Velvet Haven

fate.”
    Suriel focused his attention on Bran. “She’s in your world now. I can do no more for her. She left me when she died for you.”
    Bran looked down at Mairi, who was lying in his arms. “I . . . I don’t know how.”
    “You’ve always had the power.”
    “What do you mean?” he growled at Suriel.
    “The first time you touched her, she felt safe. Free. When she heard my voice, she ran to you. When she saw me, she turned to you. It’s you, Raven, who can heal her—because she was always intended to be yours. When Morgan needed a mortal for her spell, someone heard her.”
    Bran looked up through his wet hair. “Your God.”
    “She was supposed to die at birth, but then I was given new orders. I was told to give her my breath. When I did so, I gave her the ability to be reborn. But she doesn’t belong to me. She never did. She is yours. His gift to you—to bind our worlds in this cause.”
    He didn’t know what to say, what to think. To think . . . she had been created for him.
    “Time is of the essence, Raven. She is still mortal, and she is dying. If she passes through the veil, there will be no return for her. She will not come back to you. And I cannot go there to get her.”
    “I don’t know what to do!”
    “You must.”
    Touch her. Take the pain away , he thought. He could do this. He needed to have faith in that. Damn it, Rowan had said his lack of faith would kill Mairi. He would believe. He would trust.
    Closing his eyes, Bran pressed forward, letting his lips touch her brow, then her cheek. I love you. Don’t leave me , he silently pleaded. He moved lower. She purred and moved closer to him, letting him kiss her and wrap her up in his arms. He felt her energy growing, strengthening, and he worked harder to heal her, drawing her pain away from her body, taking it into his, where it magically dissipated.
    His lips found the open wound on Mairi’s chest, where the blade would have gone through his heart if Mairi had not taken his pain. “Come back to me,” he whispered, “and I will make you happy, Mairi. I’ll love you forever.”
    Mairi came awake in his arms, looking around in shocked wonder. “It worked. I outsmarted Morgan.”
    “You saved me, muirnin ,” he said on a sob as he clasped her close.
    She looked up at him, smiling. “I did, didn’t I?”
    “And she will be able to do it again,” Suriel said quietly. “Over and over. She is the healer in your Sacred Trine. She will protect you and the other eight warriors that you will nominate. The Powers of Nine,” Suriel reminded him. “You are their leader, and she will protect you all.”
    “No,” he pleaded. “Do not make her suffer.”
    “It is her destiny. Her gift. The power you will use. She has the ability to protect you, to take your wounds and steal your pain. Leaving you to fight your enemy unencumbered.”
    “I don’t want her to have this power!” Bran roared.
    “It is not up to you. He has given her this power. But only you can heal her. You are her Chosen Fate, as she is yours.”
    Burying his face in her hair, Bran wept. She was his, and nothing was going to take her from him.

CHAPTER TWENTY

    Bran lowered Mairi into the tub. Water continued to trickle from the faucet, a slow drip that was the only sound in the room. She sighed, drawing her knees up to her chest, and sat huddled, her body shivering. With pain? Exhaustion? Fear?
    “I haven’t had a bath since I was sixteen. I’ve forgotten what it feels like.”
    “Your scars,” he murmured, raking his thumb across her wrist. “You were in a tub when it happened.”
    She nodded and trembled once more, drawing her knees tighter to her chest.
    “ Muirnin? ” he asked, feeling inept and lost. He reached out and smoothed his palm down her naked back. She didn’t flinch, but seemed to relax into his touch. “Does this feel good?” She nodded and her hair fell forward, shielding her face from him. “Lie back and rest.”
    He helped her so that she was resting against the tub. Her arms floated beside her and the bubbles came up to her chin, covering her nakedness. His hand was shaking as he slid his palm along her cool cheek. “Would you like a shower instead?”
    She smiled and rubbed her cheek against his hand. “I’m okay. This is . . . good. I want to let go of the past. To face the future without fearing what came before it.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked hoarsely. “You should have told me . . .” He choked