Rise of the Magi (37 page)

While Andrew stared at the sword in his hand, as he would the Goddess herself, Liam moved before Cas and repeated the ceremony. The only difference was that Liam kissed Cas on the forehead instead of the lips as was usual between a king and his captain. Cas came to a wobbly stand holding his new sword, tears in his eyes. “By my blood. By my sword.” He turned to me. “My dad was right that day—so long ago it seems like another lifetime. He told me that if I stayed right, it would always lead me toward the light no matter how dark the world became. I always tried to do what was right with no regrets, no hurt that wasn’t worth it. You are that Light. You, Liam and Garret, and I will follow and protect you always.”

I hugged him so hard it was a wonder he could breathe, but he squeezed me back with equal ferocity.

“Yeah, ditto on the last part,” Andrew said, and elbowed the young fae as I released him. “Thanks for showing me up, ya little punk.” The two of them burst out laughing as others came forward to congratulate them.

High on the day, on life, and with the extra energy continuing to swirl in my body, I took Gallagher’s advice and released it into the ground. The Court expanded into a vast garden with a children’s playground, fountains, pools for wading and swimming, and walking trails that Garret populated with the most fragrant wildflowers I’d ever smelled. The selkies and elves produced unusual instruments and began to play, their song a sweet harmony above the chatter and laughter.

After copious quantities of elfish wine had been consumed, we all listened, riveted, as all who’d survived relayed wild stories about what they’d done the day we took down the Magi. Although the details hurt my heart, the sheer triumph in all of them took over, and made my soul shine.

I learned that the never-ending buffet Laerni had left continued to produce food. One of the wood elves used it to open a restaurant in one of the shifters, offering both elfish and other delicacies she made herself. The selkies had opened several pubs, where they drank some sort of beer they made themselves and had brought to the celebration. Whenever my arms tired, Liam didn’t try to take my sleeping boy from me, only wrapped his arms around both of us to help me carry him.

Just as the selkies struck up another song, I noticed Gallagher smiling at the spirits from the edge of the crowd. I left Liam chatting up Cas and went to my aide, unsure if I should since it seemed like he was having a private moment, but my curiosity got the better of me. “Are you okay, old friend?” Garret stirred against my shoulder, but didn’t wake up.

Gallagher lowered his face to me, the pleasant expression still in place. “Very well, thank you. I was just sharing the day with Marla.”

My heart lightened even more. “I guess I should have known you could talk to her. Does it make being apart from her any easier?”

Petting a hand down Garret’s curls, Gallagher said, “I am luckier than most who have lost. Because of my telepathy, she sleeps in my arms every night. It’s as real to me as your visit with Parthalan, Willa and your parents, was to you. While a scar remains on my heart over what was done to her, don’t feel sorry for this old fae. Love is not squashed by something as insignificant as death.”

We laughed and—after I shifted my drowsy boy to my hip—shared a hug. “I have to ask you something … what was her vision about?” I’d been dying to know.

“She had no time to tell me before Talawen destroyed her mind.”

“I guess none of it matters now, anyway. Just … tell me she’s happy now, Gallagher.”

“She worries for me no longer, so yes, she is so happy I can hardly bear it.” He smiled in a way he’d never done before, at complete peace with the world.

“Okay. I believe you.” Lighter of heart, I didn’t protest when Gallagher took my son from me and turned toward the party, where a large herd of fae and selkies moved to the music. I had to admit, the tune made me want to join them. “I don’t suppose you can teach me how to dance without tripping over my feet?”

Laughter roared from him. “Lila dancing. This may be the most difficult task you’ve given me yet.”

“Hey!” I only glared for a moment before breaking into a fit of giggles right along with him.

• • •

It was late when Liam opened the door to our shifter, which no longer stood in the form of a castle, but a two story beauty with natural wood siding and a red roof. He opened the door and led me inside. “I made some renovations when you were gone. I hope you don’t mind.”

Tears pricked my eyes as I stared at our home. “It’s perfect.”

“Garret’s room is upstairs next to ours.”

I shook my head, holding my sleeping boy tighter. “Maybe some time, it will be, but right now, the three of us are going to sleep together in our bed. At least until my head fully believes that this isn’t one giant, cruel dream I’m going to wake up from.”

Liam’s smile set me on fire as he took my hand and led me up the stairs in the middle of the great room.

After stripping Garret and changing my first ever diaper—much easier than I’d imagined it would be—I tucked him into the bed beside me while Liam spooned along my back, his arm around both of us. The energy lent to me by the fae had long since evaporated, leaving me exhausted.

“Do you remember anything from when Alseides had you in her realm?” I wanted him to say he remembered nothing, since he’d had enough darkness in his life.

Breath in my hair and a tightening of his hold was his only reaction for a while. “It’s hard to put it into words. It was the creepiest feeling I’ve ever had. I felt completely safe and protected, but somehow … wrong, out of place and time. It hurt like a bone that needed to snap back into place, only it was in my mind. They never hurt me, so don’t think about it again, okay?”

“Alseides wanted all of you for a breeding program.” I didn’t have enough energy left to be angry about that, so I accepted it and set it free as Laerni would have told me to do.

A pause, then, “Oh. That’s disturbing. I thought … I just assumed we were simply bait.” He shivered before settling closer to me. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over now.”

The sharp memory of that golden mist in the sky above Talawen’s wood came back to haunt me. “I think I saw the Goddess,” I whispered against Garret’s hair, breathing in his sweet baby scent. “I wanted to think it was my mother because it was too surreal for me to absorb, but I guess I knew the truth from the first moment I saw her.”

“What do you mean?” Liam raised up and rested his chin on my shoulder.

I shook my head, realizing I’d probably never be able to explain. My heart knew what I had to do without me knowing why. Apparently, the Goddess had one last task for me. “You can look at the memory sometime, but … Iress, everything we have here now, mountains, rainforest, oceans … I think there’s one last thing the Goddess wants us to do.”

Lips playing along my skin, Liam said, “Whatever it is, I trust you.”

I knew he did. “Did anyone find Laerni’s stone?”

Silence for a moment. “Gallagher has it.”

“Then, in the morning, there’s somewhere we need to go.”

35

Two days later—since the three of us slept for nearly twenty-four hours—I straightened the collar of Liam’s deep blue button down before doing the same to Garret’s matching one. A pair of heartbreakers if I’d ever seen one.

Andrew and Cas waited at the door to the coalition meeting room for us, laughing at whatever conversation passed between the two. To see them both so light and happy made me glow. Literally. They each wore their new swords on their hip. For once, we weren’t there to avoid a crisis or deliver bad news, though I still found the occasion sad.

“We’re doing the right thing,” I said, more to convince myself than anyone else. The discussions we’d held with the population of Iress earlier in the day didn’t end up with a unanimous agreement for my plan, but I still believed it.

Liam leaned in and heated my core with a kiss, while Garret tugged on my hair. “Like Andrew, your gut is rarely wrong.”

Grinning ear to ear, Andrew opened the door. Cas entered beside me, and my boys came in after.

Lisa, who we’d asked to transport our favorite Mountie there, waved before exiting. James sat at the table by himself with one leg up on a chair. A cane lay propped against the table. When he tried to get up, I held up my hand. “Don’t you dare. Sit.”

Settling back, wincing as his leg shifted, James smirked. “Well, if you aren’t the best sight I’ve seen in a whole long time. And wow, the two of you made one good looking kid.” He waved at my son before turning back to me. A frown claimed his lips. “That was a hell of a show you put on, Lila.”

“Yeah, well. I didn’t have much choice.” I took a chair and pulled it up beside him. “Where’s Bethany?”

A shake of his head, and the sadness in his eyes said it all.

“I’m sorry.”

“She wasn’t. She led the charge in after you with Richard. After all of the head-butting you two did, in the end I think you finally impressed her.” His lips curved up again. “So, what was so important you snatched me away from physiotherapy?”

“Iress has grown since you were there,” I began, glad when Liam took the chair beside me and let Garret crawl into my lap. “I think the fae have interfered with you enough, and since humankind now knows what kind of power I hold—or used to hold—I think it’s time I close the door between our worlds. For both our sakes.”

James’ eyes stretched open wide, and he shifted forward, disbelief tugging at his features. “You’re saying goodbye? But—”

I placed a finger over his lips, slipping the black stone into his palm with my free hand. “You’re a good man, James. Lead them. Concentrate on community and family instead of technology and warfare. If there comes a time when you need us, really need us, then hold this stone and think of us. It will bring you to Iress, and as you stood with us in our time of need, so we will stand with you if the time comes. We’ve had one of the witches spell it so it’ll only work for you and your ancestors, so have lots of kids and raise them right, okay?”

I leaned in and kissed him while Light coated my palm. Placing it on his injured leg, I concentrating my energy on healing the torn muscles, while he moaned. “We’ve all been given another chance at this life thing. Make it count.”

Epilogue

I gazed out at our city from the balcony of our new bedroom after returning from bidding James goodbye and closing the portal between our worlds. A handful of fae and a few witches chose to remain in the human realm, while everyone else stayed in Iress. I didn’t give Tameryn a choice. Since she had no remaining power other than her Light, and posed no danger to anyone, I’d banished her to a mortal life. She went willingly, vowing to use what time remained to help the humans rebuild. What happened to her in the future would be between her and the Goddess.

The sound of the portal door closing for the last time had been so final, but right.

“What am I supposed to do now?” I had no ideas since the entire reason for my existence had been vanquished. Garret slept like a little ball of cute in our bed, clinging to the carved horse Cas had given him. “I’ve spent so long just trying to survive, to figure out how to do what was expected of me, and now …”

“What you’re supposed to do,” Liam started, stepping in behind me, his arms clamping around my middle, “is live. Learn. Laugh. Love.” The last he said with a masculine growl, his tone a promise of much loving to come. “Fill this house with beautiful babies until it has to grow and consume the whole block to hold them all. But most of all, you just need to live like you have centuries to spend with everyone who loves you.”

“Live, huh?” I tilted my head back and kissed his chin. “I think I can handle that.”

Acknowledgements

Creating a novel isn’t a one-person endeavor. The final product is the result of not only the author’s heart, soul and tears, but an extraordinary amount of time and tough love given by editors and beta readers. Without their generosity, I would never have made it this far.

To Aimee Laine: You are a master of backstory when I suck at it. A guru of punctuation when the comma and I get into fisticuffs. My whip-master and cheerleader all in one. Your encouragement lifts me high enough to dream beyond what I dare to on my own.

To Amaleen Ison: Your eyes see what mine overlook every time. You offer insights that enlighten me, strengthen my writing and take it from ‘meh’ to ‘oh, yeah!’ while making my head swell at the same time. Lila Gray wouldn’t have grown into such a strong woman without you.

And last, but not least, thank you to J. Taylor Publishing for seeing this trilogy through to the bittersweet end.

Jocelyn Adams

Jocelyn Adams grew up on a cattle farm in Lakefield and has remained a resident of Southern Ontario her entire life, most recently in Muskoka. She has worked as a computer geek, a stable hand, a secretary, and spent most of her childhood buried up to the waist in an old car or tractor engine with her mechanically inclined dad.

But mostly, she’s a dreamer with a vivid imagination and a love for fantasy (and a closet romantic—shhh!). When she isn’t shooting her compound bow in competition or writing, she hangs out with her husband and young daughter at their little house in the woods.

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