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But there was another, wasn’t there? An even more familiar name.
Ember.
Something like him, but larger.
A lemming poked its head above the snow, only inches away from him.
The fox sprang high into the air, its jaws open wide, and plummeted face-first into a plume of snow, catching its target unaware. Blood and bone crunched into the fox’s mouth, its warmth making him shiver.
But even as he enjoyed the meal, all he could think about was the strange, thin woman in the window and her plea.
Cernunnos. Ember.
Cernunnos. Ember.
Chapter
Seven
EVIE
“Fuck!” I threw up my hands, magic sparking and dying in my palms. “How can someone disappear off the face of the earth and not be dead?”
Tess hummed beside me. “Do you want me to check one more time?”
I shook my head. “Her mother won’t kill her. She’s far too evil for that. Moira will stay alive as long as Minka has a use for her.”
Rowan ran a warm hand down my back. “We’ll find her.”
I sighed. “It’s been months. I’m no longer sure we will. I’ve done everything I could think of to track her down. Wherever she is, there isn’t a single spark of life to be found. There’s nowhere like that on Earth. Even volcanoes have bacterial life forms inside them. I’ve searched everywhere. So has Mom and Dad.”
I wasn’t the kind of person who lost hope. Moira was somewhere. Here. On Earth. If she were in the fae lands, Mom or Dad would have found her by now. Minka had taken her somewhere remote, somewhere life couldn’t or wouldn’t exist. Or she’d done something to the place to ward it from my reach.
“Maybe she destroyed all the plant life,” Tess said.
The banshee sat cross-legged beside me. Ash sat a few feet away, his skin turned to bark as he communed with Rowan’s land. The dryad loved it here. I don’t think we could force him to move now even if we wanted to.
Not that we ever would, but Rowan and I were surprised by how much Ash had taken to the property. With my presence and Ash now communing with the land, the place had thrived—so much so that a few plants, previously thought extinct, had been found on and off the property.
Ash rarely went barky in front of us, but now that he was fully assimilated into Rowan’s pack, he occasionally relaxed enough for us to see one of his other forms. He still looked like Ash, but his face had taken on a strange bark-like texture, and his hands and legs had grown spindly roots.
Copper and green magic floated around him, brushing against my skin when the wind blew in my direction. Ash looked more at peace than I’d ever seen him.
Ash hummed an agreement. “She’s right. Maybe Minka knew exactly what you could do and killed everything around her to prevent you from finding her.”
That sounded exactly like something the bitch would do.
Hmm. “How am I supposed to combat that?” I grumbled.
My husband spoke up. “You don’t have to. Why don’t you search for areas that seem off? You’ve been searching for life. Why don’t you start searching for death?”
Tess straightened. “I can only help with humans and animals, but I can ask around. If there’s been a large die-off recently, Cliona might know. Starting there might narrow down her location.”
My heart squeezed. Everyone mourned Moira’s absence, but they knew how much it affected me when the search I did every single day came up empty-handed.
“That’s a great idea,” I agreed. “I’ll start looking for large swaths of property with no life.”
Tess frowned. “I think it’s best to start the search in areas with less life.”
