The Eternal Return Read online

  The Eternal Return

  A Wild Hunt Novel, Book 10

  Yasmine Galenorn

  A Nightqueen Enterprises LLC Publication

  Published by Yasmine Galenorn

  PO Box 2037, Kirkland WA 98083-2037

  THE ETERNAL RETURN

  A Wild Hunt Novel

  Copyright © 2019 by Yasmine Galenorn

  First Electronic Printing: 2019 Nightqueen Enterprises LLC

  First Print Edition: 2019 Nightqueen Enterprises

  Cover Art & Design: Ravven

  Art Copyright: Yasmine Galenorn

  Editor: Elizabeth Flynn

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any format, be it print or electronic or audio, without permission. Please prevent piracy by purchasing only authorized versions of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, or places is entirely coincidental and not to be construed as representative or an endorsement of any living/ existing group, person, place, or business.

  A Nightqueen Enterprises LLC Publication

  Published in the United States of America

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Welcome to The Eternal Return

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Cast of Characters

  Timeline of Series

  Playlist

  Biography

  Acknowledgments

  Welcome back into the world of the Wild Hunt. We’re at book ten, and this book wraps up the first story arc, before the second one begins. We’re with Ember again, and I hope you’re looking forward to her adventure in this episode. I love the world of the Wild Hunt, and am so grateful you do too. It’s become a living, breathing entity in my thoughts and imagination.

  Thanks to my usual crew: Samwise, my husband, Andria and Jennifer—without their help, I’d be swamped. To the women who have helped me find my way in indie, you’re all great and thank you to everyone. To my wonderful cover artist, Ravven, for the beautiful work she’s done.

  Also, my love to my furbles, who keep me happy. My most reverent devotion to Mielikki, Tapio, Ukko, Rauni, and Brighid, my spiritual guardians and guides. My love and reverence to Herne, and Cernunnos, and to the Fae, who still rule the wild places of this world. And a nod to the Wild Hunt, which runs deep in my magick, as well as in my fiction.

  If you wish to reach me, you can find me through my website at Galenorn.com and be sure to sign up for my newsletter to keep updated on all my latest releases! If you liked this book, I’d be grateful if you’d leave a review—it helps more than you can think.

  Brightest Blessings,

  ~The Painted Panther~

  ~Yasmine Galenorn~

  Welcome to The Eternal Return

  Sometimes, you have to exorcise ghosts from the past before you can move forward…

  With the Tuathan Brotherhood taken care of, Ember and the Wild Hunt gear up for the coming darkness that threatens to plunge their lives into chaos. But first, they must take on the ancient liche who stole Talia’s powers. Lazerous is living near Winter Hall Academy, located near Mount Rainier. Over the centuries, he’s grown so strong that it seems futile to take him on. But with Lazerous stalking the students, stealing not only their magical powers but their lives, the Wild Hunt can’t allow him to roam free. But before they can confront him, Talia attempts to take him on herself. Now, Ember and Herne must race against time before Lazerous finds her first.

  Reading Order for the Wild Hunt Series (For Series Timeline, see Table of Contents).

  Book 1: The Silver Stag

  Book 2: Oak & Thorns

  Book 3: Iron Bones

  Book 4: A Shadow of Crows

  Book 5: The Hallowed Hunt

  Book 6: The Silver Mist

  Book 7: Witching Hour

  Book 8: Witching Bones

  Book 9: A Sacred Magic

  Book 10: The Eternal Return

  Book 11: Sun Broken (coming)

  Chapter One

  “If you don’t get your asses in gear and take care of my pixie problem, I’m going to spread the word to all of my friends that you’re unreliable.”

  Macy Barnhart shifted in her chair and crossed her right leg over her left. Her legs were long and smooth, unmarred by any visible scars or stray hair. Willowy and tall, she was wearing a chiffon dress whose layers seemed to shift with every move. Her hair was perfectly smooth, the long blond strands gathered back into a loose chignon held in place by a cloisonné butterfly barrette, and her makeup was flawless.

  In other words, she looked like a walking, talking mannequin. But Macy Barnhart had the personality of a viper.

  I cleared my throat and glanced at Yutani. He was composed and congenial, but the light in his eyes told me he was suppressing his feelings. The IT specialist had little patience for whiners, and even less patience for members of the entitlement-set. And Macy Barnhart obviously felt she was entitled to star treatment. She was also Light Fae and had already tried to sideswipe me twice with poorly cloaked insults. I’d ignored them, but my temper was rapidly reaching overload, and I couldn’t play nice-nice for much longer.

  “I’m sorry, Macy, but we have other clients ahead of you, and we’ll get to your pixies just as soon as we can,” I said, gritting my teeth. “If our timetable won’t work for you, then you’re welcome to find someone else. We’re the best there is, so we get a lot of clients.” I smiled through my urge to tell the bitch to get out and stay out.

  She held my gaze for a moment. When I didn’t flinch, her eyes flickered to the side. Finally, her shoulders slumped. “I don’t have the time to find anyone else.”

  Neither Yutani nor I said anything.

  After an uncomfortable silence, she added, “Fine. Just get your asses over to my house as soon as you can.”

  I leaned back in Herne’s chair, feeling a disconcerting satisfaction as I watched her ego deflate. Schadenfreude. “I think we’ll be able to make it out there tomorrow. Expect us around sometime between nine and noon.” The truth was, we could probably fit her pixie problem in today, but I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. “I think we have enough information.”

  “Will I need to be home?” she asked, tapping her stiletto-clad foot on the floor.

  I shrugged. “That depends. If we can’t find them, you’ll just have to pay a rescheduling fee. If you’re there, you can show us where they are.”

  “Fine. Tomorrow, between nine and noon.” With that, Macy Barnhart was on her feet, and she flounced out of the office without another word, slamming the door behind her.

  I glanced over at Yutani. “Man, she’s a bitch.”

  “You got that one right.” He snorted. “I’m tempted to cancel and just let her fend for herself.”

  “Well, we can’t. We promised, so we’ll be there. But I’m not looking forward to this job.”

  “Me either,” he said. “I was amazed by how well you were able to keep your temper.”

  Laughing, I shook my head. “I was one step away from losing it, dude. However, I’m going to ask Herne to cross her off the list of clients once we wrap up her pixie problem. I have no desire to ever work with her again.”

  “Speaking of, when is he supposed to be back from the airport?” Yutani gathered up the papers and tapped the file folder on the desk to straighten it.

  “Myrna was supposed to be in on a nine-thirty flight.” I glanced at the clock. It was eleven-fifteen. “Depending on how much luggage she brought and how bad traffic is, they should be back here any time.”

  Yutani paused at the door, turning back to me. “You okay with her coming in?”

  I considered the question. Was I okay with Herne’s ex-girlfriend, who was also the mother of his child, coming into town to visit? Considering she was a first-class bitch, the answer was a resounding No, and considering she was also a lousy mother, again—a no. But I didn’t want to sound jealous or petty, so I just shrugged.

  “Eh, it’s no skin off my nose. After all, they have a kid together and even though Danielle looks full-grown, she’s not. There’s no way you can have a child with someone and not cross paths now and then.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Yutani said as we exited the room. “Or maybe, by not answering, you already did.” He ducked as I stuck my tongue out at him. “I’ll be in my office. Talia’s doing some research on Lazerous and I want to see what she’s found so far.”

  I waved him off, then tossed the folder on Angel’s desk. “Here, file this under ‘B,’ for ‘Bitch.’ ”

  She gave me a long look, half laughing, half serious. “You feeling okay?”

  Pulling up a chair to the side of her U-shaped desk that faced the waiting room of the Wild Hunt Agency, I slumped down, leaning my head back.

  “You could do me a favor and lose her file. Or accidentally delete her from the computer.” At another look from her, I rubbed my forehead. “M
acy Barnhart is an asshole and a snob. She epitomizes everything about my heritage that I hate. I wish we could turn her down, but Herne asked me to smooth things over with her, so that’s what I did. At least, I did the best I could. Smoothing things over would require more ego massaging than I was willing to do.”

  “Well, she couldn’t get out of here fast enough. I did manage to remind her that she had to pay the retainer before you and Yutani go out there tomorrow. She stopped long enough to hand me her credit card. I told her we didn’t accept checks, because I don’t trust her.”

  When Angel didn’t trust someone, I knew enough to pay attention. “Did the charge go through?”

  “Yeah, it did. Hopefully, she won’t dispute it. I could tell by the look on her face when she stormed out that she wasn’t happy.” Angel tossed her pen on the counter, leaning back in her chair. “Has Herne texted you yet?”

  I shook my head, then remembered that I had turned off my notifications while I was in the meeting. I pulled out my phone, unmuted it, then checked my messages. Sure enough, he had sent me a text message about twelve minutes ago. I opened up the message and read it.

  myrna and i are on the way back. traffic is pretty bad, but i hope to be there in half an hour. go ahead and have Angel order lunch for everybody so it will be there when we arrive. trust me, this isn’t going to be any picnic.

  Myrna was Herne’s ex-girlfriend, and the mother of his daughter. She was an Amazon, and she was a bitch on heels. The last time we had a run-in it hadn’t gone very well, and I didn’t expect any difference this time.

  we’ll see you when you get here, I texted back. Turning to Angel, I said, “Herne wants you to order lunch in now. They’re on the way. He doesn’t sound very happy.”

  “That’s an understatement, isn’t it?” Angel pulled out the takeout menus and began to skim through them.

  “You might say that.” I stood, moving the chair back to where it belonged. I glanced at the waiting room. “We don’t have any more appointments right now, do we?”

  “Nope. Not unless somebody else calls today.”

  “Good. This gives me a chance to catch up on my paperwork. Talia’s researching whatever she can find out about Lazerous. Yutani’s going to bone up on pixies, as well as help Talia. I’m not sure what Viktor is doing right now.”

  Angel nodded, shuffling the papers on her desk. “What do you want for lunch?”

  I thought for a moment, but couldn’t pinpoint anything in particular that I was craving. “Whatever you order is fine with me. But I’m sure it won’t be good enough for Myrna. Just make sure there’s plenty of it, and that it’s hearty. The guys don’t go for salads, and honestly, neither do I.”

  I headed back to my office, hoping I’d have time to catch up on my paperwork before Herne and Myrna arrived. Although it was likely that Myrna wasn’t coming in with a case. At any rate, why she was here wasn’t any of my business, no matter how nosy I was.

  Fingering the ring that Herne had given me—a promise ring formed out of his own antler tine—I realized that I really wasn’t worried about Myrna. Herne was devoted to me and he had made that clear. I just didn’t like her and didn’t want to have to interact with her. But I wasn’t worried about them getting back together.

  For one thing, neither of them could agree on how to raise Danielle, their daughter. For another, whenever they talked on the phone it turned into an argument. I was grateful, mostly for Danielle’s sake, that she was close to full-grown. Another ten or twelve years and she’d be ready to take her place as an adult, at least as far as the Amazons were concerned. In actuality, she was older than I was.

  As I sat down at my desk, I brought up the Krown-4 news site, and clicked on the livestream video feed.

  The newscaster was sitting in front of a picture of a cemetery, signs of disturbed graves in the background.

  “Authorities have no idea who is responsible for the desecration of the Wild Thyme cemetery. Anyone with any information is urged to contact the police as soon as possible. Four bodies are missing, the caskets splintered, and the police have no leads at this time.”

  I set down my pen, staring at the screen. I pushed my laptop back and turned to my desktop computer, clicking over to another news site. There was the story again, with a little more detail.

  On my second monitor—I had a two-monitor system now, like the rest of the office—I brought up Earth Maps, zeroing in on Seattle. I typed the wild thyme cemetery into the search engine, and waited.

  When it brought up a map of the location, I saw that the cemetery rested on the outskirts of the Worchester district, the most haunted area of Seattle. The niggle of worry grew. After our meeting in Annwn with Cernunnos, Brighid, Morgana, and Lugh the Long Handed, anything concerning the dead or spirits or the undead made me nervous. I was about to call Yutani into my office when loud voices erupted from the waiting room. Even from my office, I could hear Herne and Myrna arguing.

  “I still can’t believe that you’re letting her get away with this. I’m her mother, I should have some say in this matter.” Myrna’s voice echoed through the hallway. She wasn’t a shrill woman, but her voice rose a good octave when she was angry.

  “And I’m her father. I don’t care whether or not this inconveniences you. Thantos is a sleazy, crappy excuse for a man. He’s a lecher and the thought of him coming on to my daughter makes me sick. You know full well that she’s not lying about it. I can’t believe you’re standing up for him! You call yourself an Amazon?”

  “He did it one time, and I can’t see what all the uproar is about. He didn’t hurt her.”

  “How the hell can you be so blasé about this? Maybe he didn’t hurt her physically, but he scared the hell out of her. You can let him back into your house after what he did to our daughter? I thought the Amazons frowned upon men like that? What did they have to say about you standing up for this creep?”

  I decided somebody better get out there to diffuse the argument before it blew up into a full-fledged fistfight. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had that feeling, because Yutani, Talia, and Viktor were headed down the hallway as well. We all reached the main waiting room in a group, which felt rather awkward. There stood Myrna and Herne in front of Angel’s desk, embroiled in their shouting match. Angel was trying to look busy, doing her best to ignore the spectacle going on in front of her.

  I stepped forward, hands on my hips. “Obviously, you two are having some sort of beef with each other. Maybe you should take it into Herne’s office instead of coming to blows out here in the waiting room. What if a client came in?” I glared at both of them.

  Herne scowled, but gave me a nod. “Ember’s right. Save the fighting for later. This is my place of business and it’s no place to hash this out.”

  “So the tralaeth is running the show now? Not surprising, since she has your penis wrapped around her little finger.” Myrna darted a sideways glance my way that—if it’d been an attack—would have left me flattened.

  “Myrna!” Herne glowered at her, but I stepped in.

  “Listen up. I work here, you don’t.” I turned to Myrna. “You can call me anything you want, but the fact remains this is a place of business.” I wanted to tell her I agreed with Herne, that she was an unfit mother, but that would only lead to an even bigger blowup.

  “Fine, I’ll confine my comments to outside of your business establishment.” She turned back to Herne. “We’re not done with this yet, so don’t get it into your head that this argument’s over. I know you’re trying to subvert Danielle’s feelings toward me, so don’t pretend you aren’t. What time do you get off work? We’re going to finish this, one way or another.”

  “All right, if you want to have it out, so be it. Meet me here tonight after six. Until then, I suggest you find yourself a hotel. I don’t want to ever see you darken the doors of this building again.” Herne looked like he’d swallowed a hornet’s nest.