The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (47 page)

It was then that she saw Justice
raise his hand. Suddenly a wall of fire separated her from the men,
and she could see no more—only the fire.

The humans gathering looked
simultaneously shocked by the fire, which appeared to burn from
nothing but the sand, and disappointed—since they couldn’t see the
men anymore.

Well,
Jes
thought,
at least they won’t witness any
more than they already had
.

That thought was short lived when
Dracon appeared—hovering in the air.

Jes groaned.

She looked at the growing sea of
faces that now stared at Dracon in a mixture of shock—and awe. Then
the ground shook and a great crack raced toward the crowd, who ran
screaming, trying to escape.

The wall of fire dropped, and she
saw Constantine drop into the ground. The ground rapidly began to
close behind him. And she stared in shock at who was controlling
this power.

Jared!

Someone could have knocked her over
with the slightest breath of wind. She couldn’t have been more
stunned. She wanted to rub her eyes, or blink, or anything that
would set straight what she was seeing.

But she knew that nothing
would.

Jared was the Prince of
Earth!

And now that the four princes were
together, nothing could stop them. Not even Constantine.

The ground swallowed Constantine
and, for a moment, she felt a great relief that it was over, hoping
that the ground could hold him—and knowing that nothing likely
could.

And then, Constantine shot up out
of the last fissure in the rapidly closing ground, immediately
proving what she already knew—what all of them had already
known.

He hovered above the melee for a
long moment, laughing—and then… he simply disappeared.

The ground closed and the lake
rolled in, covering up all signs that any of this had taken place.
Jes stared at the men. She stared at where the earth had held a
chasm only moments before.

She swallowed back her deep
disappointment, but they had all known there had only been a slim
chance—that they would actually take the
master
himself.

Dara and Mira called her back to
the shade of a tree, where Dara would be in the shade—though Dracon
had given her the same shot that he’d had—so that she wouldn’t be
at risk to the sun. Each sister took one of her hands. She heard
Dara tell her what to chant, within her head, a line ahead of each
line they spoke out loud.

As the water covers the
earth

To cleanse away her
scars,

We call the Fae

Be with us as Sisters of
Three

To wipe away from those who should
forget…

what has taken place this
day.

As we will it,

So mote it be
.

And so it was written in history
that Constantine was beaten back, once more. At least it was
written in the Land of the Fae—for it would be some time before the
humans would be ready to write such things in their own history
books.

They had to embrace the spirit
inside them first. They had to embrace the spirit around them
before they, once more, could embrace what they already knew, deep
inside, if they only would allow themselves to remember.

But first, they had to remember
how to
believe.

And they had to open their hearts
to embrace their brothers in the Land of the Fae.

The Fae awaited this with
anticipation, for this would be a time of great rejoicing—a time
when the Earth could finally heal—a time when Her children walked
as one—once more.

In the meantime, Constantine had
met his enemy—and he had found that the Four Princes of the Dark
Mother were brought together, in time, once more.

No doubt he would bide his time,
looking for another chance—another opening. But the princes,
Justice’s sisters, and the Sisters of Three knew this.

And they would be
waiting.

Chapter
Fifty-Five

Power of Three

They held a ceremony for Jes that
night
—for her to take back her name. They
had all dressed in ceremonial garb. Many of them were wearing capes
of deep red, trimmed with gold. Justice stood by her side. The
Queen of Darkness stood before them. She placed a mantle of
shimmering stars around both of them.

She gave a small smile as she
looked at Justice, and then at Jes.

“
Your name is
Shira
,” she stated
clearly.

Jes looked at her in surprise. That
was the name that Morgi had called her when she called the light.
She had forgotten all about that, after they had been knocked
unconscious by it. But it was more than that. The name had sounded
very familiar—as it should, she realized, if she had been called
the name as a small child.

But if she had been surprised by
that, she was even more so when the Queen of Darkness called out
Morgi, herself, to give her an amulet.

Only she hadn’t called her
Morgi.

What had she called her was
Morrigan.

Jes knew that her mouth fell open.
Morrigan?
The
Morrigan.

Heaven help them!

She stared at Morgi—or
the
Morrigan—as she came
forward. She was dressed in the most elaborate battle garb Jes had
ever seen. The same symbol was beaten into the breastplate as been
when she had first shown herself in their ritual room. Jes realized
it was a raven.

The Morrigan came forward and
placed a medallion in her hands and closed her fingers over it. She
did the same with Mira—and then Dara—her eyes were serious, but her
face showed that she was proud of the Sisters of Three.

And when Jes opened her hand—it was
to find the Triquetra.

She smiled and closed her fingers
over it once more—letting the coolness of the metal embrace her
heart.

They were the Sisters of
Three.

When it was over, Justice stepped
forward and gave her a gentle kiss—as the crowd roared their
approval. Mira and Dara also hugged her. Their faces were flushed
with happiness.

When things had settled down, and
the Queen of Darkness had called for the celebration to begin, Jes
rounded up her sisters for a private talk.

“
Were either of you as surprised
as I was to learn that Morgi—is
the
Morrigan
?”

Mira laughed. “I know. Nothing
surprises me here anymore, but you could have knocked me over with
a feather when she came walking down at the Queen’s
pronouncement.”

Even Dara nodded at
this.

“
Wow!” Jes said. “Why would she
help
us
?”

Mira nodded. “How did she help
us?” She tapped her finger on her chin, much like they had seen
Morgi do on that first day. “Hmmm. I wonder if that’s more what
Amar meant by a couple of
worlds
removed
?”

Jes’s eyes widened. “You
mean….”

“
As in time?” Dara finished for
her.

Mira nodded. “Time is—an illusion,”
she reminded her sisters.

“
How amazing is that?” Jes said,
trying to wrap her mind around the thought.

“
Isn’t it though, granddaughter?”
they heard Amar said from behind them.

The three of them turned and hugged
Amar.

“
So she is the Goddess Morrigan?”
Jes asked, smiling her excitement at actually meeting
a Goddess.

“
Well, the spirit world has a
somewhat different view of what the humans mean by Goddess—but—yes,
she is the Goddess Morrigan,” she finished.

“
Wow!” Jes said again.
“I’m—just—blown away! I don’t know what to say!”

“
You say—thank you for your help,
Morrigan,” Amar said with a huff. She smiled at her granddaughter.
“Come now, Shira. Come granddaughters, the Queen of Darkness has
given you a celebration. She would be affronted if you hide away
from the entertainment she has provided.’

Laughing, Mira exclaimed. “Oh, now,
we wouldn’t want to do that!”

And they all four went out to enjoy
the celebration.

Late the next day, they had all sat
down to rest in the main room at the main house of the compound.
They were all enjoying a quiet evening. They had even turned on the
TV to watch one of the humans’ movies. Jes was cuddled up with
Justice on one of the sofas, but she couldn’t concentrate. Her
attention was continuously drawn to Mia, who wasn’t paying the
movie any mind at all.

She was too busy staring off into
space.

Her usual bounciness and
springiness were gone. Gone, also, was her ready smile.

Jes realized that she was only
getting worse, not better. They had seen something in the sphere,
something she needed to explain. It was time to get to the bottom
of what was bothering her. And who better to do that than the ones
she loved.

She got up and switched off the
TV.

Everyone stared at her like she’d
grown horns, until she gestured impatiently at Mia. Jasmine and
Ophelia realized what Jes was about and took up a seat on either
side of Mia, each of them putting their arm around their
sister.

“
Okay,” Jasmine said gently to
Mia, “It’s time you told us what happened to you.”

“
Yes, baby sis,” Ophelia said,
just above a whisper. “You’re scaring us all half to death. We’ve
never seen you like this.”

Jes sat down in front of Mia.
Justice grabbed a chair to move closer, too. When he did, Dara,
Dracon, and Mira moved their chairs around him, until they were all
around her. Even Micah and Roman gathered around. The only ones who
were missing were Lucius, who was off in another meeting with the
Queen of Darkness, and Conrad, who was running his bar. Caesar had
gone with him to help. He was talking about becoming a full partner
with Conrad.

Mia looked around at them all with
tears in her eyes. “Is this an intervention?” she asked with a
watery smile.

They all laughed a little, but
nodded.

“
You could say that, baby sis,”
Justice said quietly. “We’re all very worried about you. And we’re
not going to wait until you drown—to try and save you.”

She smiled and nodded. “Well,” she
said. “Constantine did bite me, but….”

Dracon was frowning. “Then why
didn’t it affect him?” he asked of no one in particular.

Justice was frowning
too.

Mia shrugged. “I don’t know. I know
it made him sick. But it didn’t do much else to him. But—you see,
he didn’t just bite me….”

Justice was frowning hard now.
“What do you mean, baby sis?”

Jes took both of Mia’s hands. “Why
didn’t you tell us before?” she asked gently.

Both Jasmine and Ophelia had
tightened their arms around her, and now Dara and Mira had joined
Jes on the floor, each of them touching Mia with comforting,
feather-light strokes to her arms.

Mia shrugged, the tears pouring
down her face now. “Because…
I had forced
the issue
—because it had been
my choice
to go….” She
was sobbing now.

Tears were falling freely down
Jes’s face, as well as those of Jasmine and Ophelia. Even Mira’s
eyes shimmered with tears. The only one who didn’t cry was Dara.
But her eyes were dark with emotion.

Justice stood suddenly. “What is
going on here?” he demanded. “What am I missing?”

Dracon moved closer to him. It was
clear that he had understood only too well. Micah was the one to
move in front of Justice.

“
She’s been—raped,” he said
gently.

The shock recoiled off of Justice.
But it was the look on Jared’s face that took the wind out of Jes.
He had just stepped inside the door—just in time to hear what Micah
had said.

“
You lie!” he seethed, looking
like he would fly at Micah.

Dracon stepped in front of him.
“Let’s hear what Mia has to say,” Dracon quietly
commanded.

Jared’s eyes went to Mia. Ophelia
moved, and Jared sat down beside her and gathered her into his
arms.

Now, Justice looked like he was
going to fly at Jared. And Dracon had to turn his attention on
Justice.

“
Tell me,” Jared soothed. “Tell
us….”

She sobbed out the story. “He knew
he couldn’t do anything to… to… turn me. He knew the vacc…ine would
prevent it. So he… raped me… so he could… make all of you pay… by
giving me a child… The old witch said… there would be a
child….”

“
What happened to Morgi?” Jes
whispered.

Mia stared at her. “She never knew.
He sent her away.”