“I spent most of my childhood trying to find a way around the vow,” she said. “I’m sure most Gatekeepers before me did. In the end, peace comes with a cost. When that peace disappeared, in the invasion… it might be that something different is needed.”
“The council wanted to speak to you,” I said. “They’re in Edinburgh. I guess you’ve been missing their messages because you’ve been in Faerie. Anyway, a bunch of them came up from England…”
“And they’re probably breaking everything,” she said. “The English mages have no concept of subtlety.”
“Have you ever met Lady Montgomery of the necromancer guild in Edinburgh?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “I’ve heard of her.”
“River’s mother,” said Hazel. “Ilsa’s hoping you’ll get along with his family. Seems a safer bet than his faerie side… his father isn’t terrible for a Sidhe, though.”
Mum shook her head. “When did my children grow up?”
“Aren’t you throwing me out?” Morgan blurted. “I could tell you all the terrible things I’ve done.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Mum shook her head. “Life is too short to waste at odds with those we love. Now the Sidhe’s magic no longer binds me, I intend to get to know my children a little better.”
“You might be here a while,” said Morgan. “We’re very complicated.”
“We’re also living in Edinburgh at the moment,” I added. “Well, two of us are.”
Surprise suffused her features. “You joined the guild?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Since the book’s power mimics necromancy. Why didn’t you tell us we had necromancer ancestry?”
Mum exhaled in a sigh. “It didn’t seem pertinent. Neither of you had manifested any signs of magical talent, and… I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”
No kidding. It was a selfish choice, but who was I to criticise? Morgan and I had both left home. Hazel had flaunted the rules on a consistent basis. And look how much trouble we’d managed to cause in her absence.
“Did the Erlking send you to the Vale in person?” I asked.
Mum nodded. “He did. I believe he was unaware of his wife’s intention of usurping the gate until long after he’d sent me away. But then Arden came to see me. He told me about my Aunt Enid’s magic and that the Winters were searching for its source, and he offered to guide the book to someone who would use it to protect our family and prevent Candice from using it against us. I had no idea its powers were so overwhelming and that it would put you in so much danger.” Her sad gaze passed over all of us. “When River came back to me with news that the book—the Ancient—had picked you as the host for its magic… I was horrified. I knew that the book would not relinquish its hold on you, but as long as the vow bound me, I couldn’t leave the Vale. Nor did I know that Arden remained connected to the Winter Gatekeeper even beyond death.”
“But she didn’t know what he was, not at first,” I said. Not until we’d summoned him.
Arden had saved us, in the end. The book had begun to glow in my pocket again, as though trying to get my attention. I gave it a brief glance, then turned back to my family. The talisman could wait.
Hazel had left the Path to Edinburgh open, so the following morning, we walked out of the house onto the country lane. The illusion had reappeared as though it had never left, including the darker shape of the Winter Lynns’ forest behind the house. Holly hadn’t come to speak to us yet, but who knew, maybe she and Hazel would become friends when Hazel started the Gatekeeper trials for real.
The country lane vanished as Hazel led us down the Path, onto Edinburgh’s cobbled street. I twisted to give her a look. “I knew Arden was messing with me by opening Paths halfway up Arthur’s Seat.”
Hazel snorted. “Last time you climbed it willingly.”
And now I had to relive the whole experience in front of the council. Frankly, I had no idea what to tell them. Parts of the story made little sense without mentioning the gods, the Erlking, or the real source of my magic. But the council had been put together to deal with threats exactly like the ones I’d faced. The former council, and countless Gatekeepers, had given their lives to protect secrets that weren’t theirs. Maybe I’d be the first to bring those secrets open into the light.
The council room was more packed than last time, or maybe it was my nerves. Even Agnes and Everett were there. My chest tightened. Words had never come easily to me, like Hazel. Next to me, Ivy gave me an encouraging nod. Hazel stood on my other side. I wasn’t alone. I turned from the Mage Lords’ expectant faces to the crowd, and began my story.
I didn’t tell them everything in the end. Truth was a necessity, but the Erlking’s talisman was a secret he kept to preserve his own Court, and wasn’t my secret to share. Summer’s gate, too, I glossed over, not wanting any necromancers to get ideas about summoning things from those dark dimensions. But I was fairly sure the most intelligent amongst the crowd could work out from the context that whatever had tried to get out of the gate was no faerie or Sidhe. As for the Winter Gatekeeper, Holly clearly hadn’t had an invitation. It’d take a while for the council to trust her side of the family again, but I made it clear that it wasn’t Holly’s fault that her mother had schemed with the outcasts.
Ivy told some parts of the story. So did River. We’d barely got a moment alone, and when the council finally allowed us to sit down, I was tempted to grab him and pull him out of the room. Neither of us were official council members yet—if that ever happened. My head buzzed with residual nerves from putting myself out there, but speaking the truth was liberating in a way. The book decided to say its piece by glowing brightly in my pocket all through the meeting. Perhaps that was Arden’s contribution to the story. I kept the raven out of my account, partly out of respect for the dead, partly because I wanted to look into the past a little more before I made it public. I made out that the Winter Gatekeeper had returned using conventional necromancy and the outcasts’ help, leaving out the fact that she’d turned herself into a Sidhe. Her brief immortality attempt was overshadowed by what the Seelie Queen had done.
When the meeting broke apart, Lady Montgomery came to thank me in person. Then the mages did. I was dizzy with remembering names and titles, let alone being scrutinised by a bunch of complete strangers. Hazel handled the whole thing better, but she’d been trained for it. And Mum, who took over the story when words failed me, and told of the final battle from her own perspective.
So now the entire mage council, plus a bunch of assorted high-ranking supernaturals, knew about the book. They knew what I could do. And they seemed to respect me for it.
“Need a moment?” asked a voice from the side. Jas stood there, a high stack of note pages nearly masking her face. “I could fake a ghost attack to get you out of here for five minutes.”
“It’s appreciated, but no thanks. Aren’t you allowed in?” I moved to the door, away from the crowd.
“Nope. Not high-ranked enough. I wanted to hear your speech, but they soundproofed the doors.”
“You got to skip the boring parts at least,” I said. “Where’s Lloyd?”
“Saving my spot at the coffee shop the instant I get out of here.”
“I like the way you think.” I didn’t know if the two of them were an item or not, but I had every intention of getting River somewhere alone the first chance I got. “Before I forget—what did you do in the battle? When you fought the wraiths? I’ve never seen you use necromancy like that before.” I’d been racking my brains trying to figure out where I’d seen the shimmering halo around her spirit form before, and seeing the Winter Gatekeeper’s army of the dead had reminded me that I’d barely scratched the surface when it came to true necromancy.
When Jas blinked at me, a hint of wariness in her expression, I reached into my pocket, withdrawing the talisman for a moment. “I know all about unconventional magic, believe me. Just curious.”
She smiled. “I bet you do. I know who to ask if I need
help.” Her gaze went towards the crowds of other supernaturals—specifically, the witches, who crowded around in groups—and then the council.
Ivy stepped in. “There you are,” she said. “Hiding from the crowd?”
“Yep.” I glanced to the side, where Jas had performed an impressive disappearing act. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you something… can you read this?” I held up the book, revealing the new section which had appeared in the back. It contained a few words I couldn’t read, but I figured Ivy might be able to.
“Yeah,” she said. “It says… watch your step, amateur.”
“Seriously? Dammit, Arden.”
I couldn’t hate Arden, despite his keeping the truth from us up until the last possible moment. I could only imagine navigating the wave of vows and promises to keep our family safe. And he had done so, really.
As Ivy turned to speak to the Mage Lords, Hazel dragged Morgan towards me. “He’s being… Morgan.”
“I only dozed off for two seconds,” Morgan protested.
“You left your body and kept wandering around as a ghost,” Hazel said.
“I didn’t see,” I said honestly. “Since when did you have the spirit sight?”
Hazel shook her head. “No clue. I only saw Morgan, anyway. It’s not fair that two of you get to be honorary necromancers and not me.”
“Hey, you get to start actual Summer Gatekeeper training soon,” Morgan said.
“Soon. There are still a few things I need to talk to the council about, but I think Mum’s trying to make up for lost time.” She gestured across the room, where Mum was in conversation with several mages. And Lady Montgomery.
“Oh.” Crap. Despite what I’d told Mum yesterday, I wasn’t quite ready for this.
“Relax,” River said from behind me. “She’s not saying anything bad. Singing your praises, actually.”
“Has Lady Montgomery told her the part where Morgan and I broke you out of jail to stop the apocalypse?”
He grinned. “No. But you’re still in one piece after telling her the rest of it, so I assume there’s no danger of any of us being turned into trees.”
“Not unless the Sidhe turn up,” Hazel said. Her forehead gleamed with Summer power. “Actually, I can do that now. Hmm.”
Morgan scowled at her. “Don’t you even think about it.”
I glanced around at the crowd. “I didn’t expect this big an audience.”
“The whole necromancer council showed up,” said River. “To hear you speak.”
I blinked. “What? Have they forgotten how I nearly got them killed?”
“I think they have the full story by now.” His hand slid into mine. “It’s fine. You have an open membership at the guild for as long as you need it.”
Morgan frowned. “You’re not staying?”
I shrugged. “For now? Sure. What about you?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m staying at the guild.”
“But you’ll come and see me,” said Hazel. “Both of you. I’ll need a distraction from the Sidhe’s gruelling trials.”
“Of course we will.” I looked at River, who’d squeezed my hand meaningfully. “Be back in a minute.”
I walked after River, out of the room. The moment we were alone, he wrapped his arms tight around me. “Ilsa.”
I sealed my mouth over his. “Thanks for not giving up on me.”
“It was out of the question.” He stroked my hair with one hand, the other wrapped around my hips. For a moment we just held onto one another. I felt him exhale. “You didn’t give a definite answer to your brother’s question.”
“About whether I’m staying here?” I pulled back from him a little. “That depends on whether you decide to take up the council’s offer or not.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“Because obviously, my choice will involve the easiest and quickest way to be right next to you whenever I feel like it. In person, not in the spirit realm.”
“Then you’re not going with Ivy? I thought—she told me she intended to help train you.”
“I don’t need to go with her,” I said. “I can use the spirit line… stop looking at me like that. I’m not going to die, and besides, I don’t need to open the book whenever I have a problem to solve. I’m in control of this. Everything I did was intentional.” I kissed him on the mouth, and the spirit realm briefly unfolded around us, muting the world to grey. Another second, and the waking world came back. “See?”
I jumped as his lips traced down my neck. “What if I gave you an incentive to stick around?”
“You don’t need to. I’ve always felt more at home here than anywhere else. I assume you’re not leaving.”
He shook his head. “No. Considering the state of things in the Summer Court, I’m intending to tell them I won’t be taking on any more assignments.”
“Wasn’t I worth it?” I winked at him.
“Of course.” He trailed a hand through my hair, tucking a loose strand behind my ear. “I only want to bodyguard one person now.”
“I thought you were going to try to compete with Ivy on who gets to finish my necromancer training.”
His mouth quirked. “At this point, I think we’d be hard-pressed to get Lady Montgomery’s permission for me to mentor you.”
I pretended to pout. “I thought she liked me.”
“She does. Our relationship would be very much against the guild’s rules, however, and I don’t think either of us would want to go back to keeping our distance.”
“I quite liked sneaking off for dates in coffee shops, but no thanks.” I leaned in to brush my lips against his. “Speaking of. Want to go there now, before they drag us back in?”
“I’d like nothing more, Ilsa.”
I took his hand and pulled him after me into daylight, where the sight of transparent ghosts hovering around couldn’t kill my good mood. Even when they zoned in on the mark on my head.
River looked at me. “Are you sure you want to wear the mark everywhere?”
“I think it’s going to be tricky to hide that I’m Gatekeeper by now.” The book began to glow in my pocket, and I pulled it out. The swirling mark on the cover had changed… to a picture of a raven.
“Someone had to get the last word in.” I rolled my eyes.
The bird winked.
Thank you for reading!
Good news: you won't be seeing the last of the Lynn family.
The Lynns will be back in my next series, the Hemlock Chronicles, which will be published later in 2018. To be notified when it's released, sign up to my author newsletter: http://smarturl.it/ELAnewsletter
I hope you enjoyed Hereditary Power. If you have a minute to spare, then I’d really appreciate a short review. Reviews tell me which stories readers want more of, so if you’d like to see more of the Lynn family, let me know what you think!
Other books by Emma L. Adams
If you’d like to see how Ivy’s adventures in Faerie started, you might like Faerie Blood, the first book in the Changeling Chronicles series.
When faerie-killer Ivy is hired to find a missing child, replaced with a changeling, she’s forced to team up with the seductively dangerous Mage Lord, at the risk of exposing her own dark history with the faeries—and this time, running won’t save her.
Find out more!
If you’re interested in exploring the faerie realms in more depth, you might like Mortal Heir, Book 1 in the Thief’s Talisman series.
Raine Warren, half-faerie changeling and master thief, has one mission: keep her family safe from the faeries who abandoned her in the human realm as a child. But when Faerie comes knocking, claiming she’s descended from Sidhe nobility and set to inherit an unexpected legacy, she must learn to survive in a realm of treacherous immortals.
Find out more!
If you like action-packed urban fantasy, you might like Celestial Magic, Book 1 in the Celestial Marked series.
Devi Lawson, former demon hunter, is drawn back into the celestial gu
ild when a demonic killer starts targeting the other celestials. To gain vital information, she’s forced to ally with an immensely powerful warlock who knows too much about her, and if the netherworld holds all the answers, the price might just be her soul.
Find out more!
About the Author
Emma is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of the Changeling Chronicles urban fantasy series.
Emma spent her childhood creating imaginary worlds to compensate for a disappointingly average reality, so it was probably inevitable that she ended up writing fantasy novels. When she's not immersed in her own fictional universes, Emma can be found with her head in a book or wandering around the world in search of adventure.
Find out more about Emma’s books at www.emmaladams.com.
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