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)
His arm goes around me. “Are you okay? What do you see?”
“She’s here,” I whisper and try not to look at her. I can feel her, though. Cold and dead and longing. Longing for what? To take me with her? Fluffy barks and circles the spirit. It surprises me, though I don’t know why since it makes sense. “The hellhounds can see her.”
“Emyr seems to sense something,” the queen says as the hound joins Fluffy.
We find ourselves in a cave, though it’s obviously magical. There are faery lights all around, and it’s far warmer and drier than it was outside. It reminds me of the entry into Frelsi.
All three hounds circle the Drowning Woman, but they don’t seem to see her as a threat. They bounce around as though asking if she wants to play.
So much for their instincts.
“It’s a spirit,” I tell the queen. “One that has followed me around since I was a child. She’s the first spirit I ever saw, and quite frankly, one of the most frightening. Not that the hounds seem to be afraid.”
They are literally running in and out of her, playing in the water surrounding her like puppies.
“I hoped she wouldn’t be able to follow,” Rhys says with a sigh.
“She might not be able to,” I reply. There’s something desperate about her. I feel energy coming off some spirits. It’s stronger the older I get. Or perhaps I’m simply more at ease with it so I feel it more. The Drowning Woman is desperate. “She hasn’t come this close in a long time. She might be trying to imprint on me because she knows she’ll lose me once I cross the plane.”
She shimmers. I can’t tell if it’s the faery lights or something she’s doing herself. But for a moment she glows and I feel…sadness.
“Is there anything we can do to banish her?” The king stares like he’s trying to see what I can see.
I face her for the first time. “Do you see a light?” Now that I’m looking at her, the rushing sound of water is so much louder, and I feel her chill. “If you can see the light, you can leave this plane and begin again. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. The light is another chance. Can you see it?”
A shiver goes through me as a hand breaks through the water, a long finger pointing at me.
She doesn’t want to go into the light. She wants me.
“I’d like to pass through now,” I say quietly.
Rhys leans close and whispers in my ear. “We can talk to Arawn about banishing her. If anyone will know how to get rid of an evil spirit, it will be the King of the Dead. I promise, I will find a way.”
I believe him. I really do. I love this man so much, but as I turn from the spirit that has haunted me since I was a child, I’m back to being worried about the fact that his grandmother is a Faery queen and he has a temple where he’s supposed to conduct fertility rites.
“Are we good to go?” Rhys’s papa asks. “Is there anything we can do to protect you, Shy?”
I shake my head. “I’m ready. She wouldn’t be the first to try to take my body. Harry taught me well. I can expel a spirit with a single breath. I’ll be fine.”
Devinshea nods and moves toward the back of the cave. We’re all lined up. The royals first. Rhys and I after them with our wolves, and Sasha in the back. The hounds seem to know things have gotten serious because they stop playing and take up their spots. Fluffy and Caddoc on either side of me and Rhys and Emyr behind the queen.
Devinshea places the largest stone on the door and says something I can’t hear. Likely an incantation or request for entry. The door opens and I can see another world. It’s near dark here, but the sun is vibrant in Faery. Time moves differently, I was taught. It passes more quickly here on the Earth plane.
Rhys’s hand is in mine as we approach the door his parents walked through. I look back and the Drowning Woman is still there, her monstrous hand reaching out.
I swear I feel sadness. Loss. An ache I haven’t felt before. Like I lost something.
I have the oddest feeling I should stay. But then Rhys squeezes my hand, and I know it’s just my fear and anxiety. Since the encounter with Matilda, I find myself walking the knife’s edge between excitement and worry. I want to know if there’s something more inside me, something else I can help our cause with. But I worry the Welsh King of the Dead will take one look at me and realize a mistake was made.
I force myself to turn to that soft light coming out of the door. When I walk through, I feel a jolt on my palm as though the stone in my hand zapped me lightly. I ignore it since it doesn’t really hurt. It’s one of those magical things. Rhys leads me out and we find ourselves walking into a field, and I know immediately the door worked and we are in the Faery realm.