Page 123 of Beauty

“I hardly think they’re wondering about that, Lach,” Shimsays, laughing under his breath.

A horrified expression crosses Beck’s face. “Stop. I canguess. I don’t even want to know you think that. Goddess, she’s still fourteenin my head.”

She isn’t fourteen anymore. She was a sweet girl, but what awoman she’s become. “Sorry, Your Majesty.”

Beck shakes his head. “We’re family. None of that. We couldend up calling each other by titles all day. So, did Bron tell you about ourfather?”

Bron told me everything. About her father becoming a sluaghand her brothers’ ex-fiancée trapping Torin. I want to kill the one namedNiall, but apparently he’s some sort of hero in the Seelies’ eyes. “She told meher father sacrificed himself to give her the energy to go on.”

Beck’s arms cross over his chest, his eyes settling into aworried stare. “Does that mean he’s gone for good?”

The question makes me sit up straight. I didn’t even thinkabout it. I was too busy holding Bronwyn and reveling in the feel of heragainst my heart. “He was a sluagh. He might have faded, but he’s still here.It will take him a long time to gather enough energy to appear before us again.But he’ll stay here most likely. He tied himself to this place. Becoming asluagh was a choice for him.”

Cian’s voice grows tight. “Can he choose again?”

I stop, my brain wrapping around the idea. What did Duffysay? Death is a doorway. Death is nothing to be afraid of. What if my power ismore than pulling corpses from the ground and playing the puppet master? Whatif my power can have meaning and true purpose?

Death is a doorway, and I intend to open it.

Bronwyn is suddenly at my side, Queen Meg with her. “What’sgoing on? I felt Lach’s power stir.”

Shim takes my hand. “He’s going to try something. Help us.He needs a bit of my power, too.”

Beck Finn puts a hand on his shoulder. “Bron, take some ofmine.”

“Mine, too,” Cian says, laying his hand on me. “Funnel it toLachlan.”

Fire and earth and the storms above. And a doorway.

I let the power flow and reach out. Nothing is ever trulylost and Seamus Finn, King of Seelie Fae, is no exception.

Ashes and dust. That’s what his body is now, but I find themand draw them to me, forming a pile of what once made the man. I breathe my ownunique power into it.

Seamus Finn stands, a ghostly apparition, but quite solidfor a shade. He looks startled to be seen. “Beck? Ci?”

They move away from me toward their long-dead father.

“Father, Torin is gone.” Beck seems solemn, as thoughreporting to a superior, not a son to his father. Cian simply stares.

Seamus shakes his head. “He doesn’t matter, son. You do. Youand Cian and your sister. Oh, Death Lord, I cannot thank you enough for thischance. I feared I had given it up to spare my daughter. Beckett, I was a fool.You are a good man with a good soul and those needs of yours aren’t wrong. Ihad them, too, and my father beat them out of me. I pray I’m not too late tochange that for you. There was a piece of me that was empty because I didn’tfollow my heart.”

Meg smiles broadly. “I fixed him, Your Majesty. Trust me.He’s perfectly fine with all those needs now.”

Seamus smiles at her, reaching out a hand that cannot touchher. “Sweet Queen. Take care of my boys. Cian, I am so sorry. I didn’tunderstand you. I loved you, but I didn’t know how to handle you. Can youforgive me?”

Cian clutches his wife’s hand. “Yes, Father.”

“I love you, Ci. My time is short. I feel the pull. I loveyou, my children. This kingdom is yours. Rule with wisdom and love and grace.”He stops and looks at me, surprise plain on his face. “What is that, DeathLord? I see a light.”

A deep sense of peace sweeps over me. This. This is my truepower. This is my calling. All of my life I hated the cold, dead power, but Iwas wrong. My power is about life. My power is a service to my people, and allliving creatures are my people. Death is merely another part of existence.“It’s the after. Some Fae and witches call it the Summerlands. It’s your time.”

“But I chose. I became a sluagh.” The words are a staccatoprotestation, but hope is dawning on his face.

This is my gift. “Choose again, Your Majesty.”

Seamus turns, looking at something only he can see. “Mywife. She’s here. She waited. I didn’t deserve any of this, but I will take itwith a grateful heart. Good-bye, my loves.”

Seamus shimmers for a second and is gone, his choice made.