Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,117
has run its course and all the elves are barren. I’m afraid that if we are forced to wait, we won’t be able to save the elves from extinction. Furthermore, if the queen of the Summer Court doesn’t have a child soon, there’s going to be a war, which will only expedite their extinction.”
A sympathetic look crossed her face as she looked at me. “Sometimes that is the way of things. Before you were born, creatures lived and died on that planet. Now not a one is left. Their time is over and they had to leave to make room for the rise of others.”
My heart slammed in my chest and I shifted to the edge of my seat, leaning closer to her. “Yes, I understand that, but this isn’t about natural selection or some Darwinian survival of the fittest. This is the work of one person who is destroying an entire race. It can’t be allowed to happen.”
“But that is exactly what it is,” she said with the same sad little smile. “It’s nothing more than one race encroaching on the territory of another. The Towers have found a way to eliminate their rivals for their space.”
“No!” Shoving out of my chair, I paced away from Gaia. My hands clenched my hair as I struggled to order my thoughts into a convincing argument that would sway her into action to stop this horrible event that she was so calmly accepting. The peace I had found here had completely slipped away. The feeling of balance that had soothed my soul was gone, so that I now felt like a small island being pounded by the waves of the ocean.
When I looked around, the garden looked a little less idyllic. The colors weren’t quite so bright and the air seemed a little less fragrant. But the world hadn’t changed; I had. I had fallen out of sync with it, and it hurt.
Pushing the feeling of loss down, I looked at Gaia. “It can’t be allowed to happen. The world needs the elves. With you away and maintaining a hands-off approach to my world, it threatens to fall completely out of balance. The elves help keep the energies there on an even keel. I don’t understand their magic, but the world . . . life is better when they are there.” I held my hands out to her, trying to persuade her, but it didn’t look as if my words were changing her mind. “It was all a mistake,” I whispered. “The witch . . . she’s sorry now.”
Gaia moved then, a little jerk of her head, so that she was staring at me through narrowed eyes. “You know who did this horrible thing?”
“Yes.” My hands dropped to my sides. “She’s a friend. A witch who’s a cat now. I found out what she did. She didn’t think . . . or rather didn’t care what the spell would do. She thought she was protecting the Towers, but she regrets her actions now.”
Mother Nature gave a little snort and crossed her arms over her chest with a frown. “Sorry? I’ve never heard of a witch or warlock that was ever sorry about anything, regardless of who was hurt.”
“I am.”
She seemed caught off guard by my comment. She knew I was from the Towers and that I was a warlock, but I think she had forgotten about my past. Her angry frown immediately melted into a look of sadness. I knelt before her and captured one of her hands in both of mine. “I’m sorry every time I make some stupid mistake with a potion that gets someone hurt. I’m sorry that my family was hurt by the fact that I was born a warlock. I’m sorry that my friends are in constant danger because they know me.”
Gaia squeezed my hands, then placed one of hers against my cheek. “Oh, Gage, you’re not one of them.”
“But I am and you know it,” I pressed, praying that I had something that might change her mind. “I am a warlock and I lived in the Towers. I am one of them, but I’m not like them. And I’m not the only one. Sofie, the witch who made this mess . . . she’s changed. She’s sorry. She lives with an elf now and she lives in horrible fear of how that elf will react when she discovers the truth. She loves that elf and doesn’t want to hurt her. She’s sorry, but she can’t fix