Daughter,an eery but gentle voice blows on the wind and in the water that tightens its grip on me.You are a very resilient witch, and I’m pleased to call you mine. It is true, your magick may be considered Dark, but you are no Dark being. You are balanced and ideal. Dark and Light is not what you believe it to be, and with your new abilities, you will grow to realize this. I am aware you have not forsaken me, nor I you. Your soul is too pure, Carina Hargrove. Your mother is very proud of you and is watching from Summerland. Blessed Be.
And then, all is silent once more.
Blessed Be, Hecate, and hi, Mom.
The water releases me.
“Thank you,” I murmur aloud, both to it and Her, before climbing back to my feet and walking the stretch back to Ryder’s side, who pulls me close and drops a kiss onto my forehead.
“You okay?”
“Perfect.” I skip admitting the conversation with Hecate because it’s personal. “Thank you for bringing me to see Callum last night. We both needed it, and it gave my mother a name.”
“Your other mother,” he admonishes quietly. “Morgan is still your mom, now and always. I pity Callum. To learn your would-be mate was dead the entire time.” His chest shudders against my side, heart skipping a beat. “All I thought about was what happened if we didn’t complete the bond, and years in the future, I learned you died. It’d kill me in indescribable ways, leading me to question everything.”
“Luckily for you, you won’t experience that.” I tilt my head onto his shoulder. “Having met Callum, it leaves one more thing.I want to find the Coven of the Silver Seas. They were running from Twilight Grove and hid. Technically, I’m their heir, and it’d be right to bring them back.”
Ryder’s silent for a moment, probably dissecting every possible way to deny me this. Except, he doesn’t really have a choice either, mate or not. So when he speaks, it’s not surprising what he says at first. “You can’t. Freya explicitly told me not to let you hunt for them. That you’d spend a lifetime searching only to come up empty. Apparently, they’re no longer on Earth.”
The pond ripples, reacting to the burst of my surprise. “How’s that possible? Where would they have gone?”
“She didn’t say, and I doubt she ever will. Take it up with her. I’m merely the messenger.”
Grunting, I fall back against him. “That’s fucked-up. Okay, well if I can’t look for them, then I have to move onto the next thing on my list.”
“Which is?”
“What does your nickname for me mean?Pleasetell me.”
He chuckles, twisting slightly to face me. “Kamahki.It’s the Old Language for ‘little priestess.’ You once told me not to call you princess since covens don’t follow a monarchy. You were the next High Priestess, so I rolled with it.”
Little priestess.All the instances of hearing the nickname flit through my memories. The times he spoke it adoringly, then other times mockingly.Asshole.
“So this whole time, you’ve basically been calling me princess in your own cocky way.”
He grins before nudging me down onto the grass and coming down on top of me. The grass, damp from the fall night, is warmed by him. “Haven’t you learned I always get my way?”
“You’re such an ass.”
He hums but doesn’t deny it. “Yet, you love me.”
“I love my mate.”
Silver flashes and a deep-rooted response flickers to life. The kind of response that has my head tilting back until his claim is visible, and I hand him my submission. “I love you too,kamahki.”
“No matter what I become?”
“No matter what. Light, Dark, shifter, or witch—none of it changes what you really are.”
“Yours?”
“All mine.”
Sixth Intermission
FREYA
Another couple down! A part of me believes Carina and Ryder were less exhausting than Harlow and Alec, simply because they were more self-sufficient, but I think a lot of it also had to do with Alec wanting to kill Harlow. Made my workload more involved to ensure he didn’t actually accomplish that, whereas these two morons grew together on their own.
