Soulceress (The Mythean Arcana 2) - Page 26

She’d racked her brain, but the truth of it was, she knew little about her own kind. There hadn’t been any parents to teach her, and her school had stayed the hell away from teaching about soulceresses except for a brief mention. But what little she’d heard of the howf had been riveting.

It still was. A place that held the secrets of her kind? She’d never tried to find it before. Not only was it dangerous, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. What if her kind were as evil as everyone said? Did she really want to face that?

But she’d already set out on this path, and she finished what she started. “Do you even think she’ll be at the howf?” she asked.

“Doona know. Do you?”

She frowned and mulled it over. “No, I don’t think she will be. Too dangerous to risk meeting us at a place with so many unknowns that she couldn’t account for. If I were Aurora, I’d want to meet on my home turf. But I’d make you work for it by sending you someplace dangerous for the clues.” That decided it for her. The other soulceress probably thought like she did. “I’ll try to take you there.”

As much as it made her skin cold to think of it, the idea of learning the secrets of the howf was tantalizing. She’d had centuries of ignorance about her own kind.

“Excellent. Where is it?”

“Fingal’s Cave.”

“Fingal’s Cave? That odd rock formation off the Isle of Mull?”

“Yeah, the one on Staffa.”

She’d never been to the small, uninhabited island located off the west coast of Scotland. The cave, made of towering

octagonal rock formations, sat at the base of a vertical cliff and opened right into the sea.

“The soulceress howf is in a cave that is well known to mortals? The Giant’s Cave is famous,” Warren said.

“Fingal’s Cave is just the entrance. The geological formations that draw mortal attention are an unavoidable manifestation of our power. But back when we used it, mortals weren’t taking tour boat rides. And Fingal wasn’t a giant. That’s just a myth, meant to scare away the few mortals who might want to visit. His name was Finn. Finn MacCummhail, and he was a soulcerer. Not the first of our kind, but the most powerful.”

“What happened to him, if he was so powerful?”

“Some say he was killed in the Burnings. Others say he sacrificed himself for the remaining soulceresses with magic meant to hide them from other Mytheans. Those few who survived believed that it was Finn MacCummhail who crafted the magic that calmed some of the hysteria. As for the howf, the entrance is at the back of the cave. It’s only visible to Mytheans, not mortals, and it’s submerged at high tide. If we miss the tide, we could be crushed by the waves.”

“Can we aetherwalk? It would save time.”

“To Mull, yes. Not to the cave, because the howf will be protected by magic that won’t allow us to just appear inside. Any other species who can aetherwalk could gain access that way.”

“We’ll take a boat, then. Tourist boats won’t be running this time of year, which helps us avoid people. When can we depart?”

“I need to refuel my power.” She watched his face for any sign of a grimace, so used to seeing it on the faces of Mytheans was she.

Nothing. Not even a flinch. Did he really not care that she was a soulceress? She wanted to believe that.

“All right. I’ll give Cadan a call. He has a house on Mull. He might know where to get a boat. I’ll come get you in a few hours, and we’ll head over there, all right?”

“Fine. I’ll check the tides. We might have to wait until tomorrow to approach the cave.”

Which meant they might be spending the night together on Mull. Esha swallowed hard.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“We’re screwed, Chairman,” Esha said to her familiar as she trudged up the spiral staircase to her tower. “There isn’t enough power in the world for us to beat what’s coming at us.”

He meowed his agreement, and she held the door open for him at the top of the stairs. He sauntered in and settled in front of the fireplace. Meowed again.

Absentmindedly, she waved a hand at the fireplace and flames burst into existence. Within seconds, he began to snore. She felt a smile almost stretch across her face, but it faded as she went into her bedroom.

When she reached the far wall, she pulled the dagger from the sheath in her boot. She grimaced as she made a small incision in her palm and placed her bloody hand against one of the stones that looked like all the rest. The stone disappeared and she reached into an enchanted space and withdrew a wooden arrow.

Please work. Andrasta had only given her one arrow, and Esha had never used it before. With a deep breath and a prayer for luck, she snapped it in half.

Tags: Linsey Hall The Mythean Arcana Paranormal
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