It couldn’t be.
I wouldn’t let it be.
“Who else would I mean? Honestly, Thierry, it’s like you’re not even trying.”
The Morrigan was the voice of reason yanking me back from the edge of hysteria.
“I don’t believe you.” Fear coated the back of my throat. “You’re lying.”
“See?” She threw up her hands. “This is exactly what I mean.”
Ten minutes max. I had been inside for ten minutes, and already our plan was shot to hell.
Sniffling at the insult, she fastened one of the buttons on her jacket. “Would you like to see proof?”
My head bobbled on my neck. “Take me to him.” I had to see this for myself.
“First, I must insist you sever Winter’s tether.” She flashed a grin. “Then, sure, why not?”
Heat sizzled in my palm. “I want to see my father now.”
“I was afraid you’d be difficult, but I was hoping you might surprise me. Oh well.” She tapped a fingernail against the center of my forehead. “You can come back when you’re willing to play nice.”
My eyes rolled up into my head. Blackness descended, and I fell.
“There she is,” the Morrigan cooed. “How are you feeling?”
My mouth tasted like rotten fruit and old blood. I had bitten my tongue. “Where is Mac?”
“Not this again.” Her buoyant mood shattered. “He is dead.”
Blinking away the haze covering my vision, I sat up and took stock of my surroundings. I was in the same hall where I’d collapsed. How long had I been out? Minutes? Hours? I shoved onto my feet.
Her shoulders tensed in expectation of a strike. I didn’t give her the satisfaction of attacking. For one thing, it wouldn’t do any good. She had knocked me unconscious with a touch. I shivered to think of what she was capable of when she set her mind to it. For another, my nap had done a fantastic job of clearing away the cobwebs. Mac was okay, even if he wasn’t. Rook... I couldn’t help him. He had known the risks and still chosen to swagger into the room next to me and put her threat to the test. It wouldn’t help the guilt, wouldn’t stop the nightmares—nothing did—but I knew what I had to do now.
This mission had cost us all too much to fail. I was going to see it through, and then I was going to pick up the broken pieces and pray that I could put Mac and Rook back together again once this was all over.
I dusted my hands and ran a palm over my hair to smooth it down. “Where is the tether?”
Her eyes widened. “Well, well, I should have knocked you unconscious sooner.”
My lips bent in a brittle smile with jagged edges. “The tether?”
Hers warmed with genuine amusement as she strode past me. “Right this way.”
The whole way there, she never once glanced back. I was trapped, and she knew it. So far below her concern, she had turned her back on me without hesitation. It was an insult, and my pride stung.
“Here we are.” The Morrigan spun on her heel and stopped at the mouth of a new hall identical to all the others we had traipsed through.
I raised my second sight, and sure enough, the ambient glow of magic suffused a blue-green net. The mesh tube appeared anchored to a particularly ornate row of ice blocks inlaid into the floor. I let my vision go unfocused as hazy numbers floated in a slowly drifting string. I lifted my hand, and a pang hit me. Mac had done the spell to bleed me. It required finesse I lacked, but I had committed the Words to memory and had seen him do it so often I knew I could replicate the process. Even though I really, really didn’t want to, I had no choice. The tethers had to go. It put us one step closer to penning the Morrigan in this realm and protecting mine.
The fact that she wanted it too was troubling, but I would burn that bridge when I got there.
Murmuring the Word, I braced for the spell as it ripped through my skin. Freaking monkeys, that hurt. Woozy from the shock of pain, I wobbled toward the tether’s shimmering threshold and sank to my knees in the center of the hall. Hand dripping, I leaned forward, and a tarnished silver disc slipped from my armor to hang loose around my neck. The amulet. Crap on toast. I had forgotten all about it.
Rook was unconscious, I hoped. Mac was...I didn’t know. All I knew for sure was the Morrigan wanted my blood, which meant staying here was a Very Bad Idea.
Pushing out a tight breath, I smeared the threshold with my blood while the Morrigan kept watch with interest. Clutching the amulet, I soaked it in crimson to tune it to my aura. Under my breath, I spoke the Word to cut the tether in the same breath as I thought, Take me to Mac and lunged forward into the warped reality of the tether.
A bloodcurdling scream lifted behind me, and taloned fingertips dug into my shoulder. Magic swirled, sucking me down, disintegrating me as it struggled to fulfill its purpose and my will. My fingers and hands were misted nothings. The tether was collapsing with me inside it. Fear shivered through my insubstantial limbs. Twisting my head, I sank my teeth deep into the top of her hand until rancid blood coated my mouth and her shrieks muted to nothing as I vanished.
With a hard shove, the tether spat me out onto snow-covered ground. I backpedalled as a hand shot toward me. Magic pooled in my left hand, lighting my runes and making the ice glisten.
“Stop.”
The power in the word choked the magic out of me. “H-Huntsman?”
Green light spilled over the brawny man’s skin and glinted off metal beads woven into his bird’s nest of a beard. He stood bare-chested and furious against the cold. Ice trimmed the cuffs of his leather pants, and snow dusted the tops of his boots. Leaves rustled and twigs fell from his hair when he shoved a wide palm at me. This time I accepted it, let him yank me onto my feet before I shouldered past him. “Where is he?”
The Huntsman caught my arm, but not before a drift of crimson snow drew my attention, and not before my gaze swept over Mac’s lifeless body, soaking in the gaping slice across his throat with dread carving my soul hollow.
“No.” My heart shattered for a man I barely knew but loved all the same.
“Look away, child.” He angled himself between me and what remained of my father. “Don’t see what you can’t unsee.” He pulled me against his chest and wrapped his burly arms around me. “Spare yourself the ache when there’s no need for two hearts to break.”
Hot tracks burned down my cheeks as I accepted his bear of a hug.
“I am destined to forever arrive too late.” He clamped my shoulders after a moment and nudged me back a step. “Macsen’s death summoned me, as it always does. I will carry my son to his resting place, and I will ward his remains. I will gather all those who would see him whole again, and we shall weep over his grave.” He touched my cheek, collecting my tears. “He will rise on the seventh day, love. I swear to you.”
Throat tight, I nodded. “Thank you.”
“He is my child, as you are his.” His gaze lifted. “What I do is my duty as his father.”
They had talked. Of course they had spoken. Mac was his son in a magic-twisted, blood-but-not-blood kind of way. The Huntsman had known what Mac and I were doing, known Mac had accepted his death as a possible outcome, and he must have warned his father to claim his remains as quickly as possible.
An ear-shattering caw rent the air with its fury, and my breath hitched. With the amulet clasped tight in my palm, I reached for the magic of the portal behind me and found null space.
“It worked,” I said, scarcely daring to believe it. “I severed the tether.”
“Good girl.” The Huntsman patted my head. “Though you are bleeding a trail.”
Grimacing, I made a fist, knowing it wouldn’t help. Sucking in a breath, I blew out the Word on a fast exhale, grinding my teeth while my skin repaired itself for the moment. “You should leave.”
“The Morrigan is on the warpath, eh?” He grinned with pride. “Aye. I’ll leave you to your fun.”
Fun? Not the word I would have used. Horrendous death? Utter annihilation maybe
?
“Wait.” I kept my gaze low, too afraid I might see what remained of Mac. “Where’s Daibhidh?”
“Dead,” he growled. “When I arrived, the ogre, Tierney, had captured the bastard after he slayed Macsen. Tierney spelled the consul stiff as a nail and hammered Daibhidh feet-first into the ground.”
“Oh.” I swallowed the bile washing up the back of my throat.
Well, that solved the problem of what to do with him once we got back to the mortal realm. That also explained why he hadn’t come when I attempted to summon him. He was dead. His Name held no power over him any longer. As far as I was concerned, he had chosen his end.
Bouncing on the balls of my feet, I shot him one last question. “What about Tierney?”
Severing the tether might have slowed the Morrigan down, but she was winging this way.
Huntsman squinted into the sun. “He’s securing you transportation.”
“Transportation?” I went still. “What does that mean?”
A throaty roar bellowed behind us, and I cringed.
“Oh, God.” My palms went slick. “He’s not serious, is he?”
The ogre plucked one cable among many, taking the dragon attached to it with him. A fierce blue beast with shimmering scales writhed in the air, fighting his grip on the bridle. He reminded me of a kid clutching a balloon in his fist. Sheesh. Childhood trauma, much? I had to let the balloon thing go. Ha. Let it go...because it’s a balloon. Crap. I was losing my ever-loving mind. There were worse things in life—including the fact an ogre expected me to ride a freaking dragon out of here to safety.
Ground shaking as he walked, the ogre lumbered to us. He rumbled to the Huntsman then knelt softly and offered me the frayed cord. His eyebrows rose, and he offered again, frowning when I didn’t accept it.
“He says he trusts you to come back for him,” the Huntsman said thoughtfully.
My knees were knocking as the dragon landed, its serpentine head swinging toward me. Forked tongue flicking between scaled lips, he tasted me. The dragon huffed, blowing smoke from its flared nostrils. Of course he chose the fire-breather in the bunch. Gah. Please don’t barbeque me.
A screeching caw jerked my eyes toward the fortress and the black shape emerging from within.
“You best get on with it.” The Huntsman cracked his knuckles. “I can hold her off for a while.”
His fingers stabbed the air, and he hauled a hulking ax that dripped eerie green light from an air pocket.
I wiped my damp palms on my pants. “How am I supposed to drive that thing?”
“You’ll manage.” His laughter rolled. “He’s well broken in.”
Whatever that meant.
The dozen yards I walked to the dragon were the longest of my life. It was massive, gorgeous, a nightmare brought to life, and it was my ticket out. With the tethers dismantled, it was either ride the lizard or roll over and give the Morrigan my belly. I liked my entrails where they were just fine, thanks.
“Good dragon.” My hand shook when I reached for the cord and jangled the bridle. “Nice dragon.”
I almost wet my pants when the ogre pinched my backpack between his thick thumb and finger, lifted me dangling into the air and dropped me onto the dragon’s back between its sapphire wing joints.
Another squawk rose. I glanced over my shoulder as the Huntsman charged the Morrigan, ax swinging in cutting arcs. I hoped he knew what he was doing.
Tierney nudged the dragon until it climbed into his palm then he straightened to his full height. He eyeballed me while I held on for dear life. Testing the wind by licking a finger, he held us up in the breeze and then he threw the dragon like a paper airplane.
I screamed, and I screamed, and I screamed until nothing came out anymore.
Jerky grumbles rose from the dragon’s core. I think he was laughing at me.
“Go ahead and laugh,” I grumbled. “Not all of us have wings, buddy.”
Note to self: Acquire skin with big honking wings.
What could I do? What was left? Shaw was trapped at Rook’s house, and now I had no Rook to get me in the back door. I would have to face Bháin. Great. At least I knew for sure I could close the final tether on my way out of Faerie. One less thing, right? All I had to do was make it that far. Face cold, I narrowed my focus to my remaining goals. Get Shaw. Go Home. Branwen wouldn’t thank me, but I couldn’t risk going back for Rook. I wouldn’t survive butting heads with their mother again. I was far from safe yet. I mean, sure. I had a dragon. But I had no idea how to steer him...or land him.
Vibrations shook me, starting between my legs, working through my core to rattle my teeth. The horse-size head of my mount swung toward me, and his lip quivered at what he saw over his shoulder. I was scared to look. I didn’t want to know. My imagination was filling in the blanks just fine.
“You saved my bacon, Blue.” I patted the warm flesh of his shoulder. “It’s much appreciated.”
A fleshy pink crest flashed up the length of his neck. Wait—was that a blush?
Palms damp, I clung to him. “Can you understand me?”
The steady bob of his head made my heart pound.
“Can you speak?”
He shook his head and lowered his crest with a resounding snick.
Hot damn. I could work with this. Maybe the ogre wasn’t nuts after all.
A shadow spilled over me, blotting out the sun, and I gulped. Blue faltered, his great wings losing their rhythm. Tilting my head back, I cringed away from the Morrigan’s talons. I melted against Blue’s spine and buried my face against my forearm.
What did this mean for the Huntsman? For Mac? If the Huntsman had to choose between getting his son to safety or giving his granddaughter a head start, I was glad he had chosen to protect my father.
The dragon shied away from the Morrigan, but she rode his draft, her razor claws raking the length of one wing. He roared and twisted, his tattered wing flapping, ripped from her assault. She was going to take him down to get to me. I had to get off this ride, had to set him free.
Peering over his rippling shoulder, I soaked in the red and gold carpet blurring underneath us as we sped over Autumn. Blue’s defensive maneuvers had nudged us clear into the next season. Miles in the distance, I spotted the green-spiked tip of Mac’s tree, and my shoulders relaxed. The ground was heavily warded. I would be as safe there as I was now, and Blue would be even safer on his own.
“Take us there.” I pointed into the wind. “The tallest tree. Go.”
A sinuous bob that rippled down his body was better than a nod for telegraphing his understanding. Seconds. It took an instant for Blue to slice through the air toward the den once given direction. Snorting, he flicked his whiplike tail and tagged the Morrigan’s wing with a crack of sound.
She thrashed while spiraling toward the ground, but Rook had once mended a broken wing by shifting, which meant we had minutes to build our lead. Wrapping my arms around the base of Blue’s neck, I clenched my thighs and tried not to fall to my death as he started his descent. Even before we reached the redwood, I saw the problem.
Blue landing in the clearing going this speed was as likely as me pirouetting on the head of a pin.
The fastest way in was straight down. The Morrigan had taught me that. There was one way off this ride, and it sucked. I had done this once before with Rook as a buffer. All I had to do was let go.
And then pray I wasn’t impaled by a limb on the way to the ground.
“I really don’t want to do this,” I groaned. “Okay, fella, change of plans. Slow down as much as you can and get as low as you can. I will slide under you and drop into the trees when you get close.”
He snorted like I had offered to bungee jump into the Grand Canyon using a hairband as a cord.
Heat flushing my cheeks, I demanded, “Do you have a better idea?”
One of Blue’s limber front claws reached behind him, snagging my ankle and yanking me off his back. A scream rose up my throat. I clamped my h
ands over my mouth, digging my nails into my cheeks to keep it contained. Hanging upside down sent blood rushing into my head until my temples throbbed in time with my racing heart. My gut twisted into knots until the scream wasn’t all I was having trouble holding down. I was going to be sick if he didn’t get me right-side up soon.
Claw tightening on my ankle, Blue spread his wings wide, catching the air and jerking us backward. The landscape above my head slowed from a blur to distinguishable landmarks. Ones I would really hate to barf on at this altitude. With a sharp dip, Blue dropped into the canopy of trees. Limbs slapped my face, tore out my hair and lashed my neck. Another gust of wind blasted from his wings, and Blue hovered over Mac’s tree. He rumbled at me, what I couldn’t understand, and then...he let go.
Chapter Fifteen
The ground rose to meet me at an alarming rate, and I squished my eyes shut so I didn’t have to see it coming. My shoulder glanced off a limb, and stars exploded behind my eyelids. Sprigs swatted me across the face, leaves slapping me as I fell. One branch struck me in the gut, and a year’s worth of oxygen exploded from my lungs. That one, though, saved my life. As I clung to it, gasping for air, I first thanked God I seemed to have the same amount of holes as I was born with, and then I inched toward the trunk. Gripping the next branch down, I stretched for a foothold and swung myself lower.
The sooner my feet hit dirt, the better. There was no asking Mac if his wards extended up here or if they were embedded in the earth. I shimmied lower, breaking fingernails off in the bark. Splinters slid underneath the skin of my palms while I raced against the Morrigan. Gritting my teeth, I leapt the last six feet to the carpet of leaves below, tucked into a ball and rolled to cushion the impact. My form dissolved, and I flopped onto my back on the cushion of crinkly leaves to suck in a few grateful to be alive breaths.
A black shadow glided over me, cooling my skin where the sun had warmed me.
I flipped onto my side and shoved my feet under me. Ten feet stretched between the entrance to Mac’s den and me. I rolled that far? Overhead, the Morrigan’s anger reverberated through the trees. I sucked in air and ran. My fingertips brushed fuzzy bark as a wriggling mass smelling of damp feathers thumped into my shoulders. My head shot forward when a wing glanced off it, and my forehead met tree trunk with a dull thud. Yowch. Reaching behind me, I pulled out fistfuls of feathers until I caught one of her leathery legs and yanked her hard to one side before she pecked my nape more than once.
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