Page 54 of My Salvation

He nodded absently, looking very distracted. She sighed. Had she broken him again? She peeped at his aura. She thought she’d see gold for love, but yellow was the prominent color. Hope, along with a lot of lime green, fear.

“You’re afraid?”

He blinked, then looked down at his chest. “You can see that, huh?”

She gave him a wry smile. “I can’t not see it.”

“Right. And yes, I’m afraid that the woman I am coming to love more than my next breath will be heavy with child as ferals are attacking. Éire Danu isn’t safe anymore.” He rubbed his stomach. “Gods, how do the men in the other cities do it?”

“You mean function without being tucked safely away in a parallel dimension?”

He pointed all around them to indicate the state of things. “Not so safe now. But yes, something like that.”

“I’m not afraid, Priest, because I have you, your unit brothers, the vanguard, your unit commander, that wacky human genius, and the grumpy witches looking after things.”

Priest looked at her and smiled. “It’s not so bad when you remember we’re not alone.”

“Exactly. Plus, I think your commander is forgetting one very important thing, which I plan on reminding him of during this meeting.”

Priest grinned. “I love the look he gets when he realizes he’s missed something.”

“I live to make you happy,” she said, bringing up his hand and kissing it.

“I’m so spoiled.”

The guards at the door nodded, then allowed them to walk through. Priest knocked on the queen’s chamber door, shaking his head. “I never thought I’d be visiting the queen so often.”

Brennus swung the door open and smiled at them. “We are glad you do, though. Come in.”

Priest released her hand and went to a chair next to his unit to sit down. She was relieved to see there was an empty chair next to him. Before she did anything, she went to her queen and curtsied low. “Your Majesty, I have resumed my position as Noble Family Head of Vi’Illiya. I renew my vow of fealty.”

“Welcome home, young Cassandra. Let me look at you,” the queen said, standing and walking over to her.

Cas fought hard to keep her expression neutral. There was hardly anything to the queen’s aura, and what she did see was deep purple and blue. Grief and despair.

“Gods above, you look just like your mother. I miss her so much,” the queen said, taking her hands and smiling at her. The purple and blue flared, as the queen remembered her lost friend.

Her parents began to fade around seven thousand years old. The queen was much older. She turned to see Brennus smiling at them. Maybe she’d have more time because she found her mate later in life.

She studied the queen’s core and felt bile creeping up her throat.

“I know why the lights are dimming,” she whispered. Not wanting to speak the words aloud.

Around them, the room quieted.

“Good, because I can’t find anything wrong with the spells so far,” Zoe said brightly.

The queen’s expression became resigned. “I had hoped I was wrong, but I forgot you share your mother’s gift. How long?”

She could only shake as she clutched her queen’s hands.

“There, there child, it will be okay,” the queen pulled her into a warm hug.

Suddenly it was like being held by her own mother again. She buried her face in the queen’s shoulder and wept like a baby.

Seconds later, Priest was behind her pulling her into his arms. “Cas, what is it?”

She wiped at her eyes, gathering her composure. She could only shake her head, refusing to say the words.

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