Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) Gwen Rivers (sneezy the snowman read aloud .TXT) 📖

“Aiden needs you to get through this.”

“I can’t,” I yell at them. How to make them understand? I can’t do this alone, can’t protect her, teach her to be good.

Lachesis words from so long ago. It’s not in your nature.

“Aiden—,”

“Get your shit together,” a cranky voice barks. “It’s time to grow up, Nic. You’re about to be a mother.”

My head whips to the closet door, to the figure that lurks there. “Addy?” Her image is that of a shade, transparent and colorless. “Are you dead?”

She laughs and it isn’t a nice sound. “Not yet.”

Behind me, Chloe starts to tremble. “Is it really you?”

“Yes, sister mine. I’m here. Waiting for your judgment.”

Chloe asks, “How did you get here?”

“Magic.” She toys with her long braid. “I’m with you in spirit.”

“Are you with Aiden?” My lips quiver. “Is he all right?”

She hesitates. “He will recover.”

Another sob, this time from the pain in my heart, not the wave of agony ripping me in half.

Her dark eyes begin to swirl with a silver light. “I can’t stay long, but I want to tell you something. This child that you carry, she’s the one who can fix it all. This infant girl will halt the forward march of destruction. And she will do it because you will teach her how.”

I shake my head back and forth. “I can’t. Not without Aiden.”

“He’s always been with you. You know this, Nic.”

“I need him.” The tears spill over and another ripple of torment across my belly.

Addy leans down until she is in my face. For an instant, she’s the realist thing in the room. “Then fight for him. Fight for all of us. Do what you have to do now and take the fight to Pharaildis. Bring this child into the world and let her fulfill her destiny. So you can fulfill yours.”

I swallow and then nod.

She backs away a step.

“Addy?” I reach for her.

The ghostly image flickers. “We’re here, Nic. We’re all here waiting for you.”

“Addy, I’m so scared.” Terrified I’ll screw it up. That I’ll be worse than Pharaildis. She hadn’t been a killer. Hadn’t been a deadly Unseelie queen. Just a heartbroken girl.

And I’m worse. I’ll turn my innocent child into a monster.

This isn’t fair. None of it. I should be with Aiden. With Addy. They are my family.

Addy’s shade smiles softly. “So was I. So were we all when we took you.”

“How?” I swallow. “How do I do it?”

“Love her. Let her be who she is and just…love her.”

Another contraction. A scream tears from me as the urge to push overwhelms everything else.

“That’s it, Nic.” Laufey meets my gaze and holds it. “I can see the head. You’re almost there.”

The pressure intensifies again. My midsection turns hard as stone. I scream and push with everything I’ve got left. No training on earth could prepare me for the fierce sensation. Chloe cries out with me. I squish Sophie’s hands as tightly as possible. Addison Sophia makes her entrance into the world with a hearty wail.

“One more big one,” Laufey prompts. “Almost over, Nic.”

“You aren’t alone,” Addy adds. “Not now, not ever.”

Sophie has her free hand on my belly, waiting for the telltale clenching. “One more big push. That’s all, sweetheart.”

“You got this,” Chloe’s voice breaks. “Nic, you’ve got this.”

“Ahhhh!” The scream rips free as I push with all my might.

Laufey’s weathered face splits into a grin. She lifts the small wriggling body covered with all sorts of grossness. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life.

Gretchen is ready with a baby blanket, one of many. Outside the sun is high in the sky.

“Here you go.” My friend hands me my daughter, a smile on her round face. “Mom.”

My hands shake as I reach for her. Part of me is worried I’ll drop the child.

The rest is sure I won’t. Because I know deep down that I will never let her go.

“Addison Sophia Jager.” I smile down at her. I count ten fingers, ten toes, no wings or wolf tail. No purple skin, though she does look a bit red from the exertion. We did it, together. The two of us forged our way through.

She looks human. Until she opens her eyes and they glow bright with emerald flames.

Chloe rests her chin on my shoulder. “My gods, Nic. She’s magnificent.”

Sophie’s eyes glisten with tears. Addy is right, I’m not alone. I may not have Aiden, but I have help.

When I look up to tell her, Addy is gone.

Growing Pains

“Addison!” I call out, striding across the field to where my three-year-old daughter is kneeling in the grass. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“It’s hurt.” She’s crouched beside a fox with a twisted leg.

“Stay back,” I caution her. “Wounded animals are more likely to bite.”

She ignores me, as is her way. Her blonde hair is much darker than mine, golden in color, the same as the hay in the fields. “It won’t bite me.”

I lunge for her but am too far back. She lays her hands on the fox’s body. It makes a pained sound but holds still. A red-gold light pulses out of her hands.

“Nic?” It’s Liam, striding across the grasses. “What’s going on?”

Suddenly, the fox leaps up. My lips part as Addison giggles and the beast darts away into the trees.

“She healed it,” I say to Liam.

“Like new.” In some ways he reminds me so much of Aiden, like the way he tilts his head, his gaze tracking the woods around us, searching for danger.

I stare as my daughter leaps up and then runs to find Jedda and Tate.

Her powers are growing by the day. How much longer must we wait?

Her laughter bubbles up and my heart clenches in a tight fist.

How can I ever risk her?

“Mommy?” a little voice asks from the side of the bed.

I sniffle and wipe the tears from where they’d congregated on my lashes before looking over at my daughter. She looks so much like Aiden at times that it hurts. “What is it, imp?”

“I had a bad dream.”