Chapter 14

I dug through the kitchen cabinets in search of some of Terra’s Twinkleberry wine, and let out a rare grunt of frustration. Well, rare for me at least. Lexi almost always let her emotions get the best of her, but it wasn’t a habit I had any intention of indulging, regardless of how many of her feelings were leaking out and threatening to pull me under.

Just as I let out a slew of curse words that died on my lips thanks to Terra’s no swearing charm, I heard a noise behind me and whirled around in surprise. I thought I’d been alone, but there was Vaeta, watching me from the doorway with the hint of a smile on her face.

“Do you find me amusing?” I asked wryly, abandoning my search.

“Not any more than usual, Alexis.” She put enough emphasis on my name that I swallowed hard and wondered just how much the sister dubbed Airy Faerie actually knew. It wasn’t the first time her seeming lack of wits proved to be a falsehood, and once again it occurred to me that her sisters didn’t give her nearly enough credit.

Vaeta pulled a bottle wrapped in twine from behind her back and handed it to me while calling two stemmed glasses toward us on the wind. “Let’s drink.”

I knew when she said drink she actually meant talk, and even though it was the last thing I wanted to do, the thought of losing myself in a faerie wine inebriation was too much temptation to pass up. Especially after having spent an uncomfortable evening arguing with myself while trying to find my ex-boyfriend a new girlfriend. It sounded like something out of a bad soap opera, and so I poured myself a nice big glass.

A big gulp of the liquid went down my throat on a sigh, and suddenly my head felt clearer than it had in days. Potent stuff, faerie wine, and poor Lexi could only ever handle one glass before becoming plastered enough to engage in scandalous acts like dancing naked around the ritual fire. I’d already discovered I could retain more of my senses than she, and tucked into the drink as though I’d been dying of thirst.

Vaeta merely raised an eyebrow and used the situation to her advantage. “Why don’t you tell me the thought process behind the extreme dye job.”

“Oh come on, really? I’m all liquored up, you can ask me anything, and that’s the burning question on your mind?” Frankly, I found it refreshing. “I like pink, and it looks better against white than any other color.”

What was it with people getting so keyed up about the color of my hair? Wasn’t it, like, standard operating procedure to get a makeover when your love life went belly-up?

“Okay, my turn. Did you meet anyone in the underworld that would surprise me? I mean, like Elvis, or Houdini?” Why I pulled those two names out of my brain, I couldn’t say.

“Pshaw.” Vaeta scoffed. “Elvis went back to the Faelands.”

Made sense to me. I poured another glass of wine and downed it in three gulps while Vaeta watched enigmatically. The buzz hit me harder this time, and I welcomed the feeling of not giving a tiny tater tot about anything for a little while. Until Vaeta went and ruined the moment.

“Tell me what you’re holding back. I promise not to judge.” Since faeries are incapable of lying, I believed her, and if I were going to spill my guts to any of them, Vaeta would have been my first choice by a mile. She’d been on the receiving end of her sisters’ bad graces due to her own decision making plenty of times.

“Ah, Vaeta. No matter what I do, I find myself split in two.”

She kept her mouth shut, sipped her wine, and sat back in her chair while I got up from mine and began to pace and rant.

“Up until last year, I was stuck using only the most passive parts of my power. I plodded along, trying to find fulfillment by spreading love in the world. The whole time, I knew I had a higher purpose but lacked the tools to realize it. Then, I finally got my powers, retrieved and fixed the Bow of Destiny, only to have to circumnavigate some asinine system constructed by the gods to confuse me with symbols and visions. Oh, and let’s not forget having to combat some whacked-out demi-goddess who’s hell-bent on breaking into Olympus for an unknown but most definitely nefarious purpose. I haven’t beaten Diana Diamond, not really, and Kin might as well still be under her spell. To top it all off, I’ve got to try to make sure a fate-weaving toddler doesn’t wind up either exposing magic to the human population of Port Harbor or driving his mother batshit crazy. All while battling waves of complicated feelings that I’m not equipped to handle. I’m supposed to be a goddess, not a sniveling pile of emotional goo.”

I let it all out, pacing and ranting while Vaeta listened. Spewing my guts felt good, but fell just short of supplying a full sense of release. When I’d exhausted myself and fallen back onto the parlor sofa with a huff and a sigh, she refilled my glass and then threw me for a loop, “What you need is a little distraction, and to let off some steam. Follow me.”

Vaeta led me to the sliding glass doors that opened out to the backyard where she and her sisters spent most of their time. I’d seen more weird things happen in the magically-enlarged space than I could count; some of them were beautiful and some of them were downright hair-raising—like the Dragolian bullfrogs that could take the head off a house cat with one snap.

With a whirl of Vaeta’s hand, she called to the wind and summoned what looked like two large poppets made of sticks and leaves and who knows what other elements of nature. Each one had a red circle painted on the front, and when I looked in her direction, Vaeta was holding two hunting bows, a collection of arrows strewn at her feet.

“You know I have one of those in my actual bones, don’t you?” I said, referring to the Bow of Destiny’s resting place.

“Of course, but that’s not what this is about. Here,” She handed me one of the weapons and an arrow. “This is about stress release. No magic allowed.” With that, she nocked her own arrow and took aim, but missed the bullseye. Her arrow bobbled back and forth, its tip embedded in the dummy’s crotch area.

“Was that intentional? Do you want to talk about it?” I mocked.

Vaeta indicated for me to take my turn. “No, it wasn’t intentional, but it was fitting. You’re not the only one having man trouble.”

“This isn’t about man trouble,” I insisted, my tone derisive.

“Okay, whatever you say,” she said lightly, shooting again and hitting the outer edge of the target.

“Fine, maybe it is a little bit about man trouble. For one stupid second I thought maybe Kin and I could reconcile. But then I realized it’s a moot point. He’s never going to remember our time together, and I’d be living a lie.” The fact that I’d ceased referring to Kin as belonging to Lexi’s past, and now considered him part of my own marked a change that I’d completely missed. Talk about having your head buried in the sand.

“What difference does a measly few months make, anyway?” Vaeta asked, her brow furrowed as she frowned at me like I was the stupidest person to have ever lived.

I struggled to formulate a response, but came up with no good reason. “It just does.” I insisted, and then turned the tables on her, “Enough about me. I spilled my guts, so now it’s your turn. What’s up with you and Rhys?”

“If you think dating a human is tough, try dating a demon who has more secrets than you and I combined. He’s dodgy and distant one minute, and then overprotective and smothering the next. I don’t want to be kept in a cage. I need to fly free on the air, that’s my jelly.”

I’m pretty sure Vaeta meant that it was her jam, but she still hadn’t gotten a handle on modern vernacular after being stuck in the underworld for a hundred years.

“What kind of secrets do you think he’s keeping?” It was one of the more prying questions I’d ever asked Vaeta, and part of me doubted she’d even deign to answer, but the other part—the one who’d had enough Twinkleberry wine not to give a damn—well, didn’t give a damn.

I was surprised with her candidness when she replied, “That’s the problem. He’s involved with the Inter-Magical Alliance, so it could be anything from a rogue vampire clan to a rabid manticore loose in the streets. Or maybe he’s found a water nymph to cavort with. Who knows?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I hope he’s not that stupid. Your sisters are just waiting for a reason to tear him limb from limb.”

“And that’s why I’m out here target practicing and yammering on to you about it instead of them. Besides, all they’d give me is a big, fat We told you so, and frankly, I’m even less in the mood for one of those than I usually am. At least they don’t blame Kin for your current debacle, otherwise you might have found him flayed and on display in the front yard.”

“You’re probably right.” I said, lobbing an arrow straight through my poppet’s heart.

Vaeta put her bow back down on the ground and surveyed me thoughtfully. “So, explain about the problem with Kaine. I’ve rather begun to like that slippery little Snodgrass witch, and her son is pretty adorable as well. What’s going on, exactly?”

“I have no idea, to be honest.” I sighed. “Serena thinks because I’m a Fate Weaver I must have all the answers, when in reality I don’t even know the secret knock to get in the clubhouse. Hell, I’m not even sure there is a clubhouse. Kaine’s already matching couples, and everywhere he goes, an entourage of adoring fans pops out of the woodwork. If you could bottle charisma, it would have that kid’s face on the label. If we’re not careful, he could grow up to be some shady huckster bilking people out of their money, and they’d be happy to give it to him.”

Picking up three arrows, I fired them in rapid succession to form a downward pointing triangle on the target. With my eyes closed, no less.

“What’s the plan,” Vaeta asked. “I know you have one, or at least an idea of one brewing in that little head of yours.” I wasn’t sure if little head was a euphemism for tiny brain, but I let it go and tried not to smile when she picked up her bow, and tried to emulate my performance with less than stellar results.

“The only option I can think of is to find a Fate Weaver with more experience and see if they can fill in the gaps. I’d like to get Serena the answers to all of her questions. Mine too, while I’m at it. Delta says she’s heard there are still some out there, but she needs something to use to track one down. Like a personal item that belonged to the Fate Weaver. As if I know where to find something that belonged to someone I don’t know and have never met.”

Vaeta’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by a sharp clap of what sounded like thunder and a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, Flix and his boyfriend Carl were standing in the middle of the backyard, right in front of the dummies Vaeta and I had been shooting at.

“If you’d popped in five minutes ago, you might have lost a very important appendage.” Vaeta said dryly, pointing to the arrow she still hadn’t removed from its target.