Blackbird Crowned (The Witch King's Crown #3) - Keri Arthur Page 0,71
least some of that was a result of severe dehydration.
She pulled back and studied me through narrowed eyes. “That’ll have to do for now. I think we’d better get out of here before night hits and this entire area is crawling with demons.”
I grabbed Elysian, then pushed to my feet. “Where are we?”
“Not that far out of Carlisle.”
Meaning Max and his crew must have had cars nearby, even if I hadn’t seen them. Hell’s Gill was a good hour away from Carlisle, and it was doubtful he’d have risked using the flighted demons to get me here. Even if most people these days seemed to have their eyes glued to their phone screens rather than what was going on around them, a pack of flighted demons carrying a limp body was a rare enough sight that someone would have noticed.
I tugged the sword sheath over my shoulders, slid Elysian into it, and then slung her back on. “Are we flying back to the safe house?”
She shook her head. “It’s too far a flight to risk with night coming on so fast. As I said, they’ll be out in force looking for you.”
“Then where are we going?”
“Windermere.”
My stomach clenched “That may not be safe. I told Max Vivienne was the only person who might be able to find the sword. He’s probably there right now trying to summon her.”
“Except Windermere is not a lake traditionally linked to Vivienne. Aside from Dozmary Pool, there’re six others.”
“There are?” I asked, surprised.
She nodded. “Depending on which legend you read, she can be found at Llyn Llydaw, Llyn Ogwen, Loe Pool, Pomparles Bridge, Loch Arthur, or Berth Pool.”
I blinked. “I’ve never heard of any of them.”
“Hopefully, he won’t have either.”
“So can he summon her?”
“He can certainly try. He does hold the right blood, but he also has the wrong sword. The latter will likely cancel the former.”
“Does that mean I can also summon her?”
“Yes, and not just because you drew Elysian. You are a mage in the making, and we remain her connection to this world. But this is a conversation we can continue later.” She motioned to the channel. “We need to move. Ready?”
I nodded and motioned her to precede me. She shifted shape, then jumped into the air and flew into the channel. I followed, the very tips of my wings brushing either side of the channel but not hampering my flight. Relief hit hard as I flew out into a gloriously golden sunset.
I was free. Against all the odds, I was free.
If I’d been in human form, I might have started crying again. Which was daft, especially given I still had a whole lot of shit ahead of me to survive.
Despite Mo’s healing, tiredness soon pulsed through me once again. I needed to eat, and I needed to sleep, but most of all, I needed to see Luc. Needed to have his arms wrapped around me and just lose myself in his warm strength and solidity for a few hours. Mo might be my rock—the one constant in my world, now that Max had betrayed us all—but Luc was both my past and my future. I might have only recently met the man in this incarnation of our souls’ journey, but he was quickly becoming as important to me as life itself.
Dusk gave way to full night. Ribbons of light appeared below, the highways brighter than minor roads, all interspaced by pockets of brightness that were towns or hamlets. As the glimmer of water finally appeared, Mo arrowed down, heading toward a deeper patch of darkness that was at least several miles outside of Windermere’s boundaries and nowhere near the shores of the lake. A house appeared out of the gloom, warm lights shining from several of its windows. She flew over its roof and headed toward several smaller shapes off to its right—barns that had been converted to guest accommodation, I guessed. She angled across to the larger of the them. Though there were no lights on, smoke drifted from the metal chimney at the barn’s far end. Someone had lit the log burner, and I couldn’t help but hope that person was Luc. As we dropped toward the ground, I saw the SUV we’d hired.
He was here.
I’d barely shifted shape and landed beside Mo when the door opened and his big form appeared. He didn’t move, didn’t say anything, but his relief washed over me, a wave so thick and fierce it snatched my breath and squeezed my heart.