Page 140 of Broken Veil
“It was a deer,” she said softly. “Just a deer in the road. A little thing, no? A drop of rain falling in water instead of the ground. We were gone. But I’m so sorry we left you, my love.”
“But you’re not together.”
Tegan’s smile was sad. “We are and we’re not. It’s hard to explain. But I always feel your father near me.”
“I saw him in a dream, and he said you were just in the house. He was in?—”
“His workshop?” Tegan laughed. “Of course he was, my love. Of course.”
Her mother brushed her hair back, tucking it behind her ears and brushing drops of water from Carys’s face. “Look at you. So beautiful.” She ran her fingers over the gold chain embedded in Carys’s skin. “And bearing the mark of the mother goddess.”
“Oshun made it.”
“But it is Dôn’s collar.” Tegan’s voice was reverent. “I do not know who placed the chain on you, but the mark belongs to themother of our gods.” She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the chain. “A gift I could have only dreamed of wearing.”
Carys blinked and took a deep breath. “So I’m in Annwn now?”
“You’re in a very small corner of it.” Tegan glanced over Carys’s shoulder. “And right now no one is watching. But we don’t have much time. If Arawn’s hounds catch the scent of a mortal in this realm, the hunt will be on. They will keep you here.” Tegan lifted her eyebrows. “You’ll have a great time, but I don’t think that’s really where you want to be, am I correct?”
“No, I need to go and defeat the Morrígan so she doesn’t start a magical war.”
“Oh.” Tegan sighed. “Yes, that sounds like her. Where is she?”
“Southern England. She’s raised three points of power on Salisbury Plain, and we think she’s heading to Cley Hill to gather her acolytes.”
“Okay, but you’ve given her three wounds, have you not?”
“What?” Carys shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”
Tegan frowned. “Haven’t you?”
“No, I’ve only seen her in dreams.”
“Hmm.” Tegan pushed away and looked at Carys. “I see that you need new eyes.”
“What?” She put a hand to her temple. “What do you?—”
“Not literally, Carys.” Tegan sighed. “You were always strangely literal for a girl who loved fairy tales. You have wounded her, but you’re not seeing it for some reason even though you’ve met her in battle three times.”
“I am telling you, I have not met the Morrígan in battle. She’s been wandering around Southern England, posting videos online and probably getting brand deals, and I’ve been chasing bears covered in ammonia and nearly getting drowned by sea monsters in Yorkshire.”
Tegan stared at her.
“What?”
Her mother was giving her the “you know what you’ve done” stare, and it had always confused Carys.
“A sea monster in Yorkshire.”
“Yes.”
“And a bear in…”
“Wyre Forest, I think?”
“And there will have been another battle as well.”
Carys’s eyes went wide. “The bison in Blean Forest.”
