Page 171 of Broken Veil
She dreamed of flying, cradled in smooth, curved claws that wrapped around her body and held her in their grip.
Nêrys.
Carys opened her eyes in darkness at the sound of Cadell’s voice.
Duncan was sleeping beside her in the cozy house in the middle of the forest. The house Gareth had built for Tegan. The house where the blacksmith had come to live for a year, to try life in Baywood.
With more than a few flights back to Scotland for both of them.
Carys got out of bed and threw on a robe before she walked outside.
She saw the world in a hundred shades of grey but also in green and purple, pink and vivid blue.
“Hey.” She slipped on her boots and walked to the edge of the forest where she could see Cadell waiting.
Her eyes were still seeing double, and the kids at school had taken to calling her the Dread Captain Morgan since she had to wear an eye patch or go crazy while she was at work.
Also because they were college kids and thought any joke about rum was hilarious.
“Look.” Cadell pointed to the bushes. “I thought they might be gone by morning. I hope you don’t mind that I woke you.”
“No, it’s cool.” Along with her vision, Cadell’s ability to speak to her mind had also lingered. Carys couldn’t respond mentally, so the effect was definitely wearing off. But she knew she’d miss his voice when it was gone. Having Cadell close to her mind, even in the Brightlands, eased the hollow that Seren’s voice had left.
Carys knelt down and saw a doe with two dotted fawns hiding in the brush. “Hello there.” She kept her voice soft and slid her eye patch to the left. It was unusual to have young fawns this time of year, but magic could be at work. And sometimes nature simply didn’t go by the rules.
Her right eye caught the dancing sprites hidden in the leaves around the fawns who both carried a single thumbprint on their forehead, the mark of the Deer Woman’s protection.
“Two little girls, Cadell.”
“Shifter?” It wasn’t uncommon to find animal shifters from Pauwau Aki, even this far from the gates.
Carys shook her head. “Just regular deer.”
“They’re beautiful.” He lifted his chin. “I scented a bear in the woods.”
“That’s normal this time of year.” They were deep into fall, and the deciduous trees had lost their leaves, but the snow had not come yet, and the bears were lumbering around, gathering as much food as they could before true winter set in. “I don’t think you need to worry.”
“Hopefully their mother will keep them near the house during the winter.” Cadell frowned at the doe. “It’s very late in the season to give birth.”
Despite the fact that Cadell hunted deer in his dragon form, he was softhearted toward the young. She didn’t try to make it make sense. Every creature, even if they weren’t gods, lived in contradictions.
“Well, if she keeps them near the house, we’ll put out some food.” Carys stood, leaving the two newborns in the bushes, thankful that no predator would come near the house with the scent of a dragon nearby.
Cadell looked up at the moon and the blue glow of morning that touched the horizon. “The day is ending in Pauwau Aki.”
Carys narrowed her eyes. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Cadell smiled. “I’ll race you to the gate.”
“No fair!”
The dragon always won, but it didn’t matter. Carys ran through the woods in her bathrobe and boots, her heart light in the forest that was as much her home as the cabin in the woods.
The scent of pine and cedar suffused the air as she ran, and when she reached the massive fallen log that guarded the gate to the Shadowlands, the mountain lion shifter perched on the granite rocks above winked at her before he laid his head down.
The voices that met her ears whispered secrets and greetings, recognizing her step and the goddess’s gold collar that shone beneath her clothes.
By the time she reached the clearing beyond the gate, Cadell had already transformed.
