She laughed, then. “You know the rules?”
I nodded. “I know.”
“Then draw three bones from the bag and we shall see what we shall see.” She handed me a velvet pouch.
As I took it, the energy clicked and sparked against my fingers. The first time I had been here and told to reach inside the bag, I hadn’t been sure what I’d find. Now, I knew what to expect. I withdrew three bones—and bones they were. Finger bones. And I had brought Grandmother Coyote several of them as payment for other sessions.
The first one I pulled out was an elf bone. I recognized it by its energy. I set it down on the table. The second one was a bone that I couldn’t place, but that felt incredibly strong and vibrant. The third was one I knew all too well. I had cut the finger off the hand that it belonged to. Bad Ass Luke’s finger—the first Lesser Demon that we had faced over Earthside.
Lucianopoloneelisunekonekari. I dropped it on the table like it was a hot potato and leaned forward, staring at it. Grandmother Coyote had cleaned it of any flesh, and it was polished ivory, but it was still tingling with the demon’s energy.
Grandmother Coyote smiled—her smiles were more terrifying than any glare she could give. Her teeth were sharp, needle-like, and reminded me of stainless steel.
She picked up the elf’s finger. “You have a journey waiting for you in Otherworld. This reading is far less about K’thbar than it is about another matter that preys on your mind. Your travels will take you far north, well beyond the borders of Kelvashan, the Elfin Lands. There, you will find help from the men upon the mountain. You can trust them.”
Grandmother Coyote picked up the second bone—the one I didn’t recognize. She glanced at me quizzically. “Do you know what this is?”
“A very misshapen finger bone, but no, I don’t know who it belonged to.” In truth, I was guessing that it was a finger bone—it didn’t really look like one, but since all the rest were finger bones I assumed that the creature it had been part of had been of an odd shape and stature.
“Bone it is, though not exactly a finger bone. This is a shard of hoof from the Black Beast to whom you delivered death.”
I caught my breath, holding out my hand. She placed the bone in my palm and I closed my eyes, feeling the sweep of energy wash over me. Yes, there he was, in the current of sparks that tickled my fingers. I slowly replaced it on the table.
“He’s full grown again, and runs in Thistlewyd Deep and Darkynwyrd with Raven Mother. Yet this hoof shard…tells me that you will have many dealings to come with the pair. Once you take your throne, Camille, you enter a different world. Have you thought yet about the life span a Fae Queen must have?”
I blinked. I had a much longer life span than any human, but not as long as full-blooded Fae. But the Fae Queens, they outlived even their own kind. “No, I haven’t.”
“You’ve really not considered what taking the throne fully means for your evolution and development, have you? What you will become in less than two weeks.” She pulled the crystal ball to her. “How long has Derisa been alive?”
I started to answer, then stopped. “I have no idea.”
“She is High Priestess to the Moon Mother in Otherworld, as you are becoming here, over Earthside. She exists outside the other witches and priestesses because she is an avatar of the goddess incarnate. You will be both an avatar of the Moon Mother as well as Queen of Dusk and Twilight, and for this…your life will no longer be the same. You aren’t just moving out to Talamh Lonrach Oll, Camille. You are moving into another world.”
And that stopped me cold. I sat there, barely breathing, as the weight of Grandmother Coyote’s words settled on my shoulders. Of course she was right. I wasn’t going to just be dillydallying around out there. Even though I had known things were going to change, the momentous shift that was taking place in my life splashed out before me like a vast panorama. There was so much I would be able to do that the thought of it overwhelmed me. And on the shadow side, there was so much I’d be expected to do that the thought of it panicked me.
I gulped back my fear. “I knew. But…I didn’t.”
“You needed to keep the reality at bay until it was almost time. But Camille, the time is coming and you have to walk into it with the knowledge of what you are taking on. This is your destiny. Oh, you could still cut and run, but your life would never be complete. And you would always regret doing so. Not a day would go by when you wouldn’t look back and realize that—”
“I’m a soldier’s daughter, and I didn’t rise to my duty. I know.” I stared at her, trying to sort out the explosion of feelings racing through me. “I guess this means I’ll be drinking the Nectar of Life far sooner than I had planned.” At some point, anyone who was half-Fae was offered the chance to drink the Nectar of Life, which would expand our life spans near to full-blood Fae’s length. But I hadn’t planned on facing that choice for a long while yet.