Page 19 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth, trying to quell the surging nausea that came with the realization that I was related to my greatest enemy. The woman who had violated my mate through the actions of others was my flesh and blood.

The woman who I would need to kill to find happiness was the only biological family I had left. Whoever had pissed them off, the Fates were cruel, unrelenting tormentors. They didn’t care for kindness.

“Mab…” I trailed off.

“Is the daughter of Hemera. You are not,” Badb said, avoiding directly calling Mab my half-sister. “Your mother is not a Primordial at all.”

The distance of my maternal blood did little to ease the pain of longing for what might have been had Rheaghan not died before we ever knew the truth. He might have chosen to stand by me as the sister he’d never known he had. If he only fought for me half as hard as he fought for Mab even after she’d proven to be long past redemption, I’d have had a protective half-brother to deal with.

“Then I’m a Goddess? Like Mab and Rheaghan, or something in between God and Fae?” I asked, truly not understanding my place. There were gifts I possessed that Mab claimed were only available to the Primordials, things that I couldn’t deny seemed to set me apart from the Gods I’d watched fighting on the sands outside Tar Mesa.

The threads.

“You are more than a Goddess…” Macha said as evasively as she could. Her voice trailed off lightly at the end, and I could tell it pained her to not be able to speak the words that lingered on her tongue. “Your father gave something to you to set you apart from his other offspring.”

“What does that even mean?” I asked, feeling the press of Lupa against my thigh as she rubbed her body along the length of my leg to comfort me.

“It means he is you, and you are him.”

I didn’t want to be that close to anyone, let alone my biological father that I did not know. It made me uncomfortable, at best.

“The magic you possess is his gift to you. A piece of himself that he has not given to any other,” Nemain said quickly, spitting out the words before the binding could stop her. She gasped, raising her hand to clutch her throat as the magic sealed itself around it. It appeared in golden threads, tightening like a noose as she fought for breath.

They wrapped around her throat twice as I flung myself from Fenrir’s back, striding to her on steady feet as she dropped to her knees. Badb and Macha stared on helplessly, and I realized that they knew what was happening, even if they likely couldn’tseeit. Badb’s hand twitched at her side, as if involuntarily because she wanted to interfere, but could do nothing to stop what was happening to her sister.

“Don’t,” Macha warned when I reached out to grasp the threads. “You gave your magic to Tartarus. It isn’t there, and you cannot help her until you have it back.”

The threads sank into Nemain’s skin as Macha grabbed my hand, pulling me back and keeping me from attempting to interfere. The skin beneath Nemain’s eyes became dotted with red as her blood vessels burst, her mouth opening wide even though she could not inhale any air. Blood welled from the wounds the threads made on her throat, trailing down her neck as the shimmering faded into her.

She drew in a deep, sudden breath finally as they vanished completely. Her stare remained fixed on the ground as she closed her mouth, a tiny whimper escaping as she pushed to her feet. To see one of the three parts of the Morrigan so vulnerable made something inside me clench with fury.

Such a foolish game the Primordials played for something as mundane as secrets. What kind of person was my father ifthiswas the kind of punishment he gave out over such a minor infraction?

“Nemain?” I asked, wincing when she turned her stare to me. Her eyes seemed to bleed, the whites tinted with pink from her struggle. She nodded silently, touching the front of her throat as she opened her mouth. Her lips moved as if she was speaking, but there was no sound as she grasped the wounds that had taken something from her.

Taken her voice, I realized.

“Why are you giving me answers? Why are you risking punishment like this to help me?” I asked, turning to Badb with the question Nemain couldn’t answer for herself.

She paused, hesitating for a moment before sighing. “Knowledge is power and not all here would see you stumble in the dark,” she said, turning to Macha.

The two exchanged a careful look, before Macha decided to elaborate. “Everyone has their own motives, and you would be a fool to forget that. Everyone will use you to their own advantage, especially here. You are the tides, constantly shifting. We wouldallguide you in a direction that serves us. We were merely the ones fortunate enough to be tasked with it.”

Badb continued, her face twisting into a smirk. “In helping you, we help ourselves and our own destinies, Child of Fate,” she said. The harsh reminder settled into my gut, stern and stark. There were no friends here, only allies who would turn the moment it benefited them.

“We need to keep moving,” I said, striding forward to continue on the path we’d set to find our way to the first river. I would not lose more time to wallowing in the suffering of another, not when I was merely a tool for them. The Morrigan followed at my heels as Fenrir nudged my back, lowering himself so that I could climb on. With everything I’d thought I’d known torn to shreds, I swung my leg over his back and allowed him to carry me—for just a little while.

If that was what happened for daring to speak, I shuddered to think of what Khaos would require of me to prove myself. Without magic, was I even worth anything at all?

Fenrir remained silent as we walked, leaving me to my thoughts. I could feel the distinct presence in my mind, as if he was too uncertain about my mental state to truly leave me be. I couldn’t shake the memory of Nemain’s throat closing, often finding myself touching my own as if he would punish me for the same if I spoke ill of him.

I hadn’t gotten the impression of cruelty on the few occasions I’d met with him in the Void, and I couldn’t seem to reconcile the heartless male who was capable of such things with the one who had come to my rescue when I’d taken too much magic.

From him.

I didn’t dare to ask about my mother out of fear that a similar fate awaited Badb and Macha if they so much as uttered a word. As difficult as they might have been at times, and as distant and otherworldly as they seemed, I couldn’t help but enjoy their company in spite of their assertions that I was a tool.

In truth, their and the Cwn Annwn’s presence was the only thing keeping me sane. When my entire world was crumbling at my feet and I couldn’t turn to my mate, they kept me feeling grounded in what I needed to do.

---