Masquerade in Ironbridge: Book 3 in Tansy's Magical Midlife Adventures (The Witches of Ironbridge) by Michelle Monroe

Author:Michelle Monroe [Monroe, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Eighteen

Ihesitated, not sure what lay on the other side of the doorway. What secrets awaited me in the heart of Violet Blackthorn’s sanctuary?

“Don’t be afraid,” Violet said. “The path to understanding is rarely a straight one. It twists and turns, leading us through shadows and light, through doubt and revelation. But the journey is the reward.”

Her words, though cryptic, offered a strange comfort. I took a deep breath, steeling myself for whatever lay ahead, and stepped through the doorway with Cora close behind.

We emerged into a grove bathed in a soft light. A breeze carried the scent of pine needles and wildflowers. Then I understood why they called this Violet’s Sanctuary and not Violet’s cottage.

Violet gestured toward a moss-covered boulder, its surface smooth and inviting. “Sit. Let us speak of the lineage that flows through your veins, and of your destiny.”

Destiny. I hated that word. I didn’t like the idea of being fated to walk a certain path, to have no say at all in the matter.

The grove was silent, the air still, the atmosphere charged.

“Your mother loved deeply, Tansy,” Violet said, her voice filled with a tenderness I hadn’t heard before. “She loved this town, its people, its traditions. And she loved your father, a fae prince of noble lineage, whose heart was as wild and untamed as the woods themselves.”

I’m sorry. Did she say fae prince? Cora and I exchanged a look.

“Their love was forbidden,” Violet continued, her voice laced with a hint of sadness. “The fae realm and the mortal realm are not meant to intertwine. Their laws, their customs, their very essence are too different, too volatile. But love, as it often does, defied all boundaries, all conventions. And from that love, you were conceived, a child of two worlds, a bridge between realms.”

My heart was aching with a longing I couldn’t quite comprehend. I had never known my father, had never even seen his face, but I felt a connection to him, or I wanted to. Was he even alive?

“Your birth came at a price,” Violet said, her voice somber now, the shadows deepening around her. “The balance between realms had been disrupted, and the consequences will be severe. The seasons will shift erratically, the forests wither, and the creatures of the wood will grow restless and more feral still.”

I shivered despite the warmth of the fire.

“You don’t know that,” Cora said, shaking her head. “Could be a load of hogwash.”

“Your mother knew she had to act,” Violet continued as if Cora hadn’t spoken, her voice firm, resolute. “She knew that her love, however pure, however true, could upset the delicate balance between realms. And she knew that the only way to keep that balance, to protect both the fae realm and the mortal realm, was to leave before you were born, to take you away, to never allow you to arrive and destroy what we all love.”

The images faded, leaving me with a sense of emptiness, of loss.

“She left her home, everything she knew,” Violet said, her voice soft, filled with a deep empathy that surprised me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.