Page 70 of God Touched

"It's only the dead, Imogen. They can't hurt you, only mess with your perception a little." Arawan took her hand in the darkness to reassure her. He would never let any harm come to her.

Arawan knew that letting her go with him into Annwn was dangerous. He could hope that the gates wouldn't let her go through as a mortal. The problem with Imogen was that normal rules never seemed to apply. He only knew that she was meant to be at his side from now on.

The cave tunnel curved, and Arawan felt the pulse of the gates growing with every step.

"We are getting close."

"We better be. I really don't think anyone should be down here. What is a gate to the underworld doing in here anyway?"

Arawan would like to know the answer to that too. "All the worlds touch at different weak places, this you know. Those weak places can also exist in the dark realms. If I had to make a guess, I believe that this is one of the weak places, and a legend grew up around it that the mountain was haunted to keep anyone from wanting to come in here. What I don't understand is why there are so many restless shades here."

"What if they tried to go through and couldn't?" Imogen asked.

"You mean as living beings?"

"Sure. If I found a portal in a cave, I'd probably try and go through it too."

Arawan sighed. "Of course you would. You have no sense of self-preservation."

"My lack of self-preservation led me to you, didn't it?" she replied.

Arawan lifted her hand and kissed it. "It did, but I wish you never had to go to such extreme methods."

"Sometimes it takes being brave enough to use extreme methods to find what you're really looking for in life."

"Or the Afterlife," Arawan replied. They walked for another few minutes until the tunnel suddenly ended. Two onyx obelisks rose out of the center of a small cavern. As soon as Arawan approached, they lit up with golden runes in the language of the dead.

"So Killian was right after all. These definitely lead to Annwn, but I'm unsure of which part," Arawan said, running his fingers over them.

"Does that matter? When we get there, won't your power rush back to you?" Imogen asked.

"It all depends on how they cut me off from it. I will be stronger through the weak connection I still maintain to it."

Imogen studied the gates and let out a long breath. "Only one way to find out." And before he could stop her, she walked through the center of them and disappeared.

"Fuck, Imogen!" Ice-cold fear shot through Arawan's veins. She hadn't fallen dead at his feet, which was a miracle. Cursing, Arawan hurried after her.

The darkness clung to Arawan's skin, pulling and tearing at him in a way that it had never done before.

"I am your master, take me home," he commanded it in the tongue of the gods. The sides of the portal thinned at the command and spat him out into a field of green grass.

"You took long enough. I've been waiting here for like an hour," Imogen complained and hurried over to him.

Arawan grabbed her by the shoulders. "What the fuck, Imogen? Why would you walk straight through a portal you had no idea where it went?"

"It felt like you! The same way your power does when it rises. I knew exactly where it was going to take me!"

Arawan clutched her face with shaking hands. "But you didn't know if it was going to kill you in the process."

"I don't care! I told you, I'm not going to be left behind! Get that through your thick head," Imogen growled at him.

Arawan wanted to shake her for such idiotic logic that put her at risk. He kissed her instead. They were the only two options when it came to her; fight or make love.

"I thought you weren't coming," she said between panicked kisses.

"There's nowhere you can go where I won't be able to find you," he promised her. An awareness prickled at the back of his neck, and he turned. "My babies."

"Your what now?" Imogen demanded.

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