Page 52 of Within the Veil

Hudson

5/6 weeks 5 days left until birth ( 13 weeks Pregnant)

We spent two days after our initial meeting with the Council, hammering out the details for Oberon, or rather, for his spies, to get eyes and ears at the court of the Unseelie Queen, the real one anyway, to drop off a missive and find out a way to work together. Or rather, find a way to trick her into working with us if all else fails. As long as the result is the same, a tentative unity to destroy Nici, I didn't care how we made it work.

"You know, I wonder if Celene is going to be a handful. I'm getting tired of handfuls. I just want to wake up in a land of cupcakes, foot rubs, and great sex," I sigh, laying myself down on the couch, my brain fried.

"Now great sex is something I can help with," Grayson kneels down and grabs my face, sweeping his tongue into my mouth with a deep groan.

With my panties now soaked, I tangle my hands into his hair pushing myself closer to him.

The door slams open and we look up as Zane comes through the door, Shea on his heels.

"Fuck my life," I groan.

Mentally, I summon everyone to the house and turn my attention to Shea, who looks decidedly uncomfortable.

Why do I have a feeling that instead of me being Grayson's lunch, I'm going to be served a fucking meal of bullshit?

Grayson chuckles,because your life stopped being predictable a long time ago, if it ever truly was.

I sigh,fuck you for being right.

* * *

Shea

Roughly 21 years ago

I abhor the mortal realm. Even more so since it brought me my life's one true love, and together, we created my second. That should have resulted in a happy ending; instead, my presence had driven her mad and made her into a raging alcoholic who ignored the needs of her own child. Fortunately, the actual husband cares for Hudson as if she is his own, although he would have no reason to suspect otherwise. Even still, I begged her to come with me to Faerie, I could have hidden her. But she chose to stay in the mortal realm. For days I stuck around to catch glimpses of Hudson. But it was getting too dangerous now, I had to stop to avoid suspicion.

I growl as I step through the dense forest, almost reaching my destination, but I can't stop my errant thoughts. She chose to drown her broken heart for the past week in drink when I could have taken care of both of them. At great risk to myself with my current predicament, but it would have been worth it. The truth is, I am being selfish. I know Hudson couldn't be in Faerie. But I have been so unselfish for so long, I wanted to know what it felt like just to want and get.

I clear my thoughts as I break through the Veil, closest to the Magick Counsel of Darnica. Here, they still referred to their users as elementals instead of just magic users. But it worked, I supposed. That is what they did, manipulate elements, after all.

"My liege, it is so good for you to grace us with your presence," a man with the surname of Elimentis, bows deeply. I never bothered to learn their full names, but there was something special about this one. He is mated but stricken with the inability to have a child, their greatest wish. That is something the Fae knew well, as we also struggled with infertility. However, that is more so the balance, that inability to create. A world overrun with Fae wouldn't be a world at all; it would be mayhem.

With Elimentis, his heart is pure. Mate bonds with magic holders are as rare, and they are beautiful--a true melding of powers and life forces. Able to use each other's powers to some degree, like the Fae. It was one of the characteristics passed on to them from our blood. Interesting how so many different variations of humans, abilities, and creatures all derive from the Fae. All similar and yet vastly different.

I shake my head internally and focus on the matter at hand. It is a convenient time to be in the mortal realm. Times are shifting and it is like seeing history unfold in real time. As a whole, the magick communities are advanced, it's people having the capabilities for intelligence that is vastly superior to that of their human counterparts. However, just because they are capable of high levels of intelligence, it doesn't mean they utilized that capability.

Some Magick communities over time expanded and grew-- their leaders understanding that magic is a gift, not a right. Those communities honed their magic with practice, and in time they built a comprehensive society where they applied their knowledge of magic and physical training to make their people strong against those who would wish to do the community harm. Not only do they protect one another, but everyone is treated with respect and held to the same standards as there is everyone was expected to be at the peak of their powers. Of course, there were political squabbles, but their foundation never wavered.

However, there were communities, like Darnica, where the leaders saw Magick as an opportunity to grow powerful and leave those they deemed weaker behind. They forced reclusivity, binding their people to the larger world around them, diving them by class, power, and abilities. While all magick users have the ability to hone their magic, years of oppression and lies served to blind and brainwash them all. These leaders, then created a militia of sorts to keep their populace dependent on them as a whole, rather than on their independent powers. It is quite a shame to lay witness to such greed.

Fortunately, Hudson will be growing up in a community that valued its populace. Unfortunately for Darnica, their moral compass made them easy prey for the Dark Fae's influence. Which is why my current mission, brings me here. Because in Darnika, their lack of regard for their people, coupled with the leaders' thirst for power, clouded their ability to see the value in a world where everyone is strong; weakening them as a whole. As such, even their soldiers were hand-chosen and trained just enough to keep their populace under control, another weakness. As if that were not enough, their greatest failure? Were various leaders who thought that the Usurper Unseelie Queen had their best interest at heart. It was convoluted thinking, but it certainly had its merits--like granting me the ability to get closer to the Imposter Queen.

For several years now, I have been tasked as an infiltrator. As such, I work with Nici as her envoy to Magick communities like this one, who are blinded by their thirst for power and crippled by their inability to think for themselves. It is unfortunate those residing in these communities have been so indoctrinated that they blindly follow a Council that blatantly keeps them all under their thumb.

It is a precarious balance, crossing the Veil into the magick world, reporting back to Kalen and the Council, and still ensuring that Nici has no idea of my dishonesty. In truth, life kept showing me exactly why Hudson's mother rejecting my request is for the best. While Icouldbe a father, a husband--as, unfortunately, her mother and I were not fated-- and an infiltrator, it would be at a much greater risk, not only for myself but for my child and wife as well. My selfishness would not be worth their lives.

My task in Darnica specifically? I have to convince the Magick Council to support Nici in her pointless war. To do that, I had to sow the seeds of discord, castingjust enoughdoubt to have the smarter members questioning the entire plot. It is exhausting-- creating anarchy within anarchy without revealing my intentions to either Nici or the Council as a whole. So I always chose someone who was able to be my eyes and ears and cause enough dissent to delay prudent decisions. And so far, the ones I knew that had it in them were the Elimentis, and I had the perfect plan to get it started.

"No need for such formalities, Eli, were you able to start gathering information on what I asked?"

"Yes Prince, we have been collecting babies with strong familial ties to magic and bringing them into the mortal realm, claiming them as kidnapped," he hesitated, "but Prince, surely there is another way to rally the magic users into a war against the prophesized unveiled Queen in your Realm. So many families are distraught."

I sigh. He is right, there really should be a better way, but nothing angers people more than kidnappers and missing children. I hated it with every fiber of my being, Children are precious to the Fae, considering our women were not always able to procreate, but I have a role to play. These "lost" children, as I call them, will have a greater purpose- they will be protected all their life by loving families and then granted admission to affluent magical academies where they will be magically trained with the most innovative teachers I could find, all loyal to me.

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