by Cara E Holt
“Ebs.” He says giving me a wide smile that lights up those perfect green eyes of his. He sifts right up to me and lifts me up in his arms. I laugh and wrap my hands around his neck.
“Miss me?”
Lorcen grins. “Of course. I don’t like waking up without you beside me.”
I lean my forehead against his. “Neither do I. Can we go somewhere private? I have a shit-ton to tell you.”
He laughs, he loves it when my northern English way with words surfaces. I sift us both to our castle quarters and as soon as I do he sifts us to the bedroom and assaults my lips with his kisses making me breathless.
“I hate to be the bad guy, but we need to talk first.” I tell him removing my lips from his and putting a finger on his.
Lorcen groans. “The talk can’t wait another half hour or so?”
I grimace and shake my head. “Afraid not.”
He places one last quick kiss on my lips and sets me down on my feet.
“Could you put a top on first though?” I ask him and he looks at me curious. “You’re too distracting like that, all sweaty and hot.”
He laughs and sifts on a top. “Better?”
I smile and shake my head. “No, I prefer the view I had before but yeah, better for talking.”
He chuckles and takes my hand and leads us back through to the living area and he pulls me down on to the sofa beside him.
“So.” I say not knowing quite where to start. I tap my chin and then make a decision and summon Drustan.
Drustan appears seconds later only he isn’t alone, in fact he is astride his unicorn.
“Oops.” I exclaim covering my mouth. I summon the horse back to the stables, leaving Drustan standing there in its place. I blush. “Sorry but it is important.”
Drustan nods. “Just please don’t do it at night when I may be with my mate in bed.”
“Yeah. That would be really awkward.” I agree giving him a shy smile.
“Please sit down. I need to tell you both this.” I rub my hands together trying to decide the order in which I should do this.
“So, as you know I went to see my mother. Well I met her and she was amazing and so beautiful and I can totally see why my father fell for her.” I gush, picturing my beautiful mother in my head. “Anyway, it turns out I’m not an only child.” I pause readying myself for the bombshell I am about to drop. “I have two sisters. We are triplets.”
Both of them seem to take a minute to register what I have just said.
Lorcen looks at me eyes wide in shock and runs a hand through his hair. “Triplets. I have never heard of triplets being born in the fae world.”
Drustan nods at him and turns his eyes back on me. “They do In the Tuatha though. The last triplets were the Morrigan goddesses.”
Drustan doesn’t miss a trick and I can see his mind turning over and putting two and two together.
“You see where I am going with this?” I ask.
“I do.”
“I don’t.” Lorcen pipes up looking from me to Drustan with a confused look on his face.
“The last set of triplets born where the Tuatha goddesses the Morrigan. The triple goddesses. Very powerful.” Drustan wrinkles his brow. “Surely you remember this from your lessons as a child?”
Lorcen nods. “Vaguely. So, what does this have to do with Ebony?”
“I am guessing that as the Morrigan goddesses died some time ago that the birth of Ebony and her sisters means they are the new Morrigan.” Drustan hypothesises and I nod in response to confirm he is right.
“Which means that Ebony and her sisters are very powerful. The Morrigan can influence battles, they were feared and revered.”
I bite my lip. “That’s not all. My sisters were both given up to human families like me. Devlon has found one of them and she is with him now. My other sister is here in America and I need to find her as soon as I can.” I take a quick breath and carry on. “On Halloween when I was in pain and collapsed that was because Devlon was using magic to awaken my sister like he did me. I felt her pain you see because our souls are connected. Oh, also only once all of us are awakened will we have our full powers.”
They both just sit there and look at me speechless.
“Well. Say something!”
“You talk too fast.” Lorcen replies his jaw still agape.
I give him the look, you know the one that says ‘seriously’.
“Give us chance to process.” Lorcen states and he looks at Drustan who sits there looking deep in thought.
“I don’t know too much about the Morrigan. My mother only told me snippets. She did talk about the beauty, the hag and the raven.”
Drustan nods in agreement. “It has always been unclear whether all three sisters could transform into all three of those or whether each one could shape shift into one of those.”
I look aghast. “Well I hope I’m not the hag.”
Lorcen winks. “Even as a hag you’d be beautiful.”
I roll my eyes at him. “You’re biased.”
“Totally.” He grins and for a moment I forget the importance of what I have to tell him and just smile at him.
“The three Morrigan are known as the war furies. The original Morrigan were, Badb, Macha and Anand. All are very beautiful. The old hag story comes from when Anand appeared to her lover in that form. All three can prophesise, all three are fierce warriors. Throughout history the three sisters are depicted as great beauties, one blonde, one dark and one red haired.” He strokes his beard as he talks. “Now Badb was rumoured to be the watcher of the cauldron. Macha legends tell had another worldly horse known as Liath Macha – the grey of Macha. Macha was known to rain showers of fire and blood upon opposing armies.”
Lorcen laughs. “You wouldn’t want to be on the opposing army then.”
Drustan grins leaning back in the chair. “Anand is powerful in sorcery. Legend tells she once turned a woman into water. All three can strike terror into the opposing army while inciting warriors of the favoured side to be heroes. The books I have read do associate Anand as the red haired one but that is debated. Milk from her breasts is said to bring the dead back to life.”
“Oh.” I exclaim.
I ask Drustan the question I have been dying to ask but too afraid too. “Are they evil?”
I had worried enough about whether I was a dark creature with having a demon father and my hideous demon wings but add to this that I am a goddess of war and well it seems to make an evil combination.
“To their enemy they are evil and terrifying. To those they support they are protectors. There are stories that one sister liked to remove the heads of those in the opposing armies, but again it’s just a story and likely untrue.”
“Well I hope you don’t take after Anand. Not sure I’d be okay with any of my army drinking from your breasts.” Lorcen grins teasing me.
“Yeah not sure I would be too.” I agree. “There’s more yet.” I warn them both. I stand on my feet and begin to pace back and forth. “One of my sisters was born with the same soul mark as us.”
I look at Lorcen as I say this and he looks shocked. “Well that explains a lot.”
“It does. I am hoping she is Blaine’s soul match.” I hesitate about saying what I am thinking but the doubt is there in my mind. “What if my sister was meant to be your mate?”
Lorcen shakes his head and it is clear there is no doubt in his mind. “Never. I know who my mate is, as do you. We have both known from the first time we saw each other.”
I give him a warm smile. “We did. I can’t wait to tell Blaine about her.” I admit excitedly. I pick up my pacing again. “My Aunt Fodla had a vision today of my sister who is with Devlon activating the cauldron with her blood.”
“That would explain why Devlon hasn’t tried to take you again or find a way to take your blood.”
I nod in agreement. “Yeah that’s about all of it.”
“Well I think that is enough to deal with for now.” Drust
an stands and looks deep in thought. “I need to go and do some research.”
Lorcen lets out a big sigh and leans his head back on the back of the sofa. “Do you want to head home?”
I sit myself down beside him and rest my head on his shoulder. “No. I need to go and see Blaine first. It is important he knows about my sister. If it’s okay, I’d like to go and see him on my own?”
Lorcen frowns in response but then gives me a smile. “Sure. Maybe now he will stop giving you pining looks and concentrate on his own mate.” He takes my hand in his. “I’d prefer it if you saw him here though, that okay?”
“Yeah that is fine. I’ll summon him here.” I close my eyes and think of Blaine and sure enough a second later he is standing before us looking a bit dazed.
Blaine scratches his head. “Your magic is a little disconcerting at times.”
I grimace at him. “I’m sorry to summon you but I needed to speak to you urgently.”
Lorcen kisses my hand. “That’s my cue to leave. I’ll be in the barn.” He tells me giving Blaine a quick smile before he sifts out.
Blaine looks at me, one eyebrow raised. “He’s leaving you alone with me. Is he feeling okay?”
I laugh. “Yeah he’s fine. Please sit.” I pat the seat next to me and he comes to sit beside me. His blue eyes search mine clearly intrigued as to why I have summoned him. “I met my mother today.”
He grins. “You did? Ebony that is amazing.” He is genuinely pleased for me.
“Uh this is a long tale.” An idea comes in my head then and I hold my hands out palms up. “Hands please.”
He wrinkles his brows in confusion but doesn’t ask and gives me his hands. I close my eyes and will my mind to replay the important events of the last twenty - four hours in Blaine’s mind. He gasps at first when the images fly into his mind’s eye. He sees and hears all that I have, without me having to utter a word, another handy bit of magic I didn’t realise I had.
When the images have finished Blaine opens his eyes and looks at me speechless. His mind still processing everything I have just shown him.
“Wow Ebony!” He removes his hands from mine and stands placing his hands behind his head.
“She has the same mark. This is amazing. She could be my mate.”
I grin so happy to see the hope in his eyes. “I know. It all kind of makes sense now, the four of us all having the same mark.”
“Which sister has the mate mark though? Could it be the one with Devlon?” Concern laces his gorgeous face.
I shrug. “I honestly don’t know. We need to find my other sister first and then I have to find a way to get to my other sister before she opens the cauldron.”
“Of course. When can we go look for her?” His keenness to go find her is sweet and I share his urgency to meet her.
“I was thinking tomorrow?” I suggest to him and he nods smiling.
“I have to go and tell my parents.” He says still wearing that wide grin on his face. He grabs me to him and hugs me tightly. “I’ll come to yours first thing tomorrow.”
I do a little happy dance after he has gone. Telling him that news was a great feeling. I have a quick shower and change my clothes choosing black leather trousers and a more fae type tunic top and make my way down to the barn. I decide to walk rather than sift because well I need to use these legs sometimes.
I enter the barn and it is full of fae soldiers and revelry. I spot Lorcen sat in the middle of a table, deep in conversation with the men around him. He looks so relaxed and at home here. I realise how hard it must be for him to live in my world all the time. I make my way over and the table falls silent as the men around him notice me, they bow their heads.
“Please no formalities.” I tell them. I take the empty spot besides Lorcen and reach for the jug of fae ale. Lorcen looks at me amused. Last time I tried this stuff I coughed and spluttered much to his delight. I fill a mug and hold it between my hands and take a big drink. The last day has taken its toll on my mind, so much to take in and deal with. I shudder slightly at the tangy taste of the ale but manage not to cough.
One of Lorcen’s men opposite me shakes his head smiling. “Pardon me your grace but you are not what we expected for a princess.”
I look at him from over the top of my mug as I take another drink. “Please don’t call me that in here. My name’s Ebony and well I don’t think I am what Lorcen expected either.”
Lorcen chuckles. “You can say that again but I wouldn’t have you any other way. There’s not many a fae woman who would sit in a barn full of men and drink with them.”
I grin. “But I am not most women, am I?”
He wraps and arm around my waist and pulls me onto his lap. “No, you aren’t love.” He claps his hands. “Rheon. Play Black is the colour.”
Upbeat music starts to play from the group of fae soldiers sat in the corner who have guitars and other instruments with them and I lean my head on Lorcen’s shoulder and listen to it. The music has very much an Irish sound to it and well I have always love Irish music. Some of the men stand on the benches they are sitting at and start to sing along and clap to the beat. Lorcen surprises me when he sings the words to me in my ear.
“But black is the colour of my true loves hair
Her face is like some rosy fair,
The prettiest face, the neatest hands,
I love the ground whereon she stands.”
My mate sings beautifully, something I hadn’t known until this moment and his singing to me is pure utter mushy bliss.
I sit silently with a smile on my face as he quietly sings the lyrics in my ear and I realise that here, in this barn with him is one of those moments I will treasure for always and one, that in the coming months I would cling to in those darkest of moments.
Chapter Twenty Three.
We are up early the next morning dressed and ready to go and look for my sister. I was still getting used to the fact that I had two sisters somewhere out there in the world. Would we be identical?
Last night we had returned home and I had relayed all my news to my parents. My Dad had looked worried about the news of the cauldron and had said he would need to alert the watchers council. Noah and Megan had been shocked to learn I had two sisters and Noah had made a joke about how one of me was enough to deal with.
“So where do we start the search for Ebony number two?” Noah asks winking at me.
“Her name is Alana.” I tell him. “As for where we start, my mother told me she left her with a nice family in Camden, Maine. That was over seventeen years ago though, so they may have moved on since then.”
“Well it’s a start.” Blaine says enthusiastically and stands ready and I can tell he is itching to get going. “We can portal over there, split up and start looking around the place.”
Noah chuckles from where he is sitting with his head behind his hands. “Yeah, if we come across a girl who looks just like Ebony with red hair then jackpot!”
Drustan looks at Noah frowning and then turns back to me. “We need to tread gently if we find her. She will not know anything of our world and she likely won’t have awoken yet.”
“True.” I reply nodding. “Won’t she have experienced some flickers of her powers though? Like I did.”
Drustan shrugs his huge shoulders. “Possibly but I think you had flickers of your powers because you were around other fae at school.”
“So, our little red-haired Ebony may have no clue that she is a fae demon goddess who needs to help save the world.” He chuckles his red hair flopping on to his forehead. “That should be an interesting conversation to have. On a plus though I won’t be the only ginger in our little mystery crew anymore.”
Drustan tuts and furrows his brows at Noah. “Do you take anything seriously?”
Noah feigns looking offended. “Of course I do! I take football and planning parties very seriously.”
I tap Lorcen’s arm to get his attention. “How do we explain us all being absent from school fo
r one or however many days this takes?”
“All sorted.” Lorcen winks. “Noah dealt with that problem.”
I groan and look at Noah who sits there smiling, looking very pleased with himself. “Please tell me you didn’t burn it down or something?”
“Would I?!” He asks me grinning, like a cunning imp.
Lorcen pulls me to him and whispers in my ear. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I give him a reassuring smile. I had been a bit tetchy with him last night before bed when he had brought up the subject of my wings and learning to fly. I had argued that I didn’t see the need but he had rightly pointed out that if I was going to face an army of undead fae that I would likely need my wings on the battle field. I had reluctantly agreed he was right and asked if we could deal with one thing at a time and maybe tackle the flying issue after I had found my sister.
A short while later we portal into the town of Camden. We portal into the harbour area and are surrounded by fishing and leisure boats. It’s a mild winter day with the sun trying to break through the clouds.
“So, what’s our plan?” I direct my question at Blaine who had been up most of last night googling the area.
“Well school should be starting in a half hour so I was thinking Noah and Megan could start there. There are new students. She likely goes to the school in the neighbouring town. Ebony and Lorcen, you head to the library and check through the town’s website, newspaper articles etc. Drustan and I are going to go to the police station, with a photo of our missing cousin.” He holds out a photo of me. It seems like a good plan of attack, so we all separate and agree to keep in touch by text. Hopefully between us we will find her before the end of the day.
Lorcen and I head into the local library and find an empty computer to use, however after two hours of search after search we find nothing. I text Blaine to see how they are getting on and he texts back that they had no success at the police station so they are going to have a walk through the main street in town and show my photo to some locals.
Trying to remain optimistic we continue our search. We are searching through a online newspaper when we hit the jackpot.