Ascent: Book 3 of the Scorched Trilogy

by Lizzy Prince

  “Munro. I swear you get more handsome every time I see you.” She pushed Ryan out of the way with a wink and wrapped Munro in a fierce hug. He released my hand for the embrace but picked it right back up when his grandma released him.

  “Thanks, Gran. We should introduce everyone,” he said, looking at the others before his gaze landed on mine. He introduced the others first and left me for last. “And this is Annie. Annie, this is my Gran, Estell.”

  Estell’s laser eyes were focused on me and did not miss one freckle or flyaway hair. But she must have seen the nervous look in my eyes because a huge welcoming grin spread across her face, and she pulled me into her embrace. She was surprisingly strong for someone so little. “Any friend of my grandson is welcome in my home. It’s nice to be meeting you, Annie.”

  “Thank you for letting us come by.” I managed to get some polite words out, but I wasn’t sure how because my whole body had gone numb and was pretty sure I’d floated up out of my body. Munro squeezed my hand, and we followed Estell inside the house.

  The interior of the cottage was as well maintained as the outside, and it had an inviting comfort to it. That had tension releasing from my shoulders. I hadn’t noticed how much they’d crept up until my neck was all scrunched against them. Just inside the door was a staircase that split the entry. To the left, in front of the windows, were two comfortable looking chairs with a small table in between. There were books stacked on the table and a half-finished cup of tea. I imagined Estell sat there often and read or looked out the window at her charming garden. The rest of the room was furnished with a small couch that sat in front of a fireplace that was currently crackling and popping with a fire that was warming the room.

  Estell ushered us into that room and offered to make some tea.

  “That’s alright, gran,” Ryan said. “We should probably talk first.”

  Estell narrowed her eyes at him, as if she couldn’t believe his manners. She finally shook her head and sat down in one of the chairs, reaching for her teacup. “Alright then. As much as I am thrilled to see you both, what is going on?”

  The room felt more confined now that we were squished in various seats and expected to answer questions. I hadn’t been paying much attention when Munro had introduced everyone earlier since I’d been too busy having a mental breakdown. It occurred to me that Estell probably knew who my mother was, but did she know that I was her daughter and Mari her sister? Shit was about to get real.

  Munro sank down in the seat opposite his grandma, and I stood next to him, my hip resting on the arm of the chair. “We found Hattie.”

  Estell’s face barely registered the words. I thought I caught a brief flicker of pain, but she was so quick to mask it that I couldn’t say for certain that was the emotion I’d seen.

  “She’d been looking for Annie’s mother.” Munro’s hand drifted up to rest on my knee, the heat from his palm sinking down through my pants and warming my skin.

  The movement wasn’t missed by Estell, and her eyes searched my face. “Did she find her?”

  I swallowed thickly and nodded, trying to keep my own emotions tamped down and reigned in. “She murdered my parents and came after me. After my magic,” I said simply, putting it all out in the open.

  Pain and sympathy bloomed in her eyes and in the lines of her face as she frowned. Her chin trembled just the slightest before she inhaled deeply and sat up straighter in her chair.

  “What happened after that?”

  “Hattie has been gathering magic so that she can raise Cailleach,” Ryan spoke from behind the couch where he was standing. Estell’s gasp confirmed that she knew who Cailleach was, and I recalled that Munro had said his gran was something of a magical historian despite not having magic in her blood.

  “We have to stop her,” Estell’s voice quavered with emotion, and I dreaded having to tell her what had happened next.

  “It’s too late, Gran,” Munro said. “She resurrected her, and then Cailleach killed Hattie.”

  No one in the room spoke as Estell slowly absorbed that information. Her slim hand covered her mouth before it formed a fist that she pressed against her lips. She looked at Munro, and I saw her eyes waiver with unshed tears that she quickly got a handle on. This was such a fucked-up situation. Here was this woman, learning that the person who’d killed her son was finally dead. And she was forced to have bittersweet feelings about it, because that person was also her grandson’s mother. I knew exactly how she felt, although trying to put a name to this clusterfuck of feelings was sort of like trying to pin down a pissed off chicken. Not particularly something I wanted to do.

  Estell stood abruptly. “I’m going to make some tea. I’m sure there’s much more, but right now I need some tea. And maybe some whiskey.”

  Chapter 9

  Estell hurried across the room and through an arched doorway that must have led into the kitchen.

  “That went well, I think.” Theo said with a grimace causing Lola to smack him on the arm as she shook her head.

  I ignored them and looked down at Munro, placing my hand on exposed skin on the back of his neck. He leaned into the touch, and I wanted to throw my arms around him but didn’t. “Is she okay?” I asked quietly.

  “Yeah, I’m sure she’s just shocked is all.”

  A minute later, Estell came back into the room, holding a glass filled with amber liquid. She must have decided to forgo the tea and just skipped straight to liquor. She took a long sip and didn’t even wince at the booze that must have burned its way down her esophagus.

  “Give me the rest of it.” She blew out a breath and took up her spot next to the window again.

  Ryan nodded and took over, explaining what had happened at the Hill of Tara and how later that night I’d ended up back there and had met with the ghost of Áine. I was amazed that Estell listened to all of the information without even blinking an eye. Although there were a few more long draws on her drink.

  “And now you’re here,” she said as she set her now empty glass down. With as little as she was, I was surprised—and kind of impressed— that she wasn’t hiccupping on the floor.

  “Gran, we need help locating the lia fáil. We hoped you might know something about them or have some books that could help us,” Munro said, leaning forward in his chair as he spoke.

  Estell didn’t respond at first, and I wondered if she might already be drunk because she had a dazed look on her face, but that must have just been her thinking face. Because she shot up and nodded, more to herself than anyone else. “The Complete Druidic History of the Celtic People maybe, or the Book of Runes and Pagan Influences. Hmm.”

  She hustled out of the room and made her way across the hall. Munro got up to follow her, and I trailed after.

  “Her library is on that side of the house,” he said as we walked across the hall to a set of French doors.

  They were open and as we stepped through, I got my first glance at the library. Munro wasn’t kidding when he said the other side of the house was the library. It was literally the entire right side of the house. Floor to ceiling shelves that stretched over each wall were stuffed full of books. Windows broke up the shelves so that natural light poured into the room, but it still felt dark and quiet in the room. There was a peaceful quality in there that might have had something to do with my own love of books and libraries. But I could also sense magic all but humming from some of the books.

  “Can you feel the magic from the books?” I leaned in so I could ask Munro without interrupting his grandma, who was zipping over different shelves, grabbing books, opening them, and then re-shelving them.

  “I can,” Munro said, and there was a note of surprise in his voice. “I’ve never felt that before.” He looked down at me as if I’d given him some kind of gift, and I felt the heat rise to my cheeks in response. His hand snaked around my waist, and he pulled me in close to his side, as if he couldn’t stand to have any space separating us.

  The others were slowly wa
ndering in behind us, and I almost giggled when I saw the look on Butch’s face. His eyes lit up as he took in all of the books, and he reverently touched the tips of his fingers to one book after another. “Estell, your collection is incredible.”

  “Look for Murphy’s Compendium on Early Irish Lore,” she commanded in response like she had no time to waste on praise.

  Butch seemed delighted by the request and immediately began perusing the shelves.

  “Do you want the rest of us to look for anything?” Ryan asked.

  “No. Go away. You’ll only distract me. Go sleep or eat or something. I’ll come get you when I’ve found what I need.” She barked out the order like a woman who didn’t tolerate distractions.

  Ryan offered to show the rest of us around the house and get us settled in the spare rooms. Mari declined, saying she’d help Butch in his search. A bed and a long nap sounded amazing, but I really needed to talk to Munro and tell him what Áine had shared with me about his soul. Connall’s soul. Or whatever. I was too tired to deal with the semantics.

  “Can we go for a walk?” I hooked a finger into the pocket of his hoodie, pulling him closer, although if he hadn't wanted to be moved by my little finger, he wouldn’t have budged.

  “You sure you don’t want to get some sleep?” He curved his thumb around my finger, stroking my skin, warming and soothing me at the same time.

  My eyes flickered close, and I leaned into Munro as he wrapped his arms around me. The move was instinctive on his part, but the comfort of being in his arms tempted me to let his strength hold me up. Because what I really wanted to do was faceplant into a bed. Instead, I sucked in a ragged breath and pried my eyes back open. “After our walk. I need to talk to you first.”

  Ryan took Theo and Lola with him, and we excused ourselves out the back.

  “Will you show me the fairy mounds?” I asked. Remembering how he’d told me about the beautiful swells of hills that his gran had said were caol áit. The supposed thin places. Spots where the veil between our world and fairy was thinner than usual. Or at least, that’s what I’d heard. I’d never seen such a place before.

  Munro leaned down and brushed a kiss over my temple. “Sure, but don’t tell my gran. She’ll tell me I’m not too old to get in trouble.”

  I followed Munro through the woods behind the cottage on a trail that was just barely discernible from the overgrown forest. The trees stretched up so tall and dense that even lacking the leaves of summer, they still blocked out the muted light of the winter day. The forest floor was padded with fallen leaves, and I took a deep breath of the amazing damp smell of earth and grass and leaves. At the hit of recognition, I stopped too quickly and stumbled, nearly tripping over my own feet. Munro turned and looked at me, his brow creased in concern. “Are you okay?”

  This place, the smell of a forest before a rain, I knew that smell. I bit my lip and shook my head, surprise washing over me at my realization. Munro looked more worried the longer I stood there breathing in deeply as I confirmed my suspicion.

  “Annie? What is it?” He strode back to me, clasping my face in his hands to tip my head back so I could look up at him.

  “It’s you,” I said, feeling awed.

  “What? What are you talking about?” Gray eyes crinkled in confusion, making me laugh.

  “Munro. Your magic smells like a forest just before the rain comes. This place, it has that same smell.”

  The confusion disappeared from Munro’s eyes as surprise replaced it. “This is one of my favorite places,” he murmured, his face dipping closer to mine.

  “It feels like you.” I wrapped my hands around his wrists, holding his hands to my face. My eyes flickered down to his lips, and they were a mere inch from mine. “It’s incredible.”

  With those words, Munro closed that last little space between us, lowering his lips to mine, brushing them softly at first but quickly intensifying the pressure and heat. I released his wrists and slid my hands down his arms and trailed them over his stomach. Grasping at the lean muscles of his sides, I felt them flex and tighten beneath my touch. One of his hands delved into my hair while his other pressed against my back, bringing my body flush with his. We were fighting to get closer to one another, and I didn’t know if it was physically possible.

  He parted my lips with his tongue, devouring and enveloping me in a wash of love and desire so strong that the rest of the world disappeared, and there was only the two of us on this Earth. I’d forgotten how to breathe, or it was possible that I didn’t need oxygen to sustain me any longer. I just needed Munro to never stop kissing me. When his lips pulled away from mine, I made a soft sound of protest, but it died quickly when Munro’s lips trailed over my jaw, beneath my ear and left a damp trail down my neck.

  All I could do was sway in his arms and hold tight to his sides to make sure I stayed upright. The spark of our magic was an electric thrum under my skin, and it made everything that much more intense. But it was that tingle of magic that forced reality back into my world. I was so tempted to lay down on the rocky ground and let whatever was going to happen, happen. But there had been a reason I’d brought Munro out here. And it wasn’t to make out.

  Munro’s hands were beneath my shirt, slowly inching up my skin, and I made a pained sound as I took a step back. Munro looked like I’d slapped him. He was so stunned by the abrupt end to our kiss, and I felt a little like a masochist. I was amazed I’d even been able to step away from him.

  “Annie?” His voice was ragged and hoarse.

  I bit my lip and blew out a long breath. “Sorry, Munro. I didn’t mean to… not that I don’t want to… ugh.” I took another deep breath, pressing my hands to my cheeks like that might hold in all of the gibberish that was about to overflow from my mouth. Poor Munro just looked dazed as he stood unmoving, his arms still outstretched from where I’d walked out of them. It would be so easy to take a few steps forward and be right back where I belonged. Focus, geez.

  “I really did need to talk to you about something. Something that Áine told me at the cavern. I didn’t mean to distract us,” I apologized.

  “God, Annie, anytime you want a distraction, I’m down,” Munro practically hummed, his accent thick and lyrical.

  “Oh God. Let’s just go find the fairy mounds.” I sighed in exasperation. Munro laughed and reached out to take my hand, but I pulled it out of reach. Holding it up over my head.

  “Let’s just make it to wherever we’re going before we start touching again,” I said with a hint of teasing in my voice.

  “Probably a good idea.” Munro chuckled and kept his distance, pointing ahead of us. “It’s just over that rise.”

  Keeping enough distance between us to appease an old school nun, we trudged up the little hill. My legs felt like there were concrete blocks tied to my feet. I was beyond exhausted, but I kept my mouth shut and pressed on until we made it to the top. Once there, we looked down on a copse of trees that circled a clearing. It had the greenest grass I’d ever seen, and my heart ached with a familiarity that had nothing to do with having been here before. It was more like a feeling of belonging, of being exactly where I was supposed to be.

  There were a few flowers that littered the roots of the trees, which surprised me because of the cold. It was something out of a fairy tale, and I swore specks of dust twinkled as they floated through a sunbeam. We walked through the trees and into the clearing, and I could feel my connection to the earth amplify. Like I’d gotten a boost of power because my feet were touching the ground here.

  “Whoa,” I whispered. I felt the need to be quiet in this place, like it was consecrated earth and it was disrespectful to speak in anything but low voices.

  “I know, right,” Munro replied, standing at my side, his arm brushing against mine. I figured we’d made it this far, so it was probably okay to touch him again. I curled my fingers around his while the magic of the place hummed as though it was happy to see us. I closed my eyes as I let the feeling soak into me and
fill me with energy and solace.

  I opened my eyes after a few seconds and found Munro smiling down at me. “Do you like it then?”

  “It’s incredible.” My own smile was bright but faded as I thought about what I’d learned from Áine. I needed to tell Munro. He needed to know that a piece of Connall’s soul resided in him. Worry thrummed through me. What if that was the reason he had feelings for me?

  “Munro,” I started, and he stared at me like I was more beautiful than this place. I had his full, unadulterated attention. “There’s something about what Áine told me that I haven’t shared with everyone yet. I wanted to tell you first.”

  His gray eyes grew serious, focused now that all teasing had been set aside. “Okay. What is it?”

  “What they did to Cailleach to put her in the ground, Áine never thought it was permanent. She knew she’d come back some day. When Áine put Cailleach in the ground, she cast another spell. So that when Cailleach was resurrected, part of Áine’s soul would be reborn in order to fight her. But her soul didn’t belong to her. It belonged to the man she loved, Connall, so when she was to be reborn, he would be there as well.”

  Munro’s fingers tightened around mine. I could feel his eyes on me, but I couldn’t meet his gaze. I just continued my explanation while looking at the green grass beneath my feet.

  “She said that I have part of her soul, Munro. It’s why I’ve been having dreams about the two sisters. Why my magic is more powerful than most. Why I can do things that seem out of the ordinary. It’s because I have her magic.”

  My words didn’t have the effect on Munro that I had expected. There was a smile starting to tilt up the corners of his lips, and he shook his head from side-to-side slowly. “It sounds absolutely crazy, but what part of all of this hasn’t been.”

  I exhaled shakily. “That’s not all though. Connall, her love, her soul mate. Part of his soul is in you.” I put it all out there for him to take in.