Chapter 34
Bran looked at Evangeline. “You ready?”
She gulped.
Savon groaned as they disappeared.
They appeared by the rail where he’d made love to her, and he was really damned tempted to make love to her instead of searching for Merova’s token.
They couldn’t see the group as they were on the side of the lighthouse facing the ocean.
Evangeline turned to him, gripping his waistband as she pulled him against her. “This is where we sealed the bond.”
He groaned and bent his head to kiss her lips. “I’ll never forget. And sometime after all this, I want you, right here, and not just in a dream.”
“Want you now,” she whispered, staring into her eyes.
“We’ll have plenty of time for that. But first, let’s see what we can find, now that you’re finally here in person.”
“What if we need to slip between the realms to find it?”
He shook his head. “Let’s look first. We can figure it out from there.”
She nodded and gently pushed him back. “Can’t wait for this to be over so I can have you all to myself.”
“As soon as we have a few nights to not worry about all this mess, I’m going to take you on that date.”
“I can hardly wait. It’s all I want. You, me, and a night to ourselves with no one else.”
“Shit, maybe we can find this thing, and Merova can take care of Zariha. Then you and I can stop worrying about everything else.”
Bran nodded to the door beside her. “Let’s search.”
* * * *
“You’re just going to let them go?” Nate demanded. He couldn’t believe they were just letting Bran and Evangeline wander off on their own.
Robert ran his hands down his lapels. “Unfortunately, we don’t have an option. When I came to check this place, I tried to get to the lighthouse. I can’t breach the wards.”
Savon spun toward him, her eyes blazing. “Wait, so you let my brother and Evangeline go, without us?”
Ceridwen nodded. “Thing is, Merova trusts her. It’s why Evangeline has the blade. And that battle-ax chose your brother because he can help her. No one else.”
“That’s just great,” Nate muttered. “Look, I can’t lose them.”
“You won’t,” Ceridwen assured. “Though, we may come in contact with Zariha. He wants on that tower as sure as you do. But until they find Merova’s trinket, or whatever object she infused part of her soul and Halstien’s to create that rift, no one else can get there.”
“Can we kill Zariha without them?” Savon asked.
Ceridwen shrugged. “It’s possible, but right now, we’re more concerned with stopping that thing from hurting anyone else in town.”
Savon tilted her head, clearly picking up something from the spirits he could only almost hear. They were there but distorted.
He had a theory that he could only hear the spirits as they became more familiar with him. His ability—if he could call it that—came from his bond to a true sorceress.
* * * *
Evangeline took Bran into the room with the light, then opened the trap door to climb downstairs. Bran followed on her heels.
“A bed?” he asked.
Evangeline smirked. “Got to sleep somewhere, right?”
“Is it weird being here in real time?”
“Very,” she admitted. “We have to help her, though. She’s been stuck between realms for a very long time.”
Bran nodded. “Yeah. About that. What kind of magic would keep her from this realm, but still sort of here?”
Her face scrunched up. “Another type of magic? The rifts. She said something about a Rift Bender.” Evangeline grabbed her phone and dialed Tremaine.
He answered immediately. “Everything okay over there?”
“Yeah, fine. Looking for the token, but what is a Rift Bender?”
There was a heavy sigh. “We’ll get some rooms at the inn, then I’ll tell you what you need to know.”
“Tell us where and we’ll meet you there. We’re going to look around a little more.”
“All right. Good luck, and if you don’t find it, I may know why.”
“Just want an hour to look. Now that I’m finally here, I have a couple ideas.”
“Call when you’re ready to leave. Someone will meet you back here on the cliff to show you where to go.”
“Sounds good.” She hung up and went to the dresser in the corner.
Bran was right behind her. “Careful. We don’t know what’s here.”
She lifted a shoulder. “They aren’t coming with us. I’m willing to bet they can’t. I doubt anyone has been in here to do anything that could hurt us.”
“Still, be careful.” The soft tone of his voice melted her insides.
Leaning against his chest, she murmured, “I will be. And you’re right here with me.”
His lips grazed her neck, and a shiver traveled down her spine.
Something told her what she was looking for was there. She’d always been drawn to that drawer. Bracing herself, she pulled the top drawer open. There it was.
Evangeline reached in, and Bran wrapped his hand around her hip. Her fingers slid through the image.
She let out a breath. “Yeah, another realm. That’s eerie.”
“Why do you think we need a Rift Bender?” he asked.
“Makes sense if Merova’s mate happened to be one, or something like one.”
“And we don’t know what that is?”
She shook her head. “Nope, not even slightly. But Tremaine does.”
“All right, so do we stay here?”
“Unless you can do something about it being out of reach.”
“Move aside. I’ll see if it’s the same sort of thing as when Savon and I hid the pendant.”
“Good plan.” She stepped aside and watched as Bran reached in, chanting something she assumed was Fae, and his magic rolled through her.
* * * *
Man, he hoped he knew what he was doing. He witnessed Savon do it once, and he wanted to prove he could be as good as her at something. Not everything, he didn’t have an artistic bone in his body, and he’d never been comfortable with his magic, but damn it, he wanted to do this for his woman.
He visualized the bubble around the object, and reached through it, closing his fingers around the token and pulling it from the other plane.
Her face lit up.
Yup, worth it. “You wanted this?”
She nodded. “Only now, I’m not sure what to do from here.”
“We still have some time to look. Maybe we can find Merova.”
“Wouldn’t we sense her?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Maybe not. Does it hurt to keep looking?”
Shaking her head, she started to the other trap door. No one downstairs. Not a hint of dust anywhere. They explored everything, then stepped outside.
Only a wave crashed over the dock, and Bran grabbed her around the waist and hauled her back inside before they were soaked.
Smiling, Evangeline turned toward Bran and took them back to the cliff overlooking the lighthouse. Down below, to their right, was another small dock, presumably to take a boat to the lighthouse. But did anyone truly man it?
No one had been there. There were no scents. Nothing.
Evangeline sat down on a rock and dialed Tremaine. “Hey, you ready for us?” he asked.
“We are.”
“Robert will be there shortly.” He hung up.
* * * *
Merova had watched Evangeline and Bran in the lighthouse. Finding the token was easy for them. Still, they didn’t know how to move between rifts. Was it even possible without a Rift Bender?
When she lost Halstien, she lost her will to stay on Earth and sank into a rift. Perhaps that had been her greatest mistake. But without her love, there was nothing but despair after seeing her people die for ridiculous reasons over the years. Why not let love take her away?
Only, she had never died. Nothing made her fade away. So, she slept, only barely rousing when Genevieve came to her cave. She hadn’t been the one.
Evangeline was. Her fate was tied with her own. She only hoped they both survived Zariha. His killing spree couldn’t continue.
Guilt nearly overwhelmed her as she sank onto the bed and stared out the window. She prayed to the old gods of her home-world for strength and opportunity.
If she found a way to leave the rifts, she’d finally do what she should have done ages ago. Kill Zariha before he could steal her magic and her ability to create any object she could imagine.
Her gift was so rare and so powerful, most coveted her magic. Halstien hadn’t wanted her magic. He wanted her. He died to protect her. And she faded away from the world.
It was time to make a stand against Zariha. Maybe then she could find something worthwhile.