A Flicker of Embers (Lilith Academy Book 2) by Cara Malone

Author:Cara Malone [Malone, Cara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Adventure/Survival, Against All Odds, Black/African American Lead, Butch Lead, Danger/In Peril, Dual Timeline (Past and Present), Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Femme Lead, Found Family, HEAT LEVEL: Hot & Steamy, Interracial/Multicultural, Ireland, Kidnapping/Disappearance, Latinx/Hispanic Lead, Law Enforcement, Lesbian, Lesbian Romance, Magic, Menage/Polyamory, Queer, Quest/Treasure Hunt, Sapphic Romance, Saving the World, Student, Supernatural Elements, Transgender, United States: Midwest, Witch, Witches
Amazon: B0DC13174G
Goodreads: 217101033
Publisher: Lisbon Press
Published: 2024-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Teagan

Dust motes swirled in the slanted beams of afternoon sunlight filtering through the attic's small, circular window. The air smelled musty and stale, laden with the scent of old paper and mothballs. Teagan sneezed as she lifted the lid off another cardboard box, releasing a puff of dust.

"Bless you," Gabi said absently, flipping through a yellowed photo album.

The two of them had decided to have a go of their own at Orla's boxes, and they'd been looking for about an hour. Slowly, they were piecing together Gabi's maternal lineage, tracing it back six generations to Ireland. A definite pattern had emerged – in each generation, the firstborn child had an unusual string of misfortunes and mishaps. Broken bones, house fires, lost jobs, premature deaths. There was definitely evidence of the family curse if you knew what to look for, and some pretty neat family ephemera too, just nothing relevant to breaking the curse.

"What happened back in Ireland to start all this?" Teagan wondered as she leafed through yet another stack of papers.

"Ooh, look!" Gabi held up a sepia-toned photograph of a severe-looking woman in a high-collared dress. "That's Siobhan, the one with the birthmark. You can almost make it out in the photo."

Teagan took it, studying the woman's neck. She was elderly in the photo, and she had a pinched face and haunted eyes. A tingle ran down Teagan's spine. "She looks intense."

"I would be too if I lived my whole life with this curse. I found this box tucked under some old holiday decorations, doesn’t look like it’s been looked through yet,” Gabi said. "There are some records in here. Hopefully they're hers."

They dug through birth certificates, baptismal records, and immigration papers that belonged to a number of Gabi's relatives, Siobhan included, but none of it looked significant. At the bottom of the box, Teagan spotted a small, leather-bound book. She pulled it out and carefully opened the cover, held on by moth-eaten threads, to reveal pages of a spidery handwriting. "It's a diary. It's in… Irish, I guess? Gaelic?"

"It'd be Gaelic," Gabi nodded, looking over her shoulder.

Teagan closed her eyes and laid her hand on the fragile pages, reaching for her magic. She murmured an incantation, the power flowing through her like a cool stream. When she opened her eyes, the writing had transformed into crisp, modern English.

"Whoa," Gabi breathed. "You've gotten really good." She leaned closer, scanning the now legible words. Teagan handed her the diary and Gabi flipped to the first page.

Property of Siobhan O'Doyle. KEEP OUT.

"Sorry, Great-great-grandma Siobhan, we're not keeping out."

The two of them read together through the first few pages of Siobhan's diary. The entries were filled with poetic descriptions of a young woman named Maeve – her fiery red hair, her mischievous green eyes, the dusting of freckles across her nose. Siobhan waxed lyrical about Maeve's laugh, her quick wit, the way her smile lit up a room.

"Holy shit," Gabi grinned. "Great-Great-Grandma Siobhan was gay."

Teagan nodded. "And head over heels for this Maeve girl.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.