Guinevere's Grail | ✓ [BOOK 2]

~ 28 ~

SEEING SERA AFTER SO many years was strange enough as it was. Hearing that she knew where the Grail was, however, made his head spin enough to make him stumble.

"How the hell do you know where it is?" he asked.

"Because I hid it." She motioned to the cave. "You're right, it was here before, but I put it somewhere else. Too many people started to figure it out."

"But if you were the one to hide it, you knew where it was in the first place. How?"

"Same as you," she answered, but she didn't look so sure. There was something she didn't want to tell them.

Kit crossed his arms. "Listen, Sera, I know you're really into keeping secrets but if you expect us to just believe you you're going to have to be honest about a few things so we know we can trust you. Don't lie to me."

If she would keep his own son a secret from him, he had no doubt in his mind that she would hide more, even if it was important.

"I can't tell you any more than this, Connor can't know," she said. "He can see you sometimes and I don't know how but I don't want him to hear more than this. I'm sorry but you'll just have to trust me."

Connor could see him? Of course he could. That would explain how he found him in the middle of the sea, and their stay in the Seelie dungeons surely stunted their pursuit.

Kit took a deep breath, searching his companions for an answer. Giselle and Selene looked hopeful, Chalice still looked confused, and Eurion... well, she just looked like she was checking Sera out. Lionel was attached to his mother's hip still, and Morgana was glaring at Kit with a fury he didn't understand. Why did he look so angry?

"Fine," he said. "I'm only trusting you because the kid gonna hate me if I don't."

His eyes settled on Lionel, watching Sera brush her fingers through his hair. It was becoming obvious that the boy was miserable without her, and Kit wished he knew how to fix it. He didn't expect the elusive woman to stick around for very long, and when she left, he didn't want his son to hurt again. But how the hell would he do that?

"Follow me, then. We need to leave these mountains before we get ambushed by someone else. This place is well-protected, and for good reason," Sera said. "We'll find somewhere to camp when we get out of here."

And so they did. Despite the pain in their legs and the exhaustion taking them over, they traveled well into the night. The sun was teasing the horizon when they found a small cluster of homes at the base of the mountains. They were oddly shaped and painfully quiet. It didn't take long to notice that it was completely empty.

"How long do you think they've been gone?" Selene asked, mouth agape as she studied the buildings. They were still strong enough to stand, but the beds were covered in dust and the wood was worn and splintered.

Eurion kicked her toe into a fire pit at the center of the village. "Only a few days," she said. "Someone's kill is still in this pit, and there is leftover meat on the bones. They haven't been gone too long."

"What happened here?" Kit breathed. There was something dark here, something that raised the hair on his neck. He didn't feel safe, so he clutched Excalibur and looked around for any sign that this was a trap.

Sera was just as dumbfounded, which came as a surprise. She acted like such a mysterious, all-knowing savior. Her confusion made him afraid.

Morgana sidled up beside him, to Kit's surprise, leaning against the stick he'd used as a cane since they began their journey. "Does this feel familiar to you?" he asked. "It doesn't feel human."