Page 122 of Heartsong
“A royal fae like Titania can command vast power, enough to break free of the Underhill for a brief period during those rare times when the realms draw closer.”
“Beltane,” said Frey, the pieces beginning to come together.
Gavren nodded. “She was wrong, however. Magick isn’t inert, it’s always adapting. It’d been imbued so long, it wasn’t fae anymore. It was of Albion, and therefore couldn’t be reclaimed rightfully. So she stole it with a curse.”
“Curses have rules, though. One of which being that the cursed must hear it. Not being at the Gorsedd that night, I wasn’t affected,” said Carys.
“If the fae are trapped in the Underhill, how did you two meet, then? And why aren’t there Fomorians still on Earth?” asked Anna. Her brows were drawn low in a confused frown, and Frey rubbed the pad of one finger across the line between them, making her release the tension. No need to incur another headache.
“The Fomorians gorged on the magick of Faerie for a long while. They became slow, complacent. When humans sailed for the Green Isles, they were able to overpower the Fomorians by sheer numbers. Humans don’t have magick, so there was nothing for the Fomorians to sustain themselves. Those that weren’t slaughtered were driven back into their water realm, and the rip they’d made between the realms was sealed.”
“How?”
“With magick and great stones, placed in a circle to secure the passage. I believe you call the place Stone Henge now.”
“Holy fuck,” Anna wheezed.
“As to how we met,” continued Gavren, nonplussed, “it was by accident.”
Carys returned his warm smile, and their hands found each other to hold. “There are weak points in the Underhill, where the fae inside can see out to other realms. I found Gavren looking up from the bottom of a well one day, and we got to talking. He found me after the attack at the Gorsedd and again when I camped at Llyn Tegid that summer.”
“So you two met right around when the guardians were cursed? Wasn’t that in, like, the sixth century? That would make you guys…”
“Ancient,” Carys agreed. “We’ve lived many centuries now.”
Anna cursed in wonder again under her breath, echoing Frey’s own astonishment.
Gavren slipped his arm around his mate’s shoulders, careful of her wings. “My people are long-lived, yes. We also have a mate fated for us, acariad,chosen by the goddesses. I suspect it is a trait passed to the guardians as a residual in the magick used to give them life. Because she is mycariad,Carys was able to free me of the Underhill and tie her life to mine. She acts as an anchor to my magick, untethering it from the Underhill. I have a theory that this will be the key to breaking the curse.”
“What do you mean?” asked Anna.
“The magick that gives the guardians life is trapped within the Underhill. If acariad,a heartsong, is found to act as an anchor, I have hope that this will break the curse, at least for that individual.”
“You both seem to be proof of it,” chimed Carys, gracing them with another wide smile.
Anna shifted in his lap. “But it’s not fully broken. The curse. He turns to stone during the day.”
Carys’s eyes went wide in surprise, and Gavren’s frown deepened. “That’s unfortunate. So all this time, you’ve returned to stone in the daylight?” he asked.
“Yes. Though as I’ve spent more time with Anna, I’ve woken earlier each night. It’s only by a few minutes, but it may be slowly releasing me.”
Carys and Gavren shared a look, a wealth of feeling passing between them. Frey didn’t know if the fae were able to communicate in their mates’ minds or if the two of them had been together so long that they could read even the smallest expressions in the other’s face, but a whole conversation was had in the span of a few seconds.
“It could be that the curse didn’t completely break because the anchor isn’t fully in place. I have a theory, but I would hear how this all came about.”
Taking the last sip of her tea, Anna explained about the night of the heist, how touching Frey had brought him to life. She described their first flight, as well as seeing him turn to stone the next morning. Frey didn’t enjoy it but told of how it felt to fall back into the stone sleep with each day, and both Carys and Gavren’s faces filled with sympathy.
Anna then told them of how Glendower had come into the museum often, asking strange questions. Frowns adorned Carys and her fae heartsong as they listened to the troubles and surveillance that had followed Anna over the past weeks.
“I thought it was all the cops,” Anna said, “I thought you guys suspected I was in on the heist.”
Carys’s face fell. “We never thought that. We were horrified that it even happened in the first place. We underestimated Glendower—but we’ve never encountered another like him. The druids were destroyed.”
“I’m sorry about the listening device, for accusing you.” Anna blew out a breath. “I can’t believe that was just this afternoon.”
“I’m glad you found it and are safe now. Everything the man did disgusts me.” She grew even pinker in her vehemence. “I followed you from the museum and saw when they grabbed you. I was horrified!”
“We’ve been looking into Glendower’s past but haven’t discovered much. He’s independently wealthy and tenured at Stanford. He owns several properties in the state and in Wales. What his plans are, though, we have no idea. What he did today was a surprise.”
