Page 67 of Shadow Master
Latrou’s mouth tightened. “In this world, we are called weavers, and the good news is you will not be suppressed entirely. You will share this body. One awake during the day and one during the night hours. I’m afraid that is the best we can do. The binding placed by your fomorian weaver is ancient and powerful. The only way to break it is to complete the quest and find the rest of this talisman.”
I looked down at his waist, to where the pouch had been that held the eye. “Where’s the eye?”
“At the camp,” he said. “In the tent you allocated me. Hidden.” His gaze flicked from me to Latrou and then back again as if he expected us to attack at any moment.
I couldn’t force Lugh to do this. I couldn’t make him agree to sleep half the day. I mean, I could get the guys to hold him down and ask the weavers to apply whatever weaver mojo they needed to, but … But it would be wrong.
I looked at Lugh, looked directly into his eyes. “Please. Please let me have him back, if only for a few hours a day.”
He looked momentarily torn, jaw ticking as he wrestled with the decision. I held my breath, waiting.
Finally, he exhaled and closed his eyes. “Very well. I will allow this.”
Latrou nodded. “I’ll get to work. It won’t take long. Kash?”
“Madam?”
“Would you like to learn how it’s done?”
Kash’s brows shot up. “Really?”
She smiled. “Come.” She headed for the door with Kash in tow. “We’ll be back within the hour.”
Kash dropped a kiss on my brow on his way out.
And then they were gone, leaving me alone with the fomorian king.
* * *
Ten slow minutesticked by in which Lugh and I watched each other warily. Neither of us spoke; I mean, what did you converse about with an ancient fomorian king who’d been dead and then resurrected in your mate’s body?
Small-talk topics were limited, but if we were going to be stuck here for the better part of an hour, then we needed to talk about something.
I shucked off my breastplate and leaned it against the wall before walking over to the podium and pulling myself up to sit on the edge.
“What’s it like on the other side?” It was the first thing that popped into my head.
Lugh looked surprised. “You want to know what death is like?”
“No, I want to know what comes after.”
He frowned. “I wish I could remember.”
“You don’t remember, yet you want to go back?”
“I don’t remember the details, but I remember the feeling. It was bliss. I remember that.” He placed a hand on his breastplate by his heart. “I miss it.”
“I’m sorry.”
We fell into silence again.
Long seconds ticked by, and then Lugh spoke. “We should have wiped the fir bolg out when they first came to our shores seeking refuge. If we’d acted, then you would not be in this predicament now.”
“Why do they want the mortal realm so badly?”
Lugh walked over to me and leaned against the podium beside me. “Because the mortal realm was once their home. They began their journey here. This soil is their motherland.”
“They were mortal once?”
