Page 111 of Shifting Winds
No more.
Even when I’d worked so hard to overcome what happened to me, I still held the feeling so close to my heart that I was flawed.
Nothing.
No one.
I didn’t deserve love or friendship or anything because I was fundamentally flawed.
Fuck that.
I was Evie godsdamned Quinn, and I would no longer be afraid of who I was, even if it scared the shit out of everyone else.
If I had to become the Chimera to find my way back to the people I loved, then I would. I’d gladly wear the crown of asavage monster if it put me back into Caelan’s arms. If I could see my friends again. If I could touch the ground and feel the living earth between my fingers once more.
A jagged split tore through the never-ending nothingness, the color of my Chimera.
Red and gold, like a bleeding heart of fourteen karat gold.
Take that, fucker, I roared inside my thorned heart and hurtled toward the opening.
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
CAELAN
The sound of wood splitting plunged the Keep into absolute silence.
Moira rose to her feet, her eyes wide with shock.
Ash’s expression tightened.
My breath caught and held, praying for something I knew I didn’t deserve but wanted more than anything I’d ever wanted in my life.
Hazel bowed her head and brought her clasped hands up to her heart.
“Evie,” I whispered. “Come home to me.”
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
MOIRA
Ascream of rage and defiance tore through the skies, the voice of the divine feminine clawing itself back home. Flowers sprung up beneath us, a carpet of riotous color underneath our feet.
Poe and Fee shot through the sky, their wings beating in glorious color as they circled the tree that had brought us so much misery. A jagged tear formed in the bark, the ragged edges the color of crimson and gold, a beacon of power shouting a challenge to anyone who might question its right to appear.
Tears sprang to my eyes.
A soft shuffle of wind and Cernunnos and Cliona appeared inside the Keep.
“Get back,” the Fae King warned, his eyes trained on that crack. He said nothing else, only kept his attention on the tree.
We stepped back as a shield of silver and green rose around us.
The tear widened, the edges of it glowing with crimson fire.
