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A hand landed on his shoulder, and Kellen glanced up at the king in surprise.
“I understand. You should have come to me with your concerns. We could have commiserated together in our shared grief.” Kindness etched King Callum’s face, and Kellen was reminded that he, too, had lost his own mother not too long ago.
“I didn’t think to bother you with such matters,” Kellen said. He looked up as voices sounded in the corridor.
“Fairy light ceilings? How cool is that?” a woman’s voice exclaimed. “Look how they’re built into the rock. It makes it look like the whole tunnel sparkles.”
“Bianca!” Lily put her tea on a small table before jumping up to hug a softly rounded woman who stepped through the door with a lanky man at her back. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen you.”
“Well, you know, busy with the whole ‘saving the world’ thing. Let me look at you,” Bianca said, pulling back to study Lily’s face. “Love looks good on you, Lily. You’re positively blooming.”
“Seamus, Bianca. Meet Kellen. He is leader of the Air Fae and there’s been a recent attack by the Domnua that has left him without his amulet. The Air Fae’s security is now compromised, and we believe that means Domnu is readying for war. The other leaders are shoring up their protection at their homesteads, and we’ll need to figure out our next steps here,” King Callum said while shaking Seamus’s hand.
“Yes, sir!” Bianca snapped her heels together and saluted, and Callum grinned.
“At ease, soldier,” Callum commented and despite the severity of the situation, Kellen fought a smile. Whomever these two were, they clearly had a warm working relationship with the king.
After introductions were through, the new arrivals made themselves some tea and then joined Kellen, Lily, and Callum on the couches.
“If your amulet is truly gone, that presents a problem to our plans,” Bianca surprised Kellen by taking the lead.
“Which plans?” Lily perked up. “What we found in the book?”
“Correct. I’m human as well.” Bianca smiled at Kellen. “So I’ve had a bit of catching up to do. The good thing is that I love research. Lily and I have been making use of the Fae library at the Danula’s castle, and we did find one ritual in particular that might be an option for banishing a Dark Goddess once and for all. Potentially our only viable option, really.”
“You found a spell for ridding the world of Domnu?” Kellen’s mouth dropped open, and he shifted, reassessing the women. Not only were they kind, but it appeared they both were also whip-smart. “That’s incredible. Sure and I’ve had researchers looking for a while now.”
“Right place, right time?” Bianca shrugged cheerfully. “Hard to say. But the spell calls for all four amulets of the Elemental Fae to be sacrificed to the magick. It’s…a tall ask, that’s the truth of it. One all of the leaders will need to consider seriously.”
“And without all four amulets?” Callum asked. Kellen’s heart dropped. Hope had bloomed for a moment in his chest, but without his amulet, there might be no reason to pursue this route.
“Hard to say. Perhaps we could mimic an amulet? Put a similar level of power in it?” Bianca said, tapping a finger on her mouth.
“What are our next steps without it?” Kellen asked, turning to the king. There wasn’t much that could be done in this moment about his amulet being gone, so he needed to know how else to protect his people.
“We need to prepare for war. She’s coming, one way or another.”
“I feared as much.” Kellen’s heart sank. Losing Alistair had left him with a heavy feeling in his gut the last two days, as though his very soul was sinking beneath the surface of stormy waters, and now he feared his best friend wouldn’t be the only loss he endured before this was through.
“Unless we could get Danu here,” Bianca added, and they all looked at her. Danu, the Goddess of Light, was Domnu’s only sister.
“How so?” Lily asked, stretching her legs out in front of her as she took a sip of her tea.
“Remember that added note? At the bottom of the ritual? About blood of my blood?” Bianca turned to Lily and Lily’s face brightened.
“Oh, right! I’d forgotten about that. Yes, it seemed to suggest that the only other way to kill a goddess was with the blood of her own family.”
“So we’d just need Danu to prick a few drops of blood and pour it into Domnu’s mouth? Poison her?” Kellen raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“Maybe?” Bianca shrugged. “I haven’t found anything else that clarifies the meaning of it, but it kind of makes sense. If goddesses are meant to be immortal, then only hugely powerful magick or a ritual made with their own blood can destroy them. I just don’t see Danu offering up her blood.”
“Even one drop could make the weakest of men an almighty ruler,” Callum agreed.
“She’d trust nobody with it, well, if she was smart,” Bianca agreed.
“So we need to get Danu to do it herself,” Lily suggested.
“Right, so either we find the amulet and convince the other elementals to give up theirs in a united ritual to destroy the Dark Goddess or we get her sister to kill Domnu herself. No problem,” Seamus said, and the group laughed despite the intensity of the situation.
