“Take your vengeance on Wallace,” Charon said. “Make him pay.”
“I intend to,” Phelan promised, fury dripping from his words.
His chest ached and it grew difficult to breathe as the flames reached Aisley. He could barely see her now. Soon the only thing that would be left were her ashes.
* * *
Aisley woke to the sounds of whispering, of a multitude of voices, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying since they were talking over each other.
They began to fade, and she quickly rose from the bed and rushed out the back of the cabin to follow them. They led her into the woods.
Then they began to move faster until Aisley was running to try to keep up with them. She effortlessly jumped over fallen trees and gullies.
With the sunlight filtering through the trees, the birds singing, and the trees swaying in the wind, it felt as if Aisley was in a magical forest.
With her long gown gathered in her hands to help her move easily, Aisley found herself smiling the deeper into the forest she went.
She began to hum as she ran after the voices. It took her awhile to notice her humming matched that of a distant sound of drums. She stopped in her tracks, her heart pounding, because she knew those drums. They were from the ancients who had spoken to her the last time she was in the forest.
The same ancients that had helped her find the spell to contain the selmyr.
She jumped at the sound of her name from the voices. Suddenly, they surrounded her. They began to all talk at once again, growing louder and louder until she had to cover her ears.
A hand softly touched her shoulder. Aisley jerked her head around to find a woman of incandescent beauty standing before her. She had thick black hair and fawn-colored eyes. Aisley would’ve sworn she was looking in a mirror if it wasn’t for the fact the woman’s skin was several shades lighter than her own.
“Hello, Aisley,” the woman said.
Aisley’s hands dropped from her ears. “Who are you?”
“A very distant relative. I’m the one who trapped the selmyr the first time. You were amazingly brave to face them.”
“You.” Aisley paused and swallowed as she tried to wrap her head around what she was seeing and hearing. “How do you know what I did?”
The woman smiled. “We’ve been watching you. We always watch the Druids,
“Where am I?”
The woman frowned. “I thought you knew. This is the place you brought us.”
“I brought you?” Aisley asked incredulously. “I thought I was brought here.”
“Nay, sweetling. But wherever this place is must mean a great deal for you to be here now.”
Aisley looked around and thought of Phelan. “It means everything.”
“You made a noble sacrifice in taking the magic meant to kill Phelan.”
“I’d do anything for him. I just wish I’d have met him earlier in my life. Maybe then I wouldn’t have made the wrong choices.”
“It’s those choices that led you to him. Just as his choices led him to you. To change the past would change the outcome of the future. Is that what you really want?”
Aisley shook her head. “Never. I don’t want to forget a single moment of my time with him.”
“And what of Jason?”
“He needs to die,” she said calmly. “He has an agenda that doesn’t help Druids, but hurts them. He may not be killing Druids for their magic as Deirdre did, but he’s using them just the same.”
The woman nodded sadly. “Aye, child, he is. Without Druids, the magic of the land could fade.”
“Could?”
“There are still magical beings out there. You’ve already seen one and learned of another.”
“Dragons and Fae.”
“Aye. They help to keep the magic alive. But Druids play an important factor in all of it.”
“Are those the only magical beings?” The woman merely smiled, which was all the answer Aisley would get. So she tried another question. “Why are you here?”
“You’re my descendant. It’s my right to be able to talk to you.”
“How long can I remain here before I must go to Hell?”
The woman’s face crumpled into a mask of pity. “Oh, sweetling, I thought you realized. Satan lost his hold over you.”
“What?” Aisley asked and took a step back, her words too crucial not to need to hear them again.
“You might have undergone the
Aisley took in a deep breath and looked around. “So I’m in—”
“Heaven,” the woman finished. “You can stay here if you wish.”
That made Aisley frown. “What do you mean I can stay here?”
The woman smiled, making her face glow. “As my descendant, you also inherited a very special gift I had, Aisley. Have you ever heard of the phoenix?”
Aisley numbly nodded her head.
“You can rise from your ashes, sweetling. It’s your choice. Remain here, away from Wallace, or return to Phelan’s side and continue fighting.”
“What if Phelan doesn’t want me?”
“Will that stop you from fighting against Wallace?”
“No.”
She gave a nod of approval. “I didn’t think so. So what will it be?”
Aisley looked around the forest before her gaze returned to her ancestor. “Will I be able to talk to you again?”
“I’ve spoken to you many times. I’m part of the ancients, and I’ll always watch over you.”
“Then I want to go back.”
“Good choice, sweetling.”
She closed the space between them and hugged her. Aisley didn’t have any family left. The one before her, an ancient, was all she had, but she wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass her by without feeling a part of something.
“Thank you,” Aisley whispered.
The woman returned her hug and squeezed her. “Follow your heart. It won’t lead you wrong. Oh, and one more thing, time moves differently here. It’s only been eight hours since you died.”
“Yet two full days have passed here.”
“I know,” she said. “Now, close your eyes and think of regenerating.”
Aisley did as she asked, and within seconds she could taste the fire in her mouth, feel the ash swirling around her. Pure, unadulterated, beautiful magic flowed through her.
The magic swirled around her mixed with fire and ash. She’d never felt so powerful or so strong. And it was just the beginning.
CHAPTER
FIFTY-FOUR
Phelan’s breath grew shallow as he watched the flames engulf Aisley. His soul cried out from the loss of the only woman who was his match in every way.
How was he going to go through the rest of his days with eternity stretching endlessly before him without her
