Page 102 of The Rebel Seer

Huh. Now he knew where Daniel had gotten it. Or rather Myrddin, since he’d been the one to give it to the king. When Daniel had gone missing, Albert had brought the cloak with the kids, and it had proven invaluable over the years. “I don’t see what this has to do with Shy.”

“You will. Patience, my love. He still has the torc. He wears it while in Annwn. But the cauldron was the most important object in all of the Fae world at the time. Though you should understand he ruled over humans, too. It was only when they pushed aside the old ways that the gods left the plane.”

“I don’t know much about Welsh folklore. What did the cauldron do?” Sasha asked.

“What didn’t it do? It could feed armies. It could bring the dead back to life. What it mostly did was keep the wheel turning. It was life and death and regeneration. The cauldron could kill or give life or stop life altogether.”

“Yes, I can see where that would be very dangerous.”

“So dangerous if it found its way into the wrong hands,” Meadow agreed. “So Arawn was forced to hide it. He couldn’t destroy it entirely, but he could use his magic to get it down to the tiniest piece of the original cauldron. A bit of light and magic and he stood on Snowdonia and flung it out across land and sea and air. He made sure it was so far away no one in its new land would recognize it.”

A chill prickled along his spine. “Magic like that, it grows. It changes if allowed to.”

She nodded solemnly. “Yes, and in this case, it likely morphed into something like the building blocks of a human, waiting for the right ingredients to become magical again.”

His stomach threatened to turn. “You are telling me Shy has the power of the Cauldron of Regeneration in her genes?”

“No. I am telling you that Shy is the cauldron reborn, and I worry Myrddin will use her if he can. Ossie believes the wizard is planning to use the souls he’s trapped in the mountain to some terrible purpose. If he filters them through the right spell, he could gain incredible energy.”

“Enough to, say, close the gates between planes?”

She nodded.

Sasha stood. The reunion would have to wait. “We need to stop them from leaving. They could be walking into a trap.”

He raced to get dressed and hoped they would make it in time.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Shy

I don’t like tunnels. I’m really more of a walk out in the sunshine or the moonlight girl. Either is acceptable. But the tunnels Lee is leading us through makes me think of being buried alive, and I have to force myself to breathe.

It doesn’t help that I can hear her behind me. I hear the water rushing, a river of misery I can’t run from.

How did she find me here? I’ve never known a spirit to be able to move the way she does. She follows me from place to place when every other damn spirit I’ve seen is tied to where they died.

I have to accept the fact that this spirit isn’t haunting a place or a time. She is haunting me.

“You okay, baby?” Rhys is right behind me, his hand on the small of my back most of the time, reminding me I’m not alone. Reminding me that by all Fae rights, I have a husband.

I turn slightly so he can see my face in the torchlight and give him a tight nod. At the end of our line, behind Cassie I can see the Drowning Woman. She stays back but she is here, still following me everywhere I go. “I’m fine.”

His brow rises and his arm curls around my waist as he pulls me back against him and whispers in my ear. “Liar. But understand, I will take care of you. I will find a way to break this curse.”

I’m not sure I would call it a curse. The Drowning Woman is attracted to my power. I need to stop thinking of her as a burden and start thinking of her as a…client. I need to start viewing her through an adult lens and put aside the fear from my childhood. Everyone in my life right now has told me I need to view myself and my power differently, and I saw it last night. My power doesn’t hold Rhys back. My power attracts him as his does mine. Life and death. Spring and autumn. We need each other, and it’s a beautiful thing. “I need to find a way to help her move on.”

“There’s my wife,” he says, and I hear the pride in his voice. “She cannot hurt you. I would never allow it. I know I don’t have your power, but I would find a way.”

I believe him. I tilt my head up and he kisses me. My body immediately responds, the bonds of the night before hugging me close.

“Do you have to be so, like, emotional and stuff?” Lee says with a shudder. “It’s bringing the mood down, brother.”

“See, I know he means that brother as a friendly term, but I know what my brother would say,” Rhys grouses.

It makes me smile. He and Fae Lee have bickered like he and Vampire Lee do all the time. Since they were children. “The very same thing. Lee struggles to understand complex emotions.”

“I do not,” Lee argues. “I understand all the emotions. I just think they’re unseemly. Anger and humor are really all I need to get by. And horniness.”

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