Silver Hollow (60 page)
We have the same chin, the same nose
.
His smile was faint. “I should never have let Drustan take you away from me. Had I known he wasn’t coming back, I
never
…” His strength failed him as another wave of pain shook him.
Amie held on and let tiny rivulets of her power sink into him. “I know you’re my father. I’ve had dreams about that life ever since I was a kid. When I came back they started again, but I only recently realized what they meant. I want to hear the truth from you, Henry.”
After clenching her hand through another bout of pain, he rasped, “We both loved her
,
you know. She was like the sun and spring, like a draught of water we were incapable of not thirsting for. In those days she went by a different name, Isolde.” His eyelids fluttered closed as the memories swept over him. They opened with a new light, accompanied by
the
secret smile he only gave her. “You remind me so much of her sometimes, my little one. In the beginning he did not love her, even though she was promised to be his bride. He was unaware of our involvement. Only later, after the first attacks came and I left the Vale to lead the army
,
did this change. I
might have truly questioned which of us was your father had I not known the instant I held you in my arms. Isolde knew the truth would ruin Drustan. Even so
,
it was not easy for him to forget our betrayal. You should know you were happy living in Xcalibure. Drustan thought of you as his
,
I think, as you share one particular trait.”
Amie squeezed her eyes shut.
“But he had already given himself to another long before we made our pact with Dameri and her father. Alastair’s mother was never very s
trong. He rescued her from the w
ights
’
attack, nursed her the last year of her life in secret. I believe Drustan loved her very much.”
Morcant gasped in disbelief, and Amie recalled what Grimwich had hinted of earlier about she and Drustan’s relationship. From behind them a chortled cry escaped the mountain of a man. Amie marveled how the tables had been turned. She recalled the cart ride back to Wenderdowne with Cook, learning about his ruined mother. Never could she have imagined the confused and awkward lad was her cousin.
Henry continued
,
his voice fainter with each unveiling of the truth. “Somehow those exiled from the Vale learned of your birth, a half human
Seelie
with the Emerald E
yes. Drustan heard whispers of the pending attack and stole you away the night they came. He promised to return to us as soon as it was safe, and I believe he would have. But they found him first.”
And then Amie recalled the mysterious visitor Faye had overheard in Drustan’s study, the sudden move and endless stream of society dinners. They had been so isolated before and Amie detested her parents
’
sudden social climbing agenda. Now she wondered if the past had simply caught up to them. Had the exiles been prepping her for their own agenda all along?
Henry gasped, began to choke on his own blood
,
and Amie propped his head up with her hands, desperately searching for help. “Help us!” she shouted at Morcant. The widow had s
u
nk to her knees, however, buried her face in her hands to mask her despair.
Henry shook his head, finding enough air to answer, “Not much time is left, Jessamiene. Ye must be swift.”
Gasping for air to keep the tears at bay, Amie renewed the trickle of her
nixy
to Henry’s fading lifeline. Careful not to pour too much too quickly
,
she willed the flesh around his festering wound to maintain when it refused to mend.
Shaking his head, he attempted to brush her hands away. “No…”
Amie cried out in frustration. “We’ve already been through this! I already lost a father once before and I’m not losing you. I made my choice. I want to stay here with you and help you rebuild, turn this place into what it was meant to be. Don’t you know how much it’s meant getting to know you, even when you were just Uncle Henry? You gave me my life back! And if you die you’ll be taking it away again.”
His smile was bright as the dawn at the promise of her declaration. “If I could die a thousand deaths only to hear those words again, child… You have granted me the only wish I ever wished for myself.”
Amie gasped with disbelief when
he
gently pushed her back and fastened his gaze on Dearg.
Gravely he spoke to the
Freargde
now at her side. “You know what must be done now if we are to survive.”
“Aye
,
Iudicael, I am ready.”
“Promise me you will watch over her always and make her interests above your own?”
Amie wanted to protest when
Dearg
knelt beside them and took her hand in his.
“Forever,” he said.
She wanted to scream as once again choices were being made over her without her control. She wanted to shout at her father and Dearg and tell them both where to shove their almighty plans. T
he pact they had
made weighed heavily over her, further tightening the chains of their bond until they were faintly aware of each other’s emotions and feelings. Just as quickly it was gone and he had left them to say their goodbyes.
Henry drew her to him until she was once again resting against his bloody chest. He sighed and whispered over her, “Creator protect and keep thee. Watch over my daughter in the coming life, help her endure the sacrifice she is bound to make
.
” For a moment of silence they rested together, only the sound of their hearts beating in time to the pounding powers ripping the earth to shreds outside.
There isn’t much time
.
Amie knew Slaine, Faye and Ginuog were doing all they could to keep the enemy from reaching in, but they couldn’t last much longer. And it was going to take both she and Henry to command the ring’s true power.
“Unc—Father?” His chest hummed pleasantly with his smile and she nearly lost it then, knowing this was all he had ever wanted. “Father
,
it’s time.”
“Aye. Feel my
nixy
, Amie. Cling to it and direct it. The house will help you with the rest. We’ve been waiting for you, love.”
“Hang on to me,” she whispered before she gave into the growing pressure of their combined energies. Instantly their eyes flashed open wide and her body grew rigid, lifting from the hearth. Henry clung to her, the sound of their heartbeats echoing in the sudden hush that had overcome the room. Everything seemed to slow down
so
Amie could see them all.
She saw
Underhill
bury her face into Alastair’s shirt and Morcant sobbing on the floor beside them. She saw Emrys being tortured in the farthest corners where the shadows sought to maintain vigil, by the
Unseelie
who had broken into the house defense at last. Grimwich held his arms open wide before the open front doors, waiting to face them. Ginuog had run out of bullets and now wielded his giant crossbow to catch the enemy by surprise. Faye danced over them all, daggers flashing
,
with her
nixy
on the air.
Silvery light burst from Henry and Amie’s skins and filled the room until it shon
e whiter than the sun. The spirits
of the
w
ights
that had been trapped in Wenderdowne screamed with awareness. Every dark creature on the grounds paused and screeched as the bright beams escaped the house and shot up into the sky, clearing the black cloud. And then it descended with increasing speed, rushing over the retreating dark
Sidhe
, burning them from the inside out until nothing but ashes remained floating upon the air. It filled every hall of Wenderdowne until the dark ones who had made it inside were also disintegrated into nothing.
Awareness was long coming to Amie after this. For those last few precious seconds she saw her father’s life play out before her eyes. She watched as he and Drustan played in the abandoned wing that had once been a school for the gifted, throwing little balls of energy back and forth at one another. She saw the wars of humanity rage as the brothers sought to fight against the
w
ight
who had started it all. She saw Dameri through her father’s eyes the first moment he saw her and the forbidden love that had existed so strongly between them. And then she saw him holding her as a newborn, teaching her to walk, to talk and first harness her inner nixy as a young child.
With the
memories of those lost years away no longer repressed to realistic dreams
, her past came crashing back to her present
.
When she opened her eyes the bright lights had faded and her father lay motionless, his eyes unblinking and shedding tears of joy in death.
The Vale was secured once more, for good this time she hoped. Almost immediately the defenses lowered and Dearg left her to rejoin the others outside. He kissed her tears away and
,
pressing their foreheads together, whispered, “Stay here, love. I shall return.”
While the others rejoiced in the bittersweet aftermath of their victory, Amie left what remained of her family to grieve in their ways. Amie couldn’t stand to hear Morcant’s keening wails or
Underhill
’s sobs. So
,
disobeying Dearg’s request, she fled.
She knew once Dearg found them, the others would come looking for her soon and she felt too numb to handle any more emotional strain at the moment. Henry was gone but his essence had joined the others in her ring,
his
ring, she recalled. She wondered why Drustan had taken it away from his brother and now she’d never know.
Once she entered the scarred wing past Drustan’s former rooms Amie let the tears fall freely. Here was where they had taken Emrys to torture him. She had seen his pain and wondered why she did not feel it before. Their connection had always been strong, ever since he brought her back to life. No
one but she cared whether the M
erlin lived or died. But she wanted to do more than care, she wanted answers.
Wenderdowne looked and felt lifeless. No sound permeated these ruined walls and the smell of death followed the draft. What seemed like yesterday, Amie had followed Emrys to this very part of her legacy, where
he had
offered her a tame version of the past.
In the far distance she heard the front hall doors slamming open and a chorus of joyful voices calling out her name. Wiping away her tears and remnants of her father’s blood
,
she found the fork in the path and kept right until she found the hidden library. Voices whispered in the dark, echoing her own grief
,
and a chill grazed the tip of her spine.
“Emrys?” Amie whispered upon entering the shadows, knowing full well he was nearby and would hear her no matter where he was in the house. When he didn’t answer she gritted her teeth and clenched the light sphere held aloft into her hand. “Fine,” she grumbled, “I don’t need your help.” She entered Feather’s library and found no candles lit inside, no fire blazing in its hearth. It felt lifeless.
Why would they have brought him here?
“Still haven’t yet learned your place, have ye
,
Jessamiene?” a disembodied voice said.
Holding off a shriek, Amie held onto the broken wood with the tips of her fingers. Her grief was too present, and nearly all her strength had gone into saving them. Still she struggled to concentrate on the energy giving off light in her palm and turned to face him.
“A
Seelie
queen should never entertain the advances of a
w
ight
. Has Lewyon not warned ye of this historic fact?”
Emrys stepped into her light,
like the night they met in the hall outside
her room
,
unaffected by what he had been through
. “Sooner or later, you’ll be consumed.” His fine princely clothes were smattered with blood and grime. Looking like he’d been to hell and back didn’t diminish the confidence of his steps or the gloom that followed him.
Amie concentrated on deep breaths, fought the urge to throttle him with her bare hands and the type of
nixy
blasting he would not recover from. “They were torturing you here. I saw it clear as day. I’d ask if you wer
e okay, but I think we already know the truth
. I want answers, Emrys. I want to know why you killed my parents, I mean, Drustan and Lynn.”
“
’
Twas the only way to make ye afraid enough to cross the Atlantic and ye know it.” He then surprised her by holding open his arms and tilting his head forward. “Well, now that ye know the truth, aren’t you going to do it?”