Part 86 (1/2)
”You summoned me.”
”I meant why you, a wraith, un-bound of the Seventh Court and part-human, are here.”
”That, I don't know,” I said honestly.
”Blackbird has told you, I'm sure, that the Seventh Court are not known for a.s.sociating with humans. ”
”The fact I'm here means someone has been playing away from home, though, doesn't it? ”
”Not necessarily. ”
”How else do you explain it?”
”There was a time, long ago, when the Feyre were not as you see us today. Each of us here holds a strand of that thread. Teoth, there, holds the office of High Maker, held only by the luchorpan and the nixies. Mellion is the Hordemaster, ruler of all the goblins and gnolls of the Goblin Court. These boundaries were made, though. They did not appear by accident. ”
”What does that have to do with me?”
”We, in this room, made a decision some time ago, to allow our bloodlines to mix with those of humanity and repair the damage that was done. We allowed, and in some cases even encouraged, a liaison between the races.”
”I know. That's why the Seventh Court rebelled.”
”The Feyre has become more and more specialised as certain traits only manifest themselves inside a single court. It has made us fragile.”
”You don't appear fragile to me.”
”I don't mean fragile as individuals. I mean as a race. We have lost the ability to reproduce because parts of our make-up have become unstable. ”
”But breeding with humans fixes that?”
”We took a calculated risk. We have known for a long time that the union between Feyre and Human was fertile and had the potential to restore the fertility lost to us. Humans spread like moss on a damp tree. If we could acquire some of their fecundity then we would be restored. That was a prize worth the taking. Human blood has the missing pieces, as far as we are concerned. You are a demonstration of that. You already have a daughter and there's another child on the way. ”
”Blackbird told you?”
”We already knew. The prospect of a birth is important news amongst the courts of the Feyre. ”
”Then you asked me here to congratulate me?”