Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
I give them back the traditional words. You are my love. It’s what we would have said if our marriage was properly witnessed. “Is tú mo ghrá.”
I reach out and grab the bond and fall headlong into chaos.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Bronwyn
I watch my brother walk away. Am I Lach or Shim? I can’t tell. They mingle together inside my mind.
Lach. I’m Lachlan. He worries about his brother, even at an early age. He’s five, perhaps. And Shim seems so much younger to Lach. And Duffy. Duffy is so small, far smaller than the brownies who keep the palace gleaming. How will they survive?
The world seems cruel, but even now he knows his place. A troll struck him hours before, laughing and asking if the little prince can handle a crowning. He whipped his tail around and smacked Lach in the head. Lach heard Shim’s cry. Lach managed to stifle his pain, but it was shared with his brother.
We aren’t allowed to cry. Never allowed.
He picked up a chair, and only his mother’s presence stopped him from killing the troll.
So much rage in such a small body. Rage and anger and worry for his other half. Shim is his better half. He must be protected at all costs. Shim is the one who contains their power to love, and Lach wants to feel that.
He needs Shim far more than Shim needs him. And Duffy needs them both. He has to protect his brothers. Always.
The scene shifts and I feel Shim. I can tell the difference now. Shim’s soul isn’t as restless as Lach’s, though now it’s heavy. So heavy. He looks down at the woman on the bed and his heart aches.
Why won’t she wake up? She looks pale, but nothing else seems wrong with her. She needs a bit of blood. His mother is a vampire. Blood. That’s all. She needs to eat and then she will wake up and he can climb into her lap. He’s getting too big, but Mother doesn’t seem to mind. Mother still cuddles him close and sings songs and tells him stories. Even Lach likes her stories about her home plane. And Duffy loves the songs. He’s still small enough for her to carry. Sometimes Shim envies his brother. He loves being close to his mother.
Why won’t she wake up? Surely she didn’t mean to go swimming in the river. Everyone knows it’s dangerous. She didn’t fall in. She didn’t drown.
She is the queen. Queens don’t drown. Mothers don’t drown. Mothers wake up and take care of their sons.
Shim looks back at the place where his father sits. He aged overnight, his hair going white the minute they brought Mother in, her heavy dress dripping with water.
Who will take care of them?
He reaches for his mother’s hand and prays she will wake up.
My brain hurts. They bombard me, as though both speaking at once. Lach loves his brothers and the palace. He loves running wild and knowing it will all be his one day. Shim loves the library and the books his mother bought from all over the planes she traveled to. He doesn’t want to be king. He wants to be a traveler, but most of all he wants the princess. His princess. His playmate. He searches for me during the daytime and then one morning when he’s just past sixteen, he reads a magazine article. A DL from the vampire tablet his cousin sent him. He will be seeing his cousin Julian soon. Oh, he is so much more worldly and wise, and he thought Shim should study the plane his mother came from.
And there I am. A picture of a girl named Bronwyn Finn. His heart threatens to stop, staring down at the photo in vivid color. The girl I used to be is wearing white and smiling, a daisy in her hair. She stands next to two strong, dark-haired lads and two vampires, a young man and a slightly older girl. Bronwyn Finn, princess of the Seelie, is visiting her cousins the Dellacourts.
Shim picks up the tablet and runs to find his brother.
And then everything seems to slow down.
I stand in a barn, my hands brushing my favorite horse. Shim. This is his memory. Shim is satisfied. Satisfied with life. He misses his mother, but things are finally going well again.
And he found me. He found the girl from their dreams. Shim smiles and pats his horse, thinking of me all the while. It was fun at first. I was a playmate who knew all sorts of games. And over the years, he knew he was in love with me. Since the moment he realized what love is.
And now he’s going to marry me. Gillian went to arrange a marriage. She’s the only one who believes the princess in his dreams is real. He and Lach tried to tell Father, but he doesn’t want to listen to them and he forbade them to talk about it to anyone else, but Gillian believes.