Blackbird Crowned (The Witch King's Crown #3) - Keri Arthur Page 0,22
often enough in the past.”
Her gaze briefly met mine, her eyes alight with warmth and love. “You sure you’re not just saying that to butter me up for babysitting duty in a few years’ time?”
I grinned. “Given you’ve been telling Luc just how many grandkids you’re expecting, could you blame me?”
She laughed again. “Definitely not.”
I watched the wipers sweep across the windshield for a minute, knowing that despite the deluge of water, the storm’s force was beginning to ease. That knowledge was damnably scary, and it made me wonder if I’d now go through the rest of my life being intimately aware of nature’s every little pulse and beat.
“So where does all this leave me and the sword?” I asked eventually. “Are you able to teach me to use it?”
She hesitated. “With time, I can certainly teach you to control the powers that come with my bloodline. That, in turn, will help with the forces the sword can raise. But when it comes to the gray space? No. Only Aldred’s line and the gods themselves can inhabit that dimension, and I’m afraid it’s a case of learning on the job.”
Which seemed pretty consistent with the haphazard manner the gods used to approach these things. “Time is something we might not have much of.”
“I know.” She paused to let some cars go past, then turned onto the road that led back to Launceston. “I’m actually surprised Max hasn’t yet tested his sword against the gateway.”
“We have his kids. He may not make a major move until he gets them back.”
“There could be a multitude of reasons for his delay, but I doubt that’s one of them.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Why?”
“Because he’s canny enough to realize his kids are safe with us—after all, if he can’t find them, Darkside can’t either. That might even have been what this morning’s call was about—he didn’t want to risk their whereabouts becoming known to the other factions if you were taken.”
“Except I don’t know where they are.”
“He doesn’t know that, remember.”
“True.” The threads of the storm’s power were now visibly easing as the wind swept them on toward the sea. There was blue behind the gray, although the promise of warmth remained at least a day away.
I sucked in another of those deep breaths. These snippets of knowing were going to take some getting used to.
“Do you think Max is aware he needs to step onto the gray fields to open the main gate?”
“That would depend entirely on what old tomes he’s managed to get his hands on.”
“Was it mentioned in many of them?”
“I think there was one from Cedric’s time that did, but it was likely destroyed when the monastery in which it was kept was demolished during Henry’s dissolution.”
“We thought the same thing about the De Montfort family bible, remember, but Max has apparently gotten his mitts on that.”
“Yes, but the bible’s presence was well known. The documents detailing what Cedric called ‘The Battle on Gray’ were not.”
“And we’re absolutely sure Mryddin’s replica can’t help its wielder to step onto the gray?”
“Yes.” Her gaze narrowed. “Though he didn’t actually clarify if it had the power to break the seals on the other gates.”
Horror rose at the thought. “As in one mass destructive event, you mean?”
She glanced at me. “Yes.”
“Well, fuck.” I thrust a hand through my still wet hair. “Surely if that was possible, he’d have said something. I mean, it’s more than a little important!”
“Mryddin can be a little vague on details at times. He’s far older than either Gwendydd or myself, and his memory is not what it once was.”
“Then maybe we need to go back and ask him.”
“I’ll see if Mary can contact him via the ancient council.”
Mary was a soul soldier—an ancient warrior reborn into a newly dead body in order to fight darkness. Part of her skill was the ability to talk to the ancient—and very dead—druidic council. “If that were possible, why didn’t we do that instead of trundling all the way down to his cave?”
“Because I felt the need to go down there. And it’s just as well we did, given what happened.”
What had happened was a full-on Darkside attack. “Well, if she does manage to contact him, she can ask when he’s going to get his lazy butt into gear and join the fray.”
“His lazy butt will only move if he feels his presence is necessary. And his definition of necessary has always been quite different to everyone else’s.”