Page 139 of Broken Veil
There was a narrow passage with a glowing silver light at the end.
Carys saw shimmering waves of light painting the walls, and as she emerged, she saw a familiar sight.
It was another silver pool, like the one in Angus’s own cave, but this one had a blueish-green, swirling light beneath it.
“This again?”
“All your clothes,” Angus said. “Off. Take nothing from the mortal realm.”
“You want me to strip naked in front of you?”
Angus rolled his eyes. “You think you have anything I haven’t seen before?”
She looked down at the chain that was glowing beneath her skin. “I don’t know. Have you seen a glowing gold chain embedded beneath someone’s skin before?”
“That one I’ll give you, Carys Morgan.” Angus sounded amused. “But the rest is fairly boring to me.”
“Thanks, I guess.” She pulled off her shirt and saw Oshun’s mark more clearly.
It was a twisting and intricate chain that dipped below her collarbones and just above the rise of her breasts. When she reached back, she could feel the metal just below the base of her neck and saw the edges embedded in her shoulders.
The weight of her limbs was still noticeable, but she felt lighter than before. And as she stripped the rest of her clothes off, she noticed warmth creeping over her skin that seemed to emanate from Dôn’s golden collar.
Angus waited for her to be completely naked, then stood at the edge of the pool and held out his hand. “You know what happens next.”
Carys walked over and looked down at her reflection. The chain was glowing with a warmer light than the silver pool. “Do you have to push me in or?—”
The water enveloped her,sucking her under the surface and pulling her down and down and down until she opened her eyes and saw the mirrorlike surface below her.
Carys swam toward it, her lungs burning and her body aching until she reached the other side and surfaced with a gasp, shoving the water from her face and pushing her hair back where it covered her eyes.
She looked around the glowing silver pool, then up at the glowing blue lights that hovered over her like wisps at the gate.
“Hello, cariad.”
Carys turned and saw her mother bending down at the edge of the pool. “Mom?”
Tegan smiled at her daughter. “You followed the lights.”
“Mom!” Her heart felt like it was going to burst. She swam to the edge of the pool and let Tegan pull her from the water, then wrapped her arms around her mother and sobbed into her neck.
“There you are,” Tegan whispered. “There you are, my love. My precious gift. My lovely girl.”
Tegan rocked Carys as if she were a child, hushing her and gripping her tightly by the shoulders. She rocked her until Carys’s tears had stopped and the weight on her heart was a little bit lighter.
Carys pulled away to look at her mother, but it was a face she’s only seen in pictures. As young as she was in that moment. “Wow.”
“Hello.” Tegan couldn’t stop her smile. “Look at you. You look the same.”
“You don’t.”
Tegan laughed. “I’m here, Carys. I hope you’ve forgiven me. I always thought we’d have more time.”
“So you were going to tell me about… all of it?”
“Oh yes. I wanted you to know your sister if you could. I’d hoped…” Tegan’s eyes were filled with regret. “I can’t think of it now, because there’s no helping it. I could never go back, so I thought it would be better to wait.” She shrugged. “Then I ran out of time.”
“You and Dad?—”
