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)
A brilliant smile lights Duffy’s face. “That’s all I ever wanted to be.” He grips her hand, his small compared to hers. He looks up at me. “You have to let me go now, brother.”
I knew this moment was coming from the instant I reached out and pulled Duffy from death. I felt Duffy die in that black cloud that was meant for me and I reacted. I called on my power and brought him back. “I didn’t want to let you go. Not alone, Duffy. I don’t know what’s out there. I didn’t want you to die.”
Duffy smiles up at me. “Dying ain’t nothing to be afraid of. Be afraid of not living. I got me battle. I got what I always wanted. I got to be a hero. Now, it’s time for me to find another adventure. There’s a door, Lach. It’s right there and it’s calling to me. Has been since the moment it happen. And I weren’t alone. When I stood there, I saw me mothers. Both of them. The one what raised me and the one what gave me birth. Death is a doorway. I want to know where it leads. I want the adventure that waits for me and whatever happens, I’ll see you again. I’ll conquer whatever is out there and make a place for us.”
My tears fall now. For Duffy, for Bron, for myself, for Shim.
“I love you, brother.” Shim gets to his knees and puts a hand on me and reaches for Duffy.
“Love you, too.” Duffy’s voice goes hoarse. “You were the best brothers I could have hoped for.”
I reach out and complete the circle. Me and Duffy and Shim. My childhood in a circle of hands. “I love you both. My brothers. I will keep you in my heart, Duffy.”
“That is a good place to be.”
I release my hold on his sweet soul.
Duffy smiles, closes his eyes, and walks into eternity.
I rise to my feet a completely different man. I look to Roan. “Gather what we need. We make for Aoibhneas tonight after I bury my brother.”
I expect an argument but Roan bows. “Yes, Your Highness. I am at your service.”
“As am I.” The phooka leaps from the trees and, in an instant, switches to his horse form. “I will get us to Aoibhneas. I know a secret way in.”
“Dad, isn’t that Uncle Max’s horse?” Charlie asks.
Zane shakes his head. “We’re just going to go with it, son. And I know exactly what you’re talking about. The mayor has a series of caves he keeps hidden. We know how to get home.”
“Then we leave in an hour,” I command.
Shim picks up Duffy, holding his small body close. “Lach, I…”
There is no more argument. No more apologies. “I love you, brother. No more fighting. All that matters is winning this war and getting our wife back.”
Shim nods and follows. I pray the morning will find me closer to my goal—getting Bronwyn back in my arms.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Bronwyn
I awaken to the smell of home. I can smell the bread the bakers in the White Palace make for each and every meal. It’s a smell that haunts my dreams since I fled. I tried to recreate the bread, snowy white and buttery soft with the smallest hint of honeyed sweetness, but never get it right.
I open my eyes because no matter how lovely the smell is, this place is no longer home. I groan, my head aching. How long have I been here? A day at least, though it already seems like a lifetime. A day away from my husbands. Will I ever see them again?
“The hags certainly worked you over.”
I turn my head and then wish I didn’t. Every muscle aches. I’m so, so weary. All through the long night the hags tortured me with spell after strength-sucking spell. Pain wracked my system and then a horrible weakness overtook me.
“They’re sleeping now. They don’t sleep often, and no one knows where they go to do it, but it seems the only time they don’t listen in.”
A blonde woman comes into view. She’s regally perfect, with her thin crown and slender figure. Cold blue eyes and a narrow chin complete the usurper queen’s appearance.
“Maris. To what do I owe this honor?” I wish I had the saliva in my mouth to spit at the bitch.
Maris chuckles a bit. “Goddess, you’re loud. I actually heard that.”
My whole heart sags. I forgot. Maris is a bondmate. It’s exactly why she was engaged to my brothers. How can I pull this off if the queen herself knows what I’m planning?
A smile curls Maris’s thin lips. “You’ve been an annoying hum in my head for years.”
I’m so stupid. So very dumb. I should have listened to my husbands. I’m not cut out for this. I’m just a girl. I’m still a dumb girl.