Page 116 of The Rebel Seer

His name.

Call his name when you need him. He will always come for you.

When you need him, call his name. He always meant to find you again.

I wondered whose name, but I know it deep inside now.

I feel the moment Devinshea Quinn dies. I can see Bris’s soul, see how anguished he is as the priest’s body fails him. His head slumps over and his spirit walks my way, his hand to his heart.

“Goddess, you are beautiful, Shahidi. This…you glow like the warmest hearth, like the promise of comfort in winter.” He stands in front of me even as his wife goes to her knees.

“Do you feel the pull?” I have to know if it’s more pronounced here.

“Who are you talking to?” Myrddin asks. “He should be in the mountain by now.”

“Tell him I’m gone. Tell him I couldn’t resist. But there is no pull. Not for me. Oh, it hums and beckons, but I know where the light is. It is inside you,” Dev says, the saddest look in his eyes. He’s whole now. The most beautiful spirit I have seen. As though death cannot change the attraction of a Green Man. He glances up at the canvas roof. “My son is here. He’s come for you, but you know what to do next. May I accompany you on this journey?”

“Shy, tell him I love him.” The queen barely manages to talk through her tears.

I have to be cruel to be kind. I cannot let Myrddin know they are both still here, Devinshea and Bris. “He’s gone, Your Grace. He’s with the sluagh now.” I nod briefly Dev’s way to let him know he is welcome before turning to Myrddin. “Bris is merely waiting. He has to make the choice, right?”

“I cannot trick a god, but I can force him,” Myrddin admits. “It’s time, Bris. Do my will or I will kill your goddess.”

Zoey screams, and I see Bris as he was in life. A giant of a man, muscular and broad. He wears a wreath of vines around his red hair. He has a straight jaw and lips meant for smiling and kissing. He reaches out to Zoey but cannot touch her.

I wish she could see him in all his glory.

“I’m sorry,” Bris tells me with a sorrow that is palpable. “I made a deal to spare her, but I fear nothing will if the wizard gets his way. My energy will allow him to close the door, and I can only stay for so long before he will know I am not complying. Call his name, Shy. It’s the only hope we have. I must fulfill my end of the bargain or the Wild Hunt will come for my family. I have to do this, but I believe you can offer us another way. If you break Myrddin’s spell before the last soul enters, we might be saved. If you break it before the door is closed, I might be able to lead them out again. Do you understand?”

I nod because I know what I have to do now. I know how to find my power.

“Whoa,” Dev says, staring at Bris with a smile of approval. “Dude, you are very attractive. And very Irish.”

Bris bows. “Devinshea, it was my honor.”

Dev’s spirit bows as well. “And mine, brother. Thank you for everything. See you on the other side.”

“We will abide in the Summerlands,” Bris promises. “And make a home there for our family. When you get the chance, tell the queen her daughter lives. I can feel it now that I am in this form fully again. Her daughter lives, and so do they all. Evangeline is safe.”

And then Bris is gone, and I hear a booming from the mountain as Bris joins the others, feel Myrddin’s satisfaction.

“It begins,” he says with a nasty smile.

He says begins, but what he’s really talking about is the end. The end to hope. The end to real life. Definitely the end to death because how will anyone move on if they are cut off from the light?

I know why Hell is backing Myrddin Emrys. They will be the only choice for in between spirits. Hell will fill with souls. Damned. Not damned. It won’t matter when they’re the only game in town.

“Guards, kill the seer,” Myrddin orders. “She better be a corpse when I return. I must do what I need to fully open the mountain and send all those souls to their new home.”

He rushes out of the tent like he has a job to do.

“Dev, if you’re coming, the time is now,” I whisper.

He slips into my soul space.

And I am ready.

“Arawn,” I say. “Come for me.”

---