Suddenly the feeling of drowning stopped. She took a gasping breath, then stumbled to her feet. She nearly fell to her knees, but managed to regain her balance as her vision slowly returned. She was looking at a solid stone wall.
Stone? The walls of the inn had been made of wood. Where was she?
“Where did you come from?” a woman’s voice asked, echoing from somewhere down the wide, winding corridor in which Anna stood.
“I’m not sure,” Finn’s voice answered, muffled the same as the first woman’s voice. She sounded confused, and maybe a little groggy.
Anna turned and hurried toward the sound of the voices, her boots echoing along the stone floor and off the stone walls encasing her in a narrow hallway. Torches lit the way periodically, but there were long gaps of darkness in between.
She let out a huge sigh of relief as Finn came into view. She was sitting on the floor, and Kai was with her. She still clutched his hand as he lay unconscious, sprawled out just like he’d been in the bed. A woman was standing at their backs.
Finn blinked up at Anna’s approach, but she seemed unable to focus, so Anna turned her attention to the extra woman, suddenly recognizing her long red hair and pinkish, freckled skin.
“Branwen?” she questioned, utterly shocked to see the woman alive.
Branwen didn’t seem at all surprised. “It’s good to see you again,” she said, her gaze on Anna. Her tawny hair hung limp and matted around her gaunt face, and she wore a white, shapeless gown, but she otherwise seemed just like the naive girl Anna and Kai had tricked into funding their travels.
Branwen turned her gaze away from Anna and down to Finn, who finally seemed to be regaining her senses. “I never expected to see you here,” she said happily.
Finn stared over her shoulder at Branwen in awe, but she seemed reluctant to stand and let go of Kai’s hand. “Where are we?” she asked instead.
Anna observed the wide, stony corridor around them, and suddenly it dawned on her. They were in the gray place. She’d traveled these halls when the Ceàrdaman had put her in a trance to find the Archtree. Yet, she’d only walked these corridors in her mind. This time, she felt like she was fully there, not walking through a hazy dream.
“We’re in the in between,” Anna explained. “The gray.”
Branwen pursed her lips in thought. “Yes, I suppose that’s a fitting name for it.” She turned her body to fully face Anna, revealing a large crimson stain on the side of her dress, near her abdomen.
“You’re injured!” Finn exclaimed, seeing the stain at the same time as Anna.
Branwen shrugged. “I’ve been this way for quite some time now.”
Finn finally released Kai’s hand and stood, then went to Branwen. “I don’t understand,” she gasped, holding out her hands as if she could somehow help her.
Anna moved to take Finn’s place beside Kai. His chest still rose and fell with breath, but his hand was icy cold. “This is the place I see in my dreams,” Anna explained, her gaze remaining on Kai. “I don’t know how to explain it, other than to call it the in between. It’s the place between reality and fantasy, the living and the dead. How we arrived here is anyone’s guess.”
“You brought us,” Finn accused. “The Travelers told me you’re the Gray Lady of Clan Liath. This place is in your blood.”
Anna craned her neck to roll her eyes at Finn. “Don’t be absurd. I simply see things that should not be seen. I don’t have true magic.”
Kai started muttering again in his sleep, and Finn hurried to his other side, taking his free hand as she knelt. “How are we supposed to help him now? We can’t even give him water if he needs it!”
Anna bit back her tears. Had she really somehow transported them all to this place? It didn’t seem possible. It had to be Finn. It was Finn’s fault Kai would lose his life in this place.
Kai’s breathing became ragged and all of Anna’s thoughts rushed away. Her best friend was about to die. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. The air she sucked into her lungs was dense and moist . . . wait, was that fog? Her eyes searched the expansive corridor, now slowly filling up with moist, white, bog-like mist
Finn and Branwen seemed to notice the mist too as it thickened. Anna felt compelled to keep silent, and it seemed her conscious companions did as well. Something about this mist was oddly familiar, and all she could think was, danger.
Movement caught her eye further down the corridor, a cloaked shape. It moved toward them, gliding smoothly as if its feet didn’t touch the ground, but as it neared, Anna could see that it actually walked, just gracefully. Feminine hips outlined beneath the thin black fabric of the cloak swayed with every step.
Anna watched awestruck, unable to move, until the cloaked figure reached them. The figure removed its hood, revealing a face startlingly similar to Finn’s, except her hair was dark, her eyes blue, and her features perhaps a touch more angular. Anna also had a sense of great age. She knew Finn was technically centuries old, but this woman before them somehow felt ancient.
“Did you bring us here?” Finn squeaked, her words seeming to pull Anna out of her trance.
She moved her gaze to Finn, who seemed frightened, but at the same time, angry.
The woman, Finn’s mother Anna assumed, chuckled. “The Gray Lady brought you here. I saw an opportunity to speak with you, and I took it.”
Finn’s face crumbled into confused lines, then she slowly seemed to grasp what the woman was saying. “I’ve been to the in between before, haven’t I? That’s how we were able to speak on the island.”
Finn’s mother nodded. “The Archtree’s presence made the barriers between the worlds thin. It allowed me to make contact without physically being in the same place as you.”
“I think I understand,” replied Finn, though Anna couldn’t say she agreed. Finn’s mother claimed Anna had brought them all to this place. It couldn’t be possible, could it?
As if reading her thoughts, Finn’s mother turned her cool gaze to Anna. “The seasons are changing,” she explained. “The barriers grow thin all across the land. The old bloods are returning. The Cavari, the Faie, and the elder clans, one of which is Clan Liath. Their blood runs strong through your veins. Magic is returning to the earth. It is returning to you.”
“It cannot return if I never had it to begin with,” she snapped, suddenly defensive.
Finn’s mother chuckled. “You’ll see in time. You are not the only one reconnecting with the power that should have been your birthright.”
Birthright? Anna wanted to ask her more, but Kai’s hand spasmed around hers, drawing her attention away.
“His blood has been poisoned,” Finn’s mother explained. “He will die.”
“No,” Finn argued, shaking her head over and over. “He cannot, I will not allow it. I will not lose another friend.”
“You wish to save him?” her mother asked.
“She does!” Anna interrupted. “Can you help us?”
Finn’s mother smirked, then turned her gaze back to Finn. “You truly have forgotten much, much I am loath to remind you of, but I will tell you this. Immortal blood runs through your veins. Share it with him, and he will be changed. He will not live forever, but he will be stronger than he once was, able to fight the poison within him.”
“How do I do it?” Finn asked frantically, staring down at Kai’s sickly face.
Something like hope blossomed in Anna’s chest.
“There are consequences to changing the natural order,” her mother warned.
“I do not care,” Finn replied. “How do I do it?”
“Cut your hand and his, place the wounds together,” she explained, taking a step forward. “This can only be done if you are entirely willing to share a portion of your immortality. If you do not truly mean what you say, it will not work.”
Anna searched her belt and found that both her daggers still rested there. She had not noticed them until then. She withdrew one, and hurriedly offered it to Finn, but
Finn presented her palm instead. “Help me,” she urged. “We will save him together.”
Anna had never felt any love for Finn, but she would have kissed her right in that moment if Kai wasn’t slowly fading away between them. So instead of kissing her with her lips, she did it with her dagger, slowly drawing it across Finn’s open palm. She then took Kai’s hand that she’d been holding and spread it out, then sliced his palm in the same direction.
Finn leaned across his body and intertwined her bloody fingers with his. Deeply concentrating, her eyes drifted shut.
“It may take some time,” Finn’s mother warned, but Finn seemed unable to hear her. She laid down beside Kai with her mouth near his shoulder, maintaining a tight grip on his hand.
Anna watched them for several moments, willing whatever Finn was doing to work, then turned her gaze back to Finn’s mother. “Can you tell me how to take us back? Saving him will do little good if we are trapped in this place.”
“Give it time,” she explained. “You are not meant to be here, and you will eventually be pulled back. Falling asleep might help.”
It was difficult for Anna to remember she was talking to Finn’s mother, and not Finn, they looked so similar, but she had to remember she didn’t know this woman. She needed to be cautious.
“Why did you come here?” she asked finally.
Finn’s mother tilted her head. “My daughter is on a dangerous path, and there are many things she does not know. Many things she refuses to know. They will come to her eventually, and I would like to make amends with her before they do.”
“You make it sound like she’d cause you harm,” Anna observed.
“My dear,” she replied, “she’s quite capable of harming us all. It is why my clan has acted with caution. Why all have acted with caution. You would be well advised to do the same, Gray Lady.”
With that, the mist began to gather once more, and she turned to walk away. She had almost faded from sight, when she turned to face Anna. “The exchange of life will take a large toll on her,” she explained, gesturing with a nod toward Finn. “Make sure she remembers I was the one to help her. You would do well to remind her of your part as well.” She turned and slowly faded from sight.
Anna’s shoulders slumped in relief. She peered down at Finn and Kai. Kai’s breathing had gone back to normal, and his expression was peaceful, as was Finn’s. They appeared to be softly sleeping lovers, not an immortal being giving away part of her life force to a dying man.
Branwen stepped forward out of the dissipating mist, and Anna nearly screamed. She had completely forgotten the woman was even there.
She moved around Kai and Finn, then took a seat on the stone floor next to where Anna knelt. Sensing they might be there for a while yet, Anna leaned back and swooped her legs around into a more comfortable position.
“Will you be able to come with us when we leave this place?” she asked, still wondering at Branwen’s presence.
Branwen shook her head, tossing her matted hair about. “No. The three of you have simply stepped between the realities, but you belong in the one you left. I am trapped between the living and the dead. I’m here, but I’m not really here. I think-” she cut herself off, as if deciding just what to say. “I think if someone were to save my body, I would go back. Or if I were to finally die in full, I would move on to somewhere else.”
“I apologize,” Anna replied with a sigh. “I can’t help but feel I’m the reason you’re in this state. I’m the reason you first entered the Blood Forest, and ended up here.”
Branwen smiled softly. “Do not apologize. I can sometimes catch glimpses of the world where my body is. The entire land is the Blood Forest now. I do not entirely envy your return to it. And,” she hesitated, “and I feel it is somehow my fate to be here. I’ve seen you when you visit in your dreams sometimes, and I felt compelled to be in this very place when you arrived. Perhaps I have a purpose to serve.”
Never one to believe in the guidance of the old gods, Anna frowned. She could not think it fate that her life seemed to be interwoven with Finn’s, and even Kai’s and Branwen’s. It was merely bad luck, or good luck, however you chose to look at it.
Anna stared down at Kai and Finn. It seemed they all might live, but for how long? And at what cost? Finn’s blood was now running through Kai’s veins, at least in part. That alone couldn’t be good.
“I still apologize,” Anna said finally, looking to Branwen. “I’d much rather be around to fight, even if the odds are not in my favor. I’d rather live, than wait around to die.”
“Well I hope you do,” Branwen replied. She glanced down at Kai and Finn. “I hope you all do, and I hope that if you see my brother, you will tell him to do the same. He always was a bit lost without me.”
Anna nodded, letting Branwen’s words slowly sink in. She’d always been a loner, depending on no one, while no one depended on her, but perhaps Anders was not the only one who was lost without the person most important to him. Perhaps she had depended on Kai from the start, even if she had never been willing to admit it.
At some point she drifted off to sleep, and when she woke, she was back in her chair at the inn. The curtained window was still dark, and the candles and fire in the room all burned as if they’d never gone out. Finn sat across from her, asleep in her chair, and Kai rested peacefully in the bed.
For a moment Anna thought perhaps it had all been a dream, so she stood and did the only thing she could think to do. She checked both Kai and Finn’s hands. Each held a shiny new scar, the only remaining remnant of the strangest night of Anna’s life.
Bedelia tossed and turned in her bed, reliving the events of the previous night at the abandoned castle. Oddly, it had affected her more than the battle with the assassins, mainly because she thought it might soon put an end to her friendship with Finn. She’d aroused Iseult’s suspicions. It was the beginning of the end.
She wasn’t dense enough to believe that Iseult and Finn had been discussing anything but her when she’d found them outside, whispering in the dark. The whispers had abruptly ceased at her appearance, and Iseult had given her a look that said, I know what you’re up to, and soon everyone else will too.
She turned on her side and pressed a lumpy pillow over her head. Perhaps she was worrying for nothing. Sure, he was suspicious, but there was no way for him to know she worked for Keiren, and he likely didn’t even know Keiren still lived, if he even knew of her existence at all.
Bedelia didn’t know why she cared. She did work for Keiren, and she’d have to do her bidding one way or another. Her friendship with Finn would most definitely end at that point. Previously, she would have been fine with the idea of being cast back into Keiren’s waiting arms, but she truly believed those arms no longer waited for her. Keiren had stopped loving her for some reason, or perhaps she never really did to begin with. Perhaps she had been Keiren’s puppet all along.
“Of course I loved you,” a voice cut through her mind.
“K-keiren?” Bedelia stammered. Had she been listening to her thoughts all this time?
“Do not speak out loud,” Keiren’s voice snapped. “You know I am not truly there. Something still prevents me from seeing your friend.”
Bedelia took a shaky breath and sealed her eyes tightly shut. You can read my mind? she thought.
“Of course I can,” Keiren’s voice echoed back. “You swore a blood oath to me. You are mine.”
“Then you-” she cut herself off, realizing she was speaking out loud again, but it seemed she had said enough.
“Of course I knew,” Keiren replied. “I know how you have questioned me. How you have wondered if you could save your friend from me. I didn’t stop loving you. You stopped loving me.”
I did not, Bedelia thought. I have always obeyed you. Even when I felt morally opposed to my tasks.
“You simply didn’t want to be alone,” Keiren accused. “And now you think the girl can replace me. Just like my father thought she could
replace me. It doesn’t matter now. You have betrayed me.”
Bedelia’s heart plummeted, but for the first time, the sinking feeling was answered not with despair, but with anger. She had devoted so much of her life to Keiren, only to be spurned for wanting a friend.
“Ah,” Keiren’s voice mused. “So you still have teeth after all?”
I do, Bedelia thought. So what will you do now? Turn me into a tree like you did your own father? Then do it. I do not care anymore.
Keiren chuckled in her mind. “Foolish girl. You will come back to me yet. When you once again wander the earth alone, you will come back to me. I’m the only person who could ever love a woman like you.”
“I will never come back,” Bedelia whispered out loud, though her voice cracked as she said it. “I would sooner die.”
“So be it,” was the only reply she received before Keiren’s voice left her mind.
Bedelia knew what she needed to do. Come morning, she would tell Finn everything. If she was truly her friend, she would understand, and as long as she remained near Finn, Keiren could not touch her.
Chapter Nine
Kai sat up in bed and rubbed his tired eyes. Weak daylight streamed in around the edges of the curtained window, providing enough light to see by. He flexed his right hand, the skin feeling oddly tight. He lifted his palm up in front of his face and traced a large, fresh scar with his free hand. Where on earth had that come from? He gently patted his abdomen, searching for his bandages to check on the state of his wound, but the bandages were gone. He jerked his shirt up and was met with more fresh scar tissue. How had the wound already healed? Had he been lying in that bed an entire month?
Suddenly frantic, he hopped to his feet. He’d expected to be sore, or stiff, or . . . something. Somehow he felt wonderful, as if he’d gotten a good night’s rest after a hearty meal. Nearly bouncing with energy, he searched for his boots, finding them near the foot of the bed. After quickly tugging them on and straightening his clothing, he opened the door and hurried out into the hall in search of his companions. Perhaps they’d be able to explain just what had happened to him . . . though even if they couldn’t, he wasn’t about to complain.
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