Page 69 of Ulune's Daughter

“I think it’s more than that,” I offer. “I haven’t studied the Raven Women in-depth, but this was more power than I’ve ever read about a Raven Woman having. Kellan cursed the place we followed her to with a gibbering wind. Then she summoned the Shades and called on the Crone to lift the curse. She manipulated Water as well as Air. The water turned black and then ran clear. She purified it using the dead. I’ve never heard of anyone who could do that other than the Morrigan.”

My mother hisses repressively. “Not here, son. The doors of Cait House are open. You don’t want to summon Her.”

No, I don’t want to summon the Phantom Queen. But I know the actual ritual for summoning her, having studied it at Bevvy. She doesn’t come to the mere sound of her name. Not even on an Air-mage’s lips. I also know no one has used that ritual in a very, very long time.

“When was the last time She was seen?” I ask.

My father shakes his head, the aether around him rippling. “Centuries,” he admits.

“Has anyone alive seen Her?”

My parents exchange glances.

“Not anyone I know,” Dad says.

“What if Kellan is a new manifestation of the Phantom Queen? A reincarnation, if you want to call it that?” I ask, with a nod to my mother who went through a Catholic phase when we were younger, although she seems to have moved away from the church that classes us as demons, thank fuck.

Law makes a strangled, choking sound. It’s all fun and games, sneaking into your mate’s bed, until she turns out to be a death goddess, huh, bro?

My mother folds her hands in her lap, pulling one of Law’s hands over to knot in her paws. “The new Holly King is reputed to be a fae of great knowledge.”

Dad rumbles in his chest. “Learned from demons.”

I rub my hand across my eyelids to try to soothe away the tic from Dad’s rumble. I could correct him. The Holly King’s only known association with demons was when his vassal and lover, An Ròs Airgid, trekked off to Dis to defeat the goddess Pertcha and bind the Wild Hunt.

How do I know that? Because after we scented Kellan for the first time, I began studying her and her friends. She’s tight with Teddy Nowak and her husbands, one of who has demon blood. And the demon whose blood Gabriel Tate-Wilson-Nowak shares was the demon lord who led an army against Pertcha. His Duchess, Tsara Faa, is rumored to have bound the goddess and the Wild Hunt in her bones.

My family’s crossed paths with Tsara Faa before, but I never got to meet her. What I wouldn’t fucking give to talk with her. I can’t imagine anyone understanding what I feel when I’m near my dad better than someone who has the Wild Hunt straining and rattling around in her bones.

“Whatever the source of his information, he knows much. Maybe a visit’s in order,” Mom suggests.

Law looks at me. I nod. I’m up for a visit to Ivywhile. We haven’t been back since we enrolled at Bevington.

Last time we were there, we gathered a thousand silver acorns and snuck them into the Great Hall while everyone was sleeping. By the time people woke, there was a Silverwood sprouting. The trees are sacred to the Mother, so they couldn’t be cut or moved. We heard they had to employ hundreds of pixies to lift the Oak King out of the grove and relocate him to a new Great Hall.

Best of all? Not even Dad could pin that one on us.

“We’ll go over a weekend,” Law announces. “It’s important Luca doesn’t miss too many classes if he’s going to be salutatorian.”

My twin winks at me. I roll my eyes.

“I’d caution you not to say too much about what you saw your mate do,” Dad says. “The Holly King is brave, fair, and open-minded. None of that can be said about the Oak King and he still holds the spear until All Hallow’s.”

Law nods. “The fewer who know that our mate can control Faery’s dead, the better.”

“You’ll still bring her to the All-fire, won’t you, boys?” Mom implores.

It’s Law’s turn to grimace. “Maybe, Mom.”

“Oh, Law. I’m dying to meet her.”

If Kellan really is a death goddess, we may all be dying to meet her.

* * *

After pizza and beer,Law and I lurk in the lounge, waiting for Aine to come back from her date. With dire warnings of what they’ll do to us if we embarrass Aine excessively, our parents head off to bed, probably relieved to be spelled from teen-date-awaiting duty.

“They never waited up for us,” I say to Law as I sprawl across the couch Mom was sitting on, lazily chewing on a pizza crust.

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