Chapter 25 #2
Cadell shot Laura a look from the side. “If you even start—”
“Smaug!” Laura’s eyes lit up. “Yay! We even have our own dragon, but he’s a good dragon in our fellowship.”
The dragon’s nostrils flared, but he remained silent.
Naida raised her hand. “I do not know this Frodo, but did he also release a harmful god into an alternate realm?”
Godrik was also frowning. “That is what Carys did, so it must be.”
Duncan snorted.
“Okay…” Carys shrugged. “The parallel might not be perfect.”
They started on the road before noon, but it was still going to be five hours before they hit Swansea.
Carys spent her time in the car reading as much as she could find online about the Welsh goddess D?n, whom Seren suspected was one of the Mothers, and Oshun, the Nigerian fertility goddess Joshua had mentioned.
Mothers.
Fertility.
The Morrígan had aspects of fertility in her power.
Sovereignty. Wealth. Fertility of the land.
There were many scholarly interpretations of the Morrígan’s powers and hardly any of them agreed with each other.
The parts that did agree were those about war, battle, and bloodshed.
At the second stop, she started feeling sleepy, so she let Laura sit in front, and she moved to the back of the van where she fell asleep on Cadell’s shoulder.
“Carys.”
At first she thought Cadell was nudging her mind.
What?
It is not me disturbing you from your rest, it is the prince.
Carys opened her eyes to see Lachlan sitting in the seat in front of her, completely turned around.
“Hey.” She blinked. “What’s up?”
Lachlan had been avoiding her for days, and now he was shoving himself into her space?
“Do you have a moment?”
Cadell was less patient than Carys was. “She was sleeping.”
“I know that but—”
“It’s fine.” She lifted her head and wiped a tiny bit of drool from the dragon’s shoulder. “Sorry about that.”
“It is to be expected.” Cadell moved to the right next to Laura, leaving the seat beside Carys empty.
Lachlan moved back and sat next to her. “This van is huge.”
“Almost more like a bus than a van.”
Lachlan smiled. “I’ll make sure to remind Duncan that he was a bus driver on this quest.”
“And I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.”
Leave it to a brother—or a doppelg?nger—to needle you about the stupidest things.
“You said you had a dream about Seren last night.”
Ah, yes. That was why he was talking to her. “We were mostly talking about what Joshua told me about going to Annwn and visiting the Mothers so they could point us in the right direction.”
His face fell. “Was that all?”
“No.”
Tell him that I love him still. That I might have died, but my love never did.
“We talked about you too,” she said softly. “She was really angry with me.”
“About us?”
“What do you think?” Carys shrugged. “I told her that if I’d known she existed, I wouldn’t have ever fallen in love with you.”
“So she was even more angry with me.” Lachlan sighed and sat back.
“The Cymric underworld is not open to me. If it were, I would have followed her there instead of searching for her mirror in the Brightlands.” He looked at her.
“I’m sorry, Carys. Searching for you was unfair to both of us.
My feelings were never a lie—I did love you—but it was… ”
“Not the same.” She looked at Duncan, who was glancing at them in the rearview mirror. “I understand.” It wasn’t painful. Carys felt more… wistful.
For the woman she’d been. For the love they’d shared.
In another life, they could have been happy.
“You really would have died?” Carys whispered. “Because I don’t think she would be happy to hear that. She wants you to live a long time.”
“So I can finally enter an eternal realm without her?” Lachlan asked. “My ancestors reside on the distant isle of Tír na nóg. When I die, I will walk the golden path over the western sea to meet them.” His voice grew thick. “But Seren will not be there to meet me.”
Who knew what the battle with the Morrígan would bring? Maybe she would die. Maybe they all would.
Carys finally told him. “Seren said that she loves you. That even though she’s dead, she never stopped loving you.”
Tears filled his green eyes. Lachlan swallowed hard and nodded sharply.
“I shouldn’t have told you.” Her heart hurt just looking at him, and his tear-filled eyes were even more hollow than they’d been before.
Lachlan shook his head. “Seren may be dead, but if her love still survives, a part of her still lives here too.” He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and pressed a hand over his heart. “As long as she speaks to you, I want to hear any message that she sends.”
“Okay.” She winced. “She also said she was excusing your mistake with me because I’m her Brightkin, but if you ever take another lover, she’ll return from the dead, haunt you both, and make sure your lover flees from you in misery.”
Lachlan must have had the right sense of humor, because he threw his head back and laughed long and hard.
When he finally stopped laughing, Carys said, “Okay, so you got the joke. Good. I was a little worried.”
“Oh, that wasn’t a joke.” Lachlan smiled. “She would definitely do that.” He shook his head and wiped his eyes. “Gods of old, I love that woman.”
Okay, well… Okay. Carys nodded.
Apparently there really were people who were meant for each other.
It was after dark when they finally arrived in Swansea and pulled up to a purple-painted shop on High Street.
The light in the sky was just starting to dim, but there were plenty of bright lights in the shop, so Duncan found the nearest parking lot and pulled the van into it, parking and then opening the door as their party poured out like menacing and magical occupants of a clown car.
First Godrik, glaring as he escorted Naida toward the sidewalk. The fae woman was red-cheeked and appeared much happier now that the wolf was back in the Brightlands with them.
Then Laura and Cadell, both sniping at each other as they argued about modern interpretations of dragons in pop culture.
“I’m telling you” —Cadell’s nostrils were flared— “it’s ridiculous and insulting.”
“Riding dragons would be so cool though.” Laura was adamant. “It wouldn’t be like a horse at all.”
“How would it even be possible?” Cadell was equally stubborn. “You’ve seen me in my natural form, Laura. You’re an engineer. Think of the practical configuration. Where would a rider sit? There are massive muscle groups along our back to power our wings, and—”
“I don’t know! Like maybe a…” Her cheeks got red and her voice dropped. “Like a… harness or… support or—”
“Saddle.” Cadell crossed his arms over his chest. “You are describing a saddle.”
“Not a saddle.”
“As a horse would wear.” He stormed off.
“Cadell!” Laura jogged after him. “It definitely would not be a saddle.”
Finally Lachlan got out of the van, nodding at Duncan and Carys before he checked his sword under the back seat and then followed the rest of the group.
Duncan frowned. “Did we manage to leave Angus somewhere?”
“No!” A cranky voice came from the back of the van. “I was changing my jacket, that’s all.”
“Well, we’re here.”
“Good.” Angus folded himself in half as he exited the van, then lingered for a moment, attempting to tame his wild grey hair in the window of the vehicle.
“Angus, are you trying to…” Duncan frowned. “I’m confused.”
“Mind your business, human,” Angus growled.
He gave Duncan one last glare before he loped down the sidewalk.
“What was that about?” Duncan asked.
Carys shrugged. “I don’t know, but Angus is an old god.”
“Okay yes, but—”
“And we’re going to see three ancient goddess.” Carys took Duncan’s hand and started walking. “Matriarchs. Mothers. Fertility goddesses.”
Duncan’s eyebrows went up. “And if I remember correctly, Pan got around in his day.”
“I mean…” She lifted one shoulder. “It’s possible he knows exactly who we’re going to visit.”
“Huh.” Duncan smirked a little bit, then walked down the road toward the brightly lit windows of Pages and Portals, the bookshop where the Mothers lived.
All of them waited until Carys arrived, and when she opened the door, a bell chimed over her head.
Then another bell sounded and another and another until the cozy shop rang with echoing chimes that sounded like rain falling on crystal.
A round-faced woman with a cloud of curly, nut-brown hair popped out from between two bookshelves, a smile creasing her face. “Oh, look who it is, sisters.”
Another woman came from the back room, thick black hair braided and decorated with flowers. The lights twinkled on the gold ring on the left side of her nose.
“Oshun, she’s here!” the second woman called.
Descending from a circular staircase in the back corner, a woman who could only be a goddess appeared. She wore a pair of flowing yellow overalls and a bright blue head wrap, and the scent of jasmine followed her.
She walked forward, and the two other goddesses flanked her.
“Hello, Carys Morgan,” they said in a singular voice. “We have been waiting for you.”