Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
“Then you were a vampire.” Rhys takes over when Sasha seems too overwhelmed. “And you had us. You were patient. You knew she was out there, and these last few years you felt her across time. Across the planes of existence. Across multiple timelines. Sasha, this is why we’re here.”
Sasha straightens up. “It is one of the reasons. Shy is the main one. This time needs her. Our time needs her.” He turns my way. “You must see that you are important and not in a you-will-strengthen-Rhys way. Myrddin is playing with death magic to strengthen himself. You stole from him. One soul. What if you could steal them all? What if you could set them free and he could not use them again?”
“Use them again?” I ask.
“He eats them.” Lee settles back on the bench beside Cassie. Brendan is prowling, sniffing and taking stock of the temple. “He uses them for sure, but then they’re gone.”
“This is not what the world teaches us.” Sasha’s arms cross over his big chest. “And finding my wife again proves this to me. Nothing is wasted. It is merely transformed. Myrddin is obsessed with Gladys. The Sword of Light. It is the traditional weapon of what we call the Nex Apparatus, but it was given many millennia ago to a group of warrior women called the Amazons. I won’t launch into a history of how my people ended up subjugating the warrior women…”
“Patriarchy,” Cassie says under a cough.
She’s not wrong.
“But the sword absorbs the powers of anyone it cuts. What if that is what Myrddin is trying to achieve? Or a variation of it. What if he thinks he can take those souls and use them when the time is right? When he has enough power?” Sasha posits.
“He can’t absorb powers. If he could, he would go around murdering any creature with supernatural powers and take them as his own,” I reply. “The Sword of Light is unique. It doesn’t have to kill to give Kelsey access to power. If Myrddin could do that, he would have shown us before now.”
“But he studied the sword for years while Kelsey was trapped.” Rhys seems to pick up on Sasha’s thoughts. “He wouldn’t be able to do exactly what the sword does, but he knows the sword can lock the door between the planes. It stores energy and that energy is what he needs. What if he’s storing souls?”
“I’m sorry, what? That wizard who has been fucking with my home wants to close the doors to the planes? That’s what my father is helping him with?” Lee is on his feet again. “Just when I’m certain he’s at his lowest, he reaches for the stars. Well, I know what Myrddin wants with my father. He’s been learning how to gain power through taking in souls. He can’t keep them in his body, so he has certain crystals that absorb the soul and lock it into place. From there I have heard he has spells to ingest the soul, to destroy it and use the energy for himself.”
“I am almost certain Myrddin is lying to your father. From what I know, no one can trap a soul. You can trick one, but you can’t trap it,” I explain. “And yet it seems to be what he’s doing. It goes against everything I’ve been taught. I only know that Myrddin needs an enormous amount of energy to close the gates.”
“So Myrddin thinks he can close the gate a different way?” Cassie’s hands are in her lap, a worried look on her face. “If he thought he could seal the gate with celestial magic, could he think death magic will work just as well?”
I sigh as it hits me. “He figured out something, or at least he’s got a theory. A door swings both ways. What if he thinks he can only use the sword to seal the door from the celestial side given where it’s magic comes from?”
“I don’t think anyone gets to walk those particular planes. Not unless you’re invited,” Rhys says. “Which is why Mother is looking for the amulet. Shy, please don’t tell me you think he’s trying to close it from Hell’s side because death magic is not evil.”
I sigh but don’t argue with him because honestly, up until now, it’s exactly what I would have been thinking. My witchy sisters always say I need to do some shadow work. Well, I’m doing it in the field and in real time. “No, babe, he wouldn’t want that at all. That would close off Hell. The Earth plane is in the middle, and death magic is absolutely Earth magic. It is neither evil nor good. It simply is. It is required.”
“Tell me how what you just did wasn’t good,” Lee says, staring at me with somber eyes. “You saved my uncle.”