Bound by Forever - (True Immortality #3) Page 0,64

bastard Fionn is?

When he didn’t answer, Niamh asked, “Well?”

He flicked her a dark, petulant look. “I’m thinking about it.”

She smiled despite herself. Let me choose for you … Aine said she was afraid for the human world, that a war was brewing, and she wasn’t wrong. But she was afraid for her own people. She hated the idea of them mingling with supernaturals, or worse, becoming like them. The fae are superior beings to her, and while it was okay to have sex with supernaturals, it was most definitely not okay to become one of them. She sent all supernaturals on Faerie back to the human world and closed the gate.

But Aine is a typical fae. Bored. Complex. Capable of kindness but apt toward wickedness. And she likes her games. She knew there were beings like Jerrik who would do anything to get back to Faerie, so she tormented them with the spell: seven fae children born in the human world with the ability to open the gate. No instructions for when they’d appear or how many were needed to open the gate or how they’d even open the gate. She just loved the idea of supernaturals chasing their tails trying to find the kids.

Eventually, we appeared. Niamh gave Kiyo a wry smirk. But as I said, most of us didn’t know what we were. We were vulnerable. Her smirk died as sadness filled her. Eirik killed Jerrik, who wanted to protect the children. Killed by his own brother. That’s how much he feared the gate being opened again. Over the centuries, Eirik created The Garm. Their sole purpose is to find the fae children and kill them.

They succeeded with a few. Jael was first. She lived in Jordan. Her powers came to her more quickly than the rest of us. As a baby, in fact. Her parents abandoned her, thinking she was cursed. An international relief organization took her into one of their orphanages. When she was five years old, Eirik tracked her down through rumors of the strange incidents that occurred around her. And he killed her.

“How do you know this?”

Because I saw it. I saw it before it happened. My knowledge of what I was and where we came from was just within me as a child. But Jael’s death was my first-ever vision.

Kiyo’s eyes narrowed. “You were five years old when you saw a child you were connected to being murdered?”

She nodded slowly, not wanting his pity when she didn’t need it. I’ve been burdened with knowledge my entire life, Kiyo. I was never allowed to be a child. Not with my visions. But I could handle it.

He cursed under his breath.

An ache flared in her chest as she realized what he felt wasn’t pity. He was angry on her behalf.

I’m okay. I was built for these visions. Built to handle the adult emotions that came with them.

“It would have destroyed an ordinary human kid,” he said. “Seeing things like that.”

Maybe. Maybe not. Humans are capable of incredible mental and emotional strength.

He frowned. “What happened next?”

Dimitri. He was fourteen when Eirik found him in Kyiv. Dimitri was using his powers, much as I have over the years, but not being quiet about it at all. He crossed paths with a vampire coven who turned him over to The Garm. Ronan and I tried to get to Kyiv to warn Dimitri, but we were too late and then we had to get the hell out of Dodge before The Garm sensed me there.

Then there was Astra. Niamh’s stomach flipped anxiously. When I was sixteen, I started to get visions of Astra. She lived in Bergen, a coastal city in Norway. These visions weren’t like the others—these were warnings. About Astra herself. Ronan convinced me not to go to her, not until we understood what the visions meant. But I was pretty sure I knew what they meant. Astra was more dangerous than The Garm and the Blackwood Coven combined.

Niamh held Kiyo’s gaze as she whispered into his mind, Her soul is … Kiyo, she doesn’t have one.

“What do you mean?”

The only thing I can compare her to is a psychopath. It’s not that she doesn’t have wants or passions or that she doesn’t feel ambition or loyalty even … but she has no empathy. It doesn’t bother her if she hurts or betrays someone. She doesn’t feel it. It’s like she has no conscience.

“You saw this?”

Niamh nodded. She killed her parents when she was twelve. She’d been