Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg

Author:Sasha Alsberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Published: 2022-04-02T15:58:22+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Callum

The mist enshrouded Callum as they climbed toward Castle Ewen. Around them, the land moaned as the wind whipped over it, rattling the rocks like the bones in a soothsayer’s cup.

A woman stood before them.

He blinked.

The woman remained.

She was lithe, with an elegant, tall frame, and her face was the color of the moon. Catlike golden eyes peered out above full lips. Long tendrils of silky golden hair framed her pale, angular face, and as Callum’s gaze lingered, the moon set them aglow. Her delicate neck disappeared into a dark cloak which billowed around her, yet somehow left no curve to the imagination.

Klara’s arm went limp on his shoulder, a look of shock splashed across her face. Her knees crumpled as she stumbled over a protruding rock. Callum stood as confidently as he could in the presence of a goddess, helping Klara to her feet alongside him.

“I know you,” Klara whispered. “I saw you, in the stars.”

“And I, you,” the woman replied.

Klara took a hesitant step forward, squaring her shoulders, but Callum held on to her fast. He was afraid of what might happen if she got too close. “Who are ye?”

“The Silver Wheel,” she said simply.

Callum and Klara exchanged another glance. He could almost hear the words that rang out in her head. They were the same swirling inside him, transporting him back to Grams’s home.

Goddess of the Silver Wheel. She is often associated with the moon, and was thought to hold dominion over time and the sky.

Callum’s hair stood on end. With a lurch of recognition, he realized he had seen those golden eyes before, belonging to the owl perched on the alley wall when he searched for Thomas in Kelpie’s Close—now that he recognized them, they were unmistakable. He recalled Grams’s words, about gods visiting the earth in the bodies of animals.

The realization of who the woman was struck Callum harder than any punch.

“Arianrhod?” he breathed.

“I have many names, and that is one. And you...” She paused, letting her eyes settle on Callum. The mist swirled around his feet in milky tendrils. “You are a warrior. Yet you have lost your way and your fight.”

Callum swayed on his feet. Though her gaze betrayed no emotion, it pierced clean through him, leaving a white-hot trail of shame in its wake. He wanted to argue. To fight and scream and demand that she take it back. But he could not—because in his deepest heart, he knew she spoke the truth.

Klara broke the heavy silence. “You’re wrong.” Her voice was sharp, but he detected a quiet tremble lingering just underneath the edge. It seemed the goddess did, too. A shadow of a smile danced across her lips, though her mouth remained unmoving.

“My child. Whether you recognize me as I am here, in front of you, you know me, just as I know you. I will show you.”

Arianrhod lifted her hands. In response, the fog gathered around them again, spiraling upward at the behest of her fingers. A familiar form took shape in front of Callum’s eyes.

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