Page 3 of Fates of Monsters

Too many questions. “We keep ourselves hidden.” Lying to them when they are just trying to help feels wrong, but telling her that I’m from another world might not exactly go down well.

“Well, why—” She pauses as she stares at my eyes for a long time. Too long. I start to realize she might be suspicious about who I am. Louie always said people in the Rift would know me, and I forgot that until right now. Fuck, we might be in more trouble. “Fenrith, come here. Look at her eyes.”

My hand grips tightly around the sword as the man comes over, and when he sees my eyes, he immediately drops to his knees and bows his head. “You’re a descendant of the goddess. It is an honor to meet you and be here to help.” His head stays completely bowed. The female does the same, bowing her head low, but she doesn’t kneel in the mud. I’m too shocked to say anything. “We are your servants.”

“Please get out of the mud,” I begin, looking at Emerson, who raises an eyebrow.

He smirks, and even when he looks terribly injured, he is gorgeous when he smiles. “I’ve always been a fan of bowing for you, Doe, but I didn’t know there were others doing the same.”

I roll my eyes at him and turn back to them. “No bowing, and how did you know that I’m a descendant of the goddess?”

Emerson’s eyes widen and his mouth parts, the only sign I’ve surprised him at all. I have a long story to explain to him when we are safe.

“Your eyes,” the female softly tells me, her cheeks bright red. “Your kind are nothing but stories told here and there, but you are royalty to us. There are a few of your family that live in the protection of the veil, but they don’t come here. I’m confused about why you’re here. Did you come to help us?”

The veil. I’ve heard that before. “It’s a long story, but I don’t know how I can help you.” I look down at Emerson. “But we need a healer. Can you help us?”

“It would be an honor,” Fenrith comments, taking a step closer to me, and Emerson growls at him. He steps back.

“What’s your name? My name is Calliophe, and this is Emerson,” I introduce us with a glare at Emerson. We need help, and his possessiveness might make them run away.

“Fenrith and I’m Dollisa.” She looks at her husband. “We should get the door off the back and slide him onto to it before carrying him.”

Fenrith quickly gets to work on the door. It takes all three of us to get Emerson on the board and carry him into the back of their carriage, with Emerson watching them like enemies the entire time. Fenrith heads to the front of the cart to ready the horses, and Dollisa stays in the back with me. Emerson has passed out from blood loss, and I touch his cheek, hating how cold he feels. He must have fought to stay awake. I lug his sword to his side.

“What is he? Your mate?” Dollisa questions after the cart has been moving a while.

It’s so cold that my breaths come out in puffs of smoke, and I curl closer to Emerson. “Wyern.”

The world is silent as she looks at me. “You’re not from here, are you? This world, I mean. You talk very strangely.”

“No, I’m not. I’d prefer if we kept that between each other. I just need to find a healer, and then I’ll be leaving.” I pause. The veil. I remember where I heard it before. With the goddess and part of her visions, she showed me a veil hiding a sword. I have to go there and find the sword, and maybe find some answers to how I even got here. Maybe the powers of the crown wanted me to find the sword if that’s even possible. Another quiet thought trickles into the back of my mind. They said descendants live here. Maybe it’s my parents. Hope burns brightly in my chest, even when I know I shouldn’t feed those flames. They could be dead for all I know, but there is a chance. A slight chance. “The veil. I need to get there. Could you give me directions from the city?”

“Yes, it’s not too far from here,” she explains. “I’ll stay around until your mate is better so I can guide you along.” Dollisa looks out of the open back of the cart where the door used to be. “We weren’t coming this way. It’s a little farther out from the road but, last night, I woke up in a cold sweat with this overwhelming urge to take the far road back to the city. Fenrith trusts my instincts, and now I believe the goddess led me this way to help you. I feel very blessed.”

My skin prickles. “I think you weren’t the only one led here.” The goddess must have left a spell or something on the crown to lead me here when it was used. It’s the only thing that makes sense. She hid the crowns here so the elemental gods couldn’t get them, and it makes sense she hid the sword here too. That’s why Louie had to be taken to this world for the crowns to work. The sword has to be here too, and I hope it’s for me. I can’t go back to fight Louie like this.

“When you leave for the veil, you can take our carriage and horses. We don’t need them once we’re in the city, and the horses are old. We were going to let them go free,” she offers.

“I can’t—”

She holds her hand up. “You can and will, Calliophe. We’re staying with our family in the city, and they will happily share some supplies for you. The healer will only be able to do so much for your mate, and it will take some time for his natural healing to kick in while he sleeps this off.” She frowns at me. “You should cover up those fae ears and hair, and your eyes, when we’re in the city. There’ll be too many questions already, and people there… not all of them are kind. Most are starving and desperate.” She pulls out a bag and gives me a thick black hooded cloak.

I take the cloak. She even gets out a blanket and covers up Emerson to stop him from shivering. Maybe she knew I was about to put the cloak over him instead. “Thank you. Why are you helping me so much?”

Dollisa smiles slightly. “People in this world were told that the goddess would come back one day and that she would save us all. But we knew that the goddess was gone and magic left this world with her. We always hoped one of her descendants would come back and bring magic back to us. Save us. This world is dying.” Her eyes darken. “Most of us are starving. Food doesn’t grow here. Not much anymore. Many of us have died.” She sucks in a breath. It’s only now I notice how thin her dark-skinned frame is. “There used to be twenty rich, amazing cities around this world, but there are only four left. They’re in terrible states, and any magic left is tiny, useless.” Dollisa looks right into my eyes. “I’m helping you because, I guess if you’re not from here, perhaps you’ll look back at two strangers who helped you in the mud and take us somewhere better than here.”

“My world isn’t dying… not yet,” I whispered. “It is at war, and I don’t know how I got myself here, but if I can open portals, it means that I should be able to get others to my world. I was born here, in the Rift, so I’ve always been between two worlds. I think more than I ever knew.” Five times I’ve been reborn, taking power from the Rift. “Can you tell me everything you know about the Rift and the veil?”

The ride takes several hours to get into the city, and the rickety cart somehow manages to stay together. The healer knew Fenrith well and didn’t ask too many questions, even when she saw me and Emerson. The healer only said a prayer to the goddess before healing Emerson in the cart so we didn’t have to move him. She asked several questions about what he is, but she covered all of his scars in a thick paste and claimed it would somehow speed up his healing. She set his wings with sickening cracks, which woke him up with roars. I held him down and told him it would be okay, even as she fixed his broken legs next.

Dollisa drops a bag into the back next to Emerson and nods at me once as I climb into the seat, looking in the direction of the veil as I grab the reins. The horses’ neighs fill the silent world. “Good luck, Calliophe. May the goddess ride with you to the veil, and be careful. Not everyone is welcome in the veil, and many do not come back. Ever.”

ChapterThree

Ijump out of my skin as someone lands right next to me on the flat rock. “Emerson!”

Emerson grabs my chin and kisses me, his lips feverishly pressing against my own. I gasp, letting him deepen the kiss, and I sink into him, relaxing into his arms. Emerson pulls back, and he frowns, looking me over for any injuries, I suspect. I do the same to him, and thankfully, it looks like his wings are fine now and his legs, too. He also doesn’t look so pale now. “How long have I been asleep? Are you well?” He sits straight up, blinking into the dim darkness of the night, but he doesn’t stop holding me. I’m glad he doesn’t. I don’t want him to ever stop holding me. Emerson looks around, back at the horses tied to a dead tree and the rock shade where I left the cart. He was asleep when I last checked on him and grabbed some food. I just found somewhere relatively safe, a big rock that hides us well under it, to stop the cart and let the horses have a drink.

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