Page 102 of Shifting Winds
A flash of emerald and gold magic revealed my father, bare chested and savage. As I watched him walk toward me, the wounds on his body, given to him by those warriors in the hall sealed. He crouched next to Cliona and touched my brow, closing his eyes. A tendril of his magic soared through my mind and swept through my body.
When he opened his eyes and I saw an endless well of grief, I knew it was too late for me.
“What will happen?” I croaked.
“Your body and essence will be absorbed into the tree,” Cernunnos said, his eyes a swirling vortex of power.
Mom shook her head. “No.”
Cernunnos lay a hand on her arm, but she jerked away. “No. Cernunnos. We did not work this hard for this to happen.”
I could feel my body slipping away cell by cell, but this moment…I’d waited my entire life for answers, and Mom had finally given me one.
“You worked together?” I whispered.
Mom bowed her head. “I would have done anything to keep you safe, even if it made you hate me.”
Her eyes, a carbon copy of mine, shimmered with tears. “I have failed you.”
Caelan’s grip tightened. “No. Evie. You must fight this. You have to fight this. Rowan finally talked some sense into me, and I planned—” He cut himself off.
I looked up at him and saw all the possibilities between us slipping away as my life force flowed through the ground and into the roots of the World Tree miles away. Lifting a trembling hand to his face, I cupped his jaw. “I wish we had more time.”
Caelan’s face went white. “Evie.” He bowed his head and let out a choked curse.
Rowan put a hand on his shoulder and crouched beside him. “If anyone can fight this, you can.” He shook his head. “After all of this, I refuse to believe this is what fate has in store for you.”
Mom looked at my father. “There’s nothing you can do?”
“The magic predates me. It does not recognize nor respond to my power.”
My attention focused on those words. “Moira,” I whispered. “Call Moira.”
“A vampire cannot help you,” Mom said. “But she can say goodbye.”
I shook my head. “She helped me heal. Last time.”
Ben had stayed silent the entire time, but at that, he jerked. “How?” he demanded. “Maybe I can do the same while we wait.”
“I have no idea,” I said on a half sob. “She made me a tea that counteracted the magic.”
Cernunnos stared. “A tea?” he said disbelievingly.
Soren, thank the gods, already had his phone out.
He spoke into the phone a second later. “I know you don’t want to speak to me but get to Evie’s property as soon as possible. She needs you.”
Moira would not dismiss a summons like that. I only hoped she was close. Her being able to help was a serious long shot, but one I was willing to take.
And if she couldn’t, at least she’d be here while I faded.
“Want me to call Ash?” Caelan asked.
I nodded.
It took twenty minutes, and I was hanging onto life by my fingernails. The tree demanded everything from me and had taken some of the most important parts, my legs sank half into the ground, roots climbing up the sides of my thighs and duginto my hips. But this was no communion of a Floromancer with Mother Earth.
This was a brutal claiming by a power I couldn’t hope to beat.
