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“I can be a trial at times, and my whims are not always pleasant, but you have always been there, to walk by my side.” She held the back of his head, a tender look on her face, and I felt like we should turn away, leave the room—this was a private moment, intimate in a way beyond even sex.
“And always, always shall I be.”
They kissed again, and then Lainule turned to me. She held out her hand. “My stepdaughter, come. You and your cousin.”
I stepped forward again, Rhia beside me. “Lainule, I am so glad to see you are well and healed.” I gazed at her. Something was different, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
“Healed? I suppose you can call it that. Come now, I must be off to rally my warriors. There is to be havoc tonight—I can feel it rising in the air and Myst is behind it.” She paused, looking at me again. “What did you do to yourself? Cicely…the fan…”
I hung my head. “I was facing Myst. I summoned up a hurricane. I became the storm.” And that’s when I realized that’s exactly what had happened. I hadn’t been caught up by the hurricane, I had become the hurricane. I had carried the winds with me as I moved. I turned to her. “That’s why you warned me about the fan—why you had Ulean warn me?”
She smiled faintly, the aloof reserved nature creeping back. “Yes. Once the fan masters you, you will be forever ridden by the Element. You now belong to the air, my young one. It is good your Cambyra nature is Uwilahsidhe—the owl.”
“What would happen if I’d had something where its primary element was earth?”
“You would be soil-bound, tied forever to the earth, unable to fly. You would be hobbled when in owl form. As it is, you have enhanced your natural abilities, but the price is a great one. However, you have paid a far greater price by restoring me. Do not think I will forget your deed.”
I wanted to ask just what price I’d paid, but before I could, Lainule turned to Rhiannon. “By your births, you and Cicely are tied to each other’s fate. Your life is about to shift, my dear, in ways you could never imagine. But there will be time enough for that later. I must be away, to round up my Summer Guardians. Quickly, tell me what is happening. I can feel the shift on the slipstream.”
And so, a thousand questions whirling in the back of my mind, I forced myself to push them away as we told her about Lannan, Geoffrey, and the rumble we expected that evening.
Lainule dismissed us but bade us stay within the realm for a while longer. “I will have news for you. Go and rest for a moment.”
Wrath stayed with her, while Rhiannon, Grieve, Chatter, and I left the barrow. The leaves on the trees were no longer fading—I could feel the shift, but they hadn’t regained their color as I’d expected.
“I want to go flying while we’re here.” The feel of the sun on my skin made me long to shed my clothes and soar into the sky.
“Aren’t you tired?” Rhia wrapped her arm around my waist as we sat on a stone bench outside the barrow. The cobblestone seat was engraved with runes and swirls, with delicate chips of peridot and garnet caught in the mortar holding together the smooth, rounded pebbles. I traced the stones with my fingers, listening to the zing of magic that raced up my hands.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, letting the sun stream on my face. “Exhausted of this battle? Yes. Tired? No. But I want to fly. I need to stretch my wings.”
“Then do so.” Grieve leaned over me, looking strangely out of place. “Fly free, my love. Take it on the wing.”
I glanced around. “Would anybody mind?”
“Go ahead. It will be all right. And we are safe here.”
I stood, shedding my clothes. I was beginning to feel less self-conscious about the process, and nakedness was starting to be commonplace with me. Rhia watched, a smile playing on her lips.
“I’ve never really seen you change. We’ve always been in battle, or you’ve shifted before I came on the scene, or something or other. Now I get to watch what happens. Does it hurt?” she asked.
I shrugged. “A little. More so when it’s cold, but that’s one of the downsides. It’s like…shedding your skin. Putting on a new mask for the night. Or, rather, taking off a mask.” I wasn’t sure exactly whether the owl form was my natural form, or the two-legged Cambyra/magic-born, but right now I didn’t care.
I stepped away from the bench and looked for a tree. The oak nearby would do. Nimbly, I swung up, caught the lowest branch, and climbed up the bark face, ignoring the abrasions it caused my knees and feet. After a few minutes, I was high enough to edge out on a thick limb—carefully, considering it was between my legs. I did not need a set of pussy slivers to deal with.
Cautiously, I held on to the trunk as I stood, balancing on the branch, bending slightly to keep several of the higher branches from knocking me off. The ground was a dizzying distance below, but it didn’t bother me. Instead, I clutched my moonstone pendant and closed my eyes, feeling the power grow. Then, with one long deep breath, I spread my arms and toppled forward.
The rush of air whistled around me as I fell. The rush of plummeting to the ground sent me into a delighted giggle as I began to transform. Arms to wing, torso to body, nails to talons—and then I soared. The updraft carried me aloft, and I realized I could hear laughter in the wind around me.
Ulean? Is that you laughing?
No, but I am here.
Who did I hear?
The wind spirits. Sylphan ones. They are playing in the currents and they dance now around you. They want to play.
How do they play?
