Page 88 of The Rebel Seer

Ostara’s green eyes turned to Sasha even as he was frantically trying to find the seam in the wall that would allow him entrance. It had to be there. The king would want to enter from time to time and play with his prey.

“She would not take a husband,” Ostara said to Devinshea even as her eyes seemed to find Sasha. “She would not take a lover. She felt so deeply inside that she was missing something. Someone. She can’t remember, but the knowledge is in her soul. It is how I know. I can read her history, see her past lives. It is always you.”

“There’s a slight breeze here, and I can smell the other room.” Neil was calm and collected. He ran his hand over the wall and Sasha heard a click.

The door opened slightly and Neil pushed through, rushing to Dev while Sasha followed.

He stood in front of Ostara, the moment so surreal it almost felt impossible. She was beautiful, but then she always was. She was the most beautiful woman in the world to him.

“I selected her because her soul meshed with mine,” Ostara explained. “I did not know it at the time, but the universe brought us together for a reason. Because I long for the kind of love you have between the two of you, but I have never found it. I love her. Through her I know I can love you, and I can give her what no one else can.”

“Forever,” Sasha whispered. “You can give us forever.”

Ostara looked to him. “You already have forever. It’s just interrupted over and over. What I can offer is a long time together in these forms. Time to rest and love and learn each other so well you can never truly be separated again. But I understand the jealous nature of the vampire.”

Sasha felt a wave of wonder suffuse him. He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Perhaps if you were another male I would struggle a bit, but I assure you my jealous nature will be tossed aside if I have to choose between it and her safety and happiness. As it happens, I don’t feel anything but the deepest gratitude for the goddess who is willing to bless us with her strength and wisdom. Ostara, I honor you, and I would bet a lot that I will come to love you since I happen to know how this works. You chose her because your soul recognized hers. You are close in values and how you love and live.”

Ostara nodded, a lovely smile coming to her face. “We are. I think she is a part of me I’ve been seeking.”

“Sasha, you have to convince this idiot to let me get him out of here,” Neil was saying. He stood by Devinshea, frowning at the high priest. “He does not need to stay in chains all night. We can get him, get Z and the kids, and get out of here. Danny’s with Z right now. I’m not sure what rooms they’re in, but we can take the servant halls and I can track them.”

There was only one problem with the scenario. Myrddin had trapped them all since no one was going to leave without Devinshea. “He promised.”

Ostara turned to the werewolf as well. “The priest made a bargain in the old ways. He cannot leave or he risks bringing the Wild Hunt down on his head and that of his family. In the past, the hunt has sometimes taken all the family line. Perhaps Herne will be kinder to a fellow ascended one, but perhaps not. He cannot take the chance. The wizard knew this could happen.”

Devinshea looked to Sasha. “He did, but he didn’t make her promise the same. Get her out of here, Sasha. Take her back to her own plane and live the life you were meant to.”

“I can’t…” The idea of leaving the royals…of leaving Rhys and Shy and Cassie and Brendan floored him. He raised Rhys.

“Of course you cannot.” Ostara stood at his side, her color so much better than before. She seemed stronger, a faint glow starting to come from her skin. “You must help your friends, but we should get Meadow out of this dungeon. The king has a reason to be patient with Devinshea and Bris. He will spend his anger on Meadow and me. Though this energy is doing me a world of good, I have been weak for a long time.”

“Get her out of here. I can handle it,” Dev said.

“Or we could get you both out of here,” Neil argued.

“And then we all get ripped apart by the Wild Hunt.” Dev shuddered. “Neil, I understand and appreciate you wanting to save me, but there’s more going on here, and we have a better shot at getting home to our timeline if we figure out exactly what Myrddin is planning. Whatever it is, it will affect us and the people we love. He has no care for this timeline. He is only in this version of my home because it gives him some kind of edge.”

Though it knotted his gut, Sasha had to agree. “This has to do with Shahidi. You did not see the way he reacted to her. He was frightened that she was here.”

Dev’s eyes were bright green, his gaze steady. “Myrddin believes he tricked us into coming here, but I know better. The universe placed us here. The goddess wanted us here so we can do what we do best.”

Neil’s lips curled up in a begrudging smile. “Fuck up all the bad guy plans and save the world?”

Dev winked. “Exactly. Sasha, you are our planner. If this were your chess game, what pieces would you move right now?”

It was hard to take his eyes off Ostara, who now stood beside him, hard not to take her hand and pull her against his body, but he was dealing with the goddess and not the woman right now. The goddess who knew him, who understood who he was. Meadow was a different story. Would she remember? Would this magic that Rhys and Shy were making change things for her? Open her mind to their shared history?

He had to focus on the now. They had chaos because of that magic, and chaos was cover, but it would only last so long. “If I am the cold, hard general or the soulless spymaster, I would ask for you and Zoey to sacrifice for the greater good of the mission. We need to figure out what Myrddin wants from the king and how to shut it down. We cannot do that if we are on the run. Queen Zoey is smart and resourceful. She will figure out how to handle this worse version of you. Daniel can listen from the shadows. You…well, sadly there are things to be learned in your position, Your Grace, though it will not be pleasant. Neil and Daniel can work with the serving class to fuck everything up and cause chaos while Rhys and Shy figure out why the mountains call to her. And I can get Ostara to a safe place and return to lend my aid in any way I can.”

“The safest place for me is with the servants,” Ostara said. “This palace is massive, and there are rooms no one but the house servants know exist. This magic I feel is going to destroy the spells the magician and king put on the serving class no matter the wards, and if they’re smart, they won’t allow them to know. I get the feeling they have waited a long while to be able to rise against their tyrant king. I thought I could help to sway Devinshea away from his brutality, but I was also prepared to fight him once I regained my strength.”

“He was never going to give it to you,” Dev said.

Ostara’s head bent slightly, a show of respect from a goddess. “I know that now. But you would. There once was goodness in the man, and there could be again. Remember that. I will go with Meadow’s mate. I will heal and be ready to aid you in any way possible. If there is no ready way to get back to your timeline, I will consult with the scholars on my plane. They know much of the mystic ways. You came in with some interesting crystals. Dolerite. We have long believed it aids travel in ways that do not involve distance.”

So they might not be stuck. There was so damn much to do and so little time to do it. He held out a hand to her.

She smiled and took it.

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