“We’ll have to start soon, before midnight,” I said. “I’m not certain what’s going to happen, but I know how to proceed.” When we finished eating and, once again, rested by the flames, I gathered my knights around me.
Venus the Moon Child gazed up at the moon. “It’s time, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “Erastel is waiting for us.”
Even the knights who had joined me most recently—Tanne and Bran, Clyde and Lisa—could feel it.
Bran motioned to me. “Camille, can I speak with you?”
I held his gaze. It still galled me that he was one of my knights, but I was going to have to get over it. “Whatever you have to say, it can be said in front of everyone.”
He gave me a considering nod. “We’ve had our differences, and we have been at odds ever since we met. But I want you to know, my pledge as one of your knights stands. I will guard you and follow you wherever needed.”
I let out a slow breath. “Thank you. I needed to hear that, especially from you. Let the past be in the past, Bran, as we move forward.” I motioned for them to follow and we headed over to the ruins. The others waited on the outskirts, watching.
I led my knights through the remnants of what had been a wall, stepping onto the barren dirt that had once formed the floor. As I motioned for them to join me in a circle, images from my vision flashed through my head.
“Join hands.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, focusing on the energy. As it began to build, it flowed through our hands, racing in a circle, amplifying as it went. A circle of power, a circle of electricity, it was moving so quickly that there was no beginning and no end. It flowed from hand to hand, a constant stream.
The ruins were glowing, and I could see the ghostly walls of the house rise again.
Erastel herself was suddenly standing beside me, leaning over my shoulder. She whispered in my ear, telling me what I needed to do. At her bidding, I directed the energy to spin faster and faster, and we were suddenly running in a circle, holding hands as we whirled, dragged by the currents of energy.
Song. I needed a song. Then the words were on my lips, tumbling out in a stream of song.
Nine seals, eight knights, eight guardians shining bright.
Nine gems, nine powers, a stream of star showers.
A queen rises, an era falls, as she sends out her call.
One seal stands unclaimed, one more gem to tame,
I wake the living, I wake the dead,
As we seek to forge the road ahead.
I send my call out through the mists of time,
Midnight comes, twelve times the clock chimes.
Seeking through the darksome night,
I call forth my final Knight.
O final Knight, come to me,
Come forth on bended knee.
As my voice came to rest, a brilliant flash split the night as the energy leaped from our fingers to fill the center of the circle. Smoke billowed as we fell and sprawled back. As the mist began to lift, I turned my gaze to the center of the circle and gasped. There, crouching in the centermost point, was someone I thought I would never see again. Someone I had thought forever lost.
Shamas, my cousin, had returned from the dead. He knelt in the middle of the circle, naked, and as he raised his head, his eyes were glowing with a ruby light. Slowly, without a word, I reached in my pocket and pulled out the last spirit seal. The gem began to pulse, the ruby matching Shamas’s eyes. I stepped forward.
Shamas continued to kneel, staring up at me. As I placed the seal around his neck, there was a soft hush, as if a door had shut. I had found my last knight. The circle was complete. The Keraastar Knights stood ready.
“DOES HE KNOW he was dead?” Delilah asked.
We were gathered around the campfire, preparing to go home. Shamas was sitting next to Shade, wearing a pair of trousers and a shirt that one of my guards had provided for him. He looked confused and hadn’t said much, but he was eating like he had been starved for months. Which technically was true, given he had been dead for quite some time. But here he was, breathing, for all intents and purposes alive again. I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of it.
I nodded. “I’m sure he does. He runs with the hunt, and he recognizes me each time.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. “This is going to be an interesting journey. I wonder just how much he remembers of his former life.”
“I have no idea,” Delilah said. “I don’t envy you, though. I admit that this makes me nervous. The dead are supposed to stay dead.”
“Well, obviously some necromancers disagree with you. But Shamas is no ghoul, nor is he a zombie. He’s alive, all right. I can’t begin to tell you how it happened. I asked Myrddin, but he had no explanation, either. Perhaps Shamas wasn’t supposed to die? Maybe he died too soon and was supposed to become one of my knights from the beginning? I have no clue how much of this was predestined. Maybe destiny makes it all up on the fly? But if you’ll notice, his eyes have changed.”
Instead of the beautiful violet eyes that matched my own, Shamas’s were now almost burgundy, but they weren’t the crimson of an angry vampire’s eyes.
Otherwise, he looked just as I had remembered him. I didn’t want to inundate him with questions yet, but once we were back home, we’d have to have a long talk. Actually, I thought as I looked at him, I wasn’t sure just how much of Shamas was in there. He looked like Shamas, he recognized me, but I had a sinking feeling that he wasn’t the cousin I remembered.
“At least the circle is complete,” Delilah said. “You have your knights, they all have their spirit seals, and you have the diamond. Now, we have a fighting chance against Shadow Wing, given the Keraastar Knights are supposed to be integral to his destruction.”
I nodded, but under the dark moon, sitting next to Erastel’s End, all I could think about was that facing the Demon Lord had just taken another step toward the all-too-real.
“I suppose we better head for home come morning. Your wedding is coming up, and you still have to make so many plans for it.” I laughed, trying to focus on happier things—on things I understood.
Delilah let out a chuckle. “I know you think we’re crazy for doing this on the wing. But that’s the way Shade and I rock. Whatever our wedding turns out to be, it will be the wedding we’re meant to have. The important thing is that we get married soon.” She paused, as if deciding whether or not to say something more. I waited, but finally, she pressed her lips together and stared at her feet with a smile. But there had been something there, something in that all-too-long pause.
All thoughts of Shamas fled my mind. “Delilah Maria D’Artigo. Are you trying to tell me what I think you’re trying to tell me?”
But she merely shrugged and started to hum.
As the night deepened, I realize just how much again our lives had shifted in the space of two days. Nothing ever stayed the same. Life evolved. And either we evolved with it, or we threw ourselves under the bus.
“Fine, you can keep your secret for the moment. I won’t pry.” But inside, I couldn’t help but smile.
The newest Otherworld book—MOON SHIMMERS—is available now, and the next, HARVEST SONG, will be available in May 2018.
You can preorder THE SILVER STAG, the first book in my new urban fantasy series, The Wild Hunt. Ember Kearney was born with the mark of the Silver Stag. A water witch pledged to Morgana, she is recruited for Herne’s squad of elite bounty hunters to preserve the balance between the Fae Courts, so the chaos doesn’t spill out into the mortal realm.
If you love the Otherworld Series, check out all the fun adventures of the wild and magical residents of Bedlam in my Bewitching Bedlam Series. Series reading order: BLOOD MUSIC, BEWITCHING BEDLAM, BLOOD VENGEANCE, TIGER TAILS, MAUDLIN’S MAYHEM, SIREN’S SONG and WITCHES WILD.
If you prefer a grittier series, try my post-apocalyptic romance—the Fury Unbound Series: FURY RISING, FURY’S MAGIC, FURY AWAKENE
D and FURY CALLING.
If you like cozies with an edge, try my Chintz ‘n China paranormal mysteries. The series is complete with: GHOST OF A CHANCE, LEGEND OF THE JADE DRAGON, MURDER UNDER A MYSTIC MOON, A HARVEST OF BONES, ONE HEX OF A WEDDING, and a wrap-up novella: HOLIDAY SPIRITS.
For information about all of my work, including upcoming releases, see the Bibliography at the end of this book, or check out my website at Galenorn.com and be sure and sign up for my newsletter to receive news about all my new releases.
Biography
New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and is the author of over fifty books, including the Otherworld Series, the Fury Unbound Series, the Bewitching Bedlam Series, and many more. She’s also written nonfiction metaphysical books. She is the 2011 Career Achievement Award Winner in Urban Fantasy, given by RT Magazine.
Yasmine has been in the Craft since 1980, is a shamanic witch and High Priestess. She describes her life as a blend of teacups and tattoos. She lives in Kirkland WA with her husband Samwise and their cats. Yasmine can be reached via her website at Galenorn.com.
Indie Releases Currently Available:
The Wild Hunt Series:
The Silver Stag
Bewitching Bedlam Series:
Bewitching Bedlam
Maudlin’s Mayhem
Siren’s Song
Witches Wild
Blood Music
Blood Vengeance
Tiger Tails
Fury Unbound Series:
Fury Rising
Fury’s Magic
Fury Awakened
Fury Calling
Otherworld Series:
Moon Shimmers
Earthbound
Moon Swept
Knight Magic
Otherworld Tales: Volume One
Tales From Otherworld: Collection One
Men of Otherworld: Collection One
Men of Otherworld: Collection Two
Moon Swept: Otherworld Tales of First Love
For the rest of the Otherworld Series, see Website
Chintz ‘n China Series:
Ghost of a Chance
Legend of the Jade Dragon
Murder Under a Mystic Moon
A Harvest of Bones
One Hex of a Wedding
Holiday Spirits
Bath and Body Series (originally under the name India Ink):
Scent to Her Grave
A Blush With Death
Glossed and Found
Misc. Short Story Collections:
Mist and Shadows: Short Tales From Dark Haunts
Once Upon a Kiss (short story: Princess Charming)
Silver Belles (short story: The Longest Night)
Once Upon a Curse (short story: Bones)
Night Shivers (an Indigo Court novella)
Magickal Nonfiction:
Embracing the Moon
Tarot Journeys
For all other series, as well as upcoming work, see Website
Knight Magic (Otherworld) Page 6