Ghost Light

I’d learned a lot from Kaye, but I still had unanswered questions.  Other than my guess that she sought revenge, I had no idea what Melusine was doing in Harborsmouth.  That was something I needed to find out, preferably before she made her next move.  I also needed to warn her ex-husband that she was in town.

Ceff wasn’t going to be happy.  Melusine had murdered his infant child and tricked him into the execution of his eldest son, leaving Ceff, and his kingdom, with no heir to the throne.  Those were his most painful memories and by warning Ceff of Melusine’s return, I’d be casting him into the darkness of those times.  Melusine was hurting Ceff with her very presence here.

My hands rubbed at the knives hidden beneath my jacket.  I wanted to make her pay for what she’d done to Ceff.  I’d lived through those memories myself when I’d touched his bridle.  I knew how the death of his sons had nearly destroyed him.

I shook my head and pulled my hands from my knives.  I wouldn’t lose myself to revenge, not like Melusine.  Melusine was selfish and evil.  I was nothing like her.  But if she tried to harm the ones I cared about, I’d be happy to try out some of the moves Jenna had been drilling into me.

I continued to walk, boots nearly silent on bricks and cobbles.  My fae heritage may be a liability, especially if I didn’t learn to create a glamour, but I was beginning to discover a few beneficial talents.  My second sight and psychometry had emerged during childhood, but my improved night vision, increased agility, and ability to move silently were new.  What other changes did my fae blood have in store?

My thoughts turned to my father.  I had few memories of my him, due to a spell he’d cast over my mind before he left us.  According to Kaye, it was a powerful spell.  It had caused me to forget my own father, but now memories were breaking through—and so were my powers.  Had he meant to keep my wisp abilities safely hidden away until I was an adult?  What had he thought would happen when the spell broke?  Who would teach me to use and control my new abilities?

Would he come for me?  That thought scared me most of all.  Since my memories emerged, I’d held onto the hate I felt for my father.  He’d abandoned me and my mother and left me ignorant and defenseless.  Now I had to find him because he had the information I needed to survive, but I didn’t expect a happy family reunion.  A piece of me wished for my father to rush in to save the day with a story of how his leaving was to protect my mother and me from some form of evil, but that was a child’s wish, foolish and naïve.  It was more likely that the wisp king had grown tired of his mortal wife and child.  He’d probably ditched us for someone shiny and new.  It was best not to get my hopes up.

But no matter my abandonment issues, I did need to find the wisp king.  And my best chance for that was talking to the cat sidhe, Sir Torn.  Too bad that meant entering Club Nexus—and being outed as a faerie princess.

Becoming a fae leader?  Not on my bucket list.

If I accepted my role as wisp princess, I would also have to acknowledge my alignment in the world of faerie politics.  Wisps, like kelpies, were members of the Unseelie court.  Ceff had insisted that one’s court did not dictate all of one’s actions.  He believed in free will, but I was less optimistic.  Unlike Ceff, I did not have loyal guards and a royal entourage to back me up should I ruffle some feathers.

Walking through the doors of Club Nexus could change everything.  It would mean acknowledging my royal responsibilities and my allegiance to the dark.

It was too much to think about, but, thank Mab, at least I didn’t have to act tonight.  Tomorrow or the next day, but not tonight.  Maybe I could find another way to locate my father before then.  I drew in a steadying breath and let the tension melt from my neck and shoulders.

While inside The Emporium I’d begun to worry that I was coming down with something. My body had flashed hot and feverish, as if my skin were too tight and about to burst into flame.  But now, with the cool air from the harbor on my face, the heat bled from my skin.  I took a deep breath and looked up at the night sky.  Ceff was right.  It was soothing for Unseelie fae to walk beneath the stars.

Ceff.  My feet had carried me to the harbor.  The fog which had shrouded the city had dissipated, crawling back into the dark places from which it had sprung.  Stars danced on the water and the moon left a sparkling trail leading out into the ocean.  Too bad I couldn’t place my feet upon the moonlit path and simply walk to Ceff’s domain.

I let out a sigh.  I wasn’t used to having someone to care about other than Jinx, but Ceffyl Dŵr, king of the local kelpies, had strode into my life and stolen my heart.  I sometimes wonder how Ceff snuck past the walls I’d spent a lifetime constructing.  It may have been how unguarded he was at the time.  I never saw him as a viable threat.