Silver at Midnight: A Paranormal Romance Urban Fantasy (The Keepers of Knowledge Series Book 5) Bridgette O'Hare (ebook offline .txt) 📖

training. In that time, you will have various tasks to perform and lessons to study. After one month, two things will be expected of you in order for you to continue as a Keeper of Knowledge in an official capacity.

You must be excelling in your studies and training.

You must bring in a record or artifact for the Knowledge Base from your race that has not been previously recorded.

A member of the High Council, Nira Garrison, will be in Pyreshore to greet you and help you get settled in. We look forward to your advancements within the Keepers.

Sincerely,

High Council of the Supernatural

As each member finished reading the letter, they looked up and nodded approval.

Lee leaned forward, his arms propped up on the table before him. “Make Rowan’s letter lets her know how her role is different.”

Nira eyed Lee for a moment before responding. “Of course. She should know.”

The Witch High Council member, Caden Strohm, stood. “It appears we have a plan.”

Aeden nodded. “I’ll mail these out tomorrow.”

One

“I’m not who you think I am.”

As the words drifted from my lips, I realized how true they were on so many levels. Not just for the man standing before me who’d accidentally bumped into me outside the coffee shop, but for everyone I’d ever known that didn’t share my bloodline.

It wasn’t the first time I’d walked a busy street and been mistaken for someone I’m not, but it was the one that cut the deepest. It was the one that reminded me of the truth.

I was never the person he thought I was. Not really.

To him, Aisling O’Cléirigh never existed. Ashlyn O’Connor did.

I was the person I wanted to be when I was with him. The version of me who could forget, at least for a few moments at a time, about the weight of the world that rested on my shoulders. And that’s why he had to forget me. He was a distraction I couldn’t afford. One that almost cost me everything I’d been working to protect.

Altering his memories just enough that he thought everything we’d ever done together had happened with someone else—someone similar to me but not me—was the most difficult magic I’ve ever had to create. I don’t mean it was complex to a point I struggled to create it. I mean it made me realize what my life was really about, and what my life could never be. I would never have the life Ashlyn O’Connor once had.

Unfortunately, there was no Fae magic to make me forget him the way he had forgotten me. Believe me, I did the research.

“Apologies,” he replied as his gaze searched mine. “Ye jus’ look so familiar.”

His thick Irish brogue resonated through me. I wanted to reach out and wrap my arms around him, feel the warmth of the embrace that reminded me how different life might have been, but I couldn’t. Instead, I had to stare into the eyes of the only man I’ve ever cared for and pretend I never knew him.

“Aye, I get that a lot,” I offered back as casually as I could manage. “Have a good day.” I turned quickly and began walking away from him. Again.

It was just as hard as the first time had been. Maybe more so.

That was the moment I knew I needed to leave Dublin. I needed a change and some distance. He had been the reason I’d stayed as long as I had. Two and a half years was a record for me. Typically, I completed my assignments and moved on. Somehow, I’d managed to drag that assignment out. That was a mistake I wouldn’t make again.

While I felt at ease in Dublin, it wasn’t home. No place had ever truly felt like home since my grandmother’s death. Before she died, she taught me everything she knew that Mom hadn’t already taught me. She’d been gone nearly eight years, and in those eight years, I’ve never really belonged anywhere.

I suppose I’ve always had a gypsy spirit, a yearning to see the world. Grams said it was a family trait. She and Mom had it too. There has always been something restless tugging at my soul that kept me moving from one place to the next, searching . . . for what, I’m still not sure. Grams always told me, “You’ll know when you find it.” Of course, she said that about everything—ingredients when cooking, answers to problems, love. She had a fairly strong opinion about that one—love.

One of the last things she said to me before she died was, “When you find the heart you’re meant to hold forever, you’ll shine brighter than silver in a full moon at midnight, and you’ll know you’re home.” I didn’t understand what she meant then any more than I do now, but she winked at me, gave me that half-cocked grin of hers, and assured me I would one day.

I have missed that woman every day since she left me here to face this world alone. I missed Mom, too. They were both taken from me too soon. I wasn’t ready. Who was I kidding? They’ve been gone for years, and I’ll never be ready.

As I walked back to my City Center flat, I thought about Grams and wondered what advice she’d give me now considering my current situation. My fingers gravitated to the locket hidden beneath my sweater—Gram’s locket. I pulled it from its resting place and rubbed my thumb over the circle woven through the middle of the trinity knot. There was always comfort in the feel of the cool silver against my skin. I held it tightly in my hand for a moment and whispered a prayer.

“I sure could use a hot cocoa and a chat right about now, Grams. Wish you could tell me what to do,” I mumbled aloud like she might actually hear me. I got a strange look from a grandmotherly type passing by me on the sidewalk.