\u201cCalm down, Phelan,\u201d Seamus said. \u201cYou\u2019re not dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2019re<\/em> dead. If you\u2019re here and talking to me alongside Ciar and Brigh\u00edd, who are also<\/em> both dead, how the hell am I not dead?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShit,\u201d the woman who\u2019d been holding him said quietly. \u201cNeve, Seamus, what\u2019s wrong with him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe were afraid of this,\u201d Neve said quietly. \u201cWhen Ciar came back to himself after he was sundered, he wasn\u2019t the same. I guess amnesia is what\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCiar had that, too, at first,\u201d the voice that was Brigh\u00edd\u2019s said. \u201cIt got better, but it took time and care.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked at the woman with Brigh\u00edd\u2019s voice for the first time and took a sharp breath. \u201cYou\u2019re not Brigh\u00edd,\u201d Phelan whispered. \u201cBut you…you are.\u201d<\/p>\n She smiled weakly and touched his blanket-shrouded leg. There was a resemblance there, between the woman he\u2019d once known and the woman before him, but an even stronger echo of someone else.<\/p>\n Teague and Maire\u00e1d<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cMarin,\u201d she said softly. \u201cMy name\u2019s Marin, Phelan.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLeann\u00e1n<\/em>,\u201d he whispered. His chest grew tight for a moment and he twisted toward the woman sitting behind him, the one who had been cradling his head when he\u2019d awakened. His eyes stung. Honey-colored hair hung in a messy braid, wisps flying free around her face. His heart gave a strange double-beat. He knew<\/em> her\u2014his soul<\/em> knew her.<\/p>\n Gods and monsters, why can\u2019t I remember her <\/em>name?<\/em> He sucked in a breath and tried to get to his feet. Pain seared through him and he fell back, caught and cradled by the woman that was familiar and at the same time wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened to me?\u201d he asked again.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was an attack,\u201d the woman said as she held him. His back and shoulders ached with a dull, penetrating throb. \u201cYou were hurt and then…well. Then Thesan sundered your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh,\u201d he said in the moment before darkness swallowed him whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cCalm down, Phelan,\u201d Seamus said. \u201cYou\u2019re not dead.\u201d \u201cBut you\u2019re dead. If you\u2019re here and talking to me alongside Ciar and Brigh\u00edd, who are also both dead, how the hell am I not dead?\u201d \u201cShit,\u201d the woman who\u2019d been holding … Continue reading