“What else is there Jar? I sense there is something you are not quite telling us,” I said gently, watching his tears turn from ones of joy to ones of sorrow.
"It is about Lova." Another pluck at his sleeve with his long tapered fingers.
Remnant and I drew in together, bringing Riella close to us. "What has happened to her?” I said, tugging on my pink sweater,loathing the renewed feel of it back on my body after shifting. “Why is she not with you here?"
Jar hesitated and the trees hummed around us in encouragement. I did not miss the way Riella’s head tilted, studying their humming sound with keen interest.
My soulmate's hand rested on my shoulder and squared herself to the healer, her voice stern. "You have loved us all like family master healer, and family takes care of their own. What do you need from us?"
Folding his hands in his robes, he sighed. "My soulmate has always been a fierce defender of the weak, her greatest strength and greatest weakness was pursuing justice in this world. My Lova was more warrior than I ever was and the call of it tempted her many nights."
Remnant gave a soft inhale. "She did not seek eternal peace when she died."
Jar shook his head. "I should have known. My Lova would never forgive herself for leaving behind our cub and myself. She would have sought a way to avenge what was taken from her and so many others."
My lips thinned.
Well fuck.
"She is lilin," Remnant breathed, saying the exact words I had been thinking.
The healer gave us both an imploring look. "I have searched these lands, scoured every doorway, made friends with the pookah who reside here just to hear even a whisper of her. Even Shea could not find her within the Eithne but he assured me he did not banish her to the Vagari. She must be within The Well, waiting for her time of justice to come, following that strong beat of battle in her heart."
Remnant’s gaze met mine, a new line of worry lining her brow. I growled inwardly at the sight of it. The only lines I wanted to see on her gorgeous face were the ones that were created when she smiled, when she laughed, and I was losing that battle.
Turning back to Jar, I moved to envelop him in my arms. "We will seek her soul along with the others in The Well," I said for my soulmate, despite the doubt I felt along our bond.
Jar wrapped his warm arms around me and I felt his wash of healing power rejuvenate my entire being. "That is all I ask. If my Lova must avenge the life stolen from us, then I will honor herneed to stay lilin and will continue to wait for her return here in our grove."
A sharp stab in my leg had me pulling away from the healer's embrace with a loud curse making everyone jump. "What the fuck?" I spun, looking for the source of the pain, seeing a sharp needle thin piece of wood implanted in my lower leg just above the lacings of my boot.
Jar chuckled. "Oh that's Henry."
"Who in the Faerie fuck is Henry?" I snapped.
Remnant gasped then, dropping to her knees. "Henry," she whispered to a rodent sized bearded creature stepping out from the coverage of a massive tree trunk—goddess help me, Henry was a damned gnome?
The arrogant garden guardian was dressed in thatches of stitched leaves with the exact same sharp twig weapons as the one currently embedded in my leg, sheathed at his back. His blue floppy hat tipped to the side as he waddled forward towards us, his long white beard dragging on the forest ground while he bared his needled teeth.
"It is you!" Remnant cried. Her hand reached out to the untamable creature.
"Of course it isforta. Your father made sure your gnomes were also granted the Eithne. The others are here as well, Anthony, Donald, and Raymond stay more in the herb gardens I tend. They like the butterflies there, I really wish they'd stop tearing their wings off though, the glitter gets everywhere."
Remnant laughed. "Yes, they do make quite a mess. Hi Henry." She turned her attention to the creature, cradling the gnome to bring him up to her face, nuzzling her nose against its belly as I wrinkled my own at its grubby hand patting her skin affectionately back.
Dragoon was right. My soulmate did love her gnomes.
"Oooo, he is so cute!" Riella squealed.
Growling, I yanked the gnome's sharp weapon out of my leg. "Little flower pissing Henry made your soulmate bleed, little umbra. Do you not care for my well-being?"
The gnome turned then, his jaw widening with his needled teeth, hissing.
I hissed back. This was why no fae fucked with gnomes.
Remnant laughed. "It's his way of saying hello."
"And to stay away from maedere, he says." Riella interpreted for us all as the gnome beamed at her, frowning innocently, she asked, “What does maedere mean?”
