Series: 2nd person, extra-canon stories
You are awoken by a gasp from Alder and the presence of a stranger in the greenhouse.
She’s tall, her body mostly hidden behind a long and flowing robe the color of night. She’s staring at you with unreadable dark eyes, and as you stare back the glamour upon her flickers— one moment she has two eyes, the next four. She raises an eyebrow as you stare at her, and the movement gives you a headache.
“Nyx,” you say. Your voice is still weak from sleep; it comes out as more of a question.
She smiles faintly. It does weird things to her eyes. “Tara Erley,” she replies.
“You’re here,” a soft voice says behind you. It’s Alder, staring wide-eyed at the woman who had left him here all those months ago.
Nyx turns to him; you’ve never seen someone cross their arms and put their hands on their hips at the same time, but it certainly gets a point across.
“Alder,” she says in her cool, clear voice. “I’ve missed you, little one.”
He grins. “And whose fault is that?”
“Yours,” she says immediately.
They both laugh. You rise slowly to your feet and inch backwards, not wanting to get into the middle of whatever is about to happen.
“Are you going to free me, or are you just here to take in the view?” Alder asks.
She sighs, then snaps the fingers of her upper left hand. As you watch the air is filled with a dark haze, like smoke the same gray-blue of dusk spreading through the air around Alder. When it fades, he is free of the tree.
He tries to take a step forward— and promptly falls gracelessly to the ground. You wince and instinctively move to help him, only to freeze when Nyx glances your way.
“It’ll take a moment to get your land legs back,” Nyx says. “Do take it slowly.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” he says sourly.
She inclines her head, amused. Then she turns her dark eyes towards you.
“I hear you have been a great help to my Alder in the past few weeks,” she says softly. “May I ask why?”
You swallow hard. “I found him in here, and I couldn’t just leave him. And we— we had an agreement.”
“She took care of me, and I gave her information,” Alder says, his voice tight as he rubs the sore muscles of his legs.
“What kind of information?”
“Just what he was able to share,” you say quickly. “About the Wildwood. And… about me. About my family.”
“Hm,” she says. You can’t read her face. She is as pale and beautiful as a marble statue— and as remote. In her midnight eyes you realize you can see the faint twinkling of stars.
“Which was a good deal, so don’t you pretend it wasn’t,” Alder says. You hear him begin to climb to his feet. “She could’ve asked for a lot more. And I probably would’ve told her half of it anyway; you know I can’t keep a secret.”
She smiles faintly. “Yes, I am aware.”
Her gaze is making your skin crawl. You shift awkwardly from foot to foot. “Is there a problem, my Lady?”
“No,” Nyx says softly. “I simply find you interesting.”
You decide to be brave. “There were a few questions he could not answer that I would very much like an answer to,” you say. “About this property, and my family.”
She says nothing, so you continue. “You need this land, right? It’s important to you?”
She gives the barest nod.
“And my family owning this land— that’s also important?”
“It is important that the land is maintained properly and not developed into a human wasteland,” Nyx says. “The Erleys have proven to be very successful at doing so.”
You nod quickly. “Okay. And why is that?”
“Why does any mortal work with any fae?” Nyx tips her head in an unsettlingly reptilian movement. “It benefits them.”
“Surely your mother has taught you that,” she says. “You let us use the land, and we let you keep it. And if you wish to interact with the fae who visit, then all the better.”
“Right.” You take a deep breath. “But we aren’t just mortals, are we? We aren’t just a random family of mortals who happened to make a deal. We have fae blood.”
“What I don’t know is how much. But I think…. I think you might.”
You see her mull over whether she should tell you or not.
“Nyx,” Alder says; he’s standing right behind you; you’d been so focused on Nyx that you hadn’t heard him move. “She has upheld the bargain, and been very kind to me— like I said, our deal was nothing terrible. I think she deserves to know.”
You smile at him, and he takes your hand and squeezes it. You marvel at that— all this time, and this is your first time feeling his hand in yours.
Nyx watches you both. “What do you know of the beginning of your bloodline, Tara of Erley?”
You know the story; every Erley does.
“Our family built their home in the Erlensee without knowing what it was,” you say. “We got our name from it. As the area was settled by more people it became notorious for interactions with the fae— or with demons, ghosts, whatever settlers wanted to call the folk. One of the Erleys had the Sight, and after her generation most of us were born with it. Those of us who grew up here, anyway.”
“Do you remember her name?”
“Emma, I think,” you say. “And her brother was Ernest or something like that.”
“Engel,” Nyx says softly.
“It was a curse, you know,” Nyx says. “Or perhaps it was a curse and a boon simultaneously. It certainly has brought some mixed luck to your family. And some fae blood, as well. You all are positively drawn to the folk now.”
You and Alder glance at each other at the same time. He gives you a boyish grin.
“Did you know her?” You ask Nyx.
“Emma? Yes, I’ve met her,” she says. “A lovely woman. Stubborn.”
She says it like it’s a complement.
“So she was cursed,” you say. “And the rest of us with her.”
“Oh, you have it backwards,” Nyx says. “She cursed you.”
“Let’s just say that it was well earned,” Nyx says with a small, opaque smile. “But after she gave you all the dubious honor of the Sight, you were forever tied to us. What better family to watch over the Erlensee, and the gate at its heart, than one who can see us and our magic?”
A dubious honor. You were hard pressed to think of a better way to describe it.
“So my however-many-times-great-aunt did something to curse us all, and now we have to live here and keep an eye on things.”
“Only one of you,” Nyx points out. “Otherwise your mother never would’ve been able to cross over and join us.”
“My mother is with you?” You can’t quite keep the shock out of your voice.
“Not with me, but in the faewild somewhere. So many Erleys have made their way here in their time.”
“I don’t think she knows who your father is,” Nyx says.
You dig your nails into your palm. “Do you?”
She pauses and looks at Alder; you see him fold his arms in the corner of your eye. She sighs.
“I may be able to help you find out,” she says at last.
“Thank you,” Alder says softly.
“When Alder returns, I’ll send him with further information,” Nyx says. The shadows around her seemed to grow darker and bluer, and you think you can see the same stars glittering there that you can see in her eyes. “But now, it’s time for us to go.”
Your stomach drops. You turn and look at Alder, who looks at you with wide amber eyes.
Alder grabs you and pulls you into a tight hug, the first one he’s ever given you. You squeeze him back until it hurts and then pull him into a desperate kiss, your hands holding his face and his hands slipping into your hair and down your back. You wish more than anything you had more time to get used to that.
“You will be coming back here, you know,” Nyx says, amused.
He breaks the kiss and breathlessly asks, “When?”
“Whenever you want,” Nyx promises, her gaze hooded. “But first, I’m afraid I have to claim your first few nights free for myself. After that, you’re a free man.”
You feel Alder shiver before he turns back to look at you. “I’ll be back soon,” he promises you.
You take his hands and kiss both of his palms.
“You better,” you say. “Or I’ll hunt you down. Now go with her before she decides to punish you again for making her wait.”
You see Nyx smirk to herself as she steps back and out the door of the greenhouse, melting into the darkness of the night beyond.
Alder laughs and gives you one last, sweet kiss— and then he darts out the door after the fae woman.
By the time you get to the window to look out, the garden is empty.
