AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m surrendering myself to Arawn, so he will stop using your magic. Your baby will be safe.
Please, don’t come after me. By the time you read this, I’ll be well on my way to his lair. It’s long overdue, and it’s what I should have done weeks ago.
Merle, I love you. You deserve to be a mom, and I’m so happy for you.
Rhun, I would have enjoyed getting to know you.
Lil, I love you, too. Please hug Baz and Hazel for me when they get back. I haven’t known Alek long, but I’m so glad you found each other.
I’ll keep you all in my heart. Maybe one day I’ll get to see my niece.
— Maeve
Rhun caught Merle as the world around her collapsed into darkness.
Chapter 28
“How much farther?” Hazel asked.
“Five minutes at most,” Isa replied. “It should be just around this bend.”
Basil had given her as much information as possible based on what he gleaned from the faeries’ minds about Rose’s location, and Isa had pieced together that it had to be a cave dwelling on the outskirts of Angûn, a town just a couple of hours from the oracle.
They made the trek in record time, the urgency of what Basil saw happening to Rose driving them on. He wouldn’t tell them details of what he’d glimpsed, just that they needed to get her out ASAP. Every time either Hazel or Isa asked him to explain, he shook his head with a pained look on his face and said, “Don’t ask me to describe it.”
Tallak would glance his way, darkness shadowing his face, and then walk on ahead.
A hawk’s cry pierced the silence of the woods. Isa shielded her eyes from the sun while she looked up, smiled at the beautiful sight of Kîna in full flight. To think she’d almost lost her… Her breath hitched.
After they left the oracle, Basil insisted they check on something. He wouldn’t say what, and ordered Isa to stay back while he led Hazel off the path into the brush. Of course Isa had gone after them, only to sink to her knees next to the twisted shape of her beloved hawk, her heart in pieces.
But Hazel simply pushed Isa aside, laid her hands on the bird, and muttered, “She’s alive. I’ve got her.”
And when Kîna flapped her wings not a minute later, then shook herself and looked around, as if she’d never been harmed, Isa hugged Hazel so tight the witch gasped for air. If she hadn’t already appreciated Hazel for having given Basil a childhood full of love and shelter, this alone would have earned her Isa’s undying love.
She grasped Basil’s hand, squeezed it, and whispered, “Thank you for thinking of her.”
Basil followed her gaze to the idly circling hawk above, then gave her his dazzling smile. “Of course.”
The path curved around the cliff set in the forest, trees growing up above and below, on whatever ground the plants could cling to on this rocky terrain. To the right, the wooded floor sloped steeply down into a fern-covered ravine, and to the left rose the cliff, covered in parts by moss and yet more ferns.
And up ahead, a mere yard away, gaped the opening to the cave dwelling Basil saw in the minds of the fae who held Rose.
Basil stopped and nodded, his face grim. “That’s it.”
Hazel took a deep breath. “Okay. We need to know how many fae are in there, and where exactly they keep Rose. Can you check for that?”
“I’ll try.” He closed his eyes, muscles in his jaw rippling, mouth pressed into a thin line. A harsh inhale, all color leaving his face.
“Have you found her?” Isa laid a hand on his arm.
He gave a jerky nod. “She’s…” He swallowed, his voice rough. “They’re…”
“Taking her blood,” Tallak said, his expression impassive.
Isa tilted her head in surprise before she remembered. Basil explained that his father took over Calâr’s mind mirror when he absorbed the fae’s powers. Tallak saw what Basil saw.
Magic thickened the air, like pressing summer heat. “How many fae?” Hazel hissed.
