Aegir dropped onto his knees. His face froze in stunned shock. The water disturbed his hair and the seaweed around his waist, but he didn’t move.
Ivy glanced up to see the stone casing around Lachlan dissolve. It crumbled into dust and floated away on the current. Lachlan stood tall and sturdy in front of her. He stared down at Aegir’s inert form. “Ivy! What did ye do?”
She wiped her hands on her pants to get the sensation of the trident off her skin. “I…I didn’t mean to. I just couldn’t watch him destroy you.”
“Ye said you’d no’ interfere. Ye gave your word.”
“I never gave my word,” she cried. “I never gave my word.”
He took her hand and rubbed it between his. “It’s all right now. Ye did it. It’s all right. Ye have naught to be concerned about.”
Now that it was all over, the emotional tension hit her like a ton of bricks. She wanted to break down crying. She bit her lip to stop it quivering. “I…I hate this place. I want to get out of here.”
“All right, lassie,” he murmured. “We’ll take ye above, and you’ll never see this place again. None of us will.”
Chapter 30
Ivy and Lachlan stood in front of Ivy’s mirror. Aegir stood before them with the trident still sticking out of his chest. “Are you sure this will work?” Ivy asked.
Lachlan nodded. “I’m sure. You’re free to go back if ye dinnae want to watch this. I understand ye dinnae want to speak to him again.”
“I want to see. I want to see what you do.”
Lachlan took hold of the trident. He gave it a strong twist and a jerk and wrenched it free from Aegir’s ribs. The God of the Sea sprang alert and whirled around to snarl at them. “What’s the meaning of this? How dare you…?”
Lachlan held out the trident. “Keep your kilt on, mon, or we’ll give ye another dose of the same.”
Aegir bared his teeth. “How dare you? Do you know the penalty for touching that?”
“So far as I can see,” Lachlan returned, “the only penalty is listening to your incessant blather a few minutes more. Now listen to me, for I dinnae like to repeat myself overmuch, and we have somewhere to be.”
“How dare you speak to me like that in my own castle?” Aegir spluttered.
Lachlan waved the trident in his face. “I can put it back where I found it if you’d prefer.”
“What do you want?” Aegir snapped. “Say your piece and get out of here.”
“Och, I’m getting out. Ye may lay to that,” Lachlan replied. “Now this is what I mean to tell ye. One of us is going through this mirror, and when we come out the other side, we’ll have no power over water or sea any longer. Understand? It’s ye or me. The choice is yours. I’m going through, and when I get out there in the world above, I’ll have no more power over your realm at all. Ye can make that happen, or ye can go out there yourself. Which do you choose?”
Aegir narrowed his eyes at Lachlan. “You can’t do this. You have no power to demand anything.”
“I’ll give up my power, and ye can stop down here and rule the way ye always have,” Lachlan went on. “If ye ever show your face or any of your power to me or Ivy or any of our kind again, the bargain’s off and I get all my power back to come here and fight ye all over again. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”
Aegir’s eyes flashed under his bushy eyebrows. “Perfectly.”
“Now who’s it to be, ye or me?”
Aegir puffed out his cheeks. He blustered a few more times and finally smacked his lips. “Oh, fine, if that’s the way you want it, I guess I have no choice but to do it.”
“No, ye dinnae have no choice. Now say the words and mean them.”
Aegir gasped. “I never met a more exasperating man…”
“Say the words,” Lachlan snapped. “I’ll no’ tell ye again.”
Aegir threw up his hands. “Fine. If you or Ivy or any of your kind ever sees me or my power again, the bargain’s off and you get all your power back to come here and fight me all over again. Is that good enough for you?”
“Now take the power away,” Lachlan told him.
Aegir grunted. He laid his hand on Lachlan’s shoulder, and the two men stared deep into each other’s eyes. Something deep inside Lachlan’s being snapped. The power drained out of his blood. The water all around him closed in. It no longer infused his being with forgotten tensions and mysteries.
He no longer belonged down here. His lungs hungered for air to breathe. His skin yearned for the wind and sun and the cold. His stomach churned with hunger.
Aegir pursed his lips and turned away. He refused to look at Lachlan again, but Lachlan didn’t care. He never wanted to see Aegir’s face again. He took Ivy’s hand, and they stepped together into the mirror.
The water lapped against Lachlan’s skin. The next thing he knew, the frigid wind touched his face. A chill pricked goosebumps all over his skin, and a gust of brisk air blew under his kilt.
Lachlan looked around. His eyes devoured the sight of Duart Castle standing tall and grand in the distance. The curved coastline wound around rocky promontories and into lakes and inlets. The sun glistened on the sea, and the wind howled over the moors on its way down to the shore.
Ivy gasped. “How did you do that? How did you get him to capitulate?”
“It was naught,” Lachlan replied. “He kenned it was in his interest to let me go.”
“But he defeated you. He would have killed you if I hadn’t stabbed him. Why did he just cave to your demands like that? He could have squashed you like a bug.”
“He only defeated me because I’m young,” Lachlan replied. “I only kenned I had this power to use a few days ago. He kens if I come back later to fight him, I’ll win, and then where’ll he be? I kenned I could get what I wanted by showing him the greatest bait imaginable, a bait he couldnae refuse.”
“What bait was that?”
“Robbing me of my power,” Lachlan replied. “I never wanted this power in the first place. I havnae lost naught by giving it up, and now he’ll never bother us again. It’s the perfect bargain for all concerned.”
Ivy studied him. “Are you sure about this? Are you sure you want to give up all that power?”
“I’m sure,” he replied. “I was never so glad to get rid of the burden.”
“I don’t know,” Ivy remarked. “Maybe you should have held onto it a little longer, just until you get the curse lifted. That kind of power would have come in handy when the curse strikes.”
“If I hadnae given up the power, he would have hounded me to the ends of the Earth to destroy me,” Lachlan pointed out. “He was jealous. He didnae want to share his power with anyone. That’s why he got so bent about Rhona mating with a landlubber. He didnae want anyone to come close to his power. That’s why he let us go. I’m no threat to him any longer, so he can leave us in peace.”
Ivy tightened her grip on his hand. “All right. I’ll give you this one. Come on. Let’s go home.”
“No’ just yet.” He swept her into his arms and pulled her in to kiss her.
Ivy laughed. She tried once to pull away, but he held her fast until she relaxed into his embrace. He breathed the heady aroma of her hair blowing in the wind. Her lips tingled against his mouth when he kissed her.
He never wanted to let her go, but he knew he couldn’t stand up here much longer. His Clan waited for him at the castle. Christie would have told everyone by now that Lachlan triumphed. The Clan would be trotting out some celebration to welcome Lachlan home.
Not only that, he had a wife—or the closest thing to one. He would marry Ivy, and they would have his children. They would rule this Clan together and pass on the titles to their heirs.
The years of brilliant future stretched out to the horizon, but some part of him still hesitated. He wanted to hurry back, to get Ivy inside the walls where she would be safe. At the same time, he didn’t want to hurry back. He wanted to linger here on this hilltop until the sun went down. He wa
nted to kiss her and hold her like this. He wanted to revel in her as long as he could.
Her body vibrated against him. Their kiss deepened, and their tongues mingled together between their lips. She pressed her breasts against his chest. She rose on her tiptoes when he lifted her up. His hand slid farther down the rounded curve of her waist. He scooped her off the ground, and she flung her legs around him.
He strapped his arms around her. He could carry her back to Duart like this. Her vibrant flesh quickened his desire. He wanted to get her back in his room, but he couldn’t do that. Once he got her inside the castle, he would have to marry her before they spent a night together.
Sleeping together in the ruins of the Tower House was one thing. Only lawful man and wife could share a bed with the whole Clan surrounding them and listening through the keyholes.
Lachlan carried her a short way down the hill with their lips still locked. Ivy shook with laughter, but she didn’t protest when he put her down. He gave her one last kiss and pulled away to take her hand. They set off on the last stretch of coastline to Duart.
Lachlan’s heart soared. He was coming home in triumph. He won everything. He won his bride. He won peace for the Isle. He won the greatest victory of his life over Aegir, and the sea would never turn against him again.
They traversed miles of rough country until they arrived where Duart Castle perched on a narrow finger of land. Lachlan paused there to survey his domain. The warm golden sun shone on the castle walls. Guards passed back and forth along the battlements, and patrols crisscrossed his path to protect the Clan from any incursion.
He never loved the place more than now. He was one of them again. He was a wolf and nothing else. No one knew and no one cared that he had a different mother. No mysterious power separated him from his kin. That alone was worth the price he had to pay.
Ivy slipped her arm around his waist and cuddled close to him. Her hair smelled sweet when he pressed his mouth to her head. She was all his—her and the bairn. Nothing would ever part them again.
He took her hand and started forward when a dark cloud crossed the sun. The castle fell in shadow, and Lachlan glanced up at the sky. At that moment, a massive swarm of the curse dragons materialized out of the blue. They descended on the castle in a solid packed mob until they obliterated every trace of the edifice from view.
Chapter 31
The beatific smile drained off Ivy’s face at the sight of so many dragons. They fluttered over every inch of the castle. Distant shouts and screams drifted down the wind to her ear.
The invasion caught the patrols off guard. They bolted and ran for the castle, but it was already too late. They couldn’t get near enough to get inside. The dragons blocked every door and window.
Ivy squeezed Lachlan’s hand. “Are you sure it was a good idea to give up your power so soon?”
“There may be something to what ye say,” he muttered. The next instant, he shook himself. “No! A curse I can manage so long as I dinnae have to deal to Aegir all the time. Come on!”
He tugged her forward. The next thing she knew, he let go of her hand and took off running, right into the midst of the dragons.
He seized the first dragon he came to. He plucked it out of the sky, gripped it in both hands, and snapped it in half. He bared his teeth in deadly hatred. He flung the victim away and snatched another one. He ripped them limb from limb. He broke their backs and tore their heads off until blood drenched his hair and face and clothes.
Ivy hesitated to jump into the mix without a weapon, but when she saw Lachlan vent his anger on those things, she dove in, too. She grabbed a dragon by the neck. It wasn’t more than half her size, and she found she could manipulate it with no trouble. She spun around on one foot and slammed its head into the stone wall.
The concussion of its skull shattering translated up her arm. She dropped the limp form at her feet and made a grab for another one. So many of the things crowded all over the castle she didn’t have to check where she was grabbing. She put out her hand and closed her fingers, and one of the dragons appeared in her hand.
She saw Jamie Cameron fly away from the Tower House after Ivy sent Grace back to him. That was the only Urlu she ever saw, but these small dragons couldn’t hold a candle to them. After she destroyed five of them, the others got wise to what she was doing. One of them turned around and opened its mouth to spit fire at her.
Ivy never hesitated again. She jammed her fist down the creature’s throat. The soft tissue spasmed when the little monster gagged. Ivy gritted her teeth and took hold of the thing’s tongue. She swung it around and clubbed another five dragons off the wall.
She let her insane rage unfold on these things. They weren’t really alive. They were manifestations of the curse. She didn’t have to worry about hurting them or showing them mercy. They were here to kill her and the people she loved. She had to kill them first or go down fighting.
If only she had her weapons here, she could do a lot more damage. That thought hadn’t crossed her mind when a shout went up from the battlements high above. Highlanders fought the dragons up there, but so many dragons clustered around the parapet Ivy couldn’t see a single man. She could only hear them fighting.
The clash of steel echoed to the ground, but Ivy didn’t have time to watch. She was too busy ripping and breaking and smashing. She was going to become a mother. She had to win this peace for her child.
Whatever happened, she wouldn’t let her child live under the same oppressive cloud that marred the last several weeks of her life. If Ivy had to fight for the rest of her days to spare her child the same fate, she would do it.
Thinking about her child gave her superhuman strength. Dragons flapped in her face. They snapped their teeth at her and ripped her clothes, but that only fueled her fury more than ever. Every dragon that appeared before her met its end at her hands.
She roared her challenge to them. “Who wants some of this? Huh? Who wants to a piece of me? Do you want to try it? Come on! What wants it? Huh? Who wants me?”
Breaking bone answered her. Pulpy brain squished through her fingers. Blood stung her eyes and lips. She couldn’t stop herself now if she wanted to. At that moment, an ear-splitting scream startled her out of her mania. She glanced up to see a man pitch over the battlements and plunge to his death not far away.
Dragons swarmed all over the man. They pecked and devoured his flesh from his bones in seconds. Ivy lunged at the things. She kicked them off in all directions, but she was too late. By the time she reached the man, his face was half gone and his rib cage torn open.
An animal bellow greeted her coming the other way. Lachlan waded through the creatures from the other side. Blood and gore saturated his hair and stuck his clothes to his body. He stared down at the dead man. Then he looked up at Ivy.
They gazed at each other in wonder for an instant. Was this really the man she fell in love with? He resembled some sort of hound from Hell. Before they recovered from their surprise, the dragons rushed in to attack the pair. Lachlan and Ivy spun away at the same moment. They drove the dragons back before they turned around to face each other once more.
Lachlan cracked a grin. Then the grin turned to laughter. Ivy couldn’t stop giggling for joy at seeing him all right in all this mayhem. Lachlan snatched up the dead man’s saber and held it out. “Here. Take this.”
She put out her hand when he yanked it back. “No!”
Just then, a dragon flapped against Lachlan’s shoulder. He whirled around and slashed the thing in half with the saber. Then he whipped around to face her. “It’s too heavy for ye. Here. Take this instead.”
He plucked another weapon from the dead man’s belt and shoved it into her hand. He disappeared into the melee before she could answer. He swung his saber right and left and blazed a path of destruction to the castle walls.
Ivy stared down at the object in her hand. It was a small battle axe, not as small as her other weapon, but still very serviceable. She saw herself
swinging this thing, chopping and mauling and slaying as never before.
Just then, a dragon flew into her face. Its wings blinded her for a second, and she woke from her trance. She erupted into action, and now her weapon carved a trail of gore and annihilation wherever she went.
A voice touched her ear. “Ivy! Ivy!”
She batted dragons out of the way to see who it was. Lachlan stood on the castle steps. His blood-drenched shirt hung open to reveal his muscled chest. Blood ran down his bare knees into his socks. He cut dragons out of the sky every way he turned.
He held out his other hand to her. “Ivy! Come on, lass! We must get inside.”
She started to wade through the chaos toward him when the door flew open behind them. Kincaid stepped out and shut the door behind him. Lachlan looked the wizard up and down. Kincaid turned to him. “Come with me. I need ye.”
Lachlan didn’t hesitate. He followed Kincaid down the steps where the dragons clustered as thick as flies on a corpse. Kincaid held no weapon. He relied on Lachlan to defend him against the swarming vermin.
Kincaid took his position at the base of the steps. He bowed his head and closed his eyes. Lachlan worked harder than ever to maintain a bubble of space around the wizard. Kincaid didn’t move.
Ivy glanced over at them. Lachlan kept looking at Kincaid and frowning. Whatever the wizard was going to do, he better do it now.
All of a sudden, Kincaid’s head shot up. He raised both arms and flung them out in front of him. A huge sucking hole ripped open in front of him, and a cyclone wind pulled dozens of dragons into it.
Kincaid whipped around. He snatched a dragon out of the air and hurled it down the hole. The next thing Ivy knew, he started spinning so fast she couldn’t see his arms and legs. He scooped up dragons by the handful and sent them tumbling down that hole into nothing. He dispensed with fifty dragons before she realized what was happening.
Sea Queen (Phoenix Throne Book 6): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance Page 21
