Mists of Velvet

her ear, “I will find you. Expect me tonight.”
    Goose bumps covered her body. One more night with Rhys was all she asked for. She would give him her heart and soul and all the pleasure she could pour into one night.
    “I’ll be waiting,” she whispered back.

    The gray vapor poured down from the top of the door. Rhys watched it, mesmerized by its swirling, writhing elegance as it spilled over the dark wood and onto the floor.
    The wraith was here at last.
    Shadow followed the vapor, then swirled with it, becoming Keir. He stood before Rhys, glaring down at him. “I ought to choke the life out of you for that stunt you pulled.”
    Rhys stood and met the wraith, eye to eye. “You can’t blame me. You were popping in and out of Velvet Haven, coming and going in wraith form. It wasn’t like you, so naturally it got me wondering—and worried.”
    “You didn’t have to worry.”
    “No?” Rhys demanded. “Then why did I feel your thoughts? Your anger, and fear. It was building, and you wouldn’t let me in.”
    Keir glanced away. “It’s nothing you needed to know.”
    “Well, that hurts,” he snapped. “I’m an open fucking book, and you get to pick and choose what you want me to know? After all this time, Keir?”
    He glanced back over his shoulder. “I’ve been distracted.”
    “By magick?”
    Keir shrugged. “By the cards, by spells, by Rowan and her impending death. By a fucking dream in the night where I hear a woman pleading for mercy.”
    “You’re still having that dream?” Rhys asked. “Is it Rowan?”
    “I don’t know.” Keir dragged his fingers through his hair. “I think so. She’s dying, and in pain, and she’s begging for someone to end it.”
    Rhys reached out and touched Keir on the shoulder. They hadn’t really talked since that night they took the woman in the club. They certainly hadn’t touched. Theirs was a complicated relationship. They had a tight bond, kind of like twins. But twins didn’t share what they did, and that was what confused things. They weren’t lovers, and they weren’t brothers. They were more than friends, but they were different species.
    “Don’t try to figure it out,” Keir warned. “It’ll give you a fucking migraine.”
    Rhys smiled. “I already have one.”
    Keir snorted and made his way to the window. Gazing outside, Rhys saw the wraith’s eyes stray to the end of the castle where Rowan lived. He knew better than to ask him how she was.
    “How are you?” Rhys asked instead.
    “Pissed.”
    “Because you can’t save her?”
    Keir nodded, then raised his arm against the stone sill. His gaze never strayed from Rowan’s room. “She’s going to die, and there is nothing my immortal soul or magick can do to change it.”
    “But she’s a goddess and an angel. How can she die? She’s not mortal.”
    Keir whirled around, his eyes flashing with anger. “I don’t know what she truly is. I don’t know if she’s immortal. I know only she’s dying and I can feel her slipping away, and feeling that is killing me. It’s making me fractured. I’m not doing right by you because I can’t see past my pain for her. I’m fucking up all over, and letting you slip into Annwyn proves just how much.”
    Rhys strode over to Keir and hugged him gruffly. “You know I’ll be there for you when the time comes. You know that. I’ll help you through it.” Keir struggled against him, but Rhys held him tighter. “I don’t know what this prophecy means. I don’t know what the future holds for any of us, but there is one thing you can count on, wraith, and that’s me by your side, bugging your ass. For as long as I live.”
    Nodding, Keir pulled away from him. “I’m sorry,” he said on a deep breath. “This is all my fault. If I had told you, none of this would have happened.”
    Rhys knew and felt they were no longer talking about Rowan, or about his stupid trek into the cave. “You saw her, didn’t you? You knew she was going to be your mate.”
    Keir moved away, putting more than a physical distance between them. “I did. I saw Bronwnn in the cards. Cailleach wants us together because we are both practitioners of divination. She believes we will enhance each other’s gifts.”
    “But you knew I was dreaming of her.”
    “I did. At first I thought it was because of my thoughts. But then I began to learn of your desire for her.”
    “And you didn’t say anything because you wanted to spare my sorry ass?”
    “No,” Keir