Page 26 of Celestial Alphas

Alek seems to understand I need a distraction. “Finnegan’s father once told me the folk were once the legendary warriors of the Nexus and that we created them somehow to fight our wars against the Vian, but they turned on us. Do you think that’s true?”

“No idea,” I admit.

“The Gods are real, and apparently the folk are too. What else hides from our knowledge?” he questions.

Everything. Nothing. I don’t know and I really don’t want to. I’ve never wanted to learn the secrets of the universe or shit like that; I just want a normal life without a psychotic Nexus being.

The thick smell of incense and smoke greets me as I turn a corner, and I see a large tent, far bigger than the others, nestled near the centre of the night market. A big tower of smoke, pure jasmine incense, comes out the top of it, and there are two folk standing in front of the door. They’re holding spears in their scaly, long-fingered hands. It’s clear they will stab me if I try anything. “I’m here to make a deal. Your leader once made a deal with my mother. He told her she was always welcome back. I’m hoping the same message extends to me.”

They look between each other, and I pray to the mortal, the wolf, the snake and, fuck, all the Gods that this works. Please. Please… “Your blood is always welcome here, and so are you, Gwenieve and Aleksander.” The folk guards step aside, holding the tent flap and revealing the folk healer I remember from all those years ago. He’s different from all of them. Instead of his skin being white, he’s green. The most stunning shade of green I’ve ever seen. Dark, vibrant green that glows like a forest. He is the very reason I think they resemble trees. He is wearing clothes, a tailored dark green vest, cloak and trousers. “Come in with your mate, Gwenieve.”

I find it interesting he can see the bond between us, or is it that obvious now? The room is lusher than I remember it, and clearly they have been doing well for themselves. It was quite barren last time, but now it’s filled with thick rugs, beautiful fabrics hanging from the ceilings, and couches. Ridiculously expensive statues of goddesses and gods from human history are everywhere. There are also at least a hundred plants, all exotic and rare, littered around the space. He leads us in, and we sit down on the couch in front of the incense fire spilling smoke in a twirling pattern all the way out through the roof centre. “Thank you for agreeing to see me.”

“You look like her, your mother, I mean.” He sits down. “Aleksander, my name is Hyalar. I am one of the leaders of the folk and a specialist in healing. Gwenieve met me as a child, and I knew I’d meet her again.”

“My mate’s childhood is full of secrets, it seems,” Aleksander answers. “It is an honour to meet you. I mean you no harm, and I am glad you let us in.”

He inclines his head in acknowledgement, but he looks to me expectantly, so I get right to the point. “I remember you from when I was a child, and I need the same thing that my mother came for.” I hold my hands together in my lap. “She brought her injured friend with her, but I can’t do that, so I need something I can take back to one of my mates. To Starlight City.”

“The home of the Nexus.” His eyes, so ancient and full of warmth, watch me. “I warned your mother that running from Starlight City would not end well for any of you, but she did not listen to the future I foretold for her as a gift. A gift blessed to her in your name.”

I frown. “I didn’t know you told her about the future or that you could do that.”

“I warned your mother twice. Once when you were only a baby, and the second was the time when she came here to save her sister. I warned her there’d be no third time.”

“Wait.” I stop him. He sits back slightly. “Sister? She didn’t have a sister.”

“Yes, the woman she brought here was her younger sister.” He watches me again. “You didn’t know, but I am no liar. When you are as old as I, you learn lies are harmful to everyone. I prefer not to partake in speaking them.”

I can’t even process that the woman I barely remember is my aunt. Not right now. “Thank you for telling me that.”

“I can see versions of the future that will happen and versions that will not. I will see the likelihood of everything from the stars falling and rising, the world turning. I live on, immortally as it happens, and I mark history of our kind in my mind. One day, we will need stories to save the future, and I fear that day is coming soon.” Alek and I look at each other. “You should have come sooner.”

“Will you help my mate? We brought money, two million pounds, and it can be transferred to you immediately.” Alek told me he has it from Onyx. It’s a lot of money, but I will repay Onyx with the money from my family. All that matters right now is Rhodes. “I remember my mother gave you, like, a hundred thousand, and that was years ago, though. I’m hoping this is enough. If not, we can get more money?—”

“I do not want your money.” He cuts me off and his tone is final.

My heart breaks. “Please, look. It’s my mate. He is good and kind…and he has to live. Please. I will give you anything for it.” I’m not leaving without something to help Rhodes. I can’t face him otherwise. It’s my fault he is in a coma, and it will be forever my fault if he doesn’t wake. He deserves to have a future, a life, and he can’t lose that because the Vian came for me.

Hyalar rises to his feet. I stand too, as does Alek. No, he can’t leave. He doesn’t leave, but instead he walks to me. “I will give you the healing potion that will wake and heal your mate…in exchange for a drop of your blood.”

“I can’t spill blood in the night market, or I’ll be trapped here. You don’t want my Nexus trapped here, Hyalar,” I warn him. “Tricking me isn’t a good idea.”

“No tricks. I make the rules for the night market, and I will not trap you here. You have my word,” he vows, and I remember he doesn’t lie.

“Why do you want my blood?”

He watches me with those eerie, all-seeing eyes. “I want the blood of the most powerful creature to walk this earth in a thousand years. I want the blood of a Nexus who has no idea what she is yet.”

I shiver. For Rhodes. This is all for him. “Fine, yes.” Alek tries to stop me, but I hold my hand out to Hyalar, and he grabs it like a greedy kid on Halloween. He runs a long fingernail down my palm before pulling a vial out and catching my blood in it, letting it drop into the vial before closing it with his thumb. He slips it into his cloak and pulls out the other vial with a green foam hovering in it. I clasp my hand around it and nearly squeal in excitement. I can wake Rhodes up. “Thank you. We will be leaving now.”

Alek walks away with me, but before I get far, I pause. “What is the Morrigan? I heard it during my time with the Vian, and I was curious.”

“Your destiny, old one,” he answers, walking away to the other side of the tent. Creepy but alright. “When you come to me next, you will not leave. When you see me next, fate has a plan for your future, Gwenieve. It is not time yet.”

He disappears through the back of the tent, and it is silent as Alek looks down at me. “I have a bad feeling about this trade.”

I don’t have it in me to tell him I felt the same, right at the moment I gave him my blood. But I’d do it a thousand times over to save Rhodes… I just hope Rhodes doesn’t hate me when he wakes up and finds out the truth about his monster mate.

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