Page 51 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

Olea curtsied to the posted guards, her eyes batting at one of them for a moment too long. She gave a quick knock, and the door swung open at the hands of another serving maid. And through the door, I saw Gia standing before the fire, looking by all measures… unharmed.

Despite the chiffon floating around me, I ran to her, pulling her into an embrace. She returned the gesture and breathed into me, “Terra, thank the gods.” We released our hug, both examining the other for any harm or injury. Her eyes fell to my wrists, darkening a moment before she blinked, and the shadow from her face cleared. “Your ears!” she exclaimed. “So it is true then, you are … Fae?” She struggled to say it, as if it was a foreign word.

I nodded, tears threatening to streak the ash on my eyelids. “Well, half,” I choked out.

I pressed my hand to her belly, and sure enough, a small but firm bump protruded from her waistline, almost noticeable on her otherwise petite figure. And the distinct swell in her usually light chest hadn’t been there before. I turned to the maids. “Leave us, please.” They curtsied and left.

“How long?” I whispered.

Now it was Gia’s turn to hold back tears. “Four, maybe five months. The midwife here says closer to five.” She shook her head. “At least I still have a small piece of him.”

I exhaled in realization. “Thatis why he proposed just months before Spring Day! You knew then, didn’t you? Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, a tiny sliver of hurt slipping into my voice.

“I only suspected. My cycles have never been regular, so there was no way to know for sure without visiting a healer, which I couldn’t risk, of course. I told him my suspicions. He was overwhelmed with joy and said that he’d never wanted to wait to ask for my hand, anyway.” She wilted at the memory. “The next day he spoke with both our parents, and they agreed to forgo tradition. I still don’t know how he got them to agree without telling them I might be pregnant. Our wedding would have been just a few weeks from now,” she said, tears defying her now, running down her face.

I felt the familiar pang of guilt and dread.

I hugged her again, not wanting to let her go. “I will get you out of here, Gia. I promise,” I whispered. “I don’t know what Fayzien did to you, but I swear I will find a way to kill him for what he has done.”

Gia pushed me back. “Terra, what are you talking about? Fayzien saved my life.”

I gaped at her. “Fayzien is the one that killed my family, Danson included. He kidnapped you and brought you here.”

“He did not! The band of rebels who took you are the ones who slaughtered your family, Terra. One moment we were sitting in our secret spot, and the next, they were all around us, taking your unconscious body away. I wanted to fight so badly, but one of them put a spell on me that made my legs walk back to my house, and lay down in my bed. I was stuck like that, paralyzed, for days. If Fayzien had never come and freed the spell, well, I would still be frozen there right now!”

My mind tried to explain her words. “But Gia, IsawFayzien kill Mama. I saw it with my own eyes…” I trailed off.

She swore under her breath. “He said this might happen.”

“What?” I demanded.

“He said they might try to… to confuse your mind. He warned me you might say all these things. And then, when you arrived a few days ago, the Fae prince could scent that male on you, the large Fae with green eyes. Fayzien said he seduced you, manipulated you to trust him, or maybe even took you against your will,” she replied cautiously.

My head was exploding, and I paced her room. “Ezren most certainly did not take me against my will,” I forced out, earning a curious eyebrow raise from Gia. “He did lie to me; they all did—and that I will not forgive. But they didnotkill my family. That was Fayzien, I am sure of it.” They’d shown up days after Mama died; no way could it have been them.Or could it?

Gia took my hands. “Did you lay with him, Terra? The green-eyed warrior?”

Her gaze was always so penetrative; my dearest friend could see right through me. I crumpled, nodding, an old shame creeping into my throat.

Gia looked at me with an understanding sadness. “I’m guessing you thought you loved him?”

I released a shaky breath. “I don’t know, maybe,” I whispered, afraid my voice would crack if I spoke at full volume. “All I know is that when I’m around him, I can’t fully breathe, I can’t fully think. It feels like being burned alive from the inside out, no matter if we’re close or apart.”

“In love with a real-life Fae male? Giving her body willingly to a stranger just weeks after meeting him? Well, that isn’t the Terra I know—and anyway, what you described sounds more like a hex than love.”

“I… he…” I sighed, a familiar fleeting feeling of heat washing over me. “It did feel like a spell, in a way. I was drawn to him instantly, like I’ve never been to any other. But it was real. So, so, cripplingly real. Ezren saved my life on multiple occasions—and it wasmewho pursuedhim.He did what he could to deny me, but, well, like I said, it was real. I will not forgive his lies—he failed to tell me about Cas and so much more. But I know he’d never hurt me. I think he…” I trailed off, unable to complete my sentence.

What did I really know about Ezren’s feelings? What could I trust from his actions, given so many of them were part of some elaborate scheme to fool me about my identity?

“Terra, look at the facts. Fayzien came to bring you back here, to reunite you with your birth mother. He told me everything. But he came in peace, bidding for your hand at Spring Day, with no violence. There are a hundred witnesses to that. He found me, freed me, and offered to take me with him to find you. Henever forced me. But the rebels? Your so-called Ezren? They took you by force. I watched them drag away your unconscious body! And after they did so, how did you wake? Were you a prisoner?”

I looked at the floor. “I was in chains,” I recalled softly.

“Yes, you see? Somehow they tricked you into thinking Fayzien killed your family. They wanted you to believe him the enemy, to trust them instead.”

My mind swam. “Gia, I battled Fayzien, first in the Argen forest and again in the Adimon Mountains. He, he tried to hurt me, he taunted me… he violated me! He even threatenedyou.I know all of that was real,” I whispered.

Gia’s clear eyes bore into me in earnest, yet an unfamiliar desperation lingered there. “Terra, Fayzien says some Witches can put memories in heads that did not exist before,” she offered in explanation.

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