest was the harbinger of my past, of whoever took my memory, then I’d protect Cillian as best I could.

He nodded his adorable five-year-old head. The ebony curls bounced on top of his head.

Would it be the last time I saw that? His face drooped in sadness, making my own reflect his pain. He understood. We’d discussed this with him from the time he could talk. I had enemies. One day they’d come for me. One day he’d need to hideand keep himself safe. When that day arrived, he had to let me go. Cara and Seamus would raise him. They loved him as much as I did. I was thankful for that. Thankful for Cara and Seamus. We’d kept my siren lineage a secret from the fae village. No one wanted the possibility of their mate being lured away by a siren. They all believed I was fae since my hands glowed like a fae even though no power emanated from them. They assumed Cillian was a fae, too. No one would realize he wasn’t a fae except Cara and Seamus. He was part siren. He might be part fae, but neither of us knew, and deep down, I sensed he was more. My son would be safe with Cara and Seamus.

Me, on the other hand…

The air wavered, a turquoise blue so at odds with the vibrant green of the moss and the black bark on the trees of the forest. An enormous beast stepped through the portal. Ebony horns curled from his head of black hair. Black, leather-looking wings swept behind his back and fluttered as though in motion or agitation. Fatal-looking talons curled on the ends of his wings. The ends looked sharp enough to slice through flesh. So this was my enemy. This was how I’d die. I wouldn’t scream. No, I wouldn’t let Cillian hear his mother’s death.

“You found me.” I squared my shoulders, wishing for at least one more day with my son. One more memory to treasure in the afterlife.

The Beast stepped forward. “At last,” he said with a long, breathy sigh.

I skittered back, instinct telling me to save myself even though I realized death had come for me. Even though I comprehended if I left with him at once and in silence to my death, then Cillian would be safer still.

Instead, I ran in the opposite direction, giving more distance between me and Cillian. The trees whizzed by my head. My back itched as though my wings longed to open and lift me away fromthis threat, but I couldn’t reveal my presence to the village by flying in the air. The man had wings too. He’d follow me into the skies. I might be safer on the ground from his reach. Trees whizzed by my face as I ducked and weaved through the forest. I’d lived here long enough to know the path to the other side of the forest, but then what? When I reached that, I’d meet a village. Perhaps I could hide in a house?

As I almost breached the forest, his fingers caught my hand. He tried to stop, and the force wrenched my arm back and a squeal of pain escaped. He slammed a hand over my mouth and wrapped his arm around me, cradling my head before he rolled us to the ground. I kicked and squirmed in his hold.

“Shh,” he whispered. “She’s out there.”

Who? That was my first thought.

I tried to bite his hand, but his grip was too tight. Would he snap my neck? Decapitate me? Tears filled my eyes as Cillian’s little face swam in my mind.

“Stop fighting me. She’ll see us,” he whispered.

There was a tinge of panic in his voice that made me pause my attempts at escape. A loud voice penetrated the fear in my body. I tried to roll over so I could see what was happening, but the man held us still.

“Please, Thea,” he whispered. “Stay still until she’s gone. She has an entire army with her.”

An army? Did I have more enemies than this man? What had I done in my past to have so many enemies?

My breathing remained erratic as we lay on the damp, moss-covered ground. The heat from his body warmed my back, but an icy chill swept over my front. For a long time, we lay still, listening to the heated words coming from the nearby village. Who was fighting and why? We’d traded crops with this village too, but most who lived here were human.

The man’s body went rigid.