Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
The priestesses’ magic jumped like static and then a bolt of electricity. At once, all nine High Priestesses’ magic hit Kierse in the chest. It was unlike the experience of Lorcan’s Oak King magic that nearly killed her. This was like an awakening.
One moment, she stood before them, and the next, she was on the floor with the power coursing through her. Her mind focused on the divine intervention they requested for her in this clarity spell.
Then she went under and didn’t come back out.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A field of wildflowers stretched as far as the eye could see before ending in a glittering blue lake and towering green, rocky mountains beyond. The smell of her magic was potent as the wind blew through the glade. Except she wasn’t using her magic. It was simply the smell of the wildflowers themselves, as Graves had always told her. She smelled like spring.
Not that it made any sense. She had been in the middle of her clarity spell. And now she had been transported to who knew where.
Had she opened a door? She couldn’t imagine having the ability to move between places she had never been. This had to be something different. Some part of the spell.
Not what Niamh had prepped her for, though. She’d said the spell would have a lot of magic and that the magic would go into her. That she could use it in conjunction with the sacred tree and the celestial movement to get into the bond.
But was this the bond? A place with wildflowers?
“It’s where we grew up,” Lorcan said.
Kierse whipped around, finding him standing in all of his glory before her. His dark hair was gently tousled, and he wore a white button-up half unbuttoned and brown trousers. His hands were in his pockets. His bright blue eyes were not cast on her but the mountain beyond.
“Ireland?”
“Wicklow Mountains,” he said.
Kierse shivered as the familiarity of the place settled into her. Then the more important question, “What are you doing here?”
“You called me, love,” he said with a quirk of his lips as those eyes made their way to her. “I came when you called.”
“That’s…” But the words died on her lips.
She had called him. Or Niamh had with her spell. Kierse actively looked face first into that bond when the magic struck her. She just hadn’t expected all of this.
“It doesn’t look like this anymore, mind. There’s a town here. And the forest has been preserved so that the lake is only partially visible. The trails have been carved out, and there’s signs of human activity. I haven’t seen it like this in hundreds of years.”
“Why are we here?”
“You tell me.”
She pursed her lips. “We did a spell for clarity.”
“Ah,” he said. “That’s smart. This is incredibly clarifying.” He held his hand out. “Walk with me.”
She didn’t want to, but she had no idea how to get out of this place. For the moment, she was stuck here with him. She might as well do what she had planned all along—see if she could get under the bond.
She ignored his hand and trudged ahead of him. His soft chuckle was a tingle up her back as his long strides caught up to her with ease. They were side by side, tromping through the wildflowers, the smell a potent mix all around them.
There was a companionable silence for a few minutes as they approached the lake and took in the visage. One of nostalgia, one of awe.
Lorcan stopped on the bank of the lake and sat in the lush green grass before it. He patted the seat next to him. “Come here. Listen to the water.”
She begrudgingly did as he said. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Close your eyes. It’s there.” She narrowed her eyes at him, and he laughed. “I won’t do anything. Just close yours.”
With a sigh, she did. And then she heard it. With her other senses diminished, it came in like a slow trickle. A river flowing into the lake. Birds fluttering above the water. Fish below it. The wind blowing through the trees and flowers. Not a single modern sound. Just nature.
“No wonder trees are sacred,” she whispered. “If this is what it’s supposed to sound like.”
“Mmm,” he agreed softly.
The silence lingered. She was sure that this wasn’t what she was supposed to be doing. A clarity spell would help her get under the bond. Not let her sit by an Irish lake and feel peace with the monster at her side. That was wrong…right?
“Graves told me that he was going to marry Emilie here.”
Kierse’s eyes flew open. “What?”
“Yep. We were sitting right here.” His face was perfectly neutral, his eyes gone long distant. “I was happy for them. I wanted it to work. I wanted him to be my brother in truth. We’d spent all these years together, and he understood me the way no one else ever had.”