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He nods. “Yes. She has a prophecy to fulfill.”Yeah. I’ve heard about the prophecy. It’s shit.
I release a slow breath. Fae are typically respectful to their elders, but most people, even the elders, knew better than to challenge a Bloodmore. Having a dark fae as a father and a light fae as a mother, most people believed I took after my mother... that I was simply a powerful light fae. But it didn't stop the small look of fear that I sometimes saw in their eyes. Yet, this man doesn't have an ounce of fear in his eyes, which is oddly unsettling.
"The prophecy that she has to accept those three as her mates to save us all?" I scoff. "I'm sorry, but no. This Void, or whatever it is, doesn't have the power to destroy our world. Not for a second. If it did, my people would know about it. This little battle between your own people doesn't really involve Ann and I. So once she accepts that, we'll be out of here, back to our old lives."
There. I wasn’t quite respectful, but I’d tried not to be an ass.
“Let's pretend I agree with you. How long do you think occupying that body is going to last?” He looks me up and down with eyes glazed by disappointment.
"I--" The truth is I don't want to think about it. I am above all else an expert at researching. And through my research I've read many things about ghosts. In the past, ghosts have been able to occupy bodies for a limited time, a day or two at most, but the host is always battling for control. The ghost always eventually loses to the host, and then they're back to just being a ghost. But with me, there is no Adrik left in this body. No one battling me for control. It doesn't feel like I took a body that I can't keep, it feels like my spirit found a new home.
Still, that doesn’t mean I can occupy it forever. But every time the thought blossoms in my mind, I push it aside. Live each day like it’s your last has always been my philosophy, so the fact that any day actually could be, even more realistically now, is not something I’m going to waste my time thinking about. At least, if I can help it.
“Do you want her to be alone?” He’s studying me, waiting for his words to sink in, and I hate that they do.
Ann alone. It’s a sobering thought and one I’d selfishly not considered. “I don’t—I don’t…” I’m stammering like a child. Shaking my head. Fidgeting from one foot to the other. And in this body, the body of a warrior, I probably look ridiculous. And I can’t control it.
“She lost you once, and her heartache might be the reason she’s rejecting the others. Her heartache might be the reason she won’t fulfill the prophecy.” He gives me the look again—blame and disappointment mingling in his eyes, his mouth a tight line, his brow creased. It’s the guilt and the blame that I look away from. “If you don’t set her free, let her do this, you’ve made the choice for her. You’ve taken it out of her hands. You’ve...”
I hold up my hand to stop him. “Okay. I get it.”
“I don’t think you do.” He shakes his head and his long white beard sways. “I think you’re selfish. You’re hanging on to a woman who needs to move on.”
“I’m not hanging on. She didn’t even know I was still... in this world, until today.” I don’t know that it matters.
“Without you, her heartache will fade eventually.” At least he gives me that.Eventually.Not that tomorrow she'll replace me with those three big men, which I'm sure he wants to say. “But if the boys all die, she won’t stop grieving. Whether it’s the prophecy or the emotion, she won’t recover. And she’ll never forgive herself. Or you.” He cocks a brow and I’m measured by the look.
“This isn’t her fight. Or mine. And we’ve put ourselves in danger, almost died.” Ididfucking die. I don’t know that reminding him is purposeful, but I cock my head and breathe out. It’s done. He’s reminded.
“Rayne, in all your vast years of life and death…” Oh, this man knows the power of words, “have you ever known a ghost to take a body permanently?” He stares with one eyebrow cocked, lips parted, breath in one sturdy huff. Every move of his body, every turn of his head and blink of his eyes judges me, makes me the inferior party here.
I sigh. The weight of all this is crushing to my soul—the only part of me not up for discussion with Auero. “This is different. And you know it just like I do.” The accusation is heavy in my voice. “I took the shell of a body. There was no soul in here fighting me for space.”
Auero stares. “Are you sure?”
“What am I supposed to do if I’m not sure?” It’s my turn to shake my head. “Leave her now?”
“No. By all means, wait until the body rejects you and thrusts your soul away. Leave her alone so she has to face your death a second time.” The old man knows sarcasm.
So that is what he wants? For me to turn around and leave now because... because it'll be easier for all of them? Does he not understand fated mates? Does he not realize that would hurt Ann just as much as seeing me actually leave this body?
No, it's too late. I'm not leaving Ann. Not until I have to. Not ever again.
And yet, is he wrong about everything else?
“What then?” I’m shouting because I’m frustrated. And I’m frustrated because he’s right and I don’t know what to do. Maybe I need his advice. He’s an elder. Made it to the ripe age of… who fucking knows. But he made it. And that means he’s seen a lot. Heard a lot. And if he’s never seen a soul take an empty body and survive it, then maybe listening to him is in my best interest. But he’s actually suggesting that I leave her. And he knows I came back for her. “What do you want from me?”
“If you die again, Ann will be alone whether you like it or not. Unless she has them. The men she's destined to be with, just as much as she was destined to be with you. Only, your time with her was cut short. Theirs doesn't have to be.” His voice is low, quiet, the punctuation to end a conversation. If his statement hadn’t ended it, walking away would’ve.
No matter how much I hate it, he’s right. My situation isn’t guaranteed. There is no promise I’ll live ten minutes, much less be able to guarantee a lifetime. And she would be alone. There’s no way I can leave her to that fate.
“Fuck.” There isn’t much more I can say.
“And what about that light of hers? The one that destroyed a creature as powerful as a smoke dragon? The first thing to hurt the king?”
My thoughts sharpen. My sister had always been more of the adventurer, running with the monsters on our lands, talking with the ghosts in the graveyard. I’d always been the one to like books, reading, researching, and, well, making observations based on my research. Through my investigation at the Royal Fae Academy I’d learned that light fae weren’t just what we thought we were. Yes, we fed on good emotions. Yes, we could create glamorous and grow plants. But there was more to us, so much more. I focused my research mainly on the difference between light and dark fae, and our powers, but there were other things. Legends about why the light fae were called light fae.
But now, I can’t quite remember what the books had said. It hadn’t seemed important at the time. Yet after seeing what Ann had done, I wonder if I’d read something about that particular power… the ability to control light. If it was a common power we no longer knew how to access, a rare one, or just a legend.
