Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“And contrary to fairy tales, no one is ever under a love spell.”
“I am always surprised at the powers that humans believe the fae possess,” she said flatly. “Many have some minor magic, but only witches are blessed with the art of honey and wounds.”
Otherwise known as the ability to lure others to us and weave sticky, encompassing love spells—the honey—and hex and hurt others—the wounds. I didn’t dabble in either, as I had been raised to leave alone whenever possible the ebb and flow of the world. Nature always knew best, and to interfere meant you had to fix whatever you broke. My grandmother always said that it was best not to assume the part of a god when one had not been so blessed. It was good advice and worked well in all kinds of situations.
I took a breath. “So your lord is Soter?”
“Yes, and the small, sliver rifts of this realm are his to guard on the order of his lord, and mine, the battle god Neit.”
“Nott said that was whom she served.”
Her face scrunched up in pain again. Obviously, she missed her sister dearly.
“Please give both Soter and Neit my thanks.”
“I will,” she whispered.
“May I ask when you found her?”
“A fortnight ago.”
“Thank you again for patrolling.”
“To be clear, we stopped doing that once we found Nott. We have searched these past weeks for what could have crossed but found nothing.”
“Since it successfully crossed through,” I said, studying her face, “why torture Nott? It was already here, safe and sound.”
“Perhaps it wanted to go from here to somewhere else and knew Nott could make that transport happen if she wanted. Maybe it needed information about your town. Nott patrolled here, she knew all who resided in the area. It might be they were looking for someone or something here.”
“Strange of her not to simply say and then return to Soter for reinforcements.”
She shook her head. “It is known that if one is captured by an enemy and questioned, you will not live to be released. It’s folly to believe differently. Nott was wise and knew once she was trapped, she was dead. Whatever information was gleaned, it took torture to loosen her lips.”
“I really am so very sorry.”
“We take solace in knowing that to find her as she was, she held out until the questioner was so furious that she was torn asunder.”
That didn’t give me any comfort at all.
“You must be on your guard now, witch, as my sisters and I are gone from this place. I only appear to you now since Nott would have wanted it this way, and my lord, as well as my lord’s lord, owe yours fealty.”
Which basically meant they were all communicating with lowly ole me because my lord Arawn was far scarier than all the rest of them put together. “Thank you again,” I said, reaching out for her.
She clasped my arm but didn’t push her power through me as was customary. It wasn’t necessary; Thero was there to honor what Nott would have wanted, respecting her wishes, not to test me.
We let go at the same time, and she bowed her head just a bit before pointing behind me, the gesture a reminder of where the edge of the slip was, then turned and walked deeper into the shadows, until she disappeared completely.
I took the required steps out, and a man did a double take when he saw me. It must’ve been strange to see air one moment and me the next.
“Hey,” I greeted him.
He squinted, then went back to what he was doing, carrying a keg into the stall that was serving beer, hot dogs, and hamburgers. He probably thought, as most would have, that he was seeing things.
It took me a few moments of deep breaths, letting the sounds and smells of the carnival wash over me, to recover some semblance of normalcy. Once I did, I knew there was only one person I wanted to talk to, and I needed to walk back to the center of town so that as soon as he was done with his meeting, I would be there.
Leaving the carnival, after witnessing three different shoving matches on my way out that didn’t escalate solely because of the carnival security, I retraced my steps to the town center. I moved fast, breaking into a jog every few minutes, wanting to get there as quickly as I could. It was strange because I was on edge, and due to that, I kept glancing around, unsure of my eyes and ears, seeing and hearing things at the edge of my vision, stepping from the shadows, that couldn’t possibly be there.
Was it stupid? Yes. Could I stop… I could, apparently, because I heard a sound I recognized, which instantly soothed me—several short staccato beginnings of a meow.