16. valerie

The snow was falling heavily that day.

Even Alastair, with all her heat, wore a thick black shawl over her dark red blouse and black pants. Like all shirts made for fae, the shawl buttoned in the back and had slits where her wings fit perfectly. Nyx couldn't see this, though, because Al made her walk ahead of her as they journeyed to the human village. She stayed close, for the snow was so heavy that there was hardly any visibility for more than two feet ahead.

Of course, Al had flown them for most of the way, until the falling snow became so thick that she could hardly see the ground below. So they walked a mile or so until they finally reached that small cottage just below the hill.

Once they came close, Nyx could hardly contain her excitement and began running towards the cottage with smoke coming out of the chimney.

Al jogged, keeping close as the girl reached the cottage and swung the door open.

Nyx was met with warmth and the familiar smell of her home, nostalgia sinking into her. She hadn't been away for too terribly long, but it was long enough to make her feel painfully disconnected.

"Mother?!" she called, a grin on her face as she stepped in, not seeing her mother in sight. A sound was heard from her mother's bedroom, and Valerie rushed around the corner of the fireplace and into the kitchen upon hearing Nyx's voice.

They both froze once their eyes connected. Valerie, with her gentle eyes, looked older than Nyx remembered. Her light brown hair had grayed even more, and there were visible wrinkles on her face that she had never noticed before. Her eyes were pink and swollen, and the memory of tears stained her soft cheeks. She was wearing her navy blue dress with her thick gray scarf hung over her shoulders. Her hands were visibly shaking.

"Nyx," Valerie whispered, her lips trembling as they parted. She looked the girl up and down, blinking hard so that she would wake up from the dream she believed herself to be in. But seeing Nyx's golden brown eyes so clear and the hesitant smile on her face made her realize that she was really standing there before her. "Oh, my God."

The mother rushed across the room and grabbed her daughter, holding her to herself tightly. Nyx latched her arms around Valerie and buried her face into her scarf, inhaling her comforting scent and squeezing her close.

"Oh, my God," Valerie breathed, holding her hand against the back of Nyx's golden head. "Nyx... I thought..."

A dark figure appeared in the open doorway, and Valerie's eyes widened as she quickly released Nyx. Nyx turned in response and watched Alastair gently stepping through the doorway, turning to the side so that her wings could fit through the space not specifically built for fae. Her eyes were trained solely on Valerie's.

The human woman gasped as she recognized Alastair, not having seen her in more than eighteen years. "Alastair?"

Al straightened and closed the door softly so that the cold would not seep in. Out of habit, she rustled her wings to get the snow off, but she realized that she sent melting snow onto the wooden floor. "Oh—sorry," she awkwardly mumbled, and Nyx was shocked to see the trace of blush on the fae's face.

Her hand still on Nyx's arm, Valerie stepped past the girl and up to the taller fae. "Alastair... I thought..." Again, she failed to express her thoughts, instead giving the warm fae a sudden hug that startled her.

Looking at Nyx unsurely and with her arms stiffly extended, Alastair watched Nyx nod reassuringly before loosely wrapping her arms around Valerie. "Hello, Val."

Valerie released the fae and stepped back, still in slight awe at seeing a fae up close for the first time in years. She clasped her hands together nervously. "It's been so long," she said gently before turning to Nyx, the look of surprise again refilling her irises. "Nyx..." She grabbed her daughter by the arms and searched her face. "I thought you were gone forever. That day, when you ran out, I saw her. I saw—"

"Eira," Nyx finished her sentence.

Valerie's eyes widened, and she hesitantly nodded. "I saw her flying towards you. I wanted to run after you, but I... I'm so sorry that I didn't." Her eyes filled with tears.

"Mother," Nyx shushed, taking her face softly in her hands. "I'm glad you didn't run after me. You could have gotten killed."

"You could have gotten killed," Valerie pressed. "Did she hurt you? How did you get away? Where have you been?!"

Nyx removed her hands from Valerie's face and looked over to Alastair who, dressed in all dark colors with her demon eyes glinting, stood awkwardly at the door of the cottage, looking around the humble abode.

"Al saved me."

The fae's ears perked, eyes returning to the girl sheepishly.

"I've been with Al these past weeks, with her and the other fae," Nyx continued.

Valerie gasped and looked over at fae. "Others? There's others?"

Al nodded, stepping forward. "We've rebanded over the years. We have a hiding spot just a few miles away, in the mountains."

The woman chewed her lip. "I thought there was no one else. No one but Eira and her people."

"There's not many of us," Al continued, holding her hands behind her back. "There are a handful of earths and airs, but as for the rest of us... We are the last of our lines, as far as we know."

Valerie's eyes filled with sadness. "And Caspian? Is he..."

"Alive and well," Al smiled.

Valerie sighed in relief and nodded, pausing to look at Nyx for a moment before gesturing towards the table. "Please, sit. Do you want something to eat? Tea?" Both women politely declined the offer as they sat down at the table.

Nyx sat on the side of the table closest to the fireplace while Al took a seat across from her. The chair was a little too small for her wings to rest comfortably, so she sat upright and leaned forward with her elbows on the table. Val sat next to Nyx and took her hands in hers.

"I'm assuming..." Val began slowly, "You probably are looking for some sort of explanation as to why I hid this all from you."

Remembering that part of the situation, Nyx's jaw tightened. "I know now it was because you wanted to protect me, but I cannot help but wish I had been raised on truth instead of lies."

Valerie lowered her head and nodded. "I know. I know. After everything, after what happened... I wanted to stay far from the Fae world. I wanted you to be far from it. I knew that Eira would be after you no matter what, but I foolishly thought that maybe if I kept you ignorant of it all, you would be safer. That was foolish—so foolish of me."

"You did what you had to do," Alastair calmly spoke. "What mother would tell their child that they were on a kill list for their entire life?"

"An honest one," Valerie argued with a weak smile. "You are right, Al, but I did lie to you, Nyx. Your entire life."

Nyx looked at the table thoughtfully. "Why did you not at least tell me about my father?"

Valerie's eyes hardened as she remembered Nikolaus. She wiped her nose and a stray tear that had fallen with her sleeve. "I should have. I should have told you how brave he was, how much he loved you before you were even born—"

"How he was Fae," Nyx interrupted her. "How I'm half-Fae."

"You are not," Valerie corrected. "Look at you, you're perfectly human. Nikolaus told me that you could either be one way or another."

"She still has Fae blood, Valerie," Alastair interjected. "In terms of power, she is human—but she has Fae blood, and more importantly, she is Nikolaus' daughter and heir to the throne."

Valerie's eyes widened. "Yes, but there is no throne to be an heir to," she scoffed.

"There is a throne, but it's being ruled by a cruel, evil witch," Al bitterly spoke. "And we plan to take it from her and give it to Nyx who rightfully owns it."

"No!" Valerie yelled, making Al stiffen and lower her eyes. "No, she does not. There is no way in hell or earth you are going to use my daughter as some sort of blackmail to Eira. Do not get me wrong, Al, I still feel that bad blood and oh, does it run deeply in me. But it is not worth sacrificing the only person I have left... my only daughter, for God's sake."

"You can't keep running away from it, Mother!" Nyx exclaimed, causing both Val and Al to look at her in shock. "You can't keep me away from all of this like you have been my whole life. I am already in it. I have met these Fae people, and I love them."

Al's eyes twinkled softly at her words, lips parting. She was unaware that Nyx had felt so strongly about it all, and in fact she had believed that Nyx did not want to be a part of it at all until that moment.

"They need me, and quite frankly, I need them. They are the ones who have kept us safe all these years!"

Valerie's eyes creased. "What?"

"Come on, mother. I missed all the hints due to being a child, but did you really think that Eira would have stayed away for a whole eighteen years? Do you really think that food just magically showed up on our doorstep when we needed it most?" She paused to catch her breath, regaining her composure.

Valerie looked over at Al in shock. "Is this true?"

Alastair slowly nodded.

"I am going back with Al when we leave here," Nyx continued. "The Fae people have suffered so much, and if I can help them end Eira's reign of terror in any way, then by God, I will. I am."

Valerie looked at her for a moment thoughtfully, and something in her eyes sparkled. A small smile etched the corner of her lips. "Have I ever told you that you remind me so much of your father?" Nyx looked at her, the stubbornness leaving her and softening her features. "Not only are you stubborn and relentless just like him, but you are his spitting image. Golden eyes and golden hair. He was like a prince, and you a princess."

"Healers have gold characteristics," Al explained. "Maybe you look like him because of your genes, or maybe it's the healer blood in you."

"Fae or human, I am fighting with them, Mother," Nyx pressed, taking Valerie's hands and squeezing them.

Valerie looked at her daughter, so full of light and life, her little shining angel. Valerie had worked hard on healing herself for the past eighteen years. It was lonely, being a single mother, but Nyx was what kept her pushing forward. Nyx and that beautiful smile of hers were what healed the trauma and pain that she had been born into.

Even if she was fully human, Nyx had the ability to heal with just her presence.

♔

The large fire pit in the center of all the cottages was alit. Erlin threw a few more chunks of wood into it, shrieking and jumping away when embers threatened the spikes in his hair.

It was after dinner, and everyone was gathered outside around the fire. Erlin had also cleared the snow away and set out logs for everyone to sit on.

"Give me that back, or by my troth I will string you up and feed you to the stray cats!" yelled an earth fae of about sixteen. He was tall and lanky with shaggy red hair that was almost as bright as the fire. His eyes, an earthly green, twinkled with frustration as another earth fae held up a weathered book that was apparently the redhead's diary.

"I bet the cats would like to hear what's on the third page!" the other fae exclaimed.

Nyx, who sat alone on a log holding a cup of warm tea, watched the two banter back and forth. The girl who held up the boy's diary looked eerily similar to him in terms of facial structure, but her hair was a short, reddish brown that curled behind her ears and came down in bangs over her brown eyes. Her brown and forest green wings were spread outwards.

"Terra, please give it back!" the boy pleaded, making another reach for it. The girl jumped away, and the boy tripped over a log, rustling a pair of air fae who were sitting peacefully at it. His brown wings with hints of ginger fluttered as he caught his balance.

"I love watching the youngsters," said a deep voice behind Nyx. She jumped and looked behind her, eyes travelling up a tall, thin figure with grey robes and a long grey beard that blended in with them. Aerwyn sat down beside her on the log, sighing before taking a sip of his own cup of tea.

"They're quite cheerful," Nyx quietly commented, feeling a bit nervous around the fae with whom she hadn't directly interacted with alone. "Considering..."

"Oh, yes, they are. It's inspiring—the joy of youth, especially during these long, dark times we've lived in." He watched as the two fae began chasing each other around the circle of logs. "That's Cashel and Terra, two out of the five Earthlings."

"Earthlings?" Nyx echoed questioningly, wondering if that was some special term she was yet to be heard of.

"They're a group of five siblings, all earth fae. They came from two earth parents who were very well-regarded in the kingdom back before the invasion. They are a set of triplets and a pair of twins." He pointed to the boy with red hair and pointed him out as Cashel, then explained that the girl keeping his diary away from him was Terra. His finger then pointed to another earth fae of the same age who was sitting alone on a log, his nose buried in his book. "That's Dion, the quieter of the triplets." The pale boy had dark, curly brown hair and bright green eyes that resembled Cashel's. His chestnut brown wings nestled close to him. The triplets all seemed to be around sixteen.

"And the twins?" Nyx asked.

"Oh, yes." Aerwyn looked around, swaying his cup of tea and nearly spilling it until he caught sight of the twins playing in the dirt outside of the circle. "Flora and Fauna."

Nyx looked in the direction of his wrinkly finger and saw two little fae girls, nearly eleven or twelve years old, sitting across from each other, drawing circles in the dirt. They looked completely identical, both with bright red hair kept in pigtails, except that one's eyes were green like Cashel's and Dion's, and the other's were brown like Terra's.

"What happened to their parents?" Nyx questioned, wondering how five siblings all ended up as orphans.

"They were captured by ice fae shortly after the twins were born," Aerwyn solemnly explained. "Since they were important figures in Nikolaus' Kingdom, Eira kept them and tortured them before she killed them. Ilmari and I were with them when it happened, and we took them in until we all found each other. We call them the Earthlings as a joke." He chuckled and looked down at his half-empty cup of tea.

Nyx hadn't had many chances to look around at the earth and air fae. She noticed that, while there were a handful of adults, most of them were children or young adults who had been children when the invasion happened.

Aerwyn seemed to read her thoughts. "We've lots of orphans." He pointed over to where Ilmari sat with two other air fae. "Myrsky and Nuit. Their parents were the same as the Earthlings'." He pointed to an air fae who was sitting next to Abitha. "Cielo. She witnessed it firsthand, unfortunately. They were speared right in front of her, and she was alone for several months before we found her."

"That's horrible," Nyx breathed, her cup of tea having gone cold. "Is there any estimate on just how many people Eira has killed?"

Aerwyn shrugged and sighed, looking up at the starry sky. "We don't know who escaped but just hasn't been found yet. We think maybe there are a few other camps like us, where Fae have banded together but did so much farther away than we did. We don't know if Eira kills every one on the spot or holds them in her dungeon. From what we know, she has killed enough to almost eliminate all non-ice fae. Thousands. Several thousands over the last eighteen years."

Nyx closed her eyes as the grief passed through her. "I'm so sorry."

The old fae looked at her. "Don't you be sorry, Nyx. Sorrow kills the soul." He nudged her with his arm before smiling and standing up, walking over to Ilmari who was chatting with Myrsky and Nuit, the young fae's face still hardened with the loss of his friend.

The flapping of wings overhead caught Nyx's attention. She looked up to see who it was, but it was hard to see because of how dark it was. Another flying figure came after, and then another, the three circling slowly around the camp. Squinting, she tried to make out the color of the wings to see if she could recognize the fae by that factor.

It was when she realized all those wings were white that her eyes widened.