Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 47894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
As soon as I was on my knees, I heard the shotgun, and quickly shoved my hands into the earth and closed my eyes. The cacophony of voices in my head, screaming and shrieking over one another, was heartbreaking. Under the quiet snow, Corvus was vibrating with anger and confusion and betrayal, not understanding what had been done or why. The calls were a constant jumble of pleading and hatred, hope and fear.
I reached deeper, calling to the wards, calling on the blood of every guardian who had sacrificed to keep the land safe, and then reminded Corvus of their spouses and children, of generations living on the land, raising families, and the joy and love and grace that had been bestowed.
I filled my mind with fireflies and fairies, long walks in the woods talking to the trees, gathering flowers for my wedding, of vegetables grown in the garden, of the passing centuries and people laid to rest in the earth. I thought about my grandparents lying in the meadow together, counting stars in the fall, and later, of my grandfather taking walks in the misty mornings talking to Corvus, and me, about her. My sigh was long, because my happiest memories were here, in this place, on the land I loved.
I thought of my best friend’s kids growing up here, running in the tall grass, listening to the wind, their laughter and love, of all of life’s small moments, of contentment and ease, and the ebb and flow of time. And finally, of Lorne, holding my hand as we walked together through the trees in silent communion with the forest.
When I was done, I listened, hard, and when there was only deafening silence, I despaired, but then Lorne crouched down beside me. We were facing opposite directions—he clearly didn’t want anything running up on us—but our shoulders touched, and that comforted me.
Turning my head, I saw concern on him, as well as resignation. “Are they dead?”
“No,” he husked. “But they have to heal before they get up, and that’s made the others wary of getting too close to me.”
“Where is she?”
“Giles arrived, and she went to join him.”
“Great,” I whispered.
“It’s gonna be all right,” he promised me.
I leaned my head on his shoulder, felt the love there, in him, and so let it flow through me, down deep into the earth.
“Corvus is no more,” Giles called out to me as he and Ilara landed about thirty feet away from us. I had no idea he could levitate, but it didn’t surprise me. “And your precious family will now scatter to the wind.”
Lorne would not take his eyes off the wolves. It was understood he would deal with them and I would handle Giles. I hoped I was up to the task.
Lifting my head, I looked more closely at him, and was surprised at how much older he appeared, even from earlier in the morning.
“You need to jump to another realm before you die,” I warned him. “Your companion kept the truth from you, but you’re aging. Fast. By destroying Corvus, you broke the only thing that could sustain you here.”
He laughed. “I always planned to destroy Corvus. I just needed to wait until the guardian was weakest.”
I didn’t take the bait. “Do you not care that Ilara put a spell on the mirrors?” I asked to give myself more time with my land.
“She thought I would actually teach her to be any kind of a hedge-rider,” he said, laughing, mocking Ilara as he walked away from her. “As if it were possible to impart anything to an enchantress from such a primitive realm.”
Ilara gasped. “You lied to me!”
“Of course I lied to you. It was easy. You’re so consumed with rage and revenge that you couldn’t even see that I needed you, your energy, your power, to fuel my flight from your home. That wraith would not stop, and there was only one place I knew that could absorb that much evil and do no damage.”
“You expected Corvus to kill the wraith.”
“Of course,” he said, moving closer. “Your daemon was a lovely surprise.”
“You remember?” I was astonished.
He smirked at me.
“Oh, I see. This is the night in front of the fireplace all over again. You really do play dead well.”
“Whether it be body or mind,” he said and turned to Ilara, holding his hand open, and then made a fist.
Instantly, she was clawing at an invisible hand around her throat.
“Why kill her?” I asked, hoping to buy her some time. “Instead why not return her to her primitive realm?”
“Because she lied to me,” he said, and her eyes started to bleed.
“The wolves are gone,” Lorne said under his breath.
“Please don’t kill her,” I implored him.
“Whyever not?”
I had to think. “You lied to her first, Giles. You promised you would instruct her, but you just said you had already decided not to teach her about any part of being a hedge-rider.”