A Little Green Magic (The Little Coven #1) - Isabel Wroth Page 0,66

the memory warming her straight through to where she was cold and aching for the loss she'd forgotten.

There was only one more entry, only a few more pages, and Ivy felt a mix of curiosity and grief for the end to come.

My sweet girl,

Right now, you're settling into your new life at Haggara, and I'm so sorry I couldn't find another way to keep you safe. I hope this journal never finds its way into your hands. I hope someday, I'll get to tell you this story myself, but I'm terrified I won't get the chance.

If you are reading this, no doubt you've read everything else and you know now the awful choices I've made.

I wanted to have a baby more than anything in the whole world. I wanted you, so desperately, I was willing to pay the price, no matter how steep. I made a deal with a Green Man, only to learn later he wasn't just a simple fertility element.

At the time, he gave me hope when there was none, and carrying his offspring alongside my own seemed so simple.

I expected a baby with little hooves and horns like his, a monster I could hand over without a second thought. A thing that looked like him, that reminded me of what he'd done to me on the night you were conceived, not a beautiful little boy with ten perfect toes, ten tiny little fingers, and no horns to speak of.

I knew when I saw those hands and feet pushing up against my belly from the inside, yours and your brother's, I'd made a horrible mistake, but when he came to collect his son, I had to let Ilex go.

I tried to keep us all together, but it was made very clear to me that if I tried to alter or go back on my word, your father was happy to destroy both of you right then and there, and start over. It made no difference to him either way.

There was no love in his expression when he looked at you, only dissatisfaction. He went so far as to say it was a shame you'd been born female, disappointed because his choice was limited.

Before they disappeared, I made the Green Man promise your brother would have a good life. He said his son would live and be treated as a king. It's no justification, but he gave his word, and among the Fae, an oath is unbreakable.

When I made my deal, I agreed to carry a child for the Green Man in exchange for a child of my own. I was so eager, so stupid and excited, I didn't think to make any further demands or press for details.

I was so desperate, so driven by my own desires, that I didn't think about all the many loopholes there were to trip me up.

I don't regret a single day of my life as your mother, and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't do it again if I knew then what I know now. I'd have made sure to better phrase my deals with the Fae.

Trust me, I know how that sounds. I want you to know I regret the selfishness of my decision and how it will affect both you and your brother.

You are and always will be my whole life, my only love, and I've put you in such terrible danger.

Your father—and I call him that with the loosest of terms—came back for you. I don't know why, and I wasn't going to stick around and ask. He followed us the night you built the bridge for us, like a dog chasing a car down the street.

He couldn't keep up until I stopped at the crossing, and the only reason we got away was because the trees you summoned were so tall, they acted like a catapult when I broke them loose.

He went flying, like a rock out of a slingshot. I was able to get you to Haggara by the next day, and the layers of protection spells were able to give us enough time to bind your powers.

I would never have done such a thing, except under extreme threat, and that's exactly what I felt. We were being threatened, and it was the only way I could come up with to protect you.

He can sense your magic, and I had to make another terrible choice to keep you out of his hands. You had to be invisible to him, and I'm so sorry for the