Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,79

remembered being told who Morgana’s mother was, but right now my thoughts were on Raven and if I didn’t take my mind off of her, I’d be imagining all sorts of horrible possibilities.

“Viviane, the Lady of the Lake.” She paused, then said, “Most people think she was water Fae in nature. They picture her as a siren or something.”

I frowned, nibbling on one of the pastries Llewellyn had brought. The raspberry flavor was bright and tangy. “So, she wasn’t water Fae?”

“No,” Morgana said. “My mother was actually one of the Ante-Fae, as close to a water elemental as you can get without actually being one.”

That made a lot of sense. After a moment, I asked, “How did you meet Cernunnos?”

“I was out on a berry-picking trip. My father was off on one of his many missions, and my mother had asked me to spend a few days picking berries so we could make jam against the winter months. She lives in a small cottage on the side of Lake Avalon, in between the worlds. My father lived there with her for a long time, but he gets wanderlust and by the time I was…well…if I were human I would have been in my late teens, he had left again. I stayed home and helped Mother tend the garden and guard our forest retreat.”

“It sounds idyllic.”

She smiled. “Well, idyll is in the eye of the beholder. I was lonely, a lot. So I went on a three-day journey to pick berries. I had a small sledge with me so I could carry the buckets, and one of our goats was pulling it. I was deep in the forest when a massive bear lumbered out. He was hungry, and he must have smelled my berries because he charged me. I backed away, hoping he would go for the fruit and leave me alone. But then I saw he was wounded, and that had turned him mean. He ignored the berries and charged me. I tried to climb a nearby willow, but the bear was almost on me. At that moment, a horn echoed through the forest. The bear stopped, and even my goat stood at attention. I scrambled up into the tree. The horn sounded again, closer, and then Cernunnos stepped out into the clearing. He was massive, and his antlers rose so majestically. I was caught in the lock of his gaze and lost my heart.”

I remembered seeing Herne in the woods for the first time, before I knew it was him. He was so regal, in his stag form. He had saved my ass, and Angel’s little brother. When he showed up at my door, there had been an instant connection.

With a gentle smile, I said, “I understand.”

Morgana reached out to stroke my cheek. “I know you do. Cernunnos sent the bear off after healing him, and then he invited me to eat dinner with him. I did, right there in the forest. He provided bread and honey, and a roast chicken, and we had some of the berries I had gathered. I couldn’t seem to remember that I was sitting with a god, I had already tumbled head over heels for him. When evening came, he took me back to his palace. I wanted him, but he wouldn’t sleep with me. I didn’t want to leave, but he made me return home the next morning. He told me that he would come by every so often. I grew up, and eventually my father came home. Merlin taught me to use my magic. And several times a year I met privately with Cernunnos.”

“Did he ask you to marry him?” I found myself pulled into her story. It was like a fairytale, only this time, it was real.

“One night, about eight years after I first met him, he took me for a midnight ride. The moon was bright, and we sat on the edge of the lake. He asked me if I would be willing to leave my world and join him in Annwn. He said that if I were to marry him, I’d be given an elixir and it would change me into a goddess, to rule by his side. I’d be leaving everything in the outside world for him. I didn’t even have to think. I said yes. I wanted to be with him always.

“My mother reluctantly let me go. My father was angry. He had expected me to join the Force Majeure one day. He had also developed