Page 119 of Chaos and Destiny
We crept up the steps. I looked to the floor below my feet and gripped the banister tighter. The glass was so clean we could have been walking on air.
“Hello, dears,” a sweet voice said from the top of the stairs. “Welcome.” A slender female with a pressed apron and perfectly pinned hair beamed. The fur covering her long ears twitched as she waited for us to say more.
“The Weaver sent us,” I said as we made it to the top. “We seek Alavon.”
“Of course,” she said, smiling. “How else would you have found us?”
“Right.”
“He’s right this way.”
The loft was full of glass items, and the glassmaker’s mate touched nearly every piece she could as she guided us to him.
“They’re here,” she said in a high-pitched voice.
We stared at the back of a lanky male with long blonde hair and pale skin.
“Thank you, my dove.” He turned to look at us, his eyebrows as bushy as his wife’s ears. “Tea would be wonderful,” he said as if answering an unasked question.
“My name is Temir, and this is Gaea. We’ve come to ask a favor.”
“A favor from strangers is quite a bold statement.” He pulled out a seat.
We sat across from him in glass chairs.
“My mate has had a visitor who told her you would come. A persistent old female, I must say.”
“So, she’s been here as well.” I pictured the old crone stamping her staff around the glass like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“She has. I will help you if you will do something for me in return,” he said.
“Name it.”
“First, show me what you’d like me to replicate.” His eyes were too eager, but I had no choice.
“I’d actually like to ask for two things, if it’s possible.” I carefully pulled the adda from my bag, and that familiar power coursed through me. Setting it on top of the table between us, I watched his eyes double in size as he sucked in a breath. “It is quite remarkable, is it not?”
He reached for the flower.
I pulled it away before he could touch it. I did not want to share the secret of its power. “The flower is dying. I can heal it, but its life will only fade again. I would ask that you not only replicate the flower as perfectly as you are able, but I need a glass case for it that can hold my magic to heal the flower as needed. It is the only way.”
“Yes,” he breathed. His fingers twitched at his side as the pull of the flower drew him in.
“And your task?” I lifted the flower and placed it back in my bag.
“Forgive me.” He shook his head. “It is quite powerful. I ask in return that you examine my mate. We have been trying for over three hundred years to conceive a child and have yet to be successful. Twice she has lost a babe in her womb.” Raw, painful emotion swarmed him like the sea as he swept his hair back and tried to hide those feelings.
“This is a fate that all fae have, Alavon. I am afraid I may not be able to help. However, I would be more than happy to take a look.”
“The old female has told us that you will find a way. She said that it would be unconventional, but we wish for a child so badly, we will do whatever it takes.”
I nodded, fully understanding what my role would be. “Tell us about your life here, Alavon. If you would. It might be helpful.”
“It’s just the two of us. We spend most of our time here in the barn or working for the rebellion. We have plenty to offer a child, and as you saw, my Eliana is the kindest, sweetest soul.” He smiled as he thought of her, and I longed for that level of companionship.
“Can you give us a moment, Alavon?”
“Take the time you need.” He stood, paused for a moment and then stepped away.
