She bowed her head to the Unicorn Guardian amid a round of applause.
He surveyed the crowd. “Kessa, Yasqu, and Tarom, will you please come forward.”
Tarom helped Kessa navigate the steps to the platform. They took positions in front of Yasqu.
The Unicorn faced the trio, his horn glowing with spirals of white aura. “From the powers of the Guardians of Earth, Fire, and Water, I appoint Kessa to be the Imperial Seer. She will now be addressed as Seer Kessa.” He touched his horn to the top of one of her shoulders, then the other. His aura momentarily engulfed the girl. “I appoint Tarom to the position of Imperial Alchemist. He will now officially be addressed as Sire Tarom.” The Guardian repeated his gesture of appointment. “And, it warms my heart to bring the Alliance a new Guardian of Air. Please now address Yasqu as Imperial Dragon.”
Yasqu lowered his head for the Unicorn to bestow the transmission.
Caps, kerchiefs, and scarves floated into the air already alive with hundreds of meadow faeries. Cheers mixed with the music of meadow blossoms and opening buds from surrounding trees.
A few moments later, the Unicorn boomed, “Silence please. There is one more appointment. Head Keeper Ivri, please come to the platform.”
When she arrived, she climbed onto his back and waved her short arms. Her white hair mingled with the Unicorn’s aura, which threatened to overtake her three-foot height.
“Excuse my excitement. I’ll try to contain my aura,” he assured her.
“My fellow residents of Silva Caliga who are present, as well as the fine folk from the Alliance, Aria, and Terza, please join us…” Ivri stammered and her words ran together. “Excuse me. I’m not as good a speaker as the Unicorn. By unanimous decision and much love, we circutamina would be honored if Raylene would accept the position of our Lady of the Forest. Lady Raylene, please join me.”
Raylene jumped up and down and clamped her hands to her heart, then her mouth. She scurried onto the platform and hugged Ivri. “I’m overwhelmed! I didn’t expect this.” She paused for a breath and nodded vigorously. “Yes. I accept and would be honored to serve Silva Caliga as Lady of the Forest.”
Everyone applauded, but the keepers cheered louder than seemed possible for their tiny bodies.
The Unicorn retook the speaker’s position. “Let all who wish to join Scribe Lyra and Sire Drake as they exchange nuptial vows, please now take the short path to the Crossroads.”
Vickie ran onto the platform to congratulate her cousin.
Tarom transported Kessa and the two cousins.
Cullen swept Lyra away in his blue vapor and, seconds later, they appeared next to Cranewort’s massive trunk.
The ancient tree bent his face toward them and garlands of white and blue flowers with golden leaves swung from his branches. “Mimio, Vickie, and Kessa put me up to this. Oh, and that ghost-witch, Draora. She whipped around me so much hanging those flowers, I got dizzy. Quite a dear, old lady.”
Lyra’s eyes opened wide as she looked through his branches that covered a span of more than two hundred feet. Cooing white doves roosted among the garlands. Stubs of Cranewort’s roots had been raised into hundreds of seats at the perimeter of his canopy. She blinked back moisture from her eyes, not wanting to spoil her make-up. “It’s beautiful. Thank you, Cranewort.” She hugged his trunk, then eyeballed Cullen. “You’re the only one who can read my mind. Did you tip off Mimio?”
Cullen grinned but gave no reply, only offered her his arm.
She kissed his cheek and accepted with a smile. “It‘s a wonderful surprise. Thank you.”
Draora sailed in with Kenzo and Noba not far behind. The three perched on low branches.
The Guardians appeared, transporting special guests. The king and queen of Aria accepted front row seats on Cranewort’s raised roots.
Villagers and visitors spilled in, so many that hundreds stood behind the seating area.
Mimio conjured a bouquet of white and blue flowers, scurried to the center, and handed it to Lyra. She paused to exchange a hug, then carefully lowered the bride’s veil.
When all appeared situated, the Tortoise ambled to Cranewort’s trunk. “As the eldest Guardian, I will officiate the union of Scribe Lyra and Sire Drake.” He nodded to the couple. “Lyra, please stand on my left and Cullen, on my right. Please join hands and face each other.” He cleared his throat. “Lyra, repeat after me—I, Lyra McCauley, take you, Cullen Drake,” he paused for her to repeat, then continued, “to be my husband, my constant friend, my faithful partner, and my beloved from this day forward.”
Lyra smiled through each word she recited.
He led Cullen through the same vow to Lyra. Once completed, the Guardian addressed Cullen. “Please seal the union with a ring and kiss.”
From an inner pocket of his cloak, Cullen withdrew a ring Lyra had never seen before. “With this ring that belonged to my mother and her mother, I seal our union.” He slipped a sapphire flanked by two diamonds onto her finger, lifted the veil covering her face, and gently kissed her lips.
The Guardian faced the crowd. “Please welcome this newly joined couple into our community.”
Cheers and applause drifted through the gatekeeper’s branches, awakening the garland flowers to ring like tinkling bells.
Lyra squeezed Cullen’s hand, hoping he read her mind and understood her wish.
His fingers gently tightened around hers, and he gave her a nod, his eyes twinkling and shiny with moisture.
“There is one last more special moment Lyra and I want to share with all of you,” his voice rang loud over the heads of the entire gathering. “It is with much love in our hearts, we wish to announce our adoption of Seer Kessa whose family was killed in the war.”
Lyra’s heart thumped in her chest as she leaned down and opened her arms to the girl. What if Kessa didn’t want to be their daughter? Her gaze met Kessa’s.
The girl stood frozen, bewildered.
Voices hushed, eyes on the young seer.
Finally, a flash of recognition swept over Kessa, and she ran as fast as her braces would allow into Lyra’s and Cullen’s open arms.
The Tortoise sighed. “From my position as Guardian of Water, unless anyone here objects, I grant this adoption of Seer Kessa as the daughter of this couple, Sire Drake and Scribe Lyra.” He held up a hand to signal the crowd to wait for objection. After a few seconds passed in silence, he lowered his arm and a smile spread across his craggy face. “Lyra, when you accepted the role of the Scribe, you came to us with a heavy heart, wanting family. Today, you have saved the Alliance and created a new family.”
With one arm linked in Cullen’s and the other around Kessa’s shoulder, she lifted her voice to those gathered. “I am grateful to have found a very special family with all of you.”
*** The End ***
Back to series contents
Dear Reader,
Thank you so very much for joining me on Lyra’s journey. In creating this box set, I recalled how much these characters meant to me and how they still live on in my heart. I’m glad you came along to share the magic!
I’d very much appreciate if you’d help spread the word and post a review on Amazon, Goodreads, blogs, or wherever you like to talk about books.
I love to hear from readers. At my website MarshaAMoore.com you can contact me, read my blog, and find my social media connections. To be notified about my new releases, exclusive prizes and giveaways just for subscribers, and best of all, opportunities to receive advance copies of my newest books in exchange for honest reviews, sign up for my newsletter. As a thank you gift for subscribing, you’ll receive my paranormal romance short story, Ruler of the Night.
—Marsha
More novels and stories by Marsha A. Moore
For details and excerpts please visit
MarshaAMoore.com
COON HOLLOW COVEN TALES
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series description:
The series is abou
t a coven of witches in a fictitious southern Indiana community, south of Bloomington, the neck of the woods where I spent my favorite childhood years surrounded by the love of a big family. The books are rich with a warm Hoosier down-home feel. There are interesting interactions between coven members and locals from the nearby small town of Bentbone. If magic wasn’t enough of a difference between the two groups, the coven folk adhere to the 1930s lifestyle that existed when the coven formed.
Witch’s Moonstone Locket: A Coon Hollow Coven (Book 1)
Twenty-three-year-old Jancie Sadler was out of the room when her mother died, and her heart still longs for their lost goodbye. Aching to ease her sorrow, Aunt Starla gives Jancie a diary that changes her entire life. In entries from the 1930s, her great grandmother revealed how she coped with her own painful loss by seeking out a witch from nearby Coon Hollow Coven. The witch wore the griever’s moonstone locket, which allowed whoever could unlock its enchantment to talk with the dead.
Determined to find that locket, Jancie goes to the coven’s annual carnival held in her small southern Indiana town of Bentbone. This opposes her father’s strict rule: stay away from witches. But she’s an adult now and can make her own decisions. She meets Rowe McCoy, the kind and handsome witch who wears the moonstone. He agrees to let her try to open the locket, but they’re opposed by High Priestess Adara and her jealous desire to possess him. Desperate for closure with her mother, Jancie persists and cannot turn away from a perilous path filled with magic, romance, and danger.
Witch’s Cursed Cabin: A Coon Hollow Coven (Book 2)
Eager to be on her own away from home, twenty-year-old Aggie Anders accepts a relative’s invitation to live in Coon Hollow Coven. Although she’s a witch from a different coven, what locals say about the Hollow confuses her. How can witchcraft there live and breathe through souls of the dead?
Aggie’s new residence in this strange southern Indiana world is a deserted homestead cabin. The property’s carriage house serves as the coven’s haunted Halloween fundraiser. It’s a great opportunity for her to make new friends, especially with the coven’s sexy new High Priest Logan.
But living in the homestead also brings Aggie enemies. Outsiders aren’t welcome. A cantankerous, old neighbor tries to frighten her off by warning her that the homestead is cursed. Local witches who practice black magic attempt to use their evil to drive Aggie away and rid their coven of her unusual powers as a sun witch.
Determined to stay and fit in, Aggie discovers not only that the cabin is cursed, but she alone is destined to break the curse before moonrise on Samhain. If she fails, neither the living nor the dead will be safe.
Blood Ice & Oak Moon: A Coon Hollow Coven Tale (Book 3)
Esme Underhill is about to discover a darkness hidden inside her that could destroy her chance for independence and possibly kill her.
Esme’s mother took her young daughter away from Southern Indiana’s Coon Hollow Coven to prevent her from learning about the unusual witchcraft she had inherited. When Esme is twenty-seven, her beloved Grammy Flora passes away and leaves her property in the Hollow to her granddaughter. With this opportunity to remake her life and gain independence, Esme attempts to emulate Grammy Flora as a wildwood mystic who relies on the hedge world of faeries to locate healing herbs. But fae are shrewd traders. When they open their world to her, she must meet the unknown malevolence of her birthright.
Thayne, the handsome king of the fae Winter Court, faces his own struggle to establish autonomy as a new regent. He is swept into the tempest of Esme’s unfolding powers, a dangerous threat to his court. His sworn duty is to protect his people, despite Esme’s beauty and allure, which tear at his resolve.
Both Esme’s and Thayne’s dreams of personal freedom are lost…unless they can trust each other and overcome surmounting dangers.
SHADOWS OF SERENITY
Genre: Women’s fiction mystery/Magical realism
Joyce Runsey spends her life savings to open a yoga studio in an historic Victorian St Augustine house, only to discover the property is haunted. A female ghost’s abusive and very much alive husband still tortures her by using dark witchcraft. The disruptive energy thwarts Joyce’s ambition to create a special environment to train students to become yoga teachers.
Joyce engages in a deadly battle with not only the tormented spirit, but also the dangerous husband. To protect her students from harm, she must overcome mounting obstacles. An unknown swami pays an unexpected visit to give advice on how to free the anguished ghost. Can Joyce comprehend and follow the wise man’s guidance in time to save everyone who depends on her?
Short Stories:
Le Cirque De Magie
Sea Glass and Sand Memories
Back to series contents
Enchanted Bookstore Legends (5-book complete epic fantasy romance box set) Page 129