Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
“She thought she was protecting the painting. She knew it was the key to one day bringing you all home,” Lee said. “Grandma Chris was a hero.”
“She was.” Kelsey leaned over to pat his hand. “She saved us all.” Then she turned my way with that look on her face that told me she had some questions. “So I was in Ether?”
“Yes.” She’d been there because the painting had been there. The minute she’d stepped through the door, the stasis spell had trapped her.
“For twelve years,” she said slowly, as though trying to make those words make sense.
I knew exactly where she was going. My bestie would be upset by losing twelve years, but she always thought with one part of her body. “You were in stasis. You did not need a sandwich.”
“Twelve years.” Kelsey slapped the table lightly. “I assure you I needed a sandwich. Eddie, I need more wings. I got twelve years to make up for.”
She was insane, and I loved her. I sat there watching her knowing that what I should be feeling was love for her. I wanted to feel that again because Kelsey had always been one of the safest spaces I had ever…
Kelsey. My best friend. Sometimes my whole world.
Kelsey, who carried so many burdens she might not notice one more, especially if she had twelve years to get used to carrying another soul inside her.
I felt tears roll down my cheeks. It was odd. It had been so long since I’d cried. Crying wasn’t allowed either.
But crying is healing. Crying is proof that we can still feel, still love, still want something better.
“How many days did you spend on the Faery plane?” I asked the question in a quiet tone, but Kelsey seemed to understand something was happening.
“I…” She thought for a moment, her expression going serious. “It was four days. Three on the Faery plane and then one in Summer’s realm. Then we went back and found the door and we were here.”
“Except you weren’t.” Gray had turned thoughtful, too. “You went through the door and then you were in Ether. Liv, how long was it before he took your soul? She would have been in Ether by then. She would have been in stasis, and the protections spells wouldn’t have hidden her from something like a soul that needed a place to stay.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” a soft voice said, and I realized Lilith stood in the doorway. “Olivia’s soul would have sought the safest place it knew, that it could get to. No spell could have stopped it, and I believe the Hunter, even in stasis, would have reached out and sheltered it.”
Kelsey put a hand to her chest. “How many souls do I have in me? We’re sure Gray’s mom’s not in there, right?”
Lilith chuckled. “I see your strong, stubborn soul and that baby’s beautiful life-force. He’s going to be magnificent someday and will bring honor to all of his parents.” Lilith approached Kelsey, putting her hand over Kelsey’s. “And there is a piece of torn and tattered soul attached to you. It breathes because of your love, but it wants to go home now. You should know that the piece of Olivia’s soul you carry inside you is currently wrapped around the child. It protected him from the attack. It fiercely guarded him. Gray’s mother never had a chance, which was why I wasn’t worried. I knew the minute I saw you that the baby was protected.”
Kelsey pushed back her chair, and she was the one who was crying now. She moved to me, hauling me up and wrapping her arms around me. “Thank you. Thank you, sister.”
And I felt it. I felt the moment I was ready and my soul opened, felt the warmth that flared between our bodies as the best piece of me reentered.
For twelve years I’d been without the ability to feel anything beyond anger and ambition.
“Hold her,” Lilith said. “This will be hard on her. Don’t fight it, child. Let it flow. Let it all in. Accept it. The love, the regret, the pain. Accept the pain so you can begin to heal. Accept everything the universe has given you in the last twelve years so you can be strong for the fight to come. You think he picked you because you were weak. He didn’t. He stole your magic because it was so strong. He used you like a battery to charge his own and never once found the bottom. That magic is yours again, Olivia Carey. The magic is yours, and so are all your emotions. That is where the goodness of the magic comes from, why he had to separate you from them. They are your strength.”
It was too much.
I’d done this. I hadn’t fought the way I should have. I had allowed Myrddin to drug me, to use me.