Slowly, she opened her eyes and had to blink quickly to adjust to the brightness. There were voices, but she couldn’t make them out. Her ears hadn’t started working again. She laid there for a few minutes, enjoying the fact that there was no more pain. As time progressed, the buzzing in her ears evolved into distinct voices, and she could hear Tyler’s voice rise above the others.
“Let her go, Sarah. I don’t care if she’s mortal. I’ll stay with her until her dying breath.” Her marshmallow, so tough on the outside. He loved her.
“It’s not your decision to make.” She shuddered uncontrollably hearing that voice. “Nor was it the witch’s decision.” The mother of all had returned.
Mykah didn’t want to make a sound, move an inch, or draw attention to herself in any way. Unfortunately, the mother’s voice got closer. “I know you’re conscious, princess. Care to join us?”
“Not really,” she muttered. “I could think of about ten things I’d rather be doing than being a part of this conversation.” Stubborn, she refused to open her eyes. Maybe they would all leave her alone.
The rapid footsteps that were approaching told a different story, and a moment later she was being picked up by none other than Tyler. Her eyes opened on their own, and he was looking down at her with relief in his eyes.
“I didn’t leave this time,” she whispered before he kissed her softly on the lips.
“I know.” His voice caught on the last syllable.
As much as she wanted to fade into his arms so they could leave, there was no running from their problems. Not anymore. Turning to the mother, she didn’t bother to hide her irritation.
“What now?” She couldn’t help the sarcasm, “I did what you wanted. I gave up everything. I opened the damn door. It stole everything from me. What more could you want?”
“Nothing, child.” She smiled, and light bounced off every surface, momentarily blinding Mykah. “I came to thank you. You’ve done your part. I cannot promise that you won’t be needed in the battle to come. For now, rest. You’ve earned it.”
Pushing away from Tyler, she stood on her own. “Forgive me if I don’t quite believe you. Ever since that night, my life has sucked.” It’s been one thing after another. Constantly changing, getting screwed up, and now I’m supposed to believe that it’s over.” Mykah’s stomach started turning, and she could feel acid rising in her throat.
“Oh, she’s going down,” Sarah stage–whispered. “I got it all over Zander when it happened to me.” Moving forward, she pulled Mykah’s hair away from her face just in time.
Vomit spewed out, covering the ground between Mykah and the mother. She coughed and wiped her mouth thinking that it was over. Then it came again. And again. Until she wasn’t sure there was anything left for her to throw up.
“Jesus.” She whimpered. “What the hell?”
“Welcome to the club,” Sarah laughed. “It happened to me too. We’ll make t–shirts.”
Looking up at the mother, who had a look that was hysterical on her face, Mykah just shrugged. “I don’t know what happened.”
With a smile that transformed her face, the mother vanished in front of them all. Blinking, she looked around and was comforted by the fact that they all had similar looks of confusion.
Finally, she managed to say something. It wasn’t intelligent, or poetic but it captured exactly what she was feeling. “I don’t get it.”
“I’m sure none of us do. But she’s gone, and you’re alive. I’m not letting you go anywhere.” Tyler pulled her into his arms again.
She tried to wiggle out of his hold. “Please, don’t kiss me. I smell like a raccoon died in my mouth.” If he kissed her, she was sure that he’d get sick.
“I don’t care.” Really, he didn’t.
Through the laughter of the people around them, he kissed her. She knew that whatever happened, they could make it through as long as they were together. Hell, she had disappeared more than once on him. He was still here, waiting for her, regardless of any of that. It didn’t matter if they lived in the human realm, the Blood Court, or in the fae realm, she would be happy as long as she had him by her side. Absently, she held the key in her hand and said a prayer of thanks that it saved her life.
“Mykah,” she was pulled from her reverie by the sound of Jonathon’s voice breaking through the quiet.
“Yeah?” She couldn’t bring herself to look away from Tyler, though.
“The key. I thought it had been drained from the events in the Malice Court’s garden.”
“Oh,” she said with a sheepish smile, “I guess it wasn’t ready to give up the fight just yet. The door’s been closed, but there’s so much more on the horizon.” None of them were ready to admit defeat. She would tell them, all of them, about what had happened in the in–between. The visions of the future she had had. Not yet.
She held the key out to Sarah, offering it back to the queen. “Do you want it back?” But the negative shake of Sarah’s head told her everything that she needed to know. With a small smile, she put it back around her neck, feeling the metal that was once again smooth. No longer charred, her visit through the door had restored it to its highest power.
Now, she wanted to master the power that she could feel running through her veins and find a way to make sure that when the visions came true, she could fight. Using her nails, she dug into her palm hard enough to draw blood. At the moment her blood broke the surface of her skin, every vampire in the room turned to face her. None of them spoke. Tyler raised an eyebrow at her, but she just winked back at him.
The power, she could feel it coursing through her veins. Stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. Not even the control over magic that the mother of all had shown was this strong.
With a smile on her face, she knew that she would be able to rest. Things might not be perfect, but as long as she had the man at her side, the rest would fall into place.
EPILOGUE
“What do you mean, Mykah?” Winter was sitting in the garden behind her bookshop with the dark fae princess.
The princess who looked like she was about to cry. “I’m serious, Winter. I went through the door, and Irina was there. She got me out, but she touched me, and I saw all of these crazy visions that had to be from the future.” Mykah told her everything that she could remember about the visions, which was pretty much all of it.
Winter’s head was spinning. She had seen so much, and the darkness returning did not bode well for any of them. “There was no indication or anything to do with the times that they happened?”
Mykah put her head in her hands for a moment, rubbing her temples. Then she looked up, “No. I mean, I know that the wedding in the forest happened in the fall. That’s only because of the way the leaves were falling. The rest I have no clue about.” Winter wanted to comfort the princess in some way, but she didn’t know how.
Thinking as quickly as she could, she came up with an idea. “We’re going to have to do something. Call a meeting with the royals and tell them. Adam and Aubrey, especially. Since you saw them specifically.”
“Winter, do you have any idea what is going to happen?”
“No. But it all has to be connected. The door, all of the carnage you saw. Even the darkness returning. All we can do is try and stop these things from happening when we can.”
They sat in silence, neither of them wanting to say anything else about what could be coming. Winter was drawn back into the past while the swing moved them back and forth. She fell into memories that she had thought long buried. She should know better by now. Nothing ever stayed hidden for long. If only she had...No. She couldn’t think of the things they had lost along the way. She needed to concentrate on getting the new generation ready. It wouldn’t be easy. So many of their kind had forgotten why they had the power in the first place.
The mother had warned her once, that children needed to be trained. Now she would have to fix it. They had a war coming.
END OF BOOK THREE
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
April spends her time wandering through the woods chasing after a precocious child, trying to keep the voices of her characters in check as they tell their stories. Sometimes, though, those characters need to be heard. That’s when you can find April curled up into a ball surrounded by snacks and playlists with her favorite music, fleshing out the stories in her mind’s eye. She is a member of the Maine Romance Writers. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter.
Books in Destruction of Magic Series
Path to the Key
Prophecy in Blood (novella)
Door in the Garden of Shadows
Other Books by April Canavan
Birch County Blue Series
Kismet
Storm to Forever (novella)
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Door in the Garden of Shadows
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
(Untitled)
Chapter Fifteen
(Untitled)
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
(Untitled)
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
(Untitled)
Chapter Twenty–One
(Untitled)
Epilogue
About the Author
Door in the Garden of Shadows Page 28
