Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
When the last moves through, my mother stands before me.
Myrddin is screaming about some contract, but Daniel is arguing with him. Something about the deal being fulfilled.
I’m sure I’m right. The deal Dev made was completed with his death and Bris willingly entering Hell. No one said I couldn’t bring them back.
But I ignore the argument because I see her again.
She holds out a hand. “Hello, baby.”
Tears stream down my face as I hold her hands in mine. “Hello, Mama.”
“Your mother?” Rhys straightens his shirt. “Your mother is here?”
“Her mom? She was in the mountain?” Zoey asks, her face still red from crying. “I thought Myrddin killed her.”
“He did. She’s been following me ever since,” I say, never taking my eyes off my mom. “I was afraid of her. She was the first spirit I ever saw. Connecting with her brought me into my power.”
“I’m sorry I scared you, baby. I thought I was taking on a peaceful form. Things get confused on this side, and then I couldn’t change. I was as stuck in my fear for you as you were in your fear of me,” my mom explains, her voice sounding ethereal. She’s wearing white, and it contrasts with the beauty of her skin. “But I’m not afraid anymore. I can move on now because you have a family again. I suppose I needed to know you had a mother who would take care of you.”
I look to Zoey. “She says she can go now because I have a mother again.”
Zoey bites back a cry, and Rhys puts an arm around his mom’s shoulders. “I am, Shy. I will be your mom for as long as I live. I won’t… I will survive for my children’s sake. I will honor my husband by taking care of us all.”
I feel Dev’s deep sorrow.
And I see the King of the Seelie staring at Zoey.
Oh, is that what Arawn meant?
Shy, Dev begins. I should talk to them and then I will go.
“Trust me,” I whisper. “There is still a chance.”
“I love you so much, my baby girl,” my mother says. “But I would love to see your father and sister again. To be with my family. You have found your soul’s mate, and I am so happy for you. He’s stubborn, but I can feel his love for you. Be happy, my love. I know now what a gift you were to us all. Thank you for picking me to be your mom.”
Tears stream as I offer my mom the door. “Thank you for teaching me how to love.”
“You always knew,” she says and then she hugs me, arms reaching around, and she is gone. “It’s who you are.”
A deep sense of peace grounds me in the moment, and I reach for my husband, hopeful I have one last job to do.
* * * *
Zoey
“He didn’t get what he needed.” Daniel stands beside me, reaching for my hand. There’s a smile on his face. “Shy did it. Not only did he not get what he needed, there were a bunch of souls in Hell who followed her mom and left with the sluagh. From what I can tell Lucifer showed up at the end of his transmission, and he was pissed.”
Danny seems elated with the outcome, but then he sees the king and it’s like all the air is let out of him.
Because he remembers. He remembers Dev is dead and for once he can’t open a vein and bring him back. He can’t make a deal and have our family whole again. He is powerless in this moment, and my heart breaks for him.
For all of us.
How do I tell my children I lost their papa? They just got him back and now he’s gone.
How can I be standing in this beautiful place, evidence of spring and life all around me, when his corpse is down in the valley? The world should stop like mine has.
And yet I have to move on. Isn’t that what I’ve learned? I can stop, mire myself in misery, but we’re still in this place and my children—our children—are still not safe.
“We have to get to the mountain. We go back to the palace, get the blue dolerite, and try our chances,” I say, tears blurring the world, but I am firm in my conviction that we will survive this. We will take my husband home. “We have to…”
I can’t make the words come out of my mouth.
“We have to get Dev’s body.” Daniel can, though they come out the slightest bit shaky. He pulls me close, wrapping his arms around me. “I can’t…”
“Zandra.” The king has managed to stand, the stone behind him coated in his blood. He pulled the cold iron knife out of his gut at some point and the guards forgot to finish him off.