“I told you,” Faolán said. I was getting sick of his disdainful tone. “O Anel is special. It isn’t like the human realm we’ve been imprisoned in. Nothing here is as it seems.”
Sunlight streamed through the many branches forming a canopy above us. The eerie yet ethereal light captivated me, swelling my chest with warm emotion. Beautiful. Faolán was right; I’d never seen anything so awe inspiring in all of my existence.
Up ahead, the trees began to clear. I squinted through the muted light, trying to make out the shapes looming in the distance. They looked oddly familiar, but I doubted my own eyes. How could it be? Faolán moved with silent grace beside me, barely rustling a blade of grass as he walked. My bones hummed with the power he exuded, growing stronger the closer we came to the hulking shapes. Something of great importance and even greater power lay ahead of us, and my stomach clenched in fear of what I’d see.
“I haven’t been here for centuries,” Faolán mused, “but even still, its power calls to me.”
The circle of stones stood tall and proud, nothing like it did in the human world. But there was no mistaking the pattern: the larger circle and the smaller one inside of it, the rough, natural placement of the stones, and the archways they constructed. And though I’d never seen it in person, and though this circle was complete and not damaged by time and man’s interference, there was no doubt of what I was looking at.
“Stonehenge,” I murmured.
Faolán laughed. “In the beginning, before the hourglass was split, it was called Kotja A’ma. Font of Time.”
If I’d thought Faolán’s power overwhelming, it was a drop in the bucket to what I felt coming from the ring of stones. I had no doubt O Anel’s name had sprung from this place. I was staring at the true Faerie Ring, the heart of this realm and probably the twin to the heart of the mundane world. I stood in awe of the structure. A divinity resided here, a connection to something bigger than me-or anything I knew, for that matter. It stole the breath from my lungs to look at it, and I averted my gaze, so overcome by its power.
“Now you see,” Faolán whispered, “why I would do anything to return to this place.”
I could. In fact, I’d lost track of the minutes as we stood here. Panic set in as I tried to calculate how much time we’d spent behind the veil. Thirty minutes? An hour? Oh God, how I could I have been so careless? Months could have already passed in the human world. I turned in a circle and ran my fingers through my hair, pulling at the roots. I was poised for a full-on anxiety attack.
“Darian, stop your fidgeting and come here.” Faolán’s voice bounced around inside my brain, bringing with it a foggy confusion. What had I been upset about?
I walked to his side like any obedient pet, and he pulled me close, as though we were simply two friends looking at a blazing sunset or silvery moon. His silence pressed upon me, coupled with the control he exuded with no effort whatsoever. Idly, he traced a pattern on my wrist with his thumb. “There is something special about you. The other Guardians were weak. They died after I’d taken their blood. A powerful Guardian used her blood to imprison me. It took the blood from an equally powerful Guardian to release me. None of the three who came before you could withstand the connection. And their power wasn’t enough to release me from stone. None of them loved deeply enough. But you…,” he said, trailing off with a sigh. “You are different. Your strength astounds me. This was meant to be, and you have done well. Perhaps I won’t kill you after all. If you continue to prove your worth, I will give you a place of honor in the new world.”
Through the haze, a small shred of my mind forced its way to the surface. It seemed easier to do here, in this place steeped in magic. Strong? I felt so weak. I let him control me. I didn’t have the will to fight him; yet he thought me strong. A force apart from Faolán supported me, holding me up under the pressure of his influence. I felt safe despite the danger. Brakae was close. Somehow I recognized her energy as a pure force of nature, like a breeze that blew the fog from my mind. Maybe with her help, we could undo this clusterfuck after all.
I couldn’t let Faolán in on my clarity. So, like a good little zombie slave, I stood passively at his side, accepting his light touch as if I had no other choice. What I really wanted to do was break his arm in two.
“What now?” I asked, ignoring his musings. “I brought you here, like you wanted me to do.”
“Yes, you did.” He patted the top of my head, and I suppressed the urge to slap his hand away. “But this is only the beginning, Darian. There is much to be done.”
“What?”
His lips curved into a sardonic smile. “Why would I tell you?” he said. “No, I think I’d best keep that secret to myself for the time being. First, we have to find the Time Keeper. And after she surrenders her half of the hourglass, all will be set aright.”
I could only guess what kind of shit storm would be caused by bringing the two halves together. “What makes you think she’ll do that?” I mean, give me a break. Faolán had to be pretty full of himself to think this would all tie together with a neat little bow.
“I have no doubt she will.” His confidence sickened me. “She’s going to surrender the glass to you.”
“Not likely.” But the cold feeling of dread sliding down my spine said otherwise. Reaver hadn’t tried to stop me. In fact, I probably could have marched right up to the front door and asked for it. But since I had not a goddamned clue why that was, I had to assume Faolán knew something I didn’t. I mean, didn’t everyone have one up on me in the knowledge department?
Faolán turned me to face him so quickly and so roughly, it nearly gave me whiplash. He hit me across the face-with a closed fucking fist-a right hook that sent me headfirst to the ground. Christ, I was tired of getting smacked around. Blood trickled from my nose, mouth, and cheek, staining the grass that cushioned the unbattered side of my face.
Before I could drag my sorry ass up to a sitting position, Faolán drew the dagger from his belt. The veins of green glowed bright against the black, and he pounced, pinning my legs beneath his and holding me down with his hand constricting my airway. He held the dagger high and looked around us, his eyes glowing deadly silver. “She is beloved by your father!” Faolán shouted to the sky. “Do you hear me, Brakae? Will you sit idly by and watch her die?”
Fucker! Faolán was well versed in the ways of abusive control. Mental, emotional, physical-oh yeah, he had it covered, the triple play of abuse. My entire face throbbed, and my blood continued to flow, which shouldn’t have happened. I usually healed fast, almost instantaneously. And I hurt like hell. Unconsciousness threatened, the pain sending me into a state of near shock. I hadn’t felt this degree of prolonged agony since-well-since the beatings I’d endured from an abusive husband in my human life.
Silence answered us. A dead silence made all the more dramatic for the promise inherent in Faolán’s words. He’d kill me and not even bat an eyelash. I’d brought him to Brakae, making me as good as expendable. “Perhaps she thinks I’m bluffing,” he said more to himself than to me. “I’m sorry, Darian, but I’m going to have to prove to the Time Keeper just how dire your situation is.”
Sure, he warned me, but that didn’t mean I was close to prepared when he brought his arm down in one forceful, sweeping motion. He drew the dagger across my skin from my collarbone to my sternum, opening a deep gash in my flesh. Screams pierced the still air. Shut the fuck up! I thought, until I realized I was the one screaming. Liquid fire seared from the wound, spreading through my body like poison.