Page 133 of Court of the Fae Princes

Failed me? My father and grandmother have never failed me in anything, right? Except when it comes to knowledge about your relatives, especially anyone on my mother’s side, and anything about my mother in general… but that was only because it’s too hard for him to talk about her. Isn’t it?

I wrap my arms around myself, fighting the urge to bare my soul. “I really don’t know anything, at all.” Even about myself.

She seems to be in disbelief. “Have you really believed you were human your whole life? Were there no signs at all?”

Is missing information a sign? I don’t think so. I think she more means magic squirting out of my ass, which has never happened.

“There were no signs. I–I don’t even know if I have magic or not.” There's no use in lying or trying to hide it if we still have days of journeying together to get through, because she’ll figure it out soon enough.

Besides, she obviously knows something I don't, and knowledge is power right now. If I have some distant fae inside of me, maybe she can help me to… access my magic? Is that even a thing? Or help me find out how much? And if she can help me with these things, I won’t have to lie about nearly as many things when I get the princes back.

“You have to learn if you can use magic. It’s like not learning to read. If you have the potential for the ability, you should learn it.”

I swallow around the lump in my throat. “How do you learn?”

She actually smiles. “Lucky for you, I often help in teaching young fae to use their magic. Even an occasional older one.”

“Older ones?” I ask, confused.

She nods. “In rare instances, fae learn their magic later in life.” Before I can ask more, she continues. “Here, let's try to play with fire.” She urges me to stand and guides my hands over the fire. “Ok, you want to get a sense of it. A sense of everything in the air right now. Do you feel it?”

I close my eyes and try to just be and feel. The truth is, I feel stupid. I don’t know what I’m trying to feel. The warmth in the air from the fire? The embers dying in the air? The smoke drifting to the skies?

Lady Nova keeps talking, not waiting any longer for a response from me. “Listen to what you feel. Try to pull from it.”

Pull from it? I don’t know how, but I try to focus on the fire, the air, the embers, and the smoke. The way they interact. The way they weave harmoniously together. Strangely, I swear, I start to feel something, like a thread. It’s not tangible, I can’t actually touch it, but I try to latch on to it with my mind. I try to pull it in toward me. It’s slippery at first, but then I get a hold of it.

I feel it then, a rush, a surge of energy, thumping like a heartbeat. My magic.

“There you go,” Nova says.

My eyes flutter open to see that the fire is completely out. My jaw drops. Holy fuck. How did I just do that? Where did I get magic from?

“Nice job. We’ll try again later.”

Lady Nova restarts the fire while I stare dumbfounded at my hands. They put out a fire. I put out a whole fire with my hands–with my mind. It’s impossible. Because this means… I have some magic.

A smile flashes across my face. This means everything.

Lady Nova begins preparing dinner while I’m in the midst of a life-altering discovery about myself. I have to be part-fae. There’s more to my heritage than my father and grandmother have told me.

I’m. A. Fae.

“Do you know how to use a weapon?” Lady Nova asks, shaking me out of my stupor.

Right, okay, a weapon? “Enough. I’ve had to protect myself a time or two walking to and from the palace to work.” I recall attempting to use a weapon on Prince Sulien not too long ago.

My lapse in attention is cut short when Lady Nova throws a dagger at me. I catch it, barely. Inches from my fucking face. With hands that tremble, and a blade that’s just a breath from my eye.

“What the fuckity fuck!” I shout.

She smirks and shrugs. “Looks like you know how to use a weapon.”

“Not enough for me to be able to catch a dagger in mid-air! Hell, Lady Nova, what were you thinking?” I huff, lowering the dagger, hating the fact that I’m trembling.

“That’s yours now. You’re going to know more than enough about weapons by the time we’re done with each other.” Then she grins.

“I better not fall asleep, right?”

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