Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
The book pulsed, and the glow became a warm amber color that encased Gray fully.
I worried that he would freak out, but he simply took a long breath and his whole body seemed to relax.
“Are you okay, babe?”
“She’s simply sharing her knowledge with me.” Gray’s eyes remained closed. “There is no reason to worry. We have the same goals. She recognizes me as kin, and while she wishes the inner planes had more female prophets, she won’t keep us in ignorance. She likes the idea that the women of this plane are warriors in their own right, that they have the ability to choose magic or to find their own strengths. What we do here will affect all the planes, and her brethren’s fear might lead all to ruin. So she will do what she needs to, including leave them behind for a little while.”
There was a warmth to the glow that I could feel even from where I was standing. This was a friendly experience for my demon husband.
And hopefully an informative one for me. “She knows Dean Malone. You know Lee Donovan-Quinn. Can she confirm they’re the two in the prophecy?”
It was a long shot, but a girl had to try.
“What she knows is irrelevant,” Gray said from his bubble of golden light. “What you believe is more important.”
“Why?” Fenrir asked the question from his safe distance. “I would think properly interpreting the prophecy is the important thing.”
“Yeah. What if we get it wrong?” Evan agreed.
But he couldn’t simply tell me if something was right or wrong. I was sure his rules didn’t get put aside even if The Path was speaking through him.
He’d gotten better about finding ways around his rules.
“What I believe is important.” I needed to make sure it wasn’t some off-the-cuff remark.
His head turned, and his eyes held the amber glow of the book. “One crown. One wand. One light. Seek her in the light. She left a map behind, the true gem saved by another mother’s love. Only a combination of three can save three. The darkness, the earth, the light together or all will end. The spawn doesn’t understand what he is trying to do. He doesn’t understand what his will may bring to all the planes.”
“Her.” I was caught on that word. “Is the weapon a person?”
The amber light faded, and Gray stood before me once more. “You know I can’t answer that, but you should follow your instincts. Find the map. Like all good maps, there’s a clear marker to guide you to the treasure.”
“Okay, so is the map actually a map?” I knew all the tricks by now.
Gray’s deep prophet eyes made an appearance again, and he stayed connected to the book. “The Path cannot see on the inner planes, but together we can give you warning. A hidden place. A sacred space. Familiar and yet changed forever. All will feel lost, but there are other ways to follow her. The weapon was hidden out of love, taken from this plane through one door, but you can find another. The planes are connected in more ways than you can imagine. She is a door. She does not know it, believes her only power is chaos and death, but it is transformation, it is a bridge to new life. She can take you there, but only if she can find her faith. Faith in spring. Faith in herself.”
Fucking seasons. I’d just dealt with summer. Now he was talking about spring?
The power seemed sucked out of the room, and Gray was back to normal. He smiled down at The Path. “Thank you. You can trust my wife. She will not let you down, but she might curse you a bit.” He chuckled.
“What?” Sometimes you can tell when the joke is about you.
He took his hand off the book and turned my way. “She says you can curse her all you like. You have no real magic. That’s why you need your sword.”
Yeah. Gladys was good at defending me, though I tended to need some of the queen’s blood to prime her. Of course I would need to steal her back from fucking Myrddin first, but I’d heard the queen had plans to do exactly that.
Was that what this weapon would need? The blood of a companion?
“Kelsey mine, do you remember what I told you in the woods?” Gray moved closer to me, his hands going to my shoulders. “When we were in Wyoming, back when we first met Fenrir?”
He’d told me a lot of things, but I thought I knew what he was talking about. He was getting around his rules. “Something about Fenrir helping the two if he was raised with her love.”
I thought he’d been talking about my love at the time. Now I knew it was Evan’s that truly could make or break Fen.