Page 194 of A Legacy of the Light

A lone figure pushes through the undergrowth directly opposite us and everything freezes. The blood in my veins stops, and the thrashing of magic in my chest silences.

Tall, lean but muscular, with tanned skin and hair the color of milk chocolate. His pale gray eyes, the color of clouds after a thunderstorm, lock with mine in malice.

The newcomer’s gaze slides to Broderic behind me. “What the fuck is going on, Brodie? You were supposed to be at Claver,” he snarls.

“I know, Cal,” Broderic replies.

“Where the fuck were you? And why do you have prisoners?”

“Well, this one offered herself up when I grabbed the human.” He pushes Reyne forward into the mud.

“Fuck you,” she snarls, righting herself.

“What the fuck do I want with a human?” Callahan asks.

“She has the Craobh, Cal.”

Callahan crosses the clearing in the blink of an eye. “Impossible.” He stares down at me. “Where is it?” he demands. “Show me.”

Who the fuck does he think he is?

“You’re welcome to search me for it, Callahan.” I pour all the hate in my heart into my seething stare.

He grips my chin tightly, and his other hand drops to the dagger at his hip, ready to tear me apart in his search for the Craobh.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!”

A female voice rings from the forest behind the Seelie who holds my life in his hands. She steps into the clearing and my heart soars. Aiming a sword high and dressed in leather and Seelie armor, Rach—my Rach—strides forward with a thunderous look on her face.

“Rachel, I told you to wait back there!” Callahan snaps.

My gaze moves between them. The realization of who this is, and how they know each other, crashes over me. I’ve seen Callahan’s face before. In the one photograph I found of Rach’s family.

Callahan is Rachel’s brother.

And Rach has been Seelie all along.

My mind reels with the truth and betrayal stings as it washes through me.

“You will leave her well alone, Callahan!” a man calls from the trees behind my best friend.

A sob cleaves out of my throat as Grandpa steps forward, holding his own sword at the leader of the Dorche.

Chapter 46

The faces of my family glare at the Seelie who have me chained on my knees in the mud. Rach’s eyes flare with the promise of violence as she stares at her brother. Next to her, Grandpa stands on two feet. No limp, no stick to support him, and looking younger and healthier than I have ever seen him. His hand is steady as he holds his sword with a confidence I didn’t know he had.

They’re here.

“What is going on?” Broderic asks impatiently.

Rach’s angry gaze meets his, and her lips shape into a seductive smile. “Hello to you, too, Brodie.”

Broderic growls low in his chest and Rach taunts him further by blowing him a kiss.

Grandpa hurries across the clearing toward me. No one stops him as he drops to his knees before me and cups my face in his hands. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”

“I’m okay. How are you even here? What’s going on? Why are you with him?”