Page 69 of The Rebel Seer

“And we will aid you in any way we can,” Rhys says solemnly. “But first we need to regroup. My goddess needs rest, and we need to figure out how to get my parents back. Bris will keep my father alive for as long as he can. He is very strong. My dad will be working from wherever he is. Uncle Neil will find him. I am worried about Mother.”

“And Ostara.” For the first time since we came into the temple, Sasha speaks. He looks grim standing in the firelight. Like it cost him to leave the palace. “I must go to the dungeons and free her. I’ve told you about my wife.”

“I might have a way to get you out,” Lee explains. “I’ll try to make the arrangements.”

I remember how the goddess found the strength to point Sasha’s way and call him by another name. “Who is Oleg Federov?”

“That was his name when he was alive,” Rhys explains. “Before he became Sasha. He had a wife and a child.”

“Natasha.” I know that part. We keep up with her for him. We follow her socials and have some people in Dallas who watch in case she ever needs her father.

“I suppose I stopped talking so much by the time you came around,” Sasha admits. “I was a spy for my government. My government became corrupt, and I objected. I knew they might kill me, but what they did was worse. They sold me to a woman who was experimenting with drugs that took a person’s memories. She was trying to create small armies of men who had no loyalty to anyone but her. The drugs took my life but not my skills.”

“He could fight, remember how to shoot and do everyday things, but he couldn’t remember who he was,” Rhys says softly, and I wonder how many times they sat together and talked. Of all the kids, Sasha seems closest to Rhys.

Likely because Rhys was forced to mature so quickly. Because despite the fact that his powers were desired by many, they were also troublesome when he couldn’t control them. Sasha wasn’t affected by his fertility powers so he could stay close.

“I’m so sorry. How does Ostara know your name?” I realize we misunderstood her. “She asked about the vampire. We thought she was talking about Daniel. She was talking about you. She said she could feel something stirring in her host’s soul. Or something like that. Meadow has bad dreams about what happen in her prior life.”

Tears pool in the vampire’s eyes. I have never once seen this male cry. “Because she was murdered by the same people who sold me. I did not remember her for many years, though she was always in my soul. My wife. My love. I am not proud of who I became when she was no longer a strong voice in my head. When I did not remember her, I was not good. I wasn’t as terrible as your father, Lee, but I was selfish and mean at times. And then I remembered. Sometimes it would happen. A flash like someone briefly turned on a light. I would see a baby in my hands and feel…worthy and good. Like I was where I was supposed to be when I held this girl in my hands. I knew I loved her mother with all my heart. That feeling is why I jumped in front of a bullet to save my brother. It was the first time after I lost my memories that I heard her. I heard something telling me she would find me again.”

“Then you were a vampire.” Rhys takes over when Sasha seems too overwhelmed. “And you had us. You were patient. You knew she was out there, and these last few years you felt her across time. Across the planes of existence. Across multiple timelines. Sasha, this is why we’re here.”

Sasha straightens up. “It is one of the reasons. Shy is the main one. This time needs her. Our time needs her.” He turns my way. “You must see that you are important and not in a you-will-strengthen-Rhys way. Myrddin is playing with death magic to strengthen himself. You stole from him. One soul. What if you could steal them all? What if you could set them free and he could not use them again?”

“Use them again?” I ask.

“He eats them.” Lee settles back on the bench beside Cassie. Brendan is prowling, sniffing and taking stock of the temple. “He uses them for sure, but then they’re gone.”

“This is not what the world teaches us.” Sasha’s arms cross over his big chest. “And finding my wife again proves this to me. Nothing is wasted. It is merely transformed. Myrddin is obsessed with Gladys. The Sword of Light. It is the traditional weapon of what we call the Nex Apparatus, but it was given many millennia ago to a group of warrior women called the Amazons. I won’t launch into a history of how my people ended up subjugating the warrior women…”

“Patriarchy,” Cassie says under a cough.

She’s not wrong.

“But the sword absorbs the powers of anyone it cuts. What if that is what Myrddin is trying to achieve? Or a variation of it. What if he thinks he can take those souls and use them when the time is right? When he has enough power?” Sasha posits.

“He can’t absorb powers. If he could, he would go around murdering any creature with supernatural powers and take them as his own,” I reply. “The Sword of Light is unique. It doesn’t have to kill to give Kelsey access to power. If Myrddin could do that, he would have shown us before now.”

“But he studied the sword for years while Kelsey was trapped.” Rhys seems to pick up on Sasha’s thoughts. “He wouldn’t be able to do exactly what the sword does, but he knows the sword can lock the door between the planes. It stores energy and that energy is what he needs. What if he’s storing souls?”

“I’m sorry, what? That wizard who has been fucking with my home wants to close the doors to the planes? That’s what my father is helping him with?” Lee is on his feet again. “Just when I’m certain he’s at his lowest, he reaches for the stars. Well, I know what Myrddin wants with my father. He’s been learning how to gain power through taking in souls. He can’t keep them in his body, so he has certain crystals that absorb the soul and lock it into place. From there I have heard he has spells to ingest the soul, to destroy it and use the energy for himself.”

“I am almost certain Myrddin is lying to your father. From what I know, no one can trap a soul. You can trick one, but you can’t trap it,” I explain. “And yet it seems to be what he’s doing. It goes against everything I’ve been taught. I only know that Myrddin needs an enormous amount of energy to close the gates.”

“So Myrddin thinks he can close the gate a different way?” Cassie’s hands are in her lap, a worried look on her face. “If he thought he could seal the gate with celestial magic, could he think death magic will work just as well?”

I sigh as it hits me. “He figured out something, or at least he’s got a theory. A door swings both ways. What if he thinks he can only use the sword to seal the door from the celestial side given where it’s magic comes from?”

“I don’t think anyone gets to walk those particular planes. Not unless you’re invited,” Rhys says. “Which is why Mother is looking for the amulet. Shy, please don’t tell me you think he’s trying to close it from Hell’s side because death magic is not evil.”

I sigh but don’t argue with him because honestly, up until now, it’s exactly what I would have been thinking. My witchy sisters always say I need to do some shadow work. Well, I’m doing it in the field and in real time. “No, babe, he wouldn’t want that at all. That would close off Hell. The Earth plane is in the middle, and death magic is absolutely Earth magic. It is neither evil nor good. It simply is. It is required.”

“Tell me how what you just did wasn’t good,” Lee says, staring at me with somber eyes. “You saved my uncle.”

I’m not certain that was death magic. It felt so lovely, so simple and pure. It felt like home. “All I’m saying is what if death magic or something like it works to close the door from the Earth plane’s side. What if he realized closing it from the celestial side means he can’t control the lock?”

“He would need so many souls.” There’s no lack of horror in Cassie’s tone.

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