Demon Day Penelope Fletcher (which ebook reader TXT) 📖

He smiled, but it did not reach hiseyes. I saw a great sadness there and knew then he would neverfully accept I had chosen Breandan over Lochlann. “And there is nopower on this earth that moves faster than light,” he explained.“Do you understand now?”

Ana had told me when the nexus fullyopened Breandan and I would become a Source in our own right, andbe able to wield insurmountable power. We had all seen a glimpse ofits destructive capabilities by the obliterated Temple grounds, butwhat it if a smaller portion of that power, say half, was focusedon moving as fast as light itself. Could you move so fast it seemedyou shifted from one location to another in a blink, like I had?Moving so fast your energy passed through, around, or over anystationary barrier. Was my magic that powerful? Ana could see thefuture … in a fashion. Ghost images constantly played out over whatshe saw in her waking hours. Though she could only focus on onepossible future at a time, and often missed many, I did not get afeeling that she had ever lied or held back what she had seen.Could I use her Sight to an even greater advantage? Say she tellsme a future path and I try to move fast enough to jump into it.Would I be able to jump back too?

I spoke slowly still reeling with thepossibilities. “So if I focus enough I can movethrough–”

Breandan glared at me with suchviolence his eyes shifted from silver to black. He sent me a waveof caution so strong it hit me like a physical blow and I stumbledback. My ears rung and my stomach lurched dangerously.

Gods, at this rate there would benothing left inside me.

“Banish the thought,”Breandan roared and took hold of my arms to shake me roughly. “Whatone can achieve does not pass over to the other. Every fairy isunique and none do the same thing the same way.” He lowered hisvoice and trembled as he struggled to control his reaction. “Shouldyou try we cannot predict what would happen to you.”

“Our mother died, Rae,”Conall said softly as an explanation for Breandan’s fearful anger.“She was found dead in a circle of burning grass and you weregone.” My brother shrugged hopelessly. “Just … gone. Her magic hadburnt out on the return journey. The only reason we knew you werestill alive is when the years passed and a new Priestess was notborn.”

When I had shifted us I had barelybeen able to stand and think straight. Attempting it again wouldhave probably killed me … like it had killed mymother.

Oh, Conall. My heart hurt for him.Everything and everyone he loved, the life he’d once had, simplydisappeared overnight. My whole life I had thought my family hadabandoned me, but it looked like I had been forced to abandon them.Amelia had told me Conall had visited her great grandmothersearching for me. He had held onto the hope that I was alive andthat he would bring me back to my rightful place amongst outpeople. He had shouldered the shame of our family, the burden ofour legacy. Son to the murderess who broke the balance and sentaway fairykind’s one hope to restore order.

There could only be one Priestess andsince I was still alive for two hundred years the fairy race losttheir spiritual leader. No wonder we were so fractured and lost.Worse, when she was found not only was she selfish, foolhardy, andscatterbrained, but she didn’t mate with the High Lord. She fell inlove with his younger brother. And not any old mating, a dangerousbonding that rocked the foundations of their race a millenniabefore; their lost Priestess who spilt blood for vampires, and thehumans who wanted them gone.

How could I repair such damage? Ineeded time to learn and grow but they needed me now. Things werehappening now and as always I was hesitant, or too afraid to throwmyself into what I was in fear I would lose myself.

Lochlann was an ass, but he did whathe thought was best. Just like Conall. He had seen Lochlann as aleader who wanted to bring positive change. If I had been in hisshoes wouldn’t I have done the same?

“I’m sorry,” I said toConall quietly and before I talked myself out of it, I wrapped myarms around his waist. He was so bulky and big it took some efforton my part. I rested my head lightly on his chest. “I’m sorry Ileft you and that we had to spend our childhoods alone.”

Conall wrapped his bulging arms aroundme and buried his head in my hair. “All will be well,” he saidroughly.

There was a soft thump of boots tryingto walk away quietly and my eyes snapped open.

“Ana,” I said firmly andshe froze, looking sheepishly over her shoulder.

“You and I are nowhere neardone.” I disentangled myself from Conall’s arms and waited armsloose by my side. My wings flexed and extended again and the witchswallowed loudly. “Did your father send you to spy on thefairies?”

Ana lifted her chin. “It was my job toget close to Devlin, yes. To use my Sight to convince him I was onhis side. I was to return after one month and report all I knew.”That month had come and gone yet still here she was. That spoke foritself. “I don’t want to be like him, Rae. Surely you canunderstand that? Not wanting to be like your parents … I don’t …fit in,” her eyes welled with tears. “I don’t bend to the darknesslike they do.”

“But that is where yourmagic comes from, isn’t it,” I said. “Humans were never supposed tobe able to touch the Source and use magics. The Vodoun can usemagics because their power does not come directly from the Sourcebut from the Loa. They can only infuse other objects with magicsand that’s why they use charms and fetishes or the bodies of thosewho have passed on.”

Everything came together. A clearunderstanding of how each race was connected and how they used theforces around us. I touched the amulets around my neck and glancedat Lex from the corner of my eye who nodded her