“Oh, my,” she said in a small voice. “What a big…” He muffled what she was going to say as he kissed her soundly on the lips.
Things were going to get interesting between them—and that was perfectly fine as far as Neri was concerned. She didn’t want a run of the mill life—she wanted a life filled with excitement and she knew she’d get that with Lucan.
Their laughter filled the air as they moved into stage two of their lovemaking. She had what she’d always wanted—she had a life mate.
Chapter Thirteen
Dawn came early. Far too early for Neri’s liking. That was one of the reasons why she disliked this time of the year, she rather liked the mysterious beauty of the night sky, and the moon that ruled over everyone not just in Shardizar but in Avonry as well.
She slowly slid out of Lucan’s embrace, and stopped halfway to the edge of the bed. She didn’t want to leave him. She actually welcomed the thought of waking up with him spooned against her, and yet, she had to do what she always did every single year on this day. Like always, she would miss the presence of Rhiannon but she was safer off where Ulwyn couldn’t get to her.
“Farewell, Lucan, I will see you later.” She kissed him lightly on the lips, and watched as his nose twitched. She smiled and gently pressed her hand against his cheek. “Sleep well my warrior wolf, I won’t be gone for long.”
He seemed to hear her, for the troubled expression he wore turned serene once more and he rolled away from her. She left the warm safety of their shared bed and moved to pull out fresh garments from the wardrobe she still hadn’t emptied and probably never would now that they had mated. There was no need for her to move into Elaine’s room now.
Lucan and she were as one.
She fingered the fine velvet of the amethyst coloured gown she’d decided to wear for the day, and then glanced back at Lucan. She wanted to make her way down to the Temple Cemetery with the fleet of foot she only had in her cat form.
Placing the gown back into the large wardrobe, she turned back to face Lucan and in a flash of silvery light she had transformed herself into her blue tabby cat form.
Sleekly, she slipped out of the bedroom using her changeling magic to open and close the doors as she sped through the Tavern. Everyone was still fast asleep, and she would have no other visitors to deal with in the Temple Graveyard for none ventured out this early, only she was brave—or mad enough to do so.
The morning was quiet. She saw the light on in the baker’s shop but no other shops were lit up yet. Everyone was still in their beds, and that’s just the way she wanted it. She would have her peace and quiet to grieve alone.
She leapt across the various piles of shit left over by horses and sheep that ran through the village daily. Obviously, the honey wagon hadn’t been around yet. She stopped and listened to the thunder rumbling in the distance. She sighed heavily. That would just be her luck—it would have to rain on her day of mourning.
She could only pray to the Gods above to keep the bad weather at bay until she had visited her son’s grave and returned safely to the Tavern.
She jumped onto the fence surrounding the graveyard, and then jumped down onto the dewy grass. Thick mist the sort you could cut with a knife, pooled in around her, obscuring the view she normally would have had of the Wylde Wolf Tavern in the distance.
Settling herself in front of the tombstones for her son’s grave and for Lucan’s mother, she stared up at the sky wondering if there truly was life after death. She’d heard the rumours surrounding Ava and knew that her Granny had come back from death to cleanse her spirit from the sins she’d committed while alive and yet—sometimes she wondered if everyone she’d known in this life had passed on to an Afterlife and if they had what did they think of her now?
Ryn was more than likely ashamed of what he’d done but she bloody well figured that he was probably still blaming her for everything. After all, had she not been so weak, nothing would have come from his constant infidelity.
She’d done her best to raise Rhiannon alone and Elaine had helped her to be a good mother and yet, she constantly worried that Rhiannon was missing out on something being so far apart from their changeling kin. Since Rhiannon shared abilities from her side of the family as well as from Ryn’s she was a changeling of great consequence—and great power.
Hundreds of years ago, it had been against the law to marry outside of your changeling class. As they had believed that a hybrid changeling could do more harm than good, having more than one kind of changeling power coursing through their veins made them terribly powerful—and therefore, a threat to be reckoned with.
Rhiannon was perfect, and she was humble enough to know that she had to be responsible when it came to her gifts. She was so lost in thought, thinking of Rhiannon and her son Rhonyn that she didn’t feel the presence of danger approaching and when she did, it was already too late.
“My, my, aren’t you a pretty little kitty. I think I’m going to take you home,” a young man’s sleazy voice filled her ears.
She jumped, her instincts electrified. She whirled around and hissed at the man who she recognized as one of Ulwyn’s followers. Before she could reason with what he intended to do, he produced a flour sack and had scooped her up into it.
She started meowing, and then started to scream like a hellcat. She attempted to use her magic and change back into her human form but a piercing white pain slashed through her being, and blinded her for one brief moment.
The sack was enchanted with dark magic—dark magic that would keep her from changing into any other form. She was stuck, trapped in this blue tabby cat form until someone set her free from this prison.
Lucan.
She needed him now more than ever.
Would he know that she was in danger? Or had Ulwyn used her as bait?
Gods be damned, she’d walked right into this trap! She could feel the steady pace of the boy’s walking gait as he walked out of the Cemetery and headed toward Wythley Castle. She knew her first suspicions were correct.
She was being used to lure Lucan into a trap. She couldn’t let that happen. Whenever she opened her heart—whenever she trusted in her love for a man—she lost him.
She was the destroyer of everything she held dear. It was her biggest fear that somehow her all-consuming love would destroy Rhiannon as well. And she knew deep in her heart that that was one of the reasons why she’d sent her daughter away once she’d come of an age to take care of herself. The further her daughter was from her—the better.
If only she could get a message off to Ava to tell her that Lucan needed their help. There was no way her ragtag band of resistance fighters could possibly challenge Lord Ulwyn and his men and emerge victorious.
No, they needed seasoned warriors, they needed Ava, Grifon and the rest of the Knight Mages that had been with Lucan through the living hell they’d endured back in the Obsidian Forest.
They needed those who would fight to the death to keep Lucan safe.
She could call out to Rhiannon and through their familial bond she would be heard. Breathing deeply, she discarded that idea as soon as she thought of it. No amount of misery could make her want to visit that kind of suffering upon Rhiannon.
All she could do was pray that Lucan would leave her—he had to stay safe. He could not take Ulwyn on alone. She’d never faced such dark magic in her many lives. She could not bear the thought of losing Lucan to such a fate after he’d already survived the dark curse Ava’s Grandmother had bestowed upon him and the rest of the Knights of Saint Alby.
No, she would not watch him die. No matter what she had to do—no matter what kind of bargains she had to make, she would not let him die.
*****
Lucan sat upright in bed, suddenly wide awake. His dreams troubled him. He’d dreamt of Neri, and his blissful dream had quickly descended into a nightmare. He’d watched as she’d been dancing in the meadow laughing gaily at him. He’d told her how much he loved her only to have a large ha
nd break out of the ground and take hold of her ankle.
She’d been sucked beneath the ground before he could react.
Gone.
In one horrible instant.
Cold dread had circled him that moment and he’d woken as if someone had called out to him.
“Neri, where are you?” he asked, disoriented. He searched the room for her and found it empty.
Groaning with fear circling his heart, he jumped out of bed, and nearly climbed the wall when a familiar voice filled the air.
“Neri? Are you there?”
“No, but I am, Ava.”
The sound of the Temple bells urgently ringing gave him pause. In his days this particular tolling of the bells meant that a crisis was afoot and that everyone should gather together in the Temple.
He searched the room for the hand looking glass and found it glowing inside of a chest of drawers.
He took hold of the cool purple jade handle, and brought the mirror up so he could look at Ava. Her eyes widened perceptively.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you at such an early hour, Lucan,” she murmured, her eyes gobbling him up.
He realized too late that he wore nothing.
“Damn it, Lucan! For the love of the Gods put something on,” Grifon’s irritated voice startled him out of dazed confusion.
He dropped the mirror and hastily reached for a dressing gown. “I am sorry, Princess,” he muttered, his cheeks burning with his embarrassment.
“I’m not,” she murmured, cheekily winking at him. Grifon let out an exasperated sigh. “Now, back to the point of the matter, where is Neri? We have someone here insisting that she is in trouble and requires assistance.”
“Not just someone,” a voice eerily like Neri’s met his ears. “My name is Rhiannon and I believe you know my mother,” she said, stepping into the picture so she stood directly to the side of Ava.
She sounded like Neri but that was where the similarity ended. She had to look exactly like her father’s side of the family. Her hair was pitch black like the darkness of the sky under a glowing moon and her eyes were a dark amethyst hue. They radiated with supernatural magic. She was a stunner to be sure even if she didn’t mirror her mother’s looks.
“You need to get dressed and find my mother. She’s been taken by Ulwyn’s forces. We’re on our way but I fear we won’t arrive in time. He means to kill her by drowning her, Sir Lucan.”
“Well, I guess you actually are like your mother after all. You like to tell people what to do, too.”
Her face reddened with anger and before his eyes, her hair changed from black to a crimson red, not unlike the colour of the Hunter cloaks. Her eyes had also changed colour, they glowed with a ruby like hue.
“You need to listen to me, Sir Lucan! You need to save her before they take all of her lives!”
The anxiety in her voice sobered him up. There was obviously no time to waste. Rhiannon’s talents were great, she was almost like a chameleon.
“Don’t worry about your mother, Rhiannon. I will take good care of her.”
Rhiannon looked unconvinced. Her eyes wavered between sheer anxiety and irritability. He’d really struck the wrong chord with her.
“You can take Sir Lucan at his word, Rhiannon,” Ava spoke softly. “He will not fail Neri. However, you will require our assistance, Lucan. We’re preparing to open a large transportation portal once we’re in range. Grifon’s father was generous enough to endow us with enough mages to magically make it happen so to speak. He wants Cambria reclaimed in the name of the King. So, we will all do that—together we stand—or together we fall.”
“We shall welcome your arrival,” he said. “I have to go now.” He placed the enchanted mirror back where he’d found it and in a flash of magical light he was dressed and ready for battle.
If Ulwyn thought he could take what Lucan held most dear and destroy it, he had another thing coming. And that thing was death. He would enjoy sending Ulwyn to the Dark Underworld.
He would relish every single second of killing that bastard.
It didn’t take him long to dress in his battle garb. He outfitted himself with every single weapon at his disposal, magical and otherwise.
Loud pounding at his door caught his attention. He opened it and looked out to be met with thin air.
Chagrined, he stepped out into the hallway, and sensing a presence, his eyes dropped to see a short stout woman standing in white Celestial Mage robes. She carried the mystical quarterstaff that those within the Celestial Order carried. The staffs the Celestial Mages carried didn’t look nearly as rugged or formidable looking as the staffs that the Templar Mages carried.
Templar Mages had to be warriors at heart. They were usually stationed in the Temples that bordered the kingdoms of Avonry, Tamar and most especially any of the villages or towns that bordered the Kingdom of Domnonee.
They were sent to attend to the spiritual needs of their parishioners while also serving as a protective force.
The quarterstaff that the Celestial Mages were equipped with were usually used to bless people, animals, the land and even inanimate objects and could also on rare occasions be used as a weapon.
The tip of the quarterstaff was equipped with what looked to be an amethyst from the enchanted mines located in the southern counties of Shardizar, for it was glowing and she wasn’t even using her magic at the moment.
She reminded him of the sprites from the tales his mother used to tell him. Some said they had come to Shardizar and found mates, and because of that had never ventured back to the Hidden Realms. Her hair was long and hung in a plait across her shoulder.
Her eyes burned with determination and yet, her nerve had failed her at this pivotal moment.
“You are Sir Lucan Wylde,” she stated matter-of-factly.
She had a petite prettiness to her. Her eyes were wide and at the moment, a very dark green. She had a little button of a nose and high cheekbones. Her hair was the colour of Cambrian Ale.
“I am,” he answered, searching for any signs of Bianca or her sister.
“I am Mother Spratt. I am the Celestial Mage for this village.”
“I see,” he said, looking at her white robes which were a dead giveaway. Any idiot in Shardizar would know what she did for a vocation.
“I saw Mistress Kyneswyth get taken. I should have acted to help her but alas I am no wolf shifter, nor am I am a Templar Mage. I have no aggressive powers. The only magic I wield is mundayne magic. My special talent is the ability to see the soul within. I can’t be of any help when it comes to a battle. My ability to see the soul within is the only reason why I knew that Mistress Kyneswyth was the cute little cat.”
This pious and extremely timid woman was getting on his nerves—she was telling him a pack of lies. He didn’t know why. The only sincere thing she’d spoken was her concern for Neri.
She could have attempted to stop the men that abducted Neri. Instead, she’d hid in the Temple and watched as she was taken.
Coward.
He wanted to lash out at her. He would have done before his time spent under the curse. Now, he was much more tolerant of others failings. He understood the frailty of some more now than he could ever understand them before the damnable curse.
It was at that frustratingly tense moment that he noticed her hand and how hard it gripped her staff. She was nervous. Inexplicably, she knew that she’d done wrong. She knew that she had failed a member of her flock.
“The Gods and Goddesses would not look kindly upon my sheer act of cowardice. I admit I acted like a terrified mouse. I shrunk in terror when I should have acted out. I should have been braver. I should have mustered my courage and helped Neri. I have known her for many years. She and I have had many cups of tea together reminiscing about old times, times when this village was happy. She is fighting to regain what we’ve lost, and I literally fed her to the wolves. I will never be able to look her straight in the eyes again.”
Spratt lowered her g
aze so she stared at the floor. Her voice had trembled with her the breadth of her emotion and her hands now shook as she took the one that wasn’t holding her staff and self-consciously tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her ear.
She wasn’t as old as the weathered glint in her eyes made her seem. She’d seen hardships, she’d seen heartbreak and somehow, she survived it all. His heart sympathized with her and he suddenly felt the unfeeling cad for thinking she was a coward. Without her even knowing it, they now shared a tangible bond. Like him, she was a survivor, and he couldn’t help but admire the true grit that had to be in her soul, even though time had long since buried that part of her.
“You did right by coming to me as quickly as you could, Mother Spratt. We will rescue Neri. I will need your help in doing so as I am not exactly in command of a company of able bodied Knight Mages, am I?”
“I rang the Temple Bells to call those that are in the resistance to arms. They will come to the Temple as soon as they are able.”
“And how many I wonder will be absent simply because they can’t leave Lord Ulwyn? No, I will bet our chances on what I have here. Bianca, Christi, you and I will have to do the hard work needed to free my beloved.”
“With true love on your side, you can move mountains, Sir Lucan.” She smiled shyly at him. “What do you ask of me?”
“I ask that you give me the kind of distraction that I will need to slip past Ulwyn’s minions.” He stared at Spratt as an idea percolated in his mind.
“How fleet of foot are you, Mother Spratt?”
She seemed surprised. “I can move quite quickly from one place to another. It seems to be the one of the few talents I inherited from my grandmother. She was a Sprite of the Hidden Realms…but then you’ve probably already determined that given my diminutive size. Why do you ask, Sir Lucan?”
“Because I’m thinking that I’m not the right person to free Neri. You should do it.”
Her eyes widened perceptively and she let out a nervous hiccup. “I can’t…no, you couldn’t possibly…”
“I will drape you in a cloaking spell. You won’t be seen by the other wolves and only an individual adept at the magical arts, dark or light will be able to even see a flicker of your movement. No, you will be quite safe.”
The Forgotten Page 13
