Soul Surrender (The Soul Mark Series Book 3)

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Soul Surrender (The Soul Mark Series Book 3) Page 18

by Cara E Holt


  “Fodla foresaw your arrival and had all of us gather to welcome you.” My mother tells us quietly as we stand before this room of divine beings.

  “Welcome back blood of mine.” Lugh greets me briefly before his eyes fall on the three strangers stood beside me. “You have brought your sister home to us?”

  I nod. “I have. This is Alana.” I push her forward slightly and wide-eyed she looks at Lugh. He is a formidable being. His presence oozes power and magic.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you Alana. Now that you are reunited I hope my mate will have eased some of the ache in her heart that your absence left.”

  Alana offers him a shy smile. “I am so happy to be here and to finally meet my family.”

  Lugh strokes his black beard as his shrewd eyes assess Lorcen and Blaine. As fierce as our mates are, they both shuffle uncomfortably under his gaze.

  “The two royal fae princes.”

  Both Lorcen and Blaine bow their heads in a sign of respect. It must feel so strange to them to be meeting the gods they read about as children.

  Lugh gestures to his right where my great aunt Fodla sits. “Let’s get introductions done then my mate can whisk her daughters away for some quality time.”

  Fodla sits in her seat, looking every inch the beautiful goddess she is. Her red hair is plaited with gold ribbon weaved through her hair. Smiling she greets Alana.

  “Alana my blood. Welcome. I am fodla and goddess of foresight.”

  Next is another bearded fierce looking male god. His long black hair fans his shoulders. Along his large biceps are strange celtic like tattoos.

  “Child. I am Tethur. God of the moon and harvest.”

  We continue around the room until Alana has been introduced to each one of her Tuatha family. Banba our grandmother is last. She stands from her seat and her white muslin gown falls to her feet. She comes over to Alana and kisses both her cheeks, a warm and inviting smile on her lips.

  “My Granddaughter. At last we meet.” She takes a piece of my sister’s hair in her hands and examines it. “You share the same fiery colour as my sister Fodla.”

  Banba then turns her attention to me, cupping my face. “My raven beauty. It is good to see you again.” Her eyes fall behind me on my mate. “No wonder you were anxious to get home my child. Welcome Lorcen and Blaine to our family.”

  Banba leans into my ear. “I know you have come to seek knowledge. You and I will talk later, yes?”

  “Okay.” My mother claps her hands together and looks in excitement at Alana. “I want some time with my daughters. Mother would you take the boys on a tour of our home?”

  Banba grins. “Come on boys.” She gestures to them and links her arms through theirs, so that she has one on each arm. “I could get used to this. Two strapping royal princes on my arms.” With a wink she whisks them off towards the exit.

  “Now, let’s go have tea.” My mother says as she leads us out of an opposite door to the one the boys exited from.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.

  We are sat at a small marble table in what I can only describe as a garden that looks like it has come from the great legends of Babylon. Every colour of flower blooms here. Green lush trees border the area we sit in and all manner of birds fly in and out of them.

  “So tell me, how are you adjusting to your new life Alana?” Mum asks as she pours us both a fresh cup of tea.

  “It has been a lot to take in, that’s for sure, but I have had Ebony to help me adjust and to answer my constant questions.” Alana smiles at me and I squeeze her hand.

  Our mother watches the gesture and her mouth kicks up into a smile. “I can see the bond you two share already.” Her smile drops away. “I only wish your sister were with you both. I fear for her.”

  I reach out and put my hand over my mums. “We will have her with us, one day. I don’t know how, but I feel it inside. One day the three of us will be together.”

  I am pleased to see the look of pain ease as she offers me a hopeful smile. “I am sure you are right.”

  Alana puts down her cup and swallows. “I have something I need to ask you. Well, I am sure you aren’t aware but next weekend Blaine and I are to have our mate bounding ceremony. I was, well...I was wondering, and if you can’t then that is fine, but I was thinking you might like to come, to the ceremony.”

  My mother puts a hand over Alana’s to stop her from rubbing them nervously. “Child I would love to come but I will have to speak with the others. We haven’t left this realm since we formed it.”

  Alana nods her head but she looks hopeful.

  “Maybe now is the time for you to step out of the shadows. I am sure the fae would welcome the presence of their gods again. Times have changed.” I suggest. I understood why the gods retreated from their own people, but that was so long ago. I did honestly believe that the fae folk were ready to have their own gods back in their hearts. They had seen the slow but gradual effect the retreat of the gods had on the fae lands.

  Ernmas inclines her head in agreement. “I am hopeful that is the case.”

  “Having a good catch up?” I nearly drop my cup when Banba sifts in beside me.”I have come to whisk this one away for a while if that is okay?” She gestures her head towards me.

  “Of course. It will give Alana and I some time alone to get to know each other.”

  “Excellent.” Banba waits for me to stand and then taking my hand in hers we sift into the great room of paintings that I remember so vividly from my first visit here. The room had fascinated me the first time I had seen it. Every wall is painted with scenes from the Tuatha history, right from when Danu created the first fae folk. Even the ceiling is adorned with images of my families history. My eyes find the triple goddesses and I find myself moving to where they are painted. I run a hand gently over the three, stood together. The raven haired sister stands central, with her blonde haired sister stood to her right and the red haired to her left. Painted on all their foreheads is a celtic symbol.

  “What does the symbol mean?”

  “It is a triskelion. Three interlocked spirals. It represents the three sisters. The three phases of life.”

  I nod, as I take in every detail of their paintings. “What was she like?”

  “She was fierce. She had such passion and fire in her belly. She was fearless.” Banba stares up at the painting of her sister with a nostalgic look on her face.

  “Why was she known as the nightmare queen? Was she evil?”

  Banba shakes her head with force. “No she was not evil. Imagine the stories that come from soldiers who had seen her during battle. A raven haired beauty who wielded a sword with such skill. One whose magic could incite fear into the opposition. Her black wings that would release ravens to attack the opposition. To the enemy soldiers that survived she was a nightmare. To the soldiers who she fought alongside, she was a warrior, a saviour.”

  I frown, deep in thought. “I guess I can see why they call her that now. What about her gifts, what could she do?”

  Banba sighs.”What could she not do?” She cackles. “She once turned a woman to water. She was not someone you would want to cross or make an enemy of. She was the watcher of the cauldron, hence why she was also known as the queen of death. She was also a great seer.”

  “Tell me about the other two.” I ask, eager to learn more.

  Banba grins. “Now my sister Macha, she got a little crazy in battle. She loved a good war. She was the one who would collect the severed heads of soldiers who fell in battle.”

  I blink, shocked. “Those stories are true?”

  Banba gives me and amused smile. “Oh yes. You should have seen her astride her great horse Liath Macha, she was a force to be reckoned with.”

  I look closer at Macha, the fiery red-head astride her great horse. Red tears fall from her eyes.

  “Are those tears of blood?”

  Banba bobs her head. “Prophetic tears.”

  “And her?” I ask finally pointed to the blonde ha
ired sister, who stands with a crow perched on her shoulder with her left breast exposed from her dress.

  “Badb. She could shift into a crow. The milk from her breast would heal injured soldiers. Her screams would cause panic and fear in enemy soldiers.”

  “Are we the three then. Am I Anand because of my raven hair, Alana – Macha and Leora is Badb?”

  My grandmother shrugs her shoulders. “It would make sense but I cannot say for certain.”

  I release a deep sigh. “I do not feel I can live up to her name. I am no fierce warrior.”

  Banba puts an arm around my shoulder and squeezes it. “When required my dear, you will be everything you are destined to be and more. The history books will write great things about you, that I am certain.”

  I chew on my lip. “Let’s hope you are right.” A temple in the picture behind the Morrigan catches my attention. “Is that a temple?”

  “Yes. That is the temple of Morrigu. It stood in the Everlasting city. It was where fae went to worship and make offerings during times of war to the three sisters.”

  Lorcen had told me about the Everlasting city. Before the fae war and the separation of the lands into the two courts, it was once one great realm, ruled over by one king.”

  The door to the room opens, breaking my attention away from the temple in the painting.

  Fodla steps inside and comes to stand beside us.

  “I thought I might find you in here.” She looks up at the painting of her three sisters. “Ah, I miss them terribly.” She pulls her eyes away from the painting to rest on mine. “Are you ready for what is to come, my child?”

  I shrug. “I have no choice. I will have to be. I have visions you know, but they make no sense to me.”

  Fodla nods. “You have the gift of sight. Do not ignore the visions. Write them down, it helps to remember what you saw.”

  I hadn’t thought of doing that but it was a good idea and something I would do next time a vision came to me.

  “She’s pregnant you know, with his child?”

  Fodla frowns. “I know. I have foreseen the child. The girl who will bear the weight of heaven on her shoulders.”

  “A girl?” I blink in surprise.

  “A girl. With eyes as green as her fathers. Rihani.”

  “Rihani.” I repeat. The name of my Niece who was yet to be born into this world. My eyes then notice a section of the painted wall that I don’t remember being there last time. I walk towards it in order to get a better look and hear Banba and Fodla follow behind me. I am stunned when I see what is painted.

  “Is that..?”

  “You.” Banba says smiling at my shock.

  I look closer and see the image of my awakening painted on the wall before me. Next to it is an image of Lorcen and I with our wrists held together as the priestess bonds us. I move along fascinated and stop at an image of myself and Alana stood facing each other holding hands.

  “The room magically expands when a new story is to be recorded and told. Only stories of importance grace these walls. This section is where you and your sister’s stories will be recorded.”

  “Wow.” I exclaim. It was remarkable to think I would be painted on these walls amongst these great gods and their legendary histories.

  Banba takes my hand in hers. “Come. We have a party to get ready for. Tonight we welcome you all into the family officially.”

  When Banba says a party she wasn’t joking. It appears like the whole realm and its inhabitants have come to welcome us. The party takes place in a huge glass domed building, with the night sky above it. My mother created a dress for me of purple silk that hangs from one shoulder, a style the goddesses seemed to wear here in this realm. Alana was dressed in a similar dress but hers was a deep green colour.

  “Partying with gods.” Lorcen says with a chuckle, as we sit and watch the festivities. “I feel I should pinch myself and check if this is real.”

  I laugh. “It is pretty strange.”

  Alana is on the dance floor being twirled around by our eldest half-brother Miach.

  “Lorc. The city of Everlasting. Does it still stand?”

  He nods as he takes a sip of his drink. “It does. It is mainly ruins now as it has stood empty for centuries. Why do you ask?”

  I gesture with my head towards my grandmother who is dancing with Blaine. “My grandmother told me of a temple to the triple goddesses. I’d like to go and see if it still stands.”

  Lorcen takes my hand in his and kisses it. “Then we shall go love. Are you missing our relic hunting days with Drustan?”

  “Maybe.” I tell him chuckling. “I don’t know. I just feel it’s somewhere I need to go visit.”

  We portal onto a hilltop that basks in the low sun. We were here at the ancient city of Everlasting. The original capital of the fae realm. It is winter here. Here the four seasons exist, much as they do in the human realm. The air is so silent here, there is only the sound of the wind. Looking down on the abandoned city is like looking at a place that time forgot. What once would have been a spectacular and grand castle stands in the centre, surrounded by a now empty town. The turrets of the castle are broken and a pale colour of gold, hints at the grand colour the turrets once were.

  We sift to the entrance to the village. The eerie silence makes me shiver. The walls of ancient black and white houses are covered in filth and moss. We pass by an old well. The wooden pail still hangs from its roof.

  “This place gives me the creeps.” Alana says with a shudder as she rubs her arms.

  I glance around at our surroundings. This place was thick with forgotten magic. Something was drawing me in.

  “Do you feel it?” I ask Alana, “That pull?”

  She nods, brow furrowed looking ahead. “I feel it. It’s that way?”

  We walk ahead. Past all the empty houses and shops, most of which now have no roof’s or windows. We walk past one shop that clearly once sold shoes. One pair of solitary black boots sit in the shop window. We keep walking until we reach the bottom of a small hill. There on the hilltop stands a derelict, large domed building. Two great pillars stand either side of the entrance. Above the great entry way are words carved into the stone, they are covered by overgrown vines. I call upon my earth magic and make the vines retreat.

  “The temple of the Morrigu.” Alana reads out aloud.

  Blaine pushes the two old worn doors open and allows myself and Alana to enter first. Inside the domed ceiling stretches up, high above us. Windows that I imagine were once graced with beautiful stained glass now sit empty. Steps lead up to a raised area, where a pool sunk into the floor sits. The water is now murky and smells. Leading on further steps lead to an area with stone benches and in front of this in the centre of this once great space is a statue. A statue carved from what looks like marble, is of the three goddesses. Somehow time has not worn away the paint on the statues. Anand stands centre, with a mighty sword in her hand that I immediately recognise to be the sword of Nuada. Babd and Macha stand facing sideways on each side of her. Drawn to the statue of my ancestor, I walk towards it. I climb over the now rusty small metal fence that encloses the statue and stand face-to-face with my ancestor the raven-haired nightmare queen. Reaching out I touch her marble cheek and gasp when a gust of air passes through me. It is a statue no longer. There in the flesh stands my ancestor.

  “Anand.” I whisper, in complete shock and awe.

  “My blood. At last we meet.” She smiles down at me. Her grey eyes hold mine and I am mesmerised.

  “I thought you were dead?”

  She smiles again. “I am my child. But my spirits resides in the land of fallen gods. I am glad you came here. This temple will strengthen your magic. You must rise to your name now my blood. You were born for this purpose. The dark and the light, in birth and in death. You are all that is in-between and all that is left. The dawn and the dusk, the spring and the autumn. The Morrigan shall rise and shall never be forgotten.” She reaches out and touches my forehead an
d a blast of power and heat hits me and I am pushed backwards onto my bottom. When I look up, nothing but a marble statue stands before me.

  “Are you okay?” Lorcen asks, offering me a hand up.

  Standing, I brush off my now dusty trousers. Lorcen’s eyes widen as he looks at me.

  “Huh love, I don’t like to tell you this but you have a triskelion on your forehead.”

  I touch my forehead and feel where Anand had touched me. “It was real.” I whisper looking up in fascination at the now still marble statue. I can’t explain it, but somehow I feel stronger. Like when she placed that symbol on my head she passed some of her power to me. I turn to Alana.

  “Go to Macha, touch her statue.” I tell her, realising this is why we were here. We were being blessed by our ancestors.

  Alana looks uncertain. “Why? What just happened? Why do you have that symbol on your forehead?”

  I stalk over to her and taking her hand, lead her forward until she is stood just before the statue.

  “Trust me please.” I beg.

  With a roll of her eyes and a look that tells me she is not wholly happy at doing this Alana climbs over the barrier and tentatively touches the statue of Macha. Her eyes glaze over slightly once she makes contact and I whip out a hand to stop Blaine going to her.

  “Don’t.” I warn him. “She is okay, I promise.”

  Blaine glares unhappily at me but stands back, arms folded, his eyes not leaving his mates. For what is only a minute but seems to feel like longer, we all stand and watch as Alana’s glazed eyes stare into those of the statue of Macha.

  “Fuck.” Alana exclaims as she is thrown backwards and lands with a thump on her backside. She rubs at her head. “I have it too don’t I?”

 

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