The first twinges hit him just outside the village proper, sharp pains cutting against his consciousness. Jagged impressions of brightly shining lights, like broken sunbeams gone horribly wrong, they flittered through his mind. So many of them, one piling in after another until he lost count of the different shapes battering inside his mind, each of them pulsing, seething with the unrelenting agony of their own unabated loneliness.
He kicked his horse’s sides, demanding speed through the village and beyond until at last the images began to fade.
It was then he knew the truth of it.
Those shards of light had been the Souls of the villagers. Just as the Faerie Queen had said he would, he’d felt every single one of them calling out for their missing half. He’d felt their desolation and pain.
His meeting with Thomas of Ercledoune had been no trick of his imagination. Nor had his encounter with the Faerie Queen been a fantasy. They were all too real.
As real as the “gift” she had given him.
As real as the curse he’d bear for the rest of his days.
One
DENVER,COLORADO
FEBRUARY
PRESENT DAY
Here’s to Abby, our archaeologist extraordinaire!”
Abigail Porter lifted her glass, clinking it against the ones held by her friends before bringing it to her lips and downing the colorful contents.
The shot was liquid candy in her mouth, heating her chest as it rolled down her throat.
She was so going to regret all this tomorrow morning.
“Heyya, honey!” Lauren waggled a finger at the passing waiter. “Another round right here, just like the last one.”
“At this rate, I’m gonna feel like shit on that plane tomorrow.” Casey wiped her index finger into the narrow opening of the empty little glass to catch up every last drop. “But it’ll be worth it for one last Girls’ Night Out!”
Last time. Abby shook her head, trying to clear the fuzz from her brain. Her whole life would change after tonight.
She’d met Lauren and Casey on her first day of college and they’d been inseparable ever since. After Casey had taken her dream job and moved to California, they’d still managed to see each other every few months when Casey would fly through Denver on her business trips. Not even Lauren’s getting married and moving to the East Coast had ended their friendship, though it had meant their Girls’ Nights Out were fewer and farther between.
But nothing lasts forever.
“We’ll still see each other, Case. Just maybe not as often and I’ll probably be dragging kidlets along when I come. They’ll need to get to know their aunties, after all.” Lauren nodded emphatically as she spoke.
Abby felt her lips peel back in a grin. The minute Lauren had stepped off the plane this morning she’d announced that she and Greg had decided to have a baby. She had it all planned. Six months to eat healthy and give up everything that was bad for her and then she’d get pregnant. Just like Lauren to expect her life to go according to a timetable.
And knowing Lauren, it probably would.
“Here you go, ladies. Nobody’s driving tonight, I hope?”
The waiter’s features seemed to blur a little as he held the tray in front of him and placed each little glass and an accompanying large one together on the table.
“Nope. Staying right here at the hotel,” Lauren assured the young man. “Got early flights out.”
Abigail blinked hard, reaching with an unsteady hand to pick up her shot as her friends did the same.
Lauren and Casey were both staying at the airport hotel tonight, but since she lived in town, she was going home in a taxi.
“No matter what you say, Lauren, it won’t ever be the same again.” Casey shook her head, her drink untouched. “Sam keeps talking marriage and family and we all know it’s just a matter of time before I cave to the pressure. Abby’s going off on this dig thing this summer and now that she’s a big mucky-muck international archaeologist, she’ll end up all famous and giving lectures on the Discovery Channel. And you! You’re going to freakin’ have kids, for God’s sake. We won’t ever be the same again. We’ll be officially grown up.”
“Not an archaeologist yet.” The words rattled around in Abby’s brain until she finally managed to blurt them out loud. Granted, she had her undergraduate degree, but the year she’d taken off to work before pursuing her master’s had slowed her down. With money an issue, she’d had no choice. Just the thought of her student loan debt made her reach for the glass of beer sitting in front of her.