Page 1 of A Fate so Cruel

The Cursed Fae and a Mother’s Love

Chapter One

The steady, loud drumming of a woodpecker stirred Rion from a dreamless sleep. Gooseflesh rose on his arms and the brisk air in the small cabin room stung his cheeks. His nose was already numb.

He curled in on himself, hiding beneath the warmth of piled blankets that smelled of cedarwood and lavender.

Finches sang outside the window and he heard their little feet scrape against wood as they leaped between branches and onto the feeder his mother had put out last night. A cardinal called from above. Another answered in the distance.

Rion shifted the blanket so his ear poked out despite the cold. His mother had taught him to listen. To identify the birds and plants and all the animals that roamed the forest. From the tiniest insect to the great mountain cats. He liked to make her proud.

Rion finally cracked one eye open and found that she’d draped another blanket over his thick comforter. It smelled like her.

He listened beyond the bird’s excited chatter and shifted his attention inside.

Pay attention,his mother always said.Listen. Know what’s in a room before you ever set foot in it. Sometimes Rion felt those lessons were more important than his schooling. She always praised him when he got things right.

Rion listened now. He pulled his head out from beneath the covers and rested it on the soft down pillow. His breath clouded slightly in the air before him, but Rion closed his eyes again, concentrating on the living room just beyond his door.

A fire crackling in the large hearth and a slight clink of a glass told Rion his mother was awake. Hers was the onlyheartbeat in the house. Which meant the others had left without him. Again.

His father always said Rion was too young to accompany their morning training sessions. Rion had begged Saoirse to try to change their father’s mind, but she always gave him a playful smile. He knew what that smile meant. Their father’s mind was a fortress that couldn’t be changed by anyone save for their mother.

Rion rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up. The cool air hit his back and he shivered again. The sun had barely risen and still hadn’t quite crested the treetops.

Another clink of glass from the living room told Rion his mother knew he was awake, and that she was pouring a steaming cup of her favorite tea just for him.

She always knew. He pursed his lips. He’d never succeeded in sneaking up on any of them. Maybe he’d be able to once he got his magic. Maybe then they wouldn’t treat him like such a little kid.

Rion slid from the bed with the blanket still tucked around his shoulders and hissed at the cold floor beneath his feet. His mother had told him to bring his slippers in last night and he hadn’t listened. He was regretting it, just like she said he would.

The door creaked as he opened it and his mother turned at the sound. Her bright smile greeted him, as it did every morning.

She set the steaming mug back on the counter and bent with open arms. Rion ran into them and she scooped him up as if he were as light as a feather.

He was seven now. Too old, his father said, to be coddled the way he was. But his mother didn’t listen to their father. She was probably the only Fae in all of Brónach who got away without listening to the High Lord.

His mother just held him and stared out the large window that overlooked the snow covered land. Rion tilted his head to look with her. A fox played in the distance and after a few minutes, he watched another join it. Not Fae, but animals enjoying the winter snow before spring came to melt it all away.

His mother said this would likely be the last bit of snow they’d see for the year. He didn’t mind. He didn’t hate the snow, but winter prevented him from swimming in the nearby lake. He couldn’t wait for summer.

Rion buried his head back into her shoulder and listened to her steady heartbeat. Her hair tickled his nose. Red, just like his. And beautiful. It flowed past her waist. At home, she always had it tied up around her head, but out here, while they visited the lake house, she let it hang down in soft waves.

His father liked it, too. Rion often caught the male running his fingers through it. It was only with their mother that Rion ever saw a gentle side to his father. Not that the High Lord was ever mean to any of his children. Their mother wouldn’t allow that. He was just . . . scary. Stern. He didn’t smile easily, and his mother always told Rion that he had his reasons.

Maybe Rion didn’t want to join his father, Saoirse, and Alec for training after all.

Holding him with one arm, Rion’s mother grabbed the tea tray with her other hand. She didn’t even shake. Not like some of the half-breeds did when they tried to carry heavy things.

Half-breeds weren’t allowed here.

His mother ambled toward the fire and set the tray down on a small wooden table stained with rings. She re-wrapped the blanket around his body, then seated herself in the rocking chair closest to the fire.

Between the flames and his mother’s warmth, Rion stopped shivering.

She rocked back and forth in silence, rubbing one hand up and down his back in slow, methodical strokes. This was his favorite part of the morning, and he never wanted to be too old for it. He wanted his mother to hold him forever.

But whenever he said as much, she’d just laugh and a sad smile would cross her face. He’d pestered her endlessly about what that meant, but she’d never tell him.

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