A Discovery of Secrets and Fate (Chronicles of the Stone Veil #2) - Sawyer Bennett Page 0,109

is.

“I’ve seen her,” Arwen whispers, her tone regretful. “She’s still very much alive in The Underworld.”

“Oh God,” I moan, crossing my arms over my stomach. I feel a sob wanting to break free, but I choke it down. Desperate for any information I can get, I lean forward. “You said a changeling is a catalyst for great magic. Could it have been used simply to bring this Dark Fae into the Earth realm?”

“It’s possible,” Arwen ponders with a frown. “But very unlikely. Placing a changeling that waits for twenty-eight years to emerge into a powerful Dark Fae tells me that it’s something bigger than just one fae trying to escape the Underworld. Just the magic it would take to place the changeling tells me whoever was behind this already had the means to get to the Earth realm. Because we know there’s a prophecy, I’m guessing there is significance in doing it that way, but it’s all supposition.”

“I need more than supposition,” I snap, then immediately hold my hands up in apology. “Sorry. I don’t mean to take this out on you. This is just a lot to process. What about the prophecy?”

“I don’t know what it is, but I do know without a doubt this Dark Fae who emerged is at the center of it. And you are the means to stop her.”

We had figured as much, but at least now we had confirmation.

“What is her purpose?” I muse, knowing Arwen doesn’t have the answer to that particular question as she’s as much as said so.

How do we find that information? Should we kidnap and torture it out of her? I know Carrick could do that. Or perhaps we just kill her, but what would be the unknown cost? If she’s in any way tethered to my real sister, I don’t think we can take that chance.

And fuck… I have a sister who was raised and lived twenty-eight years, literally in hell. What would she be like?

Mad?

Twisted?

Has she turned evil?

The thought is too horrific to linger on.

“The changeling… it was my sister for twenty-eight years,” I murmur, almost too afraid to know the answer to this question. “Was it evil all along?”

Arwen shakes her head. “No. That’s what it means to be a changeling. It took the form of an ordinary human baby, then grew into an adult human. The magic enacted changed it back into a Dark Fae. The time you spent with that sister was real and genuine.”

I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse. On the one hand, it revives the grief over losing Fallon, knowing that all of our memories and love were real. On the other hand, it helps to know that, despite those memories, she was never destined to be my sister. In fact, I had a real one stuck in the Underworld.

“What else?” I demand to know. “How can I figure out what to do next?”

Had she eyes, I know they’d be boring into me at this moment as Arwen holds statue still, her face aimed right at me. “The feather on your leg.”

I jolt, my hand going protectively to my right calf. “What about it?”

“I saw that, and I believe it holds the power to help you. You also have a light inside of you that is undefinable but important. This is where I told you that sometimes I have to make guesses, but my intuition tells me that angel at your birth is responsible for all the gifts you seem to have. I believe the path of your journey will be to find that angel.”

I shake my head back and forth. “No. No, no, no. There can’t be angels. I can’t handle one more paranormal entity.”

“There are Earthbound angels,” Arwen says, then qualifies, “According to our fae history books, I believe humans call them guardian angels.”

“Does that mean God has something to do with this prophecy? Did he send an angel to attend my birth? Give me this feather?”

“I’m sorry,” Arwen murmurs, her head bowing slightly. “I do not know that for sure, but I think it would be reasonable to assume He could potentially grant grace to you and your plight.”

“Why would He do that for me?” I wonder.

“Because to stop this prophecy, I have foreseen there is going to be a great sacrifice made. I think it’s going to be required of you, Finley.”

That knocks the wind out of me, because, in plain speak, that sounds very ominous. Regardless, I’m in too deep. I know