Bells wanted to engage, even as she scrambled to think of something insightful or clever to say. But she had no idea what to add. Her brainfelt muzzy, her eyes burning and heavy, the sheets between them silky and wide as a wine-dark sea.
‘Sleep, Bells,’ Remi eventually said softly, a fond smile in her eyes. As Remi sang a soft strain of one of her lullabies, sleep pulled through Bells’ limbs. She knew she wouldn’t See death again tonight with her cheek at Remi’s warm, perfumed shoulder.
But she hadn’t mentioned that the death song hadn’t quite left her, either. Perhaps death had latched onto her when she’d done the ritual in Estwood, perhaps the night her mother was killed. Or perhaps it had always been there, thanks to her father’s dark lineage.
Badb, if you can hear me, Bells thought as her eyes dragged closed,show me how to keep them safe. If I could see the future just once before my powers settle, please let me …
A vision threatened, but she was too far gone to See it all, merely glimpsed white walls, an arc of blood, a terrible scream.
And a deepthinginside her that told her the world was ending, and she had to—
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
Nicole
BELLS, REMI AND DYLAN WERE HAVINGBREAKFAST IN THEmain suite when Nicole and Kyan joined them the next morning. They were sitting around the coffee table laden with room service, shadows and sunshine cast over them from the velvet-lined window, drinking their coffees. Dylan had an arm over the back of Remi’s chair and was passing Bells a little sachet of sugar. Nicole’s heart warmed at the sight.
God, she loved them so much.
She and Kyan took seats opposite the others.
‘Morning,’ Remi said, flicking a look at Nicole over the rim of her mocha, eyes scanning and understanding.
She knew how deep the revelation about Nicole’s father would be, and so her gaze softened, eyes twinkling to lighten it. To let Nicole know that they could talk whenever she was ready. Nicole felt herself breathe deeply, a smile teasing her mouth as the message in Remi’s eyes changed.
You also didn’t tell me what happened in Ireland …
They hadn’t had a minute to talk about the more intimate revelations of Nicole’s Irish trip, but with one look, they didn’t need to. Remi silently relished the development with her, but they’d talk. When they had a moment of normality.
‘So,’ Remi said to Nicole and Kyan. ‘You two ready for our adventure today?’
To the Isle of Skye.
‘Yes. We discussed what to do with the torc.’ Nicole glanced at Kyan.
She wouldn’t be able to research much about the Demon Gods. The information would have been censored, or purposefully lost to time. There were no paintings for her to study, either. She’d found one by an artist in the early 1900s, but quickly deduced it to be useless, its stereotypes revealing more about harmful beliefs of the early twentieth century than anything she’d learned of the Fomóiri. It was one of the instances where humans had got the supernatural history they painted wrong, which was most likely why it was also allowed to survive time. No doubt the Wake had burned or stolen any accurate painting of Irish mythology and its divinities.
So she had no paintings.
No reliable source material.
Her father emerged from his room and lingered for a moment.
The only information she had was trapped in his mind, and the only way to get it was to break his oath.
As he came over, she asked, ‘How did you sleep?’
The strange tension bled away. ‘I didn’t,’ he said.
Nicole smiled as he took a seat beside her sister. Dylan passed him a coffee and Bells smiled softly. They still needed to discuss, to know more about what this meant and settle with the new knowledge and hurt at his secret. A secret so huge Nicole still hadn’t wrapped her head around it.
How did you rationalise that kind of information? The knowledge that your family weren’t who you thought they were?Whatyou thought they were? That the glittering, divine myths were alive and painted through your veins?
Regardless of revelations, they were family.
She just hoped they’d be able to break the oaths in time. Or that hidden information her father harboured could never be revealed, no matter how crucial.
Dylan
