Chapter 156: The Past Awakens
She would have reached me far more quickly if her passage hadn't finally triggered what had been building inside her for years. I watched with fear for her as the walls built around her shattered in a visible explosion of light. The pieces, still containing some energy, ricocheted from the inside of the family's wards. Pain/Cydia staggered and almost fell. But when she gained her balance again, I knew I was in serious trouble.
Her power hovered around her like a tangible spirit, pale gold mixed with green. Her body vibrated with the release of her magic and she laughed once, so loud it was almost a shout.
"This is what it feels like!" That was Pain. "You will die another death, sister." Cydia. "One from which you will not return." Her power lashed out at me but Mom was there, her shields protecting me. Pain/Cydia hissed at her as the magic was absorbed this time, retained to strengthen the coven.
"Syd," Mom whispered in my ear, "tell me."
I did, as quickly as I could. "The dreams," I said. "We're both connected to the Wild somehow, Mom. I think..." No, I knew. "We were sisters once. In another life."
Reincarnation. There was no other way to explain it.
"Show me."
I offered Mom my hand while her power lashed out and engulfed Pain. My friend/sister cried out from the contact as Mom drove us both into the dream. Only this time it was shared by everyone.
***
He loves me. His beautiful green eyes watch me with adoration. Cydia, my older sister, pinches my arm as I smile back at him.
"The likes of him is not for you."
But are we not both princesses of the Sidhe? Is he not a noble among us?
With my parents' consent, my love for Gwynn ap Nudd grows stronger by the day. He is destined for greatness, and I will be his mate.
Cydia tries many times to change my mind.
"He is so much older than you." My love knows no age and are we not the ageless? "Surely you would prefer someone with more humor?" When I look in his eyes, I see all the world of laughter and joy I could ever want. "He is only using you to curry favor with our royal parents." Then so be it. My love for him is stronger than her arguments.
I find her with him, smiling and flirting and for a moment I am heart shattered. Until he looks up and sees me, rises and comes to me as if she does not exist. And in that moment, he is mine and I am his.
On the day of our betrothal, Cydia congratulates me and kisses me.
"Well met, dear sister." She hands me a bouquet of flowers, the stems held by a lovely carved handle. A beautiful gift. "Blessings for your union."
As I walk down the path toward my love, all the court is gathered. Their joy at our union is as powerful as mine. My parents smile at me, the elements smile at me.
Until I hear her scream my name. And turn. And see her stagger toward me with her hands covered in blood.
"You see what she's done?" Cydia holds up her hands, shows the court the crimson stain. "She attacked me with cursed magic, used blood power against me, all because of jealousy."
She grabs for me, pulls the bouquet away. The clever wooden handle slides free exposing a bloody knife. Her blood.
Her finger points at me as the sky darkens and the court stares, their happiness turned to horror. "Death."
***
I shuddered and tried to pull away from the end of the dream, knowing what was coming, but unable to stop it. Pain writhed in the grip of Mom's magic as we both sank deeper into the end.
***
The sky opens above me as my love proclaims his outrage and hate. "Death."
The lightning comes and I rise, see the horror in his eyes as he understands the truth, the lies my sister told, the price we have paid. He turns to her in a rage and with one blow strikes her down.
Howling in his anguish, he falls to his knees.
"SHAYLEE!"
***
I jerked myself out of Mom's grip and doubled over, losing everything I had in my stomach as my whole body heaved in denial. Panting, I looked up at Pain and saw the guilt in her face still at war with the Sidhe spirit inside her.
The moment I tried to reach for her, the power in my head slammed itself shut again. But I had access to a new source, one I didn't know I had before tonight. I called on the Sidhe magic in my heart and it answered me.
For an aching moment I embraced it, let it fill me up and used it to reach out to Pain. But before I could reach her I knew it would never work. The coiling energy inside my head would not be denied. It slammed itself against the soft Sidhe power and drove it back deep within, locking it away as it muffled me once more.
One orphaned thread of mine, broken and alone, drifted across the distance, reaching Pain just as my mind went dark again. Her head snapped up and her eyes focused on me. But instead of freeing her from Cydia's influence it drove her further into the influence than before.
She raised her hand and pointed at me. "Death."
And then she lunged for me.
***
