Three years was a long time. And not long enough. My chest ached again as I slid through the movements. Xander or Rhys was out there enjoying someone else's body. It's what I wanted. What I had asked for. And I hated every single moment of it. "Again!" Etna stood at the entrance to the training room, her blue eyes narrowed as she watched me move. I would be competing against Thunderbyrd later and needed to get my body ready. That wasn't the only thing I would be doing. My fight against the current reigning champion of Lilith's amazonians was a ruse. The real fight would be even later. When I finally pulled Tatiana's still beating heart from her frigid chest and made her watch as I crushed it in my hand. Finally freeing my father and mother. My mother who had endured three more years of 'hospitality' at the hands of Tatiana's guards. I slid low and lost my footing, tripping and falling flat on my face. "You're distracted Maddie. You have to get your head in the game. You can't los

I woke the next morning with a small bundle of warmth tucked into my side. I released a sigh that had been trapped in my chest. Xander and Rhys were back. Three years of being on my own, down the drain. I had questions. Lots of them. And it was time to get some answers. I carefully slid out of the bed. Linnea made a grumbling sleepy noise. I still couldn't figure out how she was making it into my room at night. When she was a year old, Lilith had announced it was time for her to have her own room.But once she got to walking good, every morning I woke with her curled into my side. It shouldn't have been possible. We locked her door, we even barricaded it. No one wanted a toddler running around a hold in the middle of the night. And yet, here she was. I suspected she had one of the imps on her side. The little beasties loved Linnea, and treated her like she was their queen. It was nothing to find my darling daughter holding court in her pink palace playroom with an entire fleet of i

"How do you lose a whole flipping person Aeryck?!" My voice shook as the line crackled with static. Service was spotty in Lilith's villa. She wasn't much on modern conveniences like cell phones. She preferred a good old fashioned summoning. "It wasn't like she wasn't under guard, Godmother." Aeryck was troubled, I could hear it. Hell, I was troubled. Heather had been in a stasis for the last three years. Again I wondered how Lilith's deal had affected Xander and Rhys, had they remembered where Heather was? Guilt twisted my stomach. "I'm not Godmother yet, Aeryck.""May as well be. Liz has all but stopped her duties while training you. It's chaos out here in the Territories. We need our Godmother." I sighed, scrubbing my hands across my face. He wasn't wrong. I hadn't really known the sheer amount of work a Godmother did until I was training to put together the Accords for their happily ever after. The Grimm society kept tabs on running tales for me, but it was still overwhelming wi

I heard the growls before I smelled them. Shitballs. We didn't need an incident right this second. My eyes were locked on Little John's, and he seemed just as loath to look away. The growls grew louder, and then I heard my mates burst through the clearing at my back. Well, half-rejected mates. Jeez, this was too complicated. A head rested on my shoulder, and I sighed. "Friends of yours, lass?" "Unfortunately." I shook off the furry head, turning to glare at Xander and Rhys. They were in their wolf form, shaggy and magnificent. Which kept complicating things because my heart ached for them, so I could be complete. But they really pissed me off sometimes. But we needed to find Heather and break the curse on her, so Robin was our best bet. Which meant playing nice with the Sure Wood pack. My belly fluttered. John was a tall drink of water, that was for sure. I was doomed if we hung out here any longer. "We are here to see your Alpha. On official Godmother business." "Ooh, fancy

"So, if I'm a true mate to someone this Mabon has enchanted, then why would he send someone after you, and not me? Kill me, and there's no more threat to his enchantment." Robin leaned back in his chair, turning his mismatched eyes on us. We were called in for an audience with the Sure Wood Alpha when I had been patched up. My shoulder throbbed in time with my heartbeat, and I was exhausted. I had lost a good amount of blood, and silver wounds took time to heal up properly. "Because I made an enemy of him three years ago, when I alerted the Seelie King to the betrayal happening right under his nose, and to his then fiancee." I shrugged, wincing as the wound tugged. That was going to be different. I hadn't healed human slow in so long I forgot what it was like. "And you are one of these Fae Godmothers?" Robin gave me a sardonic smile. I understood the sarcastic confusion. Having the Accords thrust on you, finding out the law that governed our world was living, wild magic…that could