Page 139 of House of Embers
“To the mating bond,” Titania said, a note of sadness in her voice. “Which brings us full circle to your wedding.”
“We have a war to win first,” Fordham argued. He clasped Kerrigan’s hand. “We have already decided to have the wedding after we have won. So that we might have it on her ancestral lands.”
“Waisley,” Titania said.
“Yes,” Kerrigan breathed.
Titania nodded once. “It will be done then. Our debt will be cleared.”
Kerrigan cleared her throat again. “Can I ask of your debt to us? And how it originated?”
Titania clucked her tongue against the back of her teeth before rising to her feet. “We will need nightfall for that answer.” She picked up the tea that had never stopped steaming from the spout, the magicof this place holding it in stasis. Titania set it down on a table and then disappeared into her room.
Kerrigan and Fordham exchanged a glance. Should they follow her? Should they press? There were so many questions and so little time. They needed to make it back to Ravinia soon, to lead their troops to war. They hadn’t known what they were walking into, but they certainly hoped to be out of herebeforenightfall.
“All right, children,” Titania said, reappearing in a dress that seemed to devour midnights. The black was so severe that it sucked the darkness of space into its orbit. “We shall go to the liminal space now.”
Fordham helped Kerrigan to her feet in silence. They were both confused, but there was no use asking questions. Titania was firm, so they followed her out of the small home. She turned left toward the woods on a well-worn path only wide enough for one person. The trees cradled the space, blocking out the sun. As they traveled deeper through the woods, the sky grew darker and darker until it was near midnight even though they had traveled less than a mile into the trees.
A clearing appeared before them, revealing a stone altar at the center of its circular space. Stones were placed evenly around the altar with inscriptions written in ancient Fae.
“Balam,” Fordham said reverently. “Nadar, Horan. Jovile, Ulla, Verita. Morvenna, Cordin, Yore.”
Titania watched him patiently read off the stones. Her hands settled on the altar. “Do you recognize them?”
Fordham pointed to Balam. “The god of war.” Then Morvenna. “The head of the pantheon, his mistress, the three-faced goddess.”
Kerrigan’s mind whirled. “Gods? For whom?”
“Alfheim,” Titania explained. “The gods who broke the world and created Alfheim.”
Kerrigan reeled. “I have not heard these stories.”
Fordham’s hand rested on the altar as he bent to read the inscription. “The head of the kindred—Chaos.”
“At the center of all things,” Titania said.
“There are texts within Ravinia that I have read about such things,” Fordham admitted. “But there are texts about other gods as well. About the Doma.”
“Notourgods,” Titania said with a hiss. “They are the usurpers of gods.”
“Should I not be here?” Kerrigan asked, suddenly worried about interfering.
“You claim us. You are my champion. You are welcome,” Titania told her. “Now, stand before me.”
Kerrigan and Fordham moved to stand before the altar. Titania lifted her hands and spoke in an inarticulate ancient Fae. Even Fordham’s brow creased at the words that were uttered. It was as if they did not come from her but from the gods themselves.
A veil hung between them and Titania. She was shrouded, not the beautiful maiden but a gnarled crone, hunched and broken. But if Kerrigan looked at her too long, she saw a mother, full to bursting with child, her belly low and protruding. The hazy curtain separating them made it feel like they could just reach forward and rip it apart to reveal the mother of the Fae in her true form. Though Kerrigan was unsure which of these was the true form or just what Titania was showing her.
Then the whole thing disappeared, and they were both cast into darkness. It was the same sensation Kerrigan experienced when she was on the spirit plane, but…this wasn’t the spirit plane. If anything, it was a shadow plane. The same as their world but the other side of the veil.
And through the dimness came a glowing light. Titania stood in a dim room, just the glow of a candle illuminating the space. She was pacing. The cry of a babe split the night. Titania looked backward, reaching, as if she could go to the small thing, but she didn’t. She shook her head and continued her pacing.
A cloaked woman entered the room. “You’re here. You came.”
The woman removed her cloak to reveal the same golden locks and the beautiful, pure face. They could have been twins, except Titania’s otherworldliness didn’t touch this woman.
“Irena,” Titania said, drawing the woman into her arms. True affection emanated between the women. “I heard of Samil. I’m so sorry.”
