Shadow Hunter (Court of Life and Death Book 2)

by Melody Rose

  She sighed. “The biggest problem is that the Bay of Souls just barely begins on the shore. The land is vast, and it’s complex. No one really knows what it’s like there, because it’s different for every soul. The Source of everything knows what the soul is responsible for, knows what it’s done, and it creates a reality based on that. Some call it karma. The worse your actions, the worse the punishment. The worse the punishment, the further within your soul lies. If it’s too far from the Bay, the living will never be able to reach it, no matter how strong the magic is.”

  “So… you can’t bring Minerva back? Can you at least speak to her?”

  Raya shook her head. “No. Not even that. If she was nearer to the shore, it would be possible, but instead, she’s… It’s almost like a privilege designed for those who lived better lives than others.” She chuckled at the thought. “It’s a lot to come to terms with. The woman we followed for years is condemned by the universe itself. What does that mean for us?”

  I couldn’t tell what she was feeling. I couldn’t even tell what I was feeling. I’d known for months that Minerva had gone too far, but even so… the knowledge that I’d been her right hand for so long, so blindly obedient, and now she was in that state… the thought of what awaited me suddenly chilled me to the core.

  “No, you can only contact a soul if they’re near the shore of the Bay,” she continued, trying to get her mind off that topic, I was sure. “Which is a crapshoot. No one goes their whole life living like a fucking angel. The longer you live… the more likely it is that you’re going to mess up somehow. So, you’d have to know who you’re looking for and how close to the shore they are.”

  I paused in thought for a second. “How exactly do you know where Minerva is in the Bay of Souls?”

  Raya’s eyes had drifted from me long ago and now seemed to linger on some tree or something in the distance. “We got lucky.”

  I waited for her to answer, feeling myself get slightly frustrated at how withholding she was being. Though perhaps I didn’t have much of a right to feel that way. “How?”

  “A Seer. Well… someone who read a Seer’s log.”

  I felt my jaw tense with sudden anger at a realization. “You have-”

  “You can’t use this information against us, Kalian.”

  “You have spies in the Jewel Palace raiding the hall of the Seers!”

  “Shut the hell up!” she hissed, rushing to close the gap between us and throwing her hand over my mouth, grabbing the back of my head so I couldn’t pull away. I could have sworn her gold eyes almost turned red at that moment.

  There was a noise as the door to the cabin began to creak.

  “Shit,” she whispered. She muttered words under her breath that I couldn’t make out despite being so close to her and then pulled away, turning just as the orange light from inside the house flooded the clearing before her. A silhouette stood in the doorway.

  “Raya, what’s taking so long?” I recognized the voice as Lariza’s. I felt my blood turn cold, waiting for her to recognize me and for chaos to break loose.

  “I-I told you,” Raya called. “I just need to be alone for a bit. I’ll be in soon.”

  I heard Lariza sigh from about twenty feet away. “You shouldn’t be alone.” She began to close the door behind her. “I know that was hard, but I’m here-”

  “I know!” Raya said quickly. “Really, thank you. I-I appreciate it, I do. But, um, I really do just… need to be by myself, to think.” I could sense the panic in her voice and prayed that Lariza couldn’t. For some reason, she couldn’t see me. I stayed still as a statue, careful not to give myself away.

  The brown-eyed witch in the doorway paused. I couldn’t make out the expression on her face, but I could see when she nodded. “If you say so.”

  Raya relaxed in front of me.

  “Thank you,” she called as Lariza returned to the house.

  I took a deep breath, realizing I’d been holding mine the whole time. “Why couldn’t she see me?”

  She flinched when I spoke, though it didn’t seem fearful. Rather, she seemed restrained in a way. I got the sense that perhaps that was a stupid question at the moment.

  She muttered more words that sounded like gibberish to me. “A disguise charm. I wasn’t going to let her see you. If any of them knew, even suspected that I was telling you any of this…” She shook her head.

  I slowly nodded as questions rushed through my head. “Raya. Why did you?”

  The witch shot me a look that would have made my blood run cold if I hadn’t known her so well. I watched as every muscle in her body seemed to tense before finally surrendering into a relaxed shrug. “I… guess I’m trying to buy a more pleasant eternity for myself. I don’t want to end up…”

  “Well, thank you,” I nodded, a bit of clarity dawning on me. “I know Lore would be livid if she knew you told me this. You don’t know what it means to me.” All I could think of was Myrcedes. This news wasn’t the answer she wanted, but it was a definitive answer, at least.

  “Do me one favor in return,” she said suddenly.

  I barely kept from cringing. Of course. That was an old Seelie trick, give someone what they wanted and reveal after the fact that you want a form of repayment. I felt like an idiot, but I also knew I owed her, and for more than just this.

  “What?”

  “Don’t ever come here again.”

  Her voice wasn’t angry. That was shocking. She had every right to be angry at me. Instead, Raya was completely calm.

  I nodded. “I owe you that much.” I bowed slightly to the hazel-eyed woman. I hoped, in some small way, this interaction gave her some kind of closure. At the very least, I’d never turn up at her doorstep again. That would be some peace, at least.

  25

  Daath

  Myrcedes had been pacing for at least five minutes before she finally sat down on the settee in her bedroom, only to look painfully worried as she did so. I walked over from the bed and rubbed her shoulders, kissing her head. “Don’t fret, little owl. He knows what he’s doing.”

  She rested her chin on her palm and bounced her leg up and down. I almost worried she’d launch herself off the seat. “What are witches like?”

  “Oh, I suppose you haven’t met any yet, have you?” I blinked. “They’re just like any other creature. There are bad ones, and there are good ones.”

  “What about these witches?”

  “I’d venture a guess that any coven of witches trying to raise Minerva from the dead would be the bad ones,” I chuckled. Myrcedes turned to me with wide, fearful, and annoyed eyes, so I stopped. “Sorry. Not funny.” I kissed her forehead. “But the Seelie trusts them.”

  Syrion got up from the bed and sat across from her on the couch. “Darling, stay calm. He’ll be back any minute.”

  She shook her head slowly and only slightly at first, but then she sped up. “No… no, no, this was a terrible idea. It was so selfish of me to ask him to do this-”

  “He could have said no,” Syrion took her hand. “Love, please.”

  “Why don’t we go out, take a walk, visit with Gloria.” I ran through suggestions in my head, but she wouldn’t have it.

  “No, I told him I’d wait for him in my room so he’d know exactly where to go when he got back.”

  I sighed and continued rubbing her shoulders. I wished I could provide her with even a bit of relief. It was torture to see her like this and know there was nothing we could do to fix it.

  She continued to bounce her leg quicker and quicker until finally, her energy overcame her, and she shot up to pace again. Just as she did, the air in front of her door turned black, and when it faded, Kalian stood in its place. Myrcedes ran over and threw her arms around him.

  “There you are! I was so worried! I’m so sorry I asked you to do something so dangerous. Are you okay?”

  The Seelie smiled warmly at her and touched her cheek. “I’m fine.” It was odd to watch such a gesture come from someone
besides Syrion or myself. As I watched it, however, all I felt was a bit of joy at the knowledge that someone else held so much care for her, that someone else would devote at least some of themselves to her happiness, as she deserved.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  Kalian dropped his hand and addressed the three of us together. “I spoke to the witches. They didn’t really want to speak to me, but luckily, one of them decided to share the truth… there is no way to bring back the dead. Furthermore, there’s no way to contact Minerva.”

  Relief hit me like a ton of bricks. I watched a similar shift in my brother. The opposite effect, however, was had on Myrcedes. I watched her deflate. I walked over and took her hand. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s…” she swallowed and shook her head. “It’s fine. It was just a bad idea, I guess. Speaking to the dead…”

  Kalian’s eyes lit up quickly. “Actually, it’s not.”

  “What?” His response threw me off. “What do you mean?”

  “Raya, the witch, said that the reason they couldn’t speak to Minerva was that she was too far into the Bay.”

  A realization hit me. Honestly, until Myrcedes had brought it up, I’d just never considered trying to speak to a soul that had already passed; there’d never been a reason. There was so much about the Bay that didn’t make sense to us, and it didn’t need to. I sent souls over to it, which was the extent of my job. But as Kalian said that, I realized there must be a way to contact at least some of them.

  “What do you mean?” Myrcedes tilted her head.

  “How did she say they would contact them?” I pressed the Seelie.

  “Something about building a bridge to the Bay and using that to cross over…”

  I shook my head and scoffed as a full grasp of their plan hit me. Myrcedes grabbed my arm in frustration. “What do you mean?”

  “The witches are bastards, but they’re creative.” I saw her confusion and stroked her hair to calm her down. “They use magic to force what reapers do naturally, which is build the bridge to the Bay. When you’ve gone to the Bay to help a soul, you remain at the shore. You let them find their way through it. That’s what’s meant to happen. But I guess if you arrived and followed the soul into the forest, there’d be nothing to stop you, that’s what they’re saying. Every soul stays there. So to contact someone, they’re trying to build their own bridge. But I guess not everyone can be reached?”

  Kalian nodded. “Apparently, the reality of the Bay is that your experience is dictated by your life. The more terrible things you’ve done, the further in you will be sent. Someone like Minerva… she’s too far gone to be found. Even the witches who’ve been searching for her… they can’t find her.”

  “So you can talk to people,” Myrcedes sighed and went to plop down on the sofa. “Fine. Just not the one person I need to speak to.”

  I sat down next to her and rested my hand on her leg. “We’ll get our answers, little owl…”

  “There’d be someone else who’d know the prophecy,” Kalian said slowly, as if he was still contemplating the validity of what he was saying. The three of us looked at him in confusion and expectation. “The Seer.”

  “Who?” my Queen frowned. “Who’s the… seer?”

  “The Seer who made the prophecy,” Kalian elaborated.

  “The prophet,” Syrion broke in. “Yes, they would know. But we’ve scoured the memories of everyone who could have been told about the prophecy. No one had any memories of the prophet or their name.”

  “When was this prophecy made?” As the Seelie asked more questions, I noticed Myrcedes rev up. Did he know something else?

  “We suspect it was a few millennia ago.” I ran a hand through my hair. “It wouldn’t have been significant to anyone except those Minerva killed or blocked the memories of.”

  Kalian leaned against the wall and appeared deep in thought. Before I could even make out what was going on, Myrcedes was up and by his side. “Kal, do you think you remember her name?”

  “Maybe…” I perked up as he said that. “I remember at one point, a funeral for a Seer… we were all surprised. She was younger than the rest by a lot, even though Seers in the fae realm have longer life spans. No one seemed to know how she died…”

  I watched Myrcedes seem to rev up like an engine as he spoke. “You think this might have been the one?”

  “I can’t remember another Seer funeral that came that suddenly. Usually, they premonition their own passing, and we prepare for it.”

  “If she worked for Minerva, what are the odds she’s in a similar position in the Bay of Souls?” I raised an eyebrow.

  The Seelie shook his head. “Absolutely not. The Seers of the fae are unclouded. They’ve learned to disregard anger, pain, hate; charity and balance drives their lives. They aren’t subject to the rule of the crown. Minerva tried, but after a few thousand years, she realized no amount of threats or bribes could change the way the future was predicted, so she gave up on even trying to corrupt them. If she was ever a Seer, she’d be nowhere near Minerva’s situation in the Bay.”

  “Who was it?” Syrion jumped in.

  Kalian was clearly still struggling to think. I didn’t blame him. I knew that when you lived a long time, it was easy for things to fade if they weren’t significant.

  “I think her name was Alless…”

  26

  Myrcedes

  Alless. I kept the name in my head as I opened my eyes to the Bay of Souls.

  That was the easy part. I’d developed a talent for being able to jump to the Bay without the connection of a recently departed soul, which had completely shocked Daath and Syrion when I mentioned it. They had wanted to send me on a reaper assignment just so I’d be able to go; the pair of brothers almost thought I was lying when I said I didn’t need that. At that moment, I realized how little I’d caught them up on what I’d been doing on Earth, and I made a mental note to fix that after I got back.

  I couldn’t jump within the Bay the same way I could anywhere else because the area was so unfamiliar, and I didn’t know exactly who I was looking for. I knew Alless by her name, but I didn’t even know what she looked like. Daath had been hesitant due to these very catches, but Syrion helped persuade him that the Bay was safe, even though it was unknown. Still, as I made my way toward the line of trees, I felt slightly uneasy.

  I’d seen the Bay from the shore dozens of times, and it was familiar to me, but never had I ventured into the forest itself. The bark of the trees was so pale I’d always assumed it was just dead, but as I got closer, I realized everything around me was actually quite healthy. I reached out to touch the trunk of one of the trees. Some of them were only a bit larger around than my bicep, and others were over a foot wide. The white bark seemed to crack to reveal a dark, ashy brown underneath. The air in the Bay was chilly, so I attributed that to the lack of foliage on the trees now that I realized they were very much alive. Beautiful as they were, however, I was still nervous to walk through them.

  Kalian had assured me Alless would be as far from the center as a soul could be, so I stuck to the edge of the trees. I wondered if the trees were actually there, or if they were part of how my soul viewed the land. That thought also began to make me cringe as I wandered through, dreading the mere idea of living in this tight, creepy forest for eternity after I died.

  “Alless?” I called her name more as a way to distract myself than anything else.

  I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and turned quickly to see someone in the distance watching me. “Alless?” I felt my pulse quicken with excitement, but nothing. “Alless?” There was no response from the figure. I resumed walking my original path, feeling conscious of the eyes of the spirit in the distance following me.

  There were a few more souls that I passed along the way. Each one looked up when they heard me call, and I kept hoping to find her calling back to me, but no one made a move to do anything aside from watching me. I felt like I had been walkin
g for an hour when I finally heard a response.

  “Myrcedes.”

  I jumped, and my heart rate sped up considerably when my name was called in response. I turned around, searching for a figure, hoping for a reason not to fear for my life. Through the trees, there was slow, calm movement. I squinted to get a better view and saw what appeared to be a young woman. She had long black hair that fell to her hips in soft waves, a chestnut brown tan, and soft, round features that made her seem quite trustworthy and unthreatening.

  I tried to get my breath under control. “A-Alless?”

  “Myrcedes,” the woman responded. “I was expecting you.”

  I relaxed considerably, and in a moment, I had closed the gap between us. As soon as I was close enough to see her eyes, I nearly flinched. They had a quality about them that was disconcerting: they were completely white with only barely visible light gray pupils, and they almost seemed to reflect light like mirrors. “You were expecting me?”

  “Yes,” she smiled warmly. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.” Alless stepped even closer to me and took my hands. She brought them up to her lips and kissed them gently. “I’m honored.”

  I stared at her in shock. She looked up at me and smiled with what seemed to be amusement, so I suppose she must have sensed my surprise.

  “Follow me, Your Highness.”

  I didn’t know what I’d be expecting when I found Alless, but it certainly involved a lot less genuflecting on her part and much more begging and explaining on mine. “How did you know, um, that I’d be coming? Did you see it in a prophecy, or…?”

  She nodded as she led me through the trees. I flinched every time she got too close to a tree, expecting her to walk right into them. I probably shouldn't have been so surprised when she passed straight through them as if they weren’t there, but I couldn’t help it.