Velvet Haven

must be something. Mairi, open your eyes, damn you. Now —open—”
    “It is of no use, Raven.”
    Cailleach appeared as a misty vision amidst the rain. Her gaze strayed to Mairi, then to him. “Heal her,” he demanded, “and I will do whatever it is you want.”
    “I cannot. My powers are not for her kind. She is mortal. Death is part of her.”
    “I won’t lose her,” he cried, burying his face into her neck. She had saved him, not once but twice.
    “She was never yours too keep. Surely you understand that.”
    “No, I don’t!” he roared. “I don’t understand! Tell me, Cailleach. You know. You’re the one who saddled me with this fucking curse! Tell me why I am unworthy of love!”
    She raised her chin, her expression one of defiance. “You are the one who decided it was so. You offered an Adbertos . You sacrificed your happiness for Daegan.”
    “So I am never to feel warmth?”
    “No.”
    “I am never to love or be loved?”
    “No. Those things are not meant for you and me.”
    He wept then, unashamed to be doing so in front of Cailleach. “I never got to tell her that I loved her,” he whispered as he buried his face in her wet hair.
    “Then tell her now, Raven, before she passes beyond the veil. She will not hear you there.”
    “Damn you! Can you do nothing?”
    “No, I cannot. I can only facilitate her death to make it quicker.”
    “Come back to me,” he whispered over and over. “Come back, Mairi, and let me love you. Please, ” he begged.
    “She is in great pain, my king,” Cailleach said as she knelt beside him. “Allow me to do this kindness, in repayment for her sacrifice. She saved you. And for that, she has proved herself worthy of you.”
    He couldn’t let her go, but neither could he bear the thought of Mairi suffering.
    “The pain, Raven.”
    With a slight nod, he agreed.
    “I will send her to the Summerlands, where, if the Gods are willing, they will reunite you with her.”
    “Hands off, Cailleach.”
    The goddess whirled and her silver robe swirled out around her, covering Mairi’s naked body. “Suriel,” she gasped. She stepped back as he emerged from the shadowed grove, his black wings huge as they unfurled from his back. “You have no power in Annwyn,” she sneered.
    “True. But what you have there is a mortal. And that’s my domain.”
    Bending on one knee, Suriel brushed aside the hem of Cailleach’s cloak and waved his hand over Mairi’s face, murmuring something in a language Bran had never heard before.
    “How did you manage to come here?”
    “The same way I did the first time. I opened the door. And you let me in.”
    Cailleach looked quickly at Bran. “He lies.”
    “I am not here to divulge your secrets, Cailleach. They are safe enough with me.”
    Her gaze turned mutinous. “Then why have you returned?”
    “Our worlds are changing. A force neither of us can defeat alone is rising. We need each other, Cailleach.”
    “I neither need nor want anything from you.”
    Suriel circled the goddess, even as he kept his eye on Mairi, whose breathing was slow, much too slow.
    She was dying and Suriel and Cailleach were fighting like younglings.
    “Would you bring disaster upon your world because of your pride, Cailleach?”
    “I do not require a fallen angel to preach to me.”
    Suriel reached into his trench and pulled Cailleach’s illuminated manuscript from the pocket. “A good-faith gesture,” he said. “Now it is time to return the favor.”
    Cailleach did not retrieve the book that landed at her feet. She did not look at Bran, or Mairi, but kept her gaze on Suriel, her eyes blazing with hatred. The two of them squared off. Cailleach, immune to the rain, radiated her pure white glow. Suriel, with his black feathers and black leather, stood drenched, the rain running down the black like droplets of sinful blood.
    “You will allow Mairi to live in this world. You will give your blessing to whatever union they desire. And you will vow to work with me to find the Soul Stealer. The Dark Times, Cailleach, have been brought on by both of our sins.”
    “You have no authority here. No right to order me to do anything.”
    “You’re right. I have no power. But I have something you need, Cailleach. I know where your amulet is.”
    Cailleach’s slender body vibrated with hatred. “Give it to me.”
    “Give me your word that you will not interfere with Mairi and Bran.”
    She nodded. “Very well, the mortal may choose her