“Not a problem.”
They pushed through the huge oak doors and stepped into the waning sunlight.
“I’m over at guest quarters,” Harp said. “I’m going to head there now. There’s a nymph who looked lonely earlier.”
“Have a good time. And Harp?”
His friend turned back to him and met his eyes.
“Thanks again.”
Harp nodded and spun, strolling off across the lawn with a lightness to his step that Cam could hardly remember having himself. He turned to Ana, pulled her toward him, and pressed a kiss to her lips.
When he pulled away, she looked up at him and asked, “Do you think we’ll get out of this?”
“I don’t know. But I know I’ve got a damn good reason to try. We’ve got a hell of a lot of things standing in our way, but if we make it out of this, I want a life with you.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Ana looked out over the valley and gripped her borrowed bow so tightly that her knuckles burned. It felt wrong. Terribly, horribly wrong compared to the bow that she’d made herself and used for two thousand years. She’d imbued it with magic to withstand the test of time so that she’d never have to be without it. But it was trapped at Druantia’s house, and she was going into the biggest battle of her life with a borrowed bow.
She stood on the summit of a windswept mountain in the Highlands and gazed upon the dark forest below. Today would be either all victory or all defeat. There was no middle ground. She was likely mortal enough that she could die and end up in Otherworld. If they failed to break the spell, Cam would be found and chained to the tor again. Either way, they would be separated.
“The rest will be here soon,” Cam said.
His hand enveloped hers, hard and strong, a bulwark against her fears. She looked up at him, so tall and fierce, with his bow strapped to his back and his brow furrowed as he looked at the forest. He looked so natural with a bow in his hand again. From the way he’d looked at the bow when he’d picked it up, he’d clearly missed it tremendously over the past millennia. A hard lump formed in her throat and she squeezed his hand.
She was amazed by what he’d come to mean to her in these short days. Their history was long and fraught, but they’d come so far since she’d cornered him in that jungle bar. And now they had only minutes before the rest of their party arrived and their lives were changed forever.
He jerked on her hand and pulled her until she was pressed against him. His eyes met hers and set her heart to galloping. This was more than just attraction. More than just affection.
“I’ll make this right, Ana,” he said. “I’ll fix what Druantia has broken. Because I want to, because it’s my responsibility for pissing her the hell off with my pride, but mostly because I want to be with you. And that can’t happen until we break the spell so the other gods change their minds about the rules of Otherworld.”
Her heart pounded harder, as if to make up for the oxygen that her lungs were failing to absorb. He wanted to be with her. And he wanted her to say the same. Fates, the things she felt for him. She swore it could be love, yet a part of her couldn’t make that leap. Not yet. Not even in the face of all that stood before them.
She pulled his head down to hers and kissed him. With everything she had in her, she tried to banish her fears of failure and what it would mean for them. She broke away and said, “We can do this, Cam.”
He nodded, determination in the set of his brow, then turned to face the people who had just arrived. Esha and Aurora held onto Warren and Diana respectively. The two soulceresses nodded, then disappeared again to retrieve more of their party. Though all gods could aetherwalk, it was a talent not all Mytheans possessed. Those who did could bring one or two people at a time along with them.
Before long, Esha and Aurora had brought Cadan and Vivienne. Esha returned for Fiona, the Acquirer, who grinned at her. Cora arrived with two other witches shortly after. Aerten was the last to arrive, directly from Otherworld. She tilted her head toward Cam, her expression a combination of wariness and hope. Still waters ran deep with that one.
When the full thirteen of their party all stood on the crest of the hill, Cam addressed them. “Thank you for coming. This is too great a task for Ana and me alone. If Lea is correct about the extent of protective magics in this place, it will be dangerous even with our greater numbers.”
“She’s correct,” Esha murmured. “Never wrong, that one.”
Cam nodded, a grim set to his mouth. “For that reason, if anyone should wish to depart at any time, you’re free to go.”
Aurora barked a laugh. “Not ditching you now, mate.”
“Then we go,” Cam said.
They set off down the hill, their plan from the previous night in place. The oaks loomed huge as they approached the wood, thick trunks supporting limbs that reached for the sky. Too large and too numerous to ever chop down with axes before the creatures of the wood killed them all. No, magic had created this place and magic would destroy it.
“To the center, witches,” Cam commanded.
As a group, they moved to the center of the pack, surrounded on all sides by the warriors armed with bow and sword. Guns wouldn’t fire in a place so thick with ancient magic, else they’d have used them. But tools of the present couldn’t be used in the past, and this place was imbued with a magic so thick that it hadn’t changed since the day it had been made.
They neared the wood and the shadows of the trees reached out toward them, carrying unnaturally cold air. Humans would never approach this place. Nor would Mytheans, not if they didn’t have to. As it was, their band of warriors suppressed a collective shudder as they entered the shadows of the trees.