In My Mother's Footsteps

Author\'s note: I am hella sorry this part took so long to post. I lost the inspiration for this one, but it seems I\'ve found it again. Sorry for those of you who were waiting, and I will try to make the wait between parts smaller.

~Entervixen~

In My Mother’s Footsteps part 6
By Entervixen

Michael offered to be the one to get the dragon wine when we reached my apartment. Even though Damon was captain of the guard, Michael was the appointed head of magic, and outranked him. That meant he could get more of the stuff than Damon could. In theory, I could get even more since I was the heir apparent, but I had never had dragon wine, and snagging as many bottles of the stuff that I could seemed a little funny.
“You’ll like dragon wine, princess,” Eadoin said as we all sat down. “It’s much more potent than anything human made, including Everclear.” He smiled. “One shot will knock most humans on their ass. Two shots will kill him, I swear to god.”
That was potent shit. Needless to say, I was impressed. I couldn’t wait to try it.
Michael came back a few minutes later with five large wine bottles. I had enough glasses to go around, so there had been no need for him to grab any.
As he passed each person a bottle, I stood up and got glasses for everyone. The set I picked was my favorite, blue carnival glass goblets with grapevines on the rim. They had been expensive, and I was extremely lucky to possess a set of six, since blue carnival glass anything is so damned rare nowadays. They were the real thing too, not one of the newer knockoffs.
I passed everyone a glass and sat down, taking the last bottle from Michael. Curious as to what it was like, I popped open my bottle and poured a glass of it as everyone else did. It smelled warm and spicy and just begged to be had. So I took a sip.
The taste was amazing. It was like spiced cider spiked with alcohol, but that wasn’t quite right. Not quite like mulled wine, either. Whatever it tasted like, I wanted more.
Eadoin laughed as I took a few huge gulps, pulling the cup away from my mouth as he did. “Careful, Princess, it’s potent stuff. Go easy.”
I had the grace to blush. Even I knew that chugging any alcoholic beverage was bad for you, and yet here I was, doing it. “Call me Judith,” I replied. “There’s no need to be formal with me anymore.”
He raised his glass in a salute. “Very well, Judith. As you wish.”
I smiled and took a small sip. I wanted to down it, but I was already feeling what little I had had and wanted to make it last.
As we drank, everyone seemed to loosen up a bit. While Damon wasn’t exactly talking to me, he seemed to be more comfortable with me, and even Michael was more relaxed. I smiled, more than a little tipsy by then, and poured myself another glass.
“It seems you are adept at many things, Judith. Yven ven hold your alcohol well,” Eadoin said to me, smiling. “It took your mother a long time to be able to drink like you are.”
I couldn’t help but giggle at that, one hand pressed to my mouth to stifle the sound. “I didn’t know that,” I finally replied, smiling back at him.
He nodded, still smiling. “It’s true.”
“I have to admit that I am surprised. She had a high tolerance for human alcohol before she came here.”
“Ah, but as you yourself can see, this is much more potent.”
I nodded at that and took another sip. “Oh, fuck. I still owe you fifty, Damon.” I put my glass down and stood up, swaying a bit. All eyes turned toward me, and Michael even stood up, hand out to catch me if I fell. I swatted his hand away. “I’m fine, Michael, I just have to grab the money.”
One of Michael’s eyebrows rose as his hand took my upper arm. “I do not think you realize how intoxicated you are.”
I snorted. “Right,” I said.
He sighed. “If you will not sit down, at least let me come with you.”
My eyes widened in shock and my mouth popped open. Before I could reply, he continued. “I do not want to see you hurt yourself, Judith. I do not want to explain to you mother that you drank too much and we let something happen.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just shrugged. “If you want it that way.”
He smiled slightly. “Thank you.”
We walked into the bedroom as the rest started talking again, not worried about my safety. Michael stopped by the bed as I went to my nightstand, opening the drawer. My head started to spin so I sat on the edge, hand still reaching into the drawer. I fumbled around, looking for the little box that I kept my money in. Somehow it had been shoved way into the back of the drawer. I frowned at that, but didn’t think of it as I removed it.
The room spun as I opened the box and I gasped. Pressure formed in my temples, my vision dimmed and my throat closed. I gasped for air as I fell forward, the room being replaced by an image of red hair and pale skin. I clawed at air as I fought her, trying to get her out of my mind.
I could hear her whisper in my ear as if she was just behind me. I gathered my strength and swung, hoping to scare her off, for I was sure that she had come into them anm and was after me. Strong hands grabbed my wrists, holding me immobile. Panic flooded my brain and I started struggling. More hands held me down, pinning me, and I could now feel someone’s weight on top of me. The room snapped back into place, the pressure disappeared, and I could suddenly breathe.
Blinking, I stared up into Michael’s face who stared back at me, shocked and worried. A quick look around showed Eadoin holding my wrists. I couldn’t see who had my ankles pinned, but I was betting it was Damon. His hands felt different from Adriel’s.
“Judith?”
I looked back at Michael and nodded. “What happened?”
Michael nodded, and the hands on my wrists and ankles disappeared. He slowly got off of me, hands leaving my shoulders, and offered me one hand up. “You collapsed and stopped breathing. When I caught you, you started struggling, so I called for Damon and Eadoin, and sent for your mother. Beyond that, I don’t know.” He looked at me expectantly.
“I have a vague idea of what’s going on.” I sighed and sat down on the bed again, away from the dropped box. Michael sat next to me so I leaned on him, suddenly tired. That bitch, Aislin or whatever her name was wasn’t going to make this easy.
One of Michael’s arms snaked around me, helping to hold me up, but I couldn’t rejoice in that feeling just then. Too much was going on, and I was toon tin tired.
The front door opened, and since the bedroom door was open as well we could all see who it was. Adriel walked in, followed by mother, Liam and Mourn. Their guards stayed right outside my room.
“Judith, are you all right?” Mother hurried to me, her hands cradling my face. “What happened?”
I sighed and looked at everyone, my finally falling on Liam. “I think it was her, Liam.” I bit my lip and looked down for a second. “In fact, I’m willing to bet it was.”
Mother and Mourn, and in fact everyone in the room turned to look at Liam. His gaze, however, fell on Mourn. “It seems that Aislin has found a friend in Judith, figuratively speaking of course.”
Mourn’s face closed down completely at the name as Liam’s settled on a blank but somehow unhappy expression. Mother just looked confused. “Who is Aislin?” she asked.
Mourn didn’t say anything, which was highly unusual. Finally Liam cleared his throat. “Aislin is the Queen of Dreams in the Fey court, but she is called the Ruler of Nightmares behind her back. And she is. No one that has felt her touch, Fey or otherwise, has ever been the same since, and many have gone mad at her intrusion.”