Celestial Bones (Forged in Blood Book 3)

by Holly Evans

  “Yes. That was one of your uncle’s potions. I wasn’t sure it would work, but given it was try it or be sacrificed, I felt the risk was worth it. Secondly, we’re going to walk half a mile that way, where we’ll find a contact of mine. He’s been waiting for us.”

  I looked at him. “You had a backup plan all this time?”

  “Never trust an elf,” he smirked.

  We began walking across the warm sand. The stars shone overhead, and the temperature was starting to plummet. My poor body didn’t know what to do with all of the temperature shifts.

  “So, what do you think was really going on there?” I asked.

  “I believe the elves were trying to raise the old god, and the necromancers were trying to stop them. I also think the elves were connected to the groups who are tearing down the veil.”

  It made sense to me.

  “Alright, so why did we go to this ritual tonight then?” I asked.

  “To make sure that they were going dark side. Them trying to sacrifice us is evidence.”

  “It’s our word against theirs, though,” Gray said.

  Alasdair shrugged.

  “We’ll figure it out.”

  The desert stretched out around us. A vast expanse of what looked like never-ending sand. I really hoped that Alasdair was right about his contact. Grey wolves didn’t do well out in the hot burning desert.

  “How do hellhounds do in the desert?” I asked Gray.

  “I haven’t asked. I guess they’d be ok? The infernal realm isn’t a sand desert, though, it’s more rocky.”

  “Even a hellhound would be screwed out here if they didn’t have water,” Alasdair said.

  “They could handle the heat better, though?”

  “Yes, but they’d die of dehydration just as quickly as us.”

  What looked like lights from a small town or a distant city bloomed on the horizon. Small orange orbs against the black fabric of the night.

  “Alasdair, I wasn’t expecting you for a couple of days,” a gruff male voice said.

  A broad man an inch shorter than Alasdair approached us with a grin. His chin was coated with a few days’ worth of stubble, but his smile was genuine. He held out a couple of canteens of water to us.

  “Come on, camp’s not far. You can tell me everything those fucking elves are up to. I have a reasonable idea where the necromancers are.”

  I took a canteen and drank slowly, not wanting to upset my stomach.

  “Griff, this is my other half, Niko, and our friend Gray,” Alasdair introduced us.

  Griff engulfed my hand in his own larger roughened hand and shook it with great vigor.

  “Happy to meet Alasdair’s partner, it’s about time he found some happiness. You look like you have a fire in you.”

  “Er, thanks,” I said smiling.

  “You must be Lysander’s boy,” he slapped Gray on the back.

  “Yea, although sometimes I think I follow more after my mom.”

  Griff laughed. “The world can’t handle more than one Evelyn Hawke.”

  “You can say that again,” Alasdair laughed.

  15

  We followed Griff down into a shallow dip where he had made his camp. A small village of tents seemed to grow from the sands. Conversations and laughter filled the air. I breathed deep, catching the scent of fresh sage and salt. It felt good to be out in the world again. The cream cage the elves had had us in was going to drive me mad sooner rather than later.

  “Did they try and sacrifice you?” Griff asked.

  “Unfortunately. We escaped without losing any blood. I’m sure they’ll come looking for us,” Alasdair said.

  We settled down on a wool blanket that had been folded in front of a large tent. The night sky filled the area beyond the tents, and I felt a calm fill my bones as I allowed myself to gaze upon it.

  “Don’t you worry. We’re entirely hidden here, and my people have been itching to kill a few elves for days now.”

  I couldn’t quite put my finger on what Griff was, exactly. I must have been looking at him a bit too hard.

  “Bear shifter. We’re all bears here. Don’t worry, wolf, you’ll be treated well,” he said with a grin.

  A chill ran through me. Bear shifters had always put me on edge. Sure, they looked cuddly from a distance, but they had very long claws and powerful jaws. I did not want to find out what it felt like being on the receiving end of those. Don’t get me wrong, I’d take them on if I had to, but that didn’t mean I’d look forward to the fight.

  “We need to find the necromancers. We believe they’re on our side with all of this,” Alasdair said.

  “They have a powerful witch with them. She must have some fae blood, because she’s been helping them plane hop.”

  “So, you’re telling me you can’t track them. I thought you never failed,” Alasdair teased.

  “We haven’t failed yet.”

  The bear drew himself up a bit taller and huffed.

  “Clock’s ticking,” Alasdair pushed.

  “Get yourselves to bed, and don’t go making too much noise. The rest of us want some sleep too.”

  He gestured at the tent behind us. I pulled back the flap and saw three sections, the living space with a couple of fold out chairs and a low table, and two bedrooms behind it.

  “We’re not done here yet, old friend,” Alasdair said.

  Griff narrowed his eyes before he grinned.

  “And what else do you want to know?”

  “Everything. What state is the veil in?”

  The bear sighed and seemed to deflate some.

  “It’s not looking good. Priestesses have gone rogue, and the groups trying to tear down the veil seem to be growing. It’s getting more difficult to hide everything from the humans. The attacks are increasing, and the redcaps have been taking advantage of it.”

  “We should be out there protecting the veil and taking down the traitors,” I growled.

  “One thing at a time,” Alasdair said gently as he put his hand on my thigh.

  “The old wolf’s right. If they bring that god back, he’ll bring war with him, and there’ll be no stopping that.”

  “We find the necromancers first and destroy the bones, then we’ll deal with the veil stuff,” Alasdair said.

  “I should contact my parents; they’ll have updates,” Gray said.

  “Your mother’s been kicking up a fuss. Rumours have it she locked the Prague council in the meeting room and refused to let them out until they had a satisfactory defence plan for the veil.”

  Gray laughed.

  “She gets things done,” he said.

  “It wouldn’t kill her to learn a little diplomacy,” Alasdair grumbled.

  “That’s what Dad’s for,” Gray said with a grin.

  “Your father is an amazing man, but no one can contain enough diplomacy to temper your mother. I love Evelyn like a sister, but she can be more than a handful at times.”

  “I’m glad she’s on our side,” Griff said.

  So was I. The more I heard about her, the more I didn’t want to get on her bad side. She hadn’t seemed so bad the couple of times I’d met her, but people were very different when relaxing with family.

  “Rumour has it you defeated the Fear Dorcha,” Griff said, all joking gone.

  I froze.

  “Rumours say all sorts of things,” I finally said.

  He smiled.

  “You’re safe here, Niko. Although you should be aware that you have gained many enemies. The Fear Dorcha is more than the sidhe queen’s lapdog. He is a symbol. You defeating him means you’re something to be feared, and something to be owned.”

  “Fantastic,” I muttered.

  I’d worked so hard to stay hidden, and that bastard had screwed it all up.

  “How did you do it?”

  “We’re heading to bed. We’ll see you in the morning,” Alasdair said putting his arm around my waist.

  Griff gave a slow nod of understanding
. Some things were best kept hidden, even from friends and allies.

  16

  I slept safely in Alasdair’s arms with his hard body wrapped around mine. It was the best night’s sleep I think I’ve ever had. The bed looked like a thin pad with a sheet thrown over the top, but it felt like heaven. I woke to Alasdair’s butterfly kisses down my neck and over my shoulder. His hand remained on my hip. There was no pressure there. I rolled onto my back and ran my fingers through his thick hair, revelling in the feel of him.

  Slowly, his hand moved up over my stomach and chest. He leaned in and kissed me slowly, softly. I pulled him closer and deepened the kiss, wanting to lose myself in him, even if only for a moment. The sound of the bears moving around outside stopped me from being able to relax and go further, but I wanted to. I finally felt like I was ready to share that with him, with my other half.

  He nipped my bottom lip.

  “Have I told you how sexy you look in the mornings?”

  I stretched, running my foot down his calf.

  “Maybe,” I grinned.

  He gently stroked my cheek.

  “Never doubt that I love you,” he whispered.

  The genuine affection shone in his eyes, and for the first time I didn’t want to shrink away from it. I ran my thumb along his jaw.

  “I love you, too.”

  A giddy happiness filled me as I got dressed. We stepped out into the living area to see Gray laughing with a broad chocolate-haired woman. Her golden eyes shone with laughter.

  “Come and get breakfast before there’s none left,” she said to us with a good-natured smile.

  The hot sun beat down from the crystal blue sky, but the temperature was comfortable and the air fresh.

  “We may only be shifters, but we have allies with good magic,” the woman said.

  “They traded with an alchemist to provide with them a weather bubble. It keeps the camp comfortable,” Gray explained.

  We walked past the broad-based yellow and grey tents to the middle of the camp where Griff stood guard over a plate of sausages and bacon.

  “If you hadn’t have arrived within thirty seconds, I was going to eat them myself,” he said with a grin.

  We were handed a plate of hot meat dripping with grease and, gods, it tasted so good. The elf food seemed like cardboard in comparison to the first bite into that succulent sausage. I ate like I hadn’t eaten in weeks, and the plate was clear in under a minute.

  “Are you sure he’s not part bear?” the woman asked Griff.

  “He could be, he has the inner strength of a bear,” Griff said.

  Alasdair gave Griff side-eye, and the bear’s smile broadened into a delighted grin.

  “Another tear has formed in the veil thirty minutes’ drive from here,” a younger leaner man said.

  His hair was sticking up in dark brown tufts where he’d been running his fingers through it too much.

  Griff looked to us and I stepped forward. We were not going to stand by and let everyone else deal with it. Thirty minutes wasn’t a long drive.

  “Ali, get the camp packed up and meet us there.” He turned to the younger bear. “Summon the fighters; we’re going to the tear.”

  The woman jogged off into the camp, calling out commands for people to get packing.

  “Well, don’t just stand there, get in the vehicles!” Griff shouted at a pair of muscular women.

  We followed him as he ran between the tents and emerged next to a group of off-road vehicles. We piled into a large black car with big mud-terrain tyres. It looked like it could be used as a tank. Griff started the engine with a roar, and I quickly put my seatbelt on as he hit the gas and we shot off across the sand.

  The heat hit us when we went through the climate bubble or whatever they had called it. Thankfully, the AC kicked in soon after, and we were comfortable once more. The tyres were so loud on the road when we hit it that we could barely hear each other talking. Still, Griff pushed the vehicle harder, and before long we were back offroad. We flew over small sand dunes and slid around hardy slender-trunked trees before we finally arrived at the edge of a cluster of trees.

  The rift was a shimmer in the air. I could feel it, the threads of magic and how they should have sat together. A pair of sharp-edged black beasts fell out of the rift and landed on the hot sand. We jumped out of the car, and Griff threw up something that cooled the air and made it breathable. It was still unbearably hot, but better than it would have been.

  The black beast had long legs and seemed to be formed of sharp angles. Its long back featured a razor-sharp spine that went up its short angular neck into a small pointy head with even pointier teeth. I rolled my shoulders, drew my knife, and headed towards it. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew that it had weaknesses and could die.

  “Niko, your skills would be better put to use on the rift,” Alasdair said.

  Griff had launched himself at the closest black beast with a bone-shaking roar.

  I wanted to fight, but Alasdair was right. I gave a nod and tried to remember what the fuck I’d done to heal the last tear in a veil. Here was hoping that I could heal more than just the veil to the shadow plane.

  The others were all tackling the black beasts. I could smell the blood on the air and hear the painful cracks and crunches of broken bones. More of the beasts were coming through, and it was only us here. I needed to close that rift.

  Closing my eyes, I reached out with my mind and hoped that it all came back to me or some instinct kicked in. I could feel the threads there, tangible in a weird way. I felt the magic running through the physical threads beneath my fingertips. It took everything I had, but I began pulling the threads back together in what felt like the right pattern. It was a complicated tapestry and a set of knots.

  The magic tugged at my bones and left my throat dry. Consciousness was becoming further away, but I was so close. My body was growing heavy; the darkness was closing in around my vision. I tied the last thread off and opened my eyes to see the rift was closed. I’d done it.

  My body crumpled, and consciousness fled. I really needed to figure out how to heal rifts without passing out.

  17

  I woke up in Alasdair’s arms.

  “You had us worried,” he said, gently stroking my hair.

  I groaned, and Alasdair helped me sit up.

  “Did I do it?”

  “Yea, you did.”

  “The problem is, everyone saw you do it,” Gray said.

  I groaned again. Goodbye, sweet anonymity.

  “How bad it is?”

  “The bears think you’re a goddamn hero. Word spread, though, and the sidhe queen, the one with the Fear Dorcha, put a bounty on your head.”

  “Why? On what grounds?”

  “She’s claiming that no made should be able to wield magic, let alone such rare and powerful magic. She says you should be destroyed as you’re clearly god-touched.”

  “What the fuck is god-touched?”

  It sounded horrifying.

  “A god-touched is someone who has a fragment of a god within them. They’re incredibly powerful and inevitably go insane and wreak havoc and destruction,” Alasdair said.

  “So all blood witches are god-touched?”

  “Yes.”

  Well, I’d learnt something.

  “You know I’m not god-touched, right?”

  Alasdair smiled. “Yes, Niko, we know. The bears will help keep you safe, but we need to keep our heads down. The bounty is verging on ridiculous, and everyone will be after you.”

  “So, what’s the plan now?”

  “Find glamours for all of us, and then find those necromancers. We need to stop those elves.”

  Griff came into the tent with a pitcher of crystal-clear water. I drank the entire pitcher and finally started to feel normal again.

  “You were out for most of the day. We’ve asked our local contacts, and we think we’ve found someone with reliable glamours. We’re staying hidden in the camp tonight
, and tomorrow we move on and get these glamours.” He looked to Alasdair. “When I told you to have an adventure, this wasn’t quite what I had in mind.”

  “You know I don’t do things by halves,” Alasdair said.

  Griff laughed and shook his head.

  “There’s good food waiting for you when you’re ready.”

  “Do you have any more magic hidden away?” Gray asked with a smile.

  “Gods, I hope not,” I said.

  They both laughed.

  This was what I got for being born to a power-hungry super-witch: magic and fae queens wanting me as their pet. I pushed myself up into a standing position and smiled. I wouldn’t trade any of it. Life would be so incredibly boring if I was a plain made. I’d be another bottom-tier enforcer given the shit jobs while my boss tried to make me leave. This way was a rollercoaster. I had no idea what was coming next, but I did know I had an incredible partner and friends at my back.

  “What are you grinning at?” Gray asked.

  “The prospect of good food, I expect,” Alasdair said before he kissed my temple.

  We went out into the camp and followed the scent of rich meat and spices. My stomach growled, and I realised I was absolutely ravenous. The bears had gathered around a cooking fire in the heart of the camp. Each of them was broad-shouldered with heavy muscle and black or brown hair. Laughter and happiness filled the space.

  “The hero has risen!” a guy in his thirties shouted.

  They all turned to face us and lifted their cups and glasses.

  “All hail the hero! The rift healer!”

  Alasdair held me close and beamed with pride. The bears were all grinning at us. Happiness shone through the very fibres of their beings.

  One of them thrust a large mug of something blue into my hand. Another handed me a huge plate overloaded with meats and dried fruits. We were ushered over to comfortable seats near the centre of the grouping of chairs.

  “You healed the rift and saved our brethren!” a younger woman said.

  “I, erm… you’re welcome?” I said.