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Brigid frowned, looking between us, her eyes widening in equal horror. “Oh my gods, you didn’t know,” she breathed, hand over her mouth. I looked between the two females, completely dumbfounded. Cerridwen cursed and pulled us each by the arm onto the veranda that adjoined the throne room. I didn’t see Carnon anywhere in the dancing throng as she pulled me out of the room, which was probably for the best. If I couldn’t find him, I couldn’t murder him.
“He’s my what?” I asked in a fierce whisper.
“Oh Gods, I am so sorry,” Brigid said. “I thought you knew.”
“How doyouknow?” I asked, fury coursing through me. I couldn’t decide who it was directed against, but Cerridwen and Carnon seemed like prime targets right now.
“The necklace,” Cerridwen said with a sigh, turning to face us and flaring her wings irritably. “It’s a mating gift.”
“No,” I said. “Carnon said the Demon King presents it to whomever he plans to marry.”
Cerridwen and Brigid exchanged a glance, and I made a sound of frustration deep in my throat. “If someone doesn’t explain right now I’m going to find Carnon and force him to do it in front of the whole court.”
“Of course, Elara,” Brigid said apologetically, glancing at the black stone around my neck. “Lady Cerridwen?”
“I’m no lady, and we may as well drop the honorifics since we are both about to be soundly murdered by my dear brother,” Cerridwen replied wryly. “I’m sorry, Elara. He promised me he would tell you himself, but I suppose the damage is already done.”
She sat on a little stone bench near the railing of the veranda, patting the seat next to her. I sat, leaving some space between us. Now that the initial shock had worn off, I thoroughly cursed myself for a fool. All of his cutoff confessions and tense moments between us. Of coursethiswas Carnon’s secret. I pursed my lips and Cerridwen sighed.
“The night I received the letter from Artemis, Carnon told me who you were,” Cerridwen confessed, looking at me remorsefully. “He told me he had found his mate and he was bringing you to Oneiros, but that you weren’t ready to know about him.”
I made a derisive noise at this, but Cerridwen went on. “No one has seen this necklace since before King Alaunus disappeared, so when you showed up wearing it you can bet I had a lot of questions.”
“And Carnon toldyouthe truth,” I said accusingly.
Cerridwen winced. “He did, but mostly because of Herne,” she explained. “He didn’t tell me how he found you, exactly, other than the part where you were in the Bloodwood,” she added. “But he did tell me about why you were running.”
“Why were you running?” Brigid asked breathlessly, looking enthralled at the story. I glanced at Cerridwen, who shrugged warily. Carnon had told me not to show my powers to the Lords, but I felt a strange sense of kinship with Brigid.
“You have to swear you won’t tell the other Lords,” I said, giving her a serious look.
“I swear it on the Goddess herself,” she said, a little more excitedly than I would have liked.
I sighed, plucking a flower off a nearby bush and held it out to the Lady of Sun. She gasped as I withered the blossom, then brought it back to life.
“Holy gods,” she breathed, looking at me with something like wonder. “They have blessed you.”
“Or cursed me,” I replied wryly. “Witches are not allowed to consort with demons, and my mother was convinced it was demon magic. She made me run from the Crone. You cannot tell the other Lords, Brigid,” I said, frowning at her. “Carnon will destroy them if they try to hurt me.”
“I won’t,” she breathed. “But this is a miracle. The power of the gods united in flesh once more! It’s been over a thousand years.”
“What?” I asked, looking at Cerridwen, who shrugged with as much confusion as I felt.
“Some in the Court of Sun have the power of sight,” Brigid said in a hushed whisper. “We keep books of prophecy, records of fortunes, things like that. Most are nonsense or mundane, but every so often there’s something real. One of them is a prophecy about the powers of the gods returning to flesh every thousand years, uniting in a mated pair. I can’t remember exactly what it says, but I can look it up for you.” She clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh Elara, it is fate that we are meeting like this!”
“It doesn’t feel like fate,” I said, frowning darkly. What I knew of mates was limited to what Carnon had told me when we first met Cerridwen and Herne, and I had no idea how mates were even identified. “How does Carnon know I’m his mate? How can he possibly be sure?”
“He said he sensed something when he first met you, but that it was Akela who was certain,” Cerridwen said, giving Brigid a skeptical look. The Lady of Sun glanced between us, seemingly enraptured by the exchange. “He started to feel the Pull after a few days. Do you not feel it?”
“The Pull?” I asked. I shivered, feeling something tickle the back of my neck. I flicked my hair away in irritation.
Cerridwen nodded. “It’s like…” she hesitated, clearly trying to find the right words to explain. “Like you're drawn to each other. Like you can’t help but want to be close to them. Like you feel like you’re home with them. It’s how mates recognize each other.”
I paled, remembering all too well that sense of familiarity and home and safety. Remembering my frustration over why I couldn’t shake my desire for him, even after he had lied to me. Was this his final truth then? The one he needed my trust to tell me?
“You have,” she concluded, a little sadly. “And you still don’t want to be with him?”
“What?” Brigid said, looking at me in shock. “What do you mean? You have to stay together. Mates can’t just leave each other.”
