Page 77 of The Rebel Seer

They seemed to be in a shared living space, though they were alone. There was a tiny kitchen, obviously meant to be used by the brownies. Sasha was forced to hunch over until he made it to what seemed to be a living room with ragged couches and chairs. He was pretty sure he would break them if he put his weight on one.

Fee remained in the kitchen area, pulling out a big kettle and filling it with water. “Ostara or her host?”

“You know them both?”

“Not as well as Ione.” She settled the kettle over the fire in the grate and moved to knock on a door across the room. “Ione, come out. Stop your crying. It’s time to go to work.” He heard sniffles from behind the door. “I brought someone you will want to meet.”

The door opened and Fee slid inside as though she had to coax whoever was behind there out.

“Sasha,” a familiar voice said.

He turned and Neil stood in a pair of pants that didn’t quite fit. The werewolf’s eyes were wide as he entered the room. “Can we talk now?”

There had been little time in the stables. The network wanted to move them quickly. He only had a few moments to update the king before they moved Daniel to Zoey’s room and Neil here. He’d been forced to wait because they couldn’t move them all at once.

How terrified must Neil be? “No. I chose to leave. The kids are in the temple. They’re safe there, and Lee is going to take them to his village in the morning. Cassie and Brendan are safe and uninjured.”

Neil took a deep breath and wiped at his eyes. “Goddess, I never… Being a parent is fucking terrifying. I’ve been sitting here cursing myself for leaving them.”

This was a subject he knew much about. He put a hand on Neil’s shoulder. “Sometimes you have to step back. Daniel and Zoey and Devinshea need you. Cassie and Brendan understand. You did your best, and they are safe.”

Neil slumped down on the couch. “From what the trolls told me, Daniel is with Zoey.”

“He’s extracting the queen?” They hadn’t been clear on the plan. “If this version of Devinshea…”

Neil held up a hand. “He’s going to make sure she’s okay and talk to her. If I still know him, he’ll be with her most of the night. He’s going to ask her to deal with the king while we decide how to get Dev out. If what I’ve learned from the servants down here is correct, I think there’s some more work we’re going to have to do. Myrddin is up to something and has been for a while now. There was a reason we had the nice lull in him trying to murder us a couple of months back.”

“He was here setting up whatever his plans are, and they have something to do with the mountains to the north. The ones that disturb Shy.” Neil hadn’t been in the room when the wizard confronted Shy. “He’s afraid of her. I can’t figure out why.”

A brow rose over Neil’s icy blue eyes. “Because that girl is hiding a mega shit ton of power. She’s far more than a medium, but until now she’s refused to even contemplate exploring her powers. I knew her parents, you know. Her mother was a famous medium who worked with the Council all the time. Visola Davis. Such an amazing woman. And she was worried about her daughter.”

“I thought they didn’t come into Dallas often.”

“They didn’t. They lived on a hundred acres outside of town. They were kind of a commune for psychics. When they had trouble, one of the wolves would go to their place and check it out. We did regular security sweeps. I didn’t interact much with Shy, but I remember her being sweet and quiet.”

“What was her mother worried about?”

“They came across a wounded deer. They had a lot of trouble with hunters in that part of the woods. Let me tell you, an encounter with a werewolf will fix that right up,” Neil replied with obvious satisfaction. “Anyway, Visola wanted to go and get Shy’s dad, but Shy walked up to the deer and leaned down, like she was listening. The deer had a couple of bullets in her hindquarter, and she’d broken her leg trying to get away. Shy talked to it like she talks to the dead now, even though the deer was alive. And after a moment she nodded her head and put a hand on the deer’s heart and she took her last breath. Shy told her mother the deer wanted to move on, so she’d turned the wheel.”

Sasha felt a cold prickle go up his spine. “Myrddin thinks she’s a death goddess? How could a death goddess even be born human? To humans?”

Neil shrugged. “Who knows. All I do know is that I’ve seen things I can’t explain. But isn’t that what magic is? Magic is simply something science hasn’t explained yet. We exist. We are real. So is she, and that means she has a purpose, and I worry that’s why we’re here. Why my best friend in the world is going to have to go through this shit again. I would do almost anything to spare her.”

Anything but sacrifice his children. Sasha knew the queen’s heart. “It is a sacrifice she will make a thousand times, and she is more than capable of handling both the king and Myrddin.”

The door came open and Fee walked out, holding the hand of a small troll who had obviously been crying. Bibi walked out behind her, comforting the troll.

Fee presented her friend. “Sasha, this is Ione. She has taken care of Meadow since she was a baby. She is distraught at what has happened to her mistress.”

Bibi’s eyes lit as she saw Sasha standing there. She leaned in and whispered to the crying troll, who rushed to him, tilting her head up and giving him big, wide, pleading eyes.

“Sir, please save my mistress. You do not know it, but…” the troll began.

Oh, he knew. He knelt down so he was closer to eye level. “She is my wife in her past life. She is my wife in all of our lives.”

Neil sat up. “What? You found Marta? And she’s an ascended goddess of spring? Dude, there’s some freaky sex in your future. I mean if she survives and stuff.”

Sometimes Neil was serious and sometimes he was Neil. “I intend to ensure she survives, but I need to get a lay of the land. I have never been to this palace before. I need to know if I can get to the dungeons undetected.”

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