Heir of Earth (Forgotten Gods) (55 page)

I had seen it all so clearly in my mind. I thought it was one of my visions. Our family had played in the front yard of the little cabin, a miniature boy like Dayne and a delicate little girl like me, while we rocked together, hand in hand, on that perfect porch.

I closed my eyes, trying to bring the memory back. I wanted to see his face, to be comforted by his smile and the wink of his eye. I searched through the recesses of my brain. Where was it?

A flash of black and white memory came back to me: our hands, locked together and resting on the arm of my chair. Our hands were older, weathered with age. I forced my eyes to trace up his arm. They were still strong, still covered with a crisply ironed shirt. I made it to the collar and my vision got blurry; I was losing it.

No!
I squeezed my eyes shut and dug my fists harder against the cement, blood dampening my knuckles as I forced my brain to hold onto the vision.

It worked! I had not seen this much in my first glimpse of our future together, and for the first time I found myself wielding some sort of control over my handicap. I had to be sure the hand I held was his. I needed to know he would come back to me.

My gaze continued to climb. I saw his chin, dimpled and darkened with unshaven stubble. Then his smile. My heart skipped a beat, my own lips curling, too. Before I knew it he was there before me, waiting for me in my mind like he had been expecting me. I glanced over his face, more angular with age, but still just as handsome, and still looking at me as if I was the only girl in the world.

“Forever,” he whispered over to me and winked.

“Forever,” My broken whisper pierced the silence of the barn. I opened my eyes when the sound echoed back to me and saw the key and its chain spread out on the cement before me, the fat wishing pearl sticking through both sides of the head.

This wasn’t where it ended. There was still more to our story.

I shot up, pushing up the sleeve of his barn coat. The bracelet still circled my wrist where Dayne had put it. Apparently it was his decision. I grabbed at my throat and felt my birthmother’s locket still there.

Relief flooded over me, drying my tears and catching the sobs in my throat.

The wishing pearls had stayed with me! Which meant I still had a way to fight for Dayne, but most importantly, I still had his love regardless of what Daoine wanted. My hand closed tightly around the key. I squinted my eyes shut and began to call Dayne.

I stopped when I realized what I was doing. Dayne wasn’t ready for my world yet. He hadn’t had time to regain his strength from LisTirna.

So maybe that wasn’t the best idea right now.

I knew there was magic in me. I knew I had powers that Dayne’s people feared. I knew I had the strength of goodness on my side. And I knew Daoine had underestimated her competition.

I would win her son back.

Dayne’s power surged through me as I made up my mind. He was calling to me. He knew what I was going to do.

I walked to the end of the barn aisle and looked up at the magnificent castle. The windows of Ennishlough were dark, not even the wick of a candle shining in the dark. The revealers had returned home, the night creatures had retired to sleep. A peaceful silence lay over the glorious grounds of the Sidhe stronghold.

I pulled his jacket around me and began to walk up the trail that led from the barn to the big house. I jumped when another set of footsteps shifted the rocks behind me. Turning, I found Ali following me along the trail. I reached out and scratched his forehead.

I lingered at the edge of the woods for a moment, hiding there to be sure no Sidhe lingered.

It was the darkest part of the day, when the moon has gone to sleep but the sun has not yet picked up its watch. I was covered by shadows as I approached the magnificent castle.

I made my way through the garden at the side of the house. The flowers that had danced alongside Dayne and me that night bobbed their beautiful faces in welcome. My fingertips gently brushed across their velvet petals.

His Range Rover was parked in the driveway, covered with morning's dew. Remembering how good he looked when he picked me up for our first official date, how impossible it was for me to stay away from him, and how drunk his kisses had made me sent a pang of longing straight to my core.  But I knew I couldn't give into the weakness of missing him if my plan was going to work.

I walked up to the wooden door of the kitchen and pulled. It didn’t budge. Ennishlough was locked up tight.

Stepping away from the door, I caught my reflection in the darkened window’s glass.

My hair flowed freely around eyes that greeted the world with a new-found confidence. A face holding all the maturity of womanhood looked back at me, and I was no longer the terrified little girl I had been. Sparkling at my neck, the wishing pearl from my past intertwined with the one from Dayne. So much of my life had changed in those short months of summer that the people back home probably wouldn’t recognize me.

I was glad of that.

My life had gone from bad to good to worse to perfect. And it was all because of him.

But even without him I still had something no one could take away. I had answers. I knew where I belonged and it wasn’t in the old life I had left behind.

My shoulders settled neatly down my back, pushing my chest forward as I took a deep breath. It would be impossible for this world to defeat me now. Fear would never cower me and shame would never bow my head again. I was bigger than this world and I would bend to its will no longer—forging a path of my own instead, finding my way to where I belonged.

A soft breeze rustled through the trees, swirling my hair around me and sending the glinting pearls dancing at my neck. I was my own woman now, and I knew one thing for sure.

I was going to fight for Dayne DeLaney with all the magic I could muster, and neither one of our worlds were prepared for the fury my vengeance would unleash.

After having the best summer of her life ruined and Dayne taken from her, Faye Kent has two choices.

She can either continue with her American life and settle into college at St. Anne’s, as if her summer in Ireland never happened.

 
Or she can learn to control the power she possesses and fight for what she loves.

Rosemary Clair holds her Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication from the University of Georgia. After college, she worked in medical sales for several years before turning to writing full time.

While honeymooning in Ireland, she was first introduced to the mysterious land and superstitious ways of the locals. Both intrigued her immediately. Back on American soil, she began researching Irish myths, the lore and fables passed down through generations, and the idea for Heir of Earth began to take shape.
 

Writing is definitely a labor of love for Rosemary. While typing away on her latest project occupies most of her day, when the sun is shining, the outdoors call to her. On those beautiful, southern afternoons she sneaks away to the barn to get a little inspiration from her beloved horse, Asscher.

Rosemary lives in Athens, Georgia with her husband and one very pampered pooch.