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)
She certainly charmed my father. King Fergus took to his daughter-in-law immediately, declaring his sons not good enough for her, but he said it with a smile and wink. “I think you’ll find everyone in our kingdom will be eager to accommodate her.”
Cian raises a brow. “And if they’re not?”
Shim shows off a hint of fangs. “We’re Unseelie, Your Majesty. We know how to deal with difficult subjects.”
Well, we will certainly know how to deal with anyone who fucks with our wife.
The warrior king joins his brother. “Lachlan, we were wondering about something.”
Wondering about how well I pleased their sister the night before? Wondering how many times me and Shim made her come?
“I hardly think they’re wondering about that, Lach,” Shim says, laughing under his breath.
A horrified expression crosses Beck’s face. “Stop. I can guess. I don’t even want to know you think that. Goddess, she’s still fourteen in my head.”
She isn’t fourteen anymore. She was a sweet girl, but what a woman she’s become. “Sorry, Your Majesty.”
Beck shakes his head. “We’re family. None of that. We could end up calling each other by titles all day. So, did Bron tell you about our father?”
Bron told me everything. About her father becoming a sluagh and her brothers’ ex-fiancée trapping Torin. I want to kill the one named Niall, but apparently he’s some sort of hero in the Seelies’ eyes. “She told me her father sacrificed himself to give her the energy to go on.”
Beck’s arms cross over his chest, his eyes settling into a worried stare. “Does that mean he’s gone for good?”
The question makes me sit up straight. I didn’t even think about it. I was too busy holding Bronwyn and reveling in the feel of her against my heart. “He was a sluagh. He might have faded, but he’s still here. It will take him a long time to gather enough energy to appear before us again. But he’ll stay here most likely. He tied himself to this place. Becoming a sluagh was a choice for him.”
Cian’s voice grows tight. “Can he choose again?”
I stop, my brain wrapping around the idea. What did Duffy say? Death is a doorway. Death is nothing to be afraid of. What if my power is more than pulling corpses from the ground and playing the puppet master? What if my power can have meaning and true purpose?
Death is a doorway, and I intend to open it.
Bronwyn is suddenly at my side, Queen Meg with her. “What’s going on? I felt Lach’s power stir.”
Shim takes my hand. “He’s going to try something. Help us. He needs a bit of my power, too.”
Beck Finn puts a hand on his shoulder. “Bron, take some of mine.”
“Mine, too,” Cian says, laying his hand on me. “Funnel it to Lachlan.”
Fire and earth and the storms above. And a doorway.
I let the power flow and reach out. Nothing is ever truly lost and Seamus Finn, King of Seelie Fae, is no exception.
Ashes and dust. That’s what his body is now, but I find them and draw them to me, forming a pile of what once made the man. I breathe my own unique power into it.
Seamus Finn stands, a ghostly apparition, but quite solid for a shade. He looks startled to be seen. “Beck? Ci?”
They move away from me toward their long-dead father.
“Father, Torin is gone.” Beck seems solemn, as though reporting to a superior, not a son to his father. Cian simply stares.
Seamus shakes his head. “He doesn’t matter, son. You do. You and Cian and your sister. Oh, Death Lord, I cannot thank you enough for this chance. I feared I had given it up to spare my daughter. Beckett, I was a fool. You are a good man with a good soul and those needs of yours aren’t wrong. I had them, too, and my father beat them out of me. I pray I’m not too late to change that for you. There was a piece of me that was empty because I didn’t follow my heart.”
Meg smiles broadly. “I fixed him, Your Majesty. Trust me. He’s perfectly fine with all those needs now.”
Seamus smiles at her, reaching out a hand that cannot touch her. “Sweet Queen. Take care of my boys. Cian, I am so sorry. I didn’t understand you. I loved you, but I didn’t know how to handle you. Can you forgive me?”
Cian clutches his wife’s hand. “Yes, Father.”
“I love you, Ci. My time is short. I feel the pull. I love you, my children. This kingdom is yours. Rule with wisdom and love and grace.” He stops and looks at me, surprise plain on his face. “What is that, Death Lord? I see a light.”
A deep sense of peace sweeps over me. This. This is my true power. This is my calling. All of my life I hated the cold, dead power, but I was wrong. My power is about life. My power is a service to my people, and all living creatures are my people. Death is merely another part of existence. “It’s the after. Some Fae and witches call it the Summerlands. It’s your time.”