The bright evergreens I expected to see laid charred and broken for miles. Black ash littered the ground with what looked like hundreds of jackalope horns adorning the bleak landscape—a warning to any who came here.
In the distance, I could just make out the faint outline of a fairy ring, except no white flowers encircled it…no powers of seduction called to me to dance my life away inside it…because there was absolutely no life left to do so.
The sun settled behind the clouds and I watched as a dark foreboding shadow fell upon the haunted lands. Forcing myself to step forward onto the dusty black dirt, an eerie black mist curled up around my leathered boot and charred branches broke beneath their thick soles. I could feel the sickening disease leaking from the land, attempting to latch on…clawing desperately for the essence of life within me.
“No.” I whispered when my eyes caught sight of large bones protruding from the dead valley. Rushing over, my hands reached out reverently to the towering ribs that arched over my head. My fingers trailed along the smooth surface while tears formed in my eyes.
“I know these bones.” I whispered brokenly, feeling, rather than hearing the shifter standing stoically behind me. Stooping down, my vision blurred when I touched the smaller carcass that had been lovingly guarded in its final moments. “This was a cù-sìth mother and her pup.” My eyes closed and tears fell. “I saved this pup once. Did you know it takes five hundred years for a pup to mature into a full adult? Its mother never leaves their side until then.”
“A loving and honorable devotion that most of us will never be able to experience.” He added softly.
Rising, I turned to him. “The fae are not deserving of such a gift.”
Emon’s eyes froze on the tears running down my pale cheeks. The turmoil inside of me was burning quickly to anger.
“You will tell me everything you know.”
“Yes.” He choked gruffly and I stilled when he reached to wipe a tear from my face. His touch seared my flesh while he studied the wetness on his fingertips. Growling, he looked back up at me. “I will tell you all of what you need to know, little umbra.”
Chapter 9
“Allowmetoassistyou.” I pleaded for the third time tonight watching my soulmate dig through the dead earth. Her bare hands had long ago split, bleeding with each clawing pass she made for the shallow graves of the cù-sìth mother and pup.
Every once in a while a tear would fall from those beautiful emerald eyes and soften the earth to ease the way.
“I do not wish for your help, shifter.”
Growling, I dropped to my knees and unleashed my claws. Scraping into the diseased ash alongside her with more efficiency than her blunt fingertips.
“I do not care what you wish for, little umbra. This is how I wish to pay my respects as well.”
Her bowed head full of black and blue hair snapped up and the three moons lit up the beauty of her features. Her lips pulled back in a sneer and her cheeks were rosy with grief and anger. Thedelicate swirls of ink on her tattooed arms flexed threateningly and her dirty fists curled in the shallow grave.
I held her stare. She was beautiful even in her threatening pose and I could not help but be awed by the way she mourned Faerie's beastly creatures almost more than her own species.
Emotion burned in the back of my throat. Guilt, shame, and pain seared my insides for not being able to soothe this pain. The way a mate should. But if I unmasked our soulmate bond now, I risked her safety and I needed her far away from here before I could ever allow myself the hope of chancing it.
Seeing my resolve, she huffed out an irritated sigh and her eyes dropped to the ground. She blinked then, seeing what I had seen thirty minutes ago but knew she needed longer to grieve. The grave was ready. “I think this will be enough.”
“In shifter customs, when a mother and faeling pass together, the child is placed on top, closest to the sun. It is seen as the mother’s final way of making sure their offspring will always walk in the light even in Sheol.” I said softly, leaning back on my heels.
Remnant looked over at the bones with a vacant expression. “Yes, I believe that will be appropriate.”
Withdrawing my claws, I reached for her healing hand.“Please allow me to do this for you, little umbra.”
Her brow puckered, staring at our conjoined hands. “I will do this alone.” She pulled away from me and I ignored the sharp sting the action caused.
I grunted and rose, dusting off my leathers, unable to meet her penetrating stare for fear she’d see the lingering pain there. “I’ll set camp and then come back to help you cover them.”
Setting camp took me little more than a few moments. Her shadows supplying bed rolls and dried meats from their void for the both of us. When Remnant was ready, we silently covered the bones and as I had suggested, the pup was placed tenderly on top of the mother, the last remains to disappear in the ash covered ground.
“Do your shifter customs have a prayer for these circumstances as well.” Her voice wavered in the dark night as we stood on either side of the shallow grave.
“Hold out your hand.” I said gruffly.
She did not hesitate this time and I placed my palm to meet hers, our fingertips brushing against each other’s wrists. Our gazes locked.
“To the life given and the life taken too soon, the goddess take you with her golden light to live freely within our hearts where the devoted and young never die.”
