Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
“Anything?” Caelan asked.
We’d gathered in the same place we came in.
“Nada,” Evie confessed.
Ari was looking a little green around the gills. “Nothing. Though I puked in the bushes.” She grimaced. “Are wolves like dogs, I wonder? Do you think one of them would eat that?”
Evie gagged. “Ari!”
The fae lifted a slender shoulder. “I’m just saying. No idea if fae vomit is magical.”
Caelan sighed. “I’d forgotten how calm my life is now that you live thousands of miles away.”
Evie laughed. “Don’t lie, Caelan. You miss the chaos.”
The Lord grinned. “Yeah. Maybe a little. Not enough to do this every night, though.”
I lifted my shoulders in a shrug. “Nada here, too. What about you?”
Caelan held up a small white stone. I leaned forward. No. Not a stone. The Lord held a bone.
“What is that?” Evie asked for all of us.
“A human finger bone,” Caelan confirmed. “It smells like the woman in this clearing, so I assume it belonged to her.”
“Part of her sacrifice,” I said, but something else occurred to me. “Oh gods. You don’t think that belongs to…”
My voice trailed off.
Caelan blanched and dropped the bone. “Shit.” He wiped his fingers on the side of his pants. “Ethan is going to smell that. Fuck.”
Ari lurched over to him. “Hold out your hands.”
Caelan obeyed. Cool magic washed over the clearing, cleansing the scent of death and decay away from the area. “There.”
Ari bent and plucked the bone from the ground. “We’ll take it with us.”
Caelan stared at it in horror. “That’s Sarah’s, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “I think so. Creepy it may be, but this might be good for us.”
Caelan gave me a befuddled look. “How could one of Sarah’s bones found in the woods be good for us?”
“Because Mom’s hold has slipped just a hair.” I’d have to confirm, but Mom had to have some pieces of Sarah’s body to keep a tight leash on the resurrected human. If she lost a piece, we’d just gained a foothold to wrest control of her spell.
Caelan’s attention snapped to the left. He put a finger up to his lips. We stopped moving and talking immediately. His eyes widened.
“Go!” he hissed.
Ari lunged and grabbed me and Evie by the wrists. The earth fell out from under us a second later.
“Too close,” Evie moaned. She lay face down on the ground.
“Your mother is evil,” Ari said. She had a hand over her face. “Vodka is el diablo.”
Evie let out a pained laugh. “She was already rich and then she made that. Cliona probably has a vault of money she jumps into like Scrooge McDuck.”
“I’d swim in my gold if I had that much,” I said, feeling much the same way. My buzz was just about worn off, but my head was still swimming.
Evie turned her head. “You got any of that hangover stuff?”
I nodded. “Come inside. I have a few left.”
Ari perked up. “Hangover stuff?”
“It’s miraculous. The devil giveth and then taketh away.”
Evie snorted and rolled to sitting. She let out a little groan and stood up on shaky legs.
Rowan appeared over the rise grinning from ear to ear. “I heard you three have gotten into quite a bit of mischief tonight. Trespassing, ward-breaking, overconsumption, public intoxication…”
Evie snorted and held her hands up. “Carry me, please.”
Rowan jogged over and scooped Evie into his arms, planting a sound kiss on her lips as he gathered her close.
Love and envy warred inside me. Rowan was so good for her. He knew all of Evie’s parts and moods and understood how much power she had swimming through her veins but loved her, regardless.
My best friend could tear the world apart, and Rowan would still stand beside her as she raged.
I could only hope I had the same thing one day.
“Do you have the formula at home?” I asked as Rowan turned to carry Evie home.
“A six pack,” Rowan said over his shoulder. “She’s good.”
Ari watched them disappear over the rise. “They’re adorable,” she sighed.
“Yeah. She had a long road to get there, but she’d do it all over again to find him.”
I unlocked my door. “Come in for a sec, and I’ll send you home with a couple. Take one tonight and one when you wake up if you feel like you need it.”
Ari took the two small bottles I handed her once we were inside and downed the first one before I could tell her what was in it.
“Glad you trust me,” I said dryly.
She patted her stomach. “Fae metabolism. As long as there wasn’t magical poison in there, my body will process this just fine.”
Ari grinned and leaned to brush a kiss against my cheek. “Once I’m less drunk and not hungover, we’ll start looking for your mom in earnest.”
“Cliona showed up tonight.”
Ari’s brows lifted. “And didn’t show her face to her daughter?”
“Cliona is trying her best to keep Evie safe and happy.”
“What you’re saying is she’s worlds better than your mom.” Ari’s chuckle made me laugh.
“Ugh. So much better. She told me Mom was the one who cast the spell.”
Ari slumped against the wall. “At least we’re not dealing with a necromancer on top of your mom.”
“Small favors,” I agreed.
“Alright,” Ari said. “If I’m alive tomorrow, I’ll call you.”
She blinked away, leaving me in an empty apartment.
I uncorked one of the hangover potions and downed it before I forgot, then went to the back to put on pajamas.
When I came back out to brew a pot of coffee, Cernunnos sat in my living room.
I stopped in surprise, then smiled. “Want some coffee?”
“It’s already brewing.”
I glanced over to see the pot already dripping. “Thanks.”
He patted the cushion next to him. I was still upset with him, but it was way past midnight, and I was exhausted.
I curled up next to Cernunnos. His arm settled around my shoulders, and he turned to pull me across his chest. A heavy sigh came from deep within me.
“I know,” he murmured.
His fingers toyed with my hair. “Cliona said she saw you this evening.”
“Did she tell you where?”
His fingers stilled. “She did.”
“Cliona’s booze is evil.”
His chest rumbled with a laugh. “Did you get caught?”
“Almost.”
“Almost doesn’t mean yes.”
I smiled against his chest. “True.”
“Did you find out anything good?”
I popped my head up. “How much do you know?”
“Enough.”
“Everything then,” I grumbled. Two mugs of hot coffee floated over to the coffee table. I sat up and grabbed them both.
Adjusting myself to face him, I handed the other mug over and watched my sort-of boyfriend.
He was gorgeous and otherworldly, smart and clever. He was also devious and meddling and occasionally far more manipulative than he should be.
His lips curved as he took a sip of his coffee. “When you watch me like that, I can see the conflicting opinions war on your face.”
He also saw far more than I wanted him to. “Have you ever had a real girlfriend? Like me?”
He tilted his head. “One where I sat like this with coffee and conversation?”
I immediately regretted the question. Nothing good could come of asking my thousand-plus-year-old, hot, sorta boyfriend about his past relationships. His last serious relationship had been a freaking goddess.
And I was a dysfunctional vampire with serious mommy issues.
I nodded. In for a penny, in for a pound.
He thought about it for a long moment. “When you’re as powerful as I am, there’s always an expectation in relationships. I always have to be on. Cliona was a little different, but she, too, never wanted to see vulnerability. Fae have difficulty with true honesty.”
I stayed quiet and sipped my coffee.
“With you, I can be myself.” His lips curved. “Even when you don’t like my true self sometimes.”
I snorted. “I don’t like the tactics you use. If you want something, just tell me the reasons why and give me the opportunity to refuse.”
He nodded slowly. “Alright. Would you like me to tell you why I think you should drink from Ethan?”
“Moot point now,” I grumbled. “But sure.” I waved my hand at him. “Fire away.”
“If you had fed from him the moment you really wanted to, Ethan would not have been at his Keep the day your mother came to visit.”
My grip tightened on the mug. Shock rooted me to the couch. My throat thickened with tears.
He watched me with swirling eyes. “I’m sorry, Moira.”
“You—you’re saying this is my fault?”
Cernunnos shook his head and touched my thigh. “No. This was one of many fate lines. I was urging you to pluck another one instead of the one you chose.”
At my look, he shook his head. “Fate is fickle. One tiny action can spark the most extreme reaction. It’s no one’s fault.”
“Where would she have gone?”
“I can’t give you too much more because I don’t know, but she would have come here and tried to break the wards.”
“Would she have succeeded?”
He snorted. “With Evie’s paranoia? Not a chance.”
I set my coffee down and brought my knees up. “How do I fix this?”
“That I cannot answer. As it is, I’ve been warned against offering such nudges again.”
“Warned?”
“Fate is not a concept, sweet Moira. All the strings of fate are controlled by the Seven Weavers.”
My brow furrowed. “Does Evie know?”
“I’m sure she does. Whether she cares is another question. Evie has shown sheer obstinate determination to create her own story. Whether the Weavers had anything to do with that remains to be seen.” His smile seemed a little forced. “They do not accept visitors, so it’s not like any of us can ask.”
“Occasionally, they make a house call?”
He laughed. “Yes. I have been a thorn in their side for many years now.”
“I don’t see why they care if everyone has thousands of strings, anyway. Why should it matter if number one or number eight hundred gets plucked?”
“I can’t begin to tell you how intricately things weave together. If one string is plucked, the vibration shimmers around the world. They get annoyed when they expect things to go one way only for it to do a ninety-degree turn.”
“They must hate Evie then.”
Cernunnos grinned. “She has been a source of great irritation to them, yes.”
“I’d high-five her if she were here.”
“You may need to wait until morning,” he said, his voice holding a touch of amusement. “Rowan said she had enough vodka to fuel the Russian army.”
I snickered and settled against Cernunnos’s shoulder. “I don’t know if I can fix this.” But there was something even worse about the situation. “I’m not sure I should.”
“I can answer the second.” He brought me in closer and pressed a kiss to my forehead.
“If you do nothing, this will eventually fix itself, and not in a good way. Sarah is long-dead and was never meant to be resurrected. Phoenixes are the only creatures that can resurrect the dead with no repercussions. Your mother is no phoenix.”
I touched the spot in my chest. “Why are they the only ones who can decide?”
He shrugged. “They are pure of heart and have no ill intent toward anyone. If they’ve chosen to resurrect someone, they’ve seen the lines of fate and have still deemed them worthy.”
Cernunnos still didn’t know what happened to Fee or what she’d done. Or what lived inside me.
Or maybe he did. He seemed to know everything else. Honestly, I was too tired to care.
“What if I do something? If I kill my mother, the spell breaks, and Sarah dies again.”
“No. She disappears, and her soul goes back to wherever souls go when their bodies die.”
“And Ethan?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “He will lose her all over again. There is no happy ending for this, Moira. As much as I wish it wasn’t so, he will relive her death all over again.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” I moved away from Cernunnos and took our coffee cups to the kitchen. “I’m going to bed if you don’t mind.”
His expression sharpened. “And I am not invited.”
I smiled sadly. “Not tonight.”
He inclined his head. “I expected as much. Is this to be the end then?”
“I like you. Maybe even more than like you.” My hands shook as I rinsed our mugs out. “But I don’t like being manipulated. Even if you thought you were helping.”
His expression went blank. “I cannot be anything other than what I am.”
“I know, and that’s why I’m not angry at you. I’m just tired. If you cannot help me, then I’ll do it myself. And I’d like to do it alone.”
“Not alone,” he said, his eyes beginning to swirl. “Without me. There is a difference.”
I nodded. “There is. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“No need. I understand.” He rose and walked over, stopping within inches of me. Cernunnos brushed his thumb over my lips. “You know how to reach me.”
In a flash of emerald and golden light, he disappeared.
I went straight to bed and face-planted, not even bothering to turn off my lamp.