Page 36 of Birthright

I stood again. “If I leave her alive, her treachery will endanger the Kith and humans. Her death will weaken the Gremlins and ensure the Slaugh have no favor with the council.”

She turned to me finally, but I couldn’t read her face. “Then so be it, my niece. It is set.” She bowed to me and took her leave, off to find my sister, no doubt.

Manus slammed his fist into the wall after Doran left. Plaster fell to the floor in a cloud of crumbled powder and dust, and he cursed Feldema’s title. Tynan was still standing, flabbergasted, at my side.

I went to Manus first. “Do you doubt me?” I asked sternly. “I have no choice, Manus, and I need your confidence now.”

“I’m afraid for you. Feldema has always done whatever she wishes, with no regard for rules or honor…”

I tried to get him to look me in the eyes. He wouldn’t. “Manus, you’ve pushed me when I’ve needed it, scolded me, even spoiled me. Now, I need you to support me. I need your faith. I need your bravery and your wisdom. Speak your fears.”

“I fear the prophecy is wrong.”

Bevin flew at him, gripping his arms tightly. “Wrong, Manus! How could it be wrong?”

“It’s old, passed down. It could be as wrong as any other!” he snapped back at her.

She was up on her toes, her wrinkled face so close to his she could have kissed him. “You chose to give your oath to Keena and her mother. If you haven’t the stomach to be a guardian to a priestess, then say so. And if you have truly lost faith in the prophecy we’ve held as hope for our people, then take your leave!”

Manus cringed at her seething words. “I can’t watch her die,” he said softly. “I have faith, Bevin, but I… The fate of many rests with Keena and the training we’ve given her. What if I’ve failed her? I fear⁠—”

“You have failed nothing, Shifter.” She called him by his species name to pinch at his pride. “You have helped to sculpt a fierce Witch warrior and she will prevail. She will claim her birthright.”

“Manus.” I pulled his shoulders until he had no choice but to look at me. “I will take Feldema down. I need you. You’re the heart of my strength. Without your faith, that heart beats no more—and I will fail.”

His face tightened at the thought. “I have faith. Forgive me. I just can’t bear the thought of losing you.” He looked at Tynan.

The hulking Greek soldier looked equally worried. I realized that the implications were even graver for him than for Manus. I couldn’t bear the anxiety in his face. I hated everything about my new life at that moment. Mostly, I hated Feldema. “I’m going to my chambers,” I said and took Tynan’s hand. “Manus, please have Hogan leave me alone tonight.” I was still caught up in the formality that Doran always brought out in me. My language was abrupt and stern.

He nodded and ran his hand through his hair. “Keena, I only meant I would be devastated for death to come to you. I meant no lack of commitment.”

I kissed him on the lips and left with a glance to Bevin.

Once back in my room, I got into the bath by myself, sat there and cried softly for Abbey, my mind imagining everything she might be enduring. I wept over the changes I’d experienced in the last few months. Had it really only been that long? I remembered my human life and how slowly time seemed to pass. Maybe that’s why I would live so long, because things moved faster here. Maybe Witches needed a couple of hundred years to live the equivalent of one normal human life.

In this world, joy came as quick as a clap of thunder and pain swooped down like a lightning bolt. Only this morning I believed I could become the leader that Doran and Manus believed me to be. Now I didn’t know. I’d been stupid. Again. I’d risked my friend’s life without thinking. I hadn’t seen the depth of evil my sister held in her heart—and I took Abbey right to her.

I’d taken too many risks with those around me. Tynan was bound to me and would be miserable when I died, be it in the final showdown with the evil half-sister or two centuries from now of old age. Either way, I had allowed him to sacrifice what was left of his soul to me, and I cried for him, too.

I pulled my knees to my chest and stared into the water. It stilled and I could see my face in the soft golden reflection that the candles cast on the surface. My eyes were still bright as pure gold medallions. No redness or puffiness that would have accompanied the tears when I was more human. In those eyes, my eyes, I could see my past reflected on the surface of the bathwater—my human parents, my friends, and Manus in his cat form. I could see the joy of the Kith as they were made aware that my powers had awakened, could see the hope in their faces…

I hadn’t been on WildLand for the announcement but I could see the reactions now, visions in the water. I could see the anger in Feldema. I could see her evil.

Then the vision shifted. I saw my mother—my real mother—desperately making potions, preparing to hide us. She was lifting a long blade over a cauldron in the process of casting. She turned it over me as I lay in a makeshift cradle in a cave. She tenderly made a tiny cut on the bottom of my foot with her blade. It was made of gold, the handle carved of wood and the blade decorated with Celtic symbols. She added the tiny drop of blood from my foot to the brew. She did the same with the blond child that would grow into Feldema. Then she cast the spell, chanting the incantation over and over.

I could see the hope in her eyes for both of us. She’d known she was having twins according to the prophecy, and she had a plan. I had to accept it. I had learned quickly around here that nothing was as it seemed at first glance, and there was a deeper meaning behind almost everything in this life.

Anger flared back as I thought of the events of this evening. I had to fix this problem I’d created with Abbey and still be what my mother, Doran, and the Kith believed me to be. I didn’t know how. I could only be myself and hold fast to the knowledge that I was more human than Feldema—and that was key. Leaving my father and Abbey on that island was not something I could do. If I was to be the salvation of the Kith, then I was going to have to do it the way I knew to be right in my heart.

If I left them to fate, to chance, I would fail them. If I failed those closest to me, how could I lead a large civilization and reunite it with humanity? No. There was no question what I had to do and why. I had to be true to my human nature, true to my honor, true to the birthright.

My face replaced the reflections of the past and I was looking only at myself in the watery mirror. Honor. I had to live my life with honor. Abbey would be counting on me. If my father were still alive, he needed me too. I couldn’t leave them to become bargaining chips in a political arena.

I ran all sorts of scenarios through my head, trying to find the flaws, trying not to think of Abbey. The original plan would be harder now that the others knew most of it, but I had left out enough detail when I told the story earlier that I thought I could still get to Thule. But even with plotting and planning both the trip to the island and the battle to come with Feldema, my thoughts kept going back to Abbey. I would not cry again. I had to be stronger, smarter.

Keena. His voice almost sounded weak in my head. Keena?

I’m sorry, Tynan. I have to. I have to kill Feldema or die trying. There is no other way. I got out of the tub and started to dry to go to him.