Page 157 of Ulune's Daughter

I kneel down and reach under the brazier, where the Mother’s crystals grow. There’s already a small cluster blooming. I press the remaining hair into the center of the cluster and pull my fingers away before they’re encased in the crystal. I wait a minute for the crystals to finish growing, then fish them out.

Usually, the crystals the Mother grants me are yellowish with a faint iridescence. What sits on my palm are smoky black with Eoghan’s hair running through them like tiny veins of blood.

I hand the crystal to Kellan. “I think the Mother approves.”

“Of what? Us?”

I nod. “She’s never given me a smoky black crystal before. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“It is.”

She turns it around and around in her hands, admiring it, before she passes it back to me. I set it carefully on my shelf.

“This is amazing, Law,” she says, looking over the shelves of crystals. “Hundreds of years of Cait history. Thousands of victories, big and small. There are so many stories here.”

“Maybe someday, when you grow bored of your mist-men, you’ll tell some of our tales to the world.”

“I’d love that,” Kellan says. “If your family agrees.”

They will. They’re captivated by my mate. As I knew they would be.

I hold my hand out to her. “Are you ready for the rest of our date?”

“I am.” She takes my hand and squeezes. I lead her out of the Trophy House and a little further into the woods. “More Cait mysteries?”

“Yes and no. Not Cait but very mysterious.”

“Very mysterious?” Kellan asks.

“I know how you love solving puzzles and listening to music with your side piece. The humans have created a thing, a murder mystery cabaret? I have tickets to one at a museum in Plymouth. It’s a fund-raiser for the museum as well. I thought that would please you.”

She throws her arms around my neck. “I love it!”

I love her. No matter how bizarre this humancabaretsounds, I will suffer it, even try to enjoy it, for her, my magnificent mate.

Chapter48

The Demi-Urge

RHODES

My chest has been burning all morning.

I rub the tattoo absently as I finish my exam on True Falsehoods: Memory, Manipulation and Magic. It’s not my best effort. I’ve caught up substantially on my course work since I got back together with Kellan and smoothed things over with Luca, but I’ve studied less this semester than in my entire academic career. I have a work placement for Winter Study that’s only twenty hours a week; I’m planning on re-reading all my course materials from this semester in January. I need to know more than I do.

I’m confident I know enough to pass; that’s all I need.

Shamefaced, I hand my test in to Professor Dittman. He’s a former justiciar himself. He’s guided me through the application process to the White Cloaks and he was the second person I told—right after Luca—when I got a job offer. He expected more of me this semester; he pulled me aside two weeks ago to tell me not to coast through my senior year.

I wish I could tell him that I’m not.

He nods his iron-gray head at me as he takes my test paper. I take the opportunity to escape before he starts reading my essay.

Stepping out into the winter afternoon, I roll my shoulders and let the weight drop away. That’s my last exam. I wasn’t taking a heavy course load this semester anyway: just Dittman’s class that finishes my major in magickal law enforcement and two electives. Nothing like Luca’s course load. He has another full day of exams before the Yule break.

I pull out my phone and text him.

Smash it, kit.

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