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A kindred soul.

“Thank you, Kess. For everything.”

Chapter 16

DeterminationburnedinBryn’sveins after speaking with Kessler.

She wanted answers, and only Danu knew them.

The caw in the sky pushed at her resolve as she ran to Niamh’s place, having been told before she left Sage’s after her breakdown that Justin was keeping Danu and Callum there.

“I’ll be getting answers from you later, little crow,” Bryn seethed through her teeth at the bird as it flew past her, far too close, in what Bryn took as a taunt. Narrowing her eyes, she ignored the bird, promising revenge later.

Stepping onto the wooden steps of the Sanctuary, Bryn clenched her fists as she took a steadying breath.

Yes, the world thought she was a witch and had tormented her for years because of it. Yes, perhaps they had been right, but if she was going to wear that title, she needed the information on how to do so.

Justin met her in the entryway, Caden sitting near the door in the seat he used when Niamh needed him there as security instead of serving drinks.

It always amazed Bryn how Caden worked in the Sanctuary, and the townsfolk treated him like anyone else in the community, yet they shunned the women working at the very same place.

Fair? Not in the least, but that was the world they lived in.

Didn’t mean she had to like it.

“I can tell by the look on your face you’re determined, and lucky you, Niamh is promising us uninterrupted time to ask the questions we need answered.” Justin gave Bryn a small shoulder squeeze with his words as she nodded and stepped past him into the drawing room.

“You sure you want those answers, Brynnie?” Justin asked from behind her, using the nickname Declan had come up with during their courtship.

Justin was concerned for her, but she was so tired of being seen as weak, and if she had a slight chance, even the smallest of chances, to be powerful enough to control her own destiny, she was taking it by the throat.

“That I do, Justin. That I do,” she replied.

“Let’s see if we can finish what we started, then,” Justin said as he shut the door behind her, staying in the hallway to welcome any other guests, or keep the uninvited out, she assumed.

Walking to one of the old leather couches in Niamh’s drawing room, Bryn watched the man made of shadows move between several chairs to the wall. It wasn’t long until the shadows fell apart, but she had to wonder who he was and why he followed her everywhere.

“Have a seat.” Sage patted the spot next to her on the couch that had once been gold, time and use wearing away at the color. Bryn moved to sit when she saw the look of utter annoyance on Niamh’s face from the seat across from her.

“Are you all right?” she asked, Niamh not answering, her mind elsewhere.

“Arioch came by before we got here. No idea what he wanted since Niamh has been mentally planning his death ever since he left,” Sage told her, curling into the corner of the couch with a pillow. The drawing room was one of Bryn’s favorite places growing up.

Much like Sage’s, colors were everywhere compared to outside the doors of the Sanctuary. Blue walls, golden colors strewn throughout the décor, large, framed paintings of places Bryn had never believed existed until Niamh told her otherwise.

Bryn imagined this was what a room in a castle might look like. Whereas most of Sage’s colorful items were from Tanwen, Bryn had no idea where Niamh’s things came from. Probably from all over the world now that she knew how long-lived Niamh was.

One could accumulate a lot as an immortal.

Settling onto the couch as they waited for the rest of their people, Bryn reached out to the table between the couches where a glass of water sat.

The moment her fingers touched the etched glass, her vision went sideways.

A sensation of her body being lighter than normal told her she was in a vision, yet she hadn’t touched another person.

Also, the fact that she was no longer in the drawing room but standing in the middle of Saints’ Road as the sun set was another pretty clear clue it was a vision, human touch or not.

Screams tore through the night behind her.