Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
We stood in a large field with knee-high grass dotted with tiny yellow and white flowers, nothing else around us for what felt like miles.
The body lay on the table, still glowing, and seemingly no worse for wear.
“I can’t believe you transported that to the fae lands,” Evie said.
“Technically, I didn’t. I moved everything around it,” Cliona said. “Magic can be quite literal, sometimes.”
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
Cliona smiled. “Your mother is the architect of that spell. You hold your mother’s blood in your veins.”
Evie sucked in a breath. “Oh my gods.”
Cliona nodded. “We’re going to transfer ownership of that spell to you.”
Shock rooted me to the spot. “I—what?”
“Your mother holds all the cards. She might not have possession of the body, but that’s her spell.
Her showing up at the Keep is proof she really wants the body back.
But if we can wrest control of the ownership, we can at least figure out how to eventually power down the spell so Sarah can pass back into her bones, and we might be able to get Ethan’s memory back. ”
Evie stared at her mother, slack-jawed. “You think Moira’s magic is compatible?”
“Moira is at least part-vampire and part witch. She should, feasibly, have some hold over the dead, just by virtue of the bite keeping her immortal or damn near close to it. Her witch blood is close enough to her mother’s to make transferring the spell easier.
I can’t guarantee it will work, but we can try. ”
This was the closest we’d come to a solution since Sarah had popped into the clinic room. “What if I can’t control it?”
“I’ll know pretty quickly and will sever the spell.”
“And what if I can?”
“You’ll be linked to Ethan’s dead lover,” Cliona said with a grimace. “You might wish you weren’t, depending on the feedback loop between you and her, but it’s possible you’ll see a path that gets us all out of this unharmed.”
Evie winced. “Feedback loop sounds like she might know when…” Her voice trailed off.
“Oh.” Horror filled me. “That’s the absolute last thing I want to know,” I said.
Cliona shrugged. “Ask yourself which is worse. Knowing something like that or keeping Ethan trapped in a hell not of his own making.”
We all knew what answer I’d choose.
Her face softened. “There’s no way to tell. Hopefully the feelings are dulled, and you don’t experience everything, but there are no guarantees.”
“There are also a lot of mights, and possibly, and we’ll sees,” Evie said dryly. “Moira? Are you sure you want to try this?”
“Will anything happen to Mom?” I asked.
Cliona smiled. “This is the fun part. If we can wrest control, your mother might receive some magical backlash. Enough to take her out of commission long enough for you to find her and deal with her. Unfortunately, I don’t think this will be a problem that solves itself very quickly.
Sarah might be with you a while as you figure out how to safely let her go without damaging Ethan or yourself in the process. ”
“How long?” I asked.
“Long enough for us to find a nice necromancer, figure out the magic she’s using and where she learned it, and figure out how to free Ethan before he realizes what’s happening to him and tries to free himself.”
“Oh,” I said faintly. “Is that all?”
Evie rubbed her face. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Cliona snorted. “No. But I do believe this is the only one we have.”
The only thing I ever wanted was Ethan’s happiness. “You’re sure Sarah can’t stay?”
Cliona’s expression turned serious. “However this turns out, Sarah must return to the earth. There is no world in which she is supposed to be walking.”
Evie sighed. “Kinda fucked up if you think about it too long, considering what Fee did with the Lords.”
At the mention of her name, my chest warmed. Fee’s affection for Evie was still alive and well in the spirit of her phoenix.
Cliona inclined her head in curiosity, just as Evie paled. “What exactly did Fee do with the Lords?”
I winced. Cliona did not know I still held a piece of the phoenix. As Evie explained what happened, Cliona’s face fell. “A last sacrifice,” the goddess murmured. “Are you sure she’s dead?”
Evie kept her face carefully blank. “I saw Fee disappear myself.”
Not a lie. Cliona could interpret that however she saw fit.
“Phoenixes have different capabilities,” Cliona said after a moment.
“They are the only ones allowed to determine someone’s worthiness.
” She shook her head. “And for whatever reason, she determined those Lords are still worthy. So no, Evie, it’s not fucked up.
Fee willingly gave her life so they could live.
Entirely different from Sarah’s dilemma.
She was forced from the dead by a puppet master. Sarah no longer owns her life.”
“I will soon if things work out,” I said quietly.
Evie’s attention snapped to me. “You’re going to go through with this?”
“I don’t see another choice.”
My friend closed her eyes for a brief moment. “If Ethan finds out you’re holding the reins, he’ll never forgive you.”
“Then let’s make sure he doesn’t find out.”
Cliona nodded. “Stay back here with the bone. Don’t do anything else until I tell you it’s okay.”
I nodded, fear rising in my veins. If this would save Ethan, I was all in.
Evie stepped up beside me. “I’ll stay with her.”
Cliona reached up to touch my face. “I hope you one day have the reckoning with your mother you so desperately need.”
I’d settle for her dropping dead of a heart attack, but I appreciated the sentiment. “Me too,” I said.
“Then let’s begin.”