Chapter 161: Gwynn Ap Nudd
Gwynn took a step back, his people gathering more substance as they started to cross over.
"There is no way," he said.
"Yes," Shaylee told him through me, voice full of her tears. "There is. Please listen. I can put you and the Wild back to rest, but you must trust me."
He hesitated. "I do trust you, my love. Forgive me for that failing in the past."
"I do," we said. "Always and forever."
Gwynn's sadness lifted a little. "This way of yours," he said. "I will accept it. But only on one condition."
Shaylee knew what he was about to say and prepared me and my demon for it, but it still wasn't good news.
"You must join me," he said, "in my eternal slumber. So when I wake at the ending of this world, you and I will be the ones to rebuild."
Crap. I knew Shaylee would have gone with him, but I had other life plans in mind. She didn't fight me. Still, I knew it hurt her, what I was about to do to him.
"I can't." I said it, with my demon backing me. "I'm no longer just Shaylee, princess of the Sidhe. I'm Sydlynn Hayle, demon child and witch of the Hayle coven. My life isn't the one you're looking to share."
"I will love you like no other." I was suddenly surrounded by warm, loving magic wrapping me up and holding me. Shaylee knew this power and sadly rejected it.
He scowled, anger rising yet again, as volatile as the forces he commanded.
"I demand you join me." He tried again, so much desperation inside him I wished it could be different. This time he hit me with coercion, trying to bend my mind to his will. But my demon, untouched by Sidhe magic, just snarled at him and batted his power aside.
He crumpled in grief, his eyes begging me while his power did too, offering me a place to belong. "I'm so alone," he whispered. "Please, don't leave me."
This was my task at last. Very gently and with as much kindness as I could muster, I detached myself from his magic and let it go.
"I'm sorry," I said.
His rage was sudden and horrible, the coven swaying from the pressure of it, and when he struck at me I wasn't sure if I could hold him off. Until his energy hit my shields and I understood.
In tandem, my three sources absorbed and reinvented the power, sending it back toward him. He recoiled from it as though burned by it and tried again.
This blow was harder and yet even easier to contain. On my demon's impulse, I instead converted it and sent it back through my connection to the family to refuel their weakened resources. I felt them sigh around me as their power returned.
His third attack made me stagger and the ground shake, but I didn't waver from the blow but from the effort it took to not send that magic out into the world, to find a way to contain it and use it to my own advantage.
In a rush of energy, it flooded the crystal in my hand.
Gwynn sagged, sobbing quietly, his heart so clearly broken I wished things could be different.
"My lord," I said, feeling the crystal in my hand throbbing like a newborn star. "Let me help you return to your rest so you can forget again."
His eyes met mine. "Yes," he whispered.
"I can offer one last gift," I said as I raised the crystal. "Dream of her, Lord of the Underworld, and when you rise again, find her in your realm."
He bowed to me. "Thank you," he said. "But what word do I have that this rest will be my last?"
"By mine," Mom stepped forward, her hand sliding into mine, "and that of my coven."
"And mine," Dad was there, "by the power of Demonicon."
"I offer mine," Sunny stepped forward, "with the force of the undying."
"And mine," I said, "with the strength of the Sidhe." I held the crystal out to my family and saw the force of their magic enter it and turn the star into a prism rainbow of magic.
"Our combined power will guard and watch over you," I said. "And when the day comes this world is done, you will finally know real peace."
Gwynn hesitated.
"My lord," Galleytrot spoke up. "Will you hear me?"
Gwynn nodded.
"I have never met those with such honor, to rival even the Sidhe." He bowed to us, shaggy head so close to the ground his nose tickled the grass. "They will do as they say and not forsake us."
Gwynn met my eyes. "My dog speaks for you," he said. "And I believe him, as I trust you, my love."
"One boon, I beg you, my lord." I spoke before I could stop myself, knowing I had to try.
"I will hear you," he said.
"Galleytrot has served you well," I said. "And he is my friend. I would ask that he be allowed to remain by my side to remind me of you every day."
Gwynn's face softened. "And why should I release him if you choose not to join me?"
"Because," I said, "he will be here to watch over you all the days of this existence. Even when the Hayles have gone, his power tied to yours ensures your safe rest and that we will meet again when this world is through."
Gwynn sighed and in that sigh I felt his agreement. "Care for her well, my hound," he said. "I expect you to be waiting for me when I wake."
Galleytrot bowed low. "I am honored, my lord," he said. "And I will remain faithful to you until you call me again for our final ride."
The entire Wild sighed as one, a few of the hounds howling softly, their voices drifting on the wind.
Galleytrot stepped free of the ring and joined me, his great tongue swiping over the back of my hand.
"I am unable to deny you anything, my love," Gwynn said.
"Time to rest, my lord." My heart broke for Shaylee and Gwynn, but even she knew it had to be this way.
I felt the storm calm as the hunt faded, the forms of the riders insubstantial and ghostly as Gwynn remounted his horse.
"Into the quiet and the deep, my riders," he said. "To the long and still darkness once more."
I sent my Sidhe power into the crystal and released the pent up power inside it.
"Rest well, my lord," I said. "And dream of love."
The magic exploded outward in a flash of light so bright I had to look away and even then had spots in front of my eyes. When my vision cleared, the Wild Hunt was gone, their power quiet. But when I stepped forward and reached down below me, I felt them there, felt him, deep beneath the earth, tied to the magic of my family and of the demon plane, bound by the power of the vampires and lulled by the green energy of the Sidhe.
"Farewell, my love," Shaylee whispered.
***
