Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
She dreamed of flying when she slept.
The cold wind cut through the leather armor that shielded her body, creeping down her neck like icy water over rocks.
She soared over mountains draped in fog where the dark tips of ancient giants jabbed the cloudy sky.
The only light that touched her face came from the glow of fire coming from the belly of the beast that carried her, and in the distance, she heard the thunder of the Tistilal’s wings as the thunderbird flew north over the mountain peaks that bordered the great Pacific Ocean.
She dreamed of flying, cradled in smooth, curved claws that wrapped around her body and held her in their grip.
Nêrys.
Carys opened her eyes in darkness at the sound of Cadell’s voice.
Duncan was sleeping beside her in the cozy house in the middle of the forest. The house Gareth had built for Tegan. The house where the blacksmith had come to live for a year, to try life in Baywood.
With more than a few flights back to Scotland for both of them.
Carys got out of bed and threw on a robe before she walked outside.
She saw the world in a hundred shades of grey but also in green and purple, pink and vivid blue.
“Hey.” She slipped on her boots and walked to the edge of the forest where she could see Cadell waiting.
Her eyes were still seeing double, and the kids at school had taken to calling her the Dread Captain Morgan since she had to wear an eye patch or go crazy while she was at work.
Also because they were college kids and thought any joke about rum was hilarious.
“Look.” Cadell pointed to the bushes. “I thought they might be gone by morning. I hope you don’t mind that I woke you.”
“No, it’s cool.” Along with her vision, Cadell’s ability to speak to her mind had also lingered.
Carys couldn’t respond mentally, so the effect was definitely wearing off.
But she knew she’d miss his voice when it was gone.
Having Cadell close to her mind, even in the Brightlands, eased the hollow that Seren’s voice had left.
Carys knelt down and saw a doe with two dotted fawns hiding in the brush. “Hello there.” She kept her voice soft and slid her eye patch to the left. It was unusual to have young fawns this time of year, but magic could be at work. And sometimes nature simply didn’t go by the rules.
Her right eye caught the dancing sprites hidden in the leaves around the fawns who both carried a single thumbprint on their forehead, the mark of the Deer Woman’s protection.
“Two little girls, Cadell.”
“Shifter?” It wasn’t uncommon to find animal shifters from Pauwau Aki, even this far from the gates.
Carys shook her head. “Just regular deer.”
“They’re beautiful.” He lifted his chin. “I scented a bear in the woods.”
“That’s normal this time of year.” They were deep into fall, and the deciduous trees had lost their leaves, but the snow had not come yet, and the bears were lumbering around, gathering as much food as they could before true winter set in. “I don’t think you need to worry.”
“Hopefully their mother will keep them near the house during the winter.” Cadell frowned at the doe. “It’s very late in the season to give birth.”
Despite the fact that Cadell hunted deer in his dragon form, he was softhearted toward the young. She didn’t try to make it make sense. Every creature, even if they weren’t gods, lived in contradictions.
“Well, if she keeps them near the house, we’ll put out some food.” Carys stood, leaving the two newborns in the bushes, thankful that no predator would come near the house with the scent of a dragon nearby.
Cadell looked up at the moon and the blue glow of morning that touched the horizon. “The day is ending in Pauwau Aki.”
Carys narrowed her eyes. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Cadell smiled. “I’ll race you to the gate.”
“No fair!”
The dragon always won, but it didn’t matter. Carys ran through the woods in her bathrobe and boots, her heart light in the forest that was as much her home as the cabin in the woods.
The scent of pine and cedar suffused the air as she ran, and when she reached the massive fallen log that guarded the gate to the Shadowlands, the mountain lion shifter perched on the granite rocks above winked at her before he laid his head down.
The voices that met her ears whispered secrets and greetings, recognizing her step and the goddess’s gold collar that shone beneath her clothes.
By the time she reached the clearing beyond the gate, Cadell had already transformed.
Nêrys. His voice rumbled in her mind. Are you ready?
She threw up her arms when Cadell took to the air, waiting for him to reach down and pluck her from the frosty meadow.
She put a hand on her belly, whispering in her mind as the great claws closed around her. Do you feel it?
Cadell curled his foot back, creating a secure cage as he beat his wings and lifted into the sky.
Do you feel his power? Do you feel how he cares for us?
She rested her cheek on Cadell’s claw as he flew into the soft gold-and-pink sky with no sun.
Because the Shadowlands would always remain the Shadowlands. A place of myth and story. A place where fairy tales were real and the world was a dampened echo of the harsh and brilliant Brightlands.
But with every month that passed, Carys knew that the name others had given her was true. She was a daughter of two worlds. She was home in the light and the shadow, and even though she’d started this journey alone, she had found family in both places.
Love surrounded her; she would never be alone again.
Do you see that thunderbird in the distance?
No racing, Cadell.
Cadell’s mental laugh was low and wicked.
Cadell!
When she walked back into the kitchen, her hair was a tangled mess, and Duncan was standing at the counter, dunking a cookie in coffee and peering out the window over the sink.
“Saw you walking in.”
She loved seeing him in her space, his shirt untucked, wearing his flannel pajama pants and slippers that he kept under her bed.
He had his own mugs and his own messes. Little hairs in the sink when he shaved, and he was still getting accustomed to not having a housekeeper to pick up after him.
But the laird was getting the hang of commoner life.
Carys slid her eye patch to the right and tried to comb a hand through her hair, but it was useless. “Why does a relaxing morning flight always end up being a race with a thunderbird?”
Duncan’s eyebrows went up. “Because your dragon is a daredevil?” He glanced at her belly. “All good?”
She had to admire his nonchalance. The Duncan of a month ago would have gone on a rant about his pregnant fiancée racing a thunderbird while clutched in the claws of a massive dragon.
“I’m good.”
“No nausea?”
“I’ll let you know when it happens so you can spoil me.” She walked over and slid her arm around his waist. “Is there more coffee?”
“Yes. Half caffeine.”
She stuck out her tongue at him, but he just winked and kissed her forehead.
“Just think,” he said. “That means you can have two cups of coffee instead of one.”
“Oh, good point.”
Duncan was very much trying to be cool about the unexpected. Considering how many fertility deities they’d been hanging around with, in the end, neither one of them was all that surprised when Carys was late no matter what kind of birth control she was taking.
Magic had a mind of its own.
“Class at ten today?”
She nodded and poured herself a mug of coffee, adding some milk and grabbing a piece of shortbread that Mary had mailed them from Murrayshall House.
“You working on that gate for the Rothman Mansion?”
“I am.”
In the months since they’d returned to the Shadowlands, Duncan had started making friends with various restorers in Northern California, one of whom was more than happy to send work to an experienced blacksmith accustomed to working on historic buildings.
Duncan had quickly found an appropriate space in town for welding and ironwork projects, then dug into solitary projects with no need to run an entire metal shop.
He said it was like taking a vacation.
And Carys? She was doing exactly what she loved.
“Did I tell you my Celtic mythology class was full?”
“Full?” His eyebrows went up. “No joke?”
“No joke.” She sipped her coffee. “Apparently there’s some singer who’s super popular that makes a lot of mythological references, so it’s trending.”
“Do you think viral videos of a dragon flying over England had anything to do with that?”
“Maybe.” She pinched her fingers together. “Just a little bit.”
Despite various attempts at debunking, there were still videos of Cadell flying in the Brightlands that even experts couldn’t explain. And while #wheresmacha was trending on social media for a few weeks, the attention of the world had moved on.
Still, seeing as there was no way all those videos of a dragon were going to be contained, it was probably better that Carys and Cadell avoid the Shadowlands in the UK for a few months and gave everyone a chance to calm down.
“Everyone wants to believe in fairy tales,” Carys said. “There’s a deep and intrinsic need for the other within the human psyche.”
“They want to believe.” Duncan smiled and walked over to her, sliding his arm around her waist and drawing Carys up for a kiss. “What about you, Professor Morgan?” He kissed her right cheek, then her left. “Do you believe in fairy tales?”
“No need.” She lifted to her toes and pressed her lips against Duncan’s. “Because this is it. You and me. My friends and my family. My home here.”
“And there.” Duncan smiled.
“This is the fairy tale for me.” Carys felt the contentment deep in her chest. “And it’s real.”
The End
(For now.)