Astrid's Wish (12 page)

“He is definitely going to be a treat,” Lucian said to Malcolm.

“Can I have him now?”

“In due time, my friend, in due time. He has to become of proper age before he can handle what you have in stored for him.”

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Astrid flinched at the laughter coming from his mother and the two men. His own mother cared nothing for his safety. She condoned the abuse that they bestowed upon him. She laughed at his misery.

He couldn’t take anymore. These were only memories, things that he had already endured, but he couldn’t stand it. He did what he always did when the pain became too much. He wished himself away to a happy place. A place where pain didn’t exist. He didn’t know how long he stayed this way, but he welcomed the peace and tranquility of his wish of serenity.

“Holy shit! Make it stop.”

Astrid blinked his eyes open at the commotion going on around him. He saw Carter standing with his back pressed against the wall.

His body shook, and perspiration dripped down his face, smearing his makeup along the way. It looked like the man had cried black tears.

“Carter, what did you see?” Klaus asked.

Carter took several deep breaths. His chest heaved in rapid succession, and Astrid worried his heart would beat right out if his chest.

“I need a moment, okay?” Carter held a hand in front of him. As his eyes came into focus, his gaze landed on Astrid. “How did you do it? How did you survive all that?” he asked breathlessly.

He thought it best to go with the truth. “I wished I was in a happy place, and it numbed the pain.”

Tears pooled at the corners of Carter’s eyes. Astrid felt sorry for the man. Granted, he only experienced a fraction of what he had lived through, but still, he wouldn’t wish his past on anyone.

“Carter, did you see anything? Is Astrid a fairy or not?” Klaus pushed.

“I saw it all.” Carter turned to Klaus. “Get Ben and his mate. I only want to have to explain this once.”

Klaus nodded. “I’ll go find them.” He turned to face Astrid.

“Angel, I’ll be right back.”

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He smiled up at his mate, doing his best to reassure him that he was fine. Klaus rushed out of the room in a whirl. Carter finally reclaimed his seat and sat with his head bent forward, resting his chin on his chest. Astrid could see the slight tremble in the other man’s shoulders.

“Fuck, Carter, what did you see?” Carlos asked as he took the chair next to the man.

Carter rested his head in his hands. “It was awful. The things I saw and felt. It was like I was there, and all those horrible things were being done to me. That’s never happened before.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve done a million of these past-readings before, but never have I felt like I was in the other person’s shoes. Usually I’m just an observer, but it was as if Astrid and I traded places. I got a crash course on what he went through, and it was terrible.”

Carter turned tearful eyes toward him. “Astrid, I’m sorry for the way I treated you. You didn’t deserve that, and you didn’t deserve what happened to you. Please accept my apology.”

Astrid gave him a small smile. “Of course, Carter, and I’m sorry you now have my memories to deal with. It’s not fair to you.”

“I don’t blame you, Astrid. This is my job. I just wish I could take away all those years so you didn’t have to relive those horrors ever again.”

“Thank you, Carter.”

They sat in silence as they waited for Klaus to come back with the others. Carter continued to sit in his chair and rock silently back and forth. What he had seen had truly frightened him. Astrid had lived that life, but he was doing a whole lot better than the witch. It seemed his defense mechanism worked out really well for him. Wishing himself to his happy place had saved his sanity.

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Klaus held Astrid’s hand tight as the others sitting around the table absorbed what Carter just told them. And Klaus wasn’t surprised that Ben was the first to speak.

“He’s a fairy?” Ben asked from the head of the oval-shaped table where they sat.

Carter made eye contact with everyone sitting at the table, causing the suspense to linger thick in the air. “He is as Klaus expected, part witch, part fairy. As far as I know, he is the first of his kind.”

“What exactly does all this mean?” Miles asked. “Dumb this down for me, because I don’t understand any of this.”

“It’s like this. Fairies are good by nature, and witches lean more toward the evil side of the spectrum. Witches have the choice to be good or bad. Either way, their magic works when they want it to, but not so for fairies.”

“Okay,” Miles sang the word out. “And that means what?”

“See, a fairy’s magic is different from a witch’s. Their magic comes in the form of wishes. But here’s the kicker—it’s ingrained in their magical makeup to not grant evil or harmful wishes.”

“Huh?” Miles asked.

“It’s like this. You wish your day would brighten up. A fairy would grant the wish, but it would come in the form of, let’s say, getting flowers sent to you, or a coworker giving you a compliment.

Shit like that. They can’t grant a wish to give you a million dollars because that would be wrong. Their magic could not physically allow them to do such a thing. Is this making sense?”

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The room was quiet as a silent nod went around the table, everyone taking in what Carter said. Klaus knew the basics of what fairies were, but Astrid was the first one he had ever met. He still didn’t know what to make of it all.

“From what you are saying, fairies are pretty much harmless, correct?” Miles asked. Carter nodded. “So why is Astrid in danger? If the worst he can do is conjure me up a cake or a bouquet of flowers, I don’t see why anyone would want to hurt him.” Miles turned to Ben for an explanation, but Ben looked to Carter.

“Miles, there was a time when we didn’t know that fairies were as limited on their magic.” Carter squirmed, uncomfortable, in his chair and worried his bottom lip. “I know a fellow council member who tells a story of a man he was commissioned to put to death. His crime was that of murder.” Carter’s eyes darted toward his and Astrid’s direction. “He murdered a fairy.”

Astrid gasped and crawled into Klaus’s lap. His mate’s frail body trembled in fear, but the story had to be told. He had heard of the tale.

It was because of acts like that fairies went into hiding.

“Why?” Miles said, asking what the others all wanted to know.

“You have to understand, this took place over a thousand years ago before anyone knew of the limitations set upon fairies. This man in particular held a fairy against his will and tried to get him to grant these outlandish wishes. When the fairy couldn’t do it, he thought the man was playing him. Not doing it on purpose. He beat the man within an inch of his life. When the fairy still couldn’t make his wishes happen, he tied him to a tree. He gave the man one last chance to do as he was told or he would cut off his head.” Carter paused for dramatic effect. “You all can guess how that story ended.”

“Oh my god, that is terrible,” Miles said. “But that was a thousand years ago. Paranormals know the truth about fairies’ abilities now.

Why is Astrid in danger? Be straight with us, Carter.”

Klaus knew why. He knew his mate was special, and because of that he would be a well-sought-after tool for evil. But to speak the
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words out loud would give them life, and he wasn’t ready to worry his mate any more than he already was.

“It’s hard to explain.” Carter looked to Carlos for help.

“Let me try,” Carlos spoke up. “There is no backlash for the magic fairies create. Now, a witch has a cosmic handicap to their magic. Say I turn you into a toad. The toss back is that you can shift into your human form whenever you want.” Carlos held up a finger.

“Now, fairies have no drawback to their brand of magic because it’s pure goodness. They lack the ability to create evil even if they try, so there is no drawback to their magic.” Carlos rested his elbows on the tabletop and steepled his fingers. “What makes Astrid so unique is that being, part fairy part, witch, in theory he should be able to grant any wish, be it good or evil, because of his genetic makeup.” Carlos snapped his fingers. The loud ping ricocheted off the walls. “Magic without consequence.”

“Fuck me running! Miles exclaimed. “This could be really bad.”

“No shit!” Carter exclaimed. “I never thought it possible for a hybrid like this to exist, but someone has taken great measures to create Astrid. If there are more like him out there”—Carter pointed toward the window—“we’re fucked.”

Klaus sat with Astrid huddled in his lap, taking all the information in. If all this were true, there could be a real epidemic on their hands.

A fairy-witch combo causing havoc around the world could make the council’s enforcers’ jobs more chaotic. Fairies were hard to detect.

They could hide in plain sight and no one would be the wiser, a breed of paranormals that would be a dangerous foe to have.

“Astrid, I have some personal information for you. Is it okay to discuss this now, or would you like to do this in private?” Carter asked.

Astrid nodded his head against Klaus’s neck. Carter couldn’t see the gesture, so Klaus answered for him. “Carter, go ahead.”

Carter rubbed his fingertips against his temples, clearly uncomfortable with what he was about to tell them. “Astrid, the
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woman you thought to be your mother wasn’t. She was just some evil bitch appointed to watch after you until you were given to Malcolm.”

Carter turned sad eyes in his and Astrid’s direction. “I couldn’t see a father even in your earliest of memories. But I did see your real mother. Your very first memory as an infant was of her face as she held you close.”

Klaus tightened his arms around his mate when he began to shake.

The wetness of hot tears ran down the side of his neck where Astrid had his head tucked in. His heart broke for his mate. He felt the moist, warm breath of Astrid’s exhale before his mate sat up.

“Who was my mother, Carter?”

“She was a fairy.” Carter smiled across the table at Astrid. “She looked a lot like you, but your facial features are a little different from hers. That you must get from your father, but the petite build and white-blond hair, that’s all your mother’s. She was very pretty.”

Carter’s voice became hoarse. “Astrid, I felt the love she had for you.

You were the most important thing to her. She knew what her fate would be, and she wished she could get you to safety, but there was some sort of magic binding hers. She was trapped.”

Astrid started to tremble uncontrollably in his arms. The knowledge that he had a mother who did care for him must have been overwhelming. He had lived for so long thinking the woman who sold him to Malcolm had been his mother. Now he knew the truth. That cruel woman was nothing, and Klaus vowed if he ever crossed paths with her, he would kill her.

“You guys, I’m afraid there’s more,” Carter spoke to the whole group.

“Of course there is,” Ben snapped as his fist crashed to the table, causing everyone to jump.

“The day Astrid’s presumed mother”—Carter made air quotes with his fingers—“sold him, there was a mentioning of getting him ready for the coming.” Carter held his hands high into the air. “Don’t even ask me what that is. I have not a clue, and neither does Astrid.

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This happened when he was thirteen years old. And there was no mention of it after that. Sorry, guys.”

“After what Carter and Carlos said, do you think I’m evil?” Astrid turned his eyes up to him. “Or that I will become evil?” Astrid asked.

Klaus combed his fingers through Astrid’s hair in an attempt to soothe his mate. “No, I don’t think you are evil or will become evil.

There isn’t a mean bone in your body.”

“I can refute that. He did wish I would leave,” Carter said with a smile on his lips. Klaus appreciated the witch’s attempt to make his mate laugh. And shockingly enough, it worked.

“You deserved it, you big meanie.” Astrid laughed through his tears.

“That I did. But after getting a look into what you suffered through, I think I could do with an attitude adjustment. What do you think?” Carter asked Astrid.

After another hour of discussion into Astrid’s past, the warriors broke for dinner. Klaus sent Astrid with Miles while he stayed back to talk to Ben. Several different questions floated in his mind, and he didn’t know where to begin.

“What do you think it all means?” he asked Ben when they were alone.

“I honestly don’t know. I feel like I should call my dad, but I’m not sure if I trust him anymore. As of lately, he seems to have his own agenda.”

“I know what you mean. I agree we should hold off on telling the council anything. Too many odd things have been happening, and I can’t put my finger on it all.”

“Like what?” Ben asked as he leaned against the table.

“For instance”—Klaus shrugged—“Astrid is barely over a hundred years of age, and one would think, even back then, if his mother, a fairy, went missing, someone would have reported it to the council. Then there’s the whole issue of creating such a hybrid. Why
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do it? What is there to gain by having a magical source that has no consequence unless you’re looking to destroy something big like…”

“Like the council.” Ben finished his sentence.

“Exactly.” He crossed his large arms over his chest. “I’m inclined to think for something like this to be pulled off, there had to be years of planning and a ton of financial resources involved. Astrid is the first mixed species I’ve ever met. In our world, when two different paranormals mate, a child is never born from that union. The different genetic makeup can’t connect to form life.”

“I know. This whole situation is very unusual. Every mixed species couple I’ve ever met has had to adopt. As far as I know, there isn’t any magic great enough to override that defect.”