by Donna Grant
Jason had made sure of it.
He took a deep, fortifying breath, and stepped onto the battlefield. The next few moves would be his last play, ending in checkmate. He almost hated to end it so soon, but then again, it was time the world knew a true leader.
“I knew it wouldna take you long to find me,” Jason said, his voice raised to reach Evie. “Was it the dragons or Broc?”
Evie’s eyes landed on him. For long moments she simply stared as one of the men said something to her. Then she lifted her chin and glared at Jason. “Does it really matter? You wanted me here, so I’m here. But I want to know why.”
“Ah,” Jason said as he put a finger alongside his mouth while he bit back his laughter. He knew Evie was steaming to have Malcolm so close, yet so far away. For the moment, she remained on Dreagan land. That wouldn’t last long. “You mean you want to know why I didna keep you, Brian, and Malcolm while I had you.”
“Yes.”
“There are parts to the prophecy no one knew about until I found them. Setting this plan in motion has taken considerable patience on my part. You made it so easy. I thought I’d have to find a Druid, but you fell right into my lap when I ran across your site.”
She shrugged. “If you hadn’t forced me, I would never have become drough.”
“How could you no’? You who communicate with the stones and found a home in Cairn Toul? You’re following in Deirdre’s footsteps. I just gave you a little nudge. I’ve no’ doubt you’d have gotten there on your own.”
“I’m not evil.”
Jason laughed and let his gaze roam over the two men flanking her. With the dragon tats there was no doubt they were dragons. But would they remain on their land? He sure hoped they didn’t.
“I choose to remain good, despite the black magic,” Evie stated in a clear voice.
“Ah, but everyone has their breaking point. You have two. Brian and Malcolm.”
Evie looked smug as she said, “You’ll never get to Brian. As for Malcolm, he’s strong. He’s endured Death’s torture before. He will again.”
“Such confidence,” Jason said as he rubbed his hands together. He would find out how they had learned about Death. Until then, he would continue to taunt her. “I may no’ be able to get to Brian, but then I doona need to. I have the one thing you would sacrifice everything for—Malcolm.” When only silence met his remark, he grinned. “What? No witty retort?”
“Don’t you want to know how Malcolm survived Death the first time?”
Jason ground his teeth together. Of course he wanted to know, but after he had Evie in his hold. Damn them for bringing it up. He had to stay in control.
Evie saw the slip in Jason’s smirk. She had thought bringing up Malcolm’s shaking off Death’s grip would find its mark. “Arrogant prick,” she murmured.
“Good job,” Rhys whispered from beside her.
So far, both of the Dragon Kings had let her do the talking. It took everything she had not to give in to the black magic calling to her, urging her to lash out at Wallace and get her reckoning.
It was only Malcolm and the love she had for him that reminded her of who she really was and prevented her from giving in.
“Don’t you want to know how Malcolm walked away from Death?” Evie asked Jason. “You went to such trouble to hurt him at Urquhart.”
Jason’s lips peeled back in a scowl. “How?”
One simple word, but it boosted Evie’s faith that she could get Malcolm back to Dreagan. However, it was in everyone’s best interest if Jason didn’t know everything. At least not yet.
“Phelan.”
Jason’s face contorted with fury when she said the name. “And where is Phelan now?”
“He’ll be here soon enough.”
“Just as I expected. You’re too cowardly to face me on your own.”
“Malcolm told me how you once had a number of Druids and Warriors at your beck and call. They left you to die all alone. Tell me, how did that feel?”
“I doona need anyone now.”
“Somehow I don’t believe that. You’re just like Deirdre and Declan who had to be surrounded by those who feared them. It makes you feel more powerful.”
He threw back his head and cackled. “And you’ll be trembling in fear soon enough, Evie. No’ even your dragons will be able to help you. No one will save you from what I have planned.”
“Release Malcolm now.”
“Let me think on that a moment,” he said and glanced at the sky as if he were thinking. “That would be no.”
Guy leaned close to her and whispered, “The Warriors and Druids are here.”
“You’ll die here today, Jason.”
He threw out his arms and bellowed, “Nothing can kill me!”
Evie looked at the Dragon Kings. “I need to get down to Malcolm.”
“It’s what Wallace wants,” Rhys cautioned.
Guy smiled. “It’s time his arse dies.”
The amber dragon let out a loud roar overhead as Druids and Warriors fanned out around Evie. Guy and Rhys turned and ran out of the trees before jumping into the air and shifting into dragons.
Evie kept her gaze on Malcolm. He needed her, and she wasn’t going to let him down.
“We’ll keep Wallace occupied,” Ramsey said. “Do what you need for Malcolm.”
Fallon came up beside her. “I can jump you to Malcolm.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” she asked.
“Because it’s suicide,” Larena stated. “There’s no way you’re going down there without me.”
Fallon waited until Larena released her goddess, turning iridescent before she used her power to shift invisible. “Larena will be beside you, Evie, but doona allow Wallace to get ahold of you. We’ll free Malcolm no matter what.”
Evie nodded. Fallon took her arm, and the next instant she found herself standing beside Malcolm. It was Jason’s laughter that sent a chill of foreboding racing along her skin.
* * *
Malcolm had stopped trying to hold in his bellows of rage and pain long ago. Death was exacting in his torture, and if Malcolm hadn’t been chained, he knew he’d have been brought to his knees.
His roars stopped when Death ripped out his throat. Malcolm struggled for breath as his throat began to regenerate. Whatever Death did to him, his body healed, allowing Death to do it again and again.
Daal retreated deep in his mind, but at least this time his god hadn’t totally deserted him. The fact the primeval god was frightened of Death when he was afraid of nothing put things into perspective for Malcolm.
It also gave him a clue to just who had trapped the gods in Hell so long ago. No wonder the gods wanted out so desperately. Malcolm understood their feelings all too well.
Smoke billowed around him as fire raged. It licked at his skin, the flames eagerly reaching for him. The fire was as alive as Death, and it wanted a piece of Malcolm.
He called up an image of Evie and squeezed his eyes shut to hold onto it as the fire reached his leg. The pain was terrible, the smell of burning flesh severe.
“Malcolm?”
“Evie!” he bellowed.
Had her voice only been in his mind, or was Evie with him? If she was, that meant Wallace had her.
Malcolm shook his head fiercely. That couldn’t happen. Didn’t she know the life of their child was more important than him? He was destined for Hell anyway after all the things he had done. Wallace just put him there earlier.
Evie. His wonderful, precious, headstrong Evie. It was unimaginable that he would never hold her again, never feel her warmth, never twine her curls around his fingers, never hear her laughter … never tell her how she had touched his soul.
Never tell her he loved her.
Something splashed on his face before rolling down his cheek.
Whatever Death had in store for him was nothing compared to the terrible, aching loss in his chest. There was a gaping hole where his heart had once been. Evie had brought him
back from the brink, had shown him kindness, and he had gladly followed the shining light inside her.
Without Evie there was only darkness. Numbness took him, clutched him in her arms. And he welcomed her.
As the tear fell from his jaw, Malcolm looked at the flames that had risen to his hips. The blaze was green at the tips and hungry to devour him.
He felt nothing—because he was nothing.
Not without Evie.
CHAPTER
FIFTY-FOUR
Evie shot a bolt of magic at the chains holding Malcolm, but they didn’t release him.
“As if I’d make it that easy,” Jason said as he smiled maliciously.
She shot him a withering look. “You will be beaten this day.”
“Oh, I think no’. I’ve come back from the dead once. There is nothing that could kill me now.”
Evie wanted to slap him. She wanted to hit him, kick him, anything to knock that smug expression off his face. Never in her life had she hated someone as she did Jason Wallace, and that hate fed her black magic.
It gave her a moment’s pause, because it was growing so quickly, taking over. And there was no turning back from it.
“You’re afraid of your magic,” Jason said, his eyes alight with a gleam of excitement. “The loathing you feel will grow, and the black magic inside you will infect your child. You, Evangeline Walker, will be the reason your child is born evil.”
Evie shook her head even as she knew he spoke the truth. Malcolm had forewarned her it would be decisions she made that tipped the scale one way or another.
Try as she might, she couldn’t push aside the hate. The more Jason talked, the more her animosity grew.
“Easy,” Larena whispered in her ear from behind. “He’s goading you, Evie. Fight back. Do it for Malcolm.”
Malcolm. Evie put her hand on his scarred shoulder. He was the reason she had the strength to face Jason. Malcolm was why she could look at herself in the mirror. He was the sun, the moon, and the stars.
Her life, her breath.
He was simply her universe.
She lifted a brow and gave Jason a bored look. “My child will be born good. I’ll make sure of it.”
“We’ll see about that,” Jason said as he flung a hand out.
Black smoke poured from his palm to scatter over the land in long, sinister, ribbonlike fashion. Dozens of human shapes took form, cloaked in solid black that hid their faces.
She knew the figure, because she would never forget her time with it.
“Death.”
Jason’s laughter echoed around the forest as the Warriors engaged the figures. Evie saw a red Warrior shoot fire from his hands while a white-colored Warrior formed spears of ice and hurled them at the figures.
The three MacLeod brothers stood shoulder to shoulder, the black skin of their god showing as they battled five figures of Death.
It wasn’t just the Warriors who were attacked. The figures honed in on the Druids who stood in a group. They combined their magic, making the land hum with it. That magic held off Death, but it didn’t kill the figures.
Jason sat back watching it all with such glee that it made Evie’s stomach sour. She faced Malcolm and ran her hands over him.
“I’m here, Malcolm,” she said. “Hear my voice. Focus on me.”
She tugged on the chains, but they didn’t budge. Then she felt another pair of hands beside her. Evie was thankful Larena was with her because she had been near panic.
“Use your magic the same time I pull,” Larena’s disembodied voice said.
Evie felt her magic well inside her, but it wasn’t black magic. It was her mie magic, and she welcomed it, embraced it. “One. Two. Three,” she said as she poured her magic into the chains.
There was a soft shift, and then the chains broke, releasing Malcolm. He fell on Evie, and it was only with Larena’s help that she could support his dead weight.
Evie glanced at the battle to see that none of the figures of Death had been killed. About that time the dragons dove from the sky to maneuver between the trees with skill and grace to join in the fray.
Jason clapped and jumped up and down as he shouted for the figures of Death to kill.
“He’s gone daft,” Larena whispered.
Evie couldn’t agree more. She situated herself so that Malcolm’s head rested in her lap. “Go help the others. We’ll be fine.”
“I shouldn’t leave you.”
“I’m not battling Death as your husband is. Go, Larena.”
There was a pause before an invisible hand rested on Evie’s shoulder. “I’ll keep an eye on you.”
And then she was gone. Evie drew in a deep breath and brushed the lock of blond hair from Malcolm’s forehead. She ran her hand over his cheeks, feeling the bristle of his whiskers and the raised skin of his scars.
“What a mess I got us into,” she said, hoping her voice carried to him over the roars of dragons, bellows of Warriors, and shouts of Druids. “I need you, Malcolm.”
He looked so peaceful lying there, but she knew firsthand what it was like where Death had taken him. It was dark, malicious, and foul.
There was one way she could reach Malcolm, and that was by giving him her magic as before. But that would leave her isolated for Jason to do whatever he wanted.
However, it was a chance she had to take.
Evie felt for her magic again. This time both the black magic and mie magic welled within her. The black magic was more powerful, but there were risks involved. The mie magic was pure, but it would take her longer to reach Malcolm where Death held him.
She called for both, letting them blend and fuse, the two magics swirling about each other, twisting faster and faster as they expanded inside her.
And with a gasp, they exploded, filling every pore, every fiber of her being.
Evie lifted her hand and felt it buzz with magic. She traced a fingernail along Malcolm’s jaw and saw the smoky tendrils of magic that vanished as soon as they appeared.
There was no denying the sheer force of magic at her fingertips. And for a moment, she considered turning it on Jason Wallace. Then she looked down at Malcolm. He had suffered enough.
She closed her eyes and called to the ancients. It took her awhile to hear the drums over the battle, but once she did, she let out a sigh of relief.
The chanting grew closer until the only things she could hear were the ancients’ multiple voices and the drums. She gave herself a few seconds to bask in the glow of the ancients.
“I need help,” she told them. “How do I free Malcolm from Death?”
“No release. There is no release.”
She refused to believe that. “Then how do I kill Jason? You said there was a way.”
“You already have it.”
“My black magic? If I give in to it, I become evil.”
“You already have it,” they repeated.
Evie clutched at Malcolm’s shoulders. “Please. I don’t know what to do. I can’t have my child born evil, but I can’t let Malcolm go either.”
“You must choose, but choose wisely.”
“What? Are you saying I can have either my child or Malcolm, but not both?”
The chanting grew louder for a moment before tapering off again. “You have all you need, Evangeline Walker. Trust yourself.”
And just like that, they were gone. No matter how much she tried to find the ancients again, they had left her.
Evie opened her eyes to see Jason watching her, but, thankfully, his gaze was jerked away when the gold dragon swooped down and one of its wings slammed into the cottage, knocking down the stone walls.
She used that time to gather the mixture of mie and drough magic to her once more, and then she pushed it inside Malcolm.
* * *
The feel of Evie’s magic was like a kiss against his blistered skin. His burns began to heal instantly while his body grew stronger. But he noticed none of it as he exulted in Evie’s magic.
Her magic was ecstasy, the pleasure of it as close to Heaven as he would ever get. Malcolm closed his eyes and let the strings of her magic enfold him in a cocoon of bliss.
With her magic came a bright light. He turned his face away it was so blinding, but he knew it was her. If he could get free of the chains he could go to Evie.
It was dangerous for her, so very dangerous. At that moment, Death took notice of her. Malcolm tried to turn his head to find her, tried to shout her name, but Death refused even that.
Malcolm struggled furiously against his bonds, the rusted iron manacles ripping open his wrists. Blood poured from his wounds. Death hissed in enjoyment.
Evie was too trusting, too innocent to know how to deal with Death. She’d had a brush with it, but Malcolm knew Death all too well.
“Trust me,” Evie’s voice whispered around him like a breeze.
He stilled, and for the first time felt the full magnitude of her power. Her magic slammed into him, enveloping him in the pure, absolute phenomenon of all that was Evie.
Her magic was fierce, and her uncorrupted soul kept the area blazing with luminous light.
Malcolm was held immobile from the force of it all, and then with a loud clink, the chains holding his wrists fell away. His gaze turned to Death, and the figure cocked its material-covered head to the side as if waiting for him to attack.
“I’m waiting, Malcolm,” Evie beseeched.
“You’ll come for me again one day,” he told Death. “You might be able to hold me then.”
Death took a step toward him, but Malcolm had already turned his thoughts to Evie as he followed her voice. The next thing he knew he was staring up into her beautiful blue eyes with her curls hanging over one shoulder.
He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “You brought me out again.”
“I can’t believe it worked,” she said in awe, her eyes filling with tears.
Malcolm then heard the sounds of battle. He sat up and saw all the figures of Death dotting the forest. The Warriors and dragons cut them down, but nothing killed Death.
“I need to help them,” he said and started to stand when she put a hand on his arm.
