by Lily Velez
I turned to Kai, who was nudging the pile of menhir fragments with a foot. Had we really just prevented the Dark Lord’s ascension? All evidence proclaimed as much, but then why didn’t I feel any closure, as if I were still holding my breath?
“What Nuada said earlier about the prophecy…”
“It’s bigger than you and Jack,” Kai said.
“But if we free him from his debt—”
“Then the Dark Lord will bring his wrath upon you for robbing him of his prized possession. However you’d like to cut it, war is inevitable. Breaking the Thirteen Seals of Balor was the surest path to the Dark Lord’s ascension. But it wasn’t the only path.”
I was suddenly dizzy, my lungs clenching as I stared at him, shell-shocked. “How many other paths are there?”
“Let me put it like this. The gods are cunning and savage. If they want something badly enough, if fate has promised it to them, they’ll stop at nothing to have it.”
I thought I was going to be sick. One crisis averted only to have another—no, countless others—loom on a distant horizon. Or perhaps a not so distant one. Who could say? There was no way to predict how or when the Dark Lord would strike again.
I closed my eyes to quell the lightheadedness, focusing on my breaths as I tuned into the gentle hush of the surrounding trees. I wasn’t sure if it was my magic, but my calm returned to me almost immediately. I straightened myself. My fingers closed tightly around the hilt of the Sword of Light.
If the Dark Lord wanted a war, then let him bring one. I wasn’t going to cower away and neither was Jack. Morrígan had seen an immense value to having us in her army, which meant that together, there was true power in our combined magic. We’d barely tapped into it, but we’d have to. We’d have to learn everything we could about our connection if we wanted to triumph over the Dark Lord once and for all.
“When war comes,” I said to Kai, “will you fight on our side?”
It was a bold question, I knew. Kai was not just a demon, but a prince among demons, one of the Dark Lord’s very own sons. His loyalty belonged to his family, to the Otherworld, to the rise of his kind. When we’d faced off with Alistair earlier, he’d hidden among the trees lest Alistair learn of his association with me and Jack.
“I’ve already risked too much exposing our would-be alliance to Morrígan and her court,” he’d said.
That was okay for now. But when it mattered, hiding was not an option. I needed to know where Kai stood. Sure, ours was an unlikely alliance, but I wanted to believe that the ties between us could surpass all that, could close the gap that was meant to divide us. I wanted to believe that people who were fated to be enemies could instead choose to be something else.
Kai arched an eyebrow. “Is your relinquishing the Sword of Light dependent on my answer?”
“Of course not.” Seeing as how my soul was on the line, it’s not like I had a choice. I asked him to instruct me in the proper way to transfer the sword, and he told me the words I needed to say.
I intoned them as I held out the sword to him, the glowing blade resting horizontally upon my upturned hands. “I judge the one who stands before me to be worthy of wielding that which I now entrust to him. May his heart be true, may his will be strong, and may the favor of the gods ever shine on his path.” The Sword of Light brightened, those fiery filigrees curling down the blade as if an invisible hand inscribed secret truths across the steel.
Kai hesitated for a few moments, no doubt reaching deep into his reserves for the audaciousness it would take for him, a demon, to grab the hilt of the weapon.
Please let it work, I found myself praying.
He reached for the sword slowly. Then, as if ripping off a bandage, he quickly closed his fingers around the hilt and pulled the weapon from me. Jolted, I waited out the following seconds, unable to even breathe.
The Sword of Light dimmed only slightly before its radiant luminosity flared back up, allowing itself to be wielded by Kai. A long breath left me, my muscles relaxing. I only hoped I wasn’t making a monumental mistake.
“So,” I prompted. “My question? Would you fight with us in a war against the Dark Lord?”
Kai was so busy admiring the sword that I was sure he hadn’t heard me. He ran his fingertips down the length of the blade, those flaming filigrees curling around his touch and shooting out across the steel like comets. I found it strange that they should respond so readily to him.
“I know the Dark Lord is your fa—”
“It would be my utmost pleasure,” he answered, still absorbed with the weapon of legend.
I blinked. I was so taken aback by his easy response that my first assumption was that he’d misunderstood my question.
“I have but one request.”
Of course. The caveat. This was the part where he’d tell me he’d fight with us only if we spared the Dark Lord’s life, or the lives of his royal siblings, or the lives of scores of demons.
Except those weren’t his next words at all.
“When it comes time to burn the kingdoms of the forsaken lands down to ash,” he said, finally fixing those gleaming garnet eyes upon me, “let me be the one to strike the match.”
48
Scarlet
Days later, Jack and I cruised down the rural backroads that stretched out of Rosalyn Bay and led to Crowmarsh. We rode in his 1952 Jaguar, the front of which he’d gotten repaired after its crash during the Dullahan chase.
The convertible top was down, but I didn’t mind the chilly wind as it bit at my nose and cheeks, reddening them. It meant I was alive. Against all odds, we’d survived the Otherworld, and every little thing now seemed a miracle to be cherished.
I breathed in the fresh, crisp autumn hair, expanding my lungs with it. I took in every pasture we passed, the animals quietly grazing, the stone cottages with pillars of smoke steadily rising from their chimneys. It could’ve been an idyllic scene in a painting.
It was all so peaceful. Where previously I’d lamented my exile to this slow-moving, sleepy place, my heart felt tender toward it as we drove. I thought about the people inside those cottages, the lives they led, the things they cherished, the people they loved.
They have no idea what’s coming…
Confronting the Dark Lord when the time came wouldn’t just be about protecting witch-kind. It’d be about protecting everyone who called this world their home. That was why we had to win. That was why Jack and I wouldn’t see the war end any other way.
For the hundredth time, I stole another glance of him. With one hand relaxed against the bottom of the steering wheel, his free hand was joined with mine between our seats, our fingers intertwined. I could scarcely believe this was my reality now, that Jack and I were together.
Not just together but Fated, our souls and our magic forever entwined. That gentle hum underneath my skin had never left, and whenever I was near Jack, it amplified, as if I were encased in a warm, golden aura.
In the days ahead, there was so much for us to learn about the power of soulbound magic, about how to strengthen it and nurture it and ultimately use it against our enemies.
Our. The word sent a flutter through my ribs, and that quiet buzz in me purred louder.
My eyes combed over Jack, marveling at the sophisticated craftsmanship displayed in the angles and cuts of his perfect face. It really was ridiculous how beautiful he was. With the wind combing through his dark hair and the collar of his black coat upturned to brush against his jawline, he was like a model out of a multimillion-dollar campaign.
“How many of those coats do you own?” I’d teased him when he’d picked me up from my dad’s house earlier. It turned out it was the same one he’d worn to the Otherworld, though, returned to him by Kai.
It amused me that a prince among demons had been thoughtful enough to convey a garment of all things back to its rightful owner, especially when my last request of Kai before he’d left had been a great deal more serious. I’d asked him to take all the sp
irits of the damned back with him, considering they were, in a way, his charges.
Surprisingly, however, there were very few left in Rosalyn Bay by that point. I later found out that Jack’s brothers had taken care of the issue. It seemed they’d gotten into a vast assortment of interesting predicaments in our absence, particularly Connor and Lucas, who between them sported black eyes and bruises to go around.
“So let me get this straight,” Jack had said a few days ago when the boys were gathered at my house. “In the nine days I was gone, you destroyed an entire beach, reduced our greenhouse to ruins, used magic in front of a Sightless classmate, sent another to the hospital, and received on-grounds suspension for the remainder of the week?”
“On the bright side,” Lucas offered, “we got in a fair share of brotherly bonding along the way.”
Thinking on it, I laughed softly to myself.
“What?” Jack asked with a smile.
“I’m only considering just how crazy my world has become.” I twisted toward him. “To the point where it feels weird to do ordinary things like take a drive through the country. Shouldn’t we be doing something more? Now that we’ve taken care of the spirits of the damned and The Vanquished, we should go Elsewhere and visit The Council’s library. We need to learn everything we can about The Lost Clan and about what it means to be soulbound. If we can use this connection between us to possibly overcome the Dark Lord, we have to start working toward that.”
The corner of Jack’s mouth quirked up. “When you talk like that, it amazes me that you could’ve ever doubted that you could be one of Brigid’s fearless warriors.”
“Very funny, but I’m being serious.”
He squeezed my hand. “I know, and I promise you that after the vigil, we’ll start moving forward.”
He was referring to the vigil the Connellys annually held at Elizabeth’s cottage on the anniversary of her death, which was only days away. It was their way of paying her respect and honoring the life she’d led. Jack and his brothers wouldn’t dare spend the day anywhere else.
“Until then,” he continued, “we might as well enjoy what little leisure time we have left. I don’t imagine the road before us is going to get any less difficult.”
I knew he had a point there. While I felt guilty not to be building an army against the Dark Lord, there were so many things about the path ahead that were still so uncertain. These moments I had with Jack, simple as they were, were ones I needed to cherish.
With that in mind, I conceded and melted into my seat, and when his smile brightened in response, my magic glowed in me like an ember, Jack’s magic twisting around it until they were twin flames.
I settled in as Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and others serenaded us during our journey, as the blazing ambers and crimsons of autumn canopies rushed past us in a blur, as late afternoon transformed into dusk and the stars began to wink down at us one by one, a celestial audience that seemed to join me in the happiness I felt, a happiness that was at once indescribable and completely priceless.
Once we arrived at Crowmarsh, Jack came around the car to open my door like the gentleman he was. I adored his chivalry, offering him my hand as I stepped out. He bowed his head slightly and pressed a gentle kiss to my knuckles, and my cheeks warmed at the feel of his lips, at the heat of his breath against my skin.
As soon as we entered the warm estate, an intoxicating collection of rich smells buffeted us.
“Someone’s been cooking,” I commented, assuming it was Prudence, who was still staying at Crowmarsh as a live-in Healer for Alison.
My hand in his, Jack led me through his former home, his gait quicker than usual, as if he couldn’t wait to get somewhere. Only when we approached a certain corner did he finally slow and turn to me, though the brightness never left his eyes.
“I have a surprise for you,” he announced.
My incurably romantic heart practically pirouetted. I only hoped I wasn’t grinning like a fool. Jack Connelly had organized a surprise…for me? I couldn’t imagine what it could possibly be, but I was thrilled and giddy all the same.
Jack took up position behind me to cover my eyes with his hands. “Ready?” he asked, and after I nodded, we slowly walked forward together, entering a space where the warmth increased and where the aroma of Prudence’s cooking was even stronger.
Jack peeled away his hands, saying, “You can open your eyes now.”
I did, and when I did, I couldn’t believe what I saw.
We were in one of Crowmarsh’s dining rooms, and before me was a spread of food fit for a royal feast. On a long table that stretched for nearly the entire length of the room, all manner of entrees and sides sat on glistening silver dishes.
There were casseroles, vegetable medleys, gratins, and puddings. There were golden biscuits fresh out of the oven, at least six different types of pies, and just as many types of muffins. There was a tray of baked sweet potatoes, another filled with stuffing, and still another overflowing with ears of corn. And at the very center of the table rested the largest roasted turkey I’d ever seen in my life, its skin perfectly browned and seasoned, its plate garnished with oranges, cranberries, and sprigs of rosemary.
“You told me this would be your first Thanksgiving without your mother,” Jack explained from beside me. “I know we’re a few days late, but I wanted to give you this. Not as a way to replace your holiday memories with her, of course, but as a way to maybe make new ones. And hopefully lessen the pain of her absence too.”
Shock lanced through my chest, which immediately flooded with affection. “You did all of this yourself?” For me?
“Prudence helped with everything,” he confessed. “And we might’ve spelled a few pots and pans to take care of some of the smaller side dishes.”
“But he certainly had a hand in the whole endeavor,” Prudence added as she emerged from a doorway carrying a steaming plate of roasted vegetables. “We’ve been in the kitchen all morning and afternoon. And all of yesterday evening too. Jack insisted everything had to be just perfect for you.”
I was smiling so wide my cheeks were starting to hurt. I didn’t know what to say. A mere ‘thank you’ hardly seemed sufficient.
“Did I do the holiday justice?” Jack asked once Prudence disappeared back into the kitchen. “I’ve lived in Ireland all my life, so I didn’t really know a thing about the typical Thanksgiving fare. Hopefully all my internet research paid off.”
“Are you kidding? This is the Thanksgiving dinner to beat all other Thanksgiving dinners.” My eyes continued roaming over the spread of dishes, my stomach starting to growl as it worked up an appetite. “Although I have to admit, as hungry as I’m getting, I really don’t think I’ll be able to fit all of this into my stomach. Please tell me your brothers will be joining us.”
Jack let out a soft laugh. “Do you honestly think Lucas would miss the chance to scarf down free food? They should be here shortly. I asked them to pick up your father so that he could join us as well. I thought you might want him here.”
“That sounds absolutely perfect.” As it happened, my dad did remember everything from his time under Alistair’s manipulations. On the one hand, it certainly made it easier to broach the subject of our being witches, but I could tell he was still in a state of shock, and I urged Jack and his brothers not to overdo it with the magic in my dad’s presence, afraid it’d overwhelm him.
My dad was an academic, and academics liked to sit with things for a while, mulling them over. For the time being, I’d let my dad digest witches and demons and prophecies, and once a few more days passed, I’d sit with him to piece it all together. Jack had already assured me he’d offer us both all the guidance we’d need.
“And you might want to pace yourself. There’s also a waffle maker in the kitchen and a freezer filled with cartons of ice cream should the mood to create your favorite Thanksgiving dessert strike you.”
In other words, he’d thought of everything.
“But
if you’d prefer to keep that between you and your mom, I understand.”
“No,” I said. “I think she’d love this. I imagine she’s looking down on me right now and is overjoyed by this.” Not just by Jack’s grand gesture, but by what it represented. That I’d found a home here and people who cared about me, and that I was slowly but surely moving forward in my new life.
I turned to Jack, my heart several times its normal size. He’d wanted to make my first major holiday without my mom special. He’d wanted me to know I wasn’t alone. It meant more to me than he would ever know.
“Thank you,” I whispered, not trusting myself to speak any louder, given the pinch in my throat. I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned against him.
He rested his chin atop my head as he held me, gently stroking my back. After a few moments, he said, “There’s one more thing.”
I pulled back, laughing. “Now you’re just spoiling me.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” he said, smiling. He produced something from his pocket, holding it up for me to see. It was a gold chain, and dangling from its end was a tiny, winged creature.
“A butterfly,” I said, the emotion in my throat thickening.
He reached behind my neck to clasp the necklace into place, adjusting the charm along my breastbone. “When I saw how much you loved butterflies, I thought it was so fitting, considering what they symbolize.”
“New life, right?”
“That’s one thing of many,” he said. “But there’s something else that stands out above the rest, that seems to be a constant theme across the board when you look at all the world’s cultures. I know I, for one, felt it when I first met you, when it became apparent that you were the Scarlet Ibis who could help me give my grandfather peace. I’ve felt it every day since then too, even in the darkest moments, even in the ‘how are we ever going to get through this?’ moments.
