Page 84 of Redeemed

We’re interrupted by Cliffe and Abby. They’re holding hands, both of them bruised and dirty. Marcus trails behind, until David holds out an arm and draws all three of them into our little circle of calm.

Sheena comes next, her expression grim. Brodie’s right behind her. “Tell me he had an escape route planned,” Brodie says, watching the burning pyre.

“No.” That’s all there is to say.

Sheena holds up a key fob. “He must have figured things would turn out this way because he gave me the key to his rental car to hold ontojust in case.”

He knew?My head throbs, the swings from hope to despair tightening like a vice around my temples. A distant siren distracts all of us. “Let’s go,” David says, “before the cops show up.”

He’s right, but I don’t want to leave. “We should wait till the fire burns down a little bit more, in case…”

“Come on.” David wraps an arm around my waist, urging me on. “He wouldn’t want us to get arrested.”

He’s not wrong, but I still can’t make my feet move.

“It’ll be okay, Tray. Let’s just get out of here.”

Wondering if Connor said something to David that he didn’t want me to hear, I give in and follow him over the dunes.

We’re chased away by the smell of smoke.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Connor

I’M IN A PLACE with no sense of time. I’m awake, aware. No pain. No heat, no chill. My hands are empty.

I am alone.

I start walking because doing something beats sitting there waiting to die. I’m not going to die, or maybe I already have. The ground I’m covering is smooth dirt, nothing to trip over. Yet.

Walking gives me time to remember and time to reflect on those memories. I’d known happiness more than sadness. I’d given pleasure, but I’d also caused pain. I know these things but they’re disconnected facts, not tied to specific names and faces.

That is, until two names and two faces come into focus. David, my golden wolf. Trajan, my moonlit soul.

Tiny silver filaments emerge from me and disappear into the distance. So fragile, those ties that hold me to them.

So fragile, and so precious.

I don’t know where I’m going and I’d have walked forever if I hadn’t heard someone say, “Stop.”

Stop.

A single command, the voice familiar. I remember that voice, which causes me to remember other things. Trajan and David, watching the firestorm rage.

I’d been afraid of that, afraid of causing them pain.

That’s why I’d insisted on carrying the Princess. Had Trajan carried her up the pyre, he’d be forever dead.

I’m just…somewhere, waiting for a new set of instructions.

“I’ve lived a long time,” the voice says, that same familiar voice. Not my mother, but somehow like her. “And I’ve seen more things than you could ever imagine.”

“I’ve seen quite a bit,” I say, forcing my chin up, my shoulders square.

Laughter, followed by quick running footsteps. “You’ve got balls,meascach. I’ll give you that much.”

Ananda Pendragon. The Morrigan.