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Etain looked at the goddess and cringed at Ciaran’s words.
“Oh, do not worry. I find his antics amusing. He loves you more than anything Etain. He has desperately needed something to love and to love him back. His life has not been easy.”
Ciaran pounded on the door and screamed some more colorful names at the goddess.
Etain stood and was torn between running to the door into her mate’s arms or staying with the goddess, who, for now, wore her mother’s face. “I should probably go before he hurts your home, or more likely himself.” She paused for a moment unsure if she should, but then quickly came around to the other side of the table to hug her many greats grandmother and her own mother all at the same time. “Thank you for letting me see her again, and thank you immensely for sharing with me. I do hope to see you again.”
The goddess squeezed her back in a rather maternal show of affection. Finally releasing her, Etain began her walk to the door.
“Etain, there is one last bit of information I must give you, though in the very near future, you will want to do differently. Your place is at the Night Court. Do not leave it. The witches will need you, and you will need them. Open your doors to them, or I fear they will not survive.”
Etain had her hand on the doorknob, but she paused to look back at the face of her mother one last time. “I promise you, I will.” Etain opened the door and stepped out.
Thirty Five
Ciaranknewhehadto be nearing the location of the raw power blast he had seen through the canopy of trees several moments ago. He continued to circle the area from above looking for any treeless gaps. He was about to scream his frustrations when he spotted it – a gap in the trees. As he neared, he noticed something odd lying on top of parts of the canopy. He quickly realized they were large shards of wood as if several trees had exploded and their pieces went up and out.
He slowly descended into the clearing, knowing Etain was not there within the first glance, but the ground looked like a war zone. It was covered in debris and gore. For a split moment, he panicked and thought perhaps Etain had detonated herself with her power. Then he picked up the scent and recognized it as the human man who had escaped his dungeon. He had hoped to find out who helped him escape, but he could not say he was not thoroughly pleased with the way he met his end.
He noticed the epicenter of the explosion easily, because everything fanned out from that one spot; a spot which rather resembled his little witch. He carefully picked his way to the center, not wanting to disturb anything and make it harder on himself to track her movements. Studying the ground, he saw where she had shuffled or crawled away; he wasn’t sure which. He followed her footsteps to the edge of the woods and saw where she had apparently not been as thrilled as he had with her personal brand of justice, clearly unable to stomach it.
Ciaran looked out and marked the path she took easily. She had likely sounded like a boulder crashing through the otherwise normally quiet woods. It had been a long time since Ciaran had visited the forest. Even now, it was in search of his mate and not to admire the beauty he had come to love as a child. He and Kes would often run off for nights at a time to the woods before they had made it to their tenth year. He would return full of excited energy and stories about all the magical and beautiful things they had found. His mother always gave an amused smile, while his father would berate him for being too soft and loving. He would tell Ciaran the Night Court has no place for such sentiments.
Ciaran remembered the last time he and Kes had gone on one of their forest adventures, but not because of the time spent with his cousin. His father had finally had enough. He took Ciaran right back out into those woods to all the wondrous things he had just finished telling his mother and father about, only to have his father force him to destroy all the beauty in cruel ways. Ciaran never went back to the woods. Not because he did not still enjoy it, but it was his way of protecting the beauty from himself.
Now as he followed the path of destruction Etain had made running through woods, he found a sudden change in her trail. She slowed down, and for a moment Ciaran had a hard time picking her trail back up. Once he did, it led him to a crystal clear lake filled with moonlight. He knew this to be the home of the water shapeshifter Nagada, and thought perhaps they had seen her.
Ciaran walked to the water’s edge and calmly ran his fingers along the top of the water; it was like knocking for a being who lived underwater. He only had to wait a moment before the water began rippling. Ciaran took a couple steps back to avoid getting splashed.
Nagada’s physical form shifted several times before settling on a lovely fae female with dark violet skin and a long sheet of silver hair that rippled as she moved her head.
“Oh, hello – prince. What a surprising honor to be called upon by you.” Quieter, and slightly under her breath, she said, “And what a busy night it’s been.”
Ciaran thought perhaps she spoke of Etain. “Hello, Nagada. It has been a long time, my friend. I am looking for someone, and it seems she had likely come by here. She is a human woman with long, dark red hair and dressed in a gown like the night sky?”
“Ha! I thought she was a banshee the way she screamed at me! I came out of the water to ask her if she was lost. I even made myself into a handsome human male, and you know how much I hate taking a male form. But as I opened my mouth to speak to her, she screamed right in my face! Do you know she was already terrifying enough as it was? She was completely covered in red blood. I could not even tell you the color of her skin. There werechunksof remains on her, my prince. Chunks!”
Ciaran couldn’t stop the rumbling laughter that crept its way up his chest and out of his mouth. The idea of his little witch frightening anyone was incredibly funny to him. “Okay, what happened after she screamed at you?”
“Well, I screamed back, naturally. I was already on edge, and she caught me entirely off guard.” The shifter shivered as if the memory of his mate would later give her nightmares. “She ran off that way like she was afraid of me doing something unspeakable!” Nagada pointed in the direction Etain had gone.
Ciaran thanked his friend and said he would be sure to bring Etain back to meet her under better circumstances. He nearly laughed again when Nagada cringed at the thought. He followed the direction the shapeshifter had pointed and soon enough, he had picked back up on Etain’s trail. He followed it for a bit longer until he noticed he was next to the wall of glowing mocking blooms; they had been a favorite of his. Ciaran and Kes would shout all kinds of obscenities and laugh so hard they wound up rolling on the forest floor as the flowers repeated everything they said. He smiled at the memory, but picked up his pace, eager to have Etain back in his arms.
Eventually, he came to a clearing and stopped dead in his tracks. He knew that mushroom hut well. It had a habit of showing up wherever and whenever it pleased, exactly like the goddess which resided in it. Ciaran growled in anger. Who knew what garbage that bitch was filling Etain’s head with. She spoke in riddles and had never made anything easier for Ciaran. If anything, she did the opposite.
Ciaran began to yell to the goddess to release his mate! If she didn’t listen to him soon, he was going to bust down the door using whatever it took to do so. He grew impatient with pacing and shouting. He decided he would bang on the door as well to make the goddess understand he was serious! He had backed up several paces from the lone door, preparing to give it a blast of his power, when it casually opened and Etain stepped out.
She looked up at Ciaran and smiled as she walked towards him. His breath caught as he stared at her; she had never looked more stunning. She was covered in dried human blood, her hair was matted with gore, and she had two tracks of clean skin running under her eyes where tears had washed away the grime. His feet began moving without his knowledge, and he met her halfway. They wrapped their arms around each other in a fierce embrace.
“Hello, little witch – did you enjoy tormenting the wood folk?” he said with an abundance of mirth, recalling the look on Nagada’s chosen face. He was doing his best to ignore the exceedingly strong urge to take her to their bedchambers, never let her leave again, and kill anyone who dared even glance her way.
“Me? Tormenting them? I assure you it was very much the other way around. Why, I just barely escaped some creature who posed as a human man to no doubt drag me down under his waters and eat me!”
Ciaran threw his head back and roared with laughter.
Etain’s face was full of confusion which was slowly morphing into annoyance. She tried to pull away from their embrace. Ciaran told her about his conversation with Nagada and held her tighter as she began to laugh. Ciaran felt sure the look on Etain’s face would be one he would often recall fondly.
“Well, I suppose I never considered what I looked like. Honestly Ciaran, I was afraid I would never find my way back to you.” She looked up into his eyes, and he could see the fear that had been plaguing her.
