Page 13 of The Witch & the Grizzly

How fantastic. A ghost from his past, now here in the flesh, embedded in his cellphone, someone he’d be working with closely for the next who knew how many days, weeks, someone who showed a lot of promise, and he had no intention of breaking up with. He wanted to do things properly this time.

He was maybe a little smug about the idea, too, though it’d occurred to him at almost the same time he’d mentioned it to her.

I’m more of an idiot than you.

He’d shared so much with her that evening, more than he’d shared with others before. He wanted things to be right.

Unfortunately, despite the joy of working with such a person, the actual job, the work that this Morgryn character wanted him to do… began three days later, once the professors had collected the people they thought would suit the requirements of the job best. Nathan hadn’t yet met with all of them, and if he had understood correctly, he might not have to meet at all.

Now he had to stand there again, in front of that snide, untrustworthy thing with the fae realm merged with theirs in an almost brutal way. The professors had erected a psychic barrier around the door since their last visit. He’d spotted the glamour instantly and admired the intricacy of it. The glamour simply persuaded anyone who might wander in there that they had something else urgent to do. Since most students did, in fact, have something urgent to do, it was pretty elegant in its execution.

“Only you are needed for the first part of the mission,” Morgryn said. “The others will play their parts, but it’s going to take a little while to make sure we settle everything without stirring up too much dust.”

“Alright,” Nathan replied.

Morgryn smiled and waved his fingers, and a powerful surge of magic hummed through the room. Nathan gritted his teeth, painfully aware that Morgryn’s power levels were far greater than his own. But even with that power, Morgryn was limited as to what he could do. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have needed to put together a team, and he wouldn’t have been locked away in some isolated section of the fae realm for a decade.

A portal to the deep fae realm – the Unseelie realm —now shimmered in front of Nathan. “You want me to go… here?”

And how will he backstab me?

“Yes,” Morgryn said. “I will explain your mission in brief. I do not wish for you to fail. Failing will have… consequences. This should be the easiest of the assignments, but that doesn’t mean there is room for failure.” His eerie eyes became slits, and his otherwise sharp face became demonic. “Whatever you may think of me, I do not wish for either of our realms to be destroyed because of the greedy hubris of others.”

“Alright. Tell me what it is you intend,” Nathan said, peering into the portal. The way the Unseelie realm unfolded before him was distorted like a mirror in a funhouse. However, he spotted a smudged, brownish object in the portal that stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the other surreal colorations.

“One of my allies lives in a little cottage there. Her name is Greer. She was my strongest ally at one time; however, with my subsequent betrayal and banishment, I cannot ascertain exactly where her loyalties lie. If she has become a turncoat, which is possible since allegiances can shift like the tides, it would be best if I didn’t contact her directly, as she can reveal my position, and it would not be… advantageous. You are to find out where her loyalty lies. You are to drink this Kiss of Truth potion that your colleague Eva made. With it, you’ll be able to sense deception and dishonesty. She’s done a good job with it. There’s only one person whom I think could’ve made it better, and he is no longer around.” Morgryn smiled thinly, handing a vial to Nathan to drink.

“Greer also has an eye for your type of physique. She gets rather lusty about it, which I believe will work in our favor.”

“Ah,” Nathan said. So, he was to use his charms in that way, after all. “If you can’t reveal yourself to her, how exactly should I introduce myself?”

“Simple. You’ll tell her that you’ve been looking for whoever you think is your fae relative. You’ve been looking for a long time. You’ve heard some rumors that it might be me, Morgryn, but the only thing you know of me is that I signed the treaty, so you’ve been searching through the Unseelie realm to try and find out if I might be your long-lost relative. She will most likely think you’re foolish, but the fae will at least tolerate a search and your ability to be able to travel in the realm without being affected. Tell her of your mortal origins. It will be delicious for her.”

So that was the catch in all this. “As long as I’m not expected to actually do anything sexual with her…”

“Hm, I thought that was your thing,” he said, but he didn’t look annoyed. “As long as you come up with a good reason, talking should suffice.”

“How… dangerous is this?”

“As dangerous as anything might be when you interact with the Unseelie Court. However, I will say this of the court: It is very fractured right now. There are hedonistic, greedy fae who enjoy the pulse of deals and power. Then there are those who share my concerns and who would not appreciate their lives changing to such a degree that they would no longer exist. They’ve read the writing on the wall. And these are the Unseelie we’re gathering together. Once you are certain of where her allegiance lies – only then can I arrange to meet her myself. I am placing a great deal of trust in you for this – and in the potion that your friend concocted.”

Morgryn looked more amused than concerned about his situation, however. Perhaps it was like that with a lot of fae. They liked the chaos and uncertainty, just not if it affected them in a way that meant they could no longer function.

Well, there was no time like the present. Nathan gulped down the potion and handed the empty vial to Morgryn. “I’ll give it a few minutes to kick in, then I’ll step through. You won’t have any issues holding it?”

“None.” Morgryn reclined in his chair. All he needed was a fae cat to complete the image of a villain, observing the world around him. “I will hold the portal for as long as necessary. It is only visible to you. That is within my power. I advise you to keep track of the time, however. My strength is not infinite. Should I run out, I will need a day to recharge, but I will open the same spot.”

“Noted.” Nathan had a sinking suspicion he’d probably end up needing to stay for whatever counted as night in the fae realm, which would put him at risk if he had to interact with an overly horny fae.

I’m going to have to make this work out somehow.

He felt the potion course within, already spreading its magic.

I must try that sense potion Eva says she’s going to get patented. It really must be something special.

He closed his eyes until he was certain the magic had taken root, and with a “So long,” he stepped through the blurry portal, and the choking sense of the supernatural pressed into him as the fae realm opened up and took him into its ethereal embrace.

A normal human wouldn’t be able to last too long without experiencing strange effects. However, the realm recognized his strong fae ancestry. Briefly, Nathan wondered if there was any possibility that Morgryn might actually be his father, but then he recalled that Morgryn thought his blood came from one of the other courts.

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