Ignoring the way my core tightened, I told him of Jerrys idea, “They could come through, live with me on this mountain.”
He nodded, his red gaze holding mine, “Then we find a way to make this happen.”
I leaned back against my chair, my chest once again tight, my stomach swirling as I pictured them, running the halls, enjoying the dead and the touchy trees. Their smiles would light up the room.
“Tell me about them,” he asked in his timber.
And so, I told Rí of the day we met. I told him of the strength they brought me, of that new feeling that had unfurled within me. My obsession with them.
“I didn’t know who I was before them. It had all gotten too much, the beatings. The people. The life I lived had clouded my mind and made me weak. It was turning me into one of the slugs.” He frowned at me, his jaw ticking as he tapped his finger on his bouncing knee.
“People in the human world are like slugs; slow, slimy, weak and eat through anything. I longed for death. I needed it. But they turned up that day and I knew; itwasn't time for death to take me. It didn't matter if my soul was barely there, if inside me I was cold and empty, because those boys needed me.” I leaned forward to him, needing him to understand.
“It doesn't matter what I want or need whilst I'm alive. The boys will always come first. No matter what.”
“The twins will come first to ye’, rightfully so. But to me? Ye’ will always come first. Ye’ worry about ye’r boys’ needs, and I’ll worry about my Mates.”
Could this man truly feel that deeply about our ‘Circle’ that he would accept my cold damaged soul along with my twins?
How had I landed up so far away from this realm and things that I could have known from birth? How had I ended up with that monster who damaged me so much that I didn't know if I could accept what Rí so freely offered me?
The Fates Above had supposedly matched us together so perfectly, so why oh why would they match me with the White witch? Why was Cole the way he was? If the Fates Above knew what they were doing why even pair me with someone who hated my kind so strongly, who would want me gone so much? Maybe they had made a mistake and Rí was supposed to be my only Mate?
We sat in comfortable silence next to the fire until the sun began to rise. Its orange and pink glow spread through the darkened room and with it awoke a determination to find out who exactly I was, and just how strong I could be for the twins.
We ate breakfast as Jerry brought in book after book on Dark magic and its source. Everything I would need to know on harnessing the power within me.
I flicked through the piles of books now lining the table and looked at Rí and his huge plate of food. Mid mouthful of eggs and bacon, he froze before mumbling, “It takes a lot to feed a dragon.”
I rolled my eyes and picked up a leather-bound book that looked like more of a journal. I unwrapped its leather string and opened it.
‘The journal of Lady Isa of the Dark Mountain.’
“Jerry–” I stared at the journal; I didn't know how to feel. The journal had been my mother’s, the woman who had given birth to me, who kept me for three years before taking me to the human realm. How were you supposed to feel?
“I thought you might like it my Lady, so you may gain some answers not even I can give you.”
Answers.
That's what I wanted.
Wasn’t it?
Rí’s gentle hand guided my face to look up at him, a soft smile on his wide lips, his usual furrowed brow uncreased and relaxed.
“In ye’r own time. There is no rush.”
There was a rush to me. I needed to know why, because the second I had met Ellfyn and Elyas, there was no way I would purposely leave them with a monster.
I put the journal down, promising myself I would read it when I was alone. Whenever that was. I found I wasn't alone very often these days.
“If these are not enough, perhaps a visit to the library or archives would be better,” Jerry said as he stared at the pile of books with a frown and his hands on his hips.
Not enough? Piles of books now gathered around the chairs, the love seat and any table surface. There was no way I would be able to read all of them.I mean, I would give it my best, books were the world’s best knowledge-full of secrets and unknown answers-and my hands itched to gather them and grip them in my grasp.
“I think we’ll try to tackle these first, thanks Jerry.” Giving the ghost a nod I perched at the end of the huge bed with a large cream coloured book in my hands. The leather was smooth and seemed to be real. Inked on the front red ‘To Harness, To Gather, To feel.’
Perfect, right?
